“I told you, I’m not working for Lucifer!” Anna yelled, backing away from the newly born demon.
“Unfortunately, I don’t believe you.” The demoness folded her hands in her lap and leaned back to watch the show.
“Son of a bitch,” I growled as the demon shot a blast of magic at Anna, missing her by inches.
The demon leaped toward Anna with frightening speed, knocking her against the far wall. Supes dove out of the way to escape. Anna slid down the stone, landing in a sitting position, her head lolling onto her shoulder. As the demon approached, she managed to roll to the side, avoiding a kick meant to crush her skull. She scrambled away on her hands and knees, but the demon shot another blast of magic that hit her full on. Hitting the ground with a thud, Anna cried out as the spell did its damage.
Green eyes glowing with pleasure, the demon stepped in to land a death blow. Anna kicked out, her boot making a sickening crunch against the demon’s knee cap, and leapt to her feet. She whirled around, using a combination of her vamp speed and demon claws to go on the offensive. The baby demon began to retreat away from her. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
And then everything went to shit.
As Anna spun around the demon, he grabbed the tip of one of her wings and twisted. A loud snap echoed through the room and Anna screamed, an inhuman sound that made my insides turn to ice. She fell to her knees as the demon grinned. Slowly, he reached forward and placed one hand on either side of her head. Then, in no hurry at all, he began to twist.
I sprinted across the room without conscious thought, in the space of less than a heartbeat. The demon looked at me in surprise. My katana came over my shoulder in a blur of liquid fury and separated his head from his body.
A deadly quiet settled over the room as everyone watched the head of the demon, frozen in shock, slide and hit the floor with a wet thunk. Anna looked up at me, her own face a mask of agony, which twisted into astonishment, then confusion.
The room vibrated with power. Oh, yeah. The mega powerful ancient demoness. This kind of thing, my classic trademark, was a perfect example of the phrase “out of the frying pan, into the motherfucking fryer.”
“Come here, soul thief,” came her silky voice from behind me.
I cast Anna a look that told her not to make things any worse, and slowly turned to face my fate. With careful footsteps, I crossed the room. I kept my gaze direct but not challenging, and when I reached the demoness I bowed on one knee.
“That is a remarkable sword,” the demoness said, nodding in admiration. “It actually kills demons rather than just destroying their body and banishing their spirit back to hell. Forged by the fire of a Japanese water dragon, yes?”
“Yes,” I said. “Not many recognize it as such.”
The demoness smiled faintly. “One of the few things worth any value whatsoever in the Earth realm. They make only one every thousand years. I can’t imagine what you went through to get it. You must be a great warrior.” Her black eyes wandered up to mine. “Unfortunately, however, that will not be enough to spare your life after disgracing me in my own palace.”
“I meant no dishonor,” I said. I pointed over at Anna. “This foolish creature is unfortunately my sister, and I could not stand by and let her die.”
“Ah, family.” The demoness looked from me to Anna and back again. “An unfortunate sentiment indeed. Trivial human attachments. The two of you are no longer even the same species.”
Anna shot me a smug I-told-you-so look. Really? After I’d saved her and now faced a death sentence?
I opened my mouth to say—well, I wasn’t sure yet, but it was going to be good. Smooth talking was one of my things.
“Zyan!” came a voice behind me. “There you are, love.”
And as if things weren’t crazy enough already, Pan walked into the circle.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Pan winked at me as he strode past and stopped before the demoness. He did not bow as everyone else had done. Rather, he stood there in a wide-legged stance, his long red hair cascading over an open leather vest, his silver cane spinning between his fingers.
“Meziphestas,” he crooned. “It’s been a long time.”
“That it has, Pan,” she responded. “Last time we met, the humans were still running around in little mud huts worshipping you. You’ve almost fallen out of their memories now. A relic of the past.”
“A legend,” he said with a foxy grin. “A fable. A tale whispered in awe, of glory ancient and magical. More powerful now than ever.”
“Ancient.” She snorted. “Boy, you don’t know the meaning of ancient. Even Faerie was naught but a twinkle of cosmic dust when I was in my prime.”
“Aren’t you still? You look it to me.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere,” she said, but I noticed a slight twinkle in her eyes. “And it will most certainly not save the life of your acquaintance.”
Pan cast a glance over to me. “Zyan is not a mere acquaintance. She is one of my most favorite consorts. Reckless, yes; arrogant, beyond measure. But I will be most vexed if harm comes to her. And you know how I get when I’m vexed.”
“Consort? From the look she’s giving you, I’d say she’d just as soon stab her pretty little sword in your back.”
“Love, hate? They’re all rather the same, don’t you think? Zyan is a fiery little thing. Come here, love. Show Mez what I’m talking about.” His smile turned wicked and he beckoned me with a crooked finger.
Still on one knee, I rose slowly to my feet, wiping my sword on my pants and placing it back in its sheath. My feet begrudged me, but my brain told them to move their asses. I took Pan’s waiting hand. He yanked me forward, not gently, and there was nothing to do but go with it. Well, either that or die. Not much in the way of choices.
Pan ran his fingers around my waist and pressed our bodies together. He did have an excellent one, I couldn’t complain there. His chest was lean and his arms bands of iron, every inch of him tight and cut as diamonds. I ran my fingers through a sheet of his silky hair, pushing it back away from his face. The green of his eyes made Donovan’s look pale in comparison. Pan’s eyes were not just spring green, they were spring at the dawn of time, when all was pure and brand new.
His lips met mine, and in my head I saw bonfires and dancing, heard music and laughter. The room spun away from us and we were there again, like in Paris, when Faerie was a young place. Ages and ages ago. Green meadows and enchanted forests and creatures of myth cavorted about. A magic before there was magic, a childlike innocence. I tasted all that and more on Pan’s lips, and when he broke the kiss, I felt breathless.
The demoness sighed. “Very well. You are quite tiresome when you’re angry. I will spare your lover but you will owe me a favor. A very significant favor.”
“Which means you will owe me a favor,” Pan whispered in my ear. “Again.” To the demoness he said, “Of course, my lady. Anything you wish.”
“And you.” The demoness turned her gaze to Anna. “You will not step foot in my domain again, lest you desire an unpleasant end.”
Anna nodded, relief flooding her face. She began to limp toward the door.
“I need to speak with my sister,” I said to Pan.
“I’ll go with you, lover.” He wore a wicked grin on his face once again.
For once I didn’t bother to argue. “Actually, do you know somewhere private we can take her? She’s badly injured.”
“Certainly. Perhaps you will owe me two favors.” He spun his silver cane in the air.
We reached Anna as Quinn and Riley did. They each took a side and acted as living crutches to help her forward. It was clear her wing was completely broken, the bone snapped clean.
“I don’t need your help,” she snarled.
“Shut up,” I said. “I’m tired of your bullshit. You’re coming with us.”
“We need to find the exit first,” Quinn said, looking worried.
“No need,” Pa
n said. “I’ll create my own exit.”
When we reached the main hall, he cut a door with the head of his cane as he had when we’d traveled in Faerie those months ago. It lit up around the edges as if it’d been cut by a laser, and a flash of bright green meadows appeared in the rectangular space. We stepped through, Riley and Quinn with Anna, then Pan and I.
No one needed to ask where we were. Faerie had a distinct, unmistakable quality. Every color brighter, every sound more musical, even the air tasted sweet and hazy like a drug. I realized Pan was still holding my hand and also realized I didn’t mind that much. His tawny skin glowed in the late afternoon sun, and he was radiant as, well, a god. Which he was, so yeah.
We stood in a vast meadow of long, silken grasses. As I looked closer I saw they were not only green, but also blue and purple and canary and pink. They swayed in a soft wind, making songs as they moved. At first I thought I was just hearing things, but the look on Quinn and Riley’s faces told me they heard it, too.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“My house, of course,” Pan responded.
He dropped my hand and pranced ahead, a proud host leading the way. The ground rose slightly, and I almost felt bad for Anna, who grimaced with every step. A small river rushed up on the right, which seemed unlikely since rivers didn’t typically run uphill, but this was Faerie and nothing typical happened here. Before long, however, the ground leveled out. There, on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a huge valley, where sky met earth, sat Pan’s house.
It was one story, fairly small and unassuming. It looked as if it had grown from the earth itself, made of pale wood similar to bamboo and quartz pillars and panels in soft pastels that caught the sun. The house was built in two sections, one on each side of the river where it plunged down the side of the cliff. Through the gap in the two wings of the house, the valley could be seen in all its splendor, stretching for miles, green and dotted with flowers.
“It’s beautiful,” Quinn said, her voice touched with awe.
Pan gave a small bow and opened the front door for us, which was made of a thin sheet of green quartz. “Sit anywhere you like. I’ll prepare a healing draught for your sister.”
We walked through the house to the deck running the length of the cliff. A mist of water from the falls fell over us, but the air was warm. It felt surreal as shit to be in Faerie, with my sister, and Pan acting like a gracious host. The dude was dangerous as hell, but when you were on his good side… well, he was still dangerous as hell. But nice to have in a pinch.
Anna cried out when we set her down on one of the chairs on the deck. The chairs looked akin to the same quartz seen throughout the house, in translucent shades of green and pink and blue, and were curved to look like giant flowers. However, instead of being cool to the touch as I imagined, they felt warm, and they had a slight springy give to them that molded to your body when you sat down. The faeries had all the good stuff.
I turned to Anna, who hadn’t said a thing since we left Meziphestas’s market. “We need to talk. And I hate to be a bitch about it, but we’re not healing you up until we get finished. I don’t trust you not to bolt at the first opportunity.”
Anna glared at me. “That’s fine. Wait until I’m crippled and broken, then make me have a sisterly chat. Can we braid each other’s hair and paint nails, too?”
“You’re a real bitch, you know that?” Quinn snapped. Riley and I spun our heads in surprise. Anna looked taken aback as well, with Quinn’s golden witch eyes blazing at her. “All Zy’s ever tried to do is get you out of a shit situation with Alexander and Lucifer, and you’re too stupid to even listen. Not to mention she saved your life today.”
Anna focused intently on her toes. She actually seemed… remorseful. “Fine,” she said. “We can talk.”
“Why don’t we go help Pan?” Riley suggested, taking Quinn by the wrist.
Quinn shot me a concerned look but let him pull her into the house. It was just me and Anna. I stared out over the valley for a moment, at the green hills rippling into eternity.
After a moment, I flicked my gaze back to Anna. “Is it true? Are you trying to get out from under Lucifer?”
“Yes,” she said after a moment’s hesitation. “And since Mez didn’t want to hire me, I’ll be dead within the week. Word will get back to him about my failed attempt and I’ll have no one behind me.”
“Was this Alexander’s plan, or yours?” I tried to keep my tone neutral, but my fingers flexed as his name rolled off my tongue.
“Mine.” She met my eyes, and hers smoldered with emotion. “I’m sure you’ll be delighted to know we’ve had a bit of a falling out. You were right, he is a monster. They both are.”
“I’m not happy that he caused you pain. But if it means you’re finally breaking ties with him, then yes, I am happy.” I leaned toward her and she tensed. “I want to share my side now. I know I abandoned you as a child. And I killed our father. And those things can’t ever be forgiven.”
Anna’s mouth tightened into a thin line and the tendons in her neck strained as if she was trying not to lunge at me.
“I wasn’t a good person then. I’m questionable even now, but back then—as a new Anam Gatai I had zero control over my impulses. I killed an entire village, Anna. An entire village. That’s why I couldn’t come back for you.” Her eyes widened slightly, but her mouth retained its angry pout. “I claim complete responsibility for those things, and I’d do anything to take them back. But the bottom line is that it all started with Alexander. He preyed on me, and on you.” I hooked her in my gaze, our identical espresso-colored eyes locked together. “I am going to stop him. It may not be today, it may not be for a decade. Even if it takes me a hundred years, I will end him so he doesn’t keep wrecking people’s lives.”
We fell into silence, and now it was Anna’s turn to stare off down the valley. She didn’t say anything for almost two minutes, until the quiet pounded into me like a hammer.
“I’ll help you,” she said. “If I can. If they don’t kill me first.”
Wind swept through the valley, taking her words into the golden afternoon sky.
I opened my mouth to respond, but Pan stepped out onto the deck, carrying a glass of steaming blue liquid. “Drink this.” He handed Anna the glass. “It will ease the pain and mend your bone.”
Anna raised her eyebrows in disbelief. She’d probably never worked with faerie magic before. They could fix just about anything but death itself. Hell, maybe they even had a cure for that. She chugged it down.
Riley and Quinn joined us. “Anna’s going to help us get Alexander,” I said. They shot me twin looks of astonishment. “But first, we need a plan. To keep her off Lucifer’s hit list.”
“That’s simple,” Riley said. “Anna sticks with us, we protect her. I’m sure she knows whatever plot he’s up to anyhow, and why Michael’s all in a tizzy. We’ll help each other out.”
Quinn laughed. “Yep, always simple to foil whatever Lucifer’s up to. Piece of cake.”
Pan watched us all in something that resembled amusement, one of his legs dangling over the arm of his chair. “Do regale us with Lucifer’s plot,” he said, nodding to Anna.
Anna had finished drinking her potion and watched in amazement as her bone moved back into place. Slowly, she flexed her wing. She shot Pan an impressed look, then with a shiver she shifted back to her normal appearance.
She ran a hand through her black hair, eyeing us as we waited with baited breath. “Yes, I know what he’s up to. The drug I showed Meziphestas? Lucifer’s planning on releasing it into the water supply so the whole city turns into demons.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Oh, is that all?” I rolled my eyes. “Just turn all of Dublin into demons, eh?”
“Fucking Lucifer,” Riley said, his eyes flashing wolf for a moment.
“That would be very interesting,” Pan said, his gaze far off as if he were imagining the chaos, a slight smile on his lips.
/> We all sat there a few moments, letting it sink in.
Quinn broke the silence first. “When and where?” she asked, quite logically.
Anna’s eyes flickered. “That I don’t know.”
“Lucifer doesn’t trust you?” Riley asked with a smirk on his face.
I shot him a dirty look. She was finally cooperating, I didn’t want to ruin things.
“No,” she answered coolly. “I suppose he doesn’t. Smart man.”
“We need to find out. But by this time, Lucifer probably already has a target on your back,” I said. “So you playing double agent isn’t going to work.”
“Not necessarily,” Quinn said thoughtfully.
“You can’t lie to Lucifer,” I said. “Trust me, I’ve tried.”
“What if Anna tells them the truth?” Quinn said. We all stared at her like she was nuts, but she kept on. “She was there, she tried to sell the drug to Meziphestas, it backfired, and Zyan forced her to do all of it.”
Anna scrunched her nose slightly. “It could work. I’d only be adding a slight twist on the truth, one they’d easily believe. It’s the kind of thing you’d do,” she added with a glance over at me.
I shrugged. “True.”
“So Anna goes back, finds out the date and time, gets a communication back to us, and we move in?” Riley asked.
“Yeah, then it just comes down to the simple matter of actually stopping Lucifer and Alexander,” I said. “You know, no sweat.”
“We’ll come up with a plan for that when we know the location,” Quinn said. “Anna, I’ll give you a spelled scroll to send a message back to us, in case you can’t get away again. Pan, can I bother you for some paper?”
Whiskey and Angelfire Page 15
