Demon's Quest (19 page)

"Can somebody let Lok know that I won't be back at the apartment tonight?" I asked Lendill as Teeg carried me off the bus.

"I'll let him know." Lendill pulled out his comp-vid.

"Come on, baby, let's get you home. You're cold and shaking," Teeg murmured and folded me away.

* * *

"I should have known sooner, but I was still fretting over Addah, Fes and Aldah showing up and calling me out of the kitchen like assholes," I muttered later as Teeg dumped me in the hot water of his spa behind the palace.

"They showed up and demanded that you come out and talk to them?" Teeg was shocked. So was I, honestly. I might have walked into Desh's to sample the food, but I sure wouldn't alert Addah to my presence. But then Addah wasn't afraid of me. I was of him, though. I drew a shaky breath.

"Addah tried to accuse me of stealing their recipes—said the fish stew was close to what they served. The only reason it's close is because I designed the original recipe. Fucker." I didn't have any kind words for my paternal grandfather. "I'm glad now that I left out three ingredients when I wrote down the yaris fish recipe for Edan six years ago. They can't lay claim to that, either."

"Baby, stop fretting about your grandfather and tell me about the Ra'Ak." Honestly, the Ra'Ak had upset me less than my own family.

"I didn't notice him when I walked past his seat toward the front of the bus," I said. "I was too busy going over Addah's visit. The moment the doors closed on the bus and it started moving, he stood up. I noticed it then and went right to my smaller Thifilatha. I had to twist his head off; he tried to lash out at me but that's a mistake with a High Demon."

"And then he dusted," Teeg added. "Did the dusting hit you, sweetheart?" He ran his hands over my body.

"I ducked and covered my head with my arms," I said. "But I got hit in a couple of places. I'm better equipped to handle that than the other passengers were."

Farzi, Nenzi and six other reptanoids crawled up in lion snake form and all of them plopped into the water. Farzi and Nenzi draped over me as well as they could while the others got as close as Teeg would allow. I think I cried a little while eight lion snakes tried to console me.

* * *

"That's Reah." Lendill ran the images from the bus camera back, then allowed them to play again for Lok's benefit. Norian had confiscated the recording to keep it out of the locals' hands.

"That's what she becomes?" Lok was surprised.

"That's the smaller one," Lendill nodded as Lok stared at the golden scales and long white hair flying as Reah decapitated the Ra'Ak using only her hands. "She's about six feet or so in the smaller one?" He looked to Norian for confirmation. Norian nodded. "In the larger one, she's around fifteen feet. And she has her wings tight against her body here," he stopped the image. "They're amazing when she spreads them out."

"So that's what a High Demon looks like."

"When they change, but Reah is the only one with gold scales. The only other female who has ever turned is the High Demon Queen—Glindarok. Her Thifilatha is white. The males turn Thifilathi and theirs are larger and all black with short horns. Reah doesn't have horns."

"Reah is unique." Lok nodded.

"They can't ever get tattoos," Lendill jerked his head toward Lok's red dragons—it was late and he wasn't wearing a shirt. "The ink burns right off when they change."

"Their clothing burns off, too, if they're wearing any. Reah didn't have time to undress, obviously," Norian ran the footage forward, showing Reah coming back to herself. She was completely nude. "Lendill knew to take clothing when she sent mindspeech to him."

"I can't even see the attack, it happens so quickly," Lok muttered.

"Neither can we. That's how fast they are. Lissa says that the High Demons were made to fight the Ra'Ak and the other creatures that inhabited the Dark Realm. They were designed specifically for that purpose." Norian sighed.

"I was worried about her earlier—her family from the other restaurant—they came in and upset her." Lok said.

"Who was it? Did her grandfather come in?" Lendill was seething, suddenly.

"I believe so—with two others. Her uncles, she said."

"Calm down, Lendill, you can't bring charges against someone for being a prick," Norian said.

"Addah Desh would be at the top of the list if I could."

"That's neither here nor there—we've had a Ra'Ak attack in Tulgalan's capital city. That's unheard of. What are we going to do?" Norian looked at Lok and Lendill.

* * *

The reptanoids were gabbling excitedly as we climbed into the reserved snowbus—Teeg had rented one for the day to carry us up the mountain near Campiaa City and back again. Somehow, Teeg had provided several outfits inside the closet he'd set aside for me—all of them ski outfits. Other things were there as well, but I was almost afraid to sort through all of it. Now, we were loading onto a luxury snow bus and driving up the mountain. Unsurprisingly, Teeg and the reptanoids had their own snowboards. Farzi's was black with white stripes, Nenzi's was a bright red. He loves red and wears red shirts often. The others also had their own special colors, ranging from orange to blue. It made me smile to see them so happy.

"I haven't gotten to do this in ages," Teeg slipped dark glasses over his nose and grinned at me. It was at times like this that I felt Aurelius might be right—that Gavril the boy was somewhere deep inside Teeg the man. Gavril might come out to play now and then.

"No, you go, I want to see all of you go down first," I said, shooing Farzi toward the edge. They went, in twos and threes, and it was a pleasure to watch them move so expertly. Surely, it had to do with their supple muscles and bone structure. Teeg grinned at me and followed the reptanoids. I, still a bit unsure and with two skis strapped to my feet, went over the edge after them. I shrieked several times, trying to convince my feet to go in the proper direction. Fell twice, too, but didn't hurt myself. When I made it to the bottom, Teeg and the others were laughing and dusting snow off my jumpsuit. We wore ourselves out, broke for lunch at an expensive restaurant, went back out again and stopped before the sun hung too low in the sky.

"That wonderful," Nenzi sighed, pressing against my right side. The left was leaning against Teeg. Farzi sat across the aisle from us, with the others scattered behind.

"Have a good time, sweetheart?" Teeg murmured in my ear.

"Yes. Can we do it again next month?"

"I'll make sure we have a day," his mouth was warm against my temple, as he nuzzled and kissed his way to my jaw.

* * *

Teeg took me out to dinner at the San Gerxon. Guarded by Astralan and Stellan, people whispered as we passed. They were all saying Teeg's name and speculating as to who I might be. Teeg heard every word—he had vampire hearing, after all. He smiled over most of it and put his hand on the back of my neck—there'd been a beautiful dress and a hairdresser waiting when we arrived at the palace. Now, dressed formally and my hair piled on my head, we walked toward the best restaurant in the San Gerxon.

Almost the moment we were seated at a private table, Kiasz was out of the kitchen and in raptures, hugging me carefully so as not to ruin my outfit. The dress was a spring green, almost the color of my eyes and Teeg had likely paid a fortune for it. My Tiralian crystal ring came out of a jewelry box I hadn't recognized and Teeg placed it on my finger before we left the palace. No wonder everybody was whispering. I think a few unauthorized photographs were taken as well.

"Tell me what you want to eat and it will appear," Kiasz was still grinning.

"Right now, I'm so hungry I could eat a moose," I said. "We went skiing today."

"A steak then? Prime rib? Seafood?" Kiasz was ticking down a mental list.

"What do you want, honey?" I looked at Teeg. He drew in a sharp breath for a moment, then gave me a lazy smile, his eyes half-closing in pleasure.

"Prime rib," he replied.

"There. We'll have prime rib," I said. "And can I get some of those sliced potatoes with Vharis cheese crusted over them?" I gestured with my hands.

"Lady, I think you can get anything you want." Kiasz cut his eyes toward Teeg, bowed smartly and went toward the kitchen.

"Reah, I feel like the luckiest person alive right now," Teeg said, sipping the wine Kiasz sent out. The vintage was good. A bottle of a darker red would come with the meal, but this was good with the plates of appetizers we'd been served. Kiasz was choosing everything except the main course and the potatoes for us.

"Going to get me drunk and then have your way with me?" I snuggled into his arms.

"Sweetheart, that is the finest thing imaginable."

* * *

"Sometimes, one of ours surprises us," Ferrigar, Head of the Larentii Council sat at Kiarra's kitchen island. He, Pheligar, Renegar and Lenigar had come, setting a chunk of Ra'Ak dust on the granite surface. Kiarra, with her mates Adam and Merrill, all Enforcers for the Saa Thalarr, stared at the chunk. They were more than familiar with what Ra'Ak dust looked like.

"Which one, and how did he surprise you?" Kiarra asked. Pheligar, also her mate and Archivist for the Saa Thalarr, took up the explanation.

"You have never met Nefrigar. He is our chief librarian, you might say. He guards the Larentii Archives with the help of six Larentii—the equivalent of Protectors for the Wise Ones."

"I've heard of the Archives, but I thought that was where all information gathered by Larentii went to die," Kiarra sat beside Pheligar and patted his back—she was teasing him.

"It does not do that," Ferrigar said, holding back a rare smile. "In fact, Nefrigar usually absorbs what is sent. If the Archives were lost, Nefrigar could reconstruct most of it from memory."

"Wow. A living Archive." Kiarra leaned her cheek against Pheligar's arm. He pulled her against him—he liked having his mate close.

"Nefrigar is my older brother," Pheligar smiled down at Kiarra.

"What?" she sputtered, staring at him in surprise. "After all this time, you're only now telling me you have a brother?"

"Nefrigar is much older than I," Pheligar said haughtily, before smiling at Kiarra. "He and I only speak now and then, and usually it is mindspeech. We are busy with our own concerns, Lara'Kayan. Each of us can contact the other easily if there is need."

"Unbelievable," Kiarra rubbed her forehead.

"I would have told you if you'd asked," Pheligar kissed the top of her head gently. "You didn't ask."

"But what does that have to do with this?" Merrill tapped the granite island where the Ra'Ak chunk sat, bringing everyone back to the relevant topic.

"We have Ra'Ak dust in the Archives," Ferrigar replied. "Pheligar supplied some of it, from his earliest days with the Saa Thalarr. When Nefrigar compared some of those chunks with the one taken from Tulgalan two days ago, he found—discrepancies."

"Discrepancies? I don't follow," Kiarra said.

"We find it puzzling as well. Nefrigar brought this to our attention and at first, we thought it irrelevant. Now, we are not sure that was the correct conclusion."

"What did he find?" Adam asked. Normally he was content to listen and observe, but even his curiosity was roused.

"This," Ferrigar
Pulled
in what appeared to be an identical chunk of Ra'Ak dust, "was collected ten turns ago, from another Ra'Ak dusting. This Ra'Ak would be considered normal—healthy." He set it down beside the other chunk. "This one from Tulgalan," Ferrigar hesitated a moment, "to the best of our knowledge, we have determined it to be diseased."

"Diseased? That's next to impossible," Kiarra said, trying to stand. Pheligar pulled her onto his lap and rubbed her shoulders.

"We have gathered additional information, at Nefrigar's insistence. Even the Wise Ones are in agreement. The Ra'Ak who still live, who have been consuming these young ones after they have been subjected to what the Karathians refer to as a soul-shift?"

"What about them." Kiarra asked.

"We have determined that they are, in your own words, mentally ill."

"You're saying that eating children that have gone through a soul-shift makes the Ra'Ak crazy?" Kiarra managed to struggle out of Pheligar's lap.

"Yes. Somehow, this forbidden spell work—a misuse of power, as it is, would destroy the child's mind, if their body did not die so quickly. By consuming this tainted flesh, the Ra'Ak despoils its mental capacity."

"Holy crap," Kiarra muttered. "What are we supposed to do?"

"We believe that this is the reason the Ra'Ak attempted an attack on a passenger bus. This one did not bother to jam the camera signal. If Reah had not killed the creature, and had Norian not confiscated the vid images afterward, Tulgalan's population would even now be screaming and running for every available exit."

"This isn't good. Honey, have you contacted Belen?" Kiarra looked up at Pheligar.

"Yes. He is very concerned, and he and the others of his kind are attempting to come to an agreement regarding appropriate action," Pheligar sighed. "He will let us know soon."

"How did Nefrigar know to pick up this chunk?" Merrill asked.