There was vomit on my floor. I could see it there. And of course I knew it was mine; I could taste it. At least I had managed to miss my sheets. The glass of water on the bedside didn't last ten seconds. Whatever possessed me to drink like that, on a night when I had work in the morning?

Oh, right. Twerking Imp. Good god, I needed brain bleach. I wonder if there was a spell for it. There had to be. Still spent, I flopped back on the bed and waiting for the pressure and pain in my head to go away. There wasn't any vomit on the bed or in my hair, so I wasn't going to move. Moving was for suckers.

"Mistress. It's time for you to get up. You have work today, do you not?"

"No Grex, I don't. Work is for people who are alive, and I am most definitely dead."

He entered the room and came over, bearing a glass filled with some dark liquid. He skirted the vomit and sat, holding it out.

"What is that?"

"Pomegranate juice. Good for re-hydrating after a long night drinking things that are bad for you, so I'm told."

Well he couldn't lie to me. I downed it, only spilling a little, then flopped back again.

"None of that now, you must get up mistress. You have work. Karen asked me to inform you that you were the only summoner on duty for the morning shift, and therefore could not call in sick."

Summoners were cruel. Cruel, mean horrifyingly vile people.They had obviously planned this, and should therefore have all manner of unpleasant things happen to them.

"Grex, how are you on hexes?"

He smirked in response as he took the glass, helping me up. He had no trouble at all following my thoughts.

"Very fluent my mistress. But I doubt I'd be able to hex any of the Summoners responsible; they are too well protected here. Perhaps if you could convince them to move out first...."

I shut the bathroom door right on his patented Cheshire grin; bereft his steadying presence I stumbled twice getting into the shower.

"Never mind, I'll think of something."

Getting revenge was a good a dream, while the hot water beat something suspiciously like energy into my muscles, and wakefulness past my scalp. My headache eased a bit, down past the levels where I wished for a hole in my head to let the pain out. I stepped out and still dripping, dry swallowed some aspirin. Getting past the nasty aftertaste, I waited for a moment to see if they would come back up - I never was all that good at dry swallowing pills. Only after my stomach settled did I then dare to turn off the shower and towel off.

Clothes were waiting outside the door; I'd forgotten to take any with me. Comfortable broken in fatigues and some of my best fitting underwear. Grex was nowhere to be seen, but I heard sounds in the kitchen one might associate with cooking. I muttered a thanks which I'm sure he somehow heard, and quickly gathered them up and shut the door.

Five minutes later I was all dressed and into the kitchen, heading straight for my spot and the coffee cup set before it. It was full, and full of my best coffee, and imported brand that was very mellow. Grex was going all out. The Belgian waffles smothered in strawberries and jam bore that out a moment later. It was almost as if he were apologizing for something.

I ate and drank in silence, giving the aspirin time to work. The clock in the kitchen still stated I had a good 20 minutes before I needed to care about leaving, which meant my alarm clock had to have been reset to go off at an earlier time. Maybe that was the issue? After all, I didn't give him permission to reset my alarm, so maybe he was apologizing for that? But it an seemed awfully petty reason. Hell, who knew how demons thought?

"Grex."

"Yes mistress?"

"Clean up the floor in the bedroom, then dismiss yourself. If I need your help I'll call you."

He bowed deeply.

"Yes mistress."

Something told me Karen was sleeping it off, so I didn't bother waiting. I just grabbed my purse and left.

I still hated my purse. I missed pockets, and kept forgetting the cursed thing, even months later. I threw my robe on on the way out the door. I was tempted to make as much noise as possible, in a petty attempt at some revenge, but chances were the other Summoners had not gotten as sauced as I had. After all, a pretty massive effort had been made; the stuff I had downed last night was in all probability not legal in the slightest - too much alcohol content.

As I suspected however, many of the cars in the parking garage were present; I predicted much of the magically oriented staff of the city were sidelined, at least till late morning. I didn't blame them at all, though I'm sure if the general knew heads would roll on general principles.

The drive in was easy though a bit slow, there were all kinds of wary traffic. There were no snarls for once, and all the Summoner reserved parking spots were empty, so I had my pick. A difference of maybe 50 feet, but I'll take what I could get. Cord's car, an older model Ford focus (oddly enough, I figured him for more of a car buff) was in the lot. I was glad for that, he at least would make the day less boring. Everyone else got to join raids or do other grunt work when the department wasn't busy, but the Summoners had to stay on call, and couldn't join any raids or busts unless there was a clear supernatural cause for it. So most of the time, It was just me, the other Summoners, (who were still a bit intimidating, despite being nothing but nice to me) and Cords.

Had he really asked me out last night? Had I really accepted? I felt pretty conflicted about that, if I were remembering the events correctly. On the one hand, I'd just been asked out by a guy, and had accepted. On the other hand, I was never going to be a guy again myself, and living in the past was a sure way to never really be happy. And on the other (yes the third) hand, I'd never gone on a date as the girl before, and had precious little date experience as a guy, so I was the metaphorical bundle of nerves. I could only hope I didn't screw it up too badly.

Could women even screw up dates? my admittedly limited experience as a guy seemed to suggest that all they needed to do was show up, and the guy would be ecstatic. Perhaps my own personal bar had been set too low? Or perhaps I shouldn't even bother thinking about it so I didn't drive myself into a panic attack and run screaming from the office? I caught myself nodding along with that thought as I reached the ADTF floor. It seemed like a decent idea, much like the idea to stop talking to myself when other people were present was. Conners was already looking at me askance.

At least, reviewing the last few moments, I was positive the only thing I'd actually said aloud was about panic attacks. So she didn't know about the whole date thing. If she had, I was certain she'd make all kinds of bad jokes about it. Not to mention the gossip....

Summoners talking to themselves randomly about panic attacks hardly warranted a mention on the local grapevine however. It was more the ones that didn't appear to be insane that were noteworthy. In this case, that was a blessing. The desks were mostly empty, however a few members of my team (squad B, team 3, the team I trained with the most) were present. Namely Connors and Judge. Connors sat down and pulled out some magazine involving European cops or something. And Judge had his rifle disassembled and was cleaning it.

Which of course left the communications room, and Cords. Throwing my purse at my desk and hitting it more or less dead center, I strode directly to it and opened the door. Fresh cappuccino, a few chocolate bars, and a bottle of aspirin sat in front of my usual seat, and "Top Gear" was already on. Cords was in his accustomed seat, just starting to lean back with a mountain dew in hand.

"I don't need the aspirin, but thank you. The rest shall be gratefully consumed."

"You're just in time, the bumbling trio are going to look for cheap 70's sports cars to race."

I closed the door and gratefully sank into my seat.

"Money is on Hammond."

"Heh, you always pick Hammond, and he always loses."

"Meh, I like to back the underdog."

I only had half my attention on the show of course. Did Cords look different today? His hair was neatly combed back, his uniform pressed with nary a crease or stain, and he seemed a little more at ease, somehow. The uniform had to be new, it was actually showing the smooth play of the muscle underneath, just a little. Was he really that buff all this time? I mean compared to the ones who hit the weights he wasn't much, but he was in definite shape.

Ugh, stop thinking about such things, you'll drive yourself crazy. Think zen. What is, is, what shall be, shall be, what was, is past. And right now, what is, is poorly maintained 70's Italian sports cars. That episode ended with little fanfare and much car breakage, and I drained my cappuccino as the metaphorical channel was then changed to crime documentaries. Some show on forensics, and how D.N.A. solved the crime... there are so many of those shows put out now that it's almost impossible to keep them all straight.

We were halfway through the first episode involving the new (maybe twenty years ago) process of of PCR testing when Cords sat bolt upright in his chair, almost pitching himself on the floor. I had just enough time start up myself when he hit the panic button, starting the floor alarm and emergency dialing the cell phones of those of us on duty.

"Got a call, it's priority, go go go!"

I turned my phone's shrilling off as I careened off the door, running flat out with Judge right behind me. Oh god, my first call and I was first responder; I hoped against hope it was a false alarm or prank. Even if that meant an arrest either way (we took our supernatural invasion call seriously) it'd be better than a demon running around loose, with only me to stop it.

Or Second (our second Summoner named Charlie, therefore Second was his nickname); but Second would be minutes away, and would likely only get a shot at the demon if I died. Not the most appealing option.

I made it to the armored truck just behind Connors, and we weren't last. All the running had paid off so far. Pearce and West filed into the assigned armored truck last. The truck rather than canvasing hum-vees meant that we already knew where the demon was and at least soft containment was in place. So command wanted a team on site at full strength ASAP. Squad A would be en route in the second one from their on call locations, but assembling them could take another 30 minutes.

The apparently another 11 minutes and 17 seconds; which was how long it took us to reach the location in question; which turned out to be a four block area in the middle of downtown. Fortunately it wasn't the lunch rush yet. No telling how much mayhem blocking off four square blocks off in the middle of downtown will cause if we didn't get this handled before then.

No pressure; none at all.

We all piled out, looking vaguely cop like (the others had taken the time in the back of the bouncy vehicle to clean up as best they could so a presentable image could be maintained. The captain tended to pass lectures on how we weren't maintaining a professional image on down, like a boulder rolling downhill). I didn't have to worry as much, after all, Summoners were supposed to be crazy. One I knew of one town over wore pink robes as part of his pact... and liked it. So a quick tug of the hood to bring it over my head and covering my face, and I was in uniform.

Pearce dragged me in front of the blue in charge, a rather tired looking sergeant; The rest of the team followed suit.

"SITREP?"

The sergeant managed to pull off a look saying 'why not just speak english?' before responding.

"exactly 10:12 dispatch received a call regarding a strange flying figure circling in this area, which vanished shortly thereafter. A quick check of our logged calls and notices revealed no military or ADTF resource use orders in the area. A mobilization of the ADTF to search the area and remove the threat, if there is in fact a threat was then issued. No we don't know where it is, though one of our snipers claimed to have seen it. The description he gave was of a large flying imp, man-sized and with an extremely long tail."

I decided to try and act like I was competent.

"The position it was last seen by your officer?"

He pointed left, above an office building that looked so new it seemed to sparkle in the sunlight.

"Flying above that building; Rodriguez saw it as he was setting up, but decided not to risk a shot. Saw it float over the edge as if it were landing there. Hasn't seen any hint of it since, and none of the others stationed on the roofs have seen anything."

Which of course meant nothing; invisibility was a thing. Pearce motioned us into a huddle, which I'm sure looked ludicrous.

"Alright here is the deal; standard canvas, teams of two. Snow and Grex, Dolph and I, Connors and Roddy, and Judge on over watch. Anyone sees anything, you call Snow; No heroics. Judge, you get to shoot only if it's to cover someone. Clear?"

WE all spoke our assent.

"Alright, Snow you're going to check last know position, Dolph and I got left bracket, Connors, Roddy, you got right bracket. Be careful, and let's go."

The other teams moved quickly, out and back under cover in less than two seconds. The idea was to use the buddy system to delay any demon they found, and watch each others' backs until I arrived. I was the artillery; the direct engage was my responsibility. Provided there was anything here, of course.

There was though. I could smell it, a very faint trace of something like death and mold. I couldn't quite pinpoint it, but I knew it was there. I also knew it wasn't really a scent, or the other people present would have been commenting on it; scents like that were usually a dead giveaway. Which meant that either my senses were better than everyone else's here, I was especially tuned to the supernatural to the extent that I could pick the smell out over anything else, or the scent was actually a psychic miasma of the type most demons left behind, and my brain was interpreting it as a smell. It was not the first option, and the second was doubtful, not that it mattered either way.

"Grex, Veni huc!"

My shadow reached up and hugged me from behind this time as Grex formed from it. Well at least I'd finally caught him in the act this time; now I knew how he was doing it. A good thing to note for later.

"You rang, my mistress?"

"Yeah, we got a call. Time to track down a rogue demon and destroy it."

I got whiplash, he turned serious so fast. And he immediately turned and looked directly behind him and up... where the demon was last seen. Curious.

"What is it?"

I just had to ask as I motioned him over.

"There is a demon present, and it is in that direction."

"Take me up to the top of that building. It was last seen there."

I hit the walkie feature on my phone.

"Captain, Grex has given confirmation of a demon's presence. I'm going now to investigate."

"Roger that. I'll see about getting our backup to get the lead out."

I turned back to Grex.

"Fly me there."

He picked me up bridal style as if I were glass, and popped his wings. We were airborne in a rush which intensified the odd smell briefly.

"So do you smell that?"

"You'll have to be more specific mistress. I can smell many things."

"I think I'm smelling the demon, or traces of it. It smells like a mix of old socks and roadkill."

He spared me a glance.

"Well, you're not wrong. Your... terminology is most descriptive."

"So I am detecting the demon? Why haven't I ever been able to before?"

He spared me another glance as we neared the building's roof. I really wished he'd keep his eyes front. I didn't want to end up slammed into an air conditioner unit or something.

"While the ability is one some of us demons have, it's not an 'exact science'. I'd theorize that you haven't been tense or anxious since you summoned me the first time."

I stared at him. He spared me yet a third glance as we touched down, and I was pretty sure I was choking him.

"Well, unduly so. As a result of demons, specifically. Possibly."

I let go of him and he in return let go of me; I made a show of brushing myself off. Then stared straight into his rueful face.

"You really have absolutely no idea, do you?"

"Not as such, no. This is new ground for all of us. While plenty of people have wished for the power of a demon, not many have wished for the power of a specific demon, or even demon royalty."

I cast around with my new shnoze power.

"But it HAS happened before?"

"Yes, at least twice to my knowledge."

The demon wasn't anywhere in sight, and the scent seemed to lead to the other side; it was hard to tell with all the crap placed on the roof. I started picking my way through cautiously, Grex beside me.

"And what happened to those people?"

"Well the first was some silly sultan of some silly desert country that no longer even exists as a memory. He thought to take the power of Dra'ruk, A lesser duke of the 5th circle who doubled as a minor god of gluttony... and ate himself to death, because while Dra'ruk gave him his power, he did not give him the immunities that were necessary to use it."

I thought for a minute. Why didn't Grex do that to me? It would have been a perfect con; or maybe he did, and he's been forced to keep me alive due to the other half of the contract made? Could one even do one part without the other, the way I worded things? I wasn't sure, but I thought I was safe, at least contractually. Being up here on a roof with a rogue demon slinking around while I was giving away my position by yakking like a moron wasn't exactly the safest thing to do. But I couldn't stop the words, it was like a disease or something.

"And the other one you know of?"

"Wished for the power of Lucifer himself, and promptly exploded, soul and all. Not the way to avoid paying a demon I would choose."

I shuddered. To have your soul shred itself like a tissue couldn't be pleasant.

"Mistress, I don't believe he is on this roof any longer; I cannot sense him near."

That way of sensing would be so much better than mine; smelling something that all but raped your nose, and only got worse the fresher it got, seemed pretty inconvenient at the moment. The trail led us completely to the other side.

"I'm pretty sure he flew off the roof and down, here. Probably before the other snipers were in position.' I keyed my phone again. 'Team, be advised the demon is no longer on the roof, he must have high tailed it out of sight before SWAT was in position. I'm following the trail as we speak. General south-southwest heading."

"Roger that, radio silence."

Which meant shut up until you find something, then scream your head off.

"Grex, time to fly again."

He was just as gentle this time, hoisting me up so fast I had a touch of vertigo. I held a finger to my lips, then directed him with pressure on the back of his neck, where I'm not ashamed to think (good luck to anyone, getting me to admit it) my hands were locked in a death grip. He caught on quickly, though the trail wasn't much of anything, just the same scent leading straight down to an alley.

"Connors, Snow! Sighting east of my position, West of first sighting, range 300 meters and moving away fast."

So more or less straight ahead of us, at the other end of the alley? Thankfully well away from my team with luck. Grex heard and flapped for some speed.

"Judge, Snow. sighting, flying target, past the barricade. Speed I make to be sixty miles per hour, straight west as an arrow flies."

"Faster Grex."

I almost tore his head off when he responded, though he didn't react at all.

"Pearce, Judge. You got a shot?"

"That's a negatory. ducked down and out of sight."

So no chance to slow it down. Crafty thing. Though what it was doing flying around in broad daylight was something I really wanted to know. Obviously not one of the ones weak to sunlight.

"Can you fly that fast?"

He nodded and increased the pace, causing my hood to fly back, and my hair to start stinging my face. Made me glad I didn't own a convertible.

"Pearce, Snow. ETA on team A is 15. Orders are to find the target, track the target, only engage to avoid civilian casualties."

"Snow, Pearce. Understood."

I kind of understood why the orders were given; with a blatant speedster like this one, and traffic due to start... the demon overrunning the barricade was the worst thing that could happen. I had no support at all; should I manage to corner the demon, it would be me and Grex versus
him.

But I was starting to get more annoyed and angry than scared. I'd trained for this, I wasn't incompetent, and I was getting sick of the inference from everyone that I couldn't manage one demon alone. Even if the demon was strong enough or odd enough to run around in daylight.

Once out of the alley Grex climbed, the G's pressing me back into him as he clawed for height. He didn't seem inconvenienced at all though, climbing about as rapidly as a hawk after a dive, so I focused on the scent, and leading him. We hit the barricade a moment later, flying over at light pole height as the cops manning it ducked and swore at us.

My relief was total when I noted there were no casualties; evidently the demon was more focused on getting away than damage. Likewise the streets beyond the barricade were mostly clear, and I saw no blood or obvious dismemberment. The smell was getting worse, and appeared to be leading in a ruler-straight line. I wasn't quite sure how the smell could get worse... but it was.

The trail led to a darkened parking garage. Not just a little dark. But an hour before midday, it was pitch black. Luckily enough one of the abilities I've always had (not one that just popped up randomly, like this smell thing) was the change to my eyes; I could see quite well in the dark, though I was limited to black and white. The little ambient lighting from the sun reaching through the few open spaces in the walls. Every single fluorescent light in the garage was broken, by the looks of it. This was worth checking.

"Snow, Pearce. Trail leads to a darkened parking garage eight blocks from the barricade. I'm going to canvas."

As soon as the phone clicked off I turned to Grex, who was also not encumbered in the slightest by the darkness.

"Roger that Snow, be advised that Judge has the garage in sight, and will keep the bird's eye out for our bogey."

"Understood."

Grex took the lead as we stalked along. I felt kind of ridiculous hunching low and sprinting from car to car, working my way up... but ridiculous beat taking a fire spell to the face. At the third floor, I started catching that scent again, even stronger than before. Suppressing my gag reflex was a battle... but I won. We made no sound I could hear in the darkness, our footing sure.

Did the strength of the scent correlate with the strength of the demon? I really hoped not. Cause the stench was horrible. Why did Grex not smell? Even if this power had just started up, Grex would stink too, right? But he didn't. I'd have to ask.

At the fourth floor, I started hearing voices, and saw a bit of light. Flickering quavery light, as if from a candle or something similar. We crept closer and I saw it was actually a torch, held by a skinny, pimply kid in a raged robe that looked as if a blind person had sewn it... while asleep. The torch also illuminated the crude circle crudely etched and then inked into the floor (I hope that was animal blood). The various knickknacks scattered around like so much trash hinted at a slow but less than standard summoning; I couldn't see any of the standard sacrifices or contractual soul guards we used.

A closer look revealed the pimply kid was looking gaunt, almost cadaverous. As if he were half desiccated corpse... which might be very close to the truth. Without our protections regarding summoning, the demon was a terrible drain on a person's life. There was a very real reason why only certain people were allowed (or taken and forced) to summon, after all. Not just anyone could handle the strain, or the entire draft would be meaningless. Proving my mental point, he started monologing, raising a bottle of pills.

"Finally, I can cure mom! And I didn't have to pay a cent! Damn doctors, blood suckers all of them! With Firriz at my side finally someone will be able to make them pay!"

His wild gesticulations finally showed the demon, a desiccated thing with a huge wingspan, wedging itself into a dark corner. I couldn't be sure, but I thought I saw the thing's eyes roll. It was most definitely an imp, though perhaps an unusually powerful one. To all appearances it was not detecting us. It wasn't panicking after all. A look at Grex, and a nod.

He jumped, and so did I, slowing the time around the kid to insane levels and turning just in time to eat a flash-bang in the face. Or something as close to it as made no difference. The scent briefly hit completely overwhelming levels, and something heavy hit me, driving me to the cold concrete. I struggled, trying to slow time around whoever it was, when my vision abruptly returned.

Grex was the one that had tackled me. And that of course, was why my time dilation powers weren't working; he was counteracting them. A quick glance at the kid showed him still mostly frozen, but the demon was gone.

"The demon had some sort of sense deadening power.' Grex whispered into my ear. 'I had to protect you. Thank you for not stabbing me with your athame."

I nodded my assent and gestured him off; we needed to catch the imp. It was loose now, the 'Summoner' had not given it orders, but it still ran. That smacked of freedom, which meant it was even more dangerous now. Why hadn't I thought to use my athame? It was a freaking combat knife for craps sake!

The imp was headed to the roof, no doubt to take off. I wasn't sure that it was faster than Grex, but it was pretty fast. I didn't want to risk it, but apparently the thing was just as fast running as flying.

Damn it!

"Get the hell back here you stupid stinking imp!"

The words left my mouth before I could shut it or call them back. Grex somehow found time to lift an eyebrow at me while we ran at our top speed. I'm sure I was blushing, and his smile was insufferable.

But I was strangely vindicated by what happened next.

The imp came back. We heard it before we saw it, shuffling, groaning, and spouting words in different languages that I was sure were curses. What the literal crap? I mean... dafuq?

Then the imp hove itself into view, running at me full tilt and with it's claws outstretched and a snarl on it's face. Grex placed himself between us in a flash, ready to fight, but I had another idea.

"Stop!"

The imp stomped, clearly angry now, if the way it was chewing it's own lips to shreds was any indication. It seems I had the power to compel this demon somehow. I hadn't even used the thing's name to compel it. I wonder how far I could press?

"Go back home to hell, imp, and do not come here again unless called."

Very much against it's will the words ground themselves out of the ruin of it's mouth:

"Yes my lord. Understood my lord."

And it winked out from one blink and the next, as if it had never been.

Grex was staring at me, for once clearly surprised.

"Hey don't look at me, I don't know. Though apparently I can command more demons than just those that bear my mark."

"Apparently so, my mistress. It is gone, yes back to hell. As bloodless an end to this encounter as could be achieved."

I snorted.

"You don't have to sound so disappointed. Come on, let's go secure our prisoner.There will be plenty of time for you to tell me how I just did what I just did later."

A set of manacled metal gloves without segments (so the fingers couldn't move) a nice silk gag, and a set of leg manacles and I was ready to drop the field; which was just as well, because the effort of keeping it up was something I was starting to feel. He immediately dropped as soon as I let go, looked up, and glared at me.

I'd been glared at by the best lately; his was nothing. Though I did wince a bit when his left eye started bleeding, the blood pouring from a rent in the eye itself. Seems the decay was already into the more permanent stages. Not that he had a chance of living either way; once he started the ritual, his fate, life and soul, was sealed. I felt a twinge of pity for the boy when I picked up the bottle and read it.

"Whatever you wanted this medication for, you were scammed but good kid. This is Digitalis. It's pure, and a poison in these amounts. Even using this to treat a heart condition would be extremely dangerous. Let me guess, you asked for a cure to a medical condition as part of your contract?"

His eyes narrowed, and he nodded.

"Well you got well and truly screwed kid. Sure this will cure any medical condition; death always does."

His eyes widened, and he started crying bloody tears, fighting back sniffles.

"Watch him Grex."

I walked a good distance away so I wouldn't have to hear him. The road to hell indeed, he's given up his soul willingly, and his life less so, all to almost kill his mother (by the looks of things) with a prank cure.

"Snow, Pearce. Situation resolved; demon banished, summoner caught. Location is the parking garage. No on site casualties. Please advise."

"Pearce, Snow. Secure and contain. Team ETA is 10. Should give you plenty of time to explain why Summoner Snow went in alone, without backup, and against orders?

urk.

(tbc)