by Alysh Ellis
* * * * *
Huon smothered a laugh. That was one way of describing what had happened when they had packed up the dead Gatekeeper in their hotel room, ready to take him to be dumped. Tybor had insisted they remove anything that might identify him if by some chance the tide brought the body back to the city. Finding a wallet with the man’s name, Abraham Lewis, and a few hundred euro hadn’t been exciting, but a money pouch strapped onto his back, packed full of notes, had been a much more interesting find.
They could have thrown the money overboard with the body, but what would have been the point of that? Far more practical to leave a small wad of it behind in the room to cover their bill and the damage and hopefully placate the hotel’s owner so he wouldn’t call the police, and take the rest. And apart from his inexplicable decision to follow Huon to the surface, Tybor was nothing if not practical.
Huon looked up and smiled as Tybor came back into the room carrying a tray with wine winking jewel-like in heavy glass goblets.
He handed one to Judie and raised his glass in a silent toast. Judie smiled and drank. Huon swallowed some of the wine but noticed that although Tybor’s glass tilted again and again, the wine did no more than wet his lips.
The small shake of Tybor’s head was almost unnoticeable, but Huon put his glass down. Tybor refilled Judie’s glass.
At a nod from Tybor, Huon sat down next to Judie and stroked his hand over her shoulder and down her arm. He covered her hand with his and raised the glass to her lips. She giggled but sipped obediently, again and again.
After a few minutes Tybor reached over and plucked the glass away. “We’ll have some more soon. Right now, though…”
He kissed his way down her neck, pushing the wide, peasant-style neck of her shirt away with his tongue. Huon turned sideways and pulled Judie around so her back rested against his chest. He nibbled at the side of her neck and the perfumed muskiness of her almost made him lose his head, but Tybor slanted a glance his way and the hard, calculating look in his eyes sobered Huon instantly. Tybor’s loss of control the other night had been an aberration. Huon knew he would not repeat it. This was not a primitive drive to completion, two hundred years of abstinence screaming to be rectified. As clearly as if he had said it out loud, in that one look Tybor told him there was a purpose to this seduction.
Huon pushed aside Judie’s top and bra to stroke over her nipples, Tybor pulled down her panties. Then he grasped both ankles and moved them apart, opening her. He bent forward, tongue delving between her folds, and Huon felt Judie surge backward against him at the power of the thrusts of Tybor’s tongue.
Under his hands Huon felt the thundering of her heart, its racing beat matching his own. The sight of Tybor’s head enclosed by the golden creaminess of Judie’s thighs made it impossible for him to remain detached. His cock grew rock-hard and formed a rigid bulge in his pants.
Judie writhed and moaned and Tybor looked up, checking her reactions, making sure his expertise did not falter. Again he dipped his head and brought Judie to orgasm with a cool efficiency Huon could not have commanded. He could not have had his mouth between Judie’s legs and been able to remain uninvolved. But when Judie arched and gasped, then sagged into satisfied stupor, Tybor sat back, his breathing steady. No flush of desire stained his skin and his eyes remained sharp and focused.
Judie’s lungs heaved and she struggled to sit up. Her face glowed and the color deepened as she took stock of her situation. She tried to close her thighs but Tybor rested his hand there, preventing her.
“Ty. Please.” She didn’t meet his eyes. “I feel wrong. I’m naked and you and Huon are still fully dressed.”
Tybor smiled. If Judie Scanlon hadn’t had two glasses of wine she must have seen, as Huon did, that the smile never reached his eyes. Tybor hadn’t smiled properly since Judie had talked about the massacres of the Dvalinn. The massacres she didn’t believe had happened.
Huon pulled her back to rest against him. “That was just for you. You deserve something special after having such a difficult day at work.”
Judie snatched a throw rug from the back of the sofa and draped it over her. “I like feeling all wild and daring but I can’t lie here like this and feel comfortable.”
“It’s erotic…you naked and spread out like a treat for us,” Tybor said and picked up Judie’s wine glass again, urging her to take a sip. “Try to relax. We want you to be… comfortable.”
“I’ll be tipsy if I’m not careful. I don’t want a hangover in the morning,” she replied. “Even if I resign I have to work out my notice.”
“Surely your boss would let you take the day off?” Huon asked.
Judie snuggled against him and took another sip of wine. “You don’t know Brian Hopewood.”
Huon leaned forward and took a nibbling bite of her ear. “Tell us about him. Did he tell you how he intends to wipe out the demons?”
She hiccupped. “Brian says the demons are attracted to the energy of ley lines. He says he’s going to trap some of the young ones and wait until warrior demons come to rescue them. He’ll kill the fighters and then he and his group will attack all the demon cities at once. They’re going to take the electrical weapons I make, plus poison gas in backpacks. I don’t have to make the poison packs. Abraham was supposed to be getting all that set up but then he disappeared.” She took another sip of wine. “I know it’s all a product of Brian’s imagination but I don’t like it.” She looked around in befuddlement. “Poison is bad. Although I s’pose if there were demons, they would be bad too. Do you think demons are evil?” She stopped for a moment, then answered her own question. “If they weren’t evil they wouldn’t be called demons, would they?”
“Only humans call us demons.”
Huon knew he shouldn’t have said it the instant the words left his mouth. He didn’t need Tybor’s dangerous scowl to tell him he’d said the wrong thing. Every muscle in his body tensed, ready for fight or flight, whichever was needed.
But Judie was too far gone in drink to notice his appalling blunder. “Well of course only humans call them that. Who else is there to call them anything? You’re silly.”
“How many people does Brian have in Venice?”
Judie blinked and held a shaky hand up in front of her face. “Um, lezzsee. There’s Brian, and Peter and David and Anthony and Giorgio, and Alexis, and Abraham…oh no, not Abraham. Abraham is missing and he’s probably drownded in the canal or somethin’, which is very sad, but I didn’t like Abraham.”
“Why didn’t you like Abraham?” Tybor asked quietly.
“He encraged…encouraged Brian. He told him shtories about demons and Brian would get even more worked up. And he talked about killing demons and he laughed. Don’t like that. Brian gives me th’creeps.”
Tybor made a choking sound and Judie opened her eyes, which had begun to drift closed. “Wassa matter, Ty?”
Tybor shook his head. “Nothing. So what was Abraham going to do when he left Venice?”
“I dunno, really,” Judy mumbled. “Brian minshined…menshoned something about attacking from simul…simul…simultaneous ley points. He had a map, but I din’t wanna look at it.” Her eyes rolled in her head. “Wassa point?”
“Where’s the map, Judie?” Tybor demanded, but Judie clasped her hand to her mouth, her face turning pale.
“I don’ feel so good.” Her shoulders heaved.
At a nod from Tybor, Huon picked her up and carried her to the bathroom. He stood her up and she put her hand out to steady herself against the wall. She waved him away.
“I c’n manage myself,” she said and slammed the door shut.
Huon strode back to Tybor. “I don’t like this.”
“Compared to what Hopewood has planned for the Dvalinn, whatever happens to Judie Scanlon is nothing. Nothing!” Tybor’s lip curled. “She’s human. You heard what her kind are prepared to do.”
“Not all of them, Tybor. You told me yourself you used to like to come to Venice and m
ix with the humans.”
Tybor swallowed, his face twisting as if he tasted bile. “If it was safe once, it no longer is. The Dvalinn will disappear like the fae or the selkies.”
“I learned about them in school,” Huon said sadly. “They’ve all gone.”
“Gone or gone into hiding,” Tybor replied. “Because of humans. And the Dvalinn are called demons and hunted by a predator who’s made it his life’s work to destroy us. We have to get what information Judie Scanlon can give us, and get it fast. And we have to make sure she’s not thinking clearly enough to ask awkward questions.” Although his voice was quiet it carried a hard edge of menace. “Especially when you don’t have the sense to keep your mouth shut. Are you trying to get us killed?”
“I know I stuffed up,” Huon whispered. “I won’t do it again.”
They were interrupted by the sound of retching coming from the bathroom.
“You deliberately got her drunk.”
“I did what it takes.” Tybor said, standing up. “The survival of our people depends on what we do here and nothing comes before that. Not you or me and certainly not the sensibilities of a human woman.”
He turned. Judie stood at the door, her face pale. For one horrible moment Huon thought she might have heard Tybor, but she was focused on her own misery.
“I think I should go home.” She pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “I just need to get my clothes.”
“You aren’t well enough to leave. You can stay here. We insist,” Huon said and glared at Tybor.
Tybor bent to pick up Judie’s top and skirt. “You’ll feel better in your own bed.”
Tears gathered in Judie’s eyes. “I feel so embarrassed about this.”
“Not at all,” Tybor said. “It can happen to anyone.” He handed her clothes to her. “Now, you go into the bathroom. Have a shower. It will make you feel better. Then, when you’re dressed, Huon will escort you home.”
She turned obediently and went to the bathroom.
As soon as the door shut, Huon began to speak. “How could you? First you get her drunk then instead of—”
Tybor held up his hand and silenced him. They stood there, glaring at each other, until Huon heard the rush of water from the shower, then Tybor spoke, fast and low.
“We need to get inside Brian Hopewood’s headquarters, so you take Judie back to her flat—all the way to her door. You wait until she’s gone inside, then you go back downstairs to Hopewood’s office. Even he must need some sleep. You find a place to hide yourself and you wait. When you’re sure the place is empty, you get inside and check the layout. Make sketches, find out everything you can. And get that map.”
Huon nodded. “Okay.”
“Don’t fuck this up!” Tybor snapped.
“I won’t,” Huon began, but arguing was a waste of time. He had to prove himself, prove to Tybor he would not make another mistake. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Tybor’s face looked grim. “If Hopewood hasn’t got any traps set up. If he has, you might not be back at all.”
The water shut off. Tybor took a deep breath. By the time Judie emerged from the shower he looked relaxed and the fake smile curled his mouth once more.
Judie looked from one man to the other. “I’m really sorry. I hope you can forgive me…that I haven’t disgusted you too much.”
Huon leaned forward and kissed her. He noted with relief that she’d made use of their toothpaste. “These things happen. Come on. I’ll get you home.”
She remained silent on the short trip, walking by his side. The cool night air seemed to have sobered her, because after a moment she said, “Something was wrong tonight.”
Huon glanced at her, then looked ahead again. “People get drunk. Don’t worry about it.”
“No.” Speculation sounded in her voice. “Something else. Ty wasn’t happy. When he touched me, when he did…you know, what he did, it didn’t feel right.”
Huon stopped this time and grasped her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “You came.”
Even in the light of the street lamps he could see her blush. “Yes. But I’d had a couple of glasses of wine and you know alcohol lowers the inhibitions, but it doesn’t make me blind, deaf and stupid. It just felt wrong. Ty didn’t enjoy it, I know he didn’t. And you…you didn’t do anything much but hold me.”
She put her hands over Huon’s where they gripped her shoulders and squeezed. “What’s going on, Huon?”
Huon improvised and decided to go with a half truth. “You know Ty had an accident. It was a little worse than he told you. He was holding a glass of water when he fell and he cut himself quite badly. He bled a lot. He’s still a bit weak, and I…I’m worried that he might overdo it.”
Judie bit her lip. “Then he shouldn’t have done anything at all. He should have told me.”
Huon dislodged her hands and they began to walk again. “Ty’s a proud man and I guess he, um, he just wanted to please you too much to wait.”
Huon walked upstairs, hoping he’d disguised the disquiet that burned like acid in his stomach.
He walked her to her room and waited while she went, with modesty he didn’t find strange under the circumstances, into the bathroom to change. Then he ushered her into bed, put a glass of water on the bedside table, turned off the light and tiptoed out. She was asleep before he got to the bedroom door.
On the way out of the apartment, he picked up Judie’s bag, extracted her keys and a notebook and slipped out, gently closing the door behind him. If he found out what he had to tonight, he might never see her again. He could not allow himself to think that he might miss her.
The stairs creaked under his foot as he moved downward. The telltale sound made him stop and shift his weight to the balls of his feet, moving cautiously.
Once he arrived on the landing outside the floor Judie had told them housed the work spaces, he flattened himself against the wall and waited. No sound of movement penetrated the thick wood, but he didn’t delude himself. Judie had told them Hopewood worked odd hours. He could be reading through some volume of arcane research, his head drooping over it.
The choice of whether to act or not had been taken from Huon a long time ago, when Hopewood had decided to wipe out a community full of innocent Dvalinn, not once but three times. If Huon and Tybor didn’t stop him now, he’d do it again and again, to such devastating effect that their population might never recover and their people would pass from the earth. If Hopewood waited behind that door, so be it. Huon was going in anyway.
The handle turned under his hand but the door remained locked as he’d expected. A quick maneuver with Judie’s keys and the door swung inward. Silently, he was relieved to discover.
He took two tentative steps into the room. His Dvalinn eyes, used to the dimness of the Underworld, quickly adjusted to the gloom to reveal a large room holding a bare rectangular table in the middle with seating for eight. Butted up against the walls were six desks, each with a computer, the screens emitting a soft light. The desks held nothing else—no clutter, no photos, no sign of individuality. Each desk had a chair, but the walls of the room were bare and there was nowhere comfortable to sit, no sign that anyone might be able to relax there. The Spartan appearance of the office for a man of Hopewood’s great personal wealth puzzled him. Maybe the point was not to save money but to stop personal attachments to objects and resultant rivalries. If Hopewood planned to move quickly to launch his attacks, the less he had to pack up, the more mobile they were, the better.
The very bareness of the room told Huon there were no weapons to be found here. He stepped toward a single door off to the side. It swung open instantly, revealing a bathroom. He stepped back out. Set into the far wall were two doors. Behind one of them had to be Hopewood’s personal quarters, his home while he remained in Venice. Behind the other was likely to be his office and Judie’s work space, the place Huon needed to go.
All Huon had to do was choose. There was nothing to g
uide him. The two doors were equidistant from the side walls, symmetrical, neither offering a clue to its purpose.
Guided by the glow of the computer screens Huon picked his way across the room until he stood directly in front of the doors.
Frustration and annoyance frayed the edges of his temper. He would have liked to pump Judie for information about the layout of Hopewood’s domain, but even as drunk as she was she’d have noticed something odd about that and Huon had no desire to ride out another blast of temper from Tybor. If he wanted to find out where Hopewood was, he was going to have to do it the hard way.
He flattened his ear to the wood of the right-hand door and listened. Nothing. He sidled over to the other door and repeated his actions. Again, nothing but silence. He clenched his fists, wishing he could pound them against the wood to relieve his impatience. His forehead rested on the cool, dark wood and he was about to take a guess and try the lock when he heard a sound that stilled him in his tracks.
Something buzzed inside the room. Huon held his breath and waited for the sound to repeat. It came again, louder and clearer and suddenly identifiable. Snoring. Inside that room someone, almost certainly Brian Hopewood, slept. With a quick word of gratitude to whichever deity had arranged for Hopewood to have sinus problems, Huon headed for the other door. Again he brought out Judie’s keys, holding his breath in the hope that she had access to all areas of the facility except Hopewood’s private quarters. The lock yielded and he breathed a sigh of relief and entered the room.
At first glance nothing out of the ordinary caught his eye. Just a wooden desk and a single, high-backed, padded leather swivel chair on the far side of the desk—a much plainer one, little improvement over a kitchen chair, on this side. Obviously Hopewood didn’t care about anyone’s comfort but his own.
He moved to the desk and rifled through it, sliding drawers open and searching through papers. There was no computer and Huon hoped that meant Hopewood kept information on paper. Judie had said there was a map, Hopewood’s future targets marked on it.
