Burning Bright (Ivy Granger)

by E.J. Stevens

  “Thanks,” I said. “I’m just waiting for Forneus and we’ll head on in. Think you could put the kettle on for me?”

  “I just gave you permission to enter with two demons and you want me to make you tea?” she asked. “How does Jinx put up with you?”

  “No idea,” I said. “But thanks.”

  I could practically hear the eye roll as Arachne hung up.

  “You catch all that, Humphrey?” I asked.

  “Get to eat demons for breakfast,” he said with a grin.

  “Hey, only if they misbehave,” I said.

  “Demons always do,” he said, licking his lips.

  I had a sinking feeling that the gargoyle had a point. I just hoped that Sparky and Forneus stayed on their best behavior while in The Emporium. That wasn’t too much to ask, right?

  I heard a throat clear and spun to see Forneus dabbing at his face with an honest-to-god lace handkerchief. Someone really needed to bring that man into the correct century.

  “Where have you been?” I asked.

  “A pleasure to see you as well,” he said.

  “That’s not an answer,” I said. “I called. You didn’t call me back—for an entire day.”

  The demon tugged at his white gloves, not meeting my eyes.

  “Yes, I was…detained,” he said.

  I was sure there was a story there, and I wanted to know what it was. What would keep him from helping Jinx? If it was something petty, I might just kill him. I stepped into his line of sight, cocked a hip, and made a rolling gesture with my hand.

  “Get on with it, Forneus,” I said. “What was so urgent that it came between you and your search for information that could help Jinx. This I’ve got to hear.”

  Forneus gave a long suffering sigh and I held my breath against the smell of sulfur. Damn that guy needed some Tic Tacs, and this from the girl with puke breath. I took a step back, careful not to step on Sparky. The pipsqueak was sticking close to my heels.

  “Apparently, my adversaries in Hell are jealous of the fact that I am currently in the Dark Lord’s favor.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure they’re forming their own fan club,” I said. “And did you just say, Dark Lord? ‘Cause that’s just cheesy.”

  Forneus tensed, his hankie gone, replaced by his walking stick. He’d gone dead serious.

  “Trust me, it is best not to say His name,” he said. “Being in his favor does not mean I wish to draw His attention.”

  “Noted,” I said. “So why the delay?”

  “Contrary to popular belief, we demons do not all sit around and drink tea together while roasting human souls on a spit,” he said. “Hell is too large a place for us to know every other demon that those fiery pits have spawned.”

  I nodded and rolled my hand for him to get on with it.

  “I did not have any first-hand experience with the incubi, only their sister race, so I journeyed to Hell to learn more about the incubi in hopes of discovering ways to break the spell on Jinx,” he said. “Unfortunately, while I was there I was set upon by over ambitious demons looking for an expeditious way to advance through the ranks. Hence the delay.”

  “I take it you set these guys straight?” I asked.

  I didn’t care much about demon politics, but if Forneus’ enemies started popping up on my city streets, things could get messy. Even without a Hell gate, there was a chance that powerful enough demons might enter the city, especially with Kaye’s magic waning. Our current plan was dicey enough as it was without throwing angry, vengeful demons into the mix.

  “Oh, I put those wastrels in their proper place, posthaste,” he said, an evil grin crawling across his face.

  A shiver ran up my spine, and I was suddenly glad that Forneus was on my side. Demons? Kings of the evil grin, let me tell you.

  At least I wouldn’t be facing off with Forneus’ enemies. Just a couple dozen fire imps and a pissed off glaistig. Yeah, no big deal. Right.

  “So, when you were done comparing pitchforks, did you find out anything useful?” I asked. “Please tell me you know an easy way to sever the incubus’ hold on Jinx.”

  “The simplest way is to kill the man, which is what he deserves for touching Jinx and sullying her reputation,” he said.

  “That’s on my to-do list, but I was hoping for an easier option,” I said. “As in, something we can pull off from a distance.”

  “You could attempt to reason with the man,” he said, rolling his eyes and flapping his hand as if to dismiss the idea. “But what can you offer him in exchange for Jinx’s freedom? No, even if he was acting outside of The Green Lady’s orders, which would be foolish to assume, there is nothing you could do to persuade him from feeding off from Jinx.”

  “Both of those options depend on getting close enough to either kill or reason with the man,” I said. “I have a plan for storming the carnival and getting to the incubus, but it relies on a shitload of things to go right if I’m to pull it off.” And a lot was riding on Kaye turning up soon and agreeing to something so insane I didn’t even want to think about it. Damn. “I was hoping for something simpler and less messy. Complicated plans have a way of going sideways.”

  “I cannot change the facts,” he said. “Kill him or reason with him. If you wish to do so from afar, then use that phone contraption you are so fond of. Reason with the man. Though the Dark Lord only knows what you could offer him.”

  I lowered my voice, hands clenched into fists.

  “What if I gave myself in exchange?” I asked. “Would the feeding kill me, the way it would a human?”

  For once, I was glad that Ceff wasn’t here. I wouldn’t have to see the pain written on his face.

  Forneus raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes, it would kill you,” he said. “Not that the incubus would accept that bargain. His mistress would gain nothing by your death and an incubus would never trade a sexy human for a prudish half-breed. No offense.”

  I stiffened. Prudish half-breed?

  “I’ll have you know…” I said.

  “Yes?” he asked. He leaned forward, rolling his cane between his hands.

  “Never mind,” I said, throwing my hands up in the air. I was not going to defend myself by sharing details about my sex life, not with Forneus. Not ever. “What is it with all demons being perverts?”

  Sparky let out an indignant squeak and I reached down and patted his head with a gloved hand.

  “Okay, all except for you buddy,” I said.

  Forneus’ eyes widened as he noticed Sparky for the first time. A ripple of magic flared in his eyes and raced across his skin.

  “What is a Tezcatlipocan demon doing in your presence?” he asked. “Alive, that is.”

  “I don’t know what a Tezca-whatever is, but his name’s Sparky,” I said. The name sounded familiar, but my head was killing me and I couldn’t place where I’d heard it before. “And he’s with me.”

  The last I said with narrowed eyes, letting Forneus know where I stood on the issue. Sparky had experienced enough trauma for one day, no matter what kind of unpronounceable demon he was. I did feel smug though, I just knew he wasn’t a fire imp.

  “Your ignorance never ceases to amaze me, though in this case it may be justified,” he said. “Tezcatlipocans are rare, and often misunderstood on this plane. Let me see.” He tapped his chin with his cane, brow furrowed. “You have heard of Nephilim?”

  “Yes,” I said, nodding. Father Michael loved to go on and on about stuff like that. “Nephilim are the offspring of fallen angels and humans. They were all wiped out in The Flood.”

  “Not all,” he said. “Though yes, many of the Nephilim were wiped out during that time. Their great strength was often unmatched by one creature alone, but many believed their existence to be a blight on the earth. They were hunted, and their gigantic size became a disadvantage as men banded together against them. There are some who hide in the mountains, waiting for man to forget their existence.”

  “Okaaaaaaay, so
what does that have to do with Sparky?” I asked.

  “Your…pet, ahem, is the offspring of a fallen angel and a demon,” he said. “Such a demon is extremely rare. It is nearly inconceivable that this one was cast out of Hell to fend for himself as a newling. Yet here he is.”

  “Yep, and I sure didn’t take a trip to Hell,” I said. Though I felt like I had. Oberon’s eyes, I was tired. “I found him here in the city, being toyed with by the cat sidhe.”

  “They would have killed him?” he asked, incredulous.

  Sparky whined and tucked himself in closer to my leg. I probably should discourage that kind of thing, but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the little guy.

  “Yes, after they’d tortured him for awhile,” I said. “The cat sidhe like to play with their food.”

  I grimaced. The cat sidhe may be my allies, but that didn’t mean I had to approve of their hunting practices.

  “In their defense, I don’t think the cats knew that Sparky was the son of a fallen angel,” I said. “They were hunting fire imps.”

  “Fire imps?” he asked. “Here in Harborsmouth?”

  I rubbed my face.

  “Yeah, it’s a long story,” I said. “How about we take this inside and I’ll explain over tea. I have a faerie bargain hanging over my head and it’s giving me a headache.”

  There was also a pack of faerie assassins out looking for me, and when they found me, I had no doubt I’d be in big trouble. The back of my neck itched just thinking about it.

  I moved for the door, but Forneus stayed as if rooted to the sidewalk. I followed his gaze to see Humphrey glaring down from where he crouched on the stone lintel above the entrance. Dust trickled from Humphrey’s mouth onto the ground.

  “What, him?” I asked, pointing my thumb toward the drooling gargoyle. “Don’t worry about Humphrey. He’s cool. Right, Humphrey?”

  Humphrey just glared at us, the snick of claws the only sound. I sighed and tried another tactic. The gargoyle always liked my jokes in the past, so why not give that a try?

  “We get it, Humphrey,” I said. I waggled my eyebrows. “You’re a stone cold killer. You gonna let us pass?”

  The gargoyle fought a smile, but I caught the twitch of his lips as he waved us through. Guess that was our cue.

  “You are forgetting about the witch,” Forneus said.

  He’d moved up behind me, his sulfurous breath hot against my neck. Too close for damned comfort. I shook my head and opened the door, stepping out of his reach.

  “No, I didn’t,” I said. “We’ve got permission to enter, but no funny business, or they’ll feed you to Humphrey here. You too, Sparky.”

  The gargoyle grinned from his perch, showing off a mouthful of bone crushing teeth. Forneus muttered something, but I didn’t quite catch what he said. I was too busy gaping at Sparky.

  The little demon had reached up and placed his tiny hand in mine. I took a steadying breath and closed my hand over his.

  “Okay, kiddo,” I said. “But no touching my skin. Got it?”

  Sparky nodded, a serious look on his face. I told myself that holding his hand was a good way to keep the demon from getting into trouble while we were inside The Emporium. But who was I kidding?

  Now that we’d already gotten the obligatory vision out of the way—one that wasn’t all that bad as far as visions go—I didn’t have much to worry about. I knew I’d survive if we accidentally touched again, and his presence was a comfort.

  Sparky was a reminder of the one good thing I’d done today. At least, I hoped I’d been right to save him. He was a demon, sure, but he was also just a kid. That had to count for something.

  I squeezed his hand and crossed the threshold into The Emporium. I wasn’t looking forward to my chat with Arachne. And if Kaye showed up, I’d need all the comfort I could get.

  Chapter 30

  “So,” I said, dodging occult bric-a-brac. “You learn anything else that might help us with Jinx?”

  Arachne may have given us permission to enter, but the magic workings that Kaye had instilled in the place were making navigating the shop a bitch. Every time we headed toward the back of The Emporium, some freaking display ended up in our way. I had a nagging suspicion it had something to do with my guests of the demonic persuasion.

  Oh well, nothing for it now but to keep on trudging until we found Kaye’s spell kitchen. I sure as heck wasn’t going to force my way through. Arachne said we needed to be on our best behavior, and I was taking the kid seriously. The last thing we needed was for The Emporium to swallow us whole.

  I eyed a rack of grinning skeletons, keeping my free hand close to my weapons, and turned left. Again. Yeah, there was no question about it. We were walking in circles.

  At least the detour gave me time to catch Forneus up to speed. I filled him in on the day’s events—fire imps, vamp lords, and Hunters, oh my—as we walked, but now I was trying to edge the conversation back to Jinx.

  The skin around Forneus’ eyes tightened, as did his grip on his fancy cane. Apparently, the direction of my questions had pissed him off. Oh well, I was used to that. Pissing people off was like my super power.

  “Nothing of import,” he snapped.

  “Come on, Forneus,” I said. “Out with it.”

  He let out a theatrical groan and I smiled.

  “You are the most persistent, troublesome, vexatious…” he said.

  “Yeah, yeah, so what did you find out?” I asked.

  He stopped, staring at his hands, though I was pretty sure he didn’t really see them. No, his mind was somewhere else entirely.

  “Before I ventured to Hell, I visited with a few patrons of Club Nexus,” he said. I leaned closer, his voice so low I could barely make out the words. “My inquiries provided clearer insight as to how the incubus lured Jinx from the club, nothing more.”

  I swallowed hard. Forneus may not want to talk about it, heck I didn’t want to hear it, but we needed all the facts.

  “What did he do to her?” I asked.

  “That is just it, the culprit was not a ‘he’ at all,” he said. Well that was confusing as hell. Jinx was fed on by an incubus, as in a half-fae half-demon who was totally, completely male. Forneus lifted a hand and waved off the questions forming on my tongue. “The incubus came later.”

  Normally, I would have snorted at the double entendre, but not this time. No matter how much my mind tried to reject the idea, this was Jinx we were talking about.

  I tried to sort through what Forneus was saying and pieces of the puzzle finally clicked into place. Jinx may have made some bad choices when it came to men in the past, but she was smart, and tough as all get out. She never would have willingly left the club with an incubus. Even she knew better than that.

  But she might have left with someone she trusted.

  “Who was it?” I asked. “Who led Jinx out of the club?”

  The words “like a lamb to the slaughter” hung in the air, unspoken. My mind raced with possibilities and I tried to prepare myself for who might be a traitorous bitch, but when Forneus broke the silence he still managed to surprise me.

  “Delilah, the succubus,” he said.

  “Okay, that wasn’t who I was expecting,” I said. It wasn’t that I didn’t suspect that Delilah had the capability of deceit. No, it was that the succubus wasn’t exactly in our circle of friends. Sure, she’d helped me survive an each uisge attack, but that was while she was under orders from The Green Lady to protect the carnival. It wasn’t like we were best buds or anything. I mean, I hoped that Delilah would be an asset when I stormed the carnival, but I didn’t count on it. Something about this whole scenario was hinky. “Why would Jinx trust Delilah?”

  “From what I could gather from my informants, I do not believe her trust went so far as leaving the premises with the succubus,” he said.

  “But you said…” I argued.

  “I know what I said, but listen,” he said. “Jinx left with Delilah after trusting the suc
cubus in as far as having a drink with her.”

  He watched my face, waiting for me to catch up. When I did, rage poured off me in waves of light, literally. The Emporium seemed to bristle and I took a deep, calming breath. Kaye’s magic was not something I wanted to tangle with, but damn I was pissed.

  “Delilah slipped her Ice, didn’t she?” I asked.

  It explained Jinx’s loss of memory. It explained everything.

  “Yes, it would seem so,” he said with a curt nod.

  Mab’s bloody freaking bones. Ice was a nasty drug that had recently made its way through Club Nexus, until I’d put a stop to Puck’s depraved side business. I’d assumed that with Puck out of the picture, Ice was off the streets. I’d been a fool.

  The thing with Ice is that it made the perfect date rape drug. It was like a roofie on steroids.

  And the succubus had given it to Jinx.

  Delilah led a drugged Jinx out of the club, to her friend the incubus, and patrons of Club Nexus wouldn’t have suspected a thing. It would have looked like two girls out having a good time—one just having a little too much of a good time.

  Now that we knew the how and the why, I guess all that was left was to kick some ass. I wasn’t going to negotiate—not with manipulative pricks willing to slip my friend a date rape drug in order to force me to do their bidding. The Green Lady, the incubus, and Delilah were securely on my shit list.

  They were going to pay.

  “She would be safer with me in her life,” Forneus said, pulling me from my murderous thoughts.

  Oberon, forgive me, but I was starting to agree with him. I couldn’t be in two places at once, and with my search for my father that meant a lot of time out of the office and away from Jinx.

  I gave a noncommittal shrug and turned my attention to saving our asses in the present. If we survived the future, I’d have to consider making some changes in my life. Finding someone else to watch Jinx’s back was one of them.

  I didn’t like that idea, not one bit, but I had to admit that so far I hadn’t been able to keep my friend safe. Hell, I wasn’t doing a stand up job of surviving myself.