“WELL, IF IT ISN’T Arsen,” Uden, the demon owner and bartender of the Mermaid Pub greets me with his sly, serpent-like smile. “What brings you my way? Information no doubt.”
I push away the questionable looking martini he tried giving to me when I first got here. There are times I enjoy alcohol, but it has to taste appealing. The fact I can’t get drunk off the stuff puts me off at times. I envy the easy escape mortals can take from it.
“I can’t find Helena,” I say.
“I can’t help you with that. You’d know where she is better than I would. She likes you.”
I growl. “Like” is not the word I would choose.
He ignores me and shines a glass obsessively. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him at a time when he isn’t cleaning something. He noticed me watching him once and said he did it because it was the only way to fight off the urge to kill. Keeping busy, that is. He’s lived in Terra for hundreds of years without trouble because he’s smart and has learned the art of patience. He says it’s worth it. Patience isn’t a bad trade-off when you get to live like he does. He buys and sells information and he leads unfortunate souls to their deaths on the east coast of the United States. His pub isn’t exactly inviting either. He’s located out in the middle of nowhere for a reason. The people who come to him are people that won’t be missed.
“I’m asking if you’ve heard anything. I need a lead,” I mutter. I rest my elbow on his spotless counter and rest my chin in my hand.
“Trying to use the second best-informed demon in Terra to find the first, huh? I still can’t help you. I just don’t know where she is.” He turns around and drums on the polished wood of the counter with his black nails. “What happened to the foxy one you always have with you?”
I jerk my hand behind me. Uden follows my gesture to Yuki, sitting at one of the tables with a couple of lowlife’s that found their way into the pub. She’s tormenting them, entertaining herself for the moment, while I try in vain to search for clues about Helena’s whereabouts.
Uden hums contentedly. “She’s the only reason I ever let you in here.”
“I know.”
“And yet you don’t care.”
“You can look. Envy all you like, but you can’t touch what’s mine,” I threaten.
“What if she left you of her own volition? What if she sided with me instead of you, famous son of a famous demon?”
I don’t like the way he’s looking at me, like he can see right through me. His too-pale gray eyes make him look blind, but he sees more than most. My hackles rise and my beast tells me to rip out his throat.
“Relax, son of Maelstrom. I only jest. I’m not in the habit of making enemies. It’s too easy to die that way. No, I deal only in information. While I don’t have the information you seek, I have heard something recently you might be interested in.”
“If it doesn’t have anything to do with the witch, I’m sure I’m not.”
“Ah, but it’s usually cause for concern when a natural demon gets killed here in Terra. There aren’t that many of us here, after all. Terra may be crawling with demons, but they’re of the mortal variety, the made variety. Mostly.”
“Who and how?”
“Exones.”
“The young idiot who surfaces every few years to level a city? I’m amazed he’s managed to live this long. It’s about time someone got to him. He was always painting a target on his back, doing things like that. He even allowed his beast full control in those instances. He didn’t give a damn. The careless get killed.”
“It was a group of mortals that killed him. Hunters.”
“Hunters? That’s even more pathetic than being taken out by angels, not that there have been any angels around lately.”
“Indeed.” Uden leans against his counter, giving me his full attention instead of busying himself with cleaning. “Not many natural demons have ever been killed by mortal hands. In fact, I dare say I’ve never heard of such an instance my whole time living in Terra.”
My thoughts flash to Tasia and the hunter group she’s with. Please, tell me it’s not her hunters that killed Exones. He may have been stupid, but he always attracted hordes of made demons ever since he started leveling towns. Made demons looked forward to his frenzies to feed on his leftovers. They won’t take kindly to his demise. Then there’s his twin sister.
“What hunters?” I ask.
“Hunters based in Pennsylvania,” Uden remarks. “The demon chatter I’ve been hearing won’t shut up about them. It seems Solanis is going to lead an attack on their base herself. I have a feeling that hunter stronghold in Philadelphia won’t be there for much longer.” His lips curve upward into an amused smile. “Oh, how I’d love to see the destruction.”
I stand up and smack my hands onto the counter before I even realize I’m doing it. My teeth are bared and anger is surging through my body like fire. My beast is clawing at my insides. It insists I go back to Philadelphia. I can’t allow Tasia to die.
“What’s gotten into you?” Uden asks as he leans closer to me.
“I’d back up unless you want to lose your head,” I tell him.
He complies, but his too-interested gaze doesn’t waver.
“Yuki,” I announce, “we’re leaving.”
Yuki and I steal a car to get back to Philadelphia. It beats walking. We ditch it once we arrive in the city. For long distances, cars are lovely contraptions. For navigating the city, they’re rather inconvenient compared to our own speed and agility on foot.
It only takes about an hour and a half to get to Philadelphia from the Mermaid Pub in Cape May, New Jersey. We arrive in the dead of night, the time when you can hear demons and evil out and about even if you don’t want to. That’s just a fact. The night brings out the worst in the world. Whoever said not to be afraid of the dark is full of shit. You should be afraid of the dark. You should be very afraid.
My keen ears pick up the kind of whispering that catches my attention.
“We know where the base is. No one’s ever entered it because it’s fortified, but if we all teem together, we can get rid of them once and for all,” a feminine voice says in a hushed and urgent tone.
“And that’s why everyone’s been going around talking about this? We’re actually going to work together on something?” a male’s voice replies, almost mockingly.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but the only time I ever got to gorge on food was when Exones leveled a town. He made it possible for me to live without having to cause a scene myself—most of the time. It was always safer that way. It’s not just that, though. These hunters have gotten out of hand. The fact that they could kill him doesn’t bode well for any of us. A stranger came into town recently, too, calling herself Solanis. She says she’s Exones’s sister. That means she must be strong. We can do it. We can get rid of these damn hunters if we have one of them on our side.”
“Fine,” the male says. “When’s the big night?”
“Tomorrow.”
It seems I’m not even going to have to force anyone to give me the information I want.
“Arsen?” Yuki questions when I still haven’t moved from the icy street corner. “What are you going to do?”
She heard everything I did, and now she seems worried. She probably should be.
“That girl isn’t your responsibility,” she continues. “In fact, if you let this happen, things would work out better for you. She’ll be gone and you’ll be able to move on. You won’t be a prisoner any longer.”
“I’m not a prisoner,” I growl, though I manage to keep my voice low. “Do you see angel shackles on me? I’m still walking free, aren’t I?”
She purses her lips. We both know I’m just making excuses.
Damn it.
I speed across an empty road. I want to know that tomorrow, Thursday, is for sure the night they plan to attack. I can’t say what I’m going to do until I know that for a fact. It’s clear what Yuki wants. She wants it so badly my logician tells me there’s a high chance she’ll betray me for it, but my beast argues that will never happen because, despite what she wants, she values my words above everything else. If I tell her not to do something, she won’t do it.
Yuki keeps a few paces behind me, and I keep my ears open. I hear more whispers from demons all around, more demons than there were last time I was in Philadelphia. Much more. They’re all having the same kinds of conversations, and they all speak of the same date. Tomorrow night.
Fine. So I have my answer, but now what am I supposed to do about it? My beast insists the answer to that question is obvious: I go on that same night to protect Tasia. I can’t allow her to die. But my logician contends that notion. My logician reasons that would only pit me against every other demon here, and Tasia is being watched by angels. Damn them. Damn them all.
“Yuki, you should leave,” I say.
“What for?”
“I want you to leave.”
“Forever?”
“A couple days.”
“You don’t want me to be around when you’re risking your life protecting that girl,” she jabs. She’s angry.
I let her anger slide as I reply, “It won’t be a risk for me.”
“Making decisions like that and isolating yourself, you’ll end up just like Exones.”
I stop walking abruptly and snarl. “Are you going to disobey me?”
“Are you going to make me leave?”
I feel my demon aura intensify, more than it normally would in the physical manifestation of my logician. “If you won’t listen, yes, I’ll make you.”
She regards me with steely eyes. “As you wish.” She turns away from me and disappears into the night.
Since I can sense her individual aura, she knows there’s no chance of her being able to sneak up on me. She won’t disobey me, no matter how much she wants to. I’d say that’s the way it’s supposed to be, but there’s a magnificent flaw in that logic. Yuki doesn’t follow my orders because I own her. I gave up that claim on her many years ago. No, she listens solely because she’s in love with me, but that also makes her unpredictable. It’s never been a problem until now. Our interests have always more or less aligned. However, if she were to kill Tasia, I’m not sure I’d be able to keep my beast’s rage in check. Yuki has been my one ally throughout all of this. If I can help it, I’d rather not make her my enemy.