Er… no.
I couldn’t exactly tell him I was almost certain an army of vampires wanted to flood this dimension from Pandemonium. Because I’d have to say I’d been there, or at the very least skirt around the subject.
“I’m trying to track down the vampires responsible,” I said instead, “but so far all I know is that they have a lot of contacts and multiple hideouts and aliases. Everything I find is inconclusive.”
“If there is evidence that a significant percentage of the vampires are caught up in this, then the inspector will have no choice but to order a purge of the whole city.”
My mouth fell open. “What? Madame White—I’ve met her. She definitely isn’t involved.”
“Not her. I imagine she wants to be rid of the problem as much as we do,” he said. “If this doesn’t stop, the Grade Fours will have to be brought in from the capital.”
My heart sank. Even when things got really bad, it generally took only a few Grade Two or Three celestial soldiers to bring down the usual demons we dealt with. Not the Grade Fours—a whole team of people with the highest rank of celestial powers, and the inspector’s implicit permission to play judge, jury and executioner. Like Grade Threes, they worked in teams on independent missions, but in certain cases, to prevent war with the netherworld, they were allowed to do things no normal celestial would ever do.
Like purge an entire city of vampires, for instance.
The vampire queen, if she knew, might even encourage them. Or at least step out of the guild’s way. But all they had to do was expand the definition of ‘vampire’ to cover ‘anyone who got bitten’, and Fiona would be on their list as well.
I’d walk into hell before I let that happen.
“Are you dense?” I snapped at Mr Roth. “This is probably the demons’ endgame. Who needs to attack if they can just turn us against one another? And you’re encouraging them.”
“Devi!” he said, in a shocked voice. “If you continue to use that tone with me, I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” I said. “I’d expect this level of crap from the inspector, but I thought at least one person here had some sense. Do you really think starting a war with the warlocks and vampires won’t draw the demons right here? They want this. They’re scheming against you right now, I’ll bet, and apparently they don’t even need to make the effort to attack you. You’re doing their work for them.”
“Nobody has made a decision yet,” he said. “I have to stress that it’s a last resort, and not one I support. But if quarantine doesn’t work—”
“You’ll kill them.”
“To stop the infection. Imagine if every celestial was infected.”
“Might be a damn sight better than whatever’s infected you,” I said. “And for that matter, I’m not going to be a part of this.”
I left before he could reply, seething. It wasn’t my job to stop the inspector—Mr Roth and the celestials’ higher council were supposed to keep the bastard in check. But innocent lives might end, and for all that, the real culprit was still out there, infecting more victims.
I stormed through the entryway, and ran smack into Clover outside the doors.
“Ow!” I caught my balance. “You like to do that on purpose, don’t you? I know you saw me coming.”
“I thought you needed some sense knocking into you.” Her face was heavily scarred from a demon attack, which made her sudden appearance that more alarming. “You said you wouldn’t come back here.”
“Seven hells, Clover,” I said. “Where have you been?”
“Looking for you.” Her expression was grave. For someone with a chunk missing from her face, it wasn’t exactly a difficult achievement.
“Why? I thought you’d gone on holiday. You haven’t called in ages.” Unless you counted our brief phone call before the news that Alyson had killed someone, I hadn’t heard from her in weeks.
“I’ve been somewhat preoccupied. As have you, from what I’ve heard.”
“You might say that,” I said. “Demon-infected vampires running amok, infected celestials attacking one another, and now the bloody inspector’s on his way back—”
“I should have known,” she said. “Please tell me you haven’t told Mr Roth that you know more than he does.”
“Obviously not. But how do you know that?”
“I know you, Devi. The warlocks are bound to have contacts in places the guild doesn’t. But it still might not be enough.”
“You know something?”
She shook her head. “Not exactly. More of a hunch. Whenever something bad happens at the guild, all the evidence disappears alarmingly swiftly.”
“You don’t mean…?” The demonglass? Or—Gav. That book.
“I’ve been here a long time, Devi,” she said. “Do you remember when the old guild was destroyed?”
I shrugged. “Not exactly, since I wasn’t here. I remember the aftermath. Inspector in town, man hunts for the people who summoned the demons, heightened security…”
It’d been pretty major. One of the other inspectors had been killed, for one thing, and others had gone missing in the confusing aftermath of the demon attack. But I didn’t see the connection. No vampires had been involved—just a botched demon summoning by one of our own. Of course, the attack was the reason our city had only one designated Inspector. The one who’d got killed had actually been pretty reasonable compared to his partner, from what I remembered.
“Before these recent events, Gav confided in me that he thought there was more to the attack than met the eye,” she said. “He never showed me his research, and his office was cleared after his death. But I always suspected he knew something.”
“Something like what?” I asked. “That was four years ago. Faye Carruthers… she was the summoner, right?”
She shook her head. “There never was any proof. She was accused, certainly, and disappeared… as does anyone else who gets on the guild’s bad side.”
“All right,” I said. “The guild’s shady. There’s probably someone in there communicating with demons. But we knew that already. Nothing connects it with this particular case. Vampires didn’t destroy the old guild.”
Except Gav had also been looking into demon venoms, more recently. Right before someone died as a result of a similar attack. Had he seen it coming? How was it even possible?
“These are no ordinary vampires,” she said. “They walk in the day, and don’t need to feed on blood… nothing exists in the guild’s records that points to what they are.”
I twisted to look at her. “The archives?” I asked. “You’re saying there might be answers there? Or Gav has them?”
“If he did, I couldn’t find them.”
“His phone disappeared,” I said. “Someone removed it.”
Just like someone else had removed several pages from that book.
There was an insider.
I paused. “Do you know who Damian Greenwood is? I mean, did you ever speak to him?”
“No, I didn’t,” she said. “He was bitten, right?”
“Yeah, he was,” I said. “He also had a book Gav checked out the library before he died. A book about demon venoms.”
A dark look passed over her features. “Then he might be the one. I thought the girl was—or both of them.”
“Damian? He was a dick to me, but he had reason to be pissed off at being forced into early retirement.”
Except that note. I know what you did. What grudge could he possibly have against me? We didn’t even know one another.
But I did know where he was. The warehouse.
All right. Time to see what our celestial vamp has to say for himself.
“Be careful, Devi,” she said softly. “Others have paid for making the wrong step with their lives.”
On that ominous note, she turned back to head into the guild’s corridor, presumably with the intention of standing in corners and scaring novices. She’d long since retired from th
e field. Fixing this crap was up to me.
I drove to the warehouse, hands clenched on the wheel, radio turned up to drown out the clamour of my own thoughts. So much for feeling sympathy for the demons. I didn’t think a Grade Four celestial-run purge would help matters much, either, but if I’d let the killer get away…
Hellfire and ash. I slowed the car, swearing at the dashboard. The warehouse door was open, and the vampires had gone.
Chapter 15
Rachel answered the phone when I rang the warlocks. “Hey, Devi. Found your rogue yet?”
“The bloody vampires have gone,” I snarled into the phone. “Wasn’t anyone watching the warehouse?”
“Not since we got back from the demon realm, no. Someone had to stop Javos from breaking a few spines. Didn’t they leave any clues behind?
“No, and I’ve no idea where our rogue vampire celestial disappeared to,” I said. “And that isn’t the half of it. I need to talk to Nikolas in person. Where is he?”
“He went into the shadow realm for some emergency or other,” Rachel said. “I think the arch-demon’s finally packing it in.”
“What—he’s dying? Now?” Not that I’d liked the guy, but his timing might be better. And I never had managed to wrangle any clues about the current shit show in demonland out of him.
Screw rules and consequences. Some things were more important. And I was past standing in the shadows while people got hurt.
I drove back to the warlocks’ place as quickly as I could. Rachel let me inside with raised eyebrows. “You’re seriously going to an arch-demon’s deathbed?”
“Themedes knows more about what’s going on in Pandemonium,” I said. “I know he does. No way does he rule a whole demonic city and not have a clue who wants to usurp his position. Aside from his own son, that is.”
“He didn’t know about the vampires, right?” she asked.
“Nope. Apparently. They were his weakness, remember?”
“And you don’t trust Nikolas to tell you?” She raised an eyebrow. “You two looked pretty close yesterday.”
“I don’t have time to wait until I qualify to access the right information. The guild’s archives have nothing on vampires. He’s our only link.”
Aside from making a deal with the almost-literal devil.
Rachel pursed her lips, then grinned. “Well, he won’t be happy if you materialise on top of him while he’s dealing with our big ugly prisoner, but it’s your risk.”
“Yep.” I entered the hall, turning down the corridor to the one that led to the demonglass room.
“Don’t forget the shoes,” Rachel said.
I had forgotten. It wasn’t like they’d have helped in any situations lately, except perhaps the palace. But Rachel’s gravity-defying shoes had saved my life once before. After running to my room to fetch the shoes and grab some spare weapons, I made my way to the warlocks’ storeroom.
The door was open, even though Nikolas wouldn’t have needed to use the demonglass to travel into the shadow realm. The glass itself wasn’t hooked up to a source of energy to make a portal, but it didn’t need to be. Not for me.
I approached the glass. Its surface shimmered and my demon mark sprang to attention, itching uncontrollably, demanding I press it to the glass. I could control where I went, somewhat, by imagining somewhere I’d seen before—though I still didn’t know all the rules.
A familiar image appeared in the glass—a spire-like tower separated from the huge castle by a bridge over crashing waters. Zadok’s tower. My demon mark tingled, inviting me to step through, and I had to clench my fist again. Wrong target.
But I knew where else to go. I vividly remembered fighting an army of scorpion demons in a corridor filled with glass pillars. Conjuring the image to mind, I raised my hand.
Zadok’s grinning face filled the glass and I jerked back, too late. My demon mark struck the glass and I fell through, toppling onto a plush carpet in a room which was definitely not the one I needed. A circular room with walls of stone, and Zadok smirking at me not ten feet away.
“Well now,” he said, with a lazy smile. “I wondered when you’d show up to ask for my help.”
“I’m not here to see you,” I spat at him, staggering away from the glass, which was in a long sheet against the back wall. Why had Nikolas trapped him in the same room as this demonglass?
Wait. He wasn’t trapped at all. Whichever room had been his prison, this wasn’t it. Shadows crowded around his body, and his eyes shone with power.
Ah, shit. He’d broken the boundaries, and now I’d somehow managed to land in the same room as him. You traitorous little worm, I thought at the demon mark. Either Zadok had drawn me here, or the mark’s magic had. But the bastard was loose, and Nikolas didn’t know. A gleam in his eyes told me enough—he’d orchestrated this. He’d known I was coming. This was revenge for the way I’d humiliated and then snubbed him.
“That was rude of you,” he said. “I hear insubordination is a speciality with you, so I won’t get too offended… though I imagine your warlock boss is less pleased with you.”
“You’re free to imagine all you like.” I stepped backwards towards the glass, reaching for it—but the glass had disappeared into shadow. A solid shadow in the shape of a person. One of Zadok’s shadow clones.
I spun around with an impatient hiss, only to find he’d vanished, too.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I rolled my eyes. “We’ve been through this. Can we skip to the part where I kick your sorry arse into the seven hells, so I can get back to more important things?”
“Don’t you want to know why your mark brought you here?” The shadows fell away, revealing him standing next to a wall covered in symbols. At its foot lay a small pentagram made out of some kind of luminous metal I’d never seen before. “It took me a while to put this together, but it’s a beacon. It can draw any demon. Apparently that includes you.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Too late, I realised that the room was a lab of sorts, filled with various tools and piles of demonic equipment. I wore my anti-warlock defence, so I wasn’t too worried about fighting him—but Themedes was dying right this moment, potentially taking important secrets to his grave. That was more important than Nikolas’s brother’s eternal grudge or whatever he was brewing up here in his lab.
Zadok casually bent down and picked up the pentagram, tossing it from one hand to the other. “If you wanted to fight someone who’s inconveniently ensconced in another dimension, for instance,” he said—the pentagram arced high, its luminous gleam reflecting in the demonglass behind him—“this device can draw them to a location of your choosing. I’d wager your friends wouldn’t like it if you died next time, would they?”
How does he even know that? I’d bet my right hand Nikolas wouldn’t have told him. “Look, you’re supposed to be imprisoned in here. Not prancing around your mad scientist’s lab trying to tempt me into giving up my soul.”
“No souls will be involved in the arrangement,” he said, tossing the pentagram into the air again. Its luminous spinning light was starting to give me a headache. “That would taint the deal. Though I have to admit, I’ve never seen one quite like yours.”
“You can’t see souls. Don’t be absurd.”
“Your aura tells me what your soul looks like, Devi. And yours is split. I wonder…” He trailed off suggestively, spinning the pentagram on his fingertip. “I’ve compiled a number of theories on the nature of your power, none of which your delightful warlock mentor in the mundane world would deign to share with you. But I would.” His eyes gleamed, reflecting the pentagram’s shifting shades of pinkish-gold. “Let me help you unlock your potential.”
“The only thing I’d like you to unlock is the door.”
Except there wasn’t one, that I could see. How in hell did he get in, then? Warlocks.
He laughed softly. “You’ll remain stubborn to the grave, won’t you?”
“You th
rew me off a bridge,” I said. “Even if we were strangers, you’re creeping me the hell out with this weird obsession with me.”
He gave me a pitying look. “Humans have no interest for me. The same can’t be said for my brother, since he was raised amongst your kind… but if you have more than a business arrangement, it’d be a shame if you elected to keep your celestial status.” He flipped the pentagram over and caught it one-handed. “And even more of a shame if you decided to go behind his back.”
“It’s a shame you can’t keep your nose out of other people’s businesses,” I said. “If you’re going to waste my time playing the villain, at least make the effort to come up with a more convincing argument.”
“You think I’m the villain?” He arched a brow. “Devi, my dear clueless human, all demons and warlocks alike are classified as villainous by nature, but I thought you had more sense than to follow the celestials’ narrow-minded doctrine. Especially given their fate here.”
I looked at him sharply. “What? The celestials don’t exist here.”
A smile sprang to his lips. “He didn’t tell you.”
I swore and stepped back towards the glass, willing my celestial mark to respond. “If you don’t mind, I have places to be.”
My celestial mark burned white-hot—and at the same time, the pentagram in his hand flashed white-gold. I bit my lip and raised the mark up, but nothing happened.
Zadok raised an eyebrow. “Well? Where’s your light show?”
I turned my hand around and flipped him off. Come on. Switch on, light. But his shadow stood between me and the way out.
Fine. Reaching for a stake instead, I froze when a shadowy hand gripped my demon marked wrist. The mark itched uncontrollably, and I twisted my hand, trying to free myself. A second shadow grabbed my other wrist, locking it behind my back.
“I wouldn’t do anything hasty,” he said. “I rather think you were lucky to escape alive last time.”
“What the hell do you want with me? If you’re too scared to fight your brother in person, stop dragging me into your stupid power games.”
Celestial Fire (Celestial Marked Book 2) Page 14