Swift fire spread through her veins, knocked at her knocked at her heart,
Met the fire smouldering there And overbore its lesser flame
The subway tunnel sloped downhill all the way to Union Station, the closest stop to the lake. The only illumination came from the far-apart maintenance lights and down from the streets above through ventilation shafts. Miranda depended on her ability to see in the dark. Tango held Miranda’s hand and depended on the vampire to keep her from stumbling in the deepest shadows. They walked without speaking. When they passed one of the ventilation shafts, they could sometimes hear the sounds of the riots going on overhead.
There were two subway stations between Dundas and Union Station. They moved through them quickly and stealthily, alert for security guards or cameras. After the second station, the tunnel curved sharply, turning ninety degrees before it reached Union Station. The darkness was at its thickest in that curve. There were no maintenance lights and no ventilation shafts. Tango was completely blind. Miranda held the changeling’s hand tightly. The warmth of her living grasp felt good.
“Tango,” she asked abruptly, “what are you going to do after this is over?”
“Assuming we win?” Miranda could see her smile in the darkness. “I suppose I’ll go back to San Francisco.” “Ah.”
Tango was silent for a minute. “And you?” she asked quietly.
“I’m not sure.” Miranda shrugged, trying to make the gesture seem casual. “The pack has pretty much fallen apart. I could join a new pack, I suppose, but there would be a lot of awkward questions. The Sabbat punishes demon worship with destruction. I’m not sure I could go back to the Sabbat’s way of life anyway.” She snorted bitterly. “Maybe the Camarilla would take me. I’m starting to feel like I’d fit right in with them.”
“It’s hard to walk away from a life,” observed Tango. “You don’t have to tell me,’’ Miranda pointed out. “I’ve done it before — a little more literally, of course. It was easier then. I just fell into the role of a vampire. Big, bad, dress in black.”
“Vampires don’t have to be like that. I told you about Elyse.”
Miranda nodded. “I know. It’s just that I used to look down on Blue and Matt — and Tolly — for not really accepting what they were. Now I’m the one having regrets.”
“Miranda,” Tango said softly, “you might have the body of a vampire, but you don’t have to have the soul of one as well. I know you’re strong. You can do this. I can help you.” The smile returned to her face, thin and a little hesitant. “Come back with me to San Francisco. I’ve got friends there. And I understand the vampires are pretty relaxed.”
“I don’t think I want to be around vampires for a while. You understand.”
“Too well.” Tango’s smile became devilish. “How about a job, then? 1 have a hard time finding bartenders who don’t take nips on the side.”
Miranda choked back a laugh. “I’d be looking for a different kind of nip!”
“Just not at work.”
“Not even on my breaks?”
Tango choked as well and stopped. Her free hand felt for Miranda’s mouth, silencing her. “Enough!” she murmured with a smirk. “Solomon may have posted lookouts on the subway platforms. Loud noises will carry a long way down here.” Miranda nodded and the changeling took her hand away. “Even if Solomon doesn’t suspect—”
The first attack came out of the shadows without any warning at all. Tango would have seen nothing at all, or maybe a vague figure. Miranda had only the briefest impression of a big, blond man appearing out of nowhere to slash at her with taloned fingers. She thrust herself aside and the talons raked across her shoulder. The figure vanished again, Miranda came back to her feet, talons sprouting from her own fingers, fangs descending in her mouth. Tango had her knife ready.
“What...?”
“Blue!” spat Miranda. The big vampire could see in the dark as well as she could, and he had something of Tolly’s ability to vanish from sight. Where was Matt, then? Probably safely in the light where he could see. She cursed herself. She should have guessed that if Solomon suspected any kind of attack out of the tunnels, he would have posted the vampires there! Matt had probably heard their quiet whispers with his heightened senses and sent Blue to investigate.
The second attack came from almost in front of her. Blue was suddenly there, as if he had just been waiting for her to look at him. His arm was already lashing forward with deadly speed. Miranda blocked it desperately. Blue’s other arm came in low. Miranda let go of Tango’s hand to snatch at Blue’s wrist.
It was barely a thought for her to crush the man’s bones. Blue vanished with a shocked and angry howl. Miranda grabbed for Tango’s hand again, afraid that the big vampire might try to separate them. Blue’s blood was wet in their grasp. Tango hissed.
“It’s his,” Miranda said quickly.
“He’s attacking you because he knows I can’t see in the dark. You’re the danger right now.” Tango tugged her forward, toward the light.
“Matt’s there!”
“Better the devil you can see than the one you can’t. Blue’s just going to keep picking at us.”
“Not if he can’t see us either,” Miranda murmured grimly. She drew on the shadows, spinning them out as thick as she could, darker and darker until even she was blind. She found Tango’s lips in the darkness and pressed a finger to them. Quiet. Wait. She had taken away Blue’s advantage, but at the cost of their own. They were all equal in the shadows. If they could just reach the subway platforms of Union Station alive, they’d both be able to see. It would be Matt and Blue against her and Tango, but at least the changeling would be able to fight there. After a moment, Miranda drew Tango forward silently. She walked carefully, always feeling for each railway tie with her feet, then stepping on it at right angles. She hoped Tango had the sense to do the same thing.
It was a tedious, nerve-wracking way to move, but somewhere off to one side was the electrified third rail. If they stayed on a straight line down the middle of the tracks, they should be safe.
Blue was somewhere in the darkness as well. If they bumped into him, they wouldn’t have any choice but to fight. If they were lucky, Blue would have already retreated back to wait with Matt in the light and to heal his shattered wrist. Miranda wasn’t counting on that, though.
Neither, apparently, was Tango. She tugged on Miranda’s arm, stopping her, then crouched down to the ground. Miranda wasn’t sure what the changeling was doing, but she crouched along with her. Tango felt along the ground. Whatever she was looking for, she found it. Her arm came up. She threw something back into the shadows behind them, just hard enough to make a quiet skittering. A skittering that might lure Blue away from them. They waited breathlessly. Tango tossed something else into the darkness, a little farther away this time.
A moment later, they heard a third faint sound from that direction. A footfall. It had worked. The two women rose. They had barely taken two silent steps toward the unseen platform when a sudden flash shot through the darkness and a high-pitched, short-lived whine broke the silence. Something large fell heavily. The stench of ozone and burned flesh brushed against Miranda’s nostrils.
Blue had found the third rail.
Shocked breath whispered from Tango’s mouth. “I didn’t mean for that to happen!” she murmured. The changeling sounded aghast. Miranda could feel her halfturn back to where the big vampire would be. She stopped her.
“Well, it did.” She felt stunned herself, but jt was a lucky break for them. She dispelled the blinding shadows. Blue’s body lay about thirty feet away, smoke drifting from him, his face locked in a horrible, exaggerated snarl. It was impossible to be sure if he was alive or dead. Miranda pulled Tango silently onward, more quickly. If Matt was waiting on the subway platform, he would have heard the sound of Blue’s encounter with the third rail. If he was smart, he would have gone to warn Solomon.
Miranda knew Matt better than that, though. His pride wouldn’t let him admit to Solomon that he had failed. He would stay. But he would know now that they were coming, and he would be alert. Blinding shadows wouldn’t blot out his other senses.
Tango’s hand squeezed down suddenly on hers, and the changeling shuddered. Miranda glanced back at her. “What is it?” she asked in concern.
“Nothing.” Tango shook her head. Her jaw was tightly clenched as if she were trying to avoid being sick. “Keep going.”
“No. Something’s wrong. Tell me.” Miranda’s eyes narrowed. “Is it...?”
“Shiv,” Tango choked. “This is all too much like it used to be. The stalking, the...” she shuddered again, “the kill. I thought I could handle it.”
“Riley doesn’t know, does he?” Tango shook her head. Miranda grimaced. “How were you going to stop
Solomon, then?”
“Knock him out. Disrupt the summoning. That’s what matters.” Tango pushed a hand through her hair. “I wasn’t expecting that we would have to deal with Matt and Blue, too.”
“Blue wasn’t your fault. It was an accident.”
“And how are we going to deal with Matt?” Miranda stomped on the railway tie under her feet. The black wood was too heavy and chemical-soaked to chop easily against the grain, but it might be possible, she thought, to split off a long, tough splinter.
* * * .
Miranda slid along the inner wall of the tunnel between the northbound and southbound tracks, edging closer and closer to the platforms of Union Station. There was no sign of Matt. She slipped a little closer, watching for him intently. Still nothing. Another step...
“Don’t move.” Matt stepped out of a thin, shadowy gap between two big concrete pillars. There was a pistol in his hand. Miranda looked at it contemptuously. Matt shook his head. “It might not kill you, Miri, but it would hurt like hell.” He glanced back up the way she had come. “Where’s the changeling?”
“You saw the flash?”
“Yeah.”
“That was her.”
Matt raised one eyebrow skeptically. “Then where’s Blue?”
“He pushed her onto the third rail.” Miranda bared her fangs. “I killed him.”
“Bullshit. I would have heard something.”
“He died fast.”
That spooked Matt, though he tried hard not to show it. His hand shook slightly, however, as he gestured for her to step away from the wall and back out onto the tracks. “Solomon wondered if someone might try sneaking in this way. He’s going to be happy to have you again.” The other vampire leered at her. “He’s playing a game with you, Matt.”
Matt laughed. “I know! You think I didn’t learn from what happened to you? As long as 1 keep Solomon happy, I’m sitting pretty.”
“How long do you think that will last? He’s going to get tired of you.”
“I don’t think so. Didn’t I always say I was better than you, Miranda? I meant better in every way—”
His voice cut off suddenly as Tango lunged through the gap behind him, from the other set of tracks, and stabbed him in the back. Matt’s face twisted. He jerked half-around to sneer at her — her and the broken wooden splinter in her hand. The vampire wore his leather jacket for more than ornamentation, it seemed. Matt favored her with a sneer as he grabbed at her with his free hand. “Stupid bitch!”
“Dumb bastard,” Miranda snarled at him. Deftly, she stepped up close to him, flipped back the front of his jacket — and thrust a second stake through his chest from the front. Propelled by her strength, the wood pierced his heart. Matt shuddered once. The pistol dropped out of his grip. For a moment, his weight hung off the stake in Miranda’s grasp, then she let the stake go. Matt crumpled to the ground.
Tango climbed through the gap to join her. “Good work.” She heaved Matt’s inert body into the gap, tucking his arms and legs in until he might have been mistaken for a bundle of rags. He would remain there until someone found him and pulled out the stake. Miranda pitied the poor person who did that.
They left the tunnels and scrambled onto the platform. There were more big metal doors in place at the top of the stairs leading up into Union Station, but Matt and Blue had left them open. Tango and Miranda slipped through. They paused at the base of another set of stairs. Chanting drifted down to them. Miranda recognized some of the words. It was a full obedience being chanted in a round. The effect was eerie.
“Well?” she asked Tango. “Now what?”
Tango frowned. “Something’s not right. The summoning is still going on.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s eleven-thirty.”
“Do you think Tolly and Riley failed? The Ride didn’t break up the riots?”
Tango shook her head. “No. I imagine Solomon is trying to compensate for that somehow. What surprises me is that we just met two of the High Circle downstairs. If that’s the case, I suspect Solomon is using other members of the High Circle as guards elsewhere.” “He’s nervous. He probably knows the court is working against him.”
“That’s not it. At the Bandog ceremony, it sounded like the High Circle was his right hand. That the Bandog are weak when it’s not complete.” She glanced at Miranda. “I’ve been around enough mages to know that a summoning rite is no easy thing. Even summoning a minor demon — or something like a demon’s voice, I would imagine — is tricky. It has to be done just right. And minor demons don’t require that a whole city be thrown into chaos just so they can perform a little ventriloquism.” Tango paused. “Miranda?”
The vampire barely heard her. It sounded as if Tango were calling to her along the length of a subway tunnel. Her voice was echoing and distant. The whole world seemed distant. Disjointed.
There was a pressure on her mind, as if something were trying to worm its way inside.
Just moving her eyes seemed like an effort, but she forced her gaze up to the top of the stairs behind Tango. A figure stood there, looking down at them. A tall figure, wearing black pants, but no shirt. A dog-face mask was in one hand, a small knife in the other. David.
Tango followed her gaze around. Miranda saw her eyes go wide. “No!” she breathed.
* # *
Another mage? For a fraction of a second, Tango froze; then she was throwing herself up the stairs at the blond doorman from Solomon’s. There would be time to think later. She could feel the touch of human magick on her mind, presumably the same magick that had captured Miranda. She fought it back and lunged at the blond man. Startled at her resistance, he parried her knife with the mask in his hand. His knife flicked out, just nicking her arm near the wrist. The wound was barely enough to draw1 blood. A single bright bead welled up against her skin.
Apparently, though, that was enough. Magick poured into her body through that tiny wound, coursing through her veins like a cold wind. She drew her arm back for another thrust. If she could break the mage’s concentration.... Her arm didn’t come back down. His magick had paralyzed her.
The blond man looked at her with a frown. Tucking the knife into his belt, he picked her up with one arm and carried her back down the stairs to stand beside Miranda. “Solomon,” he said into the air. “I think you should come see this. I have Miranda and Tango.”
The chanting from above faltered for a moment, then caught itself and carried on. A few moments later, Solomon appeared at the top of the stairs. He was dressed just as he had been for the Bandog ceremony in his house — black vest over bare chest. A triumphant grin lit his face. “Yes!” He came down the stairs and went over to caress Miranda’s unmoving face. “You poor, sweet fool,” he murmured. “Thought you could get away?”
“Stop that.” The blond man slapped Solomon’s hand away. “I warned you that this obsession of yours was going to lead to trouble.”
“It was your idea to bring the Vampires and that changeling into the Bandog, David.”
“But not as sex toys.”
Solomon glared angrily at the other mage. David looked back at him calmly, with no more expression than Tango had seen him display in opening Solomon’s front door. She was more shocked by the implications of David’s words. She knew that Miranda had been Solomon’s lover, but Riley as well? Finally, Solomon looked away from David. “All right, I think we can talk about this later. We might still be able to salvage things tonight. Where are Matt and Blue? And Tolly?”
David drew his knife and pointed it at Miranda. The vampire’s eyes went wide for a moment. Tango couldn’t move even that much. She wasn’t even breathing — somehow David’s magick must be sustaining her. She supposed that she was lucky he had set her down facing Miranda. At least she could see what was happening. “Down in the subway,” David said somewhat distantly. “They managed to put a stake through Matt and hide his body. Blue may be dead. Electrocuted.” He scowled, then blinked and lowered the knife. “Damn. You’re not going to like this: Tolly was Riley’s partner.”
“What?” snarled Solomon. “Where is he now?” “With the changeling procession, apparently. Do you want to have Matt brought up for the rite?”
“No. The High Circle is going to have holes as it is. I’ll just tell the Bandog something about the High Circle being out making sure that everything goes smoothly. Warding off attacks.” Solomon nodded to himself. “I like that.”
“Don’t change the rite too much. We want the Bandog to be in awe, not annoyed because the script keeps changing.” David gestured at Miranda, as if the vampire were nothing more than an object. “At least we’ve got her back. The Bandog were looking forward to seeing a traitor sacrificed. And it will do them good to see what happens to the people who cross you.” Solomon stepped over to stand in front of Tango. “What about her? Does she know anything?”
David shook his head. “I don’t know. I can’t control her mind any more than I could Riley’s. It’s as if changelings are half-mad to begin with. It takes a mage with more skill in Mind magick than I have to control one. I had to use Life magick to stop her, or she would have killed me.”
Tango wished that she had been willing to kill the blond mage. She wanted to scream in frustration, but she couldn’t even focus her eyes to glare at Solomon. What was going on? Solomon knew about the Ride, but didn’t seem concerned. He’d casually changed the summoning rite. At least now she understood Miranda’s confusion when Riley said Solomon had tried to search his mind with magick. It must have been David who had done that.
Solomon smiled suddenly. “I think Tango wants to say something. Can you release her face?”
“Why? So you can gloat?” David looked at the other mage disparagingly. “What would we do with her afterward ?”
“Actually,” Solomon said, his smiled growing broader, “I thought we could use her in the sacrifice. We get rid of that girl we have upstairs now, and replace her with both Miranda and Tango as prisoners. We begin the sacrifice using Miranda, then boom!” He slapped his hands together. “Shaftiel’s voice comes out of her mouth before we can kill her. ‘She is my chosen vessel, so that none of my faithful servants will die,’ something like that. Then he demands Tango as a sacrifice. Miranda kills Tango, Shaftiel delivers his message....”
“And Miranda dies.” David considered the idea as though he were considering wallpaper patterns. He nodded sharply. “All right.” He caught Tango’s chin and tilted her face up to look at him. “But let’s make one thing very clear, Tango. If you scream or try to disrupt anything, you are going to die in pain like you’ve never felt before.”
Abruptly, Tango could move her face again. “If I’m going to die anyway,” she spat, “what difference does it make?”
For a very brief moment, her blood felt as if it had turned into venom. The sensation left her gasping in shock. “Does that answer your question?” asked David. Solomon snickered. Tango shot him a hard glance. “What the hell are you doing, you bastard?” Solomon slapped her sharply. Compared to the pain David had inflicted, it was nothing. “I take exception to that.” Then he smiled demonically. “Hell has nothing to do with what I’m doing.”
Tango stared at him. “What about Shaftiel’s voice? What about chaos in the streets? What about the pacts that the Bandog made?”
“Tango, I think you’re missing the point here.” Solomon drew a finger along the line of her jaw. “You can thank your friend Riley for Shaftiel’s voice and the chaos in the streets. We need to restore the Bandog’s faith in me. He and Tolly shook it badly when they started killing Bandog.” He paused at her sharp breath of surprise. “You didn’t know about that?”
“No. You lie.” Jubilee had told her that Riley had killed a man, and she had had difficulty believing that. But how many Bandog had Miranda said died mysteriously? Three? Riley couldn’t have killed three people.
David shook his head. “It’s true. Solomon was able to track some skin fragments on a bracelet stolen from one of the victims. His magick led us to Riley.”
“No,” Tango said again. “I can’t believe it.”
If it was true, no wonder Riley had avoided telling her why Solomon had had him kidnapped. She felt ill with dismay.
“Believe what you like," said Solomon. “As for the pacts — they’re as worthless as the blood they’re signed in.” He glanced at Miranda and grinned. “Sorry, Miri. I had a wonderful time, though.”
“What?” Tango gasped.
Solomon shrugged casually. “There is no Shaftiel.” Tango just stared in stunned silence. “There is no Great Hound, there is no voice to be summoned. We made it all up.”
“But... but why?” stammered Tango. “Did Riley know about this?”
“I don’t think so.,” said David dryly. “As for the why....” He shrugged as well. “Why do Nephandi pledge their souls to any infernal entity? Why did the Bandog join us?”
“For power,” Solomon supplied. “Except we weren’t quite willing to take the step of selling our souls. So we created our own cult. You’d be surprised what people are willing to do and give when they want something so very desperately: money, service, loyalty. Until yesterday, the house, but we knew that would be the first place you came looking for us, so we vacated.” “Sex,” added David wearily,
Solomon wrinkled his nose. “You could have had it if you’d wanted it.” He turned back to Tango. “Let’s face it, Tango, we’re more than human. All of us here are
— you included. Humans are there for us to use.”
“You used Miranda and Riley,” Tango pointed out with quiet rage. “They’re not human.”
“They chose to join us. They offered themselves willingly. Who were we to turn them away?”
Tango clenched her jaw. “So you used them, just like you used the human Bandog — for your own power. You had Miranda tortured and Riley kidnapped. You had fifteen innocent people killed. You started riots. All for your own power?”
“Remember that Miranda and Riley aren’t so innocent, Tango. I doubt if you are, either.”
“Miranda and I,” hissed Tango fiercely, “regret what we’ve done. Do you have any regrets?”
“No,” Solomon said flatly.
“Then you’re not more than human,” Tango spat. Anger seethed in her; anger and disgust and loathing. “You’re inhuman. You’re two of the most inhuman creatures I’ve ever met. Other Nephandi are evil because they serve evil beings. You’re evil for your own sake.”
“Enough.” David cut her off. The blond mage glanced at Solomon. “It’s almost midnight. Are you finished?”
“I think so.” Solomon’s face was dark. “Let’s get this over with. I’ll take care of the girl upstairs. Give me a few minutes, then bring them up.” He left. David sat down on the bottom step, waiting. Tango glared at him. “You...” she began, but he interrupted her.
“Tango, I can turn any word that passes between your lips into a scream of pain. I would suggest that you not say anything.”
She didn’t believe him. Then, as her blood burned a moment later, she did. She kept her mouth closed. After a few minutes, one of the High Circle appeared at the top of the stairs and gestured for David. The blond mage replaced his dog-head mask and approached her with his knife drawn. He pulled her own knife out of her grasp. She couldn’t tell if he was surprised or not under the mask when the knife turned back into a ring, but he slipped the ring onto his smallest finger mockingly. Then he cut her, drawing blood at her shoulders, hips and knees. The knife w'ent back into his belt. David turned to go up the stairs. Miranda followed him on one side, Tango, her limbs moving like a puppet’s at the mage’s silent command, on the other.
For the first time, she realized how helpless she was. That single terror overwhelmed all of the hatred that she felt for Solomon and David. She was going to die. Miranda was going to be forced to kill her. And then Miranda was going to die as well. Tango wondered if the vampire had been able to hear what the mages had told her. She glanced as far to the side as her limited control over her own muscles would allow. She couldn’t see Mirarida’s eyes.
They walked up from the stairs into the middle of the Bandog summoning rite.
Solomon had appropriated the great hall of Union Station for his false ritual. The room was huge and echoing, the walls faced in cold, dark gray stone. Immense pillars with ornate capitals supported heavy arches over passages leading deeper into the station. The ceiling vaulted high overhead, lost in the dense shadows. Broad, arched windows of thick, frosted glass dominated either end of the room. During the day they would have brought light into the hall. At night, they were vast, black sheets. Big, old-fashioned lamps hung from massive chains in the four corners of the hall, shedding a sullen light that did little to dispel the darkness.
The Bandog stood just to one side of the huge hall; the center was occupied by a large clock, the long hands of which stood ominously close to midnight. The
Bandog were arranged in circles, just as they would have been in the ceremony room of Solomon’s house, except that all stood on the same level. The outer circle’s black masks faced the thin-spread backs of the High Circle. The High Circle’s gold-decorated masks faced Solomon. Solomon raised his arms. The Bandog’s chanting round died out with a final murmured chorus of “I will obey his servant in this world. I am Bandog.”
Solomon kissed the bracelet tattooed on his w'rist. A whisper of movement filled the great hall as the Bandog followed suit. Solomon led them in the litany of the full obedience. Tango could hear David muttering the words as well.. She looked at the backs of the Bandog. If they knew what kinds of lies Solomon had told them, if they knew the total falsehood they were so willingly accepting as the truth, she might still be able to stop all of this! She opened her mouth.
David glanced at her.
She closed her mouth sharply. I can turn any word that passes between your lips into a scream of pain.
But the mage couldn’t touch her Kithain mind. Maybe.... Her eyes flickered across the thin-spread ranks of the High Circle, searching for one familiar old man. When she found him, she focused all of her attention on him. Miranda had said Jubilee Arthurs was a full telepath now, but surely he would still remember some of his old, simple tricks. She filled her mind with his name, concentrating on him alone.
Jubilee’s head came up and he glanced slightly in her direction. Shiv? he asked inside her head.
That name gave her a start, but she didn’t try to talk to him. She simply splashed all of what had just happened, all of her conversation with Solomon and
David, across her mind. She saw him start. No. I don’t believe it.
True, she replied, focusing her thoughts carefully. Help?
We’re outnumbered here, Shiv. Even if there were something I could do, how many of.the Bandog would believe that it’s all a hoax? How many would be willing to admit they were being taken advantage of? I know you’re telling the truth. No more than a handful of the others would. He paused. I’m sorry.
Tango’s heart sank. It was hopeless. She tried to look at Miranda again, but she couldn’t even see the vampire. David stood between them. She spat mentally. Jubilee picked up her distress. Tenderly, he relayed his view of Miranda.
The vampire was crying. Tears of blood ran from her eyes down an otherwise impassive face.
Send a message to her? Tango pleaded.
Jubilee actually physically shook his head. I can’t. David has control of her mind. If I try anything, he’d notice. Shiv, if you do anything, I’ll try my best to help you, but I can’t do any more.
Thank you. She hesitated then thought, Call me Tango.
Jubilee’s touch left her mind. Solomon was speaking, something about the High Circle standing guard and defending the Bandog as the Great Hound guarded the gate between worlds. Shaftiel was pleased with the Bandog. The conditions for the summoning of his voice had been met. Tango noticed that Solomon didn’t mention the Kithain court’s attempts to curb the riots. She wondered if Riley and Tolly had been successful. Not that it would matter, of course. All of their plans had assumed that the summoning rite was real, that there really was a demon — and not just two inhuman mages.
Solomon swept his arms wide. “Send forward the traitor, Miranda Delara!”
Miranda walked forward, her body controlled by David’s will. The outer ranks of the Bandog, then the thin line of the High Circle, parted to permit her passage. The cultists murmured as they saw the blood on her face. When she stood within the High Circle, Miranda dropped down to her knees before Solomon, her head bowed. The Nephandus pointed at her dramatically. “Miranda Delara, you stand before the Bandog stripped of mask and chain. The servants of Shaftiel are one to his gaze, but he sees each one who fails in her duty. The servants of Shaftiel are bound to him, but betrayal breaks that bond.” Solomon’s voice thundered in the great hall. “Miranda Delara, you have failed in your duty. You have aided an enemy of the Bandog. You have refused to serve as you pledged. Miranda Delara, in the sight of the Great Hound, you are a traitor, and so I name you!” He spat on the ground.
David spat as well. Following their lead, so did the rest of the Bandog.
Solomon produced a piece of parchment — Tango wasn’t sure from where — and raised it over his head. “The pact that you committed yourself to when you became one of the Bandog names the price of treason. Your life is forfeit.” He hurled the parchment at her. “You are the first Bandog to make that contemptible forfeiture. Let others learn from your treacherous example. Your life will be the final stone in the bridge across which the Great Hound shall speak to his
faithful servants.”
Plucking a lash, the same one he had used in the ceremony of initiation, from his belt, David strode forward on cue. The Bandog scrambled to get out of his way. The blond mage stood over Miranda like some dog-faced avenging angel. He raised the lash. Solomon spread his arms and turned his handsome face to the shadows of the ceiling. “O Shaftiel! Your servants call out to you! Answer us! Send your voice into our world to speak to us!” He kissed his tattooed bracelet again. David’s lash fell hard. Miranda bore the stroke silently. As if she had a choice.
The Bandog began to chant the full obedience. David’s lash fell again and again. Tango fought the magickal bonds that held her body motionless, fought desperately. Nothing helped. She reached for the thin Glamour that clung to the cold stone of Union Station, drawing it into her like icy light and throwing it against David’s magick. Nothing. The Bandog began the full obedience again.
Someone gasped. Tango looked up.
Red light was seething around Solomon’s body. The light was hot, smoky and hellish. It writhed, almost as if it were alive, embracing the Nephandus. Solomon’s arms were still outstretched, his head still thrown back. An expression of rapture covered his face. The chanting of the Bandog grew louder, more enthusiastic. David kept lashing Miranda. Sweat gleamed on his bare torso and working muscles, reflecting the infernal light around Solomon.
Solomon began to rise up into the air. Hanging as though the light were the grasp of some otherworldly entity, Solomon flung his eyes open and screamed out,
“The Great Hound comes!”
Everything, even David’s lash, froze. Miranda raised her head. Her eyes glowed the same red as the light around Solomon. Still kneeling, she bayed like a dog, long and quavering. Her fangs were extended, as were her talons. “The Great Hound,” she howled in an unnatural voice, “is here!” She stood and turned to David.
The blond mage dropped his lash and seized her left wrist, desperately beginning the motions of full obedience, as if he were terrified of her. Miranda touched his head gently and moved him away. “I am pleased with your service.” The glow faded from her eyes. To the Bandog, however, her fangs and talons would have been enough. She looked around at the circles of cultists, turning so that all could see her. For a moment, even Tango was stunned by the magnificent effect that Solomon and David had created. Then Miranda pointed at her.
“I speak through the body of the traitor so that none of my loyal servants need perish! But I hunger for another life. I must feed before I speak my message. Let that one, who would attack the Bandog, come and feed me.”
Tango felt David’s magick lift her legs again, moving her forward. The Bandog shifted aside in awe. David stepped away from Miranda. His magick pushed Tango down to her knees. For a moment she could see Miranda’s face, and, up behind her, Solomon. Solomon was smiling cruelly. Miranda was weeping still, red blood dripping from her eyes. One drop fell on Tango’s upturned face. Miranda’s eyes flickered toward that drop even as her hand reached out and took David’s lash from him. Her tongue flickered from her mouth briefly, hungry for the blood in spite of David’s control. The expression made her entire face look utterly ridiculous. David touched the knife in his belt, re exerting his magick. Miranda’s tongue slipped back into her mouth, though her eyes stayed on the drop of blood.
Miranda’s instincts were strong, Tango realized, far stronger than her conscious mind. She was still a vampire beneath the mage’s control of her will. She still had a vampire’s craving for blood.
David couldn’t control Tango’s mind because Kithain were already “half-mad.” Miranda had been unable to control Atlanta Hunter’s mind for a similar reason.
Kithain blood could drive a vampire mad.
Suddenly, Tango had a way to fight back against Solomon and David. It was desperate, and it would be dangerous — both for her and for Miranda. Kithain blood could kill a vampire as easily as it could drive her mad. There was no way to predict the effects. But what other chance was there? Tango still had control of her face and mouth, even if she dared not speak. She bit down savagely on her own lip, just as Miranda stepped in front of her and raised the lash. The vampire eclipsed Solomon, his ruddy aura flaring around her like a demonic halo.
Tango’s blood spilled from her lip. The nocker bit deeper, bit at the inside of her mouth, anything to make blood flow. Red warmth trickled down her chin and over her cheeks.
Miranda’s arm froze. The lash quivered at the apex of its swing. Tango couldn’t see David or Solomon, but Miranda’s eyes were alight with a hunger that no mage had placed there. Her upraised arm trembled for a moment as her mind fought her nature, as David’s magick fought her nature.... Vampire nature won. Miranda’s body darted forward, kissing and licking at the bright blood on Tango’s face. Her tongue darted across the changeling’s Ups. Her fangs brushed her cheek. Tango felt a thrill of fear — had she gone too far? Was this what humans felt before a vampire fed from them? Tango’s eyes met Miranda’s. She could see struggle in them as Miranda fought David for control of her own will. The vampire’s lips touched hers once more and then moved down to her neck, an act of defiance against the mage.
“The Great Hound seizes the throat of his enemy!” shouted Solomon triumphantly. Tango could see him over Miranda’s shoulder, though, and his angry eyes were anything but triumphant. She grinned at him as fangs penetrated her skin.
Ecstasy raced through her body, as sweet as any epiphany she had ever experienced. Tango wanted to hug Miranda against her, to push the vampire’s working mouth against her throat.
Suddenly, though, it was over. Miranda was pushing her away, Solomon's red light glowing in her eyes once more. Tango felt weak, but at the same time energized. Glamour tingled in her limbs, flushing away her exhaustion. She grinned wildly as Miranda raised the lash once more. “My enemy’s blood,” the vampire howled, “is sweet. But her life will be sweeter still!”'
The lash fell across the top of her shoulder, wrapping around to snarl against her back and upper arm. Tango kept smiling, buoyed by the ecstasy of Miranda’s feeding. Miranda growled. She lifted the lash again.
Then screamed, dropping the whip to grab desperately at her head. The scream started in Shaftiel’s horrible voice, but ended in Miranda’s own, and it was echoed by David. The blond mage was on his knees clutching at his head as though it were about to explode. Tango had only wanted to end his magickal control of Miranda’s mind, but something of the vampire’s sudden madness must have echoed back through the magick to affect him as well. Abruptly, Tango’s limbs were her own again.
She leaped for David as the Bandog around them started to shout. She didn’t think, just acted on instinct, moving quickly. The light that flickered around Solomon suddenly went out. Tango could feel his magick sucking at her like quicksand, desperately trying to control her again before she could destroy his plans completely. She wasn’t going to let him have that chance. She grabbed for the little knife that David had tucked into his belt. The blond mage tried to stop her, but couldn’t. Tango got her hand on the knife and twisted around. Solomon’s magick finally took hold of her, freezing her legs like thin pillars of stone even as she drew back her arm. But she still had control of the rest of her body. She snapped her arm forward and released the knife.
Solomon was fast. The infernal light blazed again suddenly, this time smooth and condensed, a shield over his head and chest. The magickal shield would have deflected a killing shot — if killing had been Tango’s intention. All she’d really wanted to do was distract the mage and prevent him from using his magick against her. The knife sank into flesh. Solomon screamed horribly and tumbled hard to the ground.
Never go for the balls seemed to be one of the unspoken laws that connected men around the world. Maybe that was why they always seemed so surprised when a woman did it. .
Silence fell over the Bandog, then they shouted and jumped forward. For all that they knew, their dark master and their leader had just been attacked by a woman declared the enemy. Tango swung around, Solomon’s grasp on her broken along with his concentration.
“No!” One of the High Circle leaped in front of them, jubilee. “Run! Get away!”
The mercenary’s powers of command weren’t nearly as powerful as Miranda’s, but they worked. The front ranks of the Bandog turned back, snarling the advance of those behind. The mob of cultists boiled in confusion, jubilee kept shouting. Bandog began to flee, running for the doors that would lead out to the streets. Tango grabbed for Miranda, wrapping her arms around the vampire. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “It’s all right. Everything is going to be fine.”
“Tango?” Miranda tried to focus on her.
“What’s happening?’’
“The shadows are coming for me, Tango. The shadows are coming!” She started to shake. Tango held her, rocking her gently. David continued to scream. Solomon rolled over and over on the ground, clutching at himself. Blood soaked his clothes.
Bandog began to scramble back away from the doors out of Union Station, some fleeing out other exits, some diving down the stairs to the subway tunnels, some just cowering in corners. Tango heard singing, a rollicking pooka drinking song. Through the open doors, ducking low to pass under the frame, rode the Kithain court. Most of the torches were gone and the censers cold, but the smoke of the magickal drugs still clung to the descendants of the ancient faeries. Many of the Kithain wore souvenir T-shirts, ball caps, peaked police hats, or simple wreaths of leaves in addition to their finery. Most had silly,_ half-drunk looks on their faces. There were a few humans mixed in with them as well, laughing and singing as though the Kithain were old friends. Only Duke Michael still looked as sternly cold as he had when the Ride began. Riley waved at Tango from Tolly’s back. “Are we too late?”
Laura awoke as from a dream,
Laughed in the innocent old way,
Hugged Lizzie but not twice or thrice
Toronto was quiet again. The sun rose in the morning, clear, bright and cooler. The heat of the previous day had passed. The downtown streets were littered with the debris of the riots, to be sure, but they were also empty. The city felt as though it had been reborn. The sunlight falling across the streets was like wonder, the breeze that stirred the air was fresh with possibility. It was a feeling that would probably only last for the day. On Monday morning, people would return to work in the offices and stores, dragging the dull monotony of the suburbs with them.
The riots hadn’t vanished from memory, though. The city’s anger existed independently of Solomon’s control, and it didn’t disappear with his defeat. There was still a certain tension in Toronto. There were still people in the hospital and in jail. There was still damage to be repaired. There was still the fear of the penny murders; still outrage, loathing and suspicion. Toronto was cool now, but it would become cold again very quickly. And Tango suspected that it would stay cold for a long time.
The Ride had, by all reports, been an outstanding success, both in terms of breaking up the riots and of entertaining the Kithain. The humans, befuddled by the chaos, the magickal smoke and their own disbelief, were busy trying to explain it all away. Vague reports were being made on the news the next day describing the court’s appearances throughout the night as, variously, reinforcements of mounted police, helpful passersby (conveniently ignoring the court’s horses), or simply hallucinations. A few people claimed to have seen angels. The most popular explanation for the sudden end to the riots ignored the Kithain altogether, and attributed the relative lack of violence to Toronto’s own peaceful character and the exaggeration of events by an over-zealous media.
The Bandog, of course, were scattered and frightened, some misled or pinched painfully by Kithain cantrips as they fled. The cult was broken. Solomon and David had been taken into the custody of the Kithain court. Tango had looked around for Jubilee, to thank him, but the old mercenary was gone.
Epp was being loudly feted the next day by the Kithain. After its timely arrival at Union Station, the court had ridden back up Yonge Street amid the last ragged pockets of the riots to the hall that Epp had rented for a feast. They were about forty-five minutes late, but Epp had somehow managed to keep everything on hold until they arrived. The Cornish saffron buns, it was said, were especially wonderful, as rich and sweet as pieces of the sun. After the feast, many of the Kithain had wandered off, although they had gathered again down by the lake to watch a magnificent display of fireworks as the sun peeked up over the horizon.
Tango had seen none of that. She had taken Miranda back to Riley’s apartment and held the shaking vampire throughout the night in a room that blazed with light. Shadows frightened Miranda. She panicked every time something shifted. When her eyes were open, they darted back and forth nervously. Sometimes, instead of merely holding her, Tango had to hold Miranda down, talking her out of her wild fright. With the rise of the sun, however, she had finally relaxed, falling into daytime sleep with a blissful smile on her face. The poison of the Kithain blood had passed out of her. Tango had hung two heavy blankets over Riley’s bedroom window, blocking out the daylight, then collapsed into bed beside Miranda. Sleep was a welcome balm.
Dex came for her late in the morning, hammering on the door until she got up and answered it. She almost tripped on Tolly in the darkness of the bedroom, but there was no sign of Riley anywhere. The pooka had apparently not come home. She opened the apartment door and stared blearily at the golden sidhe. “Get dressed,” he told her shortly, “and come with me. The Nephandi are going to be judged at noon.”
Tango dressed very quickly and went with him. His white Mustang waited outside the door, a car once more. “Dex,” she asked as she got into it, “have you seen Riley?”
“He’s with the court.”
They drove north, the wind and sun streaming in Tango’s hair. Eventually, Dex turned off the street and into a grand old cemetery. He parked. On a beautiful day like this, Tango would have expected to see other people in the peaceful, parklike graveyard. There weren’t. They were alone. They walked across the green lawn, with its shallow depressions and clustered, weathered gravemarkers, back into the oldest part of the cemetery. Huge trees cast deep shadows over the Kithain clustered there. More of the court had discovered the true purpose of the Ride during the night’s feasting, and they wanted to watch as judgment was passed on the mages who had terrified Toronto. Sin, Marshall and Slocombe stood guard over Solomon and David with naked swords. The two mages were still dressed as they had been last night. Dex joined his brother and the other guards. Tango looked around for Riley. She spotted him on the other side of the court and started toward him.
He slipped away, avoiding her.
She clenched her teeth. Was he afraid of talking to her? She had told him and Duke Michael the truth about the Bandog last night at Union Station. She had, however, lied a little bit to the duke about why Solomon and David had staged the riots and the false ritual — to rebuild the Bandog’s faith in Shaftiel, she had said, after the unfortunate deaths of three of their number. She hadn’t said exactly how the three Bandog had died. Riley had still gone pale for a moment. He knew, and he knew that she did now as well.
Tango stepped around the crowd of the court again, making sure Riley saw her move, then ducked down behind a tall memorial when his eyes were off her. She waited several minutes before peeping out again. Riley was about ten feet away from her, scanning the crowd nervously. Tango sprinted out of her hiding place and seized his arm.
He flinched at her touch and tried to bolt, but
Tango’s grip was too tight. Inexorably, she dragged him back over behind the memorial. She stared into his frightened eyes. “Why, Riley? Why did you have to kill them?”
“We didn’t have a choice, Tango!” The pooka shivered and looked away. “We had to try and shake the Bandog. It was the best way we could think of. We chose the ones we killed carefully. If you knew what those three had done....”
Tango seized him by the shoulders and wrenched him back around so sharply that he yelped. “That doesn’t make it right.”
“What would you have done, Tango? Sat back and let Solomon grow in power?”
She froze. What would she have done? She shoved him away. “You had Tolly, didn’t you? And your contacts, like DeWinter? Couldn’t you have found some other allies to help you?”
“I’ve known Tolly for a long time — since before the Sabbat made him a vampire. It’s not easy to make allies in Toronto.” He sighed and slumped to the ground, leaning his back against the cold stone of the memorial. “We did try other things. I tried to get... close to Solomon.” His face twisted.
Tango squatted down and put her hand on his knee. “I know.”
“I couldn’t give him what he wanted. Then Miranda joined the Bandog, and Solomon didn’t even bother with me anymore. He had another toy.” Riley plucked a blade of grass out of the ground and cupped it between his hands. “I never even suspected that David was a mage, too! He never seemed to be more than Solomon’s servant.” He brought his hands to his mouth, blowing across the blade of grass and making it whistle hauntingly.
“How did you find out about the Bandog in the first place, Riley?”
He looked up at her harshly. “One of the Bandog hurt someone he shouldn’t have. Solomon was good at attracting people with some very unpleasant desires and pastimes to the Bandog. He promised them all kinds of rewards. Money. Youth. Protection from discovery. More of what they craved.” His face darkened. “Some of the Bandog figured Shaftiel rewarded those who rewarded themselves. Tolly and 1 started investigating. We found out about the Bandog. I ended up joining to find out more — and to try and stop the cult from the inside. That didn’t work.” Riley flicked the grass away. “I’m not proud of what I did, Tango. It’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life. But I don’t regret it either. I know I did it for the right reasons. I don’t know if you can understand that.”
Tango struggled to find her voice. Her throat felt thick suddenly. “I can,” she said finally. “If it ever stops haunting you, though....”
Riley considered her for a moment. Considered her with the most serious expression she had ever seen him muster. He looked away, then commented, “I knew that Solomon and Shaftiel didn’t seem to be living up to their promises. Maybe Tolly and I should have guessed that it was all a fraud. It seems so obvious now.”
“Does it?” Tango shook her head and stood. “It’s more comfortable to believe in a demon that inspires inhumanity than it is to recognize inhumanity in other people. Or ourselves.”
From the other side of the memorial, a murmur rose from the court of the Kithain. Tango glanced around to see what was happening. Sin and Dex were bringing forward the Nephandi. The other Kithain were drawing back from the duke, leaving an open space around him and the two mages. Saeeda the eshu had set a wide, shallow dish of age-darkened brass on top of a low gravestone just behind and to one side of Duke Michael. Tango reached dow’n and pulled Riley to his feet, dragging him up to watch.
Saeeda scattered reddish cedar chips into the brass dish, then broken scrolls of cinnamon and cracked, golden crystals of resin. Over these, she sprinkled liquid from a little crystal flask. Tango could smell alcohol. Saeeda nodded at Duke Michael.
The sidhe lord looked out across the gathered court, his hair rippling slightly in the breeze, his jet-black false eye glittering. “These mages,” he pronounced without preamble, “have committed acts of great evil. Who shall judge them?” He pointed at Dex and Sin. “You hold swords, the steel of justice. Will you judge them?” “No.” The twin sidhe sheathed their swords. “We shall not judge them.”
Tango’s fingers almost clenched around her knife-ring, retrieved from David last night. Riley squeezed her other hand. “What did you want them to do?” he whispered to her. The nocker didn’t reply. She saw Solomon sneer.
Duke Michael gestured to the court. “You are the people. Will you judge them?”
“No,” murmured the court in unison, then asked in return, “You are the lord. Will you judge them?”
“I am a lord of the Kithain,” replied Duke Michael. “I will not judge them. What right have I? Who has
the right to judge them?”
“They have already been judged.” Saeeda draped a scarf across her face. “Fate has judged them.” Blindfolded, she dashed a handful of silvery powder into her brass dish.
Flames flashed, blue and green, crackling and fragrant, gossamer-thin in the shadows.
“Step forward,” she called. “Step forward and look into the fiery face of what will be. Know your Dan, then go from this place, judged by Fate and punished.”
No one moved. Then Dex gave David a push forward. The blond mage stumbled as though he were asleep on his feet. Dex pushed him again. David’s eyes fixed on the flaming bowl and he began to shuffle toward it. Riley leaned close to Tango. “They say your trick with Miranda last night drove him mad as well. He hasn’t spoken since he stopped screaming, around dawn.”
David looked down into the flickering, burning depths of Saeeda’s fire.
His face twitched once. His mouth jerked. “So,” he said simply. A smile spread across his face. He turned and walked away from the fire, past Solomon toward the open space of the cemetery.
“David!” Solomon called after him, half-turning. Sin grabbed Solomon’s arm, though, thrusting him toward Saeeda. Solomon glared at the sidhe. Sin glared back, and half-drew his sword again. One eyebrow rose, challenging Solomon to try something. The Nephandus glared for a moment longer, then turned and limped toward Saeeda. The crotch and legs of his pants were stiff with dried blood. .He glanced at Tango and flushed angrily. He glanced at Duke Michael as well, but the duke refused to look back at him. Blindfolded, Saeeda was oblivious to his gaze.
Solomon stood before the flames. Then, without looking down, he spat into the bowl.
His saliva sizzled. The fire turned blackish-red and began to smoke. “A mage,” he hissed to Saeeda, “makes his own fate.” He spun around and marched defiantly after David. Every step, Tango noticed, brought a wince of pain to his face.
He was on the edge of the court when Saeeda called after him. “Solomon!”
He paused.
“Not even a mage can avoid Dan.” The eshu’s face shifted under her scarf, smiling mockingly. “Not even magick can restore all wounds.”
Solomon snarled and stalked away.
* * *
“They let them go?” Miranda asked in disbelief. Tango gave a little grimace, but nodded. “Kithain judgments may not always seem fair or timely, but when Dan is invoked, justice is inevitable. Solomon and David have been punished.” '
“No,” Miranda spat. “The duke should have been...” “What?” Tango looked at the vampire. Her mouth twisted. “What did you want him to do?” She snorted. “Riley asked me the same question.”
Miranda bit her tongue. Tango had told her about the judgment of the Nephandi when she woke at sunset. The changeling had also asked her how she felt -Miranda shuddered at the memories of last night, the feel of David’s mind riding hers, the sweet burn of
Tango’s blood against her tongue. The raging fire of madness searing inside her. The changeling blood had battered away the mage’s hold, but it had also attacked the darkness inside her, her vampire nature, burning it bare.
The shadows that had terrified her so much had been her own. But Tango had been there. She had kept the shadows back. Miranda smiled at the changeling and took her hand, gripping it tightly.
Tango squeezed back for a moment, then let go. She flipped down the top of her suitcase and zipped it shut. The other things that she had brought back to Riley’s apartment at sunset were two first-class reservations on a night flight to San Francisco. For tonight. “Are you sure there’s nothing you want to take with you?” Tango asked. “No souvenirs of Toronto?”
“No,” Miranda said, surprised at how good that made her feel. There really was nothing she wanted to take with her. She had said goodbye to Tolly, and that was enough. The mad vampire would be staying here, along with Riley, for a little while longer, then they would be moving on as well. “Nothing. I’ve got everything I need.”
Tango’s mouth twitched. “What is it?” asked Miranda.
“Nothing.” Tango grinned. “Just suddenly, I feel about fifteen years younger.”