Part 18 (1/2)
”You are not the average employee,” Jack pointed out.
”I am,” Zev broke in before Amy could respond. He shuffled forward to the edge of the couch cus.h.i.+on. ”I vote we finish the season.”
Jack stared at the music director for a long moment. ”Why are you even here?” he asked.
A nod toward Amy. ”I came in with her.”
”That's not helping your case, you know that, right?”
”Yes, but...” He winced and fell silent as Amy smacked him on the arm.
”And,” Jack continued, ”as I understand things, neither of you spend much time out on the soundstage where the demons are going to be.”
”I do.” Lee rose slowly off his end of the couch and moved until he stood face-to-face with Jack. ”And I say we don't close the studio.”
Tony had a feeling that, right at that moment, Lee would say black if Jack said white. He cleared his throat and was more or less gratified when it drew everyone's attention back to him. ”Look, I'm going to be here anyway...” He tried to sit forward like Zev had, found he didn't have the energy, figured screw it as he fell back, sagging slightly into the warmth Lee had left. ”... and it would be a lot easier on me if I didn't have to waste time and energy...” A short rest for emphasis before he finished. ”... keeping friends and coworkers from being eaten while I deal.”
”Eaten?” Amy and Zev together. Lee came in a little late.
”We've got a dead guy without an arm in the morgue. Killed by a demon who ate the arm.” Jack folded his arms triumphantly.
He didn't know the arm hadn't been eaten, and since he was helping Tony make his point, Tony wasn't planning on mentioning it.
”So...” CB steepled his fingers and peered over the mahogany triangle at his TAD. ”You think I should close the studio.”
”No.” Leah jumped in before Tony could get his mouth open. ”I don't think you should close the studio.” She stood and spread her hands, looking earnest. ”We don't know how long the Demonic Convergence will last.” Tossing her hair back over her shoulders, she adjusted her posture subtly. ”There's no reason to risk putting so many people out of work. Tony will be here. I've taught him everything he needs to know.” The simple statement sounded p.o.r.nographic.
Lee, who was closest to her, made a sound low in his throat. CB and Jack leaned in.
Ryne Cyratane flexed translucent muscles and ran his hands down Leah's arms.
”Then it's settled.” CB's voice slipped past Barry White and headed toward registering on the Richter scale. ”We'll keep the studio open.”
Jack nodded, absently drying his palms on his thighs. ”That sounds reasonable.”
”Nothing about this sounds reasonable,” Danvers muttered. ”What the h.e.l.l are you talking about, Jack?”
”She's the demonic consultant.” A nod and an appreciative smile toward Leah. ”We're out of our depth-we should listen to her.”
”You're out of your mind.”
Charms chimed as Amy waved. ”I'd like to second that, except I want the studio open, so I won't.”
All right. Enough was enough. If Leah didn't want her secrets told to all and sundry, she needed to lay off taking advantage of all and sundry. Tony frowned at Lee. Especially this particular sundry. ”She's using demonic s.e.x appeal to convince you.”
Leah's dark eyes widened, and her lower lip went out. ”Tony!”
”Do you have proof of this accusation, Mr. Foster?”
”No, but...”
”Then don't make it.”
”h.e.l.lo! Wizard!” He tried to stand and fell back onto the couch. His second attempt was more successful but only because Zev helped. ”Okay. Wizard. Let's a.s.sume I know more about what's going on here than...” The room s.h.i.+fted out of focus and back in again. ”... than not-wizards, okay? And let's a.s.sume that I can...” Whoa. His head felt like a raw egg balanced on a strand of cooked spaghetti. ”... I can...”
”You can barely stand, Tony.” Lee didn't sound particularly sympathetic, but then Lee was as enthralled by Leah as Jack and CB.
Okay, forget the room. Focus on Lee's face. You're good at that. He was. But it had never been so hard before. His brain attempted to toss in a s.m.u.tty innuendo but didn't quite manage it. ”Behind her... there's a big... a big naked...”
On naked, Lee turned his attention back to Leah.
c.r.a.p.
Tony's knees gave out, and Zev was a second late keeping his head from bouncing off the floor of CB's office.
”That sounded like it hurt.” Amy frowned down at him.
Way to state the obvious.
”He needs to see a doctor.”
Constable Danvers was rapidly becoming one of Tony's favorite people.
”No, he just needs rest. A Powershot uses a lot of personal energy, and that's not something a doctor can fix. No wonder he's babbling.” Leah sounded convincing. Tony would have been more convinced if when his head fell to one side, he hadn't been looking through a bare foot. An enormous bare foot.
”What happens if another demon attacks before he recovers?” Jack demanded.
”We're screwed.”
Tony wondered if he was the only one who heard, You're screwed.
”I can shoot it.”
”That's sweet, but bullets will only slow it down. All you can do is hope Tony recovers and that from now on, he does things my way.”
Tony was starting to think Leah had some serious control issues. He closed his fingers around Zev's wrist. ”All... about... s.e.x.”
As darkness claimed him, he heard CB snort. ”Welcome to the wonderful world of television, Mr. Foster.”
He came to, stretched out on the couch in CB's office, all his attention on the vegetable soup in a Styrofoam bowl steaming on the coffee table beside him. Ignoring the spoon, he grabbed it with shaking hands and downed it in four swallows. Or, more accurately, three since a good portion of the fourth he coughed out his nose.
A familiar hand pa.s.sed over a wad of paper napkins.
”Where's everyone gone?” he asked when he could talk.
”Back to work.” Ryne Cyratane had vanished and Leah looked no more than normally attractive. ”Your friends on the force have reports to file and a nonexistent drugged fan to pretend to track down. Your coworkers are finis.h.i.+ng the day's pages-well, except for Mason Reed who leaked news of the incident to the press and is now giving interviews.”
Tony snorted out an alphabet noodle; an F or maybe an E deformed by its pa.s.sage through his sinuses. ”The studio's staying open.”
”Yes.”