when your Oris had evaporated and we were going to… console ourselves…» I winked at her, and she burst out laughing, remembering her recent follies. «And one autumn I was in the Dark World, hmm…» She stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow in interest. «One word led to another and Saul gave me this as a gift.» I plopped down beside her and poured a few drops of the drink into the small coffee cups on the table: for some reason I didn’t have any glass for shots.
«Yeah, Saul» Adiree’s eyes, green as absinthe, flashed like eyes of a cat scenting a bird. «Of course. Our darling, longing for you incubus…»
«Not at all, I’ve told you a hundred times. Nothing more, just a good buddy… well, as far as a demon of his level can be a buddy.»
«I don’t believe that Saul was just friends with a woman from the Core World! Nope… he’s just waiting for a chance to drag you into bed,» she tipped the glowing liquid into herself in one gulp.
«Ugh… don’t be like that,» I took a sip of absinthe, tart and sweet, gently enveloping my mouth, not feeling strong at all. «He’s not dragging you or Sunny to bed by the way.»
«I’m not sure he even knows the word ’bed’,» she smiled again. «As for me, it’s not surprising: demons don’t like demonologists too much, to tell the truth, they barely tolerate them. As for Sunny…» Adiree shook her head, but didn’t elaborate. «Nice stuff,» she reached for the bottle and refilled her cup, but now she drank more slowly, savoring it.
«So, what’s the matter with the investigator,» I reminded. The alcohol ran through my veins, causing a pleasant tingling sensation throughout body. A relaxing mist enveloped my head.
«Oh, yes! Screw him!» She leaned back on the couch and stretched, shaking off her irritation. «There are three of them, plus a dozen assistants, but one is clearly in charge. Captain Wolfrock, as he introduced himself. A donkey with a conceit!»
«Well, why don’t you leave the animal to conceit?» We both puffed and coughed.
When she came to her senses, she continued:
«All right, let it be. But not so inflated. Suspect everyone? Suspect me?! Just because I’m a demonologist… Of course. What kind of bias, tell me? He stared at me with those blue eyes and thought we would all go soft at once, huh.»
«So, they think it’s a demon too,» I muttered.
«Yes, yes… reasonably. But what made him think that I would help such a demon or, worse, summon him?»
«Summon? Did he say that?! " I was surprised. «Why did you summon a thief?»
«No, of course not,» Adiree grimaced, «he didn’t do anything like that directly. But how he formulated the questions! Hinted, bastard!»
«Come on, you just misunderstood. That’s their job.»
«His job is to piss everyone off.»
«In a way,» I agreed, «to throw people off balance, yes, to understand better, to make the criminal make a mistake. We had a couple of lectures on this topic in psychology.»
«Phew! You never know… lecture. I had them too, so what?»
«Well, you piss off both humans and demons professionally, there would be someone to complain about.»
«That’s always how you are. I’m me,» she shook her hair. «But some kind of policeman… not even a mage. How dare he?»
«You’ve taken it too personally.»
«You’ll get to him yourself, you’ll find out how he’s trying to turn you inside out, to dig out all the little things, all the dirty things.»
«I don’t think there’s any need to worry too much: our personal affairs are not in his competence, only theft.»
«And how do you manage to stay so calm?»
«It’s all absinthe,» I nodded at the half-empty flask, «we’re getting carried away, huh?»
Laughing again, we forgot for a while about the abductions and the investigators.
And today I had to go for interrogation.
It’s a piece of cake, if only my head didn’t spin like that. Yes, Saul’s gift does not let go for a long time. However, I slept like a baby. And the skin just glows now.
It’s okay, I can handle anyone with a big ego.
After breakfast, I quickly got dressed: a wool pantsuit the color of milk chocolate and a turtleneck the color of cream that looked austere and were practical and warm enough to get to the main building in the incessant rain.
Throwing on my favorite dark cherry coat, I grabbed my purse and umbrella and walked outside from my small cottage near the east wall of campus. Standing on a magnetic platform hidden under a canopy, I flew to work. An investigation is an investigation, but no one has canceled ordinary educational cases, especially for the dean.
Chapter 4
To be honest, the wait was infuriating.
From the beginning of the day, I managed to review and correct some of the documents for the upcoming inter-semester certification, hold a short but intense meeting with the heads of the graduation and pre-graduation groups, finish my presentation on crop production for the first year, and even fly to an experimental greenhouse to check the first results of using a new nutrient solution for agmarates. There, looking at the dark green of the curly bushes, I forgot the folder with the papers, so I had to go all the way from the university and back again. And all this under the rain that shrouded the entire town in a gray shroud.
I waited and waited again. The first to be interviewed today were all the teachers of my faculty. Apparently, they decided to leave the dean for dessert.
So, I didn’t even have time to take a bite of my little afternoon dessert, a chocolate cupcake the size of a ping-pong ball: just as I was putting it to my mouth, there was a knock at the door, and the assistant investigator came in to say that Captain Wolfrock was waiting for me in Vice-Rector Roginis’s office in ten minutes, and left. I shook the sugar powder off my fingers, looked regretfully at the cake, got up and walked over to the mirror. Satisfied with what I had seen – in the reflection I seemed quite confident and business-like serious – I went out, closed my office, and slowly made my way to the fourth floor.
Walking down the main gallery, I turned into a long gut corridor that led to the service staircase, narrow and old, and therefore ignored by many. I just didn’t like to make an extra detour to the central front door.
I walked this way so often that I didn’t expect a trick, and in the first seconds I didn’t even think to scream. Then it was too late: a strong hand clamped over my mouth, while the other dragged me into the darkness of the dusty curtained niche.
A moment later, I found myself in a tiny utility room, with my back against a large, warm body. The arms around me were definitely masculine.
As soon as I came to my senses, I jerked, trying to break free from the strange embrace, but it only tightened more. I shook my head, trying to open my mouth and bite the palm that wouldn’t even allow me to breathe normally.
The hot breath and the light touch of his lips close to my ear made me throb harder.
«Wait! I’m not going to rape you, Zulina. Just don’t scream, okay? It’s just me,» Erchin’s voice struck me so suddenly that I froze.
«Here we go. Just stand still and don’t say anything. Shh…» He lowered his hands, releasing me.
I immediately