Demonicus (Overworld Underground Book 2) (20 page)

I stood up to tell Desmond just how wrong he was about that, but Tyler quickly pulled me back down. "He's wrong!" I hissed.

Tyler shrugged. "Maybe. At least I know what makes me different from Daemos."

I wanted to argue the point further, but Desmond continued to elaborate about Daemos.

"A male Daemos is an incubus, and a female is a succubus." Desmond switched to an image displaying a very attractive male and female. "They are able to seduce just about anyone they wish and feed on their soul essence."

I shuddered. "Just what we need—supernatural sexual predators."

"Last, but not least, we reach the Arcanes," Desmond said. "That is what I am."

"You mean like wizards and warlocks?" Ellis asked.

"What if a vampire bit a witch?" his kid asked. "And then a lycan bit the witch? Would she still be able to fly a broom?"

Desmond blinked a couple of times. "Will you two please hush?" He produced a wand. "Or must I force the issue?"

Ellis and his boy clamped their lips shut, eyes wide with fear.

Tyler snorted and covered his mouth.

"Now, as I was saying, Arcanes are the magic users." He glared at Ellis. "Terms like wizard, warlock, sorcerer, mage, and witch refer to different kinds of magical practitioners." Desmond cleared his throat. "Witches and warlocks prefer natural magic and potions. Wizards and sorcerers are archaic terms rarely used, though they formerly referred to Arcanes with great elemental control. Mages are Arcanes who have achieved mastery of the arcane arts in at least two fields."

"What about magicians?" someone asked.

Desmond scowled. "That is an insulting term to true Arcanes. I suggest you never use it again."

The businessman raised his hand. "Are there any other kinds of supers?"

"There are various forms of leechers, gnomes, and even trolls. We don't know much about them because they haven't been seen in centuries." He tapped a finger to his chin. "There are dryads near Arcane University in Queens Gate, though we've never found them elsewhere, and I once met a woman who could tell what kind of powers a person had simply by being near them."

My heart seemed to freeze in place. "Was this at Arcane University as well?" I asked.

"Yes, in the Fairy Gardens." Desmond clicked his tongue. "We really must push on if we're to cover all the material today."

Tyler squeezed my hand and leaned over as Desmond droned on in the background. "According to George, you're the only person he's ever met with your ability."

I felt shocked and elated. "My God, it would be amazing to meet someone else with my special senses."

"I think we need to ask Desmond about it more after class."

"Yes, but not tonight." I couldn't stop thinking about Karak and his minions. "We need to get back so we can help George."

Desmond finally wrapped up about forty minutes later and quickly left the room before anyone could bombard him with questions. I stopped the vampire girl as she and her friends walked toward the exit.

"May I speak with you alone for a moment?" I asked her.

She and her friends stared longingly at Tyler.

I snapped my fingers. "Hello?"

"Oh, yes, sorry." She looked at her friends. "Be right back."

They were too busy adoring Tyler to respond.

I remembered the girl's name from earlier. "Angela, right? I'm Emily."

"Nice to meet you," she said in a shy voice.

I decided not to beat around the bush. "Do you really want to be rid of your vampirism?"

"More than anything." Her lower lip quivered. "I hate being different and not being able to go to the beach is just awful."

"Well, perhaps I can help you."

Her eyes brightened. "How?"

"I have the ability to remove your vampirism."

"Oh my God, that's so cool." She turned to her friends as if to tell them, but I stopped her.

"You can't tell anyone I did it." I leaned toward her. "My ability is a secret."

She nodded solemnly. "I totally understand."

"Excellent." I checked the time on my phone. "I don't have time to do it today, but perhaps sometime this week after one of our classes."

Angela giggled and hugged me. "I can't wait. Oh my God, my parents won't ever have to know I was a vampire."

"You haven't told them yet?"

She shook her head. "How am I supposed to tell them something like that?"

I didn't know what to say.

Angela looked at Tyler. "You have the dreamiest boyfriend ever."

"Yes, well don't be fooled, his super power is charm."

She sighed. "It totally works."

Tyler wore his trademark amused grin as the girls talked to him. He looked at me the moment I drew near. A dreamy look came into his eyes, and it was like the other girls weren't even there. I couldn't help but smile.

"Ready, babe?" He took my hand and kissed it.

The girls sighed in unison.

I nodded. "Let's go."

After a quick joyride in George's flying car, we arrived back at the Gregorian and parked in the underground deck. Nerves aflutter, I could hardly wait to ask George and my parents what they'd decided to do about the demons.

The condo was empty when we went inside. Tyler and I looked around, but found no sign of the others.

He snatched a scrap of paper from the table and showed it to me.

We're going inside the construction area. Be back soon.

My parents were in enemy territory.

Chapter 17

I went from being furious to sick with worry in a matter of seconds. True, they'd told me their intentions, but I hadn't expected them to actually go inside. Snatching the binoculars, I went to the balcony and peered at the construction site. Unfortunately, it was almost dark and I had only the street lamps to see by.

Unless the possessed had changed clothes, I didn't see them on patrol among the sparse foot traffic near the fence.

"We've got to go after them," I told Tyler.

"Let me change into something more appropriate." He glanced at me. "Are you sticking with the yoga pants?"

"Yes, now go change!" I shooed him away.

He returned moments later in dark jeans and T-shirt. "I'm ready."

We took the lift down to the parking deck and headed outside. Just as we were crossing the street, I saw George and my parents strolling our way as if out for a casual evening walk.

I stormed up to them. "Did you really go in there without us?"

Victoria raised an eyebrow. "Darling, we are the seasoned professionals and you the rank amateur. Do you truly think for a second that we'd need to wait for you?"

I was furious, mainly because I knew she was right.

Tyler put a hand on my shoulder, but looked at my mother. "Find anything useful?"

George nodded. "Karak and his minions are preparing another demonicus."

"We have to stop them, right?" I asked.

"Indeed." He crossed his arms. "Zad Kassus and Martin Drang are inside, drawing the demonicus while Karak instructs them."

"It's a very curious arrangement," Victoria said. "Demons do not usually share such sensitive information about their patterns."

"They couldn't do it without the help of Arcanes," Patrick said.

"Those are no ordinary Arcanes," George said. "Kassus and Drang are battle mages of the highest order."

"With degrees in demonology, right?" I still found it hard to believe such words came from my lips.

"Precisely." George took out his phone—arcphone—and tapped on it. "There's a confluence of powerful ley lines running beneath the construction site."

"That explains the location," Victoria said.

I paced back and forth and stopped. "Just like the blood bank?"

George nodded. "In that case, there was only one major ley line beneath it."

I glanced at the phone. "Do you have a map of these things?"

"Of course." He handed me the phone.

The map on the display looked like a mess of tangled yarn. "How in the world do you see anything in this mess?"

"You can adjust the filters to show ley lines of varying magnitudes." He scrolled to a series of checkboxes with numbers next to them.

I unchecked all the smaller ones and left only the four largest categories. Even then, it was hard to see everything on the small screen. "How do you project the image?"

"You don't want to do that here in the open," George said.

It seemed now wasn't the time to do this, so I handed back his phone. "What's the plan for stopping Karak from using the new demonicus?"

"I'm waiting to see if any Templar reinforcements are available," George said. "We counted thirteen possessed down there."

"Karak, his four knights, and eight lessers," Patrick said.

"So, the knights are the ones in between greater and lesser?" I asked.

"There is no accepted standard of demon classifications," Victoria said. "The Exorcists have long used feudal terms. The Templars adopted a numerical system two centuries ago."

"The thing is, ninety-nine percent of the demons we deal with are lessers," Patrick said. "Incursions by demons as powerful as Karak are virtually unheard of because they have a great deal of power to lose if they're caught and purged by Exorcists."

"Lessers, by definition, hold very little power in the demon realm which is why the mortal world holds such an allure for them." Victoria pursed her lips. "This second demonicus would not only raise another group of lessers and knights, but also another demon lord like Karak."

"Which means Domathus is exerting his influence in a big way." Tyler's forehead pinched. "I wonder if Baal or any of the other demon overlords know about this."

"According to our sources, Domathus achieved near parity with Baal some time ago," Victoria said.

"Sources?" Tyler looked puzzled.

"We have demonic informants." Patrick grinned at Tyler's expression. "That's one way we find possessed people so quickly. We also like to keep an eye on the power structure of the underworld."

"I suggest we return to Mr. Rock's penthouse to await word from the Templars," George said.

"Prudent idea," Victoria agreed.

Since it seemed there was little else we could do at the moment, I shrugged and headed back.

Victoria uncorked another bottle of wine when we arrived. This time, I made sure to procure glasses for Tyler and myself.

George took out his phone and projected a ley line map of the area. Several of the largest ones crisscrossed in one location.

I pointed them out. "Where's that?"

"That would be the Grotto way station," George said. He adjusted the settings and a translucent view of the city appeared over the ley lines.

I traced a large vein running north. "Where is the blood bank?"

George touched a spot on the map and highlighted it. Then he traced the same line down into midtown where five other lines crossed and highlighted the area there. "That is the construction site."

I zoomed out and looked at the junction. From there, each of the other five lines continued onward across the nation and presumably the world.

"This is odd," George said, peering at the five-line junction. "I'm almost certain there were only three ley lines there before."

"Surely, you're mistaken." Victoria leaned forward in her chair. "One cannot simply create new ley lines."

"You're quite right." George fiddled with the map. The image blinked away, replaced by another that looked identical except where there had been five lines, there were now only three. "And yet, there are now two extra ley lines."

My father exchanged a look of concern with my mother. "That's impossible. Are you sure your map is correct?"

"Yes, the spell powering this application is tied into the ley line grid used by the arcphone communication system." George switched back to the previous map. "This is the most current image."

"Notice how the two new lines are only a few miles long," Victoria said.

Patrick frowned and shook his head.

Even George looked uncertain.

I didn't understand much about ley lines, but seeing our resident Overworld experts stumped tightened my stomach with apprehension. "Are you certain there's no way to create ley lines?"

"Let me ask a specialist," George said. He flicked away the map and dialed a number using the holographic keypad.

"Zuba speaking," a voice said without an accompanying image.

"Professor, this is George Walker with the Custodians. We need some information and hoped you might be able to provide it."

"Of course. How can I help you?"

"Is there anything in the historical archives about ley lines being created?"

"Hold on." The holographic image of the keypad flickered away, replaced by the live feed of a young man in a gray robe. "It's odd you would ask me this since several new ley lines just appeared."

"In Atlanta?" George asked.

Zuba shook his head. "No, in southern Colombia beneath the city of El Dorado."

George's lips pressed together. "What created them?"

"I spoke with one of the Arcanes in the City of Angels—"

I couldn't help but interrupt. "Los Angeles?"

"No, this is a place with a similar name in Colombia. Legend has it, El Dorado was once ruled by angels." He chuckled. "It's all a myth, of course."

"Of course." Knowing what I knew now, I wasn't so sure.

Zuba continued. "As I was saying, one of the Arcanes went on an expedition to apprehend the notorious demon spawn, Vadaemos Slade. During their adventure, they were chased by ley worms."

"I'm sorry, but are we still talking about myths?" Victoria said.

"Ley worms aren't mythical," Zuba said. "On the other hand, though we know they exist, we still don't know a lot about them except that they're attracted to ley lines and possibly feed off them."

"Are you suggesting the ley worms actually make ley lines?" Patrick asked.

"Let me show you something." Zuba vanished, replaced by a map of glowing lines. "Before the Vadaemos expedition, there were seven major ley lines beneath El Dorado." A red circle appeared around the cluster. The image changed and three new lines appeared, though none of them were as long as the original seven. "You can clearly see the new additions."