Keeping It Real (11 page)

a distance for the duration of the testing, but
had now come to Lila's side. She made the last of some

notes with a fountain pen on an old-fashioned clipboard before setting it down. Williams observed the

room in an almost
bored fashion until the other techs had gone and the two of them were alone. Lila gave

the white-haired old woman a smile and began to get dressed.

'I'm fine,' Lila said.

'Not what I hear.' Williams sat down beside her on the side of the table, hands in the pockets of her lab

coat.

'Someone with pointy ears been talking to you?' Lila felt bad, and worse that it was coming straight
out

of her mouth. She sucked a breath in between her teeth. 'I mean Special Agent Sarasilien.'

'He expressed his concern.'

Williams' observation, the way she spoke as Lila continued dressing, made Lila acutely aware of her

underclothes and the way she put them on. She wanted to hide herself as fast as she could, feeling that

her body gave her away all the time and that everyone here seemed to think they had a right to take an

inspection on anything they wanted.

'Everything still regulation and organised. Routines?' Williams asked, for all the world like a

grandmother asking whether or not she brushed her teeth each night.

'I like my routines. They keep everything working,' Lila said, starting to pull on her trousers but

deciding that
she'd be better wearing the heavy greaves and armoured foot coverings of her active

defense gear, rather than trying to carry it all, She began to put them on instead, feeling their additions of

strength and power expand her awareness, making her lower legs feel invulnerable, like they were in

seven league boots.

'Okay. So everything's perfect.' The old woman's voice dripped with irony. 'Did you do what we

agreed and take time for yourself? Did you go and get clothes that are not. . .'

'I have suits. Proper suits. Designer labels.'

'Which you wear for work, no doubt'

'Hello? I am at work twenty-four seven.' Lila glanced at herself in the exam room's full length mirror

and saw an upscaled toy action figure: oversized robot
legs, slender silver arms as shiny as stiletto blades,

a relatively tiny human torso in a crop top and vest, silver eyes taking almost all warmth from her

expression with their harsh statements and

the mane of red hair overcompensating for it, too sexy, too West
Coast; a doll in a soldier's clothing. 'I

had my hair done for this job. All Hollywood
.
Look, see?' Her hair was dusty, messy, unkempt
in spite

of the expensive cut
.

'You need another trip to the salon,' Williams said drily. She plucked at Lila's vest. 'You know what

I'm gonna say.'

'And you know that I think it
could wait
until this job is finished
.
Yes, I am still a young woman, despite

having no arms and legs to call my own, and I don't think I despise my body any more than those girls

down at Glory Beach who diet and pop pills and have surgery to look like faeries and glimms so they get

their pictures on the pornopops
.
So?'

'Start the talking, or I start signing you off the case,' Williams suggested. 'Your advocate down the hall

here seems to think there's something you're not telling him, and he hinted that it was sexual in nature, so

he understood you didn't want to discuss it with him, but he thinks you should discuss it with someone,

and given the fragile status of you, Lila, not
as a project
and not as an officer, but you personally girl, I

think he's dead right.'

Lila couldn't imagine Sarasilien hinting sexual
.
She didn't want to
.
'My personal life is none of your

business.' Lila locked her angry gaze on the gentle, amused expression of the psychiatrist
and found

herself cracking into a laugh. It
was a little hysterical.

T hear that all the time,' Williams confided, and patted Lila on the knee. 'Put the rest of all that

hardware on and give me a clue.'

Lila told her about the Game. T don't know if it is - what you said.'

'Come on Lila! Can't you even say the word?'

Lila hung her head and sat back. The table creaked ominously and she had to stand up again before it

broke with her weight. Say that the Game was certainly based on a sexual forfeit? The embarrassment

made her feel sick. It would have been like being one of those fan girls, worse, because she was

supposed to be beyond and above all that teenage, physical stuff. 'No, I don't think so.'

The doctor shook her head and shrugged. 'Okay. That was reasonably honest at least. I'll let you

carry on, unless you'd rather I didn't. Do you want me to sign you off?'

Lila straightened and thought
about
it. As soon as she imagined it, two conflicting feelings came to her.

One was profound relief and longing. The other was resentment
at
the notion she could quit. Her

self-doubts were very strong and having Williams offer her the easy way out
only made her more aware

of them. 'No. I can do it.'

'You're not thinking that
you're the only one that
can? Just
because the NSA built
you for the price of

half an army doesn't
mean you have to take on everything for them.'

'No. It's like what you'd call - something I have to do. For me. And for the rest
of it.' Lila tried to

mean it, but there was a knot of resistance in her stomach that made her feel nauseous as she did so.

'Okay.' Williams stood up. 'You said the magic words of responsibil-ity and autonomy, so you can

go. But I want you to carry on with our program just
as much as you're doing with the easy physical

stuff, hmm?' She glanced at
the heavy bag of ammunition. 'If I find you're stiffing me with a line you'll be

back here in rehab for six months.'

'I'll call you,' Lila said, backing away before she had time to change her mind.

It was a relief to get out of the building. Lila wove through the rush hour and arrived at
Solomon's Folly

at
dusk to find the driveway beside the house full of cars. Besides the Doublesafe guard on the door a

huge scarlet-skinned demon with impressive horns stood outside, smoking
.
Lila recognised a fellow

bodyguard by his evident relief at having time off for doorstep duty, and his severe suit. The human

guards told her that
this retinue had arrived two hours ago, unannounced.

'We did all the checks we could,' the Doublesafe guard said and the demon bodyguard bared his teeth

and growled, indicating that
it
had been a matter of some contention.

'But you didn't tell me about it,' Lila snapped.

'The boss, Jolene, said we wasn't to. Something about no press.' He wasn't an Incon agent, only an

ordinary Doublesafe employee. Lila ground her teeth and glanced at the bull-faced demon guard over

the human's shoulder. The demon mimed peeling a banana and snorted in the human's direction, his

meaning clear - you hired monkeys
.

Deeper inside the house, on the ground floor where the games rooms and other entertaining areas

spread out, Lila found most
of the band plus a vast entourage of humans, demons and faeries sprawled

amid a scatter of open champagne bottles and half-empty plates
.
Music was just quiet enough to permit

conversation between people next to one another. The house servants moved among them carefully,

bringing and taking away. Lila, still carrying her pack and bag, saw Poppy get
up and hurry towards her.

Eyes and faces turned quickly onto her with

this attention and through the aid of her sound filtering she was able to hear everything that was said

about
her,

'Who's t
ha
t
?'

'What
is
she wearing?'

'What's she
doing
in here? I thought all the chaff was being left outside
.
'

Lila ignored the comments. She put her bags down beside a seated demon and his friends and glanced

briefly down at him as he looked her up and down with great interest
.
He was about to touch the bulk of

her leg armour with one scarlet finger.

Lila put on a stiff British accent, 'I don't think you're ready for this kind of jelly.' She went back to

scanning the room. The finger retreated.

'Whoo hoo, man!' one of the demon's friends said. 'What
the hell?' Which was a kind of demonic

approval, but
Lila barely heard it. She was looking for Zal, excusing herself until she moved around the

corner and saw him and the explanation for the massed courtiers.

He was standing in close conversation with a female demon in a glittering black bodynet and little else.

Her coruscating crimson and black skin glowed and shone with the lustre of a fresh conker
.
Lila knew

her immediately, for her sensuous dimensions, fiery cascade of flame hair and delicately lovely features

were plastered over every billboard on The Avenue and in every magazine on the stands. It was Sorcha,

queen of pop, and that was why the door demon had looked so familiar - he was on most of the

paparazzi snaps that Lila had seen Sorcha in, always there, minding her, staring out of shot.

Zal's cool, elfin poise and Sorcha's vibrant, dynamic energy were complete counterpoints and they

were so close and secluded that there could be no doubt
as to their intimacy. Lila stopped in her tracks

but Zal must have heard her because he lifted his head from where it almost touched Sorcha's and looked

up. Lila was aware of a degree of rubbernecking starting up behind her as the room's hubbub quieted a

little and music became audible over the heavy drumbeat. She wondered if Zal was about to order her

out too, and was getting ready to fight over it, when he excused himself and came across to her over the

empty margin that he and Sorcha had to themselves.

In her heavy armour Lila was now taller than he was, and well aware that she must look freakish. Zal

was grinning by the time he reached her. He touched the back of her gauntleted hand with his fingertips in

a curious, fleeting gesture.

'Is this what
you went
to get?'

'I read your letters,' she said, considering that
adequate explanation.

'I need to stay here tonight,' he countered
.
'Anyway, I thought
you read them before
.
'

'Oh yeah, the elvish stuff on the surface all about the way you're bringing the race into disrepute and

corrupting the magic of the old kingdoms. Death to the infidel bringing shame on all their houses. And

then I read the other things
.
I think you and me need to have a talk, don't you?'

But in the time it
had taken for them to get
this far Sorcha had followed her curiosity. She slid in under

Zal's arm and wrapped her long tail around his waist. 'Who's this, Zal?'

Sorcha looked Lila up and down much as her followers had done, and Lila was surprised by the

interest, approval and admiration she saw there. She hadn't
met many demons, and then only before her

accident
.
They had a universal adoration of strange, occult
or unusual things and now Lila realised that

she must be one of those things.

'Hey girl,' Sorcha said to her with a respect that
confused Lila even more. She'd thought
someone like

that, so famous and powerful, would brush her off as invisible, or worse.

Sorcha's eyes were red fire, surrounded by yellow glowing lava where white would have been. Her

mouth covered beautiful, sharp white teeth. She really was astonishingly sensual. Nearly naked, she

purred up against Zal's side and moved closer to him, teasing.

Lila kept her face completely still. She felt angry at Zal and angry with herself and could not, would not

admit that
she was hugely disappointed
.
She suppressed a blush with a self-administered shot
from her

resupplied internal medic system
.
She wouldn't give way
.
No way.

Zal's smile broadened as he looked into Lila's face. He took his hand from Sorcha's shoulder and

slapped it on her bottom, giving her a pinch and making her squeal. 'Sorcha, this is Lila, my new shadow
.

Lila, this is Sorcha, also known as Sorcha the Scorcher
.
My sister
.
'

Lila was still reeling over the revelation an hour later. She had communicated with Sarasilien about it and

to begin with he had not believed her. He said that it
must be some publicity stunt. But Sorcha insisted it

was true. The conversation had taken them out of the party room and up to Zal's where they continued

talking as he packed.

'Don't
you have opposed magical... I mean aetheric ... I mean, aren't you antibodies or something? Elf

and demon . . . like . . . ?'

'Angel and demon?' Sorcha laughed and snarled at
the same time, quite a feat. It showed her pointed