Demon Trappers 03 - Forgiven by Jana Oliver

Author:Jana Oliver
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-02-29T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Beck swung by and picked Riley up at Stewart’s house, and then drove towards downtown.

‘What the hell is Harper thinkin’?’ he asked, giving her a stern look. ‘Ya shouldn’t be on this run. I’ve been inside this buildin’ before and it’s brutal.’ It’s no damned place for a girl.

‘According to my master I need the experience,’ she replied. ‘Speaking of which, how’s your head and your shoulder?’

‘They’re OK,’ he lied. Better she not know I’m hurtin’. ‘Doc says I can take the pain pills again so that’s helped a lot.’

Riley scowled at him and that told him she wasn’t buying his lie. ‘Carmela also said no trapping.’

‘One out of two isn’t bad,’ he conceded.

Beck found the demon hunter’s van on Forsyth Street and slotted his truck right behind it. Three of the Vatican’s team waited for them: Captain Salvatore along with Müller and the one named Corsini. They stood alongside their vehicle, staring up at the dilapidated building across the street. The structure was five storeys of brick and faded marble with faded gang graffiti decorating the upper sections and windows covered in warped plywood. The ones that weren’t covered sported sooty scorch marks. There was no front door now – that entrance was walled off in concrete blocks as were all the windows on street level. Which meant they’d have to go in through one of the first-storey windows or come in through the back of the building.

‘A friend of mine used to live here,’ Beck remarked.

‘Here?’ Riley asked, incredulous. ‘Before it was like this, you mean?’

‘No. Ike’s homeless so anythin’ out of the weather works for him. Right now he’s at one of the shelters, but sometimes he isn’t so lucky.’

‘That has to be scary,’ she said. ‘Never knowing where you’re going to be from one day to the next.’

‘He takes it in his stride. He was in the army, like me. Ya learn to deal.’

‘You served together?’ She actually sounded interested.

‘No. He was in the First Gulf War, back in the nineties. I wasn’t even born yet.’ He zipped the duffel bag shut. ‘Ike said he saw ya that night ya trapped the Three down here.’

Riley thought for a bit. ‘The old black guy who walks funny?’

‘That’s him. I’ll introduce ya someday.’

‘I think I’d like that,’ she replied.

Was she being polite or did she really mean it? Why did he care? Why did it matter what Paul’s daughter thought of him?

Beck pushed that thought away as he climbed out of the truck. Riley joined him, shouldering her backpack. As they approached the team, the captain greeted them.

‘Captain Salvatore,’ Beck replied. ‘What’s the news here?’

‘We’ve been told there’s increased demon activity in this area, particularly around this building. We thought we’d work the location and see what we could flush out. Do you know the place?’

‘Paul and I trapped Pyro-Fiends in there. More often than not it’s a good place to find a Three.’

‘You armed?’ the hunter asked.

‘Yup,’ Beck said, tapping the end of the steel pipe sticking out of the bag.

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