Fire Me Up
Page 67

Monish was waiting for me at the door to the conference area.
"Aisling Grey," he said as I came in.
I froze. Names have power, and when someone who knows how to use that power invokes your full name, it leaves you vulnerable. One of the first things I noticed with people in the Otherworld society was that many of them did not tell you their full names. They used only first names. Only those people who were very self-assured gave you their full name without knowing whether or not you could use that against them.
"Hi, Monish," I said carefully.
He crooked his finger at me. I sighed and followed him to the same room in which he'd first interviewed me. "Why do I have a horrible feeling I'm being sent to the principal's office?"
Jim snickered. Monish shot it a look that shut the demon right up. He didn't waste any time before lighting into me, either, barely waiting for me to be seated. "Why did you not tell me that you had summoned an incubus last night?"
I bit the inside of my cheek, figuring the answer everyone else gave me might just work. "You didn't ask me?"
His eyes narrowed.
I took a deep breath and released it slowly, trying to cling to my happy, hopeful feeling. "Sorry. The reason I didn't tell you about Jacob is because I didn't think it was important."
"Jacob?" he asked, his fingers tightening on the chair he stood behind.
"Jacob of the House of Balint, the incubus I summoned."
For a moment I thought Monish's lovely brown eyes were going to pop right out ofhis head and roll across the table to me. "You know the incubus you summoned?"
"Well, yeah. At least, I didn't know it was going to be him who came when I summoned an incubus, but it turned out to be Jacob, which was good because I don't think any of the others would have been nearly as gullible. Er... helpful."
Monish turned into a statue, I swear. A statue that breathed in and out, but still, a statue. "The others?"
"Yeah, the others. The ones that visited me before Jacob. He was one of the last ones before Drake put an end to the STOP HERE AND RAVISH AISLING sign that was evidently above my bed."
"How many incubi did you summon before thewyvern stopped them?" Monish sounded like he was having a hard time speaking.
"I didn't summon them. They—" The second the words left my mouth, I saw what I had done—reaffirmed my potential guilt in the eyes of the committee. Here I had been disputing their claims that I had the power to summon incubi without knowing it, and what did I do? I gave them my head on a platter. "It's not like it sounds. I have this Venus amulet—"
That made things worse. His eyebrows shot up to the top of his forehead as he eyed the chain visible against my throat. "The amulet you wear is a Venus amulet."
"One inscribed with two pentacles of Venus," Jim said.
I turned on my demon, not that I hadn't done enough damage, but Jim was supposed to be my servant. It wasn't supposed to suggest someone get a nice rope since there was a tree so handy. "Oh, thank you very much. Do you want them to kill me?"
"Don't exaggerate. They couldn't kill you. Well, the committee probably could, but they'd have a war with Drake on their hands if they did, so the most they'd do is maim you."
"You are not helping," I said through my teeth.
Monish released the chair, walking stiffly around the table to face me. I rose from my chair, backing up a couple of steps. "Aisling Grey," he started to say.
"Wait!" I interrupted, holding my hands up. "Don't say it! Look, I know you're about to say something bad, something I don't want you to say, but you've got to listen to me. Yes, I have the Venus amulet. Yes, incubi were summoned to me without my knowledge, but they were summoned to me, not to anyone else. I don't know why the one that attacked Nora said my name, but I wasn't even wearing the amulet last night, so I couldn't have summoned it. Besides, I wasn't asleep, and the other times I summoned the incubi I'd been asleep or deep in meditation. I think there's something going on, something I don't quite understand, but I swear to you it's not me. I swear it, Monish. I swear on my own soul that I am not doing this."
He just looked at me, clearly weighing my plea. Just as clearly he dismissed it, his mouth opening to speak again.
"NO!" I shrieked, jumping forward to clamp my hand over his mouth. His eyes got huge at that, but I didn't have time to regret such a bold action.
"You have to give me time. I have a plan—at least, I'll have one once I talk to Nora, but I have to have time to put the plan into action. I promise you I'll find who killed the Guardians, but you have to give me just a little more time. I know how to trap the incubus, Monish. I have a binding spell. I know I can hold him once I draw him in, but I can't do it if you turn me over to Dr. Koslich and his buddies. Please, Monish. I'm not bad. I'm not killing Guardians. And I'm not summoning a murderous incubus. But I can end it, if you'll just give me the room to do so."
He pried my hand off his mouth, giving me a good, long stare before rubbing a hand over his face. "I must be mad to even consider allowing you freedom in the face of such overwhelming evidence, but I have consulted the high spirits about you. They counsel patience."
"Bless the high spirits! And thank you. You won't regret your trust in me."
His eyes grew hard. "You had best make sure I will not. You have until midnight tonight, Aisling."
I did some calculations in my head, sorting out what Vd need to do, whom I needed to talk to, and said, "Two days. Forty-eight hours."
He shook his head. "Twenty-four. That is as much leniency as I can give you, and for that, I will have to spend hours convincing the committee I have not lost my reasoning."
I swallowed back my fear. "Tomorrow night. Give me until tomorrow night. Midnight. Please, Monish. I won't fail you, I swear."
He opened his mouth, then closed it again, turning to open the door, "It is your own destruction that you hold in the balance, Aisling. Be sure that you remember that. You have until tomorrow evening."
"I won't let you down! And thank you!" I called after him as he left the room, then collapsed on the chair behind me.
"You have a plan?" Jim said, coming around to face me. I used its drool bib to wipe its slobbery lips.