A Demon's Work Is Never Done: Latter Day Demons, Book 2 (15 page)

"If my head didn't already hurt, it would start now," I shook my head at her. "The world is falling apart and he's worried about the unrelated details."

"I thought I might find you here," Opal walked down the hall to join us.

"Granger has an obsession, and he may have an implant," Anita sighed.

"That's—not good," Opal said. "I have two people coming to help. Come on, we'll go meet them—they're waiting at our new hotel."

* * *

Yes, the old hotel had asked us politely to leave after our suite inconveniently suffered scorch marks and a shattered window when Kory's Thifilathi went after Granger. At times, I wished I'd been there to see Kory's smaller Thifilathi throw Granger through the plate glass before going after him.

Word had it that Granger ran down the sloping sides of our casino before digging in his claws to stop the hurtling descent.

They'd raced so swiftly in and out of traffic past that point that few could accurately describe what, if anything, they'd actually seen.

They'd ended up climbing the walls of a scale model of a famous New York landmark. It surprised me that Kory had so much control over his Thifilathi—I imagined that most male High Demons would have been flaming while they chased a criminal vampire through the streets.

Opal chose a limo as our method of getting to our new hotel. It was comfortable and, to be honest, I needed the time to get my thoughts in order. The dilemma with Granger had brought my worries about Jamie to a peak—what if they'd already hurt him? They couldn't obsess him; we already knew that, but there were other ways to harm him—and us through him.

"Why couldn't he just stay in the room?" I muttered.

"Thinking about Jamie?" Opal opened a small refrigerator in the car and handed me a bottle of water.

"Yeah."

"We can't lock everybody up that we want to keep safe," she said and turned to look out the tinted window. Outside our moving vehicle, glittering casino after flashing façade passed by. Another time, I'd have gazed at all of it in curiosity, eager to soak up the visual information. Now, it was unimportant, compared to Jamie's life.

"Yeah, but," I responded to Opal's comment.

"Yes, in this case, his common sense should have kicked in," Opal agreed. "You understand, though; he was locked in a closet and starved for months. He wanted to exercise what little freedom he had. It ended up harming him."

"I hate that this happened," I shook my head. "I really need half a bottle of ibuprofen right now."

"We'll find some for you, if you still need it after we meet our new recruits," she said. "I hope you like them."

* * *

Kordevik

"Look, I know I'm fucking things up, but there are a thousand things on my plate right now," Watson defended himself.

"Anita and the war going on around us should be items one and two," I snapped.

"Opal has arrived," Kell walked in. "She expects us in her suite in five minutes, to meet our new recruits."

"All right," I nodded at Kell. "Watson will be there, too, even if I have to carry him."

"What?" Watson's voice betrayed his alarm.

"Look, I can carry you or drag you by the ear," I said. "Or, you can walk with me, like a rational, dignified werewolf Packmaster."

"I'm undignified?"

"And clueless, unrefined, oblivious—should I go on?" I asked, snorting smoke.

"At least I don't breathe smoke," Watson pointed at me.

"That's who I am. You grow fur and a tail. I breathe smoke. Any questions? No? Class dismissed." I grabbed his ear and hauled him toward the door while Kell watched.

* * *

Anita

I had no idea who Opal had convinced to help us. Lexsi drew in a breath when we were introduced to a Grey House wizard first.

Yoff was Lexsi's cousin. He grinned at her before pulling her into a swift hug. Dark-haired, dark eyed, with the wings he'd gained at adulthood folded tightly against his back.

His grandfather, after all, was a winged vampire and a consort to the Queen of Le-Ath Veronis. His father was married to the only female Grey House Master Wizard and also had the rare vampire wings.

"Didn't expect me, did you, cousin?" Yoff grinned after setting Lexsi down.

Lexsi wiped tears away before wrapping her arms around Yoff's waist to hug him again.

"This," Opal said after a moment, "is Zaria."

"Hello," she said. I blinked at Opal's second recruit. Black hair hung in waves down her back, while piercing blue eyes assessed all of us.

My breath caught as one word went through my mind.

Q'elindi
.

There was a reason her eyes seemed to pierce all of us. She could see straight through us. Read us like the proverbial book and understand more about us than we did about ourselves.

She saw my secret.

She nodded. At that moment, I understood I could trust her with my life.

"I want to stop Deris and Daris just as much or more than you do," Zaria informed all of us. "Because I know exactly who they are and what they're capable of doing. I'm related to both of them, after all."

I swallowed with difficulty. She and I—we had more in common than anyone would think.

* * *

Lexsi

Yoff—I never expected him to come—not in my wildest imaginings. He'd made First Level just before my wedding was scheduled, and would probably make Master Wizard in a few years.

Pitting a Grey House wizard against a warlock was perhaps a delicious idea. Fifth Level was the strongest level one could reach on Karathia.

Wizards ranked their levels exactly the opposite. Fifth Level was weakest, First Level, strongest. Master Wizard was even stronger, and Yoff was a prime candidate.

As for Zaria—I had no idea what her rank was as a Karathian witch, but Opal respected her, that was evident. I felt it rude to ask, so I kept my questions to myself.

Stop gaping
, Anita sent.
Does the word Q'elindi mean anything to you?

I gaped more at Anita. Zaria was Q'elindi? They were so rare they almost didn't exist. New respect dawned as I turned back to Zaria. Did Uncle Ry know about her?

He knows
, Zaria sent while smiling at me.

My breath caught.
You know Uncle Ry?

And his father and his son, your half-brother
. Her smile widened.

"I can't believe they haven't locked you up and forced you to stay on Karathia," I blurted.

"Zaria isn't the kind you can lock away," Opal said gently. "We're lucky she's here to help."

* * *

Opal

Zaria watched as Granger paced the short distance in his cage, from corner to corner.

Is Anita correct?
Is there an implant?
I asked in mindspeech.

Yes, but it's vision only—they can't hear. That doesn't mean they won't read lips and gestures
, she replied.

Damn.

I hear that and raise you a fuck
.

I've missed working with you.

I know.

Look, I need to take you to see Tiburon and his family
, I said.
There are a few others with him that I want you to meet.

All right
, she nodded.
Want me to take us?

Sure.

It was nice to be transported by someone else for a change. We stood outside Tibby's suite in barely a blink.

Yes, she'd taken the information straight from my mind. A Q'elindi's talent was formidable. If I hadn't trusted her completely, I might have worried.

Zaria would give her life before betraying those she cared for.

She'd already done it, after all.

I knocked on the door. Mason answered, with Sandra standing right behind him.

Mason's eyes widened at the sight of Zaria; he'd drawn a breath, first, and scented nothing.

Sandra, too, couldn't get a scent off her, she was so tightly shielded.

"This is Zaria—she's a new recruit," I said, introducing her. "Zaria, this is Mason and Sandra."

"King Vampire," Zaria shook with a blinking Mason. "Lady Wolf," she shook with Sandra. "You go well together."

"How?" Mason began.

"Ask me later," I shrugged. I just wanted Zaria to come in and meet the others.

Diego was in lust the moment he saw Zaria. Poor man didn't have a chance with her, although she smiled and shook his hand. She complimented Tibby on his fighting techniques and record when I introduced her to him.

"Weather woman," she said, shaking hands with Farin.

"Wow. I like that. Weather woman. Makes me sound important," Farin laughed.

"And this," I said, ready to introduce Klancy.

Zaria stopped. Her breath stopped, too. Klancy glided forward as if he were afraid Zaria would disappear.

"I am most pleased to meet you," Klancy lifted Zaria's hand to his lips to kiss it. Zaria blinked at Klancy.

Several times.

"It, uh, is a pleasure for me as well," Zaria breathed.

* * *

Kell

Before tonight, I had a concern for Klancy.

He was two centuries old, and had reached the stage where very little held any interest for him. Opal's offer of a job had kept him occupied for the moment, but I worried for the time when that interest would also fade.

Until Zaria Keppler walked into his life.

Yes, I knew about her heartbreak, and that there were others. I doubted Klancy would have a care about any of that.

This would be interesting.

Most
interesting.

* * *

Lexsi

Sometimes, when I look at Anita, I see someone older.

Far older than what she appears.

Sirenali were mostly immortal, unless you managed to kill them. They could be killed—I understood that.

I had no idea how old Anita was.

"You said you had a cousin in L.A., once," I said. She and I stood at the window of our suite, looking out over Las Vegas.

"I still do," she nodded. "She's working things from a different angle."

"Care to expand on that?"

"Not really, no."

"All right."

"At least we're not having fights with strangers in parking lots," she teased.

"Day's not over, yet."

"True."

"I wouldn't mind punching Charlene and Hannah," I said.

"I wouldn't mind helping."

"What would happen if we took them? You know—just grabbed them?" I asked. "Instead of just trading Granger for Jamie."

"We won't know it's Jamie until we see him," Anita pointed out.

"Yeah. That's a problem."

"It is."

"Where would they take him? Do you think they'd send him to Peru already, without waiting for Hannah and Granger to go back?"

"No idea. Something to think about, though. I'd really like to get my hands on Hannah, not to mention that Charlene bitch. They're planning something, you know."

"I know," I agreed. "I'm really worried about what they intend to do to Tibby in the ring."

"I hope Zaria can help with that. You nullify spells, but she can tell if there's a spell to begin with."

"Like you can tell if somebody's obsessed?"

"Yes. Except she's better at it than I'll ever be."

"Why haven't I heard of her?" I grumbled.

"You know about her, now. I think that's enough."

"You sound like my mother," I grumbled.

"Maybe you sound like her daughter right now."

I bristled because I had no retort for that. Anita was right—I was whining. She just didn't put it quite like that.

"I'll stop whining, now."

"Where's the fun in that?" Anita was back to herself. "Just be glad we were able to get good help in dealing with all this—I'm worried. Not just about all this, but about things farther south. My cousin, Esme, is in Ecuador right now." She'd decided to tell me about her cousin after all.

I went still for a moment. "She's checking on those bodies in the water, isn't she?" I asked.

"Yeah. I get mindspeech now and then. None of it's pretty. She's made contact with some shifters, there, too. Some of their kind have been hit and they don't like it. Esme's doing her best to keep them out of harm's way, but you know how those things can go at times."

"A lot depends on Packmasters, how they handle the situation, but then again, there's always a few who go off the reservation if they really don't like something," I agreed.

"Well, they have no idea how much danger they're in," Anita grumped. "Esme's trying to reel them in and convince them to go elsewhere for a while, but she's getting a lot of resistance."