Darkest Night - Smoke And Ashes Part 17

No mistaking CB's presence up close and personal. There was a sudden lack of open s.p.a.ce in the immediate area.

Jack shifted his grip to give Danvers a better angle on the shoulder. "So what's wrong with him?"

"You mean besides the holes? It was the Powershot. Not the smartest thing to do."

Jack answered Leah's question with one of his own. "Who are you?"

He'd keep asking until he got an answer, like the world's biggest, red serge-wearing terrier. Given Leah's earlier opinion of all and sundry, and given that Jack was definitely one of the sundry, the odds were good she wasn't going to tell him. The trick was figuring out how much of the truth would shut him up.

"She's a demonic consultant," Tony told him, trying not to think about what Jack's partner was doing to his shoulder. "A what?"

"Demonic consul... OW!"

"Sorry."

"It's okay." And it was. The flash of white light accompanying the pain seemed to have cleared his vision. Where cleared meant he could see people standing around him and pretty much figure out who they were. Beyond about three meters, things were still a little fuzzy-like his focus had been pulled so he had no depth of field-which likely meant there'd be something with teeth and scales charging in from the fuzzy any minute now.

"Tony?"

Or not.

Lee gradually came into focus as he came closer. Then came into focus a lot faster as he broke into a run and dropped to one knee.

"What happened?" he demanded, his hand closing around Tony's wrist.

Tony opened his mouth, but Jack filled the words in. "It's the aftereffects of frying a demon."

"You're hurt!"

"It's uh..." He glanced over at the blood-soaked pad in the RCMP officer's hand and decided not to bother with the whole manly denial thing. "Yeah."

"It's not as bad as it looks." Danvers' matter-of-fact tone made it convincing. Given that it was his blood, Tony wasn't entirely convinced, but Lee seemed to be.

Seemed to be glaring at Jack.

Who still held Tony cradled against his body while Danvers finished with his shoulder.

Lee was glaring?

Tony had no idea how Jack was responding, but something in the way his grip shifted and the way muscles moved in his chest, made Tony think he felt amused.

"How are the others, Mr. Nicholas?" CB's bulk reappeared like a mahogany wall at the end of Tony's feet, the force of his personality enough to break through Lee's... well, to break through whatever the h.e.l.l was up with Lee.

"Fine. They're good." The actor sat back and turned, visibly distancing himself from the scene on the floor-although his fingers maintained their grip. "Mouse thinks the gaffer's nose might be broken."

"And Mason?"

"Would be on the phone to his agent if there was a phone around to be on."

"I'll speak with him in a moment."

"I can't say that I blame him, CB."

"Demons." Jack ignored Lee's reinstated glare, but there was nothing that suggested amus.e.m.e.nt this time. He shifted Tony's weight onto his partner, who caught it, steadied it, and raised a skeptical eyebrow when Tony muttered, "I can sit on my own." "What about them?" CB demanded as Jack got slowly to his feet.

"She said demons. As in more than one. They had a plan to send the demons back where they came from. That..."

All eyes turned with his gesture to the smear of ash on the floor. Tony could just barely make it out. "... isn't the end of this. Is it?"

And all eyes turned to Leah.

Who looked at him.

His stomach growled.

Chapter Six.

"HOW LONG IS THIS Demonic Convergence going to last?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" CB repeated Leah's answer as a question, an eyebrow raised for punctuation. There were rumors that eyebrow had once caused a loan manager to wet himself-a rumor that Tony, having more than once been on the receiving end of said eyebrow, was inclined to believe.

Leah proved to be made of sterner stuff, but then she'd already survived plagues, the Inquisition, disco... "Information on the last Demonic Convergence was pa.s.sed on as an oral history for centuries before finally being written down by an insane monk in 332.

He was a little vague on duration."

"Rather an important point, don't you think?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." She matched his dry, sarcastic tone precisely and then sat back and crossed her legs. "Fortunately, we know that the Convergence is of limited duration, just not exactly how limited. My best guess would tie it to the moon through one full cycle. A month, no more. Maybe a little less."

"And your worst guess?" CB growled.

She shrugged. "The planets change position slowly and the stars slower still."

"You're saying this could last years?"

"It could."

"Demons could be dropping into my studio for years?"

"Or the one Tony destroyed could be the only one you'll see. There's no way of knowing for sure."

Liar, Tony thought. He was impressed by how much like a consultant she sounded and less impressed by how heavily edited the story had become. She hadn't mentioned that the demons were only coming through because a Demonlord was directing the convergent energy. Nor had she said anything about being an immortal Demongate, confident that Tony would keep her secret.

Since he'd already lied for her once today, he supposed she had reason for the confidence. After all those years with Henry, he was good at secrets. And given that the residue of Arra's spell seemed to be exerting a stronger pull than Leah, the whole Demongate thing seemed a little less relevant than it had.

Previous Contents Next"I have a question!" Perched on the edge of CB's desk, Amy waved her hand above her head, the charms hanging off the polished bicycle chain she wore wrapped around one wrist glinting under the fluorescent lights. "How does one become a demonic consultant? Exactly?"

Amy hadn't been included in the "we" when CB'd growled, "We need to talk." When those who'd been involved in the battle- plus Lee who'd arrived on the scene before anyone thought to adjust the story-followed CB into his office-where followed, in Tony's case, meant hanging off Jack's arm and more or less putting one foot in front of the other-she'd invited herself along, dragging Zev behind her. Tony was glad they were there. Although the odds were good Zev would have understood, keeping Amy out of the loop had limited survivability, and even CB seemed to realize it would be easier in the long run to let her stay.

"I have a better question," Constable Danvers sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Who the h.e.l.l is going to believe all that damage in the soundstage was caused by a deranged fan?"

"Drugged fan," Lee corrected. He'd suggested the cover story.

"Whatever. Drugged, deranged; no one will buy it."

"Mason did," Lee reminded her. Mason had been thrilled to think that one of his fans had gone berserk and trashed the soundstage. Mason was thrilled to believe pretty much anything that made it all about him.

"Once Mason starts talking about it," CB explained, "everyone else will believe it, too."

"Like he'll give them a choice," Amy snorted.

CB nodded. "My point exactly. You should use the tools you have to hand."

Everyone turned to look at Tony.

"You calling me a tool?" he roused himself enough to mutter.

"Yes."

So much for humor.

"I shall sum up, then." CB leaned back in his chair which creaked alarmingly under his bulk. "We are in the midst of a Demonic Convergence of indeterminate length. The demons are attracted to this building because of..."

Tony hoped no one had noticed the slight pause-where no one referred to the RCMP officers who hadn't been told about the gate or Arra or the Shadowlord when they were told about what had happened in the house. Given that they'd been standing on the front lawn when the heavens opened, the story of the house had been unavoidable, but-so far-Tony'd managed to avoid filling in the whole metaphysical backstory.

"... the residual energy; energy most likely connected to Mr. Foster's abilities."

That's right. Make it believable. Blame me.

"Ms. Burnett," CB continued, "who has made a study of demonology..."

No one seemed to have any trouble believing in a stunt-woman as a student of demonology.

"... just happened to have recently contacted Mr. Foster to inform him about this Demonic Convergence and to instruct him on how to return said demons to the h.e.l.l they came from-although, as circ.u.mstances have forced Mr. Foster to fry both demons he has already faced, whether or not he can return them remains theoretical."

Tony rubbed the bandage on his shoulder. Nothing much about this seemed theoretical to him. His whole body ached."Because both demons have been reduced to ash, we have no proof should we decide to make the story public, so rather than be mocked by those who have not shared our experiences, we are maintaining that today's incident was caused by a drugged fan of Mason Reed's. Constables Danvers and Elson will support that story in their reports."

"I can't believe we're going to falsify a report!" Constable Danvers punctuated each word by banging the back of her head against the wall.

CB laid both hands flat on his desk. The fingers of the left hand started to tremble. Muscles tensed in the arm the demon had dislocated and Jack had snapped back, and the trembling stopped. "Given that you arrived here in an official capacity, the report is unavoidable. You may, of course, choose to tell the truth."

Danvers looked at CB, she looked around the room, and, finally, she looked at her partner. Who shrugged. Jack had been remarkably quiet since he'd brought up the point about multiple demons. Tony wondered what he was thinking. His partner seemed to be wondering the same, but after a long moment, she sighed and muttered, "Fine. But what happens if these things go public?

You know, suddenly show up on the six o'clock news climbing the Lions Gate Bridge?"

"They don't show up on camera," Leah told her.

"Why not?"

"They don't have souls."

"What?"

"A camera steals a piece of your soul," Leah explained. "Demons have no souls, so they don't show up on camera."

"That's total bulls.h.i.t."

A raised hand cut off the murmur of agreement. Leah leaned toward the constable, smiling slightly. "Why don't demons show up on camera, then?"

"Because they... I mean, they..." When no one seemed willing to help, Danvers' shoulders sagged. "I can't believe I'm even having this conversation." Bang. Bang. Bang against the wall.

Jack reached out and grabbed her shoulder, stopping the motion. Once she'd stilled, he stepped past her, swept a narrow-eyed gaze around the room-which would have been more effective had most of the people in the room not recognized it as having been inserted for effect-and finally locked his eyes on CB. "As long as demons are attracted to your soundstage, for whatever reason..."

Translating the emphasis, Tony could see another "talk" with the constable in his future. Probably accompanied by shouting.

"... you'll have to close the studio."

Zev hummed a few portentous bars of music under his breath.

Amy moved off CB's desk and out of the line of fire as the producer smiled. "I have an episode and a half of a show still to shoot, Constable. I have to do no such thing."

"People are going to get hurt. Someone's already been hurt. Someone besides Tony."

"It was the gaffer," Tony murmured. "He's the guy who sets the lights to get the effect the DP wants," he expanded when Jack turned to glare. "When things get weird, it's good to hold onto the stuff you know. Not you, personally," he added quickly. "Us you."

"Did you get hit on the head?" "I don't think so."

"Check." Jack's attention relocked on CB. "Your gaffer's nose is broken. He's on his way to the hospital. You were lucky no one was seriously hurt. Or killed. You're closing the studio."

"I am contractually obligated to provide twenty-two episodes of Darkest Night within a specific time frame," CB told him. "If I close the studio, this won't happen, and we will be in violation of our contract. There will be no season two. My people will be let go. Most will not be able to find new work as many of the network shows that were filming in Vancouver have moved back across the border."

"So you think your 'people'..."

That was the most sarcastic set of air quotes Tony had ever seen.

"... would rather be exposed to demonic attacks than unemployment?"

"Speaking as one of his people..." Perched now on an arm of the couch, Amy waved again. "... definitely."