Demon Rogue (The Half-Demon Rogue Book 1) by Erikson D.N

Author:Erikson, D.N. [Erikson, D.N.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2016-06-17T16:00:00+00:00

13

I found the crime scene. It’d been scrubbed clean, other than a few drops of blood that Argos followed without finding anything. Total dead end. But the appearance of the Marksmen, while an unwelcome wrinkle, did give me some new ideas to work on.

Could be they were sick of being the crackpots of the world. If even the Illuminati enthusiasts think you’re nuts, that can really sting. And they were sadistic enough to twist the knife on the supernatural reveal.

We drove back to Inonda in silence, reaching town at around the time normal folks got off work. I wasn’t one for convention, but rest did have an allure.

Looking dusty as all hell, me and Argos stumbled up the walk to the apartment.

I entered to find Nadia, streaming sweat in a sports bra and sweatpants, furiously scrubbing the couch.

She gave me a smile as I walked in, then her expression darkened. I tossed my leather jacket on the now clean couch and surveyed the premises. Better job than I’d ever done, and she’d been here for all of a few hours.

“My god, what happened?”

“The bad guys lost,” I said, with a weak smile. Ignoring the rest of the questions simmering in her eyes, I walked straight toward the kitchen. In one of the cheap plastic cabinets, I found the handle of whiskey and poured myself a drink.

Then I thought better of it and poured a double.

Feeling every year of my age, I walked stiffly to the table and sat in the rickety chair. The liquor was gone before Nadia could even join me. Luckily I’d had the good sense to bring along the entire handle.

Argos trotted off to the bathroom, probably to take a bath. The water started, and she raised an eyebrow.

“Did your dog just turn on the water?”

“He likes baths,” I said, with half a mind to just explain everything to her right then. Keeping secrets takes a toll on a man over the years. It sucks sitting on a gold mine—the biggest news of everyone’s life—and being unable to tell anyone. Unless you wanted a stake through your heart or a fire lapping at your snitching ass.

It was enough to make me wish I’d kept the Marskman alive. Just to shoot the shit for a little, talk about the strangeness in the world. Or maybe I just wanted to direct the rage boiling beneath my skin against someone who deserved it.

Nadia’s fingertips brushed against my dirty cheek. “Let me help.”

“I don’t think anyone can help me,” I said. “Something I gotta do alone.”

My phone rang in my jacket. The gap between me and the couch was about six miles, so I let it go to voicemail. Whoever was on the other end felt the need to leave one, and the device chimed to let me know.

“You’re not getting that?”

“You my keeper now?” I said.

“Maybe you need more help than you can admit.”

“I’ve been around the block a couple times,” I said. “I know how this works.”

I dumped a waterfall of whiskey into the tumbler, right up to the brim.

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