“I think I’m going to need you to come back to the Council with me. I know you’re scared, but you have to tell the king this story.” I kept my tone as calm as possible because the last thing I wanted to do was terrorize her more than she’d already been, but I needed Donovan to hear her story, and not from me.

  She shook her head. “I can’t.”

  “I’m going to be beside you the whole time. I promise.”

  “But he’s there.”

  I didn’t have to ask who he was. “Would it shock you to know that he doesn’t remember a thing? Neil Roberts has no idea what he’s doing. He’s being used and manipulated by a high-ranking demon.”

  “That makes it worse,” she replied. “Those full breeds might not invite us home for dinner, but they’re quick to punish us if they feel like we’ve betrayed them.”

  I wasn’t going to force her to come in. I had the story. I believed she didn’t know much else. I fished out the cash I’d brought. “If you change your mind, you know how to get hold of me. Please call me if you hear anything at all.”

  She looked down at the cash I was offering her, and for a second I thought she might refuse to take it. She sighed as though realizing there was no practical reason to turn down the money. “I’ll call you.” She glanced over at Casey. “And next time, come for an actual appointment. I’m incredibly skilled at fellatio.”

  Casey perked up. “Hey, I got a Visa.”

  Before I could slap the back of his head, there was a knock on the door.

  Larissa sighed. “It’s probably my landlord. He’s a massive ass and I swear he lives to block people from parking in perfectly available slots.” She threw open the door and frowned. “Frank, there’s no one in the parking lot at this time of day. If you tow my customers, I’ll come after…”

  She didn’t finish the sentence because “Frank” shoved a silver knife through her heart. He moved with super-human speed. One moment he was standing there in the doorway, wearing his stained wife beater, his bloated belly straining against the fabric, and the next he was staring at me, a bloody knife in his hand. Larissa’s body smoked as it started to drop to the floor.

  I’d told her I would save her and she was dead. I hadn’t kept my promise long.

  “Hello, Kelsey.” The perfect upper-crust and familiar accent chilled my blood. I knew that voice. I’d heard it many times. “So sorry about the mess, but it was unavoidable. I think we should talk. I hear you’ve been looking for me.”

  Yes. I had been. I’d been looking to kill him. Nemcox was here and I was ready for battle.

  Chapter Eleven

  Or not. I realized as Nemcox stepped over Larissa’s dead body that I’d gotten caught without my sword. Hauling Gladys around can be a difficult endeavor. I live in an open carry state, but a chick with a silver sword running around the streets of Dallas still attracts attention unless there happens to be a handy comic book convention close by. I fit in well at those, right up to the point that I punch someone.

  I had the added problem of having brought a kid into battle with my only backup being Casey. He was trying. Casey trained every day with the king’s warriors, but he wasn’t ever going to be a badass in the field. He was the best keyboard jockey around, but I couldn’t leave him to watch over Lee. Lee would eat his lunch and fast.

  Nemcox was right there, and there was nothing I could do. He wasn’t even in his damn demon body. This was why I tried so hard to call him to my hand. The calling would force him into my circle in his actual body, his big, nasty demon body that I could then poke with my sword and hopefully kill. Not this time. He was possessing a human soul, so all I could manage was to kill some dude who was too quick to tow and Nemcox would find someone else to terrorize.

  And somehow my wolf wasn’t pounding at the cage. Somehow I was calm. I’d looked at the situation, evaluated, and the wolf and I realized retreat was our only option, otherwise the people around us would get killed, and all for nothing. This was typically when the she-wolf decided she didn’t give a shit about the humans and my hands started getting twitchy.

  Apparently getting well laid by an alpha wolf did wonders for me.

  “You all right, darlin’?” Lee stared up at me with far too old eyes. “You need to stay calm.”

  “I’m good.” Except I felt truly bad for Larissa. I eyed Nemcox. “Did you have to do that? She wasn’t doing anything wrong.”

  “Oh, I suspect she was about to.” He frowned down at the body. “Loose lips sink ships and all that. Like I said, I’m only here to talk now that I’ve handled that particular problem. Can we agree to that, Hunter? I won’t gut your little friend there or tear out that one’s heart and you’ll not try anything foolish.”

  Lee started to growl beside me. It wasn’t an intimidating sound. I glanced down at him.

  He shrugged. “Worked better in the other body.”

  Casey held a hand up. “Uhm, I vote for the not getting my heart ripped out of my chest. Is that one of those things that grows back…never mind. It sounds painful. Hard pass, Kelsey.”

  I could spare at least one person. “I’m not talking to you while you’re wearing a meat suit. I don’t care what that dude’s done, the longer you’re inside him, the more he suffers.”

  “Fine. I don’t particularly like wearing him anyway. He’s large and unattractive.” The man smiled and then a blank look came over his face and suddenly Larissa’s body was easing up off the ground and grinning my way. “Demonflesh. She’s actually more than a halfling. More like three quarters or so. I don’t need this flesh to be living to use it. It’s got another half an hour or so before it starts to rot entirely.”

  Nemcox rose and turned to the landlord. “You’re having a terrible dream. Far too much cheap whiskey. Walk back to your apartment and sleep this one off.”

  The man turned and walked away, his eyes totally unfocused.

  “Is this better?” Nemcox moved into the room, shutting the door. If it bothered him that he was covered in blood, he didn’t show it. He smoothed back Larissa’s raven dark hair. “It certainly feels better, though you need to understand I don’t tend to like drag. I’m not one of those poor boys who wants to be a girl. It’s so messy being a girl. Now let’s talk about why you keep trying to kill me. I’ve been patient so far. You’re practically my sister-in-law. I don’t want to upset my brother by having to lop your pretty head off. It makes for terrible family reunions.”

  Lee started moving and I had to grab the back of his T-shirt. Thank god my dad was small. I was fairly certain had I been dealing with Lee version 1.0, he already would have attacked.

  It wasn’t hard to see where I got my anger impulse issues.

  Still, I couldn’t let my father attack a demon. “Stop. This is not your fight.”

  “Hell it isn’t,” he shot back, his eyes on Nemcox.

  And Nemcox suddenly seemed totally interested in my dad. He stood there wearing Larissa’s body, but the eyes were his. They were dark, and I could see his demonic brain working out the problem. “Is that what I think it is, Hunter?”

  I stepped in front of Lee, unwilling to leave him in the line of fire. “That is the king’s son and none of your business. You don’t want to piss off the king any more than you already have, do you? He’s not happy with how you tried to help execute him last year.”

  “Well, it wasn’t like I would have enjoyed it. Sometimes one’s duty is onerous. And you stopped that, you minx.” He turned his head a bit, as though still trying to get a look at the boy. “And while that may be the king’s son, he’s so much more, isn’t he? How did you do it? Do you have any idea how well Heaven hides those old souls?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it. You came here to tell me to stop hunting you.” I was more than willing to lie to get us out of there. “Done. My trainer already had this discussion with me.”

  Nemcox leaned against the granite bar, glancing down at Larissa’s perfectly done nails. “I’m sure he did. That Marcus always was a practical one. It’s how he’s stayed alive all this time. Somehow, I don’t think you’re the same, though you do have a new glow about you. Did my brother finally figure out he could use that nasty old prophet’s sword in fun and inventive ways?”

  Nemcox had not been a fan of his brother hitting the road with Jacob. “We’ve worked out a few things. Gray and I are good.”

  “I know you won’t believe me, but I’m glad to hear it. We’re not too far from his contract being up,” Nemcox said. “I want you to know that you are welcome to join us. You’re part of the family, and an honored one. Which is precisely why you have to stop this ridiculous vendetta of yours. Tell her, wolf. It wasn’t my fault you died.”

  Lee was right back to rage. “My daughter isn’t setting foot on the fucking Hell plane and if any one of you tries, I swear I’ll kill you all.”

  He might not growl the way he used to, but Dad can make a threat.

  It was also a mistake. I knew it the moment Nemcox’s pitch black eyes widened. Lee had confirmed something better left unsaid. “I knew it was you in there. Oh, how delightful and unexpected. Now that is a card I hadn’t counted on having in my hand. Don’t you love that? When you draw an ace you were certain was off the board entirely.”

  I had no real idea what he was talking about, but Little Lee was definitely having more trouble with control than I was. I needed to get him out of here because I wasn’t sure Nemcox wouldn’t take him out if he had the chance. “I will take your very kind invitation seriously. Thanks a lot. And no more attempted murders. Got it. So, I’ll be on my way.”

  Nemcox’s eyes narrowed. “You’re almost too calm. Not even a few hours in a virtual love nest with my brother should do that for you. That wolf inside you should still be rattling the cage. Unless…” He took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, I could see the judgment there. “You cheated on my brother?”

  See, Heaven and Hell have a few things in common. Slinging the word whore around is one of them. “You know Gray has to have a host when he uses that sword.”

  He seemed to think that through for a moment before his lips curled up. “Ah, of course. I wouldn’t have gone that way, but I understand. I would have thought he would use Marcus.”

  “Marcus was unavailable.”

  Nemcox’s lips curled up slightly. “Well, things happen for a reason I suppose. Once you’re happily ensconced in Gray’s new home, there won’t be any need for a host. You’ll only need to call out and your husband will be there. Can’t you see? He needs you as much as you need him.”

  This was the true danger of listening to the demon. He could sound so reasonable. The idea of living with Gray made my heart twist. Of course, I reminded myself that our residence would likely be 666 Blood and Guts Avenue.

  And that home would have no place for a baby she-wolf.

  But I wasn’t about to have a family session with my demonic potential brother-in-law. “I care about your brother very much and we’re in a good place.”

  The demon glanced up at me. “You do understand that I’m not the reason your dear papa is going to have to go through puberty again?”

  “I know you were there.” I relaxed the tiniest bit because Lee seemed to have stopped trying to attack the demon with his nine-year-old hands. “I know you made the deal with Marini.”

  “Did I?” Nemcox asked. “Or was it someone else? Have you thought about the fact that perhaps I was a mere broker for the deal and not the man behind it? Things aren’t always as they seem. People tend to make everything about themselves without ever looking at the bigger picture. Especially queens. Good lord, give a woman a tiara and two men and she thinks the world revolves around her.”

  “I was there.” My dad didn’t seem to know when he should stay quiet and hunker down. He stood next to me, facing down the demon in a dead body, his hands fists at his sides. “I know exactly what happened and why. For you it was all about Neil. You turned us over so you could rape my friend in Hell.”

  “I assure you, there was no rape involved,” Nemcox replied. “Well, nothing forcible, and if a few spells are used to enhance the pleasure, I say it’s all for the best. And you’re wrong, wolf. My precious Neil was merely payment for doing my master’s bidding.”

  “Yes, for turning over Zoey,” Lee insisted. “For sending Zoey into that place so she could be raped and tortured.”

  “You do like tossing out that word, don’t you?” Nemcox said with a sigh. “Zoey wasn’t the end result my master wanted, though he did see the upside. Without Zoey’s imprisonment, the king would have taken much longer and the war would have been bloodier. She was a side product he happened to have, and he used her to get the outcome he wanted. Think of it as a three-way trade. If country A has sugar to trade but no lines of communication to Country B who wants that sugar, and Country C has a desperate need for some companionship that only Country B can provide, they all get together and everyone is happy.”

  I was drawing lines I didn’t like. If Zoey was sugar and Neil was companionship… “Who was Country B?”

  Dark eyes stared at me. “Who do you think, Hunter? Who was the only one there who didn’t get out alive?”

  Lee frowned beside me. “I was a guard. No one gave a shit about me except I wouldn’t let Marini take Zoey that night.”

  “Oh, I assure you someone cared about you very much. Someone needed you dead because he figured out that only one soul in all the world could truly harm him in the end. Only one soul in all the world could ever stand up to his magnificence.” Nemcox’s voice was low and reverent.

  Lee stepped back as though someone had physically smacked him. His face went pale and he shook his head. “Why? Why would Myrddin do that?”

  I was confused. When all this was going down, I was in high school. “Wait. Some dude named Myrddin put a hit out on my dad?”

  “Merlin.” Casey stepped up. “He’s talking about Merlin Satanspawn. Turns out he wasn’t merely a legend. Henri forced me to read all the historical documents regarding the last ten years. He thought it might be helpful for you. The king found and revived the wizard known as Merlin. He needed Merlin’s expertise to fix an issue with his heart. It was only as they were leaving the pocket universe Merlin was caged in that the former head of the Council, Louis Marini, set up a trap and kidnapped the queen and Dev Quinn and murdered your father. I read all of it, but I don’t think I truly believed it. He’s real?”

  “Oh, yes, he’s real,” Nemcox replied with what sounded like adoration. “He’s real and he’s been learning this world. Someday he’ll come back.”

  That didn’t sound good. “Come back here?”

  “Come back to the king, of course.” Nemcox was back to playing coy. It was there in the wave of his hand, in the batting of a dead woman’s eyelashes. “Myrddin is tied to the sword king, you know that large ornate thing the king wields from time to time? That’s Excalibur, the real one, the one Camelot was built around. As Merlin mentored Arthur, so he will one day ease Daniel through his greatest test.”

  “Why would he want the king’s guard dead?” My father had been important, but only because he was a guard and Zoey adored him. From what I understood, the king had wanted to fire him many times. And he’d been the queen’s guard. My uncle Zack had been Donovan’s right-hand man for years.

  “I told you,” Nemcox insisted. “One of the great one’s skills is being able to see various paths. A bit like having prophecy talent. I acted as Myrddin’s focus while we were in the pocket world. I don’t know what he saw for sure, but I know he believed that the lone wolf would be his downfall. He and one other, another magician, but at the time he wasn’t born. I do believe he took care of that one as well.”

  “He killed a baby?” I might be taking down a wizard.

  “Nothing so terrible, dear. He simply sent the pregnant mother fleeing to another plane where her mewling offspring can’t harm his magnificence. You know when you think about it, he was actually doing it for the king. If Myrddin is dead, who would help him in his time of need?” Nemcox bit his bottom lip and attempted to look as innocent as a blood-soaked prostitute could look. “The king shouldn’t be angry with me. I was helping him. And look, you got dear papa back. So why are you after me, sister?”

  “I think I would have preferred to meet my father when he wasn’t nine,” I shot back because my patience only went so far.

  “She’s not coming after you,” Lee said, stepping up to the demon. “Not anymore. She has no problem with you so you should leave her alone. From now on, she’ll stop all attempts to call you to her. If she does that, can we make a deal that you’ll leave her be?”

  “You aren’t making any damn deals for me,” I said quickly. “That was not a contract and I don’t agree to it.”

  He was going to give me a heart attack. I suddenly felt so bad for his parents.

  Nemcox had dropped to one knee, looking deeply into Lee’s face. A long moment passed and Nemcox gasped. “Good god. Is it true? Do you know what you are? Does the king know?”

  Lee stepped back, his face going blank. “Leave her alone or we’ll both find out. You don’t want that, do you?”

  Nemcox looked shaken, as though he’d seen some kind of a ghost. “Merlin has no idea what he did, what you could become. By allowing you to die and come back, he might have fulfilled the prophecy. He thought if he killed you then, it would end the threat. But your soul came back and… What fools we were.”

  I got a chill. It started somewhere near the vicinity of my stomach and rushed out to every limb. This was one of those moments, one of those times when the world flipped and changed and nothing was the same. I might not understand what Nemcox was talking about, but I knew when that demon was serious. Something about Lee scared Nemcox. Somehow he thought this fragile, human version of my father was even more dangerous to his “great one” than he’d been as a strong and powerful lone wolf. It was obvious the demon felt loyal to the wizard. He’d helped kill my father once. We were in a vulnerable position. Would he do it again? Would he do it here? Or would he wait, biding his time and allowing us to forget the threat? Would he be waiting somewhere down the road to do the wizard’s bidding?

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37