Chapter 398: Futile Attempts
We were a pretty gloomy bunch when we returned to the lab. Theridialis just shook his head slowly, jowls jiggling a little. Dad slumped into a nearby chair while Sassafras circled the room, tail straight up like a flag waving as he made his agitated circuit.
"There has to be a way." Dad stood suddenly, brow low over his eyes. "What haven't we considered?"
"There are more tests I can run." Theridialis didn't seem all that positive, but my need for hope latched onto his words like a lifeline.
Sassafras leaped up on the table, daintily weaving his way through the beakers and jars until he stood across from his father.
"Make me a demon again." He sounded a little out of breath and, to be honest, so was I with that request fresh from his cat mouth.
Theridialis met his son's amber eyes. "What good could that serve?"
"I could fight for the girls." His tail thrashed, knocking over several fragile-looking instruments which I barely caught with my magic. No one else seemed to care or notice so I gently set them on the floor, my power coiling away as Sassy went on. "I know how these things work. If I had a mortal body, I could challenge the cousins myself and keep the girls safe."
Was that desperation in his voice? My confidence plummeted as I realized he didn't think we stood a chance after all, no matter what success we had.
Way to make a girl feel useful.
Theridialis reached out very gently and stroked Sassy's face. The Persian leaned into his father's fingers, a soft purr emerging though his tail didn't quiet.
"My son," the portly scientist said, "if I were able, I would have by now."
Sassafras hissed and pulled away. "Fine," he snapped, turning on us. "Then we have work to do."
Yeah, like I really wanted to put the effort in now I knew what he really thought.
Dad perked, gaze far away for a moment before he shook his head and stood.
"I have to go," he said. "I'm needed at the Seat." Dad hesitated a moment before making a visible decision. "You two stay here and let Theridialis run his tests. I'll leave the guards to bring you back if I don't return myself."
"Harry," Sassy said, "you need your own protection."
Dad turned without arguing with him. "If I'm not back my guards will watch over you."
And he was gone.
"Thought mental communication was frowned on?" I met Sassy's eyes. The cat didn't blink, tail swishing still.
"It is," he growled. "I don't like it one bit."
"Maybe we should just go with Dad." Even Meira, who had been rather upbeat despite the news we were trapped, seemed concerned.
I shrugged and took his stool, trying not to let the sense of defeat win. "Let's just do the tests," I said.
Most of what Theridialis did seemed futile, though I recalled the last batch of testing he'd run me through and none of it made sense either. Meira found the whole process fascinating, asking a ton of questions in an excited chatter while I just did as I was told, lost in my private storm cloud.
"Thank you both." Theridialis examined a set of equations he'd written in the air with amber fire, face creased in a frown of concentration. "I'll examine my findings and perhaps we'll try the crossing again tomorrow."
"Good then." I hopped down from my stool, needing to move all of a sudden, to shake my melancholia. "Back to the Seat it is."
Meira made a face, but followed me after giving the distracted Theridialis a quick hug. He smiled at her and patted her head like she was very small before muttering to himself, wandering around the lab with his equations floating after him.
Sassafras snorted and led the way to the exit, tip of his tail sagging into a question mark as we approached the elevator and found it empty.
Hmm. Hadn't Dad said he'd leave his guards? No floating vehicle waited. Maybe they were at the bottom.
Sassy hissed. "On our own," he said. "Something isn't right."
I paused, felt around me. I'm not sure what I sought, but at least I didn't come across any obvious threats.
"Well, we can't stay here forever," I said. "Let's go."
Sassy swatted my leg. "We wait for Harry."
I'm not sure where my sudden surge of stubbornness came from. Maybe I was tired of being afraid, or maybe I was just sick of feeling cooped up in the mountain palace. But whatever the case, I slipped around my guardian feline and onto the platform. Meira grinned and joined me, leaving Sassafras to stare at us while we waited for him to come aboard.
"We'll leave without you," I said, not really sure if I meant it.
He must have believed me because, grumbling and muttering, he came on board just as the elevator began to drop.
It deposited us on the street, out in the open. I'd been here before, guided to a platform surrounded by guards and dressed in a ghastly outfit. This time there was no cordon, no gathered crowd. Just normal demons going about their normal business on the cobbled streets of their city.
Fear spiked for a moment until I realized for the first time we were totally anonymous. No one knew we were here or who we were. I didn't know how likely it was any cousins would be in the area, but I hoped not. This could finally be an opportunity to have a look around.
"The train," Sassy said. "Is that way." He motioned with his head. "Don't get any ideas."
Meira giggled and scooped him up. "We'll get to the train," she said, winking at me, "when we've done a little snooping."
Sassy's grumbling was lost in her laughter as she turned and headed down the street in the opposite direction.
Now, I totally understood his concern. We were strangers in this place, with what amounted to a bounty on our heads if any of our cousins caught up with us. And yet, for the first time since we arrived, I felt like a normal person again. Okay, demon. But the point is, as I strolled behind my sister and the arguing silver Persian in her arms to the end of the street and into what turned out to be a giant open-air market, I found myself smiling and actually enjoying myself.
Considering where we'd just come from and the reality of what might be our future, I'd take a few minutes distraction in a crowd where no one knew well enough to challenge me for status.
That whole thing was going to get old fast if I had to put up with it for long.
Meira squealed in delight over some hand-made jewelry and what looked like clothing knit with metal while I let her have her fun, keeping an eye out just in case, though Sassafras seemed to have the guardian market cornered, his paws over her shoulder, cat eyes everywhere at once.
It wasn't until my sister backed away with a sad look on her face I realized we didn't have any money.
"Sorry, Meems," I said. "We'll get some cash from Dad and come back, okay?"
She beamed up at me, looking more girlish than she had since I noticed she was growing up on me. "Really?" She hugged me, squashing Sass between us while he squeaked a protest.
Hand in hand, we wandered for a little while, smiling and waving at eager merchants who beckoned us closer, clearly seeing our clothing and noting us for nobility of some kind though I hoped we'd both dressed down enough we wouldn't be recognized.
"My love!" I spun, startled as someone grasped my hand. I gazed up into a pair of amber eyes, glowing with amusement, and a handsome demon face reminding me of Quaid.
"Excuse me?" I found myself smiling in spite of myself as Meira giggled and Sassy growled softly, tail thrashing against her arm.
The strange young demon bent and kissed my hand, hot breath heating my skin. His eyes never left mine, a wicked gleam in his gaze as he gently drew me closer.
"My love," he breathed. "I've been waiting for you my entire life."
I had to laugh. Just had to. And yet there was a catch to my laughter and I found myself flushing with a mix of embarrassment and attraction. When I tried to pull my hand free, he clung to it, pressing it against his broad chest, my fingers touching his bare skin where his tunic lay open at his throat.
"I beg you," he said in a voice vibrating with emotion, "don't leave me ever again."
Okay, this was getting to be a little much. "Listen," I said, "it's all fun and games until someone loses a hand." I raised one eyebrow and nodded at his grip on my person.
He grinned back and released me, but slowly, the tips of his fingers lingering on mine. "Here," he said, turning and lifting what looked like a necklace from a table behind him. He draped it around my neck before I could protest. "Perfect for you." Again with the wide grin.
Cheeky. Very cheeky. But he was delicious and my demon was having a good time. If only he wasn't trying to sell me something...
Before I could offer a pert reply, he paled, retrieving the necklace in a snatch before bowing his head to me.
"Careful," he whispered before spinning and vanishing behind his booth and the heavy curtain hiding the back of it from the outside world.
That was... weird. I turned to Meira and Sassafras to ask them what was up when I noticed for the first time we were alone.
Completely and utterly. Alone.
Shoppers, vendors, you name it. All vanished.
That couldn't be good.
Syd-Sassy's voice reached me just as I felt a buildup of magic very close to me, with only enough time to wrap my arms around Meira and pull the three of us to the ground.
Something exploded over my head, blowing out the side of a stall and sending those hiding inside it scrambling, screaming. I rolled over, looking in the direction of the attack, my power flooding me as my temper snapped everything into focus.
A dozen masked attackers raced toward us, hands full of fire.
This was no challenge.
They were trying to kill us.
This at least I was familiar with. Roaring in fury, I leapt to my feet and charged, magic flooding around me, a mix of witch, Sidhe and demon followed by the flickering white of the vampire as Meira's blue family power lashed out in tune with mine. Shaylee reached for the earth and, though it was foreign to her, it still responded, rippling under the feet of the charging demons. Half of them fell, stumbling and crashing into each other even as the combined power of Meira and my witch magic sought the moisture in the air and the pressure of the wind, driving the two together with such force sharp shards of ice tore through their masks and clothing.
Most of them fled. Only two remained, a man and a woman from the way they carried themselves. The male whipped an arm back, amber fire ready to take me out only to fall back with a cry as the white power of the vampire struck like the end of a jagged whip, sucking his magic from him.
With that, they ran after their counterparts, threads of Meira's blue power nipping at their heels. I almost went after them.
Was about to in fact, when I was suddenly surrounded by guards, flooding the market while the customers and vendors emerged, talking loud and fast and pointing at me.
"Finally," I growled at one of them. "Weren't you supposed to stay behind and guide us back to the Seat?"
I had no idea if these were Dad's guards, but I took a stab at it.
Not his. Or at least, not here to protect me.
"Sydlynhamitra," one of them said in a deep, wooden voice, giant hand going around my upper arm, "and Hathenemeira, you are both under arrest for the illegal use of foreign magic."
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