Working for the Devil

CHAPTER 51

Twelve hours later we floated over an oddly quiet Nuevo Rio. Dry and finally warm again, I sat in the seat next to Doreen's daughter (I couldn't think of what else to call her), watching out the window as morning lay over the city. Jace had moved up front next to Eddie, and the comms up there were crackling with messages. Gabe lay across a table, strapped down and deep in a sedative-induced slumber, the medunit purring as it monitored her and dripped synthetic plasma and antibiotics through a hypo into her veins. She'd wake up with a headache and a sore gut and spend a week or so recuperating, but she'd live.

The Corvin Family was gone. Just… gone. They hadn't even put up a real fight. Jace was now the owner of a hell of a lot of Family assets.

When I looked back at Doreen's daughter, I saw she was awake. In the light, her eyes were wide and clear, and dark blue. Like Doreen's.

Exactly like Doreen's.

She watched me gravely, a small child with frighteningly adult eyes, far too much Power and knowledge swimming in their depths. For a few moments, we sat like that, one tired, sobbed-out half-demon Necromance and one small demon Androgyne child.

I can't handle this, I thought. Then, I have no choice.

I finally managed to clear my throat. "Hi," I said quietly. "I'm Danny."

She watched me for a few more seconds before she responded. "I know," she said, in a clear light voice. "He told me you would come."

My mouth was dry and smooth as glass. This wasn't normal for a kid.

Like I knew what was normal for a kid. I never spent any time with children if I could help it. "Who told you?" I managed. "Santi—ah, um, your daddy?"

She nodded, her pale hair falling forward over her face. "He said he was my daddy," she confided, "but I don't think he was. My real daddy talks to me inside my head at night. He has green eyes and a green stone like me and he told me you would come for me. He said he would send you."

She seemed to expect some sort of reply. It was obvious who her "real daddy" was. Either Lucifer had some way of communicating with her, or she was precognitive, or… My brain stopped sorting through alternatives. It didn't matter. Lucifer already knew about the kid, I'd bet. I'd also bet that Lucifer had known about Santino's "samples." Or if not known, guessed. The Prince of Hell was no fool.

Why then had Japhrimel promised not to tell him?

"I promised your mommy I'd take care of you," I said rustily. Oh, gods, Danny, you've done it now.

The little girl nodded solemnly. "You're not like them." She pointed at the front of the hover, where Jace and Eddie conferred in low worried tones. "You're not like my real daddy either."

"I hope not." I shifted uncomfortably in the seat, the spaceblanket crackling as I moved. "What's your name?"

"I'm Eve," she said, matter-of-factly. I flinched. Of course, I thought, and watched as her dimples came out. She smiled at me. "Can I have some ice cream?"

"I don't think we have any, kiddo." Japhrimel had to live on blood, or sex, or fire, I thought. What does this girl eat? Oh, you an not ready for this, Danny. Not ready at all.

The hover circled slightly, and began to drift downward toward Jace's mansion.

"Um, Danny?" Jace called. "You may want to come take a look at this."

I hauled myself up, and the little girl pushed her blanket off and shimmied down from her seat. She held her small perfect hand up. "Can I come, too?" She wore a short white babydoll nightie, and her chubby feet were bare. I fought the urge to pick her up off the hover's cold metal deck.

"Okay," I said, and took her hand. It was warm in mine—a demon's touch.

Like Japhrimel's. Was he dead? Or had Santino's men taken him? What could they do to him? Was he injured?

I made my way up to the front, holding the girl's hand. "What's up?" I peered out the front window.

"Take a look." Jace glanced up at me. "How's the kid doing?"

"She seems okay," I replied.

Below us, the familiar blocky outlines of Jace's mansion grew larger as the hover slowly dropped. On the wide marble expanse of courtyard in front, two sleek limohovers crouched, and four police cruisers.

"Fuck me," I breathed, forgetting the child's small hand in mine. "What the hell?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," Jace said. "I'm incorporated and operating under codes, so I'm fairly sure they're not here to roust me."

"Sekhmet sa'es." I was too tired to come up with a good plan. "No chance they're here for you, Eddie."

"'Course not, unless they'd like to arrest Gabe for fucking almost dying," he said, with no apparent growl in his voice. He must be exhausted. "What do we do, Danny?"

I wish they would stop nominating me as the idea man, I thought. "Nothing else to do," I said. "Drift on down and land, but keep the motor running until we're sure we won't need it. Jace, can I have a commlink?"

"Of course," he said. "What do you want me to do, Danny?"

"Stay here with the kid," I answered, glancing down at Eve. The little girl looked up at me, as if I were the only person in the hover. "If they take me, get the kid somewhere safe and wait for me to show up."

Jace swung out of his chair, not even bothering to argue with me. I felt a weary relief. Was it normal to feel this way? So tired, but unable to sleep.

No sleep. Not until I finished this game. And it was a game, I'd been pushed from square to square all along.

I took the child back into the hold and settled her back into the chair, tucking the blanket around her again. When I finished, Jace was standing by a crate of supplies, a strange expression on his face. His hair curled into a halo, drenched in ice water and then dried in climate control. I probably didn't look very good either.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said. "Let me find a commlink."

Eddie piloted the hover down. We landed with a thump. "Sorry," he called back. I slipped the commlink in my ear, settled my wrinkled coat on my shoulders, made sure my knives were easy in their sheaths. My right hand ached deeply, all the way down to the bone. If I were still human, I might be maimed.

I knelt down in front of Eve, who watched me with Doreen's eyes. "I've got to go talk to whoever this is," I told her. "You stay with Jace until I get back, okay?"

She nodded. "It will be all right, Danny. My daddy says so," she said, her clear piping voice oddly adult.

"Great," I answered grimly, and stood up. The ground swayed underfoot, or maybe it was just me. "Jace, I want you to promise. Promise you'll take care of her if I—"

He shrugged. "You know I will, Danny. Go on, get this over with." His blue eyes skittered over to the girl, back up to me.

I nodded, then Eddie popped the side hatch. I hopped down to the marble, almost losing my balance. The heat hammered at me, Nuevo Rio back to its old, bad, sunny self. I wish I was home, I thought suddenly, and that surprised me, too. I hadn't felt like Saint City was home for a good two or three years.

One of the limohovers opened its side hatch. A set of steps folded down.

I swallowed. I had a fair idea of what could be waiting in there.

I strode across the burning white marble and toward the sleek black hovers, trying to keep my shoulders straight and wishing I wasn't dirty, bloody, air-dried, and so close to crying my throat ached keeping it all in.