wanted to crawl out of my throat and made a quick weapons assessment. Mine consisted wholly of a couple of misbehaving knives, since I'd lost my purse somewhere along the line. Not good. But there was a whole line of weapons in the hands of the suits of armor lining the corridor. They looked as lifeless and empty as museum pieces, but were actually part of the security system.
"Casanova," I said very carefully. "Order the guards to attack it."
"I can't." He shook his head frantically, looking more panicked than I'd ever seen him.
"What do you mean, you can't? If you let me die, Mircea will kill you."
"And if you aid her, I will," the thing on the ceiling said, as if it was part of the conversation. "It is difficult, serving two masters, isn't it? I warned you it would become awkward one day."
"Two?" I finally got it. "That's Rosier, isn't it?" Casanova nodded dumbly. "You're not supposed to be back yet," I told the demon accusingly. Hadn't Pritkin said it would take at least a couple of days for him to recover? It hadn't been that long, had it? With all the time-hopping, I wasn't sure, but I didn't think so.
The thing tilted its head the other way—why, I don't know. It didn't have any eyes so it couldn't have been to see any better. "Well, I'm not at my best," it finally said.
I looked over at the twitching Casanova, who was going to collapse at any moment. "Go," I told him. "Help Pritkin. Do not let Nick get out of here and do not let him talk to anyone. I'll deal with this."
"You'll deal with this?" Casanova stared at me with no expression, like he just couldn't find one that fit.
"Yeah." I looked up again. It was gruesome, but it was small. I decided I could take it. "I already killed you once."
"Ah, yes, so you did. But then, that would be why I brought friends," it said mildly. Casanova fled.
"Friends?"
"Servants of a colleague who owes me a favor. My boys are good for many things, but killing is not really their forte. Now, usually I would make this relatively quick," it continued. "But after the other day, I am afraid I will have to break my habit. A little matter of prestige. You know how it is."
"Sure." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something small and glowy emerge from the stairs.
"Now hold still, because this is going to hurt like a bitch."
"Right back at you," the pixie said, and threw her tiny sword like an arrow. It hit the thing square in the not-eyes, provoking a shriek of mingled pain and rage.
I twisted my neck around and saw Françoise running down the stairs toward me, looking more than a little frazzled. Her dress was torn in three different places, one of which was oozing a widening stain, and her eyes were huge. Radella, darting around in the air in front of me, looked okay, however. Human weapons might not be able to hurt a demon, but it looked like the Fey had more luck.
I turned around to face Rosier, feeling somewhat calmer. Only to see pieces of the darkness peeling away from the floor, from the corners and from the walls, all along the corridor. I still couldn't focus on any of them, but I got the feeling that Casanova had probably been right: I didn't want to.
"Uh-oh," the pixie said unhelpfully.
"What's going on?" I asked, and Françoise broke into a rapid stream of French that I didn't have the time or the ability to translate. "Radella!"
"We've been trying to get to the children." She gestured toward the end of the hall. "That thing has half of them trapped in the kitchen."
"Are they all right?"
"For now. The staff is protecting them, but they won't hold. Not if those things attack."
"But Fey magic works on demons!"
Radella zoomed in front of my face, her own furious. "Yes, and if I had warriors to work with instead of cooks, it might even be enough! As it is—"
"What are you saying? You can't break through?"
"We stormed the back door. I managed to get past their forces, but the witch almost got herself killed. And I can't do much alone."
Billy Joe floated down through the ceiling. "We got another problem," he said quickly, not even pausing to chew me out for leaving him with this mess. "Our buddy over there sent some of his boys upstairs. They're there now,