“Hey, I didn’t do nothing. This dude threatened me,” Vex protested hastily, clinging to his persona of a skater.
Theo shifted as if to go for him again. “You better leave her alone.”
I gave Vex a hard look as I tugged on Theo. “Save your energy. It’s not worth it,” I told Theo.
I took his hand, and without a word Theo accompanied me to the elevator. When I pressed the down button, he asked, “We’re leaving?”
“Yes. I shouldn’t have come here.” I still held on to his hand, my fingers digging in tightly. He was more angry than hurt, but he didn’t know how close he had come to being the main course.
“Good.” He briefly stroked my arm, clearly hoping it would be that easy.
I could offer no reassurances. We were silent as the elevator dropped down to the first floor. But we bypassed the lobby and continued on down to the basement. Theo hit the red button for the emergency stop, but the elevator kept sinking. It was being remotely operated. We couldn’t control where it went.
“I should have known it.”
“Somebody doesn’t want us to leave,” Theo said.
We hardly had time to react. His arm went around me as the door slid open.
A group of security guards were waiting for us in the underground garage. Montagna stood in front, more than six feet of solid woman breathing hard. It looked like they had arrived at a dead sprint.
Montagna was holding her truncheon in her black leather gloves, ready for action. “Let her go!
Now!
”
With a jerk of her head, the guards rushed the elevator, forcibly separating us. I felt the first hands on me, and lost it, fighting back much harder than Theo. Using Aikido moves, I toppled them, even though they were all bigger than I was. I wasn’t gentle about it. One of the guards screamed when I twisted his arm, the snap ringing out. I waited for the next attack, but none came and I spun, seeking action. The rest of Montagna’s gang were converging on Theo.
That was when I realized they were after Theo, not me. I quickly sidestepped the next guard, shoving him hard into the back of the elevator. These were fragile humans, but even fighting full-out, I didn’t have the skills to take on so many trained guards.
The guards pulled Theo from the elevator and wrestled him to the ground. Montagna and a big bear of a man stood between me and them, holding out their arms to stop me from going around. The guard with the broken arm backed toward a wall; white with pain, he was making a wheezing sound.
“Stop it!” I shouted, shoving Montagna aside. My strength surprised her, making her spin away. I reached the bald guy who was leaning over Theo, one knee in his back. “Let him go!”
I pushed him hard, and he fell forward, still on top of Theo. Montagna caught my waist from behind, pulling me off them. “Stand back, Ms. Meyers!” To the bald- headed dude, she ordered, “Cuff him.”
I broke her grasp even though it tore at my flesh, and would cost me some serious bruises. “I said, let him go! You can’t do this.”
Montagna reluctantly stepped back, palms up as if under orders not to harm me. “He assaulted Tim Anderson, and made threats against the prophet. We have it on tape.”
It was a lie, or maybe she believed the story Vex had concocted against Theo. I ignored her, trying to shove the bald guy off Theo’s back. “He’s not fighting you. Get off him!”
Theo was cuffed now, so at Montagna’s nod, they finally moved back. I knelt on the floor at Theo’s head.
Montagna reported into her walkie-talkie. “We’ve got the perp.”
Through the static, I heard, “Take him to—”
I touched Theo’s hair, and he turned his head to look up at me. There was a scrape down his cheek, and it was streaked with dirt from the cement floor.
“Don’t,” Theo croaked.
I looked up at the goons, my hands splayed protectively against Theo’s back. “Call the police. We’ll deal with this the right way. But first you’re taking off these handcuffs.”
“That’s for the prophet to say.” Montagna was unmoved. She stood at Theo’s feet, ready to leap into action at the first sign of resistance. “This isn’t about you, Ms. Meyers. I’d stay out of it, if I were you.”
I had the sinking feeling that Montagna was used to getting her own way. I couldn’t fight all of them. Vex had sent so many because he knew I would try.
Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I reached out with my senses. I could no longer feel Vex in the building. He had cut and run, leaving me at the mercy of his goons. But Dread had returned. It felt like he was just entering the Prophet’s Center.
Montagna nodded to the guards, who lifted Theo under the arms. He staggered on his feet, as if they had knocked the wind out of him. His face was scraped raw and the sleeve of his T-shirt was nearly torn off.
I helped support him with one hand against his chest, feeling his harsh breathing.
This is my fault. I should have escorted him out last night. Instead, I used him like a gigolo.
It had been selfish and cruel to expose him to this. But having him around made me feel . . . safe. I had wallowed in that beautiful illusion, even though it had done nothing but hurt him. Every day I had known him was written on him in blood.
“No, Allay—,” Theo started to say.
“Stop talking. Get moving!” snapped Montagna, cutting him off.
“Where are you going?” I demanded, as they dragged him away from me, closing ranks around him. One of the guards helped the perspiring man who was gingerly supporting his broken arm. “Where are you taking him?”
“Detention until we get further orders.” Montagna’s mouth hardly moved. She apparently wasn’t used to this much trouble. “You can’t come with us, Ms. Meyers.”
They dragged Theo around the corner and into a smaller elevator. He was struggling with them now. He opened his mouth to say something, but one of the goons jabbed him expertly in the solar plexus. Theo bent over, choking.
I grabbed the door of the elevator, but they were packed in, with no room left for me to shove my way inside. Montagna grit her teeth and carefully hit my fingers with her truncheon. I felt something crunch, and the pain spasmed in my fingers, making me let go.
“If you don’t take me with you,” I threatened, “I’ll go find the nearest policeman and report you for kidnapping.”
“Better ask the prophet about that, Ms. Meyers,” Montagna said as the door slid closed.
Theo lifted his head at the last moment. He twitched his head as if warning me about something. Then I was standing alone in the basement.
This was
very bad
. I knew it from the second I saw Vex feeding on Theo. The truth was—Theo was just another casualty in Vex’s pursuit of power.
I was doomed. I’d been caught when I came to live in the city under Vex’s protection, and the trap had finally sprung.
Vex probably thought he would be able to pressure me into cooperating with him. Boy, was he wrong. I dialed his private number.
He answered on the first ring. “Allay, I’m glad you called. I want you to see the security tapes of what happened—when your friend Theo showed up at my door and started shoving me around.”
“Likely story!” I snapped. “How could he get through the security cameras unless you let him? I bet you taunted him about me. Did you tell June to tell him we were lovers? Some nasty story about how I’m involved with the prophet’s nephew? Then you invited him up so you could finish him off.”
“Allay! I swear I didn’t start this. I thought you loosed him on me. I never intended to hurt him.”
“Your goons just beat him up and dragged him off!”
“All of this can be solved right now, Allay. We’ll figure this out. We can work together and then you won’t ever have to lie again. You can tell everyone you’re different and stop pretending to live like a human. You would never have to change that persona that is uniquely you. Forever.”
I couldn’t speak for a moment. He was offering me the impossible dream, to be completely myself, honest with my friends and family about who I was. . . . I might even be able to have a relationship with a good man like Theo, someone who wouldn’t hold my differences against me.
“Very seductive . . . but I’d be selling snake oil.”
“You don’t have to decide now. The only reason I told you this soon is because Glory made a move against you. Let’s talk about it more. You can give us your suggestions—the Fellowship is open to incorporating a broader social message in our reforms. We can look deeper into our projections and research, while you help us refine our policies. There’s no rush; we’d do everything on a timetable that you’re comfortable with.”
“So you’ll protect Shock and me while I’m making up my mind?”
Vex’s voice was soothing. “If you stay in the Prophet’s Center, I can protect you. Next week, after I deal with the Glory situation, then it may be safer for you to go home.”
“I’m not staying here,” I said flatly.
His voice matched mine. “Then I can’t release your friend, not unless you stay.” Vex clicked the phone, ending our call.
I punched the elevator button and waited for it to return. It was impossible to tell which floor the elevator had taken Theo to.
When it finally returned, I stepped inside. Dread was now on the third floor, if I was any judge. I could be walking into a stupid game of good cop/bad cop. But I had to try to convince him to release Theo. Clearly, Dread and Vex weren’t joined at the hip anymore, so there might be some crack I could slip a wedge into.
When I reached the right floor, I hurried down the corridor to find a way to the west side of the building. Dread was in a conference room.
The palace boardroom had not been on our tour. The compact jewelry-box layout featured blue satin panels between beveled mirrors, capped by a gold-leaf ceiling painted with cherubs. I felt as if I had stepped back into the time of the
Queen Mary.
Actually, it was more like the
Titanic
.
Time for me to make like an iceberg.
Dread sat at one end of an elaborate table. He had a pile of folders at one hand and an open laptop at the other. He was concentrating on something on the screen.
“Ah, Allay. They said you were coming up.” He pushed the computer closed and gestured for me to take a seat next to him.
I went closer. “Tallying up what I owe the Fellowship?”
Dread was still pointing to the chair. “Sit down so we can talk about this, Allay. I’m sorry things have gotten out of hand. It was Vex’s orders, and I told him it was a mistake.”
I sat down. Perhaps Dread was willing to negotiate. “You can order his release. You’re the prophet.”
“Allay, I’ve seen the tape of him attacking Vex.”
I waved my hand at him. “You know Vex had something to do with it. This reeks of a setup. He lured Theo to his room and then tampered with the evidence. Do you have footage of Theo’s going up there?”
Dread narrowed his eyes. “Strange enough, no. My people aren’t sure how he got onto the secured floor.”
“It was Vex,” I said triumphantly. “He’s lying to both of us.”
I knew I had hit him smack in the middle of his doubts. But Dread had been Vex’s man for too long. “I can convince Vex to let him go if you agree to cooperate with us.”
“I haven’t decided yet. Vex said I could take my time thinking about it.”
Dread considered me for a few moments. “Look at it from his side, Allay. He’s afraid you’ll be killed if you run around on the streets in your current state. Maybe Glory doesn’t want you dead, but at the very least she wants to stop you from helping Vex. He’ll do anything to keep you here in the complex, even if it makes you angry. You’re too valuable to him.”
“Then why doesn’t he lock me up instead of Theo?”
“He thinks you’ll come around and cooperate with him. Once you realize you’ll be the most powerful person on Earth.”
I took a deep breath. Person? I wasn’t a person anymore, and that was the critical thing these two demons were forgetting. Lies were my life. I’d say anything in order to get Theo out. I tried to seem as if I were thinking it over. “So I could stay looking like myself forever? I could even reconnect with my family once they knew what I was?”
He nodded.
“Okay, I agree. I’ll help you with your Revelation.”
Dread shook his head at me, seemingly more amused than exasperated. “You have to convince Vex of that, Allay. And I doubt he’ll believe you so quickly.”
“What do I have to do to convince him?”
He considered it, his eyes narrowed as he thought. “Maybe if you cooperate on another project with us, something short-term yet sincere, he’ll believe you.”
Was it his signature that made me feel as if I were standing on the edge of a slippery slope? “What kind of project?”
His hands clasped together on the table. “You must understand, Allay, that you don’t have much time left.”
Back to that again; my need to take on another demon’s life force before I died. But I wanted answers and Dread was a very old demon; he would know the truth, if anyone did. “How long do you think I have?”
“Two weeks, perhaps. No longer than that.”
“What? That soon?” I had gotten so good at suppressing the growing urgency inside of myself that I hadn’t realized it was that dire. I was going to die if I didn’t take another demon. Something deep inside my belly began to cramp, twisting me forward as it overwhelmed me with the need to take, take, take. . . . I forced it back down.
Dread was nodding sympathetically. “I may have a solution. Hybrids are much more fertile than other demons. If you cram yourself with energy, Allay, you can fission fairly quickly.”
I grimaced. “You want me to eat my own offspring?”
