And Melentha walked into the room.
Chapter 23
It was, a distant part of Ravagin's mind seemed to whisper, like a replay of Coven. Danae standing half behind him, hostile spirits all around them, a demon-possessed enemy in front of them.
Except that this time the enemy was Melentha. Who should have been a friend.
Melentha, how could you have let this happen?
"Ravagin," Danae breathed tightly in his ear. "How did it get here?—and through all her defenses, too?"
"It's a different demon, Danae," Ravagin told her in a low voice. "And unfortunately, it was probably invited. Stay calm and let me do the talking, okay?"
Melentha glided to a stop facing them, an amused smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "You were right, Ravagin; it was a good idea to double-safe the house. One never knows about these things, does one?"
"I guess one doesn't," Ravagin said, forcing his voice to remain steady. For the moment, at least, it was still a battle of wits, and the last thing he could afford was to panic. "So now what? The reasons behind your friends' decision back at Coven still hold, you know—you still risk a whole pack of trouble if you keep us here."
"True," Melentha nodded. "But now the risks of letting you leave are even stronger."
"What risks?" Ravagin scoffed. "Danae was just speculating through her hat on this—we know it, and you know it. The only thing we've got at all is that you're trying to make the human population of Karyx dependent on you; and if that's news to anyone at the Crosspoint Building they deserve to be surprised. The indications have been there for a long time; you can ask Melentha if you don't believe me."
Melentha's eyebrows raised slightly. "You are naive about these things, aren't you? You think one partner or the other has to be submerged in this type of symbiosis?" She shook her head. "You've been influenced by the old Earth scare-legends of spirit possession, I'm afraid."
"Sorry if I offended you—either of you," Ravagin amended. "So it's a symbiosis, is it? Interesting.
Clear enough what the demon gets out of the relationship—mobility on Karyx, a clearer view of the physical world, and access to human information. What exactly does Melentha get out of it?"
"Much the same sorts of things as the demon does," she said. "Immediate and continuous access to the spirit world, mainly."
"And that's worth giving up your freedom over?" Danae put in harshly.
Melentha turned glittering eyes onto her. "I would suggest," she bit out, "that you stay out of conversations you don't understand. You don't even have Ravagin's pitiful access to the spirit world
—how could you possibly imagine the depth of my knowledge and ability?"
"Oh, maybe she can imagine it a little," Ravagin shrugged. "After all, she's been in communication with a great power, and I'd wager that's something you haven't done."
For just an instant an inhuman fury filled Melentha's face. "Yes, the demogorgon," she bit out, her expression turning to stone. "We'll deal properly with it some other time. But thank you for reminding me. That contact of hers gives me that much more reason to prevent your return to Threshold."
Ravagin felt his mouth go dry. That hadn't been the reaction he'd been trying for... "Uh-huh. Again, I suggest that keeping us here will open more of a hornets' nest than you can really handle at this point."
"Why? Because an experienced Courier gets himself and his client killed on Karyx? Come, now, Ravagin—that happens often enough. No one's going to get into a major loop over it."
"But perhaps Cowan mal ce Taeger of Arcadia will," Danae said.
"Who?" Ravagin frowned.
"He's a billionaire politician/industrialist or something," Melentha said offhandedly. "All right, little girl, tell me: why would someone like that even notice, let alone care, if Ravagin turns up dead?"
"I'm his daughter."
Ravagin twisted his head around to stare at her. "You're what?"
"His daughter." Danae kept her gaze on Melentha. "Ravagin's right, Melentha—you can't just make us go away like a pair of unknown tourists."
Melentha's eyes flicked to Ravagin, back to Danae, and her tongue snaked out to flick at her upper lip. "You're bluffing," she said at last. "You aren't any relation to mal ce Taeger—you just read his name somewhere and made all this up."
"There's always one way to find out," Ravagin told her. "It's the hard way, of course."
Melentha's gaze returned to him... and this time there was no mistaking the hesitation there. She was in a bind, and both she and her companion demon knew it. "I suppose we'd better talk about this, then, hadn't we? Come with me. You—" she looked at Danae—"will stay here."
Turning abruptly, she strode from the room. As if on unspoken signal, the ring of demons shifted position, sweeping inward to form two sides of an aisle between Ravagin and the door. "Okay,"
Ravagin said, turning back to Danae. "Try to relax—maybe get some sleep if you can."
She clung to his arm. "Wait—you can't go with her. She might—who knows what she'll do to you?"
Gently, he disengaged her hand. "If she'd decided to kill us, she wouldn't be wasting time with talk," he reassured her. "They've just finally realized they've bitten off more than they bargained for, and I think they're going to try and negotiate themselves out of the corner. So just kick back and free-float; I'll be back as soon as I can."
Without warning, her arms looped around his neck, pulling his head down for a brief but intense kiss. "Be careful," she whispered as she reluctantly let go.
"You bet. You, too."
Turning, he headed off between the lines of demons, trying to walk boldly despite the slight trembling of his knees. Beneath his tunic, his skin prickled at the spirits' close and deadly presence; deeper within him, his stomach was tight with the anticipation of the delicate negotiations facing him. And on his lips, he could feel the lingering impression of Danae's unexpected kiss.
Gritting his teeth, he concentrated on the memory of that kiss.
The door closed, and Danae was alone.
No; not quite alone. A single green figure floated in the air between her and the door.
For a long moment she eyed the ghastly shape, wondering what her chances were of dashing past it and out the door to freedom...
The demon gazed straight back at her. Swallowing hard, she turned away and stepped over to the window.
The demon didn't follow, nor did he try to stop her as she lifted the edge of the curtain and looked out. Not that that was any real surprise. The post line below was hard to see in the dim starlight, but the shadows the posts cast were clear and sharply defined. "Esporla-meenay," she called on sudden impulse, and was rewarded by a pair of flashes from the post line: one green, one red.
The red was new. "I see Melentha's added some djinns to the post line," she commented over her shoulder. "You suppose that means she doesn't trust your fellow demon out there to keep us in?"
The demon at the door didn't respond. All right, Danae: calm down, stop babbling, and think, she berated herself. What do you know about spirithandling in general and demons in particular?
Precious little, she had to admit, and virtually nothing that looked like it might be of any use in getting her out of this mess. Even if she somehow managed to get past her watchdog, getting through the post line would take more skill than she possessed. Possibly more skill than even Ravagin possessed.
Gartanis.
Carefully, Danae turned her head. The demon was still there, was still watching her with inhuman stillness. Turning back to the window, she licked suddenly dry lips. This could be dangerous... but Melentha had surely given the demon instructions not to hurt her, at least not until she'd made a decision as to their disposition. All in all, a risk worth taking. "Haklarast," she murmured, as softly as possible.