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Terry was getting frustrated with his laptop, and the internet wasn’t helping him much either. After rebooting the computer, he finally got the GPS tracking to work. He looked at the screen and his head tilted. He knew that address. It was an old museum. Why in the hell would she be there? he asked himself as he got up to leave. He looked at Boston, who was a sleep on the floor next to him. Stepping over him Terry got his keys and his phone. The moment he touched the door Boston was awake on his feet.
“You have to stay here boy. I’m going to find Jodie.”
Boston started to bark.
“Shh! Stop that. If anything happened to you she’d have my ass in a sling.”
Boston started for the door.
“No! Please don’t give me a hard time. I’ll be back soon with her I promise.”
Boston growled and huffed. Terry opened the door and slipped out. Once on the other side he locked it. He could hear Boston inside barking. The Great Dane wasn’t happy. Not that he blamed him, but he wouldn’t chance Boston getting hurt. He knew what Jodie would do to him if anything happened to her baby. He didn’t have a death wish.
As Terry headed to the museum, he wasn’t alone in having a tracking adventure. In the sky above was Tristan and a small group of demons nearly in reach of Jodie. Maxius had stayed behind. He told the others it was to train the demons left with him, but his wings were still not healed right.
Tristan had figured out how to use his magic to sense and track the other demons. He was looking for the missing demons that didn’t come back when he picked up Jax’s scent. A cold smile crept over his face as he flew in a circle and waited for the others to follow him.
“New plan.”
He explained to them what he wanted to do, before taking off in the direction of the museum. If he could bring the other demons back to Maxius, or even the Creator, it would make him insanely happy and Tristan might get a break from all this shit. All he wanted was to go home and go back to his hiding.
***
Terry couldn’t believe the traffic he hit as he got closer to the museum.
“Come on!”
He slammed his hands on the steering wheel. He honked his horn a few times.
“Move, goddamn it!”
Traffic was moving as a snail’s pace, because people had spotting something in the sky. Terry rolled down his window and stuck his head out. He watched something fly over his head.
“What the hell was that?”
His mind said demons, but that couldn’t be right. They weren’t a real thing. He put his head back in the car and rolled up the window. As he held the steering wheel, he decided to break the law. He moved the car on to the empty sidewalk and hit the gas. As he started down it, he saw that traffic was moving again. He pulled the car back on to the street. He was still trying to process what he had seen fly overhead as he parked in front of the museum. He turned off the car and got out. That was when he noticed the front doors were chained closed. He started around the side of building. All the windows were covered, at least on this side of the building. He made his way to the back of the parking lot.
***
Tristan and the others landed on the roof of the museum. Looking over the side of the building he spotted a human male walking around the side of the building. Like a hawk eyeing his prey, Tristan followed Terry around to the back of the building. From his point of view, he couldn’t see the man’s face, but he didn’t need to see to smell his fear and panic.
“Well, well. It seems we have someone to play with.”
Tristan watched the man vanish inside.
“Follow me and stay close,” he told the others as he jumped off the side of the building where Terry had vanished. He let his wings out to slow himself down. Once on the ground he saw the door. He listened to see if anyone else was inside the building. All he heard was the man’s footsteps at first, then him calling out for someone named Jodie.
Terry opened the door and stepped inside the building. He listened for a moment and heard nothing. Taking his phone from his pocket he pulled up the tracking site. The browser showed the phone in the room he was standing in. It was wide open so there were few places to hide. There were two chairs sitting in the middle of the room. A desk sat to the side of the two chairs, with a laptop on it and a rolling chair behind the desk. Off in the corner was a pile of old sheets like you’d use for painting. There were some paintings off in the other corner covered by sheets and some odds and ends of weird art.
“Jodie!”
He called out to her.
“It’s Terry! It’s safe to come out I promise.”
He listened and heard nothing. Looking around again he saw Jodie’s purse on the floor. At least that meant she was here he thought. He picked up the purse, and as he did her phone fell out. It hit the floor and the back popped off.
“Great, if I broke her phone she’ll kill me.”
Terry slipped the purse over his shoulder and went to pick up her phone. He leaned down, picked up the back of the phone, and then the phone itself. He turned it over and looked at the screen. It was cracked. There was a piece of the screen jetting out.
“Well, I’m dead man.”
He put the back on the phone. He tried to turn it on. As the phone booted up he heard the knob of the back-door turn. He turned, expecting to see Jodie coming through the door. He wasn’t prepared for what he saw next. Terry’s face drained of color the moment Tristan stepped inside the doorway.
“So, did you find Jodie?”
Tristan came further into the room, followed by the other demons. He stared at the male who held some kind of rectangle-shaped thing in his hand. It started to make noise. As it did, Tristan cocked his head. The male was dressed in black jeans and a white t-shirt. Tristan looked down to the male’s feet. He wore leather sandals. Not Terry’s best fashion moment but he was aiming for comfort. His hair was cover with a baseball cap.
“What do you want with Jodie?”
“We are looking for the Creator and two of our friends who are with her. This place reeks of them and her.”
Tristan took a deep breath. Yes, they had been there. When he picked up Maxius Tristan had seen Jodie’s face. One of Tristan’s powers was vision. He never told anyone about it. He knew a lot more than he should. If Maxius knew he’d kill him for sure.
Terry had no idea what the demon was talking about. He assumed it was a demon. Terry looked up at Tristan.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. As you can see, no one is here, but me. And I will not let you hurt her.”
Tristan was shocked the male was not scared of him. Maybe he was stupid, Tristan thought. Tristan smiled at him, showing Terry his rows of razor-sharp teeth.
“You don’t need to understand what I’m talking about. I commend you for wanting to protect her, but in the end, she will be ours. And there is nothing you can do to stop me or us.”
Tristan pointed over his shoulder to the demons behind him. Terry’s heart started to slam in his chest as Tristan’s teeth appeared. Terry was already scared shitless, but he had learned long ago to show no fear. Inside, however, he was absolutely shitting his pants as he stared at the many rows of sharp teeth. He thought he might faint, but instead he stepped back and held the phone out.
“Don’t move or I’ll kill us all!”
Tristan looked at him a moment.
“With that tiny little rectangle? Please. I am not scared of you or it.”
“You should be. All I have to do is push the button on the back of this and it’ll go into self-destruct. It’ll blow you all clear out of the building.”
Tristan cocked his head, trying to tell if the male was bluffing. All he had to do was get his hands on the male to tell if he was lying and read his thoughts. Surely, he’d know where the Creator is.
“I’ll take my chances.”
Tristan reached out with his long-clawed hand and Terry slammed the phone screen first into his hand. The glass that suck out cut into the demon’s hand. Tristan screamed in pain, pulling his hand back. Terry pulled the purse from his arm and swung it as hard he could. He managed to hit Tristan in the head when the demon leaned down to pull the phone from his palm.
The blow knocked Tristan off balance a little. Terry tried to run, but the other demons were on him.
“I underestimated you, human. I won’t do that again. Hold him!”
The demons took hold of Terry’s arms and his head. Terry struggled to get free. Tristan pulled the phone free from his palm and looked at it. It was doing something, so he dropped it on the ground. As the phone hit the ground it bounced. Tristan had turned on the camera for the phone. As it landed on the ground it started recording.