Naomi only nodded.
Cornish turned his full attention to Warren. “I’ve wanted to meet you forsome time.”
Warren didn’t respond. Since he had entered the room, he’d feltuncomfortable. At first he had thought it was the circumstances he was there under. Now he realized there was an overpowering sense of wrongness inside the room. He wanted out.
Cornish tilted his head a little and studied Warren curiously. “Do you feelwell?”
“I feel fine,” Warren lied. He opened his mind the way he had learned fromMerihim and felt for the troubling sensation that lay within the room.
Almost immediately, a powerful blow struck Warren hard enough to almost buckle his knees. Dizziness swam through his head. For a moment he couldn’tfocus. Double images filled his vision. He felt hot all over and perspiration coated his skin. The scratches Naomi had left across his back during their earlier lovemaking burned like fire.
“Perhaps you’d like to sit.” Cornish gestured to one of the chairs.
“No,” Warren responded. He wanted out of the room. He knew that withcertainty.
A small smile pulled at Cornish’s thin lips over the demons’ fangs. Warrencouldn’t help wondering if the fangs all came from the same demon, and if theyactually helped the First Seer harness the magical energy that coursed through the city these days.
“May I see your hand?” Cornish asked. He extended his own hands.
Warren understood immediately which hand Cornish wanted to see. He didn’tmove.
“Please,” Cornish said.
Instead of reaching out to the man, Warren merely lifted the gift he had received from Merihim. He held the hand open. Lamplight glittered along the scales.
Curious and hesitant, Cornish reached for Warren’s hand. Tattoos covered theFirst Seer’s hands and even his fingers. Some of them glowed a deep purple thatburned brighter the closer the tattoos got to Warren.
The sense of wrongness vibrated even more sharply within Warren. The scratches along his back burned more fiercely. Before the First Seer could touch him, Warren rolled his hand into a fist Cruelly curved claws sprang out along his knuckles. Warren gazed at the new manifestation in wonder.
Cornish hesitated and withdrew his hands. “Has it ever done that before?”
Anger and frustration swirled within Warren. Now was not the time for the hand to be independent of him. “Yes.” He lied guilelessly. But, in truth, hedidn’t know if it was he who lied or the essence of the demon he carried withinhim.
“You’ve been an inspiration to us,” the First Seer stated. “Although we’vebeen successful transplanting some features of the demons, we’ve not yetdemonstrated the success involved in your own transplant.”
This wasn’t a transplant, Warren thought. Merihim claimed me with thishand. Still, he suspected that it wouldn’t be long before the Cabalistssuccessfully transplanted other limbs. They were becoming too attuned to the wild magic loose again in the world.
“Many have volunteered to undergo the process,” Cornish said. “Instead ofsuccess, all we’ve created is a series of cripples.” He paused. “Despite ourbest efforts to recreate the treatment you received, we’ve not been able toduplicate the result.”
Warren concentrated and tried to bring the two images of Cornish together as one. He only had partial success. The two images resolved now and again into one, but for the most part they remained separate and distinct. Strangely, one of the images looked more human than the other.
“We’ve managed several transplants that have all augmented powers andabilities,” Cornish went on. “But nothing like what I’ve been told you’recapable of.”
“I don’t know what you’ve been told,” Warren said quietly.
Cornish grinned and revealed the demon’s teeth again. His black gums gleamed.“I’ve been told you can speak to the demon. I’m also been told that, uponoccasion, you can manifest the demon and channel its power through your body.”
“No,” Warren replied. “I don’t speak to the demon. He speaks to me. And Idon’t manifest him.” He didn’t want to discuss the power he was sometimes ableto tap into. That was no one’s business. And it gave the Cabalists one morereason to be envious of him.
“I think you’re being too modest about your abilities, though I’m not surewhy you would choose to be so.” A note of irritation crept into Cornish’s voice.
“I’m not being modest,” Warren said. The sense of unease reached new heightswithin him. The two images of Cornish contrasted sharply.
“We’ll have to disagree about that,” Cornish said. “Unfortunately, I’m in aposition that I need to know what you can do.”
“I didn’t come here to be a test subject.” Warren glared at Naomi.
“Oh, you’re not here as a test subject,” Cornish said. “You’re here as adonor.” He pointed at the demon’s hand. “I’ve come to believe that it wasn’t the treatment you were givenduring the attachment of the hand that’s the source of the success you’veenjoyed. I think it was because that hand was given willingly by the demon that nearly destroyed you.”
The nausea that filled Warren’s stomach suddenly turned sour. He realizedthen that he had been betrayed. He looked around the room wildly and sought an avenue of escape.
Both doors that lead out of the room, one on each opposite wall, were blocked by guards. As he whirled to face them, they closed ranks.
“This will be easier if you don’t struggle,” Cornish said.
The words reverberated inside Warren’s skull. He swayed on his feet andbarely kept standing.
“You’ve already been drugged. Naomi can be quite persuasive when she’sproperly motivated.” Cornish grinned knowingly. “You’ll be unconscious inminutes. I’m actually surprised you’re still standing now.”
Warren shook his head in an effort to clear some of the narcotic from his system but only succeeded in throwing his balance off. He dropped to one knee and slammed his handthe hand that Cornish wantedagainst the floor barely intime to keep himself upright.
At Cornish’s order, the guards closed on Warren.
TWELVE
Leah luxuriated in the shower. It was the first time in months that she’d hadmore than a chem-bath. The water was hot and no one had mentioned any short supply.
She guessed that Simon and his Templar had tapped into an underground stream or lake, or had drilled several wells. It was possible, though,
