The Price of Possession by Dakota Brown (phonics story books txt) 📕

He was handling the destruction of his house fairlywell. Either that, or it simply hadn't sunk in yet.

"We can do that," I agreed and gesturedtoward the car.

Sabian, Mal, and the hellhound got in the back whilewe took the front. Aaron kept the blanket around himself to protect his skinfrom the hot car.

"Then maybe some food and we can talk," I suggestedwhen I started the car.

"I know this really great pizza place," Aaronreplied tiredly.

Ahh, hell, if he said Tony's...we were going to haveto have words. They were the other dedicated pizza joint in town. They weregood enough, but nowhere near the quality of what I put out. "Yeah, mate?"I prompted.

"Price's. It's the best pizza in town."

"Damn straight," I agreed.

Sabian and Mal chuckled.

"I know the owner," I said. "I bet Ican get us a good deal."

Aaron glanced at me and frowned. "Oh, hell, Ithought you looked familiar."

I shrugged. "Just glad for the honest review. Let'sget you some essentials, and then we'll get the best pizza in town and we cantrade tales. Got a lot to talk about. Where do you want to go to get someclothes?"

He named one of the nicer department stores in theless touristy part of town. I raised my eyebrows but headed that direction. We'dhave to find some place to wash up on the way to get the soot off. The smokysmell would linger, but we could take care of that at home.

Chapter 11

Aaron

Getting a few essentials proved a touch more difficultsince I didn't have a shirt in the first place. Mal–I could sense a hint of alie when they told me his name. Not so much that I thought they were outrighthiding who he was, more so that it might be a shortening of his full name–endedup running inside and getting me a shirt. Then he and I went in together. Iwasn't sure why the other man joined me, but I had a feeling he was protectingme. If so, I was grateful. Though the man was quite a bit shorter than me, hemoved a lot like some of my friends who were really into martial arts. Heprobably knew how to handle himself.

Still, that didn't explain why he found it painful to touchme, and I was looking forward to their explanation later over dinner.

Chris Price was an interesting character. I'd seen heronce or twice in her restaurant, and she was fairly distinctive, but I figuredI had a pass on not recognizing her right away. What with the fire and all.

That really pissed me off. I had liked that housequite a bit, and I got along with my neighbors really well. I guess the landwas still mine, and I could rebuild. It would just take a while. I'd have todeal with insurance. Aww, hell, my work laptop had gone up in the fire. Everythingimportant was backed up on the network, but I might have lost a few notes.Still, I was alive, and the rest was an inconvenience compared to that.

Who had those people been, and what were they after?

Armed with a bag of clothing, toiletries, and a newphone, I felt at least a little better able to face the next few hours. Afterthat, well, I would probably need a stiff drink or two. I suspected what my newfriends would have to tell me was going to be harder to handle than the fireitself.

Chris pulled into the parking lot for the pizza parlorand we all climbed out. My stomach was really growling by then, and I was glad wehad opted for food during our discussion.

I studied the sign to the shop as we approached.Something was different.

"Did you rebrand?" I asked.

"What? No, mate," Chris answered tiredly. Shestopped and looked at the sign. "Son of a bitch," she muttered.

Sabian burst out laughing and Mal chuckled.

"It's a good touch," Mal said.

"But…we're supposed to be forgetting aboutdemons," she exclaimed, and I could hear the exasperation in her voice.

That was what was different. There was a pentagram nowgracing the pizza pie in her sign, the single point of the star facing theground. And what was this about demons? The marks that looked like eyes on mybiceps and chest tingled and I rubbed my hands together to try and chase theunpleasant sensation away.

She smacked her forehead. "I don't know if Ishould be upset or not."

The small dog that trotted after her woofed and waggedits tail as if it were amused, too. No one had paid much attention to the dog.I thought it was a Pomeranian. I wondered what was going on with that.

 "Just own it, Chris," Mal suggested.

The woman took a deep breath and pushed through thedouble doors into the cool, air-conditioned building. We all followed, even thedog that everyone was ignoring.

I ate here often enough that the changes to thedecoration were obvious. Whoever had done the sign out front, had hit theinside, as well. They'd spent some time adding the upside down pizza pentagram tothe signs. Obviously, by Price's reaction, it was new. I wondered if what hadprompted that change was related to the earlier events.

The staff looked up and kind of froze when they sawPrice.

She tilted her head and put her hands on her hips.

The woman at the hostess station twisted her hands andsmiled hopefully. "Did you want a table, Chris?"

Price raised her eyebrows and tilted her head,pointing at the addition to the sign.

She shrugged. "It was Billy's idea."

"Yeah, sure, blame it on me," Billy said ashe came into the dining room. Someone must have grabbed him.

Chris turned her attention on him.

"If you don't like it, we can fix it. It'stemporary. We've got some suggestions for the menu and a few other things. I'vegot a sign priced out."

"What, exactly, prompted this?" Chris asked,voice neutral. She glanced back at the woman at the hostess station. "Table?"

The woman held up three fingers and Chris gestured forus to follow.

There weren't many patrons right now, but a few glancedat us as we headed to a large table in the back