Richelle Mead: Succubus Heat

And there, in the rain, light and color slowly coalesced out of the box and into a man-shaped form. A few minutes later, it took on a completely human appearance. One that looked like John Cusack. Grace and Mei halted their attack, both staring.

Carefully, hesitantly, Mei then took a few steps back. Jerome paid her no attention. He was focused on Grace.

"Oh man," I said softly. "You are so fucked."

To her credit, Grace didn't cower. She stood firm, regaining her composure as she matched Jerome's stare with one of her own. In fact, she regained enough of herself that she remembered to avoid the rain. The drops parted around her, much as the fire had parted around Roman. Her suit and hair were dry again, crisp and perfect.

"You would have done the same thing," she told Jerome.

I couldn't see Jerome's face when he spoke. "I wouldn't have got caught. You did. You failed."

"You should be impressed with my ingenuity." She crossed her arms, almost defiant. "I'm useful to you."

"You are meaningless. I could blight you out of existence, and no one would think twice about it."

I wasn't sure about that. Demons smote each other all the time, but that didn't mean Hell liked it. It created paperwork, and if you were caught, you got sent to Hell's equivalent of prison. Grace apparently shared my doubts about how easy it would be for Jerome to kill her.

"I don't think so. As it is, you'll be lucky if you have your job when you get back. You got yourself summoned." Her eyes flicked to me and Roman, huddled together on the sand. "Your territory's in chaos. They'll send you off to a desk job-or make you somebody else's subordinate. Quite a fall from an archdemon's position."

"Not likely," said Mei, speaking up. "Not if we spin this right. Jerome's got powerful connections. So do I. And Cedric will advocate for him."

Her willingness to help and assurance about Cedric surprised me, but then, perhaps it was back to the know-thy-enemy philosophy. Grace glared at her former counterpart.

"You're the biggest fool of all here."

"Enough," snapped Jerome. "There's been enough villainous exposition here. The matter's done." I didn't have to see him to know he was smiling at Grace-only, I suspected it wasn't a very nice smile. "I will see you in Hell."

He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, what looked like black ice sprang up from the ground and crawled up Grace's body. She hardly had any time to scream because it coated her so quickly and then froze into place, leaving her immobile. She had become a thorny black statue.

"What is that?" I breathed.

"Kind of a demon stasis," Roman murmured back. "A prison of sorts. He's ten times more powerful than her-it's an easy thing for him to do."

I wondered then just how powerful Roman really was. He'd seemed matched against Grace, but I still wasn't sure if he'd been holding back or not, for fear of detection. As it was, he now had his signature turned off, appearing as a human for all intents and purposes. He'd done it just before Mei fully materialized.

"You need to get out of here," I told him.

"Wait," he responded.

Indeed, Roman seemed the least of Jerome's concerns as the archdemon studied Grace's frozen form. Her defeat had been anticlimactic, really. There had been no flashy brawl as everyone else seemed to have had today, but then, I supposed when you wielded the kind of power Jerome did, there was no need. I also had a feeling that Grace had been right about something. Even if he did have connections, Jerome probably couldn't risk doing anything rash to reestablish his control back in Seattle. He probably did want to torture her and blight her from the face of the earth, but binding her and taking her to face hellish justice-such as it was-was going to do him more good. Hell would be more kindly disposed to him if he followed their rules.

He turned and faced Mei, who stood off to the side. It was the first time I'd gotten a good glimpse of my boss since his return. His face was blank and cold, but I was pretty sure I could see the fury kindling behind his eyes. Being summoned was pretty much the worst thing that could happen to a demon.

"She was right to a certain extent," he told Mei. "It could have been advantageous to turn against me."

"And be second to her?" Mei shook her head. Like Grace, she had put herself back together. "No. I won't serve you forever, believe me, but for now, I see what my best course of action is. I'm throwing my lot in with yours."

"Your loyalty is appreciated." Mei gave a small nod of acknowledgment. Unlike Kristin and Cedric, where she served him out of love as much as duty, Mei's loyalty was all pragmatism and assessment of what could advance her. Jerome knew this and accepted it. "And it will be rewarded."

"I know it will be," she said evenly. "And I'll have no co-lieutenant when we return?"

"No. Not if I have anything to do with it."

And for the first time since I had known her, Mei smiled.

Her eyes then flicked to the Grace statue. "Do you need me…?"

"No," said Jerome, seeming to remember us. "You can go."

Mei wasted no time. She vanished, and Jerome turned around and stared down at Roman and me. His eyes fell on me first.

"So. You're here, Georgie. Why am I not surprised?"

"Because I'm the only one who cared about getting you back and wasn't too lazy to do anything about it?"

The ghost of a smile flickered across his lips. "Fair enough. And you will be rewarded too."

I wanted to tell him that I didn't need a reward, but Jerome had already shifted his attention to Roman. The smile faded. "You, however, have some balls in coming here."

"Must run in the family," said Roman. As beat up as he was, he still managed mockery.

"A suicidal nature does not, however. You know you're seconds away from being destroyed, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Roman. "And I'm sure killing me would help reinforce your badass status. But the truth is, I helped save you. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me."

I wasn't entirely sure if he'd done as much work as me in all this, but he had certainly made it easier for me. Nonetheless, even if he had actually single-handedly saved Jerome, it meant nothing. Demons didn't operate by a sense of fairness or feel obligations. Jerome affirmed as much.

"I owe you nothing. If you want to risk your life, that's no concern of mine. I don't care whether you live or die."

Roman struggled to his feet. "That's not true, or else you would have killed me already. Maybe you don't owe me anything…and yet, you're indebted to me, even if you don't believe in paying off debts-and I think you do. You can't stand knowing you owe me."

Jerome narrowed his eyes. "What is it you want?"

"Amnesty."

"What?" I squeaked. No one paid any attention to me. As far as they were concerned, they were the only two people in the world, father and son.

"I'm tired of running, tired of hiding. I want a place to stay. A place I can settle down in for a while."

"You don't need me for that."

"Don't I?" asked Roman. "Any place I live, even with my signature masked, I live in fear of being discovered by the greater immortals who control it. I'm always watching my back. I want to be somewhere where I can walk around knowing I have at least some measure of protection."

"If someone else wants to kill you, I'm not going to stand in their way."

"I know that. But at least I won't have to worry on a daily basis about you being one of them."

Jerome fell silent, and to my complete and utter astonishment, I realized he was deliberating about this. I never would have thought it possible…and yet, as Roman had said, if Jerome's mind had been made up, he would have smote Roman already.