The Devil You Know (37 page)

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We laid the handsome blond vampire out on slats and placed him across the seats of the old rowboat. Thanks to an unrequested but gratefully accepted illusion charm created by JJ, Domini Roskov looked to be merely sleeping, his remains as healthy and whole as the day, seven months ago, when he’d met Arno Wellsy at the top of a Virginia coal mine and took the first step on a journey that would force his soul from his body so it could be possessed by the dark demon sorcerer, Nicodemus. However, the crisp black suit and the pouch containing fuel and potions I had tucked into his chest were no illusions. The suit, like the decorations, wreaths, and white flowers we’d heaped inside the boat and attached to its sides, was from my family. They had stepped in to provide the gentle touches that would ease the grieving Gem’s last moments with her father.

Mynx had painted the boat a shining black then drew ancient designs across its sides and bow. Gem’s father had built a mausoleum to her mother centuries ago. It had been his wish to lay there by her side when his end came. Unfortunately, Gem and I agreed that was no longer an option. Even if the Council didn’t try too diligently to reclaim what they’d lost, others would. The demon-tainted dark magic still lingering in Domini Roskov’s flesh was too tempting a prize. We’d known that before tonight. But my run-in with Bon had made it abundantly clear.

As I verified that the fuel-and-potion-soaked wood on the boat’s floor was well hidden beneath the flowers, Nana, Aunt Helena, Van and Kathryn, followed by Jacq and Fera, moved down the hill to join us. Jacq eyed my bruised neck and pale face with concern but merely pressed her lips into a tight line. This moment was for Gem and Gem alone.

Once the body was prepared, Gem said her goodbyes then kissed her father’s face. We each dropped a flower onto the overflowing bundles that covered Domini’s chest and feet. Then Gem pushed the boat, letting it float gently into the center of the pond, its flowers and black surface shining against the dark water, catching what little silver and red light the half-moon above and the boralis leisurely circling below provided. White flower petals fell from the sides of the wooden craft to float upon the water, glowing ethereally as they trailed in its wake.

Stepping forward, I reached for my fire, but Van’s hand on my shoulder stopped me. Moving to either side of me, Van and Kathryn looked to Gem, who stood watching the black boat sway on the dark water. Gem turned to look at us three, her eyes full of grief.

“Kneel, guardian child.” Kathryn’s voice seemed to resonate in the air, traveling out across the water to hover there, yet it was as gentle as I had ever heard it.

I began to fall to my knees, but Van’s grip stopped me. Gem met Kathryn’s eyes, and Denoir’s Queen gave the smallest of nods. Without a word, Gem dropped, a blood-tinted tear trickling from the corner of one eye. Behind me, the others murmured in shock as they realized what Kathryn’s words meant. Only I and Nana were silent.

Most thought the Kin infertile, the virus that took them into death and beyond destroying an inseminated egg hours after conception. It was very rare knowledge, even among vampires and guardians, that there was one species that could breed with their kind. Seth had reluctantly shared that information with me years ago, so I wasn’t surprised at Gem’s parentage. Apparently, neither was my keen-eyed Nana.

Gem bowed her head. “Your Majesty, you honor me with a title none but my mother have ever used. How may I serve you?”

“You mistake me, last of the Bakh clan. It is I who wish to honor you.”

I sucked in a breath as Kathryn named another guardian house thought to be long gone.

Gem looked up, astonished.

Kathryn continued, “Two nights past, you fought against my enemies, perhaps unknowingly, but at great risk to yourself. I wish to repay the honor you have shown us.”

At his Queen’s words, Van stepped forward.

“My nephew and I will light the ceremonial fires. There is no fire that burns brighter or hotter than a Demon Queen’s.” Kathryn’s eyes shot to mine. “Except perhaps that of her champion. Stand with us?”

Gem nodded, mutely. I stepped back, letting my own fire settle within my soul. Whether or not Gem was aware of it, the time had come to reclaim her birthright.

The three stood at the water’s edge. Kathryn and Van took Gem’s hands, raising bolts of blazing red flames in their free hands. With a powerful, synchronized sweep, their arms flung backward then forward, releasing their gifts to the dark night. The fire shot from their hands like great fiery arrows, taking Gem’s mind with it, letting her eyes ride in the flames as the ultimate honor to herself and her father. It was a gift only someone as powerful as a Demon Queen could give.

The bolts flew to the sky in a slow spinning arc, twining about each other before plummeting toward the water. They separated right before they could fall into the black watery depths, each rising up to circle the boat thrice before approaching Domini from different sides. The fuel’s fumes should have ignited long before the flames touched his remains, but they didn’t. Impossibly, for the briefest of breaths it seemed as if the bolts merely hung there, each kissing a pale cheek. Gem—blue eyes opened wide but sightless, pink tears sliding down her cheeks—blinked.

And the boat blew, funneling upward in a giant orange ball, lighting the night sky high above. The boralis moved in, feeding on the ashy remains falling back into the water. Together, the fire and fish would leave no trace of Domini Roskov, except that which lingered in his daughter’s memories.

With the blast, Kathryn and Van released Gem’s hands and mind. She collapsed backward. I caught her, both of us falling to the ground. I wrapped my arms around her, letting her cry. Across the water, through the flames, I saw Cassie standing in the shadow of the wood, watching. Even from a great distance, we exchanged looks. She began to walk around the pond, her eyes only on Gem. I hoped Cassie would take my place at the grieving daughter’s side.

After that, I wasn’t sure what would happen. I’d already made my play. The next move was Lady Fortuna’s.

Chapter Twenty

“Tonight, on the Moray Pontificates show, Bigfoot tells of his centuries’ long love for the Loch’s own Nessie and his struggle to overcome the hydrophobia that keeps them apart. Stay tuned folks. This is guaranteed to be a tall, tearful tale of titanic proportions!”

—brought to you by STD,
SuperTalkDigest

“Are you coming to bed?”

Jacq’s soft question pulled me from my thoughts. Sitting on the bank near the pond, I skipped another fire-covered stone across the dark water before looking up. Her skin glowed faintly silver in the dim moonlight. I smiled, my heart as heavy as it had ever been. Ever dutiful, she had seen Kathryn, Van and the Delacy clan safely back to the house. Cassie had taken a teary Gem to Wellsy’s to relieve the babysitting Marco. Even JJ had stretched and yawned and said she was tuckered out. It seemed Jacq, myself…and the fish currently chasing my stone…were the only ones still about.

“Soon.” I patted the sandy bank.

Jacq returned the smile, but like my own, it didn’t quite reach her eyes. As she sat, I looked again at the water. The boralis’s red glow was so bright that I could see them, swirling lazily beneath the dark water, their bellies full to bursting. Roskov’s ashes, the boat, even the demon magic and potions that had blown with him were all gone now, every last bit consumed. No surprise, the fish that had been born less than a week ago, once as small as a spark, were now large. Yesterday, the largest had been less than a half-foot. Tonight, several were easily twice that. Kathryn had been right. No fire burned as hot as a Demon Queen’s. And now that the boralis had tasted what equaled to magical caviar, they would not easily settle for anything less.

As one of the glowing fish swam toward us, Jacq grabbed my shoulder, ready to push us out of its jumping range. But I simply patted her leg before dipping my hand into the nearly black water.

“Cate,” she hissed, her other hand tightening on my forearm.

“Shh, it’s okay.”

The glowing fish swam until its head butted my hand. I tickled its chin, and a stone fell into my palm. I stroked its head once before lighting the stone with fire, flicking it across the water. The fish gave chase, its swishing trail like a long red snake winding through the black water.

Jacq leaned back and released a huff of disbelief. “You’re playing fetch with a piranha?”

Through our bond, I could sense her emotions. My fiery phoenix didn’t know whether to laugh or lock me in a closet until I came to my senses. Fortunately—for her sake—she chose the former.

“Maybe,” she chuckled, “I should have expected this, especially after what happened with the hellhound. By the way, the last I saw of Wrin, she was cuddled in Brittan’s arms. It appears your hound has taken a shine to our new guardian. Although Brittan seems unaware of the terror that terrier truly is.”

Imagining the look on Brit’s face when she finally figured out her new, curly-haired puppy love was actually a pony-sized hellhound was almost enough to lift the weight that had settled on my shoulders. Almost.

As if sensing my need for levity, Jacq gave me that one-dimpled half grin I loved so. “Have you any more surprises for me, cher? Any more wild beasts you plan to tame?”

Wiping my hands on my pants, I turned to her. “Only one.” I looked into her gray eyes, my own grin missing. Even with her magic banked, they were nearly an iridescent silver, their color growing brighter and more pure every day. Her question was the opening I had been looking for.

But what I asked next was unexpected, by us both as I blurted, “Did you know…the boralis only serve Demon Queens and those who keep the gates?”

Jacq shook her head.

I looked back at the water. “Neither did I until recently. Guess that means I have two surprises.”

The boralis’s story had been in my mother’s book. Like the history of Jacq’s people, the fiery fishes’ lives were tied to both demons and guardians. What I had thought I’d known previously of these creatures was only a very abridged, very PG version of the truth. Their true origin was as bloody as one would expect from something with their ability to destroy almost indiscriminately. The thought that anything or anyone could tame the boralis was laughable.

Too bad I wasn’t in a laughing mood.

“And the other surprise?” Jacq was very still, her eyes watching my face intently.

The urge to make her wait, to drag it out, was strong. But we had both waited long enough. I didn’t have the heart to make either of us suffer further.

“I know what you are.” I placed my hand on hers where it rested on her thigh. “And what you will someday be.” At my words, Jacq’s smile slipped away. “
Draig
—Dragon.” I said the names slowly. “Phoenix.” She blinked as if absorbing a blow. “
Demon-kin
,” I whispered the last, as if a blessing…or a curse. “Whatever name you choose to go by, Jacqueline Slone D’Artanian…” I named the clan name that, according to my mother’s book, had been given to the flaming birds of legend. “I know it. I know you.”

Her face was like stone, but the pain, the fear…the sorrow in her eyes was confirmation enough. “Cate, you must understand, I wanted—” Jacq stopped.

Emotions flowed like a raging river through our bond, and I struggled to let them pass me by. Her jaw locked tight, and she looked at me with desperate confusion, her body strung as tightly as a bow.

Her words came more slowly. “I wanted to tell you…everything. At first, I didn’t understand. Then I didn’t know how…or when without—” Her eyes flashed silver, her agitation clear. “It’s always been you…always your choice. If you had said go—”

“I know,” I said softly.

And I did. In my few years on this earth, I had built more walls around my heart and mind than an immortal of over six centuries could understand. From the beginning, I had done nothing but run from her, and my word that I wouldn’t run again had never meant I couldn’t send her away. And she must have known: What she was, what she would be—what we could be together. They were further reminders of the one thing I could never run from, not completely…The one thing I wanted more than anything else to outdistance, to force away… The one beast I had yet to tame…

Myself.

My mother’s book had done more than tell me of my love’s origins. It had told me of my own. Of how the guardians had once come from those they tried to protect the world from. And of the Draig’s unique relationship to the Demons. It had taught me that, like the boralis, I would never really tame my beast, not without paying a price I was not willing to pay. I could not have Jacq without that part of me that was demon. I was the darkness to her light. And that was as it was meant to be.

That
was the balance.

“I—” I cleared my throat, my voice suddenly scratchy with emotion. “I’ll never ask you to go.” My eyes filled with tears, and I had to look away. “But you know better even than I what’s coming for me. The danger soon coming to those around me.”
As much from what’s within me as what’s without.
Though I didn’t say the words aloud, she knew what I meant. I looked back to Jacq. “If at some point, you choose to go, must go, for whatever reason, I’ll understand.”
It would break me to pieces, but I would understand.

“Cate,” she said softly, squeezing my hand where it lay on her leg before leaning in to kiss my cheek gently. “My kind mate for life, be it short or long.” Her breath blew warm against my skin. “I’ve never told another that I love them, not such as I love you. Being with you cannot possibly mean more harm to me than being without you.” She pulled back far enough to see my eyes, her gaze sad. “You must not know much of my people or you would know this.”

I wiped at my eyes with the back of my hand, my lips turning up in a half smile. “You would be amazed at what I know. You, my good lady, are not as mysterious as you believe.”

Though there was still a great deal in my mother’s book to sort through, I had read enough to have some idea of the Draig’s powers and mating practices. Through our connection, I let Jacq see what I had seen and feel what I was feeling. Truth or no truth, I let her know that I accepted her as she was. More importantly, I accepted her place in my life…and the consequences, known and otherwise, that would come of it.