by Anna Lewis
I smiled.
“What did you do?”
“Ah, the usual—drinking, fighting, and wenching,” he winked at me, and I laughed. “We collected treasures beyond anything that I could have imagined in my solitary life.” He nodded slowly, musing.
“What was your favorite adventure?” I prompted.
He smiled and began to tell me. For the next few hours, he told me many tales of adventure and treasure. We finished off the bottle of wine and got another. Then another. I was feeling warm and fuzzy inside. I could feel myself leaning in closer to Ben as he told me about himself and Aiden. It was more than that, though—I was gravitating toward Ben, getting wrapped up within his orbit.
“And then, we ran,” Ben said expressively. “Aiden was having trouble shifting into his dragon because of the artifact—it was repellent to dragons somehow. We ended up destroying it, but in that moment, we just tore out of there. It was the strangest secret society I’ve ever encountered.” He shook his head. His cheeks were lightly flushed. He looked at me and smiled. I could feel my skin tingling and something warm rise within my chest. His smile faltered, and he leaned toward me.
Our lips collided, and I found myself kissing him back deeply. I got out of my chair in a fluid movement. He pulled me toward him, and I straddled his lap in the chair, brushing my hips against his. He exhaled, burying his fingers in my hair and pulling me in closer. Our kisses grew frantic, mouths open. I ran my tongue over his teeth, feeling the points of his elongated canines. I could feel him against my leg, growing hard. His hands were on my hips, then moving upward. His fingers brushed my skin beneath my shirt. With a jolt, I pulled away, gasping.
“I—I’m sorry,” I said, pulling away. Ben frowned, his eyes were sad. I was drunk, and after hearing all of the stories about the adventures that the two friends had shared over the centuries, how could I come between them? “I—Lex.”
“It’s okay,” Ben said softly. He placed a comforting hand on my cheek. “Take the time that you need.”
“Thank you,” I said, and promptly burst into heartrending, drunken tears. I had never been more conflicted in my life. I wanted him. I wanted him badly. But in the back of my mind, I was also thinking about how attracted I was to Aiden, as well. They were opposites—my desire for each of them pulling me in two different directions.
***
AURORA:
Hands. I had seen and felt hands pushing me away from the male witch, Morton Bingle, out in front of his shop. It did not take me long to figure that one out. It was Meroe. I had never encountered a ghost before. They usually stay away from demons as we tend to enjoy trapping them on the rare occasion that we can. Demons enjoy perverting the spirits of the Dead. I decided to set a trap for the little mouse.
I returned to the alleyway across from the shop, waiting for the male witch to come out. Meroe would protect him again, and then I could take her instead. I smiled to myself. It was not long before he exited. I could see her beside him. She was a silver wisp, barely visible.
I made my attack. The male witch screamed as I snarled. Meroe’s hands came up to block me, and I grabbed her. She froze, her eyes wide in shock.
“Hello, little mouse,” I said. “Let’s play, shall we?” I vanished, Meroe in tow. We re-appeared in Lex’s penthouse apartment. He was lounging back on his black leather couch, a tumbler of dark liquid in his hand. He cocked an eyebrow when he saw me, holding the ghostly hand of Meroe.
“Look what I caught, master,” I hissed. The ghost of Meroe struggled against my grasp. I looked at her. “You know that demons are not of the real world, little mouse, don’t you?” She looked at me, eyes wide in surprise. I grinned.
“She has probably been to see Samara,” Lex said, standing. Meroe continued to struggle against my hold. Lex’s face began to crumple as he let his human façade slip away. His true nature was suddenly before us. Meroe went slack in my grip. I gasped in awe at what I beheld.
Lex’s skin was rough, scarred. Sigils were carved into his flesh, making him more powerful. They glowed with a power all their own, feeding off of Lex’s life force. His mouth was nothing more than a violent slash in the skin of his face, and his teeth were all sharply pointed. His eyes were flame and darkness. His hair had vanished, leaving a scalp that was broken only by the sigils carved into it. Without warning, his long yellowed talons lashed out at the ghost witch. She screamed in pain as he hit her.
“TELL ME,” he rasped, his voice powerful. The ghost witch looked at him with wide terror-filled eyes, her jaw clamped shut. Facing a major demon, one whose powers were magnified, Meroe was in over her head. I laughed with glee.
***
SAMARA:
Several days had passed, and Ben and I had stepped around each other cautiously. I didn’t know what to say to him. I felt deeply guilty for leading him on. He said nothing about it, helping me to look through the books and offering me food. He was kind. It was his best trait by far.
I sat in the library, reading through a text with a list of the major demons. The one whose description I was reading, Vail, had a scent like sulfur. Nope. Move on to the next one. Lomak. I sighed and began to read.
“Hey kid.” I looked up to find Aiden looking in at me, a wide smile across his handsome face.
“Hey,” I replied. “How’d it go?” In response, he held up a tiny gold statue, the gleam of emeralds catching the light.
“Mine!” he stated triumphantly. I smiled.
“Congratulations! Have you figured out what it does yet?” He looked down at it, shaking his head.
“No. I’ll keep it around until I do, though.” He slid it into the back pocket of his jeans and walked into the library. He sat down in the chair across the table from me, placing his elbows on the table and cupping his chin in his hands. “Miss me, beautiful?”
“Oh, yes, very much,” I replied sarcastically. I had, in actuality, missed him very much, but I wasn’t about to inflate his ego any more than it already was. “Can I look at your lady?”
He pulled it out of his back pocket and handed it to me. For such a small thing, it was heavy. It was in the shape of a slender, beautiful woman, her hair caught in a breeze. A rope hung from her neck like a necklace, and she held a snake aloft in her hands, as though offering to the person in front of her. It fit in the palm of my hand. I could feel the power emanating from it. I frowned.
“This has great power,” I remarked, turning it over in my hand. Interested, Aiden cocked his head to the side quizzically.
“Can you tell what it does?” he asked hopefully.
“I can try,” I offered. I closed my eyes, beginning a chant of revealing. I kept it whispered, beneath my breath. I had the feeling that the relic should not be awoken. With my mage-sense, I could see a woman inside of the relic. She looked at me with dark sockets for eyes. I felt her intentions—they were dark. Her skin was brown, and weathered, like dried cornhusks. Her hair was jet black, but stringy and thinning. She looked starved. She was trying to tell me something—What? I asked her, and she seemed to growl, baring her blackened teeth. She spoke a different language, but I could sense she was speaking to me. Bring me a gift, Necromancer. I will keep it. She was asking for a sacrifice. I nodded. I understand, I told her, and then carefully backed away. I opened my eyes and looked at Aiden.
“It’s alive,” I told him. “She wants you to bring her a soul.” His eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“It’s a she?” his eyes were wide in surprise.
“Yes. She’s hungry.”
“She needs to be fed?”
“Yes. If you want her to remain happy,” I explained. “I don’t think she’s eaten in a while. She looks as though she is starving.” He nodded, eyes wide. I handed the relic back to him.
“Thank you,” he said, looking very overwhelmed. He sighed. “I hate when relics need things. It’s so much upkeep.”
“The scourge of the treasure hunter,” I replied. He smiled.
“I brought yo
u something,” he said, leaning forward. My heart leapt at the same time as my conflicting feelings for Ben caused an ache.
“What is it?” I asked carefully. He leaned across the table, whispering in my ear, his breath hot against my skin. He smelled of spices and aftershave. My heart pounded wildly in lust.
“A kiss,” he said simply. His lips lightly brushed over my skin, and I felt as though I were being set on fire. He was looking me right in the eyes, about to lean in and kiss me, kiss me properly, when Ben walked in.
“I found it,” he announced. Aiden and I pulled away quickly—too quickly. Ben had a strange look on his face. He knows, I thought guiltily, but he smiled his usual, easy smile.
“What did you find, Benny?” Aiden had, of course, recovered entirely. Ben held up a book.
“I found your demon.”
“How do you know?” I asked, and Ben looked down at the massive hardback book in his hands and began to read.
“Malak is one of the greater demons. He has a lust for power that has been growing since the Dark Ages,” he read, his finger brushing over the page. “He has increased his own powers by discovering the sigils that have the ability to do so. He carved them into his own skin, amplifying his powers tenfold. He has an obsession with power over the Dead and the Living. He walks about in the skin of a man, a man beautiful enough to charm women who have powers that he lacks.”
“That’s him!” I shouted, getting up and racing toward Ben. I wrapped my arms around him tightly. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“Anything to help a pretty lady,” he replied.
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” I said, pulling away and looking up and into his eyes.
“You could have. Just not as quickly,” he said confidently. I frowned with sudden realization.
“What do I do next? My mother didn’t say.” My heart sank with the realization.
“You have to find a way to trap him,” Ben replied, scratching his nose thoughtfully. “Since he’s a high demon, it has to be extremely effective. A long-term solution.”
“More reading?” Aiden asked sadly.
“More reading,” Ben confirmed. He headed for the shelves with the grimoires.
“I’ll make food,” Aiden suggested, stalking out of the room.
***
MEROE:
I faced the high demon. He was strong—too strong for me, I realized with a sickening lurch. The sigils that were carved into his skin glowed against the dark, burnt-looking flesh. They were amplifying his power. A sharp pain, like a knife, entered my head. I fought against it with all of my powers, but I was nowhere near strong enough. It was as though my head exploded into a million tiny pieces. All of my memories played through my mind, forced out by Lex’s enormous amount of power.
My memories spun, images passing by as though they were played on a screen before me. The ones focused on Samara began to appear, in sequence. The night we met, as children, at a coven gathering. Samara and I at school. Samara and I at the playground. Samara, high school-aged, her head thrown back as she roared with laughter. Samara and I taking the initiation ritual into the coven when we were eighteen. Samara the day that her mother died. Samara helping me do a working. No. No. NO! I tried to fight the flow—we were getting too close to the answer.
Then an image of Samara from the last time that I had seen her when I was alive flashed before me. She looked…tired. She was shaking her head, no. Then, I saw silver paths in the darkness. The path to Samara was glowing. I screamed in frustration, but I had lost any power that I might have had. I was dead. My protective spells had all died with me. Samara’s face appeared before me, sobbing.
Lex cried out in triumph.
It all stopped then. There was nothing more. Lex screamed in anger.
“Where…where is she, exactly?” he snarled at me. I smiled slightly.
“You do not know how to travel the Paths of the Dead,” I said. “That’s the only way that I went.” He screamed in a horrible, otherworldly voice. He had no affinity for the Dead. That is something that only a human Necromancer can do. A demon has no comprehension of Life and Death. Thus while he had a rough location for where Samara was, he didn’t have anything exact.
He reached forward, slicing into my insubstantial body. His touch burned. I looked him bravely in the eye. I would not give him the satisfaction of hearing my pain. Demons feed off of that. He looked over at Aurora, who stood in the corner of the room, like a shadow.
“Travel the Paths,” he ordered. Her eyes went wide.
“But—I…I might get lost,” she said.
“I don’t care,” Lex replied darkly. “I know that the only being that you care for is yourself. Find her, or you will lose everything that you hold dear.” He turned slowly to face her, and she flinched.
“Go,” he hissed. Aurora vanished. He turned to face me, a wild look in his eyes.
* * *
AURORA:
I traveled the Paths of the Dead. I could see the silver thread that led to Samara. It was faint. Someone was purposefully obscuring it—no, more than one person. The whole coven was working together. My heart raced—if I lost that thread, I could become lost here in the darkness forever. A demon cannot die, and the Paths of the Dead are many.
Several times, I became lost in the tangle of threads, losing the one that led to Samara. I could feel the power of her coven, seeking to keep me from my goal. My breathing became labored. The glowing string was before me. I stood still, afraid that if I moved, my surroundings would shift, and I would find myself hopelessly lost. Finally, in desperation, I reached out, grabbing the silver thread. I screamed in pain as it burned my hand. Before I could pull away, however, I was sucked in to the place where it led.
I found myself standing in darkness. There were a few streetlamps, glowing orange. It was silent. I looked about me. I was in a small town. It had one main street. There were no signs of habitation aside from the streetlamps and the cars parked by the tiny houses that lined the block that I was on.
I looked down at my hand, which throbbed with pain. There was a bright red, blistering burn across it, as though I had touched a scalding wire. That will not soon go away, I thought to myself. I tore off a strip from the hem of my shirt and wrapped it around the burn before turning my attention back to my surroundings.
The temperature was warm, and the air was dry. I could see the far-off shapes of mesas and saguaros. I was in the desert. What a hiding place—I would never have thought to look here! I would have assumed that the witches would have sent their own to somewhere comfortable—somewhere in the tropics, to wait on a soft beach with a fruity drink. Evidently not. This was far from paradise with its tiny shabby houses and dull dun earth. Suddenly, I felt my senses perk up. This place did have one thing.
Wafting along the breeze, I smelled the soft, delectable scent of a baby’s skin. I looked at the tiny white house that stood on a dirt lawn beside me. No lights were turned on. A window in the downstairs was open. I walked toward it, peeking in.
The crib stood right beside the window. A nasty bundle of sage was above the crib, and a bowl of whiskey for the sidhe was set out upon the sill. The child looked up at me. It was grabbing its feet, its innocent eyes wide. It showed no fear, making a tiny, happy mewling sound. My stomach growled in hunger. I could sense that Samara was nearby. She probably felt safe. We had located her more quickly than even we had anticipated. I reached inside of the window for a quick snack.
***
SAMARA:
I continued to page through the grimoire that I had been reading for what seemed like hours, leafing through its section on binding spells. I had the beginnings of a headache clawing at my temples, and my eyes felt dry and gritty. I looked up. Aiden and Ben were standing across the room.
Looking at them, I felt deeply confused. Ben was scruffy, but totally laid back and very sweet. Aiden was clean-cut with toned muscles. He was all confidence and flirtation. Together, they were the whol
e package. Why couldn’t they just meld together into one person? I thought with a sigh. Perhaps there’s a spell in one of these grimoires…I paused, squinting. The two dragons were whispering to each other, deep into some kind of a debate. Aiden said something, and Ben looked at him, doubtfully raising an eyebrow as he folded his arms. He raised a hand to yank on his beard.
“I don’t know, dude,” I heard Ben reply in an undertone. “She may not want to.”
“I may not want to what?” I asked, my curiosity piqued. They both jumped, not realizing that I had noticed them. Ben looked surprised, but Aiden just smiled, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. He tucked his hands into his pockets and began to easily stroll toward me.
He stopped right beside me. He was close. Very close. I could smell his aftershave. I craned my neck to look at him, but he leaned over, putting his mouth right up to my ear.
“We know you like us,” he whispered, his breath hot on the tender skin beneath my ear. “We know that you’re not just using us for our books.”
“I do like you,” I said, a little confused. “Both of you.”
“No,” he whispered. “You like us.” He pulled away to look me in the eye, his eyebrows waggling in exaggeration. I laughed and gave him a playful shove.
“What are you getting at?”
“Relax baby girl,” he said. “Let us take care of you.”
“What?”
“You’re so—contained. Don’t be that way,” he said easily.
“What do you mean?”
“You think that it can only be one or the other,” he explained, gesturing with each of his hands in turn. “You can have both, babe.”
“You aren’t—”
“Jealous? No,” he scrunched his nose as he said it. “It’s not really sharing, either.”
“You’ll have both of us. At the same time,” Ben explained. “That is what you want, isn’t it?” I was speechless for a moment. My mouth hung open in shock.
