Pomegranates full and fine (34 page)

Especially when the leading mage was one of the unholy, demon'Serving Nephandi.

She — and Riley, and Tolly — had become involved with a demon-cult. Miranda and Jubilee belonged to it.. .

Up on the platform, Solomon lowered his hand. “There are those who wish to join the Bandog. Shall we admit them to Shaftiel’s service?”

“Admit them,” murmured the cultists in response. Tango did her best to speak along with them. Her mask might conceal her mouth, but not her silence. As long as she didn’t have to recite an oath pledging her eternal servitude to some unknown entity, she felt relatively safe. “Let them pledge their souls to the Great Hound.” Solomon nodded and clapped his hands once. A baying, like hunting dogs, filled the air. Tango recognized magick at work, but the effect was no less impressive because of that. The doors at the end of the room split open again. Tolly, Matt and Blue came running in. Close behind them was a figure as different from the cultists as Solomon. It was another man, wearing black pants similar to Solomon’s but with his broad chest completely bare. Around his neck was a studded dog collar. He wore a mask as well, but it was sculpted in the shape of a snarling, heavy-jawed dog head. Blond hair showed behind the mask. The doorman. He carried a short whip, and with it, he lashed the vampires forward. The circle of cultists parted to let them through. The vampires paused in a clear space between the outer circle and the platform. The dog-masked doorman took up a station just behind them. Solomon looked down.

“You have sought out the Bandog. For what reason?” Matt looked back at the Nephandus mage boldly. “We seek to serve Shaftiel,” he replied in a practiced voice.

“For what reason?”

“For his glory, for his return. For all of the reasons that a dog serves its master.”

“A dog must be obedient.” Solomon stepped gracefully down from the high tier of the platform to the lower, and then onto the floor. “Do you know how to show obedience?” He lifted his left arm. Now that he was closer, Tango could see that the glittering chain on his wrist really was a tattoo of some kind. Matt took Solomon’s hand and kissed the chain. For a moment, Tango thought that she saw a mischievous smile flicker on the vampire’s face and that he tried to turn Solomon’s hand to kiss his inner wrist. Solomon resisted however, and said sternly. “That is obedience. But you do not know full obedience.”

The doorman snapped his whip suddenly across Matt’s back. The vampire gritted his teeth against the pain. “This is the first kiss of obedience,” Solomon told him. The mage pressed Matt’s head back to his wrist. “Recite:
I pay homage to Shaftiel.”

“I pay homage to Shaftiel.”    ■

The whip cracked against his back again. Solomon moved Matt’s head to kiss the tattooed dog on his shoulder. “This is the second kiss of obedience. Recite:
I pledge my soul and service to the Sentinel of the Ways, the Hungry Guardian Who Watches the Three
Ages,
the Hound of Thorns, the One Who Waits, the One Who Comes First."
Matt did. The whip cracked a third time and Solomon lifted Matt’s head so that the vampire kissed the mage on the lips. “This is the third kiss of obedience. Recite:
I will obey his servant in this world. I am Bandog."

“I will obey his servant in this world. I am Bandog.” Solomon released him and turned to Blue. “Do you know how to show obedience?” .

The whippings and the lesson were repeated again, then a third time with Tolly. Tango wasn’t sure the mad vampire would go along with the ceremony, but he did. He almost seemed to enjoy the whipping. When all three vampires had been taught full obedience, Solomon returned to the platform. He looked down on the vampires again. “Obedient Bandog, know then the secrets of Shaftiel and the mysteries of obedience.” He gestured.

The cultists of the High Circle swiveled around. They had not moved throughout the whippings, but had remained staring up at the platform Solomon had vacated. Now they looked out across the room, at the outer circle, but not at the three unmasked vampires. Their words were almost like a chant.

“The Sentinel of the Ways,” they intoned, “crouches at the gates between the worlds. The Hungry Guardian Who Watches the Three Ages sees the glory that was, the patience that is, and the glory that will be again. The Hound of Thorns brings the chaos, misery and suffering that precedes his own dark masters — he is the One Who Waits and the One Who Comes First. We serve the Great Hound who is the servant of grea ter powers still.” The High Circle turned back toward Solomon. The mage picked up several dark items and held them aloft.

“The Bandog,” he said in a voice that rang off the black walls, “wear masks because Shaftiel’s servants are anonymous in his sight.” Disdainfully, he tossed three black masks down to the vampires, as if he were tossing large bones to small puppies. “The Bandog wear chains, to remind us of our servitude to the Great Hound, and of the Great Hound’s servitude to his masters.” Three glittering chains snaked through the air to the floor. “Don your masks and chains, Bandog, and take your place in the circle.” When they had, Solomon raised his left arm again and kissed his own. The entire outer circle of cultists followed suit.

But not the High Circle. As if by some prearranged signal, they cried out in unison, “The ranks of the Bandog are ever complete, but there are gaps in the strength of the High Circle. We should be sixteen, as the sixteen teeth of the Great Hound, but we are only eleven!”

Solomon nodded. “Death has taken four of the Great Hound’s teeth. Foul betrayal, -this very night, has weakened the Great Hound further.” A quiet murmur ran around the outer circle at the mention of betrayal. Tango could imagine that traitors would be dealt with harshly in a demon'Cult. Her own breath came sharply. The short man had commented that he hadn’t seen Miranda tonight. Tolly had said that the vampire was in danger. Could she be the traitor? Why would she betray her cult? “But we are fortunate,” Solomon was continuing, “that there are those worthy of elevation to the High Circle. The teeth of the Great Hound will be strong once more.” The mage stepped down to the lower tier of the platform again, but this time no farther. “Ian Tanner, come forward and be elevated.”

CHAPTERFOURTEEN

Scamped upon her tender feet,

Held her hands and squeezed their fruits Against her mouth to make her eat.

Tango froze for a moment. No. Why her? Why now? She didn’t know what she was supposed to do! Had Tolly known this was going to happen to Tanner? She swallowed. Every eye was on her. She had no choice. She paced forward, praying that no one — Jubilee, Matt or Solomon — would notice anything wrong with Dr. Tanner. At the edge of the platform, Solomon stepped back, giving her room to climb up. Hoping that was indeed what was expected, she did. He held out his wrist. She took it and kissed the tattooed chain. It was cool and eerily metallic under her lips, not like flesh at all. “I pay homage to Shaftiel,” she said, the words almost making her gag. She hoped she wasn’t swearing away her soul. She moved up to kiss Solomon’s shoulder. At least that was real, warm flesh, slightly spicy to her nose. “I pledge my soul and service to the Sentinel of the Ways, the Hungry Guardian Who Watches the Three Ages, the Hound of Thoms, the One Who Waits, the One Who Comes First.” She kissed him on the lips, realizing with a start that Solomon was slightly shorter than Tanner. It was a novelty to bend down to kiss someone. “I will obey his servant in this world. I am Bandog.”

“Not necessary...” Solomon murmured, his lips moving against hers. Tango’s heart thundered in panic, “...but good.” He pushed her back a bit and reached up to trace a finger across her mask. She felt the subtle warping of reality that was human magick at work. Tango suspected that her mask now had the gold symbols of the High Circle inscribed across it. “Learn the secret of the High Circle, Ian Tanner,” Solomon said aloud. He drew Tango closer to him. She found herself staring straight past his left ear, across the platform, and toward Jubilee Arthurs. The mercenary was watching her, but with no more curiosity in his eyes than might have been there for any new elevation. Tango concentrated on her breathing. “The Great Hound’s chain has been loosed,” Solomon whispered, his breath hot on her ear. “Take your place in the High Circle.”

Numbly, Tango did so, stepping between the activist and an older woman around to the side of the platform. All she thought about as Solomon continued the elevations was her breathing. In and out, in and out, and she might just get away with this. No one seemed to pay any attention to her, however. They had eyes only for the new members of the High Circle, eager to see whom Solomon would call. The second elevation, a Janice Rothman, received a nod of approval from the older woman to Tango’s right. The third, fourth and fifth elevations, however, caused a stir. In quick succession, Solomon called on Matthew Barrett, Anders Dahl and Adam Tolliver.

Matt, Blue and Tolly joined the High Circle, gold symbols gleaming on their newly acquired masks. Tolly giggled quietly. Many of the Bandog did not seem pleased that their newly initiated members should be elevated so quickly. Solomon ignored them, however, and returned to the upper tier of the platform. He looked down at the cultists, slowly turning so that his gaze swept around the entire gathering.

“Bandog!” he called out. “Shaftiel has a message for you!"

The murmur of the cultists in the outer circle behind Tango fell silent instantly. All Tango could see was Solomon’s impassioned face. “It’s a message that he wishes to deliver in his own voice, a message of inspiration. I know many of you are worried or frightened by the deaths that have struck the High Circle and by the murders that haunt Toronto. It isn’t your place to be worried or frightened — because you are Bandog. And because the deaths, and the murders, and the chaos all take place at Shaftiel’s command.” Solomon’s eyes shone darkly. “Shaftiel sought to deliver his message through a mouth of the High Circle, but none of the four hosts he sought for his voice would do. His power burned out their minds and they died. So he approached me, as he approached me in the beginning. And he spoke to me, telling me the conditions under which the Bandog might hear his voice safely.”

Solomon paused. The black room was so utterly silent that Tango wondered if Solomon wasn’t using some incredibly subtle magick to enhance his words. “Bandog, we are not strong enough to summon the Great Hound into this world in all of his power. We will not be strong enough to do so for many years. We must be patient, as the Great Hound is patient. But now, thanks to Shaftiel, we may summon his voice and hear his words. He has told me how. With the aid of the High Circle, that rite has already begun.” He smiled. “Listen, for these were the instructions that Shaftiel delivered to me:

“Make me a home, Solomon. Let chaos and misery reign and let terror walk the streets. Make me a sacrifice of sixteen lives over eight days, and let horror such that all will tremble and a city live in fear flow from your sacrifices. On the eighth night, make the last sacrifice in a place of traveling and, if there is chaos to my liking in the streets, the Great Hound will howl to the Bandog in their own world, from the mouth of one of their own.” Solomon grinned like an animal.

“Tonight is the sixth night. Six sacrifices have been rendered to Shaftiel. Toronto wakes to fear and falls asleep with terror as a bedfellow. Chaos grows, and breeds more chaos. Tomorrow morning, Toronto shall find three more sacrifices rendered. The sixteenth life, the one that will summon the Great Hound’s voice, will be that of the traitor, Miranda Delara.”

The Bandog were silent for a moment longer —- then burst into enthusiastic applause, as some other group their age might have at the theater or the symphony. Solomon nodded his appreciation.

Behind her mask, Tango went pale with rage and horror.
This
was why Miranda and her pack had beaten innocent people to death? Had Riley been trying to prevent it? Was that why Solomon had kidnapped him? Her hands clenched in anger. She still wore her knife-ring, although on her smallest finger now. It was tempting to act now and kill the evil at its source. She could destroy the mage who would order the deaths of innocents....

It was too much like her old life.

She forced her hands flat and pushed away all thoughts of murder. If she did that, she would be no better than Solomon or Miranda. There were too many Bandog around. Even if she did manage to kill the mage, she might not get out. She certainly wouldn’t be able to rescue Riley. Or Miranda.

Tango shook her head, prompting a fleeting glance from the young activist beside her. She ignored him. Why should she rescue Miranda? The vampire had lied to her. She was Bandog. She had very likely, Tango realized, helped Jubilee escape last night. She might have been working to muddy Riley’s trail from the beginning. Tango owed her nothing. In spite of Tolly’s wishes, she would not rescue Miranda.

But why had Solomon just named her a traitor? Why were the other vampires being made Bandog, if one of the pack had betrayed the cult?

Solomon was speaking again. “The High Circle has been my instrument in this, the first part of the rite, but all of the Bandog must participate now. You who have sought favor from Shaftiel, promising soul and service to the Great Hound, must fulfill that promise. There are still three lives to be taken before the final sacrifice is made.”

Tango’s breath caught in shock. Solomon, of course, noticed nothing at all.

“Tomorrow, Bandog, you shall rest. Tomorrow night, when the sacrifices are made, you will know it. On the next day, the day of the summoning, you will act. Rouse your families, rouse your friends. Use any means at your disposal. Toronto must be angry, Bandog! It must be frightened! It must wake from its cold, mannered sleep and realize the horror in its midst! There must be chaos in the streets for the rite to succeed. At sunset, come to the place of traveling.” The ferocious, cruel grin came back. “We will conduct the last part of the rite in a place of traveling that is like Toronto itself — a place that is cool, mannered and unchanging, but that for one night the Bandog shall transform. We will conduct the rite in Union Station. At midnight the final sacrifice will be made and we shall bring the voice of the Great Hound into our world.”