can do that,” Easton tells me and lets his hand slowly slide down my shoulder. Lucas told me months ago that he thought Easton was still in love with me. I dismissed it at the time, and I don’t have the luxury of mulling it over now. Besides, what does it matter? I’m very happily married with a baby on the way.
“You can?”
“Yeah. And if I can’t, I can call Melinda for help. She was always the go-to when we needed to hack into traffic cams. And we’ve needed to remove our fair share of demon-related killings too.”
“I have no idea what kind of security system she has, but I think she can access it on her phone.”
“Do you know her password to get onto her phone?”
“No, but it has facial recognition.”
“Good. Where is it?”
“The kitchen,” I tell him and point through the foyer.
“Are you okay to handle this?” Easton asks before he takes a step forward.
“Yeah. I’ll get it. Thank you again.”
He nods and hurries into the kitchen to get Abby’s phone. I go back to the door, spraying it down with cleaner again. The smell chokes me, and I get up to open a window. The less I have to alter in Abby’s mind the better, and explaining why her house suddenly smells like the cleaning crew had just been here is one less thing to worry about.
Easton comes back and holds the phone over Abby’s face, unlocking it. “I’m familiar with this system,” he tells me. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll have it removed.”
“There’s a camera on the porch too. It’ll show Roger coming up to the house.”
“I’ll take care of it.” He turns and goes into the office on the other side of the foyer to use the computer. I turn my attention back to the door, wiping it down two more times for good measure. Then I move over to my sister, who still looks disturbingly peaceful lying the ground covered in blood.
I wipe up the blood around her and stand up, feeling slightly woozy. Get it together, Callie. Abby’s shirt is soaked in blood. I can pull off the glamour it will take to make her see herself as she was before, but I’m going to need to get her to get out of her clothes and into the shower sooner rather than later. And then…then…fuck. I’m going to have to take her clothes and throw them away.
Once I’ve cleaned up what I can from the floor, I gather all the paper towels and go into the kitchen, telekinetically pulling a grocery bag out of the open cabinet under the sink. I shove the paper towels inside and then take the neatly folded towel hanging on the dishwasher. I run it under water, wring it out, and then go back to the foyer to clean up Abby’s skin the best I can. I go back into the kitchen, passing the bathroom, to rinse the towel. The bathroom is closer, but I want to keep the contamination as minimal as possible.
Easton helps sit her up so I can clean up the blood from her back and on the floor beneath her. Then I wipe down the few pieces of the broken ginger jar that were splattered with her blood.
“What are you going to tell her?” Easton asks when we get things as put together as possible.
“She was on the way to answer the door, thinking it was her neighbor,” I start. “She slipped, grabbed the entryway table, and took out the ginger jar in the process. And you were at the door. You had some demon news and that’s why you stopped by.”
“I think that’ll work. But, uh, what about the blood?”
“I’ll have her go take a shower. We actually just got back from the spa, and she did mention that she has to shower after a massage because the oil makes her feel too greasy. When she’s in there, I’ll take her clothes. The glamour will keep her from noticing the blood washing off her too.”
Easton nods. “Yeah, that’ll work. She’ll shower when you’re still here?”
“Eh, I can be very influential. And you’re going to ask to talk to me in private about demon business. I’m going to come back in after we’ve talked so I can keep hanging out with Abby until her husband and daughter get back so I can say hi to them.”
“I can’t find anything wrong with that, assuming your Jedi mind tricks work.”