by Karen Mead
“Hmm. Well, it could be that Helen would be too obvious. I almost expect to see a vision of her as she was in her youth, only to be replaced by a giant scorpion. It’s a classic.” He found himself rapidly gaining mental acuity; this was the first mental stimulation he’d had in days. “Or he could show me someone else; despite what you may think, I have loved other women besides your mother.”
“Yeah, sure okay. Besides, ‘Azzie?’ I know there aren’t many good nicknames for Asmodeus, but that’s just silly. It makes it sound like you’re both in elementary school.”
Serenus sighed deeply. “Sam, you shouldn’t be here.”
The younger man (whom he was now convinced was the genuine article), sat down cross-legged a few feet away from where Serenus himself was chained. “I keep being told that I shouldn’t exist, so really, I shouldn’t be anywhere. May as well be here.”
“What did you pay for the pleasure of my company?” Serenus asked.
Sam ignored the question. “Why did you do it, Ser? Why would you ever make a deal with him?” His eyes took in the full extent of Ser’s scarred, emaciated body. “What could be worth this?”
Serenus smiled. What Sam couldn’t know, and would never have guessed, was that until this year, his deal with Asmodeus had actually been rather pleasant, all things considered. He spent much of his time here drinking tea with the demon lord, filling him in on all the things that had transpired in the real world since his last visit. Asmodeus was always curious about human progress in the sciences, so the two would often talk for hours about new advances in technology. His accommodations were never princely, but they were always civilized; he was given a bed, and regular meals.
And because of that, I allowed myself to believe that he was fond of me. No, not really; I always knew it would come to this, sooner or later.
“That’s a long story for another time,” said Serenus finally. “I imagine your stay here has a deadline.”
“I have an hour.”
“What do you need?”
Sam frowned. “I’m sorry. You’re being tortured in a dungeon, and here I am, coming to you to try to save my own skin.”
Serenus shook his head; the effort made him slightly dizzy. “No, don’t feel that way. I did this to myself. Tell me what’s happened in my absence.”
Sam began filling him in. He glossed over the attempt to make Cassie into a witch, but Serenus was perfectly capable of reading between the lines there. When the name Thaddeus O’Donnell came up, Serenus let out a sharp breath.
“Tell me you did not grant him an audience.”
“I did. I listened to Eugene’s advice,” said Sam quietly.
“Normally, that would be wise,” said Serenus. “But O’Donnell…he’s not what he was 50 or 100 years ago. He’s become more brazen, erratic. Buckley must have been going by what he knew of him from the past.”
“I had to get him to think I could help with The Lupine Project to get him to leave peacefully.”
Serenus felt a pain in his chest; he was too weak to be subjected to this much shock. “How do you know about that?”
Sam began flicking some rocks on the floor. “Mike. He’s a hacker. I guess he must have found where the court stores their documents online.”
Serenus considered that for a moment. “That boy is an asset,” he said finally. “I would say that he could be killed for accessing such sensitive information, but if anyone involved has half a brain, they’ll see his potential value.”
“I hope so. It’s too late for me to give him the lecture about not sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong, in any case.” He took a deep breath; the air down here was thin and unsatisfying. Still, there was much more demon in Sam than there was in Serenus; the air probably didn’t have the same stifling effect on him.
“Ser, what am I going to do? The hearing starts in a matter of days, and I have no idea how to pacify them. What do they want from me?”
Ser thought for a few moments. He was relieved that his brain seemed to still be working; up until now, he hadn’t been sure his mind would ever be the same. “Well, let’s see. I guess the first thing you must keep in mind is that while it’s called a blood status hearing, it’s not really about the status of your blood.”
Sam creased his brow. “Go on.”
“If it were, it would be a very short hearing. Exhibit A: Your mother is a witch, but she started out as a human woman. No need for an Exhibit B,” he said. He didn’t know that much about previous blood status hearings, but he was pretty sure most of them had involved a demon and a non-human parent; either a fairy, an elf, or some other strange creature that barely existed anymore. Helen had no appreciable amount of fae in her lineage; he had checked for that a long time ago. “But they’ll probably get around that by saying that Helen’s status remains somewhat unclear. It’s very easy to believe she isn’t human.”
“No argument from me there.”
“What it really is, is a cost-benefit analysis: how much you can do for them, versus the threat you represent. I don’t think there’s any point to trying to downplay the threat; they’re not stupid,” he mused. “You should be doing everything you can to make them see just how useful you can be to them.”
“But I can’t do that without lying, Ser,” Sam said quietly. “I know what kind of plans they have; I don’t want any part of it. And lying in court is worse than saying nothing…at least, that’s what you told me.”
Serenus considered that for a moment. “You know, there is a way to lie in court without a witch detecting it. You just have to partition your mind: to truly believe what you’re saying while you’re saying it, even if your real beliefs lie elsewhere.”
Sam let out a small groan. “You mean, become a politician. Even if I wanted to do that, I don’t think I could learn how to lie that well so fast.”
“Then…” Serenus thought for a few more moments and took another breath of the dank, unsatisfying air. “Trust your mother. She’ll be there, I can’t believe she won’t have a plan.”
Sam looked at him in disbelief. “You really think she’s going to outwit the entire Western Court? I know she’s smart Ser, but you love her so much you like to think she’s unstoppable.”
“It’s not out of love. I just know her much better than you do.”
Sam opened his mouth to respond to that, then closed it again; he probably couldn’t argue that Serenus knew her better. He’d spent too much of his life running away from her. “I can’t rely on my mother to save me for my entire life.”
“No, but remember, she created this problem by choosing to have you, in the matter that she did, in the first place. When you are in a situation that’s truly of your own making, then you will be responsible for getting you and yours safely out of it.”
Sam looked unconvinced. “And when will that be?”
Ser stretched, and clinked his chains. “I don’t know, Sam. But when it comes, I think you’ll find yourself wishing that you still had your Mama bear, protecting her single cub with all her might.”
Sam leaned his head against the wall, considering that. “I have one more thing I need to ask you.”
“I’m all yours.”
It was another few moments before Sam spoke again. “Did you know that Cassie has been summoning my father?”
A spasm of pain tore through his body, and the next thing he knew, Sam was shaking him awake. He must have blacked out for a few moments. After he gained some measure of composure back, Sam stood up and backed away.
“I can’t believe it. You knew. You hide everything from me.”
Serenus grimaced from the pain. It was too late; there was no backing out of this now. “Prepare yourself. Cassie is your father’s familiar as well as your own. That’s how he was able to appear in daylight in January, and that’s why she summons him.”
Even though he had to have seen it coming by now, the news seemed to shock Sam. He took a step back, like his legs were unsteady. “No.”
�
�It’s been that way ever since October, since London.”
The younger man glared at him. “It’s a good thing you’re in such a pitiful state right now, Ser. I’d feel guilty hitting you.” He turned on his heel to leave. “Goodbye.”
“Wait!” Serenus yelled, and Sam did stop, with his hand on the door latch. “You can only think of what this means for you, you don’t know what it means for her. Having two masters makes her stronger,” he said, gasping for air. “It’s a trick she knows how to use, and it’s already saved your life once. It may well again.”
Sam’s back was still to him, but Serenus could tell that he had made an impact. He could sense Sam putting the pieces together; how this information could help explain some of the things he’d never quite understood about Cassie.
“And I’ve never kept anything from you because I enjoyed keeping you in the dark. You know that. I did it because—”
“I know,” Sam said quietly. “Stay strong. It’s only another week and a half.” Then he lifted the latch and Serenus was alone in his cell again.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jay normally worked the 6-10 shift at DG, but he had taken off this week so he could get some homework done. He needed to get his Social Studies project done by Friday, and assignments from his other classes had started to pile up as well. However, even though he was supposed to be writing a paper, he kept making excuses to look at the internet. Angry at himself that he was wasting time, he closed the browser.
Cassie probably has this all finished already. She gets assignments done like a machine.
Jay frowned; her grades were starting to get better than his, and it worried him. It wasn’t that he minded her outdoing him, but if her grades got too much better, he wouldn’t be able to apply to the same colleges. He couldn’t imagine going to school without her.
He jumped up when he heard a loud bang from downstairs. It sounded like someone kicking the front door in. He turned around, unsure.
But it couldn’t be that, could it? I’m sure there’s a logical—
Then he heard his mother scream, and he bolted downstairs. He followed the noise to the kitchen, where a man he didn’t recognize was holding his mother by the throat. His body felt ice cold; he wanted to help his mother, but he was too petrified to move.
His mother’s panicking eyes found his, and the man turned his head to see Jay standing in the doorway. “There he is,” he said, pushing his mother aside.
“Jason, get out!” his mother screeched. To Jay’s horror, the man turned around and backhanded his mother across the face, and she fell to the floor.
“Mom!” he yelled. He made a move towards her prone body, but the man pulled out a handgun and was pointing it at his chest. Jay’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.
“Why?” he managed to breathe out finally. It came out as a wheezing sound.
The man smiled. “Don’t worry, I won’t kill your mother. She’s an innocent,” he took a step closer. “It is you who has sullied your humanity by conspiring with the demons.”
“Demons?” said Jay, walking backwards. His feet seemed to be moving without any input from his brain. “I-I don’t know any demons. What gave you the idea that I know demons?”
The man closed his eyes and said a prayer. “Brothers, now I take this one’s life and destroy one more of the Dark’s vassals, in the name of the Lord.” His lips continued moving, but Jay couldn’t make out any more words.
“I’m not a vassal!” Jay cried. Considering he was about to die, suddenly he felt very calm. “I’m not even a servant, because I can’t do anything! Ask anyone!”
There was a blur of motion, and before Jay could move, Dmitri was on top of the man, his elbow pressing down on his throat. It had happened so quickly that Jay hadn’t even seen the vampire enter the room.
Dmitri looked up at Jay. “You alright?”
Now that he was safe, he started hyperventilating. “My Mom, she…he hit her…is she….” He gasped.
Dmitri frowned at the intruder. “Stay down a minute,” and he slammed the man’s head into the kitchen floor. Satisfied that he was out cold, Dmitri got up and knelt in by Jay’s mother.
“I think she’s alright,” he said, listening to her heartbeat. “Just knocked out. Still, let’s get her to the hospital.” He stood up and looked at Jay matter-of-factly. “I’m calling 911.”
Jay still wasn’t breathing very well. “But…can we tell the police…we can’t tell them about…stuff.”
Dmitri shrugged as he reached for the kitchen phone. “Not my call what we tell them. But your mother needs an ambulance.” He touched the intruder’s body with the tip of his shoe as the phone rang. “And him? I want this one in a cell.”
***
Nyesha was reading through one of her old medical textbooks, snacking on some Gummy Bears as she did so. Now that she could go out during the day, there was no reason why she couldn’t start attending medical school again; she just wasn’t sure if she was ready.
Besides, any program here will probably make me start over from the beginning. There’s no way they’re going to take my credits from before. Then they wouldn’t be able to charge me for all the introductory classes all over again.
She heard someone shoot the lock off her door, and dropped the book on the couch. Before the intruder could even raise his gun arm, she had him pinned to the wall. She was still chewing on a Gummy Bear.
“If this is a home invasion, you picked the wrong apartment,” she noted dryly. “What do you want?”
He spit in her face. “Die, demon whore.”
She raised an eyebrow; that was a new one.
“Now, who told you…” she started, when she heard sounds coming from the other room. Her green eyes widened.
Oh no, the girl. Another one must have come in the window or something.
The man she had pinned started to laugh at her panic; a raw laugh, like a crow’s call. She stopped his laughing with a quick punch to the throat, and ran to go find Aeka.
When she threw open Aeka’s door, she realized her worry had been premature. Another black-clad intruder was shuddering on the floor, a boxcutter jutting out of his neck from an odd angle. Aeka, wearing a simple white tank top and shorts, looked unharmed. She raised her head from the prone man and looked at Nyesha.
“He said that all the demon’s servants will die. There must be more out there.”
Nyesha nodded. “I’m going. Stay here and—”
“No,” said Aeka, pulling the boxcutter out of the man’s neck in one smooth motion. He made a pitiable, gurgling sound. “I’m going with you. I have a holy sword.”
***
“I can’t believe you beat me with an orange/purple deck,” said Matt, leaning back from the table. “You shouldn’t have lasted five turns with that.”
Ethan grinned. Normally Eugene didn’t let him go downstairs to play at the game store at night, but he had been doing so well with his Latin practice that the vampire had allowed an exception. “It’s easy, if you know how to balance it.”
“It’s easy, if you know how to balance it,” Matt mocked in a high-pitched voice, looking at the ceiling. “You realize people spend years mastering deck balance, don’t you?”
Somebody yelled, and Matt stood up from the table in alarm. Ethan didn’t move, but his already pale face paled further.
Someone in black was walking down the center aisle of the store holding a handgun in front of him. “No innocents need to die; I’ve come for Ethan Buckley,” he said. “Ethan, Little Ethan, where are you. You can’t hide from me, not when you stink of black magic. You rolled in the muck like a stinky little pig, didn’t you?” He laughed. “Little piggy will burn in hell.”
The few gamers in the store looked at each other, wide-eyed.
“Dude, are you LARPing?” said Matt. “Because we don’t do that here.”
The man grimaced and shot Matt in the shoulder. Ethan scrambled under the table, shaking. Matt groaned and sunk to his
knees, screaming obscenities.
“I don’t know what LARPing is,” the man said evenly, “But I will destroy all vassals of the Dark. Now, Pig—”
Ethan heard a loud noise he couldn’t identify, then the sound of glass shattering. He whimpered and pulled himself into a ball, trying to make his body as small as possible. Why won’t somebody help me? Why won’t anybody ever help me?
There was a moment of silence as Ethan cried. Then, he heard a murmuring as the remaining customers began to talk again.
“It’s over,” said Eugene’s voice. “You can come out now.”
Tears streaming down his face, Ethan crawled out from under the table. As soon as he emerged, Eugene picked him up in his arms and hugged him.
“No one’s going to hurt you ever again, child. I promise you.”
“O-okay,” said Ethan. He looked to the side. The man holding the gun had been thrown across the room. The sound of glass shattering that Ethan had heard was the sound of the man’s head going through the glass counter by the register.
Don, one of the assistant managers, recovered his composure first. “Matt, don’t move. I’m calling an ambulance right now.”
“Aaaah I don’t think it’s that bad,” Matt said. “Just…a flesh wound.” Nervous laughter followed.
“Hey,” Matt said to Eugene, cradling his injured shoulder. “Were you a wrestler back in the day or something? You threw that psycho across the room like it was nothing.”
Eugene considered that as he rubbed Ethan’s back softly. “Yes. Yes, I was a wrestler. I was a very good wrestler.”
***
Dwight was halfway through his set with NCWP when he started hearing the screams. The crowd often screamed while he was playing, but this was a different kind of scream, and everyone in the band could sense it. They all stopped playing, confused. Dwight’s last cord still echoed in the air.
The crowd of clubgoers parted like the Red Sea, and eventually a man with a handgun was standing right in front of the stage. “Dwight MacGregor!” he yelled, then pointed his gun in Dwight’s direction.
