Demon's Trust (The Chronicles of Arcayos #1) - Raven Dark Page 0,80
did not do anything you did not want.” He kisses my neck, his breathing slowing. He gives my ass a pat and then says in Hawk’s unmistakably laid-back, human voice. “That was great. See you tomorrow… partner.”
Partner. God, I could kill him.
Footsteps sound across the floor and then the door to the warehouse bangs shut.
17
Chance Divided
The next week passes by in a blur.
The captain keeps us hopping. When we aren’t poring over case files and combing through evidence at our desk, Arcayos—Hawk—and I are pounding the pavement trying to solve the pile of cases in our file holder that never seems to get any smaller.
Hours crawl by while we hunt up victims or witnesses willing to tell us anything about Mancini or his men that will allow us to put him away. No luck there. People in this city are either too afraid to speak out about the mob boss, or they’re in his pocket. More hours snail past while we talk to anyone and everyone who might be remotely connected to the robbery gang Ricky was murdered trying to help us take down.
“You know they have a name now, right?” The cabbie grabs a paper from a newsstand and puts the money in the newspaperman’s jar.
“Who, the robbers?” I ask?
At my side, Arcayos leafs through a paper he just bought.
The cabbie glances nervously at us before getting back into his car. He flicks on the light on his roof, indicating he’s open for business.
“It’s all right, sir.” Arcayos’ voice is Hawk’s smooth, soothing tone. “You can talk to us. We’re just chatting here.”
He gives a reluctant nod. “They call themselves The Twelve now. Least that’s what I hear from people around here.”
Hope kindles in my chest. This is the most anyone has ever said about them. “When did that start?”
“Dunno.” The cabbie shrugs.
“How do you know this?” Arcayos asks.
“You pick up stuff, you know. Look, if that’s it, officers, I got work to do.” He starts his car.
“Detectives,” I correct him.
“Wait, sir.” Arcayos puts his big hands on the window frame, leaning down.
The driver stiffens, not looking at us, but he doesn’t drive off.
“Why do they call themselves The Twelve?”
“How should I know? Maybe they got a base of operations on Twelfth Street. Or maybe there are twelve of them.”
“Okay. Do you know anything else, sir?” I press.
He looks ready to drive off, so Arcayos’ hands tighten on the window frame. “Sir, if you know anything, help us out. People are afraid here. People have lost their lives thanks to them. I’m sure you don’t want anyone else to die any more than we do. The next person could be someone you care about or you.”
The cabbie presses his lips together. “All I know is what I hear. My brother used to run with some bad people around here. He says he’s heard they have a rule. Every time they lose one, they replace him with another. That’s all I got. Can I go now, Detective?”
Arcayos nods and lets go of his cab door.
“You were very helpful, sir,” I reassure him. “Thank you. Now maybe we have a chance of actually catching them.”
His foot lowers toward his gas pedal, but he glances at us. “If you don’t catch the Twelve, I wouldn’t feel too bad. Give it time. The Hooded Swordsman will probably wipe them out.”
I sigh, watching him pull into the heavy traffic. “That’s just what I wanted to hear. Another one who’s chomping at the bit for the Swordsman to exact more vigilante justice.”
So far, Arcayos has killed three more demons this week. He’d told me the next day at work in private. Apparently, they’d been having a little fun with a woman when he took them out. But he’d also stopped a robbery at a jewelry store, a mugging, and a domestic fight in an alley. Apparently, the Champion has taken it upon himself to defend the citizens of Chance from more than just the forces of Darkness, and it’s made people even more reluctant to talk about him than they already were.
We head for the Junk Pile, parked down the street from where the cabbie had been sitting.
Arcayos killed three of The Twelve in Hollow Park, but if the cabbie is right, there are still nine more, including the one who got away that night. And we have no idea if the remaining robbers are aware that the men they were working with are demons, or if they are demons themselves.