CHAPTER the belief in demons

::Trigger warning for violence::

Modern times...

Anjael woke from the most pleasant of her memories, then curled on her side in a ball and wept because of what came when the Teutonics captured her. Her loyal wolf curled around her, whimpering his distress over her anguish. Looking into his dark eyes, she rubbed his ears.

"You shouldn't be here... Your mortal side gets upset when he wakes up in my bed."

The dark alpha wolf growled unhappily then licked her tears. She savored the affection from the beast whose mortal side hated her. He stood on her bed looming over her, then jumped down and trotted to the door, looking back he whimpered in apology before disappearing down the dark hallway. Rising she went to shower, but her phone pinged.

'Got a location. Two Coyotes in the kitchen.' Woods texted her an address. Her Demoness roared in her mind. Dozens of human club goers had been hospitalized from The Burn drug and now the cartels were trying to duplicate it by using modified meth, it was horrifically dangerous.

Drumming her nails as they became longer, Anjeal's need to destroy those who maimed and killed for money gnawed on the periphery of her mind until it became a buzz like a hornets' nest. She went to the roof and looked up at the moon, "What are your children up to besides war?"

"My Queen?" Shishi murmured, so she held out the cell phone.

He scowled as he read it. "My uncle says they are trying the same in Las Angeles, but it is being cooked here."

"And now we know who is cooking it." Her demoness stretched as the change overcame her. "Come, my loyal lion-dog."

He changed as she sent a text to Wood, 'Surveillance blackout at location in half an hour.'

'It will be done.'

She picked up Shishi and carried him toward the city.

/\^^^^/\

Looking down at the humans and two werecoyotes, Anjael shivered, craving the feel of the blood of the evil on her stone flesh. She grinned as the power went out. Dropping to the floor silently, she set Shishi by her side. She knew the scent of at least one of the men here. The lion-dog gargoyle growled deeply. Those caught in the dark used their cellphone flashlights to look around. The reflection in the Gargoyles' eyes glowed eerily.

"Senor Jalisco, I told your Cartel leaders repeatedly to stay out of my territory." She stood as her succubus, running her claws over Shishi's carved mane. "Now, you are going to have to be punished but I am not an unfair demon," she laughed before she said the last. "I'll give you a chance to leave peacefully. Anyone not past the city limits by dawn, I feed to my big dog."

One of the terrified men opened fire on her, then they all did. Her wings closed around them. When the shooting stopped, the cartel cannon fodder watched in horror as her white bat wings unfolded. The succubus sighed in annoyance then dug between her double-d cup, nipple-less breasts.

"These things aren't good for anything except catching useless bits." She let several bullets fall onto the floor of the silent warehouse in slow succession. They clattered like the start of a rainstorm on a tin roof. "I am so glad you all choose to die."

A man rushed forward and threw water on her, holding out his crucifix. "Be gone, demon!" He shouted in Spanish.

Her tail wrapped around his throat and dragged him to his knees in front of her as he choked on his prayers. Some fled, other stood frozen and enthralled by the deep purr of her voice. She cupped his face, caressing his tears with her thumbs like a lover. Her sideways cat-like pupils were wide in the dim light. He could see his reflection.

"Holy water and sacred prayers only work for the truly penitent, Carlos Domingues Jalisco. You should have listened to your padre's warning last Sunday when your latest nephew was christened."

"H-how?" he choked out the words. "W-who?"

"You and I attend the same Catholic Church. Didn't you know that all demons attend Mass regularly." Her claws extended as the pressure on the sides of his head increase, she grew into her true gargoyle form then his head popped in her hands like a melon.

Shishi leapt from her side and mauled two men at once before leaping after several fleeing. Her demoness leapt after four others, disarming them before she slashed their throats or stabbed her tail point through their chests. Three tried to escape out the door but she landed on two of them, letting her weight sink her toe-talons into their backs as she punched the one scrambling out the door in the back of the head hard enough it crushed when it collided with the pavement. Her tail seized his leg and flung him back inside. She cackled malevolently as the blood of the wicked covered her skin. Suddenly, a moderately large wolfen warform tackled her as a smaller coyote-shifter escaped past her. She clicked and trilled for Shishi to bring her the female werecoyote as she subdued her mate. She dragged the crippled male by the scruff of his neck back into the warehouse and into the meth cooking area.

Kicking over a table with her taloned foot she snarled in his face, "Shift back and tell me who taught you to cook this poison, welp." Instead, he snapped at her in growling defiance.

"I know you only fought me so your chosen mate could escape. Telling me the truth is the only way either of you has a chance of leaving my territory alive."

The lion-dog gargoyle returned moments later and spat the female on the floor. Anjael repeated her demand, "Shift to your skin and tell me who taught you to cook this poison."

When neither changed, Anjael threw the male into the air, he yelped in surprise then screamed as she skinned him alive faster than he could fall back to the floor. Shrinking to his coyote, the only fur remained on his head as he whimpered and tried to crawl on his broken legs to his mate. The female shifted to her skin, screaming for him, then crawled across the floor naked, cradling his head in her lap and sobbing. Watching impassively, Anjael's demoness did not let the display of emotion sway her. She reminded herself of the dozens of families and friends robbed of such moments forever as the male werecoyote died in agony.

"What are you?" the female screamed.

"I am a demon, and your cartel has trespassed in my territory for the last time. Tell me who taught you to make this poison and I may let you live."

"Go to hell!"

Shishi shifted to his mortal and forced her to stand, she struggled vainly as he held her arms, Anjael forced her head to the side, murmuring in her ear, "This is going to hurt but not nearly as much as those killed by your hybrid drug suffered."

Her demoness' fangs punctured below the clavical as the bone was crushed. The she-coyote screamed repeatedly as Anjael took much more of her blood than she needed to heal from the bullet bruises. Stepping back, Anjael tipped her head as she observed the memories.

"So your brother has a doctorate in chemistry and biochemistry from a university in Bolivia and he is currently cooking for the cartel on the east coast." She smiled with all her bloodied mother-of-pearl teeth. "You should have let the werewolves kill you. It would have been less painful. Shishi, her blood and flesh are yours for the death of your manicurist friend and her sister."

She walked away from the female and picked up a phone dropped in the panic to escape. Smiling evilly, she typed in the code to unlock it. "Woods will like this." Going over to an armored SUV she began ripping the side and rear panels off the exterior. Dufflebags of shrink-wrapped bundles of cash fell out. She shrunk to her mortal and climbed in the front seat. Plugging a small tablet into the car's console, before she tapped a number.

"Hello Woods."

"My Queen, have you had a good early morning flight?"

She realized either her uncle or Lazarus was there so she half-lied, "Yes but I found an abandoned SUV. Can you download the GPS tracking so we can find the owner?"

"Of course. The Alpha wants to know when you will be back, it's only ninety-two minutes until sunrise," he talked calmly but she knew he had watched the entire massacre. Her tablet flashed with a message. The Alpha is angry you left and demanding to know if you went on another raid. I lied to him.

"I am at my new apartment. Shishi and I will be at the tower all day, they are supposed to deliver my furniture and I want to work in my garden." Anjael answered, then asked, "Do you want me to send you out some of those donuts you love so much?" The fluffy innocence of her voice felt weird with the iron taste of werecoyote blood still on her tongue.

"Shishi is with you?" Lazarus' voice growled.

"Can't you hear him snoring?" She looked through the glove box.

"What are you doing?" She knew he could hear the papers rustling.

"Looking for the invoices for my furniture. Woods, can you send me the digital copies?" Anjael asked. She could see Shishi still playing with his prey so she remained in the armored vehicle, grateful for the soundproofing. "I am going for a bath then to mass. Call me later."

"Do you need blood after your little excursion?" Lazarus demanded, revealing he did not believe anything they were telling him.

"No, I have no need of blood until the next full moon but thank you for offering. Have a good day, Lazarus." Anjael did want to bathe then go to mass. She hung up then got out and yelled, "Finish her, Shishi."

The female had shifted to her coyote, but it was no match for the 1100lb gargoyle lion. He shook her by the scruff of her neck and it snapped loudly.

"Drop." Anjael ordered as he syphoned the blood out of the corpse. He spat it next to the other. She picked her up and skinned her in moments before handing Shishi the pelts. "I'll need these salted so I can mail them to the next of kin."

The stone lion-dog rumbled a chuckle.

Grinning, she waved him back then dialed a number. Breathing could be heard when the call was picked up, and Anjael laughed.

"Who is there?" he asked in Bolivian.

"Tell your kind to stay out of my territory or your sister and her mate will only be the first of your species to suffer this fate." She snapped a picture of the corpses of the dead werecoyotes then clicked at Shishi to burn the humans as she carried the coyote corpses over and put them on the hood of the SUV.

The breathing sped up as the picture showed it was opened. "I'll kill you."

His threat made her laugh. "I am a demon, little dog. Skinning your entire clan would merely be an evening's entertainment to me if I was very bored. I really don't care for coyote pelts, they aren't as soft as jaguar or wolf pelts. You may retrieve your dead from the police." Hanging up on him she recorded a video of the corpses on the hood of the SUV then of the piled bodies being set alight with her laughter. She sent it and he opened it immediately. Walking out of the door, she shouldered the dufflebags of cash. The drying blood was starting to itch. Shishi sprinted toward the tower after she pointed then she launched skyward flapping her wings as the sky began to shift from the glow of the city to the glow of dawn.

/\^^^^/\

Detective Sargent Biaz lit a cigarette as another officer rushed outside to vomit. The pile of partially burned bodies was horrifying, but the mostly-skinned coyote corpses thrown on the hood of the torn apart armored SUV was too much for some and definitely a dramatic flair that the Demon Vigilantes had not shown before. He hated the nickname Anjael's clan of gargoyles and werewolves had gotten after a lone survivor claimed to the media a group of Demons and monster dogs killed his clan. Whining and siting down or pulling back, the narcotics dogs refused to enter the building, but he didn't think they were needed because the drugs were untouched except for one overturned table. There was practically a semi-truck half filled with them. The FBI profilers believed it was a group of vigilantes who disguised themselves but looking around, Biaz knew exactly what or rather who had done this.

"Detective." A CSI photographer called to him. "I've got something."

Walking over to the car, he shook his head over the damage. It looked like someone used the jaws of life to peel off the panels. "What have you got?"

"And arse-print in blood."

"Excuse me?"

The CSI from Ireland laughed, and repeated, "One of them left her arse print in the blood of the drug dealers, and I think she was wearing some kind of latex body suit with a sash... And damn." He pointed at the outline of a perfect butt. "She searched the inside of the vehicle and accessed then wiped the GPS. I don't think we'll be able to recover it because it is just blinking with the factory reset code."

Biaz just nodded looking at the shape then asked, "What about the coyotes? Any idea where they came from?"

"I don't know anything about coyotes but if they were dogs, I would say they were pets or something. They are young, well fed, healthy except for the whole lack of fur thing."

"Hmm," the old detective grunted, then ordered, "Call the zoo to have someone examine them. If they were someone's pets, maybe they were tattooed or chipped."

A pale officer walked over to him, "Detective Biaz, there is a call for you routing through dispatch."

He walked out to a patrol vehicle and picked up the radio. "Detective Sargent Biaz."

"Did you find the presents I left for you?" A deep female voice purred.

"You mean the nearly half ton of meth, eleven dead bodies, and two skinned coyotes? Yeah, we found them. Why'd you do it?" He looked to see an FBI SUV parking. "Why kill the humans and the animals?" He heard a car horn behind him and in his ear. She was close.

"They weren't animals and neither is the FBI agent in the blue shirt." The call clicked as she hung up. Biaz looked skyward but saw nothing. Groaning, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Dispatch, did you record the call?"

"Yes, sir, but the cellular trace shows your location." The dispatcher sounded confused, "Are they there?"

"She's watching us but who knows if it is in person or through a camera," Biaz answered.

His captain ordered a search of all the buildings as Biaz went to meet the FBI agent-in-charge. "Detective Sargent Jack Biaz."

"Special Agent Kemper, call me John." The tall werewolf in the blue button-down held out his hand.

Glancing around, Biaz shook his and asked, "Tell me something, John... Does your wolf moon goddess believe in demons?"

Surprise only flashed in the werewolf's eyes for a moment as Biaz lit another cigarette. After a long inhale and longer exhale, Biaz revealed, "There are two dead werecoyotes on the hood of the SUV inside. They believed in demons before they died." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a vomit bag and pair of gloves, handing them over before he walked away.

"Where are you going, Detective?"

"To mass, Special Agent K, I'm going to mass."

/\^^^^/\

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