Page 69 of Another Damned Storm

“It’s cold and it’s beer, but I can’t promise it’s any good.” He grabbed a bottle opener out of a drawer and popped the top on one before handing it to me.

I sniffed it first, then took a hesitant sip. It was hoppy as shit, with a sharp aftertaste, but I wasn’t about to complain. “Tastes fine.”

He laughed as he popped the cap off his. “No, it doesn’t, but it does take the edge off after a tough day.”

“Where do you get it?” It had a printed label, so it wasn’t homemade, but I didn’t recognize the brand or logo.

He took a swig before leaning back against the counter. “Myrtle Beach. We make a supply run up the coast twice a week.”

I nodded. “They’re not seeing much of this demon storm action, are they?” From what Emerson had said, the attacks were still local, but Myrtle Beach was only a two-hour drive.

“Not as far as I know.”

“And no one has sent in the cavalry yet? I mean, for as long as this has been going on, how is it the state or federal government hasn’t stepped in?”

“I’m pretty sure the universe is working against us on that one. We’ve made hundreds of calls, sent countless letters andemails.” He shook his head. “Nada. We even sent out a couple of teams to try to get some help and we never heard from them again.”

That didn’t sound like the universe to me. It sounded like the fates were playing games.

A spike of admiration bled through my link with Hook, followed by a flurry of other emotions I couldn’t quite pin down. I didn’t get the sense that he was in trouble, but I doubted he was chilling on Lily’s couch having a beer.

“You okay?” Matt asked.

I blinked back at him. “Yeah. Why, what’s up?”

“You got a strange look on your face.”

I definitely needed to work on that. Schooling my expression when I was trying to sort through Hook’s emotions in my head wasn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world.

“Just working through some news,” I lied, but it made for a decent enough segue. “That’s actually part of what I wanted to talk to you about. Hook and I met up with Lily, which I’m assuming you already know.” He nodded and took another long pull of his beer. “Well, we also talked to Emerson. He is?—”

“One of the Brethren. I know who he is.”

“Yeah, well, it turns out he and his demon brothers have been sitting on some juicy information. You know about our demon blood, but I just found out the demon who helped Wendy way back in the day was one of them. A guy named Lapalme.”

He was quiet for a long moment. “That’s… interesting, I guess. But I don’t see how it changes anything.”

In a way, it didn’t. Demon blood was demon blood, damning us all to the Alius when the time came. Unless I could convince him to leave. “Lapalme is a primordial demon. Old. Powerful.”

He shrugged. “I get it. How does that help us?”

“We believe he’s working with a god to create these stormsand summon the demons. We don’t know why, yet. Other than the god he might be working with is trying to find a foothold in this world again. Apparently, he was a big deal about a million years ago, but we’ve all forgotten about him since.”

His upper lip lifted in a sneer. “Thrain.”

“You’ve heard of him?” That wasn’t good.

He brought the bottle up but lowered it again without drinking. “Most of the churches in the area were gutted or burned to the ground a few years ago, either by storms or looters. But there are two that I know of that haven’t been touched. Any guesses which god they worship?”

Thrain.It made sense when I thought about it. What better way to build a following than to terrorize everyone, while making your own houses of worship the only safe havens in the city.

“Any idea how big his congregations are?”

“Not a fucking clue.”

“Language,” I said automatically.

He barked out a laugh. “You do realize that’s my line these days?”