“What do you mean, the Dark Lord doesn’t trust me? What have you been telling him?” Girdan’s pronouncement had thrown me for a loop, but my surprise was replaced with righteous indignation.

“What makes you think I had anything to do with it?” Girdan straightened, his green wireframe projection showing feigned innocence.

“I barely know our lord, may he reign until the stars fall from the sky. Somebody had his ear, and you’re his top general!”

“As much fun as it is to listen to you two argue,” interjected Fera, her voice dripping with sarcasm, “I’ll cut it off right now. Daddy has been good to his word and advocated for you. It’s simply that the Dark Lord believes that a half-human who has spent so much time among humans is suspect by default. Frankly, I have to agree.”

“So, what, I did too good a job blending in and I’m to be punished for it?”

“You weren’t supposed to come home at all,” said Girdan. “We did banish you, and deservedly so! What we ended up with was a compromise between Malthus the Elder’s wishes and the Dark Lord’s.”

“And your animus didn’t enter the equation at all, I imagine?” I said, resting my head on my fist.

“I am a devil of my word,” snarled Girdan. “You helped me make sure I wouldn’t be under that mackie’s ass Beez’s thumb forever, so I endeavored to help you. Unlike some of us here, I can keep my feelings under control.”

“Malthus, I said you were the only long-term spy we had in the human realms,” said Fera. “That is mostly true. Devils can’t consistently act as irrationally as humans, and we are almost always found out when we try. Those who can stay have some affinity to help them, which I know you don’t have. There’s more, though.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Dante brought a most interesting news story to my attention. Apparently, you and some of your fellow students saved the Divine Blade from a group of assassins. Why didn’t you let them succeed?”

Blast it all! I had carefully avoided that tale in my correspondence with her, but it stood to reason she had other sources. “I had to look out for myself,” I replied. “If I had been half-hearted in fighting off the Holy Brotherhood, the League could have found me out. At the very least, it would have made blending in that much harder.”

“By keeping one of the most dangerous warriors in the Wizard Corps alive? By Our Father Below, if you’d had his head on a pike, we would have let you come back home in a heartbeat!”

“I did what I had to in order to survive,” I said.

“Really, now?” said Fera. “Dante was kind enough to get me a whole interview with one Hiro Takehara.”

My blood ran cold. “He did what now?”

“Takehara apparently thwarted the Brotherhood in some incident in Taiwan, so the news agencies brought him in for some puff piece after he saved the Divine Blade,” she said, pulling up a printout. “He thinks quite highly of Soren Marlowe. He credited you with the bulk of the fighting and said, quote, ‘Mr. Maki would have never made it if Magpie hadn’t been there.’”

“Damn Takehara to the very depths of Our Father Below’s domain! I have him completely fooled.Don’t punish me for doing my job well! He’s an idiot who sees something in me that isn’t there.”

“Humans are idiots, but they’re good at eventually sniffing us out,” said Fera. “You’ve been there since April, had somebody realize you weren’t really Soren Marlowe, revealed that you knew demonic magic and the idea that you’re a demon has apparently never even occurred to anyone. You’re compromised, Malthus. Maybe you always have been. You’re lucky we’ll let you into our household in a lowly position, especially after your talk of selling out to the League.”

“A-a simple negotiating tactic,” I stammered. It was all I could do to keep my breathing regular. Cold sweat ran down my face, and I had to ignore the glee evident in Girdan’s eyes. I locked eyes with Fera’s projection. She was the spy mistress. Hers was the opinion that counted. “Of course I’m loyal to the Dark Lord! I simply can’t take chances. This has been my first hint that I could come home at all. You can’t blame me for doing what I must to fit in.”

“Perhaps,” said Fera, her tone making it clear she didn’t believe a word of it. “You were awfully defensive of your local floozy before. Your father went for a human woman and doted on her. Maybe you have the same softness? How long have you been with this one?”

“A few weeks,” I said. It was the least lie I could tell.

“That’s longer than I’ve ever known you to stick with a woman,” said Girdan.

“Lay them and leave them, sir, like you taught me,” I said, trying to sound deferential. “But these humans think differently. The ones I’ve met aren’t into brief flings, so it was more convenient to keep her.”

“Then prove your loyalty,” said Fera. “She’s asleep. I see a steak knife in the foreground. Put her out of our misery.”

“No!” Good thing I had that silencing spell active, or they’d have heard me in the next prefecture. Girdan and Fera even flinched in the projection.

“I think I have my answer,” said Fera.

“No, it isn’t that! How the devil are we supposed to deal with a body in a crowded restaurant? We would never even get to the airport, even if I were willing to come back in chains!” Fera tried to speak, but I cut her off. I had to keep the momentum, to keep her from pondering my words and actions. I hadn’t wanted to pull out my trump card, but I had been forced to. “I can prove that I haven’t gone soft. I’ve infiltrated the Holy Brotherhood. We have plans to bring down the whole Nagoya Tower! That loss of material and prestige is worth a hundred Divine Blades, and a thousand Reis!”

“Rei?” asked Dante, his voice hoarse. “I thought her name was Kiyo.”

So much for that attempt to keep Kiyo safe. Still, I could use that interruption. “Yes, that’s it. I forget sometimes; they all look the same to me.”

“I’m sure.” Fera let that brush by and held up her paper again, tapping it for emphasis. “Is that supposed to impress me? The Holy Brotherhood are a bunch of incompetents who can’t beat even beat bottom tier wizarding students.”

“They didn’t have me before, and I do have experience with bringing down towers.”

“That he does,” said Girdan. He had seemed satisfied to let his daughter speak when we were talking skullduggery and spy craft, but we were drifting back into his area of expertise. “If he could kill the entire student body as well, we would cripple the Wizard Corps for a generation.”

“That I don’t think we can manage,” I said. The very idea made my stomach churn and my blood run cold. They were more right about my attachments than I wanted to admit. I couldn’t bring myself to butcher my fellow students. Thankfully, I had an out. “The Holy Brotherhood is out to reform the Anti-Demonic League, not destroy it. We can get the tower, but they’ll want to save the wizards themselves.”

“That’s a disappointment. Towers can be rebuilt,” said Fera.

“Not this one,” I said. “It’s an extravagant boondoggle that would have bankrupted any school that didn’t have Yosuke Tachibana advocating for them. If it goes down, there won’t be another like it ever again.”

“Then I want their Headmaster too,” said Girdan. “He’s been a thorn in our side for years.”

“I think we can arrange that,” I said, wondering if I was signing checks that I couldn’t cash. Oh, well. I had to give them something. “The Holy Brotherhood is no fan of him either.”

“Dante,” barked Fera. “When does your visa run out?”

“Mistress…” He had to cough, after the garroting I’d given him, and his voice was still strained. “I can stay in Japan until the fifth of September.”

“Two days after the War Games…” I mused aloud. “That’s a hair over three weeks. Plenty to time. For the glory of the Grim Horde and our Dark Lord, may he always reign!” I gave them a traditional Horde military salute, which was to put the right hand over the heart and the left above the eye. It was designed so that you’d be more obvious if you were casting a spell, which is always a valid concern when dealing with devils. It was also the most polite way I had to cut off the conversation early. Girdan returned the gesture, out of habit more than anything else, which signaled the end of our little chat.

“If you pull this off, they might just make you Grand Vizier,” said Girdan.

“Perish the thought.” There was too much bloody paperwork in the civil service. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I settled down, but I knew it wasn’t that. “I am but a humble servant of my General and Dark Lord, may the sun never set on his kingdom.”

I cast a glance over at Kiyo, who was mostly hidden by the table. I might have imagined her leg twitching, but then, I might not have. “My date may wake up any time now, and it would be… excessively inconvenient to explain her disappearance, now that I’m bound to the school for a few more weeks. We should adjourn.”

Fera’s eyebrow raised. I could tell she did not believe my motives, but she kept it to herself. “Dante, give Malthus a way to stay in touch with you. I imagine he will have a narrow window to escape when he and the Brotherhood enact their plan.”

“Yes, Mistress Fera.” The Australian was none too pleased. I wouldn’t have been in his shoes, either, but he knew his place.

“Farewell, Malthus,” said Girdan. “Skratzen, shut it off!”

Oh my, had Captain Skratzen been demoted to Girdan’s signaldevil? My fellow aide de camp had lost some standing, then. I could see Girdan was as fickle as ever.

The wireframe version of the two devils winked away.

Dante stood, rubbing his throat. “Why you little… sure, I’ll drop all my bloody plans and pay a small fortune to rent a hotel for another two weeks!”

“Just like a good godmother would, Granny Hattie,” I said, my tone dismissive. “Now, you’ll actually say more than two words if I text you this time, right? Your mistress is going to be none too pleased if you don’t do your part.”

“Yes,” he grumbled.

“Yes, what?” I let a few demonic runes trace around my fingers as I visualized spells. Nothing distinct, mind you, but he wouldn’t know that.

It had the desired effect. “Yes, sir.”

“Good man.” I would have accepted master, too, but I supposed I ranked lower than Fera in his eyes. “Now, get over here.”

“What now?”

“I said do it!” He loomed over me a bit, but I was no stranger to ordering orcs, and he made them look puny. “Minor Heal.” The human runes traced around my fingers, removing the blemish left by my Spectral Web.

He eyed me warily. “What was that for?”

“So we didn’t have to explain why you had that mark around your neck when Kiyo wakes up. Don’t make too much of it.”

“You sure you ain’t gone native, mate? That’s what Mistress Fera seems to think.”

“Keep up that talk and you’ll find out just how devilish I am. Now get back into character.” With a snap of the fingers, my silencing spell dissipated in a shower of sparks.

None too soon, as I heard a feminine moan from the far end of the table. “Magpie?” I could just barely make out her voice.

It wasn’t that I was truly worried for her, mind you. I trusted Dante not to use anything truly damaging. Maybe I was at her side a little more quickly than was strictly dignified, but Dante didn’t need to give me that knowing smirk.

“Just a good lay, eh?”

“Hush, you!” I sat Kiyo up as her eyes fluttered open.

“What happened?” she asked in a slurred voice.

“You’re Japanese and a little slip of a thing,” said Dante as he sat back down. “Six glasses of champagne was a mistake.”

“Six? I only had… two? Three?” Kiyo shut her eyes and ground the heel of her palm against her forehead. “Maybe I did have six. Feels like twelve.”

“I think that’s our cue to leave,” I said, helping her to her feet. It was difficult to keep her upright due to our height difference. I had to stoop a bit to bear her weight. “Dante, thank you for an enlightening evening.”

“Yeah, that’s a word for it,” he said. “I’ll tell Grannie Hattie you’re in good health.”

“Yes, I’ll try to be in touch more often,” I replied.

“Thank you, thank you,” managed Kiyo. At least that’s what my ears heard.

Dante’s eyes narrowed. “What’re you sayin’ about my almonds, Sheila?”

Kiyo stiffened in my arms, her surprise sobering her up. “No no no! That was Japanese! Domo domo!”

He burst out laughing. “I’m just playing. Mate, your girl needs to grow a sense of humor.”

“I’ll keep that under advisement,” I said, as diplomatically as I could manage.

Kiyo fumed quietly all the way down the elevator. “That guy’s an asshole.”

I let my jaw drop. “Such language!”

“Don’t try me, my head feels like it’s giving birth,” she murmured.

“For what it’s worth, I tend to agree,” I said. “But, you can’t choose your family.”

She giggled at that before holding her head again. “Do you have any magic for a hangover?”

I almost corrected her that she couldn’t possibly be at that stage yet. Then I realized that if she wanted to chalk her headache up to something innocent, that was much more convenient. “It might be… cutiemuffin magic.”

“Then let’s wait until we’re at the hotel,” she said. “Where it’s private.”

“So, you still want to go, then? You sound miserable.”

“God yes,” she said. “I’ll power through. Who knows the next time we’ll be alone like this?”

The enormity of what I had promised up in the restaurant hit me. I had realized my time at the school was finite, but it had always seemed in the far-off future. Now, my faux-humanity had a fixed expiration date.

I forced my melancholy aside. Soren Marlowe and I had become rather close over the past six months. It was time to give him a last hurrah.