by T R Kohler
Unable to find the stable balance of asphalt buried underneath, the tires began to slide, skidding across the surface of the road. With every inch it went, the back end fishtailed harder, drifting out to the side.
“Mom-meeee!” Emory cried from the passenger seat, his voice loud, fear permeating it. Melding with the strained lyrics of Don Henley, it was if he was speaking in tune, calling out for her aid.
“Hold on!” Ember yelled again, feeling as the car began to spin. The surface of the road became little more than a sheet of ice, a frictionless slab for them to turn atop, headlights striping the world around them.
Lifting her backside from the seat, Ember mashed both feet down on the brake. Pressing so hard she forced her shoulders against the seat, she clamped her jaw tight, sucking in thin gasps of air. Sweat bathed her face as her pulse raced through her temples.
As best she could tell, the road ahead was straight. She just had to keep them in the center of it. Just needed to slow their momentum, get the car to come to a stop.
Body pulled back into a straight line, like an arrow notched into a bow, Ember willed the car to slow. The snow to stop. The sleet piled high on the road to subside.
The damn music blasting around them to quiet.
But none of those things happened.
Instead, all that did was the tires finally managed to find a grip, digging through the loose collection of water and ice. Ripping into a narrow trench cleared by a collection of low-hanging branches, the tread bit down, clinging to the road for an instant.
Just long enough to cause the car to stop its spiral, the centrifugal force jerking them to the side, lifting the driver’s side into the air.
Chapter Forty-One
Ember was left in the house to watch over Bob and make sure he didn’t try anything. Whether that included calling someone, sending an email, or just running out the front door and jumping into his VW Bus, Kaia couldn’t be sure, but she knew there was no way she could risk leaving the man alone.
Not with everything he had just shared.
Leaving them both where they were, she stepped out through the front door and returned to the Viper. As inviting as the bluffs out back were, she couldn’t risk a thing she was about to say being overheard.
Especially not after finding out how many could potentially be descending on the house at any moment.
Settling in behind the wheel, she glanced into the rearview mirror. Free from her avatar, she saw what Bob and now Ember both did, her true form staring back.
A good look, if she did say so herself.
Snatching up her cellphone from the middle console, she scrolled down to the first saved listing and hit send. Bypassing the preferred speakerphone, she pressed it to her face, sweat already bathing her skin, making the smooth plastic slick.
After just a single ring, it was snatched up, the voice on the other end sounding as urgent as she felt.
“Kaia!” Typhon snapped. “I’ve been calling for the past twenty minutes. Where the crap have you been?”
Under normal circumstances, she would take exception to the tone and the underlying insinuation.
In this case, she let it pass without comment.
“I’m in Solana Beach,” Kaia said. “It’s a little beach town north of San Diego, and home to the collector that Tam was trying to get in touch with.”
“I know what it was,” Typhon said. “I made some calls, and I found out-”
“It’s a Seeing Eye,” Kaia finished. Passing a thumb over her brow, sweat droplets slid the length of it, spattering her lap.
“Shit,” Typhon muttered, “so he knows too.”
“If he didn’t, he figured it out the second we showed up,” Kaia said. “Saw right through me, even looked at the real Ember Squires. Whatever he has, it’s the real deal.”
“Shit,” Typhon spat again. “I was almost hoping that little baby bastard was just messing with me.”
Years of working with Typhon told Kaia that he was referring to Valac. Having much the same opinion of the demon as her boss, she knew if the two had been in contact, it had been to his extreme chagrin.
She just hoped he hadn’t promised too much in the process, otherwise, the inevitable fury over it would eventually work its way down to her.
Things like that just tended to move in one direction.
“Well, he’s not,” Kaia said. “The artifact is real, but the guy didn’t fully grasp what it was he had. Dumbass cast a wide net, was basically just looking to score a deal.”
On the other end, she could hear Typhon sigh, almost imagining him pacing behind his desk, running a hand back over his hair.
“What kind of deal?” Typhon asked.
“I don’t know,” Kaia said. “Not until the very end did he even mention it. I told him I wasn’t the one to be negotiating with, but I’d step outside and see what I could nail down.”
Heavy steps echoed over the line as Kaia stared out. Sweat burned her eyes and the small crease above her ear, making her wish nothing more than that she could be walking along the bluffs.
It would still be hot, but at least she would have air moving.
“Where is it now?” Typhon asked.
“He says it’s in a safe place,” Kaia said. “I didn’t want to press the matter until I talked to you.”
The rules were very clear on how their kind were allowed to interact with humans. Interviewing them was fine. Scaring them was a bit of a gray area, but thus far nobody had ever been prosecuted for destroying a television.
Taking it any further, trying to torture the man for information, was a dangerous proposition, as such things could lead to places that were strictly forbidden.
At the same time, both knew the potential impact that a Seeing Eye getting out could have on their kind. If left unchecked for any amount of time, it would effectively end their time on Earth, making it impossible for them to slip by unnoticed.
“How long’s it been since one of these was around?” Kaia asked.
She had been a direct employee of Hell for more than fifty years. Not once in her days had she encountered one, only a time or two even hearing of such a thing.
“Long, long time,” Typhon said, his voice lowered, as if deep in thought.
“And could it be as bad as I think it could?”
“Worse,” Typhon responded, not a moment’s hesitation.
Nodding, Kaia glanced into the rearview mirror. She looked at her true self, seeing what Bob had, what the rest of the world soon might.
Typhon was right. That was something they could not allow to happen.
“Orders?” Kaia asked.
A heavy sigh was the first response. After came a moment’s pause before Typhon eventually replied, “I was just there two nights ago for Ember’s contract. You know the rules.”
Pressing her lips tight, Kaia gave a grim nod. “Yeah.”
Demons on the level of Typhon were only allowed on Earth a few times a year. Coming twice in just a few days was all but forbidden.
That was why they employed people like Kaia and Ember in the first place, to keep the middle realm from becoming an open battleground.
“You’re going to have to do it,” Typhon said.
Again, Kaia nodded. It had been a while since she’d negotiated a contract, that one a far cry from these stakes.
Still, there was no time. They didn’t have a choice.
“Terms?” she asked.
“Whatever he wants,” Typhon replied. “Make him work for it, but get that damned mirror.”
Chapter Forty-Two
“Stop what you’re doing.”
Gad looked up from his post alongside the bed, his features a mask of exhaustion and confusion. “What?”
“Stop what you’re doing,” Jonas repeated. Entering their sleeping chambers, he strode straight across the room, stopping just short of the bed, his focus on the patient sprawled across the top of it.
With most of his head still wrapped in gauze, it
was almost impossible to tell where he was in the healing process. Strips of bloody bandages filled the waste bin beside the bed, the man’s body still in the same position he’d been in since he arrived.
“What are you talking about?” Gad asked, rising to his feet. Raising both hands, he rubbed them over his cheeks. When he pulled them away, his eyes were brighter, his skin glowing pink. “He’s not even awake yet, let alone able to talk to you.”
“I know,” Jonas replied. “That’s the point.”
The idea had come to him just a few minutes earlier, in the wake of delivering food to John Lee Tam. What he had said to the man was the truth. He hadn’t enjoyed torturing him earlier. Had hated every moment of it, in fact.
That sort of thing wasn’t how they operated. That was territory best left to the other side.
They were supposed to be the good guys, after all.
Still, the information it had provided was vital at the time, just as they were now in dire need of more.
Only this time, they were armed with something far more effective than torture to procure it.
“That’s the idea?” Gad repeated, his eyebrows rising slightly.
Bypassing the question, Jonas extended a single finger toward the bed. “Unwrap his head.”
Twice Gad’s jaw moved up and down, protest no doubt on his mind, before he managed to say, “But, sir-”
“I know,” Jonas said. “I have an idea. We won’t hurt him.”
There was clearly more Gad wanted to say, responses lined up to be fired back, but he cut them short. Pressing his mouth tight, he gave a single shake of the head before walking forward.
Using his fingers like pincers, he unfastened the clip holding the front edge of the bandage in place. Carefully lifting the man’s shoulders from the bed, he slowly unfurled the white gauze, several feet of it spooling in his hands.
With each layer that came away, the pristine white color became a bit more stained. By the time they reached the last few rotations, it was mottled throughout, some spots dark with crusted blood.
As Gad worked, Jonas stood with his arms folded, inspecting what lay beneath.
Once they were finished, he was quite pleased with what he saw.
The left side of the man’s head was far from healed, even with half a day of Gad’s care. The scalp above his right ear resembled fresh hamburger, the flesh sanguine, raw and glistening. Extended from halfway back his head almost to his forehead, it would be quite a while before the cosmetics were back in order.
To say nothing of the inner workings beneath it.
“Damn demons have hard heads, don’t they?” Jonas whispered, looking on at the damage.
Sighing slightly, Gad gave only an eyebrow shrug. “Yeah, they sure do.”
Taking a step to the side, Jonas came up along the bed opposite Gad. Both staring down at the man between them, he asked, “Is he stable enough to move?”
“Move?” Gad asked, his brows coming together.
“Yeah.”
Making a face, Gad said, “I mean, not really. Where are we taking him?”
“Just across the hall,” Jonas said. “And just for a few minutes.”
Raising his gaze from the man, Gad looked directly at Jonas. His features impassive for a moment, things seemed to eventually click into place for him, realization flashing.
Tipping the top of his head back just slightly, he said, “I think if we were careful, moved slowly, Micah and I could get him across the hall and back without incident.”
In response, Jonas nodded. That was all he needed.
The previous trip to see Tam was meant to be a peace offering, a weak stab in case they needed something from him later.
Considering the amount of pain the man had endured earlier, it wasn’t likely he would be giving anything up easily, but it didn’t hurt to lay the groundwork just in case.
Somewhere in the course of his repeated trips around the barn, walking through the brittle grass, a second idea had come to Jonas. One that could exert pressure on Tam, capitalize on the goodwill he’d already attempted to sow, without having to rely on torture.
The young man in their care was a human. And he had been injured by a demon out looking for Tam.
The particulars of the incident were a bit more sordid than that, but Tam didn’t need to know everything for him to be beneficial. All he needed was a clear picture of what the other side was capable of. What they would do to him if ever they were given the chance again.
That the object they were in search of was far greater than Tam, or this young man, or anybody else.
No means was too great, the ends already completely justified.
“Do what you need to to get him ready,” Jonas said, pointing with his chin to the bed. Taking a step back, he added, “I’ll go get Micah.”
The clock was ticking. Kaia and Ember and whoever else was out there, and even though they’d lost their lead, they were no doubt still searching with everything they had.
It was time for him to start doing the same.
Chapter Forty-Three
Every moment Kaia was outside, Bob seemed to grow more confident. Returning to his post on the couch, his arms outstretched, his feet before him, he let the smug smile return to his face.
After three minutes, he started making a show of checking his watch.
After five, comments like, “She sure has been gone a while. Must have a lot to discuss,” began popping up.
By the time she stepped back inside, almost a full ten minutes had passed, time enough for Ember to have more than once considered grabbing Bob by the beard and dragging him out to the cliff behind the house. Holding him by the thick and curly scruff, she imagined his portly body extended at an angle over the eighty-foot drop, only her grip and waning patience keeping him from going over.
Saved from doing so solely by the sound of the front door opening and Kaia’s steps growing closer, Ember turned away from the window to see Kaia enter. Sweating heavily, she glanced to Ember before taking up a spot in front of Bob and folding her arms.
Saying nothing, she stood resolutely in place, waiting as a smiling Bob looked from her to Ember and back again.
Just seeing the man’s expression made Ember once more consider the cliff out back. Or a firm swat across the face. Or at the very least wrecking another of his precious electronic devices.
“Well?” Bob asked.
Letting out a long, slow sigh through her nose, Kaia said, “I spoke to my boss.”
“And?” Bob said, his eyebrows rising.
“And he agreed that if you take us to the Seeing Eye right now, then maybe we can do some negotiating.”
Ember had no idea if Kaia had done this sort of thing before, if someone else would be handling it if there was more time, but she had to admit, the girl was playing her cards well. Every sentence seemed like a pained admission, giving away more than she wanted.
Even if, as yet, she hadn’t handed over a single thing.
“Oh,” Bob said, smirking slightly, “then maybe we can negotiate?”
Pushing off her right foot, Ember slid forward. Rotating her body at the waist, she let her right arm trail behind her, building momentum like a whip.
By the time her hand connected with the side of his face, it had enough centrifugal force to snap his head to the side. A string of spittle shot from his mouth, dotting the white leather couch.
The culmination of entirely too much time spent dealing with the man, Ember felt the sting of the blow rise through her fingers, going clear to her elbow. Following through onto her right foot, she was just barely able to slow her momentum, coming to a stop before stepping back away from the couch.
“Hey, asshole, we’re the ones in charge here.”
A single grunt was the first response, Bob’s body pitched to the side. Turning at the waist, he slowly lifted himself back upright, raising a hand to his face.
A groan sounded out the full length of his journey.
In
just the time it took for him to make it back to a seated position, the entire side of his face was red, an angry welt formed, bruising promising to be close behind.
“You crazy...” he muttered, flicking his eyes to Kaia just in time to catch himself from saying anything further. “You...you can’t do that.”
“No,” Ember said, shaking her head. “She can’t do that, but I can. Why else do you think you see me as a woman, even after holding the mirror?”
Beginning to respond, Bob’s voice caught in his throat. His jaw sagged as he stared at Ember, trying to weigh what she’d said, before glancing to Kaia.
“Is that-”
“True?” Kaia said. “Can you see her? Did she just smack the taste out of your mouth?”
In real time, Ember watched as Bob ran the numbers in his head, computing what he’d just been told.
The rules had only hastily been explained to Ember. All Kaia had said for certain was she couldn’t kill someone. There was no way of knowing if what she’d just done was allowed, though she couldn’t see many people getting carried away over a simple slap.
Especially not to someone as deserving as Bob.
“So, again, you take us to the Seeing Eye, and we can negotiate,” Kaia said.
His hand still on his face, Bob worked his jaw from side to side. Making a pained expression, he lowered his hand.
“I’ll take you to the mirror. I don’t want it, and I damned sure don’t want to look at either of you ever again, but I’d like to have something in place before we go.”
Flicking a glance between them, he added, “I am a businessman, and forgive me if I don’t quite trust messengers from Hell.”
Remaining silent, Ember cast her focus over to Kaia. Standing rigid, she kept her hands flexed by her side, ready to strike again if need be.
Though, somehow, she doubted that would be necessary.
“What were you thinking?” Kaia asked. “And be reasonable. Anything outlandish, and Ember here is going off on you again.”
Choosing not to even look Ember’s way, Bob said, “Like I said, I’m a businessman, and businessmen get paid. Normally, I’d be asking for something monetary, but look at this place. Does it look like I’m sweating the coin?”