An American Witch In Paris

“Stuart, book me a flight back to Boston, STAT,” Tuesday said.

As the butler began to confirm, Ethan canceled that request. “And ignore all requests from any voice but my own,” he ordered.

“Of course,” Stuart replied.

“That’s creepy.” Tuesday lay back down and crossed her arms over her chest. “And so not fair.”

“While you rest I’m going to make a few calls. Plan our first move.”

“You don’t have a plan?”

“Of course I do,” he lied. Sitting before the kitchen counter with his back to her, he pushed aside her spangled coat. A pad of paper and a pen waited near the phone. He was all about the high-tech, but he’d never give up the landline. “You want a blanket or something?”

“Fuck you, Richard.” And she turned over on the sofa and snuggled up in a ball.

Again with the Richard? He thought about it a few seconds. Ah. Richard shortened was... All righty then. He shouldn’t expect her to think very highly of him after having one of his retrievers kidnap her and fly her across the ocean. And then forcibly bind her to him.

He may have to find a means to cozy up to her in order to get her to trust him or he’d never get anywhere with her. At the very least, he needed her to want to trust him.

Pulling out his cell phone, he scrolled through the contacts. He knew the person he had to speak to first to learn anything about any demon in Paris.

* * *

Edamite Thrash was a sort of demon overlord with a penchant for niceness. But Ethan didn’t tell anyone that, or Thrash would scratch you with the poison thorns that grew from his knuckles. The man was a corax demon, which meant he could shift into an unkindness of ravens and take to the skies. He also made it his job to oversee the demons of Paris, knowing who was where, and when and why. He kept a loose rein on his species, and enforced punishment only when one of them threatened to expose their kind with their foolish actions.

Ethan knew most of the major players in the paranormal realm who inhabited Paris. That was his job, to know whom he could trust and with whom he had best watch his back. Ed was trustworthy.

The dark feather tattoo on Ed’s neck always drew Ethan’s eye. He wore many sigils tattooed on his skin, and combined with his standard dark business suit and smartly parted and slicked black hair, he looked dangerous yet disturbingly GQ stylish.

He shook the man’s hand, noting he always wore black leather half gloves that exposed his fingers. He needed only cover the thorns on his knuckles to prevent an accident.

“Good to see you, man.” Ed nodded over Ethan’s shoulder. “Who is this pretty?”

Tuesday, who had followed Ethan into the building at a distance, was acting petulant, yet she strolled forward and offered her hand to shake. “Tuesday Knightsbridge.”

Ed clasped her hand. “The witch. I’ve heard about you.”

“You have? From who?”

“My girlfriend, Tamatha Bellerose.”

“Bellerose? Oh, yes, her mother is Petrina. I know that witch.” And the quickness with which Tuesday pulled her hand from the demon’s clasp clued Ethan she probably didn’t have a good relationship with the family. “Just in Paris for a visit,” she added. “Forced, as it is.”

Ed looked to Ethan for explanation.

“Tuesday is helping me to locate a demon. That’s why I wanted to check in with you. See if you’ve any information that may lead us to him.”

Ed leaned against the desk behind him and crossed his arms over his chest. “Which demon?”

“The Beautiful One,” Tuesday said before Ethan could say the name.

“Ah. Gazariel.” Ed winced and rubbed his jaw. “I do know he’s in town. But haven’t a clue where. He hasn’t been making much noise so he’s not on my give-a-fuck radar. Why is she helping? You only require a witch when you need to summon a demon from Beneath or Daemonia.”

“I’m bait,” Tuesday said, tossing out the words at the same time Ethan said, “She’s my lure for the demon.”

“You two don’t get along very well, do you?”

Ethan kept an eye on Tuesday as she walked about the demon’s office, looked over the marble conference table and then wandered to the wall where various artifacts were displayed on small individual shelves.

“We had to take her away from her home to get her to work with us,” Ethan offered.

“Kidnapped me,” Tuesday called over her shoulder as she peered into a glass container that likely held faery dust. The contents sparkled in all colors from the afternoon sun beaming in through the windows.

“Sounds on par for Acquisitions,” Ed said. “So, a lure, eh? Why would Gazariel be interested in that witch?”

“She wears his sigil. Or that is the information we have.”

Ed stood and now he gave Tuesday his full attention. She turned from her curious seeking and splayed her hands. “Yep, I’m the demon’s bitch. I carry his curse. And Einstein here thinks that’ll draw him to me. Idiot.”

“He’ll come to you. We just have to get you close enough he puts up his head and notices,” Ethan said. “Give him a sniff of the witch’s scent.”

“He’s not going to be attracted to the one who wears his curse,” Ed said. “Why would he? I know a bit about The Beautiful One. He put an unwanted curse in her many centuries ago when he had the opportunity. And now he’s done with it. I’m not sure of the nature of the curse, but if the demon wants it gone from him, there’s not a thing in this world that would incline him to set one foot near her now. She’s useless.”

“Hey! I can hear you,” Tuesday called. The blue glass sphere she had touched wobbled and rolled off the shelf. She caught it just before it hit the floor. “Oops. Good save, though, yeah?”

“Don’t touch the breakables,” Ethan said, chastising the overly curious witch. And to Ed he said, “Are you serious? But we need her to open that curse and hold Gazariel so he will submit.”

“Why do you need him to submit?”

“He’s got something that Acquisitions wants.”

Ed lifted an eyebrow.

“It’s a book of angel names and sigils. A muse wrote it. It holds the code for the Final Days.”

“Is that thing back in circulation? I thought the angel Raphael had taken it underwing, so to speak?”

“It made a series of exchanges before Raphael secured it from a vampire intent on populating the world with nephilim. Let’s just say it’s been in so many hands, even the Archives’ records are confused as to where it was last seen before landing in the demon’s hands. But I have good intel that The Beautiful One currently has it.”

“Doesn’t sound like a party.”

“It’s not. The list of angel names, when ordered correctly, holds an ancient coded word, or words, that when spoken, will send all angels plummeting to earth to smother mankind with their multitudes. Their wings will burn human flesh, young and old. Paranormals are not exempt, either. The earth will become an ashy cemetery of the mortal, the paranormal and the divine.”

“Whew!” Ed ran a gloved hand through his slick hair. “That’s something you want to stop. But your challenge will be getting the demon to come to you, without knowing you’ve got the witch, and then surprising him with her at just the right moment.”

Ethan’s temples had begun to pulse. He hadn’t expected this particular complication. If he would have known before the demon didn’t want anything to do with the witch, he wouldn’t have bound himself to her until after they’d secured Gazariel. Of course, he needed Tuesday to bring the demon to him. This was a mess. Had she known as much?

Her self-satisfied grin answered that one for him.