Manifesting the dark powers left her feeling wrung out and weak—it shouldn’t have, but she couldn’t manage enough energy to care.
“Hey, you look like you could use a place to stay.”
“Well, duh.” Turning, she came face-to-face with…“Oh, great. A God-pimp.”
Leslie/Deter’s lip curled. Pretty much all his understanding and patience had been used up earlier in the day when he’d gotten physical with his so-called friends. “Fine. Stay outside and freeze, then.”
Since that was beginning to seem highly likely, Byleth grabbed his arm as he started to walk away. “You’re supposed to be nicer than that. I’m not, but you’re one of the good guys.” When he continued to look annoyed, she sighed. “All right, I shouldn’t have called you that. I’m so…sorry.”
Harry Porter had been right. It did get easier. The implications made her knees buckle.
Leslie/Deter caught her, apologizing profusely in turn, and walked her toward the mission, explaining that after the meal they’d be hearing the word of God.
“Which word?”
“What?”
“Where I come from, we get a kick out of hearing the old guy try and say aluminum.…”
ELEVEN
THE PHONE WAS RINGING when Nalo got back to her apartment. The strident and slightly superior tone suggested she’d best hurry and pick up, or the next call would happen at a considerably more inconvenient time. So there. Some of the older Keepers had a theory that the entire telephone system had been touched by darkness just before the invention of call waiting and had grown increasingly corrupted ever since.
Kicking off her boots before she hit the carpet, she lifted the receiver and snarled, “I am not interested in changing my long distance service provider, but I will change you into something unpleasant unless you leave me the hell alone.”
“Nalo?”
“Oh. Claire.” Turning on the table light, she dropped onto the sofa. “Well, wasn’t that a waste of a bad mood. What’s up?”
On the other end of the line, Claire took a deep breath. “We’ve got trouble.”
“Out there in River City.”
There was cognitive pause, then: “What?”
Swinging her feet up onto the coffee table, Nalo sighed. “Never mind. And while I feel for your trouble, it can’t possibly top what I’ve got going on right here.”
“There’s a demon loose.”
“And then again…” The older Keeper stared down at the black glitter dusting her fingertips. “I closed a couple of holes it opened today.”
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. It seems to be starting small—a little vandalism, a little urban renewal…”
“Urban renewal?”
“It convinced a pimp to walk under a streetcar. Hard on the driver but no loss to the city. There’ll be cascading holes from the witnesses still to track down but, around here at least, it’s been a low-key embodiment of darkness.”
“That’s a relief.”
“And a bit of a surprise.”
“Yeah, well, there’s more.”
“You mean the way we can’t track it down because there’s also an angel walking around big as life and twice as shiny?”
“How did you…?”
“Know that? Well, I’d have to say that a piece of darkness walking around without any of us the wiser was the first clue, but I also ran into your sister today.…”
“Why would Diana hide the angel from another Keeper?”
“Why would Diana turn the vacuum cleaner hose into kudzu?” Austin snorted, kneading a pillow into shape. “Why does Diana do anything?”
“Because she’s a pain in the ass?”
“That would be my guess,” the cat agreed.
“Maybe she’s embarrassed about her part in his creation,” Dean offered.
“I don’t think Diana gets embarrassed.”
“Maybe she’s taking him for a test drive.” When both Claire and Dean turned to stare, Austin shrugged. “Well, pardon me for using a euphemism, but didn’t Nalo say that from a block away she thought he was just a guy?”
“Diana wouldn’t…” Claire’s voice trailed off. “Okay, it’s possible,” she admitted after a moment’s thought, “but she says she’s a lesbian.”
“No, she said she was a lesbian back in November. She could easily be a hemocyanin by now.”
“I don’t think that’s…”
“The point is,” Austin interrupted, “is that she’s seventeen and subject to change without notice. And she’s met a young man she can be herself with. Or have you forgotten how seductive that is?”
Claire looked up at Dean, looked past her reflection in his glasses, and sank into the blue of his eyes. “No. I haven’t forgotten.”
He reached out and stroked the back of his hand over her cheek. “I’m sorry I got you into this.”
“We got into this together.”
“Still…”
“Still need to get hold of Diana,” Austin reminded them acerbically.
Claire reluctantly sat back and picked up her cell phone again.
“Yes, okay, I should have thought of how I’d get home before I went into the closet.” Diana held the phone out from her ear, counted to six, then tried again. “Mom…Mom! I’m not being a smart-ass, I’m agreeing with you. And since there was money for a hotel room, not a bus ticket home, I’m obviously supposed to be here—no harm, no foul. Aren’t you the one who always says, nothing happens to a Keeper by chance?” She winced. “Of course I listen to you. Yeah, okay, I didn’t listen to that. Or that. Mom…Mom. Mother! I have to go now. I’ll stay in touch. ’Bye. No. Now. Good-bye.”
She hung up, leaned back, closed her eyes, and began rhythmically beating her head against the wall.
“You didn’t tell your mother I was with you,” Samuel pointed out from the room’s other bed.
“No, I didn’t.”
“A lie of omission is still a lie, and a lie is the destroyer of trust.”
“Why don’t you just let me deal with that?”
“Banging your head isn’t going to do anything but annoy the person in the next room.”
She opened her eyes and glared at him. “There isn’t anyone in the next room.”
“But still…”
“Shut up.”
“The phone’s ringing.”
“I’m beginning to think Claire was right about this whole joining the twenty-first century thing.” Scooping up the receiver, she closed her eyes again. “Sorry, Mom, but nothing’s changed in the last thirty seconds.”
“It’s not Mom. It’s me.”
“Oh, joy.” Straightening, she mouthed, It’s Claire, so no background noise, toward Samuel. “How did you get this number?”
“It’s your cell phone number.”
About to explain that she didn’t have her cell phone with her, Diana decided that might be something she’d be better off keeping to herself. “Oh. Yeah.”
“Diana, that angel you’re hiding is blocking my…our, ability to find the demon that came through at the same time, so you’ve got to stop playing around and send it back.”
“It’s not an it, Claire, it’s a him and…” The rest of the sentence suddenly clicked into place. “Did you say demon?”
“Demon?” Samuel scooted to the edge of the bed, eyes wide.
Diana mouthed a stern, “Shut up!” at him so she could hear Claire’s answer.
“Yes, a demon.”
“That’s so not good.”
“Low-fat cheese is not good, Diana. This is bad. I don’t know what you’re up to with that angel, and I don’t want to know…”