Up In Smoke (27 page)

“More likely demons, since there are few princes who are able to walk in the mortal world,” I pointed out.

“The important point in this lamentably long conversation,” he said with a wicked look at me, “is that I be released. Immediately. If not sooner.”

Gabriel and I exchanged a glance. The door behind us started to open, voices entering that questioned, in French, the status of the camera.

I threw myself at the door, slamming it shut. “We're not going to be able to hold it for long,” I told Gabriel.

He braced himself against it as another attempt was made to open the door, pulling out his cell phone with one hand. He punched in one number and barked an order into the phone in a singsong language that I assume had Aboriginal roots.

“That should give us a minute or two,” he said, grunting as he held the door firm despite some serious attempts on it. “Tipene will start a couple of fires in the station that will hopefully distract some of the people. Go ahead, May.”

“Right, let's get straight to the negotiations,” I said, my voice rocky as someone started pounding something large against the door. “We will agree to get you out of here if you help us with a situation in Abaddon.”

“You need my help?” Magoth's frown cleared as he perched himself on the corner of the table, a slow smile lighting his face. “How very interesting. You desire a favor from me. This is highly unusual, and yet, oddly appealing. And what payment do you offer?”

“No favors, just a simple exchange of help,” I said, digging in my heels and bracing as the door was continuously pounded.

He thought for a moment. “That is hardly fair. I do not know what situation you are referring to.”

I glanced at Gabriel. The muscles in his neck stood out in cords as he strained to keep the door closed, but he managed a quick nod at my unasked question.

“There is a dragon in Abaddon, a wyvern named Chuan Ren. We want you to help us get her released.”

“A dragon?” I could swear Magoth was sincerely surprised by that news. He spoke softly, as if to himself. “I have not heard that a dragon was sent to Abaddon, and surely I would have done so. Ahhh.” He exhaled as his eyes narrowed. “That is what Bael was up to. He has been secretive of late, very secretive, and hinted once at an unprecedented event. It must be he who possesses the dragon.”

“I don't know who has her, or what her situation is; I just know that we need her released.”

He eyed us both as we were jounced on the door. The attacks on it were getting stronger, pushing us a few inches out each time. We wouldn't be able to last much longer. “This is not a fair trade of help. To free me is nothing, but to seize a minion of the premiere prince of Abaddon . . .
pfft.
That is a huge undertaking.”

“She's a dragon; she can't be a minion,” I said, straining to hold the door. Gabriel labored beside me. “She's got to be held against her will, which should make her willing to cooperate with us.”

“Still,” Magoth said, idly trailing a hand down his chest. “It seems as if you ask more of me than I do of you.”

“Fine; we'll do this by ourselves,” I spat, turning to Gabriel. “We'll get that Guardian friend of Aisling to help us. There has to be some way to get Chuan Ren out of Abaddon. I'll just be sure to tell the mortals not to let Magoth out of this room—”

“You wound me, consort,” Magoth interrupted, getting to his feet quickly. “Very well, I agree to your offer. Now, see to my release before I regret such generosity.”

“Make it binding,” I ground out through teeth clenched with the strain of holding the door.

“Your lack of faith in me is something we really will have to address,” Magoth said with a look of pure scorn, but he casually reached behind him for the wooden chair, easily smashing it to smithereens on the table. He used a partially exposed screw to knick the tip of one finger, pursing his lips in a little pout as a bead of blood welled up on it, then milking it for a few seconds before strolling over to me. He touched the drop of blood to my forehead. “My blood seals the pact between us. Happy now?”

“Very,” I grunted, wanting to wipe off the blood mark but not having an available hand to do so. I glanced at Gabriel.

“Shadow,” he ordered, sweat starting to dot his forehead.

“I don't need to be protected from mortals,” I said, intending to object to being kept out of the way.

“I have no time to argue about this, little bird. I can't protect you and Magoth together, so you must shadow.”

“Don't think I'm going to let you get away with bossing me around the way Drake does Aisling,” I answered, taking a step away from the door, shadowing as I did so.

The door exploded inward, but Gabriel is not a dragon for nothing. He moved so fast I could barely follow him as he snatched up a broken piece of chair, whirling around with it held like a lance. The police spilled into the room, guns drawn, but they didn't stand a chance against Gabriel. The wooden weapon he held spun and flashed in the overhead light, its movement almost immediately followed by the cries of those he'd wielded it upon.

I stood pressed up against the wall, watching with openmouthed amazement and appreciation as Gabriel single-handedly dealt with the group of seven policemen. He was grace and power personified, dodging, attacking, twisting around bodies as they crumpled to the floor, and yet I was willing to bet there wouldn't be a single fatality.

“Where did you learn to do that?” I asked, following as he jerked Magoth into the hallway after him.

Gabriel's dimples flashed for a fraction of a second. “I spent a few years in warrior training with a tribe in South Africa. Stay hidden, little bird, but remain close.”

I did both, more to be able to watch Gabriel in action than to stay safe. It didn't take him much time to deal with the few remaining police officers in the hallways, and by the time we emerged at the front of the station, Tipene and Maata had cleared the rest of the way.

“Magoth!” shrieked Sally with joy, in her haste to get to him trampling a poor policewoman who lay prone on the floor. “I told you we'd get you out!”

“Really? I don't remember that,” he said, stopping to give her a disbelieving look.

Gabriel shoved him toward the front door, handily knocking aside a policeman who had wandered in the entrance.

“Well . . . I would have said it if I'd thought of it at the time,” Sally admitted, dashing after them as Gabriel hustled Magoth out the door. He paused to look back for me.

There were enough lights on to make me visible, although I knew it would still be hard to see me. “I'm right here; don't stop,” I told him.

He nodded and proceeded, our little group on his heels as he fought his way out onto the street. We attracted little attention once we had escaped the confines of the police station, and made it to the car quickly enough. I deshadowed but didn't relax until Tipene had clamped his foot on the accelerator, maneuvering with great skill around the wild Parisian drivers.

“So you're saying you lied to me?” Magoth asked Sally, continuing his conversation.

She smiled brightly. “As a matter of fact, yes.”

He pursed his lips ever so slightly, his eyelids dropping to give her a seductive look. “Perhaps I was a little hasty in sending you to my sweet May. Any woman who would lie to a demon lord clearly has depths.”

“Oh, I have many attributes,” Sally answered, adopting a modest expression. “I always cheat at cards, I take every opportunity to use others for my own ends, and I make the most divine three-bean salad. I'm absolutely perfect for the job of demon lord, don't you think?”

“Such depths certainly deserve to be plumbed,” Magoth answered with a leer.

I scooted closer to Gabriel, grateful the limousine he'd rented had enough room to allow Magoth and Sally to conduct their flirtation without being pressed up against me.

“Gabriel,” I started to say, but stopped when Sally said brightly, “Are we going to have an orgy? I'd like to recommend Gabriel join us.”

“There will be no orgy with Gabriel,” I said, glaring at her.

She gave me a hurt look. “Sugar, selfishness is very unbecoming.”

“I am not being selfish. Gabriel is my mate, not yours,” I said, scooting over closer to him, clamping my hand down on his leg in a show of possession.

“But you have Magoth and Gabriel, and you want to keep them both to yourself! If that's not selfishness, well, I just don't know what is!”

I opened my mouth to argue that I didn't want Magoth at all, but decided that there were far more important things to address. “Do you think there will be any repercussion with the police about Magoth?” I asked Gabriel.

His fingers twined through mine where they lay on his leg. “I doubt it. They may have our names, but they pose no real danger to us. We will be able to avoid them without too much trouble. You have nothing to fear on that front.”

His last sentence hung in the air with an unfinished sense to it that sent a little shiver of foreboding down my back.

Chapter Nineteen

“
I
have a bad feeling about this,” I said, frowning at the being that stood before us.

The demon made a face. “This was your idea, luv, not mine, so if you don't need me, you can just send me back. I've got things to do, people to torment, you savvy?”

“Someone has been watching far too much
Pirates of the Caribbean.
” Noelle, the Guardian Gabriel had called to summon a demon for us, stood on the far side of the living room, also giving the demon a jaded look. She was a pretty, cheerful redhead, a friend of Aisling's mentor, Nora. She'd summoned a demon for us quickly and with minimal fuss, keeping good control over it.

Valac the demon preened as we all eyed it. I had to admit that Noelle had a point—the demon looked as if it had been an extra in the movie, clad in leather boots, swashbuckling coat, sash, and tricorn hat, which sat atop ratty, nasty dreadlocks.

“That said, I think perhaps you may be right, May,” Noelle continued. “Going to see Bael yourself sounds like a pretty bad choice. Magoth is one thing, but Bael . . . I just can't say I recommend that.”

“It may be bad choice, but it's really our only option now that Magoth has done a bunk.” I looked at Gabriel. He stood to the side, arms crossed as he watched me, his face unreadable. The dragon shard wanted me to leap on him, but I ignored the fires that threatened to burst out and thought instead of what I'd like to do to Magoth. “That bastard.”

“He's still bound by blood to you,” Noelle said, glancing at my forehead, where the blood mark still remained, and would continue to remain until his oath was fulfilled. “You could call him and he'd have to respond.”

“We tried that. He was so obnoxious, we figured we're better off without him.”

“Ah. That's not good,” she agreed.

“Even Sally wasn't helpful—she just suggested we steal Chuan Ren back, and somehow, I don't relish that idea.”

Noelle gave a delicate shudder. “No, I agree with you there.”

“So all in all, we're better off without Magoth. Besides, he took Sally with him, and frankly, it's worth losing the dubious amount of help he'd give us just to get both of them off our backs.” I took a deep breath and steeled myself for what was coming. “Ready, Gabriel?”

He wrapped an arm around my waist, the warmth of his nearness sinking deep into my bones. “Let's get this over with.”

The dragon-heart shard wanted to make a fuss, so I nodded to Noelle. “Do it.”

“Demon Valac, I command you to take May and Gabriel to Bael without harming either of them, after which, you will be released,” Noelle said, giving the demon a piercing look.

It made a face. “A courier; that's all you wanted me for? Do you have any idea of all the work I have to do, of how late I'm going to be, just because you want a couple of dragons to go to Abaddon? I'm an important demon, you know! I'm third class!”

“I'm not actually a dragon,” I told it, feeling it important to point out that fact.

“You're not?” it asked, looking surprised for a moment. It eyed me for a second. “You look like one. You smell like one. You sure you're not?”

“Quite sure. I'm a doppelganger!” I said, shaken more than I wanted to admit. A tiny little wisp of smoke escaped my lips, wafting in lazy curlicues in front of my astonished eyes.

I clamped my lips shut tight, panic rising inside me.

Gabriel's arm tightened around me. “This is not important, little bird. Let us be on our way. The sooner we have Chuan Ren, the sooner we can be done with Abaddon.”

I wanted to argue with Gabriel that it was, in fact, very important to me, but he was right about getting the worst over with quickly. I allowed myself to give a mental grumble about Magoth going back on his word to help us after we had him released, but cut that short as Noelle ordered the demon to obey her command.

“Fine,” Valac snapped, grabbing my wrist. “But the next time you need a courier, get one of the minor minions. I don't have time for this!”

The trip to Abaddon via demon often left me retching after being deposited there, since the act of being yanked through the fabric of being was such an abomination, it was literally sickening. But this time, rather than leaving us collapsing in a gasping, gagging heap, Valac deposited us both on our feet, feeling nothing more than a slight queasiness.

“I'll tell the master's secretary you're here, but don't expect much. He doesn't see people without appointments,” Valac said as it marched out the door.