Page 32 of Demon Loved (The Witches of Mingus Mountain #5)

“That this ‘voice’ that instructed our friend to come here and steal these things isn’t a member of the Council at all.” Connor paused there and sent a sideways glance at Belshegar, one that again seemed oddly triumphant.

“Then who was it?” Allegra asked in her quavery voice.

“The Collector, of course.”

Belshegar could only stare at Connor Wilcox with puzzled eyes.

Who in the world was the Collector?

Clearly, everyone else there understood the reference, because although they seemed a little startled by this revelation, no one asked any questions as to who Connor was talking about.

Belshegar had no problem with that, however.

“What’s a Collector?”

“Who,” Angela corrected him gently. “To be honest, we don’t know a whole lot about the guy.

The only thing we do know is that he’s on some kind of a tear to grab as many magical objects like these as he possibly can.

He came out of nowhere last month to try to steal the first amulet, the one with the garnet. ”

“Well, to be more accurate, it was one of his lackeys who tried to steal it,” Connor said, his tone now much grimmer.

“He broke into the house and laid hands on the safe, but it seems the thief wasn’t powerful enough to get past the biometric lock or to take the safe beyond all the wards we put on the house.

Still, it was kind of a shock to know he was able to get inside at all. ”

Belshegar could see how that would have startled the prima and her consort.

Although they’d lowered the wards to allow him entry, he could still sense them humming in the background, ready to be deployed once again.

It was hard to believe that a single warlock would have been able to breach them on his own.

“We think he used that,” Angela said, inclining her head toward the rock crystal amulet Belshegar still held in one hand. “One of our witches found it on him after he fell to his death, and it makes sense that it might have been enough to help him weaken the wards to get inside the house.”

Such an explanation made some sense. Still, so many questions crowded his mind, Belshegar wasn’t sure which one he should ask first.

“Is this Collector human?” he asked, and Angela glanced over at Levi, whose shoulders lifted slightly.

“We don’t know,” Levi said. “We know he exists, and we know he is on the hunt for magical artifacts, for whatever reason, but other than that — and that he seems to have some witch-folk working for him — we can’t really say.”

“If he’s human, I can’t see how he could have possibly known about the Council,” Belshegar replied. “It exists, many, many planes above this one, and mortals would have had no reason to interact with anyone on it.”

To his surprise, Tricia was the one who responded to that comment. “If this person has been collecting magical objects for a while, isn’t there a chance that he might have picked up something along the way that would give him access to that knowledge?”

Belshegar hadn’t considered that angle to the problem, but her suggestion made some sense.

Both of the artifacts in the McAllisters’ keeping appeared to have a direct effect on magical powers, and yet that certainly didn’t mean others couldn’t exist that had an entirely different purpose.

Clearly, human magic had its own way of reaching out to other dimensions, or the witch who’d summoned Levi here all those years ago would never have been able to accomplish such a feat.

And Elena would never have been able to sense Belshegar in his world, or the other “demons” she had visit her when he was unable to be there, for whatever reason.

What if some long-ago witch or warlock had found a way to harness such a power and then placed it in an amulet or other talisman of some sort so it might be used by anyone who possessed it?

It was possible, although Belshegar didn’t much like knowing that an artifact with such powers was now apparently held by someone who appeared to be ruthless in his pursuit of anything that might benefit him.

Angela’s mouth had compressed, and he had the impression that her thoughts had run along the same lines and she wasn’t overly happy with them, either.

“Have you had any contact with your ‘voice’ since you came here?” she asked, and he shook his head.

“None,” he replied. “I’ll admit it has seemed rather odd to me, just because I have now been in Jerome for a week and thought for certain I would be called upon to provide some sort of progress report. But there has been nothing.”

Both the elders and Connor and Angela seemed nonplussed by this statement, which seemed to indicate they had no real idea why the voice — the Collector — hadn’t demanded to know why it was taking so long to retrieve his treasures.

But then Levi spoke. “Possibly he hasn’t demanded an accounting because he would rather you take your time than risk the chance of rattling you to the point where you might make a mistake.

” He paused there, and then offered Belshegar an incongruous smile.

“That is, I’m assuming you’ve never done anything like this before. ”

“No,” he replied at once. “I live a very quiet life.”

Angela crossed her arms. “And yet the Collector still had enough dirt on you to coerce you into doing this in the first place.”

“‘Dirt’?” Belshegar repeated, not sure what she was trying to say.

Once again, Levi smiled. “Something to hold over your head.” He directed his next words to Angela, adding, “He came here and put on a human form and went to a friend’s wedding.”

“That’s it?” she demanded, clearly surprised that such a small thing would have been enough to force compliance.

“Perhaps that was the final straw,” Belshegar said.

“I had also spent many years visiting her and offering her what comfort I could. In the grand scheme of things, I suppose it is not the sort of thing that beings from my plane should do. But Elena was my friend, and I had told her I would be at her wedding. I do not go back on my promises. Also,” he continued, thinking he should clarify what Levi had just said, “I did not assume this human form on my own. I do not have the power to do such a thing. Loc took care of it for me, since my friend Elena is a member of the Castillo clan.”

To anyone else, this would have all sounded hopelessly opaque. But it seemed Angela and Connor understood the mechanics of the situation well enough that they found no need to ask any further questions.

It was Allegra who spoke up then, her tone obviously puzzled. “If Loc provided the human form you wore to your friend’s wedding, who gave you the one you wear now?”

“The voice,” Belshegar replied at once. “Or rather, the Collector, if he’s truly the one behind all of this.”

No one listening seemed to like the sound of that very much. Angela’s full mouth thinned, and she said, “He’s really that powerful?”

“I doubt he is on his own,” Levi told her. “But it seems likely he’s ‘collected’ a magical artifact that allowed him to give Belshegar this human body.”

If he’d given it, then he could also take it away if he liked.

A chill moved through Belshegar’s form, even as he did his best to tell himself that the Collector wouldn’t do such a thing if he thought his reluctant servant had even the slightest chance of obtaining the artifacts he wanted.

But if he should decide that Belshegar was no longer of any use to him….

A swallow, and he forced himself to say, “It is a reality I must face, I suppose. Although I do hope it will not come to that.”

After he made that remark, Conner and Angela shared a look Belshegar couldn’t quite interpret.

Did they know something of his relationship with Brianna?

Perhaps. After all, she was a member of their clan, and even though the clan elders didn’t appear to be too involved in the day-to-day doings of the family, he also guessed they were still aware of many more things than one might think.

If they did know, then of course, they would also realize that for him to suddenly assume his true form would cause a very large problem for his and Brianna’s burgeoning romance.

No one here had any idea what he actually looked like, but if they knew Loc, then they also would understand that otherworldly beings such as they never looked like ordinary humans.

Or even not-so-ordinary ones.

“What must I do?” he asked, glad that his voice sounded so steady.

Some might have thought it odd for a being such as he to ask for advice from a group of humans — Levi excepted, of course — but he had never encountered a situation like this before, and he thought he could use all the help he could get.

“Keep on with what you’re doing,” Angela said immediately. “Make it look as if you’re poking around. Now that we know why you’re here, we won’t have to worry about what you’re up to, but if the Collector is watching, that should assure him you’re doing everything you can.”

It didn’t sound like a terribly strong plan, and yet Belshegar knew the prima was only trying to clear the way for him as best she could.

And he had to believe they would spread the word, and while not providing all of the story, would at least let the other people in the clan know there was nothing to fear from him and not to worry if they saw him wandering near their homes.

“Even when I’m not,” he said softly.

The corners of her mouth lifted slightly. “Well, the way I see it, the Collector wasn’t exactly honest with you, so I don’t see why you should be honest with him.”

A very human way of looking at the situation.

Belshegar thought he liked it.