Page 34 of Catnapped

I could make a guess at what he meant to do. “You’re going to expose the fingerprints?”

“I am. Then we’ll photograph them, seal the papers, and make sure the fingerprints remain intact so law enforcement can properly register them. With some careful planning, asking really nicely, and some money, I will get the fingerprints run before the cops get the fingerprints, thus helping me to identify who was handling the paperwork. This is what I then use to help narrow down my search—and get the right information for the job I’m doing. These cases are designed to be difficult to get fingerprints off of; between the texture and the material, the prints are hard to remove. It can be done, but it is a tricky job—and it doesn’t last as long. if the surface has been treated to prevent fingerprints from sticking, that’s another issue, too. But, with the right magic, if there are prints on these, we’ll find them. Getting them off and in a useable format is another matter entirely.”

“Can I help?”

“You can help by not touching anything, and if you wouldn’t mind breathing in a distance of, say, at least ten feet, that would be great.”

I raised a brow, but as he wanted space, I left the trailer to wait outside while he worked his magic and acquired fingerprints for us. “I will get that method out of your hands one way or another,” I informed him. “Your magic will soon be mine.”

“We shall see about that.”

Darian spent over three hours hunting for fingerprints in the trailer community. Some he lifted using white paper and some gel, and he meticulously labeled where it had come from, took pictures, and stored them in a special case he’d brought with him, one I hadn’t noticed him having when we’d packed the rental for our trip. I blamed my chest; the discomfort had done a damned good job of distracting me.

“I thought the police were going to properly register these,” I stated, once it appeared he’d completed his work.

“They will. My license and training will allow this to be admissible evidence, and doing it this way means I can run the prints on my own. With a few phone calls, we can have some results in two or three days.”

“That long?”

“There are billions of fingerprints in the world, and each one of these will often pull up at least twenty possibilities, which someone has to manually go over or use magic to match. Usually, I get someone to manually do it, but I’ll go the magical route this time. It takes a few days to get the right person to handle it. Those folks have to verify prints for the police, international law enforcement, and governments, so there’s always a bit of a line. Some of these prints are in really good condition, so we’ll be able to get some good computerized matching, which just require verification.” Darian hauled the precious box containing the fingerprints to the SUV, along with the vials and the weapon we’d found. “Can you obscure all of this, so no one pokes their nose into our business?”

“Of course.” Grateful to have been given a task I could do, I went to work setting up a set of runes, going the excessive route and warding every side of the containers to prevent others from noticing it.

Darian frowned. “I thought I wouldn’t be able to see it once obscured. Are you done yet?”

“You can see it because you know it’s there. This type of protection doesn’t usually work on those who are already aware of what is being hidden and where. So, because you watched me place the magic, there’s no chance your attention will be diverted. There are other magics I could use, but we’re getting into forbidden territory.”

While I’d learned how to shroud people, places, and things, I’d left that to simply being knowledge of the lore, without crossing the line into using powers better off left in the hands of the divine.

“You can place a shroud?” Darian whispered.

“I know the theory on how to do it,” I replied, frowning at the realization I’d said enough to land me in a lot of hot water. “I’ve never actually tried it.”

“That’s power on the level of the divine, Diana.”

“So is summoning the Devil at my whim rather than his.”

A pop and hint of brimstone behind me warned me I’d summoned trouble. “Yes, summoning me at your whim rather than mine is rather forbidden—and fringing on powerful enough to compete with the divine. It was so nice of you to call, Diana.”

Somehow, I kept from shrieking at Lucifer’s manifestation. “You, sir, are a complete and total asshole. But thank you for helping with the cancer problem. I do really appreciate that. However, I seem to have contracted a case of hellfire to go with some holy fire?” I breathed until my heart rate lowered to something closer to sane before turning to face the fallen angel. He wore a suit and had opted for a tanned beach boy visage, although his horns peeked out of his dark hair. “Darian, if you ever need the Devil in a hurry, clicking your heels together three times and saying his name might actually work. There’s always a chance you can capture the attention of a divine when you invoke their name. That’s the core principle of summoning a divine successfully. The circles use that connection forged during a name invocation. If your circle is strong enough and you bring potent enough magic to the table, you might get the divine you invoked.”

“Look at you, sharing forbidden lore with a susceptible little human. How naughty of you,” the Devil purred.

“I see Darlene has been teaching you certain habits. You’re not a cat.”

“I got to enjoy my kitty last night. She was frisky for some reason.”

“Well, when was the last time you fed her?”

“I may not have fed her as well as I could have. I enjoy when she gets clingy and demands attention aggressively.”

The Devil would drive me to the end of my patience, and knowing him, he would shove me right over into the realm of the insane while laughing about it. “How can we help you?”

“I couldn’t help but notice you two were gossiping about me.”

“You’re a hover uncle, aren’t you?” I accused.

The Devil regarded his oxfords, which were polished to a high shine. “I do not seem to be hovering at this point in time.”