Succubus on the Run Read online

  Gideon shook his head.

  “If you did, I didn’t hear you,” he said, still a bit grumpy.

  “You warned me that you were going to sleep all day and not to bother you,” Sunny replied. “I told you that it wouldn’t matter, that I was going to class until early afternoon and I wouldn’t disturb you. And I didn’t. You disturbed me in the middle of class.”

  If she was hoping for some sort of reaction, she didn’t get it. It was like Gideon wasn’t paying attention to her anymore.

  “Hello?” Sunny was frustrated and needed a little more communication than she was getting. What the hell was his problem?

  They drove in silence, with Gideon doing his best “demon with mental walls up” thing and Sunny fuming at how he didn’t find it necessary to have any common courtesy whatsoever. Her arms were folded across her chest, and she stared out the window.

  “Don’t trust that guy,” Gideon said, out of nowhere. Sunny had lost track of what he was talking about.

  “What guy?” She was confused. There was no guy on the streets outside and nobody driving near them.

  “The one at school,” he said. “There’s something not right about him.”

  It made Sunny laugh, and she let out a snort. This, coming from a half-angel, half-demon, moody bastard, who didn’t seem to think communication was a two-way street. She rolled her eyes, and although she wanted to challenge him, to ask him what the hell he even meant by it, she decided not to.

  “Noted,” was all she said.

  Another ten minutes and Gideon was pulling down a road into a neighborhood that looked vaguely familiar. Sunny watched the passing houses, not sure if she was right or not. Weren’t these the houses they passed the night before?

  “Isn’t this the way to Anya’s place?” she asked, as she twisted in her seat to look at a more familiar house. She recognized it by the obnoxious cement bird bath in the front yard because she remembered making a mental note that if she ever owned her own home (assuming she lived that long and had good enough credit), she would never ever decorate her front yard with a cement bird bath.

  “It is,” Gideon said, turning down another familiar side street. “There was an incident last night, and she’s asked me to stop by.”

  Well, there it was. She knew Gideon didn’t feel the sudden need to pick her up from school a day after meeting her.

  “Was anybody hurt?” she asked. “Is it related to Seumat?”

  It was a long shot--the queen of the succubi had a lot more important work on her plate it seemed, but coincidences in their line of work were rare.

  “No idea,” he said quietly. “And perhaps. A bit early to make any assumptions, seeing how I’m not there yet.”

  Damn, he was salty early in the day. Sunny had the feeling that she was going to have to put up with a lot of short-tempered and ill-mannered demon habits for the rest of this contract. Not that people in the business were necessarily polite and polished--it was just that demons brought with them a special level of surly and snarly.

  “Grump,” she muttered under her breath as Gideon was pulling his truck to the side of the road and parking.

  “What was that?” He snarled as he killed the engine. Sunny just shook her head and shot him the sweetest, fakest smile that she could.

  “Nothing,” she said as she hopped out of the truck. “Shall we?”

  Gideon’s steps were nearly impossible to match as he strode down the sidewalk, so Sunny stopped trying and took the walk at her own pace. Eventually, an annoyed and put-out-looking half-demon stopped and turned toward her, mentally shoving her in the back to get her to speed up. It didn’t work. If there was one thing Sunny was good at, it was being stubborn.

  They finally approached the nondescript front door from the night before and Gideon pushed the button for the doorbell. This time, a young woman that Sunny didn’t recognize opened the door. Hadn’t there been a butler the night before?

  The woman had bright red hair that was loosely piled on top of her head. Her eye makeup was smeared around just enough so that Sunny got the impression that the woman hadn’t slept yet. She met Gideon’s eyes and managed a sad smile before stepping aside and letting both him and Sunny pass through.

  “Good to see you, Gideon,” the woman said, her voice tired and sad. Gideon reached out and touched her shoulder in a moment that almost looked sweet.

  “Is she okay?” Gideon asked, and Sunny assumed he was talking about Anya.

  The woman shrugged before dragging a gaze over Sunny. It wasn’t an unkind look--it was assessing. What was she looking for in Sunny and was she finding it? Her face was hard to read.

  “So far,” the woman responded as she pulled her green eyes from Sunny back to Gideon. The tension left her shoulders when she did, and she visibly relaxed. “She’s upstairs in her private rooms. I’ll see if she wants you to go up there or if she’ll meet you down here.”

  Gideon nodded and led Sunny through a maze of hallways that looked very different in the harsh light of day. Without the romantic glow of candlelight, the carpets were worn and frayed and there was a fine layer of dust on all the fine antiques. She ran a finger over the top of a picture frame and noted how much dirt was on the pad of her fingertip when she pulled it away. She followed Gideon into the sitting room that Anya had received them in the night before.

  The first thing she noticed was that two of the chairs had been upended, causing Sunny’s gaze to follow a small line of broken chair legs and glass all the way to a shattered-out window. From the lack of broken glass on this side of the frame, whatever had jumped had jumped out.

  “Well, that’s certainly something,” she said to herself, as Gideon leaned closer to the shattered window.

  “It certainly is,” he said, before stopping with a jerk and tilting his head to the side. “No way.”

  That caught her attention quickly.

  “What?”

  But because he was Gideon, he didn’t feel the need to immediately answer her. He ran a finger along the broken glass and stopped when he got to a small section of the window with a few drops of blood. Sunny was certain that the half-demon beside her was going to dip his finger in the still-wet stuff and tap it on his tongue like some disgusting television detective--and if he did, she would have no problem throwing up the entire bagel and cream cheese she’d eaten earlier. She braced, waiting.

  Instead, he leaned over and smelled. When he drew his head back, he looked at her.

  “Angel,” was all he said.

  Chapter 7

  Sunny had expected Gideon to say a number of things. Demon, came to mind. Attacker. Intruder. Assailant. All of those would have been expected. But angel? Angel was definitely not expected.

  “What do you mean, angel?” She knew she was asking an obvious question, but she couldn't help it. There was no way an angel should have been wrapped up in a case like this. Especially at a place like Anya’s.

  Gideon turned and faced her.

  “It is what I said it is,” he said. “It’s angel blood. It’s something I would know from a mile away.”

  “Fine,” she relented. “But what the hell is angel blood doing here? Does that mean an angel was behind the intrusion here?”

  She knew that all signs pointed in that direction. But it was incredibly hard to fathom. As far as she knew, for as long as she had been with them these past eighteen months, angels were the good guys. Sunny was not so naive that she didn’t understand that shades of grey existed, but for the most part, in her mind, angels were good—and demons were bad. Angels came in through the front door; demons crashed out through a window. It’s just how things were arranged in Sunny’s mind.

  Gideon continued to explore the sitting room. He looked at the furniture and around tables. He didn’t let on to whether or not he found anything. He simply searched and searched some more. At last, Sunny heard the sound of footsteps coming down the staircase. They were heavy, slow footsteps, so she assumed that Anya was going to me
et them downstairs.

  Gideon stopped his search and moved to the door to receive her. When she reached him, he did a most unexpected thing and pulled her into a long, fully encompassing hug. Sunny was shocked. Again, just when she assumed she knew everything about good and bad, light and dark, angels and demons, the demon Gideon hugged a woman in distress.

  “Why would they attack me?” She heard Anya sob into Gideon’s chest. “Why would they hurt him?”

  Him? Who him? She hoped Gideon had a plan for getting answers out of the still upset Anya.

  “We will get to the bottom of this,” Gideon said, as he patted the older woman’s back with his large hand.

  “He was a bloody mess when we found him early this morning,” Anya said. “He was barely breathing; he had slashes at his throat and chest. Who would do this to James?”

  James. The man who had answered the door, the butler. It explains why the younger woman had open the door for them.

  “Where is he?” Gideon asked. “Is he awake? What did the doctors say?”

  “He’s sleeping now,” Anya replied. “The doctor said he should be fine in a few days. But it was so bad, Gideon. There was so much blood.”

  Sunny shuddered at the thought. At least she had not seen any signs of a bloodbath. She didn’t handle blood well. It made no sense, to make her a demon hunter when she hated the sight of blood, but there it was. Stubborn and queasy at the sight of blood. What a stellar hunter Sunny made.

  “When can I talk to him?” Gideon asked. “I have a few questions for him that I think will help us get to the bottom of who might be behind it all.”

  “He just fell asleep, finally,” Anya said. “Maybe in a couple of hours? The doctor is coming back around dinnertime, and I’ve closed for the next week or so. Maybe you could come back around dinner?”

  Gideon was looking around distractedly. But he nodded an answer to Anya and promised her that he would return.

  “Do you have somebody looking after you?” Gideon asked, as Sunny was examining Anya herself. Sunny also noticed that the woman had bags under her eyes and a pale pallor on her cheeks. She didn’t look well.

  “Jasmine is here,” Anya said. “Didn't she let you in?”

  She meant the redhead at the front door. Gideon nodded.

  “Yes,” he said. “She let us in. She looks tired as well. Is there any chance Peter can stay with you tonight?”

  Obviously, Gideon and Anya were venturing into conversation waters that she could not follow. She had no idea who Peter was or the next name that Gideon mentioned. All that she could gather from the conversation was that Gideon was hoping Anya could have somebody stay with her besides the redhead from earlier. Did he think danger was returning?

  When Gideon had asked all of the questions he could think of, he bade Anya a good afternoon with a promise to return later that evening. When Anya returned up the stairs, Gideon cast one final look around the parlor room before leaving.

  Sunny, without a word to her, fell into step behind him and followed him out the front door.

  As she walked down the front steps, she noticed there was not a single trace of blood anywhere. Where had the attack on the butler taken place?

  As was his usual, Gideon was silent the entire walk to his truck. It was obvious he had serious thoughts going through his mind, and it was just as well that Sunny didn’t disturb him with her mindless chatter. She was nervous. And when Sunny Bonnard got nervous, she babbled. It was best to delay Gideon finding that out for himself for as long as possible.

  Inside the truck, Gideon started the engine and put it in gear.

  “What aren't you telling me?” Sunny asked. She knew there was something there. “Where was James attacked? There was no sign of struggle or blood on the front walk. Why didn’t you ask to see where he was attacked?”

  Gideon cast a look over his left shoulder as he pulled the vehicle out onto the road.

  “I already know where James was attacked,” he replied, as the truck settled in for the drive. “It was downstairs, at the back entrance.”

  “How many entrances are there to that boudoir?”

  It seemed strange to Sunny that they would come and go so freely at the front entrance that was located so close to the street. If there was another way in, why didn't they use it? Wasn’t Anya concerned with privacy?

  “To answer your question,” Gideon replied. “Three.”

  It seemed like there should be a lot of ways in and out of a business like that, Sunny thought to herself. But then again, she was not in the business of owning and running a brothel in the middle of a Seattle neighborhood. What the hell would Sunny know, anyway?

  Just once, for one of her assignments, Sunny would love to feel like she was not always behind the eight ball. She would love to feel fully prepared and knowledgeable in regard to the task at hand. So far, all that had happened was that Sunny found herself assigned to targets she knew nothing about. In this instance, she was assigned a partner of sorts. But this partner seemed put out to have her along and told her as little as possible.

  It was going to be a very long assignment at this rate.

  “There are different entrances and four different types of clients,” Gideon finally began to explain. “The front entrance is for people there on business of any nature—other than sexual. Mail deliveries. Religious cults. You name it. As long as you’re not there to get naked or jerk off, the front door is used.”

  Well, that explained it. Sunny was glad they hadn’t used any other entrance into Anya’s home at this point. Just as she began to formulate another round of questions in her mind, her phone buzzed in her back pocket.

  She pulled it free and checked the screen. It was an email notification from Michael. The subject line said simply, dossier.

  Not only was she incredibly curious, she also knew that it was probably incredibly important. Michael didn’t send her random emails, and he didn’t just check in to see how things were going when she was on a case. He sent her vital pieces of information or death threats. There were not a whole lot of grey areas when it came to him.

  The email took a moment to upload, as she was not near a Wi-Fi hotspot and her cheap plan gave her dismal cell coverage when she wasn’t near a hotspot. When it finally loaded, Sunny looked through the paragraphs of information that Michael had sent. It was a name. Laura James. Twenty-seven years old. Native of Los Angeles. Follower of Seumat. There was more to it, but that was all that Sunny needed. Michael had somehow figured out who they were trailing yesterday and found the information for her. She was a little chagrined.

  Wasn’t that her job? Wasn’t that why he had given her access to Gideon? Despite how useful the email was going to prove to be, she couldn’t help but feel like she had done something wrong for him to send it. Her stomach sank. Gideon must have noticed her reaction because he asked what was wrong. She looked up at him.

  “It’s just an email from Michael,” she said. “It’s a dossier on a Laura James. Let me pull up the photo and see if it makes any sense.”

  The photo took a moment to load, and when it finally did, Sunny blew out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. Of course. It was the blonde with the fake boobs. She flashed Gideon her screen, and he rolled his eyes.

  “How did he even know that’s what we were after?” she asked Gideon.

  He simply shrugged.

  “He has more eyes and ears around the city than you could possibly imagine,” he said. “Michael probably knows what you’re about to do before you know what you’re about to do. There’s a reason he’s in charge of this mission. He doesn't tolerate mistakes.”

  Well, he had tolerated one of Sunny's mistakes. And she still wasn’t certain why.

  “Is there any new information in what he sent you that we could use to track her or her little brunette counterpart?”

  His question snapped her out of her reverie, and Sunny scanned through the email on her phone.

  “Former modeling agent.
Former model. Busted for prostitution a few years back. Failed porn star. Real piece of work,” Sunny said, as she read the list off. “Not sure how any of this will help us track her down any quicker though.”

  “It’ll help,” Gideon said simply. “The modeling part especially. I have a feeling that is one of the covers that Seumat uses. That, and possibly phone sex, or webcam girls. She needs to cast a wide net to feed her urges, and with the advent of technology, she has more than ample opportunities to feed off the population.”

  Gideon made Sunny write down the modeling agency names, as well as the porn site listed for Laura James. They would look into it later.

  “Where are we headed now?” she asked. She hadn’t bothered to pay attention, and now she had no idea which neighborhood they were in.

  “Just a quick stop to see a buddy of mine. He’s been holding something for me for the past few years, and I need it back. Quickly.”

  Sunny could only imagine what they were about to grab and who was going to give it to them. She knew better than to ask, and guessing would only drive her crazy. While they drove, she fired off a quick thank you email to Michael, acknowledging receipt of the information on Laura James. Michael responded almost immediately with a text message.

  Keep your guard up. Look out for trickery.

  The warning made Sunny stop and pause. Who was he warning her to keep her guard up against? He’d never done that before--it was always a given to Sunny that whomever she came across in the field was a potential danger.

  Did Michael mean Gideon?

  Chapter 8

  By buddy, Gideon meant a gorgeous, catwalk-worthy Amazonian specimen named Lisette. Sunny tried to hide the groan that was welling up in her throat when yet another beautiful woman cast her the side-eye while welcoming Gideon.

  At this point, who was the lust demon here? Gideon seemed to have his own harem of beauties fawning all over him at every turn, and he had the audacity to question her about Liam? Insane.