Wild Night Road(40)

She crossed into his chamber.
“You’re late,” Gaebryl said.
“I was detained, but I think you know that already.”
As if in response, he waved a big hand at a lump that lay on the floor a few feet away. “What do you make of that? It’s filthy and probably ruining my rug, but I wanted you to take a look at it first. It’s why I summoned you.”#p#分页标题#e#
Lilith wrinkled her nose, getting a whiff of unwashed flesh, spilled beer and the ripe stench of a garbage bin. “Don’t you have better things to do?”
“My Lilith, so predictable.” He sighed and set the lyre aside. “You’ve been ignoring me lately, so I went after you this evening, but,” and here he paused to burn her with an angry look, “you got lucky. That thing distracted me. If not, we would have been having an entirely different conversation.”
Lilith shivered, despite the comforting warmth of her fury.
“What do you make of it?” Gaebryl asked.
The lump rolled over and let out a massive burp. It was a human male, his short, chubby legs encased in dirty tan trousers. His red plaid shirt had hiked up to reveal his round white belly sprinkled with dark hairs.
As she’d expected, he was the same man she’d seen sitting on the park bench before the demon attack.
“It is a human being,” Lilith said. “What do you want from me?”
“I wanted you to have a look at the thing,” Gaebryl said. “Before I put it down, of course.”
“You’re going to kill him?”
“I believe that’s what to put down means,” Gaebryl said mildly.
“Killing humans is your new hobby? Oh wait, I forgot, it’s your old hobby.”
Gaebryl laughed. “Hardly. Look closer, my dear. I can’t believe you haven’t noticed by now.” He frowned. “Sloppy, that. Makes me wonder if you’re slipping.”
“I’m not slipping,” she snapped.
She crossed over to the supine man and knelt next to him. The smell was the most distinctive thing, and it was identical to the noxious gas that had puffed from the demons. Closing her eyes, she narrowed her awareness to a fine point and called power from the earth. It was easier here inside the mountain.
When she opened her eyes, she could see the man’s aura in fine detail. To her horror, it had the same gray shadow at the edges as Tasha’s friend, along with similar dark markings that resembled a pattern of wires. Only the lines in this man’s aura were more clearly formed than in Erin’s. Instead of a random pattern, it looked like one thing, one being.
And it moved. It slipped and slithered through the aura like a fish in a bowl.
They’re out there, and they want in.
“He won’t last long,” Lilith said.
“I only waited because of your tardiness. Do you think I’d be doing this creature any kindness by allowing the fehin to continue to suck the life from him?” The seraphim huffed his indignation.
“Why are they called fehin?” Making conversation helped give her more time to draw power.
“I’ve no idea. It’s their proper name.”
“I’ve never heard of them before.”
“That’s because they’re not from this realm,” Gaebryl said. “Or any realm, really. They were been banished from most of the worlds of light and spent the last eon or two wandering the abyss between the worlds. Can’t blame them, really, for wanting to come in, but still, it cannot be permitted.”
Banished. Worlds of light. Abyss between the worlds.
This wasn’t like the Gaebryl Lilith knew to share and talk of other worlds as if she were his equal. He also sounded genuinely mystified by how the fehin had appeared. But it could also be a show. He was a consummate liar.
“If he’s going to die anyway, why not try to remove the fehin?”
Gaebryl shrugged in a show of nonchalance, but his fingers had tightened their grip on the arm of his chair. “Be a lot of work for nothing.”
“Will you allow me to try?”
He waved a hand. “Go ahead.”
This was the dangerous part. Once the fehin was free, she would be vulnerable.
“We’ll need a container for it once I get it out. Some way to corral the demon.”
“No doubt.” Gaebryl said sourly. He reached into the pocket of his white trousers and pulled out a clear quartz crystal mounted on a silver chain.  “Try this.”
“That’s not an ordinary crystal.”
“I took it off a dead mage, so while it has been used, it will serve.”
Right.
Lilith looped the delicate chain over her fingers, allowing the crystal to swing back and forth. Slowly she lowered it until it dipped into the outermost layer of the sleeping man’s aura.