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What had happened back there? Part of me could still feel Greg's hands on me, still feel the sickening sensation of being utterly and completely helpless. But the rest of me was slowly starting to analyze the stove exploding.
I'd noticed the gas stove upon my initial inspection, but I'd noticed no smell until right before it caught on fire. With gas leaks, didn't a place usually fill up over time? This had been sudden. An out-of-the-blue surge of gas, and BAM! No warning, no anything. I supposed it could have been coincidence. Lucky timing. But in my world, coincidences didn't happen. They were usually guided by a stronger power. The question was: who or what was responsible? I had too much to worry about now without some unseen arsonist on the scene.
"Why so pensive, Daughter of Lilith?"
I looked up from my half-eaten food. "Carter!"
I was pretty sure I'd never been so happy to see the angel in my life, except for maybe when he'd rescued me from Helena the crazy nephilim last fall. He wore the same clothes he'd had on in Vancouver. They appeared to stay in a perpetually consistent state of dishevelment-never getting worse, never getting better.
He slid into the chair opposite me. "You gonna finish that?" he asked, pointing at my plate.
I shook my head and slid the curry over to him. He immediately dug in, practically inhaling it. "What's going on?" he asked between mouthfuls of rice.
"You know what's going on. Seattle's gone to hell. Literally."
"Yeah, I've noticed. How's it feel to be footloose and fancy free?"
"It sucks. For some reason, my hair's always frizzy. I used to style it myself before this happened, and it never did that."
Carter grinned. "I doubt you were doing it all yourself. You may have still done all the labor, but some subconscious part of you was probably tweaking it just a little bit to keep it perfect."
I pulled a face. "Well, even if that's true, I've got a few bigger problems."
I gave him a brief recap of my adventures this morning and what had happened with Greg. Even speaking about it still sent a chill down my spine. I expected Carter to laugh and make some quip at my expense, but his face stayed serious.
"You need to be careful," he said gravely. "Everything's different now. It'll only be for a short time, true, but even if you can't die, you're still locked in a dangerous game."
"We have to find Jerome. Do you know where he's at?"
Carter shook his head. "Nope. He disappeared off our radars too. I don't know anything more than you do."
"You probably know more about demon summoning than I do," I pointed out.
"Depends," he said. "What do you know?"
"Pretty much what I already told you. Dante didn't have much more to offer than who he thought could do it. And those other losers didn't give up anything at all-except attitude."
Carter flagged down a waitress and ordered a plate of panang curry and Thai iced coffee. Afterward, he tapped the table lightly with his finger, face drawn and thoughtful. "I can tell you how it's done," he said at last. "But I can't do much more. This is your side's business, not ours. We're not supposed to interfere."
"Dispensing information isn't the same as interfering," I said.
He smiled. "Depends on your definitions. And your people are great at finding loopholes and technicalities."
"Yeah, but...Carter..." I sighed. "I don't really have anyone else."
Even if I'd had full succubus charisma going, I don't think it would have worked on him. But I still had some sort of Georgina charisma that he was susceptible to. He liked me and was concerned about my life, even if he had a funny way of showing it sometimes.
The Thai iced coffee appeared, and he paused to take a drink. "Okay. Here's how it works. Basically, a demon gets summoned into an object, and with enough magic, the demon becomes bound to that and is trapped. You've heard stories about genies, right? Well, they're kind of variations on this principle. Humans who summon demons into objects can then occasionally release the demon and make them run errands."
"But this one's keeping Jerome locked up."
"Right. Which makes it harder. What makes it harder still is that if this human has any sense at all, they've got the object hidden in a place of power." He took another sip and waited for me to process this.
I knew what he was talking about. The earth was covered in places of power-sacred sites, ley lines, magic-infused spots. Anyone sifting through mythology would come across countless references to them and the roles they'd played in human history. There was just one problem with it.
"There are dozens of those in Seattle," I said slowly.
Carter nodded. "Yup. And even if you find the right one, the power in that place is going to help mask the power coming from the bound demon. For you? Gonna be nearly impossible without your usual senses. You need another immortal to help, the stronger the better. Or possibly a human psychic."
I groaned. "But you can't help, and none of the demons will." The panang curry arrived, and Carter devoured it with enthusiasm. "Putting that aside, let's suppose I find this object, whatever it is. Then what?"
"Mmm, that's hard too," he said. "A greater immortal could just break it open."
"But not me." I was beginning to see how this worked, and it wasn't encouraging.
"No, not even if you were in your normal state. The summoner probably put a lock on it-a seal. That'll keep a lesser immortal out. The seal's used in the binding, then it's broken into two pieces that are kept separated for safekeeping. The practitioner most certainly keeps one. If he or she had a demon's help, I'm guessing the demon has the other. Or else the practitioner would hide it."
"Do you think another demon was involved?"
He swallowed. "Most definitely. If you can recover the pieces of the seal, though, then you could unlock the object and set Jerome free."
When I'd first seen Carter standing over my table, I'd been filled with hope, convinced this miserable situation was going to resolve soon and we'd get Jerome back. Now? I was more pessimistic than before.
"So, let me get this straight. All I have to do is find this mystical object that Jerome's locked in, an object I have no way of even sensing. Once I have it, I then simply have to force the pieces of the lock away from the summoner and a demon ."
"Yup," said Carter, licking his fork. "That pretty much sums it up."
"Fuck."
"Yup."
"Well, the info's good, but I can't do anything. I have no leads on any part of this, nowhere to start."
His gray eyes twinkled. "The seal has to be made of quartz."
"Okay..."
"Hand-carved by human hands."
I raised an eyebrow, curious as to where this was going.
"By someone familiar with magic and runes." He looked at me expectantly.
"So?"
"How many people do you think that describes in the Seattle area?" He didn't wait for me to finish. "Not many."
Carter and his riddles. "You're saying I should find who made the seal, in the hopes they can tell me who commissioned it."
"Right. And they can also tell you what the seal's specifics are. It's almost always a disc about this big." He used the fingers of one hand to make a circle about the size of a quarter. "But the color and designs will be different and provide clues as to what kind of place it's been hidden in."
"God, this is complicated."
"You're trying to find a demon that's been captured and bound as part of a larger political power play, Georgina," Carter said. "What do you expect?"
"Fair point," I murmured. "I have one more question, though. It has nothing to do with the seal, though."
"Shoot."
"Why'd the stove at Greg's blow up?"
"Because of a gas leak."
"One that came on out of nowhere?"
He shrugged. "Compared to what we see every day? A lot stranger things happen."
I eyed him for a moment, wondering if I should press him with my real question. He'd said he couldn't directly interfere in this, but Carter had saved my life once before. His showing up here now was awfully coincidental...Was it possible he'd been following me all day? Had he helped expedite the stove's incineration to save me? One might argue that touching Greg would have been direct interference...but harming the stove wouldn't be, if you wanted to use demon-worthy technicalities. And, in a typically angelic way, Carter hadn't actually denied his involvement.
