Page 7 of Wayward Daughter

I wasn’t stopping whatever it was. I needed these guys to listen to me so they didn’t get killed. Saul was probably the best one to approach if not the easiest. Caleb talked to me like I was a degenerate moron and Solomon never spoke to me at all.

Whatever this was, it might be my new fetish too. Saul read this book like he was a shifter who’d just scented his mate and she was with another man. And he was reading a book about a man who turned into a cockroach while a drag queen painted his toenails.

Saul wrapped up his book and his toenails would have been dry. Pan hopped off his lap, and they both bounded up to my table like good dogs.

“Hi!” Saul beamed. “I heard you asked for me.”

“Sit,” I said.

His butt immediately hit the booth. I could get used to this. He was looking at me like I was about to tell him Santa was real.

“You don’t happen to be in town for eight demons squatting in an Airbnb, are you?”

“Caleb wouldn’t like me talking to a member of the Flame. And it’s six demons.”

“Caleb wouldn’t like it if you all walked into a trap and ended up dead either. I’m trying to save your life. And it’s eight demons.”

“I’m listening. I come to the Quarter for intel when we’re here. I’m open to hearing you out. Six.”

I was pretty sure he also bought weed from the Quarter Rats and sexually read existentialist fiction in a drag bar, but I wasn’t going to point that out. I also wasn’t arguing with a stoner about how many demons were at that house. Julius was kind of a creep, but I trusted his intel.

“I don’t know what your lore books say⁠—”

“We call them Esoteric Texts.”

“Well, isn’t that fancy? I have insider information that an entire group of tourist shouldn’t have been able to have been possessed. That many demons shouldn’t have been able to escape at once.”

Saul leaned forward.

“Did you hear that from a demon?” he dramatically whispered.

“No, my uncle, who is very much human. He’ll punch you in the face if you suggest he’s anything other than Cajun. He didn’t hear it from a demon either. He read it in one of his books. I could make a comment about how it’s not all demons just like it’s not all priests, but it would go over your head, dipshit.”

He never stopped smiling.

“Touche. I’m actually open to the idea that not all supernaturals are evil, just like people. What does your uncle say it means?”

“He doesn’t know, just that it’s always bad and they tend to gang up with the seedier elements in the supernatural community. There might not just be demons in that house. I’m probably going to completely regret this, but there’s nothing saying the Flame and Venatio Daemonum can’t collaborate instead of fighting each other.”

There was, but I was leaving that part out. Our methods were older than theirs and didn’t invoke any deity. They thought it was pagan and evil. Arguing with Father Caleb about that sounded about as appealing as bleaching my butthole. We’d been around longer, but they might have figured out something we hadn’t. We could at least share lore.

“I’m up for that, but there are no women in our order. They’ve never been given access to those texts. I personally don’t see why you shouldn’t and there have been plenty of times our job would have been easier with a woman, but I’m also never going to be in charge to do anything about it. I can talk to Caleb, but he’s not in charge either. He leads our team as a mentor because he can’t do the physical stuff because of his hex, but he has a boss too.”

“Excuse me, hex? Is that why he’s so pleasant?”

I was just being an asshole, but Saul nodded with wide eyes. Interesting.

“It’s a creative curse. It affects his heart, but it also makes him really grumpy. We’re looking into how to break it.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“No. I won’t expose you.”

There were ways to remove hexes, but a Hellhound could just eat them. I’d only let them know Pan was a Hellhound as a last resort. But there was something I could do. New plan.

“I can probably help remove the hex if he’s willing to resort to Flame methods. I have a way I can definitely remove it, but we’re going to need some trust falls and talking about our feelings before I’ll use it. Tell him to work with me on this and I’ll try. Something is happening that’s bigger than both our organizations.”

“Caleb isn’t completely unreasonable and the first time you met, you did technically spank him.”