She bit her lip, then shrugged. “You’re right. I was relieved . . . and I was glad. I was grateful he was dead and that he had been forced to watch me stand there, commanding his death. After what he put me through, after his attitude in front of the Dragon Council, I just wanted him gone.”
I nodded. “You see? And don’t think for a moment I am saying he didn’t deserve it. But you felt satisfaction over his death. No, schadenfreude is alive and well in all of us, if we just look deep enough.”
She considered this. “You’re right. I can’t deny that. I really can’t.”
“Then don’t deny me my desire for vengeance, because regardless of whether I get it, the feelings are there and they are real. I won’t be a hypocrite and try to suppress them with a lot of self-righteous drivel.” With that, I felt strong enough to stand again. “We’d better get back in there and decide what to do next.”
“I think I know what comes next.” Camille quietly swung in behind me. “And I really don’t want to think about what it means.”
Chapter 15
“Vanzir, did you find out anything while you were in the Demon Underground—and Roz, you put in a visit to Carter. What did he have to say?” I straddled a chair, trying desperately to remain calm. I kept hold of that inner light like a drowning man might clutch a life vest.
We were gathered around a table in the conference room. Chase had been agitated about being left out of the loop, but Mallen did what he could to soothe the detective and told us to take our business out of the hospital room. Yugi had graciously offered us the use of a conference room and had coffee and donuts sent in to fuel our brainstorming session.
Vanzir frowned, taking a donut and biting into it. “I asked everywhere. Nobody knows what’s up. The fake Keraastar Knights? The anti-knights that Shadow Wing tried to develop? They were a miserable failure, I gather, but nobody knows where the hell they are. And nobody seems to know the reason for them vanishing. Yes, Shadow Wing threw a major hissy fit, but he’s not stupid and he wouldn’t just kick them out with their spirit seals in tow. None of my usual sources could come up with anything else. Now, of course, we know they’re going to be guarding Nerissa by what Chase remembered.”
“Carter told me just about the same thing,” Roz said. “Except for one major difference. He did . . . well . . . whatever it is Carter does, and he assured me that two of the demons from the Degath Squad are still around. The Varcont and the Shelakig. I’m not sure just what kind of scrying Carter can do, but he told me the Naedaran returned to the Sub-Realms. He probably took Nerissa with him.”
“Then we find the pair of them. And I get information out of them. But that means taking them down alive. And that means finding them first.” And then I paused, a thought cropping up. “I can get us extra manpower. I’ll be back. All of you, wait for me.”
And, like lightning, I raced out the door, heading for my car. There was one place I could go—one person I could turn to who would vastly increase our odds of finding the Demonkin. And he had to agree, given that he was Nerissa’s blood-oath brother.
* * *
Roman was in his study. As I entered, a look of surprise stole over his face. “I didn’t realize you were coming over tonight, love.” He stood, smiling, but the smile dropped away as I rushed up to him, shaking my head.
“This is no social call. Roman, we need you. We need you, we need your men. I need you.”
He motioned for me to bring a chair closer to him. “What’s going on?”
“They got my Nerissa. They took her, damn it.”
“They? They who?” His forehead creased and his eyes grew even more pale. That was never a good sign, if you were on the opposite side of the fence from him.
I quickly outlined everything that had happened. “They took her down to the Sub-Realms, and I can’t . . .” I paused as my cell phone rang. “Hold on.” I glanced at the Caller ID. Blocked. Frowning, I punched the Talk button and held it to my ear. “Yes?”
“Menolly D’Artigo. You know who we are, and you know what we want. You have seventy-two hours to collect all of the spirit seals that you own and bring them to us. We will contact you shortly before the deadline with directions on where to take them. You must have them by then, or the Were will die, and it will be a slow, lingering death at the hands of our Master.”
“How do I know she’s alive—” I started to say, then stopped myself. Chase had lost part of a finger when a demon general sought to prove that he had really captured the detective. I couldn’t put my Nerissa to that chance. But the opportunity to say anything was cut off when the line fell silent and I realized they had hung up.
“It’s come. The ransom demand. I have seventy-two hours to hand over all the spirit seals we have. But . . .” I glanced over at Roman.
“You can’t do that.” His voice was soft, but firm. “You can’t give them that much power, even for her life.”
I shook my head, tears forming. As they began to race down my face, Roman leaned forward to kiss them away. I crumbled into his arms and he held me as I sobbed in a way I couldn’t around anybody else. He would keep my predator at bay while I caved in to the despair and the aching hole that had seared itself into my heart.
After a time, he handed me a tissue and called for a maid. “Bring Lady Menolly a new shirt, please. Something . . . black.”
I wiped my eyes. “Will you help us? I need to find the two demons that are still over here so I can interrogate them. We need them alive. I need to find where in the Sub-Realms they took Nerissa. I have to know if they’re hurting her.” I felt desperate. I slid down on my knees in front of him. “Please, Sire . . .” I had never begged for anything except death from Dredge. Now, I would beg for Roman to help me with Nerissa, if that was what it took.
He gently took me by the shoulders and lifted me to my feet. “You need not beg me, nor grovel in my presence. Nerissa is my blood-oath sister, she is my wife, and she is—most importantly—your wife and your love. We will find her and bring her back safely.” And then he picked up the phone and called for the head of security.
Roman drew me down on his lap and, there, he silently held me until Trent, his chief guard and the one who monitored all scouting parties, entered the room a few minutes later. He saluted, then bowed. During life he had been a bouncer in a bar, and he was a big burly dude.
“I want you to gather as many men as you can possibly spare, and go out in pairs through the city. Menolly, tell him what we’re searching for.”
I outlined what the demons were like.
Roman waited till I was finished, then said, “We must take these demons alive, so be prepared. Silver shackles will hold them, so wear gloves. Silver chains will help to bind them, so again, gloves and heavy gear for all concerned. I want you to find them and bring them back here. And any guard that sloths off? Will be tossed in the feeding pit.”
I had never heard him use the term before, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what the “feeding pit” was, so I ignored it for now. As Trent took down all the information from us and then left, I felt oddly calm—almost numb. I mentioned it to Roman.
“You are entering a state where you’ll be able to be of more help than harm. I know how much you love her, but you will do Nerissa no good if you can’t control your emotions while we search for her. The men will report in every hour. I will call you immediately if we find anything, see anything, or catch anyone. Now go back to your family—you need them with you more than you need me right now, and that’s perfectly all right.”
“I don’t want to live without her, Roman. She . . . she brought me out of a pain that I never thought I’d be able to leave. I was just existing when I met her, you know? She gave me a reason to really, truly live again.” I felt so empty, so hollow that the entire world seemed to vanish around me, and once again, I felt like I was in a dark, deep hole, looking for the single star whose l
ight had drawn me out of that inner abyss.
“I know.” He kissed me softly on the forehead. “Nerissa . . . I could grow very fond of her. She is a spark of life and brightness in the eternal night that both you and I inhabit. She’s unafraid, uninhibited . . . We will bring her home safely. I promise you, on the moon and stars, we will do all that is in our power.”
* * *
I wanted to go out on the hunt with everybody else, but Camille and Delilah encouraged me to stay at home instead. I begged them to stay with me while the men all went out hunting the demons, along with the massive legion of vampires Roman had managed to drum up. There were at least one hundred vamps roaming the back roads of the city, looking for the demons.
Pacing, I felt like I was wearing a hole in the carpet. Camille fretted, doing the dishes for Hanna and tidying up, while Delilah sat, polishing Lysanthra—her dagger—and honing the edge of it with a sharpening stone.
After a moment, she said, “You wouldn’t believe how many ghosts I saw at your wedding.”
That brought me out of my thoughts. I turned. “What are you talking about?”
“The wedding . . . with Roman. I saw so many ghosts hanging around that theater it felt like a convention.” She shrugged. “I debated whether to mention it, but it was just odd. I didn’t let them notice that I could see them, but it was disconcerting to say the least.”
Delilah had recently developed the ability to see—and interact with—ghosts. She had returned to Haseofon, the temple of the Death Maidens, to learn how to harness the power and to avoid being overrun by panicking ghosts who wanted her help. Apparently, it came at a certain level of being in the service of the Autumn Lord, and it meant she was progressing in her training. Sometimes I wondered just where she would end up. She was destined to have the Elemental Lord’s child, via Shade as a proxy father, but what would that mean? And what would the child be like?
“Where do you think they all came from? Do you think they are attached to the theater?” The last thing I wanted to do right now was go ghost hunting, but at least this gave me something to focus on other than letting my mind run crazy over what was going on with Nerissa.
“I don’t think so. See, I think the vampires brought them in.” She frowned, adjusting her stance so she could work the stone around the slight curve in the blade. “They were all in the audience, some standing two or three deep behind some of the vamps.”
And then I knew what they were. “They’re spirits of people who were killed but not turned by the vampires, don’t you think? Do . . . do I have any with me?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but then again, maybe knowing was a good thing.
Delilah gazed up at me, her eyes soft-focusing. After a moment, she shook her head. “No, you don’t. I would tell you if I saw any, but you seem to be free of them. Either they deserved what they got, or they moved on already.”
Relieved, I dropped onto the sofa beside her. Camille moved past, sorting through the magazines on the side table and carrying an armful away to put in the recycling barrel.
“I feel like I’m becoming unglued. I wish I could just fall asleep, but I can’t. I want to go railing off into the Sub-Realms but until we know more, I can’t. Come sunrise, I’ll go to my bed freaking out because I won’t be able to wake up if something happens, not until night falls once more. Some days I hate what I am, Kitten.”
She put down her dagger and the stone. “Sometimes we don’t have a choice. So we do what we can and try to do it in the best way we can.” She reached out, stroked my braids back. “I’ve had to learn to accept living in a path I never could have imagined for myself.”
Camille finished straightening up. She walked over and turned on the television, finding an old black-and-white science fiction movie. It looked archaic, considering the technology abounding around us, but it was interesting enough to keep my focus diverted from my thoughts. We had watched through about seventy minutes of it when my phone rang. I jumped, grabbing the cell from the table where I had set it for easy access. Roman.
“Yes? Did you find them?” I didn’t even bother with a hello. I knew he’d understand.
“Yes, we helped Smoky and Trillian take down the pair. Smoky suggested taking them to the safe room at your bar.”
“Good idea. We’ll meet you there.” I wanted to ask if there was any sign of Nerissa but decided to wait. If it was bad news, better to hear it in person. As I jammed my arms into my jacket, Camille and Delilah followed suit. “They have the Shelakig and the Varcont. They’re headed for the Wayfarer—to the safe room. Let’s go.” As we headed out the door, I called Derrick to warn him. “Close early. Get everybody out of there. These are very dangerous demons and I don’t want any customers hurt.”
“Will do, boss.” He hung up without further ado.
The drive was murder on my patience, but I forced myself to drive the speed limit. If I had learned one thing over the years, it was that collateral damage was a hard thing to have on your conscience. The streets were mostly empty around the bar, and parking was easy to find at this time of night. Camille and Delilah pulled in right after I got there, and we all headed into the bar.
Derrick had done a good job of emptying the place.
“I gave out coupons for half off their next purchase to get them to leave without grumbling.” He wiped his hands on a bar towel. The werebadger had been the most loyal employee I had had, and he had proved himself time and again as both competent and helpful. His T-shirt stretched over his wide shoulders and tight stomach, and he cut a good-looking figure, which—I hated to admit—was an added draw to bring women into the bar.
“Are they here yet?”
“No, but I got a call from Smoky shortly after your call. They’re on the way. Roman is having the demons transported in an unmarked armored truck. He said to tell you, he thinks you’re going to have trouble fitting one of them down the stairs.”
“That’s because it’s a freaking giant scorpion.” Camille frowned. “You widened the staircase, though. They have to have them bound, so maybe you can somehow navigate it through the door well. Or maybe Smoky can carry it downstairs through the Ionyc Seas.” She shivered. “Though I hate to think what might happen if it got loose out there. I don’t know exactly what it could do to him, but . . .”
But the danger was a very real possibility. “We’ll wait and see what he says. Meanwhile, will you two go down and prep the safe room? Take out anything the creatures might destroy. Derrick, can you help them?”
He nodded, escorting them to the door leading to the basement. “Tavah and Johann are downstairs, guarding the portal. They can help out, too.”
The basement of my bar contained a portal that led directly to Y’Elestrial, in Otherworld. I had kept a constant guard on it since the day I took over as bartender, and when I actually took over as owner of the Wayfarer, I had increased security. After the fire that had devastated the bar, I had beefed it up even more. At night, I used exclusively vampires to guard. During the day, I had moved our bouncer Pieder—a giant—to guard duty, along with a Fae warrior. Pieder was the brawn, but definitely not the brains. But his size made him an excellent deterrent.
A moment later, the front door opened and Morio strode through. “We have them out in the truck.” He glanced around. “You emptied the place?”
“Yeah, Derrick, Camille, and Delilah are downstairs clearing out the safe room. What’s the situation with the Shelakig? Will we be able to get it downstairs? That’s not a very wide opening. Camille was thinking that Smoky might have to take it down through the Ionyc Seas.”
Morio snorted. “The Shelakig is no longer a concern. The Varcont is out in the truck, but the Shelakig—its body is stuffed in the back. The thing went crazy and we had no choice but to kill it. They are dangerous, unpredictable creatures, and I’m surprised Shadow Wing even bothers using them because there’s no way they can be seen as tr
actable.”
My stomach lurched. “You killed one of them?”
“Wouldn’t have helped us in any case. The creature doesn’t speak English or Calouk or any form of language we can think about. We couldn’t communicate with it, and the Varcont wasn’t helping us any.” Morio shrugged. “The thing came at me, and Smoky and Shade managed to catch it before it connected, or I’d be in the hospital with Chase right now. After seeing the sheer size and strength of that thing, I think it’s a miracle he managed to survive the attack.”
At that point, Smoky and Shade entered, carrying the Varcont. He looked like any old vampire, except he exuded a flaming energy that hit me in the gut just by standing near him. His eyes were brilliant crimson, and his fangs—horribly long compared to most vampires’—were showing as he hissed at me. But he was bound in silver chains. Those would burn him doubly so, given he was both vampire and a major demon. I caught my breath as he fixed his gaze on me. There was something mesmerizing about him. It drew me in, and I found myself moving toward him.
The next moment, Roman appeared and I snapped out of it when he barked my name. Shaking my head, I blinked and looked at him.
“What just happened?”
“Apparently the Varcont is a Greater vampire.”
“Like Dracula. That must be why Otherworld consigns them to the Sub-Realms.” Dredge had been on his way to being a Greater vampire, but he hadn’t quite made it. Which led me to wonder about Roman and Blood Wyne. Were they still considered minor vampires? My confusion must have shown on my face.
“Greater vampires possess something the rest of us don’t—a demonic spark. We’re all considered demons by the majority of people, but these creatures . . . they inherited more of the demonic energy passed down from when the Great Mother Kesana was turned. Remember the tale—she gave herself up to the demons in return for immortal life, and so she was born into vampirism. Most vampires never inherit much of the demonic side, but a few . . . a few do. And their powers far outstrip ours—even my mother’s.” Roman frowned. “The sooner we get him into the safe room, the better I’ll feel.”
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