“You are.”
“But you still like me.”
“Sometimes.” Warren felt irritated at the game she played. Before, when he’dfirst met her, she’d been intimidated and fascinated by him. Now she’d grownfamiliar with him. And maybe more than a little jealous of his power.
The Gabalists observed andsometimescaptured demons. They catalogued andgrouped them to explore their natures and weaknesses. But mostly they coveted the demons’ power.
Before the Hellgate had opened, humanssome humanshad possessedpowers that some believed came from an earlier contamination of demons touching this world. The histories were more like fables and stories regarding those times, but the powers had existed. The closer the time came for the Hellgate to manifest, the more prevalent the powers became.
Warren’s mother had been drawn to the dark powers, and she’d neglected everyother aspect of her life for them. Warren had never wanted them, and he’d triedto ignore the fact that he’d had them.
“Do you like me now?” Naomi asked coyly.
“I liked you better four years ago,” Warren said. “You had more tact in thosedays.”
Stung, Naomi stood. Her cheeks darkened. “You thought I was innocent?”
Warren had. He also wondered if she had been more innocent in those days and if the power she strove to attain was corruptingher.
“It doesn’t matter what I think,” Warren replied. Though he resented herintrusion, he didn’t want to see her go away angry. Or maybe go away at all. “Ilike you fine now. But you shouldn’t come here.”
“I usually like coming here.”
“What would you do if the zombies weren’t the only things I had guarding thisplace?” - “I don’t know.”
“You could end up getting killed.”
Naomi crossed the room to him and took his demon’s hand in both of hers. Shekissed the scaled flesh tenderly. Warren couldn’t help wondering if Merihim feltthat kiss as well, and if Naomi suspected the demon might.
“I don’t think you’d ever kill me,” she said.
“I would,” Warren said, “if I ever had reason to.”
“I will never give you reason to.”
Warren hoped not. He hadn’t had any friends before the Hellgate opened. Hedidn’t have any now, but Naomi was as close as it came.
“Why did you come?” he asked.
“To see you.” Naomi released his hand and stepped away.
Warren waited. He didn’t like playing games with her.
“First Seer Cornish would like to speak to you.”
“About what?”
“He didn’t say.” Naomi frowned at that. “It appears he likes keeping hissecrets too.”
First Seer Cornish was new to the post. Not many who wanted to become the leader of the Cabalists remained in that position. He’d been an aristocratbefore the arrival of the demons and had conducted his studies into mysticism on his own. He still remained something of an elitist, and Warren didn’t carefor him.
“I’m surprised he’s still alive,” Warren said.
“The current First Seer has a way of giving ideas to others and convincingthem they thought of them,” Naomi said disdainfully. “Several people have diedas a result.”
“Do you think he wants to convince me of something?”
“He might.” Naomi smiled. “But I don’t think he will.”
“Did he convince you to come here?”
“I didn’t need convincing.” Naomi came to him and wrapped her arms aroundhim. “I only needed an excuse. It’s been days since I’ve seen you.” She kissedhim deeply.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you, where do you get the water to bathe?”
Warren stood in the bath and toweled himself dry. “I had the zombies dig awell in the basement. They pump it up to the hot tubs on the fifth floor.”
“You had a well built?”
“Dug. Yes.”
“I didn’t know you knew how to dig wells.”
“There are books that tell you how to dig wells.” Warren pulled on blackjeans and a red, white, and blue Rochdale Hornets rugby jersey. The garment, an official jersey, was something he’d never have been able to afford before theinvasion. “You can find pumps at the stores.”
The city’s survivors made use of everything they could find, but there werefar more supplies than there were survivors.
“The water tables are dropping. Soon it’s going to be hard to get drinkingwater.”
Warren knew that. All a person had to do was look at the River Thames to see that. The effects of the Burn had lowered the riverto the point that it now flowed backward in from the North Sea. Once that had happened, the water had turned brackish, fresh water mixing with salt water, and became undrinkable. Wells near the riverbanks had also become tainted because they weren’t able to filter out enough of the salt.
Despite that knowledge, Warren didn’t feel guilty about bathing. When he’dgrown up in the foster homes, hygiene had been ignored. Baths were a creature comfort he demanded.
Dressed, Warren surveyed his reflection in the mirror. The scars from the burns left him with patches of demon skin. His mates would have ridiculed him as ugly, but among the Cabalists he was looked upon with envy.
Though Cabalists couldsometimestransplant demon horns as Naomi did, few ofthem could transplant limbs or organs successfully. Those who tried and failed died horrible, agonizing deaths. The number of those who wanted to try were even fewer.
He turned from the mirror and returned to the suite.
Naomi sat at the desk and pored over the book.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
She still hadn’t dressed and sat there naked in the chair. She’d suggestedthat the First Seer didn’t have a definite timetable in mind and they could be alittle later. Warren hadn’t wanted the physical encounter because he always feltweak afterwards for giving in to her. It was like admitting she had power over him. But he hadn’t been able to ignore it.
“Looking at this book,” she replied. “Where did you get it?”
Warren ignored the question. He walked over to join her, surprised that she was still sitting there.
“What do you see?” he asked quietly.
“Shapes. Shadows. The pages look like they were wet and the ink smeared. Idon’t know why you haven’t thrown it away.” Naomi regarded him. “You seesomething else, don’t you?”
On the page, the battle between the humans and the demons continued. The skirmish line had receded farther up the hill. The image began to
