Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
T he demon underbelly was a place filled with our kind’s most wickedly inclined. It was not for the casual wielder of evil. It was made up of a consortium of places designed for socializing without mortal interference.
Arriving in front of the agreed-upon meeting spot, I stared up at the exterior. It looked part warehouse and part sunken pirate ship with crooked shutters, broken portholes, and what appeared to be an ecosystem of fungi on its exterior.
Summoning my cane from the interior of my sleeve, I used the end of it to push the door open like I was about to stride into an old saloon in the Wild West. Wearing my confidence and my fanciest pair of knickers under my jeans, I entered with purpose in my stride.
I’d like to believe that while I was not all cotton candy and glitter, I was at least minimally tolerated by those who frequented this fine establishment. Trickery from a demon such as myself was no shortcoming in my book. However, there were those who fundamentally disagreed.
Upon my entrance, I found myself in a room coated in several layers of dried blood and entrails. Jovial laughter came from the diverse demonic patrons filling the cramped space. Glasses clinked as various breeds of our kind mingled and shared stories of victory, loss, and general merriment.
Admir, the current patriarch of all wurdulacs, was highly respected around these parts. As such, I could at least count on him to see to it that I didn’t encounter any trouble during my visit.
Wurdulacs, while not rare per se, were a breed that tended to procreate selectively. Unlike how fictional stories in the human world painted the picture of bloodsuckers, this particular brand of toothy individuals preferred to keep their ancestry lines close-knit in familial units. How consanguineous of them.
The mere fact that Admir was willing to assist me in uncovering information to assist with our jumper demon problem was a telltale sign of respect. Of course, I may have promised him a few freebie illusions of lost loved ones in exchange for his underlings to listen to the whispered rumblings of our dark world.
My hazel eyes scanned the crowd, searching for any sign of Admir amongst the hordes of beings here.
The rich tone of a voice bearing a smoothness akin to silk spoke up from behind me, “Look what the hellhounds dragged in, a trickster demon who is his own imaginary friend.”
A smile stretched wide across my face. I turned around with my arms flinging open in a welcoming gesture as my cane carelessly smacked into a goat-headed demon’s horns.
“Addy!” I greeted him by the nickname he despised more than sunlight.
Seeing the disgruntled goat man turning to face me with a bleat and a beady-eyed glare, Admir lifted his hand and waved him off.
“How many times must I tell you that I loathe that name? I am a cultured demon of a prestigious lineage,” he stated wearily.
With a spin of my cane, I tucked it under my arm, and my hand kept a solid grip on it in the event any of the other occupants decided to get rowdy.
“But it suits you so well, my friend,” I smirked knowingly at him.
Admir stepped forward, and we grasped each other’s forearms in a firm greeting. He patted the side of my arm before he motioned to a small table in the corner with a gilded plaque that bore his name in elegant script.
“Let’s talk, shall we?” His tone held nothing but professionalism.
He led me over to the table, where I spun a chair out for myself and straddled it backwards. I stood my cane up next to me, using my powers to maintain its upright position.
I stared at him expectantly, everything inside me on edge as I waited to hear what he had discovered through his grapevine of miscreants.
The aristocratic bloodsucker across from me undid the buttons of his expensive black suit jacket as he sat back in his seat. Maintaining strict control over his facial expressions, he ran a hand down over the dark-as-night goatee surrounding his mouth.
“I wish I had called you here with better news, Rook,” he began. “Regretfully, my sources have informed me that indeed your saliranimum problem is as you suspect. Nicodemus is very much alive, and from what I am hearing, his,” he paused to select his next word carefully, “ aspirations are much larger than rekindling a fondness for your dark-feathered angel.”
Leaning forward, I crossed my arms on top of the back of the chair I was seated on.
“Larger in what regard?” I perked up my pierced brow at him.
With his palms upward, he gave a subtle gesture with open palms and a slight shrug of his shoulders, indicating he didn’t fucking know.
“Just peachy keen,” I grumbled under my breath.
The red tint of Admir’s eyes, like blood floating in pools of ink, scanned our surroundings. After several passes of observing those around us, he finally looked back at me.
“Rook, I didn’t just ask you to come here to give you information that you already had a hunch was true. I want to offer you a job. It would be the chance of an eternity.” His voice dripped with the promise of an exclusive opportunity.
I couldn’t recall the last time anybody wanted to hire me other than Kinley. So, color me a dandelion and pluck my petals.
“I’m listening,” I responded with an intrigued grin on my face.
Admir steepled his hands in front of him while he spoke. “I don’t think it’s any surprise that your abilities and talents are not the most highly thought of amongst certain powers in our community.”
His eyes held a bit of empathy as he spoke the truth. Often, tricksters didn’t hold the same clout as others. We weren’t considered scary enough on the demonic scale of horrification. Said scale ranged from one, merely invoking mild anxiety, to the other end of the spectrum at a ten, the petrifying notion that not even death could halt your terror.
“I believe you deserve more respect and should no longer be forsaken. I can assist you in rising up and reclaiming the wicked force you are meant to be.”
He crafted quite the pitch to me, but everybody knew the devil was in the details.
Nodding as I entertained his notion, I idly played with the rings on my fingers.
“Go on,” I encouraged him.
A pleased smile crossed his thin lips that I was willing to listen.
“Illusions of the mind can be a powerful thing, but neither of us are fools. Your tricks on negligible humans hardly do your skills any justice.” He reached into his jacket’s interior pocket and pulled out a valuable gem only found in the Fourth Circle. It glimmered even in the dimly lit space we sat in.
The ultra-rare stone was a color that I could only describe as the texture of cotton and the sound of a hawk’s sneeze. Humans would never be able to lay their faulty eyes on it, given their lack of seeing the full spectrum of colors the universe had to offer.
This particular gemstone would make the diamond Rose dropped into the ocean at the end of the movie Titanic look as valuable as the flies surrounding a pile of elephant shit.
“Proposing so soon, Addy? I had expected something with a little more grandeur and a four string quartet,” I smirked at him.
Amusement with a hint of irritation passed through his sharp features before he bantered back. “I know a good thing when I see it, Rook. You would be a valuable partner in providing your visions to comrades of mine who have found themselves misguided.”
There it was—the truth. Admir wished for me to torment his enemies. I wasn’t opposed to the concept, but my powers did have their limitations.
“A very generous offer indeed. However, as you may be aware, imparting my illusions on any non-human entity takes a hefty amount of energy from my batteries. It is not something to be called upon frequently.” The last thing I wanted to do was to be drained and useless from overextending myself, leaving me vulnerable.
A light chuckle escaped Admir’s lips. “You wouldn’t have to worry about that; you would only be summoned in limited scenarios. You’d be my specialist, if you will.”
While tucking the gem back into his jacket, he added, “Think about it, Rook. I don’t need an answer right away. I know you have your hands full with this little saliranimum problem of yours.”
Before I could further the discussion, I felt vibrations in my pocket, the sound of my ringtone getting lost in the loud atmosphere of this demonic watering hole.
I dug my phone out of my pocket. Glancing down, I saw Atlassian’s name on the screen.
There was something in my otherworldly senses niggling at the back of my cerebrum. I loved a good chit-chat with my former brethren, but I sure as hell didn’t expect a phone call from him. Especially when he knew of my whereabouts and what had drawn me out of Kinley’s house in the first place.
“Excuse me, mate,” I said to Admir without sparing him a look.
Standing from my chair, I answered the call while holding it to my ear. “At-At, I know my charms are sorely missed, but?—”
His words cut me off with an urgent and perhaps desperate tone. “You need to get back here now.”
I immediately ditched all my typical playfulness. “What’s happened?”
“ She’s… ” He sounded like he was at a loss for words. “ Just get back here. ”
In the background, I heard Sylas shouting his stern two cents for me to stop dicking around.
“On my way,” I responded swiftly and ended the call without further ado.
I reached out for my cane, and it snapped into my grasp from its position next to the chair like a magnet to my palm. I spun between my fingers until it vanished into the ether.
Stuffing my phone into my pocket, I looked at my wurdulac associate. “I’m afraid I have to cut this short. If your loyal eyes and ears come across anything more, let me know right away.”
“I won’t hesitate a breath, my friend, so long as you uphold your end of our deal,” he warned.
If Admir wanted a handful of my tricks to relive his glory days, I would blast them on repeat for him for eternity if I had to. Keeping Kinley safe was the only thing that mattered.
After tapping into my connection with my beautifully turbulent fallen angel, I returned to the home I shared with her. My ability to pinpoint her precise location worked perhaps a little too well as I found myself about to be struck with an umbrella.
My eyes widened in surprise. “Aye, love!”
I wasn’t the only one caught off guard; Kinley’s wild eyes also mirrored my shock. There was a brief moment of hesitation as the umbrella wavered above her head.
There was a misguided notion of hope when she lowered it so that it was no longer being wielded threateningly. That was until she swung it like a golf club, and it rang the bell between my legs.
Instant. Fucking. Death. Or at least it felt like it.
Dropping to my knees, I cradled my sensitive jelly pouch that had just been brutally assaulted by raingear. The sound of the void itself came out of my mouth as my eyes crossed.
Somewhere in the room with me, I was acutely aware of Sy and Atlas from their own pained gasps from merely witnessing the blitzing on my balls.
I love this woman. I love this woman. I love this woman.
It was the only thought I could bear over the roaring of my intense agony. Demonic family jewels may be sturdier than the average human, but they weren’t made of brick either.
Barely managing a look at her, Kinley dropped the weapon in the form of an umbrella and covered her ears with her hands.
“Shut up! Shut up! You filthy little flowers! Nobody asked you!” She shouted her demands at someone or something while her eyes squeezed shut.
With a groan and a stumble, I managed to get onto my feet. Both of the other guys took pity on me and assisted by each grabbing an arm. The fact that I had Sy’s pity was telling in and of itself.
My hand cupped myself at the crotch of my jeans, reassuring my balls that everything would be okay—I hoped.
Swallowing hard, I looked around the room. It looked like how my balls felt.
“What in the bloody hell happened here?” I asked the obvious question.
It was Sy who offered up an explanation. “We aren’t entirely sure, but we’re going with the obvious culprit of choice.”
Nico, the fucking leaping lizard I’d like to stomp with my boot.
Atlas added, “The front door was left open. The only thing I could ascertain is that the asshole got his hands on a key during one of his possessions.”
A growl formed deep in my chest. This place was no longer the safe haven we thought it was, and that pissed me off on our girl’s saner behalf.
My eyes followed Kinley’s pacing figure as she continued to speak in tongues and clamp her hands down over her ears.
“She won’t listen to reason,” Sy whispered to me as though he was concerned her mind’s demented voices would hear him. “I can’t even get close enough to her to try and calm her down.”
Never taking my eyes off of Kinley, I knew exactly what needed to be done here.
“We need to get her out of here. I have a place, a plan, and sandwiches.”
I could hear the skepticism in Atlas’s voice as he spoke. “I don’t think she’s going to go anywhere with us willingly.”
Gritting my teeth, I rolled up my sleeves.
“Leave that part to me.”