said, trying to disguise the quivering in her voice. She did not relish the idea of facing a demon. She had a small arsenal of protective paraphernalia, but she did not have the capability to actually kill a demon. In fact, upon quick inventory of the usual suspects she had in her bag—salt, holy water, a cross—she realized that she was pretty much only capable of pissing a demon off. Great.
“Maybe we shouldn’t do this,” Dora said. She was a lovely woman in her fifties, shorter than Amber with lots of curves and a kind face. She’d given Amber the lowdown in her office that morning.
“I was working late, cleaning up the shop, when I heard something upstairs. I use the top floor for storage. It’s more like a finished attic than an actual second story.” She sniffed into a handkerchief and, once again, Amber wondered how it had made it into the afterworld with her.
Kyle stood off to the side, clipboard in hand. He patted Mrs. Rodriguez’s shoulder, encouraging her to continue.
“Was it an intruder?” Amber asked the woman.
She shook her head. “I’m… I’m not really sure.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Rodriguez. Go ahead. What did you hear?”
“No need to be so formal, sweetheart. Call me Dora, please.”
“Dora. I interrupted. Please, continue. What did you hear?”
“It sounded like… I don’t know how to describe it really. Like a scratching?”
Pins prickled across Amber’s skin.
“Slow and steady, like someone was digging out from under the floorboards.” The woman clutched her fists to her chest, clearly overcome with the memory. “I got to the top of the stairs and turned on the light. That’s when I saw it.”
Amber fought to keep her hands from clenching. The last time something had come out of the ground and grabbed her, she’d died for two hours. If she hadn’t had a surrogate aunt named Charley Davidson, who just happened to be a god, she would still be in the afterworld. A place that was kind of wonderful. She’d felt safe and warm and loved. It was the getting there that was the hard part. The attack had been violent. Brutal beyond belief. The man had been so desperate to escape hell, he’d pulled Amber down with him. Ripping at her hair. Clawing at her skin. Beating her when she wouldn’t help him until her life slipped through the cracks in her psyche and left the earthly plane.
She shook out of the nauseating memory and refocused on her client. “What did you see?”
“At first, just a blur. It barely registered. But when I turned toward it… Its face. It…” She made the sign of the cross and pressed her fingers to her mouth. “It wasn’t human. Madre de Dios. It was a demon. I knew it the moment I saw it. Its face was contorted. Beastly. Gray and white and shiny. Like the flesh of a lizard. And the teeth.” She shuddered.
Amber followed suit. At least the thing that’d attacked her had been human once. She couldn’t imagine coming face-to-face with an actual demon.
Kyle glanced at her from over his glasses, his expression questioning.
She nodded. She would be fine. This was about their client. Not her.
“I don’t know if he pushed me or if I just fell, but the next thing I knew, I was floating above my body at the bottom of the stairs. I saw the light, but I knew I had to tell someone. My niece will be in soon. I have to warn her!”
Kyle knelt beside her. “Mrs. Rodriguez, your niece found your body a few hours ago. I guess someone heard a commotion and called her.”
Dora’s hands flew over her mouth again. “Oh, no, mija. I didn’t want that. Is she…? It didn’t hurt her, did it?”
“She’s okay,” Kyle assured her. “She’s upset, of course, but she’s with her family.”
Mrs. Rodriguez made the sign of the cross again and began reciting the Lord’s Prayer.
Amber understood completely. The prospect of facing an actual demon made her knees weak. And yet, here she was.
“I’ll keep watch,” Kyle said, and Amber could hardly blame him. “I’ll let you know if the authorities come back.”
She nodded, drew in a deep breath, and entered Dora’s shop that doubled as her humble abode. The back door opened into a kitchen. It was even smaller than Amber’s but adorable. Bright colors. Lots of knickknacks. A retro diner feel. Dora was an eclectic artist, and her décor spoke volumes.
“The stairs are to the right,” Dora said.
Amber wove around a turquoise table,