Mark of the Demon (Kara Gillian 1)

My phone rang just as I was locking the door to my office. “Detective Gillian,” I said.

“Hey, Detective Gillian, this is Deputy Keller with the sheriff’s office. I think we found one of your people.”

“Wow, that was fast! Where are you? Which one?”

He cleared his throat. “Well, it’s not so great, really. We’re out on Highway 1790.”

Highway 1790 was a long, empty stretch through the swamp at the north end of the parish. The sick knot in my stomach tightened. “Shit. Don’t tell me.”

He sighed. “Yeah, she’s dead. Sorry.”

“I’m on my way.”

I sent a text message to Ryan and pulled up at the scene about half an hour later, just as dusk was beginning to paint the sky in shades of purple and orange. Detective James Harris was already on the scene—which I’d expected since the body was found within his jurisdiction. But I was somewhat surprised to see Agent Zack Garner there as well, standing by his car and talking on his cell phone.

He hung up as I approached. “Ryan’s on his way. He and I were grabbing dinner when he got your text, and he said he’d meet us here.”

I caught myself in time before saying something like, Oh, I figured he’d still be asleep. That would be a sure way to give people the wrong impression.

“We’ve been discussing the case most of the afternoon,” Zack continued, absently waving a mosquito away from his face.

He must not have slept long at all, I decided. But it was probably better that he not spend too much time at my house. “Come up with anything new and interesting?” I asked.

He shook his head. “He just filled me in on what happened to you two this morning.”

“Yeah, it was pretty wild,” I said, keeping my response vague since I had no idea what Ryan had told him. Which story did he give him—the demon attack, or the one we told everyone else?

Zack’s eyes met mine. “He told me what really happened,” he clarified. The flashing red and blue lights of the patrol units reflected oddly in his eyes, making them seem for an instant as if they had a reddish cast of their own. Then he smiled and the effect was gone. “Sounds dumb, but I sure wish I’d been there to see it for myself.”

“Not dumb at all,” I said, but my gaze slid to Harris. He was deep in conversation with some of the detectives from his own department. “Does he …?”

Zack snorted. “No. Hell, he wouldn’t believe it even if he saw it with his own eyes. He’d find some way to explain it.”

“That sounds about right,” I said, relieved that Harris had not also been privy to the real story. I couldn’t explain why, but I didn’t have any worries about Zack knowing the truth. I just somehow knew that he got it.

“And here comes our prodigal son,” Zack said, looking beyond me. I turned to see a dark Crown Victoria pulling to the side of the highway behind my Taurus.

Ryan exited his car and walked up to us. I noticed that he’d found the time to shower, shave, and change clothes and still managed to look fairly rested. He gave a nod to Zack, then looked at me, expression sober. “I have a bad feeling about this one.”>I heard a soft hiss. “You are injured.” His voice took on a darker timbre.

I kept the pillow clamped over my head. “Let me sleep, please?”

“I have never interrupted your sleep. You are injured and exhausted. You should not push yourself to such extremes.”

I couldn’t resist. I lifted the pillow from my head and looked over at him. Rhyzkahl stood beside my bed, azure eyes ancient and dangerous as he gazed down at me, dressed this time in robes of red in a hue so dark it could have been black. The front was intricately stitched with a pattern of runes in shimmering black thread, which caught the light and played tricks with the eyes. The contrast with his near-glowing hair and beautiful features was incredible.

“I have to do what I’m doing or more people are going to die,” I said wearily.

“You do not like these people,” he stated calmly. “You do not care for them, or respect them. You would never wish to invite them to your house, nor would you lend them money. Yet you put yourself in harm’s way for them.”

I sat up. “No one deserves to die that way.”

He sat with ethereal grace on the bed and lifted a silky eyebrow at me. “No one? Are you certain?”

I groaned and squeezed the bridge of my nose with my fingers. “Could we not get into a philosophical discussion about my career choice tonight?”

He lifted a hand and stroked my cheek with the back of his fingers. “Of course, dear one. I would gladly distract you from such banal thoughts.”

I leaned into the caress without realizing it at first. I thought briefly about pulling away, but I had to admit that it felt nice. “Sorry. The last few weeks have been kinda shitty.”