Rise of the Demon, page 30
He nodded. “I have been well-briefed.”
Whew. “Then I’ll leave you to your studies. It was a pleasure to meet you, Arnel.”
“Likewise, Kara.”
• • •
Meeting Arnel had lifted my spirits, not only because he seemed like a genuinely nice man, but because the presence of more humans in the demon realm would hopefully help the various qaztahl see any threat to Earth as a threat to a world of actual real people with names and faces and thoughts and dreams. Though humans had been an integral part of the lords’ experience for millennia, the demon realm had been mostly isolated from Earth for the past few centuries, so an in-your-face reminder couldn’t hurt.
Despite the lifted spirits, fatigue began to dog my steps as I continued along the path. And no wonder, since I’d already put in a solid day and a half or so of various exertions, what with the stress of prepping to leave the compound, the hijinks at the spires, and the restoration of Zakaar and the accompanying battle. The sun was barely at its zenith here, but my energy level was diving toward its nadir.
Fortunately, my body decided to give me a second wind as I passed through the aquatic courtyard and spied Vahl. He stood near an Asian woman with short, grey-streaked hair. Looked to be in her sixties or so. Fit, with muscled shoulders, and a weathered face that held bright eyes and a strong jaw. She sat on the same bench Jill had occupied earlier and gazed down at the fishy creatures, but glanced up as I angled their way. Vahl bent and murmured something to her, and she gave me a more guarded look before nodding up at him. He smiled, rested a hand briefly on her shoulder, and strode in my direction.
It had been a year or so since I’d last seen Vahl, but little had changed about him. Tall, athletic build, perfect dark skin. He still smoldered. Still exuded sexiness.
His mouth curved into a smile as he approached. “Kara Gillian,” he murmured, gaze sweeping over me.
“Vahl,” I replied in an over-the-top sexy purr.
He tipped his head back and laughed. “Ah, I deserved that. How I have missed you!” Yet his expression grew more measuring as he looked into my face. “Are you still with Mzatal?”
The question surprised me, because surely by now everyone knew we weren’t “together” in any traditional sense at the moment. But then I realized there was probably more to the question. “Why do you ask?” I said all innocent-like.
Caution—and perhaps uncertainty?—whispered over his features. “He has closed himself off in the past, but this time is different. More absolute.”
“Indeed it is.” I met his eyes. “I suppose we all react in our own ways to the influences around us.” I paused for a breath, then added, “Where is your ptarl?”
Vahl’s brow creased. “You came this way, I assume, for greater purpose than my delightful company.”
I didn’t miss how he’d skated right past my question. “Your company is, as ever, delightful, but you’re right. My purpose is more dire.”
I traced a quick pair of privacy wards, then told him what we’d learned about Jesral’s plans regarding his Earthgate and what we suspected his ultimate intent to be, gauging Vahl’s reaction after each revelation. As I spoke, his expression grew more and more guarded.
When I finished, he remained still. “I confess it is difficult to accept Jesral would take it so far, though I cannot deny his desire for mastery runs deep.” He paused a moment. “Jesral believes he has never been given the respect he is due, and thus will take it and feel justified in doing so.”
“That’s quite the insight,” I murmured. I didn’t doubt his assessment of Jesral. But I wondered if Vahl realized how much he’d revealed of his own psyche. A vague sense of self-enforced neutrality or uncertainty still lingered about him, as if he wanted to be sure he chose the path that would suit him best, give him the most relevance, whether or not it was right one.
He tilted his head toward the woman on the bench. “Suong is from your North Vietnam and has experience with dictators and tragedy. It would grieve me deeply to see your entire world in such a state.”
“I imagine she has some well-honed instincts for the type of people who would crave such domination.”
“The tragedy is that too often such instincts are born from bitter and painful experience.” His eyes flicked to the sigil scars visible above the neckline of my shirt.
“The hope is that we can use that hard earned instinct to protect others from similar trauma.” I tilted my head and put on my best innocent expression. “Has Suong met Jesral?”
Vahl chuckled low. “I assure you, I will do everything in my power to keep Suong safe and protected.” He took my hands and gently kissed my knuckles. “May we be worthy soldiers in this battle.”
• • •
I left Vahl with the fish and mused over the encounter. He’d put on a good show of being concerned and serious and disapproving of Jesral’s actions, but my time as a cop meant I’d been around a lot of liars. Really good ones, too, who’d perfected deception and dissembling over many years with hundreds of different people. Vahl was thousands of years old, but he didn’t actually have that much practice at appearing earnest while being less than truthful, considering he dealt primarily with the other lords. And even when he did have interactions with humans, I doubted he’d ever needed to lead them to believe he was being anything less than open and honest. Why would he need to when a) he could read their thoughts, and b) adjust those thoughts if they didn’t suit his purposes?
But he couldn’t read or adjust my thoughts, and I didn’t need lordy mental powers to know he wasn’t as anti-Jesral as he wanted me to believe.
I found Jekki after a brief search and crouched before him. “Honored Jekki, I have a favor to ask of you, yet I’ll understand completely if it’s beneath your honor.”
Jekki cocked his head. “Kara Gillllian would never purposely hurt Jekki’s honor.”
“I certainly hope not.” I smiled. “My request is a simple one. If you or any other faas see Vahl sending a message sigil within the next couple of hours or so, would you please let me know?”
“Kri kri kri,” Jekki burbled, then leaned toward me and lowered his voice. “We can also see see seeeeee if any lord here receives a message from Vahl!”
My smile widened. “You are indeed the most clever of all faas.” If none of the lords here received a sigil from Vahl, that narrowed down the possible recipients by quite a bit.
I thanked Jekki again, and he darted off, tail vibrating with excitement at the mission.
As I thought about it more, I wasn’t all that surprised at how the conversation with Vahl had gone. As sexy and smoldering as Vahl could be, he sure did seem to carry a lot of insecurity. In fact, he reminded me of a girl I knew in college—always angling to be invited to whatever cool thing was going on, even if the cool thing didn’t actually interest her at all. But she was so desperate to be included and part of a group that she ended up hopping from social circle to social circle and never actually did the work to get to know people and let them get to know her.
I’d told Jesral he was a middle of the pack wannabe, but Vahl was definitely at the bottom of the pecking order. Yes, even below Seretis, because never in a million years would Seretis switch allegiances just for a shot at, what, popularity?
I snorted. I couldn’t imagine Vahl ever being willing to sacrifice everything to do what was right. He wasn’t a bad person, but he was definitely a weak one.
At the same time, I wouldn’t delude myself that certain other lords would be willing to believe the worst of Jesral. Hell, Amkir was so far up Jesral’s ass, I’d need scuba gear to have a conversation with him.
Lost in my musings, I damn near jumped out of my skin at a piercing whistle just ahead and above. My hand instinctively went toward my weapon until I realized the source was Janice Massi, who grinned and waved at me from a balcony that blossomed with turquoise demon-roses. I aborted my reach for my gun and shifted to an enthusiastic return wave. Janice was in her late forties, with dark hair and complexion, and was omg smart and funny. I’d “rescued” her from Rhyzkahl’s clutches, back when I’d been convinced—with good reason—that the humans who’d been transported to the demon realm were there to be little more than sex slaves. Janice had quite firmly informed me that, while they had indeed been transported to the demon realm, none had been forced to remain—or do anything else—against their will. In fact, after they received healing or help, all were given the option to return to Earth. So far they’d chosen to remain as companions to the various lords.
“Hey!” she called down. “You gonna be downstairs in the Sylvan Hall later? A bunch of us pesky humans are doing a bit of meet and greet hangout thing in an hour or so.”
“Count me in!” I replied, weirdly delighted to be included in a social activity that was human. Normal-ish. “I have a couple of extremely pesky human types of my own I can bring along too, if that’s okay?”
“Hell yeah, the more the merrier!” She laughed. “Time to show these lords how to party. Maybe we’ll even raid Elofir’s liquor cabinet and smoke his cigars!”
“If there’s raiding, I’m there!”
“And we’ll get Kian to be the lookout!”
“Who’s Kian?”
“You’ll meet him tonight.” She glanced back toward her rooms. “Hang on, Kian says we need weed.”
A distant male voice shouted, “No, I said I’m trying to read!”
“Right, we need weed.” She winked at me. “You got any weed?”
“Nope. Not even a weed seed!” I replied, enjoying the ludicrous exchange. It probably helped that fatigue made me extra punchy. “Arnel’s a botanist. Maybe he knows where we can score weed! Wait, does the demon realm even have weed?”
“Hell, they have giant flying sharks that eat stray magic,” she said with a shrug. “Why not weed?”
I grinned, remembering the time Helori took me for a flight in the ever-gaping mouth of one of those behemoths. “I can’t argue with that logic!”
The balcony doors across from Janice’s flew open, putting a halt to our conversation. Amkir stepped out and sent a black glare down at me. Dark hair, strong bone structure, and built like a Russian gymnast. He’d’ve been damn handsome if he wasn’t such an asshole.
Janice gave him an over-the-top enthusiastic wave. “Hi, Lord Amkir!” she said, tone bright and just shy of sarcastic. “It’s so nice to see you!”
I fully expected him to snarl something nasty at her, but he merely let out a small sigh and offered up a pained expression that almost resembled a smile.
“A pleasure as always, Janice Massi,” he said in a long-suffering tone. His attention returned fully to me, then he very slowly lifted one hand and extended his middle finger. He held it for a heartbeat, eyes locked on mine, then dropped his hand, returned inside, and closed the doors firmly.
Janice and I looked at each other, wide-eyed and open-mouthed in shock for an instant before we burst out laughing. What the fuck just happened? she stage-whispered at me.
I spread my hands in an expression of pure bafflement, then stage-whispered back, Maybe he’s been into the weed?
Janice slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her even more exuberant laughter, waved with the other, and hurried inside.
Spirits and energy levels lifted, I made my way to my room, reflecting on the interaction. How much did Amkir know of Jesral’s plots? Amkir was one of the original Mraztur, but Jesral certainly seemed to be out for himself and no one else at this point. No way would I ever be able to have a civil conversation with Amkir, but maybe Janice could? She didn’t tolerate stupid bullshit and was sharp as a tack. Here I was thinking I’d have to do all the heavy lifting when it came to convincing the other lords Jesral was up to some really bad shit, but in truth, I potentially had a cadre of astute and clever humans to do much of the legwork for me.
I entered the suite, then bit back a laugh at the sight of sleeping bodies scattered about the common room. Bryce sprawled on a couch. Jill was snuggled down in a pile of oversized cushions. And Szerain sat in an armchair with his head tipped back, eyes closed and fingers laced over his stomach. I wasn’t sure if he was actually asleep, but he damn sure didn’t look perky. Even the ever-active Jekki was curled on a cushion near the balcony doors.
The one fully conscious member of the lot was Idris, who sat at the table doing idle arcane exercises, the equivalent of a musician doing scales.
“When did the others pass out?” I asked him, keeping my voice pitched low.
He smiled. “About five minutes after you left.”
“Good to know I’m not the only one suffering from jet lag,” I said. “Or planet lag.”
Idris snorted. “I’ve been bouncing around our own planet so much, I think my body’s forgotten what a circadian rhythm actually is.”
“I remember those days,” I said with a wry smile. “But at least you’re still young and can recover from lost sleep in no time.” I tilted my head. “Tomorrow’s a big day, though.” The shikvihr. The whole enchilada.
“Yeah, I’m going to grab a power nap in just a few.” He finished the exercise and dispelled the potency. “Eleventh ring. Feels weird that it’s happening like this.”
“Without Mzatal,” I said, quietly.
He shoved a hand through his hair. “Yeah. But, y’know, it’s cool.” He jerked one shoulder up in a too-casual shrug. “He’s the one who trained me. That’s the important part.”
I nodded, aching for him. “Have you met any of the new human companions?” I asked to change the subject. I went on to tell him about Arnel—who Idris had also bumped into—then summarized my encounter with Vahl and then the strangely hysterical one with Janice and Amkir, as well as my thoughts about getting the other humans to help sway opinions.
“Great idea.” He cocked his head. “Amkir actually flipped you off?”
“Janice is my witness!”
“That is so weird.”
“Speaking of Janice, she’s invited all the humans to a meet and greet in the Sylvan Hall in about an hour.”
“Sounds good to me,” he said through a yawn. “But first, nap time.”
I tried to clench my teeth against an answering yawn but lost the battle. “Damn it. Same here.”
I went into my room, barely remembered to set the alarm on my watch, then flopped onto the bed and was out like a light.
Chapter 28
Szerain was gone when I emerged an hour later, but Idris and Bryce were awake and drinking chak to dispel lingering sleepies.
“I’m not much on parties,” Bryce said, “but after everything we’ve been through, I’m making an exception.” His mouth twitched in a smile. “Plus, Jill’s dead set on going.” He hooked a thumb toward her room. “The zrila delivered a package a little while ago. She’s changing now, and that faas, Reft, is doing her hair.”
As if summoned, Jill stepped out of her room, grinning a mile wide. She wore a flared forest green shirt that made her eyes look outright luminous, close-fitting pants in a dark blue that shimmered when she moved, and ankle boots made of a crimson, scale-like material. Her hair had been trimmed just a bit and now framed her face in clever waves, held back on one side with an elegant clip that sparkled and matched the rest of her clothing.
Jill laughed and gave a spin. “How do you like the makeover?”
“You look fucking amazing,” I said, grinning.
“Doesn’t she?” Bryce murmured, then quickly yanked his gaze away to look out the window at . . . something very important. Uh huh.
I held back a snicker with effort. “Are y’all ready to head downstairs and do that alien ritual called socializing?”
Jill smoothed her hands over the shirt, squared her shoulders as if preparing for battle, and gave a fierce nod. “Let’s do this.”
• • •
The entrance of Sylvan Hall was an impressive arch of thick, twining vines peppered with tiny luminous white flowers like living fairy lights. Within the hall, trees and interwoven branches and vines formed natural walls enclosing an irregularly shaped space about the size of a basketball court. A leafy canopy arched above as a ceiling, and a mix of opalescent flagstones and short, dense blue-green grass served as flooring. On the far wall, a mini-waterfall splashed onto shimmering stones, and all throughout the room, constellations of the firefly creatures cast soft golden-hued light reminiscent of a sunset, creating a welcoming ambience.
Clusters of cushions and low seating offered plenty of opportunities for small group conversations. Some of the people present I knew, and some I didn’t. There was no sign of Paul or Dominic, so Kadir likely hadn’t arrived—or they were planning to be fashionably late.
Even with less than a dozen of us present, we still managed to take up a solid quarter of the room, since everyone mixed and mingled in ever-shifting clusters. Faas circulated with food and drink, and a pair of nine-foot reyza crouched on either side of the arch like sentient gargoyles.
Elofir’s beloved, Michelle Cleland, and a few others had e-tablets with them, all bearing the same type of arcane shielding case as Arnel’s phone. I was unsurprised to learn it was Paul who’d provided the devices, special cases, and solar chargers to the companions. There was no wi-fi or cell service in the demon realm, of course, but Paul downloaded popular movies and TV shows onto the companions’ tablets on a regular basis. Could hypothetical super-powered Wi-Fi make it through a rift? Probably not, I decided, since the arcane interference would be pretty wicked. Still, I snickered at the mental image of humans and demons clustered around a rift with their devices, desperately seeking a signal.
Right now, however, apart from using the tablets and phones to take or share the occasional picture, everyone seemed content to simply socialize. I already knew Michelle, of course—the lovely and vivacious human companion who’d been in the demon realm the longest. She’d come a long way from the drug-addicted hooker I’d met what felt like a million years ago. Arnel chatted with her, looking somewhat bemused but happy enough to converse and mingle.
