Page of Swords (The Demon's Apprentice Book 2) (16 page)

“I know the risks, Chance,” he said. “I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself.”

“No, you don’t. If the lord of a cabal comes after you, you’re the
last
person he kills. He starts with your friends, then he kills your family. Painfully and slowly, and he makes sure you know it was all your fault. If he’s feeling generous, they’ll stay dead. Then he comes for you, when he’s sure you know everyone you ever cared about is dead because of you. If he does anything less than end your bloodline, it looks like he can’t take care of his own people, and that makes him look weak. Then he has to worry about waking up with a stake through his ribs, or at the bottom of the Marianas Trench in a coffin full of concrete. You may not give a shit about your family, but I have a mom and a sister I’ve already put in harm’s way. So help me if
you
put them in danger, I will kill you so hard your own mother will forget she ever had you.”

I looked up at him and felt the pull of a Horus gaze about to begin as our eyes locked. I resisted it, but I could see that he had glimpsed something in my eyes. He looked away for a second, then backed up. He may have had six inches and the better part of a hundred pounds on me, but there was no way I was backing down.

“All right, we play it your way. But for the record, I won’t play by their rules forever.” He got on the bike and tossed my helmet at me. “A man has to take a stand somewhere.”

I stepped up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“We’re not playing by their rules,” I told him. “They’re playing by ours.”

***

“He went
where
?” Dr. C asked. He had that barely calm tone to his voice that Mom’s sometimes had when she was trying her best not to freak out. He leaned back in the leather chair and looked at me from across his desk like he was trying to stare through me.

Behind me, I could hear Cross and T-Bone suppressing chuckles. As amused as they were, I was so busted.

“Inferno,” Cross rumbled after a few seconds. “It’s a vampire-run club just off Republic. They use it mostly as a blood tap. Not a bad source of revenue, either.”

“Why?” he asked me directly, the first words he’d spoken to me since we’d gotten back to his place and found Cross and T-Bone waiting for us.

“I was following the guy who attacked mom and Dee,” I told him. “I was testing a theory.”

“Don’t try that with me, Chance. You’re already on thin ice with the Council, and sneaking off isn’t going to help at all. Besides,
if
your theory is correct, this had nothing to do with the Maxilla.”

“Somethin’ tells me it does,” T-Bone said. “Or at least, it’s got somethin’ to do with the wyrd
.
Kid might have gone off the rez, but every divination we did said he was doin’ what he was supposed to.”

“You should have come to me, Chance,” Dr. C shook his head. “I can’t help you if you won’t let me. And you put yourself in a great deal of danger. Do you know who owns Inferno?”

“Thraxus.” I smiled at the reaction the word got out of Dr. C; the frown on his face turned into an eyebrow-raising look of surprise.

Behind me, I heard T-Bone give a satisfied little grunt. Cross swore softly under his breath.

“I keep forgetting who you spent the bulk of your childhood with,” Dr. C said quietly. “I should have realized you’d know that.”

“Yeah, and there’s more. Thraxus has a pet demon, Furcas the Impaler.”

“How’d he manage that?” Cross asked. I shrugged.

“Just that badass, I guess. Neither one of them talks about it. Still, Dr. C, I have to go talk to Thraxus. One of his people threatened my family. If I don’t at least show up and make some noise about it, he’ll do something worse next time. At the very least, I need to figure out why he sent Darth Fedora to talk to me.” I put my hands on his desk and leaned in. “Please, Dr. C. I’m going to go do it whether you say I can or not. I just don’t want to waste time sneaking out of the house is all.”

He leaned forward, put his elbows on the desk, and steepled his fingers so that he was looking at me over the tips of his fingers.

“Exactly how likely is he to put you on the menu?” he asked after a few moments.

“Not very, since you know where I’m going. If I take someone else along, the chances of him having me for dinner drop a lot more. Harder to explain two missing people. I’d take those two,” I pointed over my shoulder, “but he wouldn’t let them inside. Same goes for you. But I think I know who I
can
take that will keep him on his best behavior.”

Chapter 12

~ Lie. Cheat. Threaten. Intimidate. All of those things are accepted, even encouraged, among the vampyri. But never steal, and never bluff. ~ Killian Moon, monster hunter

Two hours later, I found myself standing in front of the very big, very old mansion that everyone thought belonged to a very rich man named Cassius Cromwell. On paper, they were right, but Cromwell was Thraxus’ White Mask: his legal presence in the world. Everything Cromwell was, he owed to Thraxus, including his long life. I’d never been inside Chateau Thraxus, but rumor had it that the place had been built in the early 1800s. There was supposed to be a grand ballroom in there somewhere, and a theater complete with projector booth. Under the moonlight, the beige limestone was more of a pale gray, with squares of light peeking through the façade.

I’d ridden out on the back of Steve’s bike, with T-Bone and Cross following us. Donovan fidgeted as we waited for the third person in my little adventure to show. I figured he could feel the evil that lurked inside the Cromwell Mansion from the road, and taking him inside was going to be tough on him. But he was one of two people I knew who would stand a good chance of getting out alive if things went to Hell.

I smiled as I heard the throaty buzz of Shade’s Ninja a few seconds before I caught sight of her headlight coming around the corner. Then another sound intruded, a rumbling growl from a bigger engine, and I saw another headlight behind her. She pulled in behind T-Bone’s Torino, and the bike behind her followed suit.

“Nice Harley,” Steve said in open admiration.

I was about to say something when Deek pulled his helmet off and stood there like a hero in an action film. While he stood posing for effect, Shade came up to me with a frown marring her brow. She reached up with her left hand and pulled her hair away from the right side of her neck and pulled the collar of her shirt aside with her right hand. With a dark look back at Deek, she tilted her head to the side in invitation. As much as I wanted to repeat what we did during lunch, I hesitated.

“Please?” she whispered.

She gave me a sultry smile and I gave in to the urge. As my teeth clamped down on her soft white skin, she gave a soft moan and arched her back a little to press against me. I let go a lot faster this time; she stepped back with her eyes closed and sighed softly. When she opened them, they were gold.

Behind her, Deek was glaring daggers at me. Great, on top of going in to a vampire’s lair, I had a pissed-off beta to deal with.

“What’s he doing here?” I demanded.

Shade looked over her shoulder at him, then gave me a smile.

“Pouting,” she said. “He followed me on his own, Chance. He’s not part of the Pack, so I really can’t tell him what to do.” Deek came up behind her and glared at me over her shoulder.

“Right. I
so
needed this night to get more complicated.”

“Back off and things’ll go a lot smoother for you,” Deek said. He went to put a hand on her shoulder, and she shrugged it off.

“Go home, and things’ll stay attached,” Shade growled. He gave her a frosty smile and stepped around her.

“You can’t tell me what to do, and neither can he. I can smell vampires in that house, and I’m not letting him take you in there on his own. I’m going with you. Deal with it.”

He turned and gave me a level look. The problem was, he had me and he knew it. The mystical world lived by its honor, and if he was Shade’s guest, she couldn’t do anything to stop him. And unless I wanted a bunch of Weres pissed at me, I couldn’t either. All he lost by acting like an ass was another invitation.

“It works to your favor by taking him with you,” Cross said quietly from behind me. “If they eat him, it might look bad for Shade, but it also risks war with a second Pack. Thraxus is powerful, but he’s not a fool. He won’t risk making that many enemies at once.”

I glared over my shoulder at him, then turned back to face Deek.

“Fine, you can come,” I spat. “Once we’re inside, this is my show. You do exactly what I tell you to do. First off, vamps are big on hospitality. Just by going in, we’re agreeing to the courtesies of the Accords. That means we’re nice to our hosts. They’re also big on debt. Gifts are never just gifts. If we eat or drink anything they offer us, we give them the right to feed on us. If they give us something, and we accept it, we have to offer something in return. You can turn something down, but you have to do it the right way. Leave that to me.”

“Vamps like to make you flinch and they’ll push your buttons, it’s like a game to them,” T-Bone said. “One of ‘em gets in your face, smile. Don’t let ‘em think they got under your skin.”

Steve nodded, and Shade stepped past Deek and took my hand. The beta snorted as we turned and headed across the road to the gate. We barely got off the main road when a vamp in a black suit appeared in front of us.

“You are not welcome here,” he hissed at me. He was flashing fang at us, which meant he was taking us seriously enough to be rude.

“Your Master’s people weren’t welcome in my home, either, but that didn’t stop them.” I told him. “His house is open to me until things are even between us.”

He lowered his lip over his teeth and glared at me.

“Big words for a demon’s little bitch,” he said. I took the blood-splattered handkerchief out of my pocket and tossed it at him. He rolled his shoulder to avoid letting it touch him, and I scored the next point in the game.

“Take that to your Master, and see if I tell the truth. Then, when we get inside, call me that again.”

He picked it up off the driveway and held it to his nose, then he frowned at me before he disappeared.

As soon as he was gone, I let my hand fall on the butt of my paintball gun. I’d come armed to the teeth, with my paintball gun strapped to my left leg, my wand and touchstone in my jacket pocket, and a handful of charms wrapped around my right wrist. Going in to a cabal master’s lair with anything less than an arsenal on you was considered an insult if you didn’t know them personally, and Thraxus and I weren’t that close.

Ten minutes later, the gate opened on its own. Everyone looked at me, and I started walking up the driveway. It was still a hundred yards or so to the house, and common courtesy would have been to send a car down for us whether we started walking or if we waited. The trick was in how long it was before he sent them.

“So, if he sends a car down, we don’t get in,” Deek said.

I nodded. It wasn’t that simple, but I didn’t have time to explain. Headlights lit up the ground in front of us, and I struggled to keep my face neutral. Everyone followed my example when I stepped to my right and waited at the side of the drive. A few seconds later, twenty feet of white limo followed the twin cones of light on the ground. It pulled up until the driver’s side window was even with me, and the tinted glass slid down with a hum. Behind it was a blond woman with ample curves in a shirt whose top three buttons had probably never seen a buttonhole. The ones below that strained to stay on the shirt, as they fought to contain what was beneath them. I tried not to stare, but it was like her cleavage had its own gravity. I wondered if even light escaped from it as she turned smoky blue eyes on me and smiled with full red lips.

“I’m at your service, if you require a ride to the house,” the young woman behind the wheel said. The way she wrapped her voice around the words made it sound like she was offering another kind of ride entirely, and I was sure that was supposed to be the message I got. After all, what else do you send to tempt a fifteen year-old boy?

Beside me, I could feel Shade tense.

“Our host’s offer is both gracious and timely. I’m afraid that we can’t accept his generosity right now, if only because it wouldn’t be . . . proper, under the circumstances.” The words were slow and clumsy coming out of my mouth. I’d been talking like a normal person for the past six months, so the slightly formal cadence of the Veiled world took a little work to get back into.

“If you should change your mind, the offer remains . . . open.” She shifted slightly in the seat, and I could see her knees move under the skirt. Yeah, that was about as subtle as wrecking ball.

I stepped back, and she gave me a lingering smile as she pulled away. Shade’s glare was a weight on my skin as we waited for her to pass us by on the way back.

“That wasn’t exactly turning her down,” she growled as she fell in beside me again. Deek chuckled, and earned himself equal time under her scrutiny.

“I’m still a little rusty, okay? The Graces are a very precise art. It takes practice to get good at them, and more to stay good.” I glanced her way to see if she was going to let it go, but her face hadn’t softened any. Her hand tightened on mine, possessively, however, and I took it as a good omen.

We made it the rest of the way to the house, and the door opened as we mounted the marble steps. The same guy from the gate was waiting for us, framed in the doorway like a man-shaped hole of darkness against the light. We still weren’t exactly invited in, which meant that I would lose most of my power if I crossed Thraxus’ threshold without being asked in.

“So, am I still a demon’s bitch, or are you going to take my stuff and make me come in uninvited?” I asked as I got to the door. His eyes narrowed and he stayed in place for a second as we played the game and tried to see who would flinch first. The first option meant he’d have to close the door on me with an open complaint against his Master. His life would last about six seconds longer than his career as a doorman if he took that option. If he took door number two and made me come in unarmed and uninvited, it said to the whole world that his Master considered me a threat. He really had only one option, but the way I’d played it, it made him the one offering it, instead of me asking for it. To his credit, he smiled and stepped aside. He’d chosen door number three. In vampire politics, it meant I was slightly ahead in the game, since I wasn’t one of them. They hated making concessions to mortals.

“My Lord asks that you come in, and he offers safe passage to you and those with you, if you wish it,” he said. My mouth twisted up into the half-grin my mom hated. Two things offered at once, the first of which I could expect as my due because I had a complaint against one of his people. The second, however, would leave me in is debt if I took him up on it.

“We accept his invitation, but safe passage is not required. This is a matter of honor, I’m sure we will be able to handle things between us . . . amicably enough.” The doorman smiled, knowing I’d allowed his earlier insult to pass in order to leverage him into letting me keep my weapons. If he was on the dumb side, he would think he’d scored big on me and lose a lot of respect for me. If he was smart, he’d know that a little pride was a small price to pay for surviving the night. He stepped aside and gestured with one hand for us to step past him.

Shade, Deek, and Steve followed me in. Over my shoulder, I saw them look around in awe. The foyer itself was huge, with a pair of white marble staircases on either side that led to a balcony. A pair of gilt double doors loomed on the far side of the balcony, with another pair below. White double doors on either side led into other sections of the house. A pair of statues missing the arms stood on either side of the foyer, and paintings framed in gold hung on the walls. I didn’t know Rembrandt from Bob Ross, but I was willing to bet all of them were originals, and worth more than some pieces of real estate. Red carpet that was thick enough to lose small pets in was laid in a path from the door to the staircases and the other exits from the room. A heavy chandelier hung in the middle of the room, and antique looking chairs and tables sat in corners, making the room look more welcoming than it was.

The most disconcerting thing about the room, though, was the vampires scattered around it. One lounged in a chair on the ground floor, in a tux that looked almost a decade out of date. Another leaned on the banister of the right-hand staircase, wearing a leather jacket, a black t-shirt, and jeans. A third, a girl in a little black dress, lounged at the top of the stairs. It took me a moment to even notice them, and that bothered me. Young vamps had a hard time blending in with people because they forgot the basics. They would spend a long time not breathing, or they’d smile with their mouths open. But older vamps, while they could remember the basics better with years of practice, had a whole different level of creep factor when they weren’t putting on the act. They had a way of just going
still
that made it hard to forget that you were in the room with a walking corpse. Dead people just don’t fidget or move randomly.

Steve was stiff and pale beside Deek, and Shade’s hand trembled in mine, though I couldn’t tell if it was from fear or ferocity. Don’t get me wrong; I was having a hard time keeping it together myself. When the doors on the balcony opened, I had to fight the urge to grab my TK wand from my pocket. But then, Steve and I were probably sensing almost the same thing. I could feel the demonic presence press against my mystic senses, and I was sure Steve was getting major evil vibes off the blue-skinned demon that stepped out on to the upper level.

It wore black robes that concealed most of its body, but its face was easy enough to see. A ring of small spines stuck out of its head and encircled its skull above the ears. Two larger horns curved away from its cheeks and around its face to end up a few inches apart, in front of the raised ridge of cartilage around its nostrils. A bony ridge separated the nostrils and stuck out a little, giving a two-dimensional illusion of a nose. Red eyes with vertical slits stared down at us for a moment, and I got the feeling this was one pissed-off demon.