chapter 31
HALFWAY THROUGH THE WALL, I STOPPED, EYE TO EYE socket with a skull. With an oath, I wheeled to see a skeleton leaning against the wall, face-first, hands raised, dark brown streaks above every finger bone…as if he’d died trying to claw his way out.
I turned and saw another skeleton. And another. A half-dozen of them were propped against the wall. At the foot of that wall lay piles of bones. Splotches of dried blood streaked the brick and plaster.
Walled in.
My gaze tripped over a pile of bones in the corner, neatly disarticulated and deliberately piled, each marred with scratches. Gnaw marks.
A movement to my left—Trsiel, reaching to steady me. I shook my head and strode farther into the room. The moment I did, all thoughts of those skeletons vanished as my brain and body kicked into hyperalert mode, every muscle tensing, ears straining, gaze darting about. I definitely sensed something here. Felt it—a heavy, palpable warmth, like a dry-heat sauna.
“Was I not clear enough the first time?”
The words whipped past me on a blast of hot air. The demon-repelling spell flew to my lips, but I bit it back. This wasn’t the Nix—the voice was male, deep, and resonant. Unsettlingly hypnotic, like the angel’s…and yet not like it.
“Impertinent imp,” the voice said. “Did you think—”
The voice stopped, and a warm current caressed my face. I stood my ground, and started the spell. A low chuckle breezed by my right ear.
“That will hurt you more than it will hurt me. I see you are not the same as the first. Two demon bloods in one day. What have I done to deserve this?”
“Two?” I paused. “Someone was here earlier, someone with demon blood. A Nix.”
The voice drifted to the back of the room, as if settling onto the moth-eaten sofa there.
“Hmmm, a half-demon ghost. I can’t recall the last time one of your kind has come this way. Who’s your sire?”
“Answer my questions and I’ll answer yours.”
A faint snarl. “As impudent as the other. Do they not teach you respect these days, whelp?”
“Tell me who it is I’m supposed to be showing respect to and I’ll consider it.”
“If you don’t know already, then I’m not about to tell—”
A noise from Trsiel, whom I’d almost forgotten was there, still by the wall. When I turned, he beckoned, backing it up with a telepathic “Let’s go.”
A sharp laugh sounded across the room.
“A third?” the voice said. “Truly I am blessed. And an angel, no less. Forgive me if I don’t prostrate myself.”
Trsiel marched into the middle of the room, chin up, trepidation falling away. “Identify yourself, demon.”
“Demon?” I hissed under my breath. “I thought you said there was no demonic activity here.”
Trsiel pulled his chin up higher. “I said, identify yourself—”
“Oh, I heard you, and I decline the invitation…Trsiel.”
Trsiel’s jaw tightened.
“Okay, forget the introduction,” I said. “You said someone else with demon blood was here today. What did she want from you?”
The demon’s chuckle wafted around me. “You honestly expect me to answer that, whelp?”
“Not for free, no.”
“Ah, you wish to bargain for your answer?”
“No, Eve,” Trsiel said. “Not with him. We’ll find another way.”
“I don’t believe she was asking your opinion, half-blood.”
Trsiel stiffened. A long raucous laugh swirled around us.
“Don’t like that, do you?”
“I am a full-blood,” Trsiel said.
“So you’ve been told, and so you wish to believe, but you know better, don’t you? You are no more akin to the full-bloods than this pretty half-demon whelp is to me.”
“Come on, Eve,” Trsiel said, wheeling. “He’ll tell you nothing but lies.”
“I’m not the one who’s lied to you, Trsiel. Oh, but your Creator hasn’t lied, has He? He never said you were a full-blooded angel. He just doesn’t care to correct that misconception. No sense sowing more dissension in the ranks. Quite enough of that already—”
“Eve,” Trsiel said, voice sharpening.
“Why don’t you ask Him, Trsiel?” the demon continued. “Ask Him what you are. Or does this great warrior of truth prefer the comfort of lies?”
I turned to Trsiel. “Don’t listen to him. He wants you to leave—wants us both to leave.”
“Oh, but I don’t want you both to leave. Just him. Get out, mongrel. Thy presence doth offend me.”
Trsiel strode back to the center of the room and planted himself there.
“See?” the demon said, chortling. “Your defiance gives you away, half-blood. No true angel would have so much pride.”
When Trsiel said nothing, a current of hot air snaked from the couch and encircled me, wending its way up my legs, over my torso, and to my ear.
“You wish to bargain with me, whelp?” the demon whispered.
“Perhaps,” I said. “Do you wish to bargain, demon?”
“Your Nix annoyed me. You seem, if not properly respectful, at least courteous.”
“Or perhaps you just wish to cause trouble,” Trsiel said. “By giving her false information.”
“And what, sweet mongrel, would be the fun in that? There is no ‘trouble’ to be found in watching a half-breed demon and a half-breed angel pursue an arrogant Nix. The trouble comes when they catch her.”
“You can’t trust him, Eve,” Trsiel said. “You know you can’t.”
When I hesitated, the demon only chuckled, hot breath tickling my ear.
“When you’re ready to bargain, you’ll know where to find me.”
A blast of tropical heat, and he was gone.
We finished searching the castle, but we’d already found what had enticed the Nix here. As for the demon’s offer, the cardinal rule of bargaining is to never let your opponent know how badly you want what he has. And the encounter with the demon had left Trsiel unsettled. Better to let him cool off before I raised the subject again.
Outside the walls, Trsiel turned to me. “The Fates will want us to sit with Lizzie and Sullivan again. If you have a better idea…” He gave a distracted half-shrug. “I’m sure you do, so go ahead and do that. I’ll cover the babysitting. If you need me…”
I grinned. “I’ll whistle.”
He nodded, unsmiling.
I looked over at him. “I have no idea what that demon was needling you about, but it obviously got to you, and if you want to talk about it, I’m a pretty good listener.”
His eyes met mine, and I saw a loneliness and a sadness there that jolted through me.
“I appreciate the offer,” he said softly. “But I won’t take you up on it—not yet.”
I did indeed have a fresh plan. Thinking of Lizzie made me realize that I had to speak to another partner, one who’d enjoyed the relationship with the Nix. Getting her to talk would be a challenge, but I had an idea.
Given Jaime’s response when I asked her to summon Robin MacKenzie, I knew she’d be less than thrilled at the prospect of traveling across the ocean to summon another serial killer. And she did grumble, but it seemed more a token complaint. She didn’t have any shows scheduled for the rest of the week, so a trip to Edinburgh wasn’t a complete inconvenience. She decided to make a tax-deductible “research” vacation out of it, called her travel agent, and managed to get a last-minute ticket for a flight leaving from O’Hare in two hours.
When I met Jaime at the cemetery gates, it was almost noon.
“I don’t suppose this can wait until tonight,” she said as we wove through a posse of dog walkers.
“Hey, you’re getting better at that.”
“At what?”
“Talking without moving your lips.”
A tiny smile. “I’m a woman of many talents.”
“And if the showbiz spiritualist thing doesn’t work out for you, there’s always ventriloquism.”
She shook her head and ducked around an elderly couple bearing wreaths of plastic flowers. “Is there something going on today? Or is it always this busy?”
“I think it doubles as the neighborhood park.” I looked around at the treed landscape, dotted with people out enjoying a rare day of early-spring sun. “The way it should be, really. Otherwise, it’s just a waste of good land. It’s not like the spooks care whether you Rollerblade over their graves.” I glanced at a dog squatting next to a cenotaph. “Although that might cross the line. Hey, you! Don’t pretend you didn’t see him do that. Get back here and scoop!”
Jaime laughed. “Sic ’em, Eve.”
“I could spook the dog, but that’s not fair. Well, not unless I could spook him so he drags his owner right through that steamy pile o’ shit.”
“Speaking of alternate careers, there’s one for you.”
“Yeah, and if I don’t catch the Nix, that’s probably what I’ll get: celestial poop-and-scoop enforcer. Probably wouldn’t even get a sword. Just a big shiny shovel.”
“Sword?”
“Don’t ask.” I instinctively moved aside for a pram parade. “So are we going to be able to do this during the day?”
“That was my question. Remember? Possibilities of postponement?”
“Next to none, I’m afraid.”
“Damn.”