The Trouble With Demons rb-3 Read online

  I’d stayed in the citadel since arriving on Mid a few weeks ago, but the past few days I’d been on the Fortune. The accommodations Mychael had provided for me had been luxurious, but with guards posted outside my door, a gilded cage was still a cage. My family doesn’t do cages very well.

  “Mychael, I’m not safe anywhere, and you know it. Vegard never leaves my side, but if it makes you feel better, post a couple more Guardians, though with literally all hell about to break loose, I doubt if you can spare them. I may not be any safer on the Fortune, but I’m happier. If I can’t be safe, I’ll take happy.”

  Mychael sat back and raked his hand through his hair. I knew I’d been one exasperation right after another since the day we’d met.

  “I won’t allow myself to be locked up,” I told him.

  “I would never lock you up. You know that.”

  “If I went back, you wouldn’t let me leave, so what’s the difference?”

  “You’d be alive.”

  “Possibly.”

  “No, definitely.” Mychael said it as if he dared Death to defy him.

  “Mychael, I can’t let you-”

  “Can’t let me what? Protect you? Save you? Keep the next Volghul from carrying you off? Dammit, Raine, I won’t stand by and-”

  He took my hand and the shock of his magic raced up my arm. My breath exploded in a hiss, not of pain, but of every nerve ending suddenly and sharply aware. The air was crisp and alive and filled with scents magnified a hundredfold: the wood of the chair and table, the metallic tang of Mychael’s armor and weapons, and his unmistakably masculine scent. My magic surged forward to meet his, matching him, giving as good as I got. Our magics coiled and twisted, weaving us together, and I was keenly aware of his every pulse, every muscle, the surging of blood through his veins.

  And he was just as aware of me-all of me. I was transfixed as his eyes darkened from sun-kissed tropical seas to ocean depths. As his power filled me, I saw what he’d done to the demons that had ambushed him and four of his men. When my magic rose to meet his, Mychael felt what I had done to that Volghul.

  And he knew that Tam and I had done it together.

  That thought broke whatever hold our powers had on us.

  I pulled my hand away, dragging air forcibly into my lungs. “What the hell was that?”

  Mychael’s eyes were like twin sapphires. “Magic most potent.” His deep voice was rich and vibrant; it was his spellsinger’s voice. He wasn’t doing it on purpose; it was simply remnants from the power that still roiled within him.

  I was about to say “no shit” to his assessment, but the memory of what Tam and I had done froze the words on my lips.

  It was my magic that had focused Tam’s power, and my magic that had just surged into Mychael. The Saghred hadn’t had a thing to do with either one.

  I felt my hands start to shake and I let them. At least they knew what to do next. “What did you do?”

  In response, Mychael tentatively reached out to touch me, but stopped when the air between us crackled with static. The sensation ran up my spine like a warm hand in a velvet glove. Damn, but that felt good. Too good. I held the breath I’d just taken and flattened myself against the back of my chair.

  “Stop,” I managed. “No touching.”

  Mychael slowly pulled his hand back.

  We had touched more than each other’s hands before, but absolutely nothing like this had ever happened.

  In that exact instant, Mychael had the same thought; I felt the echo from it flicker inside my mind.

  My own thoughts skittered in panicked circles. “I can hear you thinking.”

  Mychael sat unmoving. “It’s fading, but I can sense your thoughts, too.”

  Damn.

  “I agree,” he said.

  I hadn’t said it out loud. Double damn.

  “Anything like this ever happen to you before?” I asked him.

  “Never.” Mychael’s eyes were on mine; they were slowly returning to their normal color. “Was this similar to what happened with you and Tam?”

  I hesitated before answering. “Yes… and no. Yes, my magic felt the same as when Tam and I bottled that demon.” I paused. “But Tam didn’t feel anything like you.”

  “I’m not Tam.” Mychael’s voice was deeper, huskier.

  I swallowed. “I noticed.”

  The air between us thickened, and then crackled with pent-up magic, among other things. With visible effort, Mychael pushed back his chair and stood. He put a few steps between us, then turned and leaned against the conference table, crossing his arms over his chest. To avoid temptation, get away from what tempts you. The paladin was back and he had a job to do.

  “What happened with Tam in the Quad?” he asked.

  “You just saw what happened-”

  “Only flashes of image and sound.”

  I told him everything, starting from spotting the blue demons in the street, to the elven mage’s murder, to the Volghul.

  “I’ve never taken down a demon,” I said. “Tam said he had, so he told me how to channel his power.” I stopped. It took me more than a few moments to say what I didn’t want to acknowledge, let alone admit. “Tam and I seem to have some sort of connection since what happened last week.”

  Mychael nodded, his expression grim. He knew only too well what had happened.

  Six spellsingers had been kidnapped and held in a prison block deep under the elven embassy. They were intended as sacrifices to feed and reactivate the Saghred. There was a chance that Tam and I could save them, but only if we worked together. The Saghred had wanted to get its figurative hooks into Tam, and saving those spellsingers had given the rock a taste of Tam’s black magic. What we’d done had torn down the magical barriers between us. Tam had said that we weren’t separate anymore. Until today, I hadn’t realized what that meant.

  And now, with a single touch of his hand, Mychael’s magic had merged with mine, and we could hear each other’s thoughts. It was only for a few intensely intimate, breath-stopping moments-but it had happened. It was similar enough to what had happened between me and Tam to scare me, but the Saghred hadn’t stepped in to join me and Mychael. It was only the two of us. Mychael was white magic; Tam was dark-it could be as simple as that, but I didn’t think so. Nothing the Saghred ever did was simple.

  I blew out my breath. It was a little shaky. “What’s happening to us?”

  Mychael’s face showed no emotion. He knew that “us” included Tam. “I don’t have an answer, but we will find one.”

  “Best plan I’ve heard all day.” I stood; I couldn’t sit still anymore, either. “Vegard said that Volghuls are advance guards for a legion of demons, and implied that we have ourselves a Hellgate opening on the island.” I didn’t mention that Tam had told me the same thing in my mind. If Mychael didn’t know, I didn’t need to tell him. “What does it take to open one?”

  “Dark mages using the blackest of magic.”

  I didn’t take my eyes off Mychael’s. “You have suspects?”

  “I do.”

  I met his response with silence. He knew one of the names I was thinking-no magic-linked mind reading necessary.

  “It wasn’t Tam,” I said quietly.

  “I know that.”

  “Others won’t be so sure.”

  “I know that, too.”

  “Carnades despises goblins,” I said. “Especially ones as powerful as Tam.”

  “Tam’s not the only dark mage on this island,” Mychael said. “I’m ashamed to say it, but more than a few of the Conclave’s mages and the college’s professors practice black magic. The vast majority of our mages and faculty want nothing more than to do research or teach. But some can’t take the temptation of that much power. Practicing black magic is illegal, but that doesn’t stop experimenting behind locked and warded doors. If they’re caught and convicted, they will be executed.”

  “You’d think that’d be a deterrent.”

  “The punishme
nt is harsh, but it has to be. I’m responsible for the safety of thousands of students, mages, and citizens on this island. No one, or no thing, will endanger the people I’m sworn to protect.”

  One of those people had gotten himself endangered right onto a slab in the morgue.

  “Sedge Rinker said the dead mage was the chairman of the demonology department.”

  Mychael nodded. “Professor Laurian Berel.”

  “Those demons wanted something and they were convinced the professor had it,” I told him.

  I didn’t know what “it” was, but recent near-death experiences had taught me that when bad guys wanted something, things would generally go to the lower hells in a handbasket if they got their hands-or in this case, claws-on it. And considering that the bad guys were demons, that trip to the lower hells could be literal.

  “The professor said he didn’t have it,” I said, seeing the scene replay itself in my head, complete with the professor getting his throat ripped out. “And I believed him. I didn’t know this Professor Berel, but from what I saw, he didn’t strike me as the type to give his life to protect something.”

  “He wasn’t.”

  “But he must have known what it was; otherwise, he couldn’t have said that he didn’t have it. Unfortunately he’s dead, and the demon that killed him is stuffed in a bottle.”

  “Some of his colleagues aren’t,” Mychael reminded me.

  I jerked my head in the direction of the cells. “You’re going to question the blue ones out there?”

  “I am. If they don’t know anything, I’ll have to let the Volghul out of the bottle.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “It might be necessary. And since I’ve interrogated demons before, and I am the paladin of this island, it’s my duty to do it. But if I did have to interrogate the Volghul, I couldn’t do it here. Sedge has top-notch shields and wards on his cells, but they’re nowhere near strong enough for a Volghul. I’d have to take him to the demonology department for that.”

  “Let’s hope the blue ones are talkative.”

  Chapter 5

  All naked, blue demons looked the same to me. Perhaps that opinion offended delicate demonic sensibilities, but somehow I doubted this bunch had anything delicate. An hour or so closed up in a warded cell had given their collective aroma ample time to seep out. Believe me, there was nothing delicate about that. Wards and shields would hold in or keep out most anything-unfortunately a stomach-turning, gag-inducing stench wasn’t one of them.

  Vegard saw my grimace. “Brimstone.”

  “What?” I tried unsuccessfully to talk and breathe through my mouth at the same time. Must have been a gift I didn’t have.

  “The smell,” he clarified.

  “So that’s what Hell smells like.”

  “I assume so; never been there myself.”

  “Not many have,” came a woman’s voice from behind us.

  “Afternoon, Sir Vegard.”

  The big Guardian turned and smiled. “Professor Niabi, good to see you.”

  “Considering how today’s gone so far, it’s good to be seen.”

  The woman was human, about my height, with nut brown skin, and black hair pulled back into a serviceable braid.

  “So Hell’s not a top-ten vacation spot?” I quipped.

  Her teeth flashed in a good-humored grin. “The beaches suck.” She put out her hand. “Sora Niabi, professor of demonology.”

  I hesitated only a moment before taking it. Her hand was warm and callused. Sora Niabi had done more work than just turning pages. I might have to adjust my opinion about academic types.

  “I’m Raine Benares, seeker and…” I looked up at Vegard.

  “What else are people calling me now?”

  The big Guardian chuckled and shook his head. “A lot of things, ma’am. Some you’ve heard, most you haven’t, but I’m sure you could guess.”

  “No titles necessary,” Sora Niabi said with a grin. “I know who you are.”

  She knew, and she wasn’t afraid of me. She also didn’t want my power or want me locked up. I could sense it, and my instincts about people had never been wrong. Well, at least not yet.

  “After this morning, Professor Niabi’s also the new department chair,” Vegard informed me.

  Sora Niabi blew her breath out in disgust. “Looks that way. Though if Laurian Berel hadn’t been such an idiot, I wouldn’t be.” Her robes were a riot of bright colors. They were also slashed up the side, exposing practical trousers underneath, and good, sturdy boots.

  She noticed me noticing. “When you study demons for a living, Miss Benares, it’s healthy to be able to haul ass when you have to.”

  That did it; I liked her.

  “Call me Raine.”

  “Only if you’ll drop the ‘professor’ and call me Sora.”

  “Done.”

  Mychael joined us. “Professor Niabi, thank you for coming on such short notice.”

  “Not a problem, Paladin Eiliesor. The coroner needed me to officially identify Professor Berel, so I had to be here anyway.”

  “He was a talented mage.”

  “Laurian was a better fool, and you know it as well as I do. You should have been a diplomat, Paladin. You actually managed to say that with a straight face. I was hardly surprised to hear he’d gotten himself killed; I’ve been expecting that news for years. In our line of work, talent can get you into trouble, but arrogance will get you killed and eaten-and not always in that order.”

  I nodded toward the warded cell. “Those four and their buddies were after something and they thought Professor Berel had it. He said he didn’t. Any idea what it was?”

  “Not a clue. Laurian kept a lot of bizarre artifacts around.

  We all do. Certain objects have power against demons. Everybody in the department has their own collection and their own favorites. It’s safer to have your own when you need it. Chances are if you need it, you don’t have the time to go borrowing.”

  Mychael lowered his voice. “He was killed by a Volghul.”

  Sora’s only reaction was a raised eyebrow. “Nothing he had would have saved him from that. Apparently when the demons didn’t get what they wanted from Laurian, they went to his town house. The place has been demolished from the inside out, like somebody got really frustrated.”

  “Frustrated demonic searchers?” I asked.

  “The brimstone smell gave it away.” Sora squinted through the thickly warded cell. “Is that a wine bottle?”

  “The Volghul is in there,” Mychael told her.

  Sora whistled. “In a wine bottle? Damn. Who stuffed it in there?”

  I half raised my hand. “That would be me.”

  “You?”

  “Me. With a little help.”

  “That’s some help.”

  I tried not to wince. “Yes, it was.”

  “Good work.”

  “Thanks.”

  Mychael nodded toward the demons’ cell. “Do you have everything we need to question those?”

  Sora gave the knapsack slung over one shoulder a shake. I heard something metal clank heavily inside. “Never leave home without it.”

  “And traps for transporting them out of here?”

  “Got my two best grad students checking out a pair from the lab. They’ll be here any time now.”

  “Good. Let’s get started.”

  The demon’s enraged screams had subsided to low growls.

  Sora Niabi had wrangled it out of that cell and into a binding circle in an interrogation room. There was a ring of silver about three feet wide permanently embedded in the stone floor. Sora had added a thick silver chain on top of that. Both inside and outside the circle, she’d carefully placed objects I couldn’t identify, and judging from how the demon had reacted when Sora forced him inside, he knew perfectly well what they were, and he didn’t want to be anywhere near them. The professor knew her business. Good. Any interrogation room I’d ever seen was just a ta
ble, two chairs, no windows, and a barred iron door, with the obligatory big, burly, and heavily armed guard standing right outside.

  Of course they did things differently on Mid.

  There were still big and burly types outside the door, but that was where the similarities ended. Sure, these boys could stop an escapee with a fist or steel; they could also spit a spell that’d tack a miscreant to the nearest wall like a bug. The door and all four walls were kept warded. Nothing was leaving that room unless it was let go. Mychael and Sora had no intention of releasing that demon. Her grad students were stationed on either side of the door-on the inside. I didn’t know if Sora had asked them to stand by the door in case they needed to make a quick getaway, or if they were there to make sure the demon didn’t do the same. They honestly didn’t look old enough to fight acne, let alone a demon, but I guess when it came to battling demonic forces, brawn didn’t matter. Brains did-that and nerves of steel. From what I’d seen so far, Sora Niabi had both in spades. Before they’d gone in and locked the door behind them, those two kids had looked like they were still in training.

  Phaelan and I waited outside the door, about ten feet away and slightly off to one side, should that door suddenly decide to blow off its hinges. I’d seen it happen before. Better safe than squashed.

  Phaelan leaned close to my ear. “Why are we still here?”

  He was talking through clenched teeth again, a sure sign my cousin wasn’t happy in his present surroundings. I guess I really couldn’t blame him; a couple of the watchers were glancing at Phaelan’s wanted poster and then back at Phaelan. Sure, Mychael had given my cousin immunity from prosecution for any past legal indiscretions while on the Isle of Mid, but Mychael was questioning a demon right now. He wasn’t here. It was just me and Phaelan and a roomful of increasingly alert watchers.

  Phaelan cleared his throat impatiently. I hadn’t answered his question yet.

  “I could see those demons, but no one else could,” I told him, keeping my voice to a bare whisper. “A man is dead, and his killer said that he was honored by my presence and wanted me to go home with him. I want to know why.”

  “Hmmm, let’s see… That makes you a possible demon ally and accessory to murder. So you thought you’d stand in the middle of city watch headquarters.”