Redemption Song (Daniel Faust #2)(54)

I held up the scroll and the bottle.

“Thank you for lunch, Naavarasi. Pleasure doing business with you.”

I took the velvet bag, too. Just like she knew I would. The rakshasi might not be a demon in the traditional sense, but she had the temptation part down pat.

What could it hurt?





Twenty-Seven

About an hour out of Denver my stomach started growling, so I pulled into a drive-through, ordered a cheeseburger meal, and found a shady spot to park and eat. As long as I was in Prince Malphas’s territory, I felt safer in my car than out in the open. Barring a quick fill-up or two, I aimed to tackle the rest of the trip without stopping until I hit the Nevada state line.

Despite her official rank in the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers, Naavarasi was right when she said we were birds of a feather. I’d just handed a political boon to a relative outsider, which meant Malphas’s loyal cronies might not be feeling too kindly toward me right now. There was also the chance that the rakshasi might waylay me on the road to bust our deal and take de Rais’s soul back, but I didn’t count that as a worry. She’d been earnest, in her way. Her offer to recruit me was as genuine as they came.

Then there was the fact that she’d been keeping tabs on me for years, and I’d only found out she existed a couple of days ago. She had personal details about my relationships that only my close friends should have known.

“So you’ve got a stalker,” I said to my reflection in the rearview mirror. “And she eats people. Great.”

I unwrapped my burger and took a bite. It tasted like cardboard and ashes. I thought back to the taste of Naavarasi’s dish, the succulent meat, the perfect, almost overwhelming blend of spices.

For a second, just a second, I wanted to turn the car around and drive back to Denver. I shut my eyes and rested my forehead against the cool, hard steering wheel until the moment passed. Then I forced down my burger and fries, trying to remind myself what food was supposed to taste like.

I got back on the road. I even managed a smile. For the first time in days, things were starting to turn my way. With Gilles de Rais out of the picture, Lauren’s plans for the Enclave would grind to a standstill. That also meant she had no reason to get into bed with Sullivan and the Redemption Choir.

Now to brace for the blowback. In my experience, not even high school students gossip like demons do. One way or another, Lauren and Sullivan would find out what I’d done, and when they did they’d come for Gilles de Rais. Lauren, because she needed him, and Sullivan, because he could trade the bottled soul to Lauren in exchange for the Ring of Solomon. That little glass bottle had just become the hottest potato in town.

I couldn’t keep it on me, and I didn’t have a home to stash it in anymore. Hiding it at Bentley and Corman’s place was out of the question. They were in enough danger as it was, ditto for anybody else in my inner circle. I needed to bury the bottle deep, stash it someplace Lauren wouldn’t think to look, or wouldn’t be able to go.

I turned the problem around in my head as the miles slid by. What I really needed, I realized, was to stash the bottle with somebody who had no connection to me or my friends, was absolutely trustworthy, and was capable of defending himself if my enemies tracked the prize to his front doorstep.

Good luck with that, I thought. Sounds like I need an Eagle Scout, and I don’t know any—

Yes, I did.

I pulled over at a Utah rest stop, nothing but cornfields and blue sky as far as the eye could see. Then I dialed the operator and asked for the Las Vegas field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“Yes, hello. I’m looking for Special Agent Harmony Black. I believe she’s temporarily working out of your office. Tell her it’s Daniel Faust. Yes. Yes, I’ll hold.”

I tapped my toe to the elevator music for a few minutes. Then the line clicked twice and the music died.

“Faust?” Harmony said. “You should use the number on the card I gave you. It’s my direct line.”

“Would love to, but I put it in my wallet. Wallet’s gone. So’s just about everything else. I’ve been having a rough week.”

“There was an altercation at an apartment building off Bermuda Road. Would you know anything about that?”

“What am I?” I said. “Public enemy number one? Sheesh, you’ll blame me for just about anything.”

“A blazing fire, eyewitness reports of billowing green smoke. And when the smoke cleared, do you know what was left behind? Two dead cambion.”

I frowned. She was way more clued-in than she had any right to be.

“You know what cambion are, huh?”

“I know what cambion are,” she said. “Like Nicky Agnelli, for instance. Let’s not mince words. I know what you are. You know what I am. We don’t have to put on the mystery act for each other.”

“Fine by me. If you want blunt, try this on for size: you’re being played. This little ‘task force’ of yours came courtesy of a government bribe from Lauren Carmichael. She’s stalling for time and throwing up roadblocks—”

“You think I don’t know that?” Harmony said.

For a second, I was speechless.

“You…knew?”

“Carmichael is one of Senator Roth’s biggest campaign donors. She pulled strings with Roth to form the task force. I pulled strings to get on it. Seattle’s my home office, Faust. Digging into Carmichael-Sterling’s been my vocation for the past three years. Whatever nastiness you think she’s into, believe me, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. I came here to find out what she’s planning for Vegas and to shut it down cold. Putting Nicky and his whole crew, including you, behind bars is just a bonus.”