“No!” Beruth’s cry from the dais was animal-like, full of rage and disappointment. She grabbed Holcroft for support and hooked her claws into his waistcoat. The weight of his body kept her from going into the portal, but they were pushed off the dais. Still locked together with Holcroft, she rolled ever closer to the rift. Briar had successfully wiped out the circle of protection shielding the dais and the inscription circle, but the portal resisted the rain as it continued to be fed from the infernal batteries. Those had dimmed from their peak power, but they were by no means completely drained.
Beruth wrapped her legs around the inventor’s torso, using him as an anchor. She dipped her fingers into a wound in his shoulder. She leaned over and drew a series of runes over those that still glowed green.
The portal shimmered, its edges coming undone. The shimmer increased, then the yawning blackness blinked out. In its place were dark skies split with yellow lightning. Clouds lined with silver and grey boiled in the distance, and below them rivers of fire split a landscape that itself seemed to breathe, contracting and expanding with destructive forces.
“Home.” Briar whispered the word. She’d heard of a phenomenon called “home-sickness.” When she’d first heard the term, she thought it must have meant when one was sick of one’s home. She’d been shocked to find out that in humans the term meant a longing for home so strong it was almost physical. As she gazed upon her mother’s world, she realized the mortal realm was her home now; she had no desire to go back.
“Briar!” Isabella called her name from above. A wave of acknowledgment was a bad idea. Briar could no more force an acknowledgment out past her gritted teeth than she could wave to let her know she’d heard. She scrabbled at the stones beneath her, slowing her progress toward the portal, but only incrementally. She was losing the battle, and she knew it.
Were those tears mixed in with the rain? That seemed likely. Briar knew what awaited her if she went home, and that was if she survived the tumble from the skies. Beruth looked to have opened her portal quite a way off the ground. She would be at the mercy of the imps and the others.
She grabbed the corner of a stone that stuck up higher than the others around it. The push still shoved against her, but she was no longer moving. Alone in the rain and the dark, Briar sobbed. She would not go back. She could not go back. She screwed her eyes closed and held on for everything she was worth. When would the batteries run down?
Something hit the ground next to her and rolled into her. She lost her grip and was sliding toward the portal again when arms wrapped around her and held her down.“I’ve got you,” Isabella yelled in her ear. She tightened her grip, gathering Briar to her as securely as she could with one arm. They still moved but more slowly now.
Briar sobbed again, relief driving it from her in an undignified hiccup. Isabella drove something metal and pointed into the space between two stones and held on with all her might. They stopped. Briar drew a deep shuddering breath and opened her eyes.
Beruth looked up to where her children were being wiped out with the brutal efficiency only humans could manage. She directed a final look over at them and smiled slightly, then raised and lifted one shoulder. “Oh, well,” her shrug seemed to say. She winked once and pursed her lips in a kissing motion. Beruth grabbed Holcroft under the arms and stood up, then they were airborne, flying backward into the portal.
“Wellington,” Isabella whispered. She made no move to let go of Briar to go to his aid, but the heartbreak in her voice was unmistakable. If she’d been able to touch Isabella’s skin, Briar had no doubt she’d feel anguish.
They disappeared into the portal, the last to be pushed in. The batteries flared, then went completely dark. Isabella held her and cried, her shoulders heaving in wracking sobs while Briar held on and did her best to rub Isabella’s back in soothing motions.
The most drawn-out minutes of Briar’s life ticked away while they lay wrapped together. She’d been through similar moments of eternity on more than one occasion in the past, but these were by far the longest. The rain slowed and the wind ceased its howling before the portal winked out.
“Hold on to this,” Isabella said. She guided Briar’s hands to the metal spike in the ground. The portal was no longer active, but the collector continued to spin.
“Come back for me,” Briar said. She hadn’t meant to, but the words felt right.
“Of course.” Isabella wiped tears from her face.
She wasn’t gone long before the collection device’s unearthly hum abated and the pushing ceased trying to drive Briar into the ground. She sat up and looked around cautiously. If a typhoon could form in an enclosed space, it would have done less damage. She was surprised the walls still stood. The dark clouds were dissipating above the factory and sun was filtering back through, though some rain continued to fall. The sun’s light cast a spray of colors through the falling water.
“A rainbow,” Briar said to Isabella as she picked her way over the rubble back to her.
“So it is.” Isabella followed Briar’s pointing finger and goggled for a moment at the cheerful arc. If anything had ever seemed more out of place, Briar couldn’t remember it.
“I’m sorry about your brother.”
“So am I.” Isabella sat heavily next to her. Briar gathered Isabella into her arms and pressed a kiss to the side of her forehead. “It was his own fault, but still.” The anguish was there, along with a healthy helping of guilt and worry. Was Isabella worried about telling her parents? Briar would certainly have been, if she’d had Isabella’s parents and a brother of her own.
“Yes. Still.” Wellington Castel’s fate was not one Briar would have wished upon anybody. Far better for him if he died on his way through the portal. If he lived, his torment would be long and incredibly painful. Should I tell Isabella her brother might still be alive?
“Ho, down there!” A voice, much amplified, but still tinny, reached their ears.
Briar and Isabella looked up. A dirigible with the Earl of Hardwicke’s crest upon it floated in the space where the factory ceiling used to be. Briar waved one hand over her head, Isabella took up the wave also.
“We’re sending someone down. Is it safe?”
Is it safe? Briar looked around. There was no sign of demons. If the factory walls hadn’t come down by now, they weren’t going anywhere. She nodded, trusting they were being observed from above through a spyglass. There was no point in shouting. To do so would be useless and undignified. They’d defeated an incursion from the infernal realm, but that was no excuse for letting her standards slip.
A rope ladder unfurled toward them, tumbling through the air and coming to a stop.
Isabella turned Briar’s head toward her with a finger on her chin. Her lips covered Briar’s, hot and hungry, seeking solace and giving it. Briar closed her eyes and gave herself over to Isabella. Decorum be damned. They’d have time enough to be above reproach later.
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Demon in the Machine Page 40
