by L. L. McNeil
Seila grabbed his hand and pulled him closer. ‘There, in the tree.’
But when she pointed, the owl was gone.
‘You’re seeing things that ain’t there, Seila,’ Damon said. ‘First, demons. Now, owls.’
Seila glared at the tree for a long moment. Had she been seeing things?
‘That’s where I parked my car,’ Tej said, catching up with them. He gestured to a space in the corner behind the shop, next to the bins. ‘He had plenty of stock out here. A pallet. All wrapped up, ready to unload.’
Seila frowned. How could an entire pallet load of stock disappear overnight? She tried the back door to the jewellery shop, but it was locked. She cursed.
‘Guess he’s gone,’ Damon said. ‘Nothing we can do about it now. But look, it’s not like there are demons crawling around back here, right? I’m sure Tej’s bracelet is fine.’
Seila rolled her eyes. She needed to get inside to see for herself, and a locked door wasn’t going to stop her from finding out more about this demonic jewellery seller. She focussed her mind, held up her hand, and her Sieken Blade materialised.
‘What the hell?!’ Damon jumped.
She ignored him and plunged the sword into the door with both hands. The wood split, and she pulled it up, then down, carving the door into two. Seila pulled away the chunks of splintered wood and stepped inside.
‘Wait! Seila! Wait, what was that!? You can’t go in there!’ Damon called.
But she ignored him. Demonic energy filled the shop, sending goosebumps up her bare arms. It hung thick in the air like a putrid fog, but she couldn’t hear any new voices. Couldn’t smell any blood. She suppressed a hiss, tightened her hold on her sword.
‘Shoulda brought my crossbow,’ Tej said from somewhere behind her.
It was too late for that now. Perhaps if he’d taken her warning more seriously, he’d have planned ahead and armed himself. She supposed demons inside a town were unusual, and he was set on proving her accusations wrong. Still, although she thought his inaction was silly, she could understand it.
Seila gingerly made her way through the back of the shop and to the front, careful not to disturb anything or spring any hidden traps. She’d never encountered a situation like this before, and wasn’t taking any chances. She stepped over the loose cardboard and metal shelving that littered the floor, checking where her foot would go before she moved. Large glass cabinets held jewellery of every conceivable type and style. Gold, silver, and platinum. Diamonds and rubies, sapphires and emeralds.
But there was no alarm. No light. It was as though whoever owned the place had simply abandoned it, fully stocked, ripe for the taking.
She perused the jewellery, saw several pieces that looked to be made of the same dark silver as Tej’s bracelet. Rings and necklaces, earrings and anklets. They didn’t look or feel any different to the rest of the jewellery, but there was definitely something wrong with the shop. Very wrong.
She’d bet her life on it.
‘Okay, we really shouldn’t be in here,’ Damon said. He grabbed hold of Seila’s arm. ‘Let’s get out before we’re arrested!’
‘Wait.’ Seila extended her hand, fingers splayed. Was there anything here? Something she could grab hold of and pull? There was no denying the demonic energy that pulsed within the shop, but there was no actual demon creating it. No source. None that she could see, anyway.
There wasn’t so much as a wisp of smoke.
‘Seila! Come on! Police might be on their way here right this second, and then what do we say? Lucky there ain’t no cameras in here,’ Damon tried again. He pulled on her arm.
Nothing about the place made any sense, but she couldn’t see anything that explained it.
Reluctantly, she let him lead her back outside. Although she hadn’t seen a demon, she was convinced there had been one here. Perhaps it had attacked, and that was why the shop had closed.
She knew of several demon types, had fought most, even some she hadn’t been able to slay. But this seemed more than just suspicious, and she couldn’t ignore the demonic energy from Tej’s bracelet.
Perhaps this was some new kind of demon that she hadn’t encountered before.
‘How we gonna fix this?’ Tej asked. He picked up shards of the door Seila had smashed apart and frowned at them. ‘And how did you do that? With that sword?’
‘What was the jeweller like? What did he say?’ Seila asked, ignoring his questions.
Tej lifted his shoulders in a half-shrug. ‘I don’t remember. He was just a jeweller? Short-ish, shorter than me. In his thirties. Blond hair. Blue eyes? I think?’ He tilted his head back, trying to remember. ‘He sounded normal. Regular guy. No accent. Like I said at my workshop, there was nothing dodgy at all!’
Seila studied the damaged back door, considering. ‘Were there other people there? Customers?’
‘Yeah, a couple. Look, I think you’re all wrong about this. He might have had to close up because a relative is sick, or died, and you’ve come down here and smashed in the door to his shop! Maybe you need to explain yourself? And you still haven’t explained about that sword of yours!’
Seila didn’t have time for his questions. Her mind reeled, but came up blank. She was as much in the dark as they were, and that terrified her.
She closed her eyes, tried to focus on the demonic voice, to see if there was a link. She thought back to her previous battles, to things demons had done or said. Anything that might give her a clue as to what was going on.
Her skin prickled. They were being watched.
She brandished her blade at the top of the wall at the back of the car park. ‘Show yourself.’
Damon and Tej whirled around, eyes wide.
Seila kept her gaze locked on the trees behind the wall, half-expecting the owl to re-emerge, when a pair of golden eyes shimmered into focus. A disembodied, lyrical voice accompanied it. ‘It’s not often that people see me. I suppose, it’s not often I encounter a Phantom, either. How is Cynael?’
Seila had never heard of anyone called Cynael, nor had she heard a voice like his before. It seemed human, and not, smooth yet grating, and somehow echoed, as though three or four people spoke at the same time. Was it the demon? ‘Who are you?’
‘You couldn’t pronounce my name,’ the voice replied, amused. The tone lilted up and down in all the wrong places, making it a struggle to follow what it said.
‘Who’s there?’ Damon called out.
The eyes blinked, disappeared, then reappeared on top of one of the bins an instant later. ‘I am here. Who are you?’
Damon opened his mouth, but Seila slapped him in the chest to prevent him from saying anything. ‘Are you the demon responsible for this?’ She demanded. He didn’t seem demonic, but if she needed to fight, she’d be ready.
The eyes laughed. ‘I am no demon.’
‘Surely that’s just what a demon would say?’ Damon whispered, ever suspicious.
The voice replied, ‘I am hiding from them. They destroyed my dimension. My home. I am but a poor refugee. Don’t hurt me.’
Seila narrowed her eyes at his voice. It ended so high, it was almost a squeak. She tried another approach. ‘Do you know what happened here?’
‘Yes.’
She grit her teeth when he didn’t continue. ‘So? What happened?’
‘You broke down the door with that sword. Your companions are scared, terrified, of someone discovering you all here, and—’
‘That isn’t what I meant.’ Seila interrupted. ‘I mean the demon that was here. The jeweller. What happened with that? Where is the demon now?’
The eyes flashed red for a moment, then returned to gold. A face appeared around the eyes, then a body, then legs, all accompanied by swirling waves of purple smoke.
‘What are you?’ Tej asked.
A man in this late thirties sat on the bin, legs swinging wildly as though he were a child. He wore a tailored navy herringbone three-piece suit—wide lapels and broad shoulders
, with a pinched waist—complete with gold pocket watch, burgundy tie, and fedora. The same golden eyes stared at them, bright against his smooth, dark skin, and he smiled broadly. ‘You ask a lot of questions for intruders.’ He tapped his hat to them.
‘What the hell?’ Tej said. ‘Am I dreaming or did a guy from the 1930’s just waltz in?’
Beside Seila, Damon stiffened. ‘We aren’t stealing anything,’ he protested.
‘I didn’t say you were thieves.’
‘I didn’t say we were thieves, either!’ Damon replied hastily.
Purple smoke enveloped the man again and he popped out of view, only to appear behind them a second later. ‘That’s good. You wouldn’t want to steal from a demon. That would be...very bad luck.’
Damon and Tej jumped almost a foot at the man’s sudden proximity.
Seila whirled around, holding her nerve. She’d seen this sort of smoke and mirrors trickery before, but couldn’t place exactly where. ‘I’m Seila. A demon hunter. Who are you?’ Sometimes creatures liked to know your name before they’d reveal anything about themselves. She wondered if this man was one of those.
The stranger’s smile faded a little, and he studied her face for a long moment. ‘Ah...but you aren’t hunting just any demons, are you, Phantom? You’re after one demon in particular.’
Seila swallowed. She hadn’t told him what she was, and found his knowledge of her quite unnerving. She also had no idea how he could possibly know she was after one demon. ‘How do you know what I’m after?’
He continued, ignoring her question, ‘Demons are trying to destroy this dimension, too. Maybe you can help stop that. Goodness knows, we’ve tried.’
Seila tensed. She didn’t know what this creature was, what sort of power it had, but she didn’t like her lack of knowledge. It was as though her back was against a wall and she had to do what this stranger said.
‘This dimension?’ Damon echoed. ‘What do you mean?’
Although Seila disliked Damon’s ignorance and tendency to charge ahead without thinking, he was asking the obvious question.
‘This. Here. You. Him. Her. Everything around you.’ The man opened his arms wide and span around in circles, his purple smoke thrown in multiple directions. ‘The Earth and the plane it exists on.’
Seila narrowed her eyes. He spoke in riddles and clearly enjoyed winding them all up with vague answers and more questions. She slipped into her default mode as a defence. ‘I will hunt down and kill any demons I come across. I need to. Do you know what happened to this one?’
The man shook his head. ‘No. I was hoping you would know. He’s been a thorn in our side for quite a while.’
‘We’ve only just got here. How could we know what happened?’ Tej asked.
The man took a step closer to Tej, looked at him in the eye. ‘But you were here. Before.’
Tej swallowed and backed away.
The man grinned. ‘You bought the bracelet for Amber here, Tej. Didn’t you?’ His eyes glittered when he spoke. He faced Damon and Seila. ‘You’ve seen it? The bracelet? Dark silver? Many coloured stones set in it?’
‘It’s demonic,’ Seila said.
The stranger shook his head. ‘I think the bracelet itself is fine. But.’
Seila waited, but he didn’t say anything else. ‘But...what?’
The stranger jerked back suddenly, chin lifted to the sky as he stared up with unblinking eyes.
Seila strained to look, but other than a handful of clouds, she couldn’t see anything that would capture his attention for so long.
After a long moment, the purple smoke washed over him. ‘I’m afraid this introduction is over. You’ll find out more at Caramond House. If you want to. Especially about what you’re after, Phantom.’ He bowed low, almost doubled over, then straightened. With a final grin, another puff of purple smoke enveloped him, leaving just the image of his golden eyes, and then he was gone.
‘What on earth was that?’ Tej said. He dragged his hands down his face.
Seila and Damon shook their heads, lost for words.
She had no idea what manner of creature he was. He certainly wasn’t human, and held a vast amount of power to be able to appear and disappear at will. He didn’t seem threatening—she’d only ever attacked demons, anyway—but his intelligence and refusal to speak clearly put her on edge. And he spoke of the demon she was after. The one who had her soul.
He couldn’t know that, surely?
The stranger fuelled the mystery surrounding Fernhampton. Many demons. Many powerful creatures.
And Caramond House had come up twice in as many hours.
At any other time, she’d have cut her losses and moved on. She needed to hunt demons, no more, no less. Other powerful creatures didn’t enter the equation, especially one that spoke in riddles and made little sense. But as much as she enjoyed the thrill of the hunt, of slaying demons, she did want to stop.
She wanted her soul so she could lay down her sword and live as anyone else might. And he’d hinted at that being a real possibility. Something tangible.
This was the first change in who knew how many years. It would be foolish not to investigate.
Tej continued, ‘First a demon attacks Amber, then this girl shows up with her sword magicked out of thin air,’ he gestured vaguely to Seila, ‘and now him.’
Seila was affronted. ‘I’m not a girl. I’m a Phantom.’
Tej shook his head. ‘How old are you?’
Seila shrugged. ‘Why does it matter? How old are you?’
‘Nineteen,’ Tej replied.
‘Eighteen,’ Damon said.
Seila scowled. In truth, she didn’t really know how old she was. For as long as she could remember, she’d been hunting demons. It had been years. But before that? She couldn’t remember anything. That had been stolen from her, and now she was lost. She only had one way to reclaim it, and that was to continue on her hunt. Until she found and killed the demon that had her soul. ‘I don’t know. I can’t remember when I lost my soul. I can’t remember a time before that. And I haven’t kept track of how long I’ve hunted demons.’
Damon frowned as though struck by something. ‘You really don’t have one, do you?’
‘Why would I lie?’ Seila asked.
Damon shrugged. ‘I didn’t say you were lying. It’s just not everyday you meet someone’s got no soul, you know?’
Considering she’d never met another Phantom before, Seila could understand that. ‘I suppose.’
‘Look, we should probably get away from this. What if someone saw us break the door and has already called the police?’ Tej said. ‘We’re gonna be in deep shit.’
Seila couldn’t care less about the police. Why did she need to, when she could simply fly away from them? But she couldn’t rid herself of the demonic voice from the bracelet, or what the stranger had said about demons taking over this dimension. Or, of course, his knowledge about what she was after.
Demons had always been a nuisance. Something she killed, grew stronger from. Their power kept her alive. They were the key to getting her soul back, and that was about as much thought as she’d ever given it.
But destroying their very plane of existence? That was not the kind of warning to ignore.
And if it was true, then time was running out for her to complete her quest and find her soul.
5
Seila wasn’t sure how much time they had left if demons truly were intent on destroying everything. If a creature as elusive and powerful as the stranger had fallen prey to demons, surely it meant that they had little hope.
She’d never given much thought to what the demons were there for. They’d been on earth for centuries, millenia, even. They’d always preyed on people, animals, anything they could find that was weaker than themselves.
Just another part of the world. A horrible part, of course, but a part none-the-less.
They came in two main types: parasitic, or predatory. They didn’t have any kind of organisa
tion like other creatures. The weaker ones swarmed, every demon for itself, hiding in larger numbers. But even they didn’t have any higher intelligence.
The stronger ones hunted alone or in pairs, too aggressive and violent for their own good.
The stranger spoke as if they were a mounting threat rather than opportunistic killers.
And it conflicted with everything she knew about them.
Then again, when she thought back to the demon who had ripped her soul from her, she had to admit he had been different from all the others. He’d been bigger than any other demon she’d encountered, more powerful, too, and he’d wanted her to suffer. Most demons killed for food, not pleasure. Just their way of surviving.
He had been different.
She swallowed as a sudden coldness swept through her. Ice filling her veins.
Had he been a special breed? Were there others like him? Like the thorn in the stranger’s side?
She’d known he’d been different since the beginning, it had been the very catalyst of her quest. Had she ignored such an enormous piece of the puzzle for so long?
Damon and Tej seemed far less bothered by the stranger’s warning than she was. They were more worried about being discovered at the back of an abandoned jewellers.
‘Leave, then. If you’re so afraid of getting caught here.’ Seila snapped. She didn’t have time for their childish fears.
‘I will. I have to get back to work,’ Tej said. ‘Got customers waiting this afternoon and I’m on my own in the shop today.’
A sudden thought hit Seila. ‘Wait. He said Caramond House, right? Isn’t that where you bought your crossbow bolts from, Tej?’
‘Yeah, that’s right.’
‘And it’s an estate on the edge of town?’
Tej nodded.
That made up her mind. ‘I’m going there, then. I need to know more.’
‘Well let’s drive Tej back to his workshop, then we can head over to Caramond House. It isn’t too far. I just dunno if their security’ll let us in.’
‘Security?’
‘It’s a country manor. Large grounds. They have big gates and I’m pretty sure they don’t let just anyone off the street wander in.’
