by Robin Roseau
She looked me in the eye and then nodded. I watched as she returned the sword to its home. When I turned back, Nifili’s eyes were open, and she was watching us.
I made a gesture behind me, suggesting the others stay, but I strode forward, coming to a stop two paces before the demon. “You’re looking good, Nifili.”
“You’re looking even better, for a corpse,” she replied. “I take it rumors of your demise were exaggerated.”
“Not at all. I got better.”
She offered a gesture. “You look odd like this.”
“Is it the wings?” I gave them a little flex.
“It’s the clothing, although the wings are a nice touch.”
I inclined my head to her. “Thank you. I’ve missed you, Nifili.”
“Have you?”
“I thought maybe the cookies we used to send you might have been a hint. Thank you for enjoying them over time.”
She lifted a hand and cupped my cheek. “They meant a lot to me.”
“I’m glad,” I said.
“Does Theophania know you’re alive?”
“We chatted for a few hours,” I admitted. “I’m sorry, but you won’t be able to trade much information with her.”
She brushed my cheek with her fingers. “You have invited rather unexpected friends to my home.”
“I would have sought a proper invitation, but I don’t know how. I apologize for that, Nifili.”
“It is no matter. Is this to be a lengthy visit?”
“I’m not sure. I have a name. I hoped you could tell me about the owner.”
“So this is a business meeting, then.” She looked disappointed.
“I did miss you,” I replied.
“Well,” she said. “If we are to conduct business, we must do so properly. Come.” And she turned and began to stride away. I stepped up to walk beside her, and the others followed along behind.
I wasn’t that surprised when I saw where she brought us. I came to a stop as she strode into the room that I’d occupied for a year. When she realized I had stopped, she turned. “Ah,” she said.
There was no sign I’d been here. “I suppose it’s been decades.”
“You thought to see lingering remnants?”
“I hadn’t really thought about it. I don’t really remember what it looked like at the end.”
“You were glorious, Teigan, absolutely glorious.”
“I was heartbroken when it ended.”
“As was I,” she replied.
I finished stepping into the room. Nifili backed away until we reached the center. “Perhaps we should begin with introductions.”
“Of course,” I said. I turned slightly sideways. “Everyone, this is Nifili. After Theophania, she was one of the first demons I met during my stay here. As I explained, Theophania loaned me to her for a time, and I spent a year in this room.”
“She was glorious,” Nifili said, using her word from earlier.
“You turned her into some sort of plant,” Sue Ellen said, edging to the front.
“Yes, and no,” Nifili said. “It is far more complicated than that.”
“I imagine demonic magic usually is.”
“No, not really,” Nifili said. “But sometimes.”
“Nifili, this is Sue Ellen Mann.”
Nifili held out a hand. Sue Ellen stared at it then glanced at me. I nodded, so she stepped forward and accepted a brief touch. “A brave human,” Nifili remarked. “You are here willingly?”
“It is necessary,” she replied.
“And who are these others?”
I let Sue Ellen handle the introductions. When she got to Kate, Nifili said, “A full-blooded fae. I do not believe one of your kind has entered this realm in a millennia, and I do not remember the last time I met one of your kind.”
Finally, Nifili said, “Well, do you require refreshment, Teigan?”
“Not at this time, but thank you. Perhaps we could sit.”
“Of course.” She gestured, and one after another, a variety of chairs formed. She move to one that looked most like a throne and sat, quite regally. I stared for a moment and then laughed.
“You’re laughing at me, Teigan?”
“You’re playing this game with me, Nifili, in this place of all places?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“This is your home,” I said. “I grant that. But we are not your subjects. Are you really going to sit on a throne like a jealous queen?”
She looked down at her chair, then out at the others. Then, without a word, she got up, stared at the chair, and then moved to a lounger. “Take it, if you like.”
“Sue Ellen,” I said. “That one is yours.” I moved one of the other loungers so it most readily faced Nifili then sat down. The others moved their choices a bit, forming a half circle behind me. Jake and Griffen helped Sue Ellen, and her place was nearly directly behind me, looking over my shoulder.
“Why did you give that chair to her?” Nifili asked.
“Because I didn’t come to play games,” I said.
“It was an unconscious decision,” she replied. “What can I do for you, Teigan?”
“I have a name.”
“So you said.”
“I would like to know who you will tell I have been here, once we are gone.”
“Ah. You require my silence?”
“I would prefer to meet with the owner of the name without advance warning, to the owner or to anyone else who might arrive ahead of me. Once I am done with my business, I don’t particularly care who you tell.”
“What do you have to offer in exchange for my silence?”
“Sue Ellen.”
She had a pack. We all did. She opened hers and withdrew a simple Tupperware container. She passed it to me, and I set it in my lap. Nifili’s eyes dropped to it, and she began laughing. “Cookies?” Then she sighed. “I am unsure they are safe to eat.”
“Because of who I seem to have become?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we weren’t sure, either. I didn’t make them.”
“Who did?”
“The rest of us,” Marley said.
“Well, not me,” Kate added.
“Nifili, I don’t know if we did them correctly,” I added. “Kate thinks so, but what works for a fae may not work for a demon.”
The demon hadn’t taken her eyes from the container on my lap. She licked her lips and then said, “I believe we should find out.”
“I agree,” I said. “The first taste is free.” Behind me, a few people snorted. Nifili smiled, so I thought perhaps she caught the reference. I opened the container and collected the cookie from the top center. I closed the container then leaned forward and offered the cookie to the demon. “The flavor may be different. The mix may be different. We have no way of knowing.”
She took it carefully then sniffed at it. Then, she gave it a lick. I heard someone shift in her chair, and Nifili’s eyes shifted. She smiled and gave it another lick.
No one spoke as Nifili consumed the entire cookie, taking her time at it. Naomi gave a moan at the end, and when I glanced, she was holding Griffen’s hand on one side and Sue Ellen’s on the other.
“We can make another offer,” I said gently.
“It’s fine,” Naomi said. She released Griffen’s hand and brushed at her brow. “Shit. Is it going to feel like that for each one?”
“If she licks them like that, yes,” I said.
“It’s fine,” Naomi said. She took several deep breaths. “Just… shit. If she ate all of mine at once, I think I’d cream my pants.”
“Is Sue Ellen represented in those cookies, Teigan?” Nifili asked.
I turned back to the demon. “A half amount. I wasn’t going to allow it at all. There were negotiations.”
“And the males?”
“You’ll be able to tell which are the women, and which are the men,” I said.
“You’re right. The flavor is diff
erent. There is more essence per cookie.” Then her eyes narrowed. “You had that particular one ready.”
“I cannot promise they are even,” I said quickly. “As I said, we were very careful with the ones of Sue Ellen. But I picked that particular cookie not because it was intentionally potent, but because of whose cookie it was.”
“I want another, and I will choose it.”
“We can tell male from female. We made different styles. But otherwise, we intentionally mixed them.” I considered her. “Nifili, we are here in good faith. I would not knowingly cheat you. Even if they are not all equally potent, is this a good offer?”
“My silence for an agreed period, and information regarding a particular name. Are you asking for all I know?”
“I am asking you to offer in good faith what you think I should know.”
“Clever, Teigan,” she said. “You must have some idea of what you want to know.”
“I need enough I could pay a visit,” I said. “And if I know a little something of the individual, and how likely we are to be attacked on sight.”
“I believe I understand.” She hadn’t taken her eyes from the Tupperware container. “I suspect you also hope to control when I may consume my cookies.”
“We have only a request. You warn the person whose cookie you are about to consume.”
“Warn, how?”
“A single lick, and then you give her a few minutes to see to her safety, physical and social. Then you do not unduly drag out the consumption, so she may go about daily business in a timely fashion. A gentlewoman’s agreement between friends, Nifili.”
She inclined her head. “For a second cookie of my choosing, I offer this. If we are able to come to no other agreement, I will remain silent for a year and a day. No one will learn you were even here. That agreement becomes void if someone significantly more powerful asks very direct questions, but I will do nothing to draw particular attention. However, if it is learned you have been traipsing about Hell, it takes little deductive reasoning to assume you would visit me.”
“Do you know of anyone I know who may be able to compel answers from you?”
“No, but I do not know everyone Theophania may have introduced you to.”
“Do we need to do this in writing, Nifili?”
“I keep my verbal agreements, when they are clearly agreed. I would consider this binding, Teigan.”
I nodded and opened the container. “How would you like to choose?”
“Which are the males?”
“The ones made of peanut butter,” I said. I gestured. “These, and these.”
She nodded. “The others are the women?”
“Yes.”
“The white ones.”
“Sugar cookies,” I said.
“I can clearly see two. Are there more?”
“Yes. We intentionally mixed them.”
“I will take one of the sugar cookies. Withdraw several and I will choose one.”
I nodded. I withdrew the two that were most easily reached, setting them on the upside-down lid on my lap, and then adjusted the others, pulling out two more. “Enough choice? I am afraid I’ll drop something if I keep digging through, and I’m trying not to break them.”
“I’ll take the second from your right,” she said. I gestured and she nodded. I carefully put the rest back and then held the lid to her, the cookie on top. She took it from me, and I sealed the remaining cookies.
Nifili sniffed the cookie. Her eyes roamed back and forth. She sniffed again, and then she gave a delicate lick.
And Sue Ellen shifted in her chair. Nifili’s eyes latched onto her. “That’s one of mine,” Sue Ellen whispered.
Nifili ate the cookie, taking her time. She smiled through most of it, and she quite clearly enjoyed it. She licked every single crumb, taking her eyes from Sue Ellen only as necessary to ensure she didn’t miss any.
Sue Ellen squirmed a few times, and when I glanced at her, her gaze was locked with the demon’s.
Marley was looking away, her lips tight.
Finally, the last crumb disappeared into the demon’s mouth. She carefully licked her fingers, one after another.
Behind me, Sue Ellen shifted a few more times, but then said, “That wasn’t so bad. Mom, it’s fine. I can’t tell if it’s really nice or really quite horrible.”
“Perhaps a bit of both,” I offered.
I turned back to Nifili. She moved her gaze from Sue Ellen to me. “They would have all been my cookies,” I said. “But we weren’t sure you could eat them.”
“Neither am I,” she said. “Is anyone else represented?”
“No.”
“All right. What is the name?”
“Tienbellart,” Marley said. “I’m not sure if I am pronouncing it correctly.”
Nifili leaned back. “Tienbellart.” She moved the accent, but it was clearly the right name. “I suppose it could be worse.” She dropped her gaze to the Tupperware container. “Do you intend trouble, Teigan?”
“I couldn’t say.”
“I’m afraid I can’t answer your questions.”
I said nothing for a minute, a full minute. “I can’t tell if you’re negotiating, or if this demon is sufficiently powerful that you’re afraid of it. As you knew the name, it is undoubtedly one or the other.”
“What else do you think you know?”
“You’re right. If I show up to make trouble, the demon will wonder where I received the information I have. There are three obvious choices. Theophania is the first. She was not present when the name was mentioned, but she may already know. The individual who provided this name is the second. That person is beyond reach.”
“No one is beyond reach.”
“Information has power,” I said. “Your name is third on the list. I understand that. I would rather approach Tienbellart in peace, but I don’t know if he or she will be receptive, because I know very little about him or her. That is why I can’t tell whether I will cause trouble.”
“I find it interesting you do not offer one more possible name.”
Damn it. I was giving away information. I smiled. “Information has power.”
“Don’t play word games with me,” she said. “Demons invented word games, and you don’t even rank as a poor amateur. Where is Evaline, Teigan?”
“Information has power,” I said for a third time. “We both know you want these cookies.”
“Well, you’re right. Tienbellart is powerful, and not someone I care to cross.”
“What do you want to answer our questions?” I asked her.
“One question freely and fully answered.”
“Agreed.”
“From each of you.”
I paused. “When this is over.”
“No,” she said. “At some point in the future. And in the meantime, I may contact any of you whenever I like.”
“I didn’t want to share this much information with Theophania,” I said. I stood. “But I guess I’ll head there.”
“Wait, Teigan,” Nifili said. “What part of what I just asked is a problem?”
“I don’t believe that’s a serious question.”
“Do you think I’m walking away from that container?” She gestured. “I am engaging in negotiations. You are asking me to take risk, Teigan. I don’t think that is your intention, and you clearly don’t know how much risk. Now, what bothers you about my offer? I rather thought you wouldn’t mind talking to me now and then.”
I slowly sat back down, but I passed the container to Sue Ellen. “I have several problems with it, Nifili. The simplest: ‘whenever I want’. That could be quite problematic in itself.”
“Why?”
“Because that could mean exceedingly inopportune moments, or simply a distraction when doing so is problematic. It could also mean nearly constantly, and I do not believe anyone wishes to have you in her life in such a fashion.”
“Am I that odious?”
“No, you aren’t, at
least not to me. But do you really not see my point?”
“I suppose I do. We can work with that. Is that all?”
“You are quite seductive, Nifili, and a lifetime of whispering in someone’s ear…” I trailed off.
“Ah. You fear I would lure someone to the dark side, so to speak.”
“Everyone has a price. Consorting with demons is not something any of us does lightly.”
“It seems to me you gave yourself to a demon.”
“And look where that landed me.”
“Fair enough,” she said. “I would agree to reasonable limits.”
“Kate.”
From the edge of the circle, Kate opened her open pack and withdrew a folder. She checked it then slipped a sheet to me. I glanced at it then handed it to Nifili. The demon read it then said, “You sly dog.”
“And no more cookies,” I said.
“No!” she said firmly.
“Kate.”
“Just wait,” Nifili said. She read the offer again.
“How large a risk is it, Nifili?”
“If I tell you enough?” she replied. “That would depend entirely on whether you cause trouble. I could facilitate a meeting, but I’d have to explain who would be in attendance. I’d do that for the cookies.”
“You’d do that for the two cookies you’ve already enjoyed,” I countered. “As the information you would learn by hosting would be quite interesting and potentially valuable.”
“And yet, that’s not what you want, which means you intend trouble.”
“I don’t intend to take ‘no’ for an answer, but I intend diplomacy. If diplomacy doesn’t work, I didn’t want things to turn ugly in your territory, Nifili.”
“And it would be nothing for this individual to simply leave,” she said.
“Exactly.”
“For the cookies, I would provide an open introduction.”
“What would you say to secure an invitation?”
“That someone very, very surprising wished a meeting.”
“Would you tell us about the person we’re meeting first?”
She considered me for a moment, and then she read our offer again. I thought she was buying time. Finally I said, “I’m fairly sure you’re willing to help us. What do you really want, Nifili, beyond the cookies?”
“I want agents on Earth,” she replied.