by Lindsay Nall
“If he was trying to goad Nyght then he did.” Tadum nodded. “You’re one of the ones who thought he got what he deserved?”
“I am, and I still do.”
“You’re worried he will use his demonic powers on me?” Tadum shook his head. “Then why tell me all this to begin with?”
“I just want you to be prepared, a battle as big as the one I fear is approaching…” He trailed off shaking his head. Was he worried Nyght would lose it on the battlefield? He hadn’t yet so what made this so different?
“Me.” Tadum cast her a confused look. “You’re worried he might tap into his demon side and those powers to protect me.” He nodded. “He would never do that.”
“He loves you.”
“So do you and Uncle Rayne.”
“That’s different.”
“Why because you’re human?” He said nothing but the look on his face told her everything. “He wouldn’t do that, I know him better than that.” She settled back against the tree watching Marclay wiggle her little bat butt a few times as she tried to pounce on a grasshopper.
“I’m surprised.”
“At what? The fact that I’m defending him?”
“No, at the fact that you’ve already handed your whole heart over to him.”
“Why does that surprise you?”
“Your heart is not one that is easily won.” She thought about that statement for a long time thinking back to how her relationship with him had evolved quickly when they met but it was forced a little at her father’s hand.
“You won it just fine. I’m pretty sure I was in love with you long before you were in love with me.” He shrugged.
“That may be so but it wasn’t even until after our engagement that you would voice your feelings.” That was true, she had been afraid to say anything about how she had felt about him for a long time. “Have you told him?”
“Told him what?”
“That you love him.” She hadn’t, not once even though he had told her multiple times.
“No.”
“I didn’t think so, tell him before he proposes.” What?
“Is there something you know that I don’t?” Tadum leaned his head back closing his eyes to relax against the tree.
“Just how stubborn you can be when it comes to your emotions.” She swatted at his arm but all he did was give a little smirk. They sat there in silence for the next few hours afterward with no noise other than Marclays chitters as she chased bugs and at one point a squirrel.
As twilight fell Marinique alerted the others to someone approaching them, someone who looked very familiar.
“What is a field researcher doing out here?” Mari whispered watching the young man approaching them with a spring to his step.
“It’s Dantis.” Marinique whispered as the man drew closer and he could see the black and red eyes he was sporting. Mari’s heart sank at that.
“Eh? Who’s there!?” Dantis yelled at them stopping a handful of yards away. “Shadows? You’re back again?” Mari nodded as he drew closer. “What do you need this time?”
“An explanation would be nice.” Marinique motioned to the body standing before them.
“I was afraid you were going to say that. The last time you were here, the tear you asked about was a trap was it not?”
“How did you know? Or were you in on it?” Dantis took a seat across from Mari and shook his head.
“Not long after you left I picked up multiple disturbances in that area but after an hour or so all demon activity disappeared. Didn’t think nothing of it until all of them tears became active again a few days ago.” Her stomach sank as she processed what he was saying. It meant that the tears that had been set up to trap them had reactivated when the field researchers Karter sent out got near to them. “When they went dormant again I went out and poked around, your comrades or rather his,” He pointed to the body he was in. “are all dead.”
“He could have had a family you leech!” Marinique growled.
“I waited three days for someone to come to collect them but when no one came I took this vessel and buried the others.” That shocked all of them.
“You buried them?” Mari asked.
“I wasn’t going to leave them out there for the vultures, besides they were trying to do the right thing, not proper that they should be left that way.” He really was not like any demon or Witcher she had ever heard of, it was like he carried around a burden of guilt at what had fallen on those field researchers and just as much guilt at taking one of their bodies. “Did you, any of you know this man?” He pointed to himself again. His vessel now was a young man in his early twenties with fair skin, light brown shaggy hair, and a scar over his right eye.
“His name was Adam, he had only been a researcher for a handful of years.” Tadum was the only one to speak up but he said nothing more about the man.
“I suppose you would think me blasphemous if I wanted to carry on his name.” Tadum glared at him but Mari just shook her head.
“Keep your name, I like it.” Dantis gave her a smile and a nod.
“Now what is it you all are doing out here?”
“Well, we were waiting for you.” His eyebrows went up at her statement but other than that he made no movements. She explained to them what had happened in the field the day they were ambushed and what they wanted from him.
“Whoa now. You want me to willingly walk into a smorgasbord of demons just so I can summon one demon to try and get another’s name?”
“Basically, I know it’s asking a lot but we couldn’t see any other way to try and find out the hierarchy demons name.”
“And I suppose if I were to find this demons name you would want me to summon that one too?” She nodded sheepishly. “You’re asking a lot missy.”
“I know. Would you be willing to do it though? I have money…” She reached into her coat pocket for her bag of coins but Dantis shook his head.
“I wouldn’t be wanting them. I will do this but only because you asked me to.”
“Me?” He nodded. “Why?”
“You are the first person to not only look at me but treat me as an equal. That is something I have longed for for many years.” She smiled at him then stood.
“Do you want to stay here in your home or would you like to come back to the Inn with us?”
“I can only hope for so much kindness. I will stay here. Come call on me in the morning and I will join you on your mission.”
“Will you guys give us a second?” Marinique nodded knowing what she wanted to talk to Dantis about though Tadum showed a moment of hesitation. “I’ll be fine.” He nodded at her and followed Marinique down the small path a little way.
“You have a question you don’t want to ask in front of your comrades?” She shook her head. “Ah, not sure you want them to know the answer then. What is it?”
“What do you know about the Plague of Sins?” His face became guarded for a second and he looked away from her.
“Not one of my finest moments participating in that catastrophe.” He had been one of the demons that had tried to mate with a human? “Of course I was the only one who tried to woo the madam first.”
“You tried to woo a woman before you raped her?” His eyes flashed ire as he turned back to her.
“I did not do anything that was not consensual. Why are you asking about that dark time?” She explained about Nyght, what he was and her worry about what Dantis would be able to do to him.
“Couldn’t send him to purgatory less I sent myself.” What?
“So no Witcher can send him?” Dantis shrugged. “He is safe from anything I can do, be at ease.” He stood then with a stretch and started back towards his cave. Why would he have to send himself to purgatory in order to send Nyght? She shook her head at the strange way the conversation had ended and met back up with the others. She made it clear that Nyght was safe from harm when it came to this Witcher though she wasn’t sure about others like him. Filing the
information in the back of her head she followed her teammates back into town and to the Inn. They had recruited the Witcher to help them, Nyght was safe from harm and could accompany them, she should be happy but something in the back of her mind just couldn’t let go of what Dantis had said, what made him so different?
Twenty-six
It was nearly midafternoon before they reached the field the original tear was in. Dantis had been easy enough to pick up along the way, he had been waiting for them, it was Vander and Reagan that was the problem. They both claimed to be ill this morning after eating too much last night and took a good hour to rouse from their room and get on the road. Dantis hadn’t said anything to Nyght when Mari had introduced them, he had just nodded but she had watched him taking note in how many times Dantis looked to him. She couldn’t figure it out, he seemed so interested in Nyght but wouldn’t say a word just watched him from a distance like he had questions he was afraid to ask.
She hadn’t said anything to Nyght about what Dantis had said, only that he was safe to go on this journey with them. Now she was the one keeping secrets and it didn’t sit well with her but she wouldn’t have been able to answer any of Nyght’s questions if she had told him everything.
When they arrived at the farm the group passed three fresh graves on the side of the road with makeshift crosses driven into the ground at their heads. Dantis had buried the other field researchers, not only buried them but honored them. They made a quick stop to show their respect then carried on up the hill to the tear Mari and Marinique had visited before.
“It’s active.” Dantis’ whisper made the entire group freeze and go rigid. “No one’s used it yet but it’s active.” As if those words were what the tear was waiting for it ripped open revealing the chasms of hell it hid.
“That’s not good is it?” Vander whimpered as Marinique shook his head. Everyone began backing up at the site afraid of getting pulled into the dark depths, everyone except Dantis. He stood facing the tear staring into it as he whispered words no one could understand under his breath. The ground began to shake underneath them but still, he didn’t move. In the distance Mari could see the tears from before beginning to shimmer and twist on themselves releasing demon smoke into the air, a telltale sign they were all about to open.
“Dantis?!” The ground had stopped shaking but the wind was picking up spreading the demon smoke like a thick miasma over the ground. The tears sounded like tiny explosions as they ripped open all over the field, one after another spilling out low-level demons.
The swarm was unending, demon after demon poured out piling on top of each other snapping and growling when they were too close together yet none of them attacked, they just congregated giving the group a wide berth as they circled around them.
“What is going on? Why aren’t they attacking?” Reagan asked as they all stood in a circle with their backs to each other to keep a better eye on the growing hoard.
“Something big is about to happen.” Marinique whispered looking back to where Dantis still stood. The tear shuddered as a large demon stepped out, at least a level three, possibly higher. It let out a loud howl into the air causing all of the smaller demons to whimper like beaten dogs and bend low to the ground.
“What the…” The demon made its way over to them, passing right by Dantis, walking slowly as if its body weren’t capable of making the movements without extreme effort. It stopped a few yards away just watching them. “Alright now I’m getting creeped out.” They all stood there for a few minutes longer in silence, everyone watching the higher-level demon, it watching them. “What do you want?!”
“We want you…” It wasn’t the demon that spoke but another voice, a voice with no body coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. In a slow movement the demon raised its hand then waved it towards the group, a signal to start the battle. The lower level demons all charged at once, growling, snapping and tripping over one another to try and reach the group first.
Pulling the wind to her as hard as she could Mari sent out a blast that took out the first wave of demons but it barely slowed down the others.
“Give your name demon!” Dantis’ voice could be heard over the howling as demon after demon was destroyed. “By the power of the first star, I demand your name!” His voice was echoing around them causing the hierarchy demon to stop and laugh at him.
“You have no power first star.” Dantis just stood there staring the demon down.
“This is insane!” Mari pushed out another gust of wind doing her best to try and keep the demons at bay but they never stopped, for every ten that were destroyed fifteen appeared from the tears. Tadum and Nyght flanked her sides while the other three had been separated from them by the hoard of first level demons like a wave.
“Take out the leader and it will take out the hoard!” Tadum yelled over the howl of a demon he had just struck down with his sais. Mari focused on the hierarchy demon that had signaled the lower level demons to attack but as she focused on it another lower-level demon took the opportunity to attack. Pain ripped through her arm as a demon latched onto her growling and digging its teeth as far as it could into her flesh.
“Don’t move!” She froze at Nyght’s command as he grabbed one of his arrows and drove it through the demons’ skull. It whimpered then began to dissolve into thick black oil and smoke like its comrades that had fallen before it. Nyght said nothing else as he grabbed her arm and began cleaning it with the bandana from his hair. “Are you okay?”
She nodded as he placed a hand on her cheek. As soon as he touched her skin a blast shook the ground underneath them causing the ground to crack and crumble sending everyone jumping in different directions to avoid being swallowed by the earth.
“Touching…I didn’t know Shadows mixed business with pleasure.” Nyght sat up with Mari, holding her as he had tried to protect her from the quake. Regaining their footing the group of three realized the lower level demons had all stopped attacking and had moved back to give the hierarchy demon a wide berth as it approached.
“Why are you after me!?”
“You think we don’t know you’re special? That we haven’t noticed your abilities? You think he hasn’t realized you’re the key?” Though the words were screamed at the group they were still hard to understand, demons weren’t known for their public speaking abilities and every word was laced with a gurgle as if it were talking underwater. Behind the demon, the hoard of lesser demons awaited the command of attack.
Nyght’s voice ripped through the snarling as he yelled at the demon. “What the hell are you talking about?! Mari’s no different than the rest of us!”
“So she has let you think.” In the blink of an eye, the demon had charged forward, everyone but Mari scattered at the force of the change in the air. One long-clawed blackened hand reached out and grabbed Mari by the neck suspending her in the air by its hold; using its thumb it tilted her face up to meet its gaze. Mari growled and spit in its face. “So angry for such a pretty girl.” The demon squeezed her neck tighter and wiped the spit from its face with its free hand. “What would your mother think of your attitude?” Mari stopped struggling but kept her hands locked around the demons’ arm, it couldn’t mean what she thought it meant.
“My…”
“You think we didn’t know?” The demon shrugged and tossed her to the side like a rag doll, she skidded a few feet on the dry cracked earth. With a flourish that would do a magician proud, the demon turned to face his entourage. “Why would I put on this glorious play if not for a star?!” It raised its hand in the air and snapped its fingers, everyone covered their ears at the reverberation as a tear in the fabric of time appeared next to it. From the tattered hole another large demon stepped forward, this one larger than the first but just as disfigured; its blackened flesh seemed to crawl as if it were covered with thousands of bugs but its eyes, its eyes were pure white telling anyone who noticed that this demon was not created by Lucifer, this demon was created from a human soul.
Mari growled as she got to her feet and engaged her eye but the moment she looked to the demon she cursed her gift, the soul in torment, the person this demon had been when it was mortal was the last person she ever thought she would see again. A gut-wrenching scream of agony tore through the sky as she called out to her mother.
Nyght looked from the two demons to Mari and back, though he didn’t have Mari’s ability to see the souls of those who were once mortal he knew she wouldn’t make the mistake of judging a demon wrong. Tadum came to the same conclusion as the rest of their team assembled around them watching Mari with wary eyes.
“What do we do?” The question was pointed at Marinique but he didn’t know what to tell everyone. He had hoped Mari would never find her mother, hoping in the back of his mind that her demon form had already been destroyed. Those hopes crashed down around him as he watched his niece tense and unwavering from where she stared at the demon.
“We do what Shadows are supposed to do.”
“You should thank me for reuniting you.” The demon whispered bowing first to Mari then to the demon it had summoned. With a snap of its fingers, it pointed to Mari with a sickening smirk. The demons that had been waiting attacked the other Silhouette members keeping them from interfering with the demon and Mari.
“Mother…” She was frozen in place, in fear, watching the soul of her mother writhing in the agony and torment of being bound to one of Lucifer’s beings. Being distracted by the soul she didn’t see the attack until it was too late to do anything, thick strings shot from the demons’ hands caught her in the stomach sending her flying in an arc to crash through the roof of the old barn nearby.
“Nyght! Get to her!” Marinique intercepted a demon that had been about to strike Nyght and finished off the one he had been fighting in one blow. “Go now!” Nyght didn’t argue he just took off running to Mari’s side leaving the others to handle the hoard.
