Snake Eyes: A novel of the Demon Accords

by John Conroe

  I started to turn toward the door, but Stacia’s hand stopped me. I saw Tanya look at the hand on my arm in mild disbelief. She had a strict no touchy rule with her people about me, except during fights or training. It had always gone twice for Stacia. The werewolf girl never looked away from the window, but when I turned back to stand next to my vampire, she dropped her hand.

  “You really want it?” Declan asked. The agents tensed as the kid stepped back and threw the bag toward Agent Krupp. Instead of landing in the agent’s hands, it jumped straight up ten feet and burst into flames. Intense white fire consumed the whole thing in a flat three seconds, leaving just a small spatter of melted plastic on the ground below it.

  “Jesus, kid. What the fuck? You trying to blow this plane up? This is a friggin airport. There’s jet fucking fuel every fucking where,” another agent said. His Homeland Security tag read Murphy. The pissed-off agent started forward, but Krupp waved him back.

  “You destroyed evidence, you little fucker. I don’t care who you are. I’ll take you down,” Agent Murphy swore. Personally I thought he was a little rash, and possibly suicidal.

  “You don’t know what was in that bag. Maybe it’s how I destroy the freaky sex tapes my girlfriend and I make,” Declan said.

  There was a sudden gasp and everyone turned to look at a compact female who was frozen in mid-approach to the group, maybe ten yards away. Her FBI-labeled body armor said Jensen.

  Stacia whispered, “Great,” under her breath, but we all heard it.

  “That’s Caeco, right?” Lydia asked.

  “Yup,” Stacia said, standing up and turning toward the door.

  “Nope, I got this,” Tanya said. “You’re just nitroglycerine dropping on the plutonium.” She slipped gracefully away, grabbing another plastic garbage bag, this one white and bulging, on her way.

  A second later, we heard her exit the plane and yell from the portable stairs, “Hey, Declan, you missed a bag. These things are getting ripe,” my vampire said, then the white bag flew through the air into the kid’s automatically outstretched hands. He had been staring at Caeco, looking a little stricken.

  “Hey, hey, a warning would be nice,” Declan said back to her, holding the bag as far from him as he could. “Those things are dangerous.”

  “Well, burn them up and quit chatting with your friends. We gotta get this plane in the air soon.” Then the hatch door shut. A second later, Tanya blurred back into the room.

  Outside, the agents looked from the hanging bag to Declan. “I suppose you want to inspect these diapers too?” he asked. “But the answer is still no. Shitty smell aside, we don’t release family DNA to anyone.”

  He threw the bag up and it stopped six feet over their heads, then it spun in place and, just like the first one, burst into a small, self-contained inferno. Declan was watching Agent Murphy as it burned. The light of the fire flared out and Murphy looked back at the kid.

  “And just so you know? Nothing catches fire around me that I don’t want to catch fire, agent,” Declan said, voice quiet.

  “No, I don’t suppose the most powerful male witch in existence would make that mistake,” Krupp said, pulling all attention back to her. “Or should I say the strongest witch in existence?”

  “What, exactly, is it you want, Agent Krupp? And how come Director Stewart isn’t here? He’s our assigned contact. Does he know you’re here? Does Director Tyson know you’re here? Why do I feel the answer to both those questions is no?” Declan asked. He was carefully ignoring Caeco, who was still in the same place, her face now blank, but posture tight.

  “We don’t report to the FBI, asshole. Our chain of command is to the Secretary of Homeland Security,” Agent Murphy was only too happy to say.

  “Really? Does President Polner know the secretary has you all poking in this business?” Declan asked. “Guess he’ll find out soon enough. Maybe he already has?”

  Krupp’s phone suddenly rang. She pulled it out, looked at the screen, swore, shot a glare in Declan’s direction, and turned away to answer it. “Krupp here. Yes sir. No sir? Not yet sir—well—not really sir,” she said, moving further away.

  Declan crossed his arms and turned to stare at Caeco. After a second, she too crossed her arms and stared back.

  “This the kid you went out with, Jensen?” Murphy asked, keeping his eyes on Declan and therefore completely missing the quick deadly glare that Caeco threw his way.

  “In existence?” Declan asked, ignoring the other agents, staring straight at Caeco.

  “Sex tapes?” his genetically engineered ex asked.

  “You know what? I’m done with this shit. We’ve got places to be,” Declan said, dropping his arms and heading for the stairs.

  “We’re not done with you, asshole,” Murphy said, his hand going to his holstered gun.

  The kid, whose back was turned, froze. “Pull it, agent. In fact, why don’t you all draw down, even you, Junior G-girl Jensen—give it your best shots,” he said, voice shaking. A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737, that happened to be taxiing by two hundred yards away, suddenly lost all engine power and ground to a halt.

  “No!” Caico said, instantly ten feet closer and now holding Murphy’s hand, gun locked in place. The bigger agent strained, but Caeco didn’t budge an inch. I glanced at Tanya, mildly impressed. The girl was pretty quick. Not up to old vampire standards, but really quite impressive for a human.

  “Everybody stand down!” Krupp commanded, striding back into the circle of agents. “Murphy, belay that crap. We’re done here. Let’s go,” she said, waving them away. The agents moved off, back toward the airport buildings, Murphy glaring at Declan, who never even to turned to notice. Krupp waited impatiently for Caeco but didn’t say a word. The younger girl stared at Declan’s tense back for a moment before turning and walking away. Caeco’s face was a blank mask, but for a split second I thought I saw a flicker of something… something that might have been regret.

  The shutdown Southwestern jet suddenly powered itself back up, engines winding to normal pitch. Krupp, who was still in sight, stopped and looked at the plane. After a second, she glanced back at Declan, who was now climbing the stairs, then she looked at our plane—right at our windows. I doubt she could see us, as our cabin was dark and the windows had special vampire tinting, but for a second, it seemed like she could see right inside.

  Chapter 37

  “So… that seemed awkward,” Lydia said as soon as Declan came into the lounge. He glanced at all of us, lingering on Stacia for a moment, then slumped down in a passenger chair.

  “I don’t know what that was all about, but someone has been talking out of school,” he said.

  “She works for them now, Declan. It’s logical she would share knowledge,” Tanya said.

  “Yeah, well she knows stuff that no one else does,” he said, looking worried.

  “Stuff you haven’t even told me?” Stacia asked, lips pressed in a straight line. She smelled of anger and hurt.

  “Well, to be fair, I didn’t tell her—she told me,” he said, running a hand through his messy hair and looking away.

  “What does that even mean?” Lydia asked, quickly, before Stacia got another word out. The blonde werewolf had crossed her arms and was frowning.

  “She had to do a blood test project in one of her biology classes at UVM. Couldn’t use her own because of the nanites. So she borrowed mine,” he said. “It was a karyotyping test, you know, counting genes and chromosomes and shit. We agreed she’d destroy the sample as soon as she got her results, and she did. But it turns out that my karyotype is all fucked up.”

  He looked out the window, silent for a second, thinking. No one said a word, letting him make the decision we could see he was wrestling with.

  “I have two Y chromosomes. I’m XYY. It may be the reason I’m so strong for a male. No, scratch that, it has to be the reason,” he said.

  “It is ninety-seven percent probable that your extra Y chromosome is the root cause of
your enhanced abilities,” Omega said. “To my knowledge, Caeco Jensen has not revealed that information to anyone.”

  He was still looking out the window, so he didn’t see us all exchange a glance of confusion as we processed his words. Stacia, whose expression had cleared, now rolled her eyes at us and moved over to sit next to him.

  “And that bothers you because you think you got a double dose of twisted shit off your father. Like you’re some kind of double rapist? That’s total bullshit, Declan,” she said.

  Lydia’s eyes got huge and she exchanged a eureka look with Tanya before turning to look at the kid.

  “You spend so much time thinking about having a rapist for a father that you miss the fact that you are nothing like him. As far as I can tell, he may have given you a double slug of magic mojo, but your personality has got to come from your mom. I mean, you act so much like your aunt, it’s kind of freaky,” Stacia said, glancing at us with a help me out here look.

  “That’s true, kid,” Lydia said. “I wouldn’t know your father if I drank him for dinner, but you do act a lot like Ashling.”

  “Wait. The two of you just agreed on something!” Declan said, snapping back from the window. “Chris, the Armageddon is here!”

  I laughed, moving over to sit in the chair facing him and Stacia. Tanya slipped in next to me and a second later, Lydia sat on my vampire’s lap, draping her legs over me. “That’s not true. We generally agree that you are mostly a pain in the ass,” Lydia said with complete sincerity.

  He snorted. “So what was that all about? Why is Homeland up in our business when the president was the one who hired us?” he asked.

  “I may have some insight into that, Father,” Omega said. “The transition from President Garth to President Polner has not been without some issues. There has been considerable jockeying for the now-vacant vice president position. In addition, a number of high-ranking Congressional members are in the process of consolidating their power bases. The events of the past few days have grabbed national attention and provided a springboard of sorts for power plays. A number of Congress members are calling for immediate investigations. Subpoenas are currently being prepared for at least three and perhaps four of you. The head of the Homeland Security subcommittee is the most vocal.”

  “What are they hoping to gain?” I asked.

  “Credibility as defenders of the human race. Brownie points for showing themselves as having the balls to stand up to the supernaturals,” Tanya said.

  “That is my conclusion as well, Tanya. Many of the recent events have highlighted the tremendous individual power you all possess. It’s one thing for you to risk yourselves fighting demons for their safety, but running through a city like Vegas, chasing monsters and fighting them in very public places, has made the world population realize just what you are capable of. They are afraid and looking to their leaders to protect them. The strongest leaders will be in the best position to win the next election.”

  “I fucking hate politics,” Declan snarled, again running his hands through his hair. He gripped the arms of his seat and I could see his left hand tremble slightly. “I don’t much like lawyers, either. Darion is pretty cool, but as far as I can tell, the rest all suck. Why can’t they just leave us alone to fight the monsters?”

  A link clicked into place in my head. I remembered that he’d been abducted as a kid by a child molester. A human monster who he had subsequently had to electrocute with his magic. The aftermath of that must have been traumatic, to say the least. Lawyers and suspicious cops for days. No wonder he hated lawyers.

  “Attention, this is the captain. We’ve finally received clearance to depart. In fact, our takeoff is actually being expedited. Please secure anything loose, like trays, drinks, and babies,” our pilot announced suddenly, a happy note in her voice. It occurred to me that the crew had basically ended up stuck on the plane for our whole time in Las Vegas.

  Lydia popped up off our laps and started grabbing loose stuff while yelling out, “Nika, get those beautiful babies strapped down.”

  I was still thinking about the kid. I’ve been through my own share of shit. Heard my family get butchered by an ax-wielding demon. Started hunting and exorcising demons at twelve. But it wasn’t the same.

  Looking up, I met my vampire’s eyes. She had her head tilted, regarding me—reading me. She looked up, heavenward, and her message was crystal clear. We were both angels, fallen by our own choice. He was not. There was a big, big difference.

  I had another flash of insight. Hell, it might have been a mental message straight from my angelic vampire, but suddenly I understood something.

  I grew up angry with God, righteously pissed off at the loss of my mother, father, and brother… but I never mistrusted myself. Not until I was doused with demon blood.

  Declan grew up knowing that his father, the contributor of half of all he was, was a rapist. He’d pretty much doubted himself from the word go.

  I had an angel to talk to. He had an aunt, who no matter how loving she was, had been traumatized by the same time that the act of rape that had conceived him had occurred. There was no real way for him to talk to her about how he felt. How would that conversation run? Hey Aunt Ash, tell me again of how you and Mom met my father? Yeah, that was never going to happen.

  “You won’t be dealing with any of that legal bullshit,” I said suddenly. The were girl and the witch boy both looked at me, faces questioning.

  “We were going to send you both on a trip in a few weeks. Now we’re just going to speed up your departure,” I said.

  “A trip? Where? Won’t they just yank us back?” Declan asked after sharing a look with his wolf girl.

  “Nah, you aren’t gonna be reachable,” I said, grinning.

  He frowned.

  “Declan, we’re going to send you and Stacia on a mission… off planet. We’re also sending Mack and Jetta. You’re going to accompany Ashley Moore and her father, Ian, back to Fairie,” Tanya said.

  He blinked a few times and it was Stacia who asked the obvious question. “Why?”

  “The three main governments of Fairie, which, as I understand it, are the Winter Court, the Summer Court, and the… dragon court I guess, are about to enter a protracted period of negotiation,” I said. “Ashley is essential to that process. But it may take as much as several months to complete. She has never stayed there that long at any one time and she gets homesick for Earth after just a couple of weeks. So, since she is arguably the single most important part of the process as the only one who can translate the dragons’ side of the conversation, all of the parties agreed that she could bring a group of friends with her. But who do you send to an alien world?”

  “A witch, a werewolf, and the Sutton kiddies,” Declan said, nodding.

  “Exactly,” I agreed. “That was Ian’s take on it. In fact, he asked for all you by name.”

  “I get boy wonder here and myself,” Stacia said. “But why Mack and Jetta?”

  Declan looked at her askance.

  “Don’t give me that glare. I think they’re great, and I know they kicked werewolf ass all by themselves. I was there for that, remember?” Stacia told him. “It’s just that they don’t have a supernatural edge is all.”

  “You really think that?” Tanya asked her, tone a little derisive.

  “What abilities do they have? Aside from their obvious survival skills,” Stacia asked, eyes narrowed at my vampire.

  “Well, it isn’t blatantly obvious and we’re not aware of anything exactly like it, but it comes down to this—they’re lucky,” I said.

  “Lucky?” Stacia asked. “That’s a power?”

  “We think it might be,” I said. “The newest Coven elder has the ability to read probabilities. Actually, we all do to some degree, she just takes it to a ridiculous level. But what if someone had the power to alter probability in their favor, without even knowing that they did it?”

  Declan looked thoughtful and Stacia slightly incredulous.
>
  “Consider. Their parents were murdered by a rogue pack of werewolves at the family vacation cabin. Declan, why weren’t the kids there too? They went sometimes, right?” Tanya asked.

  “Mack told me that he and Jetta were originally supposed to go, but they both decided their parents needed a weekend alone,” Declan said.

  “Which was very considerate for two teenagers. And lucky—for them. Then, they managed to hunt down the rogue pack and kill almost all the guilty males, right? What are the odds that two basically untrained teenagers could hunt and kill over a half-dozen adult weres?”

  “Really, really poor,” Stacia said. “Although didn’t they have an ex-military uncle to help them?”