by Ann Aguirre
Toothbrush. She would’ve carried this with her for overnight stays at Jesse’s, which meant they were sleeping together. The thought didn’t even give me a pang; that door was closed in my head for good. Unlikely it would tell me anything useful, but I’d leave no stone unturned.
“Do you require anything, Binder?” The demon stood at the edge of the room, watching me.
From behind him, Butch padded into view. He tended not to want me out of his sight during adventures like this one. I picked him up for a cuddle and he rested in the crook of my arm, licking my cheek.
“Were you worried about me?” I addressed the dog first, not the demon.
Affirmative yap.
“Things are pretty fucked up, huh. Any advice?”
Another yes yap.
“Want me to get the Scrabble tiles?” Those should be in Chance’s bag.
The dog wagged so hard he almost fell over. Another single bark. Yes.
“I guess I do need something,” I answered the Imaron. “Do you know where Chance’s bag ended up?”
While I had a better athame, it would break my heart to lose my mother’s spellbooks. Until now, those grimoires hadn’t been out of my sight since they survived the explosion at the store. They were, literally, all I had left of her. That old T-shirt of hers, along with everything else I owned, went in the firebomb.
“I’ll fetch it for you.” On returning, Greydusk handed me Chance’s pack, and went on, “With your permission, I’ll pursue some leads on my own. There are sources I dare not trust in your actual presence but who might be moved to part with information.”
“Are we safe here?”
The Imaron considered. “The protections should be sufficient against most would-be intruders. Don’t answer the door. Don’t invite anyone in.”
“That matters? I thought it was only for vampires.”
Greydusk flashed a mouthful of sharp teeth. “Ah, but the legends take their lore from us. It does, indeed, matter to the Dohan, the Drinkers.”
Drinkers. There was no question it meant what I thought. But apparently I had to be dumb enough to say, C’mon in and crack open some A-positive. Of course, the way I’d been going, I understood why the demon would warn me against the obvious.
“Go on. I’ll be careful,” I promised.
Once he left, I felt relieved. I didn’t want a witness to my bizarre conversation with my genius dog. Some things were too weird even for demons. I set Butch down, alongside the scrambled tiles. He pawed at them with adorable concentration, fumbling the letters with his tiny paws. When he finished, I read:
Theres a bad spirit in you
Hmm. “Do you mean the demon queen?” He had been in the room when Greydusk had explained how the Old King gained his gifts, but who knew if Butch had been paying attention?
Positive yap.
“Could you see her in me before?” God, I felt dumb, though you’d imagine I would be used to this by now.
Two barks equaled no.
“So coming to Sheol changed everything. Awesome.”
He went to work on the tiles again. New message. Its growing
My blood chilled. “When? If I use demon magick?”
All the time
Every moment I spent in the demon realm, the more power the queen gained over me. Soon it might be her in charge all the time and me screaming helplessly in my own head. Likely the demons had known—or at least suspected—it would come to this. So the ones who wanted me to do something to wreck the natural order? They only had to get me here. It was an insidious scheme, worthy of a cunning mind. If they could delay me long enough, they won.
There was nothing I could do about it now, though.
“Thanks for the warning, bud.” My expression must have been hopeless because Butch nuzzled my leg until I picked him up.
Then he licked my cheek. He only did that when things got impressively awful. I stroked his spine in deliberate, dragging motions, and then scratched behind his ears, which he loved. He forgot he was supposed to be consoling me and rolled over to demand a belly rub. I obliged for long moments, trying not to look too far down the dark path ahead of me. When I stopped, Butch stepped off my lap to curl up next to me. Being such a smart dog, he knew I had work to do.
I put away the letter tiles and then applied myself to the next order of business. I hoped Chance would brood for a while. Once I started handling Shannon’s things, well, any wild emotional reactions I preferred to keep to myself. Maybe I could salvage whatever dignity I had left. I didn’t brace hard; I just wrapped my fingers around her blue toothbrush and let the images come. This time the charge wasn’t strong enough to pull me in.
Instead, it showed a fleeting moment, sparkling bright, like a sunny day at the beach. Shannon leaned over the sink in Jesse’s bathroom in one of his shirts. As she brushed her teeth, he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Nuzzled her neck, and she turned, smiling. The toothbrush clattered to the sink and I lost the thread.
Nothing that can help me. But it was good seeing them both happy. It offset some of the pain still swirling from earlier.
Next, I tried the clothing, but there was nothing. Likewise with Shan’s laptop. It wasn’t the sort of personal possession that lent itself to emotional resonance. Nudging faint guilt aside, I skimmed her e-mails and browser history, hoping to feel closer to her. I wanted to know what I’d missed about her life these past months. Pretty quickly, I formed a picture.
Chuch and Eva had helped her find a place while they rebuilt. One of his many cousins needed a roommate, and Shan fit the bill. She’d gotten a job selling clothes at the mall, which she didn’t love, but it paid the rent. At night, she studied for her GED, and two weeks ago, she’d passed the test. She had an e-mail from Eva, congratulating her. In her DOWNLOADS folder I found a couple of PDFs from Laredo Community College. One contained fee info and the other was an admissions application.
Wow. I was so fucking proud of her.
And there were random notes from Jesse, too, showing the evolution of their relationship. At first just short and quick, uncertain almost, as if he didn’t understand why she was on his mind. They got gradually longer, and then I read, Dinner was amazing. And breakfast was even better. That had to be their first night together. I felt like a spy then, and I closed the computer.
Where are you, Shan?
I wished I had the ability to connect with her, mind to mind, but I knew no spells that permitted it, only natural gifts. Some people were born telepaths, but I wasn’t. Which meant I had to do this the hard way. Fine. With a faint sigh, I packed up her things and zipped the backpack we’d bought together. Afterward, I sat with my eyes closed, thinking, hoping Greydusk returned with a vital lead, as I had nothing, a galling admission.
Later, Chance came down to join me. I heard his steps but I didn’t open my eyes. What he had to say wouldn’t be fun to hear, but there was no point in putting it off. I steeled myself for a twist on the breakup speech. This time, accurately, it would be It’s not me, it’s you.
“Corine.” His tone throbbed a demand: Look at me.
So I did. I owed him that much, even if he broke my heart again. This time, I didn’t blame him.
“Yeah?”
“I don’t care about the demon stuff.”
I froze. Ran my fingers through my hair in stunned reaction.
He went on. “I don’t even know who my father is. And it’s clear something’s happening to me here too. I love you. And I’ll stand by you, even in this.” His charming, disarming smile flashed. “If the worst comes to pass, if you ascend as the demon queen, I’ll figure out some way to keep you happy, because there’s no way in hell I’m letting anybody else take my place as your consort.”
“Holy shit,” I breathed. “You’d do that? Why?”
“Because I’ve seen what life is like without you.”
“But you’d meet someone else—”
“Don’t you think I tried? You were gone eigh
teen months before I came looking that first time. Until Min vanished, I had decided to let you go.”
“For my own good,” I muttered.
“Well, yeah. I dated. But never more than once with the same woman. I was empty. Broken. When I had a reason to find you, I did. I was so glad to see you, even under the circumstances. Because in that time, I never found anyone who clicked with me like you. Now that we’re together again, I’m not leaving you. Ever.”
“It won’t come to that. I’ll do better at reining her in…and I won’t drink any more weird potions against your advice.”
“I understand why you did,” he said. “But your recklessness scares the shit out of me, love. Sometimes I think you don’t care if you live or die. You play chicken with the universe.”
I didn’t—couldn’t—deny it. Instead, I reached for him and when his arms went around me, I luxuriated in his familiar, comforting heat, the lovely cadence of a heartbeat that had lulled me to sleep in years past. “What’s your last name?” I asked.
Like he would tell me.
But his tiger’s eyes glimmered with amusement. “Yi, of course.”
“That’s your mother’s name.”
“She never married my father.” He cocked his head. “I can’t believe you didn’t know we were teasing you. I mean, she hasn’t told me who he is. That much is true. But I don’t have a secret name.”
So ridiculously simple.
“It was a running joke?” I ventured.
“I thought you were in on it too. Mom and I both did.”
Heat suffused my cheeks. God, my naïveté when I started dating him had been painful. “Oh.”
“We need to communicate better this time around.”
I smiled. “We’re working on it.”
He kissed me then, but before I fell into the pleasure, an idea struck me like a lightning bolt. The backpack. Shan had it with her when she was taken, and they let her keep it until they moved her that last time. If she saw anything at all during the kidnapping, the bag might know about it. I broke away from Chance.
“I’ve got an idea,” I explained, giving him a quick consolation kiss.
She always wore it lopsided, hanging on her right shoulder. So I went for that strap with an incoherent prayer. Please, please let this work. The charge was fierce enough to thrust me into her head, and I lost myself.
I’m walking to work. It’s pretty far, but I don’t have enough money for a car yet. Sometimes a girl from the store gives me a ride home, but I don’t know her well enough to ask if she’ll come pick me up. I’d totally kick in for gas. But car pool stuff can wait. It’s just fucking awesome that I’m self-sufficient.
Jesse’s coming to take me to lunch. A happy starburst, remembering. We’ve been together a whole month now. Which doesn’t seem like that long, but the boyfriends I had before were such children compared to him. I love how he supports me. He wants me to go to college.
A dark van passes. I don’t worry until it fishtails to a stop, blocking my path. I know how trouble starts, so I turn to run. They’re on me in four steps. Pain wracks me as I’m stuffed into the vehicle. Bound. They look like ordinary men, except for their eyes. Those are dead. Bloodred. As the van starts, I tip over. Hit the floor hard. One of them smashes a fist into my temple, and that’s the last thing I see.
I became Corine again, my head throbbing with Shannon’s phantom pain. Chance stroked my cheek. “How bad was it?”
“Bad enough.”
“Did you get anything?”
“I think, maybe. We’ll have to ask Greydusk if he knows of any demons that manifest in possessing a human host by showing red eyes.”
“It could point us to the right caste,” he said with rising hope in his voice.
“Then he can start threatening to suck the life out of those who don’t cooperate. I’m pretty sure that’s what he’s doing now, in fact. With less direction.” Because he’d been willing to support me, I owed him complete honesty. And so I shared Butch’s warning. I concluded, “If we don’t find Shannon soon, this might be irrevocable. I’d understand if you changed your mind.”
“I’m not going to. I fucked things up with you before. I failed Lily. I’ll do it right this time.”
I cracked a reluctant smile. “I don’t think the relationship manuals cover this kind of thing.”
“Since when did normal ever apply to us?” Chance rubbed his cheek against mine, and then nuzzled my jaw with his lips.
A pleasurable thrill trembled through me. The demon queen wanted to push him down and force him to serve. Demand immediate sexual satisfaction. I strangled her, but Butch whined, as if he could see the dark tendrils wrapping tighter about me. Before I could kiss Chance back or thank him or any number of interesting options, Greydusk slammed through the front door. By the demon’s expression, one of great excitement, his errand had not been in vain.
“You learned something?”
“How astute of you. But before I go into detail, I must ask your help.”
“What’s wrong?” After pulling the gloves from his pocket, Chance drew them on and pushed to his feet.
The Imaron gestured toward the window. “Well. There seems to be a mob gathering outside.”
Club Hell
“Come out now, or we carry you out in pieces!” By the roar that followed, this demon meant business. And it spoke so I could understand it, though the thick accent sounded Slavic.
More shouts followed—threats in English and demontongue—and unfortunately, I could understand the former. Something crashed against the house, and then a small boom followed. The door thumped inward, bowing on the hinges. We had little time.
“I guess some demons don’t need an invitation?” I backed away.
Greydusk shook his head, making frantic preparations for our escape. I hoped.
“Who are they?” Chance demanded.
“They’re minions, working for the castes who want to use you, Binder. Some would take you captive. Others would kill you.”
“How did they find out you’re working for me?” I asked.
“If Sybella has kept her end of the bargain, then I suspect it was the informant I spoke with earlier. He must have put the pieces together from street whispers and my rather pointed questions.”
About Shannon.
“He wasted no time selling that info,” Chance muttered.
That didn’t matter. “How many?”
“Twenty or so. More will come.”
“Do you have a back door?” I asked.
“I do, but there’s no escape from it. The courtyard dead-ends in walls from the other houses nearby.”
Chance thought for a moment, then said, “Can we go up and over?”
None of us wanted to fight twenty—or more—demons. Well, except the evil queen in my head. She was sick of running. She was ready to march out and smite them all. The queen whispered of lost and ancient knowledge, demon magick she could teach me.
Join with me, she whispered. I can end this. You shouldn’t be forced to flee like a fugitive. You carry royalty in your fragile human skin.
For a moment I was tempted. But if I let her fight this battle for me, it would make her stronger. I’d fade even more. It was happening without my cooperation, so I sure as hell wouldn’t embrace my own annihilation.
“Does the demon rope we used in the caves work in the opposite direction?” Like, could we slide up or would it make it easier for us to climb?
Greydusk seemed much struck by this idea. “It might, if I reverse the command.”
Something smashed into the side of the house. That spurred me into motion. I grabbed Shannon’s backpack while Chance shouldered his. Then I snagged my purse and stuffed Butch into it. “Let’s get out of here.”
The Imaron ran for the rope and met us at the back door that led out from the kitchen. Demons cooked. Ate. Tended gardens. Oh, man. I puffed out an exasperated breath; I didn’t want to find kinship in them. But everything I learned abou
t their world made me view them in a different light.
Out back, Greydusk had a tidy plot of land with weird, exotic flowers. The surrounding walls were of chipped gray stone. He had tied one end of the cord to a grappling hook and I backed up as he swung it in a tight arc before slinging it toward the top of the wall. It clattered and struck, then the tines reacted like claws, burrowing into the wall. Magickal, no doubt.
A whispered word and then, “Test it out, Binder.”
Shouts came from close-by. Our pursuers had broken into the house. Fear proved a powerful motivator, so I launched myself at the rope. I’d never had the upper-body strength for climbing, but as soon as I touched the cord, it felt like I’d dropped a hundred pounds. I hauled myself up as if I weighed nothing. Reaching the top of the wall, I scrambled over into someone else’s backyard. The lots were terraced here, which made sense as the city was built in the mountains. We’d passed through a chasm to get here, after all. The other two followed me and Greydusk whispered the word that let him reclaim his rope. On deactivation, the crablike grappling hook folded into a package the size of a large coin. Handy.
“Who can we trust in the city?” I asked.
“No one,” Greydusk answered.
If I unleashed the queen, I could command anyone to render aid. And then enforce their loyalty. Eager to begin her quest for Sheol domination, she pushed at the box that caged her in my head. I whispered no again and she howled in rage. The chaos in my brain could drive me crazy if I let it.
“Well, let’s move,” Chance said. “There are demons who look humanoid, like the Luren. We should find a crowd and try to blend in.”
“You could pass for Luren,” the demon admitted, after a cursory inspection.
That was a backhanded compliment if ever I heard one. Chance’s mouth tightened, but he didn’t protest as I hurried alongside the neighbor’s house and out the unlocked courtyard door. I emerged onto a different street. From here, I looked to Greydusk for leadership. He could decide where it would be best for us to hide in plain sight and plot our next move.
“One thing.” The demon touched the corner of each of my eyes, and it stung. The feeling spread, leaving my irises prickly.
