Dan's Inferno, Book IV: Vengeance

by Jan Stryvant

  "Come on in," Dan said, opening the pedestrian gate by the driveway.

  Grumbling, Herman followed Dan up to the house and inside.

  "What about that demon girl he was seeing?"

  Dan shrugged. "Best I know, she's from Dogtown, where that big cerberus colony is. Several of them came up to help in the fight; she probably went back there."

  "So you think he went there with her?" Herman demanded.

  "Hell, I don't know!" Dan said as he quickly showed Herman through the house. "You told me to avoid him, and I'm avoiding him."

  Herman sighed as they came back to the front door.

  "I guess I shouldn't have yelled at you; it obvious he's not here. But where did he go? He doesn't even have a car!"

  "He doesn't?" Dan said surprised.

  "No, he's been using one of mine to go to his business courses at State, and he's working for me when he's not there. He hasn't got a pot to piss in."

  "What, you're not paying him?"

  "Why would I pay him? He's my son."

  Dan didn't know what to say to that! Even his stepfather had paid him for his work.

  "Have you tried to talk to Wiles yet? Or are we just going to kill him?"

  "I was going to see if I could get in touch with him after I finished eating breakfast," Dan said, "but you called before I could finish."

  "Well, might as well call him now, then at least I can tell the others I actually saw it."

  Dan all but rolled his eyes, but Herman had a point. After the shit from last night, they'd know if Herman said he'd done it, he'd done it.

  "Fine. Olivia, see if Fawn's got a number we can call to talk to Godfrey."

  Olivia, who'd been hanging back and being quiet, nodded. "Back in a flash."

  "Do you really think he'll accept that he can't win and leave?" Dan asked while they were waiting.

  "I don't know. I hope so. I didn't enjoy what we did at Weson's."

  "Yeah, I hope so, too. I don't have any beef with the man, but my days of going along to get along are gone."

  "Don't you think you're taking on a bit much at your age?"

  Dan laughed. "I used to, not anymore though."

  "Oh? And why not?"

  "I grew up," Dan said, looking over at Herman. "I grew up. Weson, Dale, Wiles, all of them are just overgrown children playing with toys, not caring who or what they break. I'm not going to play. I'm going to rule."

  "But you're just a kid!"

  "And that's why I have four local mages as advisors," Dan said, and this time he did roll his eyes.

  "Here's the number," Olivia said, coming back to them.

  Nodding, he got out his cell and called it.

  "Hello?" a woman's voice answered the phone.

  "Hi, this is Dan, Shannon Westridge's son. I want to talk to Mr. Wiles about the future."

  "And what future would that be?"

  "I don't think he wants to work for me, so I was hoping we could save each other a bunch of grief if he was to pack up his organization and leave town?"

  Dan was pretty sure he heard a snort. "Hold on and I'll see if he's available."

  Dan looked around the room as he waited. Thankfully he wasn't on hold very long.

  "Daniel," Godfrey said, picking up the line, "I'm told you wish to talk with me?"

  "Yes. I was hoping after what happened to Steve, we could perhaps discuss you taking your business to a new market?"

  "I don't know, that sounds like a lot of work."

  "Yes, I supposed it would be, however, that's the offer on the table. I don't have any issues with you, Godfrey, and I thought it would be in all our best interests to avoid the kind of takeover Steve's business just suffered."

  Godfrey paused a moment before replying.

  "I'm a bit surprised you're making this offer," Godfrey said at last.

  "Well, you did come to me with an offer of your own a few weeks ago."

  "You know what, I'd prefer to discuss this face to face. Why don't we meet at the Zoo? Say in an hour?"

  "The Zoo? I'm a bit surprised you'd want to meet in a place like that."

  "Well, nothing happened to me last time, and as I understand it, it's supposed to be neutral territory, right? But just you; I don't want to see Hana there, or any of the other girls."

  "You want me to show up alone?"

  "Bring your human advisors. I heard you have a few; we saw them at Steve's place, after all."

  "They're all busy today, and it's not like I'd bring them all along anyway," Dan warned.

  "Well, bring one. Call it a sign of good faith. It's the Zoo, so it isn't somewhere I can bring any kind of force."

  "Fine, I'll bring one to show that I'm serious." Dan sighed.

  "See you in an hour!" Godfrey said and hung up the phone.

  "Guess you're going with me," Dan said, looking over at Herman.

  "Wait, what? Going with you where! To that demon bar?"

  "Yup. That's where Godfrey wants to meet, and he wants me to bring a human with me, not the girls. So you're drafted."

  "I'm not going!" Herman said, frowning.

  "Fine. Then you can tell everyone you're the reason I didn't talk with Godfrey," Dan said with a grin.

  Herman swore, surprising Dan.

  "Shit! Okay, fine. I'm going. But I'm driving. Last thing I need is to die in a car crash with you driving."

  Dan shook his head. "Start your car, I'll be there in a minute."

  "You can't be serious!" Olivia said as soon as Herman was out of the room.

  "You heard him; he wants to meet at the Zoo. That's about as safe as it gets. Look, call Lofn. They're already in town, they can get to the Zoo in about five minutes, long before anybody shows up. Tell them to find a good place to watch without being seen."

  "What about the rest of us?"

  "Give us about a five-minute head start, then head down there yourself. I need to get my stuff and get going if I'm gonna be there on time."

  "Do you really think he'll leave Sacramento?"

  "If I offer him enough money as an incentive, he just might."

  "You'd pay him?"

  "Of course. What's that line? Why fight over what you can just buy?"

  Herman had the car ready when Dan came out and got in it. He was surprised that Dan sat in the back and said as much.

  "Eh, the girls never let me sit in the front, bit of a habit now," Dan replied.

  Herman just nodded. Terry had called him this morning and laid out the plan. He would drive, and they were to take the freeway around and come up J-Street, which was the fastest route. When he turned off J to come around to I Street, however, he'd go over one more street and turn into an open garage that would have a blue cone out in front of it to mark it, and they'd ambush Dan in Herman's car.

  Having Daniel in the back seat, he realized, was probably a lot safer for him than having Daniel sit in the front.

  Dan got out his phone and texted Aella, letting her know the route they were taking so they'd be ready for him when he showed up. He'd turned the volume off on his phone; the last thing he wanted was for Godfrey to hear it going ping or someone calling him.

  "What are you doing?" Herman asked from the front seat. Dan noticed Herman checking on him in the mirror constantly.

  "Going over plans for the weekend with Fawn and Wrath, in case Godfrey doesn't want to budge," Dan lied.

  "Do you really think Wiles is going to want to talk to you if you show up with a cellphone in your hands?"

  Dan sighed. Herman was really grating on his nerves. As soon as things were over, he was kicking him to the curb. George could take his place.

  He made a big show of putting the phone away, then when Herman wasn't looking, he tapped on Aella just enough to make things work, and displaced, making his image look like it was watching the scenery go by, while he pulled out his cell and went back to texting Aella, letting her know that everything was okay, he was just screwing with Herman.

  'Call me and leave the lin
e open,' she texted him as they got off the freeway.

  'Why?' he texted back.

  'Cause then we can listen in!'

  Dan shrugged and did as she asked, and when he heard her pick up, he stuck the phone in his breast pocket so she'd hear what he said.

  "So where are you turning off of J-Street?" his image asked. "You just passed Eleventh."

  "I was going to turn on Thirteenth and drive down the alley."

  "The alley doesn't go through to the thirteenth," Dan replied, trying not to sound annoyed.

  "I'll come back on I Street then," Herman said, and Dan noticed he looked worried as he turned onto Thirteenth.

  When he came to I Street, he floored it.

  "You didn't turn down I, Herman," Dan said with a growl in his voice.

  "Someone's behind us!" Herman yelled out.

  "Why are you turning left into the alley, Herman?"

  "I'm losing them."

  "Shit," Dan swore and cast a shield spell on himself as Herman yanked the wheel hard.

  "Why are you turning right into that garage!" he yelled and ducked down onto the floor behind the driver's seat as the car screeched to a stop.

  All the windows blew in the moment the car halted, and Dan checked his image and made sure it looked a bit mussed up and a little bloody. They'd expect him to have a shield up.

  Someone ripped the door open, grabbed his image, dragged it out, threw it up against a wall, and shackled the hands behind it.

  "What's going on?" the image said, acting dizzy as Dan controlled it from the backseat.

  "We got him, boss!" someone yelled out, and dragged his image off.

  Moving out of the car carefully, Dan looked back at Herman. He was unconscious and bleeding pretty bad.

  "What about Herman?" He's hurt!" his image said for him.

  "Like we care about a fuckin' traitor," one of them said.

  Well that answers that, he thought to himself, and pulling on the girls for more power, he threw a large heal on Herman. He probably should have just let him bleed out and die, it wouldn't even be his fault. But George would be devastated, and he couldn't do that to his friend.

  Moving carefully out the back so he didn't cut himself on all the glass, he carefully followed as they manhandled 'him' down a hallway and into another room. They threw 'him' into a chair, chained him to it, and then left.

  He looked around the room while he was waiting. The walls and the ceiling were all wet, and the floor was soaked with puddles of water all over it. Then there were the crucifixes on the walls, the ceiling, the table across from the chair his image was in; they were everywhere.

  A moment later, Godfrey, accompanied by a younger man and woman, entered the room.

  "Mr. Stidham is dying out there," his image said.

  "After he sold you out to us, you actually care?" the woman said with a chuckle. "Really now, Daniel."

  "So you're selling out your own employee?"

  "This from the young man who tortured Weson to death?" Godfrey said.

  "I didn't torture him, I just gave him a slow death," his image said with a shrug. "So who are your two friends?"

  "Oh, forgive me, Daniel. This is my nephew, Terry, and my niece, Carmine."

  "Aren't they supposed to be married or something?"

  "Yes, we are," Terry said.

  "Isn't sex with your cousin like incest or something?"

  "This from a boy who sleeps with demons," Terry said with a sneer.

  "Well, yeah. But I'm not related to any of them." His image smirked back at Terry.

  "You know, you're awfully cool for a young man who's about to die," Godfrey said.

  "Oh, I'm sure my women will get here soon enough. It's not like they're that far away."

  "The building is heavily shielded; they can't find you here," Carmine said, smiling.

  "My people made sure to disable the van your wives were in back on the highway," Godfrey added. "I don't think they'll be coming to save you."

  His image smiled at them. "You just keep thinking that. Now that you're all here, when are you leaving my city?"

  Godfrey laughed. "Daniel, you must be joking! I have you shackled and chained to a chair, and you want to dictate terms to me? You must be insane."

  "Maybe that's why they like him, Goff, because he's crazy," Carmine said. "They're demons, after all."

  "Nooo, it's not that. It has more to do with why I'm sitting here shackled to a chair in a room with the three of you. If you'd wanted me dead, I'd be dead already. But instead, you want to chat."

  "Perceptive of you, Daniel."

  "Let me guess, you want me to protect you from Hana, right?"

  Godfrey laughed. "Oh, no. Dear Mr. Stidham told us the truth about that. That you tricked us into believing it was her. That she's not really Hana."

  He made his image smile. "I didn't trick you into it, you did that all on your own Godfrey. I just pulled her closer to me and urged her to speak up. You must really suck at poker."

  Frowning, Godfrey pointed at the image, quickly rattled off the standard opening for a spell, and said, "Pain!" in an angry voice.

  "Ouch," the image said and smiled. "Crazy people don't feel pain. I thought you knew that!"

  Terry suddenly threw up a heavy shield spell between them and his image, surprising him.

  "Scared, are we? Well, you should be. Seriously, I did in a couple of hours what you couldn't do in, what? Three years? This is your last chance. You really should just swear a blood oath to me that you'll be gone by tomorrow."

  "What are you?" Godfrey asked. "Or maybe I should ask, Who are you?"

  "I'm my parents' son, that's who I am. As for what? I'm annoyed. Is that why we're talking? Because you've been consistently bested by a teenage boy? A boy who obviously must have something on the ball if he can keep five demons—one of whom is a succubus—happy, both in and out of bed?"

  "That's enough of that, young man! Answer my question!" Godfrey yelled. "What are you! Those demons should have eaten you alive! You can't be human! Was it the curse? You went to the demon realms! Twice! Yet you came back each time! No teenage human could possibly survive such a thing!"

  "You mean you can't survive such a thing. But maybe, maybe I'll give you a hint."

  "That chair you're sitting in is wired to a very powerful transformer. I've had enough of your jibes young man! Now, talk!"

  Dan's image shrugged. "Fine, but you're not going to like it."

  "Talk!"

  "It's simple really. I just happen to love those five women with all of my being, all of my soul. They're all there is in my world; they are all that matter."

  "So you're in thrall to them?" Terry said, laughing.

  "Oh, no," Daniel's image said, folding its hands on its lap. Dan was curious how long it would take them to notice. He was standing right behind Godfrey at this point. Lofn and Aella should be outside by now. He'd had just about enough of this bullshit. "You see, they're all madly in love with me."

  "Demons can't love!" Terry said, still laughing. "They're incapable of feelings!"

  "Terry!" Carmine said, pointing at Dan's image.

  "I mean did you really expect us to believe that?"

  "TERRY!"

  "What?"

  "Look at his hands!"

  Dan's image smiled at them and then gave a little wave. "Oh, you're all so fucked."

  Godfrey grabbed the lever controlling the transformer and yanked it wide open as Dan seized Godfrey's neck and wrung it, twisting his head around until it was facing backwards, and Carmine screamed. There was an electric light show going on in the chair, a chair that was empty because Dan's image was floating five feet in the air, bent over and mooning them.

  "Son of a…" Terry swore. Neither of them had even noticed their uncle was dead. Letting go of the body, Dan grabbed two pieces of paper out of his pocket, leftover curses from Tuesday. He slapped one on Carmine, who immediately froze in place, then slapped the second one on Terry—who had a wand out
and was blowing holes in Dan's image—causing Terry to fall into a coma.

  About that time the door blew in, both Wrath and Aella dashing into the room, weapons covered in blood.

  "Dammit! You didn't save any for me!" Wrath growled, looking around the room.

  "Is everybody dead outside?"

  "And then some."

  "I'm just happy you're safe," Wrath said, and she and Aella came over and hugged him.

  "Where's Fawn and Olivia? Are they okay? He said he attacked you in the van?" Dan asked.

  "They ran us off the road. I left Olivia there to deal with the mess, then grabbed Fawn and flew here so she could sneak us past any wards."

  "Well, let's loot the bodies, and figure out what we're going to do with these two."

  "Killing them works for me," Aella said.

  Dan frowned. "I'd rather just send them someplace else."

  "Why would you do that? They tried to kill you!"

  "Exactly. So what does it tell the world when I send them away?"

  "That you're an idiot?" Aella growled.

  Dan laughed and kissed her on the nose.

  "No, it tells the world that I'm not afraid of them. I showed them mercy and let them live."

  "Something no demon would ever do," Lofn said from the doorway.

  "Exactly. Did Herman make it?"

  "Yup!" Fawn called out. "Can I slit his throat?"

  "No, George would never forgive me, or the rest of you. We'll take him and these two over to the Zoo. I could use a drink while we figure out what to do with them."

  Dan shook his head. "I don't know why they didn't just kill me. Or try to at least. What was Godfrey trying to prove?"

  "He thought you were a devil," Lofn said in a soft voice. "One who'd killed the real Dan Westridge and taken over his body."

  "What, wait, he found out I'm a demon?"

  "Not a demon, a devil. From hell."

  "What makes you say that?"

  "That's holy water on the floor and the walls. Some demons are affected by it, especially if they're evil. Devils are burned by it. Then there's all the crucifixes in the room."

  Wrath gave a laugh. "That explains the electric chair."

  "How so?" he asked.

  "Devils can't be burned by fire or hurt by ice, but electricity sure messes them up."