Demons and angels were forbidden from directly interfering in earthly affairs or violating human freewil . But that wouldn’t stop the Hel spawn if the perceived payoff outweighed the risk of Heaven’s wrath. The demons were expending an unusual amount of energy on this hunt.
Which meant they already had a stake in the game.
Or a player.
He moved swiftly through the room. The demon taint was strongest in the bathroom. He touched a finger to the faucet. Stil hot.
His cel phone played two quick measures of the “Hal elujah Chorus.” Simon’s ring tone. It amused Zayin to associate Handel’s lush music with the ascetic headmaster.
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He picked up the cal . “Zayin.”
Simon didn’t waste time on preliminaries. “Have you found them?”
“I found the nest. The birds have flown.”
“How long ago?”
“The clerk said they checked out before seven. Say, four hours.”
“So you failed to catch them.”
He’d been slowed by the disabled motor fleet and the burned bridge. But he would not make excuses to Simon.
“I’l find them,” he said instead.
“You must. Before he hurts her.”
Zayin surveyed the rumpled bed, the discarded condom wrappers, and resisted the urge to snort. “I doubt she’s suffering. He may even believe he is protecting her.”
“I don’t give a fuck what he believes.” The obscenity from the usual y calm and col ected headmaster made Zayin narrow his eyes. “As long as she’s with him, she’s in danger,”
Simon continued. “Is Mil er stil wearing the heth?”
“Whatever good that does.” The failure of his charm rankled. “Obviously it hasn’t stopped him.”
“But it might stil bind. Enough to save her.”
Zayin wasn’t normal y slow on the uptake, but he didn’t understand why Simon was fixating on the damn heth.
Once Mil er escaped the grounds, the charm’s usefulness was through. “The heth’s power is to contain, not to control.
It won’t affect Mil er’s behavior at al .”
“Not
Silence.
Zayin’s gut clenched as he worked that one out. He tightened his grip on the phone. “You think he’s possessed.”
“It was always a possibility. He was exposed when they were attacked.”
F o r g o t t e n s e a 17 1
“He’s got strong shields.”
“Which could mask the presence of another elemental.”
“Then why wouldn’t the demon take him over before they reached Rockhaven? It could have overpowered them on the road.”
“Maybe its plan was to reach Rockhaven.”
Chil ing thought.
“Besides, Mil er was injured,” Simon continued.
“Maybe Mil er’s unconsciousness slowed it down. And then you laid the heth on them both, and the demon was trapped inside its host.”
Anger licked Zayin. “When were you planning to tel me?”
“I thought you knew. But you insisted on questioning him yourself. I saw no point in sharing suspicions that might influence your interrogation.”
“And in the meantime you had a demon captive in your basement to study.”
Simon’s silence answered him. Knowledge was power, and Simon kept as much power to himself as he could.
“You secretive prick,” Zayin said in disgust.
“Perhaps we could leave your wounded feelings aside for the moment and focus on the danger to Lara,” Simon suggested.
“She wouldn’t be in danger if you’d been honest with her,”
Zayin said. “With any of us.”
“I warned her Mil er couldn’t be trusted. I told her to stay away from him. I forbid her to have anything to do with him.”
“Which explains why she ran off with him the first chance she got.”
“She did not run off,” Simon said. “I believe he coerced her.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you believe.” Zayin turned the 17 2
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headmaster’s words back on him with savage satisfaction.
“Mil er was enough of a problem when we didn’t know what he was. But you had to play God, devising your little tests, not letting anyone in on your plans. Now he’s a double threat.”
“So you eliminate two birds with one stone,” Simon said.
“Mil er and the demon. Just bring Lara back safely.”
Miriam had said Simon was waiting for Lara to heal.
To grow up.
He had never taken much interest in the girl himself.
Despite her young age at her Fal , her powers had never seemed particularly impressive. He found both the headmaster’s desire and his self-denial vaguely pathetic.
Zayin had no real desire to feed Simon’s obsession. But if he returned Lara to Rockhaven, Simon would owe him.
An indebted Simon suited Zayin’s own needs very wel .
So he would find the two by whatever means necessary, dispose of Mil er, and fetch the girl home.
Unless the demon kil ed her first.
14
P i t i f u l , t h at ’ s w h at s h e wa s .
Lara sat upright in the bouncing passenger seat, fuming.
Churning. But real y, was it too much to hope for some kind of reaction from a man you’d recently had sex with when you told him you couldn’t have sex anymore?
Iestyn could have offered her a little reassurance. Maybe even an argument.
Instead, she got . . . Nothing.
She clenched her hands together in her lap. Maybe he didn’t care. No sex, no problem. No magic.
