Pax Demonica by Julie Kenner Read Free Book Online Page A

referrers.”
    “Does he—I mean, do you mostly let your rooms to Hunters? Or other people from Forza?” I thought about the teenager sharing our floor, not to mention the anonymous guests with rooms below us.
    Mrs. Micari laughed. “No, no. Most of my guests find me through the Internet.” She reached for my hand and squeezed it. “Is one reason I am so happy to see you. You are like a gift from the past, no?”
    I squeezed back. “I know exactly what you mean.”
    I clutched her hand a bit longer than I probably should and was surprised to find that my eyes had filled with tears. I’d barely known this woman, and yet the thought that I was truly back—that I was really here, in Rome, connecting with my past—completely overwhelmed me.
    When I finally released her, I found her beaming at me.
    “But tell me now of the man that you married,” she said. “I see young Eric’s eyes on the face of your daughter. But your youngest—his father was not raised within Forza .”
    “No.”
    “And yet he knows the truth.”
    “Some of it,” I said, realizing only as I spoke that it was true—I still hadn’t told Stuart everything. Oh, he knew the basics. But the battles in my youth? The demons who still held vendettas against me? The violent, fear-based passion of my early years with Eric? Those weren’t stories that Stuart had heard.
    “And our dead Mr. Duvall? Your husband knows the truth about that?”
    “ I don’t even know the truth,” I said. “I don’t have any real proof he was a demon. And even if he was, I’m here on vacation. Thomas Duvall may have been on my plane, but that doesn’t mean he’s my problem.” I said it in my firmest voice—the one I use to tell Allie she’s not allowed to wear makeup. But I wasn’t fooling myself. Unfortunately, I don’t think I was fooling Mrs. Micari either.
    “No?”
    “This is Rome, Signora . I’m a stone’s throw from at least a dozen Hunters, trainees and adepts. I came here for a vacation. Not a fight.” That much at least was true. I was afraid, however, that a fight had found me.
    Mrs. Micari’s mouth twitched. “Katherine, child, it is true that I was little more than a servant when you were young. But that does not mean that I am a fool.”
    “I—”
    “Tell me honestly—did danger follow you here from San Diablo? Was that boy a demon? More important, was it you who killed him?”
    And there it was. Flat out. Specific. A question that I could either answer or not. But I couldn’t avoid it with vague words and ambiguous responses.
    Twenty years ago, I wouldn’t have even considered hedging. She might not have been a trainer, but she was part of Forza , and that meant that I’d trusted her absolutely.
    But things had changed.
    I couldn’t tell her. Not that Duvall was a demon. Not that I hadn’t killed him. Not even that I had my suspicions about the demon-y status of the airport’s maintenance crew.
    Eric said don’t trust anyone. And as much as it sucked, “anyone” included Mrs. Micari.
    I smiled at her and managed a casual little shrug, hoping she couldn’t see that it was tainted by guilt and regret. “I really don’t know if he was a demon.” Technically true, but it still felt like a lie. “He was on our plane. He was an attractive young man. And now he’s dead. Beyond that, I don’t know anything. And,” I added, increasing my lie exponentially, “I don’t see how he could have anything at all to do with me.”
    “Don’t you?” An odd smile twisted her mouth. “Have your instincts become so dull, or is there perhaps another reason that holds your tongue?” I heard the hurt in her voice, and I almost gave in. Almost . But didn’t. Not because I had the strength, but because I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure easing across the foyer and realized I had an excuse.
    “Allie!” I called. “Why aren’t you watching your brother?”
    She appeared in the doorway immediately, her expression contrite. Too