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and flung
myself on Malle, and that would have been disastrous. As it was I had to
content myself with glaring down at her and clutching my fists so tightly that
my fingers throbbed.
    “Get down,” Lough hissed. “You
don’t know where the demons are. What if she has a Demon of Knight with her?”
    Those were the nastiest kind of
demons, faster, smarter, and more powerful than the other kinds. Sip,
Lisabelle, and I had been with Sip’s parents on our way to Lanca’s coronation
when we had had the unfortunate experience of running into one, or rather being
led into one by a corrupt paranormal, and almost dying.
    “We can’t hear if we aren’t
closer,” I hissed.
    “We can’t hear if we’re dead,
either,” said Lough, still keeping a firm grip on my arm.
    I glared at my friend. I had to
get closer, and Lough, realizing I wouldn’t be deterred, finally let go of my
arm. With a shake of his head he crouched closer to the trunk of the tree,
trying to keep out of sight.
    I moved as silently as I could
toward the group by the water. All the time I had spent with Sip helped,
because it hadn’t taken me long to notice how quietly my friend walked. It was
the werewolf in her. She padded silently everywhere she went, and I had picked
up the habit. Of course, Lisabelle had always moved silently too, so she was
another model. With her it seemed to be something about how much she enjoyed
the frightened cries of her friends when she came up and surprised them.
    Now I snuck forward, keeping low
to the ground and avoiding anything that would crunch under my feet. Behind me
I heard Lough praying to the dream giver god for safety and protection from
insane friends.
    My eyes moved everywhere, checking
under my feet before I stepped and making sure that none of the three senior
paranormals sitting in front of me was about to turn around and check behind
them. I also had to make sure that none of the many guards that Caid kept
around the place were anywhere to be seen. He seemed to be out there without
any protection.
    But why?
    Finally I reached a vast tree
trunk, a spot where I thought their voices would carry more clearly while I
still maintained a safe distance from the little group. Since they were right
on the water, their voices echoed over the open space.
    “So, it’s a deal, then?” That was
Malle’s voice, raspy and thick, as if she didn’t use it often. She probably
didn’t if she spent most of her time with hellhounds.
    “Yes,” said Caid, sounding for
all the world as relaxed as he did when he talked to Dacer. I bristled. If Caid
was on the side of the Nocturns, what chance did the good paranormals stand?
Caid had been elected because as a fallen angel he was supposed to be almost
incorruptible. I could have seen it if it had been Zervos, and as it happened I
was pretty sure Zervos was corrupt anyway. But the thought of Caid secretly
working against the paranormals broke my heart.
    Saferous, too, was a mystery. He
sat silently watching the proceedings, and I had yet to see his lips move or
his head so much as nod. He seemed to be there as a witness only.
    “When will it be done?” Malle
asked. I could see her head turn slowly, rotating from side to side. I flinched
as I watched her neck try to move. Her skin was almost falling off, and I could
almost hear the creak of muscle and the crack of bone from where I was hidden.
    Caid’s heavy shoulders shrugged.
I desperately wished I could see his face, but he was turned toward the water
like a king surveying his lands. Somehow, the early morning gloom that had now
come over Lake Timarity forced me to see Caid in a different light. Instead of
a beacon of hope for the paranormals, I saw his large form and easy smile as
something else, sinister and dark, and I didn’t like it one bit.
    “These things can’t be rushed,”
he explained, his voice carrying a lot more easily than Malle’s had. He wasn’t
looking at the president of darkness, but rather at the calm