Black London 05 - Soul Trade

for that whole mess with Nergal. Biting off more than she could chew, like the bitch she is. Trying to throwher weight about and start a war with the daylight world. Typical of her, really. Always did have a bit of a one-track mind, that broad.”
    “I understand your reluctance, believe me,” Morwenna said. “But ask yourself, Jack, what would be better for our world: an infestation of demons and creatures like Abbadon, or the Morrigan continuing as she always has, as the bride of war? Doing what she hasalways done to balance the Black and the daylight world—muster her army of the dead and winnow the world when it becomes too crowded?”
    “’Cept this time she’s going to cut down the whole world, not just the bits in the Black,” Jack said. “Need I mention that she was all for Nergal pillaging his way through the daylight side, creating enough souls for her to march against anyone else who stoodin her way on her crawl to the top of the corpse heap?”
    “Need I mention that if you had performed your duty as your station requires, you could have influenced the Morrigan to stay her hand against innocents?” Morwenna asked, low. “You fight so hard to stay in the mud, Jack—one would almost think you liked it there.” Piece said, she retreated to a wing chair, sitting and crossing her legs primlyat the ankle.
    Victor grunted a laugh at Jack’s gobsmacked expression, and Pete felt her desire to hit him in the throat redouble. Morwenna shot him a glance.
    “Victor, for fuck’s sake. We’re not the mafia—let go of her.”
    Victor released Pete, although his expression betrayed great disappointment. Pete rubbed her throat, feeling the tender lines where she’d sport bruises in a few hours. She owedVictor for that, but she filed it away for now. What would a dust-up accomplish, besides putting her in hospital? She could be patient.
    “Next time,” she told Victor, “you and I are going to have a discussion about why you don’t put your hands on me.”
    “Like there will be a next time.” He snorted and went back to the tray of pastries.
    “So you actually think Jack can convince the Morrigan to flitaround like a pet parakeet, doing just as you say?” Pete asked, turning her attention on Morwenna. That was pure mad talk. The Morrigan was a force, not a person, a thing that could not be bought or reasoned with.
    “On the contrary,” Morwenna said. “You aren’t prisoners. You aren’t subjugated. We want Jack to join us of his free will. There’s a place for him at the head of our table.” She tappedher fingers against the chair arm and smiled dreamily. “The crow-mage and the Prometheans were one and the same, until that insufferable lowlife Seth McBride broke the chain.”
    “Yeah,” Jack said. “And every crow-mage before who died horribly because he couldn’t serve two masters, that had nothing to do with you lot.”
    “Membership in the Prometheus Club offers great rewards, but those come withgreat risks,” Morwenna said. “We all assume them when we accept membership, but together, we are protected. Alone, Jack…” She sighed. “Your skin tells the story. She’s got your scent now. You know it’s only a matter of time. If you’d just gone with her willingly, you’d be in a position of unimaginable power. No demonic price on your head. No primordial monsters sniffing after your blood.” She stoodand walked to a bell pull, yanking on it. Far away, a clang sounded. “Honestly, the fact that you’ve made it to forty is impressive,” Morwenna said.
    Much as she had grown to hate the woman in the short time she’d known her, Pete had to admit Morwenna was right. Jack had chosen to stay human, stay away from the Morrigan, and ignore the fate his very birth had marked for him. And because of that,their lives were shit and Pete was constantly checking over her shoulder, waiting for the next stone to drop on their heads.
    Still, it was a better life than being the dead general at the head of the Morrigan’s army of lost souls, devoid of any humanity, the puppet of the very thing that had brought forth war and death from primordial mud.
    “This was inevitable, the moment you chose to turn yourback on your purpose,” Morwenna continued. “And now you’ve left us no choice. Things have been set in motion that require the full brunt of the Prometheans’ intervention, and that includes you and Miss Caldecott.”
    A moment later a man in a black suit appeared, the sort of