Random Acts of Sorcery (28 page)

Whatever Sammael had done, Sam wasn’t sensing pulses of fear from Cassie anymore, but he doubted that whatever had scared her was done and over with. It also bothered him that he couldn’t sense Ethan at all; it was likely that the boy was simply asleep, but Sam had a feeling it wasn’t that simple.

He was also getting strange visions from John; mostly of the floor, oddly enough, but every once in a while he’d get a flash of something he couldn’t interpret. Frozen people, by the pool?
The back of Arrigio’s head? Just what was going on up there?

I think I somehow made John my familiar by accident. I’m sure he’
ll be thrilled to hear it.

Meanwhile, it seemed that Asmodeus was reaching the limits of his patience. “So, are we all in agreement that we’re going to sterilize him, bind his powers, and send him back? Should we put it to a vote?”

“I think we should discuss the other obvious option before we go that route,” said Sammael, still sitting back with his feet on the table. “We could do absolutely nothing.”

“Come again?” said Asmodeus. He said it as though he was choking on a mouth full of rocks.

“That child…my granddaughter…think of what she’s done. Not only did she use an anomaly to send herself physically back in time, but it was the very same act that created the anomaly she used in the first place,” he said chuckling. “Someone who can do that can do anything, I think.”

Asmodeus was looking at Sammael like he wanted to bash the other demon’s head into the table. “Yes, and that’s the problem. What’s your point?”

Sammael dropped his feet from the table. “Anything. Think about it.”

Asmodeus’ looked as though he was about to yell in Sammael’s
face, but all at once, his expression changed. “You don’t mean…she could break the curse?”

“Why not?
After all,” he said, his lips curling into a smile that made Sam wish he could punch him, “the child will be the perfect fusion of angel and demon. Who’s to say what she could do?”

“Angel!?” cried another demon, sounding panicked. A murmur broke out from the other end of the table.

Several expressions warred for dominance on Asmodeus’ face; surprise, hope, and seething anger. “Sammael. You mean to tell us that the witch, your son’s familiar, is an angel? And you never saw fit to mention this?”

Sammael shrugged and spread his arms out. “No one asked! If anyone had ever taken the time to ask me ‘hey, seen any angels lately?’ of course I would have told all that I knew. But the fact of the matter is
, it simply didn’t come up. You know how busy we all are these days.”

Asmodeus narrowed his eyes, and all the fireplaces seemed to explode with blue flame; Sam had to close his eyes for a moment to protect them from the assault of unnatural light. “Sammael, I swear, someday I will string you up. Someday I will pick out your organs one at a time and eat them, and when you recreate your form, I’ll do it again and again, until you have no power left to manifest. Then I’ll breathe in your very essence and piss you into the fire.”

“Look, everyone should have a dream, but we’re getting sidetracked,” said Sammael, still casual. “The fact is, allowing my son and his witch to continue on as they are will provide the best chance that we’ve ever had to break free of here. Do you want to throw that away due to some…momentary inconveniences?”

Sam was reeling at the possibility of all the demons of Realm being set free to walk the earth, when another vision from John took him by surprise. He could see several men, dressed all in black, talking softly over a bunch of wires and cables. Dead security guards littered the floor around them, and one of the men appeared to be programming something from some form of console.

Somehow, despite his restraints, Sam managed to jump to his feet. The demons looked at him in mild surprise. “They’re setting a bomb. Someone’s setting a bomb at the hotel, where the Western Court just met. All of your children are in danger.”

There was a pause, then soft laughter. “You expect us to get all excited? Our sons are merely tools,” said the gravelly-voiced demon. “Should they die, we can make more.”

“But Cassie’s there too,” Sam said. “If you lose her, you lose your chance at the miracle child that frees you.”

That got their atte
ntion. Asmodeus turned to the demon next to him and began talking quietly, while the other nodded. Sammael was looking in his direction, but he couldn’t read his father’s expression.

“Please, send me back. I can save them all.”

“Wouldn’t that be convenient for you,” said Asmodeus, steepling his fingers. “Just because we may have a use for your offspring doesn’t mean you’re off the hook, boy. Your behavior still calls for—”

“Let me go back, and then you can do whatever you want to me,” Sam said loudly, thinking fast. “Let me go, just for tonight, and then I’ll submit to whatever censure or punishment you all deem appropriate.”

Asmodeus turned to Sammael, a malicious grin on his face. “Now, this is just insulting. Does your spawn here think that we were all born yesterday?”

“I’ll make a contract!” Sam said,
then took a deep breath. “I, Samuel Andrews, the Son of Sammael, do solemnly swear to all those present to return to the Demon Realm immediately upon completion of the task I have specified, or by the next dawn; whichever comes first,” he said.

His declaration seemed to take them by surprise, with even Asmodeus looking at him with a somewhat baffled expression. His father nodded enthusiastically.

“Well, there you go gentleman, it doesn’t get more airtight than that. He’ll protect the witch, as well as the others, and then we get him right back. What’s not to like?”

“I don’t like the fact that you like it,” snapped Asmodeus, “But I do want that witch in one piece, and there’s no way out of that contract.” He snapped his fingers and the manacles on Sam’s wrists disappeared. “Go, and be quick about it.”

Sam didn’t need to be told twice; within a second, he was back at the Dolphin Suite, nearly tripping over Khalil as he materialized. He looked around, puzzled to see everyone sleeping. Was it that late?

He began to shake Miri’s arm, only she was slow to stir; when she didn’t move immediately, he found himself growing impatient.

Wake up, ALL OF YOU!

He’d never tried to mentally address the entire entourage before, so he had no idea if it would work. However, soon he heard doors opening, and realized that he had indeed woken everyone from their slumber.

“Nnngh, what’s going on?” said Miri, rubbing her forehead like she had a bad headache.

“Where’s Cassie?” Sam asked. He could tell she wasn’t in the apartment.

Miri looked confused for a moment, then her eyes opened wide. “Oh my God,” she said, nearly bumping heads with Sam as she stood up quickly. “Someone put us to sleep. Someone must have put us to sleep so they could take her.”

“We’ll find her,” said Eugene, darting into the room with a quickness that looked strange coming from his unwieldy body.

Sam closed his eyes and took a deep breath; he’d managed to get away, but what to do now?

He tried to reach out to Cassie with his mind so he could ask her where she was, but there was a problem; in Realm, he had ripped his mental channels wide open to try to let in as much information from the far away surface world as he could. Now that he was back in reality, they were still open, and Las Vegas was full of percolating, shrieking minds.

Should never have brought the kids—

Seafood tonight, burgers tomorrow?
What about—

Will she come back to my room with me if I—

Down to my last $50, but—

Dealer has to be cheating, there’s no way—

Oooooh yes!!!!!!

Slot machine has it in for me, two hours and not a single—

Another buffet? I’ll need to diet after—

Of course he wants to see the show, that’
s why he came, but—

She thinks I’m a high
roller, let’s see how long I can—

He clutched at his temples and grimaced, closing his mind off
to all outside thoughts as thoroughly as he could. They were going to have to find Cassie the old-fashioned way, because using his mental abilities seemed to be an all-or-nothing proposition right now; he’d never had his channels opened so wide in his life.

Is this what it’s like for other demons
who use telepathy a lot? How do they filter out all the horrible noise?

“I can’t find Hunter! Hunter’s not here!” called Ethan, running into the living room.

Great, just what we need.
“Ethan, come here. I need you.”

Ethan gulped, but did as he was told. Sam put a hand on the boy’s head, only instead of taking the tiniest drop of his magic, as he usually did, he took all that he dared; without access to Cassie, he needed all the strength he could get. Within seconds, the boy’s knees buckled, and Sam caught him before he fell.

“Hey, watch it!” yelled Khalil. “Don’t forget, he’s a kid.”

Sam handed the boy, now unconscious, to Eugene, who took him protectively. “Someone’s rigging up some kind of bomb downstairs; I have to stop them. Get everyone out of here,
then find Cassie and her brother.”

Eugene nodded gravely,
then Sam bolted out of the suite and into the hallway. With Ethan’s magic, he might be able to jump out the window and use a gentle flow of air to break his fall; or, he might just break both his legs. Using the elevator seemed like a better bet.

It seemed to take forever for the elevator to get to the ground floor, but when he got there, it was bedlam; droves of people were running through the casino floor to get to the exit, while liveried hotel employees tried in vain to calm them down. Sam was relieved that the building was being evacuated, but could only wonder why it was happening with such chaos; clearly, the staff had lost control of the situation.

Sam didn’t know exactly where the bomb was, but he had a vague sense of where to run due to John’s visions. Soon he was running down an employees-only staircase, until he reached a dimly lit hallway. He ran a little while longer, starting to feel winded, when he nearly fell over a dead security guard and realized he was approaching the area John had seen.

“You?” said a familiar voice as Sam drew closer. “They let you out?”

“Long story,” Sam said, coming to a stop next to Donatello Arrigio. “Where’s the bomb?”

“In there,” said Bennet Marcus, pointing with his head toward a whi
te door at the end of the hall. Sam noticed the dull glimmer of Bennet’s barrier, recognized the sheen of Cassie’s magic, and fought off an absurd current of jealously before he spoke.

“So what are we still doing here?” Sam whispered.

Bennet and Arrigio exchanged glances. “We’re waiting on word from your rat. We’re hoping he’ll overhear how to dismantle the bomb.”

“That seems like quite the long shot,” Sam said. He gathered from the other two’s expressions that they weren’t optimistic either.

“But then, what do we do? I don’t know about you, but I don’t know how to handle explosives. And if we touch it with a spell, we’re likely to set it off,” Bennet whispered.

Why the hell did you give me your stupid territory?
Sam thought, but it wasn’t the time. “We’re going to set it off; I’m just going to put a bubble around it so that it doesn’t hurt anyone.”

Bennet
and Arrigio exchanged glances again.

“Can you do that?” asked Arrigio.

“I’ve done it before,” said Sam, then felt a lurch in his stomach. “Except, the one time I did it, I had Cassie with me. I tapped into my other familiar, but…”

It wasn’t enough, he realized. Ethan had a lot of magic for a human, but he was still a boy, and his magic was still modest compared to Cassie’s. Without her magic, he didn’t think he could make a barrier strong enough to contain the bomb.

“I can’t do this without her,” he said, grimacing.

What do we do now? Just leave the building before it blows, and hope everyone makes it out?

“Sammael,” said Arrigio. Sam always found it unnerving to be called by his father’s name. “Demons of the realm can tap into their familiars from afar, without needing to physically touch. If you are what I think you are, you should be able to as well.”

“If you’re going to do it, do it fast,” said Bennet, flicking his eyes from side to side. “From what John can see, it looks like they’re about to set it off. They don’t need a timer, because they don’t plan on getting out.”

Of course, the Seraph’s sacrificial lambs have no qualms about dying for their ‘Angel,’
Sam thought, then threw his head back and tried to reach Cassie. He was trying to avoid the horrible noise of the mental realm altogether and just reach out for his familiars’ magic, something he’d never even thought to try. It wasn’t the kind of thing he would have formerly believed himself capable of, but he didn’t know what to think anymore.

At first he zeroed in on John, the closest familiar to him, but shook it off; then Ethan, safely outside with Eugene. Strangely, he even had a view of Vladmira before Cassie, even though the bat was thousands of miles away.