Demon From the Dark (43 page)

           
"I do!" Ruby put her hand on her hip and flipped her hair.
Adorable.

           
"Come on, you," she said, grabbing Ruby's hand as they tromped outside into the fog. One side of the cape was wave-tossed, the other smooth. They headed for the windward shore.

           
The beach there was eerie to Carrow, forlorn even. Giant whalebones arced up from the rocky ground, while ragged seaweed lined the edge.

           
Carrow was used to Gulf Coast beaches, full of fun, sun, and sometimes drunken nudity.
This is not my scene.
She recognized this like a malamute plopped in a desert.

           
As if reading her mind, Ruby said, "I wanna go home."

           
"Me too. I'm going to talk to the demon about it when he gets back." She gazed around. Hours had passed, and still no sign of him. Maybe he'd just left them behind? Said to hell with her and her kid? No matter that she and Ruby were defenseless without him?

           
"
Now
what do we do?"

           
"I don't know, honey." Or maybe he'd been waylaid by a covey of nymphs?
Fornicating with them in the rain. His magnificent body damp and flexing with strength.
"I'm coming up with an idea as we speak," she lied.

           
"What if he doesn't come back?" Ruby asked.

           
Then they'd be totally and unequivocally hosed. Carrow could try to find Regin or Lanthe, but she would have to bring Ruby with her into the mountainous interior. Worse would be to leave Ruby here.
What if I never made it back to her?

           
"I don't know. We'd probably be in a pickle." Last night Carrow had thought that she could get used to having a demon around to do things for them. Now she chafed at how dependent on him they'd become. For the thousandth time, she yanked at her torque. She needed her powers back
now
!

           
"Should I be nicer to him?"

           
"You should be nicer to him because he's a good guy." Carrow sighed. He
was
good, a bighearted, proud demon. She knew better than to believe he would abandon them or leave them unprotected while he bedded nymphs. Which meant ... he could be hurt. "Maybe he's at the cabin, waiting on us."

           
The demon wasn't at the cabin. Now her worry went into overdrive.

           
She'd just slipped Ruby the last energy bar to de-chip and anxiously dealt a hand of go fish when the door swung open. He was safe! She leapt to her feet, rushing toward him.

           
He glanced over his shoulder, then faced her with a frown. "What?"

           
You're safe.
"I was worried. Where'd you go?" She blinked up at him, trying to listen to his reply.
Safe. With us.

           
"Searching for a better place to stay." He was soaking wet, but the grim set to his lips had eased.

           
Carrow tilted her head.
I think he likes it here. Thank goddess for that.

           
He edged away from her, putting down some supplies he'd collected--ropes and a shovel. Then he shook his hair out, like an animal, making Ruby giggle around a mouthful of chocolate chips.

           
Had he just given a half smile before his face grew stern again? "You will remain here," he said. "This is safest."

           
"Okay, whatever you think."

           
"But others might come. I'll set up traps, block off this branch of land."

           
"A peninsula," Carrow absently corrected, then wished she hadn't. "Um, it's a peninsula of land."

           
"You're gonna make traps?" Ruby asked with wide eyes. "Can I see?"

           
"Honey, I'm sure he'll be busy."

           
"The child can come with me."

           
"She doesn't have to go, Malkom. It could be dangerous."

           
He glowered. "I would never let her get hurt."

           
"I know that." She trusted him implicitly, especially after he'd gotten her safely back to Carrow last night, a miracle in itself. "I just--"

           
"We will be back in an hour or so." He motioned for Ruby, who ran to him so fast she almost forgot her rain jacket.

           
Carrow wasn't invited? Leaving the little lady back at the homestead?
Bite your tongue.
She forced a smile that made him frown again.

           
At the doorway, he paused and asked over his shoulder, "Do you need anything?"

           
You. Being loving again.
"I'm good for now." When they left, she glanced around the cabin.

           
I wonder if I can fit in that tub.

Chapter
 
37

           
Information. He wanted it and thought the girl could give it to him--though he hadn't encountered a child in centuries and had no idea how to deal with one.

           
But how difficult could it be?

           
As he strode down a natural trail, she jogged to keep up, out of breath, yet still chattering. She reminded him of the witch in Oblivion, talking to herself as they'd hiked to his mine.

           
What doesn't remind me of the witch?
He'd spent the morning fruitlessly searching for a more defensible position, all the while thinking about Carrow until he'd wondered if he could go mad from it.

           
In his dank mine, Malkom had stared at her for hours, trying to determine what she reflected on when her eyes had grown soft. He'd found it so damned exciting to be with her. Rewarding.

           
Now what he felt for her was so raw it frightened him.

           
"Find a place to sit," he told the girl. "I'm digging here." A pit trap would do nicely on this path.

           
If not for the concentrated number of immortal enemies, he'd have considered this island a good place to live. Mist cloaked the sun, and even if it emerged as it had the day of his capture, Malkom could keep beneath the cover of trees. The vast forest surrounding them teemed with animals, sluggish creatures that seemed to go out of their way to be seized. Even more jumped in the water, taunting him to catch them.

           
Already, he'd drunk more blood than he would have over several days in Oblivion....

           
The child sat on a root that grew above the ground. "Why're you digging there?"

           
"Good place for a trap. So others cannot get to the ...
peninsula.
"

           
"Why?"

           
"Anyone who wants to come to the house will have to walk on either this path or one other."

           
"Why?"

           
Ignoring her questions, he began shoveling. "So tell me about Carrow--"

           
"You really can't swim? What's your job? You look like a fireman." Her eyes lit up. "Firemen have deaf dogs." She sighed. "I want a dog."

           
She must have caught her breath. Malkom tried to keep up with her words, growing more alarmed by her each second. "Ruby," he said, injecting a note of sternness into his tone. "I want you to answer some questions about Carrow. Does she have a man?"

           
"Like a boyfriend? Crow's got tons of boyfriends. They're always coming around the coven."

           
He clenched the shovel handle, just preventing himself from rendering it to dust.
I will put their heads on pikes.

           
"Crow's one of the most beautiful witches we've got in our coven." Getting a sly look about her, Ruby said, "You think she's pretty, too."

           
"She is"--
beyond compare
--"appealing enough," he said. "Do others think well of her?" Or was she as hated as he'd been?

           
"Everybody loves her because she's fun. Everybody wants to be friends with her."

           
Malkom knew how much
fun
she was. He'd seen her disrobing for hundreds of males, was certain any one of them would want to
befriend
her.

           
He stabbed the shovel down. "How long have you known her?"

           
"I've known Crow forever. She's always bringing me things," she said. "But she's rutterless."

           
"What does that mean?" he asked, astonished when water began to trickle up from the bottom of his hole. 'Twas everywhere here. Malkom was beginning to love this place of plenty.

           
When he was young he'd wanted three things. A home that no one could ever force him to leave. As much food and water as he could ever enjoy. To be noble and respected like Kallen.

           
Here he could satisfy at least two of those desires.

           
"It means she didn't have anything," the girl said, then added proudly, "Not until me."

           
Malkom began to put it together. Carrow's own parents had treated her so callously that the idea of mothering a child in need called to her. Could he hate her for this?

           
For that matter, could Malkom turn his back on this girl? She was seven years old.
Roughly my age when I no longer had a mother, my age when fate began punishing me.

           
"What happens when you return home?" he asked her. "Who will provide for you?" When her brows drew together at the question, he said, "How will you buy things?"

           
"Carrow makes a fortune off her spells."

           
A fortune. He'd known she'd come from money, but he hadn't wanted to acknowledge that she had wealth in her world--whereas he would not.

           
"We're going to get a pad."

           
"A pad?"

           
In a singsong tone, she answered, "A house. Like a lily pad. We're going to have parties. It has a pool. She said we can invite you over."

           
Invite
him over. The witch didn't plan to
reside
with him? On this island, she would be forced to. Here,
he
could provide for her. He had no guarantee of it in her world.

           
The girl had collected some insect on her hand, letting it roam as she tilted her hand this way and that. Weren't little females supposed to be scared of such creatures? He thought back, searching his memory, but he could recall only the young demonesses who'd laughed as he'd eaten from their garbage. He remembered being stung with humiliation.

           
He shoveled harder, wanting to lose himself in his task.

           
"You really come from a world with no water?" she asked. "Do you miss it?"

           
Without looking up, he said, "There was little water. And no, I do not miss it."

           
"I bet you miss your friends. I miss mine."

           
Digging faster. "I had no friends."

           
"What? You
have
to have friends. You don't have a gang? I have a gang of witches. We meet in the attic. Elianna--she's my nanny--she says we're going to take over the world." Ruby took a breath, then said, "Did you have a family?"

           
"None. I left no one behind." His pit was as deep as his chest, water now past his ankles.

           
"No parents?"

           
Exasperated, he ceased digging. "No, Ruby, my mother was killed, and--"

           
"So was
mine,
" the girl interrupted in a shocked tone. "The humans did it." She gazed away, her bottom lip trembling.

           
Malkom's eyes went wide; he dreaded her tears more than he would a kick to the teeth.

           
When Ruby stemmed her tears, wiping her nose on her sleeve, he felt abject relief--and a grudging respect for the girl.

           
"Did the humans kill your mom, too?"

           
He exhaled. "No, child, it happened long ago."

           
His respect for Ruby grew when she murmured, "I'm going to hurt the people who did it."

           
"I believe you will one day," he said honestly. And who would make sure she was prepared to exact her revenge, skilled and strong enough to punish without being harmed herself? "But you cannot go after them, unless you're ready and know you will win."