“Infante murdered him,” Winters said grimly. “About two years ago. Before we had reason to look into what he was doing.” She gestured at the room. “Not like this. By all accounts, Infante was careless. A human woman assimilated with him because Infante screwed up.” She took a breath. “Kynan knows more about that than I do.”
“Is she dead? That woman.”
Kynan pressed a hand to the back of Vahid’s neck. A demon mageheld since the day he manifested wouldn’t know what it was like to use magic without restraint or control. He might know there was another way, but he would not understand how to live as free kin.
Winters shook her head. “She survived.”
His lip curled in a now-familiar sneer. “Was she a witch, too?”
“No,” she replied. “She wasn’t. She survived. She’s sworn to Nikodemus now. But, as I said, Kynan knows more about that than I do.”
“Is that true?” Vahid asked him. The demon didn’t get it. He didn’t know that what had happened with Bejar and Addison had not involved any level of consent for either of them.
“She didn’t ask for what was done to her.” He pulled Vahid close, one hand cupping the back of his neck, a common comfort to offer one of his own kind. He tightened his fingers. “We were lucky, all of us are lucky, that she survived. We would have nothing left of Bejar if she had not been strong enough to survive.
Vahid jerked free of the physical contact but immediately leaned closer, trembling. He pushed his dark hair away from his face. When Kynan touched his shoulder again, the other demon allowed the contact. He stroked Vahid the way he would any of the kin, but Vahid was so uneasy around Winters and so helpless at understanding his freedom that there wasn’t much anyone could do to help. Time was the only solution. Time and experience.
“Look at me.” He put power into the command, and Vahid responded, as any free demon must. When he had Vahid’s attention, Kynan amped up his presence so Winters would be less disruptive for them. “Everything Winters said is true. Her name is Addison, and she bore Bejar’s child. Nikodemus and his witch are raising the boy.” He maintained eye contact. “Addison avenged Bejar. She killed Infante when he came for her again.”
Vahid shook his head. “A human woman. I do not believe that.”
“A human assimilated with Bejar.” He chose to ignore the scorn. Still with their psychic link going, Kynan said, “If it turns out you meet her one day, you owe her respect for her choices and for what she is.”
Vahid bowed his head—no finger touch, but Kynan was willing to overlook that for now. His half-assed acknowledgment was enough. He stepped back. When he was certain Vahid had himself under control, Kynan crouched beside the dead mages. He made a show of going through their pockets and assembling piles of possessions.
Kynan sent a push in Vahid’s direction and got the same uneven sense of rank from him that had been bothering him from the start. A newly manifested demon needed the presence of other kin to stabilize. Without having been around other free kin, there was no way Vahid could have learned anything he needed to survive and stay free.
“How old are you?” he asked. “Human years.”
Vahid made a what-the-hell face, but he answered. “Twenty-seven.”
Twenty-seven. And if he had this right, born and raised to his enslavement. There was nothing about Vahid’s history so far that wasn’t totally screwed up and wrong. “We’re taking the witch down, Winters. Count on it.”
She lifted her chin, and they connected in shared determination. She was a fighter, Maddy Winters was. Whatever else their problems were, they were united in this. “You’re damn right we are.”
He turned to Vahid. “Bejar was Entelechy, so I’m guessing you manifested early. Twenty-two, twenty-three human years, am I right?”
“Twenty-two.”
“How did you end up enslaved to Ugo Cifai?”
“She kept me for herself for a while.” He smiled like he had no idea anyone would find this objectionable.
“Meaning?” Kynan said, appalled by the possible scenarios that could arise from that response.
“I was her raised before she sold me to Ugo Cifai.” Raised, it turned out after a few questions, was what they called boys born into Sessani’s breeding program who manifested as demonkind and were immediately enslaved. Vahid finished up his explanation with appalling naivete. “Other raised were sold as soon as they manifested. Goban, for example.”
“Twenty-seven.” Winters’ anger became a fire in his awareness. He was equally disgusted. It wasn’t Vahid’s fault that he’d grown up in an environment where something like that conferred rank. “How? How could anyone do this?” She started pacing the room, and every time she went near the supply cabinet, Vahid tensed. “The women are their weak point. Finding enough. Finding a way to maximize the chances of demon offspring. It’s why they started taking street witches. Kynan.” She faced him, looking sickened. “What is she doing with the girls?”
“They are sold,” Vahid replied.
“Oh?” The question was deceptively mild.
“Female children are a profitable side business.”
“I’m sure they are,” Winters said in a tight voice. She walked to the supply cabinet and opened the door so hard the glass panel rattled.
“Winters?” Kynan asked, more for Vahid’s benefit than his. After what had happened to Gray and Addison, they all should have worried there was something bigger going on among with the adults who’d failed childhood tests for magical ability.
She yanked a white cardboard carton from a shelf and removed the metal container inside. “Arsenic.” She gestured with one hand and there was a soft pop. The box and container vanished but for a few flakes of gray ash. Next, she grabbed three stoppered bottles. “Mercury.” Another gesture, another pop, and the bottles vanished too.
Methodically, she sorted through the contents of the shelves. Vahid was unsettled. Kynan didn’t like her handling those poisons, either. No kin wanted to see a witch handling the materials used to kill the demonkind in terrible ways. The upside, if there was one, was that Vahid would have to work hard to reject the significance of Winters destroying the supplies.
“So, Vahid.” Kynan gave him a friendly smile while he sifted through the pockets of the dead mages. Vahid drew a breath and watched Winters set aside an open container of copa. “If you decide you’d rather catch up with Rangi and Goban, go ahead. If you want to go out on your own, that’s okay, too. Let me know where you end up, and I’ll see about getting you in touch with someone who can help you.”
He looked away from Winters. “What if I stay?”
“After Winters and I are done dealing with our situation here, I’ll help you out.”
“You’re a warlord, right? Like my father.”
“That’s right.” Kynan was at last free of the impediments that had kept him from taking on sworn of his own, but he wasn’t going to push Vahid to decide.
“I’ll stay if you teach me.”
He set Garzon’s phone on the floor and considered him. The guy couldn’t say the word help. Like every mageheld he’d ever known, the idea that someone might want to help him had been beaten out of him.
“I can show you what’s what.”
“If you do, am I required to swear fealty to you?”
Winters was now pulverizing objects that would have been used to make talismans, and Vahid appeared fascinated by the process. “No,” Kynan said. “No oath required.”
“What if I decide I would like to?”
Kynan looked away from Winters. “Don’t decide now. It’s too soon.”
Vahid nodded. Across the room, Winters had paused with another brown bottle in her hand. She stared at it a little too intently. “I accept, warlord.”
“Good.” He went back to going through pockets. “If you have questions about how things operate with Nikodemus, make sure you ask them.” He didn’t mention Winters’ usual role in on-boarding those new to Nikodemus. She wasn’t f
ellow sworn anymore. Who the hell knew whether she ever would be again? “You need to know what you’re getting into.”
“I will.”
Over at the cabinet, Winters made a production of brushing off the front of her jeans. “Kynan,” she said softly. “There were fifteen magehelds outside.” She cocked her head at him. “Are you leaving them to Durian?”
CHAPTER 17
Kynan remained crouched beside the dead mages while Vahid glared at Winters like he wished he could kill her with a look. He wasn’t too worried. Winters could take care of herself.
“What are you going to do?” Vahid asked.
“Dispose of the bodies, disinfect this hell-hole, and set wards so nobody else gets in.” He looked up and found Winters studying him. He pretended he didn’t notice, but he did. “Then Winters and I are going outside to deal with your buddies and a friend of ours.”
Vahid hunkered down next to him. “I think I should kill that witch for you.”
He looked at the demon and cupped his cheek. So young and angry. Smooth skin, a shade or two darker than his own, and the good looks that meant kin with significant power. “I think you didn’t hear what I said.”
“I heard you.”
He looked at Winters from over the top of Vahid’s head and wished he could touch her, too. Both of them. “Fuck with her, and I’ll kill you and ask questions later. That’s if you’re lucky. If you’re not, she’ll make you wish you were dead. No fun either way.”
Vahid pushed for psychic contact in addition to their physical one, but it wasn’t politely done. Kynan cut him off, more gently than he would have with normal kin. Other kin would have known better than to try that shit with him. Always-on low-level links were fine for the kin as a matter of course, but not the deeper one Vahid had tried to force. His heart hurt because of the demon’s ignorance and what it meant about the life Vahid had led until now.
“Nobody taught you manners, so I’ll give you a pass for that. This one time.” He kissed Vahid’s forehead, unduly conscious of Winters’ attention. “Do that again, and you’ll be in a world of hurt.”
“Sorry.” Except Vahid didn’t sound or look like he meant it, and that pissed him off.
He pressed harder on Vahid’s cheek. “Save the attitude for when you’ve got your head on straight and have what it takes to back up that bullshit you’re spouting.”
Again the mulish expression. “My father was the warlord Bejar. He was Entelechy.”
Patience. He needed patience he didn’t have. “I’m not denying you have power. Bejar, after all. That doesn’t make you a warlord.” He removed his hand from Vahid’s cheek and gave him a gentle push. “Your ignorance makes my eyes bleed. Little noob, demons half your rank know more than you do about how to get along. Hell, Goban is smarter than you. He knew better than to keep mouthing off. Somebody’s going to put you on your ass, and I guarantee you won’t like it. The free kin are different from what you’re used to, so pro tip for you. Go in making friends, not enemies. Got me?”
“Yes.” He was sullen, but at least he was shutting up.
“Good. That’s good.” Kynan picked up the mages’ wallets and tossed them to Winters while he sorted through the rest. She pulled out the identification. This was one of her specialties after an engagement like this one. She’d get the identification of the dead and take care of the legal details. Which was why he’d tossed the wallets to her.
“Two California driver’s licenses. Ugo Cifai and Denis Garzon.” She shoved the IDs in her back pocket. She looked. . . lost. “Normally, I’d call Telos and have him do the background checks.”
“Never mind. I’m just glad they’re dead.” He put aside a set of car keys and drew on his magic to incinerate the bodies. He had a few issues to deal with. Nikodemus had cleanup crews that took care of shit like this, but one, he didn’t know for sure what mood Nikodemus would be in when he got here—and Nikodemus would be here—and two, he was fully capable of making evidence disappear by himself.
Still, he hated the way the ruby-infused walls affected his magic. The longer he was here, the more intense the effect. Using any magic at all was like drawing from a pool of molasses. Everything took more focus, and there was all sorts of backscatter. He held out a hand. “A little help, Winters.”
She went to him and put her hand in his. He drew her into his embrace and, tapping the side of her head, said, “Damn rubies.”
Instead of moving his hand away from her lower back, she rested her head against his chest and sighed. “You poor, poor boy.”
“It’s been a damn long day.” He stroked her hair. This wasn’t an intimacy she ever allowed him when they weren’t alone, out of their minds with lust, and heading for the nearest mattress.
“Yes. It has.” She lifted her head and actually smiled at him. She opened herself to him. “Let’s get this done and get out of this dump.”
Having access to magic that was actually boosted by the presence of rubies—that was a rush. He still had to adjust to the boost of having Winters bound to him and to his unblocked power. He no longer had to shut down his sworn, either. In that respect, they weren’t a danger to him. With his magic and Winters’ all but twinned, they reduced the bodies to powdery ash.
One or both of the mages had been wearing rubies. He knew of at least one mage who’d had a row of rubies inserted under the skin along each side of his spine. Rasmus Kessler had woven them into his hair. Magellan had experimented with implanting rubies into his magehelds—which eventually caused agonizing pain—but the implants never survived a shift out of human form.
The rubies, once liberated from whatever had contained them before the bodies were incinerated, were easy enough to pick out of the detritus. Faceted gems, a few rough cuts, twenty cabochons, and five star-rubies. Fucking five of them.
While was doing that, Winters had gone to the mushroom bin and was muttering to herself as she surveyed the crop. “Death Cap, Destroying Angel, Autumnal Skullcap. Those bastards.” She slammed down the lid. “I’ll skullcap them.”
The bin went up in green flames.
He put the rubies in his jeans pocket and, with the same caution as before, destroyed every last molecule of the residue. The stench from the burning mushroom bin hit a nauseating zenith. Winters was throwing more of the supplies onto the flames.
And. . .great. Vahid was pulling shit again, pushing out with his magic and trying to make a connection. He was busy, for fuck’s sake. He let him think he didn’t notice. Kynan bowed over the spot where each of the bodies had fallen. Vahid made a dismissive sound. He looked up. “What’s your problem?”
“Prayer?”
Maddy put out the mushroom bin fire and took two more boxes, the last two, from the fridge unit. She dropped them on the floor. “Copa,” she said. “We can keep that.” She shot a look at Vahid. “Respect for the dead is not a character flaw.”
“They were your enemies.”
“And now they are our dead enemies.” She held Vahid’s gaze.
The demon blinked first. Vahid crossed his arms over his chest and nodded at him.
Winters wasn’t done. “He is releasing what’s left of the kin they murdered. It’s not a ritual I am familiar with, but I’m sure at some point Kynan will tell you everything you need to know.”
“Would you have respect for human dead?” Vahid’s question to him was genuinely curious.
“I would.”
“Why?” He shrugged one shoulder. “They have no magic.”
Winters stepped in. “You don’t have to like anyone, Vahid. You can hate every living thing in the world, but I advise you to respect what you have killed.”
Vahid snorted. “I cannot respect human females.”
Kynan got in his face. “Do you feel that way about Neda Sessani? Or Winters?”
“They are witches. Human, but witches.”
“We don’t have to be enemies, Vahid,” Winters said. “Kynan and I work together. Just because you’ve never s
een it doesn’t mean there aren’t magekind and kin who work together by choice. They even fall in love from time to time. They have children who are loved and wanted. I’d say that deserves some respect.”
Kynan held up a hand because his patience was worn thin, and he didn’t want to lose his temper with the fucking new guy. He failed because the next words out of his mouth were, “Ignorant prick.” He touched the tip of his index finger to Vahid’s forehead and held his magic there, building up until the air around them was hot with sparks. “In some ways this has been a truly bad day for you.” He released his magic in a slow wave so that Vahid would feel it flowing through him. Bigger. Deeper. Until there was just no question of who outranked whom. He traced a finger along Vahid’s cheek. “But this is also the best day of your life. Appreciate it.”
The younger demon strained to show no reaction, but his voice betrayed him. “You have no authority over me.”
“None at all. You’re lucky I’m in a good mood and even luckier all these fucking rubies are interfering.” At Vahid’s blank look he said, “You know about that, right? That rubies do that?”
Vahid’s eyes turned muddy, full of surly resentment.
“I guess you didn’t know. Well. You watch out for rubies. They interfere with your power. Appreciate that, because you should ask yourself what this would be like if the rubies weren’t interfering with me, and if I weren’t trying so hard to be nice.” He waited a few seconds for that to sink in. “Now, here’s what you need to know about me.” He used words colored by the energy flowing through him. “Don’t fuck with me.”
Vahid exposed his teeth and growled, but in human form, the effect wasn’t all it could be. “I will annihilate you, and all the rest of you witch-lovers.”
He cocked his head. “Until you’ve done it with a witch who likes what you like, I think you need to reserve judgment on that one.” Kynan shot a glance at Winters. She’d covered the lower part of her face with a hand and turned away. The thought that Vahid might never have had consensual sex once he’d manifested sickened them both.
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