Death Moon

Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

I don’t like riding in cars that aren’t my own.

If you’re wondering why Bo and I were in this little red coupe to begin with, it was because my Lincoln Town Car had several bullet holes in it, a busted trunk, and a dented quarter panel from getting chased by two cronies working for the archdemon Elziel.

Bo and I were lucky to walk away unscathed, but my car wasn’t so fortunate. When we rolled up to the auto body shop, a mechanic was standing in the parking lot with a clipboard, estimating another car. He took one look at us and shook his head.

“Mr. Broussard, this car is the very definition of a total loss,” the guy said. “It really would be cheaper to let me total it.”

Then, I had to educate the guy about sentimental value, about how it was my dad’s car, how he handed it down to me, and how I wasn’t going to let it go. He asked me if I had insurance, and I told him I did, but I wasn’t filing a claim. When he asked if the other guy had insurance, I changed the conversation. There was no point telling him that the at-fault party was a cadaver infested with demon magic. I wanted the guy to fix my car, not call the insane asylum on me.

The body shop said the repairs would take a week. I was waiting for Bo to finish up inside when the wolf pack showed up. Now, here we were, trying to figure out why they wanted to kill us.

“Think it was the archdemon?” Bo asked.

I was impressed that Bo hadn’t complained about the size of the car yet. He leaned over the steering wheel, angling to get a good look out the windshield. If he drove this thing too long, he’d be ringing the bells at Notre Dame.

“Elziel is dead,” I said. “You were there, remember?”

“Visgaroth is dead too,” Bo said, frowning. “But somehow his name keeps coming up.”

I pulled out the razor blade. On the one hand, I wanted to know who the wolf in the spirit world was. On the other hand, maybe it would’ve been better to let him rot.

Bo turned down a dark alley and I willed open a stitch to the spirit world.

“When I signed that contract for the loaner,” Bo said, “it explicitly said we couldn’t take the car out of the country, boss man. I’m pretty sho’ that means out of this world too.”

“If there’s any damage, we’re sending the bill to the wolf pack,” I said.

Bo cruised through the stitch. In a flash, we were on a rocky plain under the spirit world’s trademark boiling orange sky. The smell of rotten eggs, old matches, and brimstone invaded the car and made me want to gag.

This coupe’s shocks weren’t ready for the terrain. Bo and I jostled around the inside of the car like popcorn as he slowed the car to a stop.

I stepped out, used to the sulfuric assault that hit my nostrils. Above, two phantoms wailed and exploded like fireworks, spreading out in a gossamer mist. The mist hung in the air before dissolving into the boiling sky.

“Where’s poochy?” Bo asked, folding his arms.

We stood, surveying the landscape. There wasn’t a wolf to be found. In the distance, a golden core drifted over a hill.

“This is the spot where you left him, right?” Bo asked.

I frowned. I was about to speak when someone was suddenly near me.

“Looking for something, boys?” a female voice asked.

My friend CeCe sat on the hood of the coupe. Her flowing red dress almost blended in with the paint. She had a mischievous grin across her pale face.

“Where’s the wolf?” I asked.

“Maybe you ought to tell me what you’re doing messing around with wolf shifters,” CeCe said. “I didn’t think they were your type, Lester.”

“They’re our type, all right,” Bo said. “In fact, they’re the I’m-about-to-put-my-foot-up-their-ass type.”

“Since you put it so eloquently,” CeCe said. “He went that way.”

She pointed toward a rolling hill with patchy grass.

“He’s running pretty fast, so you might want to drive,” she said, hopping off the hood. “But what happened to your car?”

“Damaged in a demon chase,” Bo said. He opened the door, slanted the driver’s seat down, and helped her in.

I climbed back into the car, and Bo took off toward the hill.

“Time to catch a wolf,” I said.