Thin Air Page 0,100

what he'd found in Sedona, and because-maybe-of what Imara had conveyed to him. He hadn't said a word about it, but there was a deep-seated peace in him that hadn't been there before. Apparently he was willing to let bygones be...

Well, maybe not. After staying still for several long seconds, David flashed across the intervening space, grabbed Ashan by the back of the neck, and dangled him off the ground like a toy. His lips were drawn back from his teeth, and those teeth were pointed. I remembered Rahel giving me the shark grin when we'd met after the helicopter ride; that was nothing compared to the savage expression on David's face at that moment. Even predators can be pets, Venna had said, but David was more like a T. rex, and I wasn't so sure he'd ever been tamed.

"If you kill him," Venna said, tense, "the Demon wins, and this Joanne dies. Is this what you want, David?"

I was afraid he hadn't heard her for a second, but then he threw Ashan down-hard-and crouched to converse eye-to-eye with Venna. "What game are you playing, Venna?"

"The same as you," she said. "I found her here. I kept her alive. I found Ashan."

"You kept Ashan from me. Didn't you?"

"Well, yes, I expected you'd try to destroy him," she said. "Confess. Aren't you glad I did? Really?"

"You didn't do it to help me or Joanne. You did it for your own reasons."

She shrugged.

David looked grim, and almost angry. "Venna, if you're thinking about standing against me, don't. I don't want a fight. Back off."

"I can't," she said. "It's not my choice, David; it's just practical. You may be in charge now, but you won't be for long, because the old ones aren't listening to you, and they won't ever listen. You may be the conduit, but you're not Jonathan. They won't obey you. Somebody needs to be able to control them, and it can't be one of the New Djinn this time." She looked down at Ashan. "He might have been wrong, but he was right in one way: The fight's coming, whether he ends up in charge or not. You can't stay where you are, David. I'm just trying to give you a chance to consider your options and control how it occurs."

I didn't know what she was talking about, but it sounded ominous. Worse, it sounded ominous for David. Personally.

"You didn't save Ashan for me or for Joanne," David said. "I'm not stupid enough to think you like either of us that much. You protected Ashan because he's a symbol of the Old Ones. You're trying to restore him to what he was."

She didn't even try to deny it. "Yes," she said. "He deserved punishment, and he was punished. But he doesn't deserve destruction." She met his eyes. "He's my brother, David. He's your brother, too, in a lesser way. But I wouldn't expect a human-born to understand what that means to one of us."

David's face tightened. "She wasn't your daughter, Venna. Joanne isn't your lover."

"More loss doesn't balance the scales. It's enough, David. Enough."

He let out a slow, unsteady breath. "You want me to help restore his powers? And trust him?"

Venna said, quite simply, "Yes."

"Excuse me," I said, and stepped forward. "Could you speak in the kind of English that makes sense? Because it sure as hell sounds like you're planning to give Ashan back his powers, and just from what I know about him, I am not voting yes."

Venna looked at me like I was a bug on her bathroom floor. "I thought you wanted to live."

"Venna." David was making a real effort to keep his tone even and calm. "It's impossible."

Venna's stare was predator-steady. "Oh, it's possible," she said. "It comes down to what you really want, David. And you don't know, do you? You want everything. You want to be Djinn and carry on Jonathan's work. You want to be human and live a human life. You want your lover; you want your daughter; you're nothing but wants, as infantile as any human. But you can't have these things. Not all of them. You're going to have to choose."

"Shut up," he said, and took a step toward her. Venna, small as she was, fragile as she seemed, suddenly looked much more dangerous.

"Don't tell me what to do," she said. "I'm not your toy. And you're not Jonathan." She reached down, grabbed Ashan by the collar of his shirt, and dragged him up to a sitting position.