Fire Within

Philby’s face visibly paled. “Wasn’t my buddy,” he muttered. “Just a dude.”

“Your best bet right now,” Ryan went on, ignoring the interruption, “is to answer questions truthfully and fully. Maybe there’s still something we can do for you.”

Hope sprang to the suspect’s face. “Like what?”

“Well, let’s see how good your answers are. Where were you Sunday night?”

Hank’s head bobbed as he seemed to search the room for a believable story. He scratched his ear and stalled. “Let’s talk about a deal. I gotta get out of here, man.”

“That’s not how it works. Answers first. So far you’re not cooperating. You’ll need to do better, if you want help. How about I start? Your car was involved in a drive-by shooting outside Club Dintero.”

Hank picked at his arm. “Uh, OK, so I was there. But I didn’t shoot anybody. Just drivin’. Billy had the gun. ‘Sides, nobody got hurt.”

Something clattered to the floor in the hallway outside the interrogation room. The suspect came off his seat. “What was that?”

“Relax. Sit down, Hank. Nothing that concerns you. Pay attention to me. You’re an accessory to an attempted murder. That’s six to thirty years. No parole, if it’s classified as a hate crime. And the gun play today will up the charges.”

The suspect drew in a ragged breath and looked at the door again. “If I talk, will you protect me? I gotta know you’ll protect me.”

“You’re safe in here.” Ryan said. “Who are you afraid of?”

Hank shook his head. “Today was all a mistake. We were watching TV, drinking a beer, when the pounding started. Billy saw the cop uniforms…started screaming that we couldn’t get arrested. I told him we were dead meat anyway. That’s when he freaked. Is he really dead?”

Billy wasn’t the only one freaked by today’s events. Hank Philby radiated a stench of male sweat, stale cigarette smoke, and something close to terror. Ari clamped down on her witch senses to stop the unpleasant barrage.

“Yes, he’s dead,” Ryan said. “He fired at armed officers, and they fired back.”

“Oh, God,” Philby groaned. “How did this all turn out so bad?” He held his forehead with one hand, as if he was in physical pain. “Billy’s dead, and I’m screwed no matter what you do to me.”

“Meaning?” Ryan asked. “You haven’t told me what you’re so afraid of.”

Philby shook his head without looking up.

“Why were you after Andreas De Luca?” Ryan asked, switching his approach.

“Just a job,” was the mumbled response.

“Job? You’re working for someone? Who?”

Philby held his head with both hands now, slowly moving it from side to side.

Ari’s brows drew into a deep frown as she listened. Philby was terrified of his employer, a rather dramatic reaction to a scheme falling apart. Why would somebody who could engender this kind of fear hire this wimpy guy? Philby wasn’t smart enough to execute a successful hit. His partner Billy sounded even dumber, opening fire on a group of armed officers. It was predictable that they’d flub the job. Her mind rolled through the possibilities. Had Andreas’s death even been the goal?

Ryan continued to sit as empty seconds ticked by. Silence was often an effective interrogation technique. Philby still stared at the floor but was beginning to fidget. Ari heard his agitated breathing, the frantic beating of his heart. He finally mumbled something.

“You’ll have to repeat that,” Ryan said. His voice was firm but not rough. “Sit up and talk to us.”

“It was a bundle of cash.” Philby’s voice was still so low that Ari leaned forward to hear him.

“Somebody paid you a lot of money?”

“Seemed too easy,” Philby muttered.

“You’re going to have to be more specific than that. Let’s start with a name.”

Ryan had infinite patience in an interrogation, and a confession rate to match. In spite of her rising annoyance, Ari knew her best course was not to interfere.

Hank Philby raised a haunted face to Ryan. “He’ll kill me if I talk. Said he would.”

“You’re safe in here. Give me a name,” Ryan repeated.

“Aw, hell, I’m dead anyway.” Philby’s shoulders wilted. “This…thing offered Billy 50k. Half up front, the rest a bonus if we actually killed the vamp. I agreed to drive. All he had to do was fire the gun and the 25k was ours.” Philby cleared his throat.

“What thing?” Ryan’s frown was immediate.

The suspect shivered. “I’m getting to that. We set up a meet to get the money. It was there when we arrived. Really tall, wrapped in a long, black hooded coat. Somethin’ felt weird, so I hung back.” Philby’s hands trembled. “While they were talkin’, the wind caught the hood, and I seen them eyes. Red…on fire. Like something out of hell. Wasn’t normal.” He shivered again. “Not human.” His hands clenched into anxious fists.

Despite her lowered sensitivity, Ari smelled his rising panic. Her witch senses kicked into gear, threatening to flood her system with adrenaline. She blocked the response and re-focused on the suspect.

“Are we talking vampire? That kind of non-human?” Ryan was asking.

“Huh-uh. I’m telling you, he, it looked like the devil.” The suspect whispered the final word. “Oh God, I know it’ll find me. Even here. You can’t keep that thing out.” Philby was almost wailing now, rocking back and forth.

“What makes you think he’ll come after you?” Ryan tried to lower the tension by keeping his face and voice neutral, but the suspect was beyond calming.

“Said he would. If we got caught. Them eyes flared up when he said it. Oh, mother, what’s it gonna do to me? Billy’s better off dead!” He went back to rocking.

Continuing the interview appeared pointless to Ari, but Ryan tried one last time. “How do we find this person? Do you have an address? Name? Anything?”

Philby shook his head. “Don’t know, I don’t know. But he’ll come. He’ll hurt me.” He whimpered.

Ryan caught Ari’s eye and jerked his head toward the door. Philby didn’t seem to notice their departure. As Ryan strode down the hallway at a rapid pace, Ari hustled to keep up.

“Hey, slow down. Do you realize what he—”

Ari didn’t get any further before Ryan spun around and glared at her. “Not now. Not here.” He turned and continued to his office.

Startled by his harsh reaction, she stayed quiet until they were inside Ryan’s office with the door closed. “He may not be lying,” she said, trying again.

“I know that. I got it. But there are some things I can’t openly discuss around here. Not if I want to keep my badge and stay out of the shrink’s office.”

“Everyone knows about Otherworlders,” she protested.

“Regular Otherworlders, yes, like witches and vampires. But do you think that’s what he was describing?” The look Ryan turned on her was harried, resigned. He really would prefer to live in a normal world.

“Well, no, I think it might be a full blooded demon.”

“There, see what I mean? A demon! Brass will haul me away this time.” He collapsed in his chair, the back knocking against the wall, and gave her a belligerent look. “OK, tell me about demons.”

She gave him a first semester demonology synopsis. “Demons—big D, only exist in Hell. The creatures that live or manifest on earth are only part demon. They are descendants of a human\demon mating thousands of years ago before the banishment. When Satan and his descendants were eventually vanquished from earth, the only exceptions were those with mixed blood, who have the ability to exist in both realms. Two kinds of earthly demons have evolved. Those with the misnomer of full bloods are born in hell with only the one ancient tainting of human blood. The halfling demons are born on earth and have interbred with humans or other species many times.” She paused to see how he was taking this.

“Ok, two kinds. And let me guess, the full blood is the worst. What makes you think that’s what this guy is? And what’s that mean to us?”

“The red eyes, the long black cloak. Hard to miss. I’ve seen these creatures once before.”

“And they’re all killers.”

“All the full bloods, yes. Not the halflings, at least they don’t have to be. It’s the interbreeding. They can learn to control their dark side, much like vampires. But that’s not Philby’s employer. He sounds like the real thing, a full blood. They’re close to pure evil.”

Ryan shoved away from the desk. “Dammit, Ari. I find this ‘evil’ talk a little over-dramatic. Can’t we just agree he’s a really bad guy?”

“Fine, but it’s not going to make him any less dangerous.”

“Yeah, I know.” His mouth twisted in reaction. “So, how do we find him? And then, how do we get rid of him?”

“Magic. That amount of demonic energy should be easy to trace by scrying. But to get rid of him, we’ll need help. He’s physically strong and magically powerful. He’ll have enormous speed, the kind where he appears as nothing but a blur between locations. I can’t match that. Witch fire might kill him, if we can catch him.” She paused, trying to think it through. “But a full blood shouldn’t be able to wander around town unnoticed.”

“He’s hiding,” Ryan said, stating the obvious.

“Yes, and blocking his magical trace, but why? And how? Demons are not the low-key type. They come roaring into town, creating terror and chaos. And that’s before large numbers of people start dying.”

“Shit! Sorry, Ari, but there’ll be hell to pay if the press gets wind of a demon. We need to put a lid on it. I’ll isolate Philby, offer him and his attorney a deal in return for their silence. It could buy us some time to find this thing.”