The Demon Beside Me

by Nelson, Christopher

“Oh, but that’s a common misconception,” Victor said. His wings stretched out, the tips barely reaching the edges of the circle. “Our authority is very wide, Caleb, very wide indeed. Internal Security requires all possible latitude to execute our goals. It’s never been about you, halfbreed, though snuffing you would be a nice bonus. No, Caleb, this has been about you all along.”

  “What?”

  “You’re a threat to the Choir, Caleb DeMarco. Internal Security’s been watching you for a long time. Your heroic actions are in the past. It’s time we move on.”

  “Why?” Caleb’s voice was nearly a whisper.

  “Look at the company you keep.”

  Caleb looked at me, then to his right, and then across the circle to Opheran. “I see demons that I have come to know and respect. I see friends where I used to see enemies. I see potential peace where I once saw inevitable war.” His head turned back to Victor. “What do you see, Victor?”

  “I see the enemy. I see corrupted humans. I see a traitor among them. You know what the Choir does to traitors, don’t you?”

  “Of course.” His voice was flat.

  “Internal Security has a different method.” Victor showed his teeth. “We hurt them. We keep hurting them. And only when we believe they have been hurt enough, do we bring them to justice.”

  “Wait-“

  “I’m not done hurting you yet, Caleb.”

  Victor’s wings had folded back in. Now he snapped them back out. As he did so, something flashed, blindingly bright. I threw an arm up, covering my eyes, hearing various curses and snarls from all around me. I heard a thump and yelp from next to me and knew that Caleb had gone flying backwards. A whoosh of wings beating the air told me that Victor was now on his way out. I lowered my arm and blinked furiously to clear my vision.

  In the middle of the circle, Jase had fallen to his knees. His hands reached up to where two streaks of glistening purity marked where Victor’s swords had rested. Those streaks began to run red, a V with the point at the base of his throat. In the next heartbeat, those streaks sprayed outwards.

  “Jase!”

  He looked at me, opened his mouth. Blood trickled from the corners of his lips, but no words came out. He gagged and slumped to the ground, each beat of his heart forcing blood to spurt from the gashes in either side of his neck. Victor’s purity sealed the wounds away from any possibility of demonic regeneration. I rushed to his side and his eyes stared up at me, filled with tears. His lips moved, formed the words “I’m sorry,” and smiled. By the time Caleb made it to my side, his smile was all that remained.

  Chapter Sixteen

  * * *

  The coffin was open and Jase lay in calm repose, his hands folded over his stomach. A high-collared shirt covered what had been done to him. The muscles of his face had slackened and the smile I had so often seen on his face was gone forever. I sighed and moved aside, letting Hikari step up beside me. “I don’t understand this,” she said softly. “He had no reason to do this. Jase never hurt anyone.”

  I didn’t say anything. I didn’t have anything I could say. I just put a hand on her shoulder and drew her away. A few steps away, Jase’s wife and children stood waiting, weak smiles on their faces as they greeted those who had come to mourn his passing. I had only met Rachel Pruitt a couple of times, and I had never known that Jase had three children, all grown. His oldest son even had children of his own who sat quietly in chairs nearby, too young to understand that their grandfather wasn’t going to wake up again, too old to forget him.

  Hikari and I exchanged a few words with his wife. We expressed our regrets. Simple words didn’t work. I fell silent. This time, Hikari put her hand on my shoulder and led me away. We stepped to the side, down the receiving line, past the children to the man who stood with his family in their mourning.

  Caleb held his hand out to me as Hikari steered me into place. I took it, his grip firm but cold. “Zay,” he said quietly. “Thanks for coming.”

  “He’s not really coherent right now,” Hikari said.

  “You don’t need to tell him that,” I said.

  Caleb’s grip tightened and I looked up at him. “Zay, listen to me. You couldn’t do anything.”

  “Don’t-“

  “Don’t what? Don’t you think I’ve been thinking the same thing for the past three days? Do you think I’ve slept at all?” His eyes were sunken and dark, haunted and cold. “Listen to me. You couldn’t do anything. If you had tried, it would have caused a reaction and killed all of us. If there’s anyone who could have done something, it was me.”

  “You couldn’t have done anything either, Caleb,” Hikari said. “You were already injured, even before he tossed you halfway back to the church. I’m the one to blame. I was separated from him inside. If I had been with him, maybe it would have turned out differently.”

  “Or maybe we would be having two funerals today,” he said, finally releasing my hand. “I don’t think he would have hesitated to cut you down if he had the opportunity.”

  “Maybe you should all stop blaming yourselves.” Tink thumped my shoulder in passing, ignored Hikari, and walked straight up to Caleb, staring up at him. “Especially you, Caleb. You know there was no way anything short of a miracle could have saved him. Victor knew precisely what he was doing.”

  I winced. Her words were blunt but true. The swords had sliced all the way through his carotid arteries and jugular veins, almost all the way back to his spine. Even if the wounds hadn’t been imbued with purity, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything for him. Tink and I could have attempted some amplified healing magic, but that would have run the risk of an amplified volatile reaction.

  None of us had had the presence of mind to do anything constructive at the time. We were exhausted and drained from fighting the angels, as well as the exposure to the smoke and fire. As she had said, nothing short of a miracle would have saved him, and I was fresh out of those. He had lost consciousness within those first few seconds and even with Caleb trying to hold the wounds closed, he had bled out in less than a minute.

  The angel had also volunteered to be the one who broke the news to Jase’s wife. She was blissfully unaware of the existence of angels and demons, so he had created a cover story of some sort of break-in at the church that went horribly wrong. The lie would hold up forever. There were no bodies left at the church to exhume. There was no evidence of ichor or purity. The only things left were a charred framework and a dead man.

  “Demon,” Tink said. By the tone in her voice, she had been trying to get my attention repeatedly.

  “I don’t think you should call me that here,” I said.

  “Are you sure we should even be here?” she asked.

  “I am absolutely sure we should be here.”

  “I don’t mean it like that, dipshit. I mean, is it safe for us to be here?”

  I nodded. “The House is handling security. Opheran will pay respects on behalf of the House, as well. I think High Prince Harax has authorized a significant donation to charity on his behalf.”

  “Buying off the widow?”

  My vision went red and I looked down at her. She stared back up at me, expressionless. I took a deep breath before responding. “Are you seriously going to try and use this to score points for your anti-demon crusade?”

  “Why the donation, then?”

  “Because he was a friend to me and the House,” I said. “I asked if we could do something for the family. Opheran approved it with no questions asked and brought it to the head. Why? Do you think we have ulterior motives?”

  Tink sighed and looked away. “No. Not this time.”

  The reaction was so unlike her, I didn’t know what to say. Caleb just reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. I heard Hikari mumble something under her breath, then pushed me away. “What?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry about it. Let them have their time.”

  A member of Jase’s congregation intercepted us before I could ask her what she me
ant, and we spent a few minutes in conversation before moving on. I looked back toward Caleb. Tink was gone and Caleb’s expression was darker than I had ever seen it before. Movement caught my eye and I saw Tink heading for the door outside, her eyes wet. I glanced over at Hikari. She didn’t seem to have noticed.

  “I’m going for some air,” I said.

  As I had expected, she looked around before nodding. I excused myself and walked outside. The air was humid and stagnant and I wanted to head right back inside. Instead, I spotted the blonde hair piled up on top of her tiny frame and walked toward her. “Needed some air,” I said as I stepped up behind her. “But I think the air’s fresher inside.”

  She was heading for a small garden bench and only hesitated for a second as I spoke. “Oh?” I followed her to the bench. She sat down, smoothing out her dress, then gestured at the empty place beside her. “I don’t know, demon. For some reason, as oppressive as it is out here, it’s better than the atmosphere inside.”

  “I think I know what you mean.”

  She shook her head. “No, you don’t. I don’t know any of these people. I’m not a member of his congregation. I wasn’t even really a friend of him or his family. I spent less time with him than you have.”

  “Neither has Hikari,” I said.

  “But she’s here with you. I don’t have that sort of excuse.”

  “You’re here for Caleb.”

  She looked away. “No. I’m not. We don’t have that sort of relationship, demon.”

  “You’re not friends with him?”

  “Not like that.”

  “I’m not asking about that, Tink.” I reached a hand out for hers, reconsidered, and drew it back. “You’re friends with him and you know how badly he’s taking this. There’s nothing wrong with being here for him. Or for me, for that matter.”

  “Why would you be taking it so badly?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “I’ve had people die around me before. I’ve killed before. I’ve never had anyone die right in front of me like that. Not like that. Not someone I knew.”

  “There wasn’t anything any of us could have done,” she whispered.

  “I tell myself that over and over,” I said, clenching my fists. “Just like you do, I bet. It doesn’t help. I keep thinking there had to have been something I could have done that evening that would have made things turn out differently. I’ve saved his life a hundred times in my thoughts. Every time I do, I open my eyes, and he’s still gone.”

  “Me too,” she whispered.

  Neither of us said anything after that. A breeze pushed humid air into my face for a few seconds before giving up. Something else touched me and I looked down to see Tink’s hand brushing mine. I opened my fist and she placed her hand in mine, small and warm. I squeezed her hand and she leaned against me, her eyes open but staring off into the distance, tears slowly tracking down her cheeks. “I just saved him again,” she said quietly. “But he’s still gone.”

  “Don’t let it eat away at you,” I said.

  “I’m trying. I can’t help it. Caleb’s even worse. I don’t think he’s slept since then.”

  “I don’t know if I have either.”

  She made a sound that might have been a laugh. “I have. But not much.”

  “You know what we’re going to have to do now, right?”

  “Kill Victor.” She didn’t even hesitate. “You know, demon, this really is all your fault. You should have let us kill him all those months ago when he was underestimating us as much as we’ve underestimated him.”

  “Yes, I know,” I said. That haunted my thoughts too. “Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I don’t think it was the wrong decision at the time. We had no idea what sort of threat he is.”

  “I don’t like knowing that all of our mistakes are coming back to haunt us,” she said. “What’s next? Is slaughtering House Lucifer’s forces going to hurt us down the line? Would having Deshavin alive make a difference? Would Julian and Chrissy have made a difference? Is killing Azriphel going to doom us all?”

  “I wouldn’t go quite that far,” I said.

  She sighed and pulled away from me. “Just promise me something, demon. When the time comes, you’ll let me have Victor. I swear to you, I’m going to give that asshole exactly what he’s got coming.”

  “You may have to fight Caleb for it.”

  “You know I fight dirty.”

  “I’m pretty sure Caleb owes him just as much as you do.”

  A tiny smile lit up her face. “There’s an easy solution to that. We’ll just cut him in half.”

  “Down the middle or across the waist?”

  “That depends on how charitable I feel at that point.”

  “You’re a vicious little kitten, you know that?”

  “Call me that again and I’ll show you my big steel claw.”

  I chuckled and stood up, pulling her up next to me. “We should go back inside before Hikari comes out looking for us.”

  “You better let go of my hand before we do that.”

  Before I could do so, a large black Cadillac purred up into the parking lot. It stopped in front of the entrance to the home and a man in a sharp black suit stepped out of the driver’s seat, scurried to the rear door, and pulled it open. “Isn’t that Lionel?” Tink asked.

  I squinted. He had a couple of scars that I didn’t recognize, but it was definitely Lionel. “So that means-“

  She unfolded from the back seat, standing taller than Lionel, dressed just as impeccably in a dark suit and tie. “Becky’s a regular mafia princess now, isn’t she?” Tink sounded amused. “Do they even try to hide it?”

  “Technically, she’s a vice president now,” I said.

  “Technically, you still work for them. Which makes you a pawn, right?”

  “I prefer to think of myself as a knight. Maybe a bishop.”

  “Bullshit.”

  Another man in a dark suit unfolded from the car as well, but before they entered the funeral home, Becky’s eyes flicked over to us. Surprise lit up her face and she walked toward us. “Bright! Little Spice! Has something changed for the better, here?”

  It took me a moment to understand what she was getting at, but then I realized I was still holding Tink’s hand. I let go and shook my head. “Not what you’re thinking.”

  “Oh, so you’re still with the queen of all bitches?” Becky shook her head. “Bright, you sadden me. However, this is not all bad. That means this little spicy one is still available, isn’t she?”

  “Not for you, Becky,” Tink said. “Besides, this isn’t really an appropriate time, is it?”

  “No, it isn’t.” Becky sighed deeply, her chest heaving appropriately. I noticed this, and then glanced down at Tink, who promptly stomped on my foot. “Before we go inside, can we talk business for just one moment?”

  “Sure, what’s on your mind?”

  “You’ve been unavailable for quite some time recently. My father has been wondering if you’ll be back to work any time soon.”

  “You were aware that I was in a coma for two months, right?”

  “Your girlfriend did mention that in passing.”

  Lionel and the other suit were far enough away to be out of eavesdropping range. “Let’s put it this way, Becky. Remember the Gates? We’ve been dealing with a situation that came from that.”

  “And Jase died as part of this situation? Bright, why didn’t you bring me into this?”

  “You’ve been busy with your real job,” I said. “Both sides of it.”

  “Plus you dropped out from the conclave,” Tink added. “We were pretty sure you didn’t want to have anything to do with magic anymore.”

  One of Becky’s hands landed on my shoulder, the other dropping down onto Tink’s shoulder. “My friends, you insult me. If you needed my help, all you needed to do was ask. If you had made the situation known to me-“

  “We thought we had it in hand,” I said quietly. “This was our wakeup call.”


  Her hand squeezed my shoulder. “Then I’m sorry.”

  “So are we all. But as for work, don’t expect me back for at least another couple of months. Hopefully it won’t be any longer than that.”

  “Wishful thinking,” Tink muttered.

  “That’s fair enough, Bright. I’ll tell my father. Let’s go inside. I’d like to meet Jase’s wife.”

  “And his kids, and grandkids,” I said.

  “Shit.” Becky shook her head, setting her ponytail swaying. “I didn’t know. Where’s the meathead? I figured he’d be out here with you.”

  “He’s in with the family,” I said.

  “Then that is where I shall go. I shall speak with you kids again later.” Becky let go of our shoulders and led the way toward the entrance to the funeral home. I nodded toward Lionel as he followed her and received a sketched salute in return. The third man returned to the car. Who he was standing guard against, I had no idea.

  “Should we go back in?” Tink asked.

  “I don’t see where else we would go.”

  “No, dumbass. I mean, should we go back in together?”

  “Right. You go in through the front door and I’ll go in through the back door. We’ll synchronize it so we both hit Caleb at the same time.”

  She punched my shoulder. “You’re being an idiot. You know what I mean.”

  “Fuck it,” I said. “I’m tired of having to tiptoe around, trying not to piss her off.”

  Tink blinked, then threw her hands up in the air. “Amazing! After almost two years of this idiocy, he finally gets half a clue!”

  I ignored her and walked toward the entrance. Just as I pulled the door open, there was a whisper nearby. “Zay, hold up.”

  “Kibs?”

  “Opheran’s on the way but his visit’s going to be cut short. You may want to secure a room here.”

  “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “It’s not.”

  Tink cleared her throat from behind me. “You going to stand there and block the door forever, demon?”

  “Sorry,” I said. “Apparently something is afoot.”

  “Save it for later.” She pushed me toward the inner doors. “We’re going back in there, we’re going to keep Caleb company, and we’re not going to rise to any bait.”