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Dannika put her hand on the counter. “Please, Hakim, hear us out.”
Hakim scratched the grey hair of his chest, parting the material of his orange robe. “I’m a busy man. Your presence is terrible for business.”
Dannika placed two sapphires on the counter. It tempted Raine to ask what had happened, but the Bokor snatched up one stone.
“I will take this for listening to you. I will only take the other if I agree to your deal.”
Dannika related the events of her time with the reapers. Hakim seemed bored with her story until she mentioned the artifact Killian was looking for.
Hakim held up one hand. “This artifact Killian covets, did you see it?”
Dannika nodded. “Killian showed me his vision. It looks like a bowl, but it has strange carvings around the rim and it doesn’t appear to be clay or porcelain. It had a yellowish hue to it.”
Hakim put his hand over his mouth as sweat beaded on his brow.
“It was destroyed. This can’t be,” he whispered, as if talking to himself.
Raine felt his shadow move beneath his skin. The Bokor was scared. When they were here last, the Bokor’s own death didn’t seem to bother him. In fact, he seemed eager to answer the next life. “What’s so special about this bowl?”
Hakim waved an erratic hand. “I need more details. Did the bowl have any recognizable symbols on it? Can you describe any of them?”
Dannika nibbled her thumbnail. “The vision was hazy. The scroll that Killian is using to perform this ritual has a symbol that looks like a skull. Another that looks like a crow.”
Hakim put his hand over his eyes. “He has the scroll and the skull. This is bad. Very bad.”
Dannika looked between Raine and the Bokor. “Do you know what the bowl does?”
Hakim nodded gravely. “They carved the bowl from a skull.”
Dannika shook her head. “I don’t think so. The bowl was large in Killian’s hands. Far too big to be a human.”
“The skull belonged to a demon king. They used the chalice in the original spell to merge shifters with the demon souls. We thought it destroyed.”
Raine put his hand on Dannika’s back, needing the contact. “What is so special about this artifact? Our souls have merged with the demons. How can it hurt us now?”
Hakim grabbed a brown bottle from behind the cash register. He took a long swig of the clear liquid. The sweet smell of alcohol surrounded them.
“The chalice is called the demon caller. It was thought to be broken into several pieces and spread throughout the world, never to be reassembled.”
Dannika glanced at Raine. “Killian can foreshadow. Would he be able to see where the pieces were, perhaps reassemble them?”
Hakim took another deep swig of vodka. “If it were in pieces, then he wouldn’t possess the scroll.”
“What does that mean?” Dannika asked.
“If the demon caller was in pieces, then the scroll would be as well. They are connected. The original plan was to hide the chalice. To place a spell on it so powerful, it could never be retrieved.” He looked Dannika over slowly. “It makes sense to me now. What better way to hide the chalice than to make it inaccessible? Except for a shadow that couldn’t exist. A spell must have one way of reversal. A female shadow was thought impossible. The perfect loophole for the spell.”
Dannika rubbed her chest. “What can Killian do with this chalice? He mentioned opening a fissure in the portal and sending one of his reapers to collect something.”
The Bokor hissed. “Killian wishes to control us. There are rumors of artifacts within the demon world that would control the shadow warriors. Ones that would also control the humans that converse with the spirit world.”
Dannika arched an eyebrow. “He’d be able to control the Bokors?”
“And the priestesses. Possibly even human psychics. His power would be unlimited.”
Raine rubbed his chin. “Is there a way to limit this power?”
Hakim looked down. His dark skin paled. “Possibly. You could call one demon instead of reopening the portal. We can only use the chalice at certain times of the year, when the veil between our worlds is thinner or you risk making a permanent gateway between our worlds.” He rubbed his chin. “That, or you assassinate Killian, which is no easy feat. Still, there are no guarantees another reaper leader won’t carry out his plans. We are better off limiting the portals’ effectiveness.”
