Smoke, Mirrors and Demons (The Carnival Society Book 1)

by Kat Cotton

  Duke kept leading people toward the exit. Nuno moved to the glitter cannon. About bloody time too. We needed that demon incapacitated.

  Before he could shoot the glitter though, the guy from the next show came running out.

  “What do you think you’re doing? My show will be ruined.” He ran toward the stage then turned when he saw Lilly and the demon. “You have to stop this nonsense. You have to —”

  His sentence finished with a gurgle as the demon flicked the edge of his claw across the guy’s throat. There was no questioning the sharpness of those claws. The guy dropped to the ground, twitching and screaming.

  The demon moved closer to Lilly, blood dripping onto the floor boards from his claws. Lilly closed the distance between them. She never broke eye contact with him. Not looking away for even a second. All her focus was on the demon.

  Did she need to do that to maintain her illusion?

  I grabbed the bottom of the hoop and swung myself down so I hung from the bottom edge. It was a long drop from here to the ground.

  The demon swung at Lilly. She dodged his claw. He swung again. She didn’t fight, she just kept dodging. That would hold the demon for a while but it wouldn’t stop him. She’d tire herself out but he could fight forever.

  I swung then let go of the hoop, arcing through the air. Nuno must’ve fired the glitter cannon at the same time. I flew through a rain of glitter, the world turning silver and gold and oh-so shiny. If it wasn’t for the encroaching danger, it’d be so beautiful.

  I wanted to stay suspended up there forever, in a world so sparkly and pure that it was like a dream.

  But the screams around me got louder and the glitter got in my eyes.

  Hitting the ground with a thud, I couldn’t focus for a few seconds. Then the glitter cleared.

  Lilly had returned to being Lilly and the demon kept advancing, not slowed in his steps at all.

  Chapter 34

  GLITTER COVERED THE demon, sticking to the slime of his skin. He laughed.

  “Fool me once,” he said. “You know the rest. Any spell you can use has an anti-spell.”

  Shit. I hadn’t intended fighting with him at full strength. That wasn’t in the plan at all.

  The old woman had said I couldn’t defeat him. She’d also said this was a stupid plan. I looked around, hoping for a means of escape. A way I could get everyone out of here and safe.

  Nuno knelt on the ground with the guy from the late show. I hoped that meant the guy wasn’t dead and Nuno was trying to heal him. Lilly glowered at me.

  “I could’ve taken him,” she yelled at me.

  “You’d have died.”

  “I can’t die,” she yelled back.

  She couldn’t? That would’ve been a useful thing to tell me earlier. I’d file that away to process later. Hopefully. There might be no later. Not with the demon advancing on me.

  Lilly moved closer to me. I knew she wanted to help but there was nothing she could do. Even if she couldn’t die, she could suffer horrific injuries.

  There was one thing she could do though.

  “The dressing room,” I hissed. “My amulet.”

  If I had that, I’d have some protection from the demon. I wasn’t sure if she’d make it there and back in time and I wasn’t sure how much the amulet could do but I clutched at straws.

  “Big red necklace?” she asked. “Ugly and clunky?”

  I nodded. I wasn’t about to get into a discussion about jewelry tastes. She ran off. The demon ignored her, not taking his focus from me.

  “You can do this easy,” he said. “Just stand still and it’ll be far less painful.”

  Yeah, right. Like I’d believe him.

  He’d shed his human clothes and all vestige of his human self. The gunk covering his body had a sliminess to it and the claws on his feet clacked on the parquetry floor as he walked.

  “I’m not really ready to have the gates of hell opened today. I’ve got other plans.”

  I backed away further, hoping I wasn’t too close to the edge of the stage. Not many people remained in the audience now but there were a few distant claps around me. I thought it’d been a pretty cool line too but those people should not be here. Damn, I could see George’s stupid hat.

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing. Hell is fun.”

  I backed away further. The clacking of his toe claws got louder.

  “It’s not something I can see the positive side of, to be honest.”

  The demon roared then charged at me. I jumped to the side, spinning through the air before landing on my feet. He spun around to face me, his roar becoming fiercer.

  He charged again, those claws aiming for my face. But he wouldn’t slice me. If he did, he’d waste my blood — and I had a feeling he didn’t operate that way. There’d been no blood at Gretchen’s murder scene. He’d taken it all.

  As he approached, I backflipped, slamming my feet into his chin as I spun over. My ankles took most of the impact and it barely slowed him down, but it bought me time.

  A glimmer caught my eye but I ignored it. The whole stage shone from the glitter. Then I realised Nuno had lowered the hoop.

  I dived across the stage, the demon’s claws almost grazing me. I reached out, I had to get the hoop. I couldn’t dodge this guy forever.

  My palm connected with the metal and I closed my fist around the edge. A firm hold with my left hand. I twisted to grab it with my right as well but didn’t quite reach it. Nuno raised the hoop. I could do this one-handed.

  The demon rushed but I kicked him in the head before pulling myself up. I floated, way above that demon.

  He roared and stomped, looking around for a way to get me. I couldn’t stay up here forever but I could regroup for a moment. I held tight, waiting for my heart to stop pounding.

  From up here, that demon looked like a cat pawing for a cat toy. I almost laughed.

  But something moved in the seats.

  That damn festival director rushed for Nuno. If he got Nuno out of the way, he could lower the winch and I’d be back in the demon’s reach.

  “Nuno,” I cried out.

  When Nuno saw the director, he screamed. He really screamed. If I thought his scream the other night had been something, this one really turned it up to agonizing levels. The director stopped in his tracks, covering his ears and hunkering down into a squat as though being lower would help.

  What the hell was that noise? It became more than a scream. It split my head almost wiping out any thought I could contain.

  The scream intensified and the pain became more than physical. There was something in that scream. The sound of forgotten memories, of times when life seemed almost too painful to bear. The things I’d locked in that box in my mind became loosened. It took all my might to hold on to the hoop and not plummet to the ground.

  I tried to fight against the stream of memories. I’d locked them away for a reason. I didn’t want to think about my life in the circus at all. Even the best times, when I’d had the chance to train with the other acrobats. Or when Fat Sally let me sit in her lap and string beads. Or Freddie letting me help train the animals. On their own, they were happy things but in the big picture, they’d become part of the lie that had been my life then. I hadn’t been able to see it because I was a dumb kid but later, the badness hit me. It’d all been an illusion and I’d been pampered for a reason.

  The memories came thicker and faster. My head swirled and that scream cut at me. I wanted it to stop. I sobbed and my belly heaved.

  My grip on the hoop loosened. I willed myself to hold on, to hold tight but those thoughts didn’t seem to make it from my head to my hands. They kept flickering like cheap Christmas lights.

  If I moved to the side a little, I could link my arms around the hoop and anchor myself.

  I swung but, instead, that put me off balance.

  I stretched out, grabbing for that edge, knowing I’d never reach it.

  I went tumbling, straight to the groun
d.

  Chapter 35

  MY BODY ACHED AND NO wonder. Falling to the ground more than once would do that to you. The demon bellowed and laughed. He’d not let me escape on the hoop again. Before I could get to my feet, he’d slashed the strop causing the hoop to fall to the stage. It bounced several times then rolled into the seats.

  I’d run out of options. Fight. That was the only thing I could do.

  I had to push every doubt and every fear from my mind. I’d have to fight him and I’d have to win. There was no other option.

  He rushed at me and I dodged but much slower this time. I’d done something to my ankle when I’d fallen. Just what I needed right now. A twisted ankle.

  “You can do this, Jayne,” Duke yelled. He’d come back into the tent and was with the guy from the next show, obviously clearing any memory of what had happened.

  I liked his vote of confidence. If the demon had been weakened from the glitter, that’d be one thing but my secret weapon had been a bust. I could only rely on myself.

  Nuno stopped screaming. The absence of that sound created a void inside me. The memories settled like debris on the ground. I’d have to deal with the aftermath but that was a job for later. Right now, it was kill or be killed.

  The demon’s eyes bore into me, his gaze like laser beams. Is that how he did it? He created some kind of freaky paranormal pipeline? I needed to get out of his range of vision. I couldn’t let him suck me dry.

  I jumped off the stage and ran into the seating area. The demon pursued me. I looked to the exit but if I fled, I’d be out in public with that demon. Other lives would be at risk. This tent was the safest place for a fight.

  Ducking down between the seats, I listened for his footfalls. I could feel the solid thud, even hear the sound of his breathing. Keeping low, I raced along the line of seats.

  “Not going to work,” the demon called out. “I’ll find you. You can’t hide. I can hear the thumping of your heart. I can hear the blood move through your veins. I’m going to find you and then I’m going to drain that precious blood from your body until you’re just an empty shell.”

  That sounded pretty gross but he was right. I needed to stand up and face him. That took a whole world of faith. I’d never tested my powers. Even if the old woman said I wasn’t strong enough, I didn’t have to believe her.

  I’d never backed down from a challenge. Ever. Why start now?

  “You’ll never beat me,” the demon said.

  I stood up with my hands on my hips. “Oh yeah.”

  I remembered the cocky kid I’d been. Never knowing fear. Never backing down. That kid was still inside me. I’d pushed most of her aside in my quest to blend in but she’d never completely gone away.

  The demon laughed.

  “Jayne,” Lilly yelled.

  She threw me the amulet. I caught it in my left hand and put it around my neck.

  “It’s a pretty trinket,” the demon said. “But it has limits.”

  I shrugged. “And so do you,” I said.

  Pity I didn’t know what they were. But nothing in this world was all-powerful.

  I put my hand on the amulet. I wasn’t sure if this would work but I shut my eyes and stilled myself. It took a lot of will to keep my eyes shut when I could hear that demon advancing but the warmth of that gem flowed into me. My powers began to well up and blossom. I didn’t try to hold them back.

  My body shook. The vibrations seemed too strong for my weak flesh to contain. Maybe the demon wouldn’t need to kill me. Maybe I’d break apart from the inside.

  I grabbed hold of one of the struts to steady myself. The strut shook, the mirrors attached to it rattled. One fell to the ground and shattered.

  Even the ground beneath my feet and the tent around me wobbled. My vision blurred and my stomach seemed filled with razors. The world seemed to change color, as though a gloss of some unknown shade had been painted over everything.

  I couldn’t stop now, not even if I wanted to. The force I connected to had taken over.

  My mouth moved. That was how it felt. Not the sensation of speaking but of my mouth being moved. The words didn’t come from me. I was a mere dummy.

  They tumbled out, almost becoming visceral. Words I never knew, swirling around me, filling up the air. They sounded Latin or something just as ancient.

  The demon’s laughter turned to a roar. Not a mocking roar this time but one of pain and defeat.

  I could do this.

  If my body didn’t shatter and I didn’t fly into a million pieces, I could actually do this.

  Everything went black. The tent around me with its gaudy colors and baroque art and its seats and mirrors and bars all disappeared. There was nothing but blackness. And only one of us would come out of this blackness alive. I knew that in my soul.

  Chapter 36

  THE DEMON REACHED FOR me with a pull like octopus tentacles. That pull ripped at me. Not at my physical body but something inside me.

  I kept chanting, the words banging against the tentacle arms. Some of the words became razor sharp, others strong like oxen. The tentacle arms tried to choke me, to strangle off the words. I couldn’t let them. I had to be stronger.

  I gagged, strangled by the pull from the demon. A sensation gripped me like he’d twisted my windpipe, blocking off my oxygen supply.

  How long did this chanting take anyway? Surely he should be dead by now. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold on.

  The demon snorted. “Just give up,” he said. But his voice no longer roared.

  He was growing weaker. I was growing weaker too. I couldn’t keep going when I could barely breathe. Dizziness threatened to drown me. All the time that pull, at my internal organs, at my blood, at my soul.

  My voice grew deeper, changing tone, and the twisting of my windpipe stopped.

  I gasped, drawing in as much air as I could.

  That demon had powers I’d never imagined. I could breathe now but I had human weaknesses.

  Pain struck my belly like fire. I doubled over, clutching at it. That pain ripped through me. It hurt like nothing had hurt me ever before. The kind of agony that makes you want to die just so you no longer have to endure it.

  I scrunched my eyes up tight and tried to ignore the pain.

  If I could focus on one small thing, I could survive.

  Buzz. He needed me. I had to stay alive for him.

  The pain struck harder and my body crumpled. I ignored it and tried to straighten myself.

  Buzz wasn’t getting any younger. He had to have someone around to look after him. I couldn’t die and leave him alone.

  As I chanted now, it seemed like the words choked out of me, wringing themselves free.

  The power that used me would surely want to keep me alive. If that was the case, it could give me a helping hand right about now. Some extra strength or a power surge to topple the demon, that’d be nice.

  My voice became weaker, like a tap turned back to a trickle.

  The fight drained my body.

  I needed to get strength from somewhere but that wasn’t an option. Not here. Not in this darkness. I couldn’t stand, I could barely talk and all around me was nothingness.

  Pain struck in my back now, a fiery intense blow, like my vertebrae had been set on fire and then pulled apart. I writhed. I needed to get to my feet but I could only writhe in pain.

  Then it moved to my shoulders.

  I cried out.

  I didn’t want to show weakness but I couldn’t control myself now. I couldn’t fight. Pain piled upon pain. And each strike left me weaker as the desire to escape this hell grew.

  I struggled on even while my body became flayed, the words merely a gurgle now. My body weakened much faster than the demon’s did. I fought with pure will, with nothing more to cling to.

  I crumpled down, lower and lower.

  Before I hit the ground, a strange sensation flowed through me. A power linking with my own. A power different to my own but one I
could feed on and use to rejuvenate myself.

  I couldn’t see them here but I sensed them. Duke and Lilly and Nuno. Somehow, they’d connected to me, their strength flowing to me.

  The demon struck out again and I whimpered but, when he struck, my voice became stronger. No longer a trickle or a gurgle but sturdy force.

  The more power they gave me, the louder my voice became. As I chanted, the darkness fell away around me.

  At first, it was only a murky outline like the bare beginnings of sunrise.

  My chanting became more powerful. My awareness of my surroundings grew. I knew where I was. I knew what I was doing. I had a purpose.

  I rubbed my hands against something smooth. The wooden strut of the tent. Reaching up, the coldness of the mirror. Beneath my feet, the rubber matting covering cables on the floor.

  A cold breeze blew around me.

  The bar had a faint smell of stale beer and from outside, I could smell popcorn, hear people waiting for the next show.

  I was part of this world. I was alive.

  The demon groaned and I kept chanting.

  Duke and Lilly and Nuno stood by me, their hands touching me. I could feel them now, not just sense them.

  More words came from me, thrown out like the bellow of an ox.

  Then silence.

  I fumbled around, not sure of what happened. Had my power gone? I waited for the demon to strike again but that strike never came. Instead, my surroundings filled with color, flashes so bright I could barely stand them.

  I blinked. I blinked twice.

  “He’s gone,” Lilly said.

  “He’s dead,” Duke added.

  The demon was dead. I’d won. But I felt like I’d been hit by a truck and I wanted to sleep for a week.

  Arms enclosed around me. Hugging me so tight that they squeezed the breath out of me.

  “You’re alive,” Duke said.

  I couldn’t answer him but he didn’t stop hugging me. He felt warm and solid and strong.

  Soon, Lilly and Nuno joined him. All hugging.