Eternal Rider - Larissa Ione [55]
“Hell, no. Gem’s all about the primary colors. The baby’s room looks like someone regurgitated a box of crayons.”
Arik laughed, and then sobered. “Okay, so I don’t think you called me here to talk about babies.”
Ky’s expression got four-star-general serious. “No.” He pushed the laptop at Arik. “Can you speak Silan?”
“As in, the language of Silas demons?”
“Yes. We intercepted some chatter, but we can’t understand it, and we can’t find anyone who speaks this particular dialect. Not even my in-laws.”
“Why do you think talk between a bunch of demon mercs is important?”
“Because they were recruited by one of Pestilence’s men, a former Aegi we’ve been watching since we kicked him out a few months ago.” Kynan’s gaze met Arik’s. “This has to stay between you, me, and Regan. Not even the other Elders know.”
“Why?”
“Because the former Aegi traitor is Valeriu’s son, David.”
Arik whistled, loud and long. “Val? An Elder’s own son is teaming up with demons?” Arik supposed he shouldn’t be surprised—David had betrayed The Aegis before. But working with Pestilence to bring about the Apocalypse… that went beyond betrayal.
“Yeah. Nice, huh?” Kynan rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “We don’t want to take him into custody yet. Right now, he’s doing more good for us than he knows. Val’s been trying to mend the relationship with him, and if he knows what David has been doing…” Kynan shook his head. “I don’t know what he’ll do.”
“Why is he free in the first place? I thought he was a prisoner.”
“Val convinced us to release him into his custody.”
“Well, shit.” Arik attempted to calculate the kind of damage David could do, but the mental math left him exhausted. “So what’s up with the computer?”
“Hit Shift-P.”
Arik did, and voices drifted out of the speaker. It was all gibberish at first, but Arik had an uncanny ability to listen to any demon language, and after only a few words, learn it. Cool, sure, but it had come via a disease he’d contracted from a demon, and sometimes he wondered if any other, less useful abilities were going to rear up.
The R-XR ran a monthly battery of tests on him, and so far there had been no alterations in his DNA, no changes in his appearance, no demonic signs of any kind at all.
“There are three of them. They’re talking about eating… ah, man, demons are nasty.” Arik leaned in, listening carefully. “Okay, so… they’re supposed to be on the lookout for a human woman. Pestilence wants her dead. They think she’s probably with War. Now they’re going off about something… some great lord wants his bride.” Arik separated the blah from the blah, wondered if there was a soda machine close by…“Oh, got it. Looks like Satan wants to settle down and have some unholy little spawns. How sweet. Lucky woman, whoever she is.”
The recording got scratchy and ended.
Kynan braced his elbows on the table, his expression contemplative. “I couldn’t care less about Satan’s love life, but the human? We have to find out who she is and why Pestilence wants her dead. Anyone he wants dead could be our new best friend.”
“This is needle-in-haystack shit. And the haystack is made of needles. On a needle planet.”
“Which is why we need to find a way to neutralize the Horsemen, and I think I’ve found it.” Ky opened one of the tattered tomes to a page he’d bookmarked. “Seems that in 1108, a group of Aegi were battling a hellhound, and losing. Two of the Horsemen—doesn’t specify which—dropped by to help. Apparently, one of them yelled to the other, something about avoiding a bite. The surviving Guardian noted it because he found it odd that a Horseman would fear anything.”
Arik leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs at the ankles. “So you’re saying these big bad immortal Horsemen are crybabies when it comes to dog bites?”
“That’s the thing… it’s not the bite itself.” Kynan tapped the page. “See, two hundred years later,