hip. So I dropped my gun arm, giving it the rest it needed while I waited for the demon’s reply. Her expression surprised me. Was she real y considering his offer? And that yearning glance toward Cole. I wasn’t imagining the wish in her eyes, was I? Hard to say when seconds later they were fil ed with yel ow fire.
“Our deal is finished, vampire. And as soon as I have the Rocenz,
But she didn’t take the time. Instead she dove behind a second pil ar. This one was so big you could park an entire camel behind it.
I took off after her, Vayl already five steps ahead, Raoul right behind him, Cole at my heels, and Sterling loping easily at the back. If we’d been on wheels there would’ve been a lot of screeching and honking of horns as we came to abrupt halts at the top of the steps. Because she wasn’t there. I mean, not anywhere we could even chase her. What we did find hidden behind the pil ar was a plane portal, stil open to her destination.
We stared into the pit, each of us seeing our own version of hel ’s torturous landscape. Mine was pretty much the same as the last time I’d seen it, when Raoul and I had taken a trip there to get the goods on Edward “The Raptor” Samos. I saw a flaming sky covering an eternity of rock- strewn ground peopled by an endless crowd of shambling, self-abusing citizens. Even though I knew what to expect I stil wanted to puke. I peeked at Raoul from under my eyelashes, knowing his view was no better. It made me feel tons less wussified to see that the POW camp in his vision stil turned his skin slightly green. He said a few quiet words and the door went as blank as his eyes.
I took his arm and pul ed him aside. “Raoul, is that how you died?” I whispered, jerking my head back toward the door. “Because I can stil try to make it right for you. The sons of bitches who captured you are probably stil alive. I could—”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t me. Maybe it should’ve been.” He looked bleakly at the door. “But it wasn’t.” And that was al he’d say.
We both stood staring at his shiny black boots, until Cole’s steady swearing sank into our brains.
I said, “Cole, you’re offending Vayl. Plus you never swear, so you’re probably upsetting yourself at some level.”
“That’s just dumb. Plus, Vayl? Am I?”
“I simply believe other words are more effective,” Vayl said dryly.
“Like what?” Cole demanded, throwing his hands into the air. Luckily, he’d holstered his gun, otherwise we’d have al been ducking at random moments while he gestured wildly to match his mood. “Oh, phooey, the demon has absconded with our map! Shuckey darn, she’s so irritating, because I
“Cole?” I went over to put my hand against his forehead. Nope, pretty cool despite our recent run.
“I’m not sick!” he bel owed.
I dropped my hand. “You’re betrayed.”
“Yeah!”
“By a demon.”
“Wel , yeah!”
“Who’s been lying, cheating, and stealing since the day she was born.”
He took a second to check his nails. “She’s a pro, isn’t she?”
“Um, yeah. The miracle is that Cassandra ducked her for so long.” I turned to Vayl. “So what does this mean? Is our psychic off the hook, or what?”
“I believe so,” he said. “The demon obviously feels she has fulfil ed her end of the bargain, which means Cassandra’s soul should be safe.”
“I don’t like that word ‘should.’ We need to be one hundred percent on this one.”
“There’s a test she can do,” Sterling said. He sat in the middle of the doorway, his legs in the lotus position, his palms lifted upward above his shoulders like he was checking for rain.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
“Absorbing the power inherent in this doorway. It’s great. Kind of like lying on a magic-fingers bed, only this gets you everywhere.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.
“And I mean everywhere, Chil . You should try it.” I yanked my hair over my eyes. “I am surrounded by perverts.” I crouched down in front of my warlock. “Sterling.
What about the test? Do you think she knows which one you mean?”
“Maybe. She’s pretty wel -read, right?”
“Maybe? Should? You guys are driving me nuts!” I pul ed my phone out of my pocket and tossed it to the warlock. “Cal her. Tel her what it is. Tel her I said to do it warlock. “Cal her. Tel her what it is. Tel her I said to do it now. And if she comes up with a bad result, I want to know instantly. Because I wil go straight into hel after that bitch and tear her head off her shoulders if that’s what it takes to make Cassandra safe.”
Sterling gazed up at me. “I’m glad we made up.”
“Me too. Now make the cal .” Only when he opened my phone did I turn to Vayl. He’d picked up Astral and was giving her such a close once-over he could’ve been mistaken for a vet. “What do you think?” I asked.
“She does not seem to have been tampered with,” Vayl said. “Though, of course, Bergman is the only one who can tel us for sure.”
“So you think the map in her head…”
