succubus. What aren’t you telling me, Frank?”
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head over that none, sweetheart,” a voice behind us said, the grating southern twang giving away the man’s identity before we’d even turned to face him.
Ten feet from us stood Henry McConnell, The Gray. A crooked smile shone on his creased face. “You ain’t gonna be alive long enough for it t’matter.”
Gray sparks exploded in circles around McConnell’s hands as his magic flared to life. The shimmering glow engulfed his fists, the energy in the air building. My senses screamed as they felt his power amping up. He was playing for keeps, looking to put us out to pasture.
Inconvenient and unwelcome as it was, a spark of chivalry flickered to life somewhere inside me, overwhelming my self-preservation. I shoved Veronica aside, hoping to at least save her, and turned my gun on the wizard. He raised his arm at the same time. It was gonna be close.
Before I could pull the trigger, I saw his power flicker, sputter incandescence, then die. McConnell’s face went slack. His eyes wide, he stared off at nothing for a moment, twitched like his wiring was crossed, and then collapsed into a heap.
My heart in my throat, my balls reluctant to leave the safety of my ass, I ran over to him. He was still alive, but his breathing was shallow. Not taking any chances, I tore his shirt off and used it to bind his arms behind him. Once he was secure, I looked him over.
There was a dark stain spreading across the bandages at his stomach. Apparently, Lilith’s power to rejuvenate her minions had its limits. The wound Karra gave him had torn open, the stitches ripping free. Still seriously hurt despite DRAC’s best efforts, his body weakened from the abuse of Lilith’s control, his attempt to cast magic had been too much for it to handle.
Now it seemed I owed another woman for saving my life today, however indirectly. It was a good thing I didn’t have any pride left.
Over my shoulder Veronica growled. “Tell me what’s going on, Triggaltheron.”
She used my proper name, setting the hairs on the back of my neck on edge. She knew how much I hated it. She also knew it’d get my attention.
The cat out of the bag, there was no point in dancing around the truth. “Lilith told me where I could find the guys.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits, their cold blue piercing. “My mother was your informant? And you trusted her?”
I waggled my finger. “I never said I trusted her, but hers was the only lead I had.”
Veronica started to pace. “Damn it, Frank. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Maybe you’ve forgotten, but we’re not exactly playing for the same team.” I could tell that hurt her, her lower lip inching out. She’d have to get over it. I wasn’t in the mood to baby her feelings. “I’ve been chasing my tail since the start, and while I know I’m being used by everyone to muddy the waters, I’m here to end it.” I gestured to Poe. “Your mother may have just given me the means to do so.”
Veronica glared at me, unwilling to let it go. After a drawn out moment of silence, she relented. “How?”
“You said you couldn’t track into Limbo, is that right?”
She sighed, nodding meekly.
“I presume that applies to Lilith as well?”
Again she nodded.
“So that means she has no idea whether her trap has worked.”
“So?” she shrugged. “She’ll know the minute you pop up alive that you’re on to her. She’ll just come after you herself.”
I grinned big. “I’m counting on it.”
Veronica looked at me as though I was crazy. She was probably right.
“Until then, I’ve got a few minutes to stack the deck in my favor.” I looked at her with puppy dog eyes.
Her hands on her hips, Veronica huffed, reading my expression as if my thoughts were printed on my face. “What do you need from me?”
“Information first.” She cringed. “Since you didn’t know Lilith was involved, or that she was even in the area, is it safe to assume succubi can’t track one another?”
She surprised me by not holding back. “No, we can’t.”
Nodding, I pointed to the battered trio. “What about them? Can you do anything to straighten their heads out?”
Veronica shook her head. “My mother’s influence is much stronger than mine. I could put the hooks in, but they would still follow whatever directives she put in place, overruling mine. Baalth could free them, though.”
Satisfied with that answer, I went on. “One last question: I know you can’t possess me, and I presume that applies to all demons and angels, but are there other beings you can’t assume control over?”
A confident smile, bordering on arrogance, illuminated her full lips. “Outside of the most powerful of supernatural bloodlines, if they have sentience, I can make them dance.”
That’s what I wanted to hear. “Good. Now here’s what I need you to do.”
Chapter Nineteen
“I don’t care what you say, I’m not kissing that!” Veronica’s lips were screwed into a tight pucker of disgust, her hands planted on her hips.
“But he knows where Reven is.” I held up Chatterbox, whose petulant smile ran from ear to ear. The fact that most of his cheeks had rotted away helped, but he was no doubt just as interested in Veronica’s kiss as she was in avoiding his.
“Kiiissssyyyppooo, poooooo, kiiiiiiisssssss,” he muttered, his tongue lolling.
“It’s bad enough I had to carry it here, but if you think I’m putting my mouth anywhere near that thing, you can go fuck a dread fiend. Now, get that nasty-”
Baalth growled, his voice like two tectonic plates colliding. “Do it.”
She snarled and met the demon’s turbulent eyes. The rumbling aftershock of his anger quelled her revolt in an instant. Head hung low, she turned back to me.
“Are you sure he knows?”
I held Chatterbox out to her. “He’s still animated, which means the link to his master is still active. He might not know where he is on a conscious level, but he feels the pull of Reven’s will, and that’ll lead us right to our missing necro.”
Veronica rocked back and forth, mustering the fortitude to follow Baalth’s order. She didn’t want to do it, and while I certainly understood why, we weren’t sitting on a font of options. If we were gonna find Reven in time to keep Longinus from being raised, we needed to get on it. There wasn’t time for her squeamish reluctance. I gave her a stern look and wiggled Chatterbox in front of her.
Her cheeks flushed bright red as she roughly snatched the gibbering head from my hands. “You so fucking owe me for this.”
“Don’t fool yourself. This doesn’t even come close to making us even.” I met her graveyard stare with one of my own. Backed up by Baalth, I was feeling bold. I’d have to watch my back later, but right then, I was King of the World. The best part was she knew it, too.
Muttering something guttural behind clenched teeth, she broke off the staring match, her gaze drifting down to Chatterbox. The red drained from her cheeks a second later, a subtle green tinge replacing it. Not much for romance, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and dove in.
There was a soft squish as Veronica’s mouth collided with the head’s and I saw her tense up, no doubt fighting the instinct to vomit. I could see Chatterbox’s eyes light up, his flickering tongue visible through the holes in his decayed cheek. It looked like an epileptic caterpillar, twitching back and forth, burrowing deep into Veronica’s mouth. He was getting his undead groove on.
Behind us, I heard a moist splash and looked up to see the battered Marcus bent over double, spewing into the clouds. Freed from Lilith’s hold by Baalth’s brute force, magical reorientation, compounded by my not-so-gentle
