by Linda Wisdom
“You didn’t like your former master very much, did you?”
“No one did, and he didn’t care as long as we did what he wished. But that doesn’t mean she should have been the one to destroy him. And it means she’s dangerous.” Snips sniffed and then left Declan alone.
And that was exactly how the half-fire demon felt, even in a room crowded with creatures from every realm. He rolled the sphere in his palm.
For a moment, he imagined he could feel the light coolness of Maggie’s touch against his skin.
He hungered for it again.
***
“He asked for my number,” Sybil chattered away in the car.
“And you were a good little elf and didn’t give it to him.” Maggie downshifted as she turned a corner. Her silence was telling. “Please tell me you at least checked him out!”
“Definitely.”
“Not his ass… him overall. You did some interrogation mojo on him, right?”
“He knows I’m with the Guard. Do you really think he’d try something?”
“Hmm, let’s see. There was that gremlin we brought in two months ago. He knew you were with the Guard, and he also thought you were a total pushover. Which you almost were, because he trotted out a sob story worthy of a midnight soap opera on the Supe Love Channel.”
“I went through my usual list of questions as we drank and danced, and his answers were all I hoped for,” she assured her friend.
Her cell phone chirping “All Star” interrupted Maggie’s comment about sanity having more than one meaning. Without looking down, she tapped the Bluetooth button on her steering wheel to answer.
“O’Malley.”
“Tell your friend that Algar has to cancel their dinner date this weekend. He’s been called back to the Dark Country.” Declan’s voice flowed through the microphone like smooth jazz.
Maggie shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “How did you get this number?”
“What did you do to him?” Sybil demanded, practically leaning across Maggie.
“Trying to drive here, babe,” Maggie told her.
“I want to know what you did to him, Declan!” Sybil’s voice grew shrill even as she still partially obstructed Maggie’s vision.
“Syb!” Maggie pushed at her friend’s shoulder. “I can’t see the road!”
“Algar’s a great person, and there was no reason for you to mess with my social life,” Sybil growled.
“Trust me, there was an excellent reason.”
“I want to know how you got this number!” Maggie chimed in.
“Sweet dreams, Maggie.” He clicked off.
Maggie muttered a variety of curses in multiple languages while Sybil added a few of her own.
“That’s it. I’m dragging that Anna in tomorrow.” Sybil fell back against her seat. “My eight brothers weren’t allowed to mess with my social life, so there’s no reason for him to think he can.” A soft chirp sounded from her bag. She pulled out her cell phone and began reading. “Oh, boy.”
“‘Oh, boy’ what?”
“Yours isn’t the only cell number Declan dug up. He texted me a report on Algar. It seems that son of a whore has a few side businesses we need to check into.” Sybil’s delicate features turned hard.
Maggie grimaced. “So Declan did a good thing.”
“Yes.”
“Oh.”
Sybil looked at the witch. “Did you do something?”
Maggie took a deep breath. “Remember Jim Morrison singing about lighting his fire? Well, I guess you’d say I doused Declan’s.”
Her friend gaped and then burst out laughing. “Let’s hope he’s wash and wear.”
***
When Anna walked into Declan’s office, she found him standing in the midst of a downpour that didn’t touch one piece of furniture.
She pressed her hands over her mouth and just stared with saucer-size, midnight-black eyes as her shoulders began shaking with suppressed laughter. “Declan?” she choked out the name.
The long-suffering demon wiped his face as steam rose up from his clothing.
“Anna, would you get me a towel, please?”
Chapter 5
Maggie sat cross-legged on her bed with her laptop whirring away. A bored Elle was navigating across the rose-patterned bedcovers with delicate steps. Morning sunshine streaming through the bedroom window reflected off her diamond-encrusted body and cast rainbows of light that danced around the room.
Maggie sang along with Beau Jocque and the Zydeco High Rollers as they played from her computer’s iTunes library.
“Please, do not sing,” Elle begged, making her way up to the shadowy refuge of her web and her miniscule computer. “A foghorn would sound more palatable to the ear.”
“You should talk. Your singing is worse than mine.” She clicked several more keys as she set the machine to search out every piece of information on fire demon Declan. “And FYI, you don’t have real ears.”
“Have you ever heard of a wizard named Akashik?” Elle asked from her ceiling perch.
“No, but that doesn’t mean anything.” Maggie’s eyes were glued to the laptop’s screen. “Why?”
“He wrote an article for the Journal of Wizardry saying that some magickal venoms can be reversed.” Excitement lightened her voice. “If I can’t find an immortality spell for my lovers, perhaps he could help me that way.”
“Check him out first. There are a lot of fakes in the wizard world.” Maggie put the laptop on a table and got up to dress. “Are you coming out with me?” she asked after pulling on a soft, blue cotton tank top and jean shorts.
“No, I will remain behind and supervise the brownies in their cleaning.” Elle’s gaze didn’t shift from her computer.
Maggie winced at the piles of laundry, clean and dirty, along with shoes stacked in a corner. “This is why I prefer living in the compound to having my own place.” She placed her sunglasses on top of her head.
“Data scan finished.”
Maggie returned to her laptop and checked the screen. “This is all there is? Declan really does have a boring life.”
A few minutes later, she left her quarters and crossed the grounds to another sprawling building. Halfway across, she stopped and lifted her face to the morning sun, feeling the warmth seep into her skin.
She wondered how Declan felt about getting a surprise shower. It was small revenge for having to change her cell phone number, change all her passwords, and check her credit cards. Security was everything in her line of work. She still wanted to know who gave out her cell number, so she could come up with more creative vengeance.
If she’d been the one on the receiving end of a monsoon, she would have plotted the ultimate retribution by calling her witch friend, Blair, the revenge-witch queen. Maggie wondered if Declan was the vindictive type.
“Who doesn’t want to get even?” she muttered as she closed her eyes against the bright light. “I would.”
“Get even for what?” Frebus asked.
Maggie’s nose wiggled against the reek of sweat and wet dog. Frebus might not be of the canine variety, but he did have enough heavy fur to rival a Saint Bernard.
His dark-pink eyes peered at her from under his shaggy blond bangs.
“Those new recruits are pussies,” he told her. “They were crying for their mamas and pissing in their pants before we were ten minutes into class.”
She grinned. “You roared at them, didn’t you? And I bet you showed them your second set of teeth.”
He displayed choppers resembling steel knives. They only came out when he was in the midst of a fight. “I’m nothing like what they’d face in battle. They need to learn early.”
“Mal wants us to go easy on them in the beginning.”
He snorted. “If we did that, they’d be gutted first time out.” He looked around. “What are you up to?”
“My computer ran a search on Declan, which didn’t turn up all that much. He’s either been in the demon rea
lm all this time, or he’s managed to stay out of trouble. And now I’m going to see Ravenna.” She thought of the Seer as she walked toward a tall archway sizzling with brightly colored magick. “If there’s something in the wind, I’m hoping she can find out what it is.”
“What about the female demon that was here a couple nights ago?” Frebus ambled along with her. “Word’s out she talked gloom and doom. You know… the usual ‘end of the world the way we know it’ shit. Anything to it?”
“We weren’t able to find out specifics, and Declan’s not letting us near her again.”
“Like that’s ever stopped you before.” He snuffled loudly and then ran a hairy paw across his nose. “Drag the bitch’s ass into Interrogation, and let Sybs do her work.”
Maggie smacked his shoulder hard enough that the seven-foot creature stumbled. “What did we agree on about the B word?”
He hung his head. “That it’s not a good idea to use it.”
“And why is it an excellent idea to strike it from your vocabulary?” She used her schoolteacher voice.
“Because if any of us forget and use the B word, you’ll boil us in oil—after you skin us.”
“Good boy!” She reached up and patted him on the head. “Go take a shower, because you really stink. Euuwww!” she squealed when he laughed and hugged her tightly, transferring some of the smell to her.
Maggie reached the archway and stopped in front of the runes etched in the sandstone. “I, Margit, humbly beg for entrance.” She pressed her palm against the runes, waiting until they blinked gold. Once they sparkled, the crackle of the magick died down and she was able to pass through safely.
Maggie felt a hint of disorientation every time she entered the Seers’ Pavilion. The building’s ceiling was a rainbow of colors that shifted in patterns like a kaleidoscope. The soothing music from chimes hanging everywhere blended with sounds of lyres and flutes. She wrinkled her nose against the strong scent of patchouli in the air and then sneezed.
“Who do you wish to see?” A young female dressed in the dark-orange cowled robe designated for apprentices suddenly appeared before her. The apprentice’s hair, the color of a ripe peach, flowed down past her hips.
Maggie didn’t blink at the sudden visitation, nor was she surprised she now wore a soft cotton robe of electric blue. Maggie knew that when she left the Seers’ quarters, she’d find herself back in her tank top and jeans. Until then, she felt as if she had been catapulted back to the 1960s. Her bare toes curled into the floor, which felt like a cloud and was warm from magickal sunlight.
“I would like to speak with Ravenna to see if she might enlighten me about a dangerous situation that is in the air,” she said.
“You really need to relax,” the apprentice advised. “Let me see if she’s free.”
Maggie waited, listening to the music and voices singing. One archway led to what looked like a spring meadow where a group of Seers gathered in a circle. She was so engrossed in watching them that she didn’t notice the apprentice returning until the young woman touched her arm.
“You should join us. We’re having a skyclad brunch later,” she told Maggie as she directed her down a hallway that hadn’t been there a moment before to a simple door at the end.
“I really prefer reserving my nudity for more private parties,” Maggie replied.
Her guide disappeared the moment Maggie placed her hand on the doorknob and gently twisted it to one side.
The interior was as dark as the reception area was light. The ceiling looked like a night sky dotted with silvery stars and a shining crescent moon. Maggie was relieved that the scent of patchouli was absent from the room, but she wished she could mute the sitar music.
“Good morning, Ravenna.” She stepped inside, carefully feeling her way across the room.
“Margit, it is wonderful to see you!” The woman facing her was petite and garbed in a silver-hooded robe that matched the curly ringlets drifting down her back. She stood in the center of the room with a warm smile on her face. “I haven’t seen you since the Winter Solstice. Wasn’t that a wonderful time?”
“From what little I remember.” Maggie hadn’t forgotten the hangover that plagued her for a week afterward. The Seers worked hard and partied even harder.
“What can I do for you?” Ravenna waved her hand in the air, instantly bringing the light level up to full moonlight.
“A female demon is saying darkness and death are coming.”
“And that’s a new thing?” Ravenna laughed softly. “Margit, you live for danger.”
“This seems to be more than the usual. I wondered if you could See what she might have tapped into and if it’s something we can control.” Maggie waited.
The small figure walked around the room, her robe glinting in the magickal starlight. She hummed an odd tune under her breath.
“Her real name isn’t Anna. She’s hiding from her sire and master, who wants to enslave her in a way that not even many demons can comprehend.” She spoke in a soft monotone that flowed over Maggie’s brain like silk.
“He cares not for her body, but for the gift of what she can See. He wishes to use her like currency to further his own causes, even seeks to auction her off to the highest bidder if it furthers his own purposes. He is looking for the right way to punish not only her but also her brother.”
Maggie bit her lip to contain all the questions hovering on her tongue. She knew better than to interrupt the Seer when she was on a roll.
“She can only See what is dark in the world. Not just danger, but blood and death. What she has Seen is more than you can imagine, but her mind refuses to believe it. You will have to urge her to release the images so they will not haunt her. She is an innocent in this, as is her brother.” A sly smile curved her lips.
“Are you sure there’s any such thing as an innocent demon?” Maggie argued.
Ravenna’s laughter rippled through the air. “As always, Margit, you are impatient. You need this female. She’s the key to finding another innocent, one who requires protection, since she is the center of what will happen when the darkness descends.”
“Another demon?” She instantly knocked Declan out of the running. If he was an innocent, she was Mariah Carey.
“No, this innocent has blood that has blended over the years. She has no idea who or what she is, but she is a crucial player in the coming time of blood and darkness.” She tipped her head to one side. “I hear ancient chants in the ether and See blood sacrifices meant to begin the process.”
Oookay, that doesn’t sound good.
“How crucial?”
“She is the one who could open the door to the one that wishes to destroy the world as we know it and rule the new land through violence and death. She must be found and protected so that this being of darkness doesn’t use her for his own purposes.
Maggie shifted from one foot to the other. “So there are specific targets?”
Ravenna looked upward as if the ceiling of stars and the crescent moon would offer an answer.
“No one specific. Just everyone who doesn’t worship him.”
Yep, so not a good thing to hear.
***
“This Anna is an innocent, and she’s the only one who can find some person who’s the key to something that wants to rule the world?” Mal chewed on his cigar. “Except Declan doesn’t want us talking to her. Anything else?” He glared at Maggie.
She scowled back. “Isn’t that enough?”
“What have you dug up on Declan? He’s a demon, so what kind of havoc has he been wreaking?”
Maggie shrugged. “He doesn’t seem to have done much, actually. At least, not in this realm. All that shows up is that he took over Damnation Alley not long after Ratchet disappeared.”
She ignored Mal’s questioning look. Even her superior didn’t know exactly what had happened to the psychotic demon, and she preferred to keep it that way. There were some things this grumpy gnome didn’t need to know.
&nb
sp; “Give me the CliffsNotes version.”
“I just did.”
Mal sighed. “Are you telling me that with all the databases we own, you could only find out one tidbit?”
“Hey, you said you couldn’t spare the researchers who might have been able to uncover more, but I don’t think even they could find anything else. It’s as if he popped into this world fully evolved. Maybe he did. It’s happened before with demons.”
Mal stared at the marble columns of his serene surroundings that warred with his intense personality. Curls of smoke wafted in the air.
“My therapist said this would relax me. All it does is make me want to take a weapon out and shoot all those fucking cherubs,” he growled. “All they do is flitter about like demented butterflies. Do you know how annoying that is?”
Maggie looked upward at said cherubs. She had to agree their tiny wings did remind her of butterflies.
“Maybe you need a new therapist.”
“Last time I hire one because she’s got great legs. Okay, back to Declan,” he said finally. “It seems as though he’s become a major player pretty quickly. Who’s his sire?”
“Victorio. His mother was human. Apparently she died not long after the child was born. I’m sure Victorio wasted no time taking the baby off the human grandparents’ hands and taking him back to his realm. Wouldn’t be surprised if money weren’t involved. A son would be a great boon for him, even if the child was half human. For Declan to rise as far as he has shows he’s more his father’s son than his mother’s. At least in personality.”
“Odd for a fire demon to choose a human to mate with. The human usually doesn’t survive the fucking,” Mal mused. “She had to have something more in her bloodline not only to live through the sex but also to get pregnant.”
“Unless Victorio did something to ensure he would have a child.” Maggie thought of the charcoal depiction of Declan’s father she’d found online. It was like looking at an alternate version of Declan. The same gorgeous sculpted features, but dear old Dad was clearly the usual psychopath demon with thoughts of evil and violence etched into his features, while Declan’s mother’s blood had been strong enough to allow a lot of humanity in her son’s face.