Page 38 of The Demon’s Due (Bedeviled #5)

A couple shedim turned our way with ferocious shrieks, but Ezra was already pulling me through a second portal.

We stumbled into Babel, Ezra ripping off the arm of some demon who was trying to follow us in order to slam the rift closed. He tossed the limb onto the grass.

I morphed back to my human form, relieved I had a choice about how I presented myself. That hadn’t been the case for me before in Babel.

Okay, it wasn’t just about choice. Sex in my shedim body was nowhere near as fun, since sensation in very important places was dulled. Mama needed an orgasm stat.

The city hung suspended in perpetual dusk, the sky a bruised canvas of indigo stained with one defiant streak of peach.

On my previous visit, the air’s velvet touch held a predatory bite, the sharp tang of an eternally promised but never delivered storm. Yet now, after the horrors I’d seen at Flaming Flapjacks, all I felt was a gentle breeze along my skin.

The lakeside district thronged with vampires, chatting or having a drink. Floating orbs of light drifted between the buildings like lazy fireflies, casting ever-shifting shadows across the faces of the revelers.

It was normal here, as if the end of the world was a movie playing at a different theater.

To my left, a lake stretched out like obsidian glass, disturbed only by ripples that glowed from within, as if something luminescent swam in its depths. I flashed back on shedim trapped in the Crypt’s waters and shuddered. Maybe one did.

The lake smelled like brine with an underlying current of ozone that made my teeth ache. Though that might have been the cloying perfume of the female vamp who tottered past, eyes bright, sucking on a boozy blood concoction in an overly large glass.

A sound nearby made me flinch, not from its volume, but its nature.

Laughter.

“Do they know what’s happening on earth?” I asked.

“No clue.” Ezra took my arm.

The waterfront promenade was paved with iridescent tiles that shifted color with each step, from deep purple to midnight blue to blood red.

A passing couple smiled at the Prime, and a shopkeeper from across the street called out with a wave.

Ezra greeted them all by name. Years and tension melted off him. The grin on his face grew larger, and he had a joking comment or friendly hello for what felt like half the population here.

Some of the vampires shot me a curious glance, and a few threw me hateful glares for being the woman on the Prime’s arm, but most smiled back and continued on their way.

The banality of it all was surreal.

We passed Art Deco buildings that curved along the shoreline, their facades adorned with delicate metalwork that moved of their own accord: copper serpents and bronze vines writhing slowly.

“Ez! Welcome home!” A Byronesque vamp in a ruffled shirt and a stunning blue velvet blazer saluted the Prime with a glass of champagne held by manicured fingers. He lounged on a chaise, his legs lazily crossed.

“Don’t tell me you still have some of that Bollinger left,” Ezra said.

“I’m finally down to the last two bottles,” the other vampire replied. “I am nothing if not dedicated.”

“Or a functioning alcoholic,” Ezra teased with a wink.

“That’s highly functioning to you, sir,” his friend said haughtily.

Ezra introduced us, and we made small talk before continuing on our way.

“You have friends?” I said.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Of course I have friends.”

“I figured you grew up in a lonely tower until Silas took you in.”

“Unbelievable.” Ezra steered me around a street vendor pushing a cart that hovered inches above the ground. Tiny pastries steamed with jewel-colored vapors that dissipated into the twilight air.

Two vamps passed us, tasting each other’s blood-infused gelato with childlike glee. “Nope,” one of them said, licking her lips. “Guilty Pleasure over First Kiss. The O negative pairs better with raspberry.”

Music drifted on the breeze from various establishments, mingling with dozens of languages.

Ezra was about to turn us into an arched alleyway between two fashionable bars when I heard my name called.

“Nasir!” I ran over to the van with a blood bank logo on it that had pulled up to the curb. “We were so worried when we didn’t hear back.”

He’d accepted my shedim heritage without hesitation and healed me on our last mission together. Seeing my friend sitting in the driver’s seat in good health took a weight off my mind.

“I got Darsh’s first text but then there was nothing,” he said, “and I couldn’t reach anyone. I tried to return, but the rifts were unstable and I decided I’d be better off helping out here on the advisory board overseeing blood bank inventory.”

“You made the right decision.”

Nasir rolled up the window, motioning for me to follow him when he hopped out of the van. He led me into the back, keeping the door open until Ezra had joined us.

“We can speak freely in here,” Nasir said, firmly shutting the door. The empty space was cut off from the front seats by a wall. “It’s soundproofed against vampire hearing. Are the rumors true? Is earth as bad as they say?”

“The Luce tore through much of the vampire population,” I said. “It got violent.”

“I see,” he said softly.

“It’s better that you remain here until we’ve eradicated it.”

His eyes went wide. “Silas and Darsh?”

“They’re okay, but they’re also much older than you.” I didn’t share what Ezra had done to keep them safe. He couldn’t help everyone, and besides, the effects of his Prime boost were slowly fading.

Three and a half days…

“How are blood supplies?” Ezra asked.

“Babel can sustain itself for another month,” Nasir answered. “We don’t want that information getting out, so please don’t share it. Aviva, how did you get here?”

“I brought her,” Ezra said.

Nasir regarded him thoughtfully. “I’ll stay here for now, but once the Luce is gone, will you come back and get me too? I’m not sure who ordered the rifts closed, but we don’t know whether they can be restored or just reopened and be dangerously unstable like before.”

Damn. The rift closure was an order, and there was only one vampire with the pull to make that happen.

“Once we stop the Luce,” I said, “the rifts should be in good working order again.” Even if the Brink was gone for good, passage to Babel would resume.

“If not,” Ezra said, “we’ll explore alternatives.”

“Like the way we came?” Icy dread pooled through my limbs; I’d have to cross through the sea of shedim once more.

Ezra shook his head. “I’m fairly confident I can open a portal from here to the Hell. Not ideal, but not as bad as the alternative. Babel won’t be cut off, and you won’t be stranded, Nasir, I give you my word.”

Nasir nodded, but didn’t look hopeful.

I hugged him, then we all got out of the van.

After the press of people and sound, the secluded courtyard at Ezra’s condo tower was a leafy haven.

Ezra led me through an Art Nouveau arch nestled between two wrought iron panels depicting intertwined dragons that were so delicately crafted, they seemed to breathe.

His building’s door was hand-forged steel, treated to achieve a deep blue-black patina, as if the dragons’ scales were rippling onto it.

Inside, the foyer’s ceiling soared high enough overhead that the tops of the olive trees in steel planters didn’t brush the plaster.

Their gnarled trunks were illuminated by ground lights that cast complex shadows on marble walls weathered to a soft patina.

I whistled slowly.

“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” he drawled.

The elevator was just an elevator. I humphed, unimpressed, but secretly gave it props for its silent warp speed ascent to the penthouse on the sixteenth floor.

Not wanting to make Ezra too smug about his fancy apartment, I was prepared to show restraint when the elevator opened directly into his place, but I couldn’t help the soft “oh” that fell from my lips.

A weathered Persian carpet with stories of its own to tell led into the main living area, where floor-to-ceiling windows showcased the city.

Ezra flicked on lights.

It was decorated exactly as expected by a powerful globe-trotting vampire with money and taste: a leather chesterfield sofa that looked super comfortable sat near a fireplace crafted from volcanic stone.

On the mantel, a small bronze statue of a willowy goddess shared space with a delicate blown glass bowl, its surface still bearing the fingerprints of its maker.

Doors led off to other rooms; I’d be exploring those in due time.

In the meantime, I wandered over to the mantel and picked up the statue. I squinted at it. Are those pointy ears?

Taking a closer look revealed more tells of geekdom.

D&D character sheets that grew more detailed and sophisticated were lovingly preserved in slender frames on the wall, and a huge collection of mint-condition Star Wars figurines was locked behind glass that was fitted with softly glowing spotlights.

“Are those original to the…” I scratched my head. “Third film? You know, the one with Han and the Wookiee?”

Ezra practically clutched imaginary pearls. “You mean, A New Hope ? That’s episode four . Haven’t you seen it?”

“Yeah, the big battle scene put me to sleep.”

Ezra made a faint noise of distress and swayed on his feet.

“I’m going to go out on a limb,” I said, “and guess that you didn’t entertain a lot of female visitors here.”

“I wasn’t bringing gross girls into this haven.” He draped his suit jacket on a chair.

Oh, how times had changed. I tamped down a grin and traced a finger along my collar. “Want to fuck me on your Wookiee sheets, Zee?”