Kamen didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to think. He didn’t know if he thought she was a complete idiot or potentially the kindest heart in the known world. If she was the latter, he certainly didn’t deserve her.
But she was staying. She knew the worst about him and she was staying.
“I will not have you be an outcast in this house. It is better if you—”
“I am very much used to being an outcast,” she said firmly.
“You’ve done nothing to deserve it.”
“Exactly. I’ve done nothing to deserve it. So if I am shunned, the fault lies with them, not me.”
The insight surprised him. She was used to taking the blame for things. She usually agreed with people’s poor perception of her. For her to think in this manner, it was positively revolutionary.
“I would not have you harmed,” he whispered, touching his forehead to hers and squeezing her hands. “I would not have the stain of my crimes rub off onto you.”
“It won’t,” she assured him. “I am not responsible for your crimes. For them to treat me as if I am…that would be wrong of them. And somehow…somehow I don’t think these people are capable of being that judgmental. Not against me anyway. I can see they judge you and I can see why. But they’re going to have to decide if they will forgive you for these crimes or not. That’s on them. Not on me, and not on you. You just keep doing the right thing and the rest will fall into place eventually.”
Kamen sighed and looked into her pretty gray eyes. “Where did you come from, little dove? And what did I do to deserve you?”
“I’m sure it was something very wicked. You are saddled with me now. You could not get rid of me.”
“I thought I would never touch you again,” he said as he drew her closer. “I thought you would hate me.”
“Surprise,” she said, reaching to touch her mouth to his.
He pulled her up into the kiss with the fervor of his relief. He kissed her as if it were the last time, even though he realized it wasn’t.
He vowed to always kiss her as if it were going to be the last time.
Chapter 14
Apep was sitting up in bed with an IV dripping into his veins. Pitocin. It was meant to start his labor, but it didn’t seem to be working. He impatiently drummed his manicured nails against his thigh as he read a trashy little Hollywood insider magazine. Really, he’d grown quite addicted to hearing about these stars’ lives.
The doctor was nervously pacing the room, biting his nails in a disgusting little habit. Ew. Maybe he should get a better doctor.
No. There wasn’t time for that. There wasn’t time for any of this.
“Oh, let’s just cut it out of me already!” Apep cried in frustration.
“We don’t have a surgery room!” the doctor said. “You’d risk infection or—”
“I’m not going to get an infection, I’m a god!”
“A…a god?”
“Yes! A god. A god who’s tired of this whole pregnancy business. Get this fucking thing out of me—yeow!”
Apep ended on a cry when a sudden cramp seized his belly. He froze. Was this it? Was it starting?
“What was that?” he demanded of the doctor.
“Your labor has begun!” he said with relieved excitement. “It’s only a matter of a few hours now.”
Or at least the doctor hoped. He knew better than anyone how long a labor could last. If it didn’t progress fast enough for this—this god—there was going to be trouble. He and his poor frightened nurse would be in serious danger. He didn’t doubt that in the slightest.
“Rose, put the external fetal monitor on. I want to track the baby’s heart rate.”
“Oh, it’ll be fine,” Apep said, waving them off. “It’s part god after all.”
“Well, even so…just to be safe,” the doctor urged. God help them if something went wrong with this birth or with the child. He had to take all of the precautions he could. “Ms. Odjit, really, you should let us.”
“Oh well, all right. If it’ll keep you from whining about it!” A second labor pain lanced through Apep’s belly. That one was a bit stronger. Hmm. He wondered just how painful this business was going to be. Surely not that bad, otherwise humans wouldn’t be doing it over and over again, polluting the earth with their inferior progeny. Now his progeny…his progeny was going to be great. Superior. By far. It was almost worth all this waiting for him to make an appearance.
The nurse put the monitor around his belly and immediately the machine registered the baby’s heartbeat.
“It’s a good, strong beat,” the doctor said.
“Of course it is. I told yeoooowww!”
Okay, now that one was particularly uncomfortable. He was a god. This shouldn’t hurt so much. It was this inferior human body he’d been resurrected into. It must be broken. It was bad enough there were two other souls clamoring around inside his head, the one called Odjit and the body’s original soul before the Bodywalker had taken possession of it, but now a broken body on top of it? It was really too much.
Well, at least he had his worshippers to help him. Actually, the Templars were Odjit’s worshippers, but that was just semantics. Once they realized how glorious a god he was, then they would truly be followers of Apep.
If only they would take this thing out of him.
Another pain came and he was encouraged. This would be over in another hour or two. Then he could go about his business of conquering these little people. After he got rid of the Nightwalkers. They were the only thing that could stand in the way of his total domination. Of course, they didn’t know that. If they did…well…But they didn’t. They didn’t even know the others existed, thanks to his ingenious curse. Of course, he might have to dispel that curse if he was going to use the Wraiths to help him destroy the other Nightwalker races. But dispelling the curse was just as dangerous as leaving it be. All they had to do was get in the same room together and…
Well, that wasn’t likely to happen now was it? No sense even thinking about it.
Instead, he was forced to focus on the pain that was creeping up on him in increasing intensity.
Yes, this should be over any time now. And once he had his son by his side, he would be unstoppable.
—
Viève refused to hide in Kamen’s rooms, although he was very reluctant to have her go out amongst the others. They called a gathering of all the Nightwalkers presently on the property, just as they did every night, and introduced the Phoenixes around using the human mediators. Kamen then spoke about his next plan of action.
“Kat,” he said to Ahnvil’s wife, “I will need you to make contact with Grey.”
Grey was the most powerful Djynn in the United States. No one knew exactly where he was located, but he always seemed to come around when he was needed most. But this, Kamen feared, was going to take a bit of coaxing.
“I can do that,” Kat said readily. “He gave me the means to contact him any time. He taught me how. Djynn 101.” She was proud of her accomplishments as a Djynn, especially since she hadn’t even known she was one until a few months ago.
“Good, because the Empress of the Mysticals is in his care and if we are going to get their cooperation, we’re going to have to go through her,” Kamen said.
“All right. Let me try while we’re all here.”
Kat stood up and walked to the center of the room. She sat down cross-legged and closed her eyes. She went quiet and seemed to focus for a minute. After a while she began to frown.
“I know I’m doing it right. But he’s not answering.”
“Grey doesn’t seem the type to be summoned,” Kamen noted.
“But he’s always answered me before. I kinda thought he liked our lessons. But maybe he’s grown bored of me. You know how capricious Djynn can be.”
“I am well aware,” Kamen said. “Can you try SingSing? Maybe she knows how to get to Grey.”
“Oh great. SingSing is just as hard to contact. Bu
t I’ll try.”
Kat closed her eyes and did her best to focus on calling SingSing. Grey had said it was just a matter of envisioning the Djynn she wanted to contact and calling out a hello. “Oh, SingSing…where are you?” she called out.
“I’m right heeeereee! Tada!”
With a snap, a diminutive little woman appeared practically nose to nose with Kat. Startled, Kat jerked back.
“Hey, Kitty Kat, what’s shakin’?” SingSing asked.
“SingSing, we need your help locating Grey,” Kat said.
“What? No hello? No how are you? Just straight to business?” SingSing frowned.
“No no,” Kat said quickly. “Of course, you are right. That was terribly rude of me. Hello, SingSing. How are you?”
“I’m spectacular! That is my word of the week,” SingSing said in a loud aside. “Spectacular!”
“What have you been up to?” Kat asked.
“Oh, I just acquired this spectacular nik! Looky here.” SingSing produced a little ceramic cat out of thin air. It looked like a cheap statuette one might find in a secondhand store.
“Are you sure that’s a nik?” Kat asked doubtfully.
“What’s a nik?” Viève asked in a whisper to Kamen.
SingSing disappeared and reappeared right under Viève’s nose. Holding out the statue, she whispered, “This is a nik! A niknak to be precise. It is an object that holds magical energy. Energy Djynns use to fuel their magic abilities. Inanimate objects like this one are called niknaks. Animate ones, like my dragonlets”—she shook her corkscrew ginger curls and three little dragon heads poked out of them, the dragons’ eyes blinking blearily as if they’d just been woken up—“are nikkis. So that’s a nik. And this is a nik.” She showed the statue off with a flourish of her hands. It levitated and began to turn, an unseen light highlighting all its features. And yet it still looked like a cheap little ceramic cat. A black one.
“Are you sure that thing is magical?” Viève asked doubtfully.
“Of course it is, ghost girl!” SingSing snatched the statuette out of the air and hugged it close to her chest. She shot a sidelong glance at Kat. “And don’t you even try to steal it.” She leaned back toward Viève. “Keep an eye on that one,” she whispered loudly. “She steals niks.”
“Hey! I do not!”
“Then how’d you get that necklace?” SingSing asked. “And that bracelet?”
“Oh, well I…” Kat flushed.
“See? She stole them.”
“I found them,” Kat corrected.
“Also known as stealing. See,” SingSing explained to Viève, “all a Djynn has to do is touch a nik and it becomes theirs, so long as another Djynn isn’t touching it at the time. I’m sure those niks she’s wearing belonged to some Djynn somewhere and she just walked off with them.”
“I did not! These were a Templar priest’s!”
“See! She stole them.”
“I didn’t steal them I—Oh never mind! SingSing, can you help us or not?”
“Of course I can.” SingSing poked at each little dragon head until they disappeared back into her curls. “The question is…do I want to help you? After all, you’re a common thief.”
“Stop calling me that! You know, we’re just going to have to wait until Grey answers me. She’s no help at all,” Kat said.
“Of course I can help!” SingSing disappeared and reappeared back before Kat. “All you had to do was ask.” She paused a beat. “Now what is it you want exactly? Did you have a wish?”
“No, I do not have a wish!” Kat exclaimed.
SingSing disappeared and reappeared under Viève’s nose again. “What about you, ghost girl? You got a wish?”
“Do not, under any circumstances, make a wish,” Kamen warned. “There’s always a price to pay for making a wish with a Djynn.”
“You’re no fun,” SingSing said with a pout. “Little ghost girl’s just brimming with wishes. She wishes she was liked by the Wraiths. Wishes she wasn’t a half-breed. Wishes this and wishes that. She even wishes she’d had another orgasm with you this morning.”
“I do not!” Viève cried, her hands coming up to cover her cheeks as she looked at Kamen. “That’s not true!”
“Oh, so who cares if you want another orgasm?” SingSing said with a careless wave of her hand. “All women wish they’d had another orgasm. Nothing wrong with that. I’ve had several women wish their men were better lovers.” She snorted a laugh. “They just forgot to wish their men were better loyal lovers. Loyal to them. Men being men, you make them a better lover and they’re in demand all over the place.”
“That’s terrible!” Viève cried.
“Them’s the breaks, kid. If you’re gonna make a wish, you gotta think it through.” She stared intently at Viève and tapped herself on the side of the head. “Use the old noggin.” A little dragon head stuck out. It hiccuped a little fireball, singeing one of SingSing’s curls. The smell of burnt hair wafted over Viève.
“Well, I’m not going to make a wish. I don’t want anything that badly.”
“Hmm. Veeeeery interesting,” SingSing said, eyeballing Viève a moment. “Anywho! Back to my spectacular day!”
“Wait!” Kat cried before SingSing could finish her flourish of hands and disappear.
“What now, little thief?” SingSing asked.
“Grey?” Kat prompted her.
“Oh yes! Almost forgot. Who wants to go?”
“Go?”
“To Grey ’s! I can’t have you all go!”
“We will,” Kamen said quickly. “Viève and I.”
“Hmm. So ghost girl wants to see the big bad Djynn, eh? Well, be careful what you wish for!”
SingSing clapped her hands and said, “Tada!”
Kamen and Viève disappeared from the room.
—
Kamen and Viève suddenly appeared in a golden room. The walls were beaten gold, the floor was golden tile. There were piles of gold coins everywhere and golden jewelry was strewn about. There was even a golden throne at the head of the room.
They were just getting their bearings when a handsome man with dark skin and jet black hair appeared on the throne, sprawling indolently over the arms of the giant chair. Then he narrowed his eyes at them and sighed in frustration.
“Oh. It’s just you. What do you want?”
He stood up and snapped his fingers. The golden room disappeared and gave way to an opulent library. Grey walked over to the desk and poured himself a drink from the decanter sitting on its edge. He swirled the liquor in the glass, sniffing it a moment before tossing back a large swallow.
“Ah! Good stuff. Sorry about the golden room thing. Gotta give people what they want and everyone who rubs the lamps or whatever expects to see the Djynn in a golden room or some such nonsense. What can I do for you?”
“We’re here to gain audience with the Empress of the Mysticals,” Kamen said.
Grey burst out in a hard laugh. “And why would I let you do that? Especially with her.” He pointed rudely to Viève. “Do you have any idea what the Wraiths did to the Empress?”
“Wraiths?” Viève asked in confusion. “What did the Wraiths do to her?”
“They held her captive for months. They tormented her and fed her eggs so she would be stuck in her Mystical form and couldn’t escape, keeping her trapped in a room in a house. I think they tortured her. I’m not quite clear on all the details. She doesn’t exactly speak to me about such things.”
“But she does speak to you?”
“She does. She’s been recovering here where she knows she’s protected. She knows I would never hurt her. That I’m not just using her because she’s a very powerful nikki.”
“And how is her recovery going?” Viève asked.
“Between you and me, she’s more better than worse. She spent a lot of time being threatened with the possibility of a Wraith using their deathtouch on her. It’s the equivalent to a human being held constantly at gunpoint. She’s bee
n traumatized.” Grey leaned in and narrowed eyes on Viève.
“That’s terrible,” Viève whispered.
“Indeed it was. So I ask again, what makes you think she’s going to want to talk to a Wraith?”
“Then let her talk to me,” Kamen said.
“You’re not much better. Everyone knows what you did.”
“She knows about Apep?” Kamen asked.
“I may have let something slip. But I’ve protected her from the goings-on in the outside world. She’s a very delicate creature.”
“Delicate creature or no, she’s the leader of an entire species of Nightwalkers. She needs to come to grips with this situation and lead them,” Kamen said.
Grey seemed to think on it a moment. “No,” he said then. “I don’t think I’ll let you see her.”
“Please,” Viève spoke up. “We just want the Mysticals to join in our fight against Apep. If they don’t then the Wraiths won’t join. And if the Wraiths don’t join we’ll never be able to fight off Apep.”
“What makes you so sure you’ll be able to fight him off anyway?” Grey asked.
“We’re not sure. But it’s better than doing nothing and letting him run roughshod over us. We’re the last line of defense between Apep and the mortal world and I think you know that.”
“What do I care about the mortal world?” Grey asked carelessly.
“No mortals, no wishes,” Viève spoke up quickly.
That made Grey go still. “Hmm. Hadn’t thought about that. Still, if Apep does try to dominate the world, there’ll be a lot of people wishing for a solution.”
“One you can’t provide. What happens, exactly, when a Djynn can’t fulfill a wish?” Kamen asked.
Grey paled a little. “It’s not a pretty sight,” he admitted. “But that’s why every wish is open to interpretation. So we can avoid the ones we can’t fulfill. Not every Djynn is powerful enough to fulfill every wish. Power comes with time, training, and niks. Take your little Kat for instance. She shouldn’t even ask for a wish because she’s a half-breed with no power yet.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being a half-breed,” Viève said defensively.
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