Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
At that moment, the waitress appeared with our meal. After she left, I turned to Ezerian.
“What do you mean, Brim Fire is aiming toward loosing the Elder Gallara here? I thought they were aimed toward bringing you in to take over Seattle.” I needed to contact Seton and I needed to talk to him right away. I thought about pleading a stomachache, so I could go home and call a meeting.
“Me? The Arosiens have no desire to take control of your city, Kyann. However, Brim Fire has delusions of grandeur, if you haven’t already figured that out,” Vaurice said.
“They truly believe that if they summon the children of chaos, that the Elder Gallara will be so grateful they’ll make the members of the group their nobility over the rest of humanity. ”
“That’s just stupid,” I said. “They’re arrogant beyond the pale.”
“You don’t have to tell us that,” Vaurice said. “We may be demons but even we recognize how incredibly dangerous that arrogance is.”
“The Elder Gallara are sleeping in their home of El’ishemach, and none of us want to deal with what will happen should they awake.
They have no concept of the modern world, nor the current state of the realms. They’ll come riding in on lightning and fire, and they won’t stop.
They’ll spread out like a plague of locusts, destroying everyone and everything in their way, through as many realms as they can.
” Ezerian clenched his jaw, a grim look on his face.
A mild panic began to spiral through me, knotting my stomach.
“We’ve had some dealings with Brim Fire.
We stumbled into them on a case earlier this year, and since then, they’ve been popping up more frequently.
That they’re chaotic, is apparent.” Even though I didn’t like the fact that my father wanted to establish a stronghold here at the expense of the vampires, since the Arosiens appeared to dislike Brim Fire and since Brim Fire was going for the ultimate fail, the latter danger was far greater than the former.
After a moment, my father pointed toward my plate. “Eat. In our clan, we don’t waste anything. So, would you like to know more about your heritage?”
I nodded, spearing a slice of steak with my fork. “I’ve read up on our clan, but there wasn’t a lot that I could find. Actually, can I even claim to be part of the Arosien Clan? I’m not even sure since I’m half-human.” I found myself actually hoping for a ‘yes’.
“I believe so.” Vaurice sent me a smoldering look. “Although, as I said before, we could never marry, given your lineage—”
“Dude,” I sputtered. “Walk softly on that subject. You’re my freaking brother. Half-brother, but still, brother. We could never marry because it’s just…Eww.” I found myself at a loss for words, but then realized he was goading me again. “Funny. Real funny.”
“You’re too old to say eww,” Vaurice snarked. He laughed. “I just like watching your reaction. You’re so easy to trigger, and that amuses me.”
“And you’re too old to enjoy being an asshole,” I shot back.
“Never too old for that,” Vaurice said, winking.
“Stop, the both of you,” Ezerian said. He turned to my brother, his voice hard. “She isn’t laughing. And you’re not so old that I can’t box your ears.”
I blinked. That my father actually defended me was a surprise.
And the use of a term like ‘box your ears’ seemed oddly anachronistic, but the tone in my father’s voice made it clear he was serious.
Of course, he was probably hundreds of years old, if not older, so what was old-fashioned to me, was likely new-fangled slang to him.
“Sorry,” Vaurice said. He shook his head, tossing his hair over one shoulder.
Silky and thick, his hair was a startling pastel lavender.
He winked at me, and I frowned, turning away.
I didn’t want to admit how handsome my brother was.
And I sure as hell didn’t want him to ever know that I thought so.
I felt sorry for any human he turned his charm on.
Come to think of it, my father was handsome, as well.
Apparently, our family was blessed with good genes.
Ezerian turned back to me. “The Arosiens are among the most powerful demons in the UnderRealms. We’re at the top of the hierarchy, and every other member of the Demonkin Race holds us in respect.
Well, except for the Suboni. In case you’re not familiar with the term, that’s what we call the lower demonic creatures.
They look up to no one. They’d actually fare well under the Elder Gallara, because they’re used to the powerful using the weak. ”
“So the Suboni are less powerful than the rest of Demonkin?” I asked. The more I found out, the better.
“Not necessarily. Some are weaker. Some are infinitely more powerful. However, they have absolutely no code of honor. They’re the ones that most humans think of when they use the term demon.
Like the creatures out of the Exorcist, or the Omen.
Most of the great Demonkin Clans are ruthless, yes, but we aren’t chaos incarnate. ” My father pushed his plate back.
“So, you’re a demon lord. Does that make you a king or something like that?” While I had the chance, I wanted to dig for as much knowledge as possible.
“Not a king, no. But yes, I’m one of the most powerful demon lords in the realm.
” Ezerian held my gaze. “You should be proud of your heritage. The Arosiens are among the uppermost nobility. You come from royalty, Kyann. Although, and in this your brother is correct, you would never be allowed to ascend to power in the UnderRealms. Not unless you chose to undergo the ritual to erase the human side of yourself.”
I stiffened. Seton hadn’t mentioned this as a possibility. “That’s possible? To eradicate a side of myself?”
“Yes, it is. There are ways to allow your demon side to take over and push out the human part of you.” He held my gaze.
My stomach lurched. Was he going to ask me to change? To let go of my mother’s blood? But he said nothing, just continued to look at me, and I couldn’t figure out what he was thinking.
In fact, my father was proving to be unreadable. He could be lying through his teeth and I wouldn’t be able to tell. I sat there for a moment, digesting the knowledge that—if I wanted to—I could fully take my father’s heritage.
The thought scared the hell out of me, and yet…and yet…to not be torn in half? To embrace my nature rather than fear it? I didn’t want to admit it, but a part of me kept thinking how easy it would be to just give in. To feel whole for once.
I pushed my plate away and finally asked, “What are the UnderRealms like?”
Vaurice sighed. “Well, they aren’t all flame and brimstone, like so many humans believe.”
Ezerian ignored him. “We have cities, and countrysides. And there are war torn lands, as well. But things are different there. We have our own variants of technology, and pockets of magic. But the main difference is that in the UnderRealms, life is harder. Less forgiving.”
“Are there humans there?” I asked.
“A few—some slaves, and some who crossed over by choice. They have their place.” Ezerian brought out his wallet and left two twenties on the table as a tip. “I want to meet your team. Since you’re working with us, we have to meet them—formally.”
That was going to be a problem, given we weren’t really working with him. But I couldn’t say anything. And given what he’d said about the Elder Gallara, we were going to have to reconsider our approach and goals in the matter.
“I need to ask you a question,” I said. “Why do you hate vampires so much?”
Ezerian shrugged. “I don’t, but they’re in the way and they don’t fancy working with us. So, they need to either move, or we’ll force our hand. We need to utilize the Underground in order to set up our operations.” He paused, then said, “The mayor agrees with me.”
“The mayor…of…?” It didn’t seem likely that Saturn had made any such agreement.
“Seattle. We tried approaching the Washington State Governance Council, and they weren’t amenable to our presence.
However, after presenting the evidence to Mayor Bixby, he understood the greater threat.
So, we’re working with him—covertly—because he understands what the future looks like if the Elder Gallara are allowed entrance.
We’re also working with other cities, in other countries.
Brim Fire is a worldwide organization and so we have to act on a worldwide basis. ”
That caught me short. The demons were involved across the world? Either this was the greatest sham they had ever pulled, or the world was in serious danger.
“I’d like to ask you to ease up on the vamps.
I know the mayor of Underground Seattle, and he deserves more respect.
Trust me, we can bring them around, if you don’t come down so heavy-handed.
” If I could buy Saturn some time, we could convince more of the vamps to relocate and possibly prevent a nasty little war right here.
His nostrils flaring, Ezerian shrugged. “If it makes you happy, then I’ll take some of the pressure off. But only if they agree to relocate.”
“I’ll work on it. I do have one other question,” I said.
“And what is that?” Ezerian asked.
“Why did you pick my mother? How did you meet her? She never told me anything about you and I’d like to know how I came to be.
” Until now, I’d never expected to find an answer to the question that had haunted me since I was young.
My mother had given me the barest of answers, and she died before I could insist. “I thought you might be an incubus, like Vaurice.”
Ezerian shook his head. He stayed quiet for a few moments. I thought he wasn’t going to answer, but then he sighed.