Part 52 (1/2)
”Her!” Tony jerked a thumb over his shoulder.
”Ah. That is not the name I knew her by when she was my handmaiden, my priestess, my love.”
Leah leaned toward him, her arms angling back in CB's hold. ”I am not your love!” she spat, tossing a curl of hair back off her face.
”Am I not?” He didn't seem too upset by her reaction. ”Do you not remember...”
”I remember that you slaughtered my entire village!”
Hang on. ”You said you were over that,” Tony reminded her.
Her shrug was a bit truncated given her position. ”Yeah, well, you were right. Maybe I still have some issues.”
”So if CB lets you go?”
”I'd be in his arms in a heartbeat.” No need to define whose arms. ”Sorry. It's a built-in response, and guess who built it in.”
The Arjh Lord cleared his throat. Tony turned to see Lee fighting for air, clawing at the arm around his throat. ”You don't seem to be taking this seriously, Wizard.”
”Stop it!”
He loosened his grip just enough for Lee to draw in a painful sounding breath. And then another. Tony breathed in with him. In.
Out. Finally, clutching the demon's arm with white-knuckled fingers, Lee wheezed, ”I'm so f.u.c.king tired of being the designated damsel in distress.”
”Yes.” Ryne Cyratane smiled down at him. ”I can understand that.” Even while wearing a body not his own, there was such understanding in his voice that Tony had a sudden epiphany about how he'd convinced Leah's people to wors.h.i.+p him. Lee actually looked comforted.
”Okay.” Tony cleared his throat and tried to sound a little more like he was in charge of the situation. ”If we trade-Lee for your ex-handmaiden-then you'll kill Leah the moment you get her and the Demongate will open and you'll be here in the flesh, not just riding in the flesh of one of your arjh.”
”Yes.”
Tony fought the urge to preen under the Arjh Lord's approval. ”This was your plan all along, wasn't it? You used Sye Mckaseeh as camouflage-while we were concentrating on her, you could slip in unnoticed.”
”No. I took advantage of the situation when I had time enough to mark this body as a vessel rather than merely as mine.”
”A spur of the moment kind of thing, then? With the added benefit of p.i.s.sing off the ex?”
”As you say, an added benefit. And why should I not reclaim my handmaiden and then this world?”
”Because I'll stop you.”
”You forget.” The demon's grip tightened momentarily. Lee fought for air and then sagged, gasping.
”Okay, so we trade. What's in that for me? As I see it, Lee dies either way.”
”The man dies now in front of you. Or later with you.”
”Dude.” Leaning on Zev's arm, Amy glared from between eyelashes clumped into damp spikes. ”You'll kill him the instant the gate opens just like you killed Jack! He's the only thing here that's a danger to you.”
”As I said, later. I did not specify how much later.” He swept a dark gaze over her, head to toe. ”You will enjoy my new world, little one. I promise you that.”
”Bite me!”
”Perhaps.” This was most definitely not the same smile he'd given Lee. Lee's had been compa.s.sionate enough to be believed in spite of the choke hold. This was pure seduction. Only the choke hold hadn't changed.
To Tony's surprise, Amy brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and limped forward, eyes locked on the demon. ”Maybe we can... OW! Zev! What the h.e.l.l was that for?”
”You were walking toward that!” Zev nodded toward Ryne Cyratane.
”I was not!” Measured the distance from Zev to the demon. Noticed how close she'd come. ”Oh, c.r.a.p, I was.” She slipped the glare back on as the two of them began limping backward to the wall. ”You're very convincing.”
From seduction to amus.e.m.e.nt. ”It's part of my charm.”
”And it would be one h.e.l.l of a lot more charming if you didn't have bits of that...” She jabbed a disdainful finger toward the remains of his meal. ”... between your teeth.”
”We will speak later, you and I.”
”The h.e.l.l we...”
”Slaughtered a whole village,” Zev reminded her urgently. ”So what?” Behind the streaks of mascara, Amy wore the expression she usually reserved for those who wore fur. Or sweater sets in a nonironic manner.
”Your friends are intriguing, Wizard.” The Arjh Lord gave Lee a little shake. ”But not entirely correct.”
”About?” Tony demanded. And then he had it. ”I'm not the only danger to you, am I?” After that, it was one small step. There weren't a lot of names in Ryne Cyratane's current address book. ”It's Henry, isn't it? He could take that body out, even now.”
Tony'd missed the implications when Kevin called to tell him the overpa.s.s had blown. The overpa.s.s had blown first. ”You pushed this arjh through, creating a cascade like we did the other night because you had to be sure all this happened before sunset so Henry couldn't help.” He knew he had it by the way the demon's lip curled. ”Humans mean less than nothing to you, but he's another power.”
”Um, Tony...” Amy rubbed her sleeve under her nose. ”Henry's a romance writer.”
CB rumbled an unnecessary caution behind him. Tony didn't need to be warned; he'd been keeping this secret a lot longer than the big guy had.
It had to be past sunset. Tony glanced at his watch. c.r.a.p. Not even close. How could they have destroyed five demons and been betrayed by a sixth in so little time? Okay, fine. So he couldn't keep things from happening until Henry got here. He'd just have to keep talking, to keep the demon talking until he'd regained enough strength to blast the Arjh Lord right out of his borrowed body.
Yeah. Like that was going to happen. He had no idea how he was still standing and the soundstage kept wavering in and out of focus like they were about to go to flashback.
Still, he had to try. Hopefully, Ryne Cyratane would see slouching as a sign of disrespect instead of an inability to straighten his spine. ”The sun will set after you've taken over, you know. Henry'll still be around to kick your a.s.s.”
”Once the Gate is open, I will rule with many arjh. And I will gain power from slaughter.”
He'd forgotten about that bit. ”Killing Mckaseeh's arjh gave that demon you're wearing power enough to activate the runes on his chest, didn't it?”
”Yes.”
”But you're using up that power maintaining the link.”
This was the most unpleasant smile of all. ”Yes.”
”Ambitious change requires help; timing is everything.” The fortune in Leah's cookie from way back when they'd first met. He'd forgotten it until now. ”So I'm about out of my two hundred free minutes?”
The amount of bone necessary to hold up his borrowed horns, kept the Arjh Lord from frowning very deeply. ”You make no sense, Wizard. But if you mean that you are out of time, then, yes.” And he tightened his grip. ”Choose.”