Nemesis - Legacy Book 5 (Legacy Series) Read online

  Abi dunked him under again and looked at me. “I thought you were out working a case.”

  “I was. Am. I am working a case.” I walked over to the scene and pried her grip off the cat. “Please don’t drown my demon. Even if he really deserves it.”

  I raised the cat to face level.

  “Meow,” he said innocently.

  I chucked him over my head and out the door. Amaymon returned two seconds later in human form, completely dry.

  “We were in the middle of resolving our issues,” he explained.

  “By letting her drown you?”

  He shrugged. “She wanted to talk about feelings. The water sounded like a better idea.”

  “You’re insane,” I said. “Both of you, you’re both insane. I’m living with insane people.”

  “I’m a demon,” Amaymon said. “What’s her excuse?”

  “You slept with my mother,” she retorted.

  He cocked his head. “No, I banged your mother. No sleeping was involved, trust me.”

  “Amaymon,” I said, “go away. Abi, I need to talk to you.”

  The demon gave another nonchalant shrug and slid down the bannister.

  “I swear, Erik, if he brings up my mom again-”

  “I need to find her,” I interrupted.

  Abi stood up and toweled off her hands. “My mom? Why?”

  I sighed. “Come downstairs. I don’t wanna repeat this a second time.”

  Ten minutes later, I had finished recounting the entire story, leaving out the more graphic details.

  Oh, and the part about the literal angel of death giving me the stink eye.

  No need to dwell on that.

  “So you think my mother initiated the orgy?” Abi asked.

  “I dunno,” I said. “But the last thing I remember was seeing her, then everyone went crazy and when we came to all auction items were gone.”

  “Why would Greede steal his own shit?” Amaymon asked. He stuffed a handful of chips into his mouth and I averted my eyes so as not to watch crumbs falling down on the carpet. “I mean, he already owns the skeletons and the tech to make weapons outta them. So why go through all the trouble?”

  I crossed my arms. “That’s what I’m trying to find out. Ishtar was the last person I saw before it all went down, therefore I’m thinking there might be a link there.”

  “Could it be that you’re pinning the orgy on the succubus?” Abi asked. She flicked a strand of red hair from behind her ear, the way she does when she wants to say something but she’s holding back to be polite.

  “You’re thinking that because your mom’s got the sex mojo I’m automatically pinning it on her,” I said.

  “Could have been another succubus,” Abi said. “I know a whole bunch of them.”

  “Ah hah!” Amaymon snapped. “I knew it. So you do have slutty succubus friends.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I know them through Facebook, you dumb pervert.”

  “Amaymon, shut up,” I said. “Abi, these succubii, do you guys meet somewhere? Is it like a support group thing?”

  She laughed. “Yeah, cos that’s what you want, a whole bunch of sex demons locked in a room together.”

  “Ah, paradise.”

  “Shut up, Amaymon,” she said automatically. “No, we mostly talk online. It’s a handful of us who were abandoned by our parents and have no idea how to deal with our powers.” She pursed her lips. “And sometimes we just brag about some hot guy or girl we landed.”

  I raised my hands. “Your business,” I said. “My point is, if there is such a group, I wanna meet them.”

  “Like hell you are,” she said. “Erik, you’re the boogeyman for most of these guys. And, what, you think they’re all here in Eureka, waiting to be summoned? Half of them are across the country.”

  “Okay, then,” I said. “But keep an eye out. Last night’s events were orchestrated by a succubus. Or an incubus. Whichever the one.”

  She grinned. “If you can’t tell the difference between sex demons…”

  “Are you kidding?” Amaymon interjected. “I had a bet going that he’d switched to batting for the other side. Akasha cost me a hundred bucks.”

  “Stop betting on my love life,” I said. “And since when do you have money?”

  “Since you leave your wallet just lying there,” he said. “Or in your drawer. Or your pants. Actually, could you just stop hiding that thing? And maybe fill it up some more? Strippers aren’t cheap.”

  Maybe drowning this guy wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

  “Abi,” I said, forcing myself back on topic, “I know you’re defensive when it comes to your family-” I raised my hand to stop her rebuttal “-and I know I’m not a hundred percent sure it was her, but I’m still gonna need to talk to your mom. She’s my only lead.”

  “Okay,” she said. “I understand. It’s not like we have a real relationship anyway.”

  I left that hanging there. Like I said, family is tough. Just the fact Abi was willing to reach out showed more courage than I ever had.

  But the thing about family is, you can love them, you can like them, but you can’t change them. I’m not saying Abi’s mom is some kinda villain, but I had seen the signs. She was there at Greede’s comic con thing and she was there again at the auction.

  That’s two too many in my book.

  Abi wrote down the address and handed it to me. “Need any backup?”

  I could see it in her eyes that she was torn between doing the right thing and doing right by her parent. So I spared her the decision.

  “Nah, I got this,” I said. “It’s just a couple of questions. That’s all, I promise.”

  She nodded and handed me the address.

  “Hey, I know this place,” Amaymon said. He turned into a cat and literally curled himself around my shoulder. “It’s a porn studio, some little indie place where they did most of Layla Starr’s stuff.” He chuckled. “Can I come with? Please, Erik. I promise I’ll behave. Kinda.”

  I flicked him hard on the nose, forcing him off me. The cat landed on the couch and lazily curled on a cushion.

  “No,” I said. “You went nuts around one succubus. The last thing I need is to chase you down every time some naked chick walks by. I do enough of that already.” I grabbed my coat and gear. “You two stay here, talk about your feelings. In fact, Amaymon, that’s your punishment. You have to stay right there and talk to Abi about how much of a shit-head you’d have to be to bang someone’s mom right in front of them.”

  “Is there a scale I can work with?” he called as I made for the door.

  “Improvise. Abi, you’re in charge. But no more drowning the cat.” I pulled the door open and walked outside, wondering what wrong turns my life took to make me utter such a sentence and have it be a regular part of my life.

  Ah, well, guess the contemplation will have to wait. I had a sex demon to interrogate.

  Chapter 13

  I found Ishtar on her set, billowing out orders in a commanding, yet sonorous, voice, never losing its etherial quality.

  I know what you’re thinking: Erik, you went to see a fully-fledged succubus without backup, someone whom you know can work her magic on you and make the world go fuzzy.

  I knew that and it made me angry. It made me powerless. That’s why I wanted — needed — to face her alone. I had to show her I was still standing.

  That, and if things got ugly, I didn’t want anyone stopping me from doing what I had to do. My mind was still reeling from whatever magic she worked on that auction house.

  Yeah, at this point I was practically looking for a fight.

  A guy walked by completely naked. I tried very hard not to look at his junk. He ignored me — probably didn’t even register me on his radar — and kept walking by, while I tried to recover from the sight of surprise penis. I’ll say this though: it’s hard to keep your mind on revenge when trying to avert your gaze from a guy’s semi-flaccid junk.

  Ishtar turned around
and I felt that blast of magic again. Her eyes were mesmerizing. I closed my eyes and dug my hand in my coat pocket, feeling around for the little knife. I unfolded it and pressed the blade against my palm, slicing deeply.

  “Son of a-”

  The sudden influx of pain had a two fold effect.

  The first was making me question why in the movies everyone chose to cut their palms whenever they wanted to draw blood for some bogus ritual — because that shit hurts like hell.

  The second was breaking the Ishtar’s influence on me.

  My magic healed the cut almost immediately but the sensation was still fresh in my mind, which meant I could look at the woman with all my blood flowing in an upward direction.

  “Mister Ashendale,” she said.

  “Miss… missus?” I abandoned the attempt at formality. “I need to talk to you.”

  She frowned. “Of course. Is this about my daughter? Did something happen?”

  “No, she’s fine,” I said. “But I need to ask where you were last night.”

  “Why, Mr. Ashendale,” she cooed, her eyebrows raising. “First, Lord Amaymon, now you, the infamous Erik Ashendale. I feel so in demand.”

  Something told me she’s never been out of demand.

  Someone bumped me accidentally and I found myself face-to-face with a naked busty woman who was directing a guy holding one of those overhead lamps they use in movie sets.

  “Can we talk in private?” I asked Ishtar.

  She grinned. “Too much for you, Mr. Ashendale?”

  “What can I say, I’m a good boy.”

  “Oh, please don’t toy with me.”

  “Your office, please,” I insisted.

  “So serious,” she said. “Right over here, Mr. Ashendale.”

  She led me behind the shooting area, towards a half-built set. Pipes and wooden beams were strewn about, along with half-finished wooden scaffolding. A table lay on the other side with work tools and power drills.

  “So,” she asked turning around, “what’s all this about?”

  “Same question as before,” I said. “Where were you last night?”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Ashendale, but I hardly think that’s any of your business.”

  “It is.”

  Her lips pursed. “Would this involve a warrant at all? If it is indeed official police business.”

  Oh, yeah, you’re innocent, lady.

  But she got me there. The thing with my deal with the local police is that I help them while they provide absolutely no backup. Which meant that, strictly speaking, she could tell me to fuck off and there were nothing I could do about it.

  Not legally anyway.

  “No,” I said. “However, it does involve an auction and the subsequent orgy it devolved into.”

  “An orgy? Why, I didn’t think you were the type, Mr. Ashendale,” she joked.

  I didn’t laugh. “I don’t remember telling you I was there.”

  Ishtar stopped smiling.

  “I was right, wasn’t I?” I said. “It was you I saw yesterday. You started all of that.”

  She shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she huffed. “And quite frankly, I don’t like being accused of sex acts I did not initiate. I take pride in who I am, unlike a certain daughter of mine. If you have nothing to add, please leave.”

  “You’re deflecting an awful lot,” I said. “See, right until you mentioned Abi, I was willing to believe you were innocent, that you were manipulated. But now I know for sure.”

  “Get out,” she snarled.

  “Make me.”

  Ishtar thrust out her palm against my chest and I went flying. My back smashed through a backdrop, rupturing the fabric and the wooden beams it was attached to. Every breath was like inhaling fire.

  Oh right. Demon strength.

  I stood up, already healing, and drew my sword. Ishtar eyed the weapon warily — I could sense the hesitation in her posture.

  Maybe Abi was right. Being infamous had its perks.

  “You don’t wanna do this,” I said. “I don’t wanna hurt you.”

  She snarled cynically. “You think you can do worse than he did?”

  “Alan Greede,” I said. “That’s who we’re talking about, right?”

  Ishtar nodded. “I can’t tell you anything.”

  “You have to.”

  “NO!” She swiped at the table, shattering it. Tools scattered at her feet. “You think you know what he is? You think you can handle him? You’re a child playing a god’s game. None of you, not even Lord Amaymon, can come close to what he is.”

  “I know he’s the Sin of Greed,” I said. “I’ve faced two others before and I’m still here.”

  “Lust and Envy,” she said. Hearing her say their names surprised me, and she must have seen it in my expression because she let out a snort of laughter. “Your sister may have influence but I’m hundreds of years old. I own the information trade in this town.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “This has nothing to do with the Sins. This is about Greede, and you, and me.”

  “It has everything to do with them!” she yelled. “You think yourself powerful? Why, because you defeated a demoness who could barely hold herself together, or a creature powerful enough to create its own universe allowed you to kill it?”

  I felt my sword arm drop, the fight sapped out of me. Amaymon had mentioned something about Lilith emerging too early, that her own powers were incomplete.

  And Envy… Leviathan was not what I expected. I played our fight a thousand times in my head. She was right. I never stood a chance.

  I shook my head.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I told her. “Because I’m still the only one between them and the rest of the world. I’m the one who can stop them.” I squeezed Djinn handle and raised it. “So again I ask you, why did you do what you did last night?”

  Ishtar shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “I swear,” she pleaded. “One minute I’m at home, the next I’m summoned by Greede. The last thing I remember was being in the car with his emissary.”

  “One of the Black Ring guys?”

  She frowned. “Who?”

  “Did the guy have a black ring tattooed somewhere?” I asked.

  “Not him. But the driver had one on his hand,” she said pointing at the back of right hand. She sniffed, her eyes watery. “I remember smelling something sweet, overpowering. Then they told me to get undressed and to use my powers on the audience inside while they locked everyone in. I swear, that’s all I know.”

  I watched her for a minute, reading her body language. The quivering of her legs, the constant fidgeting, the gritting of teeth.

  Ishtar was afraid.

  But what could threaten a centuries old succubus? Even if Greede had all the money and power in the world, which she certainly seemed to believe, he would still need leverage on her.

  Leverage.

  “He threatened Abi.”

  Ishtar looked at me, horror etched in her face.

  “That’s why you’re in his service,” I said. “He found your pressure point.”

  “My only offspring,” Ishtar said. “And now he’ll kill her.”

  I heard the rifle cock before he entered.

  Without thinking I stepped in front of Ishtar and turned, just as the gun went off. I felt the bullet hit my centre mass, a little to the right, tearing through my lung. I never felt the bullet itself, just the cold rushing through me.

  The bullet was still inside. How did I know that, you ask? Well, because when my healing magic tried closing the wound and expelling the bullet, agony flared up a thousand times worse than getting shot itself.

  An agony that was so intimate, I would never forget it.

  Anti-magic bullets. There was only one guy I knew that used them.

  Berphomet clomped in, his cloven hooves gently rapping against the floor.

  Gone was the disguise he wore la
st time I saw him. His goat horns were hanging out in the open and his smile reached his yellow, horizontally-slitted eyes when he raised the silver rifle.

  “Mr. Greede does not appreciate loose ends,” he said, pulling the trigger a second time.

  Chapter 14

  Imminent death gave me strength. I swung my sword upwards, sending a streak of energy blazing across the path of that silver bullet. Whatever magic it was made out of dissipated.

  Berphomet cocked a lever on his rifle and raised it again. The first bullet he shot me with was still inside me, its anti-magic sending waves of agony along my entire body. Blackness started converging around my eyesight and with every second that passed breathing was becoming more of a chore. I did not have the strength to survive a second shot.

  Luckily, Berphomet never got to fire again — mostly on account of Ishtar simply grabbing the table that held all the work tools and throwing it at him.

  The goat demon leapt out of the way, leaping and cartwheeling. He kept the barrel of his rifle steady, ready to fire. Ishtar appeared next to him and gut punched him. Her fist tore through the silver metal of the rifle and burrowed straight into his flesh. Berphomet made a noise that was somewhere between a goat’s belch and a person struggling not to retch, and was thrown through the wall.

  Okay, point super sex demon. Remind me to never make Abi or her mom upset ever again.

  Berphomet relinquished the rifle. His hands dropped to his thigh holsters, already pulling out a twin set of revolvers, made from the same material as the rifle and carrying the same anti-magic ammunition.

  Ishtar ripped a beam from one of the supports and swung the twelve foot pole with all her might like a game of whack-a-mole. Berphomet fired off four rounds in the space it took for me to register he’d taken the guns out. The bullets tore into the beam, weakening it as Ishtar slammed it down. With nowhere to run, the goat demon raised his cloven hooves over his head, like some weird yoga position, so that the beam would meet them first. The beam snapped over his feet but the goat demon assassin was still reeling from the blow.

  Ishtar panted and staggered.

  “We have to go,” I managed.

  Berphomet fired, the shot going wildly over Ishtar’s head. She scooped up a toolbox and hurled it at him. Then she reached over to my side, hoisting me to my feet.