Page 34 of Wicked Deeds

Chapter Nine

We creptup the fire stairs. I followed Maia’s lead, moving cautiously as I wrangled the dress. I didn’t see how anything could get into the stairwell, but better safe than sorry. Particularly when hampered by yards and yards of fabric.

Damon stayed behind me and I tried to focus on the job at hand rather than how angry I was he’d followed us. Ahead of me Maia reached the top landing where an exit sign glowed above a door marked ROOF in large red letters.

Helpful.

“Slowly,” I said when Maia went to swipe the security pass. “We don’t want to let it in the building if it’s waiting by the door.” The back of my neck prickled with nerves. Demonkind. Never good. Afrit were the smallest and easiest to kill but I didn’t want to deal with anything to do with demons.

Maia shot me a look back over her shoulder that suggested she wasn’t an idiot and she knew how to do her job.

Fair call. My nerves, not to mention Damon tagging along, were making me speak before I thought. Dumb. I had to keep my wits about me. I sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. “Go on.”

She eased the door open. There was no immediate scurrying, skittering rush of clawed feet. Just the sounds of the city below suddenly audible again. A faint hum of traffic. A police siren somewhere off in the distance, and the thump of synchro-pop music off to our left. One of those clubs the guard had mentioned. Maia gestured for me to hold the door and then slipped through.

There was a long pause while my heartbeat thudded too loud in my ears, drowning out the city noise. Then Maia said, “Clear. Come on.” She held the door for me.

As I maneuvered sideways, I wished I’d asked Maia for a knife to cut the damned skirt off, but too late now. I stepped onto the flat concrete, every nerve tensed. Damon followed and pushed the door shut. The click of the lock hit me like a shock.

Time to get to work.

Damon came to stand beside me.

“Remember what I said.” The words felt tight in my mouth. “Too much trouble, you get clear.”

“Don’t worry about me, go look for your devil bug.” He smiled. It was a fraction too tight for him to be as calm as he sounded, but he still exuded confidence.

I scowled at him and turned to survey the roof.

It was mostly empty. There was a water tower, the small structure surrounding the door, and a bunch of stuff I figured was to do with the HVAC system or whatever it was office buildings required to function.

The whole space was plain gray concrete broken only by the yellow safety line painted a few feet inside the edges. Those were protected by a glass barricade about four feet tall, anchored in about a foot and a half of concrete. Tall enough that no one was at any risk of falling off without making considerable effort to do so. Not that it would prove much of a deterrent to an afrit.

Despite the barrier, the breeze was strong enough to ruffle the skirt of my dress and bring out goosebumps along my arms. After the heat of the Phoenix and the warmth of the limo, it was cold.

It was never truly dark downtown but other than the small exit sign over the door, there wasn’t any lighting to illuminate the inner part of the roof. There were lights along the edge, outside the glass, but they all angled down toward the building’s exterior. The back glow from them provided enough light at the edge to make the shadows around the various structures appear even darker. Perfect for an afrit to blend into.

I reached out with my magic, trying to see if I could feel it, extending my reach slowly, so as not to immediately tip it off if it could feel me. It was the mental equivalent of walking in the dark, holding my hands out in front of me, hoping I wasn’t going to stumble into a spiderweb or worse. There was a trace of something. But not strong enough for me to tell if it was still here. My kingdom for more light.

As though she heard me, Maia reached inside her jacket again and pulled out two tiny flashlights, handing me one. I snapped it into place on my gun. I didn’t routinely carry a light for it, because I could make my own, but Maia was always prepared.

I scanned the roof again with the flashlight, looking for movement.

Nothing.

The only thing moving besides us was a piece of paper stuck under a pile of industrial buckets stacked near the edge of the roof opposite us. They stood next to a couple of metal containers I guessed held some type of cleaning product, a pile of tarps, several neatly coiled ropes and a plastic crate stuffed with something I couldn’t quite make out. Window cleaning gear.

I pointed at the gear and mouthed, “There?”

Maia shook her head once and made a circling motion, pointing to her left.

Right. Best to check behind us first. We started to ease around the doorway structure. It was only about ten square feet but it was high enough to stop us seeing anything on its roof.

My skin crawled picturing an afrit sitting there, waiting to leap. But there was nothing I could do about the possibility, so I followed Maia, putting everything Callum had ever taught me about moving silently into practice.

Not so simple wearing fifty layers of tulle.

Damon moved behind me. I avoided looking at him. I couldn’t let my focus stray. Had to trust him to protect himself. And me.

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