Make Me (5 page)

“In a
jail
cell?” Val asked. Her expression was both thoughtful and uncertain.

“Yes,” he said, hating how defensive he sounded. “Would you rather we’d turned them over to the police?” He headed toward the door. “Come on. Don’t you want to get out of here?” He knew he did.

Stubbornly, she sat in one of the chairs outside the cell, locking her arms over her chest. “Not yet. How many people know about your dungeon?”

He winced at her word choice. “Not many.” Too many, now that Fang and Val knew… not to mention David and Pia. He wondered how much more they’d told her.

SHE KNOWS A LOT. BUT NOT EVERYTHING. YET.

Was that a threat? Suddenly, Micah felt as though everything he’d tried to hide was about to become public. He turned on David. “What’s this all about?”

The scarred demon stepped forward into the candlelight, then sat in the other chair and leaned back, giving Micah a challenging look. Pia came to stand behind him. “You know,” he said.

Micah sighed. “That again? You think imprisoning Val would make me agree to go back to the old ways?” What was this, a play for his position? He wouldn’t put it past David.

“No,” Val said. “He wanted me to hear both sides of the argument.”

“Okay, fine.” Micah crossed his arms. “What do you want to know?”

Val shrugged. “Tell me why you don’t want to go back to the old ways.”

At least she could usually be reasoned with. He wasn’t so sure about David and Pia. Micah grabbed a chair from against the wall and dragged it over to them. Turning it backward, he straddled the ladderback and leaned forward to address Val earnestly. “My father did away with those traditions a long time ago. I agree with him. They’re archaic, no longer pertinent in today’s modern times.”

Val shook her head. “That’s not an answer. That’s a sound bite.”

“Outdated policies and meaningless rituals, with guys in robes standing around talking a bunch of mumbo jumbo? Come on, Val. It’s straight out of a B movie.”

“They’re not meaningless,” David said.

“How would you know?” Micah asked. “Have you ever seen one?”

“No, have you?” David challenged.

Micah shook his head. “My father did away with most of them when I was young.”

“So you don’t really know the purpose or what they’re all about?” Val asked.

“Yes, I do. I’ve read the Book of Rituals. Trust me, Val, the rituals are antiquated, obsolete. We need to progress with the times.”

THEY WORKED FOR CENTURIES, Fang said.

“Maybe. But if I tried it now, they’d laugh me out of the Underground.”

“I doubt it,” David said. “I think they’d be glad you were reviving traditions that once protected us.”

“Well, I don’t, and one of those rituals you love so much chose
me
as leader of the San Antonio Demon Underground. I make the decisions here. We’re done.” Pulling rank wouldn’t solve anything, but neither would this conversation. He stood. “Come on, it’s late. Let’s go home.”

“Not yet,” Val said. “Sit down.”

She looked stubborn as only Val could. And he didn’t want to leave her down here alone to explore, nor did he want to bodily carry her away. Sighing, Micah sat back down and spoke directly to Val. “David and Pia have had a hard time of it, but don’t let their bitterness and prejudice affect you. The part-demons they champion are a very small minority.”

NOT AS SMALL AS YOU THINK, Fang said, obviously broadcasting to everyone.

That was news to Micah. “What?”

COME ON, DUDE, CAN’T YOU SENSE IT? DEMONS ARE GETTING RESTLESS, WORRIED ABOUT YOU AND YOUR LET’S-ALL-JUST-GET-ALONG POLICIES. SOME HAVE EVEN MOVED AWAY, TO OTHER PLACES WHERE THE UNDERGROUND IS MORE IN TUNE WITH THE OLD WAYS.

Moved away? Seriously? He hadn’t known. Hadn’t noticed. That bothered him, but it wasn’t his fault. Progress was hard for some people. “It’s just because the vampires are all stirred up. Val has helped Alejandro get that under control, so things should calm down again.”

NOT IF THEY COME OUT TO THE WORLD. THAT’LL STIR UP A WHOOOOLE CAULDRON FULL OF TROUBLE. AND THE WITCH HUNTS WILL BEGIN AGAIN.

“Yeah,” David said. “It’s a holocaust waiting to happen.”

“So that’s what this is all about?” Val asked. “You want me to stop working with Alejandro?”

“Hell, yes,” David exclaimed. “Misery loves company. How much you wanna bet that as soon as the humans turn on them—and they will—that every vampire out there starts pointing fingers at the demons in their midst?”

“Maybe,” Val said doubtfully. “But I have a contract with Alejandro. I promised to work with him until the vamps come out.”

Micah kept quiet, letting Val convince herself.

David let loose with a bitter laugh. “Some things are more important than contracts… like species survival.”

Val looked as though a lightbulb came on. “So that’s why there are suddenly fewer vamps harassing the city. Some of them were killed by demons like you, weren’t they?”

He shrugged. “Only the bad ones, none in the Movement. What did you expect us to do? Stand back and watch as they terrorize San Antonio? Their bloodlust threatens to reveal their existence, and by extension, ours. Humans way outnumber us. Revealing ourselves would be suicide.”

The effect of David’s words on Val, clearly obvious from the dumbstruck look on her face, worried Micah. Could David be right? Micah knew there was a strong faction inside the Underground that didn’t want to help the vamps, but he figured it was the normal fear of change. He didn’t realize they feared for their lives. That thought was a knife in his gut, but he wasn’t ready to concede changing their ways would protect them. “You think turning vigilante is safer?”

“Safer than doing nothing,” David retorted.

Val held up her hands for them to stop, then turned to Micah. “Okay, you say you’re the leader, but what do you do, really? Besides throw parties and help people find jobs?”

Is that how she saw what he did? For some reason, her defection hurt. Micah said, “I keep a watch on the city. You know that—Shade is one of my agents.”

“And what do you do with that information?”

“I pass it on to the SCU, so they can take care of threats.” Why was she asking these questions when she knew the answers?

“To humans?” Val persisted.

“Yes, to humans and to demons in the Underground.”

“So if you’re all about sharing threats and helping people, why do people like David and Pia get hurt?” She sounded half-puzzled, half-belligerent.

Micah paused. He didn’t know their full stories, and his father was no longer around to explain what had happened. Softly, he said, “That was very unfortunate, but I’m sure my father didn’t know—”

“He knew,” David said. “He knew trouble was brewing, and did nothing.”

“I don’t believe that,” Micah said. But a niggling of doubt crept in. He didn’t know for sure. Not really.

SORRY, DUDE, IT’S TRUE, Fang said, with regret in his voice. I REMEMBER. LUCAS UNDERESTIMATED THE THREATS. JUST LIKE YOU ARE NOW.

Could it be? Micah glanced uncertainly at David.

“And we’re not the only ones,” the scarred demon said. Before Micah could protest, David added, “What about Val?”

“What about her? Val can take care of herself, far better than I can.”

“No, I mean, why didn’t you take care of Val when she was growing up in that toxic household, raised by humans who treated her like crap? Why didn’t you take her away from that bitch of a mother, let her know there were others like her, reassure her that she was not alone? Why would you let any one of us suffer isolation and doubt?”

Helplessly, Micah looked at Val to see how she was taking this.

“Yes, why didn’t you come for me?” she asked softly.

Such a simple question shouldn’t shake him so much, but it did. “I told you. We figured you were integrating into the human world so well, you’d be better off not knowing.”

“Yes,” David said sarcastically. “You’re all about integration, about helping us ‘pass’ in the human world, when you should have been more concerned about keeping us
safe.
”

“Val was never in danger,” Micah protested.

“Really?” David challenged. “She didn’t know how to use her powers—was that safe for her, or the men around her?” He answered his own question. “Hell, no. And when she stalked vampires, was that safe? How about when she got kicked out of her own house, tossed into the streets like yesterday’s garbage? Do you think she was safe then?”

Stunned, at first Micah had no response. Damn it, David had a point. And what defense did Micah have? He’d blindly followed the guidelines his father had laid down, without questioning them. He’d taken the easy way out. Did that make him a bad leader? No. He’d done his job the best he could with the information he had. “I sent Fang to her.”

YEAH, BUT I’M ONLY ONE SMALL HELLHOUND. I CAN’T HELP EVERYONE. AND SOON I’LL HAVE A LITTER FULL OF BABY HELLHOUNDS TO PROTECT. When Micah shot him a glance, Fang shrugged. DOESN’T LOOK LIKE I CAN COUNT ON YOU TO DO IT.

Micah flinched. So that was why Fang was on their side. From the expression on Val’s face, it looked like she was, too. If Fang and Val didn’t trust him, how could he expect the rest of the demon community to follow him? Could he have been wrong?

YEAH, DUDE. CONSIDER THIS YOUR WAKE-UP CALL.

Four sets of eyes stared at him. Hell, if they were right, he was responsible for some of Val’s torment… and others’ pain, as well. Micah thought he’d done the right things. But, looking into their unwavering gazes, he realized he’d done the convenient things.

An unaccustomed feeling of guilt niggled at him. “Okay, I’m listening,” Micah said. “What do you want from me?”

The scarred demon snorted. “You’re more concerned about feeding your incubus and running this club than you are about your own people.” Intense now, David said, “What we need is for you to be a real leader. Research the old ways. I don’t care about the mumbo jumbo. Find out what they used to do, how they used to keep us safe. You should be doing everything you can to ensure our existence remains secret. How many tormenters like Pia’s father have met the Memory Eater lately?”

Val’s eyes widened in surprise. “The
what
?”

And there it was—the one thing Micah had hoped to keep hidden. He closed his eyes. The Memory Eater was the Underground’s dirty little secret, and he’d wanted to keep it that way. Opening his eyes, he said wearily, “Trust me. You don’t want to know.”

“Another damn secret, Micah? Seriously?” Val shook her head. “Tell me. Now.”

“Better yet,” David said, “show her.”

Okay, maybe it was better. Better that Val see exactly what returning to the old ways meant.