Page 35

Motherfucker. I always had backup spray paint just in case that happened, but all my backup cans were in use. Buying spray paint had gotten weird because people figured out huffing aerosol cans got you high or people assumed you were going to graffiti something…which I was. I could always lie and say I was using them on canvas because I was an artist, but then I’d have to pay more attention to what I was grabbing. I grabbed one when I needed to replace a backup.

I started running to find Solomon, but I didn’t know what side of the house he’d taken. It was a center hall cottage that had been nice once, but was bordering on needing to be condemned. I’d taken the front, and I didn’t want to distract Pan by asking him where Solomon was.

I knew when Pan made it inside because I heard the screams. Pan was probably having the time of his life and he didn’t have many playmates he could get completely violent with. I was glad when he could make friends, even if he ended up eating them.

I ran across the front of the house in time to see the front door fly open and a bunch of demons try to run out. Portals took time to get big enough for one of them to walk through. If all of them had been sharing magic during the fire, they could have gotten out before they were burned, or the smoke killed the witch. Pan could cut them down before they could portal out and he could also permanently kill demons.

I screeched to a halt. Brawling with demons sucked because you could punch them right in the dick and it did nothing. I got my first tattoo when I was fourteen. Not all legacy Flame members wanted to hunt monsters. My mother decided to teach kids, but some ran tattoo shops. They did all kinds of tattoos, but they knew Flame sigils we typically tattooed on us for protection and to prevent possession.

Rainer made his famous, labor intensive crawfish bisque for me after for not being a little bitch about my first tattoo at fourteen. I briefly wondered how my new priest friends felt about tattoos as I braced myself to fight with a bunch of demons.

But they ran into an invisible barrier at the door and bounced off. Thank fuck! Caleb or Saul must have gotten to Solomon and finished up for him. They came running to the front of the house where I was standing and saw the demons trying to escape.

Caleb seemed to find this funny. He had been laughing at a lot of things that weren’t all that amusing. Demons couldn’t possess me, but they could snap my neck or beat the shit out of me. If one of them hadn’t gotten to Solomon’s side of the house in time, they might have. I could give someone a beat down before I got my first training bra, but I was also outnumbered.

“I believed you when you told me about the sigils, but it’s quite something seeing it in action. Are we letting Pan play?”

I loved that he’d accepted my Hellhound enough that he phrased it like that. Pan was not a tame lion. He slept in my bed, demanded belly rubs, and would go to town on a plate of beignets, but he still loved letting loose and eating bad people.

“He’ll leave one demon alive for questioning. Pan will herd them into a bathroom, but the three of you can’t be in there while I do it.”

“Why not?” Solomon demanded.

I pulled my shirt up. They were priests, but I was sure they’d seen tits before. I turned around and showed them the tattoo on my shoulder blade.

“Once we trap a demon, they can go back to Hell, Pan can eat them, or they can jump into a new body. They can’t possess me because of this tattoo. They will try to jump into one of you because the Flame tries to save the vessel. Pan wouldn’t hurt you and neither would I. They know this. I’m saving you decades of therapy, cupcake.”

Saul pulled a necklace out of his shirt.

“Saint Benedict’s Medal. Does the same thing as long as you don’t lose it in the exorcism.”

“Neat.”

The screams and crashing from inside was getting too loud for us to talk without shouting at each other. Pan sounded like he was having the time of his life. Those were his happy growls and snarls. He was going to get all the belly rubs and a cheeseburger after this.

“Got the last one trapped in a closet. He can go back or he can talk, but they all seemed to prefer dying over going back to Hell. Want me to question him or do you want the honors?”

I trusted Pan to ask the right questions, but I needed to hear the answers for myself. I also didn’t stop Caleb, Saul, and Solomon from following me.

My babysitters growing up were witches. I knew the power of talismans. If they said they had a necklace with a Saint on it that prevented possession, I believed them.

The tattoo would be better because you couldn’t lose it, but I wasn’t going to press it.

The very terrified demon got super confused when my tail started thumping. I could smell Delilah outside with Logan. Yay! My two favorite people. I’ll bet I’d get so many treats for this. I couldn’t wait.

“Good boy. We can talk about this,” the demon said, holding his hands up.

I snarled at him. How very dare he use my praise kink against me?

“Okay! Fuck! I didn’t sign up for this.”

“What did you sign up for?” Logan asked.

I didn’t turn my head, but I could scent Logan, Delilah, Caleb, Solomon, and Saul behind me.

“You know the Yellow King is just an urban legend, right?” Delilah said.

“He’s not. He’s real! You just have to know how to free him.”