“What?” I ask. “There’s no reason to keep him here. We should let him get as far away from this mess as possible.”
Cam’s mouth opens but no words come out. Ice slides into my stomach, and it churns slowly like an slushy maker as the cold realization settles over me. My heart cracks and shatters as I catch up with everyone else.
“Vessa hurt you,” I say, because I can’t say the word ‘killed.’ Not in relation to Cam. He lets out a breath. He doesn’t deny it even as I will him to argue, to protest. But he doesn’t because it’s true: she made him into one of her cronies. “Cam.” His name is strangled on my lips.
“I’ve only given her the bare minimum,” Cam says. “She made me ask where you were when she found out you’d escaped. I didn’t want to. I wish you’d lied to me.” He looks more pained than I’ve ever seen him, his expression raw with hurt.
“She’s waiting,” the jerk in cargo shorts says, giving Cam a strange look.
“So let her wait,” I say.
He flashes his gun. It takes all of my willpower not to kick him in the crotch. But there are too many people around to risk causing a scene. We need to get to Vessa and we need to put an end to this, now, before more people are hurt. Before more people are murdered.
Xanan drops his hand from my shoulder and I shoot him the most deadly look I can muster up.
“Don’t you dare touch him,” I hiss. “You understand me?”
Xanan flicks his lip ring, meeting my glare. He’s never spared any of them before, not even Rayna, who saved my life. But Cam…If he hurts Cam, I’ll never forgive him. I doubt Xanan cares about having my forgiveness but he doesn’t reach out for Cam.
“Azmos,” Cam says, voice unsteady. “Is there a way…” He trails off, like he knows the answer but has to ask. Azmos shakes his head sharply, once.
“I am sorry, Cameron, but the magic cannot be transferred,” Azmos says, his voice low. “If she relinquished her magic’s hold on your life, you would die before I could step in to recover it.”
Cam takes a shuddering breath, his shoulders sinking in defeat. “And I don’t suppose that if we defeat Vessa, the spell vanishes and everything goes back to normal.”
“No,” Azmos says, voice so soft I barely hear it though he’s only feet away from me. “Unfortunately not. The damage is done.”
“Yeah. Fuck.” He runs his hands through his messy hair. “That’s what I thought.”
The woman in sweatpants shifts uneasily. She’s frowning. Clearly she doesn’t like the familiarity Cam has with us. “Let’s go,” she says, tapping her side where her gun is concealed. She sounds more nervous than impatient and I resist the urge to take out all of my anger on her. She’s in the same boat as Cam, and I feel bad for her, but if there’s a single lifeboat, Cam is getting it. Period.
Only this is the S.S. Titanic and there are no lifeboats. Vessa is an iceberg and she’s doomed us all.
“Az, if there’s any way—“ I start.
“Come on!” the man in shorts growls. “She’s not exactly patient and she knows when the damn ferry docks.”
He moves behind us and the woman leads the way up the winding road that runs along the coast. I reach for Cam’s hand. He shrugs me off at first and then looks down at me, reconsiders. He grabs my hand and squeezes. Gabriel falls into step beside me and Xanan keeps a respectful distance. But it doesn’t matter if Xanan lets Cam live for now. Killing Vessa will now kill the boy I love and we all know it.
But if we don’t stop her, we’re all going to die. The cracks in the Spirit Realm will lead Xanan’s people to us, if Vessa doesn’t kill us first. And there’s probably not a way to stop her and keep her alive.
But if there is, I’m going to find it. I squeeze Cam’s hand so tight he winces and I have to loosen my grip.
They lead us to a big cargo van, the kind used to transport groups on field trips. The guy in shorts sits in the back with us, his gun out. They’re inexperienced, though. Not soldiers, just people. They don’t bother to frisk us for weapons or even take Gabriel’s sword. Maybe they don’t think the sword is a real threat against bullets. The woman in the driver’s seat taps the steering wheel and keeps checking the rear view mirror, like she’s as nervous as the rest of us. Vessa is thinking in terms of numbers, not training the troops she has. Quantity over quality. I feel callous thinking it, but it’s true.
I surreptitiously feel for my dagger, in the sheath clipped to my jeans. When I get out of the van, I make sure my sweater and coat cover it and conceal it from view so they don’t take it.
The house they drive us to is gigantic by normal standards but here on Bainbridge, surrounded by near-mansions with water views, it’s one of the smaller houses we’ve passed. It’s white, with columns and verandas in a nod to ancient Greek architecture. It has a long driveway and plenty of space between it and the houses around it. It’s set far back from the street and the front of the house is hidden from view by trees.
No guards flank the front door. The man in shorts pulls keys from his jacket pocket and unlocks it, holding the door open. “Inside,” he commands. Xanan grabs the man’s hand, runs a palm down his arm, and the man drops to the porch with a thud. Clearly no one warned them about him or his power. I think Azmos is right: she doesn’t know Xanan is here or with us, and that’s a huge advantage.
Hope dares to swell slightly inside me.
But then Cam’s fingernails dig into my palm and I pull away. He stares at the now-dead man on the ground in front of him and turns as white as marble. The woman starts to scream and reach for her gun but Xanan is too fast. He grabs her by the arm and places his hand on her throat, and then she’s dead on the ground, too, the life pulled out of her, her spirit sent to the Spirit Realm where it belongs.
Gabriel gags and throws up in the bushes. I used to have a similar reaction but I’ve gotten too used to seeing bodies like this, to watching Xanan in action. I’ve become a monster, because all I can think is “they were already dead.” And yet Cam, warm and solid beside me, is just like them. I make sure to stand between him and death but Xanan does not make a move to grab Cam.
“I’m going to check around the back,” he says. “I’ll meet you inside.”
Gabriel wipes his mouth and gives me a pained look before heading inside the house on Azmos’ heels. I stop Cam from going in.
“There’s got to be a way to save you. I’ll have Gabriel call Myron and—”
“I went to Myron,” Cam says.
I blink at him. “When?”
“Afterward.” He swallows, like the words are rocks, rough and cutting as they push their way up his throat. “I thought maybe he knew of a cure, or a way to undo it.” He drops his hands to his sides, defeated. “Nic, there’s no cure. If Azmos can’t save me, then I’m already dead. He was my last hope. I thought maybe there was some trick Myron didn’t know.” I think of the pitying look Myron gave me, the way he wouldn’t look at Gabriel when he was trying to determine how Vessa found the warehouse. He knew about Cam the whole time. I’m going to strangle him.
But then something else occurs to me: I had assumed Cam was taken by Vessa’s people last night, outside the warehouse, but if he went to Myron, that’s impossible. I was there all night and Myron never left. “It happened that day you ran the errand,” I say. “She didn’t just beat you up.”
“No,” he says softly. “She didn’t.”
“You should have told me.”
He meets my eyes and they cut through me like emerald lasers. “What good would it have done? You don’t have the power to undo it.”
I have to look away. It’s my fault this happened to him. I can’t say it out loud but it doesn’t matter. The thought hangs between us. The words are written on his tombstone.
“We’ll figure something out,” I finally say. My breath hangs in the cold air like a cloud. Cam looks at me like he used to when I said I’d be fine taking a test without studying: in disbelief. It was only weeks ago that those wer
e our problems. A sound escapes me, something between a scream and whimper. “There are demons and magic in the world. There has to be something we can do.”
“Demons and magic are not the solution.” Cam practically hisses the words. They strike me like a snake bite and I flinch. “I knew better. The minute you chose the demons over me, I should have run in the other direction.”
“I didn’t choose them over you,” I say, folding my arms over my chest. But it’s a lie. When Azmos released me from my contract, I asked for a job at the first opportunity, knowing full well it might mean losing Cam. I just didn’t think he’d actually die.
“It’s always been a game to you,” Cam says. He’s not looking at me. He’s staring off into the trees, his words puffing out into the cold air like dragon breaths. “The demon showed up and you had to play. And when the demon won the first game, you jumped right back in to play at a more difficult setting. You never took it seriously. But I did. I knew it was dangerous. And for some stupid reason, I stood by you. And now I’m going to die for you.”
I try to protest but he’s right so there’s nothing to say. He’s going to die. He is, for all intents and purposes, already dead. Vessa killed him. And when we kill her, Cam and all of the people like him will die for good.
“I won’t let that happen.”
“You can’t save me, Nic. You need to stop trying. You should leave now. Get the hell out of here while you still can.” His voice is eerily calm again, his green eyes blazing with intensity. “I made my choices. They were idiotic choices, but I guess it’s true what they say: love is blind.”
Tears prick at my eyes. “Cam.”
“Nic.” His tone is hard. “It’s too late for me. This is your chance to save yourself.”
I look out at the long driveway. No one would stop me if I got in the van and drove away. But maybe I’d only end up on the ferry with Vessa’s people and die anyhow. She needs to be stopped and I’m going to stop her.
“I can’t walk away until this is done,” I say.
His jaw is set, his shoulders squared. “Then do me a favor and try and to learn from your mistakes this time.” He pushes past me and heads inside.
I follow him. “Wait!” My throat is dry and my mouth tastes like ashes. “Where are you going?”
“To play the loyal little servant until I get a chance to stab her in the back,” Cam says. “It’s the last thing I can do. The only thing.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Cam doesn’t get that chance. Vessa is standing at the top of a giant staircase, looking down at us. A big freight train of a man stands guard at her side. She watches us walk in with mild amusement.
“I see your servant boy is loyal to you despite my hold,” she says, nodding at Cam. Her blue hair cascades around her shoulders. Her lips are painted as blue as her hair and eyes. “Humans are such fickle creatures, individually. But they’ll work well enough as simpering masses.”
“You won’t get a chance to test that theory,” I call up to her.
Her smile widens and she descends the stairs. My skin crawls. She wears a different black corset and black leather pants like she went clothes shopping at Villians-R-Us. Her gaze falls back on Azmos. She speaks in a language I can’t understand. It’s pretty and lyrical.
Azmos physically recoils at the words. “Speak English,” he demands.
A small crack appears in the carefully polished veneer of Vessa’s face but she recovers and says, “It’s been too long, brother.”
“I thought you were dead,” Azmos says. “I believed they had killed you, so I fled to this world.”
“They thought they could contain me.” She snorts in derision. “Fools. But it’s fitting. They designed their own destruction by letting me live. And now I shall make this tribe of humans into my eternal servants. You can rule beside me and we will be worshiped as we deserve. All you need to do is bow to me and then make a gesture of loyalty.”
I shiver. I doubt I’ll like what any gesture of loyalty might entail.
“Vessa,” Azmos says, his voice so low I can barely hear it. “You’re using too much magic. It’s throwing off the balance between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead. It’s puncturing holes. The Spirit Realm could break open.”
There’s a fraction of a second where I think maybe he’s gotten through to her. Her eyebrows go up. She looks thoughtful. But then she laughs and the moment crumbles. “A fairy tale. Besides, some collateral damage is unfortunately necessary,” she says, as though it’s perfectly reasonable. Azmos takes a single step back. “They’ve wronged our kind, my brother. They’ve slaughtered most of our kin in a malicious genocide. They fear our power so they lie about its consequences. I’ve built an army, Azmos, and I will rule these lowly monkey-men. And you can rule beside me. Together, we’ll be unstoppable.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Azmos says. “Our magic must be tempered, rationed.”
“No. Our power isn’t dangerous. They know we’re meant to rule them and they try to oppress us. But they cannot keep gods bound in chains. Especially when we work together.”
“The Moritas will hunt us down before long,” Azmos says.
Vessa laughs. “The Moritas cannot touch me if I amass an army big enough. I’ll always have a front line to sacrifice themselves for the cause. And I will have such an army, very soon. Then we can destroy the Moritas and the Vacuus Realm.” She pauses, lifting a blue fingernail to her chin. “Of course, I’d have that army already but someone has been playing vigilante, destroying my soldiers.” She tuts, like she’s scolding a child, and looks at me, eyes hard. Wait, she thinks I’m the one who’s been downing her soldiers? I’m floored she thinks I’m capable of that, but also a little bit flattered. A compliment from a deranged demon is still a compliment, right?
Her gaze moves behind me and out the door, where one of her guard’s bodies is clearly visible on the porch. “I’ll even forgive you for the soldiers you sacrificed now. After all,” she says, starting down the stairs, the burly man on her heels, “you’ve brought replacements with you.”
My blood curdles in my veins, turning to sludge as my heart pounds. She stops in front of us but keeps a safe distance of several yards.
“No doubt your loyal servants,” she looks me over and then turns her appraisal on Gabriel, who shudders, hand on the hilt of his sword, “are ready and willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.”
Gabriel mutters something I think is ‘bat shit.’
“My companions needn’t be bound to me to stand by my side,” Azmos says, his tone a little haughty. Vessa picks up on it and her smile fades. She gestures to the Burly Guard, who says something into a wrist cuff.
Four more of her ragtag army rush down the stairs. Two of them wear jeans, another is in pink surgical scrubs. The third is a man in a postal service uniform. Two of them have guns. Two have swords.
“Disarm them,” Vessa orders. She glances behind her, toward an archway that leads to a room with windows that open on a backyard. She looks disturbed. If there were guards outside she’s expecting, no doubt Xanan has gotten to them already.
One of the guards with a gun, the woman in scrubs, aims her gun at me. Her brown hair is greasy and there are bags under her eyes. There’s a white tooth embroidered on the chest of her scrubs, so I’m guessing she’s a dentist or works for one. “Grab her!” she tells Cam.
“He’s a traitor,” Vessa says. “Dispatch him. He’s no longer needed.”
The barrel of the gun moves from my head to Cam’s. The woman’s hand shakes but she’s only feet away so it doesn’t matter how bad her aim is. It’s not like she can miss. Out of my periphery, I see the other gunman is aiming at Gabriel, who sets his sword down at his feet and puts his hands up.
The woman’s finger hovers by the trigger. “A traitor?” she whispers, her brow furrowing as if she doesn’t understand the concept. Like Kai back in the apartment, she thinks disobeying isn’t even possible.
“We don’t have to obey her,” Cam says, barely about a whisper.
The woman hesitates. She turns the gun around. It almost looks like she’s going to hand it to him. She whispers, “Sorry,” and then smacks his skull with the back handle of the gun. Cam falls into her arms and she gently lays him down on the marble floor.
“I said shoot him!” Vessa yells.
“He’s down,” the woman says meekly.
“Shoot him in the forehead or I will finish you,” Vessa commands.
The woman moves slowly, clearly not wanting to obey, but she turns the gun around and aims it at his head as he lies there, helpless and unconscious. My brain reels, spinning like a tornado until it catches on a kernel of a plan.
“Wait!” I shout, blood pulsing in my veins. “You’re right.”
Vessa blinks at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Gabriel giving me a curious look.
“I’m happy to be a demon’s servant, even bound by magic,” I say. “But my loyalty is to Azmos. I want him to be the one to do it. And you have to let Cam live.”
“Fine,” Vessa says. The woman in scrubs loosens her grip on the gun and drops it to her side. She looks relieved.
Azmos glances back at me wearing a troubled expression. I ignore him. Holding my hands over my head like I’m in the middle of a stick-up, I move past the woman with the gun. I stand next to Azmos. Vessa is only feet in front of me and being this close to her makes every cell in my body shake with fear.
Vessa’s smile is patient as she looks at her brother, the smile of someone indulging a small child. “Well, Azmos?” she asks. “This will serve as an act of fealty.” She puts her hand out to Burly Guard, who pulls a knife from his belt and hands it to her. It’s big, a machete, the kind the serial killer in a slash flick would walk around dismembering people with. Bile crawls up my throat. My heart is beating so fast I’m practically vibrating. She takes it in her hand, her painted blue fingernails curling around its hilt. She smiles at it affectionately, as if it’s a pet, and then she extends it out in front of her. “Prove your loyalty to me by pulling your dear assistant under your power.”
In the Demon's Company (Demon's Assistant Book 2) Page 18
