Page 23 of Cold Sacrifice

“The powers that be,” he answered.

“And those powers are…?”

He shrugged. “That big ghost council in the sky, Kait Silver.”

Max opened the door and ushered in the first clients, a thirty-something couple with red-rimmed eyes and exhaustion stamped clearly on their faces.

“Oh, goody,” Richard said. “This should be good. I heard them trying not to speak to each other in the waiting room, as though their ghost might have followed them and would take offense at their being here.”

I studied the couple as they sat down, then glanced through the thin folder Max had placed on my desk. “Hello,” I said. “How can I help you?”

They both glanced over their shoulders as Max closed the door, as jumpy as a couple of enemy cats.

“Just to make sure you understand,” Joe told them, “Kait has the office warded. Ghosts can’t come here.”

That wasn’t true, and Joe knew that, but he also knew the clients were scared half to death. I wouldn’t lie to them to ease their minds, so he did it for me.

They were immediately relieved. “Really?” Mrs. Smith asked, looking at Joe with something close to adoration.

He gave her a firm nod. “Really. And even if they could, Kait and I would have them in spirit traps so fast they wouldn’t have time to get up to any mischief.”

Even Mr. Smith cracked a smile at that, and he didn’t look like he’d smiled for a very long time.

“Tell me about your problem,” I said gently.

Richard watched with completely focused attention, so intent that it worried me a bit. I knew the ghost was bored, but he couldn’t go with me to the Smiths’ house, so I wasn’t sure what—

Before I could finish the thought, Mr. Smith jumped to his feet, gagging, his fingers to his throat, his eyes bulging as he began to fling himself through the room. Mrs. Smith stumbled and fell to the floor trying to get away from him, and Joe roared, swinging his machete. I was nearly certain he was seconds away from slicing the guy’s head off when I rocketed from my chair, slid across my desk, and grabbed his arm.

“Joe,” I yelled. “No!”

Then Richard rushed the possessed client, his face frozen in something that was either a grimace or a grin, and disappeared inside Mr. Smith. Literally ran into him and disappeared inside him.

Joe grabbed Mrs. Smith and hauled her off the floor, and as he stood in front of her, I rushed to my bag to grab a demon trap and stuff my pockets full of supplies. I vaguely heard Joe telling the woman that it wasn’t a ghost that came in, but a demon.

And now that demon had possessed her husband.

That time, Joe wasn’t lying.

There appeared to be a battle going on inside Mr. Smith. He was beating himself to death against the walls, the furniture, and the floor.

“Hold him still, Richard,” I yelled, and the second the human fell to the floor and began flopping crazily, but in place, I dumped a bag of salt around him. I didn’t spread it too close to his body, because his movement would have dislodged it.

When the salt was down, I tossed away the bag and grabbed a small vial of holy water from my pocket. The second the water hit Mr. Smith, I dropped the vial, punched him in the face with the cross tattooed on my fist to stun the demon, and then, I unsheathed my demon blade.

“Get out of there, Richard,” I said, and I prepared to fight a demon.

Joe had already helped Mrs. Smith out of the room. I’d vaguely heard the door slam as they hastily exited my office.

Richard and the demon left the human at the same moment, and I saw something I’d never seen before—a ghost and demon fighting.

Richard was far from the regular spirit of a once-living human. They fought inside the salt circle and I stepped out, letting Mr. Smith lie where he’d fallen. He’d be unconscious for a while—hopefully until the demon had been handled.

I could have gone after the demon with my blade and the trap, but my instinct told me to wait. I wanted to see what the ghost could actually do to the demon. If Richard managed to defeat him, it would be another first. I’d never seen a ghost kick a demon’s ass.

And Richard didn’t disappoint. He and the demon fought like they were both inside bodies, and I was absolutely fascinated. I backed away and stood in front of my desk, not so far that I couldn’t attack the demon if Richard failed, but far enough that I was out of the way.

In the end, his mouth open in a shriek that seemed to hurt the demon’s brain, Richard…devoured the demon. He stuffed the demon into his mouth, and he ate him. Swallowed the demon down, smacked his lips, and turned to me with a smile that froze the blood in my veins.