Make Me (11 page)

I read through the spell silently. “It looks like it would give me the ability to locate mage demons within a certain range. Why would I want to do that?”

Shade snorted. “Maybe because a mage demon and his son tried to steal the books and rule the world with them?”

“Well, yeah, there is that,” I conceded.

Jack gave us a rueful grin. “This is the first ability the books offered me, too. That self-preservation thing I told you about. The only problem is, if you use a spell from the books, a mage demon can sense them. Remember, the books know they’re safe in the hands of a keeper. But in the hands of a mage demon…”

“. . . not so much,” Shade said. “They’d have access to every spell in the book.”

“Exactly,” Jack said with a decisive nod. “And some of them are
very
dangerous. You don’t think Trevor and his father were the only mage demons in the world, do you?”

I hadn’t thought about it at all, to tell the truth. And that was a real Catch-22. Use them to detect a mage demon and they could detect
you
. “I think I’ll pass for now.”

“Mage demons?” I heard a woman say behind me. “What do you want with mage demons?”

I turned around to see a voluptuous woman with long corkscrew blond curls in the doorway. She wore a curve-hugging red dress that slinked halfway down her calves… and only barely covered her rather impressive chest. From the stage makeup and the light succubus hold I felt she had on the two rather innocuous-looking men with her, I gathered this was the Underground leader here in Austin. Sheesh—she was seduction in one neat package. Unlike me, she’d inspire lust just by the sight of her—no succubus needed. And the men with her seemed utterly smitten.

Lola bristled at the appearance of another succubus, and I didn’t object as Lola reached out to lightly grab onto Shade and Jack’s chakras. If Lola had them,
she
couldn’t get them. “Dina Bellama, I presume?” I said, attempting to be polite.

I could feel her trying for my guys, but she wasn’t able to get hold of them. Lola had them too tight. “The Slayer, I presume,” she mocked me, apparently annoyed at being balked of her prey.

But if I was any judge of succubi, I’d say her tank of lusty energy was pretty well topped off for the night. She positively oozed sensuality. She didn’t need anything from Shade or Jack—she just wanted to assert her domination. Already, I didn’t like her. And Lola positively hated her.

Aloud, I said, “Yes, I’m Val Shapiro and this is Jack Grady and Shade.”

Shade and Jack had both stood up politely. Shade was doing his swirly thing and Dina, apparently fascinated, sauntered over to touch his face in wonder. Her eyes widened when his face came into view. “Well, well, what have we here? No wonder you’re holding on tight to this one. I wouldn’t let him get away either. But what kind of demon has that kind of mask?”

Shade, looking annoyed, backed away from her hand so he became one big mass of roiling ropes of energy again. I raised an eyebrow at her, silently reminding her it was rude to ask that in the Underground.

“He’s a shadow demon,” one of her two pets told her, glaring at Shade. “He can bring full demons into this world through a portal.”

Well, yes, that was technically true, but Shade was so much more than that.

She whirled on me, eyes sparking with anger. “And you’re looking for mage demons, too? Are you
trying
to destroy the world?”

Jack stepped forward with a frown. “Your assumptions are incorrect. Just because he
can
bring demons through a portal doesn’t mean he
will
. And this shadow demon is the reason we were able to shove two mage demons in San Antonio through a portal and lock them away forever.” He paused, then added, “In answer to your second question, we aren’t looking for mage demons. We’re looking to avoid them.”

I suppressed a smile.
Go, Jack
. He said it much better than I could.

Dina looked down her nose at him. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m the former keeper of the
Encyclopedia Magicka.
Val is the new keeper.”

“Yes, Micah mentioned something about the books.” Dina’s gaze flicked to the table. “Those?”

“Yes,” Jack said.

Darn, I wish he wasn’t so fast with the answers. I wasn’t so sure I wanted her fondling anything that belonged to me. I moved to block her way to the table.

Instead of pushing past me, she looked down at me with amusement. “Selfish, are we?”

“Just protective. After all, the books can have a bad effect on anyone who isn’t a keeper.”

“Well, I’m afraid I can’t let you run loose around my town with dangerous books or a shadow demon. You’ll have to leave them both here while you play with the vampires.” Her eyes narrowed and she added, “I insist.”

Leave Shade and the books? Not a chance in hell.

Yeah, the Lola kind of persuasion. More calmly, I asked, “Why didn’t you tell Micah?”

“I planned on it, but a few things came up since then.”

“Like what?” I demanded. What could be more important than that?

“Like missing members of the Underground. A number of people have vanished, two in the past few days, and we can’t find any trace of them.” To her credit, she looked worried.

“I’m sorry about that,” I said, “but didn’t you think it might be the mage demon doing this?”

“Of course I did,” she snapped.

“Then why didn’t you call on us for help? You knew we’d contained one mage demon already.”

“Because I took care of it. And if he comes back again, I can control him long enough to feed him to Micah’s Memory Eater. But what if a female mage demon I can’t control comes looking for them? Apparently, the Slayer blasted the damn books into wakefulness enough so any mage demon in the country knows they’re active.”

“That’s not how it happened,” Shade protested and reached forward to lightly clasp my arm and bring his features into view. “Besides, mage demons are pretty rare. I’ve done some research in the Underground records across the country. There’s only one other mage demon in the country, and you just sent him to New Orleans.”

Dina cut him off with an upraised hand. “Doesn’t matter. The books are dangerous. If we can’t destroy them, they need to be neutralized somehow.”

“What about me?” Shade asked softly. “You think I’m dangerous. Do you plan to destroy me, too?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Dina said, caressing him with her gaze. “You’re one of us. I just want to keep an eye on you, keep you happy, ensure you have no reason to lose your temper and bring an army of full demons into our world.”

Did Micah tell her
all
our secrets? Exasperated, I said, “I’m the keeper. I keep the books neutralized
and
I keep Shade happy.” Shade gave me an odd look and I wished I’d phrased that differently. Before she could protest again, I added, “We don’t need you or your permission to be here.”

“Then why did you all ask to see me?”

“Because we hoped you would have a place for me to stay while Val is working,” Shade explained. “It’s easier if I can stay around people who understand so I don’t have to hide my skin. But I can make do at a hotel if I have to.”

“Of course I have a place you can stay,” Dina assured him. “But, why don’t you stay with Val?”

“Because the vampires won’t let him while she looks for the chupacabras
,
” Jack told her.

Exasperated with Jack’s loose lips, I explained the whole
thing all over again.

Dina looked worried. “You think one of my people is responsible for killing animals?”

“Actually, no,” I said. Not until she mentioned it, anyway. “I think it’s rogue vampires. But this so-called chupacabra might have something to do with your missing people.”

She nodded. “That makes sense.”

Good. We were getting somewhere. “So we’ll just go and—”

“No,” Dina said, interrupting me. “You’re like a loose cannon. I’d be foolish to let you roam free.” I started to protest, but she held up a hand. “Yes, I understand you’re here to help, but to ensure you’re careful with where you point your weapons in my city, you can either leave the books or Shade with me. I’ll take good care of them until you finish your business and are ready to leave Austin for good.”

Yeah, I just bet she would. “And if I don’t agree?”

“Then we’ll personally escort you all out of town and keep track of you to ensure you don’t enter uninvited again.”

Suddenly, there were a lot more men in the room—and every single one of them was controlled by Dina. I didn’t know what abilities these demons had, so fighting my way out could be a problem, especially given my weakened strength. But since I wasn’t willing to leave either Shade or the books in her clutches, I tensed, ready for action. I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do, but hoped something would come to me.

“Can we have a moment to talk this over?” Shade asked Dina in the tense silence.

She looked amused. “Be my guest. You can use the phone room.” She gestured toward a small room, barely big enough for the three of us. It held a small table, chair and phone—must be used for the demons to make personal calls in private.

I grabbed the books from the table and stuffed them into my backpack. Shade, Jack and I squeezed into the room and shut the door. To keep Jack from getting too touchy-feely so close to Lola, I leaned into Shade and told Jack, “Hands off,” reinforcing the order with Lola. Come to think of it, I should have done some ordering before. “And don’t tell Dina anything more about our business. Got it?”