Fire Me Up (14 page)

Drake gave me a little shove forward. "Perhaps it would be
best if you do as she asks, Aisling. The imps are harmless, but who knows what
will follow the demon?"

I looked at him as if he had imps dancing on his head.

"What? You're kidding, right? You don't actually expect me to
close that portal?"

"
That's going to stain," Jim said as one of Fiat's men
stomped on an imp that was running toward him with a cocktail fork clutched in
three of its four arms, scraping the turquoise smear off onto the ceramic pot
holding a nearby palm.

"I realize you do not have much experience as a Guardian—"
Drake started to say.

I interrupted him. "None. Try none. Other than summoning Jim
and dealing with that demon lord last month, my experience with portals to
you-know-where is exactly nil."

"Afene egye meg," Drake muttered.

"You can say that again, not that I know what you said, but
the way you said it leads me to believe that you've captured my feelings in a
few succinct words."

"It means 'damn it.' I thought you were being modest when you
told me about your lack of skills," Drake said hurriedly, turning to bark out a
few orders to Pal and Istvan before turning the others. "We will have to locate
a Guardian quickly. Chuan Ren, you must keep the demon from leaving this room.
Subdue it if you can, but at all costs it must be kept from leaving. Fiat, your
men must stand guard at the portal to ensure nothing else enters. Gabriel and I
will gather the imps before they do any real damage. Pal and Istvan will find a
Guardian."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked as Drake's men ran past,
out to the hotel proper. The look they gave me spoke volumes, and none of it was
overly flattering.

"Stay out of the way," Drake answered, grabbing a tablecloth
and throwing it on a fire a small herd of imps had started using lunch menus.

I felt lower than a snake's belly, helpless, a waste of
oxygen standing there while the dragons handled the imps and demons and who knew
what else that might spew forth from the portal.

"Dammit, I'm a Guardian!" I told Jim. "I'm a professional! I
have power!"

"Ub-huh. And Ilarax there is going to take the title of
studmuffin of the year."

"I do have power. I have lots of power, oodles of it floating
around me. How many people do you know who can harness a dragon's fire? I just
need to focus. If I do that, perhaps I can slam the portal shut until one of
Drake's guys shows up with an experienced Guardian,"

The demon, which had been engaging in a fairly impressive
display of martial arts with two of Chuan Ren's bodyguards, leaped back onto the
table and started chanting a familiar spell. It was summoning other demons.
Chuan Ren threw herself at it, knocking it down onto the table, but despite its
femmy getup, it was strong. She went flying across the room with a shriek that
was almost as painful on the ears as the demon's.

If I didn't stop the demon, it would summon up its demon
lord's horde. And that could only be bad news. "Come on, Jim," I said, mentally
girding my loins as I strode forward. "We have a portal to close."

"What? Are you insane? You don't know the first thing about
closing portals!" Jim stared at me in openmouthed horror as I pushed past it and
marched to the table. The demon Ilarax, which had resumed its invocation, spun
around and glared at me as I approached.

"That's right, but you do. Quickly, what do I have to do to
shove your colorful friend back through the portal?"

"Ilarax is no friend of mine. He's in Magoth's legions, and
that, let me tell you, is one badass demon lord. You don't want to mess with one
of his demons."

"I don't care if it's a member of the Supreme Court. I just
want to know how to shove it back," I said through my teeth, trying to maintain
my smile as Itarax stomped its way across the table to stand in front of me, its
hands on its befeathered tutu hips. Three imps marched behind the demon, their
arms (they each had four) on their tiny little hips in a very bizarre parody as
they eek-eeked aggressively at me.

"You need the twelve words," Jim answered, hiding behind me,
its big furry head peeking around my thighs to look at the demon.

"'Guardian! You do not have the strength to hold me!" Ilarax
snarled in a high-pitched voice. "To try is folly. Bow down unto the power of
Ilarax and acknowledge me as your master!"

"Twelve words? Not the twelve words that are different for
each demon? Not the twelve friggin' words that no one but the demon knows? Not
those twelve words, Jim?"

"Yup, those are the ones."

One of Chuan Ren's men pulled himself up from the floor,
wiping blood out of his eyes as he snarled something that sounded really nasty.
A knife flashed in his hand as he attacked the demon, but it fell impotently
when the demon twisted the dragon's arm into an unnatural position, the horrible
crunching, popping sound making my stomach turn over.

"You sure you're up to this?" Jim whispered.

The dragon guard screamed as the demon threw him through one
of the glass walls.

"Sure I'm sure. It's just a demon, right? I can handle that."

Lit the red wyvern's mate, leaped up from where he was trying
to revive Chuan Ren and ran screaming toward the demon. Without even looking at
the dragon, the demon lashed a leg out and caught Li full in the belly. He
slammed into a wall, sliding down it like a limp sack of potatoes.

Jim raised its eyebrows. Drake and Gabriel's men were engaged
in putting out the fire, which had quickly spread along the wooden paneling on
the near wall. Fiat and his guys were beating back the wave of imps as they
emerged from the portal, but even with the three of them stomping and squashing
as fast as they could, the little turquoise and pink creatures were getting away
from them, quickly wreaking havoc.

I turned back to eye the demon. It was standing with its back
to me, its arms waving as it continued the words of summoning.

"Right. Force is out. Martial arts is out. It's just me and
my brain against the demon,"

Jim groaned. "We're doomed."

I ignored my furry demon, a little tickle of an idea coming
to mind as I snatched up the knife that one of the red dragons had dropped.
There was only one thing to do.

Five minutes later Nora raced into the atrium, Pal on her
heels. She skidded to a stop at the sight of me sitting on the now-subdued
demon, my hand buried in its tutu. "I came as quickly as I could. The dragon
said it was an emergency—are you holding a knife to that demon's genitalia?"

"Yep," I answered, pressing the tip of the steak knife into
the demon's tender flesh. Its shriek was muffled by Jim lying across its head,
but it still had enough power to cause an ice sculpture bearing caviar to crack
and fall to the floor in a nasty mess. Around us, order was slowly being
returned to the room. Harax's limbs, tied with linen napkins to the table legs,
twitched as I allowed the knife to slide a little bit into its skin. "Knock off
the sonic screaming or they're going to be calling you Salty."

"Ash, honey, I don't think that's going to serve as much of a
threat in this instance," Jim said.

I looked down at the demon's bizarre outfit. "Oh. You may be
right. Still, it surrendered rather than allowing me to hurt its noogies, which
says something about it."

"But—but—" Nora looked around the room before pushing her
glasses up and leaning forward to speak quietly. "Demons cannot be hurt,
Aisling."

"I know, but the form they take can be destroyed. That's what
made me think of a way to control this demon other than wards or the twelve
words. The dragons tried to beat it up, but they didn't get very far because
they didn't use their brains."

"Their brains?" Nora parroted, looking more than a little
confused.

"I like to think that I take an alternate path to a
solution," I said with a tiny bit of pride. "One of the things I've learned is
that tackling a problem head-on isn't always the way to triumph over it. In this
case, I knew there was no way I'd be able to beat the demon when it was
physically stronger than me, so I decided to go for its weak point."

She looked at the demon's groin.

I nodded. "It's pretty obvious that it has masculinity
issues, which means it values its manly bits. A little flick of the knife in the
demonic happy zone and voila! Instant compliance."

Nora shook her head, a slight smile on her face. "I don't
believe I've ever seen anyone control a demon using only the threat of
emasculation. It is unprecedented. It is ... a quite odd method of control."

"Aisling is a very unique woman," Drake said as he walked by
holding a smoking, quivering tablecloth full of imps. "It is one of her many
charms."

I grinned at him.

His eyes simmered with annoyance. "It is also one of her most
irritating traits. I will dispose of these imps. If you could send the demon
back and close the portal, Guardian, we will ascertain the extent of our
injuries and hopefully be able to continue with our summit."

Nora looked at me as Drake strode off, followed by Istvan,
Pal, and two of Fiat's men, all of whom also held imp-filled tablecloths. The
red dragons had taken the brunt of the damage, but they were all conscious,
bloody but unbowed, receiving medical care from Gabriel and his crew. "I am
beginning to think that perhaps you are not so much in need of a mentor as you
are a score-keeper," she said cryptically, then set about sending the demon back
where it came from and closing the portal.

I pondered her words the entire time she was busy, but
couldn't come to any conclusion other than that she obviously thought I was a
bad risk apprentice-wise.

Welcome to the club, an inner voice giggled.

I he remainder of the dragon lunch was anticlimactic. It's
hard to top a demon suddenly opening a portal to Hell right there in the middle
of the table, and luckily for my peace of mind, no one tried. Nora was swift and
efficient as she set about first dispersing the demon, then closing the portal,
although as she left, she pointed out the portal wasn't eliminated, just closed.

"As am sure Aisling knows," she said with an odd look at me
as she tucked away her copy of the Grimoire of Magus Turiel, a sixteenth-century
book of conjurations, invocations, and general "how to get rid of a pesky demon"
guidelines. I had a copy of the grimoire at home but hadn't thought to bring it
with me since I assumed the conference was going to be nothing but lectures. "A
portal can be destroyed only by a Guardian of great power. This one is merely
closed. It can be reopened should a demon possessing the necessary strength
desire it."

"Yeah," I said, nodding my head like mad at Drake in an
attempt to look like I knew what she was talking about. "What she said. It's
just closed. So don't be messing around with it."

He gave me a long look. "It was not my presence that summoned
the demon and caused it to open the portal in the first place."

I bristled at the implication in his words. "What, you're
saying I did? Drake, I did not summon a demon. That involves drawing a circle of
ash and salt and saying the invocation. I'd know if I did that, thank you very
much, and I didn't!" Turning to Nora, my hands spread in supplication, I asked
her, "There's no other way to summon a demon, right? You have to say the words
and do the circle thing?"

"That is the most common way to summon a servant of a dark
lord,"she agreed, "but not the only way."

Drake tugged on one of the two chains around my neck, pulling
the amulet up to wave it before my eyes. "This is why the demon opened the
portal before you. It was drawn by the power in the amulet, power thai was
enhanced and amplified by your abilities. I suspect it is also what is making
mortal men apparently unable to resist the lure of your charms."

I snatched the amulet back and tucked it away, irrationally
stung by the knowledge that he had to be right. Ever since I'd put the blasted
thing on in order to keep it from being stolen, men—non-Otherworld men—had been
on me like flies on imp droppings. I didn't want them slobbering on me, and I
knew almost from the beginning that it had to be something other than me that
was attracting them, but to be told that to your face by a man so incredibly
handsome he made your internal organs want to jump for joy whenever he was near
did no little damage to my ego. "Well, of course it's the amulet. No one said it
was me doing all that."

He leaned forward, briefly brushing his lips against mine,
letting just a little flicker of his dragon fire leap to me. I embraced it,
played with it, allowing it to coil around me as he said softly, "I find you
utterly irresistible, Aisling."

"That’s just the amulet talking," I answered, reluctantly
sending his fire back to him before stepping back, away from him. There were
definite limits I had when it came to Drake, and standing so close to him that I
could smell that wonderfully spicy scent that was uniquely his own was way over
the line of what I could deal with.