by Amy Sumida
“There's no body,” I reminded them. “It might take some time for them to determine that Philip's dead.”
“Are you kidding me?” Kasteo huffed. “Those satyrs are sharks; they'll declare Philip dead as soon as possible. Even if they think he might be alive, they'll do it just for a chance to be Kerata.”
“If Philip shows up, the new kerata would be in a prime position to fight his claim.” Kosmos nodded. “But they'll all be united in one thing; getting revenge. This is going to get bloody.”
I went to sit at the dining table where William, our steward, had laid out a coffee service. The others wandered over after me and sat down while I poured myself a cup. It had been a long night. If I were going to keep discussing it, I needed caffeine.
“It's a good thing we went with Lucifer's suggestion and sent you both in with false faces and identities. It will buy us some time to watch them and come up with a new plan,” Cerberus said as he claimed a cup of coffee for himself. “I'm going to have my people create a cover story; Lucas Raven is going to die in a tragic car crash tonight.”
“Lucas was barely seen,” I pointed out.
“But he'll be on their security cameras,” Cer reminded me. “They'll see him come in with you and Samedi, but they won't see him leave. That will make him a prime suspect.”
“And when they don't find him, they'll go after Samedi,” I concluded.
“Exactly.” Cer grimaced. “I don't like Sam, but he doesn't deserve the wrath of the Demos Family, especially not after he did us a good turn.”
“No, he doesn't,” Lucifer agreed. “But I think we may have a problem with Samedi himself.”
“Samedi will be suspicious,” I explained it to the others. “He saw me walking around with Philip. At the very least, he'll want to know what happened to Luke and why I was with Philip.”
“You can easily explain that,” Declan said. “Just tell him that you were being a distraction for Lucifer while he found the bad guys Slate was after.”
“That might work for now but what about when it comes out that Philip is missing?” I asked. “I think we should just trust Sam and come clean.”
“Trust him?” Cerberus scoffed.
“I'll talk to him,” Slate offered. “I'll tell him that I didn't think he'd help me if he knew I was hunting Philip himself.”
“I think it might be best if I call him,” I countered. “We have history. Sam may like you but he trusts me.”
“El, don't you think Samedi will rat us out?” Cerberus asked with narrowed eyes.
“Honestly, I don't know. If they pressure Sam and threaten his business, he might cave,” I admitted. “But if I don't tell him the truth, he'll be more suspicious of us and more likely to betray us to the Demos Family. If you want loyalty, you have to be worthy of it.”
“Fine,” Cerberus grumbled. “If he rats, we'll deal with him.”
“Perhaps you should go to Earth and call Samedi now, Elaria,” Darc suggested. “Before he spends all night wondering.”
“And before news of Philip's disappearance reaches him.” I nodded.
“I'll take you to my zone; you can call him from there,” Slate offered.
“I thought cellphones don't work down there?” Gage asked.
“I have a landline. It goes straight to the surface.”
“I suppose you'd have to.” Gage made an amused sound.
“While they're gone, the rest of us need to start planning our next steps,” Torin declared. “We should keep striking while they're vulnerable; exploit every weakness.”
“Perhaps we should destroy the ship,” Banning suggested.
We all went still.
“It would take care of video surveillance, all of the satyr witnesses, and any evidence of the nymphs being rescued,” he went on.
“That's a really good idea, Bann.” Cerberus started to grin; he loved to blow stuff up.
“Do we want that kind of attention?” Torin asked. “The humans will notice a ship exploding.”
“Beneather Services will handle it,” Cer reminded us.
“Beneather Services?” Lucifer asked.
“Beneather Services is an organization that cleans up after Beneathers on Earth,” Cerberus explained. “When something happens that could bring attention to the Beneath, they show up disguised as emergency workers and sanitize the scene. Their fees are kept low enough for everyone to afford since it's pretty much mandatory that you accept their help. In the case of a death, they hold the body or bodies until the relatives pay up. That way, no alien corpses wind up in a human morgue and no beneather news makes it to human television.”
“Most news in the Beneath gets spread by word of mouth but Beneather Services also posts reports events online,” I explained further for Lucifer and Darcraxis. “They have a website that records all of their jobs in code. The cover is that the website is for bird watchers and each type of cleanup is represented by a different bird. For example, the post reporting the explosion of Philip's yacht would read something like; Philip Demos and several friends spotted a flock of pheasants from his yacht tonight. Horned owls have also been seen in the area. 'Flock of pheasants' being the code for a large explosion while 'horned owl' is the bird used for death. Then the location of the event would be given.”
“That's rather ingenious,” Lucifer noted.
“And then we won't have to worry about killing off Lucas,” I said to Cerberus.
“The Demos Family will still interview the guests,” Cer insisted. “Especially if they need to rely on them for the only accounting of the night. We can't take the chance that one of the other guests remembers either of you being with Samedi.”
“You're right,” I conceded.
“So, who wants to help me blow up the yacht?” Cerberus asked gleefully.
“I can do it,” Lucifer offered. “And I don't even need to go aboard.”
“But...” Cer's smile fell.
“It would be better if you weren't seen in the area,” I said gently to Cerberus.
Cer sighed deeply, grimaced, and nodded. “All right. I guess I'll focus on the nymphs. I have a guy working the Bazaar Portals, watching for the next shipment. If we can discover exactly who the Demos Family has in their pocket, we can stop the shipments and track the nymphs to wherever they're being held.”
“You really think they'll go right back to abducting nymphs?” Declan asked. “This could have been Philip's project.”
“No way.” Kasteo shook his head. “He'd tell the others about the nymphs, if for no other reason than to brag about his success. That's part of being Kerata; you have to show that you make the family money.”
“And the family will want to ensure that any profitable ventures continue turning a profit,” Kosmos added. “It will be even more important than declaring Philip dead.”
“You know, the funeral would be the perfect opportunity to take down all the family bosses,” I pointed out.
Everyone turned to stare at me. Then they began to smile.
“Fuck!” Cerberus pounded the dining table exuberantly. “This might be over faster than we thought!”
“They'll be wary of an attack,” Gage warned us. “We'll have to be careful.”
“And it will likely be difficult to discover where the funeral will be held,” Torin added.
“But it's a good plan,” Cer's excitement couldn't be stifled. “And I have enough contacts to ensure that we find out what we need to know. We're doing this; we're going to kill all of those fuckers at once!”
“I could kill them with a song,” I offered.
“No!” all of my men shouted.
I jerked back in shock.
“You lost control tonight, little bird,” Torin said gently. “We don't want to risk you.”
“She recovered quickly,” Lucifer protested before I could get the words past my lips. “She just needed a little help. You should have more faith in her.”
I looked down into my coffee. After we finishe
d rescuing the nymphs, RS had reported our second change in plans to my men. She told them everything except for the kiss. I asked her not to tell them. It had been brief, and I pulled away from him as soon as I was rational, but this was the second time Lucifer had helped me control my magic by kissing me. It was becoming a habit, and I knew my men would not be pleased. So, RS agreed to leave it out of her report but now, with him defending me, I was feeling guilty.
“We do have faith in her,” Declan protested. “But before you went on that yacht, you said Elaria was in control, and you were wrong.”
“He wasn't wrong. I was in control but my emotions got the better of me.” I lifted my chin. “I couldn't just stand there and watch while those bastards raped the nymphs in front of us.”
“They raped them in front of you?” Kasteo asked in a low, deadly voice.
“RS didn't mention that,” Slate said softly.
I thought you knew our girl well enough to realize that she wouldn't lose her shit without good reason, RS huffed into all of our minds.
My men exchanged awkward looks.
“We were going to wait until the men left and then secret the nymphs away,” Lucifer explained since he couldn't hear RS. “But Philip offered his buyers a taste of his products. Then he joined in. It was that last bit that broke Elaria's control. Frankly, if she hadn't done it, I might have acted myself. It was a horrifying thing to watch. Utterly nauseating.”
“All right,” Darc conceded for all of them. “You had a good reason to lose control.”
“Thank you,” I said primly then looked at Kasteo. “How are the nymphs?”
“Worse than Helene,” Kasteo said. “They're totally broken.”
“I think I may be able to help with that,” Lucifer said in a musing tone.
“Can your light heal their minds?” I asked hopefully.
“Possibly,” he frowned as he considered it. “It would take some focus. I'd rather go with the surest, easiest solution.”
“Which would be?” Kasteo leaned forward to ask.
“The Tree of Life,” I whispered.
Lucifer smiled at me beatifically.
“The Tree of Life is a real thing?” Kosmos asked.
“It is, and its fruit heals all wounds,” Lucifer announced. “Even the wounds of the mind, although that can be a bit complicated.”
“Complicated?” Kosmos asked warily.
“The brain will be completely healed by the fruit, but the mind is a delicate, intricate thing; an intangible thing. Healing it can mean different things for different people,” Lucifer explained. “The only thing I can guarantee is that the fruit will free them from catatonia. One bite and the nymphs will be restored to perfect health. We just need to make sure that the fruit is consumed within 24 hours of picking.”
“Or what?” Cerberus asked.
“Or it rots and turns into death or even undeath,” I answered grimly. “But the nymphs are here; we don't have to worry about the fruit sitting around before we get it to them.”
“I'll fetch a few of them now.” Lucifer got to his feet.
“Hold on.” Cer grabbed his arm. “You need to take care of the yacht first.”
“Yes, of course,” Lucifer agreed. “I'll destroy the ship and then fetch the fruit.”
“Thank you, Luke,” I used his undercover name automatically.
“Now, that's a much better nickname.” Lucifer smiled at me tenderly as he lifted his wings and shimmered up into the Veil.
Chapter Sixteen
“Sam, it's me.”
“Goddamn it, Elaria!” Samedi shouted through the phone. “What the fuck happened? Did you grab the guys you were after? Where did Lucifer go?”
I held the receiver away from my ear and cringed. I was with Slate in his zone office, sitting on the corner of his gargoyle desk as he watched me from his zone lord throne... I mean leather chair. Slate lifted a brow at me, but I shook my head. I could deal with Samedi on my own.
“Things took an unexpected turn,” I said calmly.
“What kind of turn?”
“I lost control of my magic, Sam,” I admitted. “We went looking for those men Slate was after and instead, we found Philip and his friends raping a group of nymphs. He had them prisoner in the hold of his ship. I just lost it.”
“Philip was doing what?” Sam's voice went low.
“He had over forty nymphs down there, Sam,” I said softly. “They were all broken; he was selling them as sex slaves. The buyers were sampling the merchandise.”
“That's... that's so...”
“Heinous?” I asked.
“Yeah, that's a good word for it. Fuck, I knew Demos was bad, but I never thought he'd sink to raping nymphs. Who the fuck does that?”
“Someone who wants to sell nymphs as sex slaves,” I muttered.
“So, what happened to Luke? Was he freeing the nymphs while you distracted Philip?”
“That was Luke.”
“What do you mean; that was Luke?”
“I killed Philip. I killed him and his buyers. Then Lucifer impersonated him.”
“Fuck! Are you fucking kidding me? Do you know what kind of a shit storm this is going to create?”
“Lucifer is destroying the yacht and all evidence on it even as we speak,” I said calmly.
“He's... he can... what the fuck is happening right now?”
“We're taking out the Demos Family. That's what's happening. It will take some time, and you may find yourself in their crosshairs for a little while, but we're going to handle it, Sam. Just stay calm and plead ignorance.”
Samedi sighed deeply. “Don't worry about me; the Lwas will back me, and the Demos Family has dealt with us for years. They won't want to risk our alliance. But your cover story had better hold up. You can damn well bet that they'll be looking for Lucas Raven and his hot girlfriend.”
“Lucas Raven confronted his girlfriend about her indiscretion with Philip Demos tonight. The couple left in Luke's car and had a vicious argument. Luke was so distracted that he crashed the car and both of them were tragically killed.”
“Is that so?” Samedi snickered. “Nicely played.”
“As I said; it's being handled.”
“All right, Elaria, I'll keep your secret, but you had better take them down fast. The Demos Family won't stop until they find out who killed their kerata.”
“I know. And thank you, Sam.”
“You're welcome, cherie.”
I sighed and hung up the phone.
“Come here.” Slate pulled me onto his lap and tucked me into an embrace. “It's going to be all right.”
“We had better kill all of the family leaders at that funeral.”
“Don't worry about that now.” Slate's hands stroked my hair and face gently.
I nestled in against his chest. “I just want to sleep for a few days.”
“There's a bedroom twenty feet away. Say the word, and I'll carry you there.”
“Tempting.” I chuckled against the thick column of his throat. “But we need to get back to help with the nymphs.”
“I think the others can manage to feed some fruit to a bunch of broken nymphs,” Slate said gently. “They'll understand.”
“Maybe just a quick pick-me-up.” I angled my face up to his.
“Oh, now you've done it, Spellsinger,” Slate growled as he stood with me in his arms. “I was going to be a gentleman and tuck you into bed but that line, delivered in this dress did away with that idea.”
Slate laid me back on his massive desk and yanked my bodice down by its thin straps. My breasts popped free, and the gargoyle fell on them with a groan. With my legs spread wide and heels set on the edge of the desk, my dress quickly became more of a belt. His mouth full of my breast, Slate reached between us and shifted his fingers into talons. A quick flick and my panties were sliced away. I undid Slate's belt as he tossed aside the silk scraps and then helped him shove his pants to the floor.
Slate's shaft strai
ned against his boxers, pushing into me as I tried to shove the last barrier away. Slate yanked them down with a feral snarl and seconds later, he was inside me. Every slam sent me sliding over the glass inset of his desk until Slate grabbed my hips, straightened, and held me still for his wild thrusting. He still had his collared shirt and jacket on, his muscles stretching the shoulders of the suit as he moved powerfully inside me. I laid my hands over his biceps and just held on as my gargoyle pummeled us into pleasure, his silver eyes glowing in the low light.
