Page 18 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

“Surely later,” Ruby spoke for the first time.

I regarded them. “What’s the motive of a demon?”

“To gain territory,” Wild answered.

I nodded, then waved my hand, sending a burst of energy down my apothecary affinity. A map rolled out on the table. I cast forth four bobbing balls of blue magic. “We occupy the south, here, in the Buried Knolls. Vissimo?—”

“What’s a Vissimo?” Ruby asked.

“A vampire,” Varden told her.

She colored, but I’d imagine others sitting at this table hadn’t recalled that either.

“The Vissimo occupy the west territory in Bluff City. Luthers—werewolves—occupy the eastern land in Deception Valley.” My focus shifted. “And then the demon territory is in the north mountains.”

“How do you know this?” Winona asked. “We know they’re out there, but not specifically where.”

In this, I didn’t need to lie. “I was raised outside of the coven. The whereabouts and turfs of supernaturals is common knowledge beyond the confines of the Buried Knolls.”

Opal made a sound of surprise.

“Beyond the north mountains,” I continued, “is the ocean. If a demon’s motive is territory—in that claiming a territory and enslaving the people in it creates a constant food source for their magic—then heading farther north isn’t an option, and the only territories to claim?—”

“—are the territories of other supernatural species,” Wild finished.

We were so in sync. Cute.

I rested back on my authority. Must get a fucking cushion. “What would you think if I told you that two other games like Caves had existed, each lasting a century or longer? That one of the games was played by Vissimo, and another by Luthers?”

A deep silence followed my words.

“I would say that too much coincidence is no coincidence at all,” Delta said. I was glad Wild, Huxley, and Varden hadn’t been the first to break that quiet.

“You’re implying that demons have infiltrated each species via a game. But,” she added, “that’s impossible. How would everyone fail to notice?”

Winona replied, “Demons attacked our coven a week ago, walking out of an entrance within our barrier, Delta. Most of us had no idea.”

And even if their gate had been outside our barrier, they would have marched through it. Only a four-affinity barrier seemed to make them pause, and I was willing to bet the stronger demons could get through that too.

Eyes turned to me again.

Barrow was the one to voice the question. “You knew there were gates.”

How did I answer?

I’d known there were gates because I’d followed an echo of my mother into a ravine and happened to discover the truth. But how did I reveal this without revealing all? If my mother discovered the gates, then how did she do so when a magus couldn’t see them? And why would she never have passed that on to the council? Why had she run? That line of questioning led to what she’d had to hide, and the only answer to that was her children.

I was taking too long to reply. I had to say something.

In his mild voice, Varden said, “I knew there were gates.”

The attention cut from me to the old grimoire across the table. He met their regard. “I was first to greet the demons at the battle, as you know. Keeping this knowledge was a betrayal of the council’s trust, I’m aware, and I have known about the demons for some time, since the grandfather of our high esteemed suddenly died.”

“Caradoc?” Opal blurted. “That was years ago.”

Ruby glanced around the table. “What happened to him?”

“The reason we gave the coven for his death,” Varden said, ignoring a sharp look from Barrow, “was that he’d undertaken an experiment which drew too much of his magic at once. The truth is that we had no idea. For all intents and purposes, it appeared as though Caradoc had been murdered.”

---