“Nah, never been to the underworld,” he said. He started to speak but then paused, as if considering how much he could or should say again. “We did run across a sylinth once, but it didn’t seem all that interested in fighting. It sort of stunned most of us with some mental attack and then left; we never did figure out what it was up to. And, thank the gods, we never had to fight a harmauth. Saw one once, but never fought one.”
Antoine entered the foyer and had a mischievous smile on his face before he even said a word. “So, boss, you got beat up by a girl?” he asked with a chuckle, though he received only a short shake of the head from Eli. “What were you doing up there, anyway? Going to ask about the lady’s demon kills, or looking for some tail?”
“Antoine!” Eli barked.
Kari found herself chuckling. “It’s not an unreasonable question…”
The half-corlyps grunted and dismissed his employee with an impatient wave of his hand. He dug into a pocket of his trousers as Antoine walked away laughing. “Actually, I was coming up to give you this,” he said. He held up a platinum disk, similar to a coin but much thinner. He flipped it to Kari casually, and his expression changed only slightly when she caught it between two fingers and held it up for inspection. She looked to him for an explanation. “It’s a Celestial Token. Have you ever heard of a demon called Terx?”
“He crafted my scimitars,” she answered, “though not specifically for me.”
Eli nodded, impressed. “These tokens are given out to heroes, or those who fulfill very important tasks for the celestials,” he explained. “Supposedly, they allow one to buy a weapon from Terx or, so I’ve heard, a suit of armor from Krollmar himself. I’m not sure how much truth there is to either claim, but our group got mixed up in a crazy situation over that little piece of metal. Several different factions from the underworld sent agents to try to recover it: Syrinthians, some succubi… hell, even a mallasti was asking about it at the time.”
“Emma?” Kari interrupted, coming to attention in her chair.
Eli held her stare for several long moments before his gaze flicked to the side and he flashed a lopsided smile. “So, you’ve met Emma, then.”
“No,” Kari answered. “She was involved in the last mission I worked for the Order, but I never came across her personally. By all reports, she was behind the problems to some degree, but whatever she was up to, we’re still at a loss.”
The half-corlyps gave a casual wave of his hand. “Probably nothing,” he said. “She’s more of an observer; she watches what goes on here for her master in the underworld. I suppose it’s possible her focus has shifted from observing to manipulation, but based on my dealings with her, I’d be inclined to think not.”
“I might feel a little better about that if you told me about your dealings with her,” Kari said. She sat back and crossed one leg atop the other. She wondered if this revelation related back to what Eli, Tor, and the others had sworn secrecy over, and she looked at Aeligos’ claim that Bosimar was ‘working with’ the demons in a different light. It occurred to her that based on what they’d found on Tsalbrin, Emma might be a double agent. It didn’t ease her tensions about having so powerful a demon on her world, but if Emma was causing more trouble for her own kind than for Kari and her Order, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Eli looked around the foyer casually. There were some city watch and a few of his security personnel watching the door, but there were no customers in the brothel and almost no one within earshot. “I can tell you one thing, but this is between you and I. You can’t tell your Order or anyone else that might lead to it getting back to the underworld,” he said in a low voice. He rose and moved his chair closer to hers. He leaned in close and Kari met him halfway, their faces only inches apart, which gave her a great look into his eyes as he said, “She helped us sabotage Sekassus’ plans.”
“Do you have any idea who she works for?” Kari asked, trying to keep her thoughts straight. Eli’s words furthered her suspicion that Emma might be a double agent, since helping betray Sekassus would mean that Emma had now done so twice, in addition to once helping to betray Arku. It went without saying that such knowledge couldn’t get back to the underworld; with several demon kings furious with her, Emma’s life expectancy could be measured in hours.
“Not a clue,” Eli answered—honestly, based on his mannerisms. “All I can tell you is that there’re other reasons we trusted her, things that could hurt a lot of people if they become common knowledge. You need to trust your instincts. Just because she helped us twelve years ago doesn’t mean it wasn’t just convenient at the time. I haven’t spoken to her since before the Apocalypse, so I don’t know what her orders are like these days. You honestly need to treat her with a lot of skepticism, but if in doubt, just remember that she did help us at one point. If she seems like she’s trying to help you, you may want to give her the benefit of the doubt.”
Kari nodded. “So why did you give me this token? I find it strange you didn’t use it.”
The half-corlyps scoffed. “I’m many things, but conceited isn’t one of them. I didn’t earn that token; I found it. It didn’t belong to us, and I never felt I had the right to use it as though I’d earned it. Sure, I did a lot of work for your Order, and I hope I helped a lot of people and made the world just a little safer. But I didn’t do anything deserving of something like that. If I ever do, maybe the celestials will actually give me one.”
“I gave it to you because one of the people looking for it was a succubus of some kind living right in DarkWind,” he continued, but he held up a hand. “Don’t jump to conclusions. She’s an observer, too, and that wasn’t her upstairs. She was looking for this for her master, so if you give it to her, she may be willing to give you a wealth of information—or even help—in exchange. The token’s yours; do with it as you please. I’m just telling you that there’s one person you could give it to that might open a lot of important connections and information sources for the Order.”
“Conspire with demons?” Kari balked.
“Just because they’re evil doesn’t mean they can’t be useful,” Eli returned with a shrug. “Hell, even Seril helped drive back the bakatur before the Fifth Demon War. Evil is always self-serving, but if anything, that makes it easier to tempt and manipulate.”
Kari chuckled. “You’re an interesting man,” she said, making certain her smile showed she meant it as a compliment. “So, what’s this succubus’ name?”
“Amastri,” he answered. “I’m sure you’re pretty well educated when it comes to the demon kings. Amastri serves King Koursturaux S’Bakthra, so you need to really be careful when you deal with her. There’s a reason Koursturaux is feared even by her fellow kings.”
The demonhunter thought to herself for a minute. The Order wasn’t as familiar with the underworld council or its members as they would’ve liked. Kari knew enough; Koursturaux was one of the highest-ranking kings despite her gender, and killing one of her servants would be even more dangerous than having killed Sekassus’ son.