Demon Bait: Children of the Undying Book 1 Page 2

  “No.” Marci groaned and smacked her forehead against the door’s surface. “The lockdown can only be cancelled with a keycode generated on the mainframe in Nicollet.” Waiting for the humans to free him was out of the question. As a smuggler, they wouldn’t be friendly to him. As a halfblood demon…

  Gabe moved to the right side of the lounge, where a round table sat surrounded by chairs, several tipped over in front of half-eaten meals, as if those on break had abandoned their spots when the alarms went off.

  He set down the bags and began to unpack bottled water and packaged rations. “So we need to be ready to spend a few days here.”

  “I distinctly recall telling you that several times.”

  “Let me rephrase. You need to be ready to spend a few days here with me.” She laughed, but the sound was cut abruptly short as she turned to face him. “You’re half-demon. What kind?”

  Humans probably had categories and classifications. It seemed like a human thing to do—name a problem and then avoid it. “We don’t bother much with that. Some of us are lovers. Some are fighters. Warriors and mediators.” He tossed her a smile. “Which do you think I am?” Marci shivered, a breath escaping her on a soft moan. “Rules. I think we need rules.” He could play along, if it made her feel better. “What kind of rules?” Her short, dark hair brushed the pale column of her neck as she glanced around the room. “I don’t spend a lot of time in this lounge, but it has beds, through that door over there. Just a few, mostly for shift workers who live on the other side of the complex but who need to rest between splits.”

  “All right.” He concentrated on lining up the water bottles on the table and let her work her way around to whatever she had to say.

  “They’re all in one room,” she said evenly, “but there’s no reason we can’t move one out here, yes?”

  Gabe scanned the rest of the lounge. Besides the table, it held two beat-up couches, a smattering of chairs, and a screen that looked like an old-fashioned television affixed to the wall.

  Posh, all things considered. Probably why people from the city were willing to be posted here in spite of the danger. “I’ll sleep on the couch, if you’re not in the mood to cuddle.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  Her tone made it clear that she didn’t care what the hell he did, as long as he stayed away from her.

  She was pissy as fuck, and he liked that a whole lot better than the fear.

  Especially since she was hot when she was mad.

  Telling himself it wouldn’t be smart to provoke her, Gabe settled on middle ground—and a change of subject. “Is that a real television?”

  “What?” She glanced back at him and then at the wall. “Yeah, sure. We get some programming streamed in from the city, but it’s mostly local-server stuff. Old TV shows, movies.”

  “Why don’t you just…?” He shrugged and waved a hand in a drunken loop, common enough shorthand among his peers. “You know. Uplink and watch it there?” Marci frowned as she opened one of the bags and rifled through it. “Why? It’s hardly worth the disorientation for fifteen minutes of downtime.”

  “Not something I’ve seen much of, is all.” Not that Zel hadn’t tried to bring back some of the conveniences of the old world, but there was only so much he could do with space at a premium. No room for lounges where only a few people could see a screen, not when their techie could build lavish virtual movie theaters large enough to accommodate half the settlement.

  Her quiet voice cut through his thoughts. “You’re from Rochester, aren’t you?” He supposed it was the only logical conclusion. Since he had every intention of taking her back there with him, he didn’t bother to lie. “Yes.”

  “So what are you doing here?”

  “Trade.” He smiled, just a smile, no seductive force behind it. “Bribing people for trade.” From the look on her face—vaguely intrigued, but not surprised—she’d suspected as much. “Do you come here often?”

  “From time to time.” He tested her tolerance by taking a few steps toward the couch. “It’s the flour. You’ve got the equipment and resources to make it in bulk. Our settlement can manage a lot, but not that.”

  “I see.” She pulled a small plastic package from the bag. Inside was a simple pair of signal-boosting VR glasses, ready to unfold and use. “I need to get in the network and see what’s going on.” The words held an odd note of expectation.

  Clearly she had no intention of leaving him in this room with her helpless body. An insult, but not one he didn’t deserve, all things considered. His own glasses were in his pack, which was in a truck stashed a mile away, but one of the other bags he’d grabbed revealed a second disposable pair like the one she’d uncovered. “Will these boost us to the Global?”

  She shook her head. “They usually restrict Global access for the first few hours of a lockdown. Local only.”

  “Gotcha.” A damn lot of good it would do him. At least with the ADS down, spending time in the network wouldn’t hurt. “Am I going to get in your way in there?”

  “No.” She unwrapped her glasses and hesitated. “They’ll restore Global access eventually, and you can get in touch with people back in Rochester. It shouldn’t take long.” The hesitant concern made him smile. “Are you worried about me, sweetheart?” She turned away. “Someone will be missing you soon, right?”

  “Maybe in a few days.” It wasn’t quite the truth—if he didn’t check in, they might be worried, but no one would raise a panic. If Zel hadn’t trusted him to get the job done, he wouldn’t be here.

  Marci slipped on her glasses, sat on one of the couches and crossed her ankles primly. “Do you have a basic avatar loaded on your chip?”

  Gabe dropped to one of the other couches—far enough away not to spook her, hopefully. “Hell if I know. I always have one wherever I go, so I guess?”

  The corner of her mouth kicked up. “If it sticks you with a generic skin, I might be able to throw together something better. Not like I won’t have plenty of time.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” The plastic covering the glasses crinkled between his fingers and tore easily.

  Nothing fancy about them on the surface—plain black lenses to make it easier to block out the world, with the important part built into the frames. A chip would boost the network wireless and let them both connect, even with a weak signal.

  He’d never liked the network. It was jarring, being out of the world and cut off from the magic he’d been born with. Not that he loved living every day in a body that could be beyond his control—but it was his body, demonic curse and all.

  No choice now. Nothing mattered more than earning her trust, because when he blew out of this joint, he wasn’t leaving her behind.

  The little summoner was already his.

  Chapter Two

  The first thing Marci noticed when she linked up was that the constant, low pull of sensation that had gripped her when she looked at Gabe had vanished.

  Mostly vanished.

  She stepped deeper into the plain room that served as a staging area in the local network and turned to face him. “Okay?”

  He looked uncomfortable. His avatar was decent enough—maybe better than it should have been, seeing as how it was stored on his chip, but a tech with a good compression algorithm could make it work.

  The scar on his cheek was missing, and he seemed thinner, like the scan had been done before he gained some muscle.

  His eyes were still impossibly blue, and they seemed even brighter as he managed a lopsided smile.

  “I’ll make it. Not so bad without the ADS.”

  Her heart thumped, and she whispered a curse that she tried to cover with a cough. “They might get the signal back up and running any minute now, so enjoy it while you can.” Gabe shrugged. “Pain’s not so bad when it’s fleeting.” Except that it couldn’t be, not for him. If he was half-demon like he’d said, the signal was designed to be a constant source of grating, bone-deep agony. “Surely it would be better f
or you to avoid it.”

  “So you want me to drop back out?”

  “No,” she said quickly. Not if it meant having him alone with her body while her mind was engaged elsewhere. “If it starts up, let me know. We can both leave.”

  “Sure.” Easy capitulation, and it sounded like a lie. “So this is your local digs?”

  “This is—” She blushed to realize she’d been doing nothing of use, and certainly not what she’d linked up for. “It’s a lobby, really. If there’s some sort of meeting, it’ll be…” She tracked her gaze around the room until she found the correct door. “This one.” Gabe studied it, then glanced back to her. “They don’t know what you are. And they don’t know what I am. Probably wouldn’t hurt to keep it that way.”

  She’d never been good at deception, which was one of the reasons she’d requested a transfer to an out-of-the-way outpost like Gold Mills in the first place. She was a decent programmer; she could have worked anywhere.

  Even now, her hands shook. “We need to find out what’s going on, if there’s news,” she said evenly.

  “But we shouldn’t stick around long, maybe.”

  Marci didn’t wait for him to agree, just reached out and opened the door.

  Inside was chaos—shouting voices and milling bodies. A figure jostled past her, and Marci stifled a gasp when the woman’s arm passed through her own.

  “There are too many,” she murmured to Gabe. “The server can’t handle this kind of processing load very well.”

  “What does that—”

  “Marci!” Asha’s voice, and her friend appeared a moment later, elbowing through the crowd. “I pinged your room and you didn’t answer, I was so worried.”

  “Asha.” Relief warred with nervousness. “We’re in the east-sector lounge. Did you make it out of the control room?”

  “Christian wouldn’t leave, and I couldn’t leave him there alone.” Asha grabbed both of Marci’s hands, oblivious to Gabe’s presence. “But we’ll be fine. We’re locked down, and there are supplies.”

  “What about the ADS?” It didn’t seem right not to ask. Its restoration could save them all, but it would also put Gabe in horrible pain.

  Asha shook her head. “Not the external, and not in the network. Christian is trying to talk Nicollet into a full network reboot.”

  Marci went cold. A reboot could restore the ADS, but they’d have to take the network offline for at least half a day. “Are they going for it?”

  “I think so.” Asha’s gaze finally slid to Gabe, who still hovered just to their right. She lowered her voice and coaxed Marci a step away from him. “You’re not… You said we. Are you trapped somewhere with him?”

  If she tried to explain, Gabe wouldn’t be the only one in trouble. “Not trapped,” she lied. “I stayed with him because he didn’t know what was going on. Everything’s fine.” Her friend shot him another furtive look, one that was far from approving. Appreciation of his looks apparently didn’t extend to trusting him with Marci’s safety. “If they reboot the network, you’ll be cut off. You won’t be able to get help if something happens.”

  She’d already considered that, but there was little to be done. “Asha, it’s fine. Trust me.”

  “I trust you. I don’t trust him.”

  “We’re in lockdown. It’s too late now to hole up somewhere else.” Asha blew out a frustrated breath as her fingers tightened around Marci’s. “I know. I just…I’m worried. About you, about all of us.”

  “So am I.” Marci grasped her shoulders for a moment before pulling her into a quick hug. “If they greenlight a reboot, be careful up there.”

  “I’ll be too busy to think about it,” Asha whispered. “And I’ve got Christian with me. He’s pretty badass, for a tech-admin.”

  “If anyone can get us through it, it’s you two.”

  “When will you—”

  The thunderous blare of an alarm cut her off. Gabe jerked in surprise and lunged toward Marci, almost wrapping his body around hers as he crowded close.

  “It’s an early warning,” she explained automatically. “Asha—” But her friend had disappeared, undoubtedly yanked out of the network as soon as Christian had sounded the alarm.

  Marci touched Gabe’s shoulder. “Time to drop out before it boots us. You don’t want that.” He stared at her for a brief moment and closed his eyes, his face screwing up in an expression of desperate concentration. Then he vanished.

  Marci hesitated before following. There went the possibility of hiding out in the local network, where she could keep an eye on Gabe without having to worry about what he could do if he got his hands on her.

  Now, because of the reboot, she had no choice.

  She closed her eyes and dropped out, mostly to avoid the gut-churning disorientation that came with being forced from the network.

  Gabe was still seated on the couch, his long legs sprawled out in front of him. “What was that?” Marci rubbed her hands over her face. “They’re shutting down the local network and restarting it, hoping that’ll fix the ADS.”

  “How long does that take?”

  “Twelve hours, minimum.”

  “And after that? Your city shows up?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.” It could take days yet for Nicollet to mount a response, but she found herself holding that information close. “We just have to get through it.”

  “Mmm.” Gabe leaned forward, the movement fluid. Effortless. “When they come, will you go back to hiding and hoping no one ever finds out what you are?”

  “If I can.” If they didn’t run down everyone’s DNA and genealogy, just to be safe.

  His eyes narrowed. He dropped his elbows to his knees and laced his fingers together, studying her the same way she’d consider a tricky bit of code. “Why?”

  “What do you mean, why?”

  “Why would you stay here, where you have to be afraid?”

  “Why wouldn’t I run off to Rochester, you mean?” Marci shook her head. “I’d have to give up everything I know. That’s not something I’m prepared to do unless I have no other choice.”

  “I see.” He tilted his head. “Is it that good here?”

  “How am I supposed to answer that?” Marci looked away. “I don’t know. It’s all right, better than a lot of places. Is it so great where you live?”

  “For a human? Maybe not. For someone like us? Hell yeah, because no one’s going to drag me out of my bed in the middle of the night and throw me to the demons.” For a human. Yet another reminder that, try as she might to blend in, she wasn’t one of them. She wasn’t like Asha or any of the other humans huddled in their rooms, waiting for the all-clear from Nicollet.

  And he knew it.

  She cleared her throat. “They haven’t thrown me to the demons.”

  “No, not literally.” He grinned suddenly. “Sorry, I’m being an ass. And I’m doing it because I think you’re going to feel a whole lot better about being trapped in here with me if you’re good and well pissed off.”

  Marci pasted on her sweetest smile. “Or I’ll be forced to murder you in your sleep just to get a little peace.”

  Gabe’s grin turned into one of his too-perfect smiles, a suggestive one that lit up his eyes and whispered of dirty things done in the dark. “Oh, I wouldn’t. Trying to murder a halfblood in his bed is flirting.”

  She hadn’t felt this pull during their scant few minutes inside the network, so it really was a shame she couldn’t escape to the relative safety of virtual reality. Every snappy rejoinder that came to mind tripped up on her tongue, and it was all she could do not to stammer.

  “You’re not being fair,” she whispered when she could finally speak. “You have me at a disadvantage and you know it.”

  “Damn.” The pressure vanished so suddenly she thought her ears might pop, and he looked honestly contrite. “I’m not trying to lean on you.”

  Marci shivered and rubbed her hands over her upper arms. “It happens when you’re not ev
en thinking about it?”

  “Not always. Only when…” He settled back against the couch and shook his head. “I can stop it. I will.”

  What was he hiding? “Only when what?”

  “It happens when I’m talking to someone I find interesting.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s usually not a big deal. Most people don’t react the way you do, but you’re…not most people.” Pressing him for anything more personal would be trouble. “How do most people react?”

  “However they want. The magic only hits summoners.” Gabe rocked to his feet and nodded toward the room with the cots. “I just need a little time to lock it down. The ADS was screwing me all to hell until a half hour ago, so I’m not on top of my game.”

  “Okay.” Marci looked around, her gaze lighting on the supplies on the table. “We should probably eat something soon, whether we want to or not.”

  “You eat,” he urged, circling around her in a wide arc. “I’ll be having a chat with the demon within.” It sounded ominous, but if it meant she didn’t swoon every time she looked into his eyes, she’d take it. “Gabe?”

  He paused just short of the door. “Yeah?”

  “Thank you. For not—not…” Everything she thought about saying seemed wrong. “Thanks, that’s all.”

  His hands fisted at his sides. Something vicious stirred behind his eyes, but he did nothing more than nod shortly before turning to stride away.

  Though Marci knew he wasn’t angry at her, she still bit her lip and sighed. If only he hadn’t insisted on keeping her with him, she wouldn’t have to navigate the tricky differences between them.

  “It’s your own fault, Gabe,” she grumbled as she began to sort through the supplies. “Your own damn fault. Remember that, Mr. Blue Eyes.”

  He should remember…and she shouldn’t forget.

  Chapter Three

  Thank you. For not—

  Gabe hissed out a breath and clenched his fists until his fingers ached. The pain didn’t help him concentrate, but the act of digging his fingernails into his palms gave him something to do other than punch holes in the wall.