Light My Fire (27 page)

“I knew it was her doing. All those lovely antiques de
stroyed,” Catalina said, shooting me another scathing look before sweeping past Nora and returning to her
room.

My shoulders sagged.

Outside, in the stillness of an early London morning,
sirens sounded. Drake’s security system must have kicked
in and alerted the fire authorities.

“I’ll tell them it’s controlled,” Istvan said, clad in only
a pair of pants. He, too, gave me a look as he walked past,
although it wasn’t nearly as daunting as Catalina’s.

My spirits took a nosedive.

“I’ll get a cart to start clearing this mess away,” Pal
murmured, avoiding looking at me altogether as he, barefoot and also wearing only a pair of hastily donned pants,
scooted around me.

Guilt, despair, and a frustrating sense of impotence
filled me.

Drake eyed me closely. “You are all right? You did not
breathe in too much smoke?”

“No, I’m fine,” I said miserably, unable to meet his
gaze. “Drake, I’m really, really sorry about this. The fire
and ... everything.”

“I dislike having any of my possessions taken from
me, but I would rather lose a few pieces of furniture than
you,” was all he said, and despite the misery swelling
within me, his words formed a solid little core of happi
ness.

That happiness died with his next words. “You have
twenty-four hours to take care of the imp situation, or I
will do it for you.” He grabbed a pair of pants and shoes
from a second wardrobe and retired to the bathroom.

I thought about crumpling up into a little ball and
wishing the world away.

Jim burst out the moment the door was opened. “Fires
of Abaddon, what’s going on in here? You guys having an
orgy or... oh, man.”

With lips pursed, Jim surveyed the mess. Slowly, the
demon turned to look at me. “You had a barbeque and
you didn’t invite me?”

Two fat tears of self-pity rolled down my cheeks.

“Come, Aisling. No one was hurt, and not much de
stroyed.” Nora put her arm around me and escorted me
out of the room. “Let’s have some breakfast, then put our heads together about how we’re going to placate the imp
kingdom.”

“Breakfast! Great idea, Nora. I could really go for a
couple of grilled imps right about now,” Jim said, follow
ing us out of the room.

I just wanted to rewind the last couple of days and do
them over.

A few hours later Nora, Jim, and I left just as a cleaning crew arrived to muck out, repair, dry, and de-smoke Drake’s bedroom. The last sight I had of Drake was a
smoldering look he sent me before he left for Paris to deal
with an issue that arose with his French businesses. He
was as unsatisfied as I was with the lack of culmination
of our morning’s activities, but I knew Drake—his pas
sion matched mine, so I was confident we’d find a way to
get together before the sun had time to set.

“What is it they say about the weather on a wedding day?” Jim asked as it stepped out of the house, glancing up at the sky, filled with gray, sodden clouds.

“It is
not
my wedding day,” I said firmly, giving Jim’s
leash a snap to pull it away from smelling a passerby’s
butt. Rene pulled up in front of the house, the windshield
wipers of his taxi making slow passes across the wet
windshield. “Morning, Rene.”

“Good morning.”

“Hey, don’t kill the messenger. You wanted a blood
less solution to the imp situation, and I suggested you marrying the current monarch. End of problem. It’s not
like it would be a real marriage or anything. Hi, Rene. I’ll
arm wrestle you for the best-man position.”

I sighed as I followed Jim into the taxi. Nora climbed
into the front seat next to Rene, settling the carrier with
Paco on her lap. “Good morning, Rene. We’ve had a bit
of an upset this morning.”

“Best man?” Rene asked, craning to look back at us.
“Upset?”

“It’s a long story. Can we tell you en route? We’ve got to get Nora to a meeting with the committee in twenty
minutes, then we’re off to sacrifice Jim in order to make
peace with the imps.”

“Hey, hey, hey! I distinctly remember saying no to that
whole sacrifice-Jim idea!”

Rene gunned the engine and pulled out into traffic,
narrowly missing a bus, two elderly pedestrians, and a
suicidal squirrel. “Do not leave out a single word. I want
to hear about it all.”

It didn’t take long to bring Rene up to date with the lat
est happenings, which is good because it turned out that
the London headquarters of the International Guardians’
Guild was a short ride from Drake’s house.

“I believe I understand,” he said, turning in an under
ground parking garage. “You must settle the imps most
strenuously. And Nora must convince this committee that
she has done nothing to be punished for,
hein?”

“Right. And I have”—I checked my watch—”oh, man.
Where did the day go? I have less than fifteen minutes to come up with a plan to get Ariton the demon lord off my
back. Lovely. Oh, well, I’ll have to do it after the Guardian
meeting.”

I thought Nora’s head was going to come off her neck,
so fast did she swivel her head around to look at me.
“What is that about Ariton? What dealings do you have
with him?”

We pulled into a parking spot. “We are here. I, too, am
interested in hearing about this demon lord,” Rene said.

“There’s not much to tell, guys, honest.” I made a lit
tle gesture of innocence. “Evidently because I’m techni
cally a demon lord, there’s some sort of etiquette that
says I’m eligible to vote on stuff to do with Abaddon, or something like that. And before anyone starts freaking, I’m not going to get involved in any petty squabbles be
tween demon lords.”

Rene stared at me in the rearview mirror. Nora gazed
at me with a mixture of horror, concern, and sympathy.

Jim groaned, laid its head on the seat, and covered its
eyes with two big, hairy paws.

“What?” I asked everyone, wondering why they were
making such a big deal out of it.

“Aisling, I can’t believe you don’t know about the
Vexamen. I was sure you had heard of it.”

I sighed. “You know, I don’t want to always be so clue
less, but it’s a bit difficult when I’m new and everyone assumes I know stuff. What’s a Vexamen, and what does it
have to do with Ariton and all the surprised faces you’re
making at me?”

Rene shook his head as he got out of the car, opening my door, then going around to take Paco from Nora and
help her out.

“Vexamen is the event that happens every six hundred
years. It falls on the autumnal equinox, which is in three
days. Vexamen is an upheaval in Abaddon, when one
demon lord rises to supremacy and rules over the others.
Surely you’ve heard of it?”

I shook my head as I got out of the car, snapping a
leash on Jim’s collar. “Nope. Jim, why didn’t you tell me
after we left Ariton’s place?”

“You didn’t ask me,” my annoying demon said.

Nora stumbled, grabbing my arm to stop me as we
crossed the parking garage. “You went.. . you
visited
a
demon lord in his abode?”

Rene sucked his teeth and looked thoughtful.

“It’s not like I had any choice,” I told them both. “I was
pretty much kidnapped, and I had just been skewered, if
you’ll remember. What’s the big deal about me going to
Ariton’s digs? It was that house in Islington that gave you
the willies, so bonus points to you for sensing Ariton’s
presence. Although, I have to admit... I am having doubts that he shot at me.”

Nora’s hands fluttered around with distress. “Aisling,
this just isn’t done! No one I know—no one I’ve ever
heard of has visited a demon lord in his home. To do so
would imply that one is ...”

I straightened my shoulders, lifting my chin. “Go
ahead. I’m strong; I can take it. What am I? Damned?”

“Unclean,” she said after wrestling with the word for a
moment.

“Unclean as in impure? Tainted? Dabbling in dark
powers?” I asked, my heart dropping. It seemed like I just
couldn’t catch a break lately.

“That’s as apt a description as any,” Nora said slowly.
She hesitated for a moment, then started toward the stairs
that led to the building above us. “I know you are inno
cent and not at all influenced by this demon lord you met,
but it’s vitally important now that you not have anything further to do with him. As it is, I am not sure how we are going to explain to the guild this latest, but we will cross
that bridge when we come to it.”

“I’m sorry to be giving you more trouble,” I said mis
erably as we climbed to the lobby of a busy building
filled with professional offices. “I had no idea this Vex
amen thing was going on. I never intended to become
involved.”

“But surely you must have noticed the increase this
past week in outbreaks? First the kobold scare, then imps,
then blight hounds.” Nora punched a floor number on the
elevator panel, giving me a curious look.

Rene blew out a breath. I didn’t spend longer than a
second wondering why he was coming along with us. He
seemed so much a part of my little gang, I was just grate
ful to have one more head to consult.
“Mon dieu.
Three
in a week?”

Nora nodded. “And three last week, at Salvaticus.”

“That being ... ?” I asked.

“The start of Vexamen. It’s the date when the ruling
prince of Abaddon begins to lose his powers.” Nora
stepped onto the thankfully empty elevator. We all filed in
with her, including a woman with short blond hair who was carrying a coffee mug and a portfolio.

“I thought the ... er... situation was normal,” I said,
mindful of the stranger in our midst. “To be honest, I
thought it was due to the dr—to Drake and his kind. I had
gathered that things like those outbreaks happen when
ever they disagree.”

“Not this sort of thing,” Nora said, shaking her head.

I mused on that for the few seconds it took to get to the
seventh floor, following Rene and Nora as they walked
down a long hallway to an office in the rear. Nora paused with her hand on the doorknob. “Rene, the guild has very strict rules about who is allowed into their offices. I know you do not present any threat, but I want to warn you that
you may be refused admittance.”

He gave one of his effective Gallic shrugs. “We will
see,
hein?
You do not mind if I come with you?”

“No, certainly not. I’d be grateful for a friendly face.”
Nora gave him a bright smile that made me feel ashamed
of my self-absorption. Here she was facing an investigation into her professional capabilities, and I was too busy worrying about my own problems to be supportive and
helpful.

“Don’t worry; we won’t let them mess with you,” I
said with a little hug. “If it’s me causing the guild con
cerns, I’ll formally de-mentor you, and we’ll just go on in
an unofficial capacity.”

Nora laughed, hugging me back. “I wish it was that
easy, but let us not borrow trouble. Brave hearts, every
one.”

She opened the door and stepped through it, Rene following. I started to go through the door but found myself
held back as if by an invisible webbing. The door had
been warded with a powerful protection ward, no doubt
to keep dark beings out.

“Uh. . . that’s not happening,” Jim said. “Ward. Big
one.”

“There’s nothing I love more than a little challenge,” I muttered to myself as I opened the door in my mind,
gathered up some dragon fire, shaped it, and focused it on
the ward. The pattern glowed purple in the air for a mo
ment. I grabbed Jim by the collar and forcefully shoved it
through the doorway, bullying my way through the ward.
I thought for a moment that I wasn’t going to be able to
pass it, but I broke through just as the purple ward turned
silver, then evaporated. “Whew. That was a toughie. You
OK, Jim?”