Finn shook his head. “Kissinganyoneelse sounds like a really bad idea.”
Grayson peered skeptically through the clear side of her tap water weapon. “Considering that the alternative seems to be urinating in a spray bottle, I fully support the saliva tactic.”
“Okay, then. Everyone understand the plan?”
“Finn is Kastor.” Grayson opened the massive commercial refrigerator and sprayed her bottle inside. “He should be able to carry that off since he grew up here,” she added, and Finn nodded, grimly acknowledging that fact. I still wasn’t sure how much he’d heard about his parentage, but if he was traumatized, he was keeping it all inside, at least for the moment.
With any luck, we’d both have time to grieve and vent after we’d dealt with the demon scourge.
Grayson sprayed a metal bin of tomatoes and potatoes, then turned to me. “You and I are his guards. Rufus and Gidri.”
Those were the names of two of the guards we’d killed in the stairwell, and Finn recognized them both as having been with Kastor for years.
“They’re both assholes,” he’d said. “Rufus has a sweet tooth. Red licorice is his favorite. Maddy and I used it to bribe him to look the other way when we wanted to sneak out of the apartment.”
Gidri, he’d told us, loved weird hats—when he was off duty—and snacked on beef jerky.
We hadn’t found any jerky on hand, but I’d discovered a bag of cherry-flavored licorice in the kitchen pantry. I slid several ropes of the candy into my pocket so that they hung out into plain sight, and held up my spray bottle. “Ready?”
“As I’m ever gonna be,” Grayson said.
“Kastor, lead the way!”
Finn scowled—he didn’t like his assigned part—but tucked his small spray bottle into a large cargo pocket over his right leg, then led us out of what turned out to be a prewar hotel, long ago converted into an apartment building for Kastor and those he deemed most worthy to live near him. Maddock—and Finn, unbeknownst to anyone else—had grown up in a suite on the top floor, mostly raised by a series of human nannies.
On the street Finn took the lead, and Grayson and I walked behind and on either side of him, like a proper entourage. I snacked on Rufus’s candy, trying to get into character and forget that I hated licorice. There were no cars. Pandemonia—the downtown section, at least—was a walking city, and we’d gone less than a block from the hotel when people began appearing on the street.
Everyone stopped to wave at or yell a greeting to Kastor, which confirmed my suspicion that we would not be able to go unnoticed. We’d have to hide in plain sight and convince everyone else that we belonged.
“Most of Kastor’s guards are gruff and generally unpleasant,” Finn whispered, waving at a very large woman in a very small top across the street. “They don’t let anyone get too close to him, and they don’t say much, other than ‘Move along’ and ‘That’s close enough.’ ” Finn stopped and turned to confer privately with Grayson and me. “He told you that he’s Maddy’s father?”
“He told us more than that,” Grayson said, and the color drained from Finn’s face.
“I’ve heard rumors.” He cleared his throat softly and looked right into my eyes. “I’ve heard a lot more than Maddock has, because I’ve always been able to go places he couldn’t, without being seen.” Finn frowned. “Well, I guess that hasn’talwaysbeen the case. But my point is that everyone knows Kastor is Maddy’s dad. No one else has ever fathered a child in demon form. Kastor is like a celebrity here. Everyone expects to see him, but no one expects his guards to let them get too close. You can use that.”
Grayson and I understood. Finn should be visible, but untouchable.
We’d just begun to hear the racket from the marketplace when the first bystander recognized me, an event I’d been expecting but dreading. “Is that Nina Kane?” The man turned to walk backward in front of Kastor, the bright purple legs of his boxer shorts swishing with every step.
“Not anymore,” Finn said, and the man took a closer look at me as I bit off a chunk from a red rope of candy.
“Rufus?” he said, and I nodded. “I thought you didn’t like walking around…like that.” He held both hands in front of his chest in a cartoonish imitation of breasts.
Finn stepped in before I could answer. “My guard needed an upgrade.” He twisted to glance at me. “Show him the fire.”
I finally caught on when he glanced pointedly at my left hand. The man in purple gasped and stumbled backward when flames burst from my cupped palm.
“Holy shit!” he whispered.
I took another bite of licorice and maintained a gruff silence, trying to hide the fact that my pulse was racing with nerves and I was starting to sweat. Finn nodded and glanced back at Grayson. “A matched set,” he said, and she showed off her own handful of flames. “Gender is irrelevant. What matters is power. Make it known.”
The man’s eyes widened, and then he nodded and spun to run toward the market.
“Nice save,” Grayson whispered.
Finn made a satisfied noise deep in his throat. “This just might work.”
I wasn’t quite ready to agree, but we had no better plan.
