Chapter Fourteen

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Again Grayson laughed. Prithius stared hard at his mouth, as if to pull the laugh out of him and take it into himself. "You made a grave mistake, Prithius. You miscalculated. You expected the witch you scented to be fully grown, expected she would gladly accept the power and years of additional life you would grant her, but instead you found a child.

"What I don't understand is why you've terrorized her, why you've beaten her. Why would she ever want to mate with you when she's a woman grown?"

"I'm training her, nothing more, showing her I am her master in all things, but she's stubborn. Still, once I have her again, she will learn I am her only future."

Training? Grayson smiled again, laughed, watched the demon stare at his mouth. "Listen to me. You won't ever have her again. Don't you understand she is smarter than you? She drugged you and escaped? You will not find her. And I'm wondering how much longer do you think you can remain in our realm, even with your potion?"

The demon's voice was low, vicious. "She told you about the potion, but it makes no difference. You will tell me what you have done with Lilith—" His tongue flicked out. "I mean Lilybeth. I know she is with one of your absurd English peers. When I find her, I will kill him like that," Prithius said, and he tried to snap his fingers but couldn't manage it. He drew himself up, eyed Grayson. "You are nothing compared to me. You are merely a paltry earth-bound wizard."

"Paltry, am I?" Grayson looked him up and down. "It is you who are nothing compared to me, Prithius." He snapped his fingers just as the demon had tried to do. "I am a mighty wizard, and I can destroy you, send you back to hell where you belong."

"I am not from hell!"

Grayson would swear he could see himself clearly in the demon's flat mirror eyes, eyes he would swear were shooting out sparks. "But Satan is your master. What do you think he will do to you when he learns you were bested by a human wizard and a witch child?"

"The master does not muck about the doings of his princes. Enough. I have told you, I do not live in hell—it is a horrible place, there is only suffering and plaints. The master doesn't like us to visit hell. He believes we bring a moment's pleasure to the benighted souls in his keeping."

"If not hell, then where do you come from?"

"I came to consciousness in Manna, a place of infinite ease and pleasure, where it is always blessed night. I hate your land with its burning sun and you ugly humans who scrabble around, breeding and killing each other and living your short, useless lives."

"Do you know the word manna means unleavened whole wheat bread? And it is magical, this bread, constantly renewing itself. It is written manna kept the Israelites alive during their forty days in the desert."

"Trust your kind to steal a word one of us planted in the mind of a long-ago witch."

Was that possible? "Who rules in Manna?"

Hatred washed over Viscount Fielding's face, the mirror eyes sparked. "He is an accursed demon called Thurian. He is an incubus of great age and cunning and strength. Through the ages many have tried to defeat him, but none have been able to, but I know I could. If only Lilith, beautiful perfect Lilith, had chosen me, together we could have defeated that accursed demon. But she chose him. She admires his arrogance, his cruelty, his ridiculous pride."

Grayson slowly nodded. "So Thurian banished you and you came here to find and mate with a witch. You scented Lily and decided you would make her your Lilith. What a mistake you made—you found not a woman but a child.

"Tell me, Prithius, did you plan to call her Lilith after the queen you wanted who didn't want you?"

Fielding shrugged his scrawny shoulders, but his voice held barely suppressed rage. "I knew when I scented her she was meant for me. When she gains years, she will be as beautiful as Lilith and she will be mine, she will choose me, mate with me, become one with me. And we will have limitless power."

Grayson shook his head. "Believe me, she will never accept you. Did she not escape you? She hates you, she will never change. It's time for you to give it up, go back to Manna, if the incubus Thurian allows it."

Prithius tried a laugh, but it came out a croak. He slashed the air with the cane and nearly lost his balance. "I will make her change. I will keep her close until she is a woman and she understands what I offer her, then all will be as I wished. I will shed this ridiculous human form and enter her, become one with her, leave her dreaming sweet dreams when I must go out at night."

"You intend to remain here in Viscount Fielding's body until she is old enough?"

"Of course."

Grayson said, "Did you not consider Viscount Fielding could sicken and die while you wait? And then what would happen to you?"

"He will not die, I will see to it."

Grayson arched a brow. "I ask you again, Prithius, how can you expect her to accept you if you beat her?"

He shrugged. "I told you—I mark her, nothing more, to show my ownership of her."

Grayson paused, said slowly, "I think when you now go on your nightly ventures to mate with human women in their dreams you have found you are unable. Does the potion make you impotent? And that is why you beat Lily, isn't it? It is your frustration at your continued failure. A demon must perform his purpose else he will weaken and eventually cease to exist. You're already weakening, aren't you? Soon, Prithius, will you be sucked back to Manna? Or will you simply crumble into dust?"

The demon's silver eyes flashed hatred and—fear? Prithius said, "What you say is ridiculous. Now I will not kill you if you tell me where she is."

"Tell me about the potion you must drink three times a day, Prithius, a concoction that enables you to remain in Viscount Fielding's body."

"Shut up, you benighted wizard. I will have her. I know you have taught her how to hide herself from me, but not before I knew she was here. I know she isn't with that ridiculous earl because I searched that absurd ancient castle of his with my mind, but I scented only that earthly ghost. Tell me where she is or I will destroy you and your lady, Miranda Wolffe, and your precious son. Tell me now."

Meaty threats from a harmless-looking older gentleman with a demon's flat silver eyes. So he"d encountered Lady Hilda. Had she protected Lily, somehow help cloaking her? Evidently so.

Prithius was now leaning heavily on his snake-headed cane, nearly panting. Grayson would swear he looked more frail, more insubstantial than he had when he'd come into Grayson's study. He did indeed look ill. And Grayson believed he knew why.

Grayson laughed again, knowing well it both incensed and fascinated the demon. "I know you must have your potion, but you didn't bring enough, did you? And here, in Yorkshire, you won't find your ingredients to brew your potion. How long has it been since you've had any?"

Grayson saw both violence and, yes, fear in those demon's mirror eyes.

He pushed. "An eight-year-old child bested you, Prithius. She put laudanum in your potion so she could escape you. Tell me, if you do not have your potion, what will happen to you?"

"You humans, you gnaw and gnaw, imagine you are so very clever. But you are nothing. I promise you a horrible death if you do not tell me where she is."

"Oh? And just how will you kill me, Prithius? Hit me with your cane? Curse me with some sort of ridiculous incantation? Viscount Fielding is slight, a middle-aged man. Do you honestly believe you can hurt me so long as you are in his body? I see your hands are trembling. You look ready to collapse. Are you losing control?" Grayson paused, cocked his head to the side. "I think the viscount's body is only a temporary salvation. Without your potion, it is now your destruction."

"I will kill your bloody son if you do not tell me where she is!"

Grayson laughed yet again. Prithius made a deep growling noise, more a hiss like a snake, and in the next instant, he walked slowly, carefully, from Grayson's study, his body bowed, the cane striking heavily on the floor. Grayson heard the front door slam, heard Haddock's voice calling him a knobby-kneed buffoon.

If only he knew.

But what could Prithius do if he left Fielding's body? What powers did he have? Not physical, no, not without his potion, or he would have used them on Grayson. Did he have to shed Fielding's body to use a demon's magic? Grayson said quietly to himself, "Lily, you are amazing. You're holding control so he can't find you." And he gave thanks to Lady Hilda, who protected Lily when she was learning to cloak herself.

Grayson had to kill the demon or somehow send him back to Manna, and he could only do that by forcing Prithius to leave Viscount Fielding's body. He turned back to his books. He thought of Pip and felt a brief twinge of fear. Could Prithius find a way to hurt his boy? Hurt Miranda?