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"Oh, but I don't want you both to leave. Just him. Get out, mongrel. Thy presence doth offend me."
Trsiel strode back to the center of the room and planted himself there.
"See?" the demon said, chortling. "Your defiance gives you away, half-blood. No true angel would have so much pride."
When Trsiel said nothing, a current of hot air snaked from the couch and encircled me, wending its way up my legs, over my torso, and to my ear.
"You wish to bargain with me, whelp?" the demon whispered.
"Perhaps," I said. "Do you wish to bargain, demon?"
"Your Nix annoyed me. You seem, if not properly respectful, at least courteous."
"Or perhaps you just wish to cause trouble," Trsiel said. "By giving her false information."
"And what, sweet mongrel, would be the fun in that? There is no 'trouble' to be found in watching a half-breed demon and a half-breed angel pursue an arrogant Nix. The trouble comes when they catch her."
"You can't trust him, Eve," Trsiel said. "You know you can't."
When I hesitated, the demon only chuckled, hot breath tickling my ear.
"When you're ready to bargain, you'll know where to find me."
A blast of tropical heat, and he was gone.
We finished searching the castle, but we'd already found what had enticed the Nix here. As for the demon's offer, the cardinal rule of bargaining is to never let your opponent know how badly you want what he has. And the encounter with the demon had left Trsiel unsettled. Better to let him cool off before I raised the subject again.
Outside the walls, Trsiel turned to me. "The Fates will want us to sit with Lizzie and Sullivan again. If you have a better idea..." He gave a distracted half-shrug. "I'm sure you do, so go ahead and do that. I'll cover the babysitting. If you need me..."
I grinned. "I'll whistle."
He nodded, unsmiling.
I looked over at him. "I have no idea what that demon was needling you about, but it obviously got to you, and if you want to talk about it, I'm a pretty good listener."
His eyes met mine, and I saw a loneliness and a sadness there that jolted through me.
"I appreciate the offer," he said softly. "But I won't take you up on it--not yet."
I did indeed have a fresh plan. Thinking of Lizzie made me realize that I had to speak to another partner, one who'd enjoyed the relationship with the Nix. Getting her to talk would be a challenge, but I had an idea.
> Given Jaime's response when I asked her to summon Robin MacKenzie, I knew she'd be less than thrilled at the prospect of traveling across the ocean to summon another serial killer. And she did grumble, but it seemed more a token complaint. She didn't have any shows scheduled for the rest of the week, so a trip to Edinburgh wasn't a complete inconvenience. She decided to make a tax-deductible "research" vacation out of it, called her travel agent, and managed to get a last-minute ticket for a flight leaving from O'Hare in two hours.
When I met Jaime at the cemetery gates, it was almost noon.
"I don't suppose this can wait until tonight," she said as we wove through a posse of dog walkers.
"Hey, you're getting better at that."
"At what?"
"Talking without moving your lips."
A tiny smile. "I'm a woman of many talents."
"And if the showbiz spiritualist thing doesn't work out for you, there's always ventriloquism."
She shook her head and ducked around an elderly couple bearing wreaths of plastic flowers. "Is there something going on today? Or is it always this busy?"
