Necessary Evil by David Bussell

Author:David Bussell [Bussell, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Uncanny Kingdom
Published: 2019-12-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five: Angel of the North

So apparently both of my jobs involved demons. Fuck my afterlife.

Since Shift wasn’t proving much help with the Ripper, it was up to me to get on the front foot and find out just what it was I was dealing with. So long as my informant was drawing a blank, I should call in someone with specialised knowledge. Even if I really didn’t want to get her involved.

I translocated to Reina’s flat in Angel and rang the doorbell.

The face that greeted me lit up with a smile the size of the Grand Canyon.

‘Jake!’ squealed the woman on the other side of the door.

Believe it or not, I’m not used to people being pleased to see me. I know, me with this knee-weakening jawline and an unending supply of hilarious quips. Who knew?

‘Hey, Rei,’ I replied, almost bashful. Anger, disdain, simmering resentment, these are emotions I can handle. Genuine warmth gives me the sweats.

‘Get in here, you dead beauty!’ she cried and led me inside.

Reina was an old friend. Well, not old old; she was actually in her early twenties, but when I first met her, she was just a teenager. I worked a case for her, back when I was still fairly fresh to this ghost detective malarkey. Something had murdered her parents, one of whom—long story short—turned out to be an angel. That’s right, a genuine, holier-than-thou angel. This, in turn, made Reina part angel.

I know, an angel who lives in Angel; you couldn’t make this stuff up.

Anyway, I ended up tracking down her parents’ killer, a particularly nasty demon known as a harbinger, and cast it into Hell. Since then, Reina has been a trusted ally.

She steered me into her kitchen, which was an absolute state. The walls were grease-splattered, and the floor covered in curling linoleum. Where there wasn’t a filthy, balled-up tea towel there was a chipped mug growing fungus.

‘Jesus, this place looks worse than it did last time,’ I said. ‘I thought you Highway to Heaven lot liked to keep things spick and span.’

‘Just because Mum was an angel, doesn’t mean I have to live like one.’

I laughed. She certainly didn’t look all that angelic with her multiple piercings and heavily tattooed cleavage. But then, who was I to judge?

She popped a limescale-barnacled kettle onto a scummy hob. ‘Fancy a cuppa?’

‘I’m fine, thanks,’ I said, suppressing a grimace. She was only asking out of politeness, so there was no sense turning my nose up at her. It’s not like I could actually drink tea, anyway.

She helped herself to a brew and we sat down at her wobbly kitchen table, which was loaded high with plates covered in mouldy leftovers.

‘So what brings you round this way?’ she asked.

‘Hey, who do you think I am? Do I need a reason to drop in on my favourite half-angel?’

In this case, truth be told, yes. Reina had a talent that I had a real need for. Her angelic ancestry gave her a certain sensitivity to the Nether that had come in handy on more than one occasion over the years.

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