I was getting soft in my old age.
“You don’t want to go to Hell. I don’t want to ruin these shoes with a bunch of demon gore. What if we made an arrangement?” They were basically already ruined anyway, but that was beside the point.
He looked me up and down. “You’re a bit small for my taste.”
It took a second for me to realize what he meant, then I shook my head vigorously. “Ew, oh my God, no. I’m not going to let you inside me. Yuck.”
“That is hurtful.”
“Boohoo, you threw me off the roof.”
“What is your proposal, or I will do it again.”
I took a cautious step backwards just in case.
“Why don’t you come with me? I know the people I work with would love to have the cooperation of a living demon for a change.”
The demon stared at me thoughtfully, and for the first time since we’d started speaking, he didn’t seem to regard me as an inconsequential annoyance. He was really considering my offer, which gave me a flutter of nerves because I wasn’t sure how Tyler and Emilio were going to react when I showed up at the office with a third-hierarchy demon in tow.
Yet I kind of hoped he would agree.
Over the last few years, ever since vampires, werewolves, and the rest of the supernatural community had been outed to the human public, it was hard to make headway in reaching an understanding between the groups. That’s where my little department came in. We tried to shut down the worst of the worst, the monsters who had no interest in mingling with humans and only wanted to eat them. It was our way of helping ease the transition.
Having a live demon with insider wisdom on our side?
That would be a huge coup for our department.
“Can I still possess a human?”
I laughed. ?
?No.”
“Then I’m not sure how this benefits me.”
“Keeps you out of Hell.”
He tongued the large gaps between his sharp teeth, and his lizard tail swished behind him like that of a bored cat.
“All right,” he said after a lengthy pause. He held out his hand, which had six long fingers with incredibly sharp claws.
Gingerly I offered my own, and we shook.
He did not throw me off the roof again, and instead gave me a smile.
“Who are you, anyway?” he asked.
“Secret McQueen,” I told him. “FBI.”
Chapter Two
“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” Tyler Nowakowski boomed. He was pacing our little conference room like a caged tiger, and his rage made me think my decision to recruit a demon might have gone over better if I’d passed it by a committee first.
Emilio LaRoy sat in a chair near me, his expression unreadable as always. He wouldn’t offer any input until he had to, and for the time being Tyler seemed content to take up all the oxygen in the room.
Tyler was tall, like over six and a half feet. It meant his long legs took equally long strides, and since the room was tiny, it looked like he was just stepping to one side of the room then back again in a single step.
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” I replied.