"Be brave," she said.
She closed her eyes as Falroq grasped her chin, and with a grunt, twisted her head sharply. The snap filled my world.
Tears were streaming down my cheek. I pulled uselessly at Nisgath's hand, watching in despair as Falroq hoisted Mum's limp body over one shoulder and disappeared into the gathering dawn.
"And you," murmured the demon. "You have secrets too, I believe? You can see this wretched form, can't you?" It gestured at itself, at the decaying skin of the corpse it wore. "My possessed body?"
"You're disgusting," I half-sobbed, half-yelled. "What have you done? Where have you taken her?" I slammed a fist down on its forearm, but it didn’t move.
"You should be grateful. I'm going to release the demon inside her, and make her human again. Of course, once she's human, she will die. In fact," the dead eyes regarded me maliciously, "I've had a rather delicious idea. Wouldn't it be fun if you did it? Imagine, if the last thing your mother sees is you biting through her skull."
"You're insane," I snarled. "I would never hurt her."
"You would, if you were possessed."
Shadows started curling up from the demon, black and oily, something organic about them. I blinked to clear my vision, but they kept coming. I realised they weren't in my head.
A dark viscous stream poured towards my face, like fingers reaching for me. I shut my eyes, tight, feeling pressure against the lids. The probing sensation grew, moving across my lips, my nose. I gritted my teeth, one word resonating around my head.
No!
The same timbre, the same harmonic as the voice I'd once used to scare a bully. The demon tightened its grip.
"What are you doing?" it hissed.
And then there was the sound of a gunshot. The demon let go of me abruptly.
Darius stood there, right arm dangling, left arm holding a gun. He aimed and shot again, the bullet taking Miss Smith through the shoulder. Black liquid gushed from the hole, and with a scream of pain, the demon finally let its disguise go.
The body of the poor unfortunate woman it had been wearing for so long fell to the ground like a discarded robe. Nisgath's true image was finally revealed.
Its upper half was generally shaped like a woman; two arms, a torso with a suggestion of a bust. But there the similarity stopped. It stood some eight feet tall, its skin grey and toughened, like the hide of a lizard. Every sinew and muscle was heavily defined. The nails on its hands were razor sharp and looked metallic. Its legs were jointed backwards, like an animal's, and it had the thick muscular tale of a reptile that made an unpleasant scraping noise as it moved across the floor.
All that was scary enough, but its head was the stuff of nightmares. Almost triangular in shape, with the opposing points curling into rudimentary horns on either side of a wide bloodied mouth crammed with sharpened fangs, making it impossible for it to close its mouth. The bottom jaw unhinged to make the gaping maw even bigger. It didn't have any eyes that I could see; still, it unerringly turned to face its attacker.
"You!" it snarled, clutching at the hole in its shoulder.
"Surprise!" quipped Darius, though I could see his face was pale. "Purified bullets, bitch. Next one's going in your ugly head."
He took aim, but before he could pull the trigger, the demon moved in a blur, disappearing out of the building.
Darius let his gun arm drop.
"Thank god for that," he said. "I was out of ammo."
Chapter 12
I used my belt to make a rough sling for Darius's arm, looping it around his neck and gently cradling his broken wrist next to his body. He didn't make a sound, but I saw him wince once or twice.
"There, does that feel better?"
"Loads, thanks. Um, Kaz..." he trailed off as if he didn't know how to say the next bit. "I'm so sorry about Mari."
"Don't." It came out harsher than I intended. "She's alive. We'll find her."
"I don't want to pour cold water on your hopes, but you have to be prepared for the worst," he said gently. "I saw that thing carry her outside, and she looked... she wasn't moving."
"She's alive." I didn't tell him her neck had been broken. He nodded.
"And you... are you okay? That thing was trying to possess you, I saw its essence around you."
"You stopped it in time." I didn't want to talk about how I'd felt it probing, how I'd driven it back. "We need to get back to the Mansion. Can you drive with one hand?"
He gave me a half smile. "You'd better believe it."
The sun was just starting to rise as we got to the car. I sat in the passenger seat, looking out to sea as the horizon glowed pink and orange. I felt numb; no, more than that. Cold. Distant.
I had picked up Mum's leather coat from the floor of the cafe, and I pulled it on, wrapping it around me, trying to catch her scent. Her sword lay on the back seat. Guilt nibbled at my heart. I'll find you, I promised.
Darius called ahead to the Mansion to let them know what had happened. By the time we got there, they had all gathered. Mrs Peters, the Professor, even Em. She flew to me as we walked into the hallway.
"Kaz, I'm so sorry!" she said, hugging me, tears in her eyes. Em had known Mum almost as long as I had. I patted her on the back, finding it hard to give comfort when I was taking none for myself.
"She'll be fine," I said stiffly. Em drew back and looked at me in surprise.
"Well, yes, of course she will, " she stuttered, obviously thinking I was in denial. I looked over her shoulder at Mrs Peters and the Professor.
"What is the Guild doing to find her? Have you spoken to headquarters?"
"Yes, they are aware of the situation," said Professor Danby slowly. "Unfortunately, they're not minded to spare any Warriors to look for her."
"What?" I couldn't believe it. "She's one of their best Warriors, and they don't want to look for her?"
"They say they're being inundated with demon sightings and their priority is to close all the hellholes that keep popping up," said Mrs Peters. "Besides, they think Mari..." she faltered to a stop.
"They think she's dead," I said bluntly. Mrs Peters nodded. I walked up to them both, trembling in anger.
"The Guild is wrong. Mum isn't like other Warriors, is she?" They both looked back at me dumbly, but I saw it in their eyes. They knew what I was talking about. "And the demons know that now. They want to find the thing that makes her different. Which is why they'll keep her alive, for now. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
I ignored the puzzled looks from Darius and Em, and kept my eyes on the older adults. They both nodded.
“Yes.”
"So the Guild needs to get its finger out and send some Warriors to help with the search." The Professor spread his hands out in defeat.
"My dear, we will keep trying, I promise. I will try to speak to the Chairman personally. In the meantime, there are things we can do. Violet, could you start working on a locator spell?"
"Of course. I'll need something of Mari's."
"Here." I shrugged off the coat and handed it to her. "Use this."
"Um, can I help with the spell?" asked Em shyly. We looked at her in surprise.
"I thought technology was your forte, not mystical mumbo jumbo. No offense, Mrs P," said Darius.
"I have a theory I'm working on," said Em. "I think spells have a certain science behind them, which can be used to replicate the effect much more efficiently."
"Science? Behind magic?" Darius sounded dubious.
"Things that people thought were magic two hundred years ago have now been proved by science," Em said patiently. "I noticed when the Professor was doing the banishment spell that certain words were repeated. I think they set up some kind of frequency that affects atoms and molecules..." she saw our faces. "Look, I may be wrong, but I think I can write better spells using a computer program. That's all."
"Well, anything you can do to make spells less laborious would be greatly welcomed," said Mrs Peters briskly. "I'd be happy to show you a few
of our more common ones. Some of them take hours to prepare."
"But the locator one first, okay?" I said. They both nodded. I turned to Darius. "You need to get that arm looked at straight away." He snapped a salute with his good hand, but I wasn't in the mood. "You're useless to us with an injury," I said shortly. "Get it fixed." His face closed up but he nodded.
“I’m on it.”
I turned to the Professor.
"Henry, I need you to do some research. The Named One who seems to be in charge is called Nisgath." I wasn't aware I'd called the Professor by his first name until I saw his startled look. I didn't care. "It said they’d been planning their attack for years." I remembered the phrase the demon had used. "Planning it under the Guild's nose, under its very feet. Find out if that means anything."
"Of course, dear."
"And what are you going to do?" asked Darius.
I turned and walked towards the door.
"I'm going to shout at someone."
◆◆◆
As I passed the hallway mirror, I caught my reflection. My eyes looked hollowed out, my face smudged with demon drool and black gunk and god knows what else. My shirt was ripped and my hands hurt where I'd landed on them in that first fall through the window. I debated getting washed and changed, but then I thought, to hell with it. I headed for the Jump Room.
Headquarters was just as busy this time around. I drew some curious looks as I walked purposefully through the central dome, and I wondered if there were actual security guards who would challenge me. No-one did. I chose the corridor marked 'Inner Council' and followed the signs.
The carpet here was a deep ostentatious gold, so thick that my feet didn't make a sound. Gilt-framed portraits stretched along each wall, and I felt the eyes of a dozen oil-painted authoritarian men and women peering at me disdainfully. I passed expensive-looking offices with signs like "Director of Research", "Head of Training", and "Treasurer."
I briefly considered going into that one and demanding some back-pay for Mum's years of service, but decided against it. There was clearly money in the Guild, I thought bitterly, looking at the chandelier above me, but not a lot went to the Warriors. And why would it, when they were all recruited from miserable backgrounds and appalling poverty? Never mind that they did the Guild's dirty work, that they were the ones ensuring the human race was safe from demons. To the Guild, they were cheap and expendable.
I felt the anger bubbling with every step.
The door at the far end of the corridor was heavy oak inlaid with Indian carvings. The gold-edged sign on it read "Crepuscular Dark, Chairman." I didn't bother knocking.
Twelve startled faces swung towards me from around a large oval table as I marched into the room. A woman in the process of reciting a list of figures stuttered into silence. The Chairman was clearly in the middle of a meeting, and I swallowed as I realised I would have to say my piece in front of an audience. Great. I hate public speaking.
"Which one of you is Crep... Cres... Dark?"
Not an impressive start. A thin stork-like figure rose from the end of the table, his beaky appearance enhanced by a high forehead and an elongated nose. He held his hands clasped loosely together in front of him, and I couldn't help noticing his nails were so long, they curled at the end.
"I am Crepuscular Dark," he intoned disapprovingly. "What is the meaning of this intrusion?"
"I want to know why you ivory-tower types aren't doing more to find Mari Deva," I said. "She's one of your best Warriors, yet you're not lifting a finger to help her."
One or two of the figures around the table leaned towards each other whispering. Dark raised his hand and silence fell.
"Mari Deva. Yes, the Warrior who was taken by demons. She's no doubt dead by now."
"She is not dead!" I tried to control my temper as I saw a few eyes widen. "She was alive when they took her, and I believe she's still alive now. But I need your help to find her."
Dark looked down his impressive nose at me.
"And you are?" he asked icily.
"I'm Kaz. I'm her daughter."
This time there was no stopping the outbreak of muttering. Dark had to clap his hands several times to restore order.
"That's impossible. Benedict, call security." A small mousey man I hadn't noticed got up from a chair in the corner and scurried out of the door.
"Call who you like," I said acidly. "I know all about the sterilisation and the rest of the crap you people put your Warriors through but it makes no difference. It's the truth."
"I assure you, there never has been, and there never will be, a Warrior child."
His irises were a pale blue, so pale they almost merged with the whites. It was oddly disconcerting.
"What do you want, a DNA test?" I snapped. "Anyway, it's beside the point. Mum has risked her life countless times for you, the least you can do is spare some bloody effort to find her."
"We have greater matters at hand," he said. "Hellholes have been opening up everywhere, and we have our hands full eliminating the demons coming through. We can't spare Warriors on a fruitless search."
"But that's the point! These temporary hellholes are just the start, the demons are working on a way to make them permanent, and you need Mum to help stop them. Surely you've read the reports from Professor Danby?" The pale eyes stared at me impassively, and I felt my heart sink. "You don't believe the demons are planning anything, do you?"
"Demons are animals," he said scathingly. "They aren't capable of planning, or of thinking, any more than the average jungle predator. They are only capable of chaos and carnage."
"That's utter rubbish!" I shouted. "What about the Demon Sphere? What about the missing children?"
"The Sphere is a demonic object to be sure, but in all the centuries it has existed, there is no record that it can open gateways to the hell dimension."
"And the children?"
"They cannot be located, even by spell-casters. That means they are almost certainly dead. Like your so-called mother."
I felt as though the breath had been knocked out of me. In the silence, two Warriors came into the office, followed by the mousey man. One I recognised; Max, the cockney man we'd met after our visit to the Library. The other was a woman, ridiculously beautiful, with long blonde curls tumbling half-way down her back. She locked eyes with me, examining me as if I was something she'd found on her shoe.
"Warriors, please escort this person off the premises," said Dark, turning away from me dismissively.
"You're wrong!" I said desperately as they started towards me. "The demons have found a way to make hellholes permanent and they say they're going to wipe out humans!"
Dark gave a contemptuous smile, but another man got to his feet, a portly brown-skinned gentleman with a spotted bow-tie and a velvet jacket. He looked like a sit-com version of an Indian doctor. I’d noticed him before, whispering animatedly to a large black man.
"May I ask how you know this, young lady?" he asked, not unkindly.
His accent was familiar to me; the sing-song Indian I'd heard countless times in Bollywood movies.
"Because one of them told me," I said. "The one who took my mother."
The table erupted into a cacophony of excited chatter. The two Warriors came to stand next to me as Bow-tie man turned to Dark.
"Crepuscular, the young lady may have a point. The demons have been extremely active for months now, and we've had sightings of Named Ones coming in from all over."
"I agree with Lucian," added the black man. "It may not be a coincidence."
"And I tell you it is, gentlemen." Dark turned his cold eyes on his colleagues. "We know from the archives that demonic activity has certain peaks every few hundred years. This is just one of them. The increased weakness between our dimensions won't last, and everything will go back to normal. Now," he turned to the Warriors. "Get rid of her."
There was no use struggling. The Warriors took an arm each and frog-marched me out of the door and down the corr
idor.
"Blimey, sweet’eart, you've got some balls," said Max. "Going into the Chairman's office like that."
"Much good that it did me," I muttered.
"I've seen you before, 'aven't I?" said Max, giving me the once over. "You were 'ere with Darius, weren't you?"
"Yes," I said shortly. I wasn't in the mood for conversation.
"And how is the lovely Darius?" asked the woman, She had a voice like mulled wine and honey, and her red lips were parted in a smile, as if she was remembering some part of Darius I didn't know about. I decided I didn't like her.
"Fine."
"So what's this about yer Mum then, kiddo?" asked Max. I wondered where they were taking me.
"She was abducted by demons last night. Named Ones," I said.
"Then she's dead," said the woman.
"She is not!" I stopped so suddenly, they were forced to come to a halt too. "I wish everyone would stop saying that. If anyone can survive, it's her."
"And who is your mother?" asked the female Warrior. "Wonder Woman?"
"Mari Deva."
The two Warriors stared at me in astonishment.
"I knew it. You look just like 'er, I thought as much when I saw you," Max said. "I knew those snip jobs weren't 'undred percent."
His face was alight with frank interest, but the woman was staring at me with hostile eyes. Her voice sounded strained, as if her throat had closed up.
"If Mari's your mother, who's your father?" she managed.
"Sam Masters."
For a split second I saw shock flood across her face, before she caught herself. Max looked from one to the other of us uneasily.
"Oh, sh... I mean, blimey. Di, are you okay?" The woman didn't answer. She stared at me for a moment longer, then turned and walked off without a word. I looked after her.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"Ah, well, it ain't my place, I don't want to..."
"Just tell me!"
"Well, you see, that's Diaphanous Caine. I take it you don't know 'er? Yer Mum never mentioned 'er?" I shook my head impatiently. "Ah. Well, Di's a good fighter, great Warrior, don't take no sh… I mean, no nonsense." He was nodding his head to emphasis his words. "In fact, there's a lot of things I could tell you about Di, and half of them you wouldn't believe. But the important thing 'ere, you see, the crucial thing, as it were, is that she's Sam's sister."
Daughter of Kali- Awakening Page 12
