A Wolf at the Door

Back in the car, Gretchen stared at that contract until I thought her eyes might pop right out of her head. Finally, she tossed it into the floorboards, rubbing at her temples with a pained sigh. “There’s no way to read this. Feels like my head is going to explode.”

“Well, there might be a way.” She raised her head to give me a curious look. “There’s one other person who was there the night you made this contract, right?” I reached over and tapped the tattoo on her arm with one finger. “What if we ask him?”

She thought it over, but finally shook her head. “Even if I could get him to show up, you think he’d tell the truth? He’s a demon.”

“You call his name, he’ll show up. I promise that much. As for truth…well, we got a fifty-fifty shot, right?” Oh, how I hated this idea. Hated it with a freakin’ passion. You don’t summon demons. You just don’t. I’d done it once, just once in the five years I’d known about them, and it still felt like slimy ants marching all over my skin every time I thought about it. Something like that, it leaves a stain in your mind.

“But he won’t.” She gave me a perplexed look. “I’ve tried to call him again, and he doesn’t show up.”

“Wait. You mean to tell me you called a demon by name and it didn’t show?”

“Yeah. Does that mean something important?”

I had no idea. I’d never heard of it happening before. I mean, a demon’s name was power. One whisper of it could get their attention in whatever Hell they existed in, no matter how far away. Call it out loud, and they would ride a human voice across the veil, materializing in our world with all their powers in full effect. Why one would miss that opportunity was beyond me. “Well, we’re gonna try again. You got some place you suggest for this? The hotel room is off limits.” It was the one stronghold we had, if we could even call it that. I wasn’t going to invite a demon right in.

“Reggie has a place he uses. Says it’s special. We could try that?”

I nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Bobby. Take us to the observatory.”

“Actually, Bobby, I need to stop off and grab some stuff. You guys got a Wal-Mart out here somewhere?” I wasn’t going to mix it up with a demon without a bit more ammunition. And it’s amazing what you can pick up at your local stop-n-shop, if you know what to look for.

The supply run took no time at all, and dusk was coming on as we drove toward the observatory, the winter sun setting into the ocean somewhere behind us. Night was a good time for demon summoning. They tended to avoid the sunlight, and if we were dealing with a reluctant demon, I wanted to make sure the widdle fellow felt right at home.

Bobby pulled the car through the gates of a park and on up the winding street. It felt like we were the only ones in the world, trundling up toward the observatory that I could already see lighted against the night sky. “Are you sure this place is open?”

“Until ten. And this time of year, there shouldn’t be too many people here. I hope.”

It seemed like we drove uphill forever. And while my brain knew that this wasn’t technically “the mountains,” little me, born and bred around Missouri’s river bluffs, thought it looked pretty damn impressive. Below us, I could see Los Angeles spread out like a Christmas tree, the lights of the city gradually taking the place of the light of day. I was forced to admit, if only to myself, that Kansas City looked nothing like this.

“If we were here during the day, you can see the Hollywood sign from certain places along here,” Gretchen supplied, perhaps tired of the silence. She even sounded a tiny bit apologetic. “But they don’t light it at night.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine without seeing it.” Sightseeing was so not the top priority on my list right now, but it was nice of her to think of it. I think.

At the top of the hill sat the observatory building, pristinely white against the darkening sky like a reversed silhouette. A few evening sky watchers were trundling in and out as we parked, but all in all I was satisfied with our “innocent bystander” quotient. I held Gretchen’s door as she slid out of the car, then gathered up my plastic bag of supplies. Bobby moved up behind us like a big, menacing shadow, and I was suddenly glad he was on our side.

“Where to now?”

“Just out on the lawn. Reggie said the city spread out below us lends power. Something about all the hopes and dreams gathering in one spot.” Gretchen stopped to slip off her heels as she left the asphalt lot and started picking her way gingerly over the lawn. “He said it would be better to do it at the Hollywood sign, but the cops come too quick up there.”

I put my hand on Bobby’s chest when he would have followed Gretchen across the grass. “Have you seen this before? A real demon?”

He shook his head. “No. But how bad can it be, right?”

I shook my head in return. “You’re staying here.”

That got me a serious frown. “I’ve seen actual combat, man, I think I can handle a little hocus-pocus in the dark.”