Cynna frowned. "Maybe not. Give me a minute." She stared at the fountain, jiggling first one foot, then the other, as if trying to pace sitting down. "Five summoners were needed," she said slowly. "We can't get around that. But maybe only one did the binding."
"How?"
"Theoretically, at the master level—and with binding, that's what we're talking about, a demon master—at that level you start getting into demon politics. Politics in hell," she added, "make the UN look good."
"I can believe that, but I don't see where you're going."
"It's because of the way demons are bound to their higher-ups, see? You bind enough low-level demons, or reach for one of the more powerful ones, and you're treading on some powerful toes. See, the one you're hooked into is hooked into a more powerful demon, and so on, right up the feeding chain. So your deal can end up involving some of hell's big muckety-mucks." She took a deep breath, let it out. "The short version is that our perp could've cut a deal with a demon lord, who can bind multiple demons, no problem. Though distance still could be a problem… but if the deal involved a demon prince, it wouldn't be."
Sickness settled in the pit of Lily's stomach. "Xitil."
Cynna nodded.
Xitil was the demon prince who'd made an ally of Her avatar, then fought her, then eaten her—and promptly gone insane. Demons didn't just eat the flesh of those they consumed. They absorbed something of the essence.
How much of the lupi's ancient enemy now lived inside a demon prince? Had someone here allied with that prince?
Lily pressed her fingers into the hollow where neck met skull, trying to dig out an incipient headache. "It makes too damned much sense. Xitil is controlled or strongly influenced by Her. Killing lupus heirs would suit Her. The one thing I can't figure is how She was able to track her targets. She's not supposed to be able to see lupi with her X-ray vision—or whatever it is She uses to see into our realm."
"Maybe the human perp has a strong farseeing Gift."
Lily frowned, mentally running through what little was in the dossier on Jiri. "What's Jiri's Gift?"
"I don't know. No one did, though we all tried to guess. I can say for certain it's a strong Gift, and it isn't Finding. I always thought she might be a precog—it was uncanny the way she could make things work out the way she wanted. But her Gift could be farseeing."
Lily heard the reluctance in Cynna's voice. "You don't want our perp to be Jiri."
"She wasn't… when I knew her; she wasn't a person who could do something like this."
"But you left."
"Yeah." After a moment Cynna shrugged. "I left, and I don't know what she's like now. If half the street talk about her is true, she's turned into a major badass."
Lily's brain felt sluggish, unable to keep up with the thoughts skittering around in it. She'd only gotten about three hours of sleep. But she could see Cynna was hurting.
New subject. "You don't have a coffeepot in here."
"Never touch the stuff, but there's a pot down the hall. You need a cup?"
Yes. "It can wait. Ruben is proceeding on the assumption the demons who weren't killed are still around. He's informed the authorities in Canada."
"What about the U.S. attacks? Where were they?"
"Montana and Virginia. The one in Montana occurred on federal land, so the Billings FBI office will handle it with some help from MCD. At least, Ruben hopes they can handle it." Lily was glad that call wasn't hers to make.
"And in the one in Virginia?"
"Near a little town called Nutley, on land owned by the Lei-dolf clan. That one's ours. Actually, it's yours for now, but I'll be joining you there as soon as possible."
Lily told Cynna about Leidolf and Nokolai and Rule's duty to escort Paul's body home. There was plenty for her to do while she waited for the body to be released—Dr. Fagin wanted to ask her some questions, and she had some for him and the other task force members. And she needed to pry some information out of the Secret Service. They'd traced some of Jiri's former associates in the course of their investigation—people who'd been students, hangers-on, or lovers, according to Cynna. Not apprentices. As far as Cynna knew, she'd been Jiri's only true apprentice.
Cynna seemed to think Lily's delay was reasonable, even necessary. And it was, dammit. But reason didn't ease her guilt. All those good, solid reasons weren't the only thing holding her in D.C.
There were details to settle: the need for a warrant if the Leidolf Rho didn't cooperate; the type of weapons to take; the type of backup. Cynna tried to argue about that. She didn't have a high opinion of MCD agents, and no one from the Unit could be spared.
Lily wasn't having it. "You're not going without backup. You need someone who can shoot an M-16. If they can use a rocket launcher, even better."
"They won't be much help if they get themselves possessed."
"You can't be the only Catholic with the Bureau. Or the only person of faith. That's what counts, right? Anyone with a strong, personal faith is protected."
"Yeah, yeah, but—"
"You mentioned coffee down the hall."
"And you'd like me to shut up and quit arguing." Instead of being offended, Cynna grinned. "See? This is why you're in charge, not me. Who'd I argue with if I was heading up the case? Come on. Let's get you some caffeine."
The break room smelled of old, burned-to-bitter coffee. Lily felt right at home. The cops she used to work with never made fresh, either. "In Virginia, I've notified the local police chief and the state cops, as required. But I told the state troopers not to go in yet."
"Good." Cynna nodded emphatically. "The last thing we need is a possessed state trooper."
"Which could happen if the demon's still there. Also, Rule says Leidolf is pretty territorial. If a dozen gun-toting heroes charge into their clanhome—"
"Could be a bloodbath."
"That was my thinking." She blew on her coffee, then took a sip. Tasted as bad as it smelled. "You'll need to check in with Chief Mann in Nutley when you get there. When I told him of a possible demon outbreak in his jurisdiction, he was inclined to doubt my sanity, but he did agree to speak to the Leidolf Rho."
"I guess the lupi didn't report the attacks."
"Good guess," she said dryly. Lupi weren't exactly known for cooperating with the authorities. "If the Virginia demon is still there, how hard will it be for you to Find it?"
"My range will be limited—probably closer to ten miles than a hundred. The pattern I got last night will let me Find other demons of the same type, but it won't be an exact match."
"Because they're different individuals?"
"Mostly because I took it from a corpse. Death doesn't resonate strongly with life, even when the patterns match otherwise."
That made a grisly sort of sense. "There's one more thing you should know before you leave."
"What's that?"
"These demons are different from the red-eyes we tangled with in hell."
"Yeah, we covered that. They've got claws on those stubby little arms."
"That's right. They may…" Lily had to stop, take a breath. "Those claws seem to carry some kind of poison. Rule's wound… it isn't healing."
NINE
CYNNA insisted on going home with Lily before leaving for Virginia. Lily didn't argue as much as she should have.
Rule hadn't told her, dammit. She'd found out the wound wasn't healing when she saw blood on the sheet this morning. Not until then had he admitted something was wrong, and he still refused to see a doctor. He didn't think traditional medicine would help.
He was probably right. When she'd touched the ripped flesh, she'd touched magic. Orange magic, coating his wound like sticky syrup. Demon magic.
"The stickiness reminds me of a curse I touched once," she said as she climbed out of her car.