Demon Moon

by Meljean Brook

  “I found Hugh last May, standing over Ian Rafferty’s body,” Lilith said. “Who wouldn’t have been dead if not for DemonSlayer.”

  Savi’s lips parted on a painful gasp, and she fought the tears that sprang to her eyes. “Jesus, Lilith. Why don’t you just fucking rip my lungs out?”

  Regret slipped across Lilith’s expression before her features hardened. “Because you always act without thinking of the consequences. You had good intentions when you translated and printed Hugh’s book, but you did it without asking him, and without knowing the dangers of it. And you created the DemonSlayer card game based on the book, again without asking. At least you talked to him when you developed and licensed the video game, but that was a bit late. You’re brilliant, Savi, but you do the stupidest things with it.”

  Savi clenched her hands to conceal their shaking, though there was no point in hiding; Lilith would see the gesture and know the reason behind it. Both she and Hugh always saw too much.

  “Are you talking about the flight, the nosferatu? Because I was right, and you know it. We would have all been dead. Ten minutes later, Nani and I would have been at the bottom of the Atlantic. Michael and Selah were too late, and Hugh told me the nosferatu confirmed its plan had been to destroy us.”

  Savi didn’t want to know how the nosferatu had been convinced to talk. There were places her curiosity didn’t extend.

  “No. I’m talking about this.” Lilith waved her hand at the computers. “Sir Pup, can I have Savi’s file?” A thin manila folder appeared on the cushion beside Lilith’s boot. She picked it up. “There’s very little in here.”

  Savi didn’t reply, and Lilith sighed. “Too little. The ruse with Selah taking your approximate form and place in the airplane’s bathroom last month worked—for the most part. We still had to go in and remove physical evidence, the passenger lists and airport video surveillance, change your flight date to the day before in the airline database and credit card records—”

  “And your guy left his fingerprints all over the place,” Savi said. No reason not to tell her; obviously Lilith had figured most of it out. “I had to go back in and clean them up.”

  “I know.” Lilith tapped the file against her palm. “But that’s not my point. Your data doesn’t have any blocks, but there’s nothing there. Not a single connection to Auntie, or to Hugh. And I wasn’t the only one looking. It’s not necessarily a problem, because it serves our purpose for the investigators to find what they think they’re looking for—”

  Savi’s brow creased. “What does that mean?”

  “It means that Special Investigations is too new and our responsibilities too undefined for anyone to be certain of us. Most of those looking at the data are accepting appearances: that a terrorist who looks a hell of a lot like you duplicated your info and tried to bring down a flight, but failed and was caught in New York. And Selah’s escape from maximum security two days later only confirms it for them: a powerful organization pulling strings. But the other half sees your lack of data and reaches the same conclusions I did: you’re already working under an agency—probably Homeland Security. So they’ll assume that the assassination on board was to stop the flight from going down, and everything else is a cover-up. There’s enough conflicting evidence that they’ll believe whatever they want to believe.” Lilith pursed her lips. “All that really matters is that the public bought the capture and escape story, because it makes the DHS look like fucktards and the focus is away from SI.”

  Savi rubbed her forehead, laughing a little. It was all too convoluted for her taste; she concealed by making appearances very simple and straightforward. “So you know what I do here, or you don’t? And what is your point?”

  “Your juvie record is missing, but I know you have one. Hugh mentioned it once—that you’d created fake IDs for your friends when you were all still underage. Good IDs. That you got into the state Vital Records, Social Security, and DMV. But you were caught.”

  She met Lilith’s gaze, and said evenly, “They offered me a job.”

  “Did you take it?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re lying,” Hugh said from behind her. After closing the door, he strode silently across the room and stood next to Lilith.

  “That was unfair,” Savi said, rising to her feet. “You shouldn’t use superpowers against me.”

  Hugh laughed and shook his head. “I didn’t need to read the truth to know it for a lie.” Short, dark mahogany hair, a powerful form—beautiful, though he didn’t take her breath away. He did Lilith’s. When they were together, it was like being in a statically charged atmosphere.

  He’d changed since Lilith had come back into his life; though always intense, he had been tightly contained, focused on academia and books. Now he had a darker edge—the eight-hundred-year-old warrior who no longer denied his nature.

  Lilith hadn’t created that edge; she’d only torn away the layers that had hidden it. A strange couple: the woman who lied and the man who saw truth. Yet they were absolutely and completely devoted to each other.

  Savi fought the urge to cover the matrimonials; concealment would draw their attention more quickly than openness. “So what is it?” she asked instead, and wrapped her arms around her middle. “You want to know what I do? It’s pretty simple; I get a list of transactions—credit cards, bank accounts, plane tickets, phone records, property acquisitions, whatever—and I have to change them. I don’t even know what they are from. Most of them are probably from ordinary citizens, to keep me from guessing.”

  And the others were the government’s way of protecting its agents and covering their movements. A credit card purchase for a pair of sunglasses twenty minutes after a political assassination in the Middle East? She didn’t want to know about it, she just transformed it into a baguette in Paris. Savi wasn’t the only one in the network; she imagined there were many others across the country in dark little offices, doing exactly the same thing. Changing transactions that she’d changed, just to make the layers deeper.

  “That isn’t our concern, Savi,” Hugh said. “You don’t do it for the money; you have more than enough from your parents’ trust and from DemonSlayer. And you aren’t capable of holding a job like this.”

  Savi pressed her lips together before she said, “You think I’m unreliable?”

  “No. But only because you don’t commit to anything you can’t follow through on. You wouldn’t have accepted this job and stayed for so long except under duress. Your interests change too quickly.”

  Lilith smiled thinly. “And it really, really upsets me when people I care for serve against their will. Sir Pup, may I have Auntie’s file?”

  A much thicker folder appeared in Lilith’s upturned palm.

  Her heart pounding, Savi looked from Hugh’s face to Lilith’s. “What’s the point of this? I can’t lie to you. You’re trapping me into something—if you’d just tell me the reason, this would be a lot easier. You don’t have to do this to me. Not you two.” Her voice thickened. “Of all people, not you two.”

  Lilith turned her face away for a moment, but Hugh didn’t flinch. “Of all people, you should have come to us. We’re doing it this way because you didn’t.” His gaze softened. “Auntie’s resident alien status was revoked just after you turned eighteen. We can see that in her file. Also, that her applications for reinstatement were denied. Then she’s given citizenship, though she never took the test or fulfilled the preliminary requirements. You did that? Or they did?”

  “They did,” Savi said tightly. “I’d have never left the rest incomplete.”

  “It was a different administration then; Homeland Security didn’t even exist,” Hugh said. “Why didn’t you try to get out?”

  “Because I brought it on myself with those fake IDs, and I have to consider these consequences. They might let me go; I don’t know. For all I know it was a demon who forced the issue eight years ago because of my connection to you. We’ve learned enough about Lucifer’s foray i
nto different federal agencies to know that one of his demons might have had that power—it’s probable they did. But I’m not going to risk it by asking them to let me go.” She leveled a dark look at Lilith. “You understand that.”

  “Making a bargain with Lucifer is completely different than working covertly for the government,” Lilith said.

  Silence fell for a moment, then Hugh lowered his face into his hands and his shoulders began shaking. Unable to contain her own laughter, Savi sat down and bent forward, holding her sides.

  “Lilith,” he said finally, wiping his eyes. “That’s a lie.”

  A smile pulled at her mouth, but she didn’t glance away from Savi. “We’ll get you out, if you want out.”

  Savi sighed. “It’s not about me, but Nani. If she’s deported, or even detained while I sort things out, it will be unbearably humiliating for her. She’ll lose all izzat. And not just her honor, but the restaurant, everything she’s accomplished here. Forty years ago she came with nothing but my mother, and worked like crazy to put her through medical school. Then she raised me when my other grandparents wouldn’t have anything to do with a little brown girl. She took in Hugh.” Pulling her hand through her short hair, she added, “There’s embarrassment, and then there’s humiliation. I won’t subject her to the second. Won’t even risk it.”

  Hugh crouched in front of her. “You know I would not, either. And last year, I would not have been in a position to help you, even if you had come to me. But I am now. Transfer to SI, and let us offer you our protection. Perhaps immediate escape isn’t possible, but we can remove you from this, at least.” He smiled. “And you’ll be able to ask plenty of questions.”

  “I don’t want to let you down,” she said quietly. “It’s true that I can’t hold a job for a long time.”

  Lilith snorted with laughter. “Oh, you won’t get bored. Identification for people who’ve been dead for decades, electronics to play with—garrotes to make. I’ll use the hell out of someone like you.” She shrugged. “And it’ll give us time to make certain that if you want out, you can get out. I’ll make inquiries, find out who we need to threaten—and if it was a demon. We won’t trap you there if you eventually want to go.”

  The matrimonials seemed to stare up at her. “It might be soon.”

  “That’s fine.” Lilith slid down from her perch. “Are you making dinner tonight? It’s been months since we’ve had your pulao. Hugh tries, but his doesn’t compare.”

  Surprised by the change of subject, Savi blinked, then reluctantly smiled. She’d never had a chance against the two of them. “Yes.”

  Hugh walked past her to the door. Sir Pup followed him.

  “Good. Colin will be coming after; he just got back from England.” Lilith was watching her carefully. “You can finally thank him for helping to provide your alibi.”

  Her smile froze in place. “Great.” She hadn’t seen the vampire since the night at the club, a month ago. He’d flown out the next day, when she’d still been in the hospital, out of her mind with fever. Two weeks, it had burned through her, had her hanging on a thread between life and death.

  And he’d left.

  Sense told her he’d been under no obligation to stay. Experience reminded her he’d done the same before. Reason stated his response had been a result of the venom and nosferatu blood.

  And the only conclusion to be drawn from the anticipation, dread, and hurt filling her in equal parts was that she must be a stupid, shallow lunatic.

  “Savi,” Hugh said from behind her. “There’s something else.”

  She turned, then barely ducked the short-bladed knife streaking toward her. It sailed over her shoulder, and Lilith snatched it out of the air. Hugh lowered his hand.

  “Jesus!” Her heart pounding, she looked between them. Her legs trembled. “What the fuck was that for? What if you’d hit me?”

  “Hugh’d be tending to your shoulder right now,” Lilith said. “But he isn’t. Accelerated reflexes, enhanced speed. Not near that of a vampire, though. How strong are you?”

  “I don’t know,” Savi replied stiffly. “I’ve been hoping it will go away, like the fever did.”

  “Until it does, you’ll be training with me,” Hugh said. His throat worked, then he cursed and slammed the door on his way through.

  It was unlike Hugh to swear. He probably thought he’d failed her.

  He hadn’t.

  “I can’t,” Savi said.

  Lilith’s gaze was not devoid of sympathy, but she shook her head. “You don’t have a choice now.”

  Savi’s teeth clenched. “How did you know? Did Michael tell you?”

  “Michael? No, Hugh could see it within a minute of your coming home from the hospital. I don’t know why you tried to hide it from us.”

  “I have to pretend I’m normal.”

  Lilith tapped her finger on the matrimonial classifieds. “We’ll teach you how to pretend, but you won’t be. Can you live with that? Can he?”

  “Yes. And he doesn’t have to know.”

  The dark sound of Lilith’s laughter filled the small room. “I’m the last person to tell you not to lie. But can you be happy lying?”

  Savi frowned. “It’s marriage. It isn’t only about happiness; security is important, too. Happiness is for later. Were your marriages any different?”

  Still laughing, Lilith shook her head. “No. That’s why I’m living in sin now,” she said as she left.

  Savi rubbed her forehead again and closed the door. She could be happy; she found it quite easily. Would the man she married be?

  Probably not.

  Colin straightened his cuffs for the third time. A piece of lint disturbed the perfect line of his trouser leg, and he brushed it off.

  Castleford’s house rose up in front of him, a boxy, contemporary bit of architecture. Colin appreciated the clean lines of it, but preferred his Victorian. He’d parked in the driveway; his gaze rose to the lighted windows above the garage. Nothing to see from this angle, but he could hear Savi moving around inside.

  He pulled at his collar and sighed. If he stayed in his car much longer, Hugh and Lilith might think he was nervous.

  A door slammed, and Savi ran down the private stair from her flat. Was she so eager to meet him again? His body hummed with the pleasure of it.

  But he didn’t open the door; he needed to wait…and see.

  She wore jeans, sneakers, and a thick cream sweater. She’d wound an azure scarf around her slim, beautiful neck.

  Sir Pup squeezed through the pet door at the front of the house and shifted to a larger size. He bounded toward her, then tagged along beside her legs as she rounded the front of the Bentley and tapped on Colin’s window.

  He lowered the glass and inhaled.

  Nothing. Her unique scent—wonderful, intoxicating in its way, but not the delicious, dangerous perfume.

  The devastating sense of loss nearly undid him. His relief kept him upright.

  She leaned down. The window framed her brightly smiling face like a portrait, and his breath caught. “I just wanted to say thanks for that night.”

  He cleaved his tongue from the roof of his mouth. “Of course, Savi. It was my pleasure.”

  Her smile never wavered. “Yeah. About that…”

  “Think nothing of it,” he said carelessly, and flashed his fangs in a rakish grin. “A temporary madness, but I am well recovered. As, apparently, are you.”

  “Apparently.” She blinked; her eyes were a warm, rich chocolate. Her skin, cinnamon cream. “Did you have a nice holiday with your family?”

  “Yes. Quite lovely.”

  “That’s good. Anyway, thank you. I’m off for a stroll in the park; I ate too much. I’ll see you later.”

  “Of course.” He spoke to an empty window; she’d already moved on. And absent a mirror, he couldn’t watch her leave without giving himself away.

  He found Castleford and Lilith in a kitchen filled with Savitri’s scent. And cinnamon and ga
rlic, saffron and ginger…he had to stop this bloody foolishness.

  Breathing through his mouth, he said, “It’s gone.”

  Perched on a barstool, Lilith looked across the counter to Castleford for confirmation of truth; Colin didn’t take insult. The tension eased from Hugh’s form, then from Lilith’s.

  Lilith laughed, her relief evident. “Good. I’d hate to have to kill you. Particularly as you’re so handsome.”

  “I’d hate to be killed,” he replied easily and slid onto the stool beside her. “Particularly as exile to Beaumont Court proved as effective a deterrent as death. You sent the dog outside to protect her from me?”

  Castleford’s lips twitched as he transferred dishes from the granite counter to the sink. “Another deterrent, if needed. Perhaps you would have kissed Sir Pup.”

  “Forgive me if I fail to see the humor in that.” Those few moments with Savi atop him, her mouth pressed to his, had been some of the sweetest of his life. Colin would not have them sullied.

  Ice settled in Castleford’s eyes, and he said, “It has taken me a month to see the humor in having to pry Savi away from you when you were at the edge of your control. Had we arrived but minutes later, what would have occurred?”

  He’d have been inside her. Drinking from her. Tasting her. And he’d been so maddened by her scent and the stink of wyrmwolf blood—his own blood—he probably wouldn’t have noticed if she was awake.

  She mightn’t have survived.

  Lilith quickly said, “Don’t answer that, Colin. I don’t want to have to pick up pieces of you.” Her gaze moved to Hugh. “Either of you. If the pheromone subsided with the fever, then it hardly matters.”

  “It matters,” Colin growled.

  Castleford stared at him for a moment, then turned to Lilith. “It always matters when you’ve hurt someone you mean to protect.” He shoved his fists into his pockets. “She didn’t know the consequences of drinking the venom, of mixing it with the blood. That was my failure.”

  As Colin agreed, he didn’t respond.