Smoke and Ashes

by Tanya Huff

  Tony’d just sketched in the final swooping crosspiece when the door between the offices and the soundstage bounced off the wall of Raymond Dark’s sanctuary and crashed to the floor.

  The wall swayed but stayed up.

  It had been a soundproof door. Big, and thick, and heavy, it used to be attached to the wall with large metal hinges. The demon that had thrown it was mostly two enormous arms and the supporting torso. No head to speak of but just under where logic insisted the lower edges of its ribs should be—had logic not decided discretion was the better part of valor and buggered off for coffee—was a huge fang-filled mouth. There were no runes or glyphs or Post-it notes allowing it to take out Leah.

  Jack and Lee’s demon.

  It had fucking well better be Jack and Lee’s demon! Because if it wasn’t, they’d missed a hole, and if they’d missed one, then they could have missed a dozen and a dozen extra demons were twelve more than Tony wanted to deal with.

  He finished the final rune but didn’t move it into place, waiting until the second demon joined the first under the gate.

  It stood, weight forward on its knuckles, and watched the fight. Maybe it sensed the trap—hardly surprising with three blue patterns of glowing energy suspended in the air and nothing distracting it. Maybe it was waiting until the first demon took the edge off a common enemy. Maybe demons liked to see other demons get the chitin kicked off them. Whatever the reason, the gate wasn’t enough to draw it between the runes.

  What could he add as enticement?

  What did demons want?

  Foot on knee, on elbow, on shoulder—Leah leaped for the light grid, kicking the demon hard in the face. It fell back, she dangled, and Tony called her jacket and shirt into his hand.

  Fabric tore, buttons bounced off demon, vampire, and concrete.

  Most of the Demongate was exposed between track pants and white lace bra.

  The oldest operating spell in the world. Leah’d said it was what had drawn the Demonic Convergence, so demons were obviously interested in it even when they hadn’t been marked to destroy her. Since they hadn’t been marked, Leah was half dressed but still completely safe, protected by the spell.

  From the look on Leah’s face, if this didn’t save the day, demons would be a minor problem as far as Tony, personally, was concerned.

  The second demon roared and charged forward.

  Tossing the handful of white silk aside, Tony shouted out the words for the clean cantrip.

  Scrubbing bubbles covered the floor of the soundstage, knee-deep.

  The second demon started to slide, threw out a massive hand to stop itself, overbalanced and, other arm flailing, slammed into the first demon. Chiton cracked. They both went down.

  Tony threw the fourth rune into place.

  Leah dropped onto a spotlessly clean circle of floor empty of demons and bubbles both, landing in a deep crouch as her knees took up the shock of the landing. Henry straightened, left arm held tightly against his side, blood soaking through the shoulder of his cream-colored sweater. The empty loops of yellow nylon rope gleamed, cleaner than they’d ever been.

  Slipping and sliding through the scrubbing bubbles, picking up speed once he hit the dry concrete, Tony raced to Henry’s side. This was where he’d been dragged into the story, back in Toronto after another demon attack had left Henry nearly dead. He had his jacket off before he stopped moving.

  Henry’s gaze slid past him. “Tony?”

  Crap. The Notice Me Not.

  “Where are you, you little shit! How dare you use me as bait!” Leah stomped across the soundstage toward the place the fourth rune had been, kicking bubbles out of the way.

  How did he turn this thing off?

  “Quit screwing around, Tony. Turn the spell off.”

  He waggled the tab on his fly. Nothing. “I don’t know how.”

  Henry cocked his head.

  Leah threw up her hands. “I bet you don’t know how to turn it off, do you? I’m telling you, square pegs, round holes, and if I ever get my hands on this Arra person, I’m going to kick her ass.”

  “He’s here,” Henry murmured, his eyes darkening.

  “No shit, Nightwalker. I think the overactive cleaning supplies are a dead giveaway.”

  This time when Henry called him, there was no question, no doubt that Tony would answer. He said, “Tony.”

  Tony heard, “Mine.” and stepped forward to meet the darkness in Henry’s eyes.

  They stood for a moment, barely an arm’s length apart, Tony breathing heavily, listening to the song of his blood responding to the call. When Henry made no move to close the distance between them, he swallowed and said, “You’re hurt.”

  Henry glanced at the wound on his shoulder. “So it seems.” And back at Tony. “I’ve been hurt worse.”

  “Not because of me.”

  “This wasn’t your fault.”

  “You have to feed.” Tony watched the Hunger rise, and offered his wrist. Ignored the way his hand was trembling.

  To his surprise, Henry shook his head and his eyes lightened. Not completely, but it was clear he’d locked the Hunger down. His good arm reached for Tony, pulled him close. Cool fingers clasped the back of his neck, drew his head down onto a broad shoulder. That Tony was a good two inches taller didn’t seem to matter. “We can’t go back to the way we were.”

  “I don’t want to go back.” But he did. Right now, right at this moment, right after sending two very large demons back to their hell, right after stopping a third, right after sending friends out into danger, he wanted nothing more than to go back to when Henry made the decisions. When life went on around him without him having to be so damned involved. “You need blood.”

  “Yes.”

  He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “But not from me.”

  Fingertips caressed the bite on his throat that was still only partially healed. “It’s too soon. And the wrong time.”

  They meant the same thing. Except they didn’t.

  The wizard in charge didn’t get to lie down and have it done to him, no matter what the current value of it.

  “Will you Hunt?”

  “No.”

  “Amy’ll be back later tonight.” Is this how Vicki had felt? Like she was pimping for Henry? “She’d be thrilled.” She’d be impossible to live with, but since he only had to work with her, he thought he might survive.

  “Kevin Groves is in Raymond Dark’s office.”

  “Ah.” Tony stepped back, Henry’s hand falling away. “Is he…you know, okay with it?”

  Henry smiled, his teeth very white. “He likes that I tell him the truth.”

  “Yeah? I kind of preferred it when you lied.”

  “No.” Again fingertips touched the bite on his throat. “You didn’t.”

  Tony turned before he had to watch Henry walk into the office set. He drew in a long breath, let it out slowly, and noticed Leah staring at him as she shrugged into her shirt.

  “I’m fine.” Tying the front tails into a knot, she yanked it tight. “Thanks for asking.”

  “You were protected.”

  “That didn’t give you the right to use me as bait.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  The apology seemed to take her by surprise. “Oh. Okay, then. And it worked—so good idea.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Just a thought, you might want to avoid that invisible wizard thing until you learn how to turn it off.”

  Had Henry not been here, how long would he have remained unnoticed? “I’m planning on it.”

  “Good. So, about these bubbles…”

  The remaining bubbles, those that had been outside the runes, were continuing to clean, moving out and over the soundstage.

  “Just ignore them. Eventually, they’ll dry out and pop.”

  “Leaving a sticky magic residue?”

  “How do you make that sound so smutty?”

  “Practice.” She grinned and shrugged b
ack into her track jacket, ignoring the ruined zipper. “Now what?”

  “Now I need a confab with Ryne Cyratane.”

  “A what?”

  Tony squared his shoulders and looked as resolute as a man could with a clump of scrubbing bubbles halfway up his leg. “We need to talk.”

  Twelve

  “ALL RIGHT, LET’S ASSUME, just for interest’s sake, that you haven’t completely lost your mind.” Finger combing hair disheveled by the fight, Leah crossed over to the chaise lounge, waited until a wave of scrubbing bubbles finished cleaning the last bit of grimy upholstery, and sat, staring up at Tony as though his lost mind was a forgone conclusion. “Why do you want to talk to Ryne Cyratane?”

  “Dealing with two demons at once almost got our collective butts kicked. I’m still finding it a little hard to believe that the slapstick defense actually worked.”

  “You’re suggesting that we’re not in a Three Stooges movie?”

  He snorted, and ran a hand back up through his hair. “Look, even if I deal with most of the weak spots before they open—and that’s doubtful because they’re not all going to be in easy-to-access places—we’re still screwed. Three demons would have won that fight, and if they win the fight, they’ll open your gate.”

  “What about the rest of the troops?”

  “We don’t have troops!”

  “Okay, fine. Keep them out of it.” Leah rolled her eyes. “You’re still missing the obvious solution.”

  “Okay?”

  “I get on a plane as soon as possible and get the hell away from here. Ryne Cyratane has committed his power to bringing the demons through at those points in this place. He’s not going to be able to follow me.”

  Tony frowned. That seemed so reasonable he automatically suspected it. “So he’ll break off the attack?”

  “Are you listening to me? I just said he’s committed his power.”

  “So he won’t break off the attack?”

  Her smile was scathing. “As you kids today say: duh.”

  “Then that’s only a solution for you. And only a temporary one. He’ll know where you are because of the gate, right? Then as long as the Demonic Convergence is still going on,” Tony continued when she nodded, “he’ll redirect things and just shove the next demons through there. Where you’ll face them alone. Without the wizard. Because I’ll probably die when the studio gets swarmed. And then you’ll be dead,” he elaborated when she didn’t look convinced, “just like you would have been with that first demon if I hadn’t been there.”

  She crossed her legs and scowled at the toe of her shoe. “You don’t know that.”

  “Yeah, I do. So, your obvious solution is crap. The only way we’re all going to survive this is by staying together and stopping that swarm.”

  “By talking to the Demonlord who’s sending it?”

  “I don’t think it’s him.”

  Brows drawn in, she peered up at him. “Did you get hit on the head?”

  “No!” He bent to pick up the rope just to give his hands something to do. The scrubbing bubbles had left it not only clean but smelling faintly of lemons and free of static cling. “Jack asked me the same question yesterday,” he muttered, feeling slightly picked on.

  “It’s a reasonable assumption when you’re saying things like you don’t think the demon who created the gate is trying to reopen the gate by taking out the person he created the gate on that only he’d know about,” she snapped.

  “Why?”

  “What?”

  Holding one end of the rope in his left hand, Tony began to coil it between hand and elbow. “Why would Ryne Cyratane be the only who knows about you? There’s clearly more than one demon down there. Out there. Wherever the hell their hell is. Odds are good they talk to each other. Get together Friday nights, drink a little demonic beer, play a little demonic poker, talk about gates they’ve got set up to get back into a world where the inhabitants are easy to rend and will worship you in order to keep from being rended.”

  “Demonic beer?” Leah tossed her hair back over her shoulder. “Please.”

  “Stop fixating on the details. The theory is sound and those other Demonlords have also had thirty-five hundred years to make plans about how they’ll use the gate yours left behind. And besides…”

  The Demonlord didn’t look happy, that was for sure. He looked frustrated. Like he knew the thing he was looking for was right there, right in front of him, but he couldn’t find it.

  “…he wants to talk to me.”

  “He wants to feast on your steaming entrails.”

  “Maybe.”

  “You’re not his type. Trust me.”

  “Look, he’s been appearing when these attacks are going on, even when you’re not aroused. The first time, he looked angry, and I figured it was his motivation showing and he was angry at not getting back here to the worship and the slaughter. Or maybe it was the too-close-to-water thing. Who knew? Then, after it became obvious to anyone with half a brain that there was a wizard involved, he showed up looking for me. But I don’t react to you, so he couldn’t find me and that was making him frustrated. Then I had a dream about him…”

  “Oh, that’s a good reason for me to stick around. You had a dream.”

  Tony ignored her, both hands working the rope. “He was wearing the same expression L…other people do when I’m obviously not getting their message.”

  Leah snorted. “Good luck with that since he hasn’t decided what message he’s sending.”

  “What? Wait, you’re not talking about Ryne Cyratane there, are you?” No. She wasn’t. “You think we could deal with one communication problem at a time?”

  “He’s conflicted.”

  “I got that,” Tony sighed, tying off the coil. “Now could we…”

  “You should kick his feet out from under him and beat him to the floor.”

  “Is that what you did?”

  Dimples flashed. “I never have to work that hard.”

  That answered that question. Lee wasn’t just using the women as a blind; he liked women, or he wouldn’t have fallen for the primal “do me, baby” Leah was offering. Of course, liking women didn’t necessarily preclude liking men. Take Henry, for example. He was about as enthusiastically nondiscriminating as they came.

  Not that Lee had ever been enthusiastic.

  Except that once.

  With him, anyway.

  He could have been enthusiastic with any number of other men for all Tony knew and was just being carefully closeted at work. Or all the metaphysical shit Lee’d been through in the last six months combined with Tony’s not so secret attraction had seriously fucked with his head.

  Yeah. Let’s not forget option B.

  Or that a whole herd of demons on the way is more important than your pathetic lack of a love life.

  He leaned the coil of rope against the far wall of the set where it would be out of the way but still convenient for immobilizing creatures from hell and turned to face the immortal Demongate. “Ryne Cyratane has something to say to me, and I need to hear it.”

  The immortal Demongate snorted again. “Well, unless you have a really good calling plan, you’re out of luck, aren’t you?”

  “You said you’d been in contact with him. That you meditate…”

  “It’s a postcoital meditation, Tony, and one thing I’m sure of is that since you and I have no coital in our future, there’s going to be no post. Oh, wait, I have an idea. You, me, and Lee. Might be just the thing to break the ice.” Grinning, she leaned back on her hands and crossed her legs. “You’re thinking about it.”

  He was.

  But then he was a guy and he wasn’t dead, so that was pretty much a gimme. Actually, the evidence suggested a growing number of guys didn’t let being dead stop them.

  “I’m not kidding about this.” Tony tried to look like he wasn’t kidding. “So unless you know another way to contact him…”

  “You could always try switching your l
ong distance service and then having a fast wank.”

  “Leah.”

  She stared at him for a long moment. “You’re serious,” she said in amazement, sitting up straight.

  “Completely. We’ll have to use Henry as a conduit between us.”

  “Henry? Well,” she admittedly slowly, one hand disappearing under the knot in her shirt, “that’ll definitely get his attention.”

  “Yeah.” Tony touched his throat, the skin still puckered under his fingertips.

  Leah still didn’t look entirely convinced when she raised her head and locked her gaze with his. “Do you even know how to meditate?”

  “I don’t think I’ll have to. I think your Demonlord wants to talk to me badly enough that as soon as he has a way to grab onto me, he’ll make the connection. And with any luck, he’ll want to talk to me more than he’ll want to destroy Henry for messing with you.”

  “Do you think Henry will go along with this?”

  “Along with what?” Henry asked.

  Tony turned as Leah answered. “A threesome to save the world.”

  Red-gold brows rose briefly and dipped again when he realized that no one was kidding. “Whose idea is that?”

  “Not mine,” Leah smirked. “Guy rips your clothes off, and suddenly he wants to get kinky.”

  The hazel eyes darkened just a little as he turned a disbelieving gaze on Tony. “I can’t wait for the explanation.”

  “Because your place is a dump, Henry doesn’t trust me enough to let me into his sanctuary, and I have a king-size bed.”

  “No surprise,” Tony grunted.

  Leah leaned over CB’s desk to poke him in the chest. Hard. “I can still get on that plane.”

  He waved her quiet as Amy finally answered her phone.

  “Tony!” He could hear sirens and angry shouting in the background. “There was like this massive accident by the stadium!”

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, we’re good, but there’s no way we can get by. Boundary’s just this total mass of twisted metal and emergency vehicles—fire, police, ambulance. We can’t even go around ’cause we’re in the middle of the block. CB’s a little annoyed.”