Light My Fire (41 page)

“You know that badass demon lord who was after her
blood?” Jim asked.

Nora didn’t back up the way Drake’s mother did, but
she did wrap her arms around herself, as if in protection.
She nodded.

“Well, guess whose ass is the baddest now?”

The color drained out of her face as she reached blindly for a chair next to the window. “You didn’t... you didn’t... you’re not...”

“She has sold herself to the devil,” Catalina announced to everyone, her hands waving dramatically. “I hope you
are happy now, son of my loins. You are bound to the
devil! Pah! I wash my hands of you both. I am returning
to Rio. If you come to your senses and rid yourself of the
she-devil, you may call me.”

I sank wearily onto the bench that sat between the
arms of the stairs as Catalina made a grand exit, muttering under her breath about exorcisms and the possibility of demonic grandchildren. It was all so horrible, I just
wanted to laugh, but I was afraid once I got started I
wouldn’t be able to stop.

“Aisling?”

“Yes, it’s true,” I answered Nora’s unasked question. “I
did. I am. You’re looking at the newest prince of Hell.”

She took a couple of steps toward me. Beyond her,
Drake stood silent, his arms over his chest as he watched me. I gave him a minuscule little smile to let him know I appreciated his letting me deal with the situation. I knew
from our discussion in the car on the way home that he
would be much happier taking charge of my life for me.

“I’m sorry,” Nora said, stopping several feet away.

“I know you are. It was an accident. Another demon
lord tricked me into banishing Ariton.”

She shook her head, interrupting me. “No, I mean I’m
sorry that I won’t be able to continue to mentor you.”

“What? You said earlier that we’d just go on like before, even though the committee had stripped you of the
official title.”

“It’s not that—” She looked from Drake to Pal, then
back to me. “You are a demon lord, Aisling. I cannot harbor a demon lord. I cannot mentor one. To be near you is dangerous to me. The power you wield now
...
I am a
mortal. It would be too much temptation for me. It
grieves me greatly to say this, but I cannot remain in the
same house as you.”

“Why?” I wailed, hot tears forming in my eyes. My
life was falling apart bit by bit, and I felt completely out
of control, unable to fix the problems that tormented me.
“I’ve been a demon lord since the day you met me.”

“Yes, but that was with Jim,” she answered waving a
hand toward it. “Jim is a sixth-class demon.”

“What on earth does that mean? Everyone keeps say
ing it, but I have no idea what a sixth-class demon is.”

Nora straightened up, giving me a chastising look.
“You have not been reading the texts I gave you.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve been a bit busy, what with the imps
after me, and the red dragons skewering me, and being
kidnapped and poisoned and all.”

“A sixth-class demon is the lesser of all demonkin,”
she said in a lecturing tone of voice. “They are Fallen.”

I rallied my tired brain to focus on what she was say
ing. “Fallen as in ... angels?”

“Not exactly, but it will do as a generalization.”

I looked at Jim. “You’re a fallen angel?”

To my surprise, it looked chagrined. “I was never an
angel. Just a minor sprite, servant to a muse. A really
cranky muse with absolutely no sense of humor who got
me damned and sent to Abaddon. You think organized
crime is tough—it’s nothing compared to muses.”

“You’re a fallen sprite?” I asked, my mind muzzy and
slow.

“Yeah, but don’t let that give you any ideas. I was a
bad-boy sprite, feared by all.”

“OK.” I turned back to Nora. “So Jim is a fallen semi-
angel like thing. I can accept that, because I’ve never felt
anything truly evil in it. But, Nora, you know me—I’m
not bad, either!”

“You are proscribed,” she said simply, her eyes on
mine. “You used the dark power.”

I pushed myself off the bench, taking a step toward
her. She braced herself as if expecting a blow. “Barely!
And the first time without knowing what it was. I swear
to you now, swear before everyone here, that I will never
use it again.”

“I’m sorry, Aisling.” She glanced at Drake and Pal for
a moment. “I’m really very sorry, but there is nothing I
can do.”

I begged, pleaded, and tried reasoning with her for two
hours, but with no success. I even followed her into her room as she packed up her few belongings.

“Aisling, please—you are distressing yourself for no good purpose. I cannot change my feelings on this.”

“But if I promise—oh, what is it, Pal?”

Pal held out a phone to me. “Call from Paris.”

“It must be Amelie. I’m not through making a case
yet,” I told Nora as I left her room.

“It will do you no good,” was all she said in response.

“Amelie? Hi. What’s up?”

“Aisling, I wanted to be the one to tell you ... today is
the day the L’au-dela votes on Venediger, since no suit
able candidates have come forward. I am afraid that you
will be elected, my friend.”

I sighed and slumped wearily against the wall. “I’d re
fuse, except it turns out that Peter Burke is worse than we
thought.”

“He is a demon, then?” Amelie asked.

“No. He’s Bael.”

Amelie swore.
“Mon dieu,
how could that be? Why
did no one recognize him for what he was?”

“Evidently one of the perks of being the premiere
prince of Abaddon is that you can work up a detection-
proof disguise. What am I going to do, Amelie? I can’t be
Venediger. Things . .. well, things have happened that I
can’t go into now.”

“I wish I had an answer; I truly do. But the L’au-dela
is in uproar now, and someone must step forward before
another such as Bael takes control. We are all extremely
vulnerable until someone does.”

The air before me shimmered a moment, then Traci
the demon stepped out.

“I apologize for interrupting, but there are some press
ing things for you to sign dealing with the patch out in
two days,” it murmured obsequiously, handing me a clip
board and pen.

I stared at in it bewilderment for a moment, quickly
scanning the papers. They were all straightforward business-
type things, dealing with the release of a new (bug-riddled)
patch to the latest version of operating software.

“Aisling? Are you there?”

“Yeah. Hang on a sec.” A thought appeared to me, a
thought so bizarre, I almost discounted it. But deranged
as it was ...

“Can I nominate someone to take charge as Venediger
in my stead?” I asked Amelie. “Kind of as a deputy?
Someone who would be responsible to me, but do the job
on his own until a real Venediger candidate comes forward?”

She was silent a moment. “Yes, so long as you are ul
timately responsible.”

Traci gave me a pointed look. “There are only four
forms. You could sign them in just a few seconds, my
lord.”

“Then you can tell everyone there that I will offer
someone to act in my name, someone who is bound to
me. His name is Traci.”

“Traci? This is a man?”

I smiled at the look of surprise on the demon’s face.
“No, this is a demon. My steward, as a matter of fact. It’s
too long of a story to go into right now, but you can tell
everyone that my deputy for the position of Venediger is
Traci.”

“But.. . but. ..” Amelie sputtered a few phrases in
French. “Aisling, you cannot place a
demon
in position as
Venediger!”

“Yeah, it’s an abomination, right?”

“Oui!
Of the most major sort!”

“Excellent.” I signed the forms and covered the
mouthpiece to tell Traci, “I’ll want to talk to you tomor
row about a little project I have for you in Paris.”

“I shall wait in anticipation,” it answered, looking
appalled as its form disappeared into nothing.

“Excellent? You would put a monster of the dark pow
ers in charge of the L’au-dela, and you say this is
excel
lent!”
Amelie all but shrieked at me.

I couldn’t help a little chuckle. “Yeah. It’s so bad,
everyone there will be scrambling to get a new, proper
Venediger, won’t they?”

“Oooh.” She thought about that for a minute. “Yes, but
I do not like it.”

“Well, neither do I, but it’s the only solution I have.
Hopefully this will get everyone off their collective duffs
and working on getting a real Venediger in place. I’ve got
to go—there’s a bit of trouble here and I need to talk to
Nora. Love to you and Cecile.”

“And to you.”

I sighed as I hung up the phone, wondering whether I’d done the right thing. Black and white no longer seemed to
be so absolute anymore. It was getting harder and harder
to distinguish which was which.

Nora left an hour later, Rene’s borrowed cab right behind the one Catalina had called to take her to the airport.
I stood at the window in Drake’s bedroom and watched as
Rene helped put Nora’s meager belongings into the back
of the taxi.

“My life sucks,” I said, leaning my forehead against
the window. The door behind me closed. I didn’t have to turn to know it was Drake. I felt his presence as a warm,
tingling energy.

“You are having a bad period, I agree. But it will
smooth out.”

“Nora has left me,” I pointed out, leaning back into
him as he wrapped his arms around me, his hands on my
belly.

“But she may return. You do not know what the future
may hold.”

“That’s what Rene said. He also said Istvan is OK.”

Drake’s warm breath touched my ear, making me
shiver. His lips following shortly behind made me melt against him. “I know. I just spoke with him. He is getting
proper care. It is you I am concerned about. Are you all
right?”

“No. Everything is ruined.”

“Everything is not ruined.”

“Yes, it is. Istvan is hurt.”

His lips moved to my neck, hitting the one spot that drove me crazy. “You just said he is mending.”

“I’m a prince of Hell.”

He bit my earlobe. “That does not mean you have to
remain so.”

“Jim is calling up everyone it knows and is telling
them it’s second in command, and if they want any fa
vors, to get the appropriate bribes in order now.” I turned
in his arms and buried my hands in his hair.

“You should never have given it a cell phone. I will
cancel the service.”

His eyes were so beautiful, so bright with emotion, it
hurt to look at them. I dropped my gaze, but Drake
wouldn’t allow me to try to hide my shame. He lifted my
chin and kissed each eyelid as hot tears squeezed out of
them.

“I’m damned,” I said, the words as hard and abrupt as
the pain inside me.

“You are proscribed. There is a difference.
Kincsem,
do not hide yourself from me.” His thumb swept gently
along my cheekbone, brushing away the tears of blood.

“This, too, we will overcome. Do not give up hope, for I
have not.”

I shook my head, fatalism filling me. “I have no hope.
I’m doomed.”

“Is that what Rene said?”

I glanced up at him, a little confused. “No, as a matter
of fact he didn’t. He said something about one path end
ing and another beginning. Why?”

Drake was silent for a moment. “You said you suspected that Rene was not who he seemed. Have you not
yet figured out just who he is?”