Dante Valentine

by Lilith Saintcrow

  Anubis, please, help me. Stay my hand, give me strength. It wasn’t my usual prayer, but it was all I could come up with.

  I held up the papers. “Can you tell me if this is a complete formula?”

  Cam stared. Her eyes finally widened, and she looked far more relieved.

  Mercy actually choked. “Where did you—that’s Eddie’s mastersheet! A Skinlin would be able to decode and—”

  “Great. Communit, girls. Let’s go.”

  * * *

  I didn’t look while Mercy sent out the datafax to all the clinics, being busy peering out the window and scanning the street below. I did take the mastersheets back over her protests.

  The office was cluttered with paper but otherwise neat, with the powerful smell of sedayeen filling the air. I was getting very tired of the smell of violets—I kept expecting to turn around and see Doreen, her eyebrows lifted just slightly and her hands clasped in front of her.

  Besides, I was nervous. I felt like I was missing something crucial. The feeling irritated me—was it nerves, the result of being under stress for too long? Or was it my small precognitive talent, warning me of muddy water and danger?

  The cold numbness spreading up my arm from the Gauntlet didn’t help.

  My bankroll was gone, and I had nobody handy to spring for a hotel room. Between them, Cam and Mercy had two hundred New Credits; it would be just barely enough. The mark on my shoulder prickled, the sensation growing to an intensity just short of pain and fading in steady waves. Was Japhrimel looking for me?

  I hoped he was. He was my best bet for survival, and things were getting a little too deep for my taste.

  Great, Danny. Go crying back to Japhrimel, you spineless wonder. You’ve got work to do and you’re on your own. Even if Japh could help you, he probably wouldn’t. He has his own problems, one of which you’ve got to make a whole lot worse for him if you can.

  I hate it when that deep sarcastic voice shows up inside my head. It’s usually right. Some new faction of demons was in the mix, and this treasure—and the Key. If Japhrimel couldn’t be sure what I’d told Eve, no wonder he wasn’t willing to give me more information. I was, at this point, a distinct liability to him, between being hostage material and a possible information-leak. He couldn’t trust me not to go running off to Eve as soon as I could.

  He’s convinced Eve is going to lose, and he wants to be on the winning side. I had to shake my head, my hair tangling forward over my shoulders. Stop looking at things from his side, dammit! You’re furious with him, remember?

  True. But I wanted to see him just the same. Things were getting ridiculous. And even if he did manhandle me a bit, he’d certainly kept me alive in the face of distinct opposition from the Devil. That sort of thing will make a girl feel charitable, even toward a lying, manhandling demon.

  I got us to the Vaccavine Hotel on the edge of the Tank District, sending the sedayeen in to buy the room and prodding the Shaman up the fire escape to meet her on the third floor. Once I got them both settled, I warded the walls—ignoring the Shaman’s gasp and Mercy’s open, wondering fear. I’d gotten so used to having access to almost-demon Power, it was a sobering experience to see even other psions acting like wide-eyed normals.

  I was fairly sure we weren’t followed, but I settled myself in the window with my sword across my knees anyway. Mercy took the bed and was blissfully asleep in moments, a skill I envied. She didn’t seem old enough to have an accreditation tat, and I wondered about the relationship between the two women. They seemed very easy with each other.

  That made me remember Doreen, and my heart twisted inside my chest.

  The Shaman paced. From one end of the room to the other, she wore a line in the cheap red carpet. The ribbons on her staff made soft sweet sounds as she frowned at the floor. She didn’t quite dare to scowl at me, but I got the feeling it was a close call.

  I pulled Eddie’s file out of my bag. It was beginning to look distinctly battered, the tough manila paper crinkling at the corners. “All right, Eustace Edward,” I whispered. “Let’s see what you have to tell me.”

  Seeing the first laseprint again was the same shock. Shattered glass and sticky-dry blood, Eddie’s head smashed back too far for his neck to support. His hair was full of blood, and broken plasglass winked on his cheek. He didn’t have his coat on. Jeans and the remains of a RetroPhunk 4EVAH! T-shirt. A winking gold chain around his neck that would probably dangle a marriage chip.

  I turned the laseprint over, sourness filling my mouth. Glanced at the infosheet below, a standard Saint City copshop document. Name of victim, age, cause of death, scene specifics—

  I read the address twice, then again. What the hell?

  Eddie had been killed in a Pico-Phize lab downtown. And according to the file, the number-one suspect was one J. T. Massadie.

  No way, Danny, I heard a familiar voice whisper in my right ear. It sounded a lot like Eddie’s usual laconic growl. If Gabe woulda had a clear lead to this guy she woulda given you his name.

  Lovely. I was dreaming about one dead man and hearing another while awake. Along with dating a demon, my life was getting too interesting even for me, and that was saying something. I wished I had time for some meditation, to clear out and organize my head.

  I shifted on my chair, my sword singing softly inside its sheath. Massadie looked to benefit from the cure if Eddie could produce it. His position in the corporate ladder as well as his retirement account would be secure.

  There’s no way Massadie would have sanctioned this. Greed’s a better proof of his innocence than a rock-solid alibi would be.

  The investigating officer’s name was Gilbert Pontside. And he was a normal. That was wrong—the murder of a psion was the jurisdiction of the Saint City Spook Squad. A Necromance or Shaman should have been assigned to the case, it was standard procedure. A Magi or Ceremonial might have taken the case if they had a Necromance partner.

  The rules were clear. The murder of a psion had to be investigated by psions, not only because of the dangerousness of hunting psions or a normal dangerous enough to kill one, but because of the risk of Feeders—psychic vampires. Sometimes a dead psion’s body, if left uncremated, could give rise to a Feeder’s ka.

  I knew enough about Feeders to shiver.

  I wondered if Pontside was Gabe’s friend. I wondered if he was on the Tanner Family make. And I most especially wondered if she’d opened her door to Pontside, or if her shields knew him and didn’t react when he came to toss her house over.

  It was a workable hypothesis. No wonder Massadie was trying to track me down. Was he on the Tanner Family payroll too, or just afraid for his own miserable life?

  I was thinking this over when the hair on my nape stood straight up. My left shoulder prickled urgently, I glanced at my left wrist. The cuff was quiescent, no green light.

  But it was so cold, its surface dead and dark. I wished I had the time and the means to cut the damn thing off my wrist.

  I jammed the folder back into my bag and made it to my feet. “Get on the bed,” I told the Shaman, my right hand curling around my swordhilt. My brain began to tick over likely avenues of attack, fire angles, and what I was going to do if it came down to defending them both.

  “Were we followed?” Her throat moved as she swallowed audibly, her fantastic eyes widening. I would have bet she was closer to forty than anything else, but she looked as young as Mercy at that moment. My sword whispered free, the metal ringing softly as faint blue flame slid along the keen curved edge.

  “Get on the fucking bed!” Goddamn civilians. My heart began to pound. How was I going to protect two helpless humans, take down a Mob family, and keep my head down with demons in town looking to take me hostage?

  I didn’t get another argument from her, because three light taps resounded on the flimsy door. I ghosted toward the door and to the side, behind the wall the room shared with a small bathroom. My sword lifted just as the shields and wards I’d laid on the room tu
rned purple.

  The deadbolt and maglock both clicked open, the hinges made a rough sound, and the edge of the door rasped along the cheap carpet. I glanced back—Cam stood next to the bed, her shoulders stiff. The edges of her oak staff glowed red with a Shaman’s defensive spells, and her stance was the basic stave-against-unknown-threat.

  So maybe she wasn’t completely helpless. Was the soft act just another defense?

  “Valentine,” I heard a familiar voice from the door. “Stand down. It’s a friend.”

  My heart thudded in my throat. I don’t think you’re my friend, mister.

  Footsteps, deliberately loud. The door closed behind him. He halted in the hall. “Relax, milady. You need my help. I’ve got some really bad news.”

  I stepped out, the sword held slanting up, and faced McKinley.

  He looked like hell, but he’d found a new set of black clothes and his shoulder appeared to be back in its socket. He slid a familiar-looking knife—mine, was that how he’d tracked me?—into a plasticine sheath and made it disappear. His face was bruised and swollen, his nose crooked, and his right hand looked like ground beef. But his black eyes traveled down and back up again, taking in the sword and my stance. He looked almost impressed despite himself.

  His left hand, with its silvery metallic coating, raised a little. “Easy there, Valentine. You don’t have time to kill me.”

  Says who? I’m a busy girl but I could probably fit you in.

  And oh how satisfying it would be to take some of my rage out on him. Dangling from his silver-coated fingers was a silver chain. Swinging on the chain was a star sapphire that cried out to me in its own tongueless voice.

  I’m getting pretty used to the sensation of being hit in the gut, I thought dimly. My left shoulder woke in one vivid flare of pain that threatened to drive me to my knees. I dug in, stayed upright. I was also getting very used to the sensation of my left shoulder being run through a meat grinder. At least that drove the numbness away, down my left arm.

  Gee, Dante. It’s sucking to be you lately.

  “The Eldest has been taken,” he said. “By the Twins.”

  “What are you talking about?” My voice cracked uselessly. “Taken? Japhrimel?”

  “There were too many of them, and they ran him to ground while he was out drawing them off and away from you. Their next move is going to be to try to acquire you, and they’re not the only ones.” He offered the necklace. The sapphire swung gently, a spark of blue light caught in its depths. “There are other demons in town, at cross-purposes to both the Prince and the rebellion. It’s crawling out there, I’ve got to get you out. We can catch a transport—”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” I said flatly. “I have business here. Who’s got Japh?”

  He swung the sapphire again. My eyes tracked it helplessly. “You don’t get it,” he said quietly. “He’s the Eldest, they can’t hold him for long. But if anyone gets their hands on you he’s helpless. He has to do what they want. If any demon takes you we’re all doomed.”

  Helpless. Selene used that word too. “Great speech.” My sword didn’t dip, blueflame runes twisting and coursing along the sharp edge. The steel’s heart flamed white, responding to my sudden pounding heartbeat. “Too bad I’m not convinced.”

  My left hand dropped the scabbard and blurred toward a projectile gun. I eased the hammer back and leveled it at him. “I’ll take all the cash you have, McKinley. You’re probably carrying a fair bit. Cam, wake the healer up. Get her up now.”

  “You’re an idiot.” McKinley’s eyes were deadly glittering black, sharp pieces of jet. “I’m on your side. We have to get you to a transport, get you to a safe place. If another faction catches you and threatens to harm you, he has to do as they say. With all the demons in the city, you’re going to be tagged sooner rather than later.” He didn’t smell like fear anymore; he smelled faintly like demon and even more faintly like dust. Dry and inhuman. His shoulders hunched, he didn’t shift his weight but I knew he was ready to move.

  I wondered just what exactly the Hellesvront agents were—not for the last time, I might add. I wondered if I was quick enough to take him.

  Let’s find out, Danny. “You don’t listen very well, do you. I have business to finish, and I’m not going anywh—” My shoulder crunched with pain again, the world went gray, and things got confused for a second as I crouched instinctively, my swordhilt jabbing forward as he came for me. A bullet whined and pinged before burying itself in the wall.

  If he hadn’t leapt at me I might have negotiated with him. As it was, I was sick and fucking tired of being manhandled. The difference between Japh and McKinley was that the agent, while inhumanly fast, was just a shade slower than me; he couldn’t easily overmatch me the way Japh could. It was a major tactical error on the agent’s part to jump me. I happened to believe him about the danger I was in, but I was fed up to the back teeth with demon-smelling men pushing me around.

  I came back to myself on top of a struggling McKinley, who was in an armlock facedown on the floor. The cuff rang with fluid green light, squeezing until I thought I heard bones grinding again. Strength poured hot up my arm from the blazing metal, the cuff that had locked itself around my wrist no longer cold. Would I have to cut my hand off to get rid of it?

  Well, ain’t that handy. Get it, Danny? Handy?

  I leaned down, my hair brushing his cheek. “Don’t fuck with me right now, sunshine. I’m a woman on the edge.” I barely recognized my own voice. My sword lay on the carpet, but I had the gun pressed to his temple. He surged, struggling, I pushed every erg of demon strength I possessed down. The floor groaned under cheap harsh red carpet. “I mean it, you demonlicking sonofabitch. Settle down!”

  Or I swear, by everything I hold holy, I will not be responsible for what happens.

  He finally quit thrashing. I was sweating, prickles of moisture under my arms and at the small of my back. He was a handful, and if the wristcuff hadn’t squeezed again I would have lost him. “Cam?”

  “Here.” She sounded grim but not panicked. Thank the gods for small favors.

  “Is Mercy up?” My voice made the holovid’s base chatter on the clunky half-dresser.

  “I’m awake. What’s going on?” The sedayeen, unfortunately, sounded a little less than calm. Her voice shook, and the fear mixing with the smell of violets taunted my fraying control. What was it with psions smelling of fear that pushed me over the edge so badly?

  Anubis, help me. Stay my hand, keep me calm.

  “Cam, get all the fiberoptic cord you can from the holovid. Slice down the goddamn curtain-strings too. Mercy, get my sword back into the sheath and come over here. I need you to pick his pocket.”

  This was apparently open for discussion even though she’d awakened to find me holding down a strange man in our hotel room. “You’re robbing him? Who is he?”

  I glanced up, my fingers digging into his flesh. “He’s bad news, baby. Just trust me and do what I fucking tell you.”

  Every item of furniture in the room that wasn’t bolted down rattled. Gods help me, I sound like Japhrimel. I took a deep breath. Trust me, do as I say, I know best.

  Except that I did. These two had no idea what was going on, and the fact that I hardly knew more didn’t erase the primary fact that I was in charge, goddammit. I was their best bet of getting out of this mess alive, and in order to get them out I needed them to do what I told them.

  Looks different from this side of the fence, doesn’t it, Danny?

  I told that voice to shut up and go away again.

  “You’re not listening.” McKinley’s voice was muffled, because I had his face smashed into the carpet. “If they catch you, Japhrimel will have to do anything they demand. He can’t risk any harm to you. He won’t risk any harm to you, he—”

  I felt as if a great weight had fallen away from my shoulders. Life was about to get very fucking simple. “You tell Japhrimel this. I’m through being jerked around. This little holo
vid script won’t work. I have had enough of manipulation, enough of games, and enough of demons. Consider this a datflash breakup.”

  He spluttered, but Cam knelt down cautiously and gagged him with a pillowcase, tying it behind his head. His eyes rolled up and he struggled, but between my strength and the Shaman’s nimble fingers we soon had him trussed nice and tight.

  Poor guy, he keeps getting tied up. I didn’t really feel any sympathy at all, but the merry voice of unreason just kept going inside my head.

  The healer handed me my sword. “You’re really going to rob him?” She sounded faintly disapproving. I guess when you didn’t hunt down bounties and have demons messing with your life you could be awful moral.

  What are you doing, Danny?

  It was a stupid question. I knew what I was doing—the only thing I could do, now. I was taking off my protective gear and slicboarding through Suicide Alley.

  In other words, I had officially just gone over the edge.

  “I can’t access any funds without getting a whole lot of heat on my tail,” I said shortly. Since I don’t think any bounty hunter after me will be stupid enough not to put a tag on my datband accessing any credits. I scooped the sapphire from McKinley’s rigid fingers, found a thick roll of cash in his back pocket. Stuffed both in my bag. “And I don’t have time to plan how to get in and out of a bank without being caught. We can’t hide or hunt for long without money, and I’ve got both of you to shelter too. Come on, that’s not going to hold him for more than a few minutes.” If that. It’s a pity, if I could trust him not to drag me off on a hover I could definitely use him as backup. I can’t wait to hook back up with Lucas.

  His eyes rolled back in his head, showing the whites, and a low steamy hissing slid out from behind the gag. I felt a trickle of cold Power along my skin, like an ice-cube trailed in a lover’s hand against fevered flesh. My rings roiled and spat in the charged air. “Time to go.”