Tink shook her head. “She might have fucked with your body, but I put as much or more into the process. If it applies to her, it applies to me too. I could have warded you too. What’s the second thing?”
I closed my eyes again. I didn’t want to see her face. “You’re going to stab me if I tell you.”
“I promise I’ll only stab you a little.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.” I hesitated and felt her tension rising. “Spill, demon.”
“She said, and I quote, ‘To be one with someone is to know them’. If I was a mage, I’d know better than to share my affections so easily.”
Silence stretched between us for an eternity. I waited for the feeling of her knife driving in somewhere. When she finally moved, I cringed away. No matter how easy it was to heal, getting stabbed hurt. Instead of a knife, I felt her hand on my forehead. “Open your eyes,” she said, her voice a hundred times calmer than I thought it would be.
“I don’t want to see the knife coming.”
“Not going to stab you.”
I opened my eyes. Her golden hair hung forward as she leaned over me, her face wearing its normal scowl, but her touch was gentle. “It must be something they don’t tell a mage until they become a master,” she said. “Or it was bullshit. Either way, I’ve never heard of that being a thing.”
“Or maybe it was kept from you for a reason?” I asked.
Her scowl deepened and she stood up straight. “I guess it’s possible. People are squeamish about sex. I never got the talk, you know. Maybe they just assumed I knew.”
I sat up and put my hands in my lap. “Well, there is a quick way to check, you know.”
“There is?”
“Messenger,” I called out. An imp appeared within seconds. “Hi. I have a question for Chrissy, the human mage captive at Camp Asmodeus.”
“We know her,” the imp said, following with a rumbling belch. Tink nodded sharply. “Your message?”
I thought about how to phrase it politely. “Does having sex with a mage give them power over you?”
The imp snickered and flickered away. Tink put her face in her hands. “I can’t believe you asked it just like that.”
Within a minute, the imp returned. “What do you mean by power, and why?”
I frowned. “Do you think she’s being evasive?”
“Maybe she’s shy,” Tink said. “Just tell her the truth.”
I looked back to the imp. “So, Hikari and I were banging for a year or so, and now she’s able to counter any magic I try on her, demonic or human. Is that normal after you sleep with a mage?”
Tink’s face went back into her hands as the imp phased away. This time, the response took a couple of minutes. “There is a bond formed through those sorts of relations,” the imp said. He was obviously trying to suppress laughter. “You share part of yourself with the other person. Being in a relationship strengthens it. Those sorts of bonds never completely fade. Be careful. Countering you might be the least of what she can do.”
“Brilliant,” I said. “Be careful. Good to know now.”
Tink sighed and turned to the imp. “Tell her thank you, and thank you for relaying this awkward shit.”
“Hey, this is the sort of message we live for,” the imp said before vanishing.
I leaned back on the couch and watched Tink sit back down on the other end. We locked gazes. “So,” I said.
“So.”
“The bond goes both ways, according to what she said.”
Tink shrugged. “Yeah, but she does have a lot more intimate knowledge of your inner workings than you do of hers. She can probably use the bond to read you, see everything coming.”
“So it’s probably not something I can learn to flip back on her.”
“Are you kidding? You didn’t even know about the bond until now. Besides, all you did was try to keep her happy. She wore the pants in your relationship and you know it.”
I glared at her and crossed my arms. “I’m not a complete pushover.”
“Bullshit. You did everything you could to avoid conflict.”
“Bullshit! You know how many fights we got into!”
“And imagine how many more there’d be if you weren’t being such a pussy and giving in all the time.” Tink smirked. “You know, that’s always been my major issue with you. You’ve always been a coward at heart.”
Her words stung more than normal. “Oh, fuck you. If I prodded you to go into ridiculously suicidal situations over and over, you’d be a coward too. You didn’t give a shit if I lived or died for a long time.”
“Fuck you right back. I got over that, but you didn’t. You’re still a coward.”
I stood up. “Don’t call me a coward. I’m sick of it.”
She stood right up with me. “You’re being a fucking coward right now.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
She stepped into me and jabbed her finger into my chest. “You’re avoiding the most obvious fucking question ever to exist between the two of us. Come on. Just bring up the idea.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I will fucking cut you. Just say it.”
“I’m serious!”
She took a deep breath and stepped back. “You are serious. Damn, demon. I thought you had a brain somewhere in your six inch thick skull, but now I have to reconsider.”
“Tink, what the hell are you going on about?”
“Sit.” I sat down and she crossed her arms in order to look down on me better. “Think about it. What have we just learned? Hikari can kick your ass because she knows you pretty damn well, she helped put your body back together, and she slept with you. Yes?”
“Yes? So?”
“So.” She rolled her eyes and pointed at herself. “I know you better than she does. I helped put your body back together too. Yes?”
“Yes?”
“So there’s only one difference between her and me. Why haven’t you suggested sleeping together?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you properly.”
“Sleep together. Have sex. Bang. Make the beast with two backs. Fuck.” She crossed her arms again. “Answer me.”
I started to answer, but hesitated. This was a very, very delicate question and while I usually screwed these situations up, this time, I didn’t want to. I took my time to consider my answer first. “I’m sorry, Anna, it never crossed my mind as an option.”
“Why?”
“Why?” I echoed. “Why didn’t it cross my mind? Because I’m not the last man on Earth, Hell hasn’t frozen over yet, and we still don’t have flying pigs or hoverboards. Seriously, it never crossed my mind because you’d just stab me for even thinking it.”
“If I stabbed you for thinking dirty things about me, you’d have died a long time ago,” she snapped.
“Like I said.”
“So,” she said. “Now it’s on your mind, right?”
“Ever since you brought it up? Yeah, of course. Why?”
“Because it’s on mine.”
“What?”
“You’re starting to sound like a complete idiot,” she snapped. “Why do you think? It’d give me power.”
“Power over me,” I said. “Is that what this is all about?”
“No!” She flinched away. “No. I mean, I have enough power over you with the contract. I’m talking magical power. We already have a bond and we could make it even stronger. That bond is the heart of how we amplify magic, right?”
I rubbed my nose. “So you’re thinking about it so we can get the power to take Hikari out?”
“Hikari and maybe even Kane,” she said. “Yeah.”
“You’re lying.” The bond between us felt taut, tense with feelings and emotions. “I don’t know what you’re lying about, but I know you are.”
“Fuck off.”
“No.”
“Fuck off!” She spun around, her hair flying out around her. “No. God. Don’t fuck off. Don’t ever fuck off.” She completed her spin to look back down at me. “We’ve been working together for a long time. I don’t know why I feel this way. You’re a coward, you’re half demon, you’re ugly, and you’re pretty fucking boring too.”
“Hey! I am not ugly! Bitch.”
“Fine. You’re aggressively average. I give you a five out of ten. Asshole.”
“Make it a six and I’ll take it.”
“A six when you try.”
“Good enough.”
She stared down at me and shook her head. “So, there’s that. Let’s get on with figuring out what else we can do to make Hikari dead.”
I stood up. My hands were shaking. “Oh no you don’t.”
“Don’t what?” She didn’t move as I stepped into her personal space.
“Feel what way? You don’t get to say all that shit and then back off.”
“If you say so. You’re the expert at being a coward.”
“I told you to stop calling me a coward.”
“Make me.”
I grabbed her. One hand at her waist, one at the back of her neck, leaning down, kissing her. Holding her close. Feeling her arms embrace me. Nothing but her scent and presence. The demon inside me growled, not in anger or fear, but a guttural growl of approval.
I let her go after a single kiss. She scowled as I pulled away. “Didn’t I tell you to make me?”
“You did,” I said. “That wasn’t enough?”
“That was pathetic.”
“Pathetic? What, did you want me to pick you up like a caveman and drag you away?”
“What would you do if I said yes?”
“This.” I grabbed her and hauled her up over my shoulder. She grunted and I felt her hands slapping at my back. It took me a moment to realize she was laughing. She did it so rarely around me. It took me another moment to realize she was ordering me to bring her to her bedroom. So, I did.
Chapter Seventeen
“Come on, demon. I know you can do better. Again.”
“Again?”
“Again!”
Chapter Eighteen
“So they stashed Azriphel in their secret base in Antarctica. Do they call it the Fortress of Solitude?” I glared at Kalil and he gave me a wide grin in response. “Please tell me we can portal in.”
“Yes and no. Yes, you can portal in, but you’re going to have to make a high altitude air drop.”
“Excuse me?”
The crowd in our den shifted and muttered. Kalil brought up a new map on the projector and the muttering grew louder. “The data taps from Tehran gave us the exact coordinates for their Antarctic secure facility. It’s located in eastern Antarctica, near the Valkyrie Dome.”
“Eastern?” someone asked.
“Yes, there are directions in Antarctica. Stop interrupting. We have the coordinates, but there are two significant problems. First, the coordinates gave us the general location, but there’s nothing above ground according to satellite images. We don’t know how to get inside. Second, and I confirmed this with the imps, Antarctica doesn’t have a lot of portal potential in general. I got the feeling they just don’t like the cold.” Kalil paused for some obligatory polite chuckles. “We identified the closest portal to be roughly thirty miles further northeast, and about seventy thousand feet in altitude.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Tink jumped up from her seat. “That’s close to twice as high as most airlines fly!”
“Sure is,” Kalil said. “And being over Antarctica, it’s going to be a lot of degrees below freezing. I hope you have warm clothes.”
“I have a question,” one of Caleb’s angels asked. “How did the Conclave get any sort of facility built in the Antarctic interior? It took years to build the existing research stations, and they need icebreakers to keep supplied. How could the Conclave build and maintain a base without anyone knowing about it?”
“Magic. Don’t ask silly questions.” The angel bristled at Tink’s response and I snickered.
“May we see the satellite images of the location?” Caleb asked.
Kalil nodded. “Here you go.” The projector changed to show a nearly featureless plain of white, spotted only with blue and gray shadows here and there. “I checked it a couple of times and so did Venora. No obvious landmarks.”
“Getting there is the easy part,” I said. Tink’s irritation was obvious without even looking at her. “I mean, we all have wings. Except you.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”
“Marquis Obvious, thank you. So, I carry Tink here and we’re all set.”
“Not quite.” A new voice spoke up from the back and every single angel and demon spun to face the doorway. Becky leaned against the doorjamb, unfazed by the number of blades, guns, and spells pointing at her. “I’m going too, so someone will need to carry me.”
“Becky!” Tink pushed a demon out of the way to get to her. “You’re feeling better?”
“I always knew you cared more than you let on.” Becky leered down and Tink kicked her in the shin.
“Stand down,” I said. Weapons lowered and vanished. “She’s on our side. But seriously, Becky? You heard where we’re going, right?”
“Always wanted to visit all seven continents.” She pushed her way up to the front, dragging Tink in her wake. “Yes, Bright, seriously. I am going to come with you, or I am going to beat the shit out of you. Your call.”
“We can’t babysit another human,” a demon from the House Amon contingent said. “At least the mage can take care of herself.”
Becky turned to face the speaker and walked up to him, directly up to him, until their noses were close to touching. “So sorry,” she said. “I believe you were saying something insulting. Did I misunderstand?”
The demon stood his ground, even though Becky was both taller and wider than his human form. “What good would you be, human?”
I barely saw her move. A fuck-off huge pistol pressed up below the demon’s chin. “Before you tell me you’re not afraid of a gun, let me tell you three things, my demonic friend. First, I’m not afraid of you. Second, I do know some rudimentary magic, which I have applied to this weapon. Third, I used this to execute Duke Deshavin. Are we clear?”
The demonic contingent, as one, took a half step away from her. The Amon demon grinned, even as a couple drops of sweat rolled down his forehead. “This one is fun. I like her.”
“We good?” Becky asked.
“Yes.” She put the gun away and the Amon demon immediately stuck his hand out to shake hers. “I am Tyrith, a first rank warrior of House Amon, second in command of our forces assigned to this mission.”
“Pleased,” Becky said. “Rebekah Silvatini of Silvatini Construction.”
“And other unmentionable side jobs,” I added. “She’s worth all the trouble she brings with her and then some.”
“Aw, you’ll make me blush, Bright.”
I turned back to Kalil. “What else do we know?”
He shook his head. “I have GPS coordinates, I have confirmation they’re holding Duke Azriphel there, and it’s their largest secure facility. Isn’t that enough? The rest is up to you.”
I nodded and turned to face the room. “All right, this is a large coordinated assault on a very secret Conclave base. I’m telling you right now, this won’t change the course of the war. We’re still on the back foot, but getting Azriphel out of there is the only chance we have. It is essential we get him out alive. His recovery is our absolute first priority. If only one of us lives to carry him out, we count it a success.”
House Amon had sent two dozen of their troops to join the mission and Leviathan had sent an equal number. There were a few familiar faces among them. Venora brought me a sealed message from Kyla, thanking me profusely for saving her. She promised a rather graphic reward, with
exquisite details, the next time we met. Tink didn’t need to hear the details. For our own part, I commanded two dozen troops, putting all of our Houses on roughly equal footing.
Caleb’s Choir had replaced their two losses and the seven of them stood in a tight cluster to the side. I had already forced introductions, but the angels were severely outnumbered this time, and they seemed openly nervous. Only Caleb seemed calm, his eyes constantly on either Tink or me.
No one objected to my characterization of the mission. I turned back to Kalil. “Anything else?”
He nodded and flicked to another screen. More murmurs broke out across the room, but this time, they sounded pleased. “We found an internal map of this facility. While it’s nice to have, it also means the facility is large enough to need a map. Those of you with smartphones or tablets, I’ll have the link to the maps up at the end. Even better, they have a part of the facility clearly marked as holding cells.”
“So we smash our way in and hit it hard.”
“Not so easy. The holding block is some distance from the entrances, for logical reasons.” Kalil flicked through more maps. “Here’s our problem. If we owned this facility and had a high value prisoner, what would we do if it came under serious attack aimed directly at the holding area?”
“Execute the prisoner,” Caleb said.
“Exactly. Even if you were completely unopposed, it would take at least three minutes from the closest entrance to get to the holding block. That’s more than enough time for an order to go out.”
I frowned and looked around at the crowd. “Any ideas?”
“If we take their power out, it’ll break their standard communications.” One of the House Leviathan troops pointed at the map. “It’ll throw them off and humans can’t see as well in the dark as we can.”
“They do have backup generators,” another demon pointed out. “Plus, can’t mages use magic to communicate long distance?”
Tink shook her head. “Not actual messages, but we could set up some pre-arranged signals to go off if certain circuits are broken. Those circuits will be sturdy as hell, so don’t count on me being able to break them, but I think I have a trick or two up my sleeve.” She didn’t look at me, but I felt a touch of amusement through our bond. We weren’t exactly advertising anything, but some of the looks she had been sending me were loaded.
The Demon Behind Me Page 22