Chapter Eleven #2
“He has your relic?” Yrian asked Desi, his voice tightly controlled, but I could feel the fire within him. I didn’t even wonder at that oddity; it was something else I set aside to think about later.
“I thought we decided that Bael used the blood moon to make the Tools,” Aisling said, now pressed closely to Drake, Jim at her side. I wondered about that. Why would the demon choose to be with what was technically its boss rather than with its very powerful parents?
“What tools?” Desi asked Aisling, frowning at her in a manner that had her taking a step back, while Drake took one forward, with Jim glancing worriedly between its parents and the green dragons.
“The Tools of Bael were three powerful items created by an alchemist mage several centuries ago.” Drake’s voice turned the same sort of gravelly that beset Yrian when he spoke of his evil brother.
“Drake actually had all three for a while, but Bael manipulated them away from us,” Aisling said, covertly drawing wards on Drake’s back, on her own, and, after turning to the side to block Jim, on it, as well. “So if he used your relic to make them, it’s long since been destroyed.”
“It can’t be destroyed any more than your dragon heart can,” Desi said, his eyes narrowed on Yrian. “Its power can be re-formed, however. Why are you here?”
I wanted to tell Desi a thing or two about manners, but reminded myself that I was a newcomer to the dragon world, and Yrian probably wouldn’t appreciate me lipping off for no reason other than being annoyed at yet another bossy demigod.
“Kashi.” It was only one word, but the emotion Yrian put into it had Desi’s eyebrows rising.
“You seek to destroy him?” Desi asked.
“Kashi? I remember him, too, although Desi always called him Bael.”
“He took that name when he embraced the dark power,” Yrian said, his voice low and rough.
“And he murdered your Life Mother, did he not?” Parisi asked him.
“Bael killed Iceni? The First Dragon’s mate?” Aisling looked astonished, her gaze slipping to Yrian for a few seconds. “I always wondered why the First Dragon stripped Bael of his dragonness, but now I can see why he did. Holy merde!”
“With the aid of our mother, yes,” Yrian answered before considering Desi. “You think Kashi has the blood moon with him?”
“He would be foolish to leave it,” Desi answered.
The two men stared at each for about ten seconds before Yrian nodded. “You wish for the return of your relic. What will you give the dragonkin for it?”
“Oh, for the love of Pete ...” Aisling had to bite off her objection at a sidelong look from her dragon. She leaned to me and whispered, “If you haven’t noticed by now, dragons love to bargain.”
“Peace,” Desi said. “If you fail to return it to us, then we will have no choice but to reclaim it however we can.”
“I mean ... you said when we rescued you, you were grateful for the dragons and the others. You can’t attack if you owe Ash and Drake and everyone else a debt,” Jim pointed out.
“It’s just not cool, and honestly, I don’t know how I’m going to hold up my head the next time I’m in Abaddon, and everyone knows that my own dad didn’t honor his word. ”
Desi’s lips thinned for a moment as he glared at Jim, but at a touch on his arm from Parisi, he sighed heavily, and said, “You are correct. We do owe a debt for your care, as well as aiding in my release, but I must have my blood moon back, or we will never be able to destroy the Court of Divine Blood.”
“My love,” Parisi said slowly, her expression thoughtful as she looked at Jim. “If we are unable to punish the Court for their actions until you have the blood moon—and Jim’s family is agreeable to returning it should they manage to destroy Bael—then perhaps we could turn our attentions elsewhere.”
“If Kashi still has your relic, we will discuss the terms of its return to you,” Yrian told Desi, but the latter was distracted by Jim’s mom.
“Of what do you speak? What could be as worthy of our time as the punishment of the Court for leaving me in the Thirteenth Hour, and you in the Beyond?”
Parisi smiled, but this time, I felt a chill grip me. “Did you not say that Abaddon was in disarray? Who better to put it to rights than the man who created it?”
Jim sucked in its breath at the same time everyone present froze. “Oh, man, that’s not gonna be good.”
“You wish for us to rule Abaddon?” Desi asked, his frown smoothing out until he almost looked happy. “The idea has much merit. It is obviously being mismanaged, and needs for us to take command of it, but this time, I will not give control of it over to others.”
“Who better to ensure the downfall of the Court than us?” Parisi asked, leaning forward to press a kiss to his cheek. “With your demon dog at our side, they will have no defense against us.”
“Aisling?” Jim’s voice rose as it pressed itself into her leg.
“No one is taking you away from us,” she said, and, to my amazement, moved forward to stand next to Drake.
“I get that you guys are pissed at people in the Court, but we’ve had the discussion about Jim remaining with us before.
It may be your child, and we’re happy for it to have a relationship with you, but there will be no talk of it being at your side unless that’s what it wants. ”
“I’m all over visiting you guys in Abaddon, because I’d give a lot of money to see what the premiere prince is going to say when you roll into town, but yeah, as Aisling says, I’m happy with her and Drake and the spawn,” Jim said.
Desi and Parisi exchanged looks.
“We did allow him to remain with the dragons last year,” Desi told her.
“I hate for you to miss your dog, but if you are agreeable to him visiting us in Abaddon, then I don’t see that it would be harmful,” she answered.
“Very well.” He eyed all of us. “We will renew the terms of our agreement for our son to reside in peace in the care of the green dragons, but only so long as you bring the blood moon to us.”
Drake started to protest, but Yrian gave a sharp nod. “I agree to your terms. In return for your relic, you will agree to not harm the dragonkin.”
“You have a knife?” Desi asked.
Yrian plucked one from the sideboard, and before I could ask him what he was going to do, he slashed his palm and handed the knife to Desi, who repeated the action. Then the two men clasped hands, clearly making a blood bond.
“That was intense,” I whispered to Yrian when Desi and Parisi, with a few hugs and words of farewell to Jim, headed out, escorted by Christian and Allie. No doubt the vampires wanted to make sure the obviously volatile pair were fully out of their hair. “Is your hand OK?”
“Of course.” He showed me his palm before pulling out his phone. “You must rehearse shortly, yes?”
I glanced at the clock. “Shit! Yes, and I need to eat or I won’t have the oomph later for the glamours.”
“I’m so confused,” Aisling complained as Drake hustled her out.
“Do you think Jim’s parents are going to involve us in their war against the Court?
Because we have enough on our plate as is.
It’s like we keep going from the frying pan to the fire.
... Good luck, Becket! Text us the results of the contest! ”
“The Dark Ones will guard you while I’m gone,” Yrian told me as I sat at the table and, as swiftly as I could without making a pig of myself, consumed my breakfast.
“OK, but where are you going? Are you looking for Candy and Andy?” I asked, feeling itchy, a sensation I put down to them being near. I could almost feel them amongst the crowds, hunting for me.
“No.” He had his phone in hand as he walked out the door. “I must see the First Dragon.”
I won’t say I didn’t have about a million questions for him, some of which included why he needed to talk to his dad, how we were going to get to the Duat, and how he expected me to help him there if I couldn’t create glamours, but instead of sending him copious texts, I thanked Allie and headed down to the festival grounds.
“Do you have all of your glamours made?” Skye paced past me an hour later.
We’d had a quick rehearsal and were back in one of the tents that had been turned over to us.
Since the competition was winding down, many of the bands had already left, but it was the weekend, and the crowds seemed to have grown exponentially.
I couldn’t help watching the streams of people as they milled around, and despite my contingent of vampire guards, my stomach felt tight and heavy.
“Yup, although maybe I should make a few extras. Does that person in the pink kerchief look like a demon to you?” I squinted against the sun, shading my eyes to watch a woman who I thought looked a bit suspicious.
“She looks fine to me, but I have only seen the one demon, and he looked normal, too,” Billie answered as she strolled over to where I peered around the edge of the tent at passersby heading for the main stage, which was being set up for the first band’s final set.
“You are so jumpy, Becket. You should meditate.”
“I’ve never been able to do that,” I said absently, my attention shifting to one of the vampires, who was patrolling the area behind the stage where we were resting. “But I do think I’ll make a few more glamours.”
“Just don’t get yourself electric,” Skye warned as I retreated to the back of the tent, where I could sit in peace and focus on crafting, not only a few more visual effects for our set, but also a couple of glamours for Yrian and me.
“I’ll discharge, don’t worry. I don’t want to electrocute myself when we’re onstage,” I answered, and spent a productive half hour crafting glamours, getting up to vigorously dance off the buildup of magic, and then returning to watch the crowd.