Page 75 of Malice
My groundskeeper, resident mage, and most trusted human employee was in for a reckoning. He appeared with Merri at his side at the top of the stairs, looking better than he had but still a bit peaked.
He raised his hands in a placating gesture, already sensing what was coming. “Merri filled me in. I have no explanation, monsieur. It should not have been possible.”
Merri appeared behind him, freshly showered and barefoot. “Do you think the humans were a way for them to trick the wards?” she asked as she raced down the stairs and toward us.
I don’t know what possessed me, but as soon as she was within reach, I grabbed her and pulled her into my arms. Her sweet scent soothed something inside me, and I couldn’t help but take a few deep inhalations of her shampoo.
She accepted the embrace willingly, returning it with a strong one of her own. Then she surprised me by not only staying put but snuggling closer.
“Hi,” she murmured.
“Hello, hellcat.”
A pointed cough had both of us turning in Chaos’s direction, Sin and Grim standing just behind him.
“To answer your question,” he said, “it shouldn’t work that way.”
“But it did,” she pointed out.
“It did,” he confirmed, arms crossed as he sat back against a sideboard.
Christian scrubbed a hand down his face. “I suppose they could have used some sort of cloaking spell, their possession of the humans in partnership with the spell fully masking the demonic presence, but...” He shrugged helplessly. “I’ve never encountered anything like it. I don’t think there’s any way to know for sure.”
“This cannot happen, Christian. Merri’s safety is of the utmost importance. I expect you to rectify this situation.”
Merri pulled away from me and looked into my eyes. “How can he? As far as I know, wards don’t work like a force field for human bodies. If the demons are using them as Trojan horses, I don’t know what we can do.”
“I would need an entire coven behind me for something of that caliber.”
“Do you have one?”
Christian shook his head. “My family has been on our own for a long time. Our allegiance is to our goddess and this land.Covens have too many rules that conflict with the vows we’ve already taken.”
“Is there someone you trust enough to partner with?” she asked, eyes flicking up to me before returning to him, telling me that the question was for both of us.
Christian let out a heavy sigh. “None that I have connections with. This isn’t the sort of favor you spring on someone. It comes with strings. And potential alliances that are in direct conflict with our own interests.”
“Politics,” Chaos spat.
“Exactement.”
A thought wormed its way to the surface, and I looked to Grim. “There may be someone we could ask.”
He frowned, not quite following me. Surprisingly, though perhaps by now it shouldn’t have been, Merri did.
“What about that guy that sent the video? Asher?”
Grim’s gaze went to Merri, then to Chaos, before landing on me at the warrior’s nod. “Contact Hades. See what he knows.”
“We don’t have a way to reach him while the phones are down,” I pointed out.
“I might have a way,” Christian offered. “But it will take me awhile to gather what I need.”
“Do it.”
He nodded and rushed off.
“And in the meantime?” Sin asked. “Are we supposed to just sit around and wait for the next attack?”
