The Devil's Right Hand dv-3

by Lilith Saintcrow

  My ribs flared with deep panting breaths. Adrenaline soared and sang through me, pushing me past rational thought and into the tearing-claw frenzy of an animal brought to bay and prepared to go down fighting.

  He stood less than ten feet away, the darkness burning around him with a sound like voices whispering, chattering, sneering. My heart slammed into my throat, I dropped into guard, my blade suddenly glowing with harsh, hurtful blue light. The mark flared against my shoulder, soft velvet heat scoring into my nervous system.

  His eyes. Anubis et’her ka, his eyes.

  His eyes were like Lucifer’s, piercing intense green. And his aura, the diamond-twisting black flames of a demon; he was the same as he had been the very first time I’d ever seen him on my front step.

  Tierce Japhrimel was a demon again, and the look on his face froze my blood. My heart smashed against my ribs, my sword blazed blue-white, every nerve in my body sang with the furious urge to kill.

  I dug my heels into the concrete and prepared to sell myself dear if he came for me.

  Chapter 18

  Japhrimel cocked his head, watching me. His face was shuttered, blank, only the terrible burning fire of his eyes to show he was something more than a statue. I swallowed copper. I knew how eerily fast he could move. My heart threw itself against my ribs as if it intended to explode and save everyone involved the trouble of killing me.

  We stood like that, Fallen-no-more and hedaira, for about thirty of the longest seconds of my life. My blade, the weapon of a Necromance, spat blue flame, my head was full of the rushing noise of combat. I was set on lasetrigger, dialed up to ten, and just aching, aching to fight.

  My patience broke. “If you’re going to do it,” I rasped, “do it, don’t make me wait for it!”

  A fleeting shadow crossed his face. He looked puzzled.

  “What nonsense are you speaking now?”

  I was relieved. He didn’t sound like the soft evil voice that had crawled up from the bottom floor of the ruined apartment building. I was so relieved that he sounded like he always had—flat and ironic—that I actually let out a sharp breath, my swordblade dipping slightly. More thunder walked through the sky, the smell of rain turning thick and cloying. Whatever weather was crossing the city, it was very near.

  Relief turned to whipsawing fear and irritation, riding just under my skin. I hadn’t eaten, and I’d expended a hell of a lot of Power. My shields trembled once, snapped back into place. The mark on my shoulder pulsed, another hot wave of Power soaking into the mass of exposed nerves I was fast becoming. Get it while you can, I thought in a lunatic singsong. Get it while it’s good.

  “Dante?” He didn’t move. His eyes flicked down my body, took in my feet in ready stance, the blue-glowing blade, came back up to my face.

  “What happens now?” My breath jagged in my throat. My swordblade dipped even further, blue flame glowing, my rings flaring with golden sparks. “What now, Tierce Japhrimel?”

  Comprehension lit his face. In that one moment he looked completely human despite the lasers of his eyes. My chest gave a horrible squeeze. His eyebrows drew together again, and I braced myself for it. This is going to hurt. This is going to hurt worse than Jace, worse than Doreen, worse than anything. Oh gods, I’ve been wrong, he is planning on making me human again, he’s going to tell me… how is he going to tell me? Japhrimel, please—

  “If you think I am about to fight you, Dante, you are exceedingly stupid.” Now his voice held a faint note of disdain, or was it anger? Irritation?

  I wished I could tell.

  My throat closed. “Oh.” I braced myself. “Are you sure?”

  He made a curious little grimace, sighed. Clasped his hands behind his back, his inky hair falling over his forehead, longer than it had been the first time I saw him. His shoulders relaxed infinitesimally. “Someday, Dante, I will discover how your mind works. When I do I will be able to live content, having solved one of the great mysteries of Creation.”

  What? “What?” I blinked. My shoulders relaxed. It was going to be all right. He was here.

  But the red bath of instinct under my skin wasn’t so sure. The animal in me wanted to fight, wanted hot blood and a deathscream, and I was so twitched-out on adrenaline and fear I wasn’t sure I could stop myself.

  “Have you lost your senses?” Definite anger, reined in, controlled, and burning out through his eyes. When had he learned to wear such a human face, the expressions flitting over his expressive mouth plain as day to me? “I told you I would come for you.”

  “There’s a lot that expression can mean.” My stupid mouth bolted like a runaway horse. “You told me to stay inside the house. They cracked the shields, if I hadn’t gotten out of there the reaction fire… and the imp, there was an imp, and back there—”

  “Ah.” He nodded thoughtfully. “I see.”

  Silence again, crackling against the alley. My breathing began to smooth out. Slowly, so slowly, the tension and bloodlust faded, my pulse slowing down, and he made no move. I was still on the fine edge, pushed almost past rationality by the crazed burst of relief and fresh fear, I had just escaped a demon and now here was another one in front of me, and even though I knew him, I still felt pretty damn nervous. Each moment he just stood there scraped my nerves raw.

  My nerves were jagged enough. I hitched in a breath. “Don’t just stand there!” I shouted at him, twitching as if I meant to attack, sword dipping slightly.

  He didn’t even move. Just examined me, his hands behind his back and his shoulders straight.

  “Goddammit—”

  “Hush.” He shook his hair back, a quick flick of motion. “You must come with me, now. It isn’t safe here for you.”

  “You’re telling me.” The sky lit overhead with a few thrown bolts of light. More thunder, seeming to send hot prickles through my aching, strained body. “I thought… I thought you would…” I couldn’t bring myself to say it. My heartbeat slowed, but each pounding beat felt thick and heavy.

  “Whatever you thought, I am here now. I am losing patience, Dante. Come.”

  My sword dipped the rest of the way. The blue fire along its edges spattered briefly, went out. The sudden darkness stung my eyes. Even the wristcuff had gone dark, and that was some comfort. It had been warning me of other danger, not of Japhrimel. I took a deep, lung-searing breath. My hands shook.

  “You promised not to doubt me.” Silken, the reminder. “There would be unpleasant consequences to breaking a promise to me.”

  What the bloody fucking hell are you talking about? I have just had one fuck of a bad week, and I’m a little twitchy, so just give me a minute. I am so fucking frightened right now I don’t care who comes for me, I’ll kill them. Kill. I bit the words back. Settled for a choked, “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to do that? Huh? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “There are more pleasant ways to pass our time than this.” He took a single step forward, the Power cloaking him pressing against me. “I returned as quickly as I could. You bear my mark, I am still yours.”

  My brain struggled with this, chewed it, and spat it back out. “You’re a demon again. What happens now? What are you going to do to me?” I sounded scared to death, and not exactly in my right mind.

  Amazing. For once I sounded exactly how I felt. I was too fucking panicked to be very coherent.

  He took another step. “I am A’nankhimel, but given back my Power as a demon. I believe the term the Prince used is abomination.” His eyes glowed. “And if you do not come with me now I will force you, and that will be unpleasant for both of us.”

  I dug my heels in against the compulsion in his voice, the pressure to do as he said; it was harder to resist than Lucifer’s chill weight of command. Was it because Japh had so much more Power now, or because his mark was burned into my skin? “Don’t. Just give me a minute, okay, and tell me why. That’s all I’m asking. That’s reasonable, Japhrimel. It really is. Just fucking tell me. I need to know.” My voi
ce broke, spiraling up into a jagged half-gasp, and wind brushed through the alley, bricks groaning uneasily behind me as Power jittered at the edge of my control.

  He studied me for a moment. My sword hung to one side, loosely, and I was sure he could see me shaking like a Chillfreak. With each breath I dragged in I calmed down a little more, but not nearly fast enough.

  All things considered, I am handling this very well.

  “I took a risk, my curious. I thought it likely Lucifer needed us far more badly than he would admit. I could not warn you; he is far better at reading you than you may comprehend. Your reaction convinced him he could drive a wedge between us, cause trouble. Perhaps he was right.” He paused. “I am sorry.”

  I measured his face, he let me. The mark still burned against my shoulder, waves of Power teasing at my skin. Sinking in, caressing, cajoling.

  “You promised to trust me, and not to doubt me.” His tone was kind, very soft, and familiar.

  I didn’t need the reminder. I set my back teeth, then slowly, slowly, sheathed my sword; heard the click as the blade slid home. Thunder rumbled in the distance. The storm was closing in. “I know.” My voice was harsh, clipped. “You have exactly ten seconds to explain what the fucking hell just happened. Slowly. In great detail.”

  “It will take slightly longer.” No hint of irony in his voice, just simple quiet reasonableness.

  “I’ve got time,” I shot back, and slid the sword all the way home with a click. “Lead on, lord demon.”

  Was it my imagination, or did he flinch? He stepped forward, deliberately, and approached me, each footfall silent but distinct. I didn’t move, just shut my eyes. My lungs burned, I kept breathing. When his hands met my shoulders I sagged, and he pulled me forward, into the shelter of his body. “Do not, hedaira.” His breath was hot in the tangled, chopped mess of my hair. “What I have done, I have done to protect you. Have faith in me. Just a very little, that is all I ask.”

  “I do,” I whispered against his coat. “I knew you’d come.”

  His arms tightened, briefly. He kissed the top of my head, and some of the skittering panic rabbiting under my heartbeat eased. Just a little. “We must go. It is not safe for you here.”

  Funny, this seems like the safest place in the world to be. But I said nothing, just set my jaw and stepped away when he reluctantly let go of me.

  Chapter 19

  We walked together under the rumbling sky, Japhrimel with his hands behind his back and a familiar thoughtful expression on his face. I kept my hand on my swordhilt and tried to look everywhere at once, the sour taste of fear in my mouth and all my nerve endings scrubbed raw and bleeding. Japhrimel didn’t look at me, but he seemed intensely aware of our surroundings. Rain pressed low in the clouds, restless spatters touching the pavement and steaming away from the diamond glow of his aura. He was bleeding heat into the air, which made me think that maybe he wasn’t as calm as he wanted me to think.

  Of course, being a demon and having the resources of Hellesvront—the deep, wide net of agents and financial assets Lucifer had created on earth—Japhrimel had a suite in a high-rise hotel in the Novo Meste. True to form, he simply ignored the fawning of the hotel employees when he appeared with one tired and battered Necromance in tow.

  The hotel was a pile of glittering plasteel and plasglass, soaring above the Rijna na Prikope. Here in the Novo Meste, hoverlimos drifted under steely orange clouds and the buildings were clean and high, like the financial district of Saint City. It was in the Staro Meste that the trash piled up and the bordellos rollicked all night; that would have been the part of town I was more comfortable in. This just felt too exposed.

  Of course, my nerves were so jagged I would have felt naked anywhere.

  I had to swallow harshly when Japhrimel stopped in the lobby, half-turning to consider me with those new, awful glowing-green chips of eyes. “Are you able to take the elevator?”

  I nodded slightly, my chin dipping. “Fine.” My voice was a battered husk, still velvety with a demon’s seduction. “You still haven’t explained a damn thing.” That’s okay, I’m not in a mood to listen. I need to fight someone, anyone, but if I start now I’ll go crazy and I won’t stop until someone’s dead. Or sex. That would be good too. Come on, sunshine. Take a deep breath. Calm the fuck down.

  It was impossible. I wasn’t going to be calm anytime soon.

  “Patience, my curious one.” He made a slight movement, as if reaching for me. His hand fell back to his side when I shied away, my bootheel scraping the immaculate floor. It wasn’t him I flinched from. It was that the elevators were very close and he obviously expected me to get into one, my hands threatened to start shaking again at the thought. My breath came hard, harsh, my ribs flickering. “Soon enough.”

  The normals in hotel uniforms drew back as he stalked through the lobby. I suppose a wild-haired, wide-eyed Necromance with a white-knuckle grip on her sword and the static of bloodlust and rage following her like a cloud wasn’t exactly their usual clientele. The lobby was nice, I supposed—red velvet couches in baroque style, synthstone glowing white, a statue of a woman in a traditional Czechi costume with water pouring from her bucket into a rippling pool below. I tried to ignore the sudden swirling of fear and worry in the normals, followed Japhrimel’s back. The tattoo on my cheek shifted.

  One of the elevators opened as we approached. It was empty. It stayed open, and Japhrimel stepped inside.

  No. Please, no.

  I couldn’t back down. I had promised, I’d said it was fine. Backing down now would be weak.

  So I stepped into the elevator and fought down the hot sourness that rose in my throat as the doors slid closed. All the air seemed to vanish. I couldn’t close my eyes to shut out the terrible feeling, so I stared at Japhrimel’s feet, pressure building behind my eyes. The push of antigrav helped by pulleys made the bottom of my stomach drop out.

  “Japh?” I sounded about a half-step away from panicking, my voice breathless and cracked.

  A long pause. “Yes.”

  “Could you… is it possible for you to turn me back into a human?” I have to know. I won’t get any peace until I know. It’s just one of those questions I have to ask. Just… I have to know.

  His boot-toes didn’t shift. “Would you want to?” Was that hurt in his voice? Wonders never ceased.

  “Will you just tell me? I need to know.” Had to know. Sekhmet sa’es, he was a demon again, with all a demon’s Power.

  Did he still want me?

  It’s not that he’s back to his old self. I stared at his boot-toes. It’s that I have no control. He could make me do whatever he wants. He could do anything he liked to me, and I wouldn’t be able to stop him. That scares the hell out of me. How am I supposed to deal with that?

  “Even if I wanted to, I could not grant you mere humanity again.” His tone was so chill the air cooled a perceptible five degrees. “The changes have settled in, and you would not survive such a thing. You will not escape me that easily.”

  You know, I would have settled for a simple yes or no, Japh. I sighed, my shoulders hunching with tension. The air inside the elevator was beginning to run out, precious little oxygen left. I needed to breathe. I had to breathe. My throat began to close, my hand cramped on my swordhilt. Anubis et’her ka. Se ta’uk’fhet sa te vapu kuraph. The prayer rose, and a blue glow rose with it inside my mind. I could have cried with the relief. My god had never denied me comfort, even before I’d passed through my Trial to become an accredited Necromance.

  That, of course, reminded me of my altar and the shape of fire behind Anubis as he laid the geas upon me. I had studied geas in Theory of Spirituality classes, the gods asking of a specific service; they were rare even among Necromances. Gods, demons—everyone was messing with my life now. I tried to remember what the gods had asked of me. Couldn’t.

  I just had to wait. But the thought of that waiting didn’t fill me with terror. I didn’t think my god would ask me for anything
I couldn’t do.

  The door opened and I bolted from the close confines, searching for a wall to put my back to. Japhrimel stepped out, soundlessly, and waited. He knew better than to touch me, but his aura did what he refrained from, wrapping around mine in an almost physical caress.

  When I looked up and nodded, taking in harsh gulps of blessed air, he led me down a quiet, red-carpeted hall and opened a pair of double doors. Once I followed him through, they sighed closed behind me on maghinges.

  The suite was done in gold and cream, and a large mirror hung over the nivron fireplace, which was cold and empty except for a fire screen decorated with peacocks. And I wasn’t alone in the room with Japhrimel. I caught a confused sense of movement and threw myself away, my back meeting the wall with a thump between a bathroom door and a tasteful, restrained end table made of spun plasglass.

  Lucas Villalobos looked over from where he leaned against the mantel, his lank hair lying slick against his forehead. “Relax, chica,” he said in his softest voice, but he was grinning like a maniac. Thunder rang under his words, the expensive plasglass windows shivering in their seatings. I could feel the building sway underfoot. “You’re among friends.”

  “Friends?” My own voice cracked. My nerves were too jangled for me to be polite to anyone right about now. I was slowly, slowly coming back from the edge. “If these are friends, I’ll take my enemies.”