CHAPTER 7
I knocked on the door next to the main demon's office. Ila was a demon hunter in her eighties, who looked like she was in her thirties. She gave a glimpse of the slow age progression of our kind if we managed to survive that long. I never formally met her, but I heard stories. First and most importantly, she raged against having demons included in our laws. Secondly, when the council overruled all objections she demanded to be head of the demon hunter department. And thirdly, she refused to have an office on the human second floor. Then, she insisted Shorn's office be next to hers when she found out about his nomination. Three out of four ain't bad in my opinion.
She opened the door and turned around promptly, "Come inside and close the door, every wall on this floor is engineered and magiced to be sound proof. Too many damn auditory sensitive beings." She gestured to the right as she walked towards her desk. A chair was set diagonally from the corner of it. "I see Oldavai found you."
I frowned when I looked down at my now gold sparkly dress pants and ran a nervous hand through my long hair, "Do you have a mirror?"
I looked around her office and noticed its scarcity. A few books were on the shelves, glass orbs scattered throughout. The surface of her huge desk consisted of four rows of more colored glass orbs that ran its width. I sat down in an uncomfortable, navy blue office chair.
She was brusque, "You don't need a mirror. Trust me when I say that you're covered in his dandruff."
I grimaced and felt even more tense as I studied the woman in front of me. She wore an eye patch on her right eye and curly raven hair tumbled around her shoulders. A black leather vest laced snugly up her voluptuous front and matching leather pants. A frilly white shirt completed her ensemble. She looked like an honest to god pirate, and beautiful despite the cliche. I swallowed and pinched my lips together to keep from saying anything sarcastic, my emotions were in overdrive.
Her bright red mouth quirked as if she knew what I was thinking, "Dove Hawthorn. My, my, my. You were on the bottom of my pile, given 'kill only' scrap warrants. Beneath notice. Then, one fateful day, Shorn came in here asking for access to demon hunter files."
"You granted him that?!" I asked in shocked disbelief.
She quirked an eyebrow, "Of course not, but he went through every proper channel, no "i" undotted, no "t" uncrossed, and his request was granted. His reasoning was that he needed a specific demon hunter to succeed with a very high profile demon that only he knew the inner workings of. I had no option but to accede to orders from 'on high'." Her fingers raised in quotation marks at the phrasing.
My breathe left in a whoosh, "Ezra."
Ila twisted her lips into a wry expression, "Ezra. He pulled six demon hunters. After four deaths," her tone turned sarcastic, "the mighty council was reconsidering his request. Imagine that." She pushed back on her chair and propped her booted feet on her desk.
"When I was finally granted intelligence of his pairings I immediately started the process of getting Shorn's picks rescinded, one death too late. He was sending all of you to a death sentence," she paused, "or torture chamber. I know of Ezra's unethical scientific studies." She paused giving me a pointed look, "But you succeeded in a way I never fathomed. They applauded Shorn when Ezra, the scourge of hunters and everything else, including demons, came back not killed, but very, very bonded. To you."
She looked meaningful at me. "And then Taurin. And then a successful hunt on a lucifer, the demon Keish."
"I suppose you would know that term."
Ila laughed with irony and tapped her eye patch, "Shorn and I have a history and I know all about crazy lucifers. There's a lot that I'm not telling the council members. They order us around like children who don't know any better. They're too stupid and power hungry to have that information. Shorn and I agree on some things. More than either one of us will admit to." She paused to really study me. Her boots hit the floor and she picked up a green glass orb, moving it on her palm, curling her fingers around the sphere. "Then there was Oldavai." At the end of her statement she arced her arm and shattered it against the wall.
I jerked and looked at the scattered shards of glass on the floor then back to her, my eyes wide. I understood the placement of the chair and orbs now.
I repeated slowly, "Eeyup, then there was Oldavai."
She smiled, but it wasn't nice, "Look at the mess you've created. The least of my hunters has done the unattainable, not once, but four times. You," she pointed at me, "have some very high profile demons surrounding you.
"As impossible as it seems, I'm starting to think you might know more about demons than I do. This is what I want from you. First, find out from the oldest living demon what the hell happened to demon hunters centuries ago and why we have so little knowledge about our abilities. Second, tell me how you achieved a successful trap and subdue when no one has been able to. Ever. After that we'll discuss our next move."
I blinked, "Ezra's the oldest demon alive?"
"Figured that one out did ya," she said sarcastically and continued, "as far as I know. On this side of the dimension."
"And he knows..." I trailed off waiting for her reply.
"The 'whys' and 'whats' of everything we've lost. You know our myth in the reference book, 'Hunting Nightmares'."
I nodded, "About the massacre of demon hunters until there were none left and we had to start our population over again."
"I think it's mostly true, not complete annihilation. Shorn refuses to deny or confirm. But, we're missing so much about what we do and why we do it. Ezra has to know. Find out." Her fingers drummed on her desk and she bore her green eye into me. "Now tell me everything."
I took a deep breath, "Are we going to war?"
"Not if I can help it. That damn council merged us too much with their hopes of trying to gain more funding and brute strength with the inclusion of demons. It was a financial move when they enacted that," she sneered, "law. Stating hunters could control demons with binding and bring about a peaceful society. If they push too hard on this one we may have to all walk out. If we don't, we'll slaughter each other, the first casualties being those who are bound together."
I started talking. I didn't want to tell anyone the details of what happened between Oldavai and me, but she was an experienced demon hunter and on my side, I hoped.
CHAPTER 8
"I'll give you the condensed version. Our law of binding is a half measure. I'm picking up that the majority of bindings are demon driven, but I know they don't like doing it. I'm positive they leaked it to the council." I shook my head, "I think it's a back up measure in case they were ever ousted by the Affairs' Office, or else to try to control and survey us."
My voice lowered and I ducked my head, "That being said, mine and Ezra's was not forced. Then Taurin's happened because I believed," I shrugged, "in Ezra I suppose."
Ila laughed harshly, "Ezra's was forced, you just missed it. No wonder Shorn picked your file for the most powerful demon out there. You're just a gullible, soft-hearted girl."
I narrowed my eyes at her description and continued, "Demons can claim a being. It's not a servant and it's beyond the law of binding the Affairs' Office knows about. The binding law, I think, is them putting our magic inside theirs. It gives us telepathy with each other and causes an entry way for both sides to lure in and use each other's magic. The process can be draining and I've seen them use it to harm and manipulate us."
Her lip curled, "I know all about the consequences of that law, even though the politicians claim it's lies or a patriotic sacrifice for the needs of the citizenry."
"If you knew this why didn't you tell us?! Why didn't you protect us?!"
