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give you a few seconds of diversion."
I stopped pounding long enough to look at Noelle. "I haven't told you what I'm up against. It's not just a
few Summoners and the odd triumvirate or two. I have to get Christian away from Asmodeus, the demon
lord, the demon master who I am fairly certain turned Christian's father and thus has some sort of
connection to Christian."
Noelle frowned. "Oh. I'd forgotten you'd mentioned Asmodeus. That is a bit of a sticky wicket."
"How sticky a wicket is it?" I asked as Esme ushered Alis into the room, shushing her and whispering in
her ear.
"Well& "
I sighed. I didn't have time or the energy to cope with much more. "Let me put it to you this way do
you know if it's possible to defeat a demon lord?"
She nodded. "You can defeat anything, if you go about it properly."
Well, that was hopeful.Kind of.
"Okay, next question: Do you knowhowto defeat a demon lord?"
She shook her head.
"Do you know someone who does?"
She shook her head again.
I started to get a bit desperate. I knew that because I had the overwhelming urge to giggle. I must have
been more tired than I thought, because a couple of giggles slipped out as I asked, "Have you ever heard
of anyone defeating a demon lord?"
She smiled as my giggling grew stronger. "No, I haven't."
I gave it up and just sat back in the chair and howled, wiping tears from my already damp face as I
laughed the laugh of the mentally and physically exhausted. Esme hovered with a worried look on her
face, Honoria snickered, Jem demonstrated his prowess by wrestling a chair to the ground, Alis
(restrained by Esme's warning) honed her ancient-crone glare until it could split stone, and Antonio
seated himself on the arm of Noelle's chair and proceeded to ask very personal questions about her
preferences in men. By the time he got to whether or not her sexual partners had to be technically alive, I
had managed to gather the few wits remaining to me and arranged them in a formation where I could
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think again.
Esme had detached herself from Honoria long enough to pat me on my right shoulder."Overtired, poor
child."
My arm went numb.
"Perhaps you'd better tell me everything from the beginning," Noelle said, leaning forward with her
elbows on her knees despite the fact that Antonio was not very subtly peering down her blouse.
I thought about the strength I'd need to tell her everything, decided on an abbreviated version, and
quickly hit the high points of the last few days, intimacies with Christian excluded.
She chewed on a fingernail. "Hmm. Very sticky. This triumvirate you mentioned is clearly being fed by
Asmodeus. That might work to your benefit."
I rubbed my aching forehead and tried to follow her thoughts. "You mean that feeding them would
weaken him? I can see that, but what good is a weakened Asmodeus going to do me when I have the
triumvirate breathing down my neck? I barely managed to get Sebastian out without bringing the house
down around our ears, and that, I'm positive, is only because Christian was distracting Asmodeus enough
that he couldn't throw his power into the triumvirate."
She sat back, apologizing as her arm slid through Antonio's thigh. "Asmodeus is by far the more
powerful of the two entities."
I nodded."Right. So it makes sense to take him out first. I understand that, but the triumvirate "
"Is made up of humans."
That stopped me cold. I looked at it, prodded it, and decided it was good. Then I realized what her
meaning really was, and the little bit of common sense that had remained with me tossed up its hands in
despair, packed an overnight case, and headed off on a long, long vacation. "You mean I call up a
demon to take care of the triumvirate?"
She nodded.
"Oh, my!"Esme's eyes were round with worry. She scooped up Mr. Woogums and hugged him and
Honoria against her ample breast. "Are you sure that's wise?"
"Pish." Antonio snorted, patting his chest. We all turned to look at him. I had never actually heard
anyone say the wordpishbefore. It was a bit frightening. "I will protectmi corazónfrom any demon. I am
'er courtier most brave."
"It's perfectly safe as long as you keep the demon under your control," Noelle said slowly, considering
me with a critical eye that didn't seem to like what it saw. "I think, upon reflection, that it would be a
good idea if I were to accompany you on this venture. I should hate to think what would happen if a
demon you raised were to run amok throughLondon ."
"Earthquakes, mass 'ysteria," Antonio said.
I glared at him.
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"Rain of locusts, the sky set afire, the oceans turned to blood," Esme added.
"Yes, thank you, I think we get the picture," I said. "What exactly would the demon "
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