Demon's Quest (High Demon Series #4)

by Connie Suttle

  * * *

  "Why are you doing this in the dark?" Nefrigar appeared beside me, scaring me witless as I scanned record after record of child disappearances at the local constabulary, downloading them into my comp-vid.

  "Nefrigar, what are you doing here?" I hissed. He smiled, his blue eyes almost glowing in the semidarkness.

  "I came to see if you wanted anything."

  "Honey blue, I wish I could do this faster," I muttered. "I don't want to come back here if I can help it, and those fool guards outside could come in to piss anytime."

  "Did you just call me honey blue?" That amused him, I think.

  "Honey blue, I called you honey blue. Now stop talking so I can think." I rubbed my forehead in frustration.

  "Here." He tapped my comp-vid with a finger, downloading everything in a blink. I stared at him in shock. "You asked. I gave," he was smiling again.

  "Thank you," I whispered in reverent awe. Larentii ability was worthy of anyone's amazement.

  "I'll fold you to your room, you don't have to skip," he said, and took us both.

  * * *

  "Yes, I do have a criminal record, but that is behind me. My incarceration information is included," Edan tapped the business manager's comp-vid.

  "You've worked for Desh's number one for the past four months?"

  "Yes. That information is also included and verified with pay records."

  "You're Edan Desh. The one who used to win the awards."

  "Yes, but my staff had a great deal to do with that," Edan said. "And now my cooking skills are somewhat rusty after five years of being away from the kitchens."

  "I understand. I have a spot for an assistant cook. If you want it, you will start in an Eight-Day unless you need longer to give notice."

  "No, I will be expected to leave as soon as my notice is given," Edan said. "I will be ready to go to work when you say."

  Edan turned in his notice that afternoon. Just as expected, Addah ordered him to gather his things and leave the restaurant. He threatened Edan, too, just as Edan threatened Reah years ago. Vague memories of what the other Edan had done shamed him and gave him nightmares.

  * * *

  Ilvan was weary of going through restaurant kitchens, searching for code violations, all while smelling food cooking on the stove and watching others prepare it. His fingers itched at times to move someone aside and take over. Especially if he found them doing something wrong. A new restaurant was opening and he was interested. His interview was scheduled for the following day. Ilvan had more lift in his step as he walked to work.

  * * *

  "She's torturing us. That's what she's doing," Gavril grumbled, going over records with Dee.

  "Focus, child. We have the trials for the Strands tomorrow."

  "I know. Do you think anyone will come forward? We've tripled the guard around them."

  "Perhaps you should ask your brothers to come. I can't imagine anyone getting past them."

  "I hate to do that. It shouldn't be necessary."

  "Your choice."

  * * *

  Plovel, if you don't ask how I purloined these records, I will not be obligated to answer, I sent the message on my comp-vid, along with copies of the records I'd filched the night before. Security was much too lax in Grithis. The city was ancient and beautiful, but it was falling to ruin around its citizens. All taxes gathered were lining corrupt officials' pockets—I could see it clearly.

  Greed abounded among business owners and commonwealth officials alike. If Neidles became any greedier, he would burst with it, I think. I had to show him the difference between a bad cut of meat and an acceptable one before he slashed my food budget. The farmers and ranchers came in two days per six-day to sell their goods, and I preferred to buy directly from them.

  They weren't much better off than the commoners walking the streets, trying to stretch insufficient paychecks to feed their children. And children were still disappearing. Plovel and I were going through record after record, trying to make sense of all of it. Poor research and botched forensics only hampered our investigation.

  * * *

  "Neidles, now is not a good time," I muttered when he appeared in the restaurant, asking yet again about the cost of the meat I'd purchased. "Do you want this restaurant to stay open? Already you charge more than is needful. The customers only return because the food is good."

  "Supply and demand," Neidles pointed out. I wanted to shove a copy of the Alliance regulations in front of him, showing that it was illegal there to price gouge. To Neidles, gouging was a high art and one at which he excelled. If I were a true commoner living in Grithis, I would be planning my move to United Bardelus immediately.

  "What are your plans for tomorrow?" Neidles ignored my frown.

  "I intend to sleep late, then do my laundry. Wash my hair. Off-day is the only day I have to do those things."

  "You wouldn't consider coming out with me?" He smiled slyly, pulling at the neck strap of my apron suggestively.

  "I am very sorry, but I came to Grithis to get away from my mates. I am not looking to replace them," I snapped, my voice harsher than I'd intended. Neidles jerked his hand away as if he'd been burned.

  "I will make you want to go out with me," he huffed and stalked away.

  "I'd like to see you try," I muttered.

  * * *

  "If Neidles knew you were here, he'd throw both of us out," I said, offering a sandwich to Plovel. He was poring over his comp-vid while I did the same inside my room. It was past midnight and we were both exhausted.

  "Reah, you make the best food," Plovel smiled tiredly. "If I weren't married, I'd ask you out."

  "If I didn't have mates, I might consider it," I said. "Besides, we're not right for each other. I enjoy working with you, though."

  "Exactly what I was thinking," he grinned. He needed a wife willing to stay at home with his children. Slightly plump, I imagined, and smiling easily. He didn't need a scarred and wounded High Demon mate.

  "We're missing something here, I just don't know what it is," I grumbled.

  "You're tired. You worked all day. Let's call it a night and start fresh in the morning."

  "All right." I nodded. Plovel sneaked away after making sure nobody was watching. It wouldn't do to cause a scene with Neidles.

  * * *

  "Ilvan Desh?" The business manager lifted an eyebrow.

  "Yes. I worked at Desh's number two before working as a restaurant inspector here in Targis."

  "Ah. It says here your specialty is pastry and desserts?"

  "I can make other things as well. These I would qualify as a master in."

  "Very well. You start in an Eight-Day. Is that sufficient time to give notice?"

  "Yes. It is all that is required by law." Ilvan nodded, rose, took the offered hand and walked out of the restaurant. The building was nearly finished and the sign, proclaiming it Dee's Restaurant was being hung as Ilvan walked out the door.

  * * *

  Lersen Strand still had friends. He'd provided for them in the past, now they were returning the favor. Something was in the works, Lersen knew. Mental messages had been passed to him although they seemed garbled—he couldn't send and could barely receive, though the sending was quite strong. The mindspeech messages had come at the direction of Hendars Klar, an old friend of Lersen's father, when the old man still lived. Lersen imagined that Hendars might withhold assistance if he knew Lersen had arranged his own father's death. Lersen sighed and hunched his shoulders at the thought of his father's murder—there was no need for his involvement in that crime to be revealed unless it benefitted him in some way.

  Meanwhile, Hendars had found formidable allies somewhere, and the plan was to send in a team powerful enough to collect Lersen and his cousins before the trials started. At least that's what Lersen understood from distorted mindspeech. Rumor had it that Teeg San Gerxon could understand mindspeech perfectly and could send and receive. Lersen didn't believe it. Teeg San Gerxon wasn'
t any better than Lersen Strand. Lersen still wanted Campiaa, but he might have to settle for putting his own alliance together. Hendars was on Bardelus as near as he could tell, and the rescue would likely be launched from there. Lersen settled back on the narrow cot inside his cell, impatiently waiting for his rescuers to arrive.

  * * *

  "Remember when you told me that a witness saw a fourth child when the three came up missing?" Plovel and I were at it again, cups of strong tea and coffee at our elbows as we read through records.

  "I remember," he nodded.

  "Here's another one," I said, handing my comp-vid over. "This one said he saw three children playing, when only two disappeared."

  "I wish we had a better way of correlating this gibberish," Plovel grumped, taking my comp-vid away and staring at the information.

  "Yeah. If I had ASD equipment and the records had been filed correctly to begin with, I'd have this done in three ticks." I looked up to find Plovel staring at me, his mouth open.

  "I'm former," I muttered.

  "You used to work for the bloody ASD?"

  "Yes, and bloody is an apt description," I sighed.

  "They kicked you out?"

  "No. They'd love it if I signed up for another stint."

  "Why are you here again?"

  "Well, I was upset with the King of Karathia. After I was upset with Norian Keef. After I was upset with Teeg San Gerxon. After I was upset with Torevik Rath, Lendill Schaff—I guess that's all of them. I'm not upset with Aurelius."

  "You just named the Director and Vice-Director of the ASD."

  "Yeah. But I'm only married to one of them. Inadvertently, of course."

  "You know, I'm not even going to ask which one. And the King of Karathia?"

  "I was only engaged to him. That may be off, now."

  "Teeg San Gerxon?"

  "Also married to him. Inadvertently, of course."

  "All right." Plovel breathed a calming sigh. "Shall we get back to it?" We both started reading records of child disappearances again.

  * * *

  "We're quite happy with your progress, Lok. You may be sent out soon on an assignment, just to see how it goes," Lendill nodded to his newest and best Falchani recruit.

  "Good." Lok seldom smiled—Lendill was getting used to that.

  * * *

  "Reah, I know your comp-vid came from here and it has a blocking chip in it—the local government doesn't want the people to get feeds from United Bardelus or anywhere else, for that matter. Since you mentioned Teeg San Gerxon earlier, I thought you might be interested in this." He handed his comp-vid over. I stared at the headline for the longest time.

  "The Strands escaped?" I think my voice squeaked, I was so shocked.

  "Yes. It says here that several were killed when the Strands managed to break out of their prison. With help, obviously."

  "Does it say who got killed?" My heart was suddenly doing triple time.

  "It doesn't mention names—it just says six. Probably guards and such."

  "May I use this?" I didn't wait for permission, I was busily clicking keys, working my way through password after password to get into ASD files. Lendill hadn't locked me out. Yet.

  "Here it is," I whispered, scanning the list of names. I breathed the biggest sigh of relief—I hadn't recognized any of them. I'd been terrified that I'd find the reptanoids listed. That would break my heart.

  "Nobody you know?"

  "No." My heart was stuttering toward a more normal rhythm. I erased the information and handed the comp-vid back to Plovel. "So the local government is looking to control their masses by preventing them from seeing that life elsewhere might be much better?"

  "The news vids tell them lies—that life is actually worse in other regions. If Bardelus has a sphincter, Grithis is it."

  I hadn't bothered to watch any news vids except those regarding missing children. I was going to pay more attention from now on.

  * * *

  "Somehow, they managed to find the locating chip we planted and deactivated it, but that was after they found their way into this sector," Gavril pointed to the spot on the map. He'd worked this out in advance with Norian and Lendill. They suspected that others might be involved, but even Gavril's compulsion hadn't been able to penetrate the elusive information in Lersen Strand's mind before he'd escaped. Something very powerful had blocked it.

  "What's there?" Norian studied the map.

  "Hilfri and Bardelus," Lendill said.

  * * *

  "I saw a kid crying in the park on Clover Street," Harne walked into the restaurant yawning. He had a new girlfriend and stayed up late the night before. Figures.

  "What was the problem—was he lost?" I asked, ignoring the yawn and the reason behind it.

  "No—his mother was with him, taking him to school. He said he didn't want to go by the playground. He said there were ghosts there."

  "Ghosts? Really? That's odd," I said. The few times I'd been by the playground, it was usually full, with mothers more watchful now than at other times. The playground seemed a safer place than letting the children run in the streets.

  "I couldn't figure it out, either," Harne shrugged and went to get eggs out of the cold-keeper.

  "Have any children been snatched from the playground on Clover Street?" I asked Plovel later as he ate his breakfast. I'd pulled the pot of coffee and went to refill his cup myself.

  "None that I've run across," he buttered his breakfast roll before spreading it liberally with fresh-made jam.

  "Harne said he saw a child crying as he went past it this morning. The child was telling his mother that the playground was haunted."

  "That's strange—that playground is generally full when school is out."

  "I know."

  "I'll go by there today and look around," he said.

  "Good. Let me know if you find anything." He nodded, so I took the coffeepot and freshened up other customers' cups as well. Never hurt to play it safe, by paying attention to all the customers as equally as I could. I was trusting Neidles less and less as time went on, and I'd never trusted him from the beginning.

  Chapter 4

  "There's trouble in Grithis." Lendill passed the comp-vid to Gavril.

  "Children disappearing? You think that sounds like Lersen Strand?"

  "We don't know who he's allied himself with. How can we know what to expect from them? I'm assuming he's still with his rescuers, anyway."

  "He has to be—can't see the Strands doing anything else besides cozying up with other criminals."

  "I still don't understand how you didn't get some of this information out of the Strands. I thought your compulsion could cut through steel."

  Gavril laughed. A hollow laugh. "Too bad that doesn't work very well on Reah."

  "You wouldn't try, surely."

  "No, but I've thought about it."

  "My father says it's next to impossible for Reah to trust. He says it was beaten out of her as a child. That fucker had twenty-six other children, and not one of them stood up for her. Six other wives and not one thought to take in the orphan. Monsters walk in daylight, Gavril Tybus Montegue. Every single day." Lendill tossed his comp-vid onto Gavril's cluttered desk. Normally it was tidy and neat—now, it was littered with comp-vids.

  "Reah trusts the reptanoids."

  "She loves them better than anyone else, I think," Lendill sighed.

  "And they've been going crazy since she disappeared. If I hadn't sent them to Birimera for a change of scenery and to check on the crops, they might have gone down with the others. I could've had them down there, guarding the Strands when they were sprung."

  "We couldn't predict that," Lendill pointed out. He'd lost three of his, Gavril had lost the other three. The Strands were wanted in the Reth Alliance just as much as the Campiaan Alliance. They were now free again and likely plotting revenge somewhere with who knew what sort of criminal element. Lendill figured they'd fled to either Hilfri or Bardelus, and his money was o
n Bardelus.

  "Where should we start looking?" Gavril said, turning toward the wide window behind his desk. It looked over the well-kept grounds of the San Gerxon estate.

  "I'm for going to Bardelus. There are six boroughs there that aren't part of United Bardelus. Each borough is a law unto itself, with Grithis being the worst. Greed, kickbacks, payoffs, bribery, you name it, it's happening there. Prime territory for the Strands, don't you think? The child disappearances are just an added worry."

  "How many children?"

  "Hundreds. At least that's what my operatives are picking up from the secure transmissions. Could be more—it's hard to track that sort of thing."

  "What's the population of Grithis?"

  "Around seven million. Plenty of people to prey on."

  "Could be a slavery ring. Is it mostly girls?"

  "Mostly. With a few boys here and there."

  "Sex rings, then."

  "Could be. That's the common thought running through the ASD. We're keeping an eye on it, in case it filters into the Alliance."

  "Dee!" Gavril shouted. Dee stood in the doorway in less than a blink.

  * * *

  "I sat on a bench in the park and watched the children this afternoon," Plovel said as he ate a late supper. "Used amps to listen to conversations."

  I nodded. Amps were tiny sound enhancers utilized by spies everywhere. You could pick up a conversation from quite a distance. "Hear anything?" I asked.

  "A group of little girls saying that a friend heard crying. Of course, that could be rumor. You understand how that sort of thing gets around. The scare factor." Plovel shook his head. "Did you know there used to be a building on that site? One of the mothers told me. It makes sense—the park is the right size for a building there and it lines up with warehouses on either side."

  "Honestly, I hadn't thought that much about it until Harne came in with his story this morning. Now we have ghosts and crying children. This is crazy." I walked away from Plovel's seat at the counter when I heard Neidles' footsteps outside the restaurant.