“Good. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Warren didn’t say anything, but he didn’t feel like anything was going to be okay. He just wanted off the bridge and away from the demon.
Merihim smiled and preened. Then he regarded Warren. How did you find me?
“I don’t know,” Warren replied. Since he didn’t know how Naomi had sent him on his journey or how she had traced his link back to the demon, Warren hoped that was close enough to the truth. “I went to sleep and you were there.”
Merihim considered that. Perhaps the bond between us is stronger than I thought.
Warren wondered if that made the demon somehow more vulnerable. Or if Merihim thought it did. Either case could prove disastrous for him.
And why did you come to me?
“I didn’t want to.” That was definitely the truth.
Yet here you are.
“Hold on to him. Let me see what I can find out.”
Warren wanted to tell her no, that he was going to be the one who paid the price for the chances she took.
Merihim stepped closer to Warren, dwarfing him immediately. The heat from the demon’s body soaked into Warren and took away the chill of standing atop the bridge in the winter wind.
I can use you, though, so it’s good that you showed up.
Fear rose in Warren again. He cursed himself for going with the Cabalists. If he wasn’t there with them now, he wouldn’t be here.
I want you to locate something for me, the demon stated.
“What?”
Merihim grinned mirthlessly. You don’t need to know. You only need to know that if you don’t find it for me, I’ll crush you.
Warren felt Naomi’s power coursing through him, and he worried that if he could feel it surely the demon could, too. But Merihim gave no indication that he was aware of anything.
“I told you I was good at what I do.” A trace of pride accompanied Naomi’s words as they bounced inside Warren’s skull.
Merihim hefted his trident and placed the tines across Warren’s brow. You’ll be my warhound in this matter. You’ll run what I seek to ground. The humans are pursuing it as well, and I don’t want them to succeed. The prize is mine, and mine alone. Find the thing that I desire and let me know when you do.
“How?”
You will be given the way.
“How will I know what it is?”
Because you will know.
Dark energy blazed through Warren’s brain from the trident. He heard Naomi scream deep within his mind, then he didn’t feel her anymore.
Go, Merihim commanded. Don’t trouble me any further. Complete your assignment as quickly as you can. I would have my prize before the next day breaks.
An incredible force slammed into Warren, knocking him over the side of the bridge hard enough to drive the wind from his lungs. He flew backward at least a hundred feet and—for a flicker of a moment—hung out over the long drop.
He fell toward the dark river where demons capered aboard burning boats and ships. Stretching out his hand to try to turn his fall into a dive, he felt certain that he was about to be knocked senseless from the plummet.
Too late he saw that he wasn’t going to hit the water at all. He fell directly toward a burning tanker ship that suddenly exploded. Flames reached up for him and he cried out in fear. He crossed his arms in front of his face as the heat rushed out to consume him—
—and woke on the thin pad in Naomi’s office gasping for air.
Hedgar Tulane stood just outside the circle. Concern tightened his features, but he wasn’t looking at Warren. Instead, his gaze was locked on Naomi, who lay curled in a fetal position.
“What happened to her?” Tulane demanded.
Trying to push through the fog that filled his head, only then noticing the pounding at his temples, Warren ignored the question. Out of breath and dizzy, feeling changed somehow, he pushed himself into a seated position and reached for Naomi.
“Hey,” he called. “Hey. Wake up.”
Gradually, she awakened. Pain etched hard lines on her face. She tried to sit up, then got sick immediately. She waved an arm and the candles all extinguished.
Tulane stepped across the circle then and helped her to her feet. He sent for assistance while Warren sat with his back to one of the walls, too weak to help.
Kelli stood across the room, staring at them. For a moment she looked afraid.
Don’t be afraid, Warren thought.
Kelli took a deep slow breath and the fear inside her dwindled. No emotion showed on her face.
Help me.
Like an automaton, Kelli joined Warren. She looked less like herself than ever. Warren knew he should feel guilty, but the fear inside him outweighed whatever remorse he might have felt. Her hand was cold in his, but he didn’t care about that, either. He just didn’t want to be alone.
By the time the physician arrived and examined Naomi, she was feeling better. She waved Tulane’s attentions away and walked unsteadily over to Warren.
“Your ties to the demon are stronger than I’d believed,” she said.
“I know.” Warren stood in front of her on trembling knees. He still didn’t feel right. His stomach rolled threateningly.
Naomi gazed at him as if she could see through him. “Do you know what Merihim wants?”
“No.”
“Didn’t he tell you?”
Warren felt anger within him and concentrated on seizing it instead of giving in to the fear that rattled through his bones. “You were there. Did you hear him say anything?”
Naomi reached up suddenly and laid her palm against his temple. Warren shifted, intending to knock her hand from his flesh, but then a blinding electrical pain surged through his brain and everything went black.
Thirty-Five
W hat were you thinking?” Terrence Booth demanded. The High Seat’s face was beet-red with emotion. He paced back and forth in the debriefing room.
Simon stood in Booth’s office with his helmet under one arm. Bruised and bloodied from the battle, he stared
