The Demon's Song

CHAPTER Thirteen


The last place Sofia expected Phenex to take her was the club that had been the source of all her problems. But once he’d landed in a pool of shadow and set her down, Sofia turned on shaky legs to see the pale marble and graceful columns of Amphora.

Vampire central. She wasn’t sure whether to laugh hysterically or run screaming.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sofia said.

His reply was curt. “No.”

She turned her head to eye Phenex, who’d been perfectly silent on the flight here. That hadn’t bothered her. She’d been too busy hanging on for dear life to talk, her eyes squeezed shut and her teeth clenched. Now, though, she could see that he’d been just as affected by the sudden appearance of the demon—Belial—as she was. He was handling it differently, though. She felt unsteady, and she was perfectly willing to admit that it had scared the hell out of her. Phenex just looked furious.

If she wasn’t already used to him, the look on his face would have scared her almost as badly as Belial had.

“Come on,” Phenex said, catching her hand in his and beginning to pull her toward the club. “It’s still early. The restaurant and lounge will be busy, but it’s nothing like it will be later. And right now the crowd is mostly human, which is better for us.”

Sofia tried digging her heels into the pavement, but resistance was futile. It was keep up or be dragged along.

“I don’t want to go in there,” she said, and then got louder when he ignored her. “Seriously, Phenex. I don’t. What if he’s in there? What if a bunch of his…his minions are in there? He said he wanted to kill me and make you watch!”

Phenex didn’t break stride at all, though she could almost swear he’d flinched. But it was hard to tell, since he didn’t slow down.

“Of course he does, though he’d probably have someone else kill you while he sat on his ass and enjoyed the show. He’s lazy. He’s also one twisted son of a bitch.”

“I noticed.” Sofia tugged fruitlessly at her hand. “Damn it, Phenex, why are we here? You said we’d go somewhere safe. This doesn’t look anything like safe!”

He finally stopped at the base of the steps leading up to the entrance and turned to look at her. Sofia managed to wrench her hand away and glare at him. He’d gone from the surprisingly tender lover in the stairwell right back to this inscrutable, bossy, angry creature she wasn’t at all sure how to deal with. It was as disheartening as it was frustrating to see him shut down again.

“Quit dragging me around,” Sofia added, unable to hold it in. “The flying was enough. I can walk on my own.”

Phenex’s lips were a thin line before he answered. “We’re here because this is the way in. There’s one other, but I couldn’t risk the chance that we were followed.”

Sofia glanced around uneasily, seeing nothing but the usual foot traffic in the area. No one seemed to think anything abnormal was going on. Not even the budding argument between one very tall, intimidating man and a much smaller woman on the sidewalk.

The problem was, she didn’t even know what Belial looked like. Or what the average vampire looked like, for that matter. She needed to be able to defend herself, but that was going to be tough when she couldn’t identify the enemy.

“Look,” Phenex said, shoving a hand back through his hair. “This isn’t ideal for either of us. But now that Belial knows I’m with you, there isn’t anyplace you could go but where I’m taking you. It’s protected, and not just with physical strength. There are ways to keep Hell out, and the ones who created the place we’re going were good at that. It’s only temporary, Sofia. I’m not tossing you into a pit.”

“And I’m not going anywhere until you give me a little more information. I’ve got one friend who’s disappeared already, and one who’s had her mind messed with…” She trailed off as something occurred to her. “Sara. We’re going where she is.”

Phenex exhaled loudly, his eyes everywhere but on her. It was strange, and unnerving, to see his guard up this way. “Yes. And you’ll get to see her. Is that enough to get you moving? Because this is about the worst place I can think of to be standing and arguing.”

“If you’d do more than give orders, I wouldn’t argue so much,” Sofia replied, though she relented and began to walk up the steps. If it was a choice between this and agony, she’d deal with Phenex. She’d had a clear alternative painted for her, and it was infinitely worse than anything she might imagine for herself.

He was at her side almost instantly, ushering her in past the bouncers, who gave her curious looks as she went by. Then she was in the wide, arched corridor of Amphora, hurrying past the draped entryways into the varied sections of the club, including the one that she’d nearly run out of only a week ago. She certainly hadn’t thought she’d be back.

Phenex’s hand was warm where it was wrapped around hers, the contrast of his alabaster skin striking against the gold of her own in the dim, flickering light of the stylized torches that lined the walls. He didn’t really walk, she decided, watching him. He stalked, all lethal grace. There was nothing weak about him, no matter what this Belial said. She’d never heard hatred like that. Belial obviously loathed everything about Phenex, especially his music.

“Your guitar,” Sofia said suddenly. “You left it at my place.”

“Just the pieces of it,” he replied, barely turning his head. “Bastards smashed it.”

“Oh no!” she said, and was surprised at how bothered she was by it. It was probably the way he’d held it. Like it was important to him, almost a part of him. “I’m so sorry—”

Now he did turn his head to look at her curiously. “No need to be. I’ll get another one. Lots of things I like get broken.” His voice dropped when he said the last, as though he were remembering some of those broken things—or maybe they hadn’t been things, Sofia thought. Then he fell silent, guiding her down another corridor, then another, taking her farther from the public areas of the club. Her footfalls seemed incredibly loud as they echoed off the walls. Phenex, she noted, didn’t make a sound.

They passed various rooms, all of them dark and empty, finally turning into the last of them. There was very little inside, only some spare chairs lined up against one wall, a little table covered in a thin layer of dust. Phenex let go of Sofia’s hand.

“Hang on,” he said. He walked to the heavy wooden door of what Sofia assumed must be a closet and pressed his hand against it, murmuring something she couldn’t quite hear. When he took his hand away, the glowing imprint of it remained, then slowly faded while she watched.

“Wow.” It was the first word that came to her.

There was a hint of humor in his expression when Phenex glanced back at her. “Trust me, that’s nothing.” Then he turned the knob and pulled the door open, revealing stairs that descended into darkness. Sofia felt the panic she’d been holding at bay beginning to rise, but Phenex didn’t seem concerned. She tried to think of that as a sign that she had nothing to worry about. Down there. In the deep, deep dark.

Oh, God. I’m doomed.

“Come on. Just stay right behind me. We keep it dark to discourage any nosy humans who might manage to find a way in.”

Sofia raised her eyebrows as she forced herself to accept the hand he offered, hoping he didn’t see how she hesitated. “You have humans who know how to bibbidi-bobbidi-boo the door open?”

“Not so far. But your kind is great at getting into things you shouldn’t.”

“Like me,” Sofia muttered, forcing herself to walk through the door and pull it shut behind her, plunging her into a blackness so deep that she couldn’t even see a hand waved an inch in front of her face. Phenex was unnervingly silent. Especially because his feet never seemed to make a sound. She couldn’t even hear his breathing. It was almost like being alone, except that she could feel him near her.

“Where does this go?” Sofia asked, her voice dropping to a whisper as they descended. It seemed like it would be a mistake to speak too loudly in this place.

“Basement.”

“Great,” she said flatly. In a place like this, who knew what might be in the basement?

He actually chuckled, a small thing, but reassuring. Sofia concentrated on his touch, on the strength of his presence. She had forgotten, probably because it had been years since she’d even had to deal with it, just how much she hated the dark. She’d spent a lot of time as a child hoping that her blankets served as both camouflage and armor, hiding her head beneath them to protect herself from whatever bogeyman was surely lurking in her closet. Or under her bed.

After what seemed like a long time, they got to the bottom of the stairs and another door. Phenex repeated the odd ritual with the handprint and the words, and when this door opened, Sofia was relieved that there was at least a faint light illuminating what was beyond.

Phenex led her quickly through the cavernous basement, which seemed to be full of things that might be used upstairs—spare furniture, boxes labeled “glassware,” speakers and linens, and other things covered in sheets. Nothing weird. And there was nothing that would seem to merit the security.

“Do the vampires sleep down here?” she asked, starting to look for the shapes of long boxes or coffins. Or maybe it worked like the book Dracula, and there was just a room with a dirt floor where the vampires would be mostly dead all day. Picturing it gave her the creeps. The vampires she’d met had seemed very much alive, but she had no idea how it worked.

“Nope.”

When he said nothing more, Sofia glared at his back.

“You’re a font of information, Phenex.”

“I know.”

She sighed heavily, but her irritation vanished quickly when she saw what looked like nothing more or less than a large hole, or maybe the entrance to a cave, in one wall of the basement. Stationed on either side of it was a pair of dangerous-looking vampires—in this case, the glowing red eyes were a dead giveaway. One was male, one was female, both were dressed in leather, and neither looked friendly. As she and Phenex approached, a group of five people strolled out of the hole, chattering as though there was nothing unusual about the way they’d arrived. Sofia noticed that they gave Phenex a wide berth once they spotted him. The female guard, on the other hand, grinned as soon as she recognized him. Her fangs glinted in the light.

“Hey. We were wondering where you’d gotten off to lately.”

She was pretty, Sofia noted. Actually, she was drop-dead gorgeous. And the way she was looking at Phenex was awfully…friendly. Sofia supposed it should be reassuring that, despite the fact that she’d nearly been killed by a demon less than an hour ago, she was still capable of petty jealousy. And knowing that it was stupid didn’t stop her stomach from twisting into knots, especially when Phenex was uncharacteristically friendly right back.

“Hey, Tania. Yeah, work’s keeping me busy. You know how it is.”

“Hell yeah.” Tania looked at Sofia, and her reddish eyes gave her a far cooler look. “Uh, you know that’s a mortal, right?”

“Really? I had no idea.”

Tania didn’t appear to appreciate the sarcasm. She peeled away from the wall she’d been leaning against to intercept them before they got to the entrance to what Sofia could now see was definitely some kind of a tunnel. A really, really dark tunnel. Damn it.

“I can’t let you bring her down, Phenex,” Tania said. “You know the rules. She shouldn’t even be down here.” As she spoke, Tania’s male counterpart headed their way, too, and he looked even less friendly than she did. Phenex came to a full stop, and Sofia ended up plastered against his back, which, all things considered, didn’t seem like a bad place to be.

I’m going to grab you. Get ready.

She blinked when she realized he hadn’t spoken the words aloud, though she’d heard them loud and clear in her head. He was in the middle of giving the vampires a hard time.

“I wouldn’t be bringing her if I didn’t have a damned good reason. The little stand you’re trying to take here is cute, but if I want her in, she’s coming in. I’ll tell Justin you tried, if that makes you feel better.”

Both vampires bared their teeth at the same time. Tania looked furious.

“You can’t—”

It happened in the blink of an eye. One second Sofia was just standing there, listening to everyone argue about her. The next, a strong pair of hands had gripped her waist, and she was tossed over Phenex’s shoulder. Not only that, but he was moving so quickly that the world around her was nothing but a blur. They rocketed into the tunnel, and Sofia was grateful that her hair blew into her face with the speed. The rapid motion made her nauseous even without looking, and she didn’t even want to contemplate puking down Phenex’s back.

When he finally stopped, Sofia just hung there for a few seconds, wondering whether she should try to move yet. Then Phenex’s voice rumbled through his chest, vibrating into hers.

“You okay?”

She took a couple of breaths, made sure it was safe to open her mouth, and then answered.

“That depends on your definition of okay. I get the feeling that you just brought me someplace I’m really, really not supposed to be. Call me crazy.”

Gently, he set her on her feet, sliding her slowly down the front of him. Sofia sucked in a breath as she was dragged over every hard curve and contour of his body. By the time he had her feet on the ground she wasn’t completely sure they’d hold her. She allowed herself just a moment to lean into him, soaking up his heat. His hands stayed pressed against her back, even when Sofia lifted her head to brush her hair back and out of her face. When she looked up at him, Phenex was staring down at her with an expression that left no question as to what he was thinking about.

“We need to pick up where we left off. Soon,” he said, his voice a soft growl that had every nerve ending in her body singing. “I’m not going to forget.”

Flustered, aroused, it was hard to muster up any kind of an argument. She wasn’t going to forget, either. But there were a couple of things that she wanted—no, needed—to know from him. This wasn’t the time to ask, but it couldn’t wait long. Not after tonight.

“I—”

Then she looked beyond him, realized what she was standing in the middle of, and forgot every word she might have said.

She would never have believed it if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. Phenex had brought her into some kind of dark fairy tale.

They stood at the top of a rise, the dark mouth of the tunnel behind them, a cobblestone street rolling away in front of them. Sofia’s eyes widened as they moved over every detail of the city spread out before her. An entire city. In a cave. At least, she thought that’s where they were. Rough stone walls stretched upward above her and in the distance, eventually vanishing into darkness. It was incredible...and yet not as incredible as the homes and shops that the walls encased. Each building that lined the bustling street in front of her looked to have been carved from the stone itself, gothic masterpieces straight out of fantasy. Narrow doorways and arches, sharp peaks and spirals, gingerbread details that were somehow menacing—it was creepy perfection. Sofia thought she even saw a gargoyle or two leering over the rooftops. This place was beautiful and strange, and full of people besides. They walked beneath the gaslights that lined the streets as though there were nothing unusual about it at all, most as pale and gorgeous as the place they inhabited.

A lot of the people, Sofia finally realized, were looking at her.

“Damn it, Phenex, what is this?”

The voice that sliced through the air was more of a snarl. Sofia turned her head to see Justin bearing down on them, his red eyes glowing. He looked—and sounded—furious. Sofia watched him approach, noticing that Phenex kept his hands protectively on her shoulders when she tried to step back.

Some of the vampires—they had to be vampires—wandering around were grabbing friends to get closer and watch. Justin’s shouting had attracted a crowd.

The vampire king stopped only a couple of feet away from her, dressed smartly in an all-black suit and tie. He looked as if he wanted to bite someone as his eyes moved from Phenex to Sofia, and back again.

“She can’t be here.”

“She has to be here,” Phenex replied, and though his voice was calm, Sofia could hear the steel running beneath it. He had no intention of losing this fight. Though neither, from the looks of things, did Justin.

“No. I put up with a lot of the shit you and your brothers do, Phenex, but this is beyond—”

“Belial is behind the problems at the club,” Phenex said, smoothly cutting Justin off. “He paid us a visit just a little while ago. I’m going to suggest you worry more about that than one small human invading your space. Sofia has nowhere else to go until this is taken care of.”

Justin had gone very still. He stared for a few seconds, then cursed viciously. “Damn it, where is Uriel? We should have been warned about this! I don’t care if this doesn’t threaten the Balance, it threatens us! It’s important!”

“The archangels have their own priorities. You know that,” Phenex said. In response, Justin tipped back his head and made a sound of complete frustration. Sofia tried to cling to the fact that it was a reassuringly human reaction, even in the middle of all these things and people that had nothing to do with humanity.

“Okay,” Justin finally said, glaring off into the distance. “Just this once. She stays. With you. At all times, Phenex.”

“She is perfectly capable of understanding instructions,” Sofia said. That drew Justin’s eyes to her, and he looked irritated for a brief instant before relenting.

“Yes, I see you are. Okay, then, Sofia, here’s the deal. This city, my city, is full of the kinds of creatures you only read about. Vampires, werewolves, witches and warlocks, a handful of Fae. We’re here because this is a safe place, away from humankind. Safe for us. That doesn’t make it safe for you. If you wander off by yourself, I can’t guarantee nothing will happen to you. There are rules here, and offenders are dealt with, but that’s not necessarily going to stop someone who decides you look like an entertaining target. Stay with Phenex.”

Sofia nodded, relieved that this hurdle, at least, had been passed. “I can do that.” The gentle squeeze Phenex gave her shoulders was reassuring. Still, as fascinating as this all was, she didn’t think she was going to be able to forget that she wasn’t exactly welcome here. And there were other issues—her job, for one thing. She was supposed to work for the next two days. And her parents… God, her mother was going to freak out if she couldn’t get hold of her, and they talked pretty regularly. But naturally, her cell phone was in her purse. Which had been left at the apartment, along with everything but the clothes on her back. At least Phenex had said he’d get someone to bring her stuff…she hoped. But this couldn’t last long.

“Justin,” Sofia said just as he began to turn away. He stopped and looked at her, one eyebrow raised.

“I appreciate the help. Really. But when can I go back to my life?”

His expression wasn’t reassuring. Not at all. “When we manage to kill another Fallen, apparently. It shouldn’t be long before Belial shows his face again, now that he knows we know. I just hope we’re not too busy fighting his horde when he does.” He shook his head. “We’ve had three vampires killed just in the past week, all near entrances to the basement. Four bitten humans, one serious enough to have to go to the hospital, and, of course, one new and very unplanned vampire. And there was a murder in the alley behind the building just two nights ago. The poor woman was literally torn to shreds. Do you know how many moving parts we have to deal with so that nothing is tied to the club, to us? I can’t thrall the whole city, Phenex, but I swear sometimes that’s what it’s going to wind up taking. People are nervous. Last night we had empty tables for the first time in memory. Humans are fascinating that way…their instincts are stronger than they know. And right now, I can’t complain about it.”

“We’ll get him,” Phenex said softly.

“We’d better hope so,” Justin replied. “I knew what to expect when we agreed to harbor you and the others. To most of Hell, you’re nothing but traitors. The Infernal Council knows better, but they still want you dead. I thought that after Raum killed Mammon, Hell would let us be for a while and think twice about trying to punish my people. I should have known better. But if the archangels think that Terra Noctem is acceptable collateral damage in their war, they have another thing coming.” Justin closed his eyes, features tight as he shook his head. “Never mind. This is a talk for later. Get settled.”

Justin turned and stalked away, leaving Sofia to stare after him, feeling more helpless than she ever had in her life. Her self-defense skills weren’t going to help her against a demon that had it in for her. And she wasn’t sure how much help they’d be in a city full of vampires.

She was suddenly, horribly homesick.

“By the way,” Justin called, his voice thick with irony, “welcome to Terra Noctem.”