Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon Hunting Soccer Mom

Chapter Nineteen

I grabbed the edge of the table to steady myself, something dark and cold filling my stomach.

Goramesh had almost succeeded. Because of me! I held the Lazarus Bones in my hand, and I’d been about to take them upstairs and hand them over to—

Oh, shit.

I’d been right that very first day, and I should have trusted my instincts. Larson really was a demon! He’d lied when he said Goramesh wasn’t corporeal.

Goramesh had a body, all right. Larson was Goramesh.

I sank to the dusty wooden floor, hugging my knees in front of me. Terror and relief enveloped me, and I couldn’t do anything more than rock back and forth. I’d almost missed the truth. I’d almost destroyed everything.

Slowly the terror faded, replaced by a cold, hard anger. He wanted the Lazarus Bones? Then he could damn well come down here himself and get them.

I crumpled up the napkin and shoved it in my back pocket along with my vial of holy water, then I retied the drawstring on the sack. I returned it to the case, took a deep breath for courage, then headed up the stairs.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I did know that Larson wasn’t getting those bones. As soon as I got outside the cathedral and got a cell phone signal, I’d call Father Corletti. If he didn’t have Hunters to spare, that was fine. Send the Swiss Guard. But I wasn’t going to back down until those bones were safely out of San Diablo and en route to the Vatican. Eddie could help me guard them in the meantime. Father Ben, too, for that matter; if I had to, I’d even enlist his help.

I burst out of the cathedral at a dead run and ran straight into Laura. “Where’s Larson?”

She pulled herself up short, clearly surprised by the tone in my voice.

“Where is he?” I demanded.

“By the ice-cream stand, I assume,” Laura said. “What’s wrong? The kids will survive a night of really bad food.”

The kids? That didn’t make any sense. The kids? And then—

I grabbed her by the shoulder. “Where are my kids?”

“They’re with Larson.” Her brow furrowed. “Paul came by just like he promised he would, but when he told me couldn’t stay, I was so furious I almost lost it. I didn’t, though, because I was watching the kids, but I think Paul knew I was fuming.”

I made a circle motion with my hand, encouraging her to get to the point.

“That’s when Larson volunteered to take them to get ice cream.” She licked her lips, clearly worried. “He said you okayed it. You didn’t?”

“Oh, no. No, I definitely did not.” I turned in a circle, then raced toward the ice-cream stand, the Lazarus Bones all but forgotten.

Laura raced after me. “What’s going on?” I heard her heavy breathing beside me as we skidded to a stop in front of the booth.

“It’s Larson,” I said. “He’s Goramesh.”

She paled, and I caught her just as her knees gave way. “Oh, God, the kids. Mindy.” Her eyes brimmed with tears. “If anything happens to them. To her—“

“It won’t,” I said, my voice like steel.

“What are you going to do?”

“Beat the shit out of him,” I said. At the moment that was the only plan I had. Frankly, I thought it was a good one.