The Night Shifters (33 page)

Granted, it was the
horny Red Daemon who felt inclined to recognize all that
wonderfulness in Serena and me. But we were innocent when we danced
that day.

Well –
I
was innocent. Maybe Serena never was. More
memories were returning to me every minute, and an amazing amount
of them were about the way she manipulated me when we were (real)
kids. She probably hadn’t had to learn that many tricks from the
daemons.

I don’t know
where she was when she stumbled upon the Celestial Fountains – in
the City of Night or on some other plane. But she had chosen the
Celestial Whore. She never wanted
anything
but to be worshiped, even at eleven.

And she slept
with one thousand daemons!? That’s
way
too
many damned daemons.

“It seems to me,” I
said, “That this staircase is going on a lot longer than it did the
first time.”

“I thought we could
use a little time to ourselves,” he said. “I thought perhaps there
might be some things you’d like to know. I don’t want you to ask
those things anywhere you might be overheard. As long as we’re
climbing, no one can eavesdrop. Do you understand, Hazel?”

His tone was
tender, but I understood the seriousness of his question. “You’re
afraid I’ll stick my foot in my mouth.”

“You’re young,” he
said. “You just might.”

I thought for a
long moment, while we continued our steady climb ‘round and ‘round
the massive central column. What did I really want to ask him? If
no one else could overhear, I might as well go for the gold. “Have
you been helping me, all along? Are you the one Voice saw when we
fell through King’s mirror?”

“I’m the one,” he
admitted. “But I tried not to help you more than you absolutely
needed. One mustn’t help a baby bird break through her shell, or
she won’t be strong enough to take her first breath. I’m proud of
you, Hazel – you didn’t need that much intervention. Your natural
instincts rescued you far more than I did.”

“But – aren’t you
calling the shots around here? Aren’t you a god, like the Masked
Man?”

He shook his head.
“No, I’m more what you might call a wizard. But like you, my blood
lines are complicated. If I tried to tell you where all the
branches of our family tree are, we would be climbing these stairs
for quite a while.”

“You made yourself
look old to fool Serena – but how did you know about her age phobia
before you even met her?”

“Let’s just say I
heard a few rumors. She generates a sort of – bow wake, like a ship
in dark waters. We felt it here before she actually showed up.” He
looked at me fondly. “We felt your wake, too.”

“Seriously? I have
a wake?”

“Yes, like your
mother the Dreamer. You walked here long before you came to live
here.”

So maybe my
fabulous dreams hadn’t been pure imagination, maybe some of them,
even
most
of them, had taken place in this
realm. If I had been collected by the Red Daemon, would I have
continued to visit the City of Night as a Dreamer? Or would the
daemons have made me over the way they did Serena? She thought that
was a wonderful thing, but I wasn’t sure it suited me at all. And
that raised another question.

“Why did Serena
work so hard to keep me away from the Red Daemon, then try to push
me on him when he finally showed up?”

That made him grin.
“She must have finally realized that your route to Celestial status
was far shorter than hers. So is your potential, if you stay away
from the daemons. They’re a bossy lot.”

“
Hey –” I
said, wonderingly, “If I was rescued by my dad, does that qualify
as a
Dad
Ex Machina. . . ?”

That won a laugh
from him. “You’ll have to ask Voice – she’s the expert on plot
devices. And now –” We reached the top of the stairs, where a door
waited. A lion was carved into the wood – but this lion looked like
it belonged on the steps of a library, rather than on a warrior’s
shield. “We’re out of time, Hazel. Are you ready to face the Night
Shifters?”

“I’m a lot readier
than I used to be.”

He kissed my cheek.
“I’m glad I could be your Dad Ex Machina.”

“Me too.” I hugged
him, impulsively. I could tell business was weighing on his mind.
He was so cool! An actual wizard. And handsome too – if he had
really been Sir John Gielgud, he would have deserved to play Hamlet
and Macbeth instead of the supporting roles.

He opened the door
and ushered me through.

•

The stairs had
belonged to the Masked Man, but the den on the other side of the
door was Sir John’s. We found the usual suspects waiting inside.
Camilla smiled at me from one of the chairs by the fire. She had
changed her nurse’s outfit for a black gown that befitted the Queen
of the Vampires. Nostradamus stood next to the fireplace, still in
accountant attire, his arms tightly crossed over his immense bulk.
He scowled, as if Sir John’s chairs weren’t good enough for him.
King ignored us as he looked out the window at something molten in
the sky – and...

The Masked Man?

He sat on his stone
chair, looking at nothing. I thought he must be the statue, from
downstairs. I felt so disappointed. I had heard his voice only
minutes before! Why didn’t he come himself?

“Here she is.” Sir
John guided me by the elbow. “All safe and sound.”

Nostradamus’ scowl
deepened. “Wonderful. Now what are you going to do to fix this
mess, you little bitch?”

Sir John fixed him
with a Jehovah glare. “Speak to her that way again, and I’ll kill
you.”

Nostradamus
blanched and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his face. “I – I
only meant what are
we
going to do? He’s
pouring Light into the Night!”

We all joined the
King at the window. Light poured through the hole and into the
Night. It was red and golden, the light of a volcanic world. My
curiosity stirred. “What a strange place it must be. I wonder what
Serena’s life was like, there.”

“Don’t be so
anxious to join her.”

I jumped. The voice
belonged to the Masked Man. His eyes were alive, behind the mask.
“She would love to trade places with you. She had to consort with a
thousand daemons to achieve the status you’ve almost reached on
your own.”

I looked
sideways at Sir John, but he didn’t return the look. “Not
quite
on my own,” I said. “I have friends in high
places.”

“You are her
rival,” said the Masked Man. “That’s why she was so anxious to keep
you out. And to keep the Red Daemon away from you.”

“What would have
happened if he had taken me?”

No one answered.
When I looked around, they all managed to be looking at someone
else – except for the Masked Man, who winked at me. “What is a
daemon,” he said, “but a being without love? He has plenty of lust
to share, I grant you. But nothing more.”

Sir John took his
pipe out and lit it. “I think you would have been his victim, my
dear. Not his treasure. He keeps Serena on a leash. Yes, it’s a
long one, but sooner or later he yanks her back.”

“
Maybe. But
she still managed to become powerful – she’s a Night Shifter. If my
blood lines give me an advantage, maybe I could do better than she
did with daemon help. And that would be pretty good – even without
a pedigree, she had you all fooled, she had deals going with just
about
everybody
.”

He nodded. “And
that came as quite a surprise, let me tell you. Apparently she has
access to a number of realms.”

“She designed this
Night to wipe out her rivals!” Nostradamus said indignantly.

“
She could do
that? I thought she was just after
me
.”

“Six birds with one
stone.” Sir John began to puff, but this time the smoke was red.
“With her rivals gone and a crystal heart that’s proof against
daemons, she could have cut her leash, and then nothing would stand
in her way.”

And the City of
Night would be an altar to the Celestial Whore, just like Three
warned.

King turned away
from the window and sat in one of the overstuffed chairs. “Let’s
stop delaying. We have to undo the Night.”

“Undo it?” I said.
“That sounds drastic.”

“Yes, yes – sit
down, dear.” Sir John directed me to the remaining chair. The
others gathered around us – even, to my surprise, the Masked Man,
who winked at me again. And then I recognized the medallion he wore
around his neck. It was same one the blond kid had worn on the
playground.

The blond biker!
The one I could never seem to find a name for. Just who was he,
anyway... ?

“We can undo it and
make it over,” said the Masked Man. “That’s how you got here in the
first place. New people sometimes come in when we start over.”

“
But he’ll
just burst through again!” Nostradamus jabbed a finger in my
direction. “Looking for
her
! We have
to kick her out of here, or we’ll have the same problem all over
again!”

“Stop it,
Nostradamus,” hissed Camilla. “You’re trying my patience.”

He stomped over to
a settee that was far too small for him and plopped down on it,
crossing his arms again and pouting like a child having a fit.

I couldn’t resist
asking, “Nostradamus – is there anything left of Bernard?”

His pout
turned into half a smirk. “I’ll let him out of his box when it’s
useful to do so. Right now, it’s
not
useful.”

What an ironic fate
for the man who thought he was the Big Controller. But Nostradamus
better watch out. Bernard might still have a few tricks up his
sleeve.

I’d better watch
out, too.

Camilla raised an
eyebrow at his antics, but turned her back on him. “I have an idea.
Something I’ve been toying with for ages.”

“Really?” said
King. “Do tell us about it, Camilla.”

She glided
over to him and stroked his hair, which was as white as hers was
black. Her confidence startled me, and so did his calm acceptance
of the intimacy. At that moment, they
really
looked like they could be brother and sister – and like Old
Ones. “I know it frightens you,” she said, gently, “but we have no
choice. As we are now, this light can burn us. But we can change,
and Hazel can help us.”

“How?” I said, and
she looked up at me with such hunger I immediately regretted
asking.

“Your blood. It has
passed through your crystal heart. A drop for each of us, just
before we Undo, will inoculate us against the Light. Then in the
new Night, we will fight the Red Daemon if he breaks through
again.”

“Don’t know if I
like that.” Sir John frowned. “On what facts do you base this
theory, Camilla?”

“
On no facts
at all. I base it on
feeling
.”

Nostradamus
guffawed. “That’s ridiculous.”

King leaped to his
feet and spun on Nostradamus. I expected him to slap the man, but
he merely strolled back to the window. “If Camilla says she has a
feeling, you may count it as a fact.”

Nostradamus started
to laugh again, but a sharp motion of King’s hand shut him up.

“What do you
think?” I asked Sir John. “Do you think it will help?”

He sighed,
and tapped his pipe on his sleeve. “I think it would help
us
. But I’m not sure it would be the best thing
for you.”

“Why not?” demanded
Camilla. “The Masked Man and I have given her something of ours! We
have all offered. Why shouldn’t she?”

“
We
have all had the
choice
not
to offer,” said Sir John. “And she
has none.”

“
But we’ll
only learn a
little
from her –
“

“
I say we do
it,” said the Masked Man. “And when it is done, I shall give her
something of
mine
to make her
stronger.”

Sir John locked
eyes with him, and the battle was fierce. Sir John was the sleeping
volcano, and the eyes behind the Mask were full of their own
power.

“How kind of you,
Masked Man.” Sir John’s voice was like steel sheathed in velvet.
“But that is not your decision, alone. Hazel – are you willing to
share a few drops of blood?”

I wanted to say
yes. And I wanted to say no. I opened my mouth, closed it
again.

“I think it’s a
good idea,” said a familiar voice.

“Voice!” I cried.
“You’re all right!”

“And very nosey.”
King was looking at something near the door. I followed his gaze
and saw the light sliding around Voice’s edges.

“Not nosey...” she
strode to the center of the room. “I’m the Chorus, I’m supposed to
have opinions. And I think Hazel should do it.”

Nostradamus
snorted. “You just want a drop of her blood, you upstart!”

“
No I don’t,”
Voice said, lightly. “I don’t need it. I’m not a Night Shifter. So
there. I think Hazel should do this because I think she should have
more influence around here. She’s a
good
influence!”

Everyone
looked at me, and I had to turn away to compose my thoughts. I was
happy to have Voice’s advice; I knew it was based on friendship.
But I needed space to think. I went to the window and gazed out.
More light was pouring into the Night, illuminating corners that
were transformed at its touch.
What’s it like to live in the Realm of Red Light
with Mr. Studly, the daemon?
I wondered.