The laughter stopped as they noticed us. Trent was pulling deeper on the ley lines, but I did little more than make a casual connection. I couldn’t best one demon, much less eight. No, there were nine now, and they were shifting in their chairs to face us. If I couldn’t do this without turning it into a magic slugfest, then it was over before it had begun. When you got right down to it, magic was an asset only if you were up against someone who didn’t have any.
My heart thudded. Demons hated elves. Sure, they had ridden with Trent to bring down Ku’Sox, but bringing Trent in here had been either really stupid or really smart. He had some protection as a freed familiar, but “accidents” happened.
Al was in a corner booth with Dali and Newt. Six paper-and-wax cups of coffee in various stages of emptiness sat between them. Newt beamed at me, in contrast to Al’s outright hostility. Most of the demons were at the long center table tormenting those two couples. The people were terrified, unable to leave with the demons draping their arms over their shoulders. Their relief when they saw me made me angrier still.
Plan. “We get them out first,” I said, boldly striding to the counter. Mark was there making something with crushed ice and hadn’t heard us come in. He was holding up pretty well, but his relief when he saw me was astounding.
Trent moved behind a couple. “Go,” he said, and they stood, chairs sliding and demons staring at Trent in uncertainty as the couple scrambled to leave. Seeing them headed for the door, the remaining two people stood, sinking back down when the demon beside them growled.
So far, so good. Let’s push it a little more. “You really should reevaluate your life choices,” I said as I leaned against the counter, thumbs in my pockets. The demon looked vaguely familiar, but I didn’t think I’d ever done business with him. Like the rest of the demons here, he was in a business suit, jewelry flashing and hair slicked back. Only Newt and Al maintained their usual attire, Newt in her androgynous robes and elven dewar hat, and Al in his green crushed-velvet finery. His anger that Trent was still with me was almost palpable.
My skin tingled as someone pulled heavily on a line. I didn’t think it was Trent, and my knees went wobbly when two more demons did the same. “Why are you here? With that elf?” the demon said, voice oily with domination.
His barest hint of doubt was like a spark on a dark night, and I pulled it to me, fanning it higher with a confident smile. He was unsure, not about his skills but that this might end when the sun came up. I could use that, give them a fairy tale to think about so they’d go away and ponder the truth of it for a few hours until they knew for sure.
Smiling, I leaned over the table between him and the couple, showing him some cle**age in exchange for their freedom. “You remember Trent. He’s my boyfriend,” I said, and the couple rose at Jenks’s urging, racing for the door. “He’s taking me to his place and I’m making spaghetti, but the FIB asked me to stop on the way and give you a little welcome-to-reality message.” The door chimes jingled, and I straightened. “Seeing as you might be here for good and need to start being . . . what’s the word . . . accountable?”
He laughed at that, ugly and mean. Pulse racing, I backed up, glad Trent had put himself at the door. Past the windows, a car’s engine revved and the small Pinto drove right over the sidewalk, taking the curb hard enough to leave sparks as it found the street and drove away. If he had really wanted them, my cle**age, such as it was, wouldn’t have stopped him. “Mark, my usual!” I called out, making a finger motion for Jenks to join Trent in a doomed attempt to keep my way open.
“S-s-sure, Rachel. Double espresso grande latte, no fat, no foam, with a pump of raspberry in it. Extra hot.”
I felt better. Mark had been through this before. He had the emotional skills and a circle behind the counter to hide in. “With cinnamon on top,” I added, and the demon I’d just flashed snorted. “You got a problem with my drink order?” I said, and he raised a hand, his expression mocking. I gave him a long look before turning my back on him to go to the pickup window. The speakers blew with a pop, and chuckles rose when I jumped.
Shaking my hair out, I leaned against the counter. More demons were jumping in, and I was getting nervous. Well, more nervous than I had been. Even with Trent at the door, I’d never make it out of here unless they let me. I thought it interesting that no one had gone to the other side of the globe and to the sun. They were afraid it wouldn’t last.
“I know you’re having a good time on a Sunday night, being freed from the ever-after and all, but if you’re going to stay, we have some rules,” I said, smile wide.
Al clenched his jaw, but Newt was delighted even as that demon, Mica, I think, brought his cold stare from Trent to me. “We weren’t freed, we fought our way out,” Mica said.
“You’re Mica, right?” I said, and he nodded. “Sure, you fought your way out,” I agreed, “but tomorrow is a weekday and you should be thinking about finding somewhere to work and a place to live because you’re not bunking with me.” They were laughing, Mica’s face holding the most amusement of all. “You don’t want to exchange one prison for another, do you? I won’t say Alcatraz is inescapable, but they plugged the hole I used.”
“My God, is she serious?” Mica turned his back on me, but I thought it telling that he was looking for support among the rest. It was a new world despite their boasting and power, and they didn’t know if they were going to see the sun. Such a small thing, but it would chart their every thought until they knew.
Trent’s hold on the line strengthened, and my gaze flicked to his. Not yet, Trent. Not yet.
“This is our world now,” Mica bragged, but more than one set of eyes was pinched in concern. I had a scant few hours to convince them that condescending to play in our rule set was better than them playing out of it.
“The elves will fall first,” he said, and those who’d just popped in agreed with him. “Vampire society will falter if they lose their souls again. It will fall if they retain them. The witches will align with us as our poor cousins, and the Weres will heel or be leashed. The world will change.”
“Why even bother shifting realities if you’re going to make it just like the ever-after in your new war?” I said, and more than one demon furrowed his brow in thought.
“Coffee up!” Mark said, and I took it, eyes closing in bliss as the first sip hit my tongue, warm, sweet, and bitter, all at the same time.
“Oh God, that’s good,” I said, and Mark backed into his uninvoked circle with a nervous smile. Trent was still at the door, and I told Jenks to stay with him with a twitch of my finger. Dali noticed, putting a hand on Newt’s arm to keep her silent when she took a breath to say something.
“The world will change,” I said, echoing Mica, setting my coffee down even as that first swallow buzzed through me. “See, I think that’s funny. It already has, and you missed it.”
Al’s scowl hesitated. Emboldened, I pushed from the counter to claim a spiral circle inlaid on the floor as my own.
“Why are you here?” Mica said, but he wasn’t moving. “You think the elves mean anything?” he added, goat-slitted eyes flicking to Trent. “They have no Sa’han. It’s the only reason you’ve been allowed your game of pretend. You’re doing us a big favor.”
Guilt was a quick stab, and I refused to look at Trent, knowing my feelings would give me away. “I’m not here for the elves, I’m here for the FIB,” I said flippantly. “Before you get yourself into more trouble, you need to know there are laws on the books now concerning demons, demon magic, and demon activity.”
They laughed, but there were more than twenty of them in here now, all but the original eight or so standing at the windows, listening. “We don’t recognize any law but our own,” Mica said, turning his back on me.
“It’s your choice. You sure it’s a good one?”
It wasn’t me who made him turn back around, it was the questioning faces at the window. At the corner booth, Dali squinted at me in warning. Warning me to be careful? To be quiet?
“I’m serious,” I said lightly, moving to keep their eyes on me. “You’ve been stuck in that stinky hole of forced existence for too long, and the world has changed. Al might be able to adapt, but most of you need help. I can do that.”
“You think we need help?”
It had been Dali, and my pace bobbled at the flash of fear that lit through me and died. Damn it, they noticed.
“I don’t think you see what’s going on here,” the round, powerful demon said.
I could actually hear the soft hush of sliding fabric as everyone turned from him to me. Swallowing, I lifted my chin. “I see demons having coffee in a coffee shop. What do you see?”
Dali hesitated, looking at the deeper meaning past my simple statement. I’d gotten to know them pretty well in the last year or so, and I knew that this was what they wanted. They wanted acceptance. They wanted to be part of something alive again, something where their voices and actions meant more than a stale circle of parties and distractions. But their pride, I knew, would get in the way. They were all-friggin’ powerful. Blah, blah, blah. What did it really mean when all was said and done? Nothing. Nothing they did meant anything.
Feeling them waver, I shook my head. “It’s not the same world it was two thousand years ago. Hell, it’s changed in the last six months to make room for you,” I said, words almost tripping over themselves as I tried to get it out before someone opened his mouth and ruined it. “They knew you were coming, and they made room for you.” Someone snickered, and I spun. “Hey!” I shouted, and Trent jumped, his hold on the line zinging through me. “They made room for you. Don’t you get it? They didn’t make weapons, or spells, or traps. They made room!”
Arms crossed over his chest, Mica stared at me. “They’re scared and stupid.”
“It means you belong, damn it!” I shouted as a rumble of discussion rose. “Are they scared? Hell yes. Are there going to be people who will try to ruin it for you? Goad you into making decisions so that fear overflows and starts a war? Absolutely. They wouldn’t be people if they didn’t, but that doesn’t rub out the fact that they made room for you!”
“We thrive on war!” Mica exclaimed as the demons closest to him inched away.
I gave him a disparaging look until his eyes narrowed. “Right,” I scoffed. “And that’s why you can’t live on the ever-after’s surface anymore.”
Mica stood. Trent stiffened, and I moved. Arms swinging, I got in Mica’s face. The demon hesitated for the smallest instant as I stared up at him, expression cross. “Trent just spent almost a year getting legislation on the books for you. Lost his fortune doing it,” I barked at the demon. It seemed to be the right approach, as the tension defused with a soft chuckle from Dali.
“Ah, not all of it,” Trent said from the door.
“Ruined his reputation,” I continued, hands on my hips.
“Er . . . ,” Trent muttered.
“An elf did this,” I said loudly. “Not just any elf, but the same one whose father found a way for me to survive being a demon. He broke the curse, you idiot! What more do you want? I want this to work. I want all of you here with me in the sun. Don’t screw this up for my kids, Mica, or I swear I’ll take care of your family planning for you the hard way. Permanently and painfully,” I added just for the hell of it.
Oh God, I couldn’t back up without looking scared, so I stood there, praying someone would say something.
“Work in their system?” Al said, and I spun, both relieved and petrified at his next words. Of all the demons here, I feared his voice the most. “Settle down? Get a job? Pay taxes?”
I warmed at the titter, and I lifted my chin. Mica backed up, and I inched away from him as well. “Why not?” I said. “It’s better than starting a war that you’ll eventually die from. And that’s another thing. No more stealing people into slavery. It would be a nice gesture of goodwill if you freed your familiars.”
Trent winced, probably thinking I’d gone too far, but if I didn’t ask for more, they’d give me nothing. Sure enough, most laughed. I was losing them. Al knew it. They all did.
“Not going to happen, Rachel,” Al said, the thread of genuine sorrow sparking my hope. “We will not be taken again by elven trickery.” He looked at Dali and elegantly sipped from his paper cup. “A job,” he scoffed.
I stifled a shudder as Jenks hummed closer. “They’re not going for it,” he whispered.
My jaw clenched. This was my only chance, and I’d be damned if I let Al ruin it with his “poor me” attitude. “Hey!” I shouted, making Jenks ink a bright dust. “You will keep your mischief and misdeeds within the confines of the laws of this society, or I’ll sling each and every one of your asses back into the ever-after and Trent will curse you to remain there forever.”
“Ah, Rache?” Jenks whispered as Trent paled.
“You know we can do it,” I said, warming at the dubious looks. “We beat Ku’Sox.”
“Rachel!” Trent cried in fear, but I’d already felt the pull on the line and had spun, my word of invocation filling the circles I’d asked Mark to paint the floor with last year.
Demons cackled and guffawed as Mica’s shot was deflected into the ceiling by Trent’s cast charm before coming close to hitting my protection circle. Scared, I looked first at Trent, remembering to breathe when I saw him wreathed in his own protection, Jenks at his side.