Page 88 of The Shade of Things
Oh yeah?I narrowed my eyes. Then why do you sound so smug?
I knocked his chair around to face me, and Delilah leapt on him, straddling the man with her arm wedged against his throat. He clawed at her, his pajama sleeve falling to his elbow, but my shadow was stronger than he was, and I made sure to stay out of his line of sight.
He flushed redder and redder, making sputtering noises in his attempts to breathe.
I ordered Delilah to let up on him. “If you want to continue breathing, then answer me, Jase.”
His eyes flashed in hate. “We haven’t had it in almost thirty years.”
“Was it taken by Arlo Garcia?”
“We suspect so, yes.”
Arlo wasn’t part of the Consortium because if he had been, it wouldn’t have taken Tatiana three years to find the Ascendant. What was I missing?
“Sir?” Some manservant rapped politely on the door.
“Play it cool,” I murmured.
“I’m busy at the moment,” Jason called out.
The person went away, but my time here was limited.
“Why aren’t dybbuks constantly flooding out?” Dybbuks were getting into that room where Laurent had been inhabited, so after the Consortium had originally torn through to Gehenna, that door had stayed open for years.
“I have no idea,” Jason said evenly. His eyes darted to my shadow.
Delilah still sat on him, walking her fingers up the side of his neck like a total creeper. His being in pajamas didn’t help that image. Honestly, I couldn’t say how much of that was me and how much of it was her own initiative, but his shudder was deeply satisfying.
“I truly don’t know,” Jason reiterated. “It’s been this way from the beginning, and the dybbuks that do come out are called back at sunset on Saturday just like all others since they never find a host.”
They didn’t know that Laurent had been enthralled. Thank you, universe, for that stroke of good luck.
I frowned. Either the tear or the Ascendant was too weak or unstable for more than a dybbuk or two at a time to get through or the Consortium hadn’t used it properly. I picked up the silver pen and uncapped it. Calligraphy nib. Fancy.
“Final question. Does the quote ‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings’ mean anything to you?”
I was grasping at straws, but perhaps the Consortium had a different take on it than Zev.
“The fault in our stars quote is a password.”
“I know about the Woods Bank,” I said. “Any other meaning? Where is the Ascendant now?”
“I don’t know.” Jason spat the words at me, right as his fingers twitched.
I jammed the calligraphy pen into the back of his hand, aborting his magic use. I didn’t know what type of power he possessed, nor did I want to find out.
He screamed, clutching his bleeding hand.
“Sir!” The manservant pounded on the door.
“One chance to change your answer.” I wiggled the pen and he hissed. “It hurts more coming out. Anything?”
“I’ve got the key!” the butler cried.
“The Consortium will find you and kill you,” Jason spat.
“They can take a number.”
The knob rattled.
Shutting Delilah down, I jumped into the KH. I’d made another enemy, but I’d gotten a concrete lead. I examined Jason’s blood on my hands clinically, almost distantly. I could live with my actions today. Maybe one day at a time was all I could hope for.
