“Good luck selling that, Reagan.” Dizzy chuckled and loaded a piece of bread with cheese and some sort of orange jelly.
“Got it?” I prodded Darius in the chest.
“I understand.”
“Fine.” I sat back, but jumped when I felt his arm—so warm and strong—nearly resting on my shoulders. My heart started racing. “And no hitting on me.” I pushed his arm away.
“That might be harder.”
“I will shoot you in the leg. You know I will.”
“Does no one tell me anything?” Dizzy said.
“What is the other part of your reason for tagging along?” I asked.
Darius rose and crossed through one of the concealment spells. It disintegrated. He returned a moment later with a bottle of whiskey and one of champagne. While he refilled Dizzy’s drink, he left the whiskey beside Callie’s empty glass.
“Thank you,” Dizzy said.
“Reagan?” Darius stayed standing.
“I’m good, thanks.”
After he used another spell to restore our privacy, he resumed his seat. His arm came across the back of the couch. “As you know, Vlad is unsettled with the power the elves hold in the Realm. He has been working to increase our numbers, but also to create alliances. He hopes one of those allies will be Lucifer, and if not him directly, then a host of sufficiently powerful demons that can maintain their own forms in both the Realmandin the Brink—the Brink being the harder of the two, of course.
“I have always monitored Vlad vaguely, as he has done with me. It is important to be aware of what other political powers are doing. After hearing about his interest in the demons, however, I have watched himmore carefully. In so doing, I learned about a collection of demons that had sprung up in a Northern Californian town. Like a whirlwind, the small town was plagued with vicious deeds and atrocities the area had never seen before in that magnitude.”
“Why haven’t I heard about that?” I asked, aghast.
“News coverage has been minimal. Many are blaming the occult. The effect lasted about two weeks. After that, the people who’d committed the crimes came out of their trance. Many of them were already incarcerated, but they had no idea what had happened, let alone what part they had played in it. Vlad’s people checked it out and determined the demon responsible wasn’t one they knew.”
I shifted. “I thought you said there were a bunch of demons?”
“Dimensional demons,” Callie said quietly. “Humans turned into demons by one powerful demon.”
Dizzy moaned and shook his head. “I hope not.”
“Did you not just hear the vampire?” Callie asked Dizzy. “He all but described them.”
“Honey, don’t be rude. Call him a man.”
“But he’s not a man. He’s a vampire. Why shouldn’t I call him what he is?”
“Fast-forward to the point, please,” I said, rubbing my temples.
“A fifth-level demon sheds power as it movesthrough the world in its chosen form. That power alters humans in the demon’s image.” Callie poured herself a finger of whiskey. “An experienced demon can prevent this, if it so chooses. Depending on the type of demon, the effect can make humans more villainous, lustful, deceitful, or even more loving. I once heard of a whole town that erupted in orgies. This demon, clearly, is swirling around our classic definition of evil.”
“I honestly didn’t know there were good demons,” I mumbled.
Callie took a sip before replying. “People like to glorify the negative aspects of themselves in demon form. Demons are the scapegoats. But let’s be honest, a great many of them are very bad creatures.”
“Besides,” Dizzy said, “they tend to make weak-willed people do uncharacteristic things. Forcing your will on others is never a good thing.”
“Burn!” I pointed at Darius.
He looked at me quizzically.
“You know, because of the forcing your will on others thing. Namely me… Never mind. You’re slow.”
