“Abaddon has thirty-six legions of Demons at his disposal.” T crossed his arms over his chest.
“These symbols might be his attempt to create his own fucking Demon Gate. Rodán was right. He hasn’t been trying to taunt us—he’s been using the symbols to establish points to bring in his army. If he can bring his legions into this world from Hell—”
Olivia said, “It would be like Armageddon.”
Rodán closed his eyes and leaned back in his office chair, absorbing the news I’d just given him.
His features had become unnaturally taut—unnatural for him—his lips in a firm line. T sat in a chair beside me.
While I waited for Rodán’s response, the cool darkness of his office seemed to warm, as if the Demon had already crawled out of the abyss and crowded into the room with us.
“It explains a lot,” Rodán finally said as he lowered his head and opened his eyes. “Ancient Elvin texts refer to Apollyon, the Greek name for Abaddon, a lesser God banished to the abyss millennia ago as a Demon.”
Rodán’s expression was difficult to read, but a feeling of great concern weighted the air as he continued.
“It was prophesied that one day Abaddon would send forth his minions to make way for him, should he find a way to escape the abyss.”
I clasped my XPhone and wondered if it was possible to snap it in two if I wasn’t careful. “All of this time the Ruhin Demon Gate we’ve been guarding is the one that leads to the abyss.”
“Why didn’t you know this already?” T’s words were sharp enough to snap my attention to him.
Talking to Rodán like that might get him knocked out of the room, maybe into another Otherworld.
“The Ruhin Demon Gate has long been an unknown.” Rodán focused on T, and his words were clear, precise, and in the formal phrasing and tone of the Elves. Oh, yeah, he was pissed. “As we discussed earlier this week, knowledge of each Demon Gate is passed from its Gatekeeper to the next Gatekeeper. Over a thousand years ago there was a break in the chain of the Ruhin Gatekeepers and the knowledge was lost.”
T grunted. A grunt was the best he could do?
I crossed my legs at my knees and met Rodán’s gaze. “Do you think he’s already come through the gate, or are his minor and major Demons clearing the path?”
“I believe he’s already here,” T said. I turned my attention to him. T looked intense, his scars making him appear somehow sinister in the low lighting of Rodán’s office, and he didn’t look handsome at all. “I think what we discussed earlier is more probable. Abaddon is the being likely to be using the symbols for rituals.”
A chill rolled through me as Rodán gave a slow nod. “I’m afraid Torin is probably right.”
“What you said back at the scene.” I made myself meet Torin’s gaze. “You believe these symbols he’s leaving are part of a complex pattern that’s going to help him open up a door from the abyss to bring his legions here?”
T nodded, while Rodán frowned and looked as if he was deep in thought.
“The question now is what to do next.” I didn’t give either one of them a chance to speak as I continued. “We need to call all of the Trackers together and distribute this information.”
“Do you have a plan?” T asked in a growly-rumbly tone that was filled with doubt.
I straightened in my seat as I curled my fingers around my XPhone. “We call Abaddon out. We fight this battle on our turf and on our terms, not his.”
T studied me with the arrogant expression he so often wore. Made me want to punch him. “And how do you think you’re going to do that, much less defeat Abaddon?”
I leaned forward, irritation putting a slight growl in my voice. “It’s called teamwork. We come up with a plan and execute it when all the pieces are in place.”
Rodán gracefully rose from his seat. “I’ll call the meeting now.”
I got to my feet, too. “Afterward, Olivia and I will use every resource we have to pinpoint the Demon’s lair.”
CHAPTER 28
My thoughts bounced from one thing to another. Including Adam. After our spectacular afternoon together yesterday, we’d arranged to have lunch today.
I frowned. I hadn’t had a chance to tell Olivia yet, with all of the craziness about our time together.
I’d only told her about lunch with him today.
“What about satellite images?” Olivia was saying, her words barely seeping through my consciousness. “They might be able to help us locate the Demons in your territory.” She rapped her desk with her knuckles. “Nyx. Are you in there?”
I frowned as I met her gaze. “Of course.”
“I think it could be an excellent shot for us.” Olivia leaned farther back in her chair, her feet up on her desk. “James has so many connections he’s sure to be able to help us with that kind of thing.”
My temples ached and I rubbed them. “What ‘kind of thing?’”
Olivia gave me the “Are you stupid?” look.
Satellite. Images. Demons. Territory.
“Oh.” I straightened in my chair. “Not sure how that would work.”
“Infrared and all that crap,” Olivia said.
“Okay, I can see that.” I said. “How can we tell Demons from humans?”
“Size, and maybe the fact they have blue blood.”
“Can’t hurt,” I said after I thought about it for a moment. “Good idea.”
“Of course.” Olivia swung her legs down and moved up to her computer. “Let’s see if James is teaching class right now .. .” She pressed a couple of keys on her gel pad as she checked his schedule. “Damn. He’s in the middle of one of his applied science lectures.”
She grabbed the XPhone off her desk. “I’ll type a quick text to him. I’m having a bad hair day so I’ll skip sending him a vid message.”
“Sure.” I looped my finger near my head in a “She’s crazy” motion. “You. A bad hair day. As if.”
Olivia looked gorgeous, as always, with her beautiful dark golden-hued skin, exotic features, and dark hair swept up in a clip.
“There.” She tossed her XPhone onto her desk with a thunk after what amounted to a couple of seconds. “Hey. don’t you have a lunch date with Adam today?”
I felt a real smile rise up in me for the first time that day. “It’s almost time to leave.”
Adam and I met at an Italian café a few blocks from my office on Amsterdam. The café smelled of warm garlic bread and marinara when we walked through it to sit at a table outside, in the pleasant sunshiny day.
He took his chair after having helped me into my own. So he was a gentleman, too. The hostess handed us our menus and then we were alone. The first time since yesterday.
Adam reached across the table and took my hand. Thrills ran through my body, and memories of making love to him sent swirls of desire from my belly to the place between my thighs.
“I keep thinking about yesterday.” He stroked my palm with his fingers, and more desire filled me as I looked into his brown eyes. “It was special.”
I smiled. “We could skip lunch ...”
His boyish grin only made me want him more. “Or we could make this a fast lunch.”
Imagining being in bed with him had taken care of my appetite, but I nodded. “Works for me.”
He released my hand and, after looking at me for another long moment, he studied his menu. I forced myself to look at mine.
“Seems a little surreal when you think about it.” Adam set his menu down at the same time I did. He rested his forearms on the table, his bomber jacket stretching across his broad shoulders. “Around us it all looks so normal, when things are really going to hell.”
I gave Adam a wry look. “Literally.”
A server placed a glass of water on the table for each of us, along with a basket of bread sticks that smelled hot, buttery, and of garlic. I tugged the paper off of my straw. Adam left his on the table, fresh air blew the short strands of his ha:: . him an adorable, mussed look
.
He studied me with his dark brown eyes. : 1 felt a link form between us that wouldn’t allow me to look away if I wanted to.
“Why has it taken us so long to get together?” His voice was warm, rich. “We should have done this months ago.”
“That’s because it took some convincing to get you to even believe in the paranormal.” I took a bread stick from the basket and put it on my plate, just for something to do with my hands while he looked at me so intently. “I think you were in shock after catching that Metamorph off guard.”
Adam’s features grew taut. “Seeing that bastard shift to look like Vetri, the cop he’d just murdered— I didn’t know what to think.” Adam clenched his fist on the tablecloth. “And the Doppler. I’m still amazed it didn’t scare the sh—crap out of me to see a malamute transform into a man the size of a professional wrestler.”
“You were amazing from what Ice said.” I smiled. “You managed to pin a Metamorph to the ground and handcuff him, while keeping your gun on that Doppler.”
“Thank God that one of your Soothsayers was able to freeze the crime scene.” Adam picked up a bread stick and set it on his plate.
“God” didn’t have anything to do with it. Rodán did, but I didn’t correct Adam.
He took a bite of his bread stick and chewed for a moment. “I’ve always wondered, but never had a chance to ask, why you picked me to be a liaison to the paranorm.”
“Easy.” I wiped my fingers on a napkin. “The way you handled that situation was proof that you were exactly what we were looking for in a liaison.”
“You think it’s okay to let me take care of business during the day.” he said. “Give me a good explanation now why nighttime is another story. Especially since I’ve already had that one encounter.”
I looked down at my plate. It was a relief when the waitress came to take our order. I told her I’d have lasagna with a side salad. Adam ordered the same, but chose minestrone soup instead of salad.
For a moment I glanced over the railing of the cafe’s outside dining area and watched the people walking by on the sidewalk and the traffic in the street.
“Tell me,” he said quietly, and I met his gaze. “I should be out there with you at night.”
“You sound like Olivia.” I pushed my hair over my shoulder and imagined it was blue right now instead of black. But he hadn’t cared. He’d told me I was beautiful after the change.
I could see the frustration on his features, hear it in his voice. “But she’s been out with you.”
“Not on the Demon case.” I shook my head. “Last night was her first time out.”
“Tonight I’m going out with you,” he said in a hard, firm voice.
The waitress delivered my salad and his soup.
Maybe it was avoidance but I ate most of my small side salad before I looked at him. He’d remained silent, and his soup was almost gone.
I was relieved at the change in subject when he spoke. “You said you’re Drow. Can you tell me more?”
This didn’t seem hard at all now that he knew that part of me. “Like 1 mentioned yesterday, Dark Elves are also referred to as Drow.” I set my fork down on my salad plate. “What are now known as Light Elves banished Dark Elves belowground millennia ago.”
Adam had been taking this so calmly, but I wished I knew everything he was thinking. “Why were they banished?”
I didn’t really want to say why, but I’d promised to be honest with him. “One reason is that Dark Elves believe females should be subservient to males.”
“And you grew up with that?” He shook his head. “Can’t believe it. That’s not the Nyx I know.”
“Fortunately my mother is human.” I said, “and she taught me to be strong like her. and never to bow-down to any man, regardless of the fact my father is Drow.”
“I like your mother already.” A busboy cleared away my salad plate and Adam’s bowl. “What about your father? Since he’s Drow. why didn’t he have a problem with your mom’s refusal to live that lifestyle?”
“Father would do anything for Mother.” Whenever I talked about my parents, only good feelings came to me. “My father is King of the Dark Elves, which makes my mother Queen, of course.”
He smiled. “Princess, huh?”
“Yeah, well. . . being Princess has its benefits.” I moved back to let the server place our plates of lasagna in front of each of us before I continued. “My father could let me do anything I wanted, which included becoming a warrior.”
“You?” He grinned. “A warrior?”
I raised my brows. “Beneath this Versace suit is a female warrior who has kicked major male warrior butt.” That sure hadn’t made me very popular.
Adam dug his fork into his lasagna. “I’d sure like to see it.”
“The chest straps are kind of uncomfortable, and they chafe,” I said with a teasing grin.
He laughed, and tine lines crinkled at the corners of his eyes. “I can’t picture you in anything but silk and lace.”
“Now I stick with a supple leather outfit when I track. Much more comfortable.”
“The subservient thing,” Adam said after taking a drink of his ice water. “Was that the only reason why Dark Elves were sent belowground?”
Would he understand this part? “Drow use magic that borders on dark. Not black magic, but not light, either.”
He frowned a little. “You use dark magic?”
“Well... yes.” I gripped my fork, which I’d started to use to cut the lasagna. “I use elemental magic, and sometimes I do things Light Elves wouldn’t approve of, no matter my intentions. But nothing I do is ever black.”
Adam reached across the table to cover my free hand with his. “I can’t imagine you doing anything that is.”
Insert another schoolgirl sigh. I could really get used to having this man around.
“Are there other female Drow warriors?” he asked.
I gave him a wry look. “None. Let’s say it was a huge shock to everyone when Father let me train with the males.”
“That must have been hard in a lot of ways,” he said with a thoughtful expression.
It was difficult to admit some things. “In the Drow realm I’m virtually an outcast. I never had any friends other than my human mother. Not only because I’m a Princess, but because I refuse to live the Drow lifestyle.” In this Otherworld, women had the freedom of choice—yet they’d had to fight for those choices, too. “Drow women enjoy their submissive role, which I’ve never quite understood.”
Adam studied me. “Are there others here in the city like you—human in the day and Drow at night?”
“I’m the only one of my kind here. Because, well, I’m the only one of my kind.” I said, and he looked surprised. “I was born with amethyst skin and vivid, cobalt-blue hair. It was a dead giveaway that I was different.”
“I’m not following.”
“I’m different from other half-human. half-Drow individuals,” I said. “Very, very few Drow males come up at night from belowground and mate with human females. If the human woman conceives, the children are always raised aboveground, because the human half is always dominant.” I paused.
“Until me. And so far only me.”
His sudden smile warmed my insides and settled the anxiety that had started to squeeze my belly. “I always knew you were special.”
I couldn’t help but return his smile. “Definitely different.”
“Special.”
I lowered my head, for some strange reason feeling shy and embarrassed, yet pleased.
To my surprise, my plate was empty and, when I looked, so was his. I didn’t even remember eating as we talked. He signaled the waitress and she brought the check. Adam insisted on paying. I let him win this round, but told him next time it was my treat.
I sure hoped there would be a next time.
He’d parked not too far from the café, but we walked the few blocks to my office. When we reached it I drew him away from
the door, and we stood in the shadowed area between the office door and the stairs to the apartments above.
He took me in his arms and kissed me. Warm, sweet. Goddess, he tasted so good, smelled so good, and being in his arms felt so right.
With our chemistry, the attraction between us, and everything I’d come to know about him, I realized I could easily fall in love with him.
The thought sent a bolt of fear through me that caused me to go still. After Stan .. . No, Adam had already proven he wasn’t anything like him.
Adam drew away. “Everything okay?” he said softly as he ran his finger along my moist lower lip.
I nodded and smiled. “Better than okay.” I glanced upstairs, the desire inside me begging to be let out to wrap itself around Adam. “Do you have time to come up ... for a bit?” I said as I met his gaze again.
A clear look of regret changed his expression. “I wish I could.”
Disappointment cooled the desire inside.
“But I’m free this evening if you are.”
My emotions bounced from cool disappointment to warm pleasure. “Until nine.”
“Is that when you go tracking?” he said.
I hesitated before nodding.
“Then we’ll just go straight from your place to get these sonsofbitches,” he said with a determined look.
“Okay.” What else could I say? Besides, he was just as capable as Olivia, as any of us. I had to stop protecting him.
Adam tugged a lock of my hair. “I need to use the john before I head back to work.”
I gestured to the office door. “Don’t get lost. We rearranged the piles of folders.”
He winked at me and I smiled as I followed him into the office. I stood there for a moment before an eraser hit me in the cheek. “Ow.”
I jerked my attention to Olivia, who said, “Jeez, woman. You’ve got it bad.”
A feeling like bliss warmed my chest. “Oh, but it was so good.”
“You didn’t.” Olivia slowly shook her head. “You had sex with Boyd?”
“I was going to tell you.” I dropped my purse on her desk. “It happened yesterday, when I got back from Otherworld.”
“Don’t you think that was a little soon?” Olivia frowned. “You were in bed with Rodán a few nights before that.”
Demons Not Included: A Night Tracker Novel (Night Tracker Novels) Page 20