Green Flame Assassin (Demon Lord series, book 2) (4 page)

Kimberly’s bodyguard seized her shoulders, a heartbeat away from pulling her away from trouble.  The fey warrior knew his job.

But Achill just laughed, as I knew he would.  You don’t get to be dominant over a country full of Alpha pack leaders by jumping on every little insult.  You’d be fighting all the time. 

He said, “I take my drinks in a glass like everyone else.”

“Caine,” Old Man said, “behave?”

“Then I wouldn’t be me.”

Achill said, “It’s okay, old friend.  Your son has balls.  You raised him right”

Old Man relaxed.  “One does not survive long in the
true night
without guts … and a lot of firepower.”

“Yeah, I’m all that and a bag of chips.” I said.  “What’s so important I can’t get a few days off?”

Old Man finally took a seat.  “For one, the
Witch
Courts
have asked our clan to fix the mess in Sacramento.”

I shock of surprise jazzed through me.  “The Witch Courts agree on something?”

“Black, White, and Gray,” Old Man said.  “Though preternatural, they are also fully human, and care most about
the balance
of things
since their power is rooted in nature.”

“What you mean is, they want to rule the humans from the shadows, and not be tied in with us should naturals and preternaturals wage war.”

Old Man shrugged.  “War in Sacramento won’t help any of us.  The wolves used to dominate the various were-communities there, but their grip’s gone shaky since their Alpha was uh, ripped to pieces.  The shifters are in a panic.  The city’s day-walkers and fey are agitating for control of the city.  If conflict breaks out, the preternatural communities could be exposed to human scrutiny.  I don’t know about you, but I’m fond of being thought an imaginary creature.”

I thought of the Feds.  The Preternatural Response Teams had their own way of keeping supernaturals secret—killing them. 
There’s no reason for me to run to Sacramento and become a target.

“We should police our own,”
Achill spoke as if scenting my thoughts.  “If the PRT get too used to taking us out, they might not stop with just the problem element.”

“The circle must hold for all of us,” Kimberly said.  “You can’t let things fall apart.”

I put a drink in front of her and waited for more.

Old Man grabbed his drink and threw it back.

Achill did the same.

I reached for my glass and found it replaced by an obsidian bottle.  The switch had happened without anyone appearing to notice, but me.  I opened the bottle and smelled the liquor inside. 
Crown and Coke, heavy on the Crown, just how I like it
.  The red pearl that hung around my neck climbed up out of my shirt and swung on its chain.  The pearl tapped the bottle—a sign of approval?—and fell back against my shirt, inert once more. 

I understood.
  A gift of the Red Lady.

A silent lull fell that no one wanted to break. 

I pulled out a glass and poured from the bottle which stayed completely full.  I smiled and touched the red pearl around my neck.  Old Man saw what I did, but said nothing.  He smiled too, which scared me just a little.

I said, “Okay, why can’t the PRT take care of this?”

Kimberly met my gaze.  Her eyes seemed to swell, becoming endless pools of amethyst.  The depths tugged at me like doors to strange new realities.  “The Oracle Stone was stolen from the Dream Courts.  My Mistress can feel it being used in Sacramento.  She needs it back.  This will be next to impossible if we have to avoid federal agents and the mystics that aid them.”

“Your Mistress is a seer.  So are you,” I said.  “Why can’t one of you pop in, grab the stone, and pop out again?”

“My Mistress has made a lot of enemies over the ages, mostly because she won’t help many fey courts that only want to kill for power.  Her powers are limited now, having long been tied to the stone.  She’s vulnerable.  Chasing down the stone personally, openly, would invite enemies to attack her when she’s too weak to fight back.”

Explains why she sent an envoy and didn’t come herself.

Achill said, “So she sends a human who has even less power than herself?”

Kimberly’s eyes flashed with angry heat, resenting the criticism.  “The Oracle has concealed the loss of the stone by officially retreating from her court for a time of meditation and renewal.  And I am not helpless.  She has been teaching me to use my powers.  I can see several minutes into the future, giving me more than enough warning to get out of harm’s way.”

Maybe.  A lot can happen in a split-second
. 

I didn’t like any of this. 
The Oracle—Hell only knows how long she’s been alive—is old, and old fey are strong fey.  How did she get that thing stolen?  It must have taken major magic.  She wants me to go in and get it back from someone matching her strength? That’s a death sentence for anyone else than me.

I said, “Yeah, I don’t think she can afford me.”

Kimberly reached into her purse and pulled out a princess-cut blue diamond the size of my fist.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  Staring, even Old Man and Achill were stricken mute.  She set the diamond on the counter, her gaze a fierce demand.  “The Oracle says, ‘A stone for a stone.’”

I grabbed the diamond.  The new tattoo on my back burned like hellfire, a violent rampage pulling my senses to superhuman levels so I could tell the diamond had no flaws.  The cut was perfection, the coloration perfect, unassisted by dyes, lacking impurities except for trace amounts of boron that gave it its blue color. 

My greedy inner child spoke up, “Okay, I’ll do it.”

THREE

“I don’t care, for free.”

                                      
         —Caine Deathwalker

The Old Man plucked the stone from my hand, knowing I’d be deaf to his words while enthralled by the jewel.  “Caine, recovering the Dream Stone is just half the job.  You can’t go up to Sacramento and just
ask around
for the stone.  You’ll need a cover.  Setting up a new
Master of the City
needs to be an equal priority.”

I eyed the diamond in his hand.  “What am I getting for the second job?”

“My eternal gratitude,” Old Man said.

“No, really?” I asked.

“For one thing, I’ll give this back to you.”  He moved the diamond, left and right, watching my eyes track it.  “For another, the Witch’s Court is throwing an enchanted item into the pot.”

I looked him in the eyes.  “What kind of item?”

He tossed the diamond into the air, knowing I’d snatch it at warp speed.  I did.  As his hand came back down, shadows churned in his palm, becoming a glittering dagger.  He used it to stab the bar.  Pulling his hand away, the dagger remained upright.  I’d have been pissed about the damage to a very expensive bar, but I knew Old Man would magic up a repair.  Besides, the parrying dagger held my interest.  I put the diamond away in a spell-sealed lock box under the bar, without taking my eyes off the weapon.  It was a
sword-breaker
, a type of left-handed blade with extra hand protection, and prongs—paralleling the blade—that could catch and break an opponent’s rapier, if used just right.  The dagger was twenty-four inches tip to pommel.  The five-and-a-half-inch grip was wound with black leather.  The end knob was one and a half inches, the blade seventeen. 

“What does it do, besides stabbing people?” I asked.

“The sword-breaker is also a
spell-breaker
, provided it’s a low level spell, or curse.”

“That could come in handy,” I said.

Kimberley’s purple eyes were almost glowing as she stared through me, into some infinity only she could see.  She whispered, “In the end, it will.”

After a moment of silence, Achill said, “The day-walkers consider
Sacramento to be their territory, keeping full vampires out.  Without a strong wolf leader to guide the shifter communities, the dhampyr will consolidate control.  They might even close the city to the rest of us as well.  As it is, I’ve not been able to contact any of the Sacramento wolves.”

“You could go there,” I suggested, “and take over until a new Alpha is chosen.”

Achill shook his head.  “If I go there, it will kick the whole mess into open warfare.”

I finished my drink and poured another.  “So, problem one is to find the Dream Stone.  Problem two is to make everyone play nice with each other.  Is that it, Old Man?”

Old Man took the Crown and Coke bottle on the bar and tried to pour some for himself and Achill.  Though the bottle was full, nothing poured out of it.  The bottle didn’t seem to like anyone’s hand but mine.