Chapter 26
Diavola waits patiently in the doorway to our Paris headquarters. Not because she needs to be invited in, but because she’s trying to be polite. Which is hilarious coming from a century-old, invulnerable revenant who could kill us all without even trying.
Maher points in her direction, his eyebrows drawn low. “You can’t recruit without telling us.”
“We should have had a meeting about this.” Inge pulls out one of her many lists and scratches something out with an annoyed frown. I wonder what she had planned that Diavola’s presence here eliminates.
“I agree,” I say. “I didn’t anticipate this or keep it secret; I brought her directly here so we could discuss it together. If you don’t want to work with her, we won’t. It’s as simple as that.”
Maher’s shoulders relax a little. He still looks angry, but also confused. He keeps glancing at Diavola. I wonder what he sees. Inge keeps her back to Diavola and hasn’t looked at her once since opening the door.
“Why do you want to involve her?” Inge asks, pencil still out, poised to take notes.
“She solves several problems for us. She recognizes the Watcher—”
“Who?” Diavola asks politely.
“That’s what we call him,” Inge says, still not turning around. “It was too confusing referring to him as a devil, and also brought up religious questions none of us want to engage with. People die, he watches. The Watcher is as good a name as any.”
I don’t add that I won’t call him Diavolo, because it’s too close to her name. They aren’t the same, no matter what she says.
“I see,” Diavola says. “And I apologize for the interruption.”
Inge continues my point for me. “She recognizes the Watcher on sight, which eliminates much of the danger of the original plan. We don’t have to hope we realize it’s him before he harms us.
According to her account, she’s also immune to his influence, which means she can be the one to engage with him until he’s in the diving helmet and we’re sure he can’t manipulate us through it. ”
“And the downsides?” Maher prompts. “She’s a murderer. Maybe not the one we thought we were hunting, but she killed Anneke’s father when he failed her.”
“Betrayed her,” I correct. It’s an important distinction in this case.
Inge taps her pencil against the pad. “We have only her word that she’s trying to track and kill the Watcher. Though her word is supported by the fact that she saved Anneke’s life in München, and could easily have killed her at any point on Lesvos.”
“Or in Amsterdam. Or any of the other cities we’ve been in,” I add. “If she wanted us dead, we’d be dead.” I glance at Diavola.
“I don’t want any of you dead,” she says softly, but she looks directly at me and the words feel heavy with emotion.
Inge frowns. “She’s also cheated off our investigative work over the years, which I resent. But she never tried to take credit for it, so I suppose she’s better than some.”
Maher surprises me. “I don’t need to hear more. Dávid would say yes. And I’m saying yes, because I want to kill his murderer. I’ll take any advantage we can get, even if it’s her.”
Inge has been writing everything down. She reads over her list, then nods.
“Much like working with local detectives, Diavola’s presence is not ideal, but our goals align.
That’s worth a lot. It would be foolish to reject such a valuable resource.
” At last Inge turns and faces Diavola. There’s no confusion in Inge’s eyes as she takes in my tormentor.
This is the first time they’ve officially met, though, which might account for it.
Inge’s not trying to remember where she’s seen Diavola before, unlike poor Maher.
Diavola’s lips twitch into a smile. I’m seized with an irrational pang of jealousy that Inge got such an easy smile from her.
“Someone keeps secrets,” Diavola says in that velvet-night voice.
“Get out of her head!” I snap, furious. “No, that’s it. You can’t stay. If you’re going to—”
“I didn’t,” Diavola interrupts, her voice still smooth and calm.
“I wouldn’t sneak into your minds. I don’t need to, anyhow.
You all wear your secrets like those absurd layers of clothing.
It’s easy enough to see how you’ve constricted and bound yourselves in them.
Now, take me to your death chamber. I’ll start running tests.
” She steps inside, her flowing white dress billowing gently around her.
I look at Inge. She shrugs, a deliberately blank expression on her face like she’s wiped it clean so we won’t notice anything unusual. I note it to bring up later in private.
Maher sighs and points toward the narrow door hiding the cellar stairs. “Down that way. Unless you want to use the trapdoor.”
“Maybe later, if we’re bored,” Diavola says.
Maher shakes his head, but he’s trying to hold back a smile. No wonder she’s talked to him so many times. Doubtless she identified one of the things I like best about him—Maher loves women. He listens to them, he respects them, he views them as equals.
“How are you going to run tests?” Inge asks. “We don’t have him yet.”
“If it harms me, it will harm him.” This time her smile isn’t coy or subtle. It’s brutal. I want to tell her to stop. To wait. That we have time and there’s no reason to risk hurting herself.
But we don’t have time. His scent was all around that terrible disaster. He’s already here, which means he’s already hunting. And as bothered as I am by the idea that I might come down the stairs and find Diavola successful—which means dead and lost to me forever—isn’t that an ideal outcome?
It doesn’t feel like it, though.
“Take notes before you try things,” Inge says, apparently having the same thought but untroubled by the existential dread of imagining Diavola gone. “There’s a pad of paper and a pencil down there.”
With an elegant wave, Diavola enters the stairwell and closes the door behind herself.
“Can we trust her?” Maher idly scratches his sharp, stubbled jawline, his eyes on the door. “I mean, I know I can’t trust her, but I feel like I already do anyway. You two don’t seem as affected. Is it because I’m a man? I’m not even attracted to women, though.”
I know for a fact Diavola’s supernatural influence has nothing to do with whether or not one is attracted to her.
I’ve never told them that the immediate reaction I had upon seeing Diavola the first time was lust. Or about how often my dreams of her devolve into something far more carnal than violent.
We promised no secrets, but surely those things don’t count.
“I don’t know why I’m not affected. Did you feel anything, Inge? ”
Inge clears her throat. “It doesn’t matter whether or not we trust her, what matters is that she’s as motivated to finish this as we are. This is a good development, because with Diavola here, it frees me to patrol more.” She tilts her chin up, daring us to figure out a way to deny her that.
Maher and I share a single desperate look, each hoping the other can come up with an excuse to keep her here, but neither of us has anything.
“Good then,” Inge says. “I’ll look for an artist to make new flyers with our opening date to show off the latest revolutionary Lumière camera.
There should be any number of skilled artists with exhibits at the fair.
Anneke, you’re retrieving the fake prototype tomorrow and liaising with various detectives and forensic specialists.
Maher, you’re finding all the theaters and cinemas in the fair so we can begin interviewing them. ”
“I want to scope out the fair at night,” Maher says. “I’ll come with you.”
Inge sighs but allows us this indulgence. “Very well. Anneke, you should come, too. Make another appearance at the accident site in case different officers are there.”
I glance toward the cellar door. What is Diavola doing? Will any of it work? Will any of it hurt? I hate the idea of her down there alone, trying experiment after experiment to harm herself. Discovering the key to her own destruction.
This was a bad idea. I’ll take back my request and make Diavola leave. We can do this alone. We’re better off alone.
Inge laughs as Maher tries to help her with her jacket. He ends up getting her caught between the sleeves, half in and half out. They’re both so beautiful. They’re both so human. And next to them I can see exactly where Dávid would have stood, mocking them, love in his tone and his eyes.
I can’t lose Diavola, but I can’t lose Maher or Inge, either.
The last time I set a plan in motion intending to protect everyone I love, Dávid paid the price.
There’s no way for me to control any of this.
All I can do is try to finish it as quickly as possible in the hopes that we can outrun the devil himself.