When we reached the garden, I tried to catch up, but he only moved faster. Afraid Claudia was peering from a window? Seeing me "following" him into the garden wouldn't make her any happier.
Finally he stopped, his back still to me. Then, as he turned, he inclined his head in an oddly formal nod, coupled with a tiny smile.
"Jaime O'Casey. A pleasure."
A dart of panic raced through me. No one in the business knew my real name. But if Grady thought this gave him some leverage over me, he was wrong. Vegas was just a stage name; I wasn't hiding anything.
I looked at him. His gray-blue eyes now shone a blue brighter than the sky. Impossibly and unnaturally bright. I backpedaled. He grabbed my arm. His fingers were so hot I could feel them through my sleeve.
That dart of panic found its target and exploded. I yanked back. His grip didn't tighten, but didn't give either. Firm as an iron shackle. This wasn't Grady but someone-something-using his body, and I had a good idea what that something was.
"Kristof Nast sent me."
Damn Kristof! This was why he hadn't told me who he was calling: I'd never have agreed.
"I'm sorry," I said. "There's been a misunderstanding. I don't talk to-"
"Strangers? A wise choice, but I'm hoping this time you'll make an exception."
Amusement sparkled in those beautiful eyes. Entrancing eyes.
"I've come to help you, Jaime."
"I've had my share of help from your kind."
He tipped his head, his gaze searching mine. "Ah, I see. A youthful indiscretion. The price seemed fair, didn't it? That's the way it is.
A demon's price always seems fair when you're blinded by the boon. Then you always end up paying more than you expect. But that's long past. You've received your boon. You've paid the price. An unpleasant learning experience, but it certainly could have been worse."
"Whatever bargain you're offering-"
"My dear child, I do not barter like a common merchant. Do you know who I am?"
I shook my head. He released my arm.
"I am Aratron."
Seeing my blank look, he gave a rich, warm laugh. "Does no one educate their children in demonology these days? For centuries, I had only to speak my name and even your kind would prostrate themselves before me, promise me their gold, their wives, their firstborn child in return for but a speck of my knowledge. Today? Bewilderment dulled by apathy. Not nearly as gratifying."
"Sorry."
He laughed again. "Eve knew who I was. Properly respectful, even."
He walked to a bench and waved for me to sit beside him. When I resisted, his eyes sparkled. "I'm not going to gobble you up or incinerate you in a ball of white-hot flame. The last, while quite spectacular, doesn't promote good relations with mortals."
I perched at the far end of the bench.
"May I hope you at least know what a eudemon is?" he asked.
"Oh, yes." I said, a little too enthusiastically. "There are two kinds of demons. Cacodemons are the ones we can summon and make deals with. The chaos demons. The same kind that father half-demons like Eve. But eudemons…"
I drummed my fingers against my thigh, as if I was back in school again, proudly volunteering the answer only to get halfway through and realize that's all I had. "Can't say I know much about eudemons. Other than they aren't cacodemons. We can't usually summon them. They don't father children…"
"To most supernatural mortals, that's all that's important. It's almost impossible to summon us. We can't create you. We are, you might say, neutral. Indifferent even. To both your joys and your suffering. You do not interest us… except in the most academic way."
"And that's what you are. A eudemon."
"That's what Aratron is, a fact you can easily confirm with a call to Robert Vasic. And I claim to be Aratron. But whether I truly am is not so easily established. In fact, I daresay, it cannot be established all. You know, from my voice, from my touch, from my eyes, that I am no low-ranking demon. These things I cannot fake and even one unschooled in demonology knows the marks of a demon of power. But could I not be a cacodemon such as Baal or Balam or Lucifer? Were I one of them, would it not be wise to come in the guise of a eudemon like Aratron?"
"I guess so…"
"You look at me as if I'm mad. Why raise such possibilities? Because, child, if I do not, you will-now or after you've given the matter due consideration. I cannot prove that I am who I claim to be. You can call on Kristof, but you do not trust him. You trust Eve but she is, conveniently, unavailable. What you can do, though, is consider whether Kristof would do such a thing, not to you, but to her. Eve is very protective of her friends. Given their relationship, would he introduce one to a cacodemon?"
"No."
"Then, in the absence of absolute proof, that will have to do. Eve knows me. She has established a working relationship with me and I'm fond of her… as fond as I can be of a shade. I wouldn't want to damage my relationship with her by hurting you."
"Okay. So you're here to help me and you want… nothing fork?"
"Oh, of course I want something, but I cannot imagine you'll begrudge me what I wish."
"And that is…"
"Knowledge. I have little except that, but more of it than you could ever fathom. I collect knowledge and sometimes I share it. In exchange for new knowledge, of course. What you are investigating fits nothing you know, correct?"
I nodded.
"And nothing your scholars know, correct?"
Another nod.
"And, I must admit, nothing I know. Therefore it is new. That is what intrigues me and why I would guide your feet onto the right path."
"Which is…?"
"You already know." He smiled. "I'm simply here to tell you that you're right."
I shifted on the bench. "I'm no good with puzzles."
"Then don't make this into one. Your scholars and your experts tell you this is not any known form of magic. They also tell you that it most closely resembles something else."
"Human magic. Which is impossible."
"Why impossible?"
Aratron leaned back, that tiny smile on his lips, not mocking but encouraging, like a patient teacher who wanted me to succeed at this lesson. I always preferred the sarcastic teachers, the bored teachers- the ones who expected little from me. Impossible to disappoint.
"This is not a graded assignment, Jaime."
I started, as if he'd read my mind.
And what made me think he hadn't?
"If you'd like me to give you the answers, I will," he said, the rich timbre of his voice muted, "but I think you'd prefer to work it out yourself. They aren't riddles or trick questions. You haven't missed any clue. You've simply overlooked a possibility that I don't blame you for overlooking. The possibility of the impossible."
"I don't understand."
"Why is human magic impossible?"
"Because it doesn't work."
"Ah."
I looked sharply at him. "Does it?"
"It's never been known to, aside from the occasional minor spell mastered by a nonspellcaster. But even then, the caster almost always had some diluted magical or demonic blood. And the spells were only the simplest. Certainly nothing that would drain or fragment a soul."
"Then it is impossible."
"Fifty years ago, man had never set foot on the moon. Does that mean such a thing was impossible?"
"Of course not. Science just hadn't evolved…"
I stopped.
"Evolution…" Aratron mused. "Funny thing."
He twisted and snapped a rose from the bush, severing the stem with his thumbnail. He caught his thumb on a thorn and a drop of blood slid down his wrist. He followed the path of the blood, then examined the bloodied thorn with the cool scrutiny of a scientist examining cause and effect.
He turned his hand over and touched his index finger to the puncture on his thumb. "Hurts, I suppose."
"You don't feel it?"
"I do, but it doesn't mean anything to me. Were you to have done that, you'd have learned to handle the rose more carefully."