Demon Revealed (High Demon Series #2) (16 page)

Farzi hired six locals to cook three days out of each
eight-day. They went home at night, too. I thought that was a good thing. Teeg
was overjoyed to have three days each week to spend with me. Things might have
worked out, if spawn hadn't come.

* * *

"They killing my workers," Farzi moaned as he walked
into the kitchen one morning.

"What? Who?" Xiri and I were staring at Farzi
immediately. Ande and Malin had also stopped peeling fruit to listen.

"Those creatures—we not know how bad they could be."
Farzi was pretty upset, I could tell.

"Demons," Arvil snarled as he and his wizards came
in, carrying crates of ranos rifles. I wanted to correct him but didn't. Arvil
hadn't seen a demon. Yet.

"We'll go out tonight—Reah, go get some sleep."

"Why does Reah need sleep?" Farzi didn't understand.

"She's the best shot we have," Delvin said. "We
have to get these charged up." He pulled a rifle from a crate, along with
the solar charger.

"A cook can kill those things? I am puzzlement." Farzi
went off, mumbling to himself.

"Reah, what are you doing back here?" Teeg was
sanding wood in front of our bungalow.

"They found spawn out in the fields. I have to go shoot
them tonight."

"Are you joking?"

"Teeg, that's one of the reasons they grabbed me to begin
with. That and another thing I can do," I grumbled. I wished I was
anywhere except where I was, and I wanted to take Teeg with me.

"What other thing?"

"Teeg, don't ask."

"Reah, we love each other. Tell me."

"Teeg."

"Reah."

I wanted to tell him. Everything. But he worked for Arvil San
Gerxon for some reason. I kept forgetting that. Lendill hadn't gotten back with
me either. What was I supposed to do—work for Arvil for the rest of my life?

"Reah, if Arvil already knows, what harm can it do?"

"I don't know that Arvil knows. Delvin knows." I
walked inside the bungalow.

"And he's the one who snatched you. From where?"

"Teeg, I don't want to say that. I don't know what you
know or what Arvil knows. I have to protect myself, Teeg."

"You don't trust me to protect you?"

How could I tell him that I could protect myself just as well
as anyone else? How could I tell him that if it weren't for being enslaved by
the ASD, I could skip away in a blink. "Reah, answer me." Teeg
grabbed my arm.

"Teeg, would you trust anyone who worked for Arvil San
Gerxon?" I jerked my arm from his hand and stalked toward the bedroom.

Teeg didn't speak to me when I rose later and dressed in my
black leathers. I didn't know what to say to him—I'd pretty much said that I
didn't trust him. I wasn't treating him very well and I knew it.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it the way it sounded," I
said before walking away from him and heading toward the main house.

* * *

"Mine have some effectiveness, our others do not,"
Farzi and the other reptanoids had come with us. I suppose what he meant was
that he and others like him could see spawn. The locals couldn't. I made a mental
note to ask Lendill about it. I was seeing the drakus seed fields for the first
time, too. I wondered if Farzi was completely aware of what it was. I couldn't
ask.

"All workers, missing." Nenzi used that word a lot.

"He means they've gone—they've been ordered out of the
fields," Delvin walked up beside me. "Heard you and the carpenter had
a little fight."

"We're good," I muttered angrily. Did Delvin have
eyes and ears everywhere, or did Xiri have his gossip lines open? How was I to
know? I picked up my usual two rifles to start with. Arvil had come with us
again, but I had no idea why—he was only a target since he couldn't see what we
fought.

"Enemy not close—we can tell," Farzi said. I guessed
that he could scent them somehow.

"Then I want to inspect the crop," Arvil said.

"Reah, like to see our river? It is this way," Farzi
pointed to our left—I could see a line of trees there. He was probably
directing me away from his and Arvil's illegal cash crop, but I didn't want to
see that anyway.

"I'd like to see the river," I said. That's how
Arvil and his wizards went in one direction, Farzi, Nenzi, six other reptanoids
that I had no name for and I all headed toward the river. We were about halfway
there, too, when the firebombing began.

The first blast blew everything high into the air and set the
fields on fire. Farzi and the others ran. I stood and stared as hovercopters
burned everything in their path until I was jerked off the ground.

What do you do when you find yourself disembodied? That was
the only explanation I had for it—I was flying over the tops of trees while
more firebombs exploded behind me. If I could have screamed, I would have. I
had no mouth, no limbs, no body, even, to struggle against what held me.

More explosions sounded behind me and then I was flying over
the plantation house. My body was released suddenly and I hit the water of the
pool hard; it nearly knocked me unconscious. Struggling to rise to the top to
catch my breath, I heard the firebombs hit the plantation with a muted boom. Someone
landed in the water next to me, clamped a hand over my nose and mouth and
pulled me back to the bottom.

Chapter 8
 

Red was all I could see from the bottom of the pool. I
struggled against the one holding me. I also struggled to take a breath,
knowing that if I did I'd only draw in water. Things began to go dark and still
there was red light—and heat.

* * *

"Reah?" Someone was calling my name. I coughed up
water as I rolled over. Feeling was finally coming back to my arms and legs. I
lay on a hard surface—I knew that much. "Sweetheart, open your eyes,
please." Teeg was with me. I opened my eyes and every other part of me awoke
and began to ache.

He helped me sit up; I blinked at my surroundings. Everything
was gone—All of it burned to ash around us. The flagstones beneath us were
cracked and blackened. The water in the pool had been vaporized—it only held a
small amount of moisture in the bottom, now.

"It lasted long enough to keep us alive," Teeg
muttered, holding me steady as I wavered beside him. He was covered in ash and
soot, just as I was.

"Where are the others?" I asked. My voice was barely
above a whisper and speaking made me cough again. Teeg waited for the fit to be
over before he answered. "Everybody died, except us," he said. "At
the plantation, I mean."

"Xiri?" I wanted to cry. I couldn't.

"Dead. Jazal, his wife and the cousins—dead too. The six
women and Xiri's assistants are gone. I can't say whether any of the staff was
here. I haven't gone searching for other bodies." I stared at Teeg. His
face was covered in black smudges; his hair looked wild and stood on end.

"Love," I reached out to wipe a bit of black ash off
his face.

"Reah, we almost didn't make it." Teeg sat next to
me and pulled me close. That's where Farzi and his seven reptanoid brothers
found us later.

"Our little cook lives. And the carpenter."

"Pool," Teeg jerked his head toward the nearly empty
concrete hole.

"We take river—much thankful we are that current is slow
at this time." Farzi knelt next to us. He was covered in ash and cinders. He
and his people looked worse off than Teeg and I, but then they'd walked through
blackened fields and burned jungle to get back to the plantation. What was left
of it, anyway.

"What about the others?" Teeg asked.

"Not knowing. We not find any piece of them. We look, as
soon as heat gone." Farzi's common speech was more garbled—I felt it was
the aftereffects of nearly being killed. I knew, even if the others didn't,
that the firebombs were courtesy of the Alliance. Regular Alliance Army, or
RAA, used them to destroy drug fields. I wondered if it had been ordered by the
ASD. Had Lendill learned where we were and sent in the bombers, thinking I was
expendable? It wouldn't surprise me.

* * *

"I wasn't able to contact Reah last night, and now I
learn that the RAA has firebombed Urdolus?" Lendill wanted to yank his
hair out.

"They're not obligated to contact us if they find
something and have the ships nearby," Norian snapped. He was nearly as
frustrated at the news as Lendill was. "All our agents know the risks."

"Reah didn't."

"Well, there wasn't much time to tell her."

"We didn't because we're cowards."

"There's that." Norian raked a hand through his hair.
"I can only handle that accusing look for so long."

"Aurelius will kill us."

"No. Aurelius will kill you. Tory will kill me. He's High
Demon and immune to poison. Have you tried to reach Reah again?"

"I was afraid to."

"Try."

* * *

Nothing was left—of the plantation or anything around it. I'd
heard that about firebombing—that only skeletons might be found, if that, and
perhaps melted or twisted metal. Anything else flammable would be reduced to
ash. It shocked me as I kicked ash aside in the ruins of Xiri's bungalow. His
bones were there and I found them just as Lendill's mindspeech found me.

Reah?
I thought for a moment about not answering.

What?
I'm sure he read the sullenness in my mental
voice.

Reah, thank the gods. I thought the RAA may have bombed
where you were.

They did.
A moment's silence followed my statement.

Reah, were you anywhere near that?

In the middle of it. Somebody shoved me into the pool. The
whole thing went to steam before the heat abated. Just about everybody else
died
.

San Gerxon?

Not sure. He was surrounded by wizards
.

Reptanoids?

Still here—all of them. They went into the river
.

Reah, I know you're not happy with us right now, but we
didn't order the firebombing. RAA moved without consulting us
.

And I'm supposed to believe that?

Reah, you're being disrespectful with a superior
. I
didn't answer him. If he knew how disrespectful I wanted to be—I was staring at
Xiri's bones, after all. I sobbed.
Reah? Reah, are you still there?

You be respectful, Vice-Director, the next time a friend's
bones lie beneath your hand
. I cut off the communication. Lendill didn't
try again.

* * *

"She's still alive, but didn't tell me what her condition
is," Lendill looked at Norian. He didn't say that Reah had cut off the
mindspeech. "She doesn't know about San Gerxon—the reptanoids are still
alive—they jumped into the river when the bombing started.

"Who'd have guessed about Urdolus?" Norian sighed.

"I guessed about Urdolus." Gavril stood in the
doorway to Norian's office. "If you'd read the message I sent on your
comp-vid two days ago, you'd have known, too." Gavril looked as if he were
ready to cry. He ran down the hall.

"How did he?" Norian lifted his comp-vid and
scrolled through unread messages. Selecting the one from Gavril, he opened it. "Fuck,"
Norian shouted.

"What?" Lendill came over to look. He found a list
of all the fruit Lendill had given him, combining those elements with the green
nuts and palaca meat, then listed all the planets where those items were available
in the same location. Six held too much population to harbor drakus seed fields.
That left only Urdolus. Gavril had sorted it out—Lendill had ignored it.

"Fuck," Lendill sighed.

* * *

"I don't have any tools to bury Xiri," Teeg knelt
beside me. I nodded; I wasn't able to speak at the moment.

"Farzi, I'm so glad to see you're alive, my friend."
Arvil's blustering voice came from behind. Teeg pulled me to my feet. Arvil's
eyes widened as he saw we'd made it, too.

"The river, Master Arvil," Farzi stepped over piles
of ash and rubble to reach Arvil, who was (no surprise) surrounded by all his wizards.
"That one," Farzi indicated Teeg, "pool saves him." Farzi included
me with the river jumpers. Just as well; I couldn't explain how I'd gotten to
the pool the night before.

"My brother?" Arvil knew the answer before we told
him. He didn't sound heartbroken.

"Reah, we'll find more help for you," Arvil was back
to bluster. "We can go home, now—I hear the Alliance is looking elsewhere.
Better to be away from here, anyway; they may come to inspect their work."

Arvil didn't even ask Farzi and the other reptanoids if they
wanted to go back to Campiaa; his wizards took us there before we had time to
think.

"Take two days off—we'll eat at the casino," Arvil
told us. I nodded blankly, feeling numb. Teeg, who kept a hand and a close eye
on me, herded me through the door. We got plenty of stares as we made our way
to his apartment.

"Reah, we only frightened small dogs and babies on our
walk here—they'll rebound." Teeg's head appeared above mine as I stared at
myself in the mirror. "Come on, sweetheart, let's get cleaned up and go to
bed."

* * *

I don't think I'd ever appreciated clean sheets and a soft bed
so much in my life after spending the night on burned and cracked flagstones. I
must have been unconscious most of that time—I couldn't remember anything other
than pain and discomfort. My lungs still felt coated in soot, and I coughed at
times. Teeg didn't—I suppose he'd gotten it all out of his system already.

"Go to sleep, baby," Teeg's words were whispered
against my skin. My eyes closed immediately.

* * *

"Sweetheart, your stomach is growling." That was such
a romantic statement to wake to.

"Is it keeping you awake?" I stretched against Teeg—he
was leaning on an elbow and looking down at me.

"Reah, I'm tempted to ignore our hunger and love you
instead."