Elven Blood (Imp Book 3)

by Dunbar, Debra

  That actually worked to my advantage. If I had to sit next to other humans, or elves, and make polite dinner conversation, I’d be discovered in less time than it took an elf to drain a goblet.

  “Good luck,” the guard told me before leaving my side. A human apprentice would hardly be entering the banquet with an elven guard.

  I stepped into the hall and it hit me immediately. Cold. Temperatures in Hel ranged from hot to hotter. The elves did some temperature control of their areas to provide greater variation in support of their beloved foliage, but this was far outside the range I’d ever experienced. It was below freezing in the place. My skin rose in goosebumps and my nipples became like rocks. I was amused to see the humans shivering around the fire, some cupping hands around a steaming beverage. Elves and demons would be reasonably at ease, but humans had a narrow window of comfort when it came to atmospheric parameters. They’d be cold, especially in these ridiculous scraps of clothing the elves considered fashionable. I had an urge to grab the tablecloths and pass them around.

  “Here. This helps.” Something warm and hard nudged my arm. I looked down and saw a hot steaming mug.

  I followed the mug to an arm and upward to a smiling, male, human face. Shit. Not two seconds over the threshold and one was accosting me. This game would be over real quick.

  “Uh thanks.” I took the mug and sipped. It tasted of green and berries, but there was something else in it beyond the leaves swirling in pretty patterns at the bottom. Immediately I felt more comfortable.

  Sipping my tea in silence, I pointedly ignored the man who’d brought it. The human shifted his weight awkwardly, but didn’t leave. He tried to keep his eyes above my neck, but couldn’t keep his gaze from drifting to my headlights. I wanted to laugh, but I really wanted him to go away more.

  “I’ve not seen you around. Are you from Cyelle, or another kingdom?”

  “Gaiaia,” I mumbled into my tea. I really wished he’d go away.

  “Gaial? I’ve always wanted to go there. They say the volcanic rock formations are pleasingly symmetrical and rise up to ten meters in clusters.”

  Damn, he sounded like a guide book. He knew more about my supposed home than I did.

  “I’ve just come here,” I told him hastily. “I haven’t seen or done much.”

  He laughed. “Nor will you. I’ve spent the last ten years either with my nose in a book or my body in a circle. We do make an effort to get to these events though, so we don’t become crazed recluses. Are you a level four or five?”

  Fuck. “I just came across the gates,” I repeated. “I really don’t know much about anything yet.”

  He peered at me, a kind of excitement in his eyes. “Seriously? I thought I misheard you. Your Elvish: your accent is amazing for someone recently arrived. You must be a willing apprentice. They’d never let a new human stroll around a festival otherwise. I haven’t been home in fifteen years. What’s it like? What’s going on?”

  I kicked myself for not remembering the language issue then made some generalized comments about military conflicts, areas of drought and famine, and any notable epidemics that had occurred in the last decade. We demons tended to keep our eyes on those sorts of things so we can jump in and contribute whenever we feel the urge.

  “I was twelve when I fell through the trap to this side,” he reminisced. “My whole world changed.”

  I was curious if he’d go back given the chance. Probably not. He was a mage. He seemed to be enjoying his life. It’s not like the elves had grabbed him and made him shovel shit, after all. I kept silent though, hoping with the lack of conversation, my new friend would go away.

  No such luck. “I’m Kirby,” he said, extending an awkward hand. It was a touching gesture. Elves didn’t shake hands. He clearly remembered the human custom and was performing it with me, to make me feel welcome, or perhaps to connect with his old memories of a past life.

  “Samantha Martin,” I told him automatically. I shook his hand. There, now maybe he’d go away.

  Instead he launched into a lengthy lecture about the kingdom, the beneficent lord who ruled it, the festival at hand and how unusual and creative it was. This was just as good as going away. As he spoke, I glanced around and looked to see if there was anyone I wished to avoid.

  There were elves and humans throughout the hall, laughing and enjoying themselves. They tended to socialize separately, but there were some rare occurrences of an elf and human in the same group. I counted five demons in attendance. Not a lot, given the size of the party, but five demons would still be hard to handle. They seemed relaxed and playful. They didn’t appear to know I was in the kingdom from what I could see. Still, I unobtrusively checked their energy signatures, which was easy since they all leaked like bad plumbing.

  Every one of them was a heavy hitter. None of them were Low. It wasn’t likely that a Low would be invited to an elf banquet, but I had hoped they wouldn’t be this powerful. I recognized Assalbi and hoped he didn’t recognize me. He’d be thrilled to see me under Haagenti’s thumb, after he’d extracted his own pound of flesh. He was a treasure hoarder. I’d helped myself to compensation from his stash a few centuries back, and he hadn’t seen the situation the same way I did.

  Chamoriel was there, an ooze of slime and leaf mold covering both his serpent body and human head. He was actually a decent guy, smell and appearance aside. He blew a lot of stuff up, but he had always been polite and friendly during the process. I had a feeling he might turn a blind eye if he were aware of my presence.

  I didn’t recognize one, but I think he may have been one of Gediel’s household. And then there was Zalanes, who had been a buddy back in our school days. He was another imp; a troublemaker. I can’t believe the elves invited him. Imps weren’t often included in festivals. I didn’t think he’d rat me out though. So basically, Assalbi was my problem. Unless that big demon over behind the fountain was who I thought he was.

  My heart sank as I saw a bull with the hind end of a lion and griffin wings. Even before I checked the energy signature I knew. Haagenti. The demon swiveled his bovine head, obviously searching the room for something. I’m sure that something was me. That fucking double–crossing elf must mean to turn me over to him. All that rhetoric about helping me with my “vexing problem” was bullshit. Two–timing jerk. Once my initial wave of anger equalized, I puzzled over why the elf lord would have brought us together at a banquet. The elves I knew would never risk disruption to their festivities by setting things in motion that would lead to a potentially lethal brawl with inevitable civilian casualties. It was dicey enough just having demons at a party without throwing a feud into the mix. What was this elf lord scheming? I’d expected the elves to hand me over behind closed doors, or arrange an ambush once I’d left their lands. I looked around for the elf lord, Taullian, to see if I could better assess his motives.

  He was at the huge head table, populated solely by elves. No humans. No demons, although one seat remained conspicuously vacant. The guard had meant to announce me, and said I was to be at the head table. Haagenti would have been on me within seconds and probably have pronounced a feud with the elf lord who dared to seat his despised rival above him in status. Who the fuck was this elf lord, and why was he so eager for a fight? If he truly meant to turn me over for the bounty, why would he risk offending Haagenti by having me at the head table?

  I watched Taullian politely conversing with a female. Something looked odd about him and it took me a moment to realize it was his hair. He’d draped the wavy locks over his ears in a strange kind of comb over. Elves loved displaying the points of their ears and often arranged their long hair to draw the eye to them. Ears to an elf were like wings to an angel. They were sensitive, personal, individual, considered both an ornament and an appendage of great spiritual significance. Ears to hear the Word of the goddess as she whispered in the wind. Why would a lord cover his ears in such a fashion? Perhaps it had something to do with the theme of the festival? Outside of the w
eird hairdo, he seemed pretty much like the other elf lords I’d met. Relaxed, arrogantly surveying his surroundings, entitlement in every fiber of his being. He wasn’t particularly watching Haagenti, or looking at the door waiting for me to come in.

  I felt a hand slide tentatively up my arm. Kirby seemed to be making a move. He was relaying gossip on how the high lord of Wythyn had lost yet another sorcerer. “If he’d treat his humans better, they wouldn’t be constantly running away,” he told me, his voice full of sympathy and superiority about his own kingdom. “A sorcerer. That’s one of the highest social levels a human can hold. It’s got to be pretty bad for one of them to take their chances and bolt. Especially in Wythyn. Did you hear what happened to the last sorcerer he lost? The lord sent a demon out after him and he came back barely alive. He’d been tortured for weeks, used as a play thing.”

  That was a gross exaggeration. At least I hadn’t brought him back dead in a bag. I quickly bit back defensive words and pulled my attention back to Haagenti. I needed to concentrate on the powder keg ready to explode in my face and not on runaway sorcerers or randy apprentices. How could I sneak out of here without bringing notice to myself? I looked down at the hand on my arm and had an idea.

  “Kirby? Would you like to fu. . . I mean go somewhere more–“ I wasn’t able to finish my proposition, which would hopefully get me out of the room pronto. There was a ringing noise and we all turned to the head table, wine glasses or hot mugs in hand. Silence fell and everyone looked toward the elf lord with rapt attention. Damn, I could hardly drag Kirby off now. Such rudeness would draw everyone’s attention.

  The lord began a long, dull speech about winter, death and rebirth, so fresh new growth could occur, rejuvenating the land, or some shit like that. I was bored. The humans were bored. The other demons were especially bored. Bored demons are never a good thing. They wandered among the attendees, shoving food items into inappropriate places and laughing loudly while the elves swatted them away. The demon I didn’t know crawled under the tables, bumping them with his horned back and spilling food and drink off the sides. With a leap, Zalanes jumped into the fountain, unaffected by the cold water. He shoved his hands into the gentle spray from the tree–like column, re–directing it onto any unfortunate nearby humans and elves. Now that was funny. I wished I hadn’t needed to be incognito, because I would have loved to join in on that one. Haagenti suddenly frowned and looked around the room while I held my breath and tightened my energy even further inside. What had he noticed? I never leaked. He can’t have sensed me. Suddenly he jumped into the fountain with Zalanes and kicked the center column with front hooves. With a flash of light, the marble column broke in half, and the pipe supplying the fountain snapped in two, shooting a stream of water toward the ceiling like a fire hose.

  Everyone screamed, the lord’s speech forgotten, and ducked for cover. Instinctively I shot out a net of energy and grabbed the water molecules, every last one of them, changing their surface temperature and structure in a show of power that no other demon could. Gregory had taught me, and I’d spent months practicing this angelic art. The stream of water burst into white, and snow fell light and powdery from the ceiling in a gentle swirl.

  The elves abandoned their usual decorum and shrieked in joy, racing about catching snowflakes with their hands and tongues. His lordship looked startled, but quickly recovered, proclaiming the snow as a symbol of the death of the old god, preparing the world for a fresh start. The demons froze, and not from the cold of the snow either. Eyes narrowing, they looked around, searching. I tried to hide behind Kirby as I saw Haagenti smile and reach for my net of energy. Fuck.

  Time slowed to a crawl and I felt a snowflake on my finger. Its geometry was delicate and irregular. I looked up and noticed Kirby carefully examining a snowflake. His eyes slowly rose to meet mine and they held awe, uncertainty, and fear.

  “That snowflake is not symmetrical, not balanced,” he said, comprehension dawning. “You … you. I saw....”

  I shook my head at him, in a gentle warning. Elves strived for perfection, for balance, just as the angels did. Their magic, the magic they taught to the humans was the same. The snowflakes were clearly a demon creation, obvious to anyone who examined them closely. But demons didn’t do this sort of thing, angels did. And only one demon had contact with angels and lived to tell the tale.

  The other demons were beginning to take their cue from Haagenti, reaching out with their own energy to trace the source. Their movements became purposeful, predatory. Shit. I needed to break off my snow–making before they followed the unusual energy stream back to me. I needed to break it off and resume my guise as a human with not a hint of demon energy at all. Then I needed to get the fuck out of here, although that would be near impossible with his stupid lordship droning on and on.

  “Can someone shut off the water?” I whispered at Kirby.

  He nodded toward a group of elves, who were trying to shoo the demons aside and climb into the fountain basin. The demons ignored them, their eyes scanning the room. Fuck. I had no time. Abruptly I cut off my energy, pulling it tightly back inside with a snap. The water shot out of the broken pipe in a wild, rotating spray, knocking an elf through the air and across a buffet table full of food. Everyone screamed and ran, frantically ducking under the tables. This was clearly the cover I needed to get out of the hall. Ironically I now found it impossible with the hordes stampeding the exits, slipping and falling on the slush–covered floor. A blast of water smacked into Kirby and I, sending us to the ground in a heap. The demons continued to search for me, looking for the slightest energy leak. Haagenti tried a different tactic. He began directing the spray of water and systematically blasting down any standing biped he saw, planning on forcing me to reveal myself.

  I did what I do best. Hid. I scrambled into a crouched position and tried to blend with the crowd frantically racing for the door and trampling anyone who impeded their rushed exodus. Kirby ducked in after me, trying to keep up by holding on to a scrap of my miniscule dress. There was a blockade at the huge doorway as Haagenti directed his stream there, knocking people against the walls and pushing them across the floor. He knew. Knew I’d be trying to sneak out the door like the cockroach I was.

  “Hang on,” Kirby shouted, pushing me to the side away from the door and getting in a solid grope of my breasts. Evidently his libido didn’t care that I was a demon. “Give the sorcerers a second to lock them in a circle and then we can safely get out.”

  “There’s five of them,” I shouted back. “ Five. One sorcerer can’t contain five demons of that level.” Sorcerers were not thrilled about attending these kinds of events. Usually they took turns making obligatory appearances. There wouldn’t be more than one sorcerer here. The others would be far away, at their studies.

  Kirby grimaced as he realized the truth behind my words. “Others will be here soon,” he assured me.

  We didn’t have time. Haagenti turned the stream our way, and suddenly elves and humans were being blasted into us. They thudded against each other, shrieking and gasping as the terrible force of the water drove the air from their lungs and smashed us all together against the wall. I could let them crush us, pull away from my flesh as Gregory had instructed and live inside a dying form. Wait out Haagenti. I could do it, hide in my form and play dead. Dead along with Kirby and all the humans and elves piled on top of each other.

  I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t play possum and let them all die.

  Instead I shot out a blast of energy, sending it between the bodies on top of me and altering the energy as it passed through the stream of water. It raced against the current to the source. In a deafening sound, the marble fountain exploded, knocking Haagenti backward where he slammed against a banquet table. The water, no longer under pressure, surged out, like the opening of a spring, to cover the floor. Humans and elves, fell to the ground gasping and crawling to safety.

  “Get out of here,” I told Kirby, shoving him toward the door. “Thi
ngs are going to get really bloody in about two seconds.”

  No way was I going to fight a bunch of demons in the soft squishy form of a human. Especially a human with so much flesh exposed. In a snap I converted my entire form into the one I was most comfortable in. My birth form. The humans and elves renewed their frantic efforts to get out once they found themselves nose to scale with a huge orange serpent’s leathery wings and three heads. I leapt over them and took flight, careful not to brush any of the humans with my poisonous spikes. The hall ceiling hung only thirty feet above, so my flight was more of an assisted hop before I was back on the ground and scrabbling on my stubby legs toward the crash of tables: and Haagenti.

  A table flew through the air and Haagenti was on his feet in a charge, Assabli right behind him. I’d have a hard enough time taking on Haagenti solo. In a preemptive strike, I shot a bolt of lightning at Assabli, knocking him into the burbling fountain, and quickly glanced to see the reaction of the other demons.

  The one I didn’t recognize sat on a broken table, eating an apple and preparing to enjoy the show. Zalanes and Chamoriel held back, waiting. I didn’t blame them. Normally they’d both probably support me, but the odds were not in my favor.

  Haagenti plowed into me, his horns hooking around my lower body and pinning me against the floor. Luckily I was bendy in this form. I stretched one long neck out and bit him hard on the ass with one head, while the other two stretched underneath to tear at his belly. He roared and jerked his powerful neck send me skidding across the floor. At least I took a chunk of his lion butt with me.

  I knew he wanted to keep this physical, to ensure he didn’t accidently kill me quickly or knock me into blissful unconsciousness. Inflicting pain and backing me into a corner of desperate doom was his plan, and unfortunately for me, he was just as skilled at physical fighting as I. Folding his gryphon wings tight to his body, he jumped on me again, trampling my long, scaled length with hooves and tearing at me with his back paws. I squirmed, trying to wiggle out from under him, and by chance managed to impale a paw with one of my spikes. I heard him scream, and he jumped off me, tearing the spike from my body. He hopped around, frantically trying to pull it out with his teeth. I took advantage of the opportunity and shot him with a stream of raw energy.