Chaos Rises: A Veil World Urban Fantasy (14 page)

Torrent stopped at the door, hand on the handle. “I’ve walked the block. The hotel is off the main boulevard. We’re safe here.” He looked me in the eyes. “I know what you are.”

What I am?
My lips turned down at the corners. “And what is that?”

“You’re combat trained. Too well trained to be a netherworld half blood. You know your demons, know how to kill them quickly and efficiently. You move with an acute awareness of your surroundings, always looking over your shoulder. But the tattoo gave you away.”

My shoulder itched at the mention of the Institute branding. He’d known since we’d first met. I crossed my arms and looked down, scuffing my boots on the carpet. “Did you call them?”

“No.”

Why didn’t that put me at ease? I rolled my lips together and briefly considered silencing Torrent for good. If I had any hope of bargaining with Allard to get Del back, I needed Torrent. If we fought here, it would be brutal. He wouldn’t go down easily. The resulting clash of elements would alert the police and probably the Institute. It would be messy, chaotic, and not worth the risk.

I turned and breathed in deeply. “So what now?”

He looked at me, his expression level and measured. He knew how to keep his thoughts off his face. I’d do well to remember how. If he could manipulate a higher demon like Allard, he could manipulate me too.

“You don’t know me.” He sighed. “And I get it. You don’t trust anyone. But I don’t want to be checking over my shoulder wondering if you’re going to stab me in it. I’ve lived with that fear… lived with it long enough.” A smile broke across his lips. “Can’t we just…get along?”

“Like what, friends?”

“Sure.” He shrugged. “Friends.”

“How does that work?”

“What?”

“Friends?”

He frowned, opened his mouth, seemed to forget what he was about to say, and rubbed a thumb across his bottom lip, clearly thinking. “I’m pretty sure friends don’t try to kill each other, or you know, give them up to the Institute.”

“Okay.” I didn’t plan on killing him. I couldn’t hand him back to Allard dead.

He held out his hand. I looked at it.
Oh, the human handshake gesture.
I stepped forward, held out my hand, and we shook. His touch was warm, like his wings. Soft too. I quickly let go and rammed my hands into my pockets.

“Okay?” he asked.

“Okay.”

He smiled, and this time, it reached his eyes. “For what it’s worth, thank you for getting your ice on and stopping Allard.”

I shrugged, avoiding his eyes. “You stopped him from crushing me. So I guess we’re even.”

“Guess so.”

An odd squirming twisted in my gut. I did have to get Del back. And the only bargaining tool I had was Torrent.
Friends
didn’t betray one another. Maybe that was why I’d never had friends before.

T
he packed chain
restaurant was attached to the side of the hotel, where it soaked up passing foot traffic. And it was the last place I wanted to be. The sun had set, and people throbbed back and forth, chatting, joining others at their tables, doing noisy people things. My skin prickled at the sight of them. I waited for our food to arrive, knee jumping, chewing on my thumbnail. I’d tried to get the table near the back wall so I could see all the exits, but the place was too busy. We’d ended up hunched in a booth, my back exposed, surrounded by noise and
people
.

“Relax, Gem.” Torrent watched me rattle in my seat. He was leaning back in his booth, resting an arm on the back like he belonged exactly where he was. “You look hunted.”

The waiter came, laid out the dishes, and fussed over creating enough space for the drinks. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like a main meal?” He placed my bowl of frozen yogurt in front of me.

“No, I’m fine.”

He smiled an odd little smile, like maybe I’d done something socially unacceptable. “Enjoy your meal.”

I tucked into my pink frozen yogurt, and for a few wonderful seconds, forgot the noise, the movement, and Torrent’s raised eyebrow. The yogurt’s smooth chill went all the way down—to what felt like my soul—and a small pleasurable groan slipped free.

Torrent spluttered, snapping me out of my moment. He took a long drink from his glass and cleared his throat.

“What?”

“You
really
like frozen yogurt, huh?”

I blinked and avoided his gaze by burying mine in the yogurt. He’d meant it lightly, but how could I explain how the little things were luxuries? Frozen yogurt was worth its weight in gold when you’ve lived without a roof over your head or food in your belly. I considered how much to tell him about my time on the streets and whether he’d understand any of it. What would he think of me if he knew the things I’d done to survive, if he could picture me on my hands and knees in piss-soaked gutters, searching through the trash for dry cardboard to sleep on?

An alarm sounded, a clanging sound followed by a rumbling. In a blink, I’d hunkered down and drawn in my element—the nearest exit was ten meters away—and then I realized my mistake. Not an alarm. Someone’s kid had dropped a bowl. The parents were fussing over it now, scraping chairs out of the way. I swallowed, relaxed my element, and lifted my eyes to Torrent.

He hadn’t flinched, and why would he? It was a bowl. Heat touched my cheeks. It shouldn’t matter what he thought, but here, among these people, I couldn’t hide my fear. And there he was, tucking into his meal like he belonged.

He took a moment to glance about the tables nearest us. “The people here won’t hurt you.”

I knew that. I did. I just didn’t like the constant ebb and flow of noise and the ever-shifting bodies. I stabbed my spoon into my yogurt and concentrated on scooping tiny bits off so I could eat while keeping an eye on my blind spots.

Torrent tucked into his meal, not in the least concerned that he had his back to the exits and couldn’t see any threat coming. After a few minutes of silent eating, he shifted forward in his seat and leaned an elbow on the table, bringing him in close enough that only I’d hear his whispers. “It’s demons hiding in plain sight you need to worry about. If you relaxed your hold on yours, you’d know there aren’t any threats here.”

I smiled, or tried to, and poked my spoon at my frozen yogurt. How could he be so relaxed? He was a muddle of contradictions, comfortable among people, powerful among demons, but submissive too. As he swirled the ice in his drink, I roamed my gaze over his posture, coming to rest at the unusual winged-key pendant. When challenged, he touched that pendant, reached for it like a talisman. And then there were the scars. Someone at some time had deeply hurt him. I wondered if whoever it was had survived the encounter, if he’d scarred them in return, and if they were out there somewhere.

“What will you do now that Vanessa’s gone?”

He continued swirling his ice, the change in him barely noticeable, but he’d lost his easy posture and tensed up. “I don’t think she’s gone.” He looked at his drink and ran his thumb down the edge of the glass, collecting beads of condensation. “What Allard did to her… That was wrong.”

I picked up my own cup and sniffed. Lemon water. I took a sip. The bite of citrus tingled on my tongue but couldn’t distract me from recalling in detail how Allard had torn Vanessa’s wings from her back. I’d assumed she’d die from the trauma. “You think she survived?”

He rubbed at his forehead and closed his eyes. When he looked up, tiny lines gathered at their corners. “Allard deliberately left her alive.”

It would be the kind of thing Allard would do. A lesson for the rest of us. Clearly, Torrent hadn’t enjoyed watching his former owner suffer, even if he had wanted her killed. Wanting someone to suffer and actually being responsible for that suffering are two very different things.

I had my answer as to why Torrent attacked Allard. We each have our breaking points. Torrent had reached his, probably believing Allard wouldn’t hurt him, especially after Vanessa’s words. Allard needed a water elemental. He also needed me, and if Vanessa was correct, he already had my brother. I had her to thank for blowing his deception wide open.
Pawns
, she’d called us. And now, Allard knew I knew. That changed everything.

I slid my gaze over the people, listened to them laugh, and watched the soft light flick across sharp cutlery. “I don’t like it here. We’re exposed.”

Torrent lost his smile. He took a drink and pushed his meal aside. “What did the Institute do to you?”

I wasn’t about to answer that. Even if I did feel like talking, it wouldn’t be here, among these normal people and their bright little lives. “Are you Institute?” I asked instead, switching the attention back onto him.

He tapped his fingers on the table and looked around us like the answer could be found somewhere else. The more the seconds ticked by, the more I wondered what was so hard about the question. Either he was Institute or he wasn’t.

“Where were you when the veil fell?” he finally asked, ignoring my question just the same as I’d ignored his.

I lifted my gaze to meet his green eyes. “Running.” Running from the netherworld, from the nightmare, from the blood and pain, and the way it had made me feel—like maybe, deep inside, I’d liked the madness.

“That’s what you were doing, not where you were.” He held my gaze for a few seconds and allowed a smile to smooth out his lips and sweep away some of the rising tension. “To answer your questions, Gem. I don’t know if I’m Institute. I’ve wondered. But I don’t have the branding, so I guess not.”

How could he not know? “What do you mean, you’ve
wondered
? It’s not something you forget.”

“I did.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know where I was when the veil fell. I don’t even know
who
I was. I remember being torn apart, and then…” He leaned back, angling himself away so he didn’t have to look me in the eye. “Then Vanessa had me, and that’s all I know.”

I remembered the tearing of demon and human. I remembered holding onto Del and screaming, remembered how he’d buried his head against my shoulder and sobbed. I
remembered
everything.

“You don’t know who you were before?” I asked quietly, so quietly I’d wondered if he’d heard me over the background chatter.

His cheek twitched, and his ocean-green eyes narrowed at some distant memory. “That’s why I couldn’t tell you my name.” He smiled quick and sharp and looked at me like everything was normal, but it wasn’t. The hurt hid behind his honest eyes and behind that smile.

I tried to imagine what that might be like to only have six months’ worth of memories behind you. There was a past out there somewhere, a history belonging to him. A life. “Have you tried finding out?”

“I don’t want to know,” he said too quickly.

“Why not?”

Wincing, he picked up a napkin and set it down again, smoothing out the wrinkles. “What if I don’t like who I was?”

His old scars, much older than six months... I’d seen their crisscross patchwork on his chest and back. If he wasn’t branded with the Institute’s scorpion tattoo, then he wasn’t Institute, and that meant he was netherworld born. Those scars were probably all that was left of a half blood’s life as some higher demon’s plaything beyond the veil, a life like that made what Allard did to Vanessa look like a game. The short time I’d spent in the netherworld was long enough to stalk my dreams, twisting them into blood-soaked nightmares.

His submission, the demon etiquette—it started to make sense.

If I had an opportunity to forget the maze, to forget how I’d fought against the restraints and screamed until my voice broke, would I? I looked at what remained of my frozen yogurt and didn’t feel much like finishing it. “Why’d you tell me that?”

“I wanted you to know.”

“Why?”

He chuckled and gave his head a shake. “I don’t know. Maybe that’s what friends do, share their fears?”

“Are you afraid of who you were?” I knew I’d gone too far when he frowned and waved the waiter over.

He asked for the check, and once the waiter vanished, he showed me Vanessa’s card. “Dinner’s on Vanessa.”

I felt my own little smile lift my lips and let it. “For what it’s worth, I like who you are today.” I realized what I’d said too late and recoiled, slightly alarmed that the admission had come from me.

He caught my shock and laughed, drawing a few interested glances our way.

That
was my demon talking. I was overdue a hit of PC34A.
She
was bleeding through into my thoughts. I considered explaining my demon’s attraction to make it perfectly clear I had nothing to do with it, but talking about how my demon would really like to jump his bones was a conversation I did not want to have. Ever.

“I think I kinda like your demon, Gem. She speaks her mind.”

“She’ll do a lot more than that if I can’t get to Allard and my meds.”

Mention of Allard dragged the mood right back down again. “You want to go back for your brother?”

“I can’t leave him there.”

“Do you know why Allard has him?”

“No.” But I could guess. Del wasn’t like other half bloods or other demons. Allard must have realized that, even though my brother and I had tried to keep the truth hidden. Allard had driven those
vitiosus
to stampede, and in the confusion, he’d taken Del. “Vanessa said something about Allard needing us. It has to be something to do with the
coronam
. Do you know what it is?”

Torrent pushed his drink aside and leaned in. “Vanessa knew he’s rebuilding something he calls a puzzle, and if we’re assuming we’re necessary for this puzzle, it must be something to do with our elements. Water.” He flicked his fingers at himself, then me. “Ice. He has Joseph for fire. He’s earth. So we’re just missing air. Your brother, right?”

Wrong
. “Right,” I lied.

“He’s collecting higher elementals. The question is, why?”

“Maybe he has a buyer?”

“Maybe…” Torrent didn’t sound sure, and neither was I. If he had a buyer lined up, he could have locked Del and me in a cage like all the other stock, but instead, he’d tried to keep us content.

Torrent tapped his fingers against the table. “Help me understand Allard. Who is he? Where does he come from?”

“I haven’t known him long. Just since the Fall.”

“He didn’t come through when the veil fell. His vessel’s perfect. He’s had time to learn how to be human. Demons that came through months ago can barely string a sentence together. So let’s assume Allard came through the veil before demons were exposed as real, when the netherworld was a myth tangled up with religion. What does that tell us?”

“Only higher demons could come through the veil, and even then, only those who were strong enough to manipulate the chaos energies the veil is made of. Allard’s powerful and strong, but I don’t think he’s
that
powerful. He would have needed help to come through. Or he was forced to?” I remembered something Vanessa had said.
“It’s what got you banished, you know.”
“Banished.”

Torrent clicked his fingers. “And what do all demons want?”

“Power.”

“Power. Allard’s clever enough, strong enough, and he’s clearly been here a long time. The veil’s closed.” Torrent paused. His eyes narrowed. “He’s trying to step up.”

Allard had told me that without the princes, he’d felt free. A horrible shifting, sinking sensation rooted in my gut. “Vanessa said he’s not a prince.”

“She did, like that might make a difference to whatever he’s planning.”

“He wants to open the veil again.”

“No, I don’t think so. Why do that when he has everything he needs right here?” Torrent shook his head. “He’s not opening the veil. He’s been here a long time.
Banished
here. I think he’s trying to carve out a seat of power for himself.”

And he had a Prince of Hell in his basement, a Prince of Hell whose element was probably air, a Prince of Hell who’d been trapped for six months. Plenty of time for Allard to extract information only a prince would know.

Power.

Allard wanted power. And the
coronam
was overflowing with power—chaos energy. If Allard was stepping up, he’d make sure he could fight anything the authorities threw at him. He needed a weapon. I had to get my brother away from Allard.

“Oh.” My gut sank.

“What?”

“Oh, no.”

I shot from the chair and made it outside and into the hotel foyer before Torrent caught up with me.

“Wait, what is it?” He blocked my path at the elevator. “Talk to me.”

My skin itched under the wary glances of the hotel patrons giving us a wide berth. “I have to get my brother away from Allard now,” I said under my breath.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“I just do,” I growled.

“Okay…” Torrent said slowly. “But you can’t race back to Fairhaven without a plan.”

I had a plan. It wasn’t a great plan, and the more I considered it, the more I hated what had to be done, but Del would do the same for me.