God Hammer: A novel of the Demon Accords by John Conroe

His face was smiling and the young waiter by his side looked completely human and completely comfortable carrying a pair of wooden platters.
     
    Tanya, who was seated on Chris’s other side, made the introductions, starting with Daiyu, then Grace, then myself.
     
    Remy shook each of the girls’ hands with genuine pleasure, then gripped my own in a firm shake.  He didn’t let go but peered closer.  “You are the one to take care of our little Toni?” he asked intensely.
     
    “Yes, although she’s a really tough little girl,” I said.  He said something under his breath in French, smiled, shook my hand once more, and straightened up. 
     
    “This one I feed special.  Too thin, too thin,” he said, shaking his head but smiling.  “But to start, we have some cheeses.  Fromager D’Affinois, Beemster, and Black Mountain English cheddar, with fruit mostarda and farm honey.  Enjoy,” he said, moving around to greet Tanya and Chris a bit more privately.
     
    “Toni?” Grace asked next to me, Daiyu leaning in to hear, apparently interested in the question as well.
     
    “Chris and Tanya’s goddaughter,” I said.
     
    “Didn’t he bomb part of the U.S. when she was kidnapped?” Grace asked.
     
    “He dropped an asteroid on an underground base where she had been held.  He was really mad,” I said, shuddering a little as I remembered our first meeting.
     
    “You were there?” Grace asked, eyes wider than seemed humanly possible.
     
    “Yeah, we got Toni out of her cell before Chris and ‘Sos showed up and tore the place to pieces.”
     
    “Who is we?” Daiyu asked.
     
    “My ex-girlfriend and I.”
     
    “Is she a bloody witch too?” Grace asked.
     
    “No.  Genetically engineered soldier,” I said.
     
    “You really do go to a different school, don’t you?” Grace asked.
     
    “A very different one,” I said, saved from further explanation by Chet’s arrival.
     
    “Success,” he said, pulling out a chair and sitting next to Tanya.  A frowning Simon came along behind, followed by most of the rest of the interns.  Immediately the tables around us filled up, although Simon managed to grab the last open seat at ours, putting himself between Chet and Daiyu.  Grace’s friends, Aleesha and Jodi, sat at the table next to ours, their chairs directly behind Grace’s.
     
    “It worked?” Chris asked.
     
    “Yeah.  Couldn’t get it to run after transmission until I used runes to actually type the word run.  Took off as soon as I did that and cleared up the whole system.  Comm sats are ours again and most of the foreign offices have reported in, just waiting on a few stragglers,” Chet said, helping himself to a some cheese and a slice of baguette.
     
    Aleesha pushed her chair backward, getting closer to Grace.  “I heard there was real magic involved,” she said, her eyes turning toward the door, where there was movement.  It was Darion, striding over to talk to Tanya and Chris.
     
    “Was it that guy?” Aleesha asked.
     
    “Was he what?” Grace asked.
     
    “Was he the witch?” she asked, eyes wide and scared.
     
    “No, that one is an attorney, I believe,” Daiyu interjected.  “ He ’s the witch,” she said, pointing at me.
     
    Aleesha’s chair scraped loud enough to draw virtually everyone’s attention, which, I think, might have stopped her from freaking completely out.  Instead, she looked around with scared eyes and sort of froze up.  Grace leaned into her shoulder and whispered into her ear, Aleesha keeping her eyes on me the whole time.
     
    “If it helps, I tend to agree with you—hanging out with witches is trouble.  I don’t go near them very often at school,” I said.
     
    “That’s true, he doesn’t,” a voice added.  I turned to find Katrina standing right next to me, watching Aleesha with obvious fascination.  “Although he does seem to be often found in the company of a certain Irish witch and he hangs out with his aunt, who is a