A Song of Redemption Read online

  Taking the coffees back to the shop, I handed one, a Vanilla latte to Heeni as I sipped happily on the caramel macchiato, a delightful indulgence I needed before facing another dog.

  Too bad it couldn’t fortify me to confront a demon.

  I got home later than usual, after eight. I’d swung through a drive-through to grab a hamburger and a salad on my way. My shoulders ached, and my head throbbed. I knew a good part of it came from stress, but the weariness had been with me since I’d gotten back from India. The explosion had taken more of a toll than I wanted to admit.

  Nygard scurried down from upstairs, ready for his dinner, and he made it clear I needed to do that before I even touched a bite of mine. I paused long enough to set the bag on the coffee table, then took another few moments to make sure the house felt secure. Nothing tingled at my senses, and the cat’s eagerness for food suggested nothing had invaded while I was gone. While I set the safety wards, as usual, I still felt concern that the house might not be secure.

  Once the cat and I had both eaten our dinners, I climbed upstairs and settled at the computer desk to check the email. Not too much of a personal nature, although quite a few trying to sell me something, offering me something for nothing, and the usual spam. However, one did catch my attention, and I hurried to open it. Father Garrity had sent some news.

  I scanned it, noting the brevity of the message, but it was, more or less, good. He’d sent the information we’d given him on to the Church, and it had been passed to the appropriate people in Rome, he said. Who those might be, I had no idea, but at least someone in authority, I hoped. While he didn’t have any details about the reaction or what their course of action might be, the priest did say that Rome thanked Gavin and me for the information and that they would be following up on it.

  That’s all? I wrote back. No indication that they’re going to take any action?

  Of course, I thanked him for sending the message along and added that I sincerely hoped they were taking it seriously and might be in touch with us. I hesitated to say anything about our latest fiasco of an attempt to contain Belphegor. In fact, we hadn’t mentioned anything about the demon when we’d talked to Garrity, so best to continue to keep it quiet for now. If Rome showed any interest, then maybe I would mention what we’d tried to do.

  With a shake of my head, I sent the message, then called up my chat group of demon fighters. Not too much chatter there either. A brief entry from EllyJ telling me she’d snail-mailed a package to me with a glove she used when making the bouquets for funerals. Elly figured the glove and its mate, which she kept, would have emotional charges that could link us. I thanked her, saying I’d let her know when I got the glove, and we could plan an attempt to connect.

  Although I had a few misgivings, I hoped that we would be able to make a link, and I could eventually pull her through to my ethereal cemetery. After the experience with Gavin and Astrid, I wasn’t so confident.

  Chapter 2

  WHEN I ARRIVED AT THE Lewis’s house, the party for Andy was in full swing. A woman I almost didn’t recognize as Janna’s sister-in-law opened the door. I had only met Heather once before when she’d married Gordon, Janna’s older brother.

  “Come on in,” she said and waved me in, pointing toward the dining room. “Food’s on the table, help yourself. Andy’s around here somewhere. I think he was in the den.” She flashed a polite smile before turning away.

  I assumed she didn’t remember me and thought I was a friend of Andy’s, which I was, but not in the way she guessed. I caught a glimpse of Janna’s long, blond ponytail and made my way toward her. She chatted with a man around Andy’s age whom I presumed to be one of his friends. Once I was almost on top of her, she spotted me.

  “Gillian! You made it. I was worried.” She threw her arms open.

  “I’m only a few minutes late,” I objected and hugged her.

  “Well, yeah, but you know...” She blinked at me. “Oh, this is Andy’s best friend, Armin. He used to live next door.”

  I shook hands with him, noting his skin tones that suggested his Middle Eastern heritage. But he was a handsome dude with a friendly smile. He looked me up and down in one sultry-looking scan from his coffee-bean colored eyes. Too presumptuous, I thought as his gaze made me uncomfortable.

  “Gillian is my best friend,” she told Armin just before she relieved me of the package I’d brought for Andy and stuck it on a separate table for gifts and cards.

  “So, are you the friend that sings?”

  I nodded as a feeling of discomfort rose up my spine. Was he going to say something about the fight during one of my gigs or about singing at funerals?

  “That’s cool. Janna thinks you’re terrific, and she’s usually right,” Armin said with a little laugh.

  I might have blushed a bit, but managed to ask, “What do you do, Armin?”

  “I have my bachelor’s in engineering. At the moment, I’m going for my master’s. I hope to land a job with an aerospace company, maybe Space X, once I get it.”

  “Oh, that’s great,” I said. Clearly, he was a very smart dude. And evidently, his family had money if he was not working while going to the university. “Where are you studying?” I figured it wasn’t at UNR, not for the masters.

  “I’m at Caltech in Pasadena.”

  He said it so casually as if everyone could get in there. “Wow! That’s amazing. So you and Andy will be pretty close to each other.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, you could say that. I’m trying to talk him into rooming with me.”

  “Doesn’t he want to?” I was beginning to reassess my initial observation of Armin.

  “Maybe. He wants to get settled into his job before deciding where to live.”

  “Makes sense,” I answered. “If you’ll excuse me, I want to go say hi to Andy.” With an apologetic smile, I turned to go to the den.

  I’d made it partway there when I felt a hand clasp my shoulder, and I turned my head to look back. Janna’s mother had caught up with me. A big smile lit up her face as she said, “Gillian! It’s about time you made it over here again. We’ve missed you.”

  I gave her my apologetic, gritted-teeth look like a child caught tracking mud across the carpet. “I know. I’m sorry, Mrs. Lewis. The whole last year has kinda spun out of control.”

  “You poor girl. Janna told me about your problems. We were out of town when you got taken by that killer and didn’t hear about it until two or three weeks later. We thought you’d come by when you felt better.” Her eyes held a sympathetic look.

  But she hadn’t tried to contact me or even send an invite through Janna at the time. That was typical of her. Communication was kind of a one-way street, and it only flowed from my direction.

  “Like I said, I got a bit overwhelmed by events.” That was true. While I’d considered Janna’s place like a second home, that didn’t make me really close with her parents. So it didn’t occur to me to contact them. Heck, I didn’t even call my own mother.

  She caught my hand and stood back to look at me. “Well, you look terrific. Slimmed down and in great shape. Janna said you two were working out together. But what is this about singing at funerals?”

  My eyebrows lifted. “What?”

  “You were on some news show, weren’t you?” She didn’t even pause for my answer. “Really, dear, you really shouldn’t be doing something as odd as that with your talent.”

  “Yeah, I know. I’m trying to give it up,” I said as I looked for an escape route. “I was just on my way to see Andy...”

  “Oh, of course. He’s gone out to the patio, I think. A few of his friends are smoking.” By the way her pretty mouth, so much like Janna’s, turned down, I could see her disapproval.

  “Great. I’ll go out there then. I’ll check back with you later.” I turned and hurried back through the dining room toward the patio before she could catch up with me again.

  As soon as I stepped out into the smoke on the porch, I saw Andy in the middle o
f a group of five people about his age, two girls and three guys and all of them were smoking, Andy included. I made my way to him, looped my arm through his and said, “Does your mother know you smoke?”

  He took the cigarette out of his mouth and pursed his lips together, saying through them, “Are you going to tell her?”

  “I ain’t no snitch, honey,” I said in a low voice, and we both giggled. It was a joke between us. He’d had the line in a play when he was in the fifth grade before his voice had lowered, and it sounded hysterical when his squeaky kid voice said it. Everyone had laughed; every single time he said it.

  He hugged me. Like Janna, he was impossibly good-looking, so sexy and tall. He’d fit right in with the pretty people in Hollywood, but he was a lawyer, just out of law school, in fact.

  “So tell me about this job you’re starting,” I said.

  “It’s with an entertainment agency. I’m eager to do entertainment law, so it’s a good match. With enough experience, I can get on with a legal firm that specializes in it and work my way to the top, baby.” He flipped his sunglasses down over his eyes.

  “Going Hollywood already, I see,” I grinned at him and gave him a squeeze. I coughed pointedly. “Look, I’m gonna leave you to your friends and smoke. I just wanted to wish you tons of luck in LA. And maybe I’ll see you down there sometime.”

  Impulsively, he kissed my cheek and released me so I could slip away. Glad to extricate myself from the smoke, I went back inside and grabbed some of the punch,—spiked!—picked up a couple of finger sandwiches and some chips, and made my way to a seat in the living room that still felt warm from whoever had vacated it.

  I wasn’t crazy about going to parties where you knew very few people, and you weren’t the entertainment. I got enough of it when I was performing and had to mingle and schmooze. Sadly, apart from Janna’s family, I didn’t know anyone else in the room. I figured I’d give it another thirty minutes, then slip out and no one would be the wiser.

  Great plan until Janna found me and plopped down next to me.

  “I’m glad you came,” she said right off.

  “I didn’t want to miss saying good luck to Andy. Can’t believe he’s off to a whole new world.”

  She giggled. “Like you actually saw him much.”

  “That doesn’t mean I don’t care about the little twerp. We had a lot of fun teasing him. He certainly has matured well.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, he has. He should turn a few heads in Tinsel Town.”

  “Both men and women, I would imagine.”

  “Yep. That’s probably true. I’m gonna miss him.”

  “I didn’t think you saw him that often.”

  She turned her gaze to me. “At least once a month for dinner. You know I see Mom and Dad regularly, or they’d send out a patrol to look for me.”

  “And you didn’t invite me to come along?”

  Her look turned pouty. “Like I didn’t ask you? I did, but it went right past you. You’ve been more than a little distracted for the past year, Gilly. I gave up after the first few tries.”

  “Oh. I don’t remember...”

  “Just fess up. You didn’t want to be in the middle of one of my mom and dad bicker-fests.” She winked at me and looked away to where her mom stood talking with an older woman across the room. I thought it was an aunt or something.

  “Speaking of your dad, where is he? I haven’t seen him or Gordon.”

  “Umm, I think they disappeared into Dad’s office around the start of the party.”

  I chuckled. “Good move.”

  “What’s happening with the monsters, Gilly? I know you took off for a weekend, but you haven’t said much since. Even Ferris has been tight-lipped about it.” She referred to the excursion I’d made to India to attempt to seal Belphegor back in his cage.

  “Yeah, there isn’t a lot to say. Gavin, a colleague of his, and I tried to undo a mistake. It didn’t work out so well. Gavin’s in the hospital, and I’m feeling kind of lost.” I gazed down, keeping my voice soft as I said it.

  “Gavin’s hurt? A mistake? One you made?” Her eyes showed worry as her eyebrows lowered a bit.

  “I’ll tell you more when we’re alone, Janna. This is a party and not the place for this discussion.”

  Her lips drew tight as she nodded. “I’ll hold you to it.”

  Growing perkier, she said, “So, is Ferris going to work the party on Sunday with you? I know you mentioned he might. I don’t mind paying a little extra to have him perform.”

  “I’m pretty sure he will. I’ll let you know tomorrow, okay?”

  She agreed, then we chatted about her job a little longer. With the new casino in Washoe Valley opening, she was excited and nervous about the event. It would be the first private event in the new ballroom, so she wanted it to be special. Janna had landed her perfect position, something that suited her and her talents. I was glad to see her so happy with her new job even though it meant many long hours.

  Her love life, on the other hand, wasn’t bubbling as much. She still dated Jared, a colleague from work, now and then, but she didn’t have time for a serious relationship. Although she assured me once again that Jared wasn’t more than a fun friend, I kind of felt sorry for him since she’d never taken him seriously in her quest for the perfect man.

  “I’m sure Mr. Right will come along soon,” I said to encourage her as she looked a little wistfully across the room where her sister-in-law talked to a little boy about five.

  “I hope before too long,” she said. “I’d like to have a family before I get too far into my thirties.”

  “I hear you. I think about it sometimes also, but I just don’t feel I’m in a position to even contemplate having kids.”

  “Have you and Ferris even discussed getting that far?” she asked.

  “Whoa. We’re still working on the relationship. I love him, but it’s still new in many ways. And my life is a nightmare at the moment. Frankly, I don’t know if it’s ever going to get better. My music career is dying rapidly, and the supernatural side of it is threatening to do the same to me.” My voice sounded as dejected as I felt.

  Tears welled at the corners of Janna’s eyes as she bit her lower lip. “I’m sorry, Gilly. It all really sucks, but I know you can handle it. You’re tough and strong. You wouldn’t have been handed this if you couldn’t do it.”

  As a pep talk, it failed to ignite my enthusiasm. Since the disaster in India, I felt lost and drifting. Hell, I was even eager for Orielle to return to Reno just to have some guidance in this pursuit of evil. Losing Gavin, even temporarily—assuming he would eventually pull out of the coma—really set me back.

  Janna wrapped her arms around me sideways as we sat next to each other and laid her head against my shoulder. “Have faith, hunny. You’re fighting on the right side, and you’re not alone.”

  I slid an arm around her waist and squeezed, then we both let go, so it didn’t look like anything more than the friendly hug it was to anyone else in the room.

  “Look, I’m gonna go. I’ll say bye to your mom, so she doesn’t think I ran out on her, but I’m not in the right mood for a party today.”

  Janna’s sad look was answer enough, but she nodded, then sprang to her feet to visit with another of her brother’s friends. I looked around, spotted Mrs. Lewis, and rose to offer my excuse to run off.

  BACK HOME, I CUDDLED with Nygard on the couch and allowed the tears I’d been holding back most of the melancholy day to flow. Tears for Gavin, tears for myself, maybe even a few for Roger, whom I hadn’t been able to help when he was pulled to the evil side of the cemetery. This whole demon-fighting thing sucked.

  Nygard took it in stride, licking at my face and purring as I held my own pity party. “Have faith,” Janna had said. One thing I lacked quite a bit.

  I stared at the ceiling and mumbled, “God, if you have chosen me for this, couldn’t you have given me more guidance? Am I supposed to be learning something from this experience? If
I fail—if I can’t get enough help—then the consequences will hurt thousands or maybe even millions of people. Of all the people you might have selected, you picked the weakest link.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say that, angel girl,” Zoe’s voice suddenly boomed in the room.

  The problem with ghosts is they can simply drop in on you whenever they feel like it. Zoe had been a recent client, and even though I’d shepherded her and her girlfriend through the light tunnel, she still had a task for me to finish.

  I turned my head to see her ghost standing on the other side of the coffee table. Nygard’s head swiveled that direction as well. He hissed, then jumped down and retreated to the kitchen. He wasn’t fond of ghosts.

  “Can’t you ever knock?” I said, sitting up and swiping a hand across my watery eyes.

  “On what? The door? It takes enough energy just to manifest without blowing extra to pound on an object.”

  I frowned at her. “I was having a soulful moment. And it was private.”

  “Yeah, you’re wallowing in it. You’re tougher than that, so buck up.” No sympathy came through in either her voice or her expression, which was intent on her own grievance. “So, what’s happening with my shit husband? Have you located him yet?”

  I shook my head, seeing the frown that immediately covered her face. “I have my detective friend looking into it, but it’s an FBI case and–”

  “Those screw-ups?” she interrupted. “They have enough on their bumbling hands already, it seems. Nicolas Sarkis isn’t even on their radar at the moment. He’s a small fish, so they aren’t worried. I’m the only one who gives a shit!”

  “I care. I just can’t do a lot.” That came out like a lame whine. “Sorry, Zoe. I want to see him caught and punished, but I can only push so hard.”

  She plopped her ghostly self on the coffee table as if she were actually sitting and leaned toward me. “Shit, I gave you the key to getting to Nick. Trust me; he hasn’t changed that email address. You need to be more persistent with your detective. You can locate him and lure him back if you have the guts to do it.”