Page 50 of Midnight in the Garden of Okay and Meh
“You are not a demon,” she said with a slight shake of her head.
“What does that have to do with the Akasha?” Aisling asked. “Anyone can be sent to it, not just demons.”
“In the normal course of events, yes, but trying to banish anyone from what is already a prison of banishment is extremely difficult. I’ll be honest with you, sugar—the only reason I can banish the demon Jim is because of my time as a demon lord. I have just enough powers left from that to be able to send a demon wherever I want.”
“What about Finch?” the Dark One’s mate asked, turning to him. “This place is an Hour, and you said all the leaders of the Hours could visit each other. Could we get Finch in on the action that way?”
“I am not sure,” Christian answered, rubbing his chin. Something about the gesture made my stomach tighten ... and not in a good way. “I will ask him if he’d be able to leave it should he be able to travel there.”
They discussed that point for a while, then switched to other options, including bribing the Hashmallim, and ways Sally might be able to help without bringing down the wrath of the Court upon her head. I let them carry on while I pinpointed the feelings I’d felt while trying to free the prisoner Desislav.
Why did he feel familiar, and yet also was surrounded by so much rage that it turned the very water cold around him? I did not know rageful people. But the way his dark hair moved around his head ... I shook my own head at the nonsensical idea that I knew him. The others might be confused about that, but I was not.
I was a Defender of the Blood, nothing more. The others were clearly mistaken. Still, I had things to do back at my home, and for that reason, I interrupted the cyclical nature of their discussion. “I don’t need someone to protect me while I am freeing the prisoner Desislav; I need someone to attack the boggarts before we enter the water.”
The silence that followed was pleasing.
“The best offense is a good defense,” Aisling said slowly, looking at the Dark One and dragons. “Why didn’t we think of that? Of course it would be easier to go in and blast out the boggarts before you finish breaking Jim’s dad free. But ... can you do that by yourself?”
I thought for a moment. “No,” I finally admitted. “I will need another.”
“Dude. Like I’m made of mashed potatoes?” the demon dog asked. “I’m here to help save my dad, even if it means I lose my fabulous form killing boggarts.”
“No one is asking you to lose your form,” Aisling told it, patting it on the side.
I gave it another look, planning on making a pointed comment about how it couldn’t even hold a weapon, but its eyes ... its eyes seemed to pluck at my insides in a way that was wholly unfamiliar to me.
I thought of how it had looked when it stood before me in man form. Again, there was something about the eyes, and the shape of the face. It was as if a thought was nudging me from a very long distance, a prod so gentle I wasn’t sure if it was really there or not. Rather than telling the demon that it was at best useless, and worse a liability that I’d have to protect while dealing with the attackers, the words that spilled from my mouth were, “Your aid is welcome, although the number of boggarts demands a third person, preferably one with a bladed weapon.”
“Present!” a man’s voice came from Aisling’s laptop. “It’s been a few months since I’ve had to use my sword, but I will gladly accompany you to the Hour.”
“But can you go to the Hour, Finch?” Allie asked, leaning forward to see the screen better. “Christian wasn’t sure if you could get out even if you can travel to it.”
“I checked with the former steward who ran this Hour—and did an exceptionally good job at it, so much so that Tatiana and I are trying to lure him back into the job—and he said that being the lord of an Hour gives me the ability to enter and exit any Hour,” Finch answered.
“Thank all the little imps for that,” Sally said, her gaze on me for a few seconds. I felt the impact of her gaze and lifted my head to study her. Power was woven around her in varying bands, manifesting itself as a variety of colors ranging from pale pink to a deep maroon, lime green, and a soft yellow. She also bore a symbol on her brow, one I saw every time I looked in the mirror.
Unable to keep from asking, I leaned down and asked the demon Jim, “Can you see the symbol on my head?”
“The one from the Court?” It tipped its head to the side, giving me a long side-eye. “Yeah. It’s the same one that Sally has.”
I touched my forehead, wondering about that. I had never questioned the symbol, but now I wondered if perhaps some of my past might not have been erased by my time in the Beyond.
“But that’s folly,” I said softly, giving a mental headshake. “I’ve only been in there a short time.”
“Try sixteen hundred years,” Jim said, now watching me carefully. “That’s when I was born.”
“I would know if I had a child,” I told the demon.
“Would you, though?” it asked, and I couldn’t find an answer.
“It’s just a damned shame we can’t get a couple of dragons in the place, too,” Aisling said, kicking at a pillow that had fallen off a couch.
“Well, you can’t,” Sally said as she stood up and stretched. “Not unless they have got some demon in them that I could use to get a grip in order to send them to the Akasha. Shall we reconvene tomorrow? Jenna said she’d be available then, and assuming we can drag Mabel away from her dance studio, we can give it another try with the handsome Finch.”
“The taken handsome Finch,” his mate corrected, giving the screen a gimlet look.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Aisling said when Sally started moving toward the door. “You said we could get a dragon into the Hour if he was partially a demon, yes?”
