Anita blinked at him for several seconds before grabbing a second bag and tossing it into our cart. Zaria snickered as she walked behind them. I realized they hadn't been talking about sugar.
Not exactly. I felt my face warm as I quickened my pace toward the meat section at the back of the market.
Anita and Zaria—did they realize how lucky they were? That they could kiss and make love whenever they wanted?
It just wasn't fair.
People don't die of sexual frustration, I reminded myself as Kory came to stand beside me. For a moment, I watched the smooth, bulging muscles in his arm flex beneath the short sleeves of his T-shirt, and wondered what it would be like to have those arms wrapped around me while—I forced myself away from that image.
"The tuna steaks look nice," Kory rumbled beside me.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath before opening them again and studying the fish behind the glass. "Por favor, señor," Kory called to the aproned man standing behind the counter, "Esta fresco el pescado?" He pointed at the tuna steaks.
"Si," the man nodded and moved forward. "Cogido esta mañana."
"I want all he has," I looked up at Kory. Kory relayed my instructions. We watched, Kory's hand rubbing my back, as the man wrapped all the tuna steaks for us and handed them over.
"Tell him I want two kilograms of the large shrimp, too." They'd make a great appetizer.
The man grinned as Kory translated.
"We may need a bigger cart," Anita said dryly.
We have people to feed, I reminded her.
After getting several other things to make sauce for the fish and fresh vegetables to go with the meal, Klancy drove us back to the compound. Esme, Anita's cousin who looked enough like Anita to be her sister, waited there for us, and it looked like she'd brought a guest.
An unhappy guest.
I was introduced to Phineas, King of the Merpeople in South American Waters. If restless anger could kill, we'd all be dead within seconds.
* * *
Opal
"These people are allies," I snapped at Phineas. He was a grump at the best of times. With his daughter in the hands of the enemy, his foul mood had ramped up to impossible levels.
"You're having a party, while my daughter is in the hands of filth," he snapped back.
"It's not a party. It's dinner. We have to eat, and we have to plan. You have no idea what you're up against, and if I know you at all, you'll go marching in or swimming in, and that will get you fried and on a plate in thirty minutes."
At least he'd agreed to go to the garage before venting his anger. I had some of my own to toss back at him. The others had made an effort to make him comfortable—he'd been rude in each instance.
"I don't know whether she's alive, and neither do you," he accused, pointing a finger at me.
"Someone reliable says she probably is—she's a novelty to them."
"Put in a tank for humans to gawk at."
"Look, you can turn everybody against you now and die going in by yourself, or you can be civil, accept our help, play a part in this and hopefully come out with your life and your daughter's life intact."
"Who says she's alive?"
We were back to that.
"Zaria."
"The one who found me." His voice was flat.
"Yes. Zaria is quite talented. If anybody can help find your daughter, it will be her."
"I want to grind them between a rock and the seabed," he hissed, clenching his fists.
"I want that too, only I want it to be more painful than that."
I'd surprised him—his eyes widened for a moment at my words. "I've already seen the dead they left behind. The machines that kill on command," I hissed. "I've dealt with the creatures they've hired into this mess to kill anyone they don't like. Money, greed and power is at the root of this. Your daughter is a pawn to them. A fish in a tank, kept because she's pretty and a rarity. Don't give them a motive to harm her."
"You think they will?" Anguish filled his words for a moment. Say what you would about Phineas, he loved his daughter.
"I hope not. We really need to pinpoint their location. They're growing a plant, the seeds of which produce a terrible drug. That doesn't mean the bulk of them are somewhere amid the fields. If my guess is correct, they have taken something luxurious for themselves. That means we must systematically rule out those places we can, to get a better vision of where they may be."
"And then what?"
"We attack. I'm hoping for more recruits, but that's not something we can rely on. Regardless, we have a small army here. It may be enough."
"Faugh." He threw out a hand. "Three of theirs killed Amalthea's guards and captured her. What do we have to fight against that?"
"More than you know," I said.
* * *
Lexsi
"This is awesome. I mean, we have good cooks on Grey Planet, but this," Yoff pointed his fork at the last bite of tuna steak in sauce. "This transcends every spell I could ever make."
"Stop it," I grinned at him. He and Kell had been out all day; I had no idea where or for what reason, but I figured Kell was teaching Yoff what it meant to be a spy.
"What are you?" Phineas interrupted our happy food session. Whatever came out of that man's mouth sounded as if he were displeased with the universe. His question was pointed at Yoff, who studied Phineas for a moment.
"I am the son of a winged vampire, who is also the son of a winged vampire, and I have skills as a wizard." Yoff lifted a hand, causing Phineas' wineglass to lift from the table.
"So you can lift a glass off the table," Phineas snorted.
I watched Kory instead of Yoff; Kory sat closer to Phineas, and I was surprised he wasn't blowing smoke by this time.
"Oh, sure. I do party tricks," Yoff agreed, just before Phineas' plate turned into a vicious lion's head that snapped at him. Phineas' chair scraped across the tiled floor in a blink and Phineas almost toppled over it in his haste to get away.
"Yeah. I do party tricks." Yoff lifted the last bite of tuna steak to his mouth and chewed. It was just as Great-Uncle Erland said. High Demons had a strange knack of knowing when a spell wasn't threatening and allowing it to continue.
The phenomenon had been studied in my mother's time with the ASD—they'd first discovered that talent in her back then. It was natural, something that wasn't consciously done. Yoff's spell hadn't threatened me or most of the people about me—in fact, it had helped. Phineas was more than surprised, I knew that much.
Good one, cousin. I wanted to laugh. Phineas, on the other hand, looked from Yoff to Opal and then back to Yoff. Lifting his chair off the floor, he set it down at his place at the table with barely a thump. The lion's head disappeared, leaving Phineas' food untouched.
"The food is excellent," Phineas muttered.
"Thank you," I smiled at him.
* * *
"It's called the RDS effect," Kory grinned at Anita. "Actually, it's Lexsi's mother's initials—Reah Desh Silver. She's the one who first proved its existence when she was with the ASD."
Anita was puzzled as to why Yoff's spell hadn't been nullified. She was grateful, but mystified by the whole thing.
"That's interesting," Anita chewed her lip as she studied Kory. "Would it have been nullified if he'd aimed the spell at one of you?"
"Yes," Kory and I answered together. "If either of us were threatened, the spell would have been nullified for everyone within our protective perimeter. That's only about twenty feet, tops," Kory continued. "So it's wise not to wander too far."
"Here's my question, then," Anita sounded thoughtful. "If Yoff launches a spell against the enemy within your protective circle, what happens?"
"Uh," Kory looked at me and shook his head.
"I think," I said after considering it for a moment, "that the spell against the enemy may go unimpeded, if the enemy is threatening us. Mom would know for sure, but she's not here to ask."
"What is this race?" Phineas a
sked. "I fail to understand any of this."
"High Demon," Kory leveled a look at Phineas. "This," he tapped his chest, "is our least threatening form."
"Demon?" I could see he was used to the Earth tales of demons. We weren't those demons.
"They're not the demons you've read about in Earth tales," Opal pointed out quickly. "They're from light-years away and have nothing to do with what you know or think you know."
"How can I trust this?" He was back to being an asshole quickly.
"Because I trust it—and them," Zaria said.
Phineas turned to her, studying her face for several moments before nodding. I had no idea what she'd done to get him to trust her, but it had worked, whatever it was.
"Then I will reserve judgment," Phineas stated, his voice flat. That was probably the best we would get from him until he had more proof.
"We are allies here," Tibby spoke for the first time. "They have already saved my life more than once. If you wish to be suspicious of those who are ready to defend your life with theirs, then go ahead. Align with the enemy. They are suspicious of them, too. Suspicious enough to want them dead many times over. These, my friend," he pointed at Kory and me, "are the biggest threat to our enemy as the enemy perceives it. Treat them badly; you may be left on the outside when they rescue your daughter."
"Is that your intention?" Phineas turned a skeptical gaze in our direction.
"To rescue your daughter and eliminate the enemy?" Kory asked.
"Yes," I nodded at Kory's words. "Those are our intentions. If you want in, now's the time to say so."
"And be honest," Opal warned. "Lexsi will know if you speak the truth."
"She's a guli—a truthspeaker of her race," Zaria told Phineas. "She will know if you lie."
"I want to believe," Phineas admitted, rising from his seat and walking toward the window. "With this, I no longer know what to believe. It is my fear that I will never see my daughter again."
That was truth in anybody's mind.
"I promise this," Zaria spoke. "If it is within my power, you will have her back, unharmed."
Opal drew in a breath. She knew something about Zaria that I had yet to learn. I could almost hear my mother speaking in my mind. Have patience, her familiar voice said. I released a sigh and fought the urge to reveal my impatience by asking questions now.
"I never knew Merpeople were real," Farin broke the silence after Zaria's statement. "I dressed up as a mermaid for Halloween once, but I always thought they were a fairy tale."
"You see the truth of it before you now," Phineas sounded civil for the first time since I'd met him. "It is my wish that you keep our secret."
"I know what can happen if I don't," Farin ducked her head. I knew that under the table, she gripped Tibby's hand. She could ruin—if not kill outright—Tibby and his family, including Tibby's grandmother, who held an important position in the California legislature.
One of Tibby's cousins was already dead, because he'd helped save her life. She'd led the enemy back to Kory, too, and he'd been attacked in Las Vegas. Farin had learned a very important lesson about keeping secrets.
"Excuse me," Opal said when her cell phone rang. She walked toward the hall leading to the bedrooms before answering. Only the werewolf and the vampires at the table could hear the conversation past that, and they'd never reveal what they'd heard.
She was back in ten minutes. "I have information from Mason, Thomas and Davis," Opal said. "They and a few others working undercover for the Secretary of Defense have been watching the known locations for body dumps along the Peruvian border. The bodies of children and people from high, remote villages are now appearing at those locations. I don't know about everyone here, but that makes my blood boil."
I understood what she'd said and why she'd said it. Those people were native to Peru. As in the past, they were being systematically slaughtered by the invaders.
"I have images," Opal set a tablet on the table. "None of it's pretty." She'd seen this before, countless times, I realized.
"I have a question," I said as Phineas pulled the tablet to him to examine photographs.
"What's that?" Opal turned dark, troubled eyes in my direction.
"The enemy knows when somebody tries to get in. Do they know when those people who are already there try to get out?"
"I don't think they'd care, one way or the other," Esme observed.
"So they're only killing the people who won't cooperate with them—either to do their dirty work or to move from their homes to make way for drakus seed fields?" I asked.
"Lexsi, I doubt they want anyone to cross the border who might carry tales of what's really happening," Opal frowned. "That's why the President and the Secretary of State can conveniently keep their heads up their posteriors. No hard evidence."
"Except for the surveillance planes getting shot down," Klancy pointed out.
"Then how can we protect the indigenous population while we plan our attacks?" Kory asked. "It was part of my military training," he added, turning to Phineas. "Not only to engage the enemy, but to get as many innocents as we could out of the way beforehand. We learned that lesson when so many comesuli died in Veshtul."
"I may have a solution," Zaria said, her words tentative. "But we really need the cooperation of our High Demons and Secretary of Defense on this."
"Whatever it takes," Kory said, "I will do."
"I stand with Kory," I said. "No matter what."
"Want to have a short planning session before I contact Colonel Hunter?" Opal asked Zaria.
"Yeah." She hunched her shoulders. I could see there was something else there, but she'd spoken the truth. I didn't want to pry into personal affairs, and that's how it appeared to me. Zaria had her own demons to combat, and didn't need curious or idle questions bringing out what could prove painful for her.
I stood and began collecting empty plates while Zaria and Opal walked out of the dining room. Anita, Esme and Kory rose to help.
* * *
"I saw those photographs after Phineas was done." Watson lifted the heavy bowl from Anita's hands and placed it on the top shelf of a kitchen cabinet. "They didn't spare anybody, and it just looks—like genocide."
There was a tightness to Watson's mouth and a frown on his lips. I considered that if the carnage looked that bad to a werewolf, then it had to be terrible. I didn't want to see the photographs. The pictures in my mind made me queasy enough.
"It is genocide," Esme agreed. "Eventually, all of Peru may die, and Colombia may die soon after. Wherever that drug can grow isn't safe from the predations of this evil, if they are not stopped now."
"You know what concerns me?" Kory asked. I turned to look at him; he wore a thoughtful expression and I could see the worry in his dark eyes.
"What's that, bro?" Watson asked.
"That we could see this drug used as a bigger weapon than what they have already—not just here, but elsewhere."
"Let's hope that doesn't happen," Esme whispered, although I could see the idea of it taking hold in her head.
"How will they do that?" I asked. "In Vegas, they had targets. Who else would they target? Their main goal is to take us down. For the moment, I hope they don't know where we are."
"Baby," Kory pulled me against him, "they have rogue High Demons. They can skip anywhere. They also have rogue warlocks and witches, who can send that stuff anywhere with power. I'm concerned that anybody who opposes or speaks out against them could be targeted."
"You're scaring me," I mumbled against his broad chest. "I don't know how to fight this."
You don't have to fight it by yourself, onion, he whispered into my mind. We'll figure this out.
* * *
Opal
"I agree with Opal; something needs to be done," Secretary of Defense August Hunter stated flatly. He and I had a meeting with the Secretary of State and the President at breakfast the morning after my team sent the photographs of the Peruvian killings.
"
We'll strongly condemn these actions, since you so unwisely sent these photographs to the UN," Secretary of State Hinson snapped.
"We have an obligation, and you promised them intel," I snapped back at him. "It was on your orders that I sent them."
"When I promised that information to the Secretary General, I had no idea how sensitive the information would be," he hissed. "I expected the deaths of a few dissidents in Peru. Not this," he swept a hand over the hard copies of images I'd provided.
The photographs were scattered across the breakfast table in the private dining room chosen for the meeting. So far, the President hadn't said anything, allowing Wilbur Hinson to carry the bulk of the conversation.
"We'll condemn this publicly," the President's voice was terse. He wasn't about to send troops to the Peruvian border. I knew mortal troops wouldn't have any defense against what had taken over the country, but didn't say it. The President knew about the paranormal employees working under different department heads, but preferred not to talk about them.
Yes, he was prejudiced in that way. He expected the Department heads to utilize those employees; he merely didn't want to hear about it. If I attempted to explain what had invaded Peru and was responsible for the damage and deaths in California and Nevada, he'd likely cover his ears while singing the National Anthem.
I worried about all those things, plus several others. A few prisons were still on my to-do list—prisons that held probable innocents instead of the original criminals. I was concerned about exposing Kory and Lexsi that way. The enemy was desperately attempting to eliminate both; they'd gone so far as to recruit Ra'Ak and rogue High Demons to do it. Who knew what they'd try if Kory and Lexsi showed up anywhere near one of their duplicate prisoners?
I knew the UN was preparing a statement on the genocide occurring in Peru; it would be released in twenty-four hours. A meeting would be called by the Security Council, of which the US was a member. I could hear our representative now, spouting off whatever the President told him to say.
The whole thing sickened me. Already we'd been attacked on American soil. I wondered how many deaths it would take before the President stood up for what was right. The citizens needed warnings instead of reassurances that the events in California and Nevada were isolated incidents.
A Demon's Work Is Never Done: Latter Day Demons, Book 2 Page 18
