This did not appear to be a jail cell. It didn’t even appear to be a hospital. If anything, this resembled a five-star resort with majestic views of a distant mountain shrouded in clouds, and pristine snow glittering in the sun. Snow. “This is Mia’s home base,” Kilian said. He had only seen the military quarters, but every land witch created someplace beautiful and private where they could commune with the land that held their magic. He couldn't imagine Mia escaping that compulsion.
Stephen nodded. “These are her quarters. Since she only has one bedroom, she parked us in her great room.” He gestured at the enormous room with the carved dining table at the far end and colorful tapestries on two of the walls. Heavy furniture and artfully arranged flowers contributed to the sense this was a resort.
“Where is she?”
Stephen got a devilish grin. “I might've chased her away.” Reality twitched and then beautiful wings spread out on either side of Stephen. Kilian recoiled, bringing his hand up to ward off the demon, but in a blink, the wings vanished, and Stephen stood with an alarmed expression. “What's wrong?”
“The demon...” Words stuck in Kilian’s throat.
“I told you, it's gone.”
Kilian frowned. “But the wings?”
Stephen laughed. “Clearly, you do not spend a lot of time studying possession.”
“Demons are not the bad guys we’re routinely called out to kill,” Kilian said dryly. “If a demon appears, we’ve already lost the fight and the Army calls in the big guns.” Kilian thought of his old team members, the banshee who would use her voice to disrupt transmissions, the were-kappa who hunted with such joy, the hobgoblin and the pair of brownies and all the werewolves who had laughed and fought and died. They were big guns, but Kilian and one woman who had been on maternity leave were the only survivors of that first team, and no one else had survived the second. “The bigger guns,” Kilian corrected himself.
Stephen leaned against the bed railing, his arms crossed. “When a demon takes possession, the witch has installed some sort of locking runes to keep the demon in the body so it can't go out and make mischief.
“Unless the witch in question was mentally slipping and underestimated a young demon to the point that she left her son in a vulnerable position,” Kilian countered.
Stephen wrinkled his nose. “Well, yeah, unless that part happens. But in a traditional possession, the demon and the witch enter negotiations. The witch offers to amuse the demon with various forms of chaos—”
“Because the other side of the veil is boring,” Kilian said as he remembered the demon's words.
“Is it?” Stephen's eyebrows went up. “Demons generally don't say anything about the other side of the veil, but ‘boring’ would explain their penchant for causing drama.”
“I'm not sure that driving people insane to enjoy the floor show would be most accurately described as drama, but finish your thought.”
“In return for the draaaaaaama...” Yep, the sarcasm was all Stephen, no demon required. Stephen grinned and waited for Kilian’s reaction. When Kilian lifted an eyebrow and waited for Stephen to continue, he huffed and sort of deflated. “Spoilsport,” he muttered. “Anyway, in return for drama, the demon makes upgrades to the body. Most witches are looking for a way to channel more magic or hold more. My mother wanted the demon to fix the Parkinson's disease. But whatever changes the demon makes, they’re permanent. Otherwise, no witch would ever summon a demon.”
Kilian's eyes got large. “The demon gifted you with wings.”
Stephen nodded. “Disappearing wings. Apparently I am permanently connected to the veil. I can send my wings to hide inside it but I cannot fly. I tried that first, and I was very disappointed to find all that did was generate a lot of wind and a fuck ton of magic that I might or might not have dragged out of the veil. The excess soaked into the land, so Mia’s in love with my wings and just a little freaked out.”
Kilian struggled to sit up, and Stephen got a hand behind Kilian's back to support him. For one second, Kilian flashed on the image of the demon supporting Kilian's head. But this wasn’t the demon. Maybe Stephen was sarcastic and maybe he had a cruel sense of humor, but there was no malice in him. He loved so deeply that he was willing to give his life for his mother. If humans had a defining characteristic the way supernaturals did, Stephen’s would be love. And that would be followed by stupidity. “What do you mean you send the wings away? How does that work?”
“How the hell should I know? I think them away, and they go away. Mia wants to experiment, but I’ve vetoed that.” He grimaced.
Even without the demon influencing him, Stephen’s dislike of Mia was on full display. “Why did you let them bring us back here?” Kilian asked. They were going to have a hell of a time arguing their way free from a court-martial, or at least Kilian would. Stephen could pretty much blame everything on the demon.
“Because Silas said so? You seem to trust him, so I let him decide,” Stephen said.
Kilian pressed his eyes closed as he tried to think through all the possibilities. He would need to get one hell of a good lawyer.
“Hey.” Stephen rested his hand on Kilian's shoulder. “What's wrong?”
Kilian’s second problem was keeping Stephen free of the mess. “Stay clear of any legal charges. I know you have a self-sacrificing button, but it will only make the court-martial worse if you jump in in defense of me.”
Stephen frowned. “Why would they court-martial you?”
“Because I helped a demon flee capture.”
Stephen snorted. “Yeah, that's not how they see it. Now the commander at your last base and all of the medical personnel who cleared you... they are totally going to get court-martialed. Apparently the Army is unamused by the fact that Silas had to re-kill the witch that you had already killed. The idea of the Lamia serial killer escaping is enough to give their PR department conniptions.
“But you didn’t do anything wrong. If anything, you got dragged along for the ride because of Mia’s stupid binding spell. By the way, how did you know to use the binding spell in the ring to lock the sacred object onto the demon?”
“What?” Kilian cradled his bad arm to his chest and struggled to sit up more. “What are you talking about?”
