Me: Well, shit. Did you get any more info?
Melinda: Yeah, want me to call?
Me: That would be perfect.
A few seconds later, my phone rings. “Hey, Melinda,” I answer.
“Hey, Callie. Someday I’ll call you with good news.”
“I wouldn’t even know what to do with it,” I joke.
“Right? That awkward small talk would be, well, awkward when demons aren’t mentioned.”
“Can I put you on speaker? I’m with Kristy, Evander, and Tabatha.”
“Oh, uh, sure,” she says, sounding a little nervous. I pull the phone away from my ear, put the call on speaker, and lower the volume just a bit so people around us can’t hear. “Okay, tell us what ya know.”
“I don’t know a whole lot,” Melinda starts. “A group of kids found the bodies while at the park for a field trip.”
“Ugh,” Kristy says with a shudder. “Poor kids.”
“Right? Talk about childhood trauma. Easton and I had talked to another—another, uh, friend,” she says, aware she’s talking about hunters to a group of witches. “And they knew we were interested in the case in Arizona. We were actually going to drive there and see what we get dig up when I got the call just now about the bodies in Florida.”
“Do the police think it’s connected?”
“Yeah, because the FBI is getting involved.”
“There’s no chance it’s a copycat?” Evander asks.
“No, because there were sigils carved into the bodies, and that detail wasn’t released. I’m working on getting crime scene photos of both set of murders. My friend that’s in Florida is at the scene now.”
“The bodies were discovered a few hours ago?” Tabatha asks. It’s about seven p.m., much too late for a field trip have just concluded, especially since Florida is an hour ahead of us.
“Yes, around two in the afternoon, and time of death was marked around dawn.”
“So that rules out any sort of creature that cannot be in the sunlight,” Evander notes.
“Oh, my friend just texted me and—holy crap,” Melinda says, and we all lean in, waiting for her to go on. “I’m texting you the photo. It’s a demon sigil with some sort of writing around it. No one was able to identify it, and they sent photos to two professors who specialize in ancient languages already and have come up empty handed.”
A second later, her text comes through, and I open it up and zoom in on the sigil. Its swirly markings are familiar looking, with four circles on both the top and bottom of the markings.
“Paimon,” I say, reading the word carved around the sigil. “That’s what it says. I’m guessing it’s in Enochian to you guys?”
“Yes,” Tabatha says, looking from the sigil to me and back again, looking slightly panicked. “Was the same sigil carved on each body?”
“On the three victims here, yes. From what my friend can gather, a different one was carved on the bodies in Arizona, but it was the same on all three victims out there. Do you know what the sigil means?”
“Yes,” Tabatha says again. “Paimon is a demon, powerful just like Bael and the demon who came looking for Callie in the spring. But unlike Bael, he has never been captured and locked away in a demonic prison.”
“So something is trying to summon him?” Evander asks.
“My fear,” Tabatha starts, “isn’t that something is trying. My fear is they already have.”“Did you have a nice time with your friends?” Lucas asks me when I come home about an hour later. He’s in the living room, wearing nothing but dark gray sweatpants, reading one of my new romance novels that I just got a few days ago and haven’t had the chance to read yet, and he’s cracking the spine. I’m going to have to have a serious sit-down talk with Lucas about the way he handles books. He likes to read and can read in many languages, but his get rid of it and buy a new one later attitude drives me crazy when it comes to my precious books.
There’s a fire going, acting as the only light source for this room, though Lucas doesn’t need any light in order to read. I set the bags of clothes down on the coffee table.
“I did, and I got some dresses that will look very cute on me with this thing.” I gently pat my stomach. “I feel huge already.”
“It’s all baby.” Lucas moves me between his legs and rests his hands on my stomach. “And it’s so fucking sexy.”
I rake my fingers through his hair, which I’ve still forbid him from cutting just yet.
“You should try on what you bought for me.”
“They’re maternity clothes, Lucas, not lingerie.”
“It will still be hot as hell if I get to watch you undress.”
“Well,” I say and step back. “In that case.” I wiggle my eyebrows and grab the hem of my shirt, pulling it over my head. “You like this?” I ask, half joking, as I rub my hands over my belly. I’m not in the third trimester yet, and I already can’t imagine getting any bigger.