The Demon Inside Me

by Christopher Nelson

  "You didn't stop my plans."

  I paused, then sat down across from him. "Explain."

  "Is that an order?"

  I glared across the table. He smiled at me, revealing sharp teeth yet again. "Would you do me the honor of explaining what the hell you mean by that, your Grace?"

  "Duke Deshavin has fallen, but you will recall, he had a contract as well, yes? That contract partner has bound to another member of my House. Lessons have been learned. You are a formidable opponent, halfbreed. We won't underestimate you again."

  "I'd prefer you to continue to underestimate me, to be honest."

  "Naturally. But you are correct, I didn't come here tonight just to thank you. I also came to offer you a deal."

  "No."

  "You haven't even heard me out yet."

  I shook my head. "My answer is no, but feel free to try and convince me."

  Azriphel leaned forward on the table. "We are here, with a human witness, without any pressure from the Consortium. If you speak of what you know, here and now, the imps will not know. We will provide you with a plausible excuse, protection, and reward you well."

  I kept my mouth shut and my gaze away from Jase. Lucifer knew the Consortium was holding this over my head. If they were willing to defy the Consortium, they were desperate for the power. "Why should he give that sort of information to you, Duke Azriphel?" I heard Jase ask. "Why should he reward those who threaten him?"

  "For his life?"

  "You know he's in danger if he tells you."

  "We will protect him."

  "Why?"

  Azriphel blinked. "Why?"

  "Why would you protect someone from another House, who defeated one of your Dukes, who embarrassed you in front of your entire race? More to the point, why should he trust you to do so? What's to stop you from betraying him the moment he walks out of here?"

  "You are here as witness-"

  "Forgive me, but from everything I have gathered, it would require a member of the Consortium to make such a thing legally binding as far as the Host is concerned."

  Azriphel's smile returned, but colder than ever. "A funny thing, that. The Consortium decides what is legally binding and what is not. In rare occasions, an imp is not necessary as a witness. Sometimes, all it takes is someone who is aware of the Pact. Perhaps as example, a vendetta, not witnessed by an imp, but supposedly witnessed by a member of the Choir."

  Ice rolled down my sides. The Consortium had let that go. I had assumed they had looked into it, but what if they hadn't? What if they had ruled in my favor in hopes that House Lucifer would cut their losses? "You should ask the Consortium about that," I said.

  "We have. They will not share their information with us. Interesting, isn't it? One would think that they were favoring you."

  "I can't imagine why."

  "You know something."

  "Didn't we already establish that at the trial?"

  His eyes never left mine. "Something very important, something dangerous to them. Power that threatens their position, then?"

  "Wouldn't they want me dead, then?"

  "Perhaps they do, but not by their hands."

  I swallowed hard. Azriphel continued to smile as he leaned forward again. "Allow me to spell this out for you in simple terms, halfbreed. You will share this information with us, one way or another. If you do so willingly, you will enjoy the protection of the Host. If you do not...well, your life is your own to live, is it not?"

  "Why do you want to know, Azzy?" I asked. "What's your goal? To open the Gates of Purgatory? Didn't you listen to me when I told you that there are multiple Gates, that blowing this first one open could destroy the Project, cost you everything that you're looking to gain?"

  "I did hear you."

  "Then why are you continuing with this idiotic plan?"

  "We believe that your secret will allow us to use the bare minimum of force to bring the Gates down," Azriphel said. "Believable, yes? But if you don't give us that power, we'll be forced to continue with our current plans."

  I stood up. "You will not lay those murders at my feet."

  "Then do we have a deal?"

  I lifted my right hand and gave him the finger. He grunted and Jase sighed. "Here's your deal, asshole. Get out of here. If I catch you trying to do this, I'll stop you. You know I have the power to do so. No more murders. No more sacrifices. Like you said, you won't underestimate me anymore, right? Be prepared for the next time, Azzy, because I won't be holding back anymore."

  Azriphel's smile grew wide. "That's what I expected, halfbreed. Bring your secrets. Bring your little bitch and your pet angel. We'll be waiting. I'll be waiting for you."

  Jase stepped forward and put his hand on Azriphel's shoulder. The demon looked up at him. "Your sanctuary is revoked," the older man said. Azriphel blinked out instantly. From outside, I heard a howl. Apparently, the process was not painless.

  "I played right into their plans," I said.

  Jase took the seat across from me, so recently vacated. "Not yet, Zay."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Their plans involve you losing," he said. "All you have to do to stop them is to win."

  "That's all, right? Just need to win. Face off with the full force of House Lucifer and make them blink first. I think I've got my work cut out for me." I laid my head down on the table. "Tink's going to throw a fit over this."

  "Don't worry, Zay." I felt Jase's hand rest on my head, as if he was pronouncing a blessing upon me. "I have faith that you'll find a way."

  "Thanks." A silly gesture. It shouldn't have made me felt better. It did.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I put the key in the lock, turned the knob, and threw the door to my apartment open. "Honey, I'm home!" I announced. As if anyone would be there.

  There was someone there. Three of them, to be exact. "Who the hell are you?" one demanded. The tableau confused me. The speaker was a short man, thick and wide, dark complexion, beady eyes. To his left, a woman with long black hair pulled back in a high ponytail, only slightly taller than Tink, with pronounced Asian features. To his right, a woman almost my height, strawberry blond and freckled. All three of them, almost in sync, pricked their fingers with small silver knives. They spread out as they stood, far enough apart to make it hard to hit them all at once, close enough to reinforce each other.

  I spread my hands wide as they started tracing runes in the air. "I believe that's my line, considering you're in my apartment."

  "Your apartment?" The man's eyes narrowed even more. "Prove it."

  "I just unlocked the door and walked in like I owned the place. What more do you want, my lease agreement? Here." I tossed my wallet to the guy. "Check my license."

  "Licenses can be faked," he said, but he flipped my wallet open one-handed and checked. He nodded and looked up at me. "Isaiah Bright?"

  "That would be me."

  "Date of birth?"

  "What the hell is this, an interrogation?" I leaned against the doorway. "Look, this is my apartment, not yours. If you don't stop threatening me in my own home, I'll throw each of you out the window, even the pretty girls. I just got done with a six week trial and I will be damned if I go through another one as soon as I get home. Now sit down or get out."

  "Jule," the tall girl said. The guy grunted. "I think you're overreacting."

  "He's a demon," he replied. "Can't you hear it in the way he talks?"

  "If he was a demon, wouldn't he be trying to kill us by now?"

  I rubbed my forehead. "I see you idiots bought into the mythology as well."

  "Look, demon-"

  "I said, sit down, or get out."

  The man started to bluster some more, but the two girls exchanged looks behind his back. The guy was spearheading the effort to annoy me, but they didn't look so sure. I burned ichor, enough for a command, not the lighter touch of a suggestion, and hit him hard. He fell to his knees and his eyelids fluttered as if he was having a seizure. The two women didn't
react for a moment, then both focused on me as if I was the bad guy here. I hit them both with a suggestion to sit the hell down and shut the hell up.

  The tall girl staggered and sat back down on the couch. The guy crawled over to join her. Two down. I turned my gaze on the dark haired girl. She stood stock still, eyes tightly shut. A deep breath, and then she looked at me with brown eyes that seemed to see clear through me. A rune of some sort was glowing gently on her hand. She must have drawn it through the suggestion. "Resisting?" I asked. She nodded. "Doesn't feel too good, does it?" She shook her head. "You accept that this is my apartment?" Nod. "Going to try and fight me over this?" Shake. "Agree to a temporary truce on their behalf as well?" Nod.

  I withdrew the suggestion, then the command. While the two on the couch recovered, I turned and closed the door behind me. When I turned back around, the tall woman was starting to stand up, but the dark haired woman had moved around to touch her shoulder and whisper something in her ear. The tall one looked at me before sitting back down. Green eyes narrowed as she watched me. "So you live here?"

  "I'm glad you finally figured that out," I said. "Now what the hell have you done with the place?" A table covered with pages of notes and drawings took up a big chunk of space in the middle of the floor, banishing my furniture to random corners of the room. I recognized Tink's handwriting. Obviously, this had something to do with her. In one of the corners, I saw a sleeping bag rolled up, a pillow sitting atop it.

  Before the girl could tell me anything, I turned my back on them and checked the kitchen. A pile of dishes sat in my sink. Only looked like one or two meals' worth, but if they were freeloading in my apartment, they could at least keep it clean. Between that and the mess in the living room, I was working up a good head of steam. I walked over to the fridge. Here was the real test. I pulled it open.

  Glorious. They had kept my beer stocked, and there were even some other bottles in there. In fact, most of the fridge was taken up with different sorts of beer. Not cheap stuff, either. "Anna suggested that we broaden your horizons as thanks for letting us stay here," said a soft voice from behind me.

  I selected a beer of a sort I'd never heard of. "Tink said that?" I looked over my shoulder and the dark haired girl frowned, then nodded. "Is she here?"

  "She's picking up dinner."

  "You guys eat this late?" I looked at my watch. It had been late when I left Jase's church, and it was getting close to midnight now. "You're a bunch of mages, aren't you? Want to tell me the story, or wait until she gets back?"

  The girl shook her head. "May I?" she asked, gesturing at the fridge.

  "Be my guest. Oh, wait, you already are."

  She smiled, ever so slightly, and flicked a quick rune in the air. One of the bottles jumped out of the fridge and flew right into her hand. "Thank you."

  I closed the fridge and lifted my bottle toward her. She never took her eyes off me. Whether that was due to my dashing good looks or to her reasonable paranoia, I didn't know, but I chose to believe the former. I checked her out, blatantly. She was taller than Tink with slightly more pronounced curves, more exotic, much quieter. All good qualities. Her eyebrows went up, but she didn't say anything. I grinned and she rolled her eyes and continued to drink. "I think I like you. I don't even know you, and I think I like you."

  She favored me with another tiny smile and inclined her head.

  "What's your name?"

  "Hikari," she said.

  "Just Hikari?"

  "Just Hikari."

  "So what's a nice girl like you doing in a dump like this?"

  "This is your dump," she pointed out.

  "Yeah, well-"

  "Are you trying to flirt with me?"

  "Well, I-"

  "You're not very good at it."

  "I'm-"

  "In fact, you're very bad at it."

  I sighed and drank. She didn't look much like Tink, but she acted much like her. Were all lady mages bitches? Did that come as part of the training? I was afraid to ask.

  Hikari's eyes flicked toward the living room. A moment later, I heard a key in the lock. "Got the food," Tink announced. "Where's Hikari?"

  Hikari winked at me before walking out of the kitchen. "Getting a drink."

  "There you are. Why are the other two so quiet?"

  I stepped out of the kitchen. Tink didn't notice me at first. She looked tired, sort of drawn. Her hair was a little shorter than I remembered it, and her hairband was missing. Had something happened while I was gone? I put those thoughts aside and spoke up. "They're in shock. I tend to have that effect on people. It's my natural charisma."

  Her head spun so fast her hair fanned out. "You!"

  "Me. Did you miss me?"

  Hikari rescued the bag Tink was carrying before she could drop it. Tink's fingers flexed as if she wanted to go for her knife. "Where the hell have you been?"

  "No one told you?"

  "That you were on trial, but for this long? I tried to look for you, couldn't find you anywhere. What the hell, demon? What sort of bullshit trial was it?" She stalked toward me, fists clenched.

  "Murder, assault, conspiracy, and high treason," I said. She stopped dead in her tracks and her eyebrows rose. "They dropped the charges."

  "It took them six weeks to decide to drop the charges?"

  "It's a long story."

  "By all means." She crossed her arms and waited.

  I looked around the room. Hikari was hiding her mouth behind her hand, silently laughing. The other woman was leaning back on my couch, watching me with narrowed eyes. The man was still out of sorts. The command had been a little on the heavy side. I let my gaze drift across the new table, then back to Tink. "How about you go first?"

  "How about no."

  "That wasn't a request." I smiled at her, with teeth. "You let these three into my apartment. By the looks of it, they've been staying here while I was away. While I appreciate the wonderful world of beers they brought me, I'd appreciate an explanation even more. Especially considering that they had no warning of my nature, so they nearly attacked me when I walked in the door."

  She glowered, but then walked over to her favored chair and sat on the edge. "I guess I owe you an explanation. Let me introduce them. Quiet one back there is Hikari. Tall one is Christina."

  "Chrissy," the woman said. "Nice to meet you, Isaiah."

  "Call me Zay," I said. "That includes you, Tinkerbell."

  "Bite me, demon. The guy's Julian. What's wrong with him, by the way?"

  I shrugged. "I might have commanded the asshole to back the hell off when he started trying to interrogate me in my own home. He's lucky I didn't command him to drown himself in the toilet."

  Tink made a noise that sounded uncannily like a cat about to hack up a hairball. "Julian is a bit of an asshole, yes. But he's a damn fine mage."

  "I'm sure. So, why do I have three mages freeloading in my apartment?"

  "They're not freeloading," Tink snapped. "They paid your rent for the last month, and they'll pay this month too. Did you think I was going to cover for you? Consider it a temporary sublet."

  "Fine, so they're not freeloaders. That's good to know, really, that's great. So why do I have three mages subletting my apartment while I'm away?"

  "They're representatives from the Northeastern Regional Conclave."

  I rubbed my forehead. "So why do I have three representatives from the Northeastern Regional Conclave subletting my apartment while I'm away?"

  "Rashid sent them."

  "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

  Her scowl quirked into a grin. "Maybe."

  "Get on with it."

  "Caleb and I thought that Rashid was running away when we caught up with him. He wasn't. He was running to the Regional Conclave headquarters to tell them what had happened. They were concerned enough that they sent these three to investigate and evaluate whether we can rebuild the local conclave with the few mages we have remaining here."

  "The answer to
that is no," Chrissy broke in. "That's been obvious since we got here."

  "So they're evaluating whether it's safe enough to send people here to rebuild," Tink said. "The evaluation is still ongoing, right?"

  "Right," Chrissy agreed.

  I shook my head. "I can answer that. No, it's not safe enough here."

  Tink leaned forward. "Why not?"

  "Part of my story. I'll tell you when you're done. So, I've got three mages here in my apartment, evaluating whether you can rebuild your local conclave, right? I get that. So why are they staying here?"

  "They can't stay at my place."

  "Why not?"

  She leaned back. "None of your business."

  "It's my business if you're putting them up here."

  "No, it isn't. I'm not going to tell you, demon, so don't bother asking. I volunteered your place before I knew how long that trial would last. I didn't think you'd care. Hell, I thought you'd appreciate having two pretty girls living with you."

  I eyed Chrissy and Hikari. "Well, you're right on that count."

  "I know you and your perverse ways."

  "Intimately."

  "Don't start."

  "Start what?" We both looked up at Hikari. Her expression was perfectly innocent and curious. She even tilted her head, as if to ask why we weren't immediately explaining. How would I explain it? We're contracted, I got to see her naked and feel her up while bringing her back from the brink of death? That'd go over well.

  Apparently, Tink had no intention of answering either. She looked anywhere but at me and continued. Hikari hid a laugh again. "So, I volunteered your place because it'd be cheaper and nicer than living in a hotel. And I figured you weren't going to bring in much over the winter, so I thought it might help you get through."

  "That's uncommonly kind of you."

  "I'm not a bitch all the time."

  "Really?"

  "Let me rephrase. I'm not a complete bitch all the time."

  I grinned. "So, now that I'm back, there's going to be a little confusion about what's going on, especially since Tink here made the deal without my knowledge. I'm not going to kick you out, but it's up to you if you want to stay here. It'll be by my rules, though."