Revealed in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights #9)(23)

“Yes. Tomorrow you will finally take me to meet my nemesis. Then we will plan your trip into the Realm.”

I drained my glass, then got up, brought the bottle back to the table, and poured myself a generous refill.

“The Realm?” I asked.

“Yes. Your journey will converge with the Third’s for a time. You need the Second’s help. The Second also needs your help, though he doesn’t realize it yet. The Third cannot finish her quest without you, though they don’t know that yet. You have always been the catalyst.”

“Cool.” I leaned back, learning the new look of home. “You’re definitely a Seer, right?”

“Yes. Definitely. Also, I am becoming something of a ‘crackhead,’ I am told. As I work through all the drugs this new land has to offer, I have been given that label by the people of this neighborhood, though I didn’t much like that strain of cocaine. Still, it’s nice to be remembered.”

“Sure. And you learn things through your craft that you don’t share with others? Because if you told Romulus and Charity all of this, it would probably help them out.”

“I reveal that which needs to be revealed, when it needs to be revealed, so that it will do the most good. If you give away all the answers, no one will learn the lessons of the journey.”

“Yet you told Smokey and Mikey to invest in the stock market?”

“That’s different. They’ve learned all they need to about how hard and unfair life is. I figured it was time they got a payoff, and since this world didn’t intend to settle the debt, I figured I’d step in. I believe they call that insider trading here.”

“No, that’s something else, and it isn’t magical.”

“I learned of this sure bet while checking out some of the backyards in the Garden District. Very pretty, that area of town. It reminds me of a blue version of the Flush. Anyway, someone there will go to prison for the part he has played in tampering with the stock market, but No-Good Mikey and Smokey will just get rich. After a short investigation of their windfall, of course. They’ll hardly be affected. The rewards will be plentiful for their brief time of pain.”

I stared at her for a moment, then couldn’t help laughing. I doubted Mikey would’ve touched anything to do with the stock market if it meant he’d have the cops up in his business. Lessons of the journey, definitely. Mikey would probably never play the stock market again.

“I have something to do before I hitch a ride on Charity’s journey.” I finished the second glass of whiskey, thought about a third, and then pushed the bottle away. “I need to answer a summons.”

“Ah. Yes, I heard about that. You will answer a summons, all right, though probably not in the way you intended.”

“Ugh!” I held up my hand. “Don’t say any more. I don’t want to know. I’m not real keen on your line of work.”

“I know. That’s what makes you so fun.”

“A real hoot, yeah.” I put my hands on the table and pushed up to standing. Maybe it would be smart to poke her for details, but if I knew answering the summons, or attempting to, would end with me getting kidnapped by a bunch of demons, I didn’t think I’d have the courage to keep trucking. I wasn’t interested in the future—I’d deal with it when it became the present. “Tell the natural dual-mages, if they come over, that I am not to be woken up or it will result in some sort of catastrophe.”

“Will do.”

“See you later.”

“Okay.”

A good host would’ve asked her to stay and shown her to an empty room, but that would require an equally good and respectful guest. It was clear this woman beat a drum to her own tune, often interrupting a currently in-progress jam session to do so. She’d figure things out.

I let myself into the master bedroom, which was in the same position it had been, only now on the second floor. The furniture hadn’t changed much either, although the space was larger and there was more of it. I breathed a sigh and headed to the shower. That finished, I slipped into something slinky and slid between the covers. Before I closed my eyes, I hesitated, and then reached for the throw-away phone I’d put on the nightstand. A phone Vlad didn’t know about and couldn’t trace.

He answered on the first ring.

“Reagan.” I smiled at the sound of Darius’s deep voice.

“Hey. I called to say sweet dreams.”

His silence matched the frustration rolling through our bond. He was pissed that I’d left without him. That I was spending the following day on my own. That I had been able to so easily slip out, unnoticed (I was so glad that druid was on my side).

For all that, I heard his deep breath as he pushed it aside. “I will miss you today, mon ange. Sweet dreams and stay safe. I will see you come the evening.”

“Love you.”

“I love you. Stay safe.”

“Yes. I heard you. I’m inside one of the best wards in the world. I’m good.”

“Yes. Stay there.”

I rolled my eyes and snuggled in a little more. “I’m going to get back at you for what you did to my house.”

“We are even on that score.”

“How do you figure?”

“That very expensive desert island you bought with my money, without telling me, has very few benefits.”