Demon's Triad (27 page)

“If you try to hurt me, you are going to be very, very sorry,” Raven whispered, still looking anything but repentant.

“You helped work black magic on your own cousin—your family, not just your coven—and that’s all you have to say for yourself?” Aleeza struggled against the urge to cross the few feet that separated them and slap the younger woman—hard.

“Don’t act like you’re any better. You were powerful enough to break the spell with gray magic. If you hadn’t been, don’t tell me you wouldn’t have dipped into black. It was only a—”

“Don’t you dare. There is no way to excuse what you’ve done.”

“I wasn’t making excuses. Now get out of my house, and take your
friend
with you.” Her bottom lip trembled, but she still managed to look haughty, imperious as she pointed to the door.

“Oh please, we’re not going anywhere until you spill it—all of it. Who are you working for? How long have you been working for them? And why, if you’ve broken 140

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the curse, don’t you want to be the vessel for the next generation? Come on, Raven, don’t you want to give birth to a few demon babies?” Aleeza stalked toward her cousin, grateful that she’d worn her boots. She would be able to look the slightly taller woman in the eye, and hopefully Raven would read the price she would pay for withholding information loud and clear.

“I’m not telling you anything. It’s too late, anyway.”

“What do you mean it’s too late? Where is my clan brother?” Dorand’s voice was menacing enough to make the hairs at the back of Aleeza’s neck stand at attention, but for some reason Raven didn’t seem intimidated.

“Really, Aleeza, I don’t understand you. You break the curse but you still choose to fuck an Amiantos. You could have done that anyway. You did know that ri—”

Raven’s words became a strangled yelp as Aleeza leapt upon her, hands closing around her cousin’s neck. The rage that surged through her was as powerful as any demon-inspired hatred. She wanted to punish her, beat her to within an inch of her life, make her pay for all the evil she had worked in the name of her own selfish desires.

They hit the floor with a thud, Aleeza on top, fingers tight on Raven’s thin throat, but her cousin didn’t even try to fight back. Instead, she lay there, tears sliding from her closed eyes, almost as if she wished for death at Aleeza’s hands. Slowly, Aleeza loosened her hold enough for Raven to suck in a breath of air and start to sob in earnest.

“She’s never coming back to me. It’s been days, and…nothing. I did all of this—betrayed my family, my coven—for nothing.” Raven continued to cry as Aleeza moved to stand over her cousin and Dorand crossed the room.

Of course. “Your lover is a woman.”

“I gave her everything, did anything she asked, but I can only be with women.

That’s why I can’t get pregnant. I can’t have sex with men. Not even she was strong enough to completely break the curse. At least not then. She might be now, but she doesn’t care what happens to me, doesn’t care if I live or die.”

“Who is it? Give us her name.” Dorand’s voice was softer now, as if he too sensed the real reason behind Raven’s lack of penitence was simply that she’d lost her will to live. She was so addicted to this woman, so deeply mired in black magic, she might never work her way free.

It would have been enough to move Aleeza to pity if she didn’t know that Raven was probably at least partially responsible for the murder of three people, one of whom was Dorand and Ferrin’s third. No matter that they were learning to love again, they never would have lost that woman if it hadn’t been for a power-hungry witch and Aleeza’s own cousin.

Aleeza wondered for a second if that was the reason behind her being chosen as the Gunera who would bear the next generation of Daeisthai. Was it simply because Raven had easy access to Aleeza? And she happened to be powerful enough to suit the purpose? Her stomach roiled. With family like this, who needed enemies?

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“I can’t tell you, but I bet Aleeza can guess…if she takes time to ask the right questions.”

“Listen, you little bitch—”

“Wait Dorand, I think she literally means she can’t tell us,” Aleeza said, her hunch confirmed when Raven nodded, sadly. “She’s under some sort of safeguarding spell. A lot of the criminals we track use them, to keep accomplices, witnesses, whatever from talking.”

“Can you break the spell? We don’t have much time,” Dorand said, moving to the window as a police car zoomed past, siren wailing. Thankfully it kept moving. They hadn’t been found, not yet anyway.

“I can’t break it, but I can ask her yes or no questions. She should be able to nod an answer. Even if she can’t nod, that tells me something, usually that the answer is yes.”

Aleeza paced the ground in front of Raven, staring down at the girl’s bowed head and trying to think of what woman, what witch would have been able to consume her so completely.

“Is the woman someone I’ve met?”

Raven shook her head “no” but met Aleeza’s eyes, as if to urge her to get more specific. Her eyes flitted toward the bedroom doors and back again. Aleeza took a quick glance over her shoulder but both doors remained closed.

“Is the woman someone who I’ve heard of?”

Raven nodded “yes”, and again took a pointed look toward the bedrooms.

“Oh…shit. The woman who moved in with you? Your roommate, the one who grew up in a supernatural orphanage?” Aleeza suddenly wished she’d taken Raven up on the offer to come to dinner last spring. She might have been able to sense something off about her cousin’s new roomie, been able to intervene before it was too late.

“I’ll search her room, see if I can find pictures, notes, anything that might lead us to where she’s taken Ferrin.” Dorand disappeared into the second bedroom.

“She has Ferrin?” Aleeza asked. She already knew the answer, but it never hurt to confirm the facts.

Raven nodded and fresh tears started running down her face.

“She’s hurt him.”

Another nod, and Aleeza felt her own throat grow tight. She was going to kill this woman. Kill her and then think about killing Raven.

“Is he still alive?” The words were barely a whisper, forced out through lips that felt strangely numb. He couldn’t be dead, she’d felt his power moving through her less than an hour ago. If he was dead, the magical remnant wouldn’t have survived, would it?

Raven didn’t nod either way, just stared at her, eyes once again flat, lifeless. She didn’t know, but that look made it clear—Raven wouldn’t be surprised if Ferrin was dead, not surprised in the least.

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“Go sit at the table, I’m going to bind you to the chair. I’ll call Gavyn as soon as we leave. He and the coven elders can decide what to do with you.”

“No, Aleeza, please. If you tell him, I’ll be outcast. I’ll have nowhere to—”

“It’s either tell Gavyn or I’ll take care of you myself. I don’t think you want that, cousin.”

Something in Aleeza’s voice must have made Raven see the truth in that statement because she nodded. “I’ll tell him. Just go before it’s too late.”

“Go where? Can you at least tell us her name, maybe what kind of—”

“Kali. Kali Meronyi.” Dorand came back out into the room, carrying a thin sheaf of papers. He held them up. “An electricity bill, a water bill…all to an address downtown.”

“You’re kidding.” After all this, their witch was going to be tracked so easily? It was hard to believe.

“I guess evil demon-fasted bitches like to take a hot shower now and then.” Dorand smiled, but it wasn’t a nice smile, not at all. Aleeza was glad. Now wasn’t the time for nice, now was the time for payback.

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“Stand there.” Ferrin’s skin crawled when she touched him, but he let her stand him by the head of the low bed. His heart raced as his eyes scanned the room. There had to be a weapon, a way out, something…anything.

This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be standing beside his long lost psychotic sister, contemplating murdering both her and the child she carried. His child. After seeing what he and Aleeza could have had together, after realizing that—thanks to his heritage—he could never have children, even the thought of killing the product of an incestuous rape bothered him.

But there was no choice. This couldn’t happen, and he would have to be the one who made sure it didn’t.

Kali left him and went to stand in front of the low altar at the foot of the bed. Her back was to him—she’d become that certain he was no threat. For the hundredth time Ferrin wondered how long he’d been here, even as he kept searching for a weapon. She was summoning her demon now—he only had a minute before the thing came and his chance was gone. The cocky bastard he had been when he’d first met Kali would have sworn he’d never be bested by a demon, but now…he knew better.

As she started to speak, his eyes caught a flash of silver. Slowly, carefully, he pushed aside one of the pillows, revealing the ceremonial knife she’d left there.

Whatever ritual she planned, it must involve blood. The knife’s dark energy throbbed along his skin when he touched the handle, making him shudder. Still he held it tighter.

This was the only weapon he’d been able to lay his hands on since his arrival. He couldn’t waste the chance, no matter that something within him warned against giving this weapon blood.

Kali’s voice grew louder. Her nude body shimmered in the candlelight as she raised her arms, smoke from the incense on the altar obscuring her features. Her head fell back, face tipped to the ceiling, eyes rolling back in her head.

Ferrin crept up behind her, the knife clenched in his fist. If he slit her throat she would die almost instantly. But, if he jammed the blade through the base of her neck, would that be faster? Maybe, but it wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded. Her throat was delicate, thin, and it would be hell to hit the exact spot. He didn’t want to slip and lose his chance.

He raised his arm, preparing to strike, when some unseen force grabbed his hand.

The knife burned his skin with a cold fire, but still Ferrin clung to the weapon.

It is not necessary
. Ferrin shivered. It was the voice of a demon, of something evil crawling through slime. And through his distaste and fear, he realized something about that voice was as familiar as home. He’d actually begun to miss it, to crave Reglanus’

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words in his mind during those times when it was obvious the demon was elsewhere.

You will have your revenge. Be ready
.

Ferrin gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to drop his knife as Kali’s demon converged from the ether. Bit by bit, Reglanus coalesced, more solid than Ferrin had ever seen him. What the hell was the demon up to?

Why not simply tell Kali she was in danger, why tell him he would have revenge?

Trust me, my son.

Ferrin sucked in a breath and dropped the knife to the bed with a soft thud.

Whether he trusted the demon or not, he no longer had the strength to fight it.

“You are certain we don’t need the power of Samhain?” Kali asked the demon, the excitement clear in her voice.

I’ve consulted with my brothers. Neither the Fire Festival nor the spell in the woods are
necessary. Your power has grown. Being reunited with your twin has given you great strength.

Once he has fasted with us both, there will be none in the world stronger than our triad, than the
son who will be born tonight.

Kali turned to Ferrin and smiled, seemingly unaware of how close she’d just come to death, and led him back to the bed. “Kneel there and be ready,” she said, giving his hand a squeeze. “Our child will be born tonight!”

Ferrin swallowed. The demon caught his eye and shook his great horned head. His face looked like a cross between a bleached cow skull and a giant snake, his body a horror of scales and bones too close to the skin’s surface, but his eyes were warm, welcoming. The mad part of Ferrin was sure that he could trust this man, this…thing, to help him.

Kali lay down and pulled Ferrin to his knees beside her on the bed, placing Ferrin’s hands and her own on her flat stomach. “Reglanus will start the ritual,” she said. “Just repeat what he says, and focus your energy.”

The hell I will
, Ferrin thought, but he nodded anyway. The demon made a face that looked almost like a grin.

“I’m ready.” Kali settled herself more comfortably on the bed and looked at the demon. “Let’s go.”

* * * * *

“I don’t like this. It’s too quiet. Shouldn’t she have guards or something?” Aleeza followed Dorand around the side of the abandoned warehouse, sticking close to the side of the building. Her voice was soft and firm, but he read the anxiety on her features loud and clear. “I know I’m used to tracking human criminals, but in my experience bad guys this bad always make sure they’re protected.”

They hadn’t seen a soul since they pulled the car into an alley several blocks back, but they had both begun to sense Ferrin. The closer they got to the address on Kali’s bills, the stronger his energy became. He was alive, he was close, and they were on their 145

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way to find him. Dorand knew he should have been thrilled, but something in him was screaming that this was a trap, that they should wait for reinforcements.

Too bad they didn’t have any reinforcements to wait for.

“I would think so. There were at least those two men who were following you.”

Dorand stopped, listened and then crept closer to the parking entrance to the building with a tight sigh. Trap or not, he didn’t see any choice. They had to keep going. They had to find Ferrin before it was too late.

“You think this is a trap too.”

“It feels wrong. I know that’s Ferrin’s energy, but there’s something—”

“Off about it, almost like it’s being—”

“Channeled through another person or thing. Yeah.” Dorand jumped down off the sidewalk onto the ramp that led down into the bowels of the building, and turned to help Aleeza clear the five-foot drop. He lifted his hands to her waist but froze when he saw the look on her face.