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Too weird. A demon masquerading as a human with a trust fund. “The fence is awesome,” I said, “but I wish we’d been able to get a look at the intruders. What do you think about a camera surveillance system for the perimeter?”
“I think it’s needed.” He smiled. “And no, I don’t mind footing the bill. I can handle it.”
“Farouche is a confident, aggressive son of a bitch. I wouldn’t put it past him to try again.” A touch of fear whispered through me as I spoke of him. I breathed through it and used it as a segue to the second hot topic. “He didn’t even touch me. How the hell could he affect me so heavily?”
Zack’s hand stilled, sigil half traced. He looked back over his shoulder at me, shook his head slowly, lips pressed together. “Think of a qaztahl’s aura, but specialized. With Farouche, if you can feel it, he can affect you. It’s disturbing.” He went quiet, but it was one of those pauses where I could tell he had more to say. “Kara, I’d like to encourage Jill to move in for a while. I have her house warded, but right now we all need to be together.”
“I’m cool with that,” I replied, “especially now that we know Farouche is an exceptionally dangerous asshole.” Plus, Jill would have more time with Zack if she moved
here, which might ease some of the tension between them. “But I have two questions for you. First, she’s a pretty independent chick. You think she’d agree to it?”
“Nope. I’ve tried. For months,” he said with undisguised frustration. “That’s why I’m enlisting you.”
“Gee, thanks.” Changing Jill’s mind wouldn’t be a walk in the park. “Let’s say, by some miracle, she does agree. My second question is where do you intend to put her?”
“For now I figured an RV—one of the really nice big ones—near the tree line on the east side of the house would work,” he said as he finished another sigil. “She’d have some privacy, I’d ward the hell out of it, and, because it would be within the fence and these perimeter wards, it would be as safe as your house.”
“The RV plan might work, but privacy?” I raised an eyebrow. “Puhleeease. It’s still me, you, Ryan, and Eilahn next door. Plus Thatcher and Paul when they get back, for who knows how long. And Mzatal when he’s here. Can’t forget the demonic lord.” I leveled a smirk at him. “If I were you, I wouldn’t try to sell her on the privacy part.”
He smirked right back at me. “Good. At least you know what not to use in your persuasive approach with her. I’m telling you. She won’t hear it from me.”
“Okay okay okay.” I lifted my hands in surrender. “Since I think it’s for a good cause, I’ll try to convince her.” I shook my head. “Not sure she’ll listen to me any more than to you though.”
Zack exhaled. “You’d be surprised. Anyway, thanks.”
“No problem.” Now for the last of the hot topics. “I have a new issue that’s bothering me, and I hope you can help me get some perspective.”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“It’s Tessa. I think she’s been manipulated.”
Zack stopped tracing a sigil, dispersed it with a sweep of his hand and turned to face me. “Why do you think that?”
“Because we talked, and every time it came around to one particular subject it was like it hit reset on a game, and she backtracked a minute.” Frustration and helpless anger rose again. “Also, her memory of another event seems programmed. It’s fucked up.”
“That does sound like manipulation,” he said, face serious but revealing nothing of his thoughts. “What was the topic?”
“Weirdly enough, the reset was when I asked her if she’d ever been to the demon realm.” I folded my arms, watched him carefully for any reaction. “Which begs the question, why the hell would my aunt be manipulated about that if she hadn’t been there?”
Zack cleared his throat. “Do you have any working theories?”
“One is that she was in the demon realm at the end of her time with Katashi and, for whatever reason, was then manipulated to forget all about it,” I said. “But I’d really like another theory.” My outrage at the violation of Tessa flared again. “I’ll take anything that isn’t ‘someone fucked with my aunt’s head.’”
“Your current theory is very sound.” He said it with a disturbing contemplative calm.
Fucking shit. My blood pounded in my ears. “Has Tessa ever been in the demon realm?”
Zack shifted from one foot to the other and didn’t answer. Anger seethed like a ball of fire in my chest, and I took a step toward him. “You know. Fucking tell me, Zack. Now. Has Tessa been in the demon realm?”
He gave a barely perceptible nod.
“With which lord?” I demanded. “Whose realm?” A horrible dread suddenly coiled through me. What if he says Mzatal? Katashi had been his sworn summoner, which meant it was more than possible. No, Mzatal wouldn’t hide that from me, I thought, casting the worry aside. I knew that much.
Zack stood in infuriating silence, his eyes on mine as I moved to the next worst possibility. “Rhyzkahl?”
Another micro nod.
Rage clogged my throat for several seconds. “You’ve known this all along and you didn’t tell me?” I shouted when I could finally speak. “What the fuck? You’re supposed to be my friend.” It hit me then, and I stared at him in sick horror. “You’re his goddamn ptarl. Does ptarl trump friend? Or were you ever my friend at all?” I’d had a dozen lifetime’s worth of betrayal from Rhyzkahl, but the very thought of the same from Zack was a knife in my gut. Like lord, like ptarl? “I guess that means you didn’t tell me before so you could protect his sorry ass and won’t fucking tell me now either!”
