by Sam Cheever
See how soon I forget my mental notes to myself?
Chapter Six
Clear as Mud
A simple visit to a king, dost give our lady pause,
She learns her journey’s complex, close friendships seem the cause.
He shimmered me into the middle of my office and then clamped those incredible lips onto mine before I could start screaming, thus saving us both from him having to disassemble my body as he’d done to the Dis demon.
A change in the atmosphere in the room, with a slight electrical charge, warned me that we were about to have company.
Emo appeared in the room and Dialle popped out.
I stamped my foot in temper and glared at my partner, having no other royals in the room currently to glare at.
Knowing me and my moods Emo just smiled. “Don’t take it out on me, boss,” he said. “He’s your problem.”
This little reminder did not improve my mood. “Okay, then tell me what you said to the Dis demon to allow us to pass without Dialle.”
Emo turned away and walked to his desk. But not before I saw his smile grow wider. “Nothing, I just used some information I had against him. Something he doesn’t necessarily want Alleycat to know about.”
I grinned, I couldn’t help myself. “Alleycat?”
Emo dropped into his chair and clasped well-shaped golden hands on the desktop. “That’s what they call him. His brother was not well liked but Alcott is even less popular.”
I nodded, my brow furrowing in thought. “Why was Dialle shunned? That was a huge tactical error on Alcott’s part.”
Emo nodded. “I agree. His ego apparently gets the better of his judgment on a regular basis. It’s one of the things the demons hate about him.”
I walked over and sat in the chair on the other side of my partner’s desk. Fixing him with the patented Astra Q Phelps glare, I waited for him to squirm.
He didn’t.
“Why won’t you tell me what you said to the demon?”
Emo stared back, seemingly unaffected by my badass boss routine. Finally he shook his head and looked down at his hands. “I told you. I know something about that particular guard and used it against him. That’s all. Nothing sinister.”
I continued to stare at him. I sensed he wasn’t telling me everything. “What about Dialle?”
Emo grinned. “I wasn’t lying to you about that, Astra. The guard had orders not to allow Dialle to enter.” He grinned. “I would have kept him out anyway if I could have but as it turns out I didn’t have to.” The grin widened until I felt myself wanting to smile too.
I looked away quickly so I wouldn’t be affected by his obvious amusement. “Well, regardless, Dialle is now seriously pissed off and I doubt his report to his father will favor the demons’ case. I’m afraid some of those humans are going to be toast soon.”
“I would agree wholeheartedly with that assessment, boss.”
Hearing the smile in his voice I turned sharply. “And this is funny—why?”
Emo shrugged and his grin widened but he was saved from having to respond when the air in the office suddenly became supercharged and something long, lean and decidedly devilish shimmered into the space between us.
King Dialle the First wasn’t exactly in the room with us but his persona definitely was. My eyes widened as his soul form lowered its yummy derrière onto Emo’s tidy desktop and fixed me with its swirling black gaze. “Mx. Phelps, you will visit me in my chambers.”
I opened my mouth to tell him that I’d rather take a supra demon up my left nostril but alas, per usual, I wasn’t to be given a choice in the matter. King Dialle’s soul form reached a long, elegant hand toward my arm and before I knew it I was locked in motionless time and space, waiting to land in the lion’s den.
As soon as King Dialle’s rooms shimmered into focus I stepped away from his soul form and settled a power bubble around myself so he couldn’t sneak up on me. I prayed I had enough power to hold against him if he tried to smash me into the divan again.
Taking deep, mental breaths to calm my mind so my mouth wouldn’t get me into trouble, I put my I-don’t-give-a-shit face on and turned to glare at the mouth-wateringly yummy creature behind the onyx desk. I prayed I was presenting him with the correct mix of don’t care and not worried, however, since my heart was trying to escape my rib cage, I wasn’t sure.
He sat sprawled carelessly in his imposing white leather chair, one long, muscular leg thrown across a thick, shiny chair arm. His magical swirling gaze slid down my body and he smiled. “Mx. Phelps. I welcome you to my den.”
Shit! Had he read my thoughts?
Making use of the better part of valor, for once, I took a deep breath and smiled. “King Dialle, you’re looking…well.”
He threw back his gorgeous head and laughed. The sound was loin-tingling. “Mx. Phelps, I regret that my son found you first. I might have been able to actually settle on your charms.”
I smiled back. “I doubt it, Your Highness. I can be a real pain in the ass.”
He laughed again. “I am certain that is true, Mx. Phelps but I have always been quite fond of pain.”
I grinned. I couldn’t help it. He was very charming. “What can I help you with, Your Highness?”
He stood up and I tensed, expecting a full body slam to the couch. But he walked toward the wall of windows, assuming what appeared to be his favorite spot and pose in front of them.
I waited for him to speak. It took a couple of minutes. I wasn’t sure if he was playing with me or if he was gathering his thoughts. Since he was the highest of the high devils, I was betting on the former.
Finally he spoke without turning. “My son has informed me that we are at war with the demons.”
I opened my mouth but wasn’t sure what to say. I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk him out of engaging in war with the demons. He and I and probably the demons knew that Alcott and his merry gang of snot-covered leather guys didn’t have much of a chance against the ageless power and inherent meanness of the Royal Court.
I finally decided to give it a shot. “Is there no other way to address their concerns, Your Highness?”
He looked at me as if I had four heads. “I do not negotiate with pets. They have been under our protection and subject to our whim for millennia and it will stay that way.”
“What if they make good on their threat to start killing humans?”
King Dialle waved a hand and looked disgusted. “The human cattle will be safe. Alcott does not have the fortitude of gut to take on the Royal Court. He is just making noise to test my resolve.”
I shook my head. “I don’t agree, King Dialle. I believe they mean it. They have already taken hostages.”
I was a little surprised he didn’t eat me for disagreeing with him but he seemed to have something else on his mind. He stood staring out of those windows for a few more seconds.
“The demons do not concern me in and of themselves.” He turned finally to face me and continued. “I would not have them join with the witches though.”
I stared into those swirling eyes and felt my knees weaken and my heart step up a bit. I wasn’t sure what he wanted from little ole me but it quickly became apparent from his continued glare that he felt it was my job to do something.
Finally, in a desperate effort to get that disturbing gaze off me, I said, “What exactly do you want me to do about it, Your Highness?”
I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. He actually appeared to be shocked by my response. “I want you to fix it of course!”
Déjà vu, my constant companion, visited me again and I heard my angel’s dulcet tones saying the same thing that very morning in my personal hygiene room. So I went with it and said my lines too. “How am I going to do that?”
Suffice it to say he was not as patient as my angel. Yikes! Did I just say that? I have the world’s crankiest guardian angel.
“Do not play games with me, Tweener! I know
you have connections in the coven. Use them!”
I gulped as the temperature in the room started to climb. Thank the big Him I didn’t have to be queen to this guy. His temper was…combustible to say the least.
Thinking fast, I ran through my options. I’d already talked to Raoul and he’d promised me he’d do what he could. I wasn’t hopeful though, he’d looked like a beaten man when I’d left him. However, the goal of the moment was to survive the current audience.
“I’ve spoken to my connection in the coven and he will help as much as he can.”
King Dialle cocked his head at me, his eyes swirling faster and with more red than usual. “He will have to do better than that. He needs to reign himself in and stop this nonsense or the Royal Court will declare war against the coven as well.”
I tried to picture Raoul as the instigator of the current problem but I just couldn’t do it. I was also a bit perplexed that Raoul had become italicized.
Dialle the First suddenly moved and was standing just inches from me, his disturbing gaze churning with anger and impatience. I could feel his power pressing against my bubble, creating pressure on my chest that was beginning to challenge my ability to breathe. His hot breath washed my face and he spoke in measured tones, as if he were conversing with a mentally challenged individual.
“Stop playing games with me, Mx. Phelps. I am not a patient creature.”
Really?
He growled as if he’d read my thought. I tried to lean away from him but discovered that he held me with his power.
“Use your connection with the High Supreme Witch or I will kill you. Is that clear enough for your simple mind?”
I frowned at both the threat and the insult. He tensed visibly.
Oopsies, deep mental breaths.
Now I had no frunkin’ idea what he was talking about. I certainly had no connection to that witch. I’d never dealt with the covens before. But knowing that my life was hanging from a very small tack on a porous and moisture-rotted wall I simply nodded, thinking it would be best if I didn’t allow my mouth any wiggle room at all.
His swirling gaze stayed on my face for a few beats more and then he leaned into me until my power bubble popped with an audible whoosh. His lips claimed mine just long enough to cause my blood to begin a slow boil and then he pulled away with a twinkle in his eye. “It appears you do have a brain after all, Mx. Phelps. I would advise you to use it more often when in my presence.”
With that he simply waved one long, elegant hand and I was back in my office. After quickly checking to make sure my pants were dry, I turned and stormed back out the door. Something was going on that I didn’t understand and I had a sneaking suspicion I was the only one in the dark. That was gonna stop.
Somewhere beyond the roar in my ears I heard Emo calling my name but I was beyond caring and incapable of stopping. I hate to be the only one at the party who doesn’t know the secret ingredient in the fairy pudding and I would just have to start killing people until somebody told me what it was. Metaphorically speaking of course.
* * * * *
The Viper and I sped toward DD Raoul’s girly house and dropped into hover by his front door, which was, of course, a very feminine beige.
I exited the Viper and stomped to the door, pounding on it with my fist and trying to catch my breath. I was so mad I could barely breathe.
He opened the door on the second pound. His face told me he was less than happy to see me. “Astra, I can’t speak with you right now. We’re just days from the waning moon and I have rituals to prepare.”
I looked at him like he had a supra demon hanging out of each nostril, mating on his upper lip. “I’m sorry. The world is just ending. No big deal. Shall I come back when you aren’t so busy lighting candles and snorting moon dust?”
He scowled at me but heaved a giant sigh and stepped back so I could enter.
I brushed past him and moved into the main living area, where I promptly began pacing back and forth, energized by rage.
He came to the archway that separated the entrance space from the main living space and watched me pace, a frown burrowing further into his face with each lap around the room. Finally he couldn’t take it anymore. “What is it, Astra? You look like you’re ready to hurt somebody.”
I stopped and looked up. I very nearly stamped a foot in frustration. “What do you know that I don’t? What does Emo know? And that frunkin’ devil king too for that matter? My aunt was even cryptic in my dreams. There’s a piece to this puzzle that nobody’s sharing with me and I’m sick of it. I want to know.”
Raoul stared at me for a beat and then looked away. Before his chocolate-brown gaze dropped though I could have sworn I saw guilt in them. He turned and walked toward the food service area of the house. “Can I get you something to drink, Astra? Juice, H2O, a tranquilizer?”
I scowled at him and stood my ground. “Spill it, Raoul.”
He dropped his butt into one of the stools at the counter and turned back to me. “I have no idea what Emo knows or what King Dialle knows but I don’t know anything that will help you, Astra. If I did I would certainly tell you.” He scowled at me then, “I am your friend.”
I didn’t miss the qualifier in that statement but I decided to take another tack.
“Why does King Dialle think that you are leading a revolt against him with the demons?”
Okay, he did look shocked by that piece of information. His dark eyebrows climbed toward his scalp. “That’s absurd!”
“Is it? That’s what I thought too. But since we seem to have secrets between us I’m not sure anymore.”
Raoul looked longingly toward the bottle on the counter across the room but didn’t move off the tall stool. After a minute he looked back at me. “I have nothing to do with this mess, Astra. I’m just trying to survive. You need to believe me.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what—or who—to believe anymore, Raoul. Everybody seems to be speaking in another language, using a script that I don’t have. If I’m going to fix this mess I need all of the pieces of information.” I finished off this statement with a glare in his direction. He just shrugged at me.
“King Dialle is prepared to go to war with the coven if he needs to.”
That little nugget brought him off the damn stool.
Shooting to his feet he began to pace. “I knew it! I told her. Damn! I don’t know what else I can do…”
I watched him and felt cold, raw fear sliding down my spine. “What aren’t you telling me, Raoul?”
He ignored me and continued to pace. Every once in a while he would mumble something I couldn’t hear but he refused to respond to anything I said and, in fact, acted as if I had already left. No matter how much I scowled at him and yelled at him I couldn’t get Raoul to tell me anything more.
I finally stomped out of the girly house a few minutes later, no less angry and no more informed than when I’d gone in there.
Chapter Seven
A Visit from an Angel
When family ties begin to pull, dark specters from her youth,
Our lady struggles to discern, a modicum of truth.
I was too wound up to go back to the office. I climbed into the Viper and pushed the directional lever to climb straight up until we cleared the traffic flow and touched a few clouds. I slammed it into hyper speed and sat back, taking deep breaths to try to push the tension out of my chest. I decided that I would have to take a more direct approach.
This meant that I needed to address the one variable which kept coming to the surface. The Supreme High Witch of the Angel City coven.
Having finally made that decision I felt better. I allowed the Viper to settle back down into traffic and made my way home. As I entered the dark, quiet space I tensed.
I realized that I wasn’t alone.
A quick vision of a time not that long ago when I’d been visited by something foul and smelly in my living space flitted through my head. Simultaneously, I reached for my pow
er and one of the long knives I kept in my boots.
A small sound met my ears from the right. It had come from the food service area. I clasped the knife in one hand and surrounded myself with a power bubble before moving silently toward the place where the sound had originated.
I approached the corner of the wall that hid the food service area from view, my heart pounding and my eyes swinging back and forth across the visible area to make sure I wasn’t being observed. As soon as I turned the corner I relaxed, lowering the knife and letting my bubble lapse with a small pop.
“Hello, angel.”
Myra turned her angelic countenance on me and frowned before taking another sip of strong, black coffee. Although angels are not supposed to have human vices, they all seemed to hold onto the ones they’d had when they were part of the human race. For Myra, the vice was coffee. The stronger and blacker the better.
“You’re almost out of coffee.”
I nodded. “I’ll order some today.” I moved past her and dispensed a cup for myself. Taking a sip of the aromatic, black stuff I leaned back against the counter and closed my eyes in pleasure, sighing. Myra wasn’t the only one in the room who loved coffee.
I let the hot, black liquid warm my insides for a few beats before I opened my eyes again and focused them on my guardian angel. Myra had been watching me closely, concern touching her delicate, porcelain features until she saw me noticing and then she looked down at the steaming cup in her pale, flawless hands.
We’d been together since my first awareness and before that. Myra had been given to me—or I to her—at my birth. She’d been a cranky bitch for as long as I could remember but she’d also been my dearest friend and closest ally. Aside from Emo of course. Despite her prickly exterior, I knew she loved me deeply and would always be there for me when I needed her.