by Amy Sumida
We all went still. It was a good question.
“It would mean that she was one of us.” Astar shrugged. “Beyond that, I cannot say. It would depend on how strong her Demon magic was. What I'm more concerned about are any side-effects. I don't know how my magic will react to being in her body, with her various magics already in residence. She could have a reaction to it.”
“A negative reaction?” Daxon asked.
“Possibly. As I told Seren, this is unprecedented. We are navigating unknown waters. But I promise you that I will help her through whatever may come, and I believe our Gods will help her as well.”
Those were the right words to say. At the mention of the Gods, my husbands relaxed. Danu may not have had a hand in this, but Anu watched over me as well. Evidently, Anu favored me so much that the Demons knew about it. Being favored by gods isn't always a good thing, but it can have its perks.
“Very well,” Raza agreed after sharing a look with my other husbands. “You may monitor her as necessary.” He pulled out his scry phone and offered it to Astar. “Do you know how to scry?”
“Keep your phone, Dragon King.” Astar pushed it back toward Raza with his pointer finger. “I have a similar device that can connect with enchanted crystal.”
Raza lifted a brow in interest.
“No, I'm not letting you look at it.” Astar smirked.
Raza chuckled.
“But does the reverse work?” Killian asked. “Can our scry phones connect to your Demon phone?”
“You will not receive an image of me, but it should connect.”
Raza flipped open the leather flap of his scry phone and called out, “Lord Astaroth of Hell.”
Astar grimaced as something pinged. “You just had to get a look at it, didn't you?”
Raza grinned wickedly. The crystal of his scry phone showed the usual mist, but then Astar yanked back his left sleeve and revealed a black band that resembled polished onyx. Star tapped the band, and it filled with a crimson glow—as did Raza's scry phone.
“There. It works,” Astar said, his voice echoing through the crystal in Raza's hand. He tapped the band again, and the light winked out.
“Cool,” Killian noted. “Demon tech.”
“It's called a letaq,” Astar said grudgingly. “If something happens, you may contact me at any time; I always have it on. I can lalek to you in seconds, using the connection between our devices to hone in on your location.”
“Even if we're in Fairy?” I asked.
“You will have to grant me formal permission to enter that realm, but yes.”
“Formal permission?”
“A minor spell.” Star waved his hand impatiently. “Are we done? I'd like to get back to finding Varcan.”
My husbands looked at each other and then at me. I lifted a brow at them and sipped my coffee. Then I grimaced.
“What?” Killian asked at my look.
“We've been talking so long that my coffee has gone cold,” I grumbled and headed into the kitchen.
“I guess we're done here,” Daxon drawled.
Chapter Forty-Five
“You guys good?” Wayne asked when my husbands, Astar, and I strode back into the living room.
“Yep.” I held up my fresh cup of coffee. “All good.”
“Uh, Your Highness?” Conri made a wincing expression. “You're not a Demon, are you?”
“No, I'm not a Demon, Conri. Raza misunderstood.”
A collective sigh of relief swept the room, and that included the Demons.
“Good,” Conri said. “I really didn't want to have to literally follow you into Hell. I mean, I would, but I don't want to.”
Gradh smacked his chest.
“Ow! What?”
“That's their home.” She nodded toward the Demons.
“No offense taken.” Nassar inclined his head toward Gradh. “It is Hell, after all.” Then he winked at her.
“Wink at my woman again, and I'll take your eye out, Nascar,” Conri snarled.
“It's Nassar, and you can try it, hound,” Nassar shot back.
“Oh, this is going swimmingly,” I muttered and then grimaced.
Astaroth stepped forward. “All right, there will be none of that, am I clear? We are allies now, and you will all behave accordingly.”
Nassar bowed his head in acceptance.
“And I expect all of you to treat the Demons with respect as well,” I added, narrowing my eyes at Conri, in particular.
Conri grimaced. “He called me a hound.”
“Conri, you are a hound,” I said dryly.
Con blinked. “Yeah, but he also winked at my woman.”
“Your woman?” Gradh glared at him.
“Shut up, now,” Raza growled at Conri.
Conri shut up.
“We can assume that Varcan is watching this house,” Astar launched right into it. “That can work to our advantage.”
“How?” Extinguisher Chris Teagan asked.
“We can lead Varcan anywhere we want,” Nightblade answered before Astar could. “We just need to decide on the perfect battlefield.”
“Someplace with a lot of space but also privacy,” Wayne suggested.
“It has to be somewhere Seren would go,” Astar added. “We will use her to draw Varcan out. To do that, we need a viable excuse for her to leave the house with minimal guards.”
“We can make it look as if we're separating to investigate,” Lance Sloane suggested. “Then we double back to the Ambassador.”
Astar nodded. “Yes, but where can we send her?”
“One of my properties,” Drostan declared in epiphany as he pulled out his list of new holdings. “We can continue the investigation of the properties. We'll split up, looking as if we're trying to cover more ground, and send Seren to this one.” He tapped his papers as he set them down on the central table. “It's an empty building with an attached warehouse. No renters to get in the way, and the property is large enough that we shouldn't have to worry about humans in the area getting caught in the crossfire.”
“Let me see that.” Lance took the paper over to his laptop and typed in the address. “Looks good. On the outskirts of St. Louis. Big lot. Not much around it. It gets my vote.” He turned the laptop around so we could all take a look.
“And we need to search those properties anyway,” I added. “Good thinking, Drostan.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Drostan nodded at me.
“Drostan, please call me Seren.”
Drostan inclined his head respectfully.
Astar straightened from his bend over the laptop and waved his sayadi over. “Everyone get a good look.”
The Demons gathered around, each of them peering at the pictures of the building. Then they nodded and stepped back.
“You need a visual to lalek?” I asked.
“Just so.” Astar nodded, then his gaze trailed to the window behind me and the night sky beyond it. “It's late. Varcan won't believe that you're investigating those properties in the dark. I say we call it a night and meet back here in the morning.”
“I agree,” Wayne said as he looked around for our votes.
Nightblade nodded, then my husbands. Everyone looked at me.
“I've been cut by a cursed blade and saved from death by a Lord of Hell—in Hell,” I drawled. “I'm tired, bloody, and my coffee is going cold again. Yes, I think we should regroup in the morning. Duh.”
Astar, lips twitching, nodded at his team, and they began to lalek away. The last to go was Antaura. She gave Star a bleak look, glanced at me venomously, then vanished.
Astar inclined his head to us. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Star,” I said softly. “Thank you again for saving my life.”
“It was my honor, Beloved of Anu.” And then, in a cloud of embers, he was gone.
“Fucking Demons!” Killian shouted suddenly, startling all of us.
We gaped and then glared at him.
“Sorry.�
�� Kill shook his head. “I've been holding that in for hours.”
Chapter Forty-Six
After another scry to my father and children, during which I had a private word with my dad, informing him of the recent Demon developments (developments that blew his fey mind), I took a shower and got ready for bed. I came out of the bathroom to find all my husbands waiting for me.
“I love you all,” I said with a lifted hand, warding them off. “But no. Not tonight; I'm too tired.”
“We're not here for sex, Seren,” Tiernan said gently. “Just you.”
“Mo shíorghrá,” Raza said in his midnight voice as he held a clawed hand out to me.
Raza was back in his original form, the one I loved the most, but it was that voice that cut straight to my heart. I took his hand, let him pull me into his arms, and laid my head on his broad chest. His dragon heart beat steadily beneath my cheek, steadfast as ever, but his hands shook as they slid over my back. It took a good five minutes before his body relaxed around mine. Then he grudgingly let me go.
I made the rounds, going from man to man. To simply be held. To let our bodies get the message that our brains couldn't seem to accept—that I was safe, and we were good. Being captured was bad enough, but I had nearly died that night, and that was something we rarely had to face.
The bed wasn't big enough for all of us or I think they would have all slept with me. Instead, Killian and Daxon agreed to allow Tiernan and Raza to have that night, then Kill and Dax would get the next. I curled up between my husbands, one pale and one dark, one with golden eyes and one silver, and let out a long sigh. With them surrounding me, I felt no fear. Varcan couldn't touch me there and death seemed a distant nightmare.
“Nightmare!” I sat up, startling my husbands.
“What is it?” Tiernan demanded, his sharp stare searching the room.
“I had a nightmare my first night here,” I softened my tone. “I thought I had dreamed of the Sluagh, but it wasn't the Sluagh. It was Demons. The same creatures I saw flying around Astar's territory. I had a glimpse of Hell.”
Raza and Tiernan shared a heavy look.
“And I heard a voice,” I whispered.
Raza's eyes twitched. “What voice?”
“I don't know; I didn't recognize it. Male but melodious.”
“Male but melodious?” Raza scowled.
“What did it say, Seren?” Tiernan asked the important question.
“It said.” I blinked as I stared at my husbands. “He said, 'I see you.'”
Chapter Forty-Seven
“I see you?” Daxon asked the next morning, his expression baffled.
We were gathered in our guest room again, about to go downstairs for breakfast, but I had wanted to tell Killian and Daxon about my nightmare first. I also took the opportunity to explain about my “pure” soul. The pure part went over well, the other, not so much.
“Clairvoyance can be weird.” Killian shrugged. “Especially when the vision comes in a dream. It probably doesn't mean anything.”
“She saw Hell, Killian,” Daxon growled. “She saw it before she was taken there. Before she even knew it existed.”
“Yeah, that was the premonition.” Kill waved his hand as if it was obvious. “The voice was probably just her mind adding a funny twist. I mean, why would anyone say that to her? Like a creepy kid peering around a corner. I se-e-e you,” Killian said the last bit a sing-song voice just like a child.
“He didn't say it like that,” I murmured pensively. “More like he'd found me. Like, 'there you are; I've been looking for you.'”
“Okay, that's even creepier,” Killian muttered.
“And you're sure it wasn't Astaroth's voice?” Raza asked.
“Positive. You know, Killian's right, it was probably just my mind putting its own twist on the vision. Or maybe it was the vision trying to tell me that the Demons knew who I was and that Anu favored me.” I headed for the door. “Let's not worry about it now since there's nothing we can do about it. The vision has come to pass; it's done.”
“She's right,” Killian agreed. “It's not as if there's a warning in there for her. It's happened; she's been to Hell.”
“I don't like this,” Raza grumbled. “Especially when she's about to become bait for a crazy Demon who's obsessed with her.”
“You will be there,” I reminded him, casting the words over my shoulder. “Come on, I'm hungry, and I sense Demons downstairs.”
“Even creepier-er,” Killian muttered as he followed me.
“Creepier-er?” Daxon asked.
“Creepiest?” Killian tried again. “Whatever is past creepier.”
We went down to the kitchen—me rolling my eyes—where Ana had fresh scones and muffins waiting, along with lots of coffee and a pile of bacon. I saw Astar through the kitchen window, leaning against the balcony railing outside as he sipped coffee and spoke with Drostan and Wayne. Star looked up as if he felt my attention. I lifted a hand in greeting, and he nodded curtly before returning to his conversation.
It was weird. That awareness was slipping away. Not the awareness of Star's location—or that of the others, who I knew were in the living room—but the awareness of him and who he was. It was already harder to read him. Star's nod had looked dismissive even though I knew it wasn't, but that knowledge came from what I've already learned about him, not by reading the microexpressions on his face. I was relieved in a way; I didn't need a connection to a Demon Lord. But a part of me was also sad to have lost my insight with him. It had felt like being in a secret club, almost like having a best friend, and I suddenly missed Cat, my puka. She was back in Twilight with my children, probably having a grand time. But I really could have used a Cat cuddle and a good stare into her wise eyes right about then.
Astar looked up again, the inner gold of his eyes flashing, and his lips softened into a smile. He felt it too—the relief and the loss. That helped a bit, and I smiled back to let him know it. Then I turned away, heading into the living room with my husbands to eat on the sofa since it was only scones and muffins. Both living rooms were full which is probably why Astar was outside. His team was there, looking a little awkward as they nibbled on scones while hunters, royal guards, and extinguishers watched them warily. I felt like I should speak to them, make an effort, but I didn't know what to say.
“Do you have to hunt runaway Demons a lot?” I finally asked the sayadi soldiers.
The Demons looked at each other, then at me.
“Yes, she's talking to us.” Antaura rolled her eyes. “Do you see anyone else here who hunts Demons?”
Apitron cleared his throat and answered me, “We get one maybe every couple of months.”
“What do you guys do the rest of the time?” Ainsley asked.
“We train,” Antaura said. “And fuck.”
“Sometimes at the same time,” Nassar said with a smirk.
“Nice!” Conri said with a nod. “That's pretty much what I like to do in my free time. I mean, not the training and fucking together, though I wouldn't be opposed.” He looked pointedly at Gradh.
Gradh rolled her eyes. “Keep dreaming, Bargest.”
“Wow,” Extinguisher Carrie Sloane whispered. “Just wow.”
“Do you think Angels just train and fuck too?” Conri asked.
“Yeah, except for the training part,” Sallales quipped, and they all started laughing.
“Is there a rivalry between you?” I asked.
They stopped laughing.
“More than that,” Astar said as he entered the room. “In a way, we are opponents, and several of my people feel competitive or even hostile toward Angels. Currently, we have a tenuous truce, but we've gone to war in the past.”
“The battle over human souls?” Nightblade cocked his head.
“If only it were that simple.” Astar grimaced. “But we have other concerns at the moment. Let's leave the Angel discussion for another time.” He looked around the room and met the stares of extinguishers and
hunters alike. “Be wary today. Extra vigilant. Demons can shift into any form in a matter of seconds. Suspect everyone, even your fellow soldiers if they have been out of your sight for more than a few seconds. Varcan is cunning and ruthless. His men will do anything for him, follow any order.”