Only Human (16 page)

“So, I can’t stay ticked at him.” Logic and reality over emotions. I didn’t have to like it, but would likely have to work with him.

“No, I let you go off on him on the phone because I want to back him down from holding us responsible for the deaths of his men, but you need to calm down and be reasonable with him from here on out.”

“Beautiful.”

The cleanup crew arrived, and we left.

Chapter Twelve

We had enough time to drive out to my house so I could change into something nicer. I’d have been fine in the suit I had to throw away, which just ticked me off all over again. In truth, I was pissed I’d been forced to kill men who were following orders, and who likely wouldn’t have hurt me. I knew they’d taken away my options, but I’d ended their lives and there was no
undo
button in real life.

So, I was still ranting about the suit because it was easier to deal with than the lives of the two men.

“No,” Aaron told me, his voice patient. “You can’t bill him for the suit. I’ll buy you another since you lost it as a result of working for me, but if you demand recompense from Mordecai for the suit, he might demand recompense for his men.”

“I don’t want you to buy me a suit. I’m still pissed I was forced to kill those two men, and knowing they were just taking me to a meeting to talk to someone, and I wouldn’t have been hurt,
really
pisses me off. I killed them for no reason.”

“No, Bug. With the information you had in that moment, you made the right decision. I don’t want you to hesitate and get yourself killed in the future because of this.” He made a turn and added, “Mordecai knows you weren’t in the wrong or he wouldn’t be inviting us to a public place for a meal. He made a wrong assumption and his men were killed for it. It’s his fault, not yours.”

I crossed my arms and stared out the window. I didn’t ask if those men had families, because if they did then I’d never be able to forgive Mordecai for putting me in a position where I felt my only option was killing them.

When we got into my house Aaron hugged me as we stepped in the front door. I guess he knew I needed to fall apart and get it over with before we met Mordecai.

The instant his arms went around me, the tears started, but I hadn’t known they were so close to the surface.

We sat on the steps in my foyer and I cried my eyes out while he held me safe in his arms. He didn’t say anything, didn’t try to soothe me, just let me have as much time as I needed for a nice, cathartic crying jag.

When it was over, I pulled out of his arms, went up the steps, blew my nose, and took a two minute shower where I soaped every millimeter of my body to be sure I had the brains off.

He waited for me downstairs as I showered, dressed in another suit, and worked on my face and hair. Seventeen minutes later, I came downstairs and we headed to the restaurant.

We’d parked my car in the restaurant’s parking lot earlier, so he could drive me home and we’d have more time to talk, but I’d have my car available to pick up Lauren later.

Aaron gave his name and we were ushered into a private room, where Mordecai was waiting for us.

When Mordecai stood to greet us, I stopped walking and looked up, speechless.

No wonder the rumors said this man was a god of old. He was probably only a few inches short of seven feet, and was built like a warrior. Bodybuilders often look as if they’ve carefully sculpted their bodies, but Mordecai looked like his body was created in battle. His shoulders were massive, his waist small, and his corded arms huge.

He was dressed in khakis and an oxford shirt, nothing special, but I felt as if I was drooling over him and I needed to pull myself together and say something. My body wanted to kneel before him, and it wasn’t a submissive thing — my instincts pushed me to worship the man, a primal resonation, as if my subconscious recognized him as a god and my safety depended on my showing obeisance. Instead I offered my hand and said “Mordecai, I presume? I’m Kirsten O’Shea.”

He gave a good handshake, nice and firm without trying to hurt me. “Miss O’Shea, I’m glad you and Mr. Drakko could make it.”

I looked at Aaron. “Drakko?”

Aaron looked at Mordecai. “Hello Mordecai, it’s good to see you again. Most now know me as Aaron Drake.”

“Probably a wise move on your part, removing yourself one more step. Please, come sit down and we will order food and discuss how best to handle the trouble the two of you have stirred.”

We ordered our food and Mordecai started speaking as the door closed behind our server, his eyes on Aaron. “Miss O’Shea has upset the balance by killing the demons and not merely sending them back. The dark side has taken notice, Aaron.” he admonished, sounding like a teacher speaking to a pupil. “You’ve put your human friend at great risk by allowing her to kill beings who should merely be returned to whence they came.”

“Why bother sending them back just so they can return again next week?” I asked. “Maybe it isn’t an issue in parts of the world without a battlefield attracting so many self-proclaimed devil worshipers, but around here it’s become a real problem. Once we figured out I could do more than just send them back, I started doing it.”

“And did killing them seem to calm things down, or create even more chaos?”

“We’ve had one or two calls a month for a while now, and we used to have two calls a week,” I told him.

He tilted his head to acknowledge my point, but said, “Nevertheless, now they’ve sent a second level demon, which to my knowledge hasn’t happened in centuries.” He paused a second, his hand on the table. “Satan is a third level demon. Xaephan is only one level down from the Prince of Hell, who doesn’t call himself King simply because he thinks it sounds sexier to be Prince.”

“And yet, Kirsten managed to make Xaephan leave before he was ready,” Aaron pointed out. “One of her weapons
will
work against him. He fled this realm a split second before he’d have died.”

Mordecai shook his head and looked at me to say, “While you might physically be able to slay a second-level, if you accomplished the task, as the saying goes, all hell would break lose. You
must
not
kill him. The attempt alone could very well take your life, and I’m surprised it did not. I’m aware you had to be carried off the battlefield, but I’m told you were up and walking around and even took a second go at him an hour or so later.” He again shook his head. “Impressive for anyone, but even more so for a human. However, my point is that if you should manage to kill him, it will be very,
very
, bad. He seems to think you tried to cook his brain from the inside, is this true?”

“What, you have a phone line into hell? You’ve talked to him? I wasn’t aware I was meeting with a friend of the demons.”

I practically spat the words, but he responded in his calm, low voice. “I haven’t spoken with the demon in question. Someone with more power and influence than me has offered to intercede, and they pulled me into the equation to speak with you since I was already journeying here. This situation has the possibility of going very bad, very quickly, and we’d like to try to avert a potentially catastrophic debacle.” He leaned back and his voice moved from advisor to teacher, though I couldn’t explain how I could tell. “The balance of angels and demons is important. Try not to think of good and bad for a moment, but of opposites. Hot and cold, wet and dry, left and right. In the binary world of a computer, everything is a one or a zero… a little switch that’s either positive or negative. However, neither the ones nor the zeros represent good and bad in the binary number system, they’re both necessary in order for the computer to create its little alternate realities. In much the same way, the angels and demons are necessary to keep
this
reality going.”

I’d need some time to think that over, but I’d long ago learned there’s a point where the philosophical has to take a back seat to reality, so I said, “If the things on the demon plane want to stay alive, they should stay away from our neck of the woods. I’m not going to let them run amok just because you say they aren’t really bad, they’re just drawn that way.”

Mordecai looked at me blankly, apparently he wasn’t up on his Jessica Rabbit quotes. Or perhaps he just couldn’t believe I was arguing with him.

Aaron touched my arm as he leaned a little forward and told Mordecai, “What’s done is done and I don’t believe we were in the wrong for killing demons who foraged in my territory. However, before we begin arguing with you about future decisions, we should probably hear your proposal.”

“I’m not proposing you let them run amok,” he said with a glance towards me. “I’m merely suggesting you deal with them without destroying them the second you see them. I understand they bring chaos and mayhem, and you’re in the right to send them back.” He leaned back and admitted, “You’re also correct that the problem seems to be an overabundance of people in this area who’re calling these beings up. But you must understand the beings are being
called
here, and the lesser beings don’t have a choice in whether they come or not, so killing them for being here isn’t exactly fair. The ones being punished should really be the ones calling them.
That’s
the way to keep them away.”

“And the second-level dude? You’re saying he had no choice?”

Mordecai shook his head. “He came to try to keep the lesser guys from being killed. He broke several rules in order to do so, and it’s hoped the repercussions will keep him from trying it for another couple of centuries, at least.
However
, this doesn’t mean he won’t find a way back.” He looked at Aaron. “It won’t be so hard for him to make a deal with someone to call him specifically, and if that happens he will come after your courageous little human here. She has spunk and I like her, so I’m counselling both of you to keep from giving him incentive to work towards that end.” He paused. “Also, it’s possible that whoever is killing humans has been drawn here because of what Kirsten is doing. She’s drawn a lot of attention from the other realms.”

“And the missing women? The ones we think were taken to the hell realm?” I had to ask.

He shook his head. “I’m working on it, and currently have no indication they chose this area because of your activities. We simply don’t know, yet.”

I nodded and asked, “Is the second-level the only one with the ability to zap my laser that way? And, now that they know I have more than just the laser, will they still send him? Or will they send someone higher who can maybe fight off both of the weapons they now know I have? And what do you mean, I’ve drawn a lot of attention?”

“You have two lasers, correct? A cold one and a hot one?”

“Yes.”

“I’d like you to cut my finger off with your cold laser, please.”

“Uh, okay, sure. I’m assuming you can heal from that? So, this fits into the safe and sane definition? I should point out that my leanings are more towards the masochistic than the sadistic though, so I’m not going to enjoy doing it.” Yeah, I tend to make bad jokes when I’m nervous.

He laughed. “You
are
a refreshing soul. I promise you I won’t enjoy the pain, but I need to feel what it does, how your energy works. I’m assuming you can control it so it will only harm flesh and not objects? Otherwise we shouldn’t do this in here.”

“Then maybe we should wait until we’re outside,” I admitted.

“Do you have something you can do to me so I can feel your energy but it won’t cause much damage to me, and it won’t cause property damage to the restaurant?”

“I can just heat my hand up and touch you. I’ve learned to do that as a threat, so it doesn’t cause actual damage, but it’s just barely this side of it.”

“Very well, then.”

I’d pulled energy in before we entered the building, so I heated my hand and touched his arm. Two seconds later I pulled my hand back. He was the first person to not jerk away the instant I touched them.

He had a painful looking imprint of my hand on his arm, bright red with charred edges.
Shit
. “I’m sorry, most people pull away as soon as I touch them. I didn’t realize you were going to hold still.”

Mordecai calmly looked at the damage to his arm and said, “That’s quite all right. You can heat your hand up hot enough to burn people, but it doesn’t hurt you?”

“Correct.”

“Are you afraid of spiders, Miss O’Shea?”

“Please, call me Kirsten. I’m not terribly afraid of them. If one were in my gloves when I put my hand in it I’d freak, but if I see one crawling in the house I take it outside. My daughter is terrified of them, and I’ve finally convinced her to stop killing them when I’m around. She still won’t take them outside, but she’ll at least let me do it instead of just smashing them. As kindhearted as she is, the spider thing freaks her out.”

“So, your daughter was killing them because she was scared of them and she saw them as a threat. But they weren’t actually a threat, right? And, why bother putting them outside if they’re just going to come in again?”

“You’re comparing demons to spiders?”

“No, I am comparing the lesser things that have been called from the demon plane to spiders.”

“And you want me to agree to just send them back.”

“I want you to agree that if they aren’t causing harm to anyone when you arrive that you will just send them back.”

“But they attack me!”

“Of course they do, they know you’re going to try to kill them.”

“And if I stop trying to kill them, they’ll stop attacking me?”

“Probably not.”

“You aren’t helping your case. The spiders don’t mean me any harm, and they serve a purpose, as they kill the mosquitoes that
do
mean me harm. I get a benefit from relocating the spiders outside.”

“You get a benefit from sending the lesser things back as well, you just don’t understand it.”

Who was this guy, anyway? “You used to be worshiped as a god?”

“I will not speak to you of what I am or what I may have been. I will tell you that I have access to other planes of existence besides this one, though.”