“Kathy’s the oldest of the possible heirs. She’s hard as nails, mean, ruthless and greedy. A chef in a restaurant, ex-businesswoman, a parent of one, best described as a ‘mother bear’, with helicopter tendencies,” Rose said.
“That’s pretty much it,” I said.
“I don’t see the problem,” the Briar Girl said.
“If she were here instead of me,” I said. “I think the home would have been turned over to the lawyers already, or she would have struck some deal to try and return to her everyday life. The only way it wouldn’t work out that way would be if my grandmother put some measures in place to twist her arm. In which case she’d be stubborn, mean, and she’d never give up the territory.”
“I agree,” Rose said. “I know her better than Blake does, and it’s true. Briar Girl, if you got five words out of Kathryn that weren’t insults, I’d be surprised.”
I waited. Let the Briar Girl sit on that.
“So we kill her before she gets a chance to sell the place. Move on to the next.”
She was so casual about it. She’d raised her hand to vote for Maggie’s execution, hadn’t she?
“Probably,” I said. “Which brings us to…”
“Ellie,” Rose said.
“Career criminal, and not in an impressive way. Never worked a day in her life, she was staking everything on getting the house, I figure, because it was the only way she’d be able to get by. Zero impulse control, hates everyone, especially those who give any clue they’re smarter or better than her, which winds up being pretty much everyone,” I said. “Not because she’s dumb, but because she interprets anything as an attack.”
“She’s not dumb,” Rose said. “I remember her getting up to an awful lot. Surviving on schemes, jobs. There’s a certain cunning that comes with living the life she’s lived.”
“Right,” I said. “But I don’t know if she’d need a good excuse to send demons after people. She’d need any excuse, even one she made up.”
“She’d be one of the scary kinds of diabolists you hear about,” Rose said. “Bringing us to Roxanne…”
“I actually don’t know her that well,” I said. “Only that she’s spoiled, she’s twelve or so, and comes with all of the problems that entails.”
“When Callan’s girlfriend wound up in her classroom as part of getting her teaching certificate, Roxanne made accusations that ended the woman’s career,” Rose said. “No telling if her mom and dad put her up to it, but she doesn’t strike me as the moral and conscientious character who’d be polite and reasonable in dealing with devils, or neighbors.”
I could only imagine Rose’s face in the mirror that hung around my neck, giving the Briar Girl a pointed look.
“My sister,” I said. “Is two. Good luck with that. You want to wait for access to the territory so you can get the Demesne? Waiting for Ivy could mean a seventeen year wait, if not longer.”
“And Paige would be your last chance,” Rose said.
“Another amoral person, to help me build a picture of who you are?” the Briar Girl asked. “All set to call demons into this town on a whim?”
“No,” I said. “She was my friend, I respect and trust her. And I honestly think you’d have a harder time negotiating with her than you would with me. She’d see the long line of deaths that preceded her, and she’d play it smarter than I could, I think. I don’t think she’d give you anything, especially when you tried to kill me.”
“But you’ll cooperate with me?”
“I’m not in a position to hold grudges,” I said. “I meant what I said. I want to remove Laird and the Duchamps from their positions of power. I want to hit them in their powerbase, I want to scare them, I want them to suffer for Molly’s death. I’ll hurt them physically, if I have to.”
“That doesn’t matter to me,” the Briar Girl said.
“What if, theoretically, I could remove them from power, and I could move away? If I could shift my powerbase to another location. I could try and see if it’s possible to move the house or the essential contents to another location.”
I could see the interest, even as she tried to hide it. “Not possible.”
“Who knows?” I asked. “Let’s open negotiations with that. You agree to help me against Laird, I agree to take the time to verify whether it’s possible to move away. It’s information you want, and it’s something you could use against any of the ones who come after me. Trick them, deal with them, whatever.”
“I let you walk away alive, you agree to take the time to investigate,” the Briar Girl said.
“I walk away alive and unharmed,” I clarified.
“With no deleterious magics, workings or malfeasance at play,” Rose added. “We leave freely and unaccompanied, unmolested in body, mind, possession or emotion.”
The Briar Girl thought, then nodded.
“Deal,” I said.
“Deal,” she said.
I felt a wave of relief. With those simple words of agreement between us, the Others seemed to react, dropping away from the vantage points where they’d been poised to attack me.
“Give me some tools or knowledge I might use,” I said, “Instructions on how to perform shapechanging, or give me a power source, and I’ll cede you this square of territory right here, if and when I’m able.”
“Double the size,” the Briar Girl said. “And promise to double it again if Laird discovers my involvement. I don’t want any trouble from him. He’s a bastard.”
“If he discovers your involvement and it’s because I made a mistake,” I say. “Nothing from you.”
“Or yours,” Rose added, quickly. “No summoning or orders to a minion to tell him so he finds out.
“Nothing from me or mine,” the Briar Girl said, frowning a little.
She was totally planning something like that.
“And if you can’t give me the territory?” she asked.
“I’d promise a good faith effort to give some other form of repayment for the gift,” I said.
“There’s only one form of payment I want,” she answered me.
“Take it or leave it,” I said. “This is the closest you’ve gotten in a long time, I’m betting.”
She considered, then looked at her familiar. “Okay.”
“Deal?”
“Deal.”
“Okay,” I said. “So… what can you give me?”
“Before we get into that, I want to suggest something else,” the Briar Girl said.
“What?” I asked.
“In exchange for me not alerting Laird about what you’re planning… double the territory, to start with.”
I stared at her. She smiled, her teeth just slightly yellow, strands of hair having escaped her hood to brush against her face. In that instant, she looked more animal than her familiar.
I didn’t have a ready answer to that. I was already short on bargaining chips.
“What do you think, Rose?” I asked.
“I’m thinking about Demesnes, the book. The rules. Since it’s related to what the Briar Girl wants.”