by Debra Dunbar
“Why not do that in Hel? Elves and demons have been conducting business there for millions of years. What would happen to change that?”
“I don’t know.” I felt like such an idiot.
“What’s his motive?” I expected Gregory to suddenly be smoking a pipe and addressing me as ‘Watson’. “Why would an elf steal such a gem geared toward human magic and bring it here?”
I frowned. “Maybe his desire to leave Hel isn’t connected. He’s exiled. Elves in exile used to find another kingdom willing to take them in, but now they’ve merged into one giant elven mass. Living with the demons can’t have been ideal. Could be this was a better choice.”
Terrelle snorted. “He’s still living with a demon until he figures his way around. It could take months for him to learn the language, get an identity, some kind of suitable employment and housing. That is, if he doesn’t get run over by a bus again. I doubt he’s planning on applying for permanent residency as the only elf on the planet. They’re snobs. They like the company of other elves, not lowly humans.”
True. And I remembered how difficult Nyalla had found the process when she’d first come here. She’d been a slave. Swifty was an elf used to some degree of comfort and status. I refused to believe things in Hel were so bad for him that a life of poverty—a very short life if he didn’t quickly learn how to avoid vehicles, gang members, and law enforcement—would be any kind of alternative.
“So the trip here is temporary?” I asked. “I’m assuming his goal would be to get back into elvish good graces. Something here involving the gem could be his ticket back into Li.”
“That’s assuming he stole the gem after he was exiled,” Greggory commented. “Swiftethian is seen fraternizing with freed humans, is exiled, and steals the gem, brings it here to achieve reinstatement. Or maybe he has done more to offend the elves than associate with human magic users. If he has a price on his head, then life here would be better than death in Hel.”
“Unlikely,” Terrelle chimed in. “Elves don’t have a problem with death when the alternative is washing dishes for minimum wages and living in a cardboard box under a bridge.”
I wasn’t sure about that. If he could get enough money for the gem, he might not need to make a cardboard box his home. But there was another question nagging me. “Did he steal the gem before or after he was exiled? Maybe he was going to sell it in Hel, but the exile caused him to change plans.”
Terrelle waved her hand. “Either way, what would he be doing with that enchanted gem on this side of the gates that would get him in good with the elves?”
Shit if I knew. The gem enhanced a spell. As far as I knew, the elves didn’t have any spells going on over here. He could sell it to a human magic user, but he lacked the skills to find one, and a wad of cash wouldn’t mean squat in our reinstatement theory. Selling it to a demon would earn him some money, but he could just as easily do that in Hel, and I wasn’t sure what the appeal would be to living here, so far away from other elves.
“Maybe you need to have an informative conversation with your sorcerer friend.” There was an edge of irony in Gregory’s voice that revealed his belief that this conversation would include me becoming the tough guy. I might be doing this job to pay off a debt to Gareth, but that didn’t give him the right to withhold important information. Keeping information that was essential to the completion of my task could be seen as a breach of trust, negating the debt entirely.
And it just pissed me off. I’d been running around like a fool for too long. Yes, a serious chat was at the top of my to-do list.
Gregory wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “Meanwhile, I have my enforcers looking for this demon. Eloa has his energy signature, so it shouldn’t take too long for us to track him down.”
“Make sure they don’t kill him,” I urged. If the demon was smart, he would have ditched Swifty and headed for the nearest gate. Just in case he was stupid, I wanted to be able to question him before they dusted his ass.
“They won’t.” My angel seemed rather smug. “Unlike someone else’s household, my Grigori do as their told.”
I snorted. Yeah, right. “Is that why there’s a rebellion in Aaru? Is that why one of your Grigori is fucking a demon? Oh, wait, that’s two if I’m counting us in that equation.”
“Yes, there have been a few slips, but I’m not the one getting shot out of the air by a bunch of pre-pubescent elves.”
I was regretting telling him about that little incident. Still, I smiled and snuggled against him. There wasn’t much for us to do until Eloa found the demon and/or the elf. I knew Gregory would eventually want to go after the manticore if it was still on the loose and look for the gateway, but I was hoping we could wait. I had other activities I wanted to engage in right now.
“Home?” He murmured into my hair.
“Home,” I confirmed.
Chapter 13
Terrelle was sprawled on my couch, hair tucked behind her ears as she simultaneously read a book and surfed the Internet on my laptop. She seemed engrossed, but I knew she heard every word we said. I shot a quick glance her way and gave Gregory a knowing nod before leading him outside to the flagstone patio beside my pool. There I could carry on a conversation with some assurances of privacy and keep an eye on the newest member of my household.
“An information demon,” Gregory drawled. “Not who I expected to be tagging at your heels, Cockroach.”
“She’s like a fucking encyclopedia on legs. Well worth having tagging at my heels.”
He nodded. “I like her. Maybe you should try and set her up with Gabriel.”
My eyes nearly left my head. Gabe would probably approve of her—serious, studious, dedicated. But the angel had an explosive side to him that needed someone crazy enough to bring it out. “I’ll consider it.” I wouldn’t, but whatever. “But I didn’t bring you out here to discuss Infernal Mates. I found out the name of the demon who has the Traveler’s Veil.”
Gregory stared. I’d shocked an angel. I was so proud. ”You found the Veil? Already? Where is it?”
“I haven’t found it. Yet. A demon named Orias has it, and wherever the fuck the manticore lives isn’t the only gateway he’s opened. An old school friend in Eresh has a melusine he got from Aerie through a passage Orias opened.”
Gregory sucked in a sharp breath. “So that’s one more gateway we have to track down and close, in addition to finding this Orias and retrieving the Veil.”
“He’s... .” I wasn’t sure how to put this. “He’s my age. I went to school with him. He’s not a bad guy.”
“He killed an angel, Cockroach. He may not be a bad guy, but such an action has repercussions.”
“I killed an angel,” I argued.
“You were acting in self-defense, and the angel in question had violated the treaty. It fell under the heading of your Iblis duties. This Orias ambushed an angel, killed him, and stole an item. He doesn’t get a pass on this.”
I winced. He was right. It sucked to know that unless Orias got his ass over to Hel and stayed there, he would soon be dead. Although there were other things the angels needed to concentrate on that might buy the demon a little time. “There’s that manticore that killed the human and shot my wing. Don’t forget him. That’s a priority.”
Gregory shook his head. “Not anymore. He’s dead. A human already has the body at a taxidermist who has sworn he won’t say a word about his client shooting what appeared to be an escaped zoo lion.”
Humans. I loved them. “Awesome! One less thing you’ve got to do. I’ll let you know if I catch wind of Orias.” And hopefully he’d be in Hel before I caught wind of him.
“Oh, you’ll do more than that. Think we can slip away?” The angel glanced through the French doors at Terrelle.
Slip away? Like to a romantic rendezvous? My heart sped up. His duties had allegedly decreased, but mine hadn’t, and in reality, it seemed we were both overwhelmed with crap demanding our immediate attention.
“There’s something odd I’d like your opinion on.”
Okay, not romantic, but still I was interested. Pride, that elusive sin, surged at the thought of a six-billion-year-old angel wanting my opinion on anything. “Sure.” And if I was lucky, this ‘something’ might provide a romantic opportunity. I was a demon. I could find a romantic opportunity in an insect-infested swamp.
With another glance through the doors at Terrelle that had me consumed with curiosity, Gregory gathered me into his arms and transported us.
Once the vertigo faded, I realized I was woefully underdressed for our location. White. White above in the bright clouds of the sky. White across to the horizon in the hard-packed snow and ice underfoot. An icy breeze stole my breath. Wherever we were, it was below freezing—far below freezing.
“Alaska?” I remembered Rafi had been sent there, and I guessed we’d be meeting the other angel.
“No, the south pole.”
No wonder I was quickly turning into an ice cube. “Okay then. Unless you’ve got a Gortex parka and a propane heater hidden under your wings, let’s hurry up and look at this ‘something’.”
He didn’t reveal any hidden polar expedition clothing, so I followed him along the ice toward a black speck in the distance. As we approached, I saw the black speck was a furry animal about three-feet long sprawled on a patch of bloody ice.
I nudged it over with my foot. “A koala? A dead koala in Antarctica. Can’t say I’m not impressed. It is a good joke. Well, unless you’re the koala, I guess.”
Gregory bent down and pried open the frozen jaws, revealing monstrously sharp teeth. Shit. These cute furry things were more badass then I’d ever thought.
“It’s a drop bear. They’re deceptively cute to lure the humans close under their tree so they can jump down and kill them.”
“So, not a koala?” I knelt and rubbed a finger across the bloody ice, reading the genetic signature. Nope, not a koala at all. “Okay, I’ll bite. What the fuck is a drop bear?”
“There are only a handful of them left from when they first arrived nearly three million years ago. They live in Australia and feed on humans.”
I looked down at the frozen one. “This guy is a long way from Australia.”
“So were the others we found all over the globe in the last twenty-four hours. We managed to take down all but one, which is now mounted to the wall of a Norman Spencer of Milton, Georgia.”
Score another hit for humans with firearms. I’d become incredibly fond of them as a species. “So the two or three went on a breeding frenzy and discovered the joys of intercontinental travel?”
“After three-million years? Doubtful.”
I had no idea what he was talking about, where any of this was going. I think sometimes Gregory forgot the vast differences in our ages. “Babe, I’m afraid I wasn’t around three-million years ago. What’s going on? Is this related to that Traveler’s Veil thingie?”
“I’m beginning to wonder if Orias did more than just open one or two passageways. Drop bears are not an indigenous species. Neither are manticores, melusine, lamia, hydra, satyr, fairies, or pixies, or a hundred other beings of legend. Three-million years ago, this planet was a hub with gateways to dozens of other realms. We sealed those gates, closed them permanently to give the humans a proper chance to evolve.”
I stood and wiped my hand on my pants, not that frozen blood left much of a stain. “So either Orias has been amazingly busy in the last few days, traveling the world and opening gateways willy-nilly, or your old, sealed-up gates have reopened.”
“Exactly.”
“I hate to tell you, babe, but I’m thinking it’s the latter. It’s fucking fifty below zero here. I can’t see Orias taking a quick jaunt to the south pole for a prank. He’s a war demon, not an imp.”
The angel looked to the horizon and slowly shook his head. “I’d rather it be your friend Orias. If the old gateways are re-opening, that’s a problem we angels don’t have the skills to handle.”
“You’ve handled it in the past. What’s the big deal? You’ve got a few peeps looking for the Veil. Send the rest out to seal these suckers back up, and get Eloa and one or two others to take out the stragglers that crossed over.”
Gregory folded his arms across his chest and gave me one of those intense looks that usually meant he wanted something. Probably not the same something I did. “There’s a bit of a problem with that solution, Cockroach.”
What problem? “I know, I know. You all are stretched thin, blah, blah, blah. I already told you I’d help look for the Veil. And if I happen to come across any drop bears or manticores, I’ll do my best to kill them. Deal?”
“Thank you, but there’s another problem. Angels can’t find the gateways.”
It all suddenly made sense. Gregory had always insisted there were no wild gates, attributing those I’d found to be of my own creation, and he’d alluded earlier that he’d need my help with the one the manticore came through. Angels could create gates, could disable them, but if the doorways weren’t of their own making, they couldn’t see them.
“Got it. This situation is far too big for one very busy archangel and one overworked Angel of Chaos to rectify, correct?”
“Yes.” His expression was grim. “If these are the old gateways that have split open again, there could be hundreds of gates. Thousands, possibly. If it’s this Orias and the Veil, then we are probably only looking at a dozen or more gateways.”
True. Orias would eventually get bored. Although if he got bored and sold the Veil to another demon, we could be facing even more open passageways. Either way, we needed to find Orias and get the Veil back in the hands of the angels—or in my hands. I’d take good care of it.
Gregory motioned impatiently. “We need to shut down these gates. Now. And we need demons to help us find them. I believe the humans would call this an all-hands-on-deck problem.”
“You need us,” I told him, excited at the chance to have angels and demons working together. “All those angels who sneered at the thought of associating with demons, those who turned up their nose at Infernal Mates, they’re going to have to eat their words.”
“Those who care about the human world will.” He looked down at the dead drop bear and ran a hand through his chestnut curls. “Some will see this as an opportunity to redouble efforts at an overthrow of Aaru.”
That was Gabe’s problem, not mine. Honestly, I didn’t care if drop bears, or even Care Bears, ran amok here. They might be soft and squishy, but humans had risen to the top of the food chain for a reason. “Let’s table that one and think about how this furry guy got here. I’m doubting he walked from Australia.”
“He couldn’t survive more than an hour here. The gate he came through has to be nearby.”
I shivered. This was looking less and less like Orias and his Veil. I couldn’t see the demon coming down here into the freezing cold to open a gateway to Drop Bear Land. Fuck, he could do that anywhere.
But I had a favor I needed from Gregory, beyond his help locating Gareth’s gem.
“Seems like you’ve got a bit of a dilemma here, angel. Drop bear in Antarctica. I agree, there’s gotta be a gate around here somewhere. If only there were someone nearby who could locate it. Hmmm.”
He tilted his head and scowled. “I’m already helping you, Cockroach. And I’ve transported you quite a bit lately. What else do you want?”
“Nothing major. There’s an incubus I need to guarantee safe passage through the gates for and access to this world. Immunity.”
Gregory raised an eyebrow. “Your household already have those privileges.”
“He’s not in my household.”
“Then he is not allowed this side of the gates per the treaty signed over two-million years ago.”
Oh for fuck sake. I, for one, was damned tired of being slapped in the face with this treaty. “Look, probably ninety percent of the fallen angels that signed that treaty are dead. Can’t we renegotiate or something?�
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Gregory didn’t look particularly moved by my plea. “We’ll put it on the agenda. In the meantime, let’s go find this gate and shut it down before you freeze to death.”
“No. Putting it on the Ruling Council agenda isn’t going to help me now. The humans in Hel are having an environmental crisis. By the time this gets on the agenda, they’ll all have starved to death.”
“What does an incubus have to do with starving humans in Hel?”
Crap. How to explain this one? “I need an elf to help the humans, but the elves all hate me. So I had to turn to a half-elf instead. Her boyfriend is an incubus, and she wants him to have immunity in return for making sure the humans in Hel can grow soy or something.”
Gregory’s eyebrows did that twisted-up thing. “A half-elf? Half with what? And I hate to break it to this poor girl, but giving an incubus immunity isn’t going to make him monogamous.”
I squirmed. “She doesn’t care if he’s monogamous or not. She’s half succubus and is probably getting it on just as much as he is.”
The angel looked heavenward. “This is sounding like the afternoon television shows. Are you sure there isn’t a secret identical twin or a faked death somewhere in this story.”
“Could be. So, do we have a deal?”
“No, we do not have a deal. He’s not in your household. He doesn’t get immunity. It’s the treaty, and there’s no way around it.”
Bullshit. “There’s always a way around even the most ironclad contract with you angels.” I snuggled up to him, rubbing against his chest. “Come on, baby. Tell me where the loopholes are.”
“No.”
“You need more than me to close these gates. I’m willing to cut a deal where I supply you with demons to help find and close the gates if you’ll grant Irix immunity.”
He sighed. “Okay, you have a deal. Help me locate and close these passageways and I will allow this Irix demon immunity.”
“As well as any other demon that is chosen to assist in gate closure,” I added. This would be a perfect opportunity to expand Infernal Mates. What an awesome dating venue. Accompany your angel to exotic places. Impress him or her with your gate location abilities. Bask in their expressions of gratitude . Hopefully, carnal expressions of gratitude.