She laughed. "Trust me, babe, that has not escaped my attention." He frowned at her playful words. "Are you teasing me?"
"Yes."
Teasing ... no one had ever done that before. At least not playfully. He looked at Jesse.
"Teee-zeeeen," Jesse said, elongating the word. "It means . . ." Scowling, he paused. "Well, hell, I don't know what it means. It's when someone, you know, teases you."
Grinding his teeth, Xypher popped him on the back of his head.
"Ow! Dang, I forgot you could do that." Jesse stepped closer to Simone.
When Xypher started to pursue him, Simone stepped between them and handed him the bags of clothes. "We're leaving now," she said in an exaggerated tone. "Thank the nice lady for her help."
The clerk laughed. "You're definitely welcome. You two have a good night."
Before Xypher could respond, Simone lightly pushed him toward the door. He followed after her grudgingly.
Was she insane for coining between them? He couldn't fathom anyone putting their life in danger for a ghost. Especially not a silly one like Jesse.
Simone paused outside to give them both a chiding glare. "You two are going to get me into so much trouble one day. Can you not behave?"
Jesse huffed. "He started it."
Simone held her hand up in frustration. "Not another word!"
Xypher turned and zapped Jesse so hard, his hair started smoking.
Simone grabbed his arm to protect Jesse, who was now whimpering.
Xypher's eyes flared as if he were about to fry her, too.
"Diplomatic immunity," she said, holding up the bracelet to remind him that he couldn't kill her so long as she wore it.
"You'd do well to remember that won't last forever."
"But it'll last long enough to get you to leave Jesse alone."
He growled threateningly. Luckily, though, he turned his back to Jesse and started down the sidewalk.
Relieved that she had them both quelled, Simone had barely taken a step when her phone rang again. "Hello?"
It was Tate.
"We've got another homicide . . . just like Gloria. Can you get your butt over here and take a look at it while the cops are still investigating the scene?"
"Of course. Where are you?"
She didn't hear his answer as two police cars went streaming by, headed toward the other side of the French Market. There was an urgency about them that set off her sixth sense.
"Oh, wait, let me guess," she said after they passed. "You're at North Peters."
"Heard that, huh?"
"To the depths of my now deaf soul." She watched the cars turn. "I think I'm only about four blocks from you. Be right there."
It didn't take them long to cut across the street and find the police . . . and a small crowd that had gathered to watch and comment or speculate. Simone pulled her wallet out of her back pocket to flash the first officer she reached. Even though she carried a purse, she always put her wallet in her back pocket-a force of habit after she'd had her purse stolen several years before.
He wrinkled his nose at her ID. "Meat Division. I don't envy you guys,"
She smiled at him. "It's okay, I don't envy you, either. At least the people I take into custody don't try to kill me."
"Good point." He lifted the tape so that she could bend and go under it.
"He's with me," she said before he could stop Xypher.
"It's okay, Ryan," Tate shouted as he headed toward them. "We need them on this one."
"Whatever you say, Doc."
Simone stepped back to introduce them to each other. "Tate, this is Xypher, my current paranormal dilemma."
Laughing, Tate offered his hand to Xypher. "I've never met a Dream-Hunter before."
Xypher shook it. "Sure you have. You just don't remember it," he said with an evil glint in his eye.
Tate shook his head. "That's not comforting."
"My kind seldom are." No missing the ominous tone in those words.
"Xypher is very much in the hair-raising scare'em crew," Simone explained.
Tate led them toward the victim who waited under a black tarp. "I can see that. And I'll make a note to stay on his good side. Last thing I need are any more nightmares in my sleep."
Simone couldn't agree more. "I think Xypher lives for nightmares." Tate snorted. "In that case, he's going to feel right at home."
"Why?"
Tate indicated the body on the ground at their feet. "Just like Gloria. Same wounds. Same MO. No blood. Drained and dropped. Only difference is this one seemed to fight back."
"She must-"
"He," Tate corrected.
Simone frowned. That would debunk the serial killer idea. "He?"
Tate lifted the tarp to show her a Caucasian male in his mid-twenties who was lying face up, staling blankly at nothing at all. His face was contorted, frozen by the honor that had taken his life.
Simone winced as a wave of sympathetic pain went through her. She hated this part of her job most. That feeling of seeing someone as a killer had left them. The sick die ad that clamped her stomach tight. But the worst was the firsthand knowledge of how the family would react to this tragedy.
"We have to find this asshole and stop him," she said between clenched teeth.
"Yeah," Tate agreed.
Xypher set his bags down before he approached the body to examine it.
"Careful," Tate warned. "Don't touch the body. We don't want to destroy any evidence. We have to find the perp and bring him to justice immediately."
Xypher leaned over to carefully study the neck wound. "That's going to be hard."
"How so?"
"It's a demon kill."
"What?" she and Tate said simultaneously.
Xypher sat back on his haunches to look up at them. "A human didn't do this."
That didn't make any sense to her, "Daimons don't-"
"Not Daimon. Demon." Xypher indicated the marks on the neck that were identical to Gloria's attack. "This is a Sumerian Dimme attack,"
"Dimme?" Tate repeated. "What the hell is a Dimme?"
Xypher rose to his feet. "That's how I ended up here. I helped to fight them in Las Vegas. During the battle, one of the Dimme escaped and to my knowledge no one could find it. I think you just did."
Tate appeared as ill as Simone felt. "How the hell did it get here?"
Xypher shrugged. "There has to be something that called it here. An artifact, a person. Something. Otherwise it would have stayed close to the cocoon where its sisters are still trapped."
"Are you sure about that?" Tate asked.
"No, human. I don't know shit about this. I'm just rattling off randomness to confuse you."
Simone sighed. "I should have warned you about his sarcasm. It makes being around him a total joy."
Tate ignored her statement as he glanced around the dark street. "Can you find his ghost Sim?"
"He hasn't popped in."
Xypher crossed his arms over his chest. "He won't have a ghost."
Simone cocked her head at his deadpan words. "What do you mean?"
"It's a Dimme kill. They usually suck everything out of a human. Lock, stock, and barrel. And, for the record, you'll need to destroy the body since their kills reanimate a few horns after death."
Simone exchanged a sick look with Tate.
"Gloria," Tate whispered. "That's why her body got up."
Simone scowled as she thought about that. "Then why did we see Gloria's ghost?"
Xypher shrugged. "The Dimme must not have finished eating the soul. It happens sometimes The soul gets trapped and eventually withers and dies."
Tate cursed. "So then how do we track and kill this thing?"
Xypher's expression was one of pure evil. "You don't. It tracks and kills you."