Hot Magic Read online

  “The Council retains demon lawyers?” She absolutely refused to make a bad joke about lawyers. “How do they differ from regular lawyers?”

  “They don’t,” Tasha and Luc deadpanned together, stealing her punch line.

  Julie laughed for the first time since finding out she’d left Harry in Gehenna. Luc shot Tasha a worried look. He’d probably picked up on the note of hysteria.

  “Mom’s sense of humor gets weirder the more stressed she is. Think of it as her nervous tic. You’ll get used to it.”

  “Ah,” he said, as if the nervous tic thing explained it all. “It is important we get to the Council and have them send the demon lawyers to Gehenna immediately. The longer the Balance remains, the greater danger he is in.”

  “Is Julie Deluxe dangerous?” Julie had described what she’d seen to Luc and Tash.

  “The female demon will attempt to trick the Balance into the one contract which cannot be broken.”

  “And that would be?” Tasha asked.

  “If Harrison verbally agrees to stay in Gehenna, for any reason, he is bound there. Nothing can get him out.”

  Julie shivered at the words. She remembered Bas calling the same warning out to her as Joe dragged her into the Devil’s Brew. But this was Harry they were talking about. Harry would never agree to stay in Gehenna. He was clearheaded and logical.

  Unbidden, a memory of Julie Deluxe flashed into her head. Darn it all, her father was good. Julie knew Harry had feelings for her, and she knew Julie Deluxe would play on them.

  “I need to think,” Julie said. “Just give me a few minutes to sort this out.” Tasha and Luc exchanged glances again, reminding Julie she really needed to find out if they were related. Tasha nodded.

  Worried over Harry and not knowing what to do next to find Bas, Julie walked into the silence of the kitchen. The room felt warm and welcoming. She ran her finger across the smooth wood of her kitchen table. Forever had passed since she’d been in here, cooking a Sunday dinner, looking forward to a visit from Tasha.

  Of course, the very last time she’d been here, Harry had been with her. Harry, who might be stuck in Gehenna forever, just because he’d wanted to help her.

  She had to do something. Guilt and grief built inside her, driving her out of the comfort of her kitchen and into her backyard. The sharp October morning brushed against her, dark and cool, tinged with power. She felt like she could reach out and grasp the energy, mold it, use it.

  Her fingers closed against her palm, nothing but air trapped inside them.

  No lights shone from Harry’s house next door. No golden owl eyes peered at her from the black canopy of the trees. Where was Bascule? More powerful than any of the non-humans she’d met, with the possible exception of the demons, she knew he would help her. He loved Harry.

  She didn’t know where he’d gone, but if she could let him know Harry was in trouble, he would help. Standing in the middle of her yard, she placed her hands on her hips and turned a slow circle, considering how best to summon him. Lightning flashed repeatedly in the sky and the distant rumble of thunder broke the silent hush of early morning.

  She didn’t have his phone number or his email. Transporting to him wasn’t an option since she didn’t know where he was, and she hadn’t learned yet how to transport when not in a state of panic. Out of options, Julie arched back her neck and pushed out a mental call so powerful she fell to her knees. “Bascule. I need you.”

  She put a hand to her throat, dismayed. That was a mental call. She didn’t just scream at the top of her lungs. Did she?

  Dorie’s bedroom light flashed on and a silhouette appeared in her window. Several other lights splashed into backyards farther down the block. A minute later, the distant wail of a police siren answered the question definitively. With a groan, Julie rested her forehead in the damp grass.

  According to the news, the world was full of people who were afraid to get involved, who would turn their backs on scenes of murder or rape. Here in Ann Arbor, she screamed one little scream in her own backyard, and someone called the police. Thank you, Neighborhood Watch. Nothing got by Cindy Lui, block captain.

  Julie stood and bent to brush off her damp knees. Then she went back into the house to put coffee on. This could be a very long morning.

  The Demon-Who-Wasn’t-Julie kept up a monologue that was soothing, beguiling, and that had several times rung a reluctant chuckle out of Harrison. He sat on the floor, back against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed.

  She sat across the room from him. Dressed in a pair of jeans and a tucked-in top, she shouldn’t appear particularly alluring. She did, however. She was also bloody amusing. He knew she wasn’t Julie, but the longer he spent here, the stronger the illusion became.

  The longer he spent here, the more he also began to contemplate the dividing line between reality and illusion. Could one move easily back and forth over it, or once crossed, was the way back closed forever? And if one were trapped in an illusion, would one know?

  Despite his effort to distract himself, only Marguerite’s constant prodding and her pointed references to his idiocy kept him from stepping forward and shutting the mouth of the Demon-Who-Wasn’t-Julie with his own.

  “This is what happens when you don’t have a woman for awhile, Balance. It unbalances you. You’re letting a minor demon get under your skin.” Marguerite’s words poked him.

  “This demon is not minor,” he mused aloud, watching a frown furrow the brow of the Demon-Who-Wasn’t-Julie. “In fact, she has an enormous amount of power. I wonder why I haven’t heard of her before.”

  “Perhaps you have. You could be looking at Abigor, for all we know.”

  “This is a female.” He knew that, beyond a doubt.

  “Are you speaking with the Walker in your head?” The Demon-Who-Wasn’t-Julie stopped whatever she’d been saying to ask.

  “Yes,” Harrison responded.

  She smiled, obviously pleased Harrison finally answered her. “I can poof her out of your head if you’d like.”

  “How can you do that?”

  She waved her hands in the air. “It will take a little while, but it’s not all that complicated. Will you stay here while I work on it?”

  “Why are you pretending to be Julie?” He ignored her question.

  The demon looked down at her body and pressed a finger into the flesh of her thigh. “I could be whoever you want. I could be a little thinner if you like.” She looked up hopefully.

  “Answer me, demon.” His tone was mild, but he put the weight of command behind his words.

  “She can’t do that, Balance. I wouldn’t like it.” Abigor suddenly stood in the room with them. He was tall, as tall as Harrison, but more slender. He looked like Julie through the cheekbones and mouth, but his eyes, ice-shard blue, held none of her warmth and humor. The Demon-Who-Wasn’t-Julie pushed against the white wall, trying to make herself smaller.

  “What game are you playing, Abigor?” Harrison rose to his feet.

  Abigor ignored Harrison, his gaze focused on the shivering demon. “I am not pleased with you. You have not completed your task.”

  “Give me more time. He’s weakening. I know he is.” The Demon-Who-Wasn’t-Julie threw Harrison a desperate look.

  Part of her illusion or real?

  Abigor folded his arms across his black shirt. He said nothing, but the Demon-Who-Wasn’t-Julie disappeared as silently as she had appeared. He sighed and turned to Harrison. “My daughter is obviously not the temptation I thought she would be.”

  “That wasn’t your daughter.” The hair at the nape of Harrison’s neck stood straight up. The power in the room crackled against his skin.

  “Of course, you’re right.” Abigor stood completely at ease, his legs spread slightly, his arms still crossed. The stark contrast between his black attire and the white room hurt Harrison’s eyes. “My daughter is a very special creature.”

  Julie wasn’t a “creature.” Har
rison, however, said nothing.

  “Immortals don’t reproduce,” Abigor continued, in a musing tone of voice. “We don’t die, so there’s no need to continue the species, so to speak. I never expected to have a child.”

  Again Harrison said nothing, waiting for Abigor to get to the point.

  “He would never have allowed such a thing, you know, unless there is purpose to her birth. I’ve thought much about what that might be.”

  He referred to the Great Architect, the One Over All—God. Harrison took a deep breath. “He allows us free will, Abigor. That takes us along many undetermined paths.”

  Abigor stared at Harrison long and hard. “Free will? You think so? I wonder.” Then he shrugged. “She is spoken of in the prophecy,” he said abruptly.

  “A demon prophecy?” Harrison hadn’t known demons had prophets.

  “Yes. Your Wanderer has also foretold her coming.”

  The fact that Abigor was familiar with the Book of Wisdom made Harrison uncomfortable, especially since he’d never gotten around to rereading the book, despite Bascule’s urging.

  “Do you know what the Book of Wisdom says about my daughter?” Abigor smiled slightly.

  “No.” Harrison bit the word out.

  “It says that she has power beyond imagining. I have been watching her, waiting for her time. She has followed the path of the prophecy so far.”

  Damn, what path was he talking about? Bascule could have stated more strongly the need for him to reread the blasted book. “How do you know the prophecy refers to Julie? If I recall, prophecies are usually obscure enough to be open to many interpretations.”

  “‘A daughter shall be born in light and shadow, a guardian who rises out of evil. Wild power circles her and chaos will follow her footsteps.’”

  Harrison frowned. “Is that from the demon prophecies?”

  “No.” Abigor looked smug. “That comes from your own Words of Wisdom. Whom could it refer to but my daughter?”

  “I have no idea, but those words do not describe Julie.” Harrison knew that with certainty. “Did you stop Julie from taking me with her?”

  “My daughter may be powerful, but she is unschooled. It was not difficult to grab you from her hold and keep you here. The other two were a political liability and should never have been brought here in the first place. The Skaven should never try to think for themselves.”

  “You let Julie leave.”

  “Julie can not be held where she doesn’t wish to be.” He smiled proudly. “However, I have much to teach my daughter. She must willingly make Gehenna her home. I thought to use Josephius as a lure, but he didn’t appeal to her. You do appeal to her. If you are here, she will stay.” The simple logic sent a chill through Harrison.

  “She won’t. Gehenna will never be her home.”

  Abigor smiled again. “There’s a human saying that applies to my daughter. Something about home being where the heart is. If you are here, and her mother is here, Julie will be here also.”

  He might be right. “I came here in my role as Balance to protest the kidnapping of two members of the Triad and your holding of a third. If you don’t allow my return, your action will start a war far greater than any we’ve witnessed before.”

  Abigor didn’t look concerned. “Not if you agree to stay here.”

  “I won’t agree.” The fact that Abigor had revealed his plan worried Harrison. He must be very sure of his ability to keep Harrison here.

  “I’m a demon,” Abigor pointed out. “I’m very good at making people do things they never thought they would.” He unfolded his arms and stuck his hands in his pockets. He cocked his head slightly as he studied Harrison. “What is the most important thing in the world to you?”

  Harrison didn’t answer. Abigor knew what mattered to him—justice, maintaining balance and order, keeping the demons in their place. Julie.

  “Julie is a wild power,” Abigor said, his tone almost gentle. “Your laws demand that she be banished. She could unintentionally bring death and destruction to your people if she can’t control her abilities. If she is in Gehenna, I can train her, guide her powers. We demons have no desire to destroy the Triad or your Balance, we have internal problems of our own to deal with.”

  He referred to Ashakarin. Even though Abigor had managed to send him to Lobolo, a hidden dimension used to house criminals, Ashakarin refused to stay vanquished.

  “Stay here, Harrison. This will be your sacrifice for your people, the ultimate expression of your duty. I promise your duty will not be painful.” Abigor spread his arms in invitation, and the plain, white room became the green, sloping fields of England. Harrison smelled the rich air, redolent with grass and wildflowers. How long had it been since he’d walked the hills of Surrey or Kent? A quilt lay on the side of a hill with a picnic lunch spread out, a bottle of wine propped against the basket; a replay of his recent picnic with Julie. A woman—he looked closer—Julie, of course, leaned back on the blanket, her face raised to the sun. She wore a bright yellow, sleeveless sundress that buttoned down the front. Her bare legs were stretched out in front of her, toes cocked to the sky. Several buttons of her dress were undone, and Harrison could see the smooth curve of a bra-less breast. Her bare arms were brown from the sun and looked soft and warm to the touch.

  “I can make Gehenna anything you want it to be, Harrison. You will save your beloved Triad, you will keep Julie from banishment and you will have my daughter for as long as you live.”

  Julie turned toward him. She held out her hand to him in invitation.

  “Do you choose to be with my daughter forever?”

  As Harrison contemplated that question, his gaze locked with Julie’s. He logically worked through the pros and cons, the costs and benefits, of various responses. When he finally looked at Abigor, he knew his answer was clearly written in his expression.

  Abigor smiled. “Will you stay in Gehenna, Harrison Chevalier?”

  The coffee maker had just spit the first of the rich, dark liquid into the carafe when Dorie burst through the back door. “You’re back.” Her strong arms immediately engulfed Julie in a hard hug.

  She stepped back and eyed Julie carefully, as if looking for signs of injury. “Was that you with the bullhorn outside? You could have set off cannons if you wanted a less obvious way to announce your return.” Dorie had on a pair of sweats and an old T-shirt. The shirt was inside out and the tag was in front.

  Cindy Lui ran in behind her, wearing red silk pajamas that had definitely come from an expensive lingerie catalog. “I called the police. They’re on their way. Are you okay?”

  Julie opened her mouth. She paused, not sure how to answer. Her head swiveled toward the kitchen window, drawn by the odd vision of lights bobbing in her backyard like fireflies on growth hormones. She closed her mouth and brushed past Dorie and Cindy to lean over the sink and get a closer look. Several uniformed police officers were in her yard, scanning the bushes with flashlights.

  Okay. She could handle this. She’d just go talk to them and explain she’d been sleepwalking. When they asked why she had screamed, she’d say she saw a giant raccoon. No, that wouldn’t work. It was hard to see raccoons, or anything really, while asleep. Okay, she’d tell them she had a nightmare. She’d had a nightmare about, oh, something totally preposterous like being half-demon. Of course, the horror of that had caused her to bellow so loudly, most of the city had woken up.

  Satisfied she had a reasonable excuse for her behavior, she pushed away from the sink and took a step toward the back door. At that precise moment, someone knocked loudly on the front door. She stopped, unsure which direction to go in. The police were probably at the front, too. Tasha would answer it.

  In fact, the police could just take care of themselves for a few moments. Coffee was more important. She brushed past Dorie and Cindy Lui again. Both women were watching her with concerned expressions on their faces. Too bad. If they’d had the kind of day she’d had, they would be whimpering on the f
loor.

  She glanced at them again. Okay, maybe not. Dorie had twin boys and had never whimpered a day in her life. Julie wasn’t so sure she’d be able to say the same thing if she had to watch Dylan and Daniel for more than a day. And Cindy definitely didn’t seem the whimpering type. She’d probably have half the demons in Gehenna coming to her Halloween party if she’d been in Julie’s place.

  And neither woman would have messed up and left Harry behind in Gehenna.

  Really, could life get any worse? Feeling like a total failure, Julie grasped the handle of her favorite coffee cup just as something silver and slim flashed into her peripheral vision.

  Marguerite appeared in the middle of her kitchen.

  Which only proved that, yes, things could get worse. Julie’s favorite cup slipped from her fingers, Cindy screamed and the police rushed into her kitchen from two directions, weapons drawn.

  Julie held up both her hands. She knew it made her look guilty, but it was her first reaction. As her mind scrambled to come up with a new explanation that would cover Cindy screaming and Marguerite materializing, she heard a sound that made her forget everything else.

  A soft, echoing hoot, coming from the direction of the open back door, slid through the cacophony of noise. She sagged in relief. Bas had finally arrived.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The sleepwalking story worked. Sort of. The police looked skeptical but had better things to do than question a bunch of people who swore nothing was wrong when all that had been reported was a scream. Julie claimed that Cindy Lui had shrieked because Marguerite startled her when she stepped out of the shadows. Never mind that the well-lit kitchen didn’t have any shadows.

  Cindy looked confused and inclined to argue until Bas knocked on the back door. The sight of bad-boy Bascule, dressed in full leather, seemed to wipe everything else from her mind. The police left very quickly after Bascule arrived, as if pushed out by an invisible hand. Cindy followed after them with a promise to get more Halloween party invitations to all the new people.