Playing with Fire

‘‘When’s the last time you had your period?’’ he asked, a frown furrowing his brow as he ignored the playful little nibble I gave the tip of his nose.

I went to the door and cast him a look fraught with dignity. ‘‘We are not having this conversation. And if you even think of following me, I will… I will… well, I’m not quite sure what I will do, but you can rest assured that it will not be pleasant. My bag is packed, by the way.’’

He didn’t say anything to that, but I felt his gaze on me as I headed down the hallway to knock on Aisling’s door.

I paused for a moment before Cyrene’s door, giving a quick tap before opening it. The room was empty. ‘‘Have you seen Cyrene?’’ I asked Pal as he hurried past me bearing two large suitcases.

‘‘A few minutes ago, yes. She said she had something to do, and left.’’

‘‘She left? What on earth…?’’ I pulled out my cell phone and punched in her number.

Drake left his room bearing another suitcase. Through the open door I could see Aisling gathering up a few books to tuck into a book bag.

Jim wandered out. ‘‘Funny time to call someone.’’

‘‘I’m trying to get hold of Cy.’’ I waited a few seconds before hanging up, a cold, clammy hand gripping my stomach. ‘‘Voice mail. She’s not answering. I have a horrible feeling I know where she is.’’

‘‘Where who is?’’ Aisling asked as she emerged from the room.

‘‘Cyrene. I think she went to tail Kostya. Silly, stupid… He won’t hurt her if he sees her, will he?’’ I asked Drake as he came upstairs again.

He paused to consider the question. ‘‘He has no cause to. The only reason he held a knife to her before was because he thought she was you, and he will not make that mistake again.’’

I relaxed slightly. ‘‘I don’t know why I’m worrying- she’s never followed anyone before. I’m sure Kostya will realize immediately that she’s shadowing him, and won’t waste any time shaking her. I just hope she has enough sense to go home rather than to try to follow us to Paris.’’

‘‘I have a friend in town who I’ll call to check on her if it’ll ease your mind,’’ Aisling said, turning back to her room. ‘‘Thanks, sweetie, that’s everything, I think. I’ll be down in just a minute.’’

Drake nodded and went downstairs. I followed Aisling into her bedroom, standing uneasily as she called a number and left a message.

‘‘Nora’s out right now, but I’ll try her again in a bit, all right?’’

‘‘Thank you. It’ll make me feel better knowing someone is keeping an eye out for Cy. Er…’’ I bit my lower lip. ‘‘Do you have a minute? I wanted to talk to you really quickly, without being overheard.’’

She looked mildly surprised but sat down on the end of the bed and nodded toward a chair. ‘‘Of course.’’

Jim ambled over, plopping itself down at her feet.

I glanced at the demon. ‘‘Er…’’

‘‘Jim, shoo,’’ Aisling said, correctly reading my thoughts.

‘‘What? I’m not doing anything!’’

‘‘You’re making May uncomfortable. Go see what the boys are doing.’’

‘‘Whatever it is, it won’t be nearly as interesting as this,’’ it answered.

‘‘Oh, it doesn’t matter, I guess,’’ I said with a tight smile. ‘‘Jim might have some helpful insights as well.’’

‘‘I’m all over helpful insights, sister,’’ it told me with an oddly endearing grin. ‘‘What’s the problem? You can tell Dr. Jim. Is it something in the romance department? Need some advice on how to handle Gabriel?’’

‘‘No, thank you-’’

‘‘Ah. Then it’s the sex, right? Fiery, animalistic, dragon sex too much for you?’’

It was difficult to keep from rolling my eyes. ‘‘Thank you, my sex life is not open to-’’

‘‘What’s the silver dragon element? Earth?’’ Jim’s face screwed up as it thought. ‘‘Oh, man, that means he’s gonna want to do it outdoors all the time. Buck naked in the wilderness. My advice is to take sunscreen and bug spray. And maybe a spatula or something to dig the sand out of your butt crack, in case he takes you to a beach.’’

‘‘Jim!’’ Aisling said, wrapping her hands around the demon’s muzzle. She shot me an apologetic look. ‘‘I’m so sorry. It knows better than to offer unwanted sexual advice.’’

‘‘Just trying to be helpful,’’ it said in a muffled voice.

‘‘Well, you’re not. And you can just be quiet unless you have something of importance to offer to the conversation,’’ Aisling told it as she released its muzzle. ‘‘Go on, May. Tell me what it is you want.’’

‘‘It’s about demon lords,’’ I said softly, glancing toward the open door. No one was visible, but I wanted to avoid Gabriel overhearing us.

‘‘Oh, that’s right-your twin said you were bound to one,’’ Aisling said, nodding. ‘‘Are you having a problem with… er… which one is it?’’

‘‘Magoth.’’

She thought for a moment, and then shook her head. ‘‘I don’t believe I’ve met him.’’

‘‘You’d remember if you did,’’ I said with a little laugh. ‘‘He’s very attractive.’’

‘‘If you like the smoldering, sensual, silent-movie-actor type,’’ Jim said with a sniff as it licked down the fur on one paw.

‘‘He looks like a smoldering, sensual actor?’’ Aisling looked somewhat startled.

‘‘He was a silent movie actor, but that was only a phase he was going through.’’

Aisling mentioned the name of a famous actor of the 1920s.

‘‘That was him. He was always a ham. But that’s not the issue. My problem is…’’ I checked the hallway quickly. It was empty. ‘‘Is there any way for someone to disobey a direct order you give? A demon, that is.’’

Aisling blinked a couple of times.

Jim’s mouth formed an O. ‘‘You’re gonna defy an order? You’re going to go dybbuk?’’

‘‘What’s dybbuk?’’ Aisling asked.

‘‘In terms of folklore, it’s a wandering soul that enters a living body,’’ I said slowly.

‘‘In Abaddon terms, it means a demon who’s gone rogue.’’ Jim’s eyes were grave. ‘‘Dybbuks are usually destroyed by their masters for insubordination, although I have heard of one or two who survived in order to be perpetually tormented. Fires of Abaddon, May-lots of demons talk about it, but I never heard of one who was actually thinking about doing it.’’

‘‘I’m not a demon,’’ I pointed out, biting my lower lip nonetheless.

‘‘No, you’re not,’’ Aisling said in an abstracted voice. ‘‘Defying an order… hmm. That’s tricky. Maybe it would help if you gave me the specific circumstances.’’

I hesitated for a moment or two, unsure whether I wanted to entrust something so potentially dangerous to her. In the end, I decided that I had little recourse, and she was my best resource of information about demon lords. ‘‘Magoth ordered me to retrieve the dragons’ phylactery for himself. He plans on using it to bring the dragons to rein.’’

Aisling’s eyes opened wide. Jim gave a low, long whistle.

‘‘A direct order?’’ she asked.

I nodded, misery making my gut grumble. ‘‘I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. Even if I wasn’t mated to Gabriel, even if I didn’t give a damn about the dragons, I still wouldn’t do it. It has the potential for just too much power.’’

‘‘But… he must have had you steal powerful items before,’’ she said. ‘‘How did you get around those? Or did you?’’

I shook my head. ‘‘He’s never asked me to steal anything quite so important before. Magoth is…’’ I made a vague gesture. ‘‘He’s a bit of a flibbertigibbet, if you want to know the truth. He always has a hundred different projects going, and flits from one to another without following one through to the end, which, I have to say, I encourage.’’

‘‘It keeps him from becoming dangerous to the mortal world?’’ she asked.

‘‘Yes. All the other things that Magoth has made me steal for him over the past eighty years weren’t nearly as important as this phylactery. Although I don’t like being forced into the role of thief, it eased my worry somewhat to know that the things I was taking weren’t really going to matter, if you know what I mean. He was just too unfocused, too easily distracted.’’

‘‘Not the brightest bean in the Crock-Pot,’’ Jim said, nodding in agreement.