Orias steepled his fingers, and his shrewd gaze shifted to me. “And how may I be of service to you this evening?”
Trying to ignore the demon, I walked forward until I stood behind one of the three visitor chairs in front of his desk. I rested my hands on the back of the chair, thinking about how to broach the subject of the reason for our visit. “I’m looking for information.”
“I know many things. What kind of information are you seeking?”
“I’m looking for someone, a Mohiri woman who has been to see you a couple of times this week. I need to find her.”
“Indeed. And does this woman have a name?”
“She probably goes by a lot of different names, but I doubt you have many Mohiri clients.”
He rested his forearms on his desk. “And what business do you have with this woman?”
“It’s personal.”
“Indeed.” Orias smiled, showing off even, white teeth. “It’s not often I have three beautiful Mohiri women visitors in as many days.”
My breath caught. “So she was here?”
“I do have a client who matches that description, yes.”
His short evasive answers were starting to annoy me. “Can you tell me where she is? It’s really important that I find her. I can pay.”
He leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “I can’t give out sensitive information about another client.” I started to speak, and he raised a hand. “My clients pay well for my discretion as well as my services. It would not be good for my business if they felt like they could not trust me.”
His expression told me he wasn’t going to be persuaded to give up Madeline. I wanted to scream. I couldn’t believe we had driven all this way to the middle of nowhere for nothing.
“What kind of services do you offer, if you don’t mind me asking?” Jordan said from behind me.
“I offer many services, spells mostly. Protection and locations spells. My specialty is glamours.”
“Glamours?”
Orias smiled at her. “As you probably saw on your way in, many of my clients can’t go out in public in their natural form. My glamour spells allow them to live among humans undetected. They look and sound human for as long as the spell lasts. Of course, the stronger the spell, the shorter it lasts. Mine are very strong so my clients have to come back for a new one every month. I have many repeat customers, and I’ve found it to be a very lucrative business.”
Roland spoke up. “What if someone asked for a spell to kill someone else? Do you do those, too?”
“At one time, yes,” the warlock replied without remorse. “But I found it to be too messy, so I don’t deal in that type of magic anymore.” He waved a hand at his richly furnished office. “As I said, my current business is very profitable. It also keeps a certain warrior organization that likes to raid my peers at bay.”
I sighed inwardly. It was obvious we weren’t going to get anything useful from Orias. Hopefully, Madeline was still in the city and Kelvan could locate her again before she moved on.
Orias tapped his long fingers on his desk. “Speaking of the Mohiri, I received some very interesting news this afternoon. It seems they are looking for two of their young people, and they are offering a generous reward for their safe return. It’s not often that they reach out to their contacts in the community, so these two lost children must be very important to them.”
“All their children are important to them.” I swallowed and walked over to look at a painting to hide the panic flaring inside me.
“And imagine my surprise when two of their young people show up in my office on the same day. A coincidence, no?”
Jordan snorted. “Do we look lost to you?”
I could only muster a small laugh as I strolled toward a bookcase that held an odd assortment of books and ornaments. The demon’s presence grew stronger until it was impossible to ignore. I turned away from the shelves to find Orias watching me with a calculating gleam in his eye. It was time to get out of there.
“Thanks for taking the time to meet with –” I gasped as Orias raised a hand and the office door slammed shut behind Roland and Peter.
Roland grabbed the knob and pulled, but the door refused to open. He spun to glare at the warlock. “Not funny, dude. Open the door.”
Orias reached for his phone, looking very pleased with himself. “Why don’t you children get comfortable while I make a call? Don’t worry; you won’t come to any harm here.”
Roland, Peter, and Jordan started toward the warlock. Orias flicked a finger and the three of them suddenly found themselves sitting on the three chairs with their arms and legs bound by some invisible force. They yelled and were gagged until all they could do was struggle mutely in their bonds.
Orias glanced at me. “I only have three chairs, but you don’t look like much trouble. Behave yourself while I make this call or I’ll stick you in the closet until they get here.”
Why did everyone always assume I was the helpless one? I spun back to the bookcase, looking for something to use as a weapon. I laid my hand on one of the shelves and blue sparks danced across my skin. The demon was very close, the same demon the warlock needed to feed his magic.
I scanned the items on the shelves and my eyes lit on a small brass replica of Aladdin’s lamp. I couldn’t help the laugh that slipped out. “How original.”
As soon as my fingers touched the lamp, I felt something move inside it. I picked up the lamp in both hands and turned to face Orias, too desperate to ponder how a powerful demon could fit into such a small space. Orias was looking through the phone book on his computer and completely ignoring me.