Page 78 of Speak of the Devil

Exactly how many of those things did he have? And where had he gotten them?

Well, that part was easy enough to answer. He’d probably gone poking around while she was in the shower this morning, somehow sensing it would be better to be armed with the only weapon that seemed to work against the things.

The whole time, the demon screamed and writhed…right until the minute when it reached the back wall of the office, one that was covered in glass and let in yet another jaw-dropping view of the Strip. Neon light silhouetted the demon’s ugly form.

And then it disappeared.

“Coward,” Caleb said, turning toward Delia and wearing what she could only describe as the ultimate in shit-eating grins.

She was about to return the smile — and stopped when a heavy arm snaked around her throat and dragged her backward.

“Never let your guard down, my dear,” the thing growled into her ear, even as her heart pounded and the pits of her disliked black shirt grew damp with sweat. Then it looked across the room at Caleb. “Drop this whole thing, or your girlfriend here gets it.”

Caleb’s eyes met hers, and then he gave a very small nod.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

“She’s not my girlfriend,” he said, his tone conversational. “Just a partner in crime, I suppose.”

The demon made a hissing sound that might have been its version of a laugh. “Not a very good pair of criminals, I’m afraid.”

“Maybe not,” Delia remarked, a little surprised how calm she sounded, considering the way her body had reacted when the creature grabbed her. She was trying not to breathe in too deeply, because man, that thing stank worse than a port-a-potty at a music festival. “But we still have a few tricks up our sleeve.”

With that, she dumped the rest of her bottle of holy water on the creature’s arm, while at the same time ramming the spike of her stiletto heel right into the big, scaly foot that had busted its way out of “Robert’s” nine-hundred-dollar Manolo Blahnik loafers.

Even though the shriek it let out was loud enough to rupture an eardrum, Delia couldn’t help experiencing a surge of gratification…of power…at its reaction.

These things weren’t invincible.

At the same moment, Caleb blinked over next to them and splashed more holy water on the demon, causing its flesh to smoke and bubble. Its grip on her throat loosened, and she took a step backward, gasping for air.

Another splash of holy water, and then Caleb intoned, “I banish you, Calach! I send you back to the unholy realms!”

It hissed again, even as it spat back, “You’re no priest! You don’t have the power!”

“I don’t need the power,” he said, looking remarkably calm. “I’ve got the holy water. More importantly, I know your name.”

The demon snarled, but Caleb appeared unimpressed.

“Go to Hell, Calach,” he said, and splashed two more vials’ worth of holy water right in its face.

Unearthly flesh began to melt like a candle left out in the sun. The demon screeched, clawing at the holy water glistening on its scaly skin, which only served to accelerate the ruin of its hideous visage.

And then it disappeared.

Delia looked around wildly, sure it must have just blinked to another corner of the office, but no, it really was gone.

“You banished it?” she asked. “I thought you needed an exorcist for that kind of thing.”

“Nope,” Caleb said cheerfully as he came over to her. “That demon wasn’t possessing anyone.”

“But it looked like Robert Hendricks — ”

“It did,” Caleb cut in, although in a friendly way, as if he was trying to keep her from tying herself up in knots over the situation. “And it probably started out by possessing him. But then it would have just…taken over.”

A shudder worked its way down Delia’s spine as she thought of Robert Hendricks’ friends and family going along as if nothing had changed, and all the while, a demonic creature had usurped the face and body of the person they thought they knew.

“Anyway,” Caleb went on, “once it was no longer possessing him and instead had only stolen his identity, the demon could get banished by anyone armed with a little holy water — and its name.”

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