1 Blood Price
Page 28
The lights came on, throwing the scene into sharp relief, and a voice yelled, “Freeze! Police!”
The first instant of frozen expressions was almost funny, then Henry raised a hand to shield his eyes, the Demon Lord spun about to face a new adversary, and Norman raced toward the door, screaming, “No, it’s mine! You can’t stop me! It’s mine!”
Coreen’s leg came free of the socks at last. As Norman passed, she kicked out.
He fought for balance, arms flailing. The grimoire dropped to the floor. A second later, Norman fell into the pentagram.
Then Norman wasn’t anymore, but his scream lingered for a heartbeat or two.
Mike Celluci stood at the light switch, his .38 in one hand, the other, under no conscious volition, making the sign of the cross. “Jesus H. Christ,” he breathed into the sudden silence. “What the hell is going on in here?”
The Demon Lord turned to face him. “But that’s it exactly, Detective. Hell is going on in here.”
This was worse than anything Celluci could have imagined. He hadn’t seen the punk with the assault rifle disappear into thin air. He didn’t see the thing standing in the middle of the room smiling.
But he had. And he did.
Then he caught sight of Vicki and all the strangeness became of secondary importance.
“Who did this?” he demanded, moving to her side and dropping to one knee. “What is going on in here!” The question came out sounding more than a bit desperate the second time around. While he felt her throat for a pulse, he kept the Demon Lord covered—the direction of the threat obvious after what he’d seen as he came in.
“Pretty much exactly what it looks like,” Henry told him. Clearly the stalwart officer of the law was a friend of Vicki’s. What he thought he was doing here could be settled later. “That is a Demon Lord. He just destroyed the . . . person who called him and we’re in a great deal of trouble.”
“Trouble?” Celluci asked, not bothering at the moment with whether he believed all this or not.
“Yes,” said the Demon Lord, and stepped out of the pentagram. It effortlessly pulled the gun from Celluci’s hand and tossed it out the window.
Celluci watched it go, there being nothing else he could do, then with lips a thin, pale line he bent over Vicki, ignoring the cold sweat that beaded his entire body, ignoring the terror that held his heart in an icy fist, ignoring everything but the one thing he could change. Fighting the knots out of the ties, he bound up her wrist with the first one he got free.
“It won’t do any good,” the Demon Lord observed. With all attention focused on Vicki, it sidled sideways, whirled around, and dove for the grimoire.
Henry got there first, scooped up the book, and backed away with it. To his surprise, the Demon Lord snarled but let him go. “You have no power,” he realized. “You’re in this world without power.”
“The invocation is not finished,” the Demon Lord admitted, its eyes still on the book, “until the woman dies.”
“Then the invocation will never be finished.” Brute strength forced the bindings off her legs and Celluci threw the ties across the room with unnecessary force.
“It will be finished very soon.” the Demon Lord pointed out. “She is dying,”
“No she isn’t,” Celluci growled, easing Vicki’s limp body over onto her back.
Yes, I am. Vicki wished she could feel the hand cupping her face, but she hadn’t been able to feel anything for some time. Her eyes itched, but she didn’t have the strength to blink. She wished it wasn’t happening this way. But she’d given it her best shot. Time to rest.
Then the Demon Lord raised its head and looked directly at her, its expression gloating and openly triumphant.
When she died, it won.
The hell it wins. She grabbed onto what life she had left and shook it, hard. I am not going to die. I am not going to die!
“I am . . . not . . . going to die. . . .”
“That’s what I said.” Celluci didn’t bother to smile. Neither of them would have believed it. “Listen.”
Through the glassless window, up from the street, she could hear sirens growing closer.
“Cavalry?” she asked.
He nodded. “I called in an officer down when I reached the building—the place felt like it was under siege. There’ll be an ambulance with them. I don’t care how much blood you’ve lost, they can replace it.”
“Concussed, too. . . .”
“Your head’s hard enough to take it. You’re not going to die.” He half turned to face the Demon Lord, throwing his conviction over his shoulder at it.
It smiled unpleasantly. “All mortals die in time. I will, of course, try to make it sooner than later.”
“Over my dead body,” Celluci snarled.
“No need.” Henry shook his head. “It can’t kill her or it would have the moment it left the pentagram. Her death is tied to the invocation and it can’t affect the invocation. All it can do is wait.
“If you stay,” he told it, moving closer, “you’ll be fighting every moment. We can’t destroy you, but without all your power you’ll have no easy time of it.”
The Demon Lord watched him move, eyes narrowed.
No, Vicki realized, it isn’t watching him, it’s watching the grimoire.
“So what do you suggest?” it scoffed. “That I surrender? Time is all I need, and time I have in abundance.”
Vicki pushed at Celluci’s arm, moving him out of his protective position. “A deal. . . . You want . . . the grimoire.” If only her tongue wasn’t so damned thick. “Go. . . Break the invocation . . . it’s yours.”
“In time, I will take the grimoire. You have no idea of how to truly use the knowledge it contains.” It made no effort to hide its desire as it stared at the book fo demonic lore. “There is nothing in your deal for me.”
“Power freely given has more strength than that taken by force.” Coreen went deep red as the two men and the Demon Lord turned to stare at her. “Well, it does. Everyone knows it.”
“And power freely given is not a power often seen where you come from.” Henry added, nodding slowly. The girl had brought up an important point. “It could be the makings of a major coup.”
“The name . . . written on the . . . city.” The demonkind had proven they were not without ambition.
“Upstart, grasping.” The Demon Lord ground out a number of other words in a language that sound like a cat fight and its aspect began to slip again.
“Why wait for this world when you can have another now?” Henry prodded. “You want the grimoire. With it you can control others of your kind. Defeat your enemies. . . .”
“Yessss.”
“We give it freely if in exchange you break the invocation and return where you came from. He who called you is no more. Nothing holds you here. Why wait when you can rule?”
With an effort the Demon Lord maintained its shape, holding out hands that were no longer quite hands. “Give it to me. I will make your bargain.”
“Swear it on your name.”
“I ssso sssswear.”
“And that you’ll never use the book against humankind,” Coreen added in a rush, before Henry could move.
“It holdsss knowledge only to be usssed againssst demonkind.”
Her lower lip went out. “Swear it anyway. On your name.”
“I ssswear. I ssswear.”
Henry took a step forward and placed the book on what remained of the Demon Lord’s hands. Grimoire and Demon Lord disappeared.
Vicki stared to giggle.
Celluci looked down at her and frowned. “What?” he snapped.
“I was just . . . wondering . . . what you’re going to . . . put in . . . your report.”
“I saw Henry.” Tony finished off the last of the gelatin and put the bowl back on the tray. “He came and told me what happened. Said I had a right to know. He’s pretty cool. I think he was checking me out.”
“Probably,” Vicki agreed. �
�You know a dangerous amount about him.”
Tony shrugged. “I’m no threat. Don’t matter to me what time a guy gets up.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
He grinned. “That’s what I said.”
The nurse’s shoes squeaked softly against the floor as she came into the room. “Visiting hours are over. You can come again tomorrow.”
Tony glanced from the nurse to Vicki and heaved himself to his feet. He paused in the doorway and looked back. “Save me the gelatin.”
Vicki grimaced. “It’s all yours,” she promised.
The nurse puttered about for a few moments, rearranged the blankets, checked the IV drip and bandage that covered Vicki’s left arm from hand to elbow. On her way out, she ran into Mike Celluci on his way in.
“I’m sorry.” Drawing herself up to her full height, she blocked the door. “But visiting hours are over.”
Celluci gently moved her aside and, as she started to bristle, flashed his badge. “Police business,’ he said, and closed the door.
He shook his head at heavy purple circles under Vicki’s eyes, clicked his tongue at the IV drip, bent down, kissed her, and said without straightening, “You look like shit.”
“Actually, I’m feeling much better.” She reached up and pushed the curl of hair back off his forehead. “Yesterday, I felt like shit. And speaking of yesterday, where were you?”
“Writing up my report.” He threw himself into the chair Tony had pulled up beside the bed. “Sure, you can laugh. That’s one part of police work you should be glad you’re free of.”
It didn’t hurt as much as it used to. In time, she suspected, it would hardly hurt at all. “What did you say?”
“I told the truth.” He grinned at her expression. “Okay, not all of it.”
“And Norman?”
“He got away while I was trying to keep you alive. Fortunately the chief remembers you through rose colored glasses and thinks that’s a sufficient excuse. There’s a country wide APB out on him.” He shrugged. “It won’t do my arrest record any good, but the killings will stop and I figure he got what was coming to him.”
Vicki wasn’t sure that she agreed so she kept silent. It smacked too much of an eye for an eye. And the whole world ends up blind.
“Your new boyfriend’s a little shy.”
She had to grin at the tone. “I told you. He’s a writer. He’s used to being alone.”
“Sure. And I’ve told you, you’re a lousy liar. But I owe him for taking care of that . . . teenager, so I’ll let it go for now.”
Vicki’s grin twisted. Coreen had no idea she’d finally met her vampire and that said vampire had convinced her that much of what had happened, hadn’t. According to Coreen, Henry’s version had left out both the lesser demon and the Demon Lord and had placed all the blame on Norman Birdwell. In a way, Norman was at last getting the recognition he craved.
She reached over with her good arm and poked him in the thigh. “That teenager, as you call her, just paid me a decent wage for that little dustup, so I’ll thank you to speak of her with more respect.”
Celluci grimaced. “Vicki, she’s an airhead. I have no idea how he kept her quiet about, well, you know . . .” He couldn’t say it, that would make it too real. “. . . but I shuddered to think of her getting to the press. And now,” he heaved himself to his feet and headed for the door. “I’ll get out of here so you can get some sleep.”
Sleep was a long time coming. She palmed the pills they tried to give her and lay listening to the hospital grow quiet.
It was close to 1:00 when the door opened again.
“You’re awake,” he said softly.
She nodded, aware he could see her even if she couldn’t see him.
“Were you waiting for me?”
She tried to keep her tone light. “Well, I didn’t think you’d be here during regular visiting hours.” She felt his weight settle on the side of the bed.
“I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me.”
“Why not?”
“Well, you can’t exactly have pleasant memories of the time we shared.”
“Not many, no.” Some of the memories she found very pleasant, but Vicki wasn’t sure she wanted to remind him of that just now. With four hundred and fifty years of experience, he had enough cards already.
Henry frowned, secure in the darkness. She said one thing, but her scent. . . .
“It must have been difficult for you to get in here.”
“Hospitals have few shadows,” he admitted. “I had hoped I could see you after you got out. . . ?”
“Sure.” Would he understand what she was offering? Did she? “We can have dinner.”
She couldn’t see him smile, but she heard the laugh then felt the cool pressure of his fingers around her hand. “Do you believe in destiny?” he asked.
“I believe in truth. I believe in justice. I believe in my friends. I believe in myself.” She hadn’t for a while, but now she did again. “And I believe in vampires.”
His lips brushed against the skin of her wrist, and the warm touch of his breath when he spoke stood every hair on her body on end.
“Good enough.”
Also by
TANYA HUFF
SMOKE AND SHADOWS
SMOKE AND MIRRORS
SMOKE AND ASHES
BLOOD PRICE
BLOOD TRAIL
BLOOD LINES
BLOOD PACT
BLOOD DEBT
THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM
THE QUARTERS NOVELS, VOL 1 omnibus:
SING THE FOUR QUARTERS | FIFTH QUARTER
NO QUARTER
THE QUARTERED SEA
The Keeper’s Chronicles:
SUMMON THE KEEPER
THE SECOND SUMMONING
LONG HOT SUMMONING
OF DARKNESS, LIGHT AND FIRE
The Confederation Novels:
A CONFEDERATION OF VALOR omnibus:
VALOR’S CHOICE | THE BETTER PART OF VALOR
THE HEART OF VALOR
VALOR’S TRIAL
WIZARD OF THE GROVE omnibus
CHILD OF THE GROVE | THE LAST WIZARD