BloodAngel Page 12

  He felt, again, the stirring of hot winds inside him.

  All around him.

  The woman disappeared.

  She was there, and then not there.

  Ramsey broke, then, and ran across the street. He stepped inside the dense, rustling air of the woods just as the sound of sirens—four minutes after he'd made the 911 call—rose into the dark.

  * * * *

  He stooped and rubbed his hands in the dirt, trying to get the blood off. He rubbed his hands again on his jacket, then gently probed the wound. He had been shot; he should be feeling more pain than this.

  He made his way deeper into the woods, following the sound of trickling water until he found the creek. It was churning and gleaming in the shadows. He followed it for what seemed a very long time, the moss and leaves and loose-packed earth muffling his footsteps. He listened to the sounds of his own breathing, to the soft wind knocking branches above. He felt hollowed of all thought and feeling, yet by the time he broke free of the woods, stumbling onto highway asphalt, he knew he'd made a decision.

  Something choked up his throat and he doubled over, coughing. He coughed until the sheer force of it brought tears to his eyes, his hands grabbing at his throat. And then something was in his mouth—cold and splintered and coppery-tasting—and a shudder ran through him.

  He spat it out.

  The bullet.

  It lay on the road, wet from his own saliva.

  The world was tilting and weaving all around him. He looked at the stars, the woods, the bleak unraveling highway. He didn't feel like Ramsey Doe anymore. He felt as if he were losing his mind.

  "Screaming and dreaming as I fell," he muttered.

  Drained, hungry, dirty, Ramsey began to walk along the highway. And when he heard the car sweeping up behind him, he turned, squinting against the bright gash of headlights.

  He did what seemed the natural thing.

  He held out his thumb.

  * * * *

  Hours later he stopped by a roadside phone booth. He dropped in quarters, dialed the number. Through the dirt-streaked glass he could see the dawn, sky like dirty cotton above the cluster of telephone wires and fast-food restaurants. He waited, prepared to hang up if the wrong person answered.

  But it was Lauren's voice: anxious, breathless. "Ramsey?"

  He said nothing.

  A semi rumbled by, clanking hot air in its wake.

  "Ramsey. Please. I want you to know—"

  "I love you," Ramsey said, and hung up.

  Chapter Seventeen

  He brought her breakfast as promised, on an antique Japanese tray. "Tabasco sauce," Jess mumbled, forking up some scrambled eggs. She didn't remember when she had last eaten.

  He sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry?"

  She was wolfing down the food. "Thank you."

  "My pleasure."

  She tore off a piece of toast, met his eyes with her own. Cool snowy light shafted through the windows behind him.

  Kai said, "I won't, you know."

  "Won't… ?"

  "Use magic on you. Not unless your safety depends on it."

  His eyes had darkened to a deep auburn. His facial expression rarely changed, but his eyes reminded her of those mood-stone rings she used to wear in grade school. She would watch him carefully, then, learn to gauge him through those eyes.

  Kai said, "How do you feel?"

  "Well-rested," she said. This, at least, was true. She felt part of herself going away again, detaching; she gazed at Kai with calmness, as if he didn't really exist, as if she were still dreaming.

  "What were you?" she said. "In your old life, in the Labyrinth? You said the magic was restricted to the elite. So you—"

  He shrugged. "I was a pampered rich kid."

  She studied him for a moment. "You were more than that."

  "Eat your eggs."

  "Tell me what you were."

  "Crown prince."

  She dropped her fork. It clanged against the plate.

  "So when Salik called you His Highness," Jess muttered, "it wasn't just sarcasm."

  "Yes and no. Jess. No more questions."

  "I have the right to question—"

  "You have every right." Kai handed her a folded sweater. "It's big for you, but you'll need something warm."

  The sweater was blue cashmere, soft in her hands. "It's mine," Kai said, "but there are more clothes in the wardrobe. You can meet us downstairs when you're ready."

  "Are you really going to take me to a demon?" Jess said flatly.

  "You thought I might be joking?"

  * * * *

  The wardrobe—a hefty antique—held jeans, T-shirts, drawstring pants, all pressed and clean and perfectly organized. They were all brand-new, all her size. As if someone had prepared for her coming. As if someone had assumed she'd be there for a while.

  * * * *

  They were waiting for her in front of the stone fireplace. Mina nodded at her. The other woman was simply dressed, in a wool caftan and leggings, her long hair braided and wound around her skull. "This way," she said.

  Jess looked at Kai. He gave a small nod. The gesture comforted her, and she felt again her depth of confidence in him. It unnerved her to be this trusting, leave herself open for such a deep and easy wound.

  He said, "You need to seem innocent. Which you are. So listen to him, play along with him. That's all he requires. His first exchange will take place with me, so stand back and listen and follow my lead. Understand?"

  "Seems simple enough."

  "You will see a ring of colored, broken glass around his cell. He's very proud of this little collection of his, but it serves another purpose. You must not step beyond it, even when he asks you, no matter what he promises. Understand?"

  Do not feed the animals. She had to swallow a laugh.

  "Yes," she said.

  He looked to Mina and nodded.

  Mina led them from the room, down a hallway that ended in a wood-and-iron door. Mina laid both hands on the wood, murmured words beneath her breath, and the door shifted open.

  She stepped through. Jess glanced uncertainly at Kai, then stepped across the threshold, aware of Kai's broad-shouldered presence behind her.

  A dry, cold, narrow stairway, winding down into rock. They did not talk. A couple of times Jess glanced over her shoulder; Kai's face was devoid of expression, his eyes dark and hard. Their footfalls echoed and faded. Old-fashioned torches were spaced along the stone walls. Mina flicked her fingers at them as they passed, pale blue flames slipping up to light their way.

  Time shifted away from Jess. She felt as if she had always been doing this: descending stone stairs, caught between individuals who claimed and seemed to be more than human. Except suddenly there were no steps left. They entered a tunnel, dark curve of stone above, pale form of Mina ahead.

  And then Jess heard the rise of song: the atonal humming from the night before, filled with an urgency, an eagerness, shoring up the very air.

  They came to another stone door. Mina touched it with her fingertips, murmured more words, and with a deep groaning sound it shifted open.

  They stepped into a cavern filled with blue light.

  Something that was not human said, "Oh, my friends. Welcome."

  And in that moment, Jess believed everything.

  Reality wrenched loose from its moorings and broke apart. She touched the cavern wall, steeling herself for the impossible thing that lay before her. And all the things that lay beyond that.

  The light that swirled around them was ghostly and blue, like the firelight in the stone stairways, charged with an energy that hummed through her whole body. A mosaic of stained, broken glass was laid out in the center of the floor, curving around the blue sphere that hovered three feet off the ground.

  Kai touched her shoulder, whispered, "That glass. Do not step beyond it."

  She managed a nod.

  The sphere was large enough to accommodate a full-grown man, but the thing t
hat moved inside it and watched them through the glistening wall was not—or was no longer—a man.

  It pressed long, spidery hands against the sphere wall, hissed, "Kai."

  There was delight in its voice, its slanted red eyes. Its body was that of a human male, but one that had been distorted, elongated. It was moving, undulating, inside the sphere, long curving nails scraping across the rounded walls. And Jess saw that it had a tail: long and tapered, hairless, like a reptile's.

  "My prince," it whispered. "You've come back to me."

  Kai drew something from his pocket: a circle of glass, stained in a geometric design of red and blue. "Hello, Del," he said quietly, then stooped to place the glass within the mosaic. The action reminded Jess of a person paying homage. The demon crouched and watched, wrapping its tail around its legs, red eyes following its new piece of treasure.

  "Don't put it there," it said suddenly, urgently. "Move it to your right!"

  Kai shifted the glass.

  "Between the purple and the yellow! Yes. Good. Good!"

  Kai moved several steps back.

  "Very nice, Your Highness. Thank you. Thank you so much. You look very good, my prince. Very handsome." The demon grinned, revealing rows on rows of dark jagged teeth. "Every inch the image of your illustrious father. Don't you think so, Mina-Mina?"

  Mina chided, "Be nice, Del. Or we'll leave you all alone."

  "And take away my pretty glass? Oh, Mina-Mina. You are so very cruel. Very cruel to your little pet Del."

  Kai said, "This is Jessamy Shepard. I thought you'd like to meet her."

  The demon's attention shifted to Jessamy. She felt pinpricks of heat on her skin as the thing's gaze moved along her body.

  "Pretty," it murmured. "The prince has found himself a nice little toy. Just like in the old, old days. Right, my Mina?"

  Mina said nothing.

  The demon clucked its tongue, stroked the tip of its tail. Its voice turned honeyed. "I know. The same insults, the same little barbs. But I'm trapped in here with so little to play with. Only my memories." It sighed, and rolled the red eyes back toward Jess, as if angling for sympathy. "Only memories. It's your own fault, Mina-Mina. You don't provide much in the way of stimulation. How is your little pet Del to amuse himself?"

  It stuck its head forward and leered at Jess. "A pretty little—" it said again, then cut itself off and pressed its long, rippling body against the sphere wall.

  "Come closer," it barked. "Come closer, little girl. I need to smell you."

  Jess approached the ring of colored glass. She could have been viewing an extremely rare animal at an extremely odd exotic zoo. But running just beneath the detachment and shock and growing curiosity was a charge of emotion. It took a moment for her to recognize it as anger.

  Her life, her sense of the world, based on quicksand. And now sucked under.

  The air held the sharp scent of smoke, something burning. The demon grinned. Its skin looked slippery-rubbery-smooth, pale lips wrinkling back from dark gums, dark teeth.

  "I smell your blood," Del said. "I smell the blood of Shemayan."

  It tossed its head back and made sharp, barking sounds, tail slapping against the curved floor of its cell. It lowered its head and looked again at Jess, and she realized it was laughing. "How interesting," it said. "How very interesting. I thought—we all thought—"

  Del's gaze shifted over to Kai.

  It said softly, "Well played, my prince. So well played."

  "You thought they had all been destroyed," Kai said.

  Del's face scrunched into what seemed to be a frown. "Shemayan had three children. One-two-three children. We pulled the head off the second one, gutted and ate the third. The third had pretty eyes and such a piercing scream. It hurt my dainty ears. And the first one." He snickered. "We know what happened to the first one. The vessel. Does she know?" He pointed a talon at Jess. "Have you told her everything? Or anything at all?"

  "There was a fourth child," Kai said. "An infant daughter born outside the marriage."

  "Our noble Shemayan an adulterer? So very very naughty."

  "His wife made the arrangements," Kai said. "They knew they needed another child. A secret child."

  "To carry the Binding," Del said. The fierce gaze returned to Jess. "And so this little one is the result. The secret progeny. How very clever. Well done, well done. I didn't know the old guy had it in him." It paused, then said, "Shem was an easy kill, you know. It was very very disappointing." It flicked its tail, body rippling back and forth in the sphere. It seemed agitated, pacing. "Why have you brought this little daughter to me, my prince? May I venture a little guess?"

  Kai's voice turned wry. "Please."

  "I can smell the Binding, but it's very very deep within her. Do you need me to dig it out? Open her up, so to speak? Show her around?" The demon's voice spiraled up an octave. "Has your kind grown so weak?"

  "Yes."

  Behind them, Mina drew in breath. Kai continued, his voice smooth and untroubled: "Bakal will crush us with ease. It won't be much of a show, Del, not for an audience as demanding as you. No suspense, no plot twists, no sense of climax. No fun."

  He glanced sidelong at Jess. Glanced away.

  The demon appeared to be musing to itself. "Innat, poor crippled hurting Innat, concealed in human flesh." It stroked the tip of its tail. "Hmmm. The Sajae scattered and fallen and some of them, like Mina-Mina here, even resigned to their own defeat. The Binding buried deep in the contaminated blood of a descendent. Oh my. Oh my, no." It glanced back at Kai. "But Bakal must gather her strength, her bearings, in this strange new modern world. Do you think she's found her special friend yet?" Del grinned. "There is always a special friend."

  "Odd," Kai remarked, "how demons can't stand to be alone. As if you find your own company rather loathsome."

  "I find myself enchanting," Del said, and thumped its tail. "But we digress. So you require just a touch of demon magic, do you not? And I, the only demon foolish enough to help you, selfish enough to risk the wrath of my colleagues." It giggled. "Do I have a crystal-clear understanding of the situation?"

  "Beautifully clear."

  "You expect me to betray my own kind?" Del hissed. "Betray Bakal?"

  "I think even Bakal Ashika would like a good game," Kai said. "Once you annihilate us, what will you do for fun?"

  "You know what Bakal has planned for you? Quite gruesome. You could save yourself, Your Highness, if you would only—"

  "Is that what you want to see happen?" Kai said.

  Del ducked its head, peering up at Kai, stroking its tail.

  Jess thought: My God. It's flirting with him—

  "You should probably die, Kai." But the demon was plucking its tail with both taloned hands, turning away from the Sajae prince, as if it was unsure.

  "Everyone dies. It's just a matter of time and place."

  "And how much pain."

  "Don't you want to make things interesting? You can be the wild card."

  "The X factor." The demon was pleased. "The random element."

  "That makes you very powerful."

  "Whatever I do," Del said, "is meaningless in the end. What good is a blood-link to a warrior made crippled and cowardly?"

  "I don't know. Why don't we find out?"

  The demon paced inside the sphere for several moments, and the high, sweet, burning smell grew stronger.

  Del grew very still, looked out at them again. "She will win, in the end," it declared. "It is a matter of destiny, it is the way of things. But you have learned me very well, sweet prince. I want a good game. I want a fun war." The red gaze shifted slowly across them all. "Leave the little one with me. Let us get to know one another."

  Mina said, "Are you prepared for this, Jessamy?"

  Del laughed. Jess did not flinch or look away. Her fear was a thing she had cut away from herself; she could feel it, floating nearby, tethered to her but not of her.

  "I can handle this," she said.

&nb
sp; "Can you?" Del said. He sounded happy, gleeful. "Let's find out."

  Kai's hand on her shoulder, his voice in her ear, one final repeated warning. "Don't go beyond the glass."

  Jess nodded.

  "Ten minutes," Kai said to Del.

  And then Kai and Mina withdrew. She heard the shift and thud of the stone door behind them.

  Del spoke first. "Mina once read a story to me called Alice in Wonderland. Do you know it?"

  "Yes."

  "It was very trippy. You can play Alice. Is Kai your White Rabbit?"

  "Mina reads to you?"

  "We enjoy each other. We keep each other company. It's a twisted demented relationship. It's lovely."

  "Kai said you could be charming," Jess said. "I'm still waiting."

  "Did he?" Del chuckled, deep in its throat. "Maybe in my finer days. But charm is such a cheap and shoddy thing. Easily put on. Easily taken off. Never trust the things that charm you. The man is enchanting, don't you think? Even in the old old days, when he was just a spoiled little princeling. He was a wild, beautiful thing. Someday you should open him up—not literally, of course—and get him to tell you stories. If he still remembers. I could refresh his memory." Del paused, scratched his chest with one long, tapered ringer. "I smell him on you. That sweater. Is he courting you? Romancing you? Is he scr—"

  "No."

  "Shame. I imagine he's a wee bit different from other men. Do you find that difference repellent, pretty Jessamy?" He paused. "Or are you… in love"—he batted his eyes and made fluttery motions with his hands—"with someone else?"

  She didn't react; or at least, didn't think she reacted. Yet he had already picked up the answer. "Ah," he said.

  "Is this really what you want to talk about?"

  Del giggled. "It is, actually. But I see your point. Time is ticking, ticking, tick tick tick. So come closer."

  She was caught by his voice, his eyes. She moved towards the sphere, until her chopped-up shadow fell across the circle of broken glass.

  "It was slave magic," Del whispered. He covered his mouth with his hand, looked around him with big eyes; then he giggled. "That's what they called it. Bad magic. Illegal magic."

  He pressed his hands against the sphere, looking at her. His eyes sparked and flamed. She was drawn in by that gaze, fascinated by it.