Demon Revealed (High Demon Series #2) (15 page)

"We got moved because our eight guests got wind that the
Alliance was tailing them on the last part of their trip to Campiaa. Arvil
didn't want trouble, so he had his wizards move us here," Xiri hissed as
we went through cabinets to see what we had to work with.

They must have been important for Arvil to come back with
them, but I didn't tell Xiri that. He loved to gossip and could get more
information out of anybody than anyone else I'd ever known. I got confirmation
on Xiri's gossip a few ticks later when Lendill spoke in my mind.
Reah,
where are you?
he asked.

No idea—we got moved in the middle of the night
, I
answered. Lendill cursed in several languages.

Are you with San Gerxon and several reptanoids?

Is that what they are?

Yes
.

I wanted to ask about reptanoids but didn't—I had no desire to
get a mental slap on the head.

Reah, do you have any idea where you are now?

No. It looks like a jungle outside—lots of tropical trees
and plants, and it's really humid. I only saw that this morning, while I was
walking to the main house. Single level—looks like a plantation home. Huge
.

Reah, we've been after those reptanoids for a while. If you
can get any information on where you are, send it right away
.

All right
.

* * *

 "Reah, what we have for breakfast today?" Farzi had
come into the kitchen.

"What would you like, Master Farzi?"

"Whatever you make we welcome." I wondered why
Lendill had been after these for so long. Was there an entire planet of these
beings or were there only a few? What had they done that the ASD wanted them? "I
dismiss cooking staff before we leave for Campiaa; they not good anyway." His
clipped common speech made me think that he had another language, although his
words in the common tongue were precise.

Xiri gave me a look as Farzi settled himself onto a chair at
the island and we cooked breakfast for him. Others wandered in, including more
reptanoids, wizards and finally, Arvil. Jazal and his crew were still in bed.

"You have carpenter with you?" Farzi turned to
Arvil.

"He can do anything as far as building goes," Arvil
replied.

"Perhaps he help me—we find a way to kill wood-chewing
ants here. But much wood on south side of house needs replacing," Farzi
said. "Ours here now not know much in way of building."

That told me that the reptanoids hadn't put up the house or
anything around it. Had they bought this place or gotten it some other way?

"Reah, find Teeg and bring him in—we'll see if he can
help Farzi out." Wiping my hands on a towel, I nodded at Xiri to keep up
his inventory and went off toward our bungalow.

"Teeg, we can feed you at the house—I think they need
help repairing termite damage and none of them know what to do," I said. Teeg
was up, dressed and going through the tiny kitchenette we had, looking for
something to eat. We didn't have anything there—I saw that right away.

Teeg got his breakfast in the main kitchen later as he
listened to Farzi describe his insect troubles.

"Not a surprise, they like moist, warm places," Teeg
agreed. I took his empty plate and he followed Farzi toward the south end of
the house.

"I am come to help with missing food." A reptanoid
came silently through the wide door. Xiri stared at our new arrival, so I had
to piece out what he meant.

"You mean you'll help us get what we need?"

"Yes—what is missing." He gestured toward the
cabinets.

"Very good—where can we find missing food?" I was
getting on board with this. He grinned at me, which transformed his face. I
couldn't help but smile back at him. He and the others all had brown hair and
golden-brown, slitted eyes. In the dim interior of the plantation's kitchen,
his eyes rounded until they appeared almost humanoid. So far, too, I hadn't
seen anything violent from any of the eight reptanoids and wondered again why
the ASD hunted them.

"I drive," he was still smiling at me. He drove. The
vehicle was an ancient hovercar, but it ran. I got the idea he was the one who
kept the vehicle in good repair. Xiri and I learned he was called Nenzi. Nenzi
took us to a thriving market about a click away. Solar power was in use, so
meats and other items in need of refrigeration were kept cold or frozen.

"Buy missing food." Nenzi held up a necklace chip.

"How much?" I asked, unsure how much he wanted to
spend.

"Whatever," Nenzi flung out an arm. Plants, dust and
children seemed to be everywhere as we made our way through the market. The
children were all wearing the least amount of clothing one might get away with.
The native population was darker-skinned than the reptanoids—I saw that right
away. The children were running and shouting as they played, using a language I
didn't know.

Xiri and I made our choices, Nenzi right behind us. He paid
for everything—we had to get quite a bit to feed the crowd at the plantation. Nenzi
didn't seem to mind. I was thankful the plantation had several large keepers—we
were going to need them. Tropical fruit was everywhere and freshly picked. I
had a sauce recipe that required some of the fruit we found. That went into our
purchases.

The hovercar was packed full for our return trip, so I paid
more attention to the fields we passed on the way home. I was looking for
drakus seed but didn't see any from the road. That didn't mean it wasn't there,
though.

They have grapefruit, orange, nanna, mango, pineapple,
avocado and round
melons
, I sent to Lendill.
All growing locally.
They also had meat from a
sheep they called
palaca
, I added.
I
found green nuts too
.

Reah, I know that's important to you, but I'm not sure what
good it will do us
, Lendill replied. I'd have gotten out my comp-vid and
gone looking to see where all those things were grown in one place. But then I
wasn't Vice-Director of the ASD, either.

Then give it to Chash as a research assignment
, I
grumped and ended our communication.

* * *

"It would have worked perfectly, if somebody hadn't
gotten wind of us," Norian wanted to shout or put his fist through a wall;
he couldn't decide which. "When we caught that fool wizard Haral on
Reliff, Aryn's compulsion worked flawlessly. Haral spilled the information that
the reptanoids were in this up to their foreheads. We would have had all of
them; we were an arm's length away from having them," Norian wanted to go
to lion snake so badly it was almost painful. He wanted to bite something—kill
something. Realizing it was very close to the full moon on Le-Ath Veronis, he
did his best to calm down.

"If we'd known this wasn't going to work, we could have
turned the wizard over to King Wylend. He has a death warrant out on that one,
and probably most of San Gerxon's other wizards too." Lendill was nearly
as frustrated as Norian was. They should have had Reah back by now. Both he and
Norian had thought it would only be a matter of days. Now, they had no guess at
a timeline—they didn't even know where Reah and the others were. Lendill didn't
want to hand the information to Tory and Aurelius. Gavril, too, young as he
was, wanted information and was begging his mother to ask Norian about Reah every
day.

* * *

"Reah, do they expect you to do this every day? Work from
dawn until they go to bed at night? What are those house servants for?" Teeg
was hauling me inside the door. We'd been at the plantation for a week and
there hadn't been anyone there to offer us a day off or give us a break. I fell
in bed every night, asleep before my head hit the pillow most of the time. When
the alarm went off, I dragged myself to the shower, cleaned up and went off to
the house.

It took Xiri, Ande, Malin and me all day to serve three meals,
drinks and snacks for all the people at the plantation. Arvil went off in a
hovertruck a time or two with Farzi, Nenzi and several wizards. I wasn't
invited along. I could only assume they were going to inspect the crops. Jazal,
Anith, the twins, six courtesans and Delvin stayed behind, lazing around the
pool and sipping drinks that we made for them. We were now serving thirty-six
people—that included the staff at the plantation. Nenzi had driven us to the
market twice since we'd arrived. Now Teeg was seething over it.

"Teeg, just let it go, all right? I don't see anyone else
with cooking skills, do you?"

"I don't see any one of them helping, and Arvil doesn't
think you need more assistance?"

"Come on, I want to go to bed, not get into an argument."
I pulled Teeg's arm, leading him away from the door.

"Reah, I get to knock off work before the evening meal."
Teeg had been rebuilding walls and woodwork damaged by termites.

"That's nice." I was headed toward the bed.

"Reah, I want to love you. But I'm not about to take
advantage of my girl when she's so tired she can't stay awake."

That stopped me where I stood. "Teeg, I'm sorry. I have
to go to bed."

"Then I'll take you," he grumbled, lifting me right off
the floor.

* * *

"I see we tire our cooks." Farzi walked into the
kitchen the next morning as I was pulling the second pan of pastries from the
oven. The kitchen was hot from the oven—the plantation's solar air cooler could
only do so much and the humidity inhibited its effectiveness. Xiri was already
fanning himself and Ande and Malin looked like a bucket of water had been
dumped over their heads. If my hair was longer, I imagined I'd look just the
same.

I didn't really have time to talk with Master Farzi but I
wasn't rude, even if I wanted to be. I drizzled glaze over the pastries as Xiri
put plates of sliced fresh fruit out, and then added broiled strips of bacon. Eggs
were difficult to find, so we saved those for sauces and baking most of the
time.

Farzi followed us as we carried huge trays of breakfast plates
into the dining room—it was cooler in there, at least. Arvil was served first,
as usual, and then Farzi, who sat down, still watching us. We went down the
sides of the table after that, putting a plate in front of everyone. The
staff's plates were left on the island in the kitchen—at least they came to get
their own after it was cooked. Teeg did the same, only he usually took his
breakfast outside where it was cooler.

When I got back to the kitchen, I broke with tradition and
took my plate outdoors to eat beside Teeg. He sat on a low wall surrounding a
flowerbed. I leaned against him while I ate, then set my plate aside after
eating only half my food. I closed my eyes.

* * *

"Reah, wake up." The words were soft.

"Hmmh?" I moaned softly when I opened my eyes. Teeg
had wakened me, but Arvil was standing in front of me when my eyelids lifted.

"Take her to the bungalow. I'll handle this," Arvil
said and stalked off.

"What happened?" I was suddenly frightened.

"Farzi informed Arvil that there were too many people for
four to wait on hand and foot," Teeg pulled me up. "Come on,
sweetheart, we just got the day off."

I was happy to shuck my clothing, wash in a cool shower and
climb into bed in clean pajamas. At least our bungalow had a clothes machine—it
washed and dried. Teeg stripped down to his underwear and crawled in bed with
me. I slept until late in the afternoon.

"Reah? Sweetheart, wake up." Teeg was nuzzling my
chin and neck. He nipped my neck lightly, too. "Come on, baby, open your
eyes."

I reached up to run fingers through his dark hair. It curled
just a little. Teeg gave me a crooked grin before leaning down to kiss me.

The covers were on the floor, we were both naked and Teeg was
giving me pleasure. "I know what my Reah wants," he whispered as his
body stroked into mine. His kisses covered my moans as the waves of ecstasy
came. I felt like a wanton, wrapping my arms and legs around his body and
digging my nails into his back. He didn't seem to care.

* * *

"Want more?" Teeg's body was between my legs as I
sat on the bar in our bungalow, eating a slice of melon with my fingers. He
wiggled suggestively, letting me know he wasn't talking about the fruit. I fed
him a chunk of melon. He let me finish the rest of it before he took what he
and I both wanted.

* * *

I learned what course of action Arvil had taken the moment I
walked into the kitchen the morning after my day off. The place was a complete
mess.

"Those women not know how to cook," Farzi was there
and shaking his head. "I and mine were forced to hunt."

"Sorry," I heaved a helpless sigh.

"None of your fault. You were tired. I have hope you are
rested, now?"

"I am rested now." I started cleaning up the mess.

"Perhaps Master Arvil will bring those here yesterday and
force them to learn?"

"I have no control over that," I said, wiping flour
off the counter and into a waste bin. They'd wasted at least five pounds of
flour—it was scattered across the flat surfaces in the kitchen.

"What you control, young cook?"

"Nothing." I ran water in the sink, preparing to
wash dishes. Xiri walked in, yawning widely. He took one look at the state of
the kitchen and moaned.

"I will find help for you—three days out of eight." Farzi
nodded to me and walked out.

"How long are we going to be here?" Xiri hissed as
soon as we were alone.

"No idea," I said and started washing plates.

"Thank goodness we get decent food, now." Haral was gazing
angrily at the six courtesans—that let me know who it was that had been ordered
into the kitchen while Xiri and I had been off. The women didn't take Haral's
criticism well. If he'd been bedding any of them, his favors might have just
dwindled. I didn't have any expression on my face as I handed out plates of
food.