“What is this place, anyway?” Fiona mumbled. “Warlock headquarters?”
“Yeah. You’re safe here,” I said. “Come and find me later. I’ll still be here.”
I left her room, taking out my phone, and fired off a quick message to Alec. I didn’t tell him what we’d found out—any of the other vamps in that hideout might be a spy for the other side, and after the disaster at the vampire bar, I wasn’t feeling particularly well-disposed towards him. But I did ask if he’d heard anything new about the cure or the bloodstones, and warned him that some vampires were likely involved with demons.
Now I was more awake, I remembered the fight more clearly. The reason I hadn’t been able to hit the vampires’ leader was because my celestial blade kept vanishing. Was that his power? Or was my celestial power losing strength because of my demon side? No way. I was just a little out of practise. And anyone’s power would falter in the face of that sort of magic. There was a reason celestials had died out on that world.
But it was all too clear I couldn’t rely on my celestial powers to beat him.
I found Nikolas, Rachel and Javos in the kitchen, seated around the table. Javos’s chair was custom-made to fit his huge bulk, and he always yelled if anyone else sat on it. From the way he slammed the dead demon leg he was eating on the table, he hadn’t got his temper tantrums out of the way last night.
Sure enough, Javos turned and glared at me. “You really couldn’t hold yourself back, could you? Not content to cause havoc in that dimension once, you dragged two of my people over there without knowing the dangers on the other side, and nearly died in the process.”
“Rachel and Nikolas volunteered to come with me, and probably knew more about what was over there than I did. So don’t blame me for their decisions.” I looked at him defiantly. “Also, isn’t the existence of a demigod with an army of vampires a little more important than my disobeying your orders to rescue a friend?”
“Insubordination isn’t a virtue, whatever you’ve heard about us,” he growled. “Sometimes I wonder if we made the right decision in allowing you to fight at our side.”
Rachel leaned forwards. Nikolas looked positively impassive, one hand wrapped around a mug of coffee, but tension simmered below the surface, and for an instant, I half expected him to throw it at Javos’s head. I would have done so, anyway.
Instead, I took in a calming breath and gave Javos a smile. “You should have asked the celestials for my report. Some of them would have been happy to talk at length about how much of a troublemaker I am. Unfortunately, you’re stuck with me. Did Nikolas tell you the truth? I’m your ticket to getting that realm straightened out, and I’m not resigning from my post. They want this realm, somehow, and if we ignore them, the problem will only get worse.”
“And you succeeded in your fight against the one responsible?” he asked.
My jaw clenched. “I thought he was a vampire. Then he came out with demon power—demigod level.” I nodded to Nikolas. “I killed several of his vampires, but he must have an army there.”
“What you haven’t explained is how you ended up following the vampires there in the first place. What is your friend involved in?”
“The vampires tricked her,” I said. “She got bitten by one of the infected ones, and heard about the cure.”
“She’s not a vampire,” he said, picking up the demon leg and gnawing on the end again. “Wouldn’t she have turned by now?”
“She would if she’d been bitten by a regular vampire,” I said. “I know she didn’t take the cure, though. So she won’t turn. But it sure would help to know whose magic it is in the bloodstones.”
Nausea swooped through the pit of my stomach, not at all helped by the demon leg dangling from Javos’s mouth. Normally demon magic had a damaging effect on humans, but if no symptoms presented themselves, anyone else might have been bitten. But… that meant there might be any number of humans carrying the virus in this realm right now.
“As you brought no evidence back with you, we don’t know,” Javos said.
“We were a bit preoccupied fighting the vamps,” added Rachel. “Don’t beat up on Devi. If she hadn’t got us out, we’d have died there.”
Javos’s eyes narrowed. “It’s essential to our own security that we let the netherworld dimensions police themselves. Not only did you break that rule several times over, the current leader of that dimension is imprisoned in another one entirely.”
“I thought you were fine with Themedes staying out of the way,” I said. “Besides, they’re sending demon infected vamps into our dimension. That makes it our business.”
“Since you conveniently left us to clear up your mess,” he said, “I sent a team to investigate the portal the vampires travelled through.”
My attention sharpened. “And?”
“It was set up on the other side. The part in this realm collapsed immediately afterwards. It was also too small and low-power to be detected.”
“I figured,” I said. “If they made a big deal of it, someone would have detected it. Was that address anywhere on your lists?”
“No.” He bit off another chunk of demon leg and slapped the remainder down on the table. Fighting a shudder, I looked at Rachel instead. She rested her chin on her hands, her elbows propped up on the table.
“It was in the middle of a typically human-inhabited district,” added Nikolas.
“But then—there must be more of them,” I said.
“We don’t have the authorisation to start searching human areas,” said Nikolas. “Nobody can grant us that. We barely have leverage over the vampires, and that’s only because some of our own were victims.”
“Damn,” I said. “Never thought of that. What about the human police? Because if there are portals open in there… are there CCTV cameras in the area?”
“I thought vampires’ reflections didn’t appear in mirrors.” Fiona hovered in the doorway, looking warily at Javos.
“That’s a myth,” I said. “They just don’t like anything light or sparkly in case it burns them.”
Her mouth quirked. “That contradicts everything I read on DivinityWatch.”
“On what?” asked both Javos and Nikolas at the same time.
I stifled a laugh. “You don’t want to know. Fiona, we’re discussing vampires. Did you happen to see any of them carrying black bloodstones?”
“What? No.” She wrinkled her nose. “I forgot about those creepy things. So that’s why they weren’t the same as regular vamps?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Listen, I don’t know if you want to go home, but I think I’m going to have to stick around here for a while.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” said Javos. “What you did has caused me an ungodly amount of paperwork—not to mention the anger of several warlocks who witnessed your last stunt. You won’t be able to get away with any more public displays without making enemies, Devi.”
Fiona looked alarmed. “What did she do this time?”
“Nothing you have the right to know about, human,” growled Javos. “We don’t usually allow humans to come here, but you’re not to speak a word of this to anyone outside, unless you want to face the wrath of the warlock council.”
“Hey!” I moved to her side. “That’s enough. Fiona won’t tell a soul. And if you’ve got a problem with me talking to her about it, take it up with the prick who decided to take her into Pandemonium. And the vampire who bit her.”
“Does that make me a preternatural now?” she asked. “Because I don’t want to hang out with vampires. I can go out in sunshine just fine.”
“Tell me if you get any side effects.” I glared at Javos. “As for you—”
My phone rang. I picked it up, thinking it was Alec or Clover—but the call came from an unfamiliar number. Except the first two digits. The guild’s digits.
“Hello?” I said.
“Devina,” said Mrs Credence’s voice. “Devi—please come to the guild now. She ran away. Alyson ran
away. People are dead.”
Chapter 14
“What happened this time?” I moved into the hallway, the phone pressed to my ear.
“We had her in isolation with no outside contact,” Mrs Credence mumbled. “But she got out. Broke the doors clean off their hinges and killed two celestials. I can’t be here anymore. I can’t. Devi—please—”
The call cut off, with a sound like sobbing. Oh shit. Alyson had broken out, too. To join the other vamps? Maybe. But if she’d killed people… this time, it might not have been an accident.
Or she’d got hold of more of the cure.
I couldn’t be in two places at once, but her trail of destruction began at the guild. I needed to make sure she hadn’t bitten anyone else.
“Who was that?” asked Javos. “The guild, right? You’re still in contact?”
“Not exactly. Their vampire bite victims are causing trouble. One of them took the cure and killed another, and now it looks like she’s on the loose.”
“It’s none of our business,” he said. “They can take care of their own problems.”
“It’s linked to this case,” I countered. “She probably ran back to the vampires for shelter, and more of the cure.”
“If she’s no true vampire, she can run around in the daylight,” he said. “She might be anywhere.”
“Not if the regular vamps are asleep,” I said. “They lock their houses, don’t they? She’ll either be running around outside, or at—” I cut myself off before I said the warehouse, not certain if Javos knew the extent of our discovery. Since he hadn’t killed the vamps there yet, I’d guess Nikolas had spared him the details. “Look, we can’t go after the demon realm again yet, and I’m not much use to you sitting around here. Plus she’s likely to tear people to pieces, and I’d like to spare the humans the trauma.”
Javos rose to his feet, the chair and table rattling as he knocked into them. “This is not your decision to make. I’ve had about enough of you striding around as though you’re in charge.”
Nikolas moved smoothly to my side, his whole demeanour changing from calmness to anger which sent an electric current through the air. I snapped my head up, suddenly overcome with the urge to take the demon mark and shove the overbearing warlock in the chest with it. Whoa there. Don’t do that.
Clenching my right fist, I stared Javos out. “Go on. Kick me out, if you’re really sure the warlocks won’t ask questions if they see an untrained wielder of demon magic walking around the city unsupervised. What would that do to your reputation?”
Classical music blasted from the corner and the giant warlock went still. Beside the radio on top of the fridge, Rachel gave me a grin and a shrug. “Didn’t want to see him swipe your head off.”
“I wasn’t going to hit her,” growled Javos. “You can turn that shit off. I’m going to need my magic.”
The music stopped. Nikolas didn’t move. Neither did I. My demon mark didn’t twinge again, but my fist remained clenched. For a wild moment then, it’d been like I was holding a sharp, deadly weapon, and was overcome with the impulse to stab the warlock chief with it. Which was ridiculous. I’d never used the mark as a weapon. Apparently I was still suffering weird aftereffects of the battle. Or whatever had happened when Nikolas touched my demon mark.
“You can’t toss me around like one of your other warlocks,” I said. “You either have me on your side or not, and it’s up to you if you want to make an enemy of me.”
Javos’s sharp gaze pierced me through. “Go. If I need you for anything, I’ll call you. But make no mistake—your soul remains bound to one of us, and when the celestials find out, they won’t want you at their side any more than I will. When a mortal challenges an arch-demon, their life comes to a swift and brutal end.”
“You’re such a charmer.” I took a step back. “I’ll take that under advisement. Call me if there are any new developments.” I looked at Rachel, who remained next to the radio. And Nikolas made no move to follow me as I left.
That settled that, then.
Fiona all but ran from the warlocks’ place, and would probably have sprinted down the road if I hadn’t pointed out my car. “C’mon, I’ll give you a lift.”
“And then you’re going to the celestials? After what he said?”
“I don’t give a shit what he said.” I unlocked the car doors. “Sorry you had to see that.”
“He nearly bit your head off!” She shuddered, climbing into the car’s passenger seat. I got in front of the wheel and sneaked a glance back at the house. So much for Nikolas taking my side.
His brother was right. Javos only kept me around because I was less of a risk as an ally. Given how Nikolas and Rachel had behaved, they were on my side… for now. But would they stand with me against the entire warlock community?
I shoved the thoughts out of mind and returned to the equally unpleasant prospect of dealing with a rogue celestial with a taste for murder. After dropping Fiona back at our flat with the promise that she’d call me if anything happened, I drove to the celestial guild.
Nobody waited outside the brick building. I locked my car, walked to the front doors, and stood there for a couple of minutes while the security doors refused to scan my left wrist. I waved my hand around irritably. “Come on, wake up.”
Uneasily, I remembered how my celestial blade had vanished at the crucial moment in my fight with the vampires’ leader. Was my celestial mark really fading? It didn’t look any different, but if my demon side was getting stronger, maybe it meant my celestial powers would disappear. I really hope not.
I raised my fist and knocked on the door. “Hey! Your security door’s jammed.”
The door opened a few moments later, and Bad Haircut Sammy loomed over me. Oh, yay.
“Get out,” he said. “We don’t want warlocks here.”
“I’ve been invited. Tell G—Mr Roth to fix that door. It’s glitching.” I’d almost said Gav, and the slip jolted me more than I’d expected. Grief was weird like that. I’d put everything from the guild out of mind, but every time I came back here, it hit me again as though no time had passed at all. And I was definitely not in the mood to deal with Sammy. He was too bland to even be considered a nemesis.
“The inspector’s coming back soon,” he said. “He’s making a plan for dealing with those vampire scum.”
“Vamps aren’t the guild’s business. Get out of my way.”
“Devi,” said Mr Roth from behind him.
For a moment, I was tempted to turn my back and leave them to clean up the carnage from their escaped celestial myself. Except I was fairly certain that ‘those vampire scum’ also included the bite victims. In Inspector Deacon’s doctrine, they were soulless as regular vamps.
Seven hells.
I shook my head at Sammy. “Go hassle someone else. Mrs Credence called me.”
“She’s dropped out of the case,” Mr Roth said. “Stress. We need another senior celestial to step in, but until then, I’m dealing with all contacts on the issue. Alyson attacked several novices on the way out. Two fatally.”
“Mrs Credence told me.” I should have checked the warehouse first, but the others had already said they kicked out anyone who turned bad. “Can I come in? How’d she get out?”
“The door was melted.”
“Melted?” I stared at him.
“Apparently so,” he said, taking a step back. Shouts came from the corridor behind, where people ran back and forth. “I need to go and speak to the survivors.”
He didn’t tell me not to follow him, so I did, ignoring Bad Haircut Sammy’s disgruntled look. From his behaviour, he was clearly tailing Mr Roth around like he had the inspector. And Mr Roth was letting him. Not good at all.
“Where did Mrs Credence go?”
“Home,” he said distractedly. “This is the worst incident inside our walls since the last guild burned down.”
He hadn’t mentioned any of the recent events, but I had the sneaking suspicion that things
might well get worse than a demon attack inside the guild. Armageddon levels of bad.
He stopped by the entrance to the nurse’s office. Inside, several novices lay in varying states of injury.
“She ran through here, covered in blood,” said Sandra Yun, former partner of the first bite victim. “She’d killed two people before we caught up to her, but she moves fast.”
“Vampire fast?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, easily.”
“We fought back,” added a guy I vaguely recognised from novice training. “She bit me.”
Shit. If the virus could be passed on—and I’d bet it could—then he might turn the same. Unless it was all on the cure. In which case, we needed to get rid of it. Either way—anyone in this room who’d been bitten might never be able to use their celestial powers again without risking death.
Sandra pressed a cloth to her wounded shoulder, her hands shaking. “I thought—after you killed the demon responsible, I thought it was over,” she said quietly.
“Me too, believe me.” I swallowed, glancing back at the guild leader. Mr Roth looked almost uneasy. Maybe he’d let me in because I was familiar, the only touchstone between the guild and the horrors happening outside.
“I suppose Mrs Credence told you the current situation,” I said to Mr Roth, hoping he knew at least a little about the bloodstones being responsible for passing on the virus.
“She did,” he said quietly. “The fact is, though Devi, we’re on the brink of another visit from the inspector. In fact, he was due to arrive tomorrow.”
My heart sank. “Seriously? Didn’t last time put him off?”
“People have died,” he said seriously. “The inspector has powers the rest of us don’t—”
“And the temper of a rampaging bull.” I’d almost said warlock. “He’ll probably get more people killed if he comes in here. What’ll he do to the other bite victims?”
He shook his head, pushing the door open into the corridor. “I don’t know. But you’ve been looking into this case for the vampires, too, right? I do hope you’re telling me everything, Devi.”
Celestial Fire (Celestial Marked Book 2) Page 13