In spite of myself, I punched the nearest body. Andre’s hand released my face as he fell off, and I struggled against the others. Scrambling to my feet, I searched my pockets for something—anything—to help me break this spell. Even a general anti-magic curse grenade was worth trying.
I found Angelia’s vial instead. I’d transferred it to my pocket before we left this morning, unsure why other than that I didn’t want to leave it lying around where the Gryphons could find it if I didn’t come back.
For when you need a kiss, she’d said.
I didn’t need a kiss. I needed a curse-breaker, but the liquid inside was drinkable. And right now, liquid of unknown taste was better than the taste of blood and skin in my mouth. As I continued to back away from the approaching ghouls, I tipped the vial back and drank.
Sweet magic broke over my tongue, filling me with the hyacinth-scent of Angelia’s pheromones. My eyes closed in ecstasy, and warmth chased away my chill. My lips tingled as though brushed with the softest yet most seductive of touches, kisses that sent waves of fire down my body. The sensation passed languidly, leaving me with my lips parted for more, my nipples hard and aching.
In the moment, I forgot everything going on around me. I felt no fear and harbored no rage, only bliss. My mind was calm. But as the magic passed through, I became aware of the second presence in my head. And it was definitely not blissful but pissed off that I’d managed to ignore it, if only for a few seconds. It stood out against my peaceful state, an ugly splotch in my mind’s eye.
I could see it. I could grab it. And if I could keep it like this, compartmentalized from myself, I had a chance.
I opened my eyes, and the horrific scene before me faded away. The stacks of dismembered bodies, the streams of blood, the army of ghouls who shambled toward me—they turned to ghosts then vanished. So did the fake snow, leaving me in the center of a bowl. The obsidian-black walls towered over me, smooth as glass. I was trapped, but at least the illusion was gone.
Wondering what was coming next, I examined the flawless walls. They were too perfect now to resemble rock. I circled in place, and when I finished my turn, I found I wasn’t alone anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Four
A new demon faced me, and I raised an eyebrow because she clearly wasn’t like the others. Though she was tall, she was closer in height to a human and shaped like one too. She had no wings, no tail, no horns or claws. Her skin was a silvery white, and her facial features were alarmingly normal. A single black cloth was wrapped around her a bit like a toga, though the fabric was in appalling condition. She could have been called beautiful if not for her eyes, which were a pupil-less crimson that mirrored the color of the sky.
Under the lingering effect of Angelia’s kiss, my heart was warm with courage. But when I opened my mouth to challenge this newcomer, invisible hands squeezed my skull. Gritting my teeth, I doubled over. Images flitted through my mind so quickly they were impossible to grasp, but the experience left no doubt that she was flipping through my memories like they were pages of a book. Then the hands released me.
I straightened, but she wasn’t gone. Oh, no. I could detect this bitch inside my head still, a pressure under my skull.
“So you are the one who the magi prophesized could save humanity.” The demon’s voice was rich with an unfamiliar accent, but the voice didn’t actually match her words. I got the sense she was saying one thing, and my brain was interpreting it as something else. The effect was similar to watching a dubbed movie, only dubbed movies didn’t give the viewer headaches with each mismatched word.
Ignoring the disconcerting experience, I squared my shoulders, trying and probably failing to look capable of being the kickass warrior of prophecy. “I’m one of them.”
“No, you are the one. The other like you is necessary, but he is not the one the magi saw in their visions.”
“How do you know that?”
The demon’s lip curled. “Because, ignorant girl, you saw it. A description of you was recorded at various times by the magi. You read the description, only you did not understand the language. Nonetheless, I do, and I have plucked the image of the words from your head.”
I guess I’d been told. And didn’t that just up the creepy factor a few thousand notches. She knew more about what I’d done than I did.
“Your modern expressions are very odd.”
I startled. Now she was reading my thoughts too? Peachy. “I think you’ll find a lot is odd about the modern world. Wouldn’t you rather stay tucked in here where it’s cozy and familiar?”
“Your world is our world. My people’s rightful place is to rule over you as I rule over them, their queen. You are weak, and we are not. That is how life is.”
“You know, that whole might-makes-right thing went out of fashion ages ago.” In theory anyway, and I didn’t enjoy the occasional reminders that we hadn’t dumped it in history’s trash bin. Still, if that was the philosophy this creature wanted to base our relationship on, then it was time to show her what might looked like these days.
My hand reached for my gun, but I got no farther than to brush the edge of my holster. A searing pain hit right behind my eyes. I froze, paralyzed with agony.
“You think I can be challenged so easily? You are no match for me, Jessica Moore. But you have a strong will, I will grant you that. I could use some human servants in the days to come. Swear your fealty, abandon your failed quest, and perhaps I will let you live.”
The pressure in my head eased slightly, but the demon’s magic clouded my thoughts. The last remnants of Angelia’s kiss withered and died. More, my gift screamed at me. Make her give you more.
I ignored the subconscious advice, fearing the demon queen would sense my intentions. Instead, I focused on my fear, a very real terror that I wouldn’t be able to defeat her. She sensed it, or her magic reacted to it naturally. Either way, I could feel her power feeding it and my heartbeat increasing. It amused her to see me cower, and that, in turn, stoked my anger.
The demon laughed, sounding delighted. “Would you like to try?”
Icy fear trickled down my spine. With absolute certainty, I could tell she knew I’d been thinking about channeling her power. But of course she did. She’d picked through my memories. She would have seen everything.
Out of ideas, I played dumb anyway. Although whether playing was the correct word was debatable. I must have been truly dumb to think I could deceive someone who could so easily rifle through my mind. “Try what?”
“Oh, Jessica, you don’t give up, do you. It’s endearing, and yet tiresome and annoying.”
My hands curled into fists. Fear was turning to helpless rage, and her power was forcing me to my knees. I resisted with what strength I had left, but my muscles shook, and my joints bent against my will. “Bite me, Queen Bitch. If you think I’m annoying now, just wait. I’d make a terrible slave.”
“It is Beht, insolent girl.”
Breathing hard through the pain, I managed to look up at her. “Bet what?”
“Beht, Silver Queen of the Night, Mother of Gods. You will address me properly if you want to live.”
This time I laughed, though I cringed in pain as I did. “Beht, keeper of the world’s largest ego? How about I just call you Behty for short?”
Apparently Behty didn’t appreciate my sense of humor. Her pressure on me increased, finally forcing my knees to collapse and pushing me to the ground. I flailed and barely smacked the stones with my palms in time to save my chin. My already bruised knees throbbed with pain.
“I will teach you respect,” Beht said. “You think you are strong enough to stand up to me and steal my magic? I will make a lesson of your people’s champion. You will be my slave, and they will watch you serve me.”
Try me, I thought at her.
But Behty was no idiot. She’d gleaned enough about me to understand what I
was capable of, and she hurled so much power my way that I couldn’t withstand the blast. Shrieking in agony, I collapsed the rest of the way to the ground.
I thought I’d hurt when I’d drawn on Claudius’s power the first time, but that was nothing compared to this. And unlike Claudius, when I blacked out from the pain, Beht didn’t release me. She used her magic instead to drag me kicking and screaming—quite literally—back into consciousness.
I knew what I had to do. I had to channel her power, push it out of me, but I was in too much agony to focus. How was she sending me this much power and still standing? Where was it coming from after she’d been cut off from humanity for so long?
“It comes from six billion of your miserable souls,” Beht replied, reading my mind. “Do you think my people fed first? I am their queen, and they’ve seen to my needs before their own. Save for the few envoys I’ve sent ahead to greet you, my people lie in wait. And now that I am strong, I will see they are cared for next. Then we will meet you, a thousand strong in number, and your billions will learn their place with you as my servant.”
A thousand? I wanted to curl into a ball and weep, but I thrashed as spasms wracked my body. My muscles felt as beyond my control as my gift.
“Yield,” Beht demanded. “Acknowledge that you can’t defeat me, and I will stop tormenting you.”
I don’t yield. So said my brain, but my mouth overrode the words. Intentions didn’t suffer from unbearable pain, after all, and so they didn’t have the sense of self-preservation that the rest of me did. “Fine! I admit it. I can’t channel all your power.”
Immediately, the pain relented. My head cleared, and I ground my teeth in rage and frustration over my failure. On my hands and knees, I bent lower until my forehead touched the ground. A single, invisible hand rested on my back, holding me into this facsimile of a grovel.
Through the hair that fell around my face, I could see Beht’s shoulders had sagged and her once-crimson eyes were duller. She was tired?
She was fucking tired. Understanding burned in my chest. Beht had decided the best way to defeat me was by throwing so much magic at me that I became convinced I couldn’t handle it. She figured that if she broke me once, she’d never need to worry I’d try to challenge her again. But her show of dominance had worn her down, possibly more than she was expecting.
My heart skipped. I had a chance. I must have a chance or she wouldn’t have tried so hard to convince me I didn’t, and possibly I only had this one chance while she was drained. Assuming, that was, that I actually could control the flow of her power.
I didn’t pause to consider any more deeply or worry if I could handle another influx. Before Beht could become aware of what I was thinking, I acted. With my gift, I grabbed the hand on my back—the bond—that was holding me in place. My nerves were practically vibrating with excess power after what she did, and the visualization came easily.
I pulled, and her head snapped in my direction. Instantly, she sensed what I was doing, and she dismissed my attempt with a sneer. Again?
I couldn’t tell if she was speaking to me or if I was only imagining her words. But I was ready for her actions, which were simple enough to predict. When the surge of power slammed into me, I met it with open arms. I flung myself wide, hurling the power in every direction, giving it no time to build inside. I sizzled from my scalp to my fingertips. Every muscle tensed and every nerve alighted, but the sensation was pure radiance. Terrible and evil, but incredible.
Inhaling deeply, I drew more power down through my legs into my feet and from my toes into the ground. I made no attempt at controlling where I sent it. Control would have been futile. I simply let the magic surge through me and fly wild. Hair rose off my neck, and I swore I couldn’t feel the stones beneath my legs anymore. Fear and fury pounded me, but they weren’t my emotions this time. Beht let out a strangled and animal-like cry, and the flow of energy into me dipped.
Too late for that, bitch. Squeezing my eyes closed, I grappled for more. My chest swelled. Propelled by the power, I jumped to my feet. How about you kneel for me?
A high, cruel laugh escaped my lips, so unlike any sound I could have tried to make on my own. I was the queen now. I could rule. Hell, I’d swear I could fly. And I would make these creatures pay for what they’d done to my friends. I would make them understand what a monster truly was.
The cliff walls flickered, and for a second I could see through them. Just darkness and a dull red glow that mimicked the fading color of Beht’s eyes. The demon bared her teeth, and I felt the force of her hate as it poured into me. It was a cold, sharp power that scratched me from the inside out as it ran through. The nastiness of the sensation almost made me lose my grip, and that jolted me back to the task at hand. I was not a monster. Not one of them. It was time to end this before so much power made me forget.
Pulling Misery from my sheath, I dashed toward Beht. The demon swept out with her arm to knock me aside, but the blow glanced off me. She tried to dodge, but I was faster. With a cry of revulsion, I drove the knife blade into her chest.
Beht’s howl rang in my ears, and she pounded me in the cheek with her fist. I stumbled, aware that I was hurt but unable to feel it. Growling, Beht grasped Misery’s hilt and yanked the knife out of herself.
You had to be kidding me. Blood poured through her wound, and her breaths came hard and fast. You hate me for what I’ve done, but you would be nothing without me, she said in my head. Just another weak, pathetic human. So I will take you down with me.
She ran straight at me. It shouldn’t have been possible in her state, but apparently neither of us was feeling any pain. I grabbed my gun and shot her. The first bullet went wide. The second didn’t faze her.
I turned and ran, conscious of my own fear returning. My sword still lay on the ground, and I could hear Beht’s feet behind me, sense her connection through the bond as I reached for it. Even with all the magic coursing through my veins, I couldn’t grab the hilt and run at the same time. I tripped over my feet and tumbled to the rock. Flinging myself around, I swung the blade as Beht lunged for me.
She was no illusion and didn’t part as easily as the ghouls she’d sent to torment me, but part she did in a sickening display of blood. I sliced her head clean off.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The bloody sword slipped from my fingers as the world dissolved. In seconds, all that remained of the snowy landscape was the red sky, only it was no longer sky. It was just there. I had no words for it or anything else. I existed in space that was very obviously not space. This was the void without someone’s magic giving it life, and it was even eerier than the hoard of ghouls Beht had sent to torment me.
“Jess!”
Relief overwhelmed me, causing tears to prick the corners of my eyes. “Lucen!”
Now that everything else had been stripped away, I could see him and Mitch. High as I was on the remains of Beht’s power, my feet bounced over the ground as I raced to his side. I was completely disgusting, but Lucen wrapped me in the best hug of my life, regardless.
“You’re all right.” He repeated it several times while I clung to him. Finally, he released me and wiped blood from my cheeks. “What happened?”
“She’s dead,” I whispered. Talking with an actual mouth suddenly seemed so common, so lesser, and I pushed the silly thought away. Damn this lingering power. I was neither a demon nor a god, though I felt like one.
“Who’s dead?” Lucen asked.
My head spun. Oh, right. Lucen wasn’t there. He hadn’t seen what happened. I needed to settle back into myself and get my head on straight, but I fucking hummed with power that I couldn’t shake. “Behty, their queen. She’s the one who did this.” I gestured to the missing illusion as if that would explain everything.
“Um, guys.” Mitch had been on the opposite side of the nothingness—if the nothingness could be said to have sides—an
d he jogged over. “Don’t mean to cut the reunion short, but we’re not done yet. We’ve got a missing key and that to deal with.”
That? I followed the path of Mitch’s arm, and my gaze landed on something that was genuinely unsettling, even in my current state. Demons. Hundreds of them. No, thousands. Beht had said she had thousands. They were flopped on top of one another, sprawled across the dark ground, seemingly sleeping.
Although they were drained of energy, the sheer number of them meant that the power they emanated was intense. Hot and prickly, it pressed against my skin, and I got the sense that being filled with Beht’s magic was the only thing protecting me from them seeping into my head.
Neither Mitch nor Lucen had that advantage. Inexplicably, I was still Lucen’s addict and, as a result, I could pick up traces of his fear traveling through our bond. Mitch, on the other hand, looked simply frightened enough for both of them.
“We’ll just back out the way we came, right?” He gestured behind us.
“Without the key?”
Lucen took my arm and tugged me away. “We’ll never find it without Kassin’s detector. We’ll have to figure out something else.”
“No. It’s here, and I’m not leaving without it. What’s the point?”
“The point, little siren, is we live to try to fight another day.”
I yanked my arm from Lucen’s grip. He wasn’t incorrect, but fighting another day wasn’t enough for me. Too many people had died on this particular day to give up without trying harder. I owed it to Tom and the others who’d sacrificed their lives for us to get this far. Also, I had no desire to ever reenter this place. When I left, I wanted it locked for good, and an idea was occurring to me for how to accomplish that.
In my mind’s eye, I could see glowing threads leaving my body, a whole tapestry of them in various colors. They connected me to the myriad slumbering demons. When I stole power from Beht, I must have inherited her connections to her flock, and it was these connections that explained why I continued to buzz with magic. I was still drawing on someone else’s—many someone else’s—energy.
Misery Happens Page 25
