Bones of the Demon King

Chapter 11

It was getting late and Denise hadn't heard from her niece, Stella. She had tried to call her but the calls were going straight to voicemail. Denise looked at her phone again to see if she had any missed messages. All she saw were the texts that Stella had sent earlier.

"How's JB?"

Denise had responded with, "Asleep. How's the date? Hot????"

"YES! Tom's a blue eyed hottie! Ttyl"

Denise hadn't heard from Stella since then which wasn't like her. Even if she had wanted to spend the night with the guy...she wouldn't because of JB. She never stayed out late so that she could be home in case JB needed her.  It was already past midnight. Denise sighed and picked up her phone again to leave Stella another message.

~THE NEXT MORNING~

Eva woke up feeling queasy. Yesterday had been draining for her.

"I need you to tempt the Demon King."

Tom's words still made her shudder. She was angry at herself for letting Tom lead her down the proverbial rabbit hole. Eva walked downstairs and into the kitchen. The paper towel Tom had used last night was still on the kitchen table. She picked it up and threw it in the trash. She got her box of Lucky Charms cereal and poured herself a bowl. She sat and recalled her conversation with Tom McDaniels.

"I need you to tempt the Demon King," Tom had said.

Eva automatically responded with sarcasm, "And I need you to take your meds today."

"I'm serious. If anyone can reach out to him...it's you." Tom was sitting on the edge of his seat. "I read your articles. You called him the Demon King and all of a sudden he starts writing about finding his queen. That's no coincidence. That's your doing."

Eva closed her eyes at his words. She didn't want Detective Gonzales to be right about her articles. Now even Tom McDaniels was telling her that her stories were dangerous. "My articles aren't influencing him in any way."

"All you have to do is antagonize him a little and see what he does."

Eva scoffed, "What? You want me to egg him on and then what? Be some kind of bait?" She was livid.  "Until when would I stop antagonizing him? Until he kills me? And what are you going to do in the meantime? Try to catch him in the act? Fuck that!" Eva couldn't believe that Tom McDaniels was even asking her to do this.

Joelynn came into the kitchen. "I heard yelling. Is everything okay Eva?" Joelynn had her phone in hand ready to call the cops if she needed to.

Tom spoke slowly, "I'm not saying you should tell him to come after you. I'm telling you to write something that he may find insulting. Maybe he'll slip up and make a mistake so that the cops can catch him. If you helped stop him, you would be saving lives."

Joelynn didn't quite understand what was going on but she interjected, "Are you asking Eva to piss off a serial killer? Are you insane?"

Tom shook his head, "Eva, all you have to do is say something subtle to throw him off."

Eva smirked, "Like what?"

Tom shrugged, "I don't know...maybe that the cops are closing in on him. Something to make him worried."

"Like that would work." Eva wanted the night to be over.

Joelynn stood in front of Tom. "I think you should go."

Tom looked up at her and then at Eva. He responded, "This isn't any of your business. This is between me and Eva."

Joelynn could see that Eva was shaken. Joelynn felt the need to stand up for her cousin who wasn't being her normal self, "Wrong asshole. You're basically asking Eva to sign her death warrant and that is my business. Now get the hell out of here before I call the cops to come get your creepy ass."

Tom looked at Eva again who had her arms akimbo. When she didn't even look at him, he stood up and began walking out of the kitchen with Joelynn in tow. "I'm serious Eva. You could save lives."

"Shut the hell up and keep walking, "Joelynn ordered.

After he had left, Joelynn came back to the kitchen to see Eva hunched over the kitchen sink, clutching her locket. "Eva are you okay?"

Eva had responded, "I'm fine Joelynn. Thank you and thanks for asking him to leave." She turned around to face Joelynn who saw what looked like a trail of tears on her cousin's face. Out of concern, Joelynn said, "Don't listen to what that guy just said. You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

Eva gave a halfhearted smile and squeezed Joelynn's shoulder. Then she walked out of the kitchen and upstairs to her bedroom.

 ~THAT AFTERNOON~

David Wilson was tired. He had a long night and this afternoon he had been talking to an officer who told him he had gone out to Eva Lewis' house last night due to a possible intruder.  David pulled out his phone and checked his messages. He sighed. They were all from random women. He deleted all of them. He didn't mind being known as a ladies' man but sometimes it was annoying to constantly have to clean out his inbox. He looked through his contacts until he found who he was looking for. Then he typed in his message, "Are you okay?"

Two minutes later, he got a response, "Aww were you worried? News travels fast at the station. I'm ok. Thanks."

David smiled. He always liked Eva but she never really took him seriously. He didn't know if it was because of his reputation or because she only saw him as a friend. There wasn't a man in the station that didn't find her attractive. Eva never seemed to give any of them the time of day.

He texted her back, "If you need anything, let me know."

"Thanks David. I'll call you next time."

David responded to Eva's message, "I'll come running."

He put his phone back into his pocket and glanced over at his partner Jerry Gonzales. Jerry was muttering something under his breath about female FBI agents.

David shook his head and laughed. He thought Jerry was slowly losing it. "Hey Gonzales, did you see Agent Roux today? She's having a meeting about the Demon King in an hour."

"Shut the hell up Wilson!" Jerry got up and stormed off. Probably to look for Agent Roux.

David laughed because there was no meeting. This job could be grueling but giving Jerry a hard time always made him laugh.

~AT THE HOME OF EVA LEWIS~

Joelynn checked her dating app again. She looked at the message from King27 and smiled. She still couldn't believe that she had gotten a response so quickly. She had meant to text him back but when she heard Eva yelling at the man named Tom McDaniels, she got distracted and didn't respond. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to connect with someone online. Her finger hovered over the delete button for a few seconds before she pressed the back button. She wasn't sure if she would respond to King27 but she wanted to keep her options open.

 ~AT THE LUDWIG NEWS BUILDING~

Eva was working late. She still couldn't forget Tom McDaniels' request to have her agitate the Demon King. She was scared but a part of her wanted to help stop this murderer. Perhaps she could get a one-on-one interview with him. Eva looked at her watch and realized it was past the time for her to go home. She called it a day and grabbed her purse and keys. As she walked to her car, she heard someone calling out her name, "Eva!"

She turned around to see Tom McDaniels waiting for her in front of her work building.

"What are you doing here? Don't you know stalking is a crime?"

Tom quickly walked up to her, "I just got here.  I wanted to talk to you and I didn't see your car at your house so I figured you might still be at work."

"You drove by my house?" Eva released a sigh of frustration and continued to walk towards her car, "I have nothing to talk to you about."

Tom didn't give up, "C'mon Eva. Just hear me out. Five minutes. Please?"

Eva suddenly stopped in her tracks but it wasn't because of what Tom had just said. She looked in front of her to see that someone had vandalized her car. Written in what she hoped was red paint, were the words, "I'm coming Queen Eva."