Page 37 of The Demon’s Due (Bedeviled #5)
The Luce attacking anything it perceived as imperfect in nature put even more pressure on the global task force to stop it, but we couldn’t afford to make mistakes.
I started leaving but caught Gemma’s eye and threw her a small salute.
A smile tugged at her lips as she returned it.
I hurried into HQ, took a fast shower so I didn’t have to drive home in battle-gucked clothing, and changed back into the suit I’d worn to the office.
Pulling my towel-dried hair into a ponytail, I jogged down the stairs to the parking garage, phone in hand and Ezra’s number already ringing.
He asked if I was okay instead of saying hello, and when I assured him that I was, he muttered a quiet “Thank fuck.”
The air was faintly tinged with a musty warmth that grew stronger the deeper I headed into the parkade.
“How are you?” I said.
“Good. I helped out here in Toronto. King-Spadina was a mess, and the Maccabees were short on vamp operatives.”
“You didn’t need to put yourself out, after everything they did to you.”
“It wasn’t about them. Canada is your country and Orly’s adopted one, and it’s special to me, too. I had to protect it.”
“You’re a mensch.”
“Does that mean no more Count von Cardoso?”
“Since you were so mopey about all your nicknames disappearing, we’ll keep that one for a while longer until you reinvent yourself.” I pressed closer to the wall as a couple of cars drove past me. “But speaking of Orly, where is she now?”
“My dumb cousin refused to stay in a safehouse. She’s volunteering at a soup kitchen that was set up.” His gruff tone gave way to pride.
I beeped my fob at my car. “I really want to be with you right now.”
“Same.”
Ezra had been clear about not returning to the Hell, and quite frankly, I didn’t want him to either.
Since we were no longer thralled, hopefully he wouldn’t mind hopping on a plane for four and half hours from Toronto to Vancouver so we could celebrate after our backfire worked as planned.
“Come home with me,” Ezra said, “even for a few hours.”
I frowned. “Aren’t you done with the Copper Hell?”
“The Hell was never my home.”
“Babel? The rifts are closed,” I said. “How?—”
The air around me grew heavy and charged, vibrating as strands of dark light wove into a mesh net a scant five feet away.
Ezra stepped out of the center of the portal, immaculately dressed in a gray suit that flowed over his warrior’s frame like smoke given structure and intent. But his silvery-blue eyes under thick arched eyebrows were dull with fatigue, and he carried the faint acrid scent of a bonfire.
I ran into his arms, hugging him tightly.
My boyfriend kissed the top of my head.
“You’re still opening portals without the Hell as a way-stop?” I said.
“Yeah.” His voice rumbled against my cheek which I pressed to his chest.
“I’m still illuminating vamp weaknesses.” I released him from the hug. “The Delacroix shit show was almost worth the trade-off of retaining that ability. So, uh, how do we get to Babel?”
“I can’t get there directly, because whatever happened sealed them off for good from this side. But remember, anywhere I’ve been, I can portal to. That includes Flaming Flapjacks.”
“Use a demon realm to get to a demon realm. You’re more than just a pretty face.”
He dusted his knuckles against his chest then blew on them.
“Don’t be too smug.” I wagged a finger at him. “The security system that Delacroix set up around Flaming Flapjacks may not be friendly to me anymore, and who knows what it’ll do to you? Not to mention whatever shit might be exploding in Babel.”
“If you don’t want to go, that’s okay.”
Did I want to insert myself into another potential war zone? One that was populated entirely by desperate vampires who wouldn’t look kindly on a Maccabee?
On the other hand, this was a huge step forward in our relationship, and honestly, I was super curious to see his place.
Curiosity killed the cat, Fleischer . Yeah, well, there was that.
Going to my boyfriend’s home aside, it would be good to have an eyewitness account of what state the megacity was in right now. Plus, Nasir was still there.
I swooned into Ezra’s arms. “Just protect me, my Prime one.”
“You’re not even in my thrall right now and you’re in submissive mode. I like it.”
“Aaaaand that’s over.” I winked at him.
To blend in while we transited through Flaming Flapjacks, I morphed into shedim features, though I didn’t bulk up to protect my clothing. With the divide between Cherry and me gone, I’d gained more control over what aspects of my form I shifted.
Hand in hand, Ezra and I stepped into the portal.
I didn’t feel that same thorough assessment that I had before. It was more of an absent scan, like the magic’s attention was busy elsewhere.
It spit us onto steaming concrete.
A seething mass of shedim was packed wing to arm to tentacle in the parking lot. Their hunger pressed against me like a physical force, stronger than the hot acrid wind. It was a living, writhing thing that tasted of ancient rage and endless malice.
The pancake house was lost somewhere in the crush of bodies, and even the roiling clouds were blotted out by flying demons.
My hand slipped free of Ezra’s, and I stumbled back, my feet grinding against a liquid silver lake frozen mid-ripple. I did a double take: the “water” was twisted and discarded lock cells.
The demon closest to us had too many faces. Not in a way I could count, but one that made my mind skitter away from trying.
A creature to our left was essentially a void shaped like broken glass, its edges drinking in light and sanity alike, while another was made entirely of burning wings and watching eyes, its form constantly shifting between states of matter I had no words for.
Something warm trickled down my face. I wiped the tears away, expecting salt or even blood, but this was something darker, like liquid shadows leaking from my eyes and nose.
Mere seconds in their presence felt like an eternity of drowning in pure dread.
I shrank back against Ezra, my claws clutching his sleeve.
My father commanded these legions, this vast army of horror. If he ever decided to unleash them on earth, we wouldn’t just lose, we’d be erased from existence itself.
One more fun scenario in this week from Hell.