Chapter 23
The same thing we do every night
By the time Zach had been thoroughly greeted by the urco, the square had all but cleared out of demons. The few left behind were frozen in terror, cowering away from the massive hound.
“What the hell is that?” Tremblay demanded, looking at the urco with wide, fearful eyes.
“This is the urco that was hunting us,” Zach explained, sitting with the urco’s head on his lap, scratching behind its leathery ears.
“Is it safe to be doing that?” Cavendish asked, gesturing at the petting that was going on.
“Oh, yes,” Zach assured him. “Drew made friends with him, and Andras escaped on his back.” He looked at the urco and said, “So what in Lucifer’s name are you doing here?”
“I really need to meet this Drew guy,” Cavendish said, looking awed.
Tremblay huffed. “I’m sure Mr. Phillips’s exploits have been greatly exaggerated. I would be most surprised if he’s accomplished half as much as we’ve been told he has.”
Zach just rolled his eyes. There was just no point arguing with someone like Tremblay. He looked around the square. “We need to find someone who saw what happened.”
Kensington also scanned the square. “There’s a demon hiding behind that barrel in front of the inn,” he said. “Maybe they were a witness?”
“Worth a shot,” Zach agreed. He extricated himself from under the urco, ignoring the disgruntled growl when the petting stopped. “You stay here with these two,” he told the urco, pointing at Cavendish and Tremblay. “No need to scare the poor demon to death needlessly.”
Tremblay eyed him with suspicion. “Why are we staying here? What do you not want us to hear?”
“For fuck’s sake,” Zach muttered. “We’re just going to ask the demon what he saw. There’s nothing nefarious about it, Tremblay.”
“So why do we have to stay behind?”
“Because someone needs to look after the urco!”
“But why does it have to be us?”
Zach seriously considered what the ramifications would be if he fed Tremblay to the urco. Surely no jury would convict him, right? The man was a pain in the ass and would test the limits of anyone’s patience.
Kensington came to his rescue. “I’ll need to question the demon as well so I have some idea of the teleporting conditions.
You’re welcome to join us, but I would have thought that as Alastair’s mentor, you would wish to ensure his safety from such a ferocious beast.” He gestured down at the urco, who was now leaning against Zach’s leg, looking up at him with adoring eyes and soaking his pants with his drool.
Cavendish snorted at this, but then tried to disguise it as a cough when Tremblay turned to give him a withering look.
“Very well,” Tremblay gave in, not looking at all happy about it.
“Stay here,” Zach told the urco again, then he and Kensington crossed the empty square towards the inn. They picked their way over the splintered remains of the door towards the far corner where several barrels were resting.
The demon hiding there was relatively humanoid, with short, stubby horns, and hooved feet. They were quivering in fear, their face hidden in their hands.
“Hello, there,” Zach said gently.
The demon screamed, pushed backwards, hit the wall, rebounded against the barrel, and sent it crashing to the ground. “I don’t want to die!” they wailed, flailing their arms wildly in front of them.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Zach tried to assure them. “We’re not going to hurt you.”
“You’re going to feed me to your pet urco!” the demon cried, trying their best to scramble away from Zach.
“We just want to ask a few questions,” Kensington said. “Then you can go. We promise no harm will come to you.”
“I don’t want to be eaten!” the demon howled, blue tears pouring down their cheeks.
Zach dipped into his magic and reached out, grasping the demon’s shoulder. He whispered, “pax amice1,” and the demon immediately slumped as a wave of calm washed over them. “Feeling better?”
They took a deep breath. “Uh-huh,” the demon said.
“We’re looking for our friend,” Zach explained.
“I’m hoping you might have seen him.” Now was the tricky part.
Zach had no way of knowing what sort of glamour Drew would have used, or if he’d been able to do a glamour at all.
He’d never done one before, and as easy as they were once you knew how, there was a chance Drew wouldn’t have been able to figure it out.
If Zach went around asking about a human, he was going to draw way too much attention to themselves.
So he took a chance. He was still holding onto the demon’s shoulder, and he took the essence of Drew’s aura and projected it at the demon, asking, “Did you see my friend?” at the same time.
The demon’s eyes glazed over, and then they nodded. “Oh, he was at the inn! He taught me a dance. Eyyyy Macarena!” the demon sang.
One of Kensington’s eyebrows shot up at this, and he mouthed, “Drew was dancing?” But he didn’t interrupt.
“Do you know where he went?” Zach asked, trying to not let his mind run away with guesses and deductions.
The demon looked fearful once more. “He and his friend were taken,” they whispered.
“Taken?” Zach’s stomach roiled with worry. “Taken by whom?”
The demon’s eyes darted around the square, searching for danger. Eventually, they leaned in close and said quietly, “The Shadow Blades took him.”
Zach’s blood ran cold. And then the rest of what the demon said registered. “Wait, what do you mean by his friend? Who was with him?”
“Are you sure it was this Andras fellow?” Kensington asked Zach once they’d collected Cavendish, Tremblay, and the urco and were making their way back out of the settlement.
“He was clearly glamoured, but the description of his behaviour fits,” Zach said. He felt an odd mixture of relief for Drew having reunited with a semi-friendly face and also anxiety for Drew getting caught up in Andras’s trouble.
“So Drew is with another demon?” Cavendish asked, trying to get up to speed. Zach hadn’t been in the mood to go into details, needing to get out of town as fast as possible so they could start teleporting towards Lucifer’s palace.
Zach nodded his confirmation.
“And who exactly is this Andras fellow? I assume you know him from . . .” Cavendish waved his hand around awkwardly. “You know, your stay here.”
He couldn’t help but snicker. “You make it sound like a vacation. I can just picture my review on TripAdvisor now. ‘Very unwelcoming, terrible climate, not as advertised. One star, would not recommend.’”
Cavendish blushed and stammered, “Sorry, I uh, wasn’t sure how you describe it.”
Zach felt a little bad for being snarky with the kid and offered him a kind smile. “It’s okay. No offense taken. Andras is someone I knew while I was here. We ran into him yesterday—no, the day before. Fucked if I know. I’m getting the days mixed up now. Anyway, when I was here with Drew.”
“Can he be trusted?”
“Alastair, don’t be so na?ve,” Tremblay chided. “He’s a demon. Of course he can’t be trusted!”
“That’s not exactly true,” Zach disagreed. “He’s one of the better ones. We were loyal to one another during my time here, and I trust he won’t harm Drew.”
“Loyal?” Tremblay sneered. “Is that another word for ‘fucking?’”
“We were in a relationship, yes,” Zach said as evenly as he could manage.
“And you’d trust him with your current toy?” Tremblay barked out a derisive laugh. “Perhaps Alastair isn’t the only na?ve one among us.”
“You’re making assumptions based on preconceived prejudice against demons,” Zach snapped at him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, so keep your opinions to yourself.”
“Why would these Shadow Blade people have taken them?” Cavendish asked, attempting to play peacekeeper.
Zach tried not to wince. He’d hoped no one would ask that question, since the truth would only solidify Tremblay’s poor opinion of Andras.
Andras was no saint and Zach wanted to strangle him the majority of the time, but compared to Tremblay, he was definitely preferred company.
“He was recently at a gathering hosted by Lucifer and was accused of stealing a dagger.”
“And I assume that dagger is in his possession?” Tremblay said.
“Actually, it’s not,” Zach told him. Which was technically the truth, since Andras didn’t have it anymore.
“Regardless of why they were taken,” Kensington said, getting the conversation back to the point. “We need to follow them and retrieve Drew.”
“Saving this demon in the process, no doubt?” Tremblay said with a huff.
Kensington shrugged. “It may come to that. We’ll have to see what happens.”
“This all seems very convenient,” Tremblay accused.
“Convenient?” Zach snapped, the last thread of his patience snapping.
“What the fuck is convenient about all of this? My boyfriend has been captured by Lucifer, and I have no idea if he’s hurt or even still alive!
Now we need to try to find a way into Lucifer’s palace and either convince him to let Drew go or break him out somehow.
This is the least convenient scenario, so why not just speak plainly for once and say what you fucking mean! ”
Tremblay pulled himself up to his full height, which wasn’t as intimidating as he probably hoped it was. “Very well. How can we be sure this is not something you’ve orchestrated? I have reason to suspect you have ulterior motives for bringing us here.”
Zach simply stared at him for a long moment, speechless. Was this guy for real? How delusional did someone have to be to think his frantic search for Drew was anything but genuine? “Like what?” he asked, not even able to muster the energy to make it a demand.
“I believe you intend to collude with Lucifer to trap two of the most powerful magic users in existence—Kensington and Cavendish—and then channel their magic for your own heinous agenda.”
“And what would that be?” Zach asked, utterly bewildered.
“Isn’t it obvious? To take over the world!”
“Me and Lucifer?” Zach clarified. “Try to take over the world?”
“It was a cunning plan, but you didn’t count on me being here to foil it!” Tremblay crowed.
Zach was intrigued now. “So, in this scenario, which one is Lucifer? Pinky or The Brain?”
“Okay, I’m going to cut this off at the pass,” Kensington announced, stepping in between the two of them.
He looked thunderous. “Tremblay, that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard some real doozies.
First of all, neither Alastair nor myself are anywhere close to being the most powerful magic users on Earth.
Secondly, you would need more than just the two of us to even attempt to do what you’re saying.
Thirdly, Zachariel is the least power-hungry person I’ve ever met, and your accusation is laughable.
Your accusations are entirely baseless and are accomplishing nothing but delaying our rescue mission.
I suggest you keep your mouth shut and toe the line from now on, or I will not hesitate to leave you behind when we return home. ”
Tremblay gasped. “You wouldn’t!”
“Try me,” Kensington bit out. Then he turned his back on the sorcerer, dismissing him entirely. “We’re far enough away now to teleport safely. “Let’s go get our boy.”
1. 'Peace, friend'