“I imagine so,” said Nikolas, in a bored voice. “That’s all we’ve got. No footage from inside the pub itself—most of the people there were swept into the fighting.”
“And no bodies, because someone got overexcited and shredded them.” I rolled my eyes. “Did Javos want us to spend all day watching pointless videos? Because I have a few other things I’d like to look into instead.”
Nikolas eyed me. “Not Babylon.”
He’d guessed my plan before I’d begun to fabricate a way to sneak off to the demonglass room. “Got anyone else to question?” I asked. “It’s not like I want to go back into that castle, but I’m not going to sit back while more people fall victim to these vampire killers. I know I’m not supposed to use my ability except as a last resort, but what if this is a last resort? Someone’s manufacturing this demon energy. Unless we talk to one of the people who had a hand in it, our information’s going to be one-sided.”
“I agree,” Nikolas said, to my surprise, “but there’s no evidence that the current source of demon energy is in the netherworld. We closely watch demon summonings now. This is strictly a vampire issue, and you saw how their queen reacted to my accusations.”
“Yes, I did,” I said. “But the fact is—we have access to those realms. Through me.”
“I’m up for it,” Rachel said. “So you can shortcut into anywhere with demonglass, right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Those pillars at the castle, and Zadok’s tower. There are probably others I haven’t found yet.”
Nikolas gave me a sidelong look. “If you do wish to speak with the arch-demon, then I can take you there myself. I can’t promise my brother will behave himself, and as for the rest of the castle… let’s just say they can sense something’s wrong. It’s not traditional for an arch-demon, even a dying one, to take up shelter in another dimension without causing side effects to the other demons living there.”
“I thought the castle was yours,” I said. “Doesn’t that imply you have at least some control over what goes on there?”
“I do,” he said. “It’s also daytime, which makes this easier. And by the way, Devi, you know where the easiest place to cross over is.”
“The celestial guild.” I looked at him. “I didn’t know warlocks were such stubborn rule-followers until I met you. It’s my neck on the line if he catches me, not yours.”
“Then it’s up to you if you want to take the risk or not. If we cross outside the castle, we avoid the obvious target spots. There’s a hidden entrance into the lower corridors which will enable us to reach Themedes without being spotted.”
“Fine,” I said. “C’mon, then. If we’re going to the guild, then one of us has to drive.”
Nikolas ended up drawing the short straw, mostly because I was fairly sure the celestials knew what my car looked like by now. When we passed by the guild, I couldn’t help peering out the window to get a clue as to what might be happening inside. Hopefully no more deaths. With tensions mounting between the vamps and the warlocks, the last thing we needed was the inspector coming back to the guild and making trouble for everyone. If we could figure out whether the vampires were coming from a particular collective or not, we could cut off the hydra’s head before it infected anyone else.
Once the car was safely parked in the street parallel to the guild, we crossed over into the shadow dimension.
Even during the day, the sky was dark purple, etched with bright constellations. The castle’s obsidian towers loomed over us, and a cold breeze blew in. Whatever the seasons were like here, it always seemed to be freezing. I shivered a little, drawing my coat tighter around my shoulders. Stakes brushed against my legs, while two anti-warlock traps were concealed around my neck. I hadn’t mentioned them to Nikolas, because whatever the arch-demon said, I had plans to speak to his brother one way or another.
Then again, the dying arch-demon might well be just as dangerous himself.
Nikolas led the way to the castle’s side entrance. Hoping there wasn’t an army of scorpion demons on the other side, I peered past him at a cold stone corridor and a staircase spiralling upwards. Nikolas led us across the dark flagstones, painted in moonlight-coloured stripes from the overhead windows. I kept one eye out for anything lurking in the shadows, and walked with Rachel. She skipped along, humming, as though we were on a shopping trip rather than an excursion into a dimension which had tried to kill both of us more than once.
Finally, Nikolas halted outside a locked wooden door. “Don’t provoke him,” he said. “He’s a little unhappy at the current arrangement. I felt it wise to keep him separated from his son’s prison in Pandemonium, but unfortunately, he hasn’t taken to the new arrangements well.”
“He’s still… losing power, right?” I dropped my voice, figuring that asking if the arch-demon was still dying where he could overhear me wouldn’t make Themedes any more inclined to give me information.
“Yes.” He frowned. “You’re still wearing your trap. Why?”
“You know why. Same reason I brought stakes. There are vampires involved in this. It’s best to be prepared.”
Nikolas’s brow remained furrowed as though scrutinising me, then he looked away. “Just don’t pull out any weapons and startle him.”
He took a key from his pocket and unlocked the door.
Inside the room, Themedes sat on a battered armchair besides a bed which appeared to be the only other piece of furniture. He was in his human-like guise, except for the wings drooping at his back. Luckily, he was fully clothed this time, wearing ragged trousers and a torn shirt. The smell of brimstone permeated the air.
“Come to have a good laugh, have you?” he growled in the demonic language of High Chthonian, his gaze pinning me to the spot. He didn’t have the same burning aura as last time, but my body tensed all the same. His terrifying presence was difficult to forget, even weakened as he was now. Dark burgundy eyes clouded with hate and anger, but not overwhelming power like they had before. The spark had gone out.
“Guys,” I said out of the corner of my mouth, “maybe I should talk to him alone. I can handle him.”
Nikolas’s eyes searched my face, then he nodded, gesturing to Rachel to step back. The arch-demon and I were alone.
“It’s better this way, you know,” I said to him in his own language, remaining in a defensive stance. “Your son wanted you dead.”
“He did,” he said. “He wanted to wear my power like a crown, because he had nothing of his own. Now I’ve moved from one prison to another.”
“This isn’t—”
“Don’t be daft,” he growled. “I know a prison when I see one, as much as you think I’ve lost my wits.”
Yeah, I figured that out the first time you tried to kill me.
“What do you lot want, then?” he snarled.
“To know how Azurial put his demonic energy into the bloodstones,” I said. “If it was his, or someone else’s. And if any other vamps were left in our realm after he died.”
“I’ve never been to your realm, you idiotic human,” he said. “As to the bloodstones, I wasn’t aware of their existence until a swarm of vampires took over my palace.” His voice rumbled, carrying the echo of the power he’d once unleashed on me. A tempest brewed in his eyes, but they didn’t rage with flames as they had before.
Still, I took an involuntary step back. Arch-demon powers were no joke, even if the arch-demon in question was less threatening than a Grade Two demon.
“Azurial was a traitorous bastard to even consider giving any power to the vampires,” he growled. “They are our sworn enemies.”
“But why can he do it and nobody else can?” I asked.
“If I knew how he’d done it, I might have been able to stop him, human,” he said. “As for the vampires, they were recruits of his. I can’t say I cared where he found them, only that I hope they suffered a great deal when they expired.”
Hmm. I didn’t know when Azurial had first contacted our realm, but ma
ybe he hadn’t found the vampires there after all. Let’s face it, vamps hated demons, and most wouldn’t listen if one of them appeared and started whispering promises to them. They’d have to offer a hell of a bargain for vampires to even consider pledging what remained of their souls to a demon.
Something like… a cure.
Careful to keep my expression blank, I said, “Azurial frequently contacted my dimension, apparently. Did you watch him at all?”
“Did I watch him?” he echoed. “He was given everything a demigod could ever want, save for my throne. Only an arch-demon is worthy to rule my great city. Now, it will fall with my passing. And I wish I was there to watch it burn.”
“Good for you,” I responded, irritation prickling up my spine. No prizes for guessing if he gave a shit about what Azurial had done in my realm. Nope—he was the centre of the universe, and if I was to get anywhere, I’d need to appeal to his ego. Or bruise it. “So he was plotting against you by hiding vampires in the palace,” I said. “Surely if I were you, I’d want to know how he sneaked them in.”
His aura blazed. “Traitor. He had full access, the spoilt little bastard. I was a fool to take my eyes off him.”
“Yes, that was a mistake,” I said. “It’s a pity he can’t die, too.”
“Did he tell you that? Or the other warlock?” He laughed harshly. “As though I’d pass on that information to a celestial. Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you are. You might wear our mark, but you’re still one of them.”
“Maybe I’m not,” I said. “Maybe I’m something else.”
“He knows what you are,” he muttered. “Never thought I’d see the day when I’d be outdone by a warlock. He talks about you a lot, do you know?”
“Er… who?”
“Your shadow-aligned friend.”
Nikolas has been here? More than once? I’d figured he’d kept in contact, but not that they’d been having conversations about me behind my back.
He gave a coughing laugh. “If he came to any conclusions about the nature of your power, he didn’t tell me… but I suppose he didn’t give you that information, either. In the end, you’re a celestial in their eyes. Until you fall.”
“What are you talking about?”
He laughed again, wiping his mouth with his sleeve, which came away red with blood.
“I’m not long for this realm or others, but I’d give anything to see it again… to see them die.”
My stomach turned over. “The celestials, right?”
“It’s a sham,” he rumbled. “They’re all the same. They fall, or they die believing themselves righteous. All will fall to the netherworld in the end. The shadowy one knows. He knows.”
“Wait. Are you talking about Nikolas, or Zadok?”
“Does it matter?”
He’s changing the subject. As brutally fascinating as arch-demon politics were, I needed answers on our more immediate problem.
“So you don’t know where your son brought the vampires in from?” I asked. “You didn’t see him set up his summoning connections with our realm?” But he’d done so through Dienes, a lesser demon. Either he’d asked and found vampires on the other side… or they’d already been there. In his own realm. Which at least explained why we hadn’t found their lair yet.
“I’ve been locked up here too long, and policing the vampires was never my job. You’re asking the wrong person.”
“You must know something,” I said. “Vamps can’t skip through dimensions. Most demons can’t, and Azurial’s locked up. Unless they were already in our dimension before I killed him.” But that didn’t explain where the demon-infected bloodstones had come from. Someone was smuggling them in… which meant setting up a portal. They weren’t dropping out of the sky.
“There are many moving pieces in this game, Devi. Yours is only a small part of it. A tiny, insignificant human with a mark on her soul.” He cough-laughed, flecks of blood appearing around his mouth. “Nothing, in the grand scheme of things. This isn’t a game you can win.”
“Then why did the fallen Divinity mark me in the first place?”
“There’s nothing you can offer me for that information that I have need of, celestial.”
Damn him. Sure, there were others who might know… but he’d been there, with the other Divinities. He’d been on their side. Until he’d fallen.
“Sounds pretty lonely,” I muttered. “You know, you say that everyone will fall, and the celestials are deluded. Sounds like you’ve had a pretty miserable existence anyway.”
“Better to reign in the netherworld, Devi, then allow yourself to be blinded.”
Great. Not much I could do with that. Demons might not be outright evil, but the realms they ruled weren’t exactly paradise. Look at this place.
“Just one more question,” I said, holding out a ragged cloth stained with dried blood. “Can you identify this demon? Its essence was in the vampire’s blood.” When I’d been cleaning off the blood from the vampire attack last night, I’d managed to get enough of it onto the cloth to make a decent sample.
“Are you mocking me?” he growled.
“No, I really want to know.”
He let out a rumbling growl of anger, which reverberated through the floor. Crap. I really hoped Nikolas had accounted for mad arch-demons when he’d built this castle. If he’d been the one to build it. The arch-demon’s huge body trembled, then he collapsed into a tremendous coughing fit. The room shook, a sound like crackling flames filling the air. Coughing blood onto the stone floor, the arch-demon straightened, his once-proud wings drooping from his shoulders.
“Leave,” he croaked. “Leave, before I smite you. It doesn’t matter if you die at my hands, since my time is limited anyway. If your fallen Divinity would seek to punish me for torturing you, I’d be dead before he found you.”
I backed away, feeling the echo of his power brush against my skin. My demon mark tingled as though in warning, while my celestial mark burned in unison. With both marks warning me to run, I figured I’d better listen.
The door flew open behind me.
“Calm down,” Nikolas said in a loud, steady voice. “We are not your enemies.”
I didn’t miss his sidelong look that implied he wasn’t best pleased with me for provoking the arch-demon. I hadn’t thought Themedes would help, but it seemed a bit of an overreaction. Especially considering he hadn’t responded at all to me calling him a miserable bastard. Maybe because he knew it was true.
Themedes coughed blood onto the floor again, falling back against the bed.
Nikolas steered me towards the door. I yanked my arm free, glaring at him. “That wasn’t necessary. There’s more he knows—and he won’t tell me.”
“He’s an arch-demon,” he said. “He’s baiting you, trying to get you to sign over your soul. It won’t lead to anything, Devi.”
Fine. I’ll ask your brother instead. Or Azurial. Nikolas might be trying to protect me, but he kept secrets of his own. Dangerous secrets.
“He can’t own my soul if he’s dead,” I said, not particularly caring if Themedes heard this time.
Nikolas frowned at the scrap of fabric in my hands. “You didn’t mention you got hold of the vampire’s tainted blood.”
“Thought you already had a sample,” I said. “I figured he’d know where the demon magic came from. It’s better than summoning up demons at random and making risky bargains. I’m not sure it is Azurial’s power inside the bloodstones. Maybe he was using someone else’s. There’s no way to tell, unless you can identify it.”
“You remember me telling you all demon magic looks the same?” he asked. “The aura is the same colour on all the tainted vampires we’ve encountered. Few demons have the ability to tell which demon the magic came from.”
Is your brother one of them? The question lay on the tip of my tongue, but we’d had that argument already. Nikolas clearly wasn’t budging on that one, and I was less than certain the two hadn’t discussed me behind my back
anyway. And the arch-demon, come to that.
“It’s up to you, then,” I said. “We keep going with the limited knowledge we have in our own dimension, or we look to the netherworld.”
“The netherworld offers nothing without a price.”
“Heard that one from the arch-demon,” I said. “You can’t investigate a case like this and not expect some bargaining to come into it. You are half demon. You know there’s no other way to gain the information.”
“You lied,” he said. “You didn’t plan to come here at all. It was Pandemonium you wanted to target.”
“I didn’t lie. You said yourself there are all kinds of monsters over here. I’m not naive enough to think the pretty sky makes up for all that.”
“Now you’re diverting.” His eyes narrowed. “Really, Devi? You think you can take on the fire demon without falling victim to his lies?”
“Technically, I killed him once already.” I decided not to contradict him and say it wasn’t Azurial I’d planned to question, but someone much closer to home.
“You know what his dimension is like,” Nikolas said.
“Look, this isn’t an optional thing. If we don’t find out what’s going on over there, things are gonna look pretty crap for Earth. Besides, I can easily shortcut into the palace without setting foot outside.”
“Do you really think the other inhabitants of Pandemonium will have left the palace alone?” he asked. “Azurial might be caged, but the remainder of the city is fair game to anyone who wants power. Besides, not everyone can put their demonic power into an object. It wasn’t supposed to be possible at all, actually. I still can’t figure out how Azurial did it.”
“Hey!” said Rachel, from the corner. “If you two have quite finished bickering, I’m freezing my tits off here. Let’s go home.”
This isn’t over, Nikolas. I’d return to the subject later, when we were away from this place. I hadn’t intended to start another argument, but Nikolas had ties and obligations to toe the line whatever dimension he was in. I didn’t. Shielding me from the truth wouldn’t end well for any of us. I’d pry the truth from the demons myself if I had to. It was past time I put my training to good use.
Celestial Fire (Celestial Marked Book 2) Page 6
