Fire Within

chapter Seventeen

Her next conscious thought was that she’d forgotten to pull the drapes. Mid-morning sunlight streamed across her bed, making her too warm on a hot summer day. She blinked and sat up, still dressed in the t-shirt and red panties she’d had on yesterday. Ari frowned and rubbed her face. What time was it? How did she get to bed? No jeans. And, um, no bra. She didn’t remember going to bed. She padded to the fridge and reached for a diet coke. Her hand stopped as she spotted a plate with a fancy silver cover.

Memory came rushing back. Andreas. He’d said he was coming over. She popped the top on the soda can and took a long drink. She vaguely remembered Andreas’s arms carrying her. Almost like a dream. She finished the soda, setting the can on the counter.

Hmm. Andreas must have found her asleep and put her to bed. That would explain the missing clothes. The corners of her mouth twitched. Maybe she should be embarrassed, but she wasn’t. Just sorry she’d slept through the experience.

She found her clothes neatly folded on a kitchen chair. Attractive, sexy, and tidy too? Andreas wasn’t half-bad at this boyfriend business. Ari grinned, shrugging off the weight and gloom that seemed determined to settle between her shoulder blades this morning. She couldn’t let this case get her down. First a shower, then the food, and back to work. She remembered the clue she’d found last night. Thank you, Great-Gran. All she needed to do was follow it to its logical conclusion. Piece of cake.

When she was dressed, she nibbled on the reheated dinner, sipped a cup of microwaved coffee, and gave Ryan a ring. Time to catch up on his side of things.

“Did you have a nice rest?” he asked by way of greeting.

Puzzled by the amusement in his voice, she said, “Uh, fine, thank you.”

He snorted, barely containing his laughter this time. “I’ll just bet you did. Andreas left me a phone message saying you’d fallen asleep and he was quote ‘putting you to bed.’ He suggested not calling until you called me. A little possessive, I thought, but it must be nice to have somebody come tuck you in.”

“Very funny. Can we stick to business?” She’d be discussing this with Andreas. You don’t share embarrassing moments with a cop. Ever. They never let you forget it.

“If you insist. Actually, I let the computers run the searches last night and managed to get a few hours sleep myself. But I don’t think I had half as much fun as you did.”

“Enough, Ryan. Your imagination is leading you astray. What about our suspects?”

“I think we really are down to the last three, the three in Shale’s office: Stanley, Binderman, and Shale himself. Unverified alibis and holes in those three backgrounds. Sarah Young is clean. The shrink we use as a profiler agrees on Stanley and Shale. She thinks Binderman is too transparent.”

Profiler? What would a human shrink know about demons? But anything that made Ryan happy was fine with her. Ari let it go unchallenged. “Fitzhugh and Batty are definitely cleared?”

“Yep. Fitzhugh was squeaky clean. Richard Batty is an oddball and probably a pervert. Two convictions for intox, dismissed from the last job for indecent exposure, but charges were never filed. His alibis and background are genuine.”

“That’s good work. You still think Stanley’s the most likely of our remaining suspects?”

“No searchable history. Anywhere. If she’s not the demon, she’s hiding something else behind an alias. We’re concentrating efforts on her at the moment, looking for a criminal past that might explain the discrepancies.” He paused, and she heard him slurping coffee. “That doesn’t mean we’re ignoring the other two. Haven’t located Binderman’s last employer in Chicago, but we’re looking. As for Shale, his counseling agency in L.A. closed about eighteen months ago. We still don’t know why, and we’re trying to account for the missing time before he showed up in Riverdale.”

“I’m impressed. You’re close to nailing this down. I’m working hard to find a magical solution by the time we need it. I know where to start now. Great-Gran’s been helping me.”

“Huh?”

“No, no ghosts. Old notes. Never mind.” Ari chuckled at his confusion. “Just trust that I’ll get it done.” The real question was whether she’d figure it out in time.

As they talked about the suspects, Ari finally acknowledged her growing sense of unease, the weight on her shoulders. The dark cloud of dread had been there when she woke and continued to trickle through her system like the buzz of too much caffeine. A sudden cold spot on her neck made her rub it with one hand.

“We have to work faster,” Ari said. “I can sense the creature is growing impatient, and it knows we’re looking for it. It’s next strike will be a big one, and I think it’s coming soon. Maybe, within hours. Dark magic is stronger at night, so dusk could be our deadline.”

“Let’s hope you’re wrong for once,” Ryan said. “We need all the time we can get.”

In spite of the ticking clock, she had a couple more calls to make before getting back to work. The first went to Martin, the other Guardian in the district, who was covering for her on anything that couldn’t wait. Fortunately, he reported everything else had been quiet, and nothing required her immediate attention.

Her next call went to Claris. Ari hadn’t talked with her since Sunday, even though her friend had left two messages. If Ari didn't call soon, Claris would be pounding on the door. Besides, Ari would need additional magical ingredients as soon as she figured out a formula. She wanted to make sure Claris would be expecting her.

“Oh, dang,” Claris said when she picked up. “Finally you call, and I’ve got a store full of customers. I can’t chat long.”

“No big deal. I’m swamped myself but wanted to let you know I may be over to get some stuff. But you called me.”

“Oh yes. She’s back. The cat, Hernando’s lady friend? You’d asked about her, so I thought you’d want to know. Appeared yesterday morning. Skinny, so I fed her.”

“Sucker. You’ll never get rid of her now.”

“I know, but she’s so cute with those big ears. I wonder…oops, got to go. Call you later.”

Ari grinned at the empty phone. What a totally different life Claris lived, where cats and customers were the important things in her daily world and not demons, werewolves and vampires. Sometimes Ari envied her—but not for long.

Ari fired up the laptop and dug through the trunk again, setting aside keepsakes that she’d examine another day. That included a string-tied packet belonging to her father. His writings wouldn’t contain info on the magicks, as he hadn’t been a practicing warlock. In witch families, not everyone inherited the ability to use magic, but they carried the genes. The ability could skip several generations before another true witch or warlock emerged.

She grabbed a stack of letters in her mother’s handwriting. What she needed was witch wisdom. She found what she was looking for in the second letter she read, a letter from her mother to Great-Gran. It described the defeat of a halfling demon who had turned evil. Instead of a banishing spell, her mother had used a banishing potion. That was unusual in itself, but it was the explanation of how it worked that caught her eye. The potion had cast out the demon side, leaving an empty earthly shell. When her mother destroyed the shell, the halfling died.

What had Moriana said? An image changer was just another demon. The differences between a halfling and Riverdale’s demon were only a matter of degree. Could it really be that simple? Bind the demon to his form, douse him with the potion, and then destroy his body? Wouldn’t he be left in limbo, forcing him into the same choice as a vanquishing spell?

Ari’s face broke into a broad grin. She couldn’t perform dark magic, but she knew how to cook potions. For the first time in days, she knew the solution was within her grasp. Binding spell, banishing potion. What could be simpler?

She tackled the spell first. She’d used versions of it for years, had successfully adapted it to werewolves. Making it work for a demon should be possible with a little work. In any spell, it was the language that mattered, and luckily, the Goddess wasn’t particular about the artistry. In this instance, the chant needed to bind both body and spirit. It took more than an hour before she was sure she had it right.

Take the outer form, hold it firm and still; Bend the demon spirit to your stronger will;

Wrap with chains of strength and might; Bind him, Goddess, with your light.

As sand to sea, so mote it be.

The potion was a bigger challenge, but Ari knew the foundation. The tektite stone. It was used in all banishing magic and would be the main ingredient. The other parts of the recipe would take more research and a little experimentation.

Ari rolled her head to loosen the tension in her neck. Her witch senses were growing more insistent, raising the hairs at the nape of her neck. She checked the clock. 2:40 p.m. It would be dark by 8:00 or 8:30. Less than six hours before the demon’s powers would peak. She didn’t think it would wait any longer.

Ari reached for the phone, when it rang in her hand.

“You’re never going to believe this,” Ryan said.

“The demon’s kidnapped the mayor and taken over City Hall?” she quipped.

“Huh? He’s done what?”

“Sorry. Having a mental moment. What’s happened now?”

“Got a hit on Freida Stanley. Or should I say Louise Margaret Combes, who has outstanding warrants from Idaho for two counts of solicitation and running a house of prostitution. Having met her, I’m surprised she could make a living in the sex arena,” he said. “Maybe her clients turned her in for fraud.”

Ari snorted in response. Everyone was tired. “Petty humor aside, what you’re saying is she’s got a past we can verify.”

“Yep, there’s a real Louise Combes and the photo matches. So, unless the demon has cloned her identity, she’s not our suspect. This thing can’t do that, can it? Clone a real person?”

“Nope. At least not a living person. But damn, Ryan, I should have thought of deceased identities. Did you check death records? I don’t think there’d be anything to stop the demon from using the image of a dead person.”

“No, no, Ari,” Ryan said on an exasperated burst of breath. “I thought we were down to two, but now I’ll have to check all six again, make sure everybody’s still among the living. A death certificate should’ve popped up in our initial inquiries, but you never know. Records don’t always get updated like they should. This search is never-ending.”

“Tell me about it,” Ari agreed, eyeing the piles of loose notes and books stacked around her apartment.

Later that afternoon, after two consults with the OFR lab, Ari began mixing the potion. A half cup of water, six drops of lavender oil and the tektite stone went in the cauldron first. They would brew for an hour. In the meantime she headed to Claris’s to pick up ingredients she rarely used, in particular, wormwood and belladonna. In small doses each was useful in warding off evil or negating evil. The wrong doses could have the opposite effect, and Ari usually avoided both. In this case, they were required elements of the binding spell.

On the way to Claris’s, she rang Andreas and suggested he meet her. She told herself it would be easier to bring him up to date in person. In reality, she was bored with her own company. Since he and Claris had never formally met, what better time than the middle of a crisis?

Andreas fell into step about a block from the shop, and by the time they arrived, he was up to date on the day’s events. They were discussing the potion when Ari tapped on the greenhouse door.

“How long before it is ready?” he asked.

“An hour, maybe less. Once I add the new ingredients.”

Claris beamed at the two of them. Ari introduced them, and if Claris was surprised to see Andreas, she didn’t show it. He gave Claris the old world hand kiss, which caused her to blush, but she remained a little aloof. By the time Claris had shown him around the greenhouse, where he demonstrated an unexpected knowledge of plant life, she was chatting with him like an old friend. Ari shook her head at her friend’s quick seduction. It was so easy to forget Andreas was a vampire.

Hernando the cat took his introduction in stride, giving Andreas a wide-eyed look but purring as soon as he was petted. When Hernando’s little girlfriend appeared, sitting outside the greenhouse, peering in the window with unblinking eyes, Hernando trotted over as if showing her off. She was a silvery gray color with black trim on her over-sized ears, the tip of her tail and her button nose. Andreas stepped outside and picked her up, and they discovered her footpads were also black. But her really distinctive feature was the green eyes, not sort of green, but a shimmering emerald.

“She really needs a home. Rather than hanging around my greenhouse,” Claris said.

Ari glanced suspiciously at her friend’s face, but Claris was watching Andreas handle the pretty feline, who purred loudly. Ari had assumed she was a feral stray, but the animal was obviously taking pleasure in the attention. Or being female, maybe it was Andreas’s attention she liked.

“You know, Arianna, your apartment could use a cat,” Andreas said, smiling conspiratorially at Claris.

As if she understood his words, the cat swung her head in Ari’s direction and stared at her with those incredible, emerald eyes. Ari knew she was a goner. “But I’m away from home so much,” she protested feebly, reaching out a hand to stroke the cat’s head. Andreas transferred her silky body into Ari’s arms, and the cat dropped her head onto Ari’s shoulder.

“Aww. Look, she likes you.” That was Claris.

“Every witch should have a familiar,” Andreas said.

“A familiar? She’s just a cat. Aren’t you, sweetie?”

“She needs a home,” Claris coaxed. “Don’t pretend like you haven’t thought about it. You’ve worried about this little girl for months.”

Ari smiled at the cat. Maybe she could use a roommate. The apartment was sometimes too empty when she returned late at night or in the morning when she woke alone. And the latter would never change if she continued to date a vampire. Ari snuggled her face against the soft fur. The cat smelled of woods and other wild things.

“I’ll think about it,” Ari hedged, knowing the decision was already made. “Maybe, I’ll take Bella, but not tonight. Not until we’ve…ah, solved the murders.” She caught herself before she mentioned the demon in front of Claris. This definitely wasn’t the time to get into that discussion.

“Bella?” Andreas asked with a grin.

“For belladonna, one of the main ingredients in the potion I’m making. It’ll bring me luck.”

“But that’s nightshade,” Claris objected. “Implies a black cat.”

“I don’t care. If she’s going to be my cat, I can name her anything I want.” Ari grinned at her best friend. “You’re not questioning the right of a witch to name her chosen familiar, are you?”

“In Italian, bella donna means beautiful lady,” Andreas said.

“See, I told you. It fits her.”

So, Bella was marked for adoption and named, but the mood quickly changed as Ari remembered her errand and collected the herbs she needed. When Andreas left to be present for the reopening of the club, Ari patted Bella goodbye and returned to her apartment. Ryan still hadn’t called with a final identification of their killer.

During the short walk to her place, she considered what would happen once they had a single suspect. They’d have to figure a way to isolate the demon, so she could work her magic. But what if they couldn’t decide which person to target? She couldn’t douse them all with potion. While neither the spell nor potion should be fatal to a human, dousing every suspect wasn't practical or feasible and would probably result in a string of lawsuits. She sighed. Her job would be so much easier if she didn’t have to consider human sensibilities and legalities.

By the time she arrived home, the potion base was ready for the final ingredients. She stirred in a sprinkling of belladonna, a pinch of wormwood, and large portions of three activating agents. The final color was a murky taupe. When she took a whiff of the brew, it smelled mostly of lavender. She hesitated, then added a pinch of marjoram to speed the creature on his journey. She wished him a clear highway to hell. Satisfied, she covered the bowl with a square of linen, leaving the tektite stone inside. It would continue to cure until she got Ryan’s call. At that point, she’d transfer the liquid into two small vials. She always carried a spare.

With nothing more to do until she heard from Ryan, Ari killed time by picking up the apartment. Mounds of notes were discarded or stuffed into her personal journal. Her mother’s and Great-Gran’s things were returned to the trunk. Ari was almost finished when she finally heard from Ryan. He had Andreas on a conference call.

“Binderman lied to us. Her past employment is bogus. Chicago employer never heard of her. I have officers standing by to pick her up.”

“If she feels trapped, she’ll kill them,” Ari protested. “Tell them we wait, and we'll all go. I have the spell and potion.”

“Music to my ears,” Ryan said. “Let me get my officers on the phone. Warn them not to approach her until we get there. I’ll be back in a minute.” He clicked off.

Andreas picked up the conversation. “At least this answers my question. Shale called about an abandoned newborn vampire. He wants me to—”

“OK, guys,” Ryan broke in, clicking back on line. “Binderman’s taken off. Cleared out her apartment and shoved the key under the landlord’s door sometime this morning.” Ari could hear the bitter disappointment in his voice. “Our visit to the agency must have scared her. I’ve issued a BOLO on her vehicle, but maybe she’s not even in a vehicle. If I understand you, Ari, she can blip anywhere, be anyone.”

“That’s true,” Ari admitted. “But in case she is in her car, I’m really worried what would happen if unsuspecting cops pull her over.”

“I asked for a locate only and warned them she’s armed and dangerous. Can’t tell them we’re looking for a demon. What would I say? Wanted: evil demon, who might look like your grandma or your uncle? This is too complicated. What do we do now? Wait until it kills again, somewhere else in the world?”

Ari could count on Ryan to get down to basics.

“I do not think it will go far from Riverdale,” Andreas said. “Not until the job is finished. Whatever his ultimate goal, I have been targeted twice. He will try again. Perhaps we can draw the creature to us at a time of our choosing, if I make myself available.”

“Set you up as bait?” Ari demanded. “I don’t think so.”

“Do you have a better suggestion?”

“Yeah. Anything else.”

“If we’re lucky, she’ll turn up,” Ryan said. “Let’s sit tight for a few hours before we start talking about luring this creature to anyone. Maybe we’ll come up with a better idea.”

“I’ll think of something,” she said. Anything would be better than making Andreas a target. She’d try scrying again. Ari could use something that belonged to Binderman, like the letter opener. If the demon thought it was safe in a new hidey-hole or with a new disguise, it might get over-confident, allowing her to locate it.

“Suits me,” Andreas said. “If she is not found before tomorrow, we can talk again as soon as I wake. The demon will surface again. Assuming Sebastian or someone like him is its employer, even a demon would be wise not to back out on his deal. Arianna, I will see you in an hour or two, after I have dispensed with a small favor.”

An hour had gone by, and Ari had not heard from Andreas. She had finished straightening her apartment and completed the potion, dividing it into two vials. She considered taking a nap, but if she fell asleep, Andreas would probably leave again. Besides, she was too tense for a nap. Her witch senses were in a flap, aided and abetted by the enormous amount of caffeine she’d consumed. Her skin shimmered with raw energy.

She flopped on the couch, wondering how long Andreas would be. Since he hadn’t actually told her what he was doing for Shale, the “small favor” might take longer than he thought, or he could be caught up in club business. His hour or two might be any time before dawn.

She stretched her arms, unable to shake off her unease, that looming sense of doom, generated by the demon. Andreas had to be right, the creature wasn’t far away. More than that, she had a gut feeling, a cop instinct, that something was wrong with their conclusions. How could she have liked Amelia Binderman so much? Had the demon messed with her mind? Shale or Stanley would have been acceptable suspects. She didn’t like either of them, but Binderman? Her witch senses hadn’t picked up any power from the woman. When this was over, she’d have a talk with Moriana. Ari had to get better at detecting demonic beings. Even on a human level, none of the woman’s actions had been overly suspicious, until she’d run. She appeared to be just a nice lady who loved her job and enjoyed Fourth of July picnics.

And then it hit her, just as the phone rang. “Thank the goddess you called,” she blurted. “It isn’t Binderman.”

“How’d you know?”

Wrong voice. “Ryan. I thought you were Andreas. Amelia Binderman isn’t the demon.”

“Yeah, I know that. State cops stopped her along the interstate to Chicago. She was going home because she lied about her prior employment on her resume. How did you know?”

“I didn’t know anything about that, but it was the picnic. Binderman was with Amy when they went to the restroom. She was never alone. That means she couldn’t have killed Jules. I’m calling Andreas on the other phone. He was talking about some meeting with Shale. Not a good idea, until we know who the demon really is.”

“Holy shit, Ari. Stop him,” Ryan said sharply. “I just got Shale’s death certificate from California. He died eighteen months ago. Shale is the demon!”

Ari’s gut clenched as Andreas’s cell went to phone mail. “He’s not answering. Maybe he’s still at the club and can’t hear with all the noise.” She punched speed dial and waited, holding a phone at each ear. Her heart pounded, witch senses brought to full alert by a sudden rush of fear. She urged someone to pick up, all the while thinking Andreas would be blind-sided by the demon. He was walking into an ambush.

Marcus’s voice came on the line. “Club Dintero. How may I—”

“Where’s Andreas?”

“Ari? He’s not here. What’s wrong?”

“Is he meeting Shale? Where?”

“At the agency, I think. About some newbie. Do you need help with the demon?” Marcus sounded puzzled over the panic in Ari’s voice.

“Shale is the demon. He’ll kill Andreas!” She broke the connection. “Shale’s office,” she yelled into the other phone. “I’m on my way.”

Ari grabbed the vials of potion and her silver dagger as she raced out the door. The next five blocks took a million years.