The Demon Hunters (14 page)

I carried Mac to the living room and
shut him in. I got back to the kitchen to find Royal on his knees
with a wad of paper towel and a damp dishcloth.

“
You only bake when you’re
upset,” he said as he ineffectively blotted at the floor with the
delicacy of a woman applying face powder.

“
What did I tell you?” from
Jack.

“
Here, give me that.” I
grabbed the cloth from Royal and threw it in the sink. “Get out of
my way.”

He backed off and sat at the kitchen
table. As I gathered the mess together with paper towel and scooped
it into the trashcan, I held an internal debate with myself. Not
commenting on his trip with Daven would be out of character, but
what if he refused to talk about it? Where would that lead? Should
I tell him what I learned from Ronald and John, and from
Ernesto?

Not knowing what to say to the man I’d
come to trust with all aspects of my life made me want to cry. But
Tiff Banks doesn’t cry. She’s made of sterner stuff.

Still, I pretended to swipe flour off
my face with my sleeve a few times.

I got the mop from the closet and
bucket from under the sink, filled the bucket with water and a
squirt of detergent, and started on the floor, viciously slapping
the mop about. “I saw a couple of demons on the mountainside this
morning.”

Silence. I glanced at Jack and Mel.
They were atypically silent too. Huh, if a foul mood shut them up,
maybe I should do it more often. I poured the mucky water down the
sink, rinsed the mop and refilled the bucket. “Well?”

“
There’s no law says Gelpha
can’t be on your mountain.”

I stilled for a
second.
Huh?
Then
I took a mental step back - no reason Royal should know what every
demon in his world did. But didn’t strange demons watching me worry
him?

I put the bucket down heavily and went
at the floor again. “I think they were watching me.”

“
No law says Gelpha can’t
stand on a mountain watching a beautiful woman.”

If this was supposed to appease me, he
just made one big mistake. Why didn’t two strange demons scoping me
out concern him in the slightest? I frowned at the bucket as I
picked it up and poured away the water.

Unless he already knew about them. But
that would mean he was less than honest with me, not brazenly
lying, but doing so by omission, a habit popular with demons. I
opened my mouth to ask, but I guess I didn’t really want to know
because something different came out. “Are you gonna tell me where
you and Daven Clare went?”

He didn’t hesitate, as if he
anticipated the question. “I can’t right now.”

I didn’t look at him. “Then you’d best
leave.”

“
Tiff - ”

I turned to him with mop and bucket in
hand. “Go!”

He got to his feet and leaned over,
hands braced on the table. His face contorted. He looked like he
did that time in his apartment, when we argued, as if he fought to
say something and couldn’t. Then he straightened, turned, and
headed for the door.

Then
it came to me. Gia Sabato played with my mind; did she do the
same to Royal? “Wait!”

He stopped, rigid, and
turned back to face me. “Royal, did they do something so you
can’t
tell
me?”

His demon eyes flashed and a tiny
smile touched the corners of his mouth. He stepped up to me, put
his hands to my waist and pulled me to him. “You’re one smart lady,
Tiff.”

Holding the mop and bucket
out from my sides, I relaxed against him. They
did
do something to stop him. They
wanted me kept in the dark. I wished I knew about what, but I
pushed the question to the back of my mind. Everything was all
right again. Royal wasn’t deliberately shutting me out.

Well no, everything
was
not
right
again. Gia Sabato and Daven Clare
tampered
with Royal, just as Gia did
with me, and he couldn’t tell me how or why. I squeezed my eyes
shut in frustration. Damn them, they would
not
get away with this! They couldn’t
be allowed to just waltz about messing with a person’s
mind!

He pushed back from me. “I have to be
going.”

I made my voice light. “You don’t want
to mosey on upstairs and check out my etchings?”

His hands came up to my shoulders, but
dropped before they got there. “More than anything, but I have to
be somewhere else. You don’t know how sorry I am.”

“
This stinks,
Royal.”

Saying nothing, he reached across the
space which separated us and cupped my cheek in his
hand.

I leaned into his palm. “Why did you
come, anyway? Did you need something?”

“
Only you.” His palm
drifted over my hair. “Just checking up on you.”

I calmed my features. Right then I had
nothing in mind, but I’d come up with some way to set him free. But
if he so much as suspected I meant to take on Gia and Daven, he
would tie me up and stow me away someplace. “I want to meet with
our clients again. Can you arrange it?”

He looked a question at me.

I looked at the floor. Out the corner
of my eye, I spotted a shard of pottery under the bottom edge of a
cabinet.

“
Tiff, don’t do anything
foolish.”

I gave him a little smile. “Now why
would you think that? I’m not stupid.”

He eyed me doubtfully. “Honest, Royal,
they’re too scary, I am not gonna mess with them,” I said
seriously.

How could I stand there and lie to his
face? It’s called a white lie, when a lie is a better alternative
than the truth for all concerned. Well, it’s what I told myself,
and I almost believed me.

***

“
Now why would you think
that?
” Jack mimicked after Royal left.
“Tiffany Banks, do anything foolish? Never in a million
years.”

I scrabbled on the floor, finding a
shard of bowl here, another there. Some were tiny and I didn’t want
Mac to find them. If they had a morsel of cookie dough attached,
down his throat they would go.

I wished Jack would leave me alone. I
was not in the mood for his sarcasm.

There should be a way to chastise
spectral roommates. I can’t throw something at them, or threaten
them with violence. I can only use words, but I don’t have their
talent for sarcasm. So most of the time I don’t bother.

I climbed to my feet and tossed a
handful of broken crockery in the bin. And it was my best mixing
bowl! Actually, it was my only mixing bowl.

I sat at the table, trying not to
think. The oven-ready signal pinged triumphantly. “Not today, bud.
No cookies for you,” I told it. I would not have been surprised to
hear a regretful sigh echo from the chamber. Poor thing hardly got
used.

Elizabeth’s journal beckoned. I turned
to the next page

“
I have never before felt
Air that seems to have a physical Weight. I wish I were too young
to wear these confining Gowns or brave enough to dare Convention
and dress like the Native Women. Nester Carlin defies convention
and in Daddys opinion defies the entire Western Civilization by
discarding her Corset and Stockings and most of her Petticoats. I
think she looks wanton as she wanders Nagka with Skirts flapping
against her Legs and clearly defining their outline. Her Hair is
loose and tangled down her back. Something is Wrong with Nester.
She goes about with a strangely dazed or vacant expression and
often does not hear what is said to her. At night if I wake her Bed
is more often than not empty. Daddy can not bring himself to
address Nester concerning something of such intimacy and it is not
my place to do so. I hope she is not sickening with one of those
horrid Asian viruses. I admit her behaviour scares me yet she
seemed a decent sort back in the old GB.”

Elizabeth went on to describe some of
the palaces and the day-to-day life of the expedition. But her
entry on the following day began with a heading.

“
Today I had a terrifying
Adventure.

“
I went to find Jimmy in
building Number 15 which is a large Palace against the southerly
Wall. Jimmy was there with Mister Trencham and Mister Beecher.
Mister Trencham had finished with the horsehair brush and was
blotting a Pillar to remove as much loose dust from the etchings as
possible while at his side Mister Beecher pored over a cleaned
section with a large magnifying glass. Jimmy was half way up a
Ladder propped against the east Wall examining a small portion of
the huge Relief which covers every wall.

“
I stood in the centre of
the Room on a part of the floor sunken slightly below the rest and
wondered if it had a purpose. The Floor was interesting with each
large Tile carved in low relief with spiral and square patterns.
Mister Beecher asked for his leather Satchel and I took it to
him.“They were animated because the engravings in the Palace seem
to portray scenes from daily life in Nagka the only ones to do so
in the entire City. Mister Beecher said they are not as old as
those decorating Nagkas other Buildings and inner Walls.

“
Mister Trencham became
very excited. Upon closer inspection we saw that the scene he
studied is of Nagka at night. Figures of all sizes stand in open
Doorways in the Towers looking out through Windows while below much
smaller Figures run to and fro. Many cover their faces with their
hands. I thought the smaller People looked frightened. Mister
Trencham pointed out that the tall Figures have long teeth and long
arms and wide shoulders and their eyes are narrow slits. He pointed
to the depiction and said they could be evil Spirits. Burmese
mythology teems with evil Spirits.

“
I returned to the floor
to study the Tiles and one moved under my foot. I saw a gleam in
the gap between tiles. They said I must move away from there.
Mister Beecher pointed to what looked like a large square Grid held
against the ceiling. Before I could move all the Tiles jiggled and
tipped up on their edges and several dropped down and many cracked
into separate pieces. I put out my Arms for balance trying to
decide in which direction I should jump. But the entire Floor
dropped away and I fell in a hail of tiles and broken fragments too
unexpectedly and too fast to scream. I fell forever before I hit
some Water and plunged under.

“
It was not deep but I
landed in the Water with a terrible jolt. I tried to protect my
head from the Masonry still falling on and around me. The Tiles
were so heavy they sank to the bottom and stayed there and I was
amazed when none hit me. A whole tile would have brained me and a
fragment would have inflicted a serious Wound.

“
I was at the bottom of a
square Well lined with brick. The walls bristled with small wooden
pegs. High above me the Men peered down with Faces drained of
colour. Every tile in the floor had given way. Jimmy asked if I
were all right and I reassured him.

“
The air was dank and the
walls slick with moisture which dripped monotonously. I was very
cold. Mister Beecher told me to be brave. Daddy came to the edge of
the Well and he was very upset. I hoped he would not be angry with
the Men. He said he would send down a Rope to me but at that moment
I heard a very loud grinding rumbling noise. Jimmy looked upward
and swore and told everybody to get back. The Grid structure came
hurtling down from the ceiling. Miraculously the Grating stopped
with a terrible sound as the edges hit the opening above
me.

“
Jimmy felt the Grid and
said it was made of very heavy Wood and rested on a rim around the
Well. They tried to lift it with all four grasping and pulling
upward together but it was too heavy. Jimmy left to get chains with
which raise it. But then the Grating moved as the ancient sandstone
crumbled under its weight.

“
It was a Trap. When a
person stepped on the Tiles they would give way and then the Grid
come down to hold them in the Well. Daddy raged at everyone and I
was very frightened. A person falling in would probably over time
become so weakened they would collapse and drown. I thought that
would be my fate if the Grid fell down to pin me beneath the Water.
I looked around for an exit and saw a circular opening in the side
of the Wall. Daddy said it would be where the Water came in to fill
the well. But I could not climb up the slick brick facing. Daddy
lost control and called for an Ax but Jimmy did not think that
would chop through the Wood. He suggested they lower a Rope and
pull me up to the hole.

“
And then I saw a Face on
the other side of the Well. And then shoulders and arms and a chest
as a Man rose from the water. He was my Man from the
Palace.”

Chapter
Twelve

The phone rang. For a few seconds my
gaze lingered on the pages of Elizabeth’s book. I was there, with
her in the dank well, and I didn’t want to leave.

Royal’s voice said, “Tiff? Are you
there?”

I twisted in the kitchen chair and
reached for the phone. “Yeah?”

“
Our clients are here. You
want to come over?”