Phlox’s hand landed on my shoulder, and I squeezed his wrist, begging him to hold his silence and not egg Tenzen on. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep using his ego to stall his murderous tendencies.
Tugging on his suit jacket, Tenzen tapped his cane twice. “We’ve gotten off topic.” Running his fingers through his hair, Tenzen used his cane to point toward the mantel. My eyes followed the movement. Two solitary objects sat atop an old, oaken surface. Two seemingly innocuous items. A rock with a single red line through it and an ancient-looking inkpot. Within an instant, I recognized something I should have felt the moment I entered the house. Had I not been so damn preoccupied and frazzled, I would have.
“Shit.” The word slipped past my lips as the hum of the two souls vibrated through me.
“I see you understand their significance.” Tenzen sounded supremely pleased. “I had wondered. I confess, the tales I’ve been told regarding your abilities are difficult to believe. You are truly unique, Necromancer Boone. It would be interesting to catalog your species further. It could be you are not as singular as we believe. Considering recent events and revelations, overlooking your species has been a significant miscalculation on my part.”
Fresh panic seized me. The threat was there, calmly hidden beneath a layer of sincere interest. Tenzen wanted me, but if I didn’twork outto his satisfaction, he’d track down other necromancers. He’d harvest my species, weeding out the ones he deemed useless and grooming the ones with potential.
“What is it?” Phlox asked. He was close enough that I felt his breath on my cheek. “What are they?”
“Djinn,” I answered, the word nearly getting caught in my throat.
Phlox immediately hissed. “You’re a fool, Huxley.”
“I am the opposite,” Tenzen argued. “A fool would have already released the djinn. I have been patient. I have waited until this moment, until the one known being on this planet who can truly harm a djinn is within my grasp and control.”
“Rather presumptuous of you.” Leon’s words sounded cool and controlled once more. I hadn’t looked back to see if he was still in his vampiric form or not. Considering the ever-present threat, I doubted he’d relaxed.
I stared at the objects on the mantel, their djinn still peacefully sleeping. “What’s to stop me from slamming their souls back in them the moment you release the djinn?”
Tenzen’s smokey chuckle sent shivers down my spine. “I find it difficult to believe you would do so. You are frighteningly compassionate when it comes to djinn. You would not wish to harm one that had yet to do harm to you. And just in case I’ve misjudged your conscience, I still have two very strong motivators for you to play nicely with my desires.”
My fingers fisted into my sweaty palms. “And just what is it you desire?” That was the crux of this whole damn situation. What in the hell did Tenzen want badly enough to risk releasing not one, but two djinn that could very well wind up destroying him?
All jovialness left Tenzen’s features, leaving behind cold calculation. Shadow weaved a little closer while at the same time appearing increasingly volatile. “What do I want? I want what everyone wants—control. There is but one way to do so. Fairy must be put in its place.”
I blinked. Leon had suspected as much, but to hear it from Tenzen himself… “You want to drive Fairy back to their realm?”
“No.” Tenzen’s grin returned, just as wicked as before. “I want to destroy Fairy.”
“Goddess,” Phlox gasped. “You want to destroy a whole species?”
Tenzen’s lips pulled back, exposing pointed teeth. “And Fairy hasn’t done the same? They’ve wiped out species here on this planet.”
“I…” Phlox seemed at a loss for words.
I didn’t have that problem. “That doesn’t give you the right to do the same.”
“You misunderstand me, Necromancer Boone. I require no justification for my actions. I was simply pointing out a fact Agent Frost seems eager to forget.”
“Arrogant asshole,” Phlox muttered, hopefully too low for Tenzen to hear.
Fairy’s takeover of Earth happened before I was born, as did most of the carnage that came with it. I didn’t know if what Tenzen said was true or not. What I did know was even if it was, what I’d said before still held true. That didn’t give Tenzen the right to destroy a whole species. Claiming acceptability based on previous violence was an unsustainable cycle that harmed everyone.
Tenzen’s gloved hand lovingly ran along the edge of the rock. “Currently, Fairy is beyond my abilities. If my brethren had remained aware…if they understood what Fairy had done, what they’d taken from us…” Smoke billowed from Tenzen’s nostrils. “I attempted to wake them, but their slumber is deep. They do not wish to be a part of this world any longer.”
Leon’s voice was still calm when he said, “They might have been enough to stop Fairy from gaining control of Earth, but they would not have been able to gain entry into Fairy any more than you.”
“I am aware. That’s what my djinn are for.”
I’d never thought to ask Aurelia if she could get into Fairy. Given how much she wanted a scuttlebutt I would have thought she’d make the attempt long ago if only to obtain one. That made me think she couldn’t enter either. And if that were the case, then how did Tenzen expect these djinn to do what Aurelia couldn’t?
Phlox echoed my thoughts. “Djinn can’t get into Fairy either. You have to be invited in, and I can guarantee you that Queen Silvidia would never authorize a djinn inside her borders.”
“Pathetic,” Shadow whispered, its deep voice slithering into the room. “These creatures are nothing. Allow me to rid the earth of their ignorance.” Shadow swayed forward, its intentions radiating threat.
“Soon,” Tenzen promised, that one word spiking my pulse.
