by Kim Harrison
My heart went out to him. He had changed, and everything was painfully new. Now . . . he might understand me. “You aren’t doing this alone,” I said. I knew the anguish of knowing what to do but not wanting to pay the cost for it.
Heartache showed in his eyes. Behind that was a desperate need to believe. “No?”
There was the barest hint of air movement, and Trent’s eyes shifted over my shoulder. His expression went ugly, and heart pounding, I spun.
Nick. At least I thought it was Nick. My relief was short-lived, adrenaline shoving it out for my hatred. “You!” I exclaimed, sure it was him when I saw his smug expression. He was in jeans and a casual tee, slippers on his feet, looking thin but satisfied, with a clean-shaven face and a haircut that showed every one of his scars. “Did you know Ku’Sox killed Ceri and Pierce?”
Nick leaned back against the window, his ankles crossed confidently. “Who do you think helped cover Pierce’s absence from Newt long enough for them to attack Ku’Sox?”
My jaw dropped. For three seconds, I took that in, the awful truth sifting through my brain. He had . . . Nick had lied to Pierce? Pretended he was helping them kill Ku’Sox and then left them in the lurch? “You son of a bastard!” I screamed, launching myself at him.
Nick put up a hand to ward me off, shifting at the last moment to shove me into the wall.
I floundered at the change of direction, snagging Nick’s shirt. I yanked him down with me. I had time for one good breath before his elbow landed on my middle.
We were a tangle on the floor, and my abdomen felt like it was on fire. Struggling to breathe, I grappled with him, slamming his back into the floor and straddling him. He pushed at me, and I pinned his arms with my knees. Grabbing a handful of hair, I thunked his head into the floor.
“You betrayed Pierce?” I wheezed, hearing babies start to cry, muffled from the glass. “He killed them! You helped him kill them! Ceri is dead because of you! Ceri and Pierce are dead, and I could have loved him!”
Twisting, Nick shoved me off, a nasty snarl on his face. “You could have loved me, too.”
He jumped at me, and I rolled, my back crashing into one of the machines. I shook my head to get the hair from my eyes. Nick was still coming right at me, and I braced myself. We went sprawling again. Nick hauled me into a sitting position, slamming my back up against the machine. “This is for bringing that putrid witch of yours into my apartment.”
My eyes widened and I gasped in pain as his open hand met my cheek in a slap that sent stars through my vision. Trent was yelling, the babies were crying, and my eye felt like it was going to explode.
“And this is for the hell of it!” Nick whispered.
I put a hand up to stop him, and he grabbed it. His other hand was coming at me, and I struggled, trying to get him off!
But before his hand could connect, he was yanked backward and up. Knees going to my chest, I tossed the hair from my eyes at the sodden thunk of fist meeting flesh. Nick reeled into the counter, his feet slipping on the tile floor until he went down. Trent stood between us, his back hunched and shaking the pain from a bleeding hand.
“Son of a bitch.” Touching his bleeding lip, Nick got to his feet. I could feel him begin to gather power, slowly but gaining momentum as a weird keening from the damaged line he was pulling on grew in the back of my head. I stood, so frustrated that I was almost crying. Nick had lied to Pierce and Ceri both. Told them he was helping when he was really setting them up. How could I ever forgive that?
“Rachel!” Trent shouted as he dived in front of me. I jerked my attention from him to Nick. A ball of green-tinted aura was headed right at us. Without thinking, I flung up a hand.
“Rhombus!” I shouted, and Trent stooped as Nick’s spell struck and slithered down to the floor where it bubbled into nothing.
Nick was grinning when I brought my attention back up, and I felt sick. Now I’d done it.
Trent was holding my arm. “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head. “I just rang the doorbell,” I said, then added, glowering at Nick, who knew exactly what he’d been doing, “I tapped a line. Ku’Sox knows I’m here.”
Trent stiffened, and then he spun as Lucy’s childlike voice rang out in delight. “Daddy!”
Trent went down on one knee as if he’d been shot, his breath a quick gasp as he stared at Ku’Sox, Lucy on his hip. His expression was fierce with love and desperate hatred, and I don’t think I despised Ku’Sox more than at that moment. He was going to pay. Neither Ku’Sox nor Nick had ever loved anyone, and they would pay.
My pulse thundered in my ears, and I forced my arms to remain at my sides as I backed up to stand by Trent. Dressed in a casual black kimono, Ku’Sox had misted into the room beside Nick before the nursery window. Lucy’s dress mimicked his, and her hand reached for Trent, delight in her eyes. Bis was with him, too, and my jaw clenched as the little guy launched himself toward me, only to be snagged by Ku’Sox and tossed behind him like a kite.
The gargoyle spun through the air out of control, his eyes bright and cheerful as he found the wind in his wings before hitting the wall. I’d swear he was having fun as he changed his out-of-control spiral into a snappy landing on top of one of Trent’s machines where he perched, glowing a bright black. He was all right. He was all right!
Guilt rose, and I shoved it away. I would not feel bad that I was happy for Bis when Ceri and Pierce were dead. Nick had betrayed them. Why? What had he gained?
“You, stay where you are,” the psychotic demon said lightly to Trent as he rose, face awash with heartache. “I already took your second child’s mother. Make a move I don’t approve of and we will explore what else you hold dear. Understand?”
The scent of cinnamon became strong as Trent struggled with himself. He had admitted that he couldn’t sacrifice his daughter. It made him both strong and weak. He knew what it was to love. Maybe he’d always known, and I had been too blind to see it.
“Down!” Lucy demanded, looking sweetly petulant in her Asian kimono, and Ku’Sox shifted her into a football hold, her little feet kicking behind her and her hands pushing at his arm as she made a face and squirmed. “Da-a-a-ddy-y-y!” Clearly not liking Lucy’s frustration, Bis curved his tail around his feet, his ears going flat against his skull.
Nick’s feet scuffed as he edged even with Ku’Sox, and the demon gave him a disparaging glance. “Wait your turn, Nicholas Gregory Sparagmos,” Ku’Sox said as he shoved Nick behind him with one hand splayed on the man’s chest. “You can beat Rachel when I’m done with her. Besides, I want to hear why she’s here. She might, I don’t know . . . want something?” Bis spread his wings, and Ku’Sox looked at him until the gargoyle eased back. “A cup of sugar? An egg, perhaps?” Ku’Sox said, struggling with an increasingly vocal Lucy. “Are you doing a little cooking this afternoon, love?”
My eyes narrowed. “There was no need to kill Ceri and Pierce.”
A hint of a smile lifted Ku’Sox’s thin lips. “Simple enjoyment.” He glanced at the nursery. “What a marvelous woman she was. Al taught her so many, many things. She lasted the entire morning. I didn’t even have to be careful. Ahh, that’s so rare, so invigorating.”
Trent’s jaw was clenched, and my stomach twisted. Lucy had both hands out, craning her neck to see Trent as her fists opened and shut, struggling to reach him, little whines of frustration punctuating her loud demands. “You should have left,” Trent said. I could see parts of him starting to reassert themselves, assessing the situation, deciding what would be cast aside as unrecoverable and what might be salvaged. I wondered which side of the scale I was on.
“Ku’Sox won’t kill me,” I said, my insides shaking as I shifted my feet to find my balance. “If he does, the demons will start looking at him to fix the line.”
Ku’Sox’s expression twitched. “Just so. Unless you give me provocation, it’s best to leave you alone. For a few days.” Now he smiled, and again my loathing fought with my fear. “Which begs
the question of what you are doing here, Rachel? Rescuing your familiar?”
Ku’Sox was moving. My heart pounded, and I backed up. Trent, though, didn’t move.
“As he has probably told you, he is here of his own free will,” the demon said, stopping to keep Trent just out of Lucy’s high-pitched, angry reach. “We’re good friends,” Ku’Sox said as he smacked Trent’s cheek. “The elf freed me, and in return, I’m going to free him of everything that binds him, no ties to anyone at all. Aren’t we, little Lucy?”
Trent was almost panting as he stood inches from his daughter, afraid to reach out.
Laughing, Ku’Sox turned away. Under his arm, Lucy cried her frustration.
“I’m not leaving here without Bis and Lucy,” I said, and Nick, leaning against the window and nursing a swollen lip, made a noise of derision. “Lucy is my godchild, and Bis lives with me. I think that comes under ‘not harming me and mine.’ I get ignoring the me part since you’re an ass, but you will not harm them.”
Sure enough, Ku’Sox smiled. “Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, I have no intention of harming you—unless you attack me first, of course. No one will fault me for defending myself. Please, do try. Then I can drop this charade and we can all move on with our lives. That’s what this is all about, you know. Getting others to kill you for me. But interpretation of the law is so-o-o difficult,” he drawled. “As I told you before, get the proper papers filed, and I will gladly hand Lucy over.”
I slumped where I stood, the machines clicking behind me to mark time in this nightmare. Trent’s face was ashen as Ku’Sox struggled with Lucy. “Down!” Lucy cried. “Down, down, do-o-own!”
Giving the girl a little shake, Ku’Sox shifted her to his other side, and her cries went from frustration to hopelessness. Behind him, Bis was waving me off, his gray-skinned hands making the pixy signal to go to ground. He wanted me to leave? Standing at the outskirts, Nick saw the gesture, but Trent didn’t, his attention on Lucy as he became more and more agitated.
“They know you’re lying,” I said so the demon wouldn’t notice Bis talking to me.
“Of course they do.” He turned to Nick, growling, “Get me that chair.” His expression again pleasant, he smiled at me. “Is it not deliciously ironic? My lie is far more attractive than your truth. If they subscribe to my lie, they don’t have to do anything about me—leaving it for you to handle or die. Which you will do if you persist.”
His motions furtive, Nick darted between Trent and the machines for the chair. He looked like a bug, and my lip curled. “I know demons better than you do, Ku’Sox Sha-Ku’ru. They always bite the hand that feeds them.” Nick trundled the rolling chair back to Ku’Sox, and it was all I could do to not reach out and kick him.
“Daddy! Down!” Lucy demanded, her eyes wet as she stared at Trent as if betrayed.
Ku’Sox held Lucy in front of him, looking scornfully at the little girl as she howled. “You’ve noticed that as well?” he said dryly as he sat with Lucy on his lap. She began squirming, her little feet kicking as she struggled. “My God,” Ku’Sox said, his patience clearly wearing thin. “This child is intractable! I should have taken the younger one.”
“Honor our agreement!” I said. “Or I will drag your ass before Dali right now!”
“Of course I will honor it. Go file the papers. Come back in three months.” Ku’Sox’s eyebrows were mockingly high. “Unless you want to settle this a different way?”
Trent paled, and in the corner, Nick shifted to make himself look smaller. If I could free Lucy, then Trent might be free to act when I got that line cleared of the sludge in it. “I’m a reasonable man,” Ku’Sox said, bouncing Lucy, which made her cry even harder. “I’m sure we can come to a mutually agreeable arrangement. I want my freedom, Rachel. Now.”
I backed up, remembering the feel of Ku’Sox’s breath on my skin, his grip on my body, the way his eyes touched me. I shook my head, and Ku’Sox smiled knowingly.
“Down, down, down!” Lucy raged, and his gaze never leaving mine, the demon let her slip from him. Immediately she got to her feet, running awkwardly to Trent. My heart seemed to break as Trent dropped down to meet her, holding her tight as his eyes closed, his hand covering the back of her head and his arm around her, lifting her to him. His eyes opened, and I saw his fervent surety that nothing short of death would ever convince him to let go of her again.
Son of a bitch, I thought, looking at Ku’Sox’s soft smile of satisfaction. We were his playthings, dancing to his whim. To say no now would start a bloodbath none of us would survive. Trent would never let Lucy go back to Ku’Sox again. “What do you propose?” I said flatly, having a pretty good idea. He had killed Ceri and Pierce. I wouldn’t give him the chance to kill Lucy.
“Rachel!” Bis complained, wincing when Ku’Sox raised a hand.
Trent looked up, his arms still about Lucy. The little girl was complaining fretfully to him, her words unclear but serious. Behind Ku’Sox, I could see the women and children beyond the glass. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I can’t save you all.
“I want my freedom,” Ku’Sox said with a disturbing lightness. “I want that putrid elven curse you put on me lifted, and I want it lifted now.”
“I want Bis and Lucy, and a trip home,” I said, and he laughed, wiping a spot of baby drool from his sleeve.
“What horrid things babies are. Leaking from every orifice.”
“You said what you want; well, I want Bis and Lucy!” I demanded again as Nick fidgeted behind Ku’Sox. Trent held Lucy tighter, standing up with her as if he would never let her go. He’d do anything for her. Anything. Kisten had looked at me that way once, and it had killed him. Ceri’s death was both Trent’s awakening and his downfall. He loved, he knew loss, and he would fight to keep what was dear to him, the rest be damned.
Ku’Sox told Nick to stop fidgeting with a sharp look. “Both? No. Trent is a nasty little elf. With Lucy gone, he will become most intractable. See? He’s sullen already. And Bis? Well, that’s obviously no. With him, your chances of preventing the end of the ever-after slip into the double digits.”
Bis seemed to deflate in relief. I didn’t like the way Nick noticed, and I cringed when Ku’Sox half turned to look at the gargoyle. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, flying worm. You’re talking to everyone’s gargoyles and learning the lines because I see fit. When the demons die, their gargoyles go with them, and I will want someone familiar with the old lines so I can reinstate them.”
Reinstate the lines? The words hit the pit of my being with a cold certainty. He was intending nothing less than complete destruction. This wasn’t just to get the demons to kill me then return to business as usual. Ku’Sox was aiming at genocide.
“Then I guess we ought to just duke it out now,” I said as I reached out with my thoughts and tapped the line. It filled me, screaming a discord that melded with my thoughts and flashed through me like grief. God, please give me another way out.
“I would consider giving you Lucy, though,” Ku’Sox said, glancing at Trent’s pinkie ring, and I froze, not believing I’d heard him right. Trent looked up, hope so deep in his eyes it hurt.
Nick stiffened in his corner. “L-Lucy?” I said, a part of my mind realizing that the scum bucket was afraid of me. He was afraid! My air came in with a rush, and I dropped the line, pulling myself straight and seeing Ku’Sox’s fear in the way he held his head, squinted at the light. Lucy for his freedom? Two days ago I would have spit in his face, but now . . .
My gaze shot to Trent, his grip on his child almost frantic.
Smiling as if giving benediction, Ku’Sox inclined his head. “I will give you Lucy,” he said softly, but his hem was shaking. “That is”—he looked at Trent, silent across the room with Lucy in his grasp—“if Trenton Aloysius Kalamack agrees to take the place of his daughter as my familiar, and you take that curse from me so I might see the sun again. I do so miss the color yellow.”
Trent stood ashen-faced as
Lucy softly complained of nothing. He knew what it was to be a demon slave. I had rescued him from it, and he had saved my life. Now he was going to give his own again to save his daughter, to save two worlds.
“Done,” Trent rasped, his expression riven with grief as he pushed Lucy into my arms. “Take her, Rachel,” he said, his arm stretched out to touch his daughter’s hand as he stepped back, his eyes fixed to the little girl reaching back to him. She leaned toward him, whining, and I held her close, smelling the clean scent of her hair under the stench of burnt amber.
Take the curse from him? He could go anywhere . . .
“I say, done!” Trent shouted. “Send them home!”
Ku’Sox seemed shocked. I know I was. Things were moving too fast, and I jiggled her weight, settling her to me until it felt natural. “I thought elves were known for their patience,” Ku’Sox said, and my gut twisted when he looked at me. “Rachel, is this acceptable to you, providing the elf holds to his end and I have him, body and soul?”
Crap on toast. If Trent was his familiar, he couldn’t help me. That wasn’t even considering that Ku’Sox would have access to everything on my side of the lines. But with Nick, he had that anyway. Torn, I jiggled Lucy. Oh my God. I was going to do it, and I felt light-headed.
“Take her, I beg you.” It was Trent, and I took in his hope, his grief. “Take her,” he whispered again. “I need to know they are safe, my girls.”
“Oh, they will never be safe,” Ku’Sox said, and Trent stiffened.
“They will, or I will not agree!”
Eyes rolling to the ceiling, Ku’Sox idly pushed his rolling chair back, gesturing lightly. “As long as you serve me faithfully, why not?”
Trent’s grip on my shoulder tightened, his breath coming fast in the moment of success, but I was having doubts. My eyes slid to Nick, sullen in the corner. I took a breath to answer. Ku’Sox waited, poised. Nick was tense behind him, looking like a spider. Trent was energy chained—frantic. And Bis . . . I held my breath, trying not to be obvious as I watched him signal me to fly, go, flee . . . no, I think that particular motion meant fall back and circle around.