Chapter Nine

 

Somehow the lady made it seem the most natural thing in the world that she, Emma, and I should go off to a small sitting room, leaving all the men behind.

“Men are marvelous creatures,” the lady said, sitting elegantly on a small cushioned chair, “but when it comes to strategy, I’m afraid it’s up to us. They are such emotional beings, it’s hard to get any logical thinking done with them around.”

Both Emma and I suppressed smiles, neither of us very well, I’m afraid.

Lady Periwinkle cocked an eyebrow at us both. “Do you disagree?”

“No, no,” Emma hurried to say. “It’s just…well, that’s not our current cultural narrative. Women are supposed to be the emotional ones, and men the rational.”

“Pfft,” the lady snorted. “How many life-changing decisions do men make in anger and in pride?” She waved a dismissing hand. “Never mind, don’t answer that, it’s not important now. Our most pressing tasks right now are twofold, I believe: finding your Aiden, and completing Grace’s cohort.”

“We might be able to do those two things at once,” Emma said, her words dragging out of her with some reluctance. “I think Aiden had it in his mind that he was going to go find Grace’s fourth man for her.”

The lady looked at me, then back at Emma. “Because choosing men for her worked so well the first time?”

“Well, now that she knows what’s going on, and has actually seen the demon, sort of—”

“Guys, I’m right here,” I cut in, talking over Emma. “You don’t need to talk about me as if I’m not.”

“My apologies,” the lady said smoothly. “Grace, do you have a fourth man chosen?”

“I don’t,” I said, frustrated. “None of this has happened by my choice—I know Emma was worried that somehow, I don’t know, the demon might have been driving me?”

Emma shook her head. “I don’t know what to think, honestly. When we wrapped our magic together, I could feel only strength and purity, goodness. It was not evil magic, not demon taint.” She looked at the lady for confirmation.

“Yes, I agree,” the lady said thoughtfully. “I don’t believe Mundon forced you into building a cohort, to use for his own ends, if that’s what you’re worried about.” She frowned at Emma. “I believe that is likely your doing, my dear.”

“Mine?” Emma asked the lady.

“Did you or did you not try to persuade Grace rather more…subtly…when she turned down your direct appeal?”

Emma looked chagrined. “Not…well, kinda. Not intentionally, I mean, I just thought I was giving her a suggestion, that this would be a good idea. Just trying to open her mind to the possibilities.” She looked at me. “I wanted you to bind with Stefano and the rest of them, though. I don’t know how your guys got caught up in this.”

“If you opened her up and then sent her out into the world, she would be a shining beacon for any man with magic in his soul,” the lady said. “They would be unable to resist her, nor she them.” She looked at me thoughtfully. “It is well that you happened across such good, strong men, and not someone weak or fretful—or, worse, someone twisted and dark. You were lucky, my dear.”

I thought about Mahlen, Jorge, and Javier. “Yes.” I could feel them close by, and I somehow knew they were thinking about me. It made me smile. “But, it’s still hard to imagine that there should be another one?”

“You’re imbalanced now,” Emma started, but the lady put up a gentle hand.

“Let me explain it,” she said. “Am I correct in my impression that each, shall we say, consummation connection has been more powerful than the last, as you’ve been on this journey?”

I blushed, even though she’d been so delicate with her euphemisms. “Yes. In fact, the last one was kind of…weird. We both felt weak when it was over, and a little scared.”

The lady nodded. “This level of power, the enchantment we are building up in these cohorts—it is rather more than ordinary humans are built to sustain, to handle. I do not entirely understand why this is so—four is generally considered to be a strong, solid, fortunate number—but a cohort of four is quite unstable. Four men, with a strong, powerful woman at their center making them five, on the other hand, is a thing of beauty.”

“Okay, that’s good to know,” I said, though I know there was doubt in my voice.

“The moment of climax should be one of strengthening, not of weakening,” the lady said. “Your fear and unease is coming from the instability, and your—up until now—lack of guidance through this. It actually appears to me that you are doing remarkably well, for essentially blundering through the binding largely on instinct.” She gave me a gentle smile. “This speaks highly for your powers, and for the purity of your soul. I think you will find that when you connect with your final man, any remaining doubts and weaknesses will fall away.”

Emma was nodding as the lady spoke. “Yes, that’s how it happened for me. Even though my fourth…”

“Aiden is a troublesome one,” the lady acknowledged. “If I had had more time, I would have chosen someone more tractable, less dominant.” Emma looked like she wanted to argue, but clamped her mouth shut. I guess she could hardly protest, when apparently this Aiden had caused so much trouble. “When you have all worked magic together for longer, he will settle into his place in your cohort and stop trying to throw everything over. Until then, I’m afraid we will just have to keep him on a short leash.”

I leaned forward. “And he’s the one who’s supposedly out trying to find my fourth man?” I shook my head. “I shudder to think what he’s going to turn up with.”

“Oh, I think you might approve.”

We all looked up, startled. Standing in the doorway were two men. I recognized Aiden from the vision I’d had in the magic-space, the other-space: he was a blond god, stunningly gorgeous, to the point of seeming not exactly human.

And with him…I blinked, not quite believing it. Standing next to Aiden was a slight, lovely young man in dark wool slacks and a peach-colored Brooks Brothers shirt. His tie was paisley, and interesting socks peeked out just above his dark dress shoes. His hair was mousy brown and parted near the middle, a little tousled; and his dark-framed, slightly crooked glasses screamed geek!

He was dreamy.

I realized I’d been sitting there with my mouth hanging open; I closed it, remembering not to wipe drool off my chin.

Aiden smiled at me, and then at the other two ladies before turning back to me once more. “Grace, I presume?”

“Um. Yes.” My voice hardly worked.

He gave a little bow of his head. “May I present Amory?”

I got up and walked on unsteady legs to the doorway, putting out a suddenly clammy hand. “Amory,” I said, proud and relieved that my voice came out at all. “I’m happy to meet you.”

He took my hand in his, and the fire in my veins—that I now knew was my magic—soared. And now I could feel the answering fire in him, surging to meet mine. Amory’s eyes widened; I didn’t know how much, if anything, Aiden had explained to him, but this encounter surprised him.

And pleased him, if the temperature of the fire I was feeling was any indication.

“Ahem,” Emma cleared her throat behind us. “Thank you, Aiden.” Her tone was sharp, pointed.

Aiden grinned and went to her, taking her hand in his as though he were the one in charge here. “I told you you could trust me,” he said.

“We’ll talk later,” she said in a low, unhappy voice, taking her hand back. “For now, we’re still in danger.”

“Indeed we are, and we must discuss that immediately,” the lady said, rising to her feet and approaching Amory and me. “Amory, welcome to my home. You may call me Lady Periwinkle.”

He clearly did not want to let go of my hand, even as he knew he was supposed to do the polite thing and greet his hostess. I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and dropped it, then nudged him forward.

“Um, nice to meet you,” he said to her.

She gave him a warm smile. “You must be exhausted from your journey. Aiden, please take Amory to his room and get him settled. Show him how to call for room service, and how to get hold of the rest of the staff.” She turned back to Emma and me, motioning for us to sit back down. “These ladies and I have some urgent business to attend to. Amory, Grace will be calling on you soon.”

Aiden appeared unhappy about this clear dismissal, but (I noticed with relief) Amory simply nodded and smiled at us all…saving an extra warm smile for me. Warmth which I felt all the way through me.

“Whew,” I said, when the door had closed behind the men. “That was…intense.”

The lady frowned, though she also nodded. “I have to say, I’m pleasantly surprised at Aiden’s choice. The power in Amory is significant. And he appears to have no awareness of it.”

“Unlike Aiden,” Emma said. She still sounded ticked. Well, I could hardly blame her.

“Right.” The lady leaned forward. “Down to business. Now that the missing-men problem seems to have been resolved, we must look at the larger situation. Thank you both for pulling me out of that latest snare, though it is clear that Mundon has stepped up his game. This mansion may no longer be the safe haven we’ve been counting on it to be.”

“What do we do if the boundaries have truly been broached?” Emma asked. “I’ll deal with Aiden; that avenue shouldn’t be a problem in the future. But if Mundon got in through his resentment or unhappiness, does that channel stay open? Or leave a path open to—I don’t know, other incursions, whenever anyone is upset about something?”

“It’s more subtle than that,” Lady Periwinkle said. “Mundon has always had physical access to me, long before I built this house. It was, in fact, part of the bargain: this is how demonkind has access to the human plane. It has been a way of keeping them under control, over the centuries.” Emma’s eyes widened at this news, though she didn’t say anything. “He works through his creatures, and humans are unhappy and discontented all the time. Edwin was only the latest in a long line.”

I shook my head, taking this all in.

“But my magical defenses have, until now, been sturdy enough for Mundon’s manipulations to be merely minor annoyances.”

“What’s different now?” Emma asked. “Are you…?”

The lady smiled. “Am I weaker? No, if anything, I should be stronger—and I do believe I am. The problem is, Mundon is stronger as well. And he is no longer working alone…or targeting only me and mine.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It is no longer personal,” the lady said. “When I made my initial bargain with the demon, it was for longer life and greater power, as well as…other things. In return, the demon was able to visit the human realm, and I would provide a place of safety and protection for his, shall we say, tourism.” She frowned. “Perhaps I failed to see the warning signs early enough. When I did, I began researching ways to shore up our protections. That is when I devised the cohorts, to strengthen my power.

“They appear to be working exactly as intended, and I am afraid that Mundon has realized that,” the lady went on. “So he has taken a page out of my book, so to speak, and gathered together others of his kind, in order to fight us.”

“I thought demons never worked together,” Emma said. “That that’s how we have any chance against them at all.”

“That had been my understanding as well,” the lady said, darkly. “But I fear that may no longer be the case. Demonkind may have a larger game afoot. And more than just my little household may be at risk.”

“What do demons want?” I asked. “What are demons, anyway? Where do they come from?” I knew what folklore and religion told me. All of which was very different from what little I’d experienced myself…being back firmly in the realm of make-believe. “What was that…place…where Emma and I went, and found you? Were we in, I don’t know, Hell or something?”

The lady smiled, though there was no humor in it. “Nothing so literal as that, no. You were in—well, probably the best way to think about it is through metaphor. It was an interstitial space, like a lobby; a barrier space between their realm and ours. It is supposedly a neutral space. But when I found myself there, after taking a rather nasty blow to the head, I found it quite hostile.”

I nodded, though I didn’t entirely understand.

The lady went on. “As for what demons are? They are the natural inhabitants of their realm, as it were; creatures of chaos and darkness, though not evil per se. They are also creatures of paradox. They seek our light, but they strive to make it darker; they want to inhabit this realm, only to turn it into a copy of theirs. Again, metaphor is best here: they are jealousy and hubris, unhappy in themselves and so seeking to drag all others to their level.”

“Ugh,” I said.

“More than that, it is probably not helpful for you to know,” she said, glancing at Emma, then back at me. “At least for right now, while we are struggling with this current crisis.” Now she gave me a brilliant smile. “If you find you want to delve deeper into demonic studies when we have shored up our boundaries and you are working comfortably with your cohort, I would be more than happy to instruct you.”

“How did you happen to make a deal with a demon in the first place?” Emma asked. “I mean, how did such a thing even come up?”

The lady’s smile turned enigmatic. “That, my dears, is business of my own.” She turned back to me. “For now, we must concentrate on the matters at hand.”

I thought a moment, about the adorable geeky Amory who had shown up…chosen specially for me. “So, I guess the next thing is that I have to complete my cohort? I have to sleep with Amory?”

“Yes,” the lady said, “but am I correct in understanding that you sealed your third connection only this morning?”

Jorge… My face flamed again. “Yes.”

“Then I am afraid you must wait until tomorrow. You may enjoy any of your current men again today—alone or in combination,” she gave Emma a knowing glance, “but there must be a day between new connections. It’s the way I set up the spell in the first place, last year,” she added, before Emma or I could ask why. “I did not imagine a woman might want to rush things faster than that.” She quirked a smile at both of us. “Though I am learning a lot about modern women, I confess. My apologies for inconveniencing you.”

I could feel my blush growing. “No, um, really, that’s just fine. I’m not…I wouldn’t…” But I was chagrined to realize that I would have. And I did. I had made love with both Mahlen and Javier at the same time, in front of Jorge; I only hadn’t slept with Jorge as well right afterwards because we were all so exhausted. Had I just gotten lucky, in not messing up the timing of the spell? Or was the spell already working on me?

I decided I didn’t really want to know. Enough of this felt real, felt like me, and like my men, acting from our own impulses and desires…I didn’t want to think it had all been a magical spell working us like marionettes.

“Good,” the lady said, belatedly answering my objection. Had she been…following my thoughts? Just how magical was she? “But you are right: that is the next major step we must take. When your cohort is completed, you five will take up an important part of our defense. We must assess the strength of this mansion and its boundaries thoroughly, and either shore up where they are faulty, or,” she gave a slight shiver, “cut our losses and move to a safer harbor.”

Emma looked around the cozy little room we were in. “I just moved in…I just got my cat settled here. I don’t want to leave.”

The lady smiled. “I do not want to leave either. But we cannot make that decision right now, not until we see how much strength Grace and her cohort can bring us.”

“All right,” I said. “What do we do in the meantime?”

The lady got to her feet. “You two, nothing beyond resting and recuperating. Grace, this was your first demon fight; it was only Emma’s second. Though you may feel victorious and empowered at the moment, I promise your reserves have been drained, and you will need some recovery.” She took a step toward the doorway. “I will be out for a little while; you may check with Charles if you need to contact me.” To me, she added, “My chief of staff. Dial one on any house phone.”

Emma leapt to her feet, her face a portrait of concern. “You can’t go out! We just rescued you—just got you safely back here. What if Mundon captures you again? What about your injury?”

“Emma, Emma, dear Emma,” Lady Periwinkle said, her voice kind and reassuring, yet also sad. “I regret keenly how little time I have had to train you—to train either of you,” she added, turning to me. “I am perfectly safe, for now; every time the demon is pushed back, it takes him time to recover as well. He will not make another attempt on any of us for several days, most likely.” She put a hand up to her head. “And my injury is nearly healed. It was really not much more than a scratch, and I have significant resources to call upon.”

“But the demon’s got friends,” I blurted out. “You said they’re working together now. What if one of them attacks you?”

The lady shook her head. “Dear girls. Your concern touches me deeply. But I’m afraid you just must take my word for it: I will be fine.” She gave us a warmer smile. “I will tell you this: my errand is vital, and you will be the better for it—we all will be. I have just identified a possible additional woman to be a cohort’s center. Perhaps she will even be interested in the men Emma assembled for your consideration, Grace. Now that I have awakened their magic, we really do need to find them a center soon.”

Then she gave us a small bow and left the room. Emma and I sat there, looking stupidly at each other.

“So, um, I guess we’d better get you a room,” Emma said.