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The building lobby was a huge room with white tiles for floors, high ceilings, and a handful of guards. Right in the center was a round counter with three ladies behind a welcome desk. Behind them was a line of badge gates and beyond that, the hallways, elevators, and stairs.
Shit, how would we get past that?
Ariella grabbed my arm and stopped me. “Two of the guards are watching us.”
I looked over her shoulder and saw them. “How’s the scent now?”
“Stronger, but leading back there.” She jutted her chin to the back. “I can’t tell where they went from here.”
“Then we need to get you back there.”
“Unless we want to start another fight, I don’t see how.”
I took stock of all that was around us. The place was well lit from the glass walls, but there were plenty of lights in the ceiling and the internal walls.
“Could you use your magic to cause a short circuit in the electricity? Make the light bulbs burst, or maybe even fry the computers.”
She frowned. “My magic isn’t electricity, Shane. But I think I can do it with the lights if I touch a switch or outlet that is connected with the rest. As for the computers … it should be the same principle, right?”
Ariella walked up to the welcome desk and one of the ladies turned and smiled at her. “Welcome to Empire Terrace. How can I help you?”
“Hi. I think I’m lost.” Ariella rested her hands and her phone on the counter. “I’m supposed to have a meeting with Attorney Douglas Ashley. He’s a divorce lawyer.” She cupped her mouth, leaned forward and whispered, “I’m trying to get rid of that big guy right there.”
Pretending I hadn’t heard anything, I stood there. The receptionist took a good look at me. “I’m afraid there’s no one called Douglas Ashley here.”
“Are you sure? Could you check your system for me? Please.”
The receptionist hesitated. “Sure.” She turned around and reached for a clipboard from the top drawer chest behind her.
Ariella pushed her phone down and it fell on the inside desk. “Oops.” She reached for it, but first, she placed her hand over the outlet installed on the desk and sent a spark of her magic.
Instantly, all the lights flickered. Some even burst, sending shards of glass everywhere. The computers were down too. Everyone in the lobby cowered, and some people ran, as if there had been an explosion.
In the middle of the confusion, Ariella and I sneaked past the crowd, through the gates, and into the nearest hallway.
She sniffed the air again. “This way.”
We raced down the first-floor hallway and stopped right in front of a closed door. The sign on the door read: Dr. P. Mont, Tax and Legal Consultant.
“If I had seen this before, I would have never guessed,” I said.
“Me neither.” Ariella pushed the door open and we arrived in a small reception with a waiting area and a check-in desk along a wall.
The lights here were working fine, as were the computers. She must have sent a small spark of light through the lines, only enough to take down the lobby and nothing else. How she had been able to control that was beyond me, though.
An old woman was seated behind the check-in desk. “How may I help you?”
“Hm.” Ariella looked at me.
“We have business with Paimon.”
The old woman frowned. “I think you’re in the wrong place. There’s no one with that name here.”
Ariella extended her hand and light shot out from her palm. It traveled to the old lady, wrapped around her neck, and pulled her up. “I know you’re a demon and this is where Paimon conducts his business. Where is he?”
The old lady shed her human skin.
A creature who was at least eight feet tall appeared in her place. With slick skin, long thick limbs, a huge square head, big black eyes, and a mouth that rivaled that of a shark, the demon bared his sharp teeth.
