Page 81 of Demon's Bluff
Elyse sat down, silent as she sipped what appeared to be a blond mocha. “She took Scott’s circle as if it was nothing,” she said, her expression heavy with disbelief, laced with fear. “She almost had him—if it hadn’t been for those memory curses, she would have.”
Illegal memory curses are okay when they save your career, eh?“Yep,” I said. “Demons are stronger than coven once you get them out of a circle. And it’s only that summoning curse that keeps them in one. They can wield more power than anyone except the elven Goddess.”Or an elf petitioning for her help.But no right-minded elf ever would, seeing as nothing good happened when a Goddess took an interest in your life.
Elyse scuffed her chair closer and put her elbows on the table. “All the more reason for you to join with us. Help us grow. Become as powerful as them.”
Are you serious?“Sure.” I took the lid off my cup to add some sugar. “You got a thousand years or so? The demons became strong by fighting a losing war. Personally, I’d rather get my wisdom from the library. Slower, but a lot less destructive.”
Elyse fiddled with her coffee’s sleeve. “The elves beat them? Elves are stronger than demons?” she said, her doubt obvious.
“Not anymore. If ever. They relied a lot on the Goddess, and the Goddess is seldom accommodating unless she sees a chance to make mischief.”
Elyse pushed back.“Pffffft,”she said insultingly, and my focus sharpened on her.
“She’s real,” I said.
“Yeah. Okay.”
I dumped the two packets of sugar into my coffee, debating the wisdom of arguing with her. “Believe what you want. But you just met her.”
Elyse thought a moment. “Thatwas the Goddess? Newt?”
I stirred my coffee, missing Jenks for some reason. “Not yet, but she will be. When the mystics become aware of, ah, intelligent mass, Newt will be the vessel that they pour their collective visions into to understand.” Newt had saved my life, and I took a sip, smiling as the rich, and now sweet, coffee slipped down. “If you thought she was erratic now…”
Elyse chuckled as she sipped her almost white drink. “Thank you.”
I set my cup down, surprised. “For what, exactly?”
Her gaze flicked to me and away. “For not letting Newt abduct me. Or Scott. For erasing his memory that I was here dealing with demons. Talk about awkward.”
A sigh escaped me. If I had let Newt take one of them, I might be on my way home by now with a mirror instead of a riddle. “You’re welcome,” I said, but it sounded grudgingly given, even to me.
“I, ah, don’t worry about those memory curses. It was in the service of the coven. You’re good,” she added, and my attention sharpened on her.
I’m good as long as it is to their benefit? Double standards suck.“Yeah? How about dropping that inane demand that I become a coven member and give you my demon books?” I hunched over my coffee like a bird over prey. “That would be really helpful.”
“I’m thinking about it,” she said, and my gaze came up in suspicion.
“If it means we can get a stasis curse and go home right now, huh?” I prompted, and suddenly she couldn’t look at me. Leaving now meant abandoning Brad to a slow slide into nothing, and she knew it. Newt had given me a riddle, not an answer.
“We don’t belong here,” she finally said.
“We used to.” I sipped my drink, actually considering for a moment what she wanted. “No. Even if you could convince the rest to go along with it, I’m not leaving until I get an answer about that mirror. Not for you, but for Brad. I made a mistake. I’m fixing it.”
Lips pressed together in annoyance, Elyse pushed back into the chair until it came up on two legs. “You don’t have to prove to me you’re a good person. I’m kind of over that.”
Coffee in hand, I stared past her at the night. “That’s nice.”
“You have to let Kisten go.”
“This isn’t about Kisten,” I snapped, frustrated. I had unwittingly convinced him to return to that boat and let that butcher of an undead vampire kill him because he thought his death made me abetter person. How was I supposed to live with that? Face Ivy knowing it?What if he hadn’t succumbed to Art and I had just left him there to die in the sun? Art lasted three days in the dark.
“Rachel.” Her voice was soft. “You can’t save him. When an undead bites another undead, both die. Always. They can’t feed if they aren’t awake, and once the aura they take in with a donor’s blood is gone, their mind realizes they are dead and the body dies.”
“You don’t think I know that?” I said, voice hard. “Shut. Up.”
“Sorry.” She sipped her drink, eyes on the night.
Yeah, that’s what she said, but what I heard was,Why can’t we leave?