A Demon on the Payroll

I felt some rage pushing past the dulling effect of my meds. My grandmother had been ...unbalanced. It had gotten worse as she grew older. The agoraphobia that she easily conquered as a young woman in Manhattan eventually drove her to be housebound in Montauk. She had been babysitting me when she made the decision to take her own life. I was a child when I found her. She wouldn't answer when I banged on her door and somehow, I knew something horrible it happened. Using a butter knife, I popped the lock to her bedroom door, let it swing open, and saw her hanging from the rope.

How old had I been? Eight? Nine?

It had been my fault, because of course it had. I was a kid. I knew in my bones that I should've done something. I had always wanted to be a cop like my grandfather, but that's when my entire life solidified. I would never, ever fail my family again. I would never again let them die on my watch. As I grew older, anger towards my grandmother grew exponentially until I started to experience what she had gone through; panic attacks, growing paranoia, and mentally disappearing for hours on end.

Thankfully, I had resources that she never had. I quietly sought out specialists, took my meds religiously, and lived my life. Those pills numbed me a bit, taking the edges off the strongest of emotions. I felt sharper, more like myself when I was off them, but I knew the price that might be paid for that freedom.

Yekong's reticence to do what was needed to keep Jen alive was reaching the old me, the true me.

"I'm not locking her in the room. It's not going to be a prison. I'm just keeping her out of the way while you and I do what we need to do. If you have an issue with that, find a way to deal with it. If I need to lie to keep my sister-in-law safe, I'm going to do it. We all have things we need to deal with, Yekong. I have my issues. I don't talk about them, but they are there. Jennifer has hers, and one of them is that once she makes up her mind, it's done. Nobody's going to dissuade her. So, yeah. She's going to go. The least I can do is increase the odds of her survival."

My phone beeped, and I checked the message. Tommy was on his way over. It needed to be done, but I was terrified of speaking to my husband. Years of therapy had gotten us past his feelings of betrayal when I risked myself to seek out the pornographers that had driven his niece to suicide. We were in a better place, but the echoes of that horrible time still haunted me. Yekong said that she would think over what I had said, and I walked back downstairs and out the back door to stare at the ocean while I made my next phone call.

He picked up on the second ring, his voice as warm and rich as always. He had a voice made to speak from a pulpit.

"Hello, Daisy."

There were few people in this world that I allowed to call me Daisy. He was one of them.

"Hello Father. You have a minute?"

"Of course. How are Tommy and the girls?"

"They're good. The girls asked about you. You need to start coming for dinner again."

"I do. Stepping up at the orphanage has taken a lot of my time, but I'll work something out. Maybe you and Tommy can bring the girls to see me there. We could do something together, like grill up dinner for the children."

"I'd like that. I really would. Father, I need a favor. I need to...I need to do what I do best. Have you heard about the attack on the house in Riverhead?"

"With the women and children? I did. It's horrible. Are you involved with that somehow?"

He obviously couldn't see me, but I shook my head. "Not really. Not yet. It was one of a number of homes that Jennifer and Finn pay for. It was a refuge, Father. For abused women and their kids. You know I'm not really fully back, right? To where I was with God and the church, before what happened to my grandmother? But I'm trying. Some things are going down tonight, and if you could pray for me, it would mean a lot."

He was silent for a moment before responding. "Of course. I'm heading back to the rectory in about twenty minutes. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Not really. I need to concentrate, and I did need to get my head in the right place. Just...just pray and maybe let me know that you'll be there for Tommy and my girls if anything goes wrong."

His voice was quiet as he responded. "I'll be praying for you all night, and so will others. And if it reassures you to hear me say that I will be there for Tommy and your daughters, then I'm happy to say it, but you already know that's going to happen. Until I go to my final reward, I'll always be there for you."

My voice was now as soft as his. "I know, Father. Sometimes I just...I just need to hear it. Thank you. For everything."

"You don't need to thank me, Siobhan. You know what you mean to me."

I'd had mentors in my life, more than one. Men and some women who had taught me to become the best protector I could be for my family, biological and adopted. But Father Chakowski had taught me how to be human, how to listen to my conscience and be a better person.

"I know, Father."

He took a beat before replying. "Siobhan, here's something else that you need to hear. You always have a choice. Always. Don't let yourself get locked into doing something you don't want to do just because it fits a role you think you have to fulfill. The best part of you is your love and your compassion. Not your considerable skills. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"You're not being overly subtle, so yeah, I get it. If I don't have to, don't kill them."

"Don't be flippant, Daisy. You're better than that."

I had to get off the phone. His words had a way of wriggling into my brain, and it would put me off my game.

"We'll talk soon, okay?"

"We love you. I'll be praying."

Sighing, I went back to watching the ocean and noticed the shadows starting to grow longer. Resigned to the inevitable march of time, I went back into the house and awaited my husband.

When Tommy stepped through the front door, he nodded towards the stairs. "Cynthia's room?"

When I nodded, he jogged upstairs to see our daughters. He was back downstairs in a few minutes, and I silently got up so we could step out for some privacy. In one way or another, we had been together since I was thirteen years old. It made communication easier. There was a lot that didn't need verbalizing. It was manipulative as hell, but I led him around back and over towards Finn's shed. Yeah, it provided great privacy, but that wasn't why I chose that area, and my husband knew it.

There had been a time when a failed CIA spook was trying to seduce me to get to Finn. In order to make that happen, he had to remove Tommy from the picture, and behind that very same shed was where he made his move.

How bad was this guy at his job? He never bothered to do research on Tommy, aside from finding out that he worked as an accountant. If he dug a little deeper, he would have discovered that he was the accountant for his father's chain of jiu jitsu schools. My husband was a legendary black belt, and his father was one of those men who had mentored me.

Tommy humiliated the guy, and his story of that day always made me laugh when I remembered it.

He cast a glance at the shed. "Obvious, much?"

I shrugged. "I'm not embarrassed to say that I'm going to take every advantage that I can."

"Did you talk to Father Chakowski?"

I nodded. "He mentioned you and the girls. He's going to try to come by more often and wants us to come down to the orphanage. The whole family."

Avoiding my eyes, Tommy looked out to the ocean. "Is that all he talked about?"

"No. Look, let's just get into this. Yekong and I are going to make sure that the people that murdered those women yesterday are taken out of the equation."

"How many people does Finn have working security for him?"

"I don't know. Fifteen? Maybe more."

"Jim heads up his security. He was trained by George, the same guy who trained you, taught you how to shoot and how to think tactically. So, you have to be there? Your brother is a billionaire who has up to twenty people on his payroll who are eminently qualified to handle this sort of thing, including Jim. Are you so addicted to the adrenaline that you just can't step away?"

"Tommy, I can't ask someone to do what I'm going to be doing. I just can't. There are things that I'm going to have to do that I can't ask another human being to do for me."

He sighed, bent down to grab a stick, and then tossed it towards the pier. "I'm not going to talk you out of this. I know that. I resigned myself to that years ago. What frustrates me now is not that you're going to go put your life at risk...okay, that's a lie. It does annoy me, but what I'd really like to be able to do is to convince you of what this does to me. I don't think you understand. I don't think you're capable of understanding. "Whenever this happens, it feels like you're choosing something else over me and the children. It's as if every time the Grim Reaper comes a calling, you choose to go out dancing, leaving us behind. It takes a chunk out of me that I never really get back.

"But you don't get that, because you can't get that. You have nothing to compare that to. There is nothing in your life that's remotely similar. The girls and I put you first. Always. It's not right, Daisy, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. And now you're taking Jennifer with you. Are you just going to stack crazy on crazy?"

I sadly shook my head. "I'm not trying to make light of what you're saying. And maybe you're right, maybe I can't understand what you're going through, what I'm putting you through, and I'm sorry about that. But the Jennifer part? Have you ever tried telling her no? All I can do is try to prepare her and keep her safe. No matter what I'm planning or want to happen, she's going to be there. You know her. She'll literally take an Uber and just show up."

"So, it's the two of you and Yekong. Three of the most bad-ass women I have ever met who also happen to be three of the most...I'm trying to find the right word here. The polite word."

I tapped my head. "Three most fucked-up women?"

In spite of himself, Tommy smiled. "I didn't want to put it that way, but yeah. Maybe. I want to talk to Finn. The girls and I'll stay here tonight. We'll go back to our place together, when you get back to us."

Grabbing him, I pulled him close. Ten years ago, we would've slowly made love as I showed him with my body how much I cared for him. Fifteen years ago, that lovemaking would've been hurried and passionate. That night, I just held him tight and rested my head in the crook of his neck, listening as he murmured endearments in both English and Portuguese.

Soon, way too soon, our time was up. Jim, Finn's head of security, drove us to the house. We had a drone land on the roof, and it had been monitoring the street and property for hours. No one had arrived yet. We hauled the equipment inside and took the time needed to get prepared.

Jennifer had had her people arrange for the neighbors to coincidently win contests for tickets and a meet-and-greet at a sold-out concert that included an overnight stay in Manhattan's best hotel. She had prepped it with so many extras that they would have had to be insane to turn it down. Thankfully, the neighbors thanked their good fortunes and were gone. We didn't need to worry about them coming over and questioning us or getting caught in the crossfire.

Jennifer and I set up the speakers while Yekong did a detailed walk-through of every floor and every room. And then came the waiting.

Our comms worked, so Jennifer kept pestering me with questions. Yekong and I were experienced at waiting, and the calm before the storm. Jen wasn't.

"Walk me through this again. How did you know that this was the room where the woman and her son stayed?"

I had convinced Jennifer to wait in a back room on the second floor, far away from where I thought the concentration of violence would be. I told her the exact opposite of the truth. She thought we needed her there because that was the final destination of whoever was coming to kill the woman and take the child. It wasn't. I just made that up to keep her out of the way.

"I spoke to Gail from the charity. She spoke to the housemother and got me a breakdown of where everyone stayed."

"Okay. You really don't think I should be down there with the two of you? I mean, three has to be better than two, right?"

"No. Definitely not. They're going to come directly towards you, so you're perfectly situated. Trust me. This is what I do."

She finally ran out of questions, and we eased into the silence of the night.

At a little after eleven, two cars parked in the driveway, and I immediately said a little prayer hoping for luck. The speakers had been on a loop for hours playing clips we had gotten online of normal family life. Voices calling out to one another, the sound of dishes hitting a table, footsteps and whatever else we could think of. We still had our drones in place, and they had been working since the car had pulled onto the street. Jennifer had computer experts who were running facial recognition software. The darkness helped hide the drones, but made clear imaging more difficult. As they got out of the cars and rushed the house, I started getting feedback in my ear.

"A total of ten. We have confirmation on seven. All with criminal records, all working with the same outfit. Data coming in on others. The last one we're getting nothing on. Absolutely nothing."

"Thanks. Keep me updated. I switched to the other line. "Jen, Yekong, seven of the ten confirmed. The chances that the other three are not part of the organization approaches zero. Shoot to kill."

They burst through the door, and I started playing the audio of a woman crying and a young boy asking for his mother. They rushed towards the room with the speaker, which was on the opposite end of the house from where Jennifer was waiting. When they kicked in the door, the two that were the closest were hit with the shotgun blasts that we had automated and run remotely.

I shot the two that were at the rear of their little phalanx and Yekong lept from the stairs and started beating the hell out of the two that were in the middle.

Just like that, six of them were gone. There was panicked yelling as three of the remaining men rushed towards the door to leave. I shot them in the back, ignoring my conscience, and quickly pivoted to help Yekong, but my help wasn't necessary. Nine of the ten were down.

The last of the men was in the very large common room with me. He was wearing an old-style hat and trench coat, like he was a detective from the 1940s. There was an amused smile on his face as he looked around the room. Following his gaze, I saw that Jennifer was in the room with us and my heart began to race. What the hell was she doing there?

The man raised his arm, but he wasn't holding a gun. He pointed at her with oddly stiff fingers.

"Fall to the ground and remain still."

Jen's voice was harsh and angry as she replied. "I see you, creature. You have no power over me."

Creature? What the hell was she talking about? She began poking her two fingers into her chest with her left hand as she held that ancient gone in her right. I had no idea what she was doing. It was as if she might have bullets on a necklace that she was trying to grab and load.

The man laughed, and the sound was twisted and dark, echoing pain and torture. There was an inhuman quality to it that scratched my soul.

"They were idiots. They deserved what they received, but then, all of you do." He tilted his head back and sniffed the air. "The boy is gone, isn't he? Where did you take him?"

Jennifer was still poking herself in the chest and for some reason I was just watching all of this happen. Fighting against this strange lethargy, I shot him. His head tilted my way with unnatural speed, and I realized there was something wrong about his eyes. I couldn't verbalize what was different, but it was disturbing and unnerved me.

He didn't fall, he didn't stumble back, instead he barked an order at me with a voice full of contempt and anger.

"Do not use your weapons on me. You have no idea who and what I am, meat."

I tried shooting at him again, but I couldn't lift my hands. My heart was now beating out of control. Every time I tried to even think about shooting him, my mind slipped and slid away from the topic. When he started moving towards my sister-in-law, I holstered the guns and began running.

My knee clicked audibly, but I ignored it and launched myself into the air, my shoulder slamming into Jen and knocking her out of the way. I was now on the ground, but I was between the man and Jennifer.

As began laughing again, I realized it wasn't human. Something about whatever it was the creature was intrinsically wrong and every cell in my body was screaming at me to run. It looked like a man, it stood like a man, it spoke like a man. But it wasn't. As he took a step forward towards me, I thought I was going to piss myself, but instincts took over. Not having guns didn't leave me without options. If I could get it to the ground, pull it into half guard, I could keep it away from Jennifer. I was about to try to kick it in the knee when I heard the voice of Death's old friend.

"Hello creature."

It slowly turned to see Yekong standing behind it. The creature tilted its head. "You are not... What are you?"

"I am your end."

YEKONG

Confused, the demon stared at me before spitting out an order. "Flee!"

Its voice was the sound of boots on shards of glass. I felt the compulsion, but easily shook it off. It was as strong as that of most of my siblings, but a pale shadow of the power to compel that Kallista employed.

Instead of running, I stepped forward and sunk a fist into its kidney. It looked down to where I had punched it and then back at me, more confusion obvious on its face. It was likely wondering how I had ignored what had always worked for it in the past. In turn, I wondered how Jennifer's had so easily swept away the creature's command. My father had been a Nephilim, my grandfather an angel. They say the demons are fallen angels. Maybe there was a link. Was that why I was immune?

But that didn't explain Jennifer. What was different about her?

I followed the punch with a rising elbow to where its nose should be. By that time, Siobhan had gotten to her feet, sunk one arm around the creature's neck and used the other arm to pin the first in place. Using her grip on its skull as leverage, she tightened the grip. The demon should be struggling for air or collapsing, but it merely stood there, supporting all of her weight, ignoring the lack of oxygen.

As it reached over its shoulder towards Siobhan, it kicked me in the chest, throwing me back at least ten feet. While I scrambled up, Siobhan screamed in pain and was thrown against the wall.

I slowly pulled the knives loaned to me by my brother from their sheaths and listened to their low humming as I closed on the demon. My slow approach was tactical, and when I was within striking distance, I accelerated. Moving as quickly as I had, the demon stepped back, grabbed Jennifer, and yanked her up as a shield.

She was doing something odd with her fingers, slamming them into her chest.

The demon now had a human shield in place between itself and me. That might've been effective against anyone else, but not against someone who had been fighting to the death since she was a child. When I was young, I had fought other children. As I grew older, I fought grown men. As a young adult, I began fighting animals and small groups of men. I fought, I fought, and I fought. Reaching past a shield wasn't new.

My father's rage swept through my veins as I shifted the position of the knife in my left hand, reached for Jennifer's shoulder, and gently pulled her forward. As I did so, I also moved forward, reached past her with my right hand, and stabbed the demon in the back.