Demon Soul

by Christine Ashworth

  He was already halfway to the opening when the others made the jump, his demon strides even longer than his human ones. His tail twitched in the night, and his growl filled the air.

  Gabriel inhaled deeply, catching Rose's scent, the ocean mingled with woodsmoke. As he followed it through the destroyed building, another scent overlaid the first.

  "Vampire," he rumbled, and with a leap and a grasp, he caught Vlad by the throat and shoved him against the wall.

  The building shook with the force of the hit. He looked into the vampire's bloodred eyes and snarled. "What have you done to her?"

  The vampire grinned, sending a cold finger of fear down Gabriel's spine. "Wouldn't you like to know?" he taunted.

  Gabriel slammed him against the wall again. Plaster rained down.

  "This is a good way to bury her, though. Carry on. You and I will get through this just fine, but will your precious Rose? Once the demon in her has worn her completely out, drained her of her energy and the water in her body, will she be able to claw her way to the surface?"

  Gabriel's fingers bit deeper into the rock of Vlad's neck. "What did you do to her?"

  "Absolutely nothing. Scout's honor," smirked Vlad. "She let me go, if I promised to let her attack Satine. Ah, that got your heart rate going, didn't it?" Vlad licked his lips. "I wonder if your blood is as sweet in demon form as it is in human form."

  Gabriel roared and punched him in the nose, the crunch under his hand extremely satisfying. Vlad's head flew back and hit the wall. More plaster tumbled down on them.

  Vlad grinned, his teeth glistening in the dark. "Oh yes. Do spend more time with me while your cute little fire demon grapples with Satine."

  With a roar, Gabriel threw the vampire down the hallway and away from Rose's scent. Seeing his brothers in the shadows, he turned away, the vampire forgotten, and raced to find Rose.

  His heart stuttered when he got to the pile of debris, the place where the building had shrugged in on itself.

  "Rose!"

  His heartbroken roar echoed throughout the ruins. Justin and Kellan looked at each other in despair. "Go," urged Justin. He felt Maggie behind them. "We'll take care of this," he added, gesturing to the vampire chuckling at their feet.

  "Oh, no you won't," he said, gasping with glee. "Nothing will help her now. She's got to finish it on her own. That's just how quests are made. Didn't you know?"

  With a roar of his own, Justin lunged at him, but the vamp wasn't there.

  Vlad stopped at the opening to the building, a hundred feet away. "This will be one for the history books," he mused. "Satine. It's time to wake up," he murmured. "Enjoy, young Rose," he said with mild regret. "Expect burns when you play with fire."

  Justin turned to follow, but the vampire was gone. He turned back to Maggie, who stood, her hand over her nose and her eyes streaming. "You okay?"

  She shook her head and raced out of the building. Torn, Justin looked from her to where his brothers had disappeared and, cursing, followed the witch, leaving his brothers to deal with what was inside.

  * * *

  Kellan followed the scent of his brother, his body lithe and strong in its demon form. He was used to it, had made the shift more often than his brothers and so moved with ease through the human-sized corridor.

  He dropped through a hole in the floor and landed hard enough to make the building tremble.

  Kellan stopped abruptly at the sight of Gabriel on his knees in front of a pile of rubble. The whole hallway seemed to shrink in on itself, making standing upright impossible. He bent to Gabriel, putting his hand on his shoulder.

  "Gabriel."

  "She's down there. She's there." Dread and panic hung in the air.

  Kellan shook his head in regret. "I'm so sorry, dude."

  Gabriel turned on his brother with a roar. "I'm not letting her die. Not after—not now. I love her, damn it. She's mine."

  Kellan backed off, his hands up. "Okay. Okay." He looked at their surroundings before he moved to kneel beside his brother. "Let's start digging." With his huge hands, he shoveled aside debris. After a moment, Gabriel helped. Dust rose with their movement, and the ceiling seemed to come closer to their heads as they worked.

  Every effort brought more rumbling toward them from beneath and above. They kept at it, though, blinking their demon eyes and breathing as little as possible. Minutes passed without any obvious success.

  Finally Kellan pulled back, as they were showered again with plaster and ceiling tile. "Okay. This isn't working." As if underscoring that, the building groaned around them.

  Gabriel didn't seem to notice. He kept shoveling out the sheet rock and plaster, his lips moving in a frantic chant.

  Kellan tapped his brother's shoulder to get his attention, but Gabriel didn't budge, just kept muttering and shoveling. Finally Kellan grabbed him around the waist and dragged him back just as more of the building came down in that corner.

  Gabriel snarled and threw a punch that didn't land. Kellan, his demonic muscles bunching, kept his arms around him and dragged him out of the hallway into a bigger room that didn't show much physical damage.

  "No! I need her, I need to get to her," shouted Gabriel.

  Kellan let him go and swung him around to punch him in the jaw. Gabriel ducked and would have gone by him but Kellan was too fast. "You can't. Damn it Gabriel. You can't go in there. The place is about to fall apart on us."

  Gabriel turned anguished eyes toward his brother. "I can't let her die."

  "No. Of course not." Kellan could see the blue and purple mate-threads glimmering softly in the night, leading away to the pile of rubble they'd left behind. If she died, it would be almost impossible to keep Gabriel alive. He hauled in a breath and thought fast.

  "We can't go in physically. But can you reach her mind? Can you keep an eye on her that way, help her out mentally?"

  Hope trickled into Gabriel's whirling green eyes. "Let's try." Abruptly he sat down in the middle of the scorched room and closed his eyes. "Rose," he whispered. "Where are you?"

  He searched, but found only the hiss and crackle of fire gone out of control. His voice rose in a roar of denial and despair.

  Kellan turned at a sound. "Gabriel. We've got company, and they're looking hungry."

  Gabriel turned unseeing eyes toward Kellan, who motioned to the doorway. Vampires stood there with more of them filling up the spaces.

  “Let’s clear the place. Make it safer for Rose. Let’s fight, Gabriel.”

  Gabriel took a breath. "I can get behind that." He got to his feet and sent a cold grin to their visitors.

  "Show time," and Kellan grinned as the first one charged, its eyes whirling scarlet with bloodlust.

  * * *

  Justin strode into the darkness, looking for Maggie. This was not the time for the witch to go solo and, obscurely, he felt obligated to help. The lights of the parking lot had died and the moon hid behind the clouds. But he found her, heaving into the dirt next to the building.

  He took in the situation as he strode her way. Kneeling beside her, he put one hand on her forehead, helping to support her, and kept a knee to her back for the same reason.

  Maggie retched a couple more times but nothing came up. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she gabbled, and swiped her wrist across her mouth. "I'm so sorry."

  "It's okay. Maggie, look at me." Justin was kind, but firm. Maggie turned to look at him, misery in her brown eyes. "Is it the smell?"

  "Vampire and smoke and demon all mingled up and gods!" She turned and heaved again, with no visible result. "No one in their right mind could survive that."

  Justin's lips twitched. "Are you scared?"

  "Hell no," she fired back. "I just don't want the smell of ashtray and moldy socks in my nose for the next decade."

  He laughed at that. "You're right, that is what it smells like. So do me a favor, and let me help you. I can put a block on your sense of smell so that you won't notice it."

  Maggie looked up at him wit
h suspicion. "Why would you?"

  "Because you're one of the strongest women I've ever met, and if I left you out here hiding from a smell, you'd regret it tomorrow. The fighting has begun, Maggie. Our side is down two." He nodded to the building beside them, reverberating with battle cries. "We're needed."

  "I don't know," she demurred. "I don't want to go back in there."

  "No sane person wants to fight," Justin murmured, and brushed the bangs out of her eyes. He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. "Trust me. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to put a block on your sense of smell. No tricks, no hidden suggestions, nothing, I swear it."

  She pulled in a deep breath of clean air. "You swear it?"

  "I swear," he said, and held out his right pinky finger. "I pinky swear it."

  "Oh, well then, that makes it okay," she said, confused, and linked pinky fingers with him.

  Justin smiled. "Just look into my eyes," he murmured. "I don't have a lot of time, and I'll need your cooperation. Keep yourself open and look into my eyes." Justin sent into her mind the suggestion that she not smell anything and that every breath she took felt like clean, pure air, giving her energy. He also gave her the suggestion that her sense of smell would return to normal at the rising of the sun.

  When the pain in her eyes eased, he smiled. "There. All done. Now, let's go in there and kick some vampire ass."

  She jumped up, looking refreshed. "Ready when you are."

  The two went back into the building.

  Vampires were everywhere. "Can you conjure fire?" Justin shouted to Maggie. She smiled.

  "First lesson I ever learned."

  "Then get to it, woman. Vamp on your left." He watched as she turned, pulled a fireball out of nowhere, and threw it at the middle of the strike zone as if she were pitching for the Dodgers.

  The vamp brushed at the fire with a comical look of disgust just before it went up in smoke. Young, and not too bright, mused Justin as he pulled his blades from the holster on his back. He moved to Maggie's back and swiftly dealt with the two young girls approaching him, blood in their eyes.

  Soon Justin was too busy with vampires of his own to destroy to keep more than an occasional eye on her.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Rose pulled herself together after her foray through the rubble. Her hand brushed over her head, reminding herself that she was in demon form, complete with tiny horns on either side of her forehead.

  How bizarre. She craned a look over her shoulder and saw the tiny wings that Gabriel had told her about. He was right, useless for flying, but yeah - cute. Even as she was cataloguing all the changes her body had gone through - yep, spots and fur - ugh, hooves? - another part of her mind checked out where she'd appeared.

  It was colder down here, the scent of fire more distant, as if it hadn't had time to penetrate this far before it had been put out. The space was tiny, too—not much room to even turn about at the end of a stairwell. But there, at her right hand, huddled Satine, her head on her knees, pale arms wrapped around her bare legs.

  Her mouth flooded with fiery satisfaction. "Satine."

  But the vampire didn't move. Rose frowned. Bent to touch her shoulder. "Satine." Rose shook her, tilted her head back. Her eyes were open, but blank.

  Puzzled, Rose took a step back. "Well, hell. Are you dead? No, I can't believe that. A dead vampire doesn't have a head, I think. Hmm." She could feel Mephisto in her head, chuckling at her thoughts.

  "Oh, shut up. I'm doing the best I can," she growled. "I can't just burn her up while she's—whatever is wrong with her," complained Rose. "That just isn't fair."

  Since when is killing a vampire based on fairness?

  "She is my cousin," Rose pointed out.

  She stole your soul. Don’t ever forget what she put you through.

  Trust me, it’s something I’ll never forget.

  Mephisto chuckled. Plus, she’d love to drink your blood. Why give her any chance? Family blood is the closest to their own and so provides them with their greatest strength.

  "Now you tell me." Rose pulled her thoughts together. "I’d better grab Gabriel’s soul while I have the chance." Rose shed her fire demon and knelt in front of Satine. Her stomach roiled with the change. Stubbornly, she swallowed and ignored the nausea. "Here goes nothing." Rose closed her eyes, reached out and touched Satine's chest.

  "Gabriel Caine," she whispered. "Where are you?"

  A howling filled her mind. Faces of people she'd never met flipped by like an old-fashioned movie even as their souls streamed into her easily, quietly. She waded through them, a salmon swimming upstream, anxious to reach Gabriel's soul.

  Individual stories battered her mind, pushed against her, desperate for her attention. Stubbornly, she kept only one name in her mind. One face in front of her.

  As she drew nearer to Gabriel's soul, it glowed golden. Rose could feel a smile break out on her face as she beckoned it. The glow came toward her, flowed into her as so many others had in the past few seconds. This time was different. Her chest tightened and her heart labored as the pieces of Gabriel's soul rejoined.

  Another soul, blindingly white and tasting of cool water, slipped into her and Rose gasped. What had been a waiting, even when she had Gabriel’s soul in her, became whole again. She had her soul back, and all of her memories.

  Before Rose could pull away, even more souls flooded into her, eager to escape Satine. They rushed inside her, to the place made for them, and their stories were told in disjointed pictures as they came. Her vision blurred as she tried to keep track of them all.

  The flood slowed, had almost stopped when she felt still another, partial, soul slide into her. This one had a silvery glow with dead spots and a metallic aftertaste. Rose gasped, arched at the pain as she absorbed the battered and damaged soul.

  Rose stumbled away from her cousin, her pulse beating frantically. Her limbs felt filled with lead. How in the world was she supposed to handle such agony? She could feel her white soul surrounding the silvery one, burnishing up the dead spots. Her blood pounded in her ears and she dropped to her knees.

  Rose. The demon's voice snapped her back to her surroundings. You'd better change back now. You'll be stronger when you do.

  I am tired, she admitted. Staring at Satine, she sighed and called the demon. As fire filled her, his borrowed strength returned, flooding her limbs with energy.

  You're getting good at that, said Mephisto. Let’s make a bargain. I like being with you. So how about I leave part of my powers with you, as long as I can always have a home on you when I need one?

  If you leave a part of yourself within me, I'll be yours to command. Right? Rose shook her head. No. She'd had enough of other people pulling her strings.

  It's not that big a deal. Have I been demanding? Do you really want to be normal?

  Rose made a face. Being normal wasn't on her top ten ideas of a good time, not when she was surrounded by tribred demons and witches and Weres. "I’m not normal, though. I’m a Soul Chalice.” Satisfaction rang through her voice.

  Satine's eyes sharpened and her face snapped to Rose. "Who the hell are you talking to?" Satine looked the fire demon up and down. She frowned. "Who the hell are you?"

  Rose grinned. "Hey, cousin Sara. I'm here to kill you." Her body flamed. She sent a couple scout flames down her arm and they jumped from her hand to Satine's arm.

  Satine screamed, patted it out. Her eyes whirled red. "You make my mouth water. It has been years since I've drunk," she added piteously. In a flash she went from huddled on the stairs to wrapping her arms around Rose, sinking her teeth into her shoulder. Fire flared, danced along the slick coldness of the vampire.

  Rose gasped with pain. Poured everything she had into the flame, shimmered with it. She tried to turn into pure flame but Satine's mouth held her to her demon shape.

  Satine pulled away. "You want to play, cousin? I do." Giddy with Rose's blood, she spun Rose away from her and into a wall, head first.


  Rose burst into flame again. She shook her head, groggy, and came toward Satine, who merely grinned. Rose's blood darkened her lips.

  "Come on. Come to me. I'm not finished with you yet. I want to feel your heart thunder under my hand, feel it fail. I want to drink all your memories and give you some of mine."

  Rose, dizzy from heat and blood loss, couldn't keep her eyes on Satine and before she knew it, Satine had caught her again, her teeth sinking into the same place.

  This time, Satine took her deep. The pain, the scent of smoke all fell away and Rose was there, her boss David in front of her, his eyes like fire as he gazed hungrily at her. The small convenience store was just as it had been, smelling of hotdogs and coffee. But it wasn't her, she realized. It was Satine who had dressed like her. Rose recognized Sara's shorts and the tattered Hendrix concert tee shirt.

  It was Satine who begged her boss to kiss her before pulling away with a promising pout when they were interrupted. It was Satine who had set up her rape later that evening. As Rose relived that event, saw again her virginity stolen from her and her subsequent fall from grace, saw Satine steal her soul, a rage built inside. The fire on her outside grew even as Satine drew hard on her blood.

  Rose shook herself out of the past and screamed. The vampire's bite burned, more like acid in her veins than fire. Rose felt her vision fade. She's getting stronger. Help me! Mephisto, help, give me more oh please God! If I don't make it back to Gabriel, all is lost…

  I'll help you...

  "Hurry!" she shrieked.

  As you so desire. And the demon Mephisto chuckled.

  Rose's internal body temperature shot up, her blood almost boiling inside her. Satine pulled her mouth away from the suddenly hot blood, fascinated. Thinner than water, it flowed down Rose's arm.

  Satine stroked the orange and yellow spotted fur in amazement. "You are magnificent," she murmured.

  A pain caught Rose in the belly and she sagged in Satine's arms, her eyes wide and her mouth open, unable to get any sound out. All the air was just gone from her lungs and her heart labored, struggled to beat in the silence between them.