“But I handled the demon all by myself.”
“You did indeed. It was gratifying to watch.” The embers in his eyes flickered. “Deeply satisfying, in fact.” He blinked, dousing the embers. “Unfortunately, when this one doesn’t report back, Smith may send more. You’re not equipped to handle more than one yet. We do this together, just as Brom’s prophecy says.”
With an impatient huff, she stepped over the broken pieces of her chair and pictures on the way to the living room. The demon had been through her things, moving pillows and even the coffee table. She found Brom’s book in a different place than where she’d left it and opened it to the latest entry. “There’s a new picture. Oh, great, a big monster with three heads. So that part of Mon’s story wasn’t his literary license.”
Cyn leaned over her shoulder. “And both of us fighting it.”
His heat called to her Dragon, drawing her to lean back against him. Stop it! Bad Dragon.
She felt it snort, a really odd sensation.
Want.
The worst part was she wasn’t sure if that last sentiment was hers or her Dragon’s. She snapped the book shut and shoved it into her bag. “What kind of monster is that? Another tulpa?”
He was right behind her, his feet light on the stairs as they went down. “Nothing I’ve ever seen. I suppose a Deuce could make a tulpa that looked like that though.”
They approached the fence, and Ruby grabbed the lock, which was still intact. “How did you get in? And how did you know a demon was here?”
“I climbed over.” He showed her the scrapes on his hands from the barbed wire coils at the top of the fence. “As soon as I discovered that Mr. Smith is still out there, I knew he’d be targeting you again.”
She relocked the gate once they’d passed through. “Just because I’m going with you doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you.”
“Understood.”
She slung her bag in the trunk he opened for her.
“More bad news,” he said as they pulled onto the road. “The Deus Vis is still fracturing. Whatever is causing it wasn’t in that lab. It’s beginning to hit Crescents hard. How are you feeling?”
God, it really wasn’t over at all. Panic squeezed her throat. “I’m tired and achy.”
“Like the flu?”
“Like I’ve got demons and tulpas trying to kill me.” And a Dragon tearing up my heart. “I figured it was everything I’ve been through lately.” She remembered the images Brom had flashed into their minds. “People are still going to die.”
“Yes.”
“Kids. Grandmothers. Us. What about the Elementals?”
“They don’t require Deus Vis to survive.”
She felt some relief, but it was small consolation. “What do we do? How do we stop it?”
His cell phone rang. “Fernandez,” he said to her and answered it. She couldn’t hear what the man was saying. “No,” Cyn said, glancing at her. “Okay, I’ll be right there.” He disconnected. “He says he knows what’s going on.”
“Could he be in on it?”
“I considered that when I went to see him this morning, but I doubt it. I’ve told him very little, for his protection and ours. As in any large agency, there’s the possibility of corruption at the upper levels.”
He took an on-ramp and merged with the flow of traffic on the interstate. “I’m meeting Fernandez at my house.”
A short while later, he took an exit leading to southeast Coral Gables. “Hungry?”
“Famished.”
He pulled into the parking lot of a small café. “This is one of my favorite places. Spanish food.”
She got out, and the scent of garlic and tomatoes wafting through the air unleashed a growl from her stomach.
“Mr. Valeron, good to see you,” the host said when they walked inside, giving her a nod, too. “Welcome.” He had olive skin and dark hair like Cyn, and his eyes flickered in the Dragon way.
The place was quaint. Murals depicted cozy scenes with what she guessed were Spanish homes and balconies.
Cyn ordered for them, which would have been annoying except she didn’t know what some of the dishes on the menu were. An array of plates were delivered soon after, including one filled with baby octopi. Ugh. The array was colorful though. She ate the things she recognized, olives and cheese, chorizo sausage, and slices of beef.
“Ruby, remember how I’m an arrogant ass and want you to obey me?”
The olive she was chewing went down like a rock. “Yeah…”
“I don’t want you coming in with me. I’d like to say I trust Fernandez. He and his wife raised me after I was orphaned. That’s the way being a Ward worked in the old days, if you had no family to take you in.”