Dante Valentine

by Lilith Saintcrow

  I parried his claws, my katana ringing and blazing with blue fire. He screamed, a horrible drilling sound of awful agony, the plasgun tore out of my hands but I hooked my fingers and swiped at him, hot black demon blood spraying and freezing in the too-cold air. Something had happened when he’d thrown that thing at Japhrimel. It was too cold even for Antarctica.

  He leapt on me, his compact weight knocking me off my feet. We tumbled, and his claws tore at me, a horribly familiar gush of pain. I screamed, forgetting I was no longer human, and did the only thing I could.

  I jackknifed my body, using his momentum as well as my own, and flung us both out into the night as I buried my katana in his chest, shoving with every ounce of preternatural strength Japhrimel had given me. The blade rammed through a shell of magick, through muscle and the carbolic acid of demon blood, and the agony of the blade’s shattering tore all the way through me.

  One of the shards pierced his heart. I flailed at him with my claws, his throat giving in one heated gush that coated my face and hands and instantly froze, almost sealing my nostrils. If I hadn’t been screaming, I might have suffocated.

  I was still hacking at him with my claws when we hit the water, his slack lifeless body exploding out in noxious burning fragments. The shock of that hit drove all breath and consciousness from me, and I fell unresisting into the embrace of the ocean, waves crackling and freezing closed over my head.

  CHAPTER 50

  I floated. Face-down.

  Stinging. Cold so intense it burned. Lassitude creeping up my arms and legs.

  No. A familiar voice. Familiar fingers on my cheek, tipping my head up. No, don’t, Danny. You have to live. You promised.

  I didn’t promise! I wailed silently. Let me go! Let me go, let me die—

  You have work to do. Doreen’s voice, gentle, inexorable. Please, Danny. Please.

  Floated. Sinking. Even a share of a fallen demon’s Power couldn’t keep me alive for long in this. Something had happened—Santino had done something, that small glittering thing had hit Japhrimel—

  Santino. I’d killed him. I’d watched his body dissolve under my fingernails, I’d torn through his throat. He was, indisputably, dead and scattered on the freezing ocean. No little bit of him would be left.

  I killed him, I pleaded. I did it. I got revenge for you. Isn’t that enough?

  No, she replied, solemn. Live, Danny. I want you to live.

  It hurts too much, I keened to her.

  Blue crystal glow, the bridge under my feet. For one dizzying moment I was between two worlds—the Hall of Death, its blue directionless light pouring through me, Anubis standing tall and grim on the other side of the bridge; and the real world, where I floated face-down under a sheet of broken ice. For one infinite moment I was locked under the pitiless, infinitely forgiving gaze of the Lord of Death, weighing, evaluating, His black eyes fixed on mine. It hurts too much, I told him. Please don’t make me go back.

  He shook His sleek black head, once, twice. I struggled—no! Let me stay! Let me stay!

  Then He spoke.

  The Word boomed through me. It was not His name, or any Word of Power. It wasn’t the secret name I held for Him, my key to the door of Death.

  No.

  It was my name—only more. It was my Word, spoken by the god, the sound that expressed me, the sound that could not be spoken aloud. My soul leapt inside me, responding to His touch. The god took the weight from me, briefly, let me feel the freedom, the incredible freedom, rising out of my body, leaving the world behind, the clear blue light becoming golden, the clear rational light of What Comes Next.

  Then it dwindled to a single point in the darkness, and I rammed back into my body, fingers clamped in my hair, yanking. I was torn from the water’s embrace, glazed with ice, choking, coughing, the landing lights of the garbage scow named Baby exploding through the darkness. Jace, his lips blue, tangling the plasnet around us both and we were yanked up together, his arms and legs wrapped around me. We broke through the airseals and into the warm interior of the hover, and the hatch slammed closed as the peculiar weightless pressure of a hover quickly ascending pressed down on me.

  I coughed and choked, spluttering.

  “Breathe, you stubborn little bitch—” Jace shivered and cursed, raging at me. Water washed the decking, rapidly melting ice shrinking under the assault of climate control.

  “Is she alive?” Eddie said from the front. After the deafening noise, the quiet of the hover’s interior and someone speaking normally was a muffled shock.

  “She’s alive,” Jace said, and flung his arms around me again. Water dripped. My fingers and toes tingled and prickled. “Gods damn you, Danny, don’t you ever do that to me again.” He kissed my forehead, examined my fingers and my dark rings, wrapped me in a spaceblanket that started to glow, heat stealing back into me. My teeth chattered. My right hand was twisted into a fist, and I couldn’t unloose it.

  “G-G-Gabe—”

  “She’ll live. Your demon friend patched her intestines back together up there in that room, damndest thing I ever saw. She’s lost a lot of blood, but she’s stable and the medunit’s monitoring her.” Jace kissed my cheek, pushed sodden strands of dark hair back from my face. “Don’t ever do that to me again, Danny. I thought he’d killed you.”

  “The k-k-k-k—” I began.

  “The kid’s fine. Curled up in a seat with a spaceblanket. She’s asleep.” Jace coughed. “Look, Danny—”

  “Japhrimel?” I whispered.

  Jace shook his head. “There was a hover—another hover. It might have scooped him up, I don’t know. We looked for him, Danny. We really did. The entire goddamn island’s broken down and iced over, I don’t think anything survived that. If we hadn’t been airborne we’d have been toast. What happened?”

  “I killed him,” I whispered. “I killed Santino. He threw s-s-something at J-J-aph…”

  “We couldn’t find him,” Jace said. “I’m sorry, Danny.”

  I clapped my fists over my ears, huddled under the spaceblanket, and started to cry. I’d earned it, after all.

  CHAPTER 51

  Twelve hours later we floated over an oddly quiet Nuevo Rio. Dry and finally warm again, I sat in the seat next to Doreen’s daughter (I couldn’t think of what else to call her), watching out the window as morning lay over the city. Jace had moved up front next to Eddie, and the comms up there were crackling with messages. Gabe lay across a table, strapped down and deep in a sedative-induced slumber, the medunit purring as it monitored her and dripped synthetic plasma and antibiotics through a hypo into her veins. She’d wake up with a headache and a sore gut and spend a week or so recuperating, but she’d live.

  The Corvin Family was gone. Just… gone. They hadn’t even put up a real fight. Jace was now the owner of a hell of a lot of Family assets.

  When I looked back at Doreen’s daughter, I saw she was awake. In the light, her eyes were wide and clear, and dark blue. Like Doreen’s.

  Exactly like Doreen’s.

  She watched me gravely, a small child with frighteningly adult eyes, far too much Power and knowledge swimming in their depths. For a few moments, we sat like that, one tired, sobbed-out half-demon Necromance and one small demon Androgyne child.

  I can’t handle this, I thought. Then, I have no choice.

  I finally managed to clear my throat. “Hi,” I said quietly. “I’m Danny.”

  She watched me for a few more seconds before she responded. “I know,” she said, in a clear light voice. “He told me you would come.”

  My mouth was dry and smooth as glass. This wasn’t normal for a kid.

  Like I knew what was normal for a kid. I never spent any time with children if I could help it. “Who told you?” I managed. “Santi—ah, um, your daddy?”

  She nodded, her pale hair falling forward over her face. “He said he was my daddy,” she confided, “but I don’t think he was. My real daddy talks to me inside my head at night. He has green eyes a
nd a green stone like me and he told me you would come for me. He said he would send you.”

  She seemed to expect some sort of reply. It was obvious who her “real daddy” was. Either Lucifer had some way of communicating with her, or she was precognitive, or… My brain stopped sorting through alternatives. It didn’t matter. Lucifer already knew about the kid, I’d bet. I’d also bet that Lucifer had known about Santino’s “samples.” Or if not known, guessed. The Prince of Hell was no fool.

  Why then had Japhrimel promised not to tell him?

  “I promised your mommy I’d take care of you,” I said rustily. Oh, gods, Danny, you’ve done it now.

  The little girl nodded solemnly. “You’re not like them.” She pointed at the front of the hover, where Jace and Eddie conferred in low worried tones. “You’re not like my real daddy either.”

  “I hope not.” I shifted uncomfortably in the seat, the spaceblanket crackling as I moved. “What’s your name?”

  “I’m Eve,” she said, matter-of-factly. I flinched. Of course, I thought, and watched as her dimples came out. She smiled at me. “Can I have some ice cream?”

  “I don’t think we have any, kiddo.” Japhrimel had to live on blood, or sex, or fire, I thought. What does this girl eat? Oh, you are not ready for this, Danny. Not ready at all.

  The hover circled slightly, and began to drift downward toward Jace’s mansion.

  “Um, Danny?” Jace called. “You may want to come take a look at this.”

  I hauled myself up, and the little girl pushed her blanket off and shimmied down from her seat. She held her small perfect hand up. “Can I come, too?” She wore a short white babydoll nightie, and her chubby feet were bare. I fought the urge to pick her up off the hover’s cold metal deck.

  “Okay,” I said, and took her hand. It was warm in mine—a demon’s touch.

  Like Japhrimel’s. Was he dead? Or had Santino’s men taken him? What could they do to him? Was he injured?

  I made my way up to the front, holding the girl’s hand. “What’s up?” I peered out the front window.

  “Take a look.” Jace glanced up at me. “How’s the kid doing?”

  “She seems okay,” I replied.

  Below us, the familiar blocky outlines of Jace’s mansion grew larger as the hover slowly dropped. On the wide marble expanse of courtyard in front, two sleek limo-hovers crouched, and four police cruisers.

  “Fuck me,” I breathed, forgetting the child’s small hand in mine. “What the hell?”

  “I was hoping you could tell me,” Jace said. “I’m incorporated and operating under codes, so I’m fairly sure they’re not here to roust me.”

  “Sekhmet sa’es.” I was too tired to come up with a good plan. “No chance they’re here for you, Eddie.”

  “ ’Course not, unless they’d like to arrest Gabe for fucking almost dying,” he said, with no apparent growl in his voice. He must be exhausted. “What do we do, Danny?”

  I wish they would stop nominating me as the idea man, I thought. “Nothing else to do,” I said. “Drift on down and land, but keep the motor running until we’re sure we won’t need it. Jace, can I have a commlink?”

  “Of course,” he said. “What do you want me to do, Danny?”

  “Stay here with the kid,” I answered, glancing down at Eve. The little girl looked up at me, as if I were the only person in the hover. “If they take me, get the kid somewhere safe and wait for me to show up.”

  Jace swung out of his chair, not even bothering to argue with me. I felt a weary relief. Was it normal to feel this way? So tired, but unable to sleep.

  No sleep. Not until I finished this game. And it was a game, I’d been pushed from square to square all along.

  I took the child back into the hold and settled her back into the chair, tucking the blanket around her again. When I finished, Jace was standing by a crate of supplies, a strange expression on his face. His hair curled into a halo, drenched in ice water and then dried in climate control. I probably didn’t look very good either.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” he said. “Let me find a commlink.”

  Eddie piloted the hover down. We landed with a thump. “Sorry,” he called back. I slipped the commlink in my ear, settled my wrinkled coat on my shoulders, made sure my knives were easy in their sheaths. My right hand ached deeply, all the way down to the bone. If I were still human, I might be maimed.

  I knelt down in front of Eve, who watched me with Doreen’s eyes. “I’ve got to go talk to whoever this is,” I told her. “You stay with Jace until I get back, okay?”

  She nodded. “It will be all right, Danny. My daddy says so,” she said, her clear piping voice oddly adult.

  “Great,” I answered grimly, and stood up. The ground swayed underfoot, or maybe it was just me. “Jace, I want you to promise. Promise you’ll take care of her if I—”

  He shrugged. “You know I will, Danny. Go on, get this over with.” His blue eyes skittered over to the girl, back up to me.

  I nodded, then Eddie popped the side hatch. I hopped down to the marble, almost losing my balance. The heat hammered at me, Nuevo Rio back to its old, bad, sunny self. I wish I was home, I thought suddenly, and that surprised me, too. I hadn’t felt like Saint City was home for a good two or three years.

  One of the limo-hovers opened its side hatch. A set of steps folded down.

  I swallowed. I had a fair idea of what could be waiting in there.

  I strode across the burning white marble and toward the sleek black hovers, trying to keep my shoulders straight and wishing I wasn’t dirty, bloody, air-dried, and so close to crying my throat ached keeping it all in.

  CHAPTER 52

  The inside of the limo-hover was done in all different shades of red. Crimson, cardinal, burgundy, magenta, carmine, lobster—I blinked, stepping onto plush carpet at the top of the stairs. The air swirled with the smell of demon, smoky musk, and I took a deep breath. It was as if I hadn’t been breathing until now. Whatever demons used for air, this hover was full of it.

  That’s why she smells familiar, I realized with no real surprise. She smells like him. Like Lucifer.

  The Prince of Hell lounged elegantly on a huge circular red-velvet couch, his booted feet crushing the velvet. I gave the surroundings a tired glance—wet bar, tinted windows, doors probably leading to a bathroom and a private bedroom. There was a sunken tub in one corner, bubbling and frothing with a clear viscous fluid that didn’t look even remotely like water.

  Lucifer’s golden hair burned among the redness. He was dressed, of course, all in black silk, loose elegant pants and a long-sleeved, Chinese-collared shirt. The walls were done to look like expensive red damask wallpaper, and heavy velvet drapes muffled every sound.

  I swallowed. “The decor sucks,” I said, too tired for any bowing and scraping. I cradled my right hand in my left—it was really starting to throb as adrenaline wore off.

  “Good afternoon to you, too,” Lucifer replied, his voice stroking and tapping at my ears. A thrill like old tired fire ran through me—I was too exhausted to really respond to him. If I’d had any more energy I would have been worried about it. “Have you brought me the Egg?”

  “Nope,” I said. “But Santino’s dead. And you didn’t really want me to bring you the Egg anyway, that was Japhrimel’s job. Looks like he did it, because you’re out of Hell and feeling frisky.”

  Lucifer held up one elegant golden hand. I could look at his face now, without my eyes blinking and watering. His smell folded over me, teased at my hair, permeated my clothes. My bones rang with his nearness, a vibrating electricity that made me want to go to my knees. I fought the urge.

  A fine golden chain wrapped around his beautifully manicured fingers. “The once-demon Japhrimel brought me this,” he said, twirling a diamond-glittering oval on the chain. The hum of Power filled the air. I couldn’t look directly at the glittering thing, it hurt even my eyes.

  My throat was desert-dry. “So that�
��s what that was.” Santino had thrown the Egg at Japhrimel, to fend him off.

  “Indeed. Vardimal managed to unlock a fraction of the Egg’s power and threw it at Tierce Japhrimel. The only thing that could possibly hurt my Eldest—because it is mine, and therefore dangerous to my line. Any demon would be grieviously injured by it. Except, of course, myself. I am the Prince.” Lucifer sounded amused. He cocked his golden head. “Where is the child, Dante Valentine?”

  I shrugged. “That’s what you were after all the time, wasn’t it? Doreen’s kid. The Androgyne. You let Santino alone until he did what you couldn’t, and now you have everything.”

  “The sedayeen was never more than a template, Dante. The Egg contains my genetic codex, and pure Power. It is a mark of my reign and a useful tool.”

  “You knew the whole time. You knew. You just couldn’t afford to have anyone else know Santino had done what you couldn’t, so you had to find a human to do the dirty work. And all that tripe about the Egg being broken—” I shook my head, a lump in my throat. My voice sounded husky and harsh next to his smooth persuasive tones.

  “Think if Vardimal had managed to raise the child undisturbed, Dante. Imagine him ruling Hell, and our Hellesvront agents on Earth, through that child. That is what ‘breaking the Egg’ means. Breaking the chain of command, breaking the rule of Iblis Lucifer.”

  I had one of those sudden flashes of instinct that made my back chill with gooseflesh. He’s not nervous, I thought, but he is tense. Where’s Japhrimel? What game is he playing now?

  I glanced back toward the side hatch. It had silently closed. I was alone in a hoverlimo with the Devil. And wonder of wonders, it looked for all the world like the Devil was scared of little ol’ me. “That hover at Santino’s lair—that was you, or your agents. They brought you Japhrimel, and the Egg. And Santino’s dead. Case closed, contract terminated, bargain fulfilled.” I didn’t want to say it, but I had to anyway.

  Lucifer tipped his perfect head back, his green eyes crawling over me. “Aren’t you going to ask about Japhrimel?”