Vengeance of the Demon: Demon Novels, Book Seven (Kara Gillian 7) (34 page)

“They work in a rotation,” I said, smile widening. “They go to each valve in time for the burps, which means we have a good chance of predicting who’s going where and when.” My pulse thumped harder as I peered at the schedule for the upcoming emissions. “I need a pencil. A pen. A goddamn crayon.” Carl pushed a pen into my hand, and I jotted down correlations. “There are two valves coming up in the next few hours. Tessa’s house and the one at Leelan Park. Only a few miles apart.” I tightened my grip on the pen. “Tessa’s team will almost certainly be coming from the Gator Farm, and it makes sense that she’d take care of the valve at her own house. That gives us a window of opportunity to reach her house first and—” I took a deep breath. This was the tricky part— “symmetrize that valve and be out of there before she shows up.”

Pellini shot me a baffled look in the rear view mirror. “Did I miss something? Who’s going to symmetrize it? I don’t have the skills, and Idris doesn’t know what to look for.” He gave Idris a wince and a shrug. “Sorry, dude.”

I expected Idris to snarl, but he merely extended a hand toward the charts and my notes. “Mind if I take a look?”

“Nah, go for it.” I handed the lot over to him. Made sense for him to double-check my work.

He skimmed through the schedules, hands tight on the papers. At long last he relaxed and exhaled. “You have a plan for how to symmetrize the valve?” he asked me, expression unreadable.

Grimacing, I shifted in my seat. “I don’t know if it could be called a
plan,
but I thought that Pellini could tell you what to do and you’d, um, do it.” Crap. It sounded a lot more pathetic when I said it out loud.

But Idris surprised me with a thoughtful nod. “We have nothing to lose by trying.”

Wow, had he gone and had a spa day while I was in jail? “Great!” I said. “Let’s go take care of that valve!” I’d wonder later why he was so agreeable. Right now I wanted to get to Tessa’s house before Idris remembered he was Mr. Grouchy.

Pellini did the same drive-by-the-house-twice thing as Bryce, then turned onto a side street to park. I approved of his caution. Katashi’s people had been watching my place long enough to know Jill’s schedule, which meant they knew Pellini’s truck.

He let out a low whistle as we walked up to the house. “Man, this place used to glow like Vegas,” he said.

It was weird to think that he’d been able to see the arcane during all the crap of the past year and a half, but I also
completely
understood why he’d kept it so thoroughly to himself. “I know what you mean,” I said. “Seretis ripped out the wards and protections like a cleaning lady through cobwebs—and all without alerting the spiders.”

I hurried everyone inside on the off chance a nosy neighbor decided to come chat. There were no aversions to keep them away now. Despite my nerves, I grinned at the sudden image of all the neighbors approaching the house like a horde of zombies.

“Carl, will you be our lookout?” I asked after I closed the door.

“Absolutely,” he said and positioned himself in the sitting room where he had a view of the street.

Eilahn bounded up the stairs to get a vantage from one of the attic windows or, more likely, the roof. For a fleeting moment I worried that a neighbor or bad guy might spot her, but quickly dismissed it. Eilahn knew how to stay out of sight.

Pellini and I followed Idris to the library. Idris moved straight to the valve and dropped to his knees, but Pellini took two steps in and stopped in shock.

“All of those boxes of books were in this one room?” he asked, incredulous. He made a slow turn, taking in the empty bookshelves and the scant dimensions of the library.

“Every one of them,” I said. “I should’ve taken a picture, because even I can barely comprehend it.”

Pellini shook his head in disbelief then leveled a frown toward where Idris knelt on the hardwood floor. “Hang tight,” he said and stepped out of the library. Mystified, I waited, and a few seconds later he returned with one of my aunt’s sofa cushions. He dropped it a few feet in front of Idris then lowered himself to kneel on it. “I’m a big guy in my mid-forties. I ain’t stupid.”

Idris flicked a glance to the cushion. I expected a disparaging look but instead it was more
I wish I’d thought of that
. Smothering a laugh, I dashed to the sitting room and grabbed another cushion, which Idris accepted with grace.

With the comfort of knees old and young accomplished, I took up a vantage in the kitchen doorway that gave me a clear view of the back and front doors as well as into the library.

“What first?” Idris asked Pellini.

Pellini leaned forward to examine the valve. “It doesn’t look or feel right,” he said then winced. “But I don’t know how to do what needs to be done.”

A whisper of pained frustration flashed across Idris’s face. Probably already regretting this. “Well, what do I need to use?”

Pellini stroked his mustache in thought then held his hands up and waved them around in an odd pattern. A few seconds later he made a pushing motion toward Idris. “Put that in.”

Frowning, Idris took the invisible-to-me potency construction from Pellini. “But where do I . . .” Idris paused then did his own hand-wiggling.

“Yeah,” Pellini said, “but a hair lower.” Idris waved his fingers, and Pellini nodded. “Cool. Okay, now the other side.” He pushed more Stuff to Idris. Again, Idris placed it, and Pellini told him how to adjust it. The work was tedious, a far cry from my own experience symmetrizing a valve, though to my eyes they knelt over a very unremarkable spot on the floor and fiddled their hands around like idiots.

After the sixth round, the two developed an awkward but effective collaboration with Pellini as the eyes and Idris as the hands.
Higher, left, keep going, right there. Crap, too far, try the other side, yeah, that works.
All while Pellini fed raw material to Idris like an operating room nurse handing instruments to a surgeon.

Or like the support I used to give Mzatal
, I thought with a wistful pang.

The kitchen clock ticked an aggravating reminder of our limited time. Twenty long minutes passed before Pellini straightened. “There,” he said with satisfaction. “Put that last bit closer to the edge, and we’re done.”

Idris made another little wibbly-wobbly hand move. Pellini glanced my way. “Still clear?”

“Still clear,” I said with undisguised relief. “Let’s roll.”

They rose and moved toward the door, but Idris stopped halfway there. “Wait,” he said and spun back toward the valve. “I need to do one more thing.”

Pellini frowned at him. “What do you mean? It’s balanced.”

Idris dropped to his knees and spoke without looking up. “No. They can bypass the symmetrization if they warp the
savinths
,” he said. “I need to make adjustments to prevent that.”

Pellini turned a questioning gaze to me, but my attention was on Idris. He knew the valves backward, forward, and sideways, and if he said there was a vulnerability, I had no legitimate reason to doubt him. After all, I knew approximately jack shit about the use of savinths. I’d been in the summoning equivalent of “Intro to Calculus” while Idris kicked ass in “Advanced Partial Differential Equations For Really Smart People.”

Yet I noted a tremor in his hands, and his shoulders hunched with tension that I’d
never
seen in him, even during the most rigorous arcane rituals. Suspicion bloomed, bringing with it a buried hope of my own. “Idris, how long do you think this will take?” I asked, pulse quickening.

“Not sure,” he said, wiggling his hands over the valve. “Five minutes, maybe ten. But it’ll be worth it.”

Suspicion gave way to certainty. Five minutes, ten, or however long he needed to stall until Tessa arrived. He wanted to see his birth mother at least once face-to-face.

Going along with his ruse was no doubt a colossal mistake and horrible tactics, but . . . it would be worth it. Idris deserved a shred of satisfaction after everything he’d been through. Who was I to take that away from him? Besides, if I had to be brutally honest with myself, I had plenty of crap I wanted to unload on Tessa. She’d raised me and betrayed me. The desire to know
why
tore at my essence. With the way things were going, Idris and I might never have another chance to confront her.

“It’s cool,” I told Pellini with a smile that I hoped looked reassuring. “Those savinths can be damn tricky if not positioned right. Wouldn’t want to leave a back door.” Behind him, Idris snapped his head up, gratitude and relief shining in his eyes.

“All right, then how about I keep watch from the parlor,” Pellini suggested with a fatalistic shrug.

“That’d be great,” I said and returned to my former spot in the kitchen doorway. Idris ducked his head again and resumed his pretend work. Five minutes passed. Ten. My stress levels climbed higher along with second thoughts and heaps of doubt.
No, this is stupid.
I need to tell Idris we can’t do this, get everyone out—

I heard a light thump on the stairs right before Eilahn bounded down them and into the hallway.

“Tessa Pazhel’s vehicle approaches,” she said.

“Idris,” I hissed. He stood, face alight with anxious longing that resonated with my own desperate need for answers. My mind whirled. We still had enough time to cut and run. Idris would comply if I insisted. Except, I completely understood the mute plea in his steady regard.

Pellini stepped out of the parlor. “They’re in the driveway, and she’s pissed,” he said. “The lack of wards, I’m betting. We’d better scramble out the back, and quick.”

“We’re staying,” I said, dismayed to hear my voice crack. Idris moved to stand beside me and face Pellini.

I expected Pellini to tell us we were a couple of fucking idiots, but he merely blew out his breath. Maybe he’d been expecting it. “Got a plan?”

“Don’t I always?” I asked and pretended not to hear his snort. I jabbed fingers at Pellini and Carl. “You two take the parlor. Pellini, as soon as McDunn passes, you draw down. Eilahn, stairs. Idris, library. I’ll take the kitchen and will cover as soon as I hear Pellini. Watch the crossfire. Go!”

Everyone scrambled into position like a well-trained SWAT team. Silence fell in the house as the first footfall hit the porch steps. I waited beyond the kitchen doorway and listened to Tessa speak, angry and harsh. Though I couldn’t make out her words, I figured it was safe to assume they had to do with the stripped protections. Idris stood a few feet within the library, and when I glanced his way he offered me an uncertain smile and mouthed,
Thank you
. I gave him a wry smile and shrug in reply. We’d find out soon enough how stupid this was.

Tessa’s voice grew louder, more strident. A deeper voice answered her. I drew back, kept my breathing slow and quiet as I sent Idris a warning glare on the order of
You stay right where you are until the situation is secure!
I doubted he picked up all the nuances, but it was enough to keep him in place, at least for the moment.

The front door opened. A knot pulled tight in my stomach.

“I have to see—” Tessa let out a gasp. “Oh goodness, it’s all gone. Every one of my protections! I never felt a thing from the alarms!” True pain lanced through her voice.

“I’m sorry, ma’am.” McDunn, uneasy and cautious.

“Heaven knows what they’ve done to my valve,” she said, tone crisp again. Her shoes clicked over the wood floors toward me, and McDunn’s heavier footsteps joined them.

“Lemme see your hands, McDunn!” Pellini shouted. My cue.

Gun raised, I swung around the door. Tessa let out a shocked cry. I ignored her, focused on McDunn. “Weapon down!” I yelled.

He held a gun in one hand, weight balanced as he assessed the threats. Pellini remained in partial cover behind the parlor door, gun steady on the burly security man. “Weapon down
now!
” I ordered.

McDunn flicked a calculating gaze to each of us, then to where Eilahn crouched on the stairs. A low growl throbbed in her throat.

“NOW!” Pellini snapped. “Slow movements!”

“All right,” McDunn said, voice calm as he eased into a crouch. “I’m putting my gun down.”

“Make one move toward your other gun and I’ll drop you,” I said. Right ankle. No bulge to give it away, but I noticed the forward shift of that leg as he crouched.

McDunn slowly placed his gun on the floor and stood, keeping his hands out to his sides. Eilahn scooped up the weapon and conducted a brisk and thorough patdown of him. “Backup is already on the way,” he said as Eilahn removed assorted knives from his person as well as the pistol in his ankle holster. “I called it in as soon as Miss Pazhel informed me the warding was gone.”

He wasn’t bluffing. He was too much of a pro not to have made a call to cover their asses. I suspected he’d have preferred to wait until backup arrived before entering the house, but Tessa had no doubt insisted. The backup would almost certainly be Tsuneo and Jerry, but they’d be coming from the Leelan Park valve. Five minutes at least.

“That’s fine,” I said, pulse racing as I kept my gun trained on him. Even unarmed, he was dangerous. “We don’t intend to hurt you or turn you over to the cops. All we need is a few minutes.” In my periphery I saw Idris step into the hallway, but he was wise enough to stay well back.

“Kara.” Tessa’s eyes were wide with shock. Probably not faked, though the reasons for it were debatable. “What in the ninety hells is going on?”

“As corny as it sounds, I’ve woken up,” I said. “You’re one of Katashi’s lieutenants.”

“Lieutenants?” She assumed an annoyed expression, one I knew all too well. “We’ve been through this before. Isumo is my
mentor
.” She gestured around her. “Are you responsible for destroying my protections?”

“Are you responsible for the trap your
mentor
set so that turdface here could take my abilities?”

Tessa threw a glance toward Angus before gracing me with a wonderfully baffled frown. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you need to put the gun down before someone gets hurt.”

“Before someone gets hurt?” A harsh laugh escaped me. “Oh, that’s fucking rich.” Hostility flowed into my words. A lot. “What did you think would happen to me after I got arrested, Auntie dear?”

Her hands flew to her mouth. “Arrested? What were you arrested for? Are you all right?” She raised her arms as if to embrace me and make it all better, but a twitch of my gun stopped that shit. Disconcerted, she dropped her hands back to her sides.

“Littering,” I told her with a delightful rush of satisfaction. “I threw your library into the lake.”

Her gaze shot to the library door. “What have you
done?
” An undercurrent of deep anger ran through her voice. No more concerned-and-annoyed Tessa. Good. That fake bitch was starting to piss me off.

Idris moved up beside me. “We’ve been busy,” he said, emotionless and controlled. He flicked a hand toward the door. “Care to see?”

Tessa hesitated, but it was obvious her need to see the damage outweighed caution. McDunn tried to follow as she moved to the library door, but Eilahn stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

I didn’t
like
that I took pleasure in Tessa’s moan of horror as she took in the empty library, but I reveled in it anyway. “We found the place that your buddy Rhyzkahl warded against me,” I said conversationally. “The contents made for nice, light bedtime reading.”