“Go on,” I said softly. I had a feeling he’d never told this to anyone before.
After a moment, he gave himself another nod, looked back to me. “I knew that no matter what we did, Ben wasn’t walking out of there alive and, if we refused, neither were we. So I told Sonny to do it. I fucking told him to do it.”
“And then you took your turn?”
“Yeah.” His voice was bleak, and he didn’t elaborate.
I sat back, regarding him, absolutely dying inside for what he’d gone through.
“In the space of about a minute,” he continued, “I’d not only killed a man—a friend and co-worker—without even knowing why, but I’d also set Sonny up for an ugly life. I still wake up at night wondering if it would’ve been better for him to take a bullet quick and easy that day.” He exhaled, shook his head. “But that’s hindsight. In the moment, I thought we’d do what they wanted then find a way to get the hell away from Farouche. I had no idea that wasn’t going to be a possibility.”
“Because of his influence, the fear and compulsion,” I said with an understanding nod. “I got a taste of that and was lucky enough to have friends to help clear it.”
“Right. I didn’t understand it either, not until Elofir and Mzatal fixed it,” he said. “You felt it. Farouche has a way about him. He knows things he shouldn’t, couldn’t. Once he brings someone into the inner circle, any thought of crossing him in any way brings up unnatural, paralyzing fear. That’s mainly the people who do or know about his wet work and other illicit activities. It’s not like that for the rest of his employees and associates. Most of them absolutely fucking love the guy. I mean, totally devoted.”
“Sounds like he can turn it both directions,” I said with a frown. “Gets his loyalty with fear or love.”
“Yeah, that sounds right. Shit.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Now that his hold on me is gone, I look back and wonder how I could do what I did because of fear. I’m not afraid to die, but that motherfucker had me so terrified, I’d kill for him, execute for him.”
I’d seen him take a bullet for Paul. He wasn’t lying about not being afraid to die. “Sonny’s been with you since the beginning of all this. You and Paul are close to him.”
“Yeah.” Pain and regret shone in his eyes. “It’s hard on him. He’s a decent guy. I’d give anything to get him out of there.”
I had a feeling he’d lay down his life if it meant Sonny could be free of Farouche. He carried the responsibility for what Sonny was now. “After we get Idris, maybe we can help make that happen.” I met his eyes. “Bryce, what you went through was utter shit. I have no problem with you being in this house. Do you have any problem being here?”
His face grew hard, and I saw the killer in him plain as day. “Not unless you have a problem with me having one more mark on my hit list.”
“No problem at all.” I knew exactly who he meant.
“That’s dangerous thinking for a cop.”
“I’m not a cop anymore.” I pushed down the ache that rose at the reminder.
He gave me an oddly penetrating look. “Can you ever get away from being a cop, even if you aren’t carrying the badge?”
Bryce sure as hell wasn’t a meathead thug. “No, not really. Not having the badge is like losing a bit of me.” I batted a mosquito away. “It’s stupid, and I know I’ll get over it, but being a cop was as much a part of me as the summoning.” I paused, then shook my head. “No, it was more. A lot more. I belonged. I was part of something. I felt like I could make a difference as a cop.” I blew out my breath. “The summoning was just a super cool thing I did. There wasn’t any particular reason behind it. Not until last year. Then everything changed once Rhyzkahl made an appearance.”
He digested all of that, nodded. He looked calmer now, as if a weight had lifted from him. “Thanks for everything. And as long as we’re clear, I’m grateful to stay in your house.” His voice held a slight hitch. A lot of emotion lay beneath the tough guy exterior.
“Glad that’s settled.” I slapped my hands on my thighs. “C’mon. Let’s grab whatever Jekki has on the stove, fire up the game system, and kill some aliens.”
“You’re singing my tune,” he said with a smile.
Chapter 26
Half an hour later I’d been made into mincemeat by aliens more times than I could remember, and Bryce was back to himself again.
Fuzzykins abruptly heaved her very pregnant butt onto the sofa and into Bryce’s lap. She hissed at me, then looked up at him with a Mrow?
“Don’t be shy about moving her,” I said, narrowing my eyes at the feline. “She’s a persistent pest with people she likes. I’m not one of those. She’s Eilahn’s.”
“I’m okay with her on me.” He scratched her head. “You don’t like cats?”
“Cats don’t like me. They were fine when I was young, but hated me when I got older.” I shrugged, pushed down the bloom of regret. “Found out last year that it has something to do with being a summoner.” I glared at her in mock menace. “No great loss, you mangy beast.”
Bryce gave a laugh. “Looks like you’re going to have a houseful soon.”
I groaned at the thought, then felt Mzatal’s touch and smiled. “I have something to take care of,” I told him. “I’ll leave you two to get acquainted and catch you a little later. Need to pick your brain a bit.”
“Might be some slim pickings,” he said with a smile. “I’ll get started with some ideas for the camera system. It’ll keep me out of trouble.”
• • •
Mzatal knelt on the mini-nexus, head lowered and hands splayed in front of him as though sensing. A road atlas lay on the ground before him, open to a map of Texas. A faint tingle of potency flowed to him as he drew upon the resources of the convergence. I remained still and waited for him to complete whatever he was doing.
After about a minute he lifted his head, gave me a smile. “Zharkat.”
I gestured to the map. “Did you find something?”
“Great disruption in the flows here,” he said as he traced a wide circle around the Austin area. “Precipitated by an event that occurred the same day you arrived back on Earth.”
“Idris was near Austin when he called me,” I said, narrowing my eyes in speculation.
Mzatal nodded. “I sense an echo of his arcane signature amidst the tangle of flows, yet I have not yet located the cause or point of origin of the event.” Frustration darkened his eyes, and I reached for his hand to give it an encouraging squeeze.
“It’s still huge progress,” I told him, then smiled. “You’re too used to having the world at your fingertips in your plexus.”
He exhaled, gave my hand a return squeeze. “Yes. Here, it is as if—” A whisper of amusement pierced the frustration. “It is as if I am forced to use a mere calculator after utilizing the full scope of the Internet.”
I blinked at his use of such an Earth-centric analogy, then laughed. “You have been talking to Paul.”
Mzatal’s mouth twitched in a faint smile. “He sought me out during one of his breaks when no others were awake, and I spent a pleasant hour conversing with him.”
“Sounds like you needed the break as well.”
“I did, though I knew it not at the time.” He touched the map before him. “Yet it was after I returned to my search that I found the trace that eventually led me to the disturbance.”
“Excellent. I’m adding ‘Make Mzatal Take a Break’ to his job description.”
The screech of a power tool had us both wincing. Mzatal glanced toward the mobile home and the workers then back to me. “Tell me of the events of the morning,” he said, expression serious again.
“Farouche killed the trigger-happy security guard from the warehouse and dumped the body on Jill’s lawn a little after four a.m.,” I told him with a scowl. “He’s letting me know how tough he is and that he knows where my people are.” Anger swept through me again, but I didn’t pygah. I wanted to be mad about thi
s crap for a while. “On the plus side, Jill’s finally agreed to move in.” I gestured toward the mobile home. “Of course now I’m worried about Tessa. Shit!” I smacked my forehead. “It’s been so crazy around here I totally forgot to tell you. I’m almost positive Tessa’s been manipulated.” I proceeded to fill him in on my odd visit with her and the way her responses felt programmed. His expression darkened as I spoke and was positively black by the time I reached the bit about Zack’s micro-nod confirmation that Tessa had spent time in the demon realm with Rhyzkahl.
Though the anger on his face pretty much told me what I needed to know, I still had to ask. “Do you remember her being in the demon realm?”
“No,” he replied. He stood, body stiff with tension. “However, with Katashi’s associations at that time, she could have been brought in undisclosed.”
In other words, Katashi had been betraying Mzatal for over twenty years, at the very least. It made a sick sense. The other lords wouldn’t have been content to sit back and let Mzatal have full access to Katashi—the one summoner who pretty much controlled all the other summoners. Perhaps Katashi had been utterly loyal and well-intentioned at one time, but that wouldn’t have stopped the Mraztur. They would have found his weakness, his price, and done everything possible to swing his loyalty and cooperation to them.
Not that it made a difference now, except to remind me that the Mraztur were playing a long game, and treachery could come from any direction.
“Will you assess her and help me figure out what the hell happened?” I asked him.
“Yes,” he replied, muscle in his jaw twitching. “We must go to her.”
I put a hand to his cheek, gave him a reassuring smile as I silently willed him calm. “I’ll call her now.” I pulled my phone from my pocket as I stepped a few feet away.
Tessa answered on the second ring. “Hello, sweetie!”
“Hello, yourself,” I said, smiling at the buoyant sound of her voice. “Are you at home? I’d like to swing by for a bit.”
“Nope,” she said, sounding a bit breathless. “I’m at the airport boarding my plane.”
Worry spiked. “Airport? Why? Where are you going?”
“Aspen with the old man for a few days,” she told me. “He surprised me with a trip. It’s been a whirlwind to get ready, but I’m not complaining!”
“Why Aspen?” I asked, baffled. “Ski season is over. And why didn’t you call me?”
She laughed. “No skiing, sweetling. Perhaps some hiking instead. Aspen is beautiful this time of year. Hold on,” she said followed by scuffling noises that sounded like her getting situated in her seat. “I haven’t had a minute to call between packing and getting the staffing sorted out at the store. I was going to call as soon as I got to Colorado.”
I silently cursed. “Will you still do that, please? I want to know you made it there safely.”
“Are you okay?” she asked. “You sound frazzled.”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just a lot of shit going on. You don’t need to worry.” There was no point ruining her vacation. The manipulation had been around for twenty years. A few more days wouldn’t make a difference. Besides, it was turning out to be a decent scenario. No way would I be able to convince her to move into the relative safety of my house any time soon, and she’d be safer in Aspen—away from home and the crap going down here in Louisiana. “Mzatal’s here and I wanted you to meet him. When are you coming back?”
More scuffling around. “Next Sunday. Will he still be there?”
She asked it as casually as if he was a visitor from Miami rather than the demon realm. “I honestly don’t know.”
“I’ll hope for the best. Gotta hang up now, sweetling.”
“All right, be sure to call me when you get there.” I made my goodbyes and hung up. “Crap,” I muttered, then sighed and looked back at Mzatal. “At least she’ll be out of town and away from Farouche.”
“I would prefer her to be close, though it does indeed remove her from this area,” he said. “When she returns, do you intend to insist that she move here?”
I let out a bark of laughter. “Yeah, right. I don’t think I could pry her out of her house with a—” I fumbled for a cool analogy and failed. “—a big frickin’ lever. She’s worse than Jill.” I sighed, dug at the grass with the toe of my shoe. “With any luck all this crap will be over with by the time she gets back.”
He reached and touched my cheek in a gesture of understanding. “Are there others for whom you worry?”
“Not really.” I stopped and thought through my meager-yet-awesome circle of friends. “Jill, Zack, Ryan, Tessa. That’s about it. A few people like Cory Crawford from the police department. Right now I’m mainly worried about Jill and the baby.” I took a deeper breath. “Which brings me to another big question: Is it okay with you if I summon one of your syraza?”
“You need not ask this, beloved,” he said, gentle understanding in his eyes. “Who do you have in mind?”
I smiled, relieved. “Steeev,” I said. “Zack told me I should talk to you before summoning him.” I angled my head, brow creasing. “I was kind of wondering why I needed your permission.”
“You do not,” he confirmed, though a questioning frown curved his mouth. “Why do you require Steeev?”
“Jill needs protection,” I stated. “I already knew that but after the body showed up on her lawn, that need got a whole lot more urgent.”
“Ah.” His expression cleared, and he gave a nod of comprehension. “You intend to ask Steeev to remain for an extended period. That would be why Zakaar advised you to speak to me.”
“How does that make a difference?” I asked, curious. I hadn’t realized there were mechanics and protocols for this sort of thing.
“Because it requires potency support for a syraza to remain on Earth and would be a direct drain on me,” he explained. “Do you consider Steeev’s presence here to be necessary?”
I considered carefully before answering. “Zack is wearing himself out trying to keep Szerain stable while also keeping Jill safe—and who knows what else. It’s like a domino effect. If something happens to Jill, then Zack will falter, then Szerain will crash and so on.” I took a deep breath. “And Jill’s very important to me.” I frowned as a new concern arose. “No. Shit. You’re already getting drained here. You don’t need another burden.”
“It is important to you, thus it is important to me, beloved,” he said, inclining his head. “I agree to the arrangement and will adjust the mini-nexus to supply the potency for him while I am on Earth.”
“Perfect.” I gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks, Boss.” My brow furrowed as another question occurred to me. “Wait. How can Eilahn be here? Isn’t she associated with Rhyzkahl’s realm?”
“It would be due to his agreement with her,” he told me, “though I do not know the nature or extent of it. It is still in effect, or she would not be here.”
Sudden worry gnawed at me, and I hated the implications. “Boss,” I said quietly, “I can trust her, right?”
Mzatal moved to me, took my hands and kissed my forehead. “She is devoted to you,” he said with quiet assurance. “Whatever agreement he made with her, this was not how he envisioned it. It is a constant drain for him.”
Relief had me tightening my hands on his. “Whew. I love her so damn much. It would kill me if she was on team Rhyzkahl.” And now I remembered Helori’s explanation: Eilahn had been determined to go to me and had conspired with another syraza to put the idea in Rhyzkahl’s head to make her my guardian.
Mzatal smiled. “You may delight that he forged a poor agreement, one with exploitable loopholes.” He lowered his head to kiss me.
I returned the kiss. “Does it really drain him?” I laughed with vicious glee. “That’s awesome!”
His eyes flashed with shared amusement. “Yes, it does. And I have no doubt it rankles him deeply.”
“I love it!” I said, grinning. “Okay, lover, I have some errands to run,
so I’d better go track down Eilahn.” I gave him a quick hard kiss, with some added incidental groping, then left him to his search.
Before returning to the house, I made a quick detour to Jill’s new digs to make sure she was getting settled in and had what she needed. A few workers still bustled around outside, but the deck was finished, making access easy. Jill assured me Zack was taking care of the few things she lacked, then granted me a quickie tour of the inside. It was definitely cozy, but then I remembered her own home wasn’t very large either. Moreover, it was nicely furnished and had good quality appliances. Zack done good, I thought with pleased approval.
I also made zero mention of the possibility of a syraza bodyguard. I knew her too damn well, and it would be way too easy for her to say No to the whole thing before I summoned Steeev. Sure, I was being devious and underhanded, but Jill was too important to me to take any chances on her hormone-enhanced stubbornness.
I found Eilahn as she exited the front door, a big smile on her face.
“You seem awfully chipper,” I noted somewhat warily. Eilahn could be delighted over the oddest things. “What’s up?”
“I am certain that Paul will enjoy decorating for the Fourth of July celebration day,” she announced. “We must plan to be on Earth! He is very enthusiastic.”
I eyed her dubiously. “He told you this?”
“No, he did not need to,” she said with a sly and knowing smile. “When I gave him the box from the delivery personage, he threw the bumpers into the air with such abandon that I recognized him instantly as a fellow Earth celebration enthusiast!”
Demon logic. No. Eilahn’s logic. “Riiight,” I said. “Probably had nothing to do with the laptop he ordered yesterday.” I frowned. “Wait. What are bumpers?”
She held up a pink anti static packing peanut between her thumb and forefinger, as if it was a delicate treasure. “They are superbly suited for Valentine’s Day, are they not?” She let out a wistful sigh. “We missed it this year. I will come to agreement with Paul on conservation and storage of the bumpers for the next occurrence.”