Page 83 of Concluded
“Can you just tell me what’s going on?”he asked her.“Nobody wants to give me a straight story and I’m sick of it.”
“You can’t simplify this situation.But you’ve been spending time with the Bureau scum, so I’m sure you have at least a basic sense of it, even if the perspective is warped.”She hadn’t eaten any of her food either, and now she looked down at her carefully manicured hands.“It doesn’t matter anyway.It’s not your fight.You’re in this to get as much as you can.”
Ah, so Irina wasn’t so much evil as amoral, much as he’d always been.But he didn’t think that was true for him anymore.
“Get what?”he asked.
She leaned forward and lowered her voice.“Everything.If you play the game right.”
“Spurling said this isn’t a game.”
“Him.”She waved a hand dismissively.“Let me ask you something.You thought that I’d created this house.You did something like that for Ashley, didn’t you?”
He decided there was no need to lie.“Twice.So?”
“And you got that angel into the Bureau’s hands.That was quite something.Garrick and the others pretend like that wasn’t important, but I think it was.They’re certainly angry over it.”
Dee managed to suppress a smile.“Your point?”
“I couldn’t have done either of those things.Yes, I can grant wishes, and some of those are quite useful.But nothing as big as that.Your powers, Deedee, are far stronger than mine.And that’s because my mother was fully human, but you are three-quarters djinn.And there’s one more thing you should know.”She paused, clearly expecting him to ask for more.
But he was still digesting the first bit and contemplating what it signified.Did it mean he could counteract anything Irina did?And what, exactly, were the limits of his abilities?His current hosts might not even know.
Finally, he looked at her.“What should I know?”
Her smile was wide and her eyes sparkled.“You and I are the last djinn in the world.”
“What?”
“There were never more than a few of us; we’re not very fertile.And over the centuries, different regimes have sought us out and slaughtered us out of fear of what we could do.”She shrugged.“Your father was the last full-blooded djinn, and I’ve told you already what happened to him.”
A disturbing mix of emotions roiled through Dee.He was relieved that Spurling and his pals didn’t have an army of djinn at their disposal.He grieved the loss of a father he’d never known and a people that, until recently, he hadn’t even known existed.And he was thrilled to realize how exceptional he was.Assuming, of course, that Irina was telling the truth.
“This is why I gave you your name,” she said softly.“A memorializing of our entire species, which has been damned for many generations.”
Dee cradled his mug between his palms and tried to think.He wished that Achilles was here to help him make sense of all this, and that Charles was here too, promising to get his agents researching Irina’s claims.He wished he could talk with Tenrael about what he’d seen of djinns over the centuries.
But Dee was alone now.
“Why are you telling me this?”he asked.
“So you understand your value and also the danger you’re in.If they believe that you’ve truly turned your back on the Bureau, that you’re genuinely willing to help their cause, they’ll forgive you for Ashley and the angel.You’re potentially too beneficial for them to hold a grudge.And they will give you nearly anything you could possibly want.Look at me—Garrick gives me human Bureau agents for my collection because I ask for them and he has uses for me.But Deedee, if theydon’tbelieve you, they’ll destroy you.Because they can’t risk having you act against them.”
She leaned back in her seat, arms crossed, and solemnly watched him.
Dee wanted to ask her about hercollectionand the implications for Achilles but couldn’t think of a way to do so without giving himself away.Her collection hadn’t been the point of her little lecture anyway.Instead, she’d been giving him a warning.
“How do I convince them?”he asked.
“Show respect.Obey their orders.Put aside your personal desires.It’ll be worth it in the long run.Imagine what you and I could accomplish together.But not yet.Bide your time.”
Before he could decide how to respond to this, she rose to her feet.“Let’s go talk to Garrick,” she said briskly.
* * *
Spurling waitedfor them in a modest-size room with a glass wall that overlooked a hillside covered in cultivated grapevines.A television with a gaming setup dominated one wall, but the set wasn’t turned on.Spurling sat in a leather armchair, holding a highball glass full of amber liquid.A bottle of bourbon perched on the table beside him.Today he wore tennis shoes, khakis, and a green golf shirt with a pair of sunglasses hanging from the front placket.
Irina glided over, bent down to kiss his cheek, and then arranged herself on the arm of the chair, one hand lightly massaging Spurling’s shoulder.Dee stood awkwardly as they both stared at him, then he moved to sit in the chair across from them.But that proved to be slightly awkward too, as it was too low and his knees stuck up.
