Chapter Fifteen
You’d think that two
people with reasonable intelligence and in a good state of health
would be able to overpower one tiny little poufy-haired woman, but
if that tiny woman was also a demon lord, you’d be very, very
wrong.
“Ouch!” I yelled,
trying to punch Sally when she slammed me against the back of the
elevator, throwing Ulfur in after me. “You son of a bitch! I’ll get
you for this!”
I lunged at her,
unable to get up with Ulfur lying across my legs, but I did try to
bite her. She waved a hand and I hit the floor again.
“Oh, please,” she
said, making a gesture that had me frozen to the floor, Ulfur lying
half on top of me.
She stepped across
our bodies, pressing a button and humming softly along with the
elevator music as we began to descend.
“I knew it! I knew a
demon lord couldn’t be good!” Alec!
Beloved, are you all right? Where are
you?
In an elevator, lying on the floor. Alec, the wrath demons
. . . Sally is evil! I knew she was evil! She took us all
in!
Why are you—sins of the saints!
What’s wrong?
Other than the fact that Kristoff and I are trying to keep
from being beheaded by two wrath demons, you
mean?
Oh. Am I distracting you?
Are you harmed?
No.
Then you are distracting me. I will come to you as soon as
we destroy these demons’ forms.
“Good, bad . . .
that’s so black-and-white when there are so many shades of gray
that are far more interesting,” Sally said
complacently.
“Oh, you think you’re
so smart,” I growled. “Just you wait until Alec takes care of your
demon minions! Then we’ll show you what’s what. Right,
Ulfur?”
“Urgh,” he
groaned.
“Exactly. You’ll be
one sorry chickie, and I just can’t wait to tell your boyfriend
about you.”
Sally continued
humming for a few seconds as a horrible thought occurred to
me.
“Merciful Mary! He’s
in it with you, isn’t he? Oh! And to think I believed him when he
said the Sovereign recommended you. What bull! Well, I can tell
you, we will be having a little chat with this Sovereign dude, and
telling him . . . it . . . all about you and Terrin!”
Sally was about to
reply when the elevator opened to reveal a couple with a small
child in hand. “I’m sorry, but would you mind waiting? My friends
here are about to threaten me with untold torments, and I’m very
curious to see what exactly those will be. I hope they include
thumbscrews. I love thumbscrews. They look so innocuous, and yet
can give you such marvelous results, don’t you think?”
The couple fled
toward the stairs, the small child in the man’s arms.
“That’s just one more
thing I’m going to mention to the Sovereign,” I told Sally’s
ankle.
“Tattletales never
end up good,” was all she said as we descended again.
“What are you going
to do with us?” I tried very hard not to let even so much as a hint
of a quaver taint my voice.
“A friend has badly
wanted to see you, and I am obliging him.”
“Friend? You have a
friend? I thought people like you just used others.”
“Such ingratitude,”
Sally said, buffing a nail with absolute lack of concern about
anything I said. “And to think I’ve gone to so much trouble about
you. Ah, here we are.”
We hadn’t descended
to the basement, or some dank lower floor that only hotel employees
used; no, the doors slid open to reveal another
cream-and-gold-colored hallway, and three pairs of legs. Men’s
legs, two pairs in black pants, one in jeans. I couldn’t move my
head to look up and see who they were, but I knew without a single
shred of doubt that Sally was about to hand Ulfur and me over to
Bael.
“I’ll get you, too,”
I told the pair of feet nearest me. His shoes were
expensive-looking, the kind you see on billionaire businessmen as
they step out of their limos. “And if I don’t, I know a vamp who
will!”
“Why is it mortals
insist on believing they have the least amount of power against
me?” a plummy English voice asked as the expensive shoes stepped to
the side. “What did you do to them, Sally?”
I wondered if I
should let Alec know that Sally had grabbed Ulfur and me, but
decided that distracting him with that information now could have
deadly consequences. I’d wait until he gave me the all clear; then
I’d tattle on Sally like she’d never been tattled on
before.
“Damn you!” I snarled
at the shoes, struggling to force my body upright. It was no
use—whatever Sally had done to us held me to the floor like I was
nailed there.
“Just a simple
immobility spell, my prince. She was getting a bit difficult. Well,
you know how mortals are—they can raise such a fuss over the most
trivial of things.”
“Trivial like
betraying us when we trusted you?” I gasped, outraged at her
callousness.
“Bring both the woman
and the lich. It will be my pleasure to show them both what my
wrath truly consists of.”
I did not like the
sound of that. Maybe now would be a good time to tell Alec what was
going on. Then again, if he was still battling with Bael’s wrath
demons, it might make things worse.
Much worse.
“Be careful,” Sally
advised. “The female bites.”
No, I had better take
care of this myself, at least until Alec was free to help Ulfur and
me.
“Damned straight I
do!” I glared at the pair of shoes nearest me as two hands hefted
me up, slinging me facedown across a man’s shoulder. I growled as
my face was buried in his suit coat, blinding me to everything but
a narrow slice of floor visible when I rolled my eyes to the top of
my head. “I swear by all that’s holy, you’ll pay for this! You all
will!”
“She’s also fairly
antagonistic, although that probably is to be expected,” I heard
Sally say as she followed behind us.
“Where are you taking
us?” I demanded to know of the man’s back.
Bael wasn’t hauling
me around, but it was he who answered . . . in a bland voice that
nonetheless left my skin crawling. “I do not recall giving you
leave to speak, woman.”
“And I don’t recall
giving you the right to make me your Tool, and yet here I am!” I
snapped in return.
“Cora, Cora, Cora,”
Sally said in a disapproving tone. “Dear one, I realize you are not
versed in the etiquette of Abaddon, but surely even you must
realize that one simply does not snarl at Lord Bael without
suffering the consequences.”
I had a horrible
feeling that the word “suffering” was going to take on a very real
meaning, one I was pretty darned desperate to avoid, so despite my
desire to do otherwise, I kept the string of abuse I wished to hurl
at everyone’s heads behind my teeth.
“Silence the woman if
she continues,” Bael said in an offhand voice as a door was opened
and I was tossed onto a bed, Ulfur dumped next to me. We were still
immobile, so I couldn’t even roll over or shove Ulfur’s torso off
my legs, but I could see Sally as she faced Bael near the doorway
of the hotel room.
“Oh, I will,
naturally, because you know, life is just too short to put up with
people lipping off to you. Well, not my
life,” Sally said with a giggle. I ground my teeth and wished I
could fire some of Bael’s power right at her. “But you know what I
mean—life in general. In fact, I had better silence her now,
because she’s sure to scream and beg and plead and generally carry
on, and I wouldn’t want to disturb you.”
“The day will never
come when begging and pleading disturbs me,” Bael said with a
gesture that had his two companions dissolving into nothing. “But
you may silence the woman if you desire. She will not need to have
a mouth in order to be unmade.”
“Hey!” I said, my
skin crawling again at the casual way they both talked about what
could only be torture. “I am right here! And I like my mouth!
Sally, for the love of all that’s holy . . . er . . . for the love
of . . . crap! All I can think of are appeals to your goodness, and
you’re so utterly not good, the comparison would be obscene. I
don’t know why you’re doing this, but I should point out that Alec
will not tolerate you abusing me in any way, shape, or form. And I
know Pia won’t let you do anything to Ulfur, either. What . . . er
. . . what did you mean we would be unmade?” The last bit was
directed at Bael, who ignored me to consult his cell
phone.
“Do you know,” Sally
said slowly, looking particularly thoughtful as she sat on my feet,
making me bite back an exclamation of pain, “I believe Cora might
have a point? That brings to mind something I should tell you, my
lord.”
An unearthly wail
rose high into the night, like the sound of a thousand souls in
torment all crying out at once.
“Jesus wept, what was
that?” I gasped, the hairs on my arms standing on end.
“Oh, dear, that would
be just exactly what I was going to mention,” Sally said,
tsking softly to herself. “That was one
of Bael’s sweet wrath demons, Cora. Evidently the Dark Ones
destroyed it. And although I would never presume to speak for the
Lord Bael, I believe he’s referring to the fact that his Tools
cannot be destroyed. Otherwise”—she gave a delighted little
giggle—“he would simply kill you and be done with it.”
“You are the meanest
person I have ever met, and I grew up in the San Fernando
Valley—you haven’t seen mean until you’ve been deemed too lacking
to join the popular girls’ clique,” I told Sally, even though I
couldn’t see her where she sat crushing my feet.
“Flattery, my little
dumpling of delight, will get you everywhere. Now, what was I
saying? Oh, yes, about the unmaking. You can’t be destroyed, you
see? Otherwise Lord Bael would simply squash you into a Cora-shaped
smear on the carpet. But I imagine he doesn’t want you to be left
sitting around annoying him, either.”
“I do not,” Bael
agreed, obviously in the middle of texting something. My inner
devil gave a little deranged giggle at the idea of Satan addicted
to his smart phone. I wondered if he did Facebook. “The entrance
the lich used to gain access to my palace in Abaddon in order to
steal my Tools has been sealed up, so no others will be able to use
it.” He glanced up, his gaze on Ulfur for a moment. “The lich will,
of course, be suitably punished for his part in wasting my valuable
time, but once I am satisfied that my vengeance has been wrought,
it is better that the Tools be unmade so that they will pose no
further threat.”
Fear on Ulfur’s
behalf gripped my guts at his intentions about punishment. I heard
Ulfur gasp in horror, but he said nothing, evidently feeling the
less attention that was focused on him, the better.
I agreed and, in an
attempt to draw Bael’s attention to me, asked, “But what’s this
unmaking stuff? I thought Terrin said there was no way to separate
the Tools from us?”
“There isn’t, sugar,
there isn’t,” Sally said, rising and patting my squashed ankles.
“I’m afraid when Lord Bael unmakes the Tool inside you—and he needs
to find the Agrippa who made the Tools in order to unmake them—then
you’ll be unmade, as well. Sad, of course, but what can you do? We
can’t have you Tools running around where anyone can take advantage
of Lord Bael. That would be unthinkable.”
“Oh, completely,” I
said with acid sarcasm. “Sally, you amaze me, you really do. You
look so nice, but you truly don’t have a heart, do you? It doesn’t
bother you one single damned infinitesimally small bit that you’ve
betrayed Ulfur and me, does it? You honestly do not have one single
iota of sympathy for us, or even care that he, that man who is
essentially the devil, is going to torture and destroy us. It just
doesn’t matter a fig to you, right? ”
“Dear one, I am a
demon lord,” she said with a gentle smile. “Heartless is what we do
best. Besides, Lord Bael would never tolerate someone who had
compassion as a prince of Abaddon. It’s just not
done.”
I closed my eyes for
a moment, my heart sick. I had to figure out a way to get Ulfur and
me away from them . . . or at least survive long enough for Alec to
finish off the second wrath demon so he could come save us. I’ve
never been a big fan of women needing a man to save them, but I was
willing to recognize there was a time and place for it, and if ever
I saw one, this was it.
“To get back to this
unmaking business,” I said, trying to stall for time. “What exactly
is an Agrippa, and—”
Bael had no issue
with cutting me off. “My time is valuable, Sally. What is it you
wish to say to me?” he asked, putting away his phone and making a
slight gesture of annoyance.
“As Cora mentioned,
she’s a Beloved.” Sally pointed to me. “And he’s a lich, and his
lichmaster is the Beloved of another Dark One.”
Bael frowned. “That
is of little concern to me.”
“Not in the sense of
it being a threat to you, of course not,” Sally said soothingly,
undulating her way over to him, smiling her perky, tooth-filled
smile. I wondered how she—even as evil as she obviously was—could
stand doing so to a man who more or less exuded terror. “No one can
threaten you, you’re so very powerful.”
I couldn’t swear from
where I was lying, but she may very well have batted her eyelashes
at him.
“If you have a point,
make it. I have much work to do to locate the Agrippa who made the
Tools,” Bael said, looking anything but impressed.
“Now, you know me,
sugar—my poor little brain simply cannot cut to the chase the way
yours does,” Sally said, and this time I was sure she was flirting
with Bael. She touched his hand as she all but cooed up to him.
“However, I know you’re a busy, busy man, so I will simply point
out that where there are Beloveds, there are bound to be angry Dark
Ones, and where there are angry Dark Ones, there is the Moravian
Council. And I know that, given the nature of the relationship
between you and the council, you do not want to antagonize
them.”
What was this? Did
the vamps have some sort of a hold over Bael? If so, why had Alec
not mentioned it before? I wanted badly to ask him. Alec? How are things going?
Argh!
That well, huh?
We destroyed the form of one of the demons, but the other
. . .
I felt his pain as a
blade slashed his arm. I winced, feeling guilty for distracting him
when he needed to be focused.
Sorry. Radio silence until you’re done
there.
Bael said nothing for
a moment, his gaze turned inward before he finally said, “I will
see to them, myself. One of my lieutenants is still with them, so I
will simply ensure that they understand their minions are beyond
their help. You will take these two to my palace, and await the
arrival of the Agrippa.”
Sally bowed her head.
“As you desire, my lord. I live, as you know, to do your
bidding.”
I waited until Bael
closed the door as he left before I hissed to Sally, “You are going
to be so sorry when Alec gets through with you. And I am
not Alec’s minion!”
Sally rolled her eyes
and headed for the bathroom. “Must powder my nose. Be back in a
mo.”
Alec, I hate to distract you, but you have incoming. You
have to get out—now.
Incoming in what form?
Bael.
He swore profanely.
Are you and Ulfur away from
here?
I wanted badly to
tell him that he needed to come rescue me, but knew he had enough
on his plate with the remaining wrath demon. We’re . . . fine, I lied. Where’s Diamond? Is she OK?
She hasn’t left the bedroom. Christ!
What?
Just as I thought the
words, another unearthly howl tore through the night.
That was close, Alec said, and even several floors
away, I could feel his exhaustion.
You killed the demon? Good. Now get the hell out of there
before Bael finds you.
I will come to you. Where are you? Are you with
Sally?
Yeees, I said slowly. About
that—
Stay with her. We will escape with Diamond. Christ, I
think he’s here. I will find you as soon as I have Diamond
safe.
He shut off
communication before I could warn him that Sally wasn’t as benign
as he believed. I hesitated to do so with Bael right there about to
pounce. “I think we’re on our own for a little bit, Ulfur, while
everyone gets away from Bael. You doing all right?”
“Yes,” he answered,
his voice pained.
“I don’t suppose you
can move?”
“No. I wish I
could.”
“You and me
both.”
“Cora—”
“Yes?”
He hesitated a few
seconds. “I’m sorry that I got you involved in this. With Bael, and
being made a Tool. I had no idea there were others outside the exit
from Bael’s palace.”
“Well, it’s not like
you had a choice in the matter, is it? I mean, didn’t de Marco
force you to steal the Tools?”
“Yes,” he said, his
voice filled with misery. “But I’m still sorry.”
“And I appreciate
that. Don’t be so quick to give up, though. We’ll get through this.
First things first—we have to get away from Sally. There’s got to
be some way we can knock her out, or blast her with Bael’s power or
something. If I could just put my hand on you, I might be able to
channel the power through you. . . .”
“There, so much
better. I just feel absolutely stark naked if I go out without
lipstick,” Sally said as she emerged from the bathroom, fresh as
could be. “Now, shall we get going? Lord Bael wants you to be taken
to his palace, but the nearest entrance to that is in Paris, and
that is a nightmare trip I just don’t even want to think about. My
palace, however, has a presence in the form of a lovely little
Louis the Fourteenth villa in the town of Privas, which isn’t too
far from here. I’ll take you there first, and then we shall proceed
to Bael’s Black Palace.”
“We’re going to your
villa?” I asked, hope blossoming. “You can’t possibly carry us all
that way.”
“Of course not,” she
said, laughing.
She’d have to remove
the immobility spell. She’d have to let us up to walk, and then . .
. I sighed with relief. Then we’d escape. “Well, I have to say, as
much fun as it has been being a human blob, I really do welcome the
chance to move around. I’m starting to get a cramp in my
calf.”
“Oh, I’m not going to
be able to take the spell off you,” she told us, making a face that
looked as sincere as hell. “You’d try to escape, and Lord Bael
would be most angry with me if I let you do that.”
“You just said you
couldn’t carry us,” I protested.
“And so I
won’t.”
My hopes plummeted.
“But then . . . how are you going to get us to your villa? Do you
have henchmen like Bael?”
“Thousands of them,
but they’re busy wreaking havoc and destruction, so I’ll just have
to do this myself.”
To my astonishment,
she reached out into the air, and with a jerking motion tore . . .
well, tore what I assumed was the fabric of space. It gaped open
like the wall of the hotel room was a photograph on a sheet that
had been ripped apart, a swirling blackness beyond it.
“Madre de Dios,” I swore, shrieking as Sally, with
a strength that belied her tiny little form, grabbed me with both
hands and flung me through the rip in space.