High Demon 3 - Demon's King (26 page)

Farzi and Nenzi had packed our things—Teeg was coming with us but only for a short while—he was expected on Campiaa before the day was out to make preparations for the upcoming meeting. I had no desire for the Campiaan Alliance to fail—quite the opposite, actually. As long as a standard set of laws were set up and adhered to, I didn't think it a bad thing. Teeg, though, would have his hands full as the founder. He neither needed nor had time for a mate. Just as well—I didn't know how I felt about him, anyway. Perhaps he'd been Gavril once. He would never be that again. Not for me.

Renegar folded all of us to the palace, where Lissa and Gavin waited. Lissa hugged Teeg and Tory. I slipped my arm through Nenzi's and he and Farzi helped me down the hall to my room—it had once belonged to Aurelius when he'd stayed there.

Chapter 12
 

"Son, she barely speaks to anyone." Garde was attempting to get Tory out of his depression over Reah.

"Dad, she won't talk about the baby. At all. She just turns her back on me and waits for me to leave."

"Torevik, this has been traumatic for her. And for all of us. Give it time." Garde was worried about his son and Reah. He was also angry that Kifirin had chosen to leave as quickly as he'd gotten the news. Perhaps the god was abandoning all of them, now. A tendril of smoke curled from Garde's nostrils. He was thankful Tory had his head down and didn't see it.

* * *

"Reah, come with me to meet my father. Please." Lendill had said the same thing for the past six days. Begging me to go with him somewhere—he never said where—to meet his father. I ignored him as best I could. I was mixing cake batter in Lissa's kitchen—Karzac had said I could get up and around if I didn't tire myself. Therefore, I decided to make a cake. Lendill was interrupting. Farzi and Nenzi sat at the huge island, watching me cook and listening to yet another exchange between Lendill and me.

"No, Lendill. What do you think that will accomplish?" I blinked at him helplessly, stopping in mid-stir, the large bowl held in the crook of one arm and the wooden spoon held in my other hand. Wylend had indeed gone to the meetings that Teeg was holding, although he'd offered to take me to Karathia and allow his servants and staff to care for me. I'd declined. He hadn't pushed it. Now that I'd officially been discharged by the ASD, Lendill had become relentless. I wasn't having any of it. What did he think we might have after he'd repeatedly forced me to do his and Director Keef's bidding, though it had harmed me and ultimately killed my daughter?

"Reah, breah-mul, don't do this to us. I beg you."

"I'm not your breath. Only your breath is your breath," I muttered.

"I will ask you again tomorrow. I promise." Lendill stalked out of the kitchen. Did he think to wear me down? Tory thought the same thing. Had tried to put his hands and his lips on the claiming marks on my neck. I'd walked away from him. Every time. Sighing, I pulled the cake pan over and poured the batter in.

* * *

"Reah, the cake is exceptional," Drake said. I'd still not gotten to travel to Falchan, I remembered as I studied him. He and his brother Drew sat together at the long table during dinner. The staff was serving my cake as dessert, as I'd intended. A trip to Falchan might never happen now. Not if things went as I planned. Later, inside my bedroom, Farzi and Nenzi wore worried expressions as I tossed clothing into a small traveling bag. I hefted a knife into my bag—I'd used it as a backup. It wasn't the black-bladed one Glinda had given me—Teeg still had that one. This was standard ASD issue. It would have to do. A small, sealed box filled with non-identifying credit chips was tossed into the bag next. Farzi and Nenzi already had their bags packed. I offered to send them to Campiaa but they'd refused, telling me instead that they'd inform everyone else of my plans if I didn't take them with me. Therefore, they were coming with me. I was zipping the small bag closed when Kifirin appeared in my bedroom.

"Get out," I snapped at him. He'd brought me to this. Taken Gavril away and made him a monster. Told him to form the Campiaan Alliance and Teeg had done his best for this one; all else be damned. Right then, I didn't care that he was the god. If he wanted to reduce me to cinders with a look, then he was welcome to do so. I was weary of the constant emotional pain of losing the baby. Tired of the others thinking that everything would be just fine and I could have another baby somewhere down the road. Right then, I didn't think I wanted any of them.

"I have something to say first," Kifirin said, his voice echoing through the room.

"Then say it and get out." I jerked my bag off the bed. I was ready to go. Farzi and Nenzi stared at Kifirin—he had stars in his eyes.

"I owe you," Kifirin said. "Tell me what you want and if it is within my power, it shall be given to you."

"I don't want anything from you," I almost shouted, remembering at the last that Lissa's palace was packed with vampires, who could hear an eyelash drop from one end to the other.

"When I granted Gavril's request, I failed to consider your part in this. You were forced into it, having made no request of your own. And it led to disaster, as should not have been. I did not see this. You were promised to me long ago, by the one who formed the darkness in me. I was once light, like the others. I accepted the darkness to create the balance."

"How nice for you," I muttered. I had no idea why he was telling me this. He'd said before that I'd been foretold but it hadn't meant anything to me.

"A daughter of your heart will come, he told me," Kifirin went on, ignoring my rudeness. "A demoness, clad in gold. The High Demons will be reborn through her. Your daughter was to be the first," Kifirin sounded sad, and that couldn't be. He'd coldheartedly ripped Chash away from me, replacing him with Teeg. Things would never be the same. Tory hadn't been prepared for fatherhood, either. I knew that now. It made me weep for my child.

"When I grant a request and it interferes beyond expectations with the life of another who made no request," Kifirin repeated, "I must make amends or offer compensation of some kind."

"You can't undo this," I said. "I don't want anything from you. Good-bye, Kifirin." I was ready to skip away.

"You are the daughter of my heart," Kifirin said. His beautiful face looked as if it were filled with pain. That had to be a lie.

"And I'm supposed to call you father? I don't have a father."

"I could give you gifts for this alone," he ignored what I was saying to him.

"No, thank you," I said as firmly as I could.

"I will choose if you will not."

"Don't bother."

"It is already done." Kifirin disappeared in front of me.

"Come on," I said to Farzi and Nenzi. They gripped their bags tightly, worry on both faces as I skipped us to Tulgalan.

* * *

"Reah, no. We not knowing how to wake you or change you back," Farzi was fretting as I dropped the basket of food next to the tent I'd erected for us. I was going to heal the core, asking the two reptanoids to care for me afterward until I gained my strength back. Then, we'd find the other worlds Nidris was likely tapping indiscriminately as he fled from the ASD. My ultimate goal, however, was to find Nidris myself. Hand him his death in retribution for my child.

"Farzi, here is a communicator—it has Lendill's and Tory's numbers programmed. If there is a problem or if you decide you don't want to stay, then call them. Just know that I won't be going with you. I mean to finish this, one way or the other. I want to kill Nidris before this is over."

"But he almost kill you before," Nenzi was nearly hopping in frustration.

"I didn't know he was out there before," I said. "Now I do. I'll be watching for him." I spread out the sleeping bag I'd purchased after putting up the tent—it was big enough for all of us. Barely.

"When you do this?" Farzi wanted to argue with me but wisely decided to back off for the moment.

"We'll do it tonight—when the stars are out. If you can't wake me, then pull me into the tent and let me sleep. I'll wake tomorrow."

* * *

"I know she's gone, Dee." Dormas brought the communication from Lendill. "You taught me to manipulate people. I practically sent her after the bastard myself—I certainly pointed her in that direction." Teeg sighed. "What if this kills her, Dee? I told her—when she was vulnerable—that Nidris could destroy everything. She was thinking about going after him the moment those words left my mouth."

"Child, why did you do it, then?" Dormas had been Dee to Gavril almost as long as Dormas had called him Teeg—a nickname Dormas had given one of his human sons long ago, before he became vampire. Gavril had reminded him so much of his own child that it wasn't difficult to see him as one of his vampire children as well. Dormas had few turns to his credit over his long life and of all of them, Gavril was the most dear, though he'd come to Dormas already vampire.

Born that way, Kifirin had said. If the god hadn't said it himself, Dormas would never have believed. Then, when Gavril had offered his blood to Dormas, telling him it would enable him to walk in daylight and eat normal food, Dormas had been skeptical. Teeg's words had proven true, however, and now Dormas—nicknamed Dee by the son of his heart, walked in daylight and ate whatever he pleased.

"Dee, I can't answer that. Every time I think about her healing a core with only Farzi and Nenzi with her, my heart seizes up. And finding Nidris may be like searching for a toothpick in a hayfield. She has an impossible task, Dee. Anything could happen to her."

"Yet you sent her in that direction."

"She's the only one who can do this."

"As you are the one for this task—with my help, of course. Come, child. Let us check our security, one last time."

* * *

"Bring something of hers to me." It was an order, and Kaldill seldom issued orders to his youngest son. Lendill almost jerked back as his father made the demand via comp-vid.

"Father, you're not thinking of leaving Gaelar n'Seith, are you?" Lendill was nearly trembling.

"Child it will only be for a moment. I have not and will not perform the Alim'deru with any of your brothers—I am not ready for that!" Kaldill huffed at the thought of it.

"Good," Lendill breathed a relieved sigh. Lendill refused to believe that any of them would take care of the Elvish lands as well as his father did. "What do you want me to bring?"

"It matters not—clothing or jewelry that she wears often."

"I will find something. Who will come to get me?"

"I will send your brother, Faldill."

"Good. As long as it isn't Naldill. Or Reldill."

"Those are your remaining brothers. Do you have something to say to me about them?" Kaldill lifted a pointed eyebrow.

"No, father." Lendill hung his head, feeling as if he were too young again and at the mercy of his older brothers' incessant teasing and bullying because he had no power. Faldill had been the easiest to deal with, although he still teased at times, as did the others. At least he was less cruel about it.

"Be ready in half a click." Kaldill ended the communication.

* * *

"What is this?" Kaldill accepted the ring from Lendill.

"The ring Aurelius gave her. Reah wears it whenever she isn't on assignment. No agent is allowed jewelry such as this when they're working. It could give the enemy information they should not know."

"Then why isn't it with her now? You told me she was no longer ASD property." Kaldill pushed long, wheat-colored hair behind his left ear, revealing the pointed tip. Lendill had been born with the rounded ears of his humanoid mother. Another thing to be teased about, as it turned out. He and Reah had that in common—High Demons also had pointed ears. Tory's were only slightly pointed, but pointed nonetheless. He generally wore his hair over them so humanoids wouldn't guess his heritage, although many races had pointed ears. Reah had ears just as rounded as Lendill's.

"I don't know, father. If I see her again, I'll be sure to ask."

"Leave this with me. The working will take a while," Kaldill had his mind on it already, shutting everything else out, including his sons. Lendill looked down at Faldill. Lendill's height was the only advantage he'd ever have over his brothers, although Naldill had threatened once to use his ability to make Lendill shorter. Lendill figured that the only reason he wasn't shorter than his brothers was that Kaldill would have noticed.

Lendill had left Gaelar n'Seith behind when he went off to school—his mother had asked it of Kaldill and Kaldill had relented. Lendill had met Norian during his studies and the two had been friends ever since. Lendill had only gone back to visit—never to stay. And when his mother died after a long life, the visits had become less and less frequent.

Faldill shrugged at his younger brother. Kaldill could be at a working for days. Someone would have to remind him to eat. "I'll take you home," Faldill muttered and folded Lendill away.

* * *

Farzi, Nenzi and I set up the tent as comfortably as we could. The sleeping bag was ready and we'd bought enough food to get us through several days if it were needed. All of it was suitable for camping trips and such—packaged against insects and ready to eat when opened. It wasn't fine food but it would do. Taking my seat on the ground after removing my clothing, Farzi and Nenzi stood back so I could turn to my full Thifilatha. Once that was accomplished, I focused on a star twinkling overhead and reached out for its energy.