He whirled viciously on her. He didn’t quite have the courage to strike her in front of the master, but he advanced menacingly.
“A gift?” he cried. “No, Miriam, this is a trick! What matters is not that she die. What matters is that I kill her. She must die by my hand. I must have the triumph. She must know that I have beaten her. That is what I want. I don’t want her simply dead; it’s not enough. She loses to me!”
No one spoke for several seconds. Miriam’s red eyes searched him, as though she’d not seen his soul before. Some temptress. She’d wanted to corrupt him, get him to join her master? But she hadn’t realized what he really wanted? What a fool.
“It may be possible to arrange what you desire,” the master said, his voice the maniacal laugh of psychopath.
May be possible? Damn straight it was. It was going to be more than possible. It was going to happen if they wanted anything more from him.
“I’m listening,” he said.
“What is done cannot be undone,” the master said. “We have made a bargain with our allies that we cannot break. And Cecily Kincaide is now fully in the hands of Alistair Devlin.”
Alistair Devlin? Ephraim was sure he knew that name. He was too furious at the master’s deceit to remember why, but it definitely rang a bell.
“But he does not have to strike the final blow against her,” the master continued. “Indeed, he must be otherwise occupied to accomplish his aims. That would allow the task to fall to you.”
Ephraim cocked his head. He felt a trap closing. What trick was the master plotting now?
“What task?” he asked. “What are you talking about?”
The master explained what Alistair Devlin intended. He laid out in careful detail what everyone hoped to accomplish, and what had been done to date. Then he explained Ephraim’s part in the plan.
As he listened, Ephraim was amazed at the intricacy of the deception. He was in awe of the demonic genius of the plot. And he liked the idea of being a part of it.
At the same time, it wasn’t his masterpiece. Someone else arranged it. It wasn’t like he was getting a full revenge on Sassy. That galled him. That made him burn with jealousy and rage.
But she didn’t have to know that. He could tell her whatever he wanted. And she would die with his knife in her heart, believing her father’s true son, the actual N’Chai Toroth, had defeated her. In inspiring that despair, that belief in her, he would win.
Besides, he had joined the team that put this all together. He was a part of it. And he got to do the best part – putting her out of his misery.
“Very well,” he said. “Where is she, and how do I get to her?”
“She lies in chains at the mercy of her captors. We will open a portal to her, that you may be there to strike the deathblow.”
“Then let’s do it,” Ephraim said. “I want her blood on my hands.”
“You see, my love?” Miriam said. “All is well.”
“Not yet it’s not,” he replied. “Sassy is still breathing. All will be well when I kill her.”
Sixteen
I woke with my head swimming, and my arms and legs painfully stretched out. Something hard was underneath me. It was difficult to know what was going on or even remember how I’d gotten here.
Devlin and I had been investigating the farm. We’d just crept around the barn, when . . . when we found Charlene! And she was evil, and Devlin . . .
I’m so sorry, Cecily.
Oh, shit! That son of a bitch!
I came fully awake. My vision cleared. I was lying in a church. A ruined one, it looked like. The masonry was crumbling in places, one of the stained-glass windows was broken, and there was mold on the walls and a hole in the ceiling. This place had clearly been abandoned by its congregation years ago.
As for me, I was lying on . . . Oh, shit! I was lying on the altar. And I was chained to it!
I struggled against the bonds, but they were tight. There was no getting out of them.
In front of the altar, someone in a black, hooded robe was painting a pentagram on the floor. A dead goat lay on the pew behind them, its blood dripping from the slash in its neck into a bucket that the acolyte kept dipping their brush into. Jesus, they’d sacrificed a goat and were drawing a pentagram with its blood? In a ruined church? I’d read enough urban fantasy and superhero comics to know this could not possibly be good.
“Hey,” I called to the cultist on the floor. They didn’t respond. “Hey!”
Still no response. Shit.
“Hey, you!” I called. “What the fuck is going on? Tell me what is happening!”
The hooded whack-job still ignored me. I yanked on the chains again. There was absolutely no give to them.
“Listen, motherfucker!” I shouted. “I’m talking to you.”
“He’s not going to listen to you,” someone said in a sing-song voice.
I turned my head and saw Charlene standing towards the back of the dais. A wooden door in a marble arch stood behind her.
Charlene wore the same black robe as the acolyte painting the pentagram. A wild crazy look – the same one I’d seen at the truck stop – was plastered on her face. She giggled.
“Charlene,” I said. “Charlene, you’ve got to help me. Please.”
“Tried to warn you,” she said, shaking her head as though I were very naughty. “Tried to tell you to run. You didn’t listen. Now, the demon will eat your heart.”
She giggled again. It wasn’t maniacal; it was true humor. My situation amused her. That scared me more than if she’d just sounded crazy.
“Gonna call him up,” she continued. She started advancing on me. “Gonna spill your blood. You get to feel it burn as he comes in.”
“Charlene,” I said, trying not to sound as terrified as I felt. “Please. Release me. We can both get away. The demon doesn’t have to hurt either of us.”
“No!” she scolded. “You didn’t run, when I told you. You get to die. You get to feel him inside you, feel him eating you. Feel him—”
“Enough!”
Devlin had come in behind her. He stood with his arm outstretched, his hand on his staff.
“Leave her, Charlene,” he commanded.
The crazed girl didn’t look at him. She just continued to leer at me.
“Now,” Devlin growled.
Charlene stared at me for two more seconds. Then she turned and started slinking away.
“Gonna watch you die,” she whispered as she retreated.
As soon as she was out of sight, I turned my attention back to Devlin. I opened my mouth to beg him to help, but he cut me off before I could get a word out.
“Save your breath, Cecily,” he said. “I won’t help you.”
“You son of a bitch!” I shouted. “What the fuck are you doing? Let me out of this!”
He approached slowly. His staff clicked on the marble floor as he drew near. His face was covered in sadness. His blue eyes were misty.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he replied.
“Why? Didn’t they give you the key?”
He chuckled softly. If my arms hadn’t been chained I’d have belted him.
“I see your predicament hasn’t dampened your sense of sarcasm. No, Cecily, I cannot release you, because I need you where you are. As for what I am doing, I am preparing to sacrifice you.”
My eyes went open wide. My heart raced. It’s not like I couldn’t have figured that out, given that I was tied to an altar in a defiled church, and Charlene had tormented me, promising the demon would eat my heart. But hearing it, having the theory confirmed, well, that kicked the fear up to whole new level, you know?
The man with the staff has a secret he can’t tell you.
Oh, shit. Oh, holy fuck, he’d been using me all along.
“Why?” was the only response I could manage.
“Because, I am tired,” he said. “Three hundred, forty-four years is a long time to wander the Earth, Cecily. It is even longer when y
ou fail to accomplish your goal. I am weary. I long to die.”
“I can make that happen,” I spat.
“No, you cannot. I am immortal until my mission is complete. Until I have imprisoned all of my demons, I cannot die. When I received this ability, I thought it was a gift. I now know it was a curse.”
“My condolences. Why the fuck are you sacrificing me?”
“Because Akashareth has eluded me for too long. I have faced him three times and lost in each match. He thwarted my mission, forced me to further endure this curse.
“And because I burn for revenge. I want that infernal fiend to die more desperately than anything else I’ve ever wanted.”
I shook my head. Obsession was an ugly thing, and I had a sense that Devlin had allowed it to drive him insane.
“Congratulations,” I said. “Go get him. Leave me out of it.”
“I’m afraid not. As I mentioned, I’m weary. And Akashareth has proven too slippery.
“But a few months ago, I was approached by one of his rivals. They knew of a cult in the Midwest seeking to bring him to Earth, to make him their dread lord and master and to assist him in laying waste to all he saw.
“To complete their summoning ritual, they needed a sacrifice – a human sacrifice. This person must be pure of character, strong, courageous.
“So, Akashareth’s rivals contracted with me to secure this individual, that the demon prince might be summoned by his devotees. In exchange, I would be present. When Akashareth arrives, I will bind him. He will be weakened by the summons, and I will at last imprison him.
“And then I can die, Cecily. Then I will have my revenge and bring justice to my family and the world at last.”
“You are fucking crazy,” I said. “You’re a demon hunter tasked with binding and killing five lords. And you made a deal with another demon to accomplish it? Is the irony and the humiliation lost on you?”
Devlin smiled sadly at me.
“No,” he said. “It is not. But I must accomplish my mission, and this will allow me to do it.”
Jesus Christ, what was it with the men I met in the magical world? Ephraim wanted to kill me because his daddy wanted me to be the Chosen One instead of him. Righteous Demon Hunter Devlin made a deal with The Devil to catch a fiend with me as bait. What the actual fuck was wrong with these guys?
“You’re insane,” I said. “Not only are you willing to murder someone just to get what you want, you think I’m of high character. Your little bullshit deal isn’t going to work, Devlin. I’m not pure. Far from it.”
“Ah, yes,” he said. “Your constant self-recriminations blind you to the truth of yourself. But you see, there was one additional condition to my arrangement with Akashareth’s rivals. They had someone very specific in mind for their sacrifice.”
Oh, shit. Here it came. The terrible thing I just knew he would say.
“They bade me find Cecily Kincaide,” he said. “They wanted the N’Chai Toroth.”
God damn it. Why was it that every fucking asshole in the magical community wanted a piece of my ass? I didn’t do shit to these people. I wasn’t even aware they existed until six months ago, and the stupid fucks could have kept it that way.
“You dumb bastard,” I said. “Do you not realize you’ve been played?”
“I made an arrangement to destroy a Prince of Abaddon. I will take four other demonic lords with him. I have not been ‘played.’ I am fulfilling the mission assigned me by an angel of God.”
I swear, if I hadn’t been chained to this altar, I would have beaten some sense into him.
“No, asshole, you allowed a demon to trick you into sacrificing a human. That’s a sin. Like a major one. And because they want to eliminate me, you’re playing along with some insidious game.”
He shook his head and smiled as though I couldn’t possibly understand.
“The only thing that matters is the mission, Cecily. I will remove five major demonic lords from the universe. The greater good will be served.”
God-damned zealot. Jesus, I hated these people. Committing evil in the name of good.
“So, what? You just hunted me down, hoping you’d find me and could serve me up as a tasty demon snack?”
“I was told where to find you, but delivering you here wasn’t easy. You’re terribly willful.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I said, slathering each syllable in sarcasm. “I didn’t mean to be such a pain in your ass, saving your life and shit.”
Devlin chuckled.
“My deception worked even better than I could have imagined,” he said. “If you’ll forgive the phrase, Cecily, your personal demons are strong – strong enough to blind you to nearly any truth.”
“‘Personal demons’? What the fuck are you talking about, Devlin?”
“You hate yourself so thoroughly, you are so chained by your own misery, you cannot see past the self-loathing to believe that some things are not your fault.”
God, he was pissing me off. Fucking taunting me while I lay here helpless. He was acting like some sort of comic-book villain.
“Stop with the cryptic bullshit and tell me what the fuck you’re talking about,” I demanded.
“Because you hate yourself, because you blame yourself for what the vampire did to your loved ones, you ran away. And because you were on the run from your brother, you were convinced each of the demon attacks originated from him.”
Shit. He knew about Ephraim? Of course he did. I’d told him my name was Sarah Connor. But he’d known who I was all along.
“I needed you to come with me, so I could sacrifice you,” he went on. “So I summoned a carthaax, had it stalk you on the train to Chicago and attack you in your hotel. I was able to step in and ‘rescue’ you, thereby gaining your trust.
“I also needed you to leave Chicago and come with me here. But there was no way an urbanite like yourself would be interested in following me to a tiny rural town. Plus, we needed some way to get here. So I told you the cult was actually based in Denver. That made it seem more palatable to you, and we could travel relatively incognito on the train.
“I summoned a swarm of githkeksis to force us off the train. Unfortunately, you somehow detected them. My fault, I suppose. I taught you too well how to use your magic.”
He hadn’t taught me shit, actually. My father had warned me. But I wasn’t telling him that. Knowledge was power, and he didn’t need to know what my limits were.
“So we got off in Mt. Pleasant, instead of Ottumwa like I’d intended. I wasn’t sure what we would do next, but you are so resourceful, Cecily. You thought to buy us a vehicle and had me drive us.
“As we neared our actual destination, I had the malefaxians attack us, intending for them to disable the vehicle and abduct you here.
“But once again, you made things difficult. In your ignorance, you nearly freed Lillina, forcing me to battle her instead of ensuring you could be captured.
“Fortunately, we were not far from a place where you could be apprehended. And I baited the trap with an irresistible lure for you – a young woman in trouble.
“You see, Cecily, you believe you have no redeeming qualities. You think you are a horrible person, a failure, a burden on everyone. But those personal demons blind you to the truth of who you are.”
“And just who the fuck am I, asshole?”
“A hero. You are a champion of those of in danger, especially women. You have enormous courage, flinging yourself into peril without hesitation to protect the weak. And because you were so concerned for poor Charlene’s safety, you allowed me to trick you into exhausting yourself. Thus, you didn’t have the strength to resist when I sprang my trap.
“You see, Cecily? You are the perfect sacrifice to bring Akashareth to Earth. I warned you how he works. He discovers your greatest strength and turns it against you. That is what happened. You failed to recognize your heroism, and it led you to your demise.”
Fury poured through me. I struggled at the chains
again. They still refused to budge.
“You little coward,” I shouted. “Akashareth didn’t do this to me; you did! You’ve been hunting him for so long, you’ve become just like him. You’ve betrayed everything you were supposed to stand for. You won’t be redeemed, asshole. You’re going to Hell with him!”
“If that is my fate, I accept it. I deserve damnation for what I did to those Indians alone. If God judges me unfit for Heaven, who am I to argue?”
“Ain’t no fucking good that comes from committing evil, you piece of shit! You’re doing the very thing you were trying to avenge! You’re a villain, Devlin. You’re Akashareth’s bitch.
“Jesus, I can’t believe I felt sorry for you. I can’t believe I fucked you. You didn’t deserve it.”
For the first time since he’d launched into his little Bond Villain Speech, he looked remorseful. He didn’t seem sad about murdering me, but having sex with me was apparently something to be sorry for. What an asshole.
“I tried to stop you,” he said.
“Oh, fuck you, Devlin. You said no once and then totally gave in. Let’s not forget you decided to take control at the end.”
He nodded.
“I apologize, Cecily. I knew copulating with you was wrong, since you were obviously under the influence of Lillina’s pheromones.”
My heart about stopped at that confession. Pheromones? Was he saying what I thought he was?
“Lillina’s the succubus you captured!” I said.
“Yes.”
Those five I can bind to my flesh as a tattoo. Once I have trapped them, I can access their powers.
“You son of a bitch! You raped me!”
“No, Cecily, I did not force myself on you. Quite the opposite actually.”
“Fuck you, Devlin! You knew I was under the influence of your God-damned pheromones. You knew I wasn’t thinking for myself. You were influencing me. That’s coercion. That’s not consent, you piece of shit! It’s the same as if you’d slipped me a roofie!”
He frowned. Sadness filled his eyes. God, I can’t believe I ever thought they were pretty.
“As I said, Cecily, I knew it was wrong.”
Personal Demons Page 20
