Authors: Anne Bishop
“One-face?” Lee whistled. “Darling, I know an insult when I hear one. Although calling me two-faced…” He stopped, feeling fragile as he remembered a sister who was no longer whole.
Sholeh sucked in her breath. “That’s a
terrible
thing to say.”
Why?
But she wasn’t the sister he wanted to ask.
“So,” he said. “The Tryad sound like an interesting people. They’d have some symbol to represent their people, don’t you think? Something like a heart inside a triangle?” The tattoo Zeela said she had on her arm.
“I think we should go back now.”
Sholeh sounded afraid. Her lack of experience in dealing with the world probably made it easy to trick her into giving too much information about herself and her people—and left her and her sisters vulnerable to discovery. If there wasn’t a reason to fear discovery, they wouldn’t need to hide what they were.
Something else to discuss with Zhahar.
“If that’s what you want,” he said.
“Yes. We— I—”
“All right. Answer one last question, and then I’ll tell you about another demon race.” And he was going to let all of them know he wasn’t going to be put off by physical differences unless there was a good reason.
“What’s the question?” Wary now.
“When I kiss Zhahar, are you and Zeela going to be watching us?”
A squeaky sound.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Not that I mind, you understand. I learned a lot about kissing when I visited my cousin, and in the Den, you get used to people watching you kiss—although being critiqued by a relative as he’s walking by isn’t appreciated, so you two put aside the idea of being bratty sisters and keep your comments to yourself.”
More squeaky sounds. A flutter of pages as a book hit the ground and was retrieved.
“However,” Lee continued, smiling, “if your sister and I reach the point of making love, you and Zeela are going to have to leave the room, so to speak. I’m not an incubus. I don’t consider sex a performance art. At least, not one that includes an audience.” He paused. “Shall we go back?”
He felt the shifting of resonances and wondered what it looked like when one sister changed into another. Then he didn’t wonder. He felt friendly toward Sholeh and wary of Zeela. But when he was around Zhahar, he felt a heat spiced with something more than lust.
“Weren’t you listening?” Zhahar said fiercely.
Lee pursed his lips. “Am I talking to Zhahar, or is there a little Zeela in the mix?”
Silence.
“I heard what Sholeh said. Knowing you’re a Tryad makes you a lot less confusing for someone like me.”
“Someone like—” A moment of buzzing. “Sholeh didn’t say we were Tryad.”
“I’m blind, Zhahar, but I’m not stupid. Everything about you and your sisters fits the race Sholeh described. Or do you want to try to float an explanation about how you and Zeela could show up so fast without me hearing anyone approach? There is nothing wrong with my hearing, darling. You weren’t here, and then you were. That’s something we need to talk about. But just so there is no misunderstanding when we get there, what I said about not walking in the moonlight with more than one sister also applies to sex.” When she didn’t respond, he reached out and touched her arm before she stepped back.
“Incubus,” Zhahar said. “You said you aren’t an incubus.”
“I’m not.” Judging by her tone of voice, he figured it was best not to mention—yet—that his cousin Sebastian was. “They were the last demon race I was going to tell Sholeh about today, but it sounds like you, at least, already know about them.”
“I don’t know much.” She sounded upset. “Not enough. I thought they were harmless. When she talked about him, he sounded harmless. What are they?”
Not an idle question if she knew someone who crossed paths with the incubus but didn’t realize what he was. “The incubi are sex demons. They travel through the twilight of waking dreams to be dream lovers for women yearning for romance or sex. The succubi are female sex demons.”
“Are they dangerous?”
“The purebloods are deadly. They can kill with sex—and they can change their appearance to look like anyone. Others see humans as prey, since the incubi and succubi feed on emotions, and sex provides a banquet. And there are others who provide a service of sorts.” He took a step toward her but didn’t try to touch her. “You know someone who tangled with an incubus?” Not one of her sisters. He pitied the incubus dumb enough to tangle with Zeela without an invitation. Sholeh? No, if the little sister had
crossed paths with a sex demon, even one who was acting harmless, he figured
Zeela
would be the one asking him questions now.
But a pureblood incubus could do plenty of damage even if the woman lived. And he wondered what being two-faced meant to a people who normally had three.
“Who has met an incubus here?” he asked.
Zhahar hesitated, then said, “Kobrah. I think there have been two others—two inmates, a man and woman.”
“Are they all right?”
“The woman was getting better for a while. But I didn’t know the dream lover she talked about was a
demon
, was something
real
trying to get to her. When I told Shaman Danyal the dreams had
helped
her, I didn’t know they came from a demon. And when Kobrah told me about her friend, I didn’t know he was
a demon.
”
She paced a few steps away from him, then back, her agitation growing. In another minute, she might rush back to Danyal and stir everyone up. And that would have everyone looking too hard for someone who wasn’t
completely
human.
Had it occurred to her that he and Danyal were also people in the not-completely-human column?
“Slow down,” Lee said. “Zhahar, slow down. Not all dark landscapes are bad places, and not all demons are bad either. They’re like any other people. Have the people who connected with the incubi or succubi said anything about them?”
“The man kept insisting that he had to cross over, had to meet his lover in the flesh. He became violent when he ran across one of the footbridges on the grounds and nothing happened. He’s been in isolation ever since.”
“If she gets as much pleasure in tormenting a man as she does from sex, being in isolation won’t help, since the succubus can still reach him. What about the woman?”
“She was improving until the previous Keeper ordered her to be heavily sedated at night so she couldn’t dream. She’s failing now. The Shaman rescinded the order, but the dreams didn’t come back.”
“The incubus moved on,” Lee said quietly. “He couldn’t reach her anymore, so he moved on.” He waited a beat. “What about Kobrah? I had the impression she hates men.”
“Yes, she hates men. Something happened to her before she came here. I don’t know what it was, but a man named Chayne did it.”
“And yet she’s drawn an incubus to her?”
“Her…
friend…
comes to her in dreams. They take walks in the moonlight. Hold hands. That sort of thing. He doesn’t push to have sex.”
“Wait a minute. Wait.” Lee took off the dark glasses. She wasn’t more than a dark blob, but he didn’t want any kind of barrier between them. “Kobrah is
Teaser
’s friend?”
He saw her body blob jerk. “You know Teaser?”
“I’ve known him for years. He lives in the Den of Iniquity.”
“That place is
real
?”
“Sure. My cousin Sebastian lives there.” He hesitated, then decided it was better to tell her now. “You read Sholeh’s report, didn’t you? Well, Sebastian is an incubus and he’s also a wizard, but he’s a Justice Maker—the good kind of wizard. So I’ve grown up knowing some incubi, which is why I’m a good kisser. Just a point of information.”
The body blob got shorter.
“You feeling all right?” he asked.
“Dizzy.”
Translation: she was bent over, probably with her hands on her knees.
Then he caught a whiff of stinkweed. Someone Ephemera didn’t like—or didn’t like around him—was approaching.
“You can’t believe anything a madman says,” Lee said quietly, urgently. “You do remember that?”
Zhahar straightened slowly. “You made all this up?”
“I didn’t say that.” He kept his voice low. “We need to go now,
Sholeh.
We need to go back to the residence
now.
” He slipped the dark glasses on and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt her resonance change from Zhahar to Sholeh. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Sholeh said. “I guess I had too much sun. I need a drink of water and a little time to sit in the shade.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me.”
“Here.” She brushed her arm against his. He cupped his hand around her elbow and let her take them back to the inmates’ residence at a pace too brisk for the heat.
She didn’t greet anyone, didn’t speak to anyone, and the smell of stinkweed faded. Which meant whoever had been approaching had slipped out of sight.
“How different do you and Zhahar look?” he asked quietly.
“She has brown hair and blue eyes. I have auburn hair and green eyes. Zeela has dark brown hair and eyes. We look different.”
Based on his physical contact with each of them, he agreed. Sholeh: thinner and nervier. Zeela: more muscle and physical strength—and that scar on her left arm as well as the tattoo that was a sign of her people. Zhahar: between the two, and a figure he suspected had a bit more softness and curve than her sisters. At least, that was his impression from the times when she’d assisted him. He wanted a chance to put his hands on her and find out.
“You think someone was coming?” Sholeh whispered.
“I
know
someone was coming. But I don’t think he got close enough to see us.”
“That’s good,” she murmured. “That’s good. We’ve gotten careless. Can’t afford…Oh!”
“What?” He swayed a little to balance the abrupt halt.
“The waterfall and pond are gone. And the fish. That smelly reflecting pool is back.”
Lee sighed. “You’re not used to things being so…fluid?”
“Are you?”
He sighed again. “Tell Danyal that he and I need to talk.”
“All right.” She started walking again. He hoped they were heading for shade and water.
“Don’t worry about Kobrah. She’ll be fine with Teaser.”
“Why are you sure of that?”
He laughed softly. “Because if he gets out of line, my mother will whack him with a wooden spoon.”
He heard male voices. The Handlers Nik and Denys. Good resonances that belonged in this landscape.
“Thank you for the walk, Sholeh,” he said.
“I was glad to help,” she replied. “I hope we can talk again.”
Lee grinned. “Just ask your sister to arrange it.”
She walked away without saying another word.
Nik and Denys let him find his own way up the stairs, but he felt them stand ready to help if he stumbled.
“Sholeh mentioned that the pond changed to a pool?” Lee put enough doubt in his voice to make the statement a question. After all, something like that changing would be unsettling for a man who couldn’t see.
“It changed,” Nik said grimly. “Not even the Shaman knows how or why.”
Not a good answer. “Anything else change?”
“Those stone walls with the vines are gone. Had to wrap Vito in restraints when he saw the place was gone. He’s been wailing ever since.”
“Anything else?” Lee asked.
A hesitation, as if they were deciding whether they were answering an inmate or a fellow Handler.
“Nothing significant,” Denys finally said. “Just that weird treasure hunt.”
“Treasure hunt?”
“Yeah. These old pocket watches keep showing up in the flower beds. And Teeko found a piece of a sundial this morning. Somebody must be slipping out at night and burying them around the plantings.”
“I guess it provides a bit of interest,” he said. “And like you said, it’s weird but harmless.”
Counting the steps from the door, Lee tapped his way to the lounge chair that was under the window in his room. Kobrah appeared a few minutes later with a large glass of water.
He sat alone, letting his mind drift as it picked up the pieces of information he’d been given and put them down again, shifting things around until they formed a different pattern.
Message received, Magician.
Was this some kind of heart lesson, that it was
Michael
who had found a way to locate him, to let him know his family was trying to reach him?
Message received. But until I can figure out the risks, I won’t be sending a reply.
Danyal waited until dusk to have Lee brought to him at the reflecting pool. Teeko and the other groundskeepers had drained the stagnant water—or most of it. Tomorrow they would clean out the rest. Again. Then what?
A reflecting pool gets replaced by the waterfall and pond. That disappears and the reflecting pool returns. Then that mysterious place Vito was so excited about vanished.
If Danyal hadn’t seen the place for himself, he would have said it was a delusion of a troubled mind.
In the city of Vision, you can find only what you can see. But nothing like this had happened in the city before.
Ever?
some part of him asked.
We’ve accepted the nature of this city without ever asking why it is the way it is. We’ve accepted it as a reflection of the rest of Ephemera. But if we’ve accepted for so long without looking, what don’t the Shamans see? And why does everything keep pointing to this blind man having some of the answers?
He watched Lee tap his way toward him, with Kobrah keeping pace. When Lee reached him, Danyal thanked Kobrah—a gentle dismissal.
“Is there something I should know about?” Danyal asked quietly.
“Any number of things,” Lee replied, sounding distracted. “You asking about anything in particular?”
“I asked Zhahar to escort you to me. Why was Kobrah your guide?”
“If that’s your way of asking if I did something inappropriate with Sholeh, I did not. But I suspect Zhahar and her sister are currently engaged in a lively discussion because of a couple of things that were said.” Lee wrinkled his nose. “I wonder if this used to be Sorrow’s Ground.”
Danyal felt a prickle along his spine. “What?”