Epilogue
Cain Marcus watched as the car pulled up to the small house, turning to the demon who sprawled on the chair behind him. "Once I have reined in her unique talents, MacInnis, you are to keep her confined to the room. If her toy escapes, Mariam will be greatly dissapointed."
"And we don't want that, do we?" John MacInnis snorted, his eyes turning to the door, where two men were dragging in an unconscious woman. "She's quite a lovely woman..."
"And not to be harmed," Cain interrupted John, his tone implacable. He held the demon's eyes a moment before following the men into a windowless room.
The demon-caller had been laid out on the cot along the back wall, and Cain nodded to the two waiting for him. "You may leave now. Your payment will be delivered as usual." He waited until they left before kneeling at the head of the bed, his cool fingers brushing the hair from her face.
"Quite a pretty little piece of trouble, indeed," he whispered. "I'm sure Mariam will approve of this latest bauble for her collection."
Slipping into the woman's mind, he slowly began to weave a sturdy web to block away the demon-caller's ability to control the demons she called. "You will have to come to me to be rid of that, pet," he murmured, a smirk on his face.
Another layer was added to the web, binding her ability to consciously control her talents. "And now I hope you don't wake up while I finish the web, pet. You'd have every demon nearby homing in on this house, and its little collection of baubles. We can't have that, now can we?"
Cain closed his eyes as he worked on the last barrier. It had to be strong enough she couldn't break it on her own, yet delicate enough to shatter if she was reunited with her friends. He searched her mind, and found a trigger.
"Now, pet, you are ready. Your friends will come for you, eventually, and they won't know what they've done until it's too late to stop it."
He stood with a smile, locking the door as he left. John was where he'd been earlier, and the demon raised an eyebrow in question.
"Guard her well. If her friends show up, don't make it easy for them to rescue her. But do not make it impossible."
"You have a surprise for them." John smirked when Cain nodded briefly. "Then I will make sure they have an interesting time rescuing the pretty bauble."
"Good. Mariam will come to collect her bauble personally when she is ready." Cain left without waiting for John to reply, stepping into the waiting car. "And now, my love, we wait."
Mariam laughed as they drove off, Cain smiling in an echo of her amusement.
FIN
Author's Note: Yes, I am aware it ends wide open for a sequel. It's supposed to. The sequel is titled Friends Like These, and will eventually come out. If you want it out sooner, review, and tell your friends to come and read, and review. More reviews mean I'll get the sequel out sooner. And posted here more regularly. But until then, I hope you enjoyed the story!