Inferno (21 page)

“You should rest.” She made to get up, but Dante’s hand stilled her.

“Stay,” he asked in a rough voice. “There’s room enough for all three of us here and as long as you cover that window, it should be safe enough for me for the day.” Megan wasn’t sure. She looked from Dante to Duncan, finally giving in. She was bone weary and wasn’t looking forward to camping out on her lumpy couch. She wouldn’t subject Duncan to that indignity either.

“All right.” She sighed heavily, standing and heading for her dresser. “I’ll shower quick and get ready for bed. Just give me a sec.”

“Don’t worry.” Dante patted the middle of the bed. “We’ll keep your spot open for you. Hurry back.”

Megan took a speed shower. She was so tired she couldn’t work up the energy to do more than swipe at her arms and legs with a soapy washcloth. She paid a little more attention to the cuts she’d received, but was too weary to fuss. In all likelihood, with her
were
constitution they would be healed in a few hours.

She yawned as she stepped out of the shower and reached for a towel. One was placed in her hands, and her eyes shot open to meet Duncan’s amused gaze.

“You didn’t think you’d get away without an examination of your injuries, did you?”

“I-I-” She was stuttering and couldn’t seem to get a full sentence out. She cut her losses, closed her mouth and held the towel up against her body.

“Come now, lass. Sit here while I patch you up.” He patted the vanity top next to the sink, which he’d already covered with a towel.

Seeing little recourse, she jumped up to sit before him. He took the towel she clutched out of her hands and gently began drying her body with long sweeps of the prickly terrycloth against her skin. He stepped between her knees, spreading her legs while he moved closer and she grew warm, but her body was too drained to respond fully. Her eyelids drooped as he made her feel more comfortable.

“I can see you’re running on fumes, lass. This will only take a moment and then I’ll carry you back to that big bed so we can all sleep off this night’s adventure.” He touched her with gentle hands, doing a more thorough job of cleaning her wounds than she had managed. He applied disinfectant he’d brought with him from the first aid kit. She suspected he also did a magical inspection to be sure she hadn’t been contaminated by any of the evil things they’d encountered at the sorceress’s house.

By the time he was satisfied, she was yawning again. She couldn’t help it. She was physically and mentally exhausted. No matter how attractive Duncan was or how provoking his touch, she just couldn’t work up enough enthusiasm to make it worth his while. And without Dante, it didn’t feel quite right. She would examine that startling thought later—when she wasn’t so beat.

From the haggard look of Duncan, he wasn’t in much better shape. When he seemed satisfied that her wounds would be all right, he scooped her into his strong arms and carried her into the other room.

He laid her on the bed next to Dante. Dante had removed his shirt and pants while she’d been in the shower and as she watched, Duncan stripped too. He climbed in under the covers on the other side of the bed and turned off the light.

She only gave a passing thought to the fact that she was in the middle of her king-sized bed, flanked on each side by two of the most handsome, magical beings she had ever known. Stranger things had happened, but she didn’t know where or when.

“Something must be done. I can’t lose another child. Not after Patrick disappeared without a trace!” Una Vabian slammed her hand down on the antique dining table in the family’s spacious Chappaqua home.

“Relax my dear,” her husband counseled. “I think I have just the plan to rid ourselves of two problems at once. Poferov has threatened us for the last time.” Una’s cold eyes turned calculating. “You think we can take him on?”

“Not us. The bloodletter. Let’s wrap him up in a bow and deliver him to d’Angleterre. See what happens. Either way, we win. If Poferov prevails, d’Angleterre will be dead. If the vampire wins, the threat of Poferov is removed from our family and we can go after d’Angleterre without concern for repercussions.”

“Brilliant!” Una clapped her hands together in glee. “I knew there was a reason I married you.

You’re a genius, my dear.”

“We just need to figure out a way to get them together. I believe the rest will take care of itself.”

“I have the perfect solution,” Una purred triumphantly. “We’ll invite Poferov to the yacht. He was always impressed with opulent vessels. We’ll say it’s a meeting to discuss how we’ve reined in Siobhan. He’ll think we’ll be there to lick his boots but in reality, he’ll be confronting the bloodletter.”

“An excellent idea. Now we just have to come up with a way to get the vampire to attack. Do you think he’s discovered who his pet wolf’s keeper is yet? That might be enough motivation given the scene we heard about at the vampire ball. He’s kept her with him from all accounts.

Perhaps she’s ingratiated herself—or perhaps he’s discovered she was sent to spy on him and he’s keeping her around to get at the one who sent her.” The Vabian patriarch shrugged elegantly. “It really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that he takes the bait and confronts Poferov once we get him to the yacht.”

When Megan finally woke, it was late afternoon. Dante was wrapped around her in his sleep, his warm body comforting her. After a moment of disorientation, she realized she was in her own bedroom and the events of the night before came back in startling clarity.

Duncan was no longer beside them, and she noticed her bedroom window had been covered with black plastic garbage bags that looked like they were taped together with sturdy packing tape. Not a single sunbeam penetrated. Duncan must’ve taken care of that, but she couldn’t remember when. She’d been too out of it last night.

She figured Dante would sleep a couple more hours until sunset, so she gently extricated herself from his arms. He mounted a faint protest but didn’t fully wake as she slid from the bed. As quietly as possible, she gathered a few of her things and went into the bathroom, not turning on the light until she had the door firmly closed.

She cleaned up and dressed, moving slowly, her muscles sore. When she came out of the bathroom, Dante hadn’t moved and Duncan was still nowhere to be seen. She tiptoed out of the bedroom, closing the door softly behind her and headed for the kitchen.

Coffee. The heavenly aroma reached her sensitive nose, and she’d bet good money Duncan was responsible for it. Sure enough, he’d made himself at home in her kitchen. Coffee was ready and waiting for her and it looked like he was gathering ingredients to do some serious cooking.

“What would you like for breakfast, lass? Today, I am your short order cook.” He saluted her with a spatula, making her laugh.

“Can you do eggs over easy and some bacon?”

“Your wish is my command.” He turned back to the stove with a flourish and began to cook breakfast.

She helped a little, toasting bread and gathering condiments from the cabinets and refrigerator.

When she went to set the table she got a surprise. On her battered kitchen table were the three grimoires Duncan had taken from Siobhan’s house. She paused, startled by their appearance.

Duncan finished up, turned off the stove and delivered the plate of bacon and eggs into her hands. She looked at him, only then realizing she’d stood motionless for more than a few minutes.

“They feel even uglier now than they did last night, Duncan.”

“I don’t doubt that.” He stacked the books and set them aside some distance from the kitchen table. “They are evil texts from an even less civilized time.” He pulled out her chair and she sat, placing her breakfast plate in front of her. Duncan poured their coffee before taking his place at the table opposite her.

“Our Siobhan had some surprisingly ancient texts. One of them is an original copy of the Munich Manual. I’ve seen that one only once before. It was written in the fifteenth century, I believe. It deals with demons extensively and unfortunately a few copies remain. I’ve learned a misguided scholar even republished it, in part, a few years ago. I hope you don’t mind—” Duncan gestured with his fork, “—I took the liberty of using your computer to search the web.

Dante’s been trying to get me to use your modern technology and I will admit, for some things it is very convenient. I learned a great deal about the subsequent history of this book and the other two from a quick search.”

Megan chuckled to think of this old world knight surfing the web. Duncan was very intelligent, and she had no doubt he had learned how to make a computer sing for him with only a few lessons from Dante.

“What else did you find out?”

“The second book is the
Pseudomonarchia Daemonum
, which lists the hierarchy of demons and specifies ways to conjure them. And the third is the most surprising of all. It is the
Liber
officiorum spirituum de principibus et regibus daemonum
. In short, a book about demons. I thought never to see another copy of that ancient tome. When I was last in this realm, all copies were thought to have been destroyed. In the sixteenth century, a Dutchman named Johannes was thought to have the last copy. He used it as a reference to write his own grimoire. Johannes’s copy was destroyed. That I know for certain. Yet somehow, Siobhan had a copy. It must have been handed down in secret from generation to generation, either within her family, or perhaps from teacher to student. I don’t know how they managed to hide this one from us, but it will end now.”

Duncan’s eyes had gone as cold as steel, and Megan could read the determination on his face.

This was no doubt important to him, though she didn’t really understand why destroying a few old books would matter so much.

“I’m just sorry we didn’t get to see the rest of her house.” Megan thought about what they might’ve missed. Whatever those phantom warriors were protecting, it probably was something important.

“I don’t think she could’ve been hiding anything more important than these. Remember, we at first thought the black smoke could be a diversion—a red herring. What if the ghost warriors were the real diversion, and we actually found the prize?”

“Those books are that important?”

“Yes, my dear. They truly are. I take it you haven’t had many dealings with magic users before?”

“I’ve never really mixed with any sort of supernatural before. Not socially, at any rate. I went where I was sent and did what I was told. I tried not to get too involved with the people I was sent to meet, or spy on. And it’s not as if I’ve been doing this for very long. Only a few years, and only a few missions per year.”

“Well, in time you’ll learn that a magic user’s book of spells is something rare and highly valuable. The older the book, the more precious. And if you’re a practitioner of dark magic, the books are very rare indeed because of people like me who have made it our task to destroy them wherever we find them.”

“Because you’re a knight, right?” She thought she understood now why he’d taken it upon himself to destroy the evil books.

Since his revelation of the night before, she had to rethink the motivation behind almost everything he’d done. He was working for a higher power. He was working for the Lady Herself.

Megan still couldn’t quite grasp the enormity of that. As a
were
, she had great love and respect for the Lady. She was Mother Nature, Gaia, the Earth Spirit all
weres
served.

“Yes, Megan. That is one part of my duties, to prevent the spread of otherrealm magic in places it could do great harm. The mortal realm has few protections against certain dark magics and needs to be protected.”

“That’s quite a task, Duncan. I’m just glad there are actually beings like you out there doing it. I find it sort of sad that the rest of the world will never know what you sacrifice for them.”

“They cannot know. In fact, you must swear your silence on the matter of my identity. I told you because we are comrades in arms in this fight. Generally speaking, we like to keep our identities as quiet as possible since Knights are natural targets for anything or anyone who oppose our mission. If they take us out, what little protection we can give the mortal realm and those beyond will be gone.”

“I see your predicament, and I swear I won’t reveal your identity, Duncan. I’m honored you would trust me with the knowledge.”

“I do trust you, Megan. Even so, I’m going to have to ask you to submit to a binding so you can never be forced to reveal the information.” His expression became pained, but he held firm on his request. “I know it’s difficult for you. Magic has been worked upon you before without your knowledge or consent. This time, I’m asking you to submit voluntarily. Will you?” She sat back and considered. “I guess I’ve already proven that I can be manipulated into doing things I really didn’t want to do.” She hated it, but there it was. “You’re right to want some guarantee other than my word.” She gave a hearty sigh, sick of magic. She would have to accept it as part of her life whether she wanted it or not. “What do you want me to do?”

“We’ll wait for Dante to rise. I’d like him to witness the binding for your comfort and his. I don’t think he’ll like the idea of working magic on you at all. Hopefully, he’ll see the reason for it as you have, once I get a chance to explain it to him.”

“Would you rather I do it?” She saw the grimace on his face and felt heartened that he thought Dante would object. Still, she understood the need.

“No, I’ll do it, though you may want to protect yourself from the inevitable bellowing and foul language.”

She laughed out loud at his prediction, and they finished their meal in a good mood.

As expected, when Dante rose at sunset, he and Duncan exchanged some rather heated words over Duncan’s plan to put yet another layer of magic prohibitions on Megan’s thin shoulders.

Dante didn’t like it. Not one bit.

“Let me get this straight.” Dante eyed Duncan across the coffee table in the living room where the men had retired to discuss the situation. “You want to burden her with more magic on top of what’s already been done to her and despite the poison circulating in her veins? Duncan, it’s too much, I tell you.”