Текст книги "Secrets of the Demon"

Автор книги: Diana Rowland

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Текущая страница: 16 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

Chapter 29

Even though Jill and I could never fit into the same size jeans, she had T-shirts and stretchy-type pants that were suitable for my current needs. And even better, she had a stretchy-type sports bra that fit well enough to keep me from revealing the room temperature. I dressed quickly in the loaner clothing, then returned downstairs.

“First things first,” I said. “I don’t know if that thing found me because whoever’s controlling it drove it to my house, or if it somehow has the ‘scent’ of me. So, we need to be cautious.”

“Tell us what happened,” Ryan said, his voice and gaze cool and professional. I did so, even telling the part about Rhyzkahl waking me up. I expected Ryan to react to that in some way, but his face was an iron mask. Oddly, his control bothered me more than if he’d been upset or relieved. I kinda wanted to see somesort of reaction.

Zack had remained standing near the window during my recitation, occasionally peeking out. I didn’t miss that he was careful to maintain cover. “You touched a nerve with someone somewhere.”

“Yeah, well, maybe y’all can help me figure out what nerve.” I scrubbed a hand through my hair, wincing as I found tangles. Crap, I was probably an utterly lovely sight. I had yet to look in a mirror. At this point I was afraid to. Sleep-tangled hair, no makeup, and borrowed clothing. Sigh. Maybe it was a good thing that Ryan didn’t seem to want to look at me.

“Right now most of the attacks seem connected, but it still doesn’t make any sense,” I continued. “Vic Kerry was thrown out a window, Adam Taylor was tossed down a flight of stairs, and Roger Peeler was chased down and drowned. And Vic loaned money to both Adam and Roger ...” I frowned. The stock purchase. That meant something, but I was too frazzled to figure it out. “The attack on Lida is the one that doesn’t fit.”

“I’m still inclined to believe that Lida’s attack was a publicity stunt that went too far,” Ryan said.

“Okay,” I said. “So we’re down to who might be controlling it. Adam and Roger are out, obviously. Trey doesn’t seem to give a shit about publicity. And Michael only wants to be left alone to play piano.”

“But Vic and Ben Moran were pals,” Jill piped up, shuffling through newspapers.

I frowned. “My aunt told me that Vic and Mike Moran Senior were good friends. Ben and Vic were too? How do you know that?”

Jill lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “I freelance for the local paper—go to society events and take pictures.” She smiled. “It’s a pretty sweet gig. Free ticket to the events. Only downside is the mingling with the snobs. Though luckily most people aren’t snobby at all.”

“How about Moran?”

She snorted. “Wanted to be sure his picture was taken any time there was a camera. Loved being popular. But people kissed his ass too.”

“Because he’s on the board of Lake Pearl Bank,” Zack said with a nod. “He has some pull when it comes to loans and business dealings.”

Jill nodded. “And he’ll have even more now that they’re being bought out. He made a lot of stockholders veryhappy with this deal.”

It hit me. “That’s it,” I murmured. “Vic and Ben were pals? How close?”

Jill cocked her head. “They hung together a fair amount, or at least every time I saw them at a function.”

I stood, excited. “That’s it. All of that time I suffered in white collar crime is finally paying off!”

Zack raised an eyebrow. “Would you be so kind as to share with us?”

I grinned, beginning to pace. “Okay, Moran is on the board of Lake Pearl Bank. He loves being on the board of LPB because it makes him popular and powerful. People kiss his ass and do shit for him. He fucking loves that shit.”

“We’ve noticed this,” Ryan remarked, tone dry.

“So, getting kicked off the board would be about the worst thing that could happen to him, in his mind. He wouldn’t be invited to any of these events and parties anymore. People wouldn’t be kissing his ass.”

Zack and Ryan exchanged a baffled glance and I rolled my eyes. “Okay, if you two are going to try and pass your task force off as a financial crimes unit, you need to be up on the financial world.” I stopped pacing. “Though, to give Moran credit, he didn’t actually break any laws. I mean, until he started murdering people. Though he’d probably be in deep shit with the SEC.”

“Kara,” Ryan said tightly. “Would you please get to the point?”

I took a deep breath. “In the banking world, if Bank A is interested in buying Bank B, then, assuming Bank B wants to be bought, Bank B has to disclose all sorts of information, open their books up, that sort of thing. But the catch is that it’s completely secret until the deal goes through. If a member of the bank board lets it slip that the deal is in progress, they can be kicked off the board.”

Jill’s brows drew together. “Why? What’s the deal?”

“Because, if people found out that a bank was in trouble and possibly needed buying out, it could cause a run on the bank. But also, if someone knew that a small bank was going to be bought out—especially if it was by a large bank with more valuable stock—he could conceivably buy up a big chunk of stock in advance of the sale—”

“Insider trading,” she finished with a nod. “Okay. Got it. So Vic found out and started buying stock?”

I shook my head. “Not quite. Moran and Vic were buddies, and I think that Moran let it slip to Vic that Lake Pearl Bank was about to be bought out. And, Vic—nice, charming, wonderful Vic—decided he could make a bundle. But he knew better than to make any purchases himself since it was known that he was friends with Ben, so Vic very nicelyoffered Roger a loan and the chance to make a huge profit. And Adam Taylor owed Vic money—probably for stuff related to the studio—so Vic convinced Adam to let him make some investments in his name as well.”

Jill made a sour face. “What a sweetheart. Throw everyone else under the bus. He knew perfectly well what he was doing, and I’m sure that after he sold the revalued stock for his ‘clients’ he would have skimmed off a hefty portion of the profit.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” I told Jill.

Zack let out a low whistle. “So Moran found out about the big stock purchase and realized that people knew.”

“And by then it was too late,” I said. “An investigation into insider trading wouldn’t be far behind.”

“It’s nothing illegal,” Ryan said, musing. “But for a guy like Moran, losing that social position would be as bad as going to jail.”

“Right,” I said. “That’s why I don’t think that Moran was complicit in the insider trading, other than being indiscreet. He values that position too much. And somehow Moran can control this golem and sent it to take care of Vic, and then Adam and Roger, in an attempt to clean up the mess. With them dead, there’s no way for anyone to prove that Moran was the one to leak the info about the sale.”

Silence fell for a few ticking heartbeats.

“So,” Jill said finally. “How are you going to prove Moran killed them?”

I looked at her. “I have no fucking idea.”

Zack stood. “And, how does this connect to the attack on Lida?”

I set my hands on my hips. “I have no fucking idea about that either, but can you people at least allow me to feel smug about figuring the murders out? Jeez!”

Jill laughed. “Oh. Yes,” she said in robotic deadpan. “You are so brilliant.”

“Bite me, bitch.” I stuck my tongue out at her.

Zack rubbed a hand over his face. “So what do we do about it?”

I sighed. “You mean, how do we prove that Moran sent a magic creature to kill three people? Let’s all say it together: No fucking idea.”

The room grew quiet. A faint scent of vanilla hung in the air from a reed diffuser on one of Jill’s bookshelves. In the other room I could hear her refrigerator cycle on.

“We need him to confess,” Ryan finally broke the silence. He kept his gaze straight ahead.

A chill washed over me. I’d seen Ryan change people’s memories. Only a few months ago we’d been attacked by a demonic dog-like thing at a restaurant, and he’d done something to the people working there—somehow taking away their awareness of the incident. Can you do that?I wanted desperately to ask. Can you make him confess?No, I didn’t want to ask. I didn’t want to know if he could do that. “Can you read minds?” I found myself asking instead.

His eyes lifted to mine. I expected to see pain or angst or regret or something in them, but he was as controlled as stone. Nothing was leaking through. “No,” he said evenly. “Many things would be easier if I could.” Then he looked away and lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Or perhaps not.”

My gut tightened at the subtle jab. Zack cleared his throat in an obvious attempt to cut the sudden tension. “Arrange a meeting with him,” Zack said. “Maybe something will shake loose.”

“This is so cliché,” I groaned, flopping onto the couch. “So we confront him, or set up a trap or sting or something, and he does the mustache-twirling villain and reveals all? No way. He’s too smart and he has too much at stake.”

“But you have the bank records showing the insider trading. That should give him pause,” Zack insisted.

“Except that we have no proof that he was involved,” I replied, frustration seeping into my voice. “Nothing that we could go to the Securities and Exchange Commission with.”

“What about Lida?” Jill suggested. “You think she’s clueless? Or is she too loyal to her uncle to be willing to share any useful information?”

I hesitated before answering. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “And at this point I have no choice but to pressure her. Maybe that will shake something loose with Uncle Ben.” But even as I said it, I knew it wasn’t true. Ben looked out for Ben.

I stood, thoughts tumbling. “I need to go back to my house. I, um, have something I have to take care of before I do anything else.”

“Let me guess, you’re going to summon Rhyzkahl,” Ryan practically growled. “You’ve already summoned him for the month. What if that golem’s still there?”

Anger flared red hot. This was bullshit. It wasn’t as if I’d set out to insult or hurt Ryan. Fuck him and the way he assumed I was summoning Rhyzkahl. And so what if I was? “You know what, Ryan?” I shot back. “ Fuck you.I’m sorry if this pisses you off, but Rhyzkahl saved my fucking life tonight. And yeah, he probably didn’t do it because of some deep and abiding love for me, but he did.”

I didn’t wait to see or hear his reaction. I snatched up my bag and left the house, not quite storming out, but doing my best to give a firm impression of So Fucking There.

I was halfway to the sidewalk when I heard the door slam behind me. “Kara! Where are you going?” Ryan demanded.

“To my aunt’s house,” I said over my shoulder, not stopping. “I’m going to borrow her car. Now leave me alone.”

A heartbeat later his hand was on my arm, turning me around. Fury blazed again and I brought my hand up as he spun me, turning it into a slap instead of a punch at the last instant. I knew I hadn’t hit him very hard, but his head jerked to the side at the blow, and the sound seemed to reverberate down the empty street. I tensed for some sort of retaliation, shocked at myself that I’d struck him. But I wasn’t going to back down from this now.

“Give it a rest, Ryan!” I said, struggling to keep from shouting. “I’m sick to death of tiptoeing around you! I’m sorry if you don’t like the fact that I’m fucking the demonic lord—” I took a deep breath, trying to keep from shaking. “Y’know what? No, I’m not sorry. I’m a grown-up. I can sleep with who I want, and I’m sick of being made to feel like some kind of sleazy whore simply because you don’t approve of him! This is yourproblem, not mine!”

He simply stared at me in shock. I began to turn to walk away but he caught my arm again. “Wait, please,” he said, putting his other hand up as a block in case I tried to hit him again. Smart move on his part, because I was more than ready to do so, and this time it wasn’t going to be a slap. I was no expert in hand-to-hand, but anger was making up for the lack.

“Kara, I followed you out to tell you that I’m sorry,” he said, voice gruff. “I’m being a dick.”

I pulled my arm out of his grip. “Not gonna argue with you there,” I retorted, scowling.

He sighed. “It’s just that ...” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “You matter to me. Your friendship matters to me.”

My anger shifted to annoyance. “Fine. You want to be friends? Then act like a friend! Stop making me feel like shit all the time!”

Surprise flickered in his eyes, then he abruptly pulled me into a hug, wrapping arms around me before I could react or try to pull away. Though I suddenly had no desire to pull away from him. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “You’re in a shitty position, and I’m only making it harder for you.”

“Yup,” I said against his chest, anger beginning to trickle away. He was making it awfully tough to stay mad at him. He smelled like all sorts of nice manly stuff and I could hear the calm and steady beat of his heart.

He gave me a light squeeze. “Do I have any redeeming qualities left?”

I sighed and tilted my head back to look at him, not breaking away from his hold. “Well, you still give a fuck. So that’s nice.”

He gave me a soft smile, then surprised me by kissing me lightly on the forehead. A thrill raced through me, followed by a massive tsunami of confusion. A kiss on the forehead? What the hell was that? Should I do something? Should I try to kiss him? Was that a “we’re great friends” kiss? Or was he holding back because he didn’t want to get burned?

He tightened the hug briefly, then stepped back, making the tsunami of confusion somewhat moot—at least as far as the “should I kiss him” part went. “I do give a fuck,” he said, still lightly gripping my shoulders.

“I appreciate that. I’m sorry I slapped you.”

He frowned. “You slapped me? I thought that a mosquito had landed—” He ducked and laughed as I swung at him again.

“You are such a jerk,” I said, trying to glare without much success.

“I think that’s been well established. C’mon, I’ll give you a ride home.”

I hesitated. “Ryan, when I get there, I’m going to—”

“I know,” he said. “You’re going to summon Rhyzkahl.” He gave my shoulders a squeeze. “It’s okay. I know you need to do this.”

I searched his face for any flicker of regret or pain or angst or anything, but if he was feeling it, he was keeping it under unspeakably tight control. “Thank you.”

“I’m trying,” he said, voice low and rough.

“I know,” I said, hiding a smile. “And you have no idea how much that means to me. Which makes what I have to say next even harder.”

His brows drew together in a frown. “What?”

My lips twitched. “I’m actually notsummoning Rhyzkahl. You totally wasted all of that control and maturity.”

He smiled. “Well, damn!” he said, though there was relief in his eyes.

“But I still appreciate the sentiment.”

“Good thing,” he said. “I don’t have a whole lot of control and maturity to waste on false alarms like that. So, if you’re not summoning the lord, then why do you need to go back to your house?”

“Well, you were close. I amgoing to summon, just not the demonic lord. But, I know that you um ...”

“Don’t care to be insulted and growled at by demons?” he offered.

“Well, yeah. I know you’re a real weenie like that.”

He laughed. “You’re definitely hanging out with me way too much. You’re becoming an asshole.”

“I’m learning from the best!”

Chapter 30

Despite our earlier banter, neither of us said much on the drive back to my house. Even though I wasn’t summoning Rhyzkahl, it was guaranteed to be an odd and tense situation with Ryan present, which was why I didn’t intend for him to be in the basement for the actual ritual. This summoning was a bit too crucial and I didn’t want to risk something going wrong because I was distracted by worry over Ryan’s safety.

Dawn was sending pink fingers creeping across the sky by the time he pulled into my driveway. I’d grabbed the extra ammo out of my own car before leaving it to be towed and had reloaded on the drive back to my house. We both scanned my yard cautiously before getting out of the car. I gripped my Glock, extending every sense possible in the hope that I’d be able to sense an imminent threat. It didn’t escape my notice that Ryan’s gun was in his hand as well.

My front door was ajar and slightly askew in its shattered jamb. What if it’s in the house?I’d damaged it, but I had no idea if it was capable of repairing itself or if it could only stay active for a set amount of time. We moved up the porch and through the house, guns at the ready, silently clearing it and checking for threats. Crumbles of clay littered the hallway—remnants of the creature’s leg—but no other sign remained.

I holstered my gun after we finished searching the house from top to bottom. “It creeps me out that the wards didn’t affect it at all,” I admitted to Ryan. “Do you mind staying up here while I do the summoning?”

“I was going to suggest it.”

I glanced at him and could see that, again, he understood. Great, he’s capable of being all understanding about the demonic lord and the summoning and all of that. So why can’t he be more understanding that I want to know where he and I stand?Or maybe by keeping me at “just friends” he wasletting me know.

Now was a bad time to start getting all moody about that particular emotional train wreck. I did my best to shove it from my mind. “Okay, well, lemme go get ready.”

He gave a short nod. “And I’ll go raid your fridge.”

“I bought a new brick of cheese yesterday. Go wild.”

I grinned as his groan of despair followed me down the hall.

I quickly showered and wrapped my bathrobe around me, then sent Ryan into my bedroom to wait and count to fifty while I did my superstitious little routine of going down to the basement naked.

You’re so stupid,I chided myself as I pulled my summoning garb off the hook at the bottom of the stairs. You have no problem at all letting Rhyzkahl see you without a stitch on, but you freak the fuck out at the thought that Ryan might catch a sight of tit.Maybe my subconscious was telling me I really did want Ryan as a friend and nothing more? Or maybe Ryan’s opinion of a naked me mattered more.

I gritted my teeth and yanked on the silk pants and shirt. Stop thinking about this!My wayward emotions were going to get me killed at this rate.

I carefully made the changes in the diagram for the calling of a syraza.I didn’t summon them very often, and so I pulled out my heavily warded, well-hidden, and barely-legibly-written summoning notebook to be sure I was doing it right. Usually I summoned a reyzaif I needed a higher demon. Syrazaweren’t known for skill in warding or other arcane areas that I might want information or instruction in. They weren’t big and scary-impressive like the reyza,or even unnerving like the zhurnSkalz.

But obviously Rhyzkahl felt this demon would be a competent guardian for me. Maybe this one owes him a favor or something.That made more sense. But I’m going to have to buy an SUV or something to carry it around,I thought with a sigh. How the hell was this going to work?

I reviewed my notes one more time, then tucked the little book back into its hiding place.

The power flowed smoothly from the storage diagram into my control as I set the bindings and protections. The glyphs and sigils around the summoning circle began to glow in my othersight. Carefully manipulating the potency, I began the weaving of the portal itself. The icy wind swirled through the room as the light from the diagram increased to near-blinding incandescence. I felt the portal widen as the wind whipped my hair about my face, and I spoke the demon’s name.

“Eilahn.”

The wind dropped to nothing as the light vanished. I held the arcane bindings, waiting for my vision to adjust. A few seconds later I could see a figure on one knee in the middle of the diagram. Its skin was a pearlescent white that caught the light from the fireplace and shimmered with hints of orange and red and pink. It was slender, almost birdlike, with long graceful limbs. Its head was smooth and hairless, with large and slanted violet eyes set in a delicate, almost human, face. Its wings looked as fragile as tissue paper, but I’d once had the chance to see syrazain flight, so I knew that somehow those wings really were strong enough to support the creature.

I paused, suddenly uncertain what to say. Usually there were forms to be followed for setting terms and bargaining for service, but this was different. I wasn’t the one who would be paying the price.

At least, not in the usual manner.

“I am Kara Gillian,” I finally said. “Lord Rhyzkahl bade me summon you and said that you could provide me with protection.” It ended up sounding more like a question than I’d meant. But how could this creature—who looked like a strong breeze could carry it away—offer me protection ...

My thoughts trailed off even as the syrazalifted its head. Kara, you’re awfully dense sometimes.I was pretty sure that Zack was a demon, and he sure as hell didn’t look like one.

“I am Eilahn,” it replied in a voice that sounded like birds singing and bells chiming all at once. “I have given my oath to Lord Rhyzkahl to give you protection and support.”

I lowered the wards and bindings. “I am grateful for your service.” I paused. “Please forgive me if I give offense, but are you able to, um, shapechange? I mean, your current form is quite pleasing,” I added hastily, realizing that it sounded as if I didn’t like the demon form. “But I wonder how you’ll be able to give me protection without revealing yourself as a demon.”

It rose with sinuous grace to its feet. “Yes, I am able to shift my form, though it is not simple. I will require your assistance.”

I nodded, feeling surreal. I was right. Zack is a demon. Ha!“Just tell me what I need to do.”

It inclined its head, though its violet eyes stayed on me. “First we must complete the bond so that I may remain in this sphere.”

A bond? A wave of uneasiness passed through me. “I performed an adjustment to bindings once before so that the reyzaKehlirik could remain past sunrise,” I said. “Is it the same sort of thing?”

“Similar,” it replied and stepped to me. “But this will go deeper. I will guide you in the process.”

I didn’t have a chance to ask howdeep. Eilahn slipped a hand to the back of my head in a lightning-fast move and placed the other hand on my face, touching my forehead and cheeks with the tips of its fingers. A brief frisson of shock and fear surged through me, amplified by the fact that I could feel the strength of the grip that held me in place. Eilahn looked wispy and delicate and its fingertips seemed to be barely touching me, but I suddenly couldn’t move my head a millimeter. My survival instinct screamed at me to struggle, but before I could twitch I felt a jab of potency spear through me, freezing me in place. It was a trap!I thought in sudden panic. Rhyzkahl hadn’t sent this demon to me. This is a demon sent to kill me or capture me—

A wave of calm and peace flowed through me and my desire to struggle faded. A small part of me tried to insist that this was part of the attack, but the flow of serenity pushed it down with barely a ripple. A soundless tone vibrated through me and for an instant I thought it would shake me apart, my molecules flying apart from the force of it. Suddenly I could feelthe syrazaas if I was inside its skin. I could see the shock on my face, taste the moisture on my breath, yet I was still looking up at the demon in a bizarre double-vision. But more unsettling were the shimmers of completely alien emotion that swept through me, too quickly for me to understand, and leaving behind only the awareness that I was somehow feeling what the demon felt.

And then it was gone, and my senses were my own. Eilahn slowly released me and stepped back, a smile on its delicate face. “Forgive me for using force. There was no way to fully prepare you, and it was vital that the process not be interrupted once begun.”

I blinked a few times as I tried to shake the sensation that I still wasn’t quite inside my head. “Um. Yeah. It’s cool.” I took a breath, slowly beginning to feel more normal. “Wow. That was ...”

“ ‘Intense’ is a word that is often used to describe the experience,” the syrazaoffered, still smiling.

I gave a weak laugh. “Yeah, that about covers it.” I scrubbed my hands through my hair, the last vestiges of the not-in-my-body sensation finally fading. Seriously weird. I didn’t agree with Eilahn’s statement that there was no way to prepare me—a simple “This is going to make you feel way funky” would have been good. I had the niggling suspicion that the syrazahad enjoyed weirding me out like that.

Great, there was a good chance that I was now bound to a demon with an evil streak.

“Okay, so ... how do I help you shift your form?”

In answer the syrazadropped down to a crouch, folding its wings tightly across its back as it wrapped its arms around its legs. I felt another soundless tone shimmer through me, though not even a hundredth as powerful as the first had been. But this time it didn’t fade away and continued to resonate. I could feel the demon again, could sense a slow shifting. It wasn’t a morphing like in the movies, but more as if the demon was being redrawn, a flickering of reality like falling rain. The resonance shifted to a series of alternating tones as the flickering increased and I found myself shaking from the effort of holding onto the resonance. Somehow I knew that if I didn’t keep it in check it would take over and shake us both apart from some sort of arcane vibration. I gritted my teeth as the flickering and resonance built to a shrieking crescendo.

And then it was gone.

Dizziness slammed into me, and I sagged and crumpled to the floor, barely catching myself from smacking my face on the stone. I took several deep breaths until the spots faded from my vision, then looked over at the demon.

Or rather, I looked at the naked woman shakily pressing herself up from the floor.