“Oh, he can—and does—seduce. And those women will want him, at least for a little while. But sooner or later my brother’s true nature will reveal itself. And once it does, his conquests usually flee screaming. That is, if they haven’t already been killed for some minor slight against his lord and majesty. But only after the baby is born, of course. He always makes sure to take the children.”
It was sickening to think of Lucifer using and abusing scores of women as nothing more than broodmares. And I knew that if given sufficient opportunity, he would lay claim to all life on Earth, would declare himself emperor and demand fealty from all.
But a part of me, a very small part of me, felt sorry for him. No one had ever loved him except one lone, crazy girl. Even his own family couldn’t stand the sight of him. Had lack of affection created the monster, or had his monstrosity ensured he would never be loved?
Of course, Puck and Alerian weren’t exactly lovable, either. There was a warmth and charm present in Puck that wasn’t in the other two, but I knew there were hidden depths in Puck. I’d seen just a hint of them, but they were there. I would no more trifle with Puck than I would with Lucifer. And my brief encounter with Alerian had terrified me. I didn’t even want to meet brother number four, who was apparently so frightening that the other three left him to his own devices as much as possible.
I was so busy thinking of all of this that I didn’t notice I was feeling better until Puck dropped his arm, saying, “You should be able to walk under your own steam now.”
I was suddenly aware of the fact that I felt warm and well rested, like I’d just had a nap and a big cup of hot chocolate.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“No need to sound so accusing,” Puck said mildly. “All I did was give you a little boost, so that you would not feel quite so tired. I can do that because we share blood.”
“You didn’t do anything permanent?”
“Like what?” Puck said.
My mind conjured up a lot of possibilities, starting with his magic harming my unborn son and finishing with Puck planting some kind of time bomb inside me that would force me to do his will at some later date. But I didn’t say any of that out loud. I didn’t want to give him any ideas. Instead, I zeroed in on his non-answer.
“I noticed you didn’t actually say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Did you leave a permanent mark on me?”
“Not in the way you are thinking,” Puck said after a long pause. “I cannot force you to do anything you do not wish to do. Lucifer’s power over you as Hound of the Hunt is too strong, and would take precedence. Likewise would I be unable to harm your child.”
“I’m sensing a big ‘but’ here,” I said, growing angry.
“But all magic leaves a trace. And that trace of my magic left in you may be enough to keep you from harming me should the day ever come when you should wish to do such a thing.”
“That day is now,” I growled. “I’m not some toy for you—or Lucifer—to play with.”
“I only meant to help,” Puck said. I could not see his eyes because of the veil, but I was sure they were twinkling.
He may have intended to help, but he couldn’t resist the chance to help himself, as well.
“Next time you feel the urge to aid me, resist,” I said. “I don’t need any more assistance from you.”
“If you say so,” Puck said.
“I do,” I said, and stomped away with much more energy than I’d had before Puck’s boost.
7
BECAUSE I WAS ANGRY, AND MY ANGER OFTEN MADE me blind and deaf to everything around me, I blundered over the crest of a hill and nearly walked into a troop of patrolling Cimice.
I skidded to a stop, the loose gravel shifting beneath my boots. The lead insect called a halt just a few feet away, its mantislike head twisting this way and that. I stayed perfectly still, pulling my veil tighter around me, and hoped the Cimice would not be able to sniff me out. My veil would never have fooled a werewolf, but I knew nothing about an insect’s ability to smell. I had no idea where Puck was, but presumably he had more sense than I did and hadn’t practically walked into the Cimice’s arms.
After a few long and tense minutes in which the little band of six crawled all over the immediate area looking for signs of intruders, they finally decided to continue on their way.
I exhaled the breath I’d been holding and waited for Puck to reveal himself. His voice at my ear almost startled a little scream out of me, but I swallowed it. I did not want to draw the Cimice back to me.
“We must proceed with caution from here,” he said. “No more temper tantrums.”
I wanted to say that a temper tantrum implied my anger was unjustified, and that was definitely not the case. I wanted to say that I would not have been angry at all were it not for his behavior. But I did neither of those things. I did not feel like being drawn any further into Puck’s logic. Plus, even when I was right, I always had the vague sense that I was losing when I argued with him.
That happened a lot with Lucifer, too.
We continued in silence for a while, passing two more small Cimice patrols. The cicada-like buzzing had started up again, but this time I was able to block out the noise by concentrating on my will and my magic.
We went farther into the mountain, surrounded by rock and the noise of the Cimice. Every so often Puck would put his hand on my shoulder so I would know he was still present. And then, suddenly, we were there.
It looked like a hive because it was a hive. There was a great gash torn in the mountain, and from it the Cimice spilled forth. The giant insects crawled all over the side of the mountain.
We drew off behind a series of large rocks and dropped the veil so we could counsel.
I wasn’t sure what the Cimice were doing, but the place hummed with activity. All of the creatures moved with a purpose in and out of the cave. I could see the problem immediately.
“How do we kill them all?” I murmured.
According to the fae, the Cimice bred like city rats. One or two breeding pairs could replace the whole population within a few months. So the only way to do the job thoroughly was to make sure every last Cimice was eliminated. But how could I possibly do that?
“How did you kill all the vampires?” Puck asked.
“The vampires had all taken Azazel’s serum in order to walk in daylight. Azazel had infused the serum with his magic, and his magic was also in me, since I was his daughter. So I called the vampires to me using that link, and once the magic was activated and we were bound, I sent a spell of destruction out through them.”
“Blood,” Puck said. “So mundane and yet so powerful. I suppose that does mean that you are, in fact, Azazel’s daughter and not Lucifer’s.”
“Off topic,” I said. “We already covered that. So how do I make sure to get all of the Cimice?”
“You’ve already presented the answer,” Puck said.
“Blood?” I asked. “How will that work? I don’t have the blood of the Cimice inside me.”
“So crude,” Puck chided. “You just need some of the Cimice’s blood to direct the spell. Since only a few of the creatures settled here, all of the subsequent generations will share genes from the first group.”
“So I just need to catch one of them, take its blood, and then use the blood to push the spell through?” I asked skeptically. “I’m not sure about that. I don’t know if I can do that kind of magic. All of the spells I’ve used thus far have been internally motivated—you know what I mean?”
“Just because you have not done something like this before does not mean you cannot,” Puck said. “Madeline, now that you have fully opened yourself to Lucifer’s legacy, you have a vast, untapped store of power. You have not even begun to plumb the depths of that power.”
“If you say so,” I said.
It was extremely scary to think that I was sitting on a massive well of power. What if I lost control? I could go off like a nuclear bomb. More than once I’d suspected that I’d barely skimmed the surface of my magic, but I didn’t like to think that I had unlimited abilities sitting at my fingertips. That would make me like Lucifer, and I did not want to be like Lucifer.
Even if I had crossed a few lines in defense of my life, I still believed I was on the side of good. I was still
