Night Marks (15 page)

“And me knowing what your mother is and all, I would have to assume papa is very high up in the food chain, so to speak. I doubt she would have wasted her time on a peon.”

I know it is my fault the talk turned from me learning about him to Nyx’s life story in cryptinese, but it is somewhat interesting. Who knows, maybe I will actually learn something useful.

“Far as I can tell, that is correct.”

“I have a very good idea who he is. It makes me wonder how you came to be even more. I thought it was impossible for his line to have female offspring. Personally, when we have our kid I don’t care what gender it is, but I was sure the Gentry’s never had little girls. Do you carry their mark as well?”

I relax back in the chair trying to play it cool. I don’t think I like him knowing all this information about me. Not many people know of the mark symbolizing me as “royalty”. That thought came out wrong. Everyone knows the mark exists, they just don't know I have it.

“I don’t think that is information you need to know.”

“Hmm. Are you trying to hide the fact you are a princess, or are you upset you won’t be able to pass the trait onto future generations?” he asks while tilting his head and scratching his chin to ponder the thought.

“Since I have already told you I am not having any kids, I believe that question is moot. And you have already stated you were a 'gentleman', so you won’t be able to sneak a quick peek to see for yourself.”

“Ah. You are going to turn me into a rogue, I see. I doubt it will hurt my reputation too bad. You might want to start showering in your clothes.”

“Great advice. Can we turn this discussion back to you?” I am so ready for this visit to be over.

“Of course. What can I tell you about myself? You have already read my thrilling biography, but I am sure there was something left out of it that I am able to share with my sweet Nyx. I know. I have six dogs. I bet none of the books mention that.”

“I am trying to figure out a way to keep you away from me and remove your mark and you want to talk about your dogs?”

“Of course. They are quite magnificent creatures. They are Hellhounds and three of them have just grown into their third heads. They are named Hermes, Luke, Archibald, Guinevere, Demeter and Pepa. Hermie, Luke and my little Gweny are the ones that sprouted their third head. The rest still only have the two.”

He has six pet Hellhounds. Why am I not finding that a bit comforting?

“I am sure they are all quite lovely,” I say trying to be polite. What else can I say? I find a three-headed dog to be quite freaky.

“They are. I cannot wait for you to meet them. When we have the little one, you will have to come down and pick him, or her, up from his, or her, Daddy visits.”

“Do you have some form of dementia, by any chance?”

“Demons cannot get any diseases, but I am sure you already know that,” he says a little bit gruff.

“I would seriously look into it. I have mentioned quite a few times that kids aren’t in my future, and yet you act like the words haven’t left my lips.”

“It’s still early in our relationship. You have time to come around. Now that I have found you, I am not in as big a hurry to get the deed done. I think you need a chance to find out more about yourself before you start popping out kids anyway,” he says with a little shrug to his shoulders. “Plus, you kind of have the greatest motivator for doing as I ask standing in your front lobby.”

“Which one?” I ask assuming he means one of the two statues that I just found out were actually cursed beings.

“Well, both actually, but your Venus got in that state by telling me no. It wasn’t the same situation you are in. I stole something from her, she stole it back. I kindly asked her to return it and she refused. It wasn’t one of my finer days. There were times I thought of changing her back because she could be fun to have around, but I never got to it and never fully forgave her for the theft thing,” he pauses smiling at some long lost memory, I assume.

“David is a completely different story. As you can imagine, my usual humanoid facade had to come from somewhere. Walking around one day, I came across David with a group of young women standing around him each trying to turn his favor. I figured if they all wanted him so, I should try to look more like him. Gathering souls is a lot easier, if people find you appealing. Naturally, it didn’t make sense to have two of us running around. I didn't think it fair to kill him, so I have just kept him in storage all these years. I will say, though, proportion wise, I made a couple improvements.”

“So, this here right now,” I say pointing at him, “is what David looked like before you turned him all chalky white?”

“Yup, other than the aforementioned improvements and the eye color. I tend to change the latter depending on my mood. The original’s was kind of a muted gray and that was way too boring.”

I cannot imagine the pale sculpture that greets me every day ever looked like this “thing” before me. It seems horrible that his life was taken away from him.

“Sebastian said something about it depending on the person who placed the curse whether the cursed was aware in that state. Are either of them?” I ask. Suddenly that is a very important question to me.

“I would rather not say. You may not look at me the same way.”

“I don’t have a high opinion of you to begin with, so I don’t think it will hurt your street cred that much.”

“Oh look, they made it,” he says turning to the door as Alex and Sebastian rush in. Want to bet he let them through on purpose so he didn’t have to answer my question? “Very interesting choice in men, my dear.” He waves his hand probably expecting something to happen, but they both keep advancing. “Oh darn, they are too connected to your soul. To freeze them, I would have to freeze you as well. I guess we will have to talk later. Tootles.”

And just like that he is gone.

Chapter 19

An end to the longest day of my life

“You are safe?” Sebastian asks pushing past Alex to get to my side.

“Son of a bitch. He did it again, didn’t he?” Jake asks from the couch.

“Yes,” I reply answering both questions. “He just wanted to chat. You know, get to know me a little better. I think it is part of his dating game.”

“So, he is still intent on pursuing you for romanctic-ish purposes?”

“I don’t think there is any romance involved. I believe he mentioned me and Venus becoming twins, if I had the nerve to turn him down. On the plus side, I do know why both of your wonderful sculptures are set in stone. I don’t imagine many people know what they did to get a demon’s curse.”

I stand up and stretch. Talking with a demon has made me hungry, causing me to head towards the kitchen. It probably doesn't help that he smells like strawberries. They aren't protein, so I rarely ever eat them, but they are still food.

“So, they are both his curses, what are the odds of that?” Smitty asks not bothering to move from his spot. Personally, if I had just been frozen in place for fifteen minutes, I would be up dancing a tango.

“I don’t know how many cursed statues there are in the world or how many demons are powerful enough to lay the curse, so I couldn’t give you an educated guess,” I reply. I am sure he meant it rhetorically, but I feel like answering anyway.

I open the fridge to see what has been set out to defrost. I have had too much steak lately, so I think I will steer clear of the beef. I know I had pork the last two days, but those were the first two non-red meat meals in a while. I don’t feel the need for my vampire diet either, so options are pretty limited.

I grab the eggs and some cheddar cheese and decide to make a quick scramble. After setting them on the counter, I decide to be nice and make enough for everyone, so I grab another carton of eggs. While I crack the eggs in the skillet, the guys continue their conversation about Demon Boy.

“Is there anything we can do to stop him from freezing the guards?” Alex asks Sebastian.

“I think so. Since they are not marked, I should be able to make some amulets to counter his magic. We aren’t dealing with your everyday demon here, though, so I won’t know for sure,” he answers.

“Just so you guys know, he said he wasn’t in any hurry to get me in the motherly way,” I announce. “He won’t try anything silly like that until I at least know my lineage. Anyway, that is what I took away from that part of our chat. He also figured out who my father was.” Sebastian and Alex probably heard the whole conversation, but the guards may like to know he isn’t going to pop in and try to maim me anytime soon. It might make a big enough difference that they won’t get themselves killed for a stupid reason.

“I heard,” Alex replies. “I loved the comment about you going to take showers fully clothed.”

“Not something I am looking forward to, but I didn’t think him having confirmation of my mark was something we needed at this moment.”

“No. He already wants you because of your unique makeup. Adding incentives won’t really help.” Sebastian walks into the kitchen to join me. I bet his nose told him food was done.

“Some days I still cannot believe I am able to enjoy food again,” he says grabbing a plate so I can dish up some eggs for him.

“Contrary to popular belief I am good for something other than making babies,” I reply while getting my own plate. Everyone else can dish up their own.

I head back out to get a seat next to Alex, who in turn jumps up to get his plate, followed quickly by Jake. Sebastian settles in on the other side of me.

“So, how did Demon Boy keep you guys occupied during our little chat?” I ask in between bites.

“He set up a maze, literally. The hallways aren’t big enough for us to pass through with topiary surrounding us. Neither of us had machetes on us, so we had to make do with what knives we had.”

Note to self: start carrying one of my machetes at all times.

“It is nice that he cannot freeze you and Alex,” I tell him just as Alex returns to his seat.

“If that is the case, you may find you are going to be spending a lot more quality time with us,” Alex says with a mouthful of eggs. Disgusting.

“We could set you up some special accommodations in my office because I plan to keep going in to work. I don’t know if you being near will help all that much, though. He may not be able to freeze you, but he can put obstacles in your paths like he has already shown. Unless I am sitting right on your lap, it may not help. Even then, I can come up with some ways that would easily separate us long enough to build new mazes.”

Encasing the guys in giant bubbles is the first thing that pops into my mind. Ha. Pops, get it? No? It’s a giant bubble joke.

“He did say there was something out there that can protect me from unwanted visits. We just have to find that and mass produce it, so it can pour out of a cloud floating above my head wherever I go.”

That might garner a few strange looks, but for the sake of protection, I am willing to do just about anything.

“I am not really sure where to start looking for whatever obscure text is hiding that information. Next time he is feeling chatty, ask him which continent has the spell. It might give us a direction,” Sebastian suggests.

“Will do. I should probably make a list of these types of things. He may not answer, but it never hurts to try.”

I pull out my phone and open up my notes app. I never know, for sure, when he will pop in, but there is a good chance I will have my phone handy. I type in the first question.

“Any other ones off the top of your heads?”

“How about the medium that the spell is on or in? It could be in a book, but it may also be on a scroll or, if it is ancient enough, a tablet. That will help guide us even more.”

“Got it,” I say as I finish typing it in.

“I want to know what your mom is,” Alex adds. “See if he won't barter with you for the information. He tells you what she is and you show him some skin.”

I turn to glare at him in the middle of writing his suggestion. “You want me to give him a striptease?”

“You took that wrong. I meant show him your hip. He seemed really interested in whether you had the mark.” He grabs my empty plate and sets it down with his on the coffee table.

“I didn't take it wrong, you said it all perverted. Showing my hip is acceptable. It is added to the list.”

“Okay, maybe it was a little perverted,” Alex admits.

“Moving on, I have a question of my own. There are female demons, right? Why doesn't he just pick one and settle down with her?”

“That's easy. No sane man wants to knowingly spend more than a second in the company of a female demon. He would have two options. The first variety of female demon is the succubus branch. They, like everybody knows, feed off their partner’s life force while engaging in intercourse. Sometimes they allow their partners to be awake, but not always. Because of the fact that they have sex all the freaking time, they were made to be sterile. Who really wants to have to remember to take that damn pink pill every morning for all eternity?

“The other option of female demon you are looking at is even better. I don't know for sure their level of sterility, but you definitely don't want your kids around them because to them they would be dinner. Better yet, the ones in that class that kill babies in the womb. Needless to say, motherly instincts are not strong in any demon. They are more likely to just steal a kid to toy with than go through the process of having their own,” Sebastian explains.

“I guess that answers that question. If I exist and my mother is out there somewhere, don't you think there are more people that have whatever it is I have in me that is compatible to him?”

“That is hard to say, love. We already know whatever it is, it has to be something rare because we haven't encountered it. I have been around for quite a while and seen, I thought, everything there is to see,” Sebastian states.

“There is also the possibility that it isn't so much that third piece that he is after, but the combination of the three. I doubt there is anyone else alive that has that going for them,” Alex adds.