He sipped his brandy. “Sure. I’ve got no secrets — well, beyond R&D ones, that is.”
“Do you know what’s in the bottle?”
Brandy came out Carter’s nose. It seems he had secrets after all. After a violent bout of coughing, he cleared his throat. “Nothing. It’s just an old bottle my grandparents found on a dig. It must not have been museum quality, because they were allowed to keep it. I always thought it was pretty when I’d visit her as a child.”
No, Carter Phelps was most definitely not stupid, but he most definitely was lying. How could she call him on it without alienating the man or having him send her off to a mental institution? She looked at the odd collection of items, some mundane and some exotic, and got an idea.
“You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I felt it. Ever since I entered your hotel room, all through dinner, I felt something. I was heading to the bathroom and realized it was coming from here — from the bottle. Are you sure there’s nothing in it?”
The man turned an alarming shade of white, all the rosy pink draining from his face until the freckles on his nose seemed pinpoints of brown against snow. “It’s empty. I opened it years ago, and there’s nothing in it.”
Shit — oops, shoot. There were three wishes involved, but she had no idea what the effect of opening the bottle would have. Perhaps that was step one. She filed it away to ask Dar later and kept on with her charade.
“In my family, we have the ability to sense these things. I don’t want to alarm you, but I feel like there is something evil associated with that bottle.”
Was she laying it on too thick? The angel kicked herself for not researching human civilization, beliefs, and magical systems more. She was supposed to be from Rwanda, but she knew nothing about that culture to leverage. Dar would know. He’d spent his visits here actually getting to know the humans, immersing himself in their lives. It’s how he was so effective at tempting them to sin. She, on the other hand, had spent a hundred years watching them from on high. And now she was forced to do what the football fans called a Hail Mary.
“Evil?” Carter smiled weakly. “It’s an empty bottle. What’s evil about that?”
Time to lay everything on the table and hope he didn’t have a straitjacket handy. “Three wishes and you’d find out. It can’t be seen, heard, or smelled, but if you request three wishes of it, then what’s inside will come out and lay waste to the world.”
“Like a genie?” His eyebrows nearly met his hairline. “Like Barbara Eden in that old sitcom?”
It was nice to know she wasn’t the only one who enjoyed late-night re-runs. “No, a genie like a demon. I don’t know what kind of demon. It could be plague, famine, or war. Regardless, it won’t be a chipper, good-natured, blond woman in a belly-dancing outfit.”
“How do you. . .?” He frowned. “I thought the ‘genie in the bottle’ was a Middle East legend, not eastern Africa.”
Ugh, here’s where she needed to lie like a demon. “Since the dawn of time, my family has served to protect the world from demons wherever they may appear. It doesn’t matter which legend they are from; I sense them and rid the world of them.”
She’d gone too far, and he was looking at her like she was insane. Or drunk. Or insane and drunk. Reaching out, Carter took the brandy snifter from her hand and placed it on the bedside table. Yep, drunk.
“So, what do I do?” he asked, watching her carefully. “I’m not going to destroy a piece of my childhood because a woman I just met tells me she’s a demon hunter.”
There was no way she’d get him to give it up now. The best she could do was damage control and to get him to agree to a sorcerer freeing the genie.
“I can find someone who can cleanse the bottle — release the genie so I can banish it. Then you’d be free to keep the bottle. You’d just need to be very careful not to wish anything in the meantime.” Asta felt a fissure of fear. He’d admitted to opening the bottle, but would he admit to prior wishes? “Have you made any wishes since you came into possession of it?”
It was as if shutters came down over the man’s face. Carter met her gaze carefully then glanced at his brandy before taking a careful sip. “No. None at all.”
Shit — shoot. No, shit was probably the better word for this nightmare, regardless of her innate dislike of foul language. Carter had wished — consciously made a wish. But how many had he unconsciously made over the years? How many were left?
“Do you want the good news first or the bad news?” Wyatt asked.
“Bad news,” Dar said.
“I think Phelps has already had at least one of his wishes granted.”
Dar scowled. “So I’m assuming his corporate success is a result of demonic intervention.”
“That I’m not positive about. It could be he just got lucky with the right product at the right time. His family is old money, and he’s got a trust fund, so backing wouldn’t have been a problem. With a solid product and enough money to throw at it, it’s possible his success is genuine.”
“So the first wish is?”
“I’m pretty sure it involved academics. Phelps had poor high school grades, but got into Berkeley on the strength of his parent’s alumni status and some sizable family donations. He was close to failing every year when mysteriously at the end of his senior year, he rocketed to the top third of his class.”
“Maybe he just laid off the pot and actually started studying?”
“Maybe. I read his thesis, and it’s brilliant, but when I really got to digging around, I found that grades had been changed. Nothing ever really vanishes when it comes to data. There was an archive file on a back-up server in Houston that still had the original grades. He was failing, and then suddenly, he wasn’t.”
Dar shrugged. “Bribes? You said his family is old money and his parents are alumni. Colleges are underfunded, and the right board is very susceptible to some cash in their face. I know this personally.”
Wyatt rubbed a hand across his forehead. “I guess. Still, it’s all too convenient. His grandmother dies, and he gets the bottle. Then within two months, he’s acing his thesis and classes, grades are changed from ‘D’ to ‘A’, and he starts a company that five years later is worth billions.”
“One wish for academics or one for corporate success, or both, or neither.” Dar resisted the urge to rub his own forehead. “The bad news is, we’ve got nothing but suspicions.”
“Yeah. He could be on wish number three or have made none at all.”
“Or something in between. I could use the good news right now.”
Wyatt grinned. “I broke through that Ouroboros software. In addition to the usual protections, it was designed to guard against a very specific brute-force attack — one that just started taking down servers in China and India twenty minutes ago and is now working its way across the globe.”
“Convenient. And I stole all the freebie copies that Phelps was going to give away.”
“Yeah. There went his big chance. His current clients are protected, but all those freebies would have resulted in sales by next week. He’ll still get some good press out of this attack, but nowhere near the hero-worship and run on his products I’m sure he expected.”
“Do you still think he’s somehow orchestrating the attacks?”
“Is water wet? Yeah, I do. No one is this good unless he’s psychic, and I doubt Phelps can tell the future. If he keeps it up, he’ll have a total monopoly on the market.”
“Yeah, but he’s not the only one in the game. Let’s say some hacker in Azerbaijan finds a way around his software.” Dar gave Wyatt his best meaningful look. “Or possibly a hacker from Maryland who just happens to be attending a conference in Chicago. All it takes is someone to get around his software, and he’ll fall from grace faster than a necrophiliac angel.”
Wyatt winced. “Ugh, Dar, the image. Trust me, I’d love to take Phelps down, but wouldn’t that just force him to burn through his wishes? I thought the idea was to keep the geni
e in the bottle?”
“Yeah, that,” the demon drawled. “I strongly doubt Asta is going to leave her date-night with the bottle in hand, and even if she does, the chances of finding a skilled magic user this side of the gates are slim. I figure let’s just rip the Band-Aid off, get the fucker out of the bottle, and deal with him.”
“I’m not sure I want to be in the same town as an angry genie who was trapped in a bottle for hundreds of years. Are you sure you both can handle this guy before he levels the town?”
“Of course we can,” Dar lied. “That fucker will be dead the moment he gets out of the bottle. Guaranteed.”
Chapter 13
“First the Red Tape virus shut down businesses across the globe this spring, and now millions of companies have found their data stolen via the Olive Branch virus last night. How many companies will be ruined, how many governments de-stabilized by hackers before these criminals are tracked down and held accountable for their terrorism?”
Asta shifted from foot to foot, uncomfortably aware Carter’s speech was heading straight toward a self-serving finale. The main conference room was packed, attendees spilling into the hallway while press flashed their cameras and extended their microphones up by the podium.
Her entrancement abilities might be subpar, but she was a decent judge of character. Carter had good intentions, but what was that saying humans had about the pavement on the road to hell? Maybe Dar was right. Maybe her ability to evaluate human morals sucked as bad as her entrancement ones, and Carter was planning something nefarious. She watched him at the podium, his hands shaking and lip twitching in spite of his confident words. No. She just couldn’t believe that of him.
“These viruses don’t just affect large companies. Mom and Pop companies are having to close their doors. Small businesses are the backbone of our country’s economy, and they are at risk.”
Carter was sounding more and more like a politician. The thought sent Asta to scanning the room for Dar. What was his take on this whole thing? He knew humans and their hopes and fears better than she did. He’d know what Carter was maneuvering toward with his software and press conference.
“I, for one, can’t sit by and watch while hardworking business folk are bankrupted by these criminals.” Carter paused, his gaze meeting as many eyes as he could while the crowd stood silent. “So I’m taking a stand. Our newest security software, Ouroboros, is now free to any company or government institution that requests it.”
The room erupted with sound, everyone talking at once. Carter waited for the noise to die down and everyone’s attention to return to him before continuing.
“As you leave, you’ll receive a copy of our press release, which includes a special URL and coupon code for your copy of Ouroboros. We’ve got over three-hundred server locations and the extra bandwidth allocated to ensure everyone will be safely under our wings by close of business today. Thank you.”
Carter strode from the stage, seemingly confident and self-assured. Asta frowned, wondering where the awkward, endearing man she’d come to consider a friend had gone. Perhaps humans could separate their business-selves from their personal lives. It seemed entirely possible, given what she’d seen and read in the last hundred years. Still, it bothered her to see this other side of Carter.
“Hey, babe, how’d your date go last night?”
Asta felt Dar’s energy before his hand rested on her shoulder. Both touches felt good — warm and intimate.
“Terrible. Get ready with the ‘I told you sos’. I didn’t get the bottle, but at least Carter knows what’s in it and that he needs to not cash in any wishes.”
Dar snorted. “What makes you think he gives a shit about what’s in the bottle? Forget ‘I told you so’; I think he’s happy to profit from his wishes without any regard for what happens when the genie gets out.”
No. She just couldn’t believe that. Maybe, before, Carter hadn’t known how dangerous his path was, but now he did, and she trusted him. Although humans, like demons, seemed to be rather shortsighted with low resistance to temptation. Not that she had room to talk, given her actions over the last few days.
“He admits to opening the bottle when he received it from his grandmother’s estate, and I get the feeling he may have wished for something not understanding what he was doing. He’s aware of the consequences now, though. He’ll be careful.”
“I don’t think so. I had Wyatt check, and there’s a chance he may have made one or two of his wishes already. Once he’s sampled the forbidden fruit, I doubt he’ll hold back.”
Asta remembered the human’s face last night when she’d asked if he’d made a wish. Dar was probably right about that, but she still had faith that Carter wouldn’t go further down this path. “No. He won’t make any more wishes. I let him know the consequences, and I’m confident he’ll be careful.”
“So where does that put us?” Dar pressed. “Watching him and this fucking bottle until he croaks? Following the damned thing around for a few millennia until someone is stupid enough to make three wishes?”
“We’ll find a mage or sorcerer, cleanse the bottle of the genie, then Carter can keep it as a memento.”
Dar stared at her until she squirmed under his gaze. “And if that takes decades? What if we find a mage and your boyfriend changes his mind? How’s he going to feel about runes and circles and banishment — all the stuff humans feel is black magic?”
She ignored the boyfriend comment. It was best not to get sidetracked, and ignoring Dar’s jealousy seemed a better route than addressing it.
“If he changes his mind, then we’ll wait. When Carter dies, we’ll buy the bottle from his heir.” Asta couldn’t meet Dar’s eyes. That was the stupidest plan ever. She was leaving in less than a week, and Aaru wouldn’t assign an enforcer to follow a bottle around the country for the next fifty years or so. Dar was right; she had to come up with another idea — one that wouldn’t destroy whatever was left of her grace but would allow her to resolve this situation before she left for home.
The demon’s knowing eyes found hers. “Fuck that. And you know it, too. Steal the fucking bottle, kill the human, and find a way to get this mother-fucking genie out of there before we all die of boredom.”
Asta opened her mouth to protest then saw a human edging up to them — a blond human male whose appearance stirred a faint memory. Wyatt — that human who wasn’t always an idiot and was sometimes useful.
“Did you see this?” Wyatt thrust a press release at Dar. They both already had copies, but neither had bothered to even look at them.
“Yeah.” Hmm, maybe Dar had looked at his. “Why give away a million free copies of his expensive software? He’s not making any money doing that, and the more companies that fall to these attacks, the more clients he’s likely to have in the future. I just don’t see the gain here.”
“Yeah indeed. What a generous guy, huh?”
Dar smiled. It wasn’t a particularly nice smile. “And once everyone has installed Ouroboros, it will save everyone’s bacon, then cost them an exorbitant fee to continue licensing. Extortion at its finest. This guy should have been a demon.”
Wyatt nodded. “That would bring him a ton of money. Everyone would be terrified to let their license lapse, knowing they’d be vulnerable. He’d be the richest man in the world — and the most powerful.”
The demon stared at the press release, and Asta watched emotions flit across his expressive face. “But last night we talked about how this was a flash-in-the-pan. Even if Phelps orchestrated the viruses that led to his success, eventually he’ll fall to a hacker. It’s going to happen. What then? He’ll take the money he’s made and run? Somehow I see him as being in this beyond the financial incentives. He doesn’t want to be the richest man in the world. He wants respect.”
Asta caught her breath, remembering her conversations with Carter. “He does. His grandparents were notable individuals, and his parents respected experts in their field. He always felt like a dim bu
lb in comparison. He always felt like everyone considered him stupid — everyone except his grandmother.”
“So why pull this?” Dar asked. “He’d get admiration and respect, but it would be short-lived. He’s not stupid enough to think this would last forever. What’s his plan?”
Asta stared down at the press release, her faith in humanity fading away. “Perhaps he intends on making a third wish.”
Dar took a deep breath. “If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, then that wish is going to have loopholes big enough to drive a truck through. I don’t know any human with the mental capacity to wish for continued market dominance without screwing it up somehow. Fuck, I don’t even know many demons would attempt that sort of contract. The wording would have to be so precise . . . even the best human lawyer couldn’t make that happen.”
“Think he’s already made it?” Trust a human to cut right to the heart of the matter. Asta considered Wyatt’s words then shook her head.
“Don’t know. I’d be willing to stake my soul on it that as of last night he hadn’t, but who knows what happened after I left. Do you think the genie could have any influence over him?”
Dar laughed. “Doesn’t matter. If he’s made that third wish, then he’s in for a rude surprise, and we need to be ready to defend the city from a very pissed off genie.”
Asta cast her awareness out, scanning as far throughout the city as she could. “No. I don’t sense any demon energy beyond Dar. I don’t think Carter made a wish.”
Wyatt waved the press release packet. “So he’s snapped and turned into a delusional megalomaniac. Look, I know you all think I’m a worthless unevolved idiot, but I’m a human, and I know humans. If he hasn’t made all his wishes yet, he soon will. I’m with Dar — we need to steal the bottle and do something to neutralize the situation. I don’t like the idea of killing anyone, so hopefully you both have some idea on how to get the genie out and back to Hel with minimal damage, otherwise I don’t see this ending well.”
Demons & Djinn: Nine Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Novels Featuring Demons, Djinn, and other Bad Boys of the Underworld Page 41
