A couple of days passed and Emil's protections held up well. Of course, they only worked so long as they were both in their rooms by nightfall. Josefine came home late that night smelling of blood and death and tired enough to have almost forgotten the demon-imposed curfew on her apartment. She locked the four locks on the door and made it into the room with her desk and the table when she felt searing cold as claws raked down her back and slammed her into the table. The impact of her head on the table and the pain of lacerations in her back had her flashing back to when she was a child and her father would come home particularly drunk and angry. In her head, he was getting ready to kick her so she curled into a tight ball and shielded her head with her arms as he wound up. The demon's icy touch broke through the image as it grabbed her arm tightly to flip her over before slamming her back into the table. Its claws were raised to drive into her chest but Josefine had snapped out of it and barely had time to react this time. She threw her arms up in a boxer's guard over her face. Silver caught her eye and she figured this was as good a time as any for magical protection.
"Schild," she spoke German through grit teeth and the Aegishjalmr shield bracelet on her wrist flashed with blue light that wrapped around her in a comforting bubble. The demon's claws slammed into the shield and it was shocked back with stored kinetic energy. Now that it wasn't immediately on top of her, Josefine rolled over the table to her feet on the other side and rushed for the door to her room, slamming it closed behind her. Then she paused there to catch her breath and hold it firmly shut, listening to the demon slam into the door and scratch at the wood, waiting to see if it would get through. She trusted Emil's wards but it still took her a moment to be satisfied they'd hold. Josefine moved away after hesitating a moment and winced as she stripped out of her shredded shirt, taking in an already black and blue bruise on her upper arm where it'd grabbed her. When she checked in her broken mirror, the scratches at least blended in with the scarred welts from a leather belt and weren't that deep.
The next day she and Bates returned to the apartment to find scratches around both doors and on the floor in front of them like something had dug in with sharp claws. There was a knock at the door and Bates let out a tiny shriek before Josefine went to answer, her hand lingering near the pistol in her shoulder holster. When she looked, it was one of her neighbors so she released the pistol before opening the door.
"Hiya Jo," he lifted a hand in a wave, "I got a message for you from Epsom Shipping. Little lady said Mr. Żukowski is back in town." Josefine took the note he offered her, glancing it over.
"Thank you."
"You went to talk with Eugene?" Bates joined her at the door as she closed it.
"To get his side of the story, yes." Bates looked a little insulted at that, but it was the truth. "I'm going to visit his office again now that he's back." Josefine was gone before Bates could protest.
#
Josefine was at Bates's place. She'd spoken with the secretary at Epsom Shipping and visited Żukowski's house with no luck so she'd followed a hunch to Bates's door. The spare key from Finn got her in the door and she stopped dead in her tracks. Under the bed bent and broken in the too-small space was a man matching the description of Eugene Żukowski. His limbs were bent at odd angles, the skin peeled up in places where he'd been forced against the bed's frame, and his expression was frozen in a look of horror and pain.
Josefine closed the door behind her and approached the body, careful not to step in any blood. Then she followed the trail to where it disappeared into the middle of the wall and felt around. Her hand brushed a cold spot roughly in the middle so she pulled her penknife from her pocket and started cutting. Jewelry, brushes, and undergarments came pouring out of the wall from a small cache on the other side—all matching items on Bates's list of missing items. Josefine exhaled through her teeth and went to find the phone.
#
Detective Andries was one of the rare few members of law enforcement Josefine got on alright with so she'd called him. Now they sat on a bench, each with a cup of coffee and Andries looking like he'd spent the last 48 hours on the job.
"Your boy had this on him," he pulled a ring box out of a blazer pocket, "think it should end up with your client."
Josefine took the box and pocketed it. "What's the word on the body?"
He let out a low whistle, "You must attract the weird ones, Jo." He raked his fingers through his hair, "Coroner says his best guess is that Żukowski died because he was forced into that gap regardless of whether he fit. Said he's got a weird brand on his back too." Josefine let out a silent 'oh' as Andries confirmed her theory about the summoner and he straightened up. "You know what did it." It wasn't a question the way he put it.
"You won't believe me," she said as she stood, dusting herself off with her free hand.
"Anybody else and I'd agree with you."
She took a long sip of her coffee, thinking it over. "Demon," she answered simply.
Andries nearly choked on his coffee and studied her for a moment as if trying to judge her seriousness. "Bugger me," he exhaled through his teeth, "You're serious?"
Josefine nodded slightly. "Solomon called it a demon of obsession." She paused to finish her coffee, "Alright, I'm off."
"Don't forget you owe me for this," Andries called after her as she got on her motorcycle.
"I know," and she was gone on the way to give the bad news to Bates.