Touch of the Demon (Kara Gillian 5)

“Yes. Cerise lost his balance and all reason decades ago when—” Mzatal stopped, and I could see him mentally rephrasing it, “when his foundation was stripped from him. He was a chosen of Szerain and quite brilliant. He disappeared, and Katashi claimed no knowledge of his whereabouts.”

That he was a chosen of Szerain’s made sense to me and helped explain why Cerise had attempted to summon that lord to aid his ailing wife. “Okay, well…” I hesitated, unsure how to go into the subject of Ryan. Then I snorted. Mzatal knew I knew, so dancing around the subject seemed ridiculous at this point. Mzatal was oathbound about pretty much anything to do with Ryan/Szerain, but I wasn’t constrained by any pesky oaths. “It was during that time that I met Ryan and Zack.”

“That would not be a coincidence,” Mzatal said with a nod.

“Yeah, I’m starting to realize that.” But engineered by whom? “Ryan and I have become close,” I said. “Friends and, well, more than friends, too.” I shook my head. “Anyway, it wasn’t long after Eilahn came to protect me that we had a case go to shit, and we ended up in a weird fight with a bunch of golems. Things went downhill, and at one point I got knocked down. I was about to get totally squished by a golem, and Ryan…” I took a deep breath. “Ryan’s face went to ice. He pulled potency and blasted the fuck out of the golem, saving me.” A shudder raced down my spine. “And then he collapsed. Zack ran to him—snarled at us and told us he’d take care of Ryan.” I paused, gathering my thoughts. “I didn’t see Ryan for a week, and by then he was back to—” I winced. “—normal.”>Katashi finished wiping his face and stood with the help of the faas. He turned to Mzatal and gave a formal bow. “My Lord Mzatal,” he said, voice shaking slightly, which surprised me. I’d never known the old man to show even the slightest bit of worry or strain. Across the diagram I could see Idris frowning, so apparently it surprised him as well. Well, what have you been up to, old man?

Mzatal lowered his head. “Katashi.” His voice was potent and terrifying, much like when he’d first summoned me.

Katashi flinched under the Scary Voice. “What is your will, my lord?” he asked, voice shaking even more. Crap. Was he about to have a heart attack? If so, I sure as hell wasn’t going to do CPR on him. But right now he looked guilty as hell about something.

Mzatal snapped his gaze to Idris. “Drop the perimeter.”

Idris quickly complied. Eyes still narrowed, Mzatal lifted his right hand and beckoned Katashi forward with a twitch of his index and middle finger.

The old man straightened as calm seemed to settle over him. His gaze flicked briefly to me, lit with a strangely desperate intensity. My cop-sense woke up. He’s about to do something.

Unfortunately, my brain was too slow to listen to my cop-sense. In the blink of an eye, Katashi lunged and clamped his hand on my left wrist in an iron grip. I let out a startled yelp and backpedaled, but an instant later recovered and slammed a fist into the old man’s face. Eilahn would be so damn proud. But Katashi was a lot tougher than he looked, and even though my punch caused him to stagger back half a step, it didn’t budge his grip. He bared his teeth and tightened his hold.

I hauled off to slug him again, but faltered as a too-familiar tugging sensation shot through me from his hand on my arm. A recall! Panic flared. I opened my mouth to cry out for Mzatal to help me, but he clearly sensed it as well. With a sharp flick of his hand, he whipped out a tether of potency to loop around Katashi’s forearm. He dropped back into a wide stance and yanked viciously on the strand, severing the wrist with a hissing sizzle. Katashi opened his mouth to scream as I staggered back, but in the next instant he was gone.

Katashi’s severed hand dropped to the floor, its end smoking faintly. Mzatal released the strand and turned to me. I suddenly realized I’d backed to the wall, and I had no doubt I looked like a panicked mess. But that shit had been way too close. Another second, I thought, still taking ragged breaths. Another second, and I’d have been gone.

“My lord! My lord!” Idris shouted. I dragged my gaze to him. He gripped a thin strand of potency in his left hand that led to the middle of the diagram and seemed to terminate in mid-air.

“Speak, Idris,” Mzatal said without taking his eyes from me. He reached out and grasped my hand.

“I’m tracking him!” Idris exclaimed, voice betraying excitement and terror as he gripped the thin strand. “My lord! I’m tracking him. I put a tracker on him right before he went!”

Mzatal pulled me over by Idris. I followed numbly while I tried not to think about how close I’d come to being taken again. Yeah, like not thinking about the pink giraffe.

“Excellent work, Idris,” Mzatal said. I was pretty damn impressed myself. I’d barely had the presence of mind to punch the asshole. “What do you sense?”

Idris’s eyes unfocused. “Rhyzkahl. He’s at Rhyzkahl’s palace and—” Power shot up the strand in a blinding flash. Idris let out a sharp cry of pain and released the strand. He turned his hand over to peer at his palm, then paled. “Oh, fuck,” he breathed.

I tried not to show any reaction to the sight of the vicious burn, but I could see the white of the bone even from where I was. I moved to push Mzatal toward Idris, but I needn’t have bothered. He’d already moved with demonic-lord speed to clasp the injured hand between his own.

“That was very well done, Idris,” he said, voice carrying his sincerity clearly. Idris gave a very shaky smile, then hissed as Mzatal began the healing.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t hold it,” Idris said, clearly trying hard to be stoic. “But he went to Rhyzkahl. I saw that.”

“Idris, sit,” Mzatal commanded. The young summoner did so, collapsing into a cross-legged position. Mzatal crouched, maintaining his hold on the injured hand.

“My lord,” Idris said, “Jesral was there too.”

“All pre-planned,” Mzatal replied, exuding calm. “Though I do not know if Katashi knew Kara was here, or if he made the decision to take her when he saw her. Either way, it is clear he knew her worth to those two.”

I rubbed at my temples, still trying to rid myself of the vestiges of reaction. “If Katashi had a recall implant,” I said, grimacing, “it means Rhyzkahl probably set it during one of the times I summoned him.”

Mzatal nodded, shifting his gaze to me. “Yes, and he likely has much more in place as well.” His expression darkened. “With such unprecedented access to Earth, he would not have wasted even a tenth of a heartbeat of that time.”

I scowled at how thoroughly I’d been duped. Mzatal looked back to Idris.

“Pygah and breathe,” he said as the young man paled. Idris gulped, eyes unfocusing slightly as he deepened his breathing. After a few moments Mzatal released his hand to turn it palm up. “The strike was tainted with rakkuhr,” he said. “It will be scarred.”

Idris’s eyes dropped to the ropy scar that ran across his palm. I watched as he attempted to close his hand into a fist and wiggle his fingers, and my heart clenched at the deep dismay on his face as he clearly had difficulty doing either.

Fear flickered behind his eyes as he looked up into Mzatal’s face. “How can I do tracings?” he asked, voice trembling.