Halo of Brimstone by Jack Cavanaugh

Author:Jack Cavanaugh [Cavanaugh, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9781621840756
Publisher: Enclave Publishing
Published: 2019-05-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

19

“What have you been up to this morning, Grant?”

Sue sat casually on the sofa, shoes off, her legs folded beneath her. When she arrived at my apartment, I’d been checking the website of a local news station to see if Rogan and I had made the headlines. We hadn’t. I closed the laptop.

I couldn’t get the image out of my mind of the man slumped on the floor in the elevator. Surely, he knew he’d had a demon in him, didn’t he? And those around him—coworkers, family—had to have noticed a difference in his behavior. How would he explain it to them? As I envisioned him lying there, I noticed one other thing that was telling. Throughout the ordeal he never once let go of his cell phone.

“Grant? Are you listening to me? I asked you about your morning.”

“Oh, you know,” I said. “The usual.”

“Have you found a topic for your next book?”

It took all the self-control I could muster to keep a straight face. Between the constant appearances of Nosroch, sparring with Rogan, and hunting demons, I hadn’t had a writer’s thought in weeks.

“The search continues,” I said.

“Don’t worry. You’ll come up with something.”

Her faith in me, while comforting, was unfounded. How had my life become so complicated? It was a house of cards that could come crashing down at any moment. I was trying not to dwell on all the secrets I was keeping, aware that any one of them, if known, could lead to disaster. I wondered what she’d think if she knew I was having conversations with a rebel angel, or if she found out I was hunting demons with Rogan. I also wondered what Rogan—or Abdiel for that matter—would do if they found out I was conversing with Nosroch. I wondered what Nosroch would do if he learned I was training with an elite member of Sayeret Matkal with the powers of a Nephilim who was determined to kill him.

“Tell me about your day,” I said, shifting the topic of conversation away from me.

Sue settled comfortably on the sofa and described her concern for some of her struggling students, both academic and personal; her frustration with petty faculty politics; and the burden of a heavy workload. I couldn’t help but be envious of her new life free from the supernatural.

“Oh, by the way,” she said. “Jana called. She invited us out to dinner with her and Rogan. I told her we’d love to join them. Is that okay?”

“My schedule’s clear,” I said, as though I had control over it.

“I thought we’d go to that Mexican restaurant over by the mall. Apparently, Rogan is quite taken with south of the border cuisine.” She got up and stretched. “Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll take a nap. Then you can drive me back to Jana’s and I’ll make myself beautiful for tonight.”

“That won’t take long,” I said.

She smiled. “Aren’t you sweet.”

Picking up her shoes, she went to the bedroom.

With an hour to kill, I sat at the table in front of my laptop.

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