Guardian's Patience, page 26
part #5 of Guardians of the Race Series
“You always say that. You’ll get over it.”
“You’re looking pretty good,” Grace said to Pinkie, almost as if she resented it.
“I feel about the same way you look,” Pinkie admitted and then confessed, “I’ve never drank that much before.”
“Every once in a while, it’s good to cut loose. We don’t do it often.”
“You can say that again,” Dov agreed, “Most of the time it’s like living in an old age home. On really wild days they make popcorn.” He twirled his finger in the air.
“Good waking. Canaan sent me to make more coffee since everyone’s bitching about his. Oh lookie,” JJ chirped cheerily, “Someone’s already made it.”
She was wearing a crisp white shirt over a pair of form fitting jeans. The shirt was belted at the waist with an embossed leather belt. She had silver hoops in her ears to match the silver buckle of the belt. Her makeup looked perfect. She was smiling and cheerful. Pinkie thought she might hate her, too.
“You’ll get over it,” JJ laughed.
“Did I say that out loud?” Pinkie asked.
“Nah, but you have the same look on your face as Grace, and she always hates me after a day like that. When you think you can walk a straight line, Canaan wants to see you. That’s our Liege Lord Canaan not your will-you-polka-with-me Canaan.”
“Oh shit.” Pinkie slunk down in the chair.
Grace laughed and shrugged. “He never ceases to amaze me. Who knew the big boy could polka?”
JJ poked her thumb in Pinkie’s direction. “Who’d a thunk this one knew all the words to Beer Barrel Polka.”
This didn’t sound good. “Can I ask you something? Was Broadbent mad?” Pinkie asked.
“I don’t think so,” Dov answered seriously, “The last time I saw him, he had you over his shoulder. He was patting your ass and telling you everything was fine. He’d find your six-shooter when you got upstairs. I’m pretty sure he was smiling. I mean, you could see his teeth. Kind of.”
Pinkie handed Sebastian to his mother and then pointed to her head. “Next time you decide to celebrate, give me some warning and I’ll conjure up something ahead of time to fix this.”
“I love you,” Grace replied.
Pinkie headed for the door. “Come on, JJ, as long as I can have some of that coffee, I think I can do this.”
Pinkie followed JJ to a room with a wall full of computer stations. A long wooden table ran down the middle of the room, its top scarred from years of abuse. The wall opposite the computers was covered in maps.
As soon as he saw her, Broadbent was up from his chair and holding the one next to his out for her. As he helped push the chair in, he leaned toward her ear and whispered.
“Are you all right?”
“Why didn’t you wake me?” she whispered back.
“I tried. On my third attempt you suggested I go to hell. I thought it best to leave you be.”
“Why don’t you ever hold my chair like that?” JJ was asking Nardo.
“Because you’d yell at me for treating you like some weak female.”
“Patience is not a weak female.”
Broadbent’s defense of her might have been sweet if it hadn’t been so loud. Her head still ached.
Canaan rapped the table with his knuckles. “People. Can we move this along? I left the twins in charge of the twins.”
“Grace is up.”
He nodded. “Good. Then let’s get down to business. Nico can catch up when he gets here.”
Nico got there at that moment. “Sorry, Hope’s a little under the weather.” He snapped his fingers and pointed at JJ. “And if you so much as smile, I’ll rip your heart out.”
JJ nudged Nardo with her elbow. “Are you going to let him threaten me like that?”
Nardo’s eyebrows went up. “Did you get Hope drunk again?” he asked and when she nodded, he laughed. “The you’re on your own, sweetcakes.”
“People!”
Everyone sat up a little straighter.
“Pinkie, what can you tell us about this demon and his whereabouts.”
Broadbent nodded to her and Pinkie took a deep breath.
“His name is Abyar. He has a knack for manipulation. He’s greedy and obsessive and he hates to lose. That’s why he hates me. That’s why he wants me. That’s why he won’t let me go. In a way, I think he’s enjoyed the chase. I think he’s fed off it all these years. He’s the cat and I’m his mouse and he knows how the chase will end. Tormenting me with it just adds to his pleasure.”
“Then he’s in for a surprise.” Canaan’s voice was loud in the quiet that followed Pinkie’s story. “Tell us where he is.”
She told them. She even used the map on the wall to point it out.
“He has a witch working for him. She’s probably the one working the mirrors which means he’s probably not the only demon in that house, but I have no idea if it’s one or twenty. Be careful of her. She can enchant, mesmerize. She did it to me.” She told of their meeting in the shop. “She’s warded the house. You’ll pass right by it if you’re not careful. You won’t take them by surprise. They’ll know you’re there the minute you touch the door.”
The meeting was brief. They asked her questions. She answered. Canaan put his hands on the table and used them to push himself to standing. He smiled at Pinkie and was about to speak when the door opened and Grace walked in carrying a tray.
“I had a couple of coffee cakes in the freezer and I thought...”
“You’d stop in and make sure I wasn’t bullying your new lamb. That wasn’t too difficult, was it? I didn’t bully you, did I?” the Liege Lord asked Pinkie.
“No, not at all.”
“There, you see? Canaan started to say to his mate, when Pinkie continued.
“I was afraid you were going to ask me about my time in the Otherworld.”
Chapter 25
Grace almost dropped the tray.
“Otherworld?” She set the tray down on the table and pointed at Pinkie’s nose. “Don’t move. Don’t speak.” And to Canaan, “And don’t ask any questions. I’ll go get the others.”
“Grace, this is...”
“Family. And whatever she has to say, she shouldn’t have to say it twice.” She was already out the door and hollering for Dov to get Manon and Otto before Canaan could object.
Pinkie had never spoken of her time in the Otherworld to anyone. Who was there to tell? Why she brought it up now, she didn’t know or maybe, unconsciously, she did. Shared burdens were lighter and it had been a long time since she’d had anyone care. But what if this family Grace insisted she be a part of found this burden too repugnant to share.
“You needn’t put yourself through this, Patience.” Broadbent was sitting close enough to feel the trembling of her body. He placed his big hand over her small one and gave it a comforting squeeze. “Nor should you fear their response. I am here, and if they should be offended, I shall tell them all to go to hell.”
“Have I told you lately that I love you?” she said as the others took their seats at the table.
“Not since yesterday.”
“Well darlin’, she’s telling you now.” The twins sang the classic country lyrics in unison.
Pinkie laughed. Broadbent didn’t get the reference.
“I’ll find it for you later,” she promised.
She took another deep breath and let it out again before looking around the table. All she saw were smiles and nods of encouragement. One more deep breath and she began.
“You all know Nardo looked me up, so you all know there are gaps in my history.” She made quotes in the air with her fingers. “The shorter gaps are when I found jobs that paid in cash or lived off what I’d saved from my previous job. I never stayed in one place very long because either Abyar found me, or I met someone who made me think he’d found me. It wasn’t fun, but I was free which beats the hell out of the longest gap, the first three years.”
Pinkie closed her eyes.
“After my parents died, I belonged to the demon called Abyar for one thousand, one hundred and ninety-five days. I know this because I made a mark on the wall for each and every one of them.
“Abyar taught me how to open doors to the Otherworld through mirrors. Do you know about the mirrors?” she asked, opening her eyes.
“Not much,” Nardo said while he looked at his mate. “We’ve come across them a few times.”
Pinkie nodded. “Demons can use them to communicate, but they need someone like us to bring them over,” she said, referring to the Daughters of Man. “There’s a ritual, but it’s slow and you can only move one being at a time. It forms a kind of tunnel with the doors at either end; one in this world, one in that.”
JJ shook her head and kept shaking it as she spoke. “That’s not what it was like. The bitch didn’t use a ritual and that sure as hell was no tunnel. It was like some kind of void. It felt like my body was being torn apart and it hurt like hell.” She shrugged and explained. “Long story short, I kind of fell through a mirror in an attempt to stop someone else. It sucked me in and I had to blow myself out.” JJ wiggled her fingers.
“One being at a time,” Pinkie repeated, “You were the second. You’re lucky you’re alive. As for how she did it, I don’t know. It could have been someone at the other end. Whoever it was, she wasn’t very good at it.”
“Don’t we know it.” In the first soft gesture Pinkie had seen between the couple, JJ laid her hand on Nardo’s arm and smiled. She transferred the smile to Pinkie. “Could have used you that day, fluffball.”
“Thanks.” Pinkie took another deep breath. “There’s a faster way and you can hold the door open for longer periods of time. More beings can cross.”
“Blood magic,” Nico said flatly.
“Yes, blood magic.” Remembering just how much blood, she closed her eyes and when she opened them again, they were burned with tears.
“Patience,” Broadbent said softly. His hand tightened on hers.
“It’s okay, Pooks. It’s just that I’ve spent fifteen years trying not to think about it and it’s hard to look back.”
“But you must speak of it if you are to unburden yourself of it,” Manon interrupted gently. “Speak, child, not as a confession, but as a lesson for we who do not know.” She looked around the table and ended with a smile for Otto, who should have been condemned to second death because of what he was. “You will find no judgment here. You are one of us.”
Hearing the kind and supportive words and seeing the faces of the women around her, trying to hide their interest and concern, made it easier for Pinkie to go on.
“He recognized what I was and he saw my potential. To be a good spell caster, you need more than a good memory, but that’s where it begins. I was always good at memorization and I learned quickly. I could take what he taught me and make it better. I was good at what I did, as bad as it was,” she qualified. “He saw my raw talent.”
“Like those guys who scout high school baseball games and spot a kid with a good arm.”
“Yeah, I guess it was kind of like that, Dov, except those guys expect the ball player to profit, too. This was more like owning a racehorse. The owner invests time and money up front, and collects his winnings later. The horse doesn’t get anything but room and board.
“Like any smart owner, Abyar found me a trainer. I lived with her. I called her Madam. She didn’t like me, but she protected me. I was her investment, too. Abyar paid her a lot for her services, most of it borrowed. I know, because they argued about it all the time. He kept pushing, because he needed me to pay off the debt. She kept stalling, because she had her own agenda. Abyar saw me as his ticket to power. She saw me as hers.
“Portals open at random. There’s no way to control where they end up or how long they’ll last. Mirrors on the other hand, are stable and a good mirror worker is worth a lot in the Otherworld. I did work for both of them and sometimes Abyar would bring other demons by to show me off.”
Those first few months had been the worst of the nightmare; the fighting, the threats from Abyar, the curses from Madam, the greedy eyes and slavering jaws of un-glamoured demons. Pinkie would have welcomed insanity, but her mind wouldn’t allow it.
“Madam protected me from that, too,” she said quickly when Broadbent stiffened beside her. “I wasn’t using spells to attract anyone at that point. The last thing I wanted to do was be noticed. That’s not why he brought them by. I was a spell caster and that made me worth even more than a mirror worker. After a time, he started renting my services out. Madam didn’t object to that. She just started charging him more to train me. Then they argued over that.
“While they were arguing and making their plans, I learned,” she said in a voice that came from somewhere far away. “I learned how to cast spells and curses. I learned not to think about where the blood came from. I learned not to hear the screams. The one thing I never learned was how to shut down my fear. Demons feed on fear and pain. Did you know that? It gives them strength and power. And strength and power is how they move up through the ranks. Human fear and pain is strongest, but they feed on each other, too. Weak demons don’t make it through their first few years. Madam’s house became a popular place to stop and say hello and taste a bit of the fear that was always in the air.
“Abyar enjoys fear as much as the next demon, but he gets off on inflicting pain. Another thing I didn’t know until it was too late. Madam protected me from him, too. She wouldn’t let him touch me.” Pinkie smiled, but it wasn’t for anyone at the table. “She said it would destroy my power. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s what she said and other than a smack or slap, she never used physical pain to punish me. She had other ways, better ways.” The smile disappeared. “She’d make me watch... watch where the blood came from.”
Broadbent put his arm around her. “No more,” he whispered, “No more.”
Elbow on the table, Pinkie raised her hand to halt his protest. Once begun, the torrent of memory couldn’t be stopped.
“There’s no friendship there; no loyalty, no trust. Alliances are based on cunning, ruthlessness, and power, and you always, always have to watch your back. Because there’s always, always someone waiting to stab you in it. It’s like a game to them. It sounds crazy, but they aren’t insane. They know what they’re doing and you’d better know what they’re doing too, or you won’t survive. In the Otherworld, bargaining with the devil has meaning. And teeth. When I knew him, Abyar was a midlevel demon on his way up. I’m sure he’s much higher now.”
She told them everything she knew about the demon community she lived in. She tried not to cry, but sometimes the tears slipped out. Broadbent would hold her until she could go on.
Grace brought the babies in while Pinkie told of things no child should ever hear. Hope, with Nico’s help, went out to make them lunch. When she returned, her eyes were as red as Pinkie’s and it was then, Pinkie remembered Hope’s sister had spent time with demons, too.
“When did you decide to escape?” Col finally asked.
“I didn’t decide. I wasn’t brave enough to decide. I just did what I was told, day in and day out. It wasn’t all bad, you know. I learned.” It was the consolation she offered herself regularly.
“On day one thousand, one hundred and ninety-five, I found out what the old witch planned. I’d learned almost everything she had to teach me. My power had grown and I knew my days with her were numbered. Abyar wanted me back. I was his, after all.
“I’m not a seer. That was my mother’s gift, not mine. I know, it’s part of how I earned my living, but I’m not good at it. That day, I was cleaning up a mess I’d made, a potion gone wrong. It had splattered on the crystal ball Madam kept on a shelf. She’d taught me how to use it, but as I said, I’m no good at it and no amount of slapping or cuffing could make me good at it. She eventually gave up. But this time, when I wiped it with a cloth Madam had been using for days, I thought I saw something flicker inside.
“I still don’t know why I did it. I’d become very good at doing exactly what I was told, no more and no less, but Madam was out and I broke the rules. For the first time, the ball worked for me and in it, I saw Madam raising the knife and bringing it down. I saw the room I was standing in. Madam never did the killing in that room.”
JJ put her sandwich down. “Holy shit. You saw yourself getting killed?”
Pinkie shook her head. “No. I’ve never seen my own future. I only saw Madam. When she came home, I was shaking so badly, I dropped the flask I was wiping. It shattered and usually I paid if something broke, but not this time. She just told me to clean it up. She even smiled and my heart started hammering in my chest. She never smiled.
“Madam started talking about sharing power; about how it was time we tried it. I saw her lay that athame on the table and I knew. She wasn’t going to share my power. She was going to take it. That was her plan.
“The last thing we were working on was spelling energy into a ball. I hadn’t mastered it yet. My timing was off. While I was cleaning up the glass from the flask, I started weaving the spell. Madam kept talking and talking, but my concentration didn’t waver. I cut my arm with the last bit of glass, cut it deep and when I turned, she had the dagger raised and I had the ball ready.”
Broadbent reached across Pinkie and lifted her wrist. He kissed the scar that shard of glass had made, along with the one she’d made for him. If they’d been alone, she would have crawled into his lap and kissed him until neither of them could breathe. He thought she was brave. She told him the truth.
“I didn’t throw it. I couldn’t. I’d survived one thousand, one hundred and ninety-five days in that place. Honest to God, Pookie, that’s exactly what went through my mind as I rolled across the floor. One thousand, one hundred and ninety-five days and I was going to blow myself up with an energy ball? Not happening. It wasn’t my time. I didn’t even have a driver’s license yet,” she said as if she’d have a use for one in the Otherworld.
Old Otto was the first to laugh. He slapped the back of his hand against JJ’s arm. “Hell, I still don’t have one.”
