[Dragongods Saga 00] - The Demon Mirror

by Normoyle, David J.

  We received no reply. “What do you think she’s going to do?” I asked.

  “Ring nine one one, I guess,” Lionel said. “If she hasn’t already.”

  “When rescuers come, perhaps we can tell them that one of us is bleeding out. Persuade them they need to abandon caution.”

  “We don’t want them to bring everything above us down on our heads, either.”

  Our makeshift ceiling was uneven, with several jagged rocks sticking out, looking ready to fall at any moment. With how little time we had to escape and defeat the reflections, our situation was desperate. “I don’t want to die like this.”

  “You won’t. Don’t be morbid.”

  “Where better to be morbid? We’re in the dark underground and very possibly about to die.”

  “That’s exactly where jokes and laughter should be given free rein.”

  “Why?”

  “Something something human spirit.”

  I laughed, though not for long. Darkness and silence swallowed the laughter as fast as it had arrived.

  “I don’t want to die at all,” Lionel said quietly.

  As an immortal, I was the one who shouldn’t have wanted to die at all. Instead, I had said I didn’t want to die like this. Some vampires eventually reached a stage where they lost interest in living. Was that happening to me? Was that, deep down, driving my desire to change? Did I want to gain some measure of redemption before dying? Or gain redemption in death?

  “I think you are having morbid thoughts,” Lionel said. “Snap out of it. Tell me. The story about Drayson, was it true?”

  “It was.”

  “I thought you might have made it up as a way to persuade Danielle to help us.”

  “I don’t have that much imagination. I was glad I thought to tell Danielle about Drayson, though. Saved me from having to listen to the ham-fisted threats I sensed you were itching to employ.”

  “Did you love him?” Lionel asked.

  “Sorry?”

  “Drayson. Were you in love with him?”

  I smiled. “Didn’t you hear the part of the story about his wife?”

  “I did. Doesn’t change my question.”

  My smile refused to turn into a chuckle. “Perhaps I did. Unrequited, of course. Unadmitted even, until this moment, at least.” I cast my mind back, thinking. I couldn’t remember Drayson’s wife’s name, or much about what she looked like. “Before he made the demon’s bargain, he was a man of substance. And to be honest, I’ve known few enough of them.” I didn’t know if that said more about me, or about the men I’d met. “After the bargain, he gradually eroded away, his good qualities first.”

  “Is that what you are looking for?” Lionel asked. “A man of substance?”

  “I’m not looking.”

  At that moment, our gazes locked, and a frisson of electricity passed between us. “You’re looking at me,” he said.

  “We’re trapped together. I don’t have much choice.” I flushed, feeling the heat where our bodies touched swell once more. “What about you? Girlfriend? Wife?”

  Lionel shook his head.

  “Don’t tell me your father hasn’t lined up some suitable marriage prospect.” Within mage families, even in modern times, rather than waiting for sparks to fly by chance, parents sparked marriage possibilities into life via careful planning.

  “That would be Jacinta Hamilton,” he said.

  “Tell me about her.”

  “She’s colorful, bright, cheerful, and always the center of attention.”

  “Sounds like quite a catch. Or perhaps there is a catch?”

  “The latter. She’s cold and calculating. Ambitious with a capital A. I never know how much of what she says and does is an act.”

  “And that’s not what you want?” How much of what I had presented to Lionel had been an act? I had lied to him from the start. About everything.

  “Hello,” Danielle shouted out. Trails of dirt snaked down the walls of our tiny air pocket, kicking up more swirling dust.

  “No closer,” Lionel shouted.

  “Don’t move, I’ll take care of this,” Danielle’s hollow voice said.

  “Not moving won’t be difficult,” I said dryly. “How are you going to free us?”

  “With magic, of course.”

  I raised my eyebrows at Lionel. “Can you guess what she has planned?” I asked him.

  “Are you sure you know what you are doing, Danielle?” he shouted.

  He was the one who understood magic, and the frantic look in his face wasn’t reassuring. With a grinding, rumbling sound, the earth vibrated around us. As the rubble shifted, the edges of stones dragged against my skin, sending lances of pain coursing through me.

  Lionel screamed, “Stop! Danielle, stop.”

  The shifting eased.

  “Keep going, Danielle,” I shouted. I reached across and gripped the side of Lionel’s face with my free hand, curling my fingers around the back of his neck. “We don’t have many options. We have to let her try.”

  “I can’t bear it,” he cried. “My skin is being scraped off.” The glow from his pendant dimmed.

  “Look at me.” Our emotional states had reversed from earlier. I was calm, ready for whatever was to come. Lionel was filled with pain and panic. When his gaze flickered away, I dug my fingers into the back of his neck. “Look at me.”

  His eyes were wide, his pupils dilated. I stared at him with a look that didn’t have a shred of romance about it, a steady, intense look that offered only strength.

  He noticeably calmed.

  “Keep going, Danielle,” I shouted. “Get us out of here.”

  Was she aware of the fate in store for her in the hands of the Cressingtons? If so, would she prefer that we be buried where we lay? They were questions I didn’t share with Lionel, questions that I put out of my mind as soon as they arrived. I trusted the girl; I had to.

  The vibration in the earth around us increased, and a deep rumble filled our ears. I blinked away dust, holding Lionel’s gaze. I gritted my teeth as rocks ground against my body. Opposite me, rivulets of sweat trickled down Lionel’s forehead, etching out tracks in the dust that caked him, outlining the tension and pain in his face. As a vampire, I had a resistance to pain, so I knew that whatever I felt, he felt a hundred times over. He didn’t cry out.

  A rock rolled down and hit my shoulder, bouncing to the side. Cold air rushed down toward us. Lionel, feeling it, began to tilt his face. “Don’t look up,” I warned. If another rock fell, I didn’t want it to smash his face in.

  Lionel nodded. “If this is it, I’m glad it’s with you.”

  “Don’t say that.” All he knew about me were lies. “This isn’t it. Danielle knows what she is doing. Remember her hastily created ice creature putting your carefully planned fire illusion to shame.”

  “Making me feel bad just as I’m about to die. Have you no shame?” The smile in his eyes told me he wasn’t being serious.

  “My spell is supporting the structure around you.” Danielle voice came through clearly. “I can’t pull you out, but all the dirt and rocks is loosely packed, and nothing should fall. Can you climb out?”

  “I’m not sure.” I strained against the pressure holding me and felt a slight give. “Yes. I can move easier.” I pulled upward with my left arm, and, after a momentary resistance, it came free. I raised that arm above my head, brushing dirt off it with the other hand.

  “Hey.” Lionel turned his face away to avoid the splatter.

  “Sorry.” My left arm felt weird, as if it had spent so long curled around Lionel, pressed against him, that being free had become an unusual state.

  I reached up above my head with both hands and fumbled with the lintel until I got a good grip. “Are you sure this won’t come down?” I shouted out.

  “Pretty sure,” Danielle replied.

  “Sure enough to bet our lives on it?” I didn’t wait for a reply, pulling with all my strength. I shifted upward about a foot, t
hen paused.

  Lionel wiggled his shoulders around, managing to get his hands free. “I can breathe again.”

  “Don’t get too used to it. We’re not out yet.” I picked up Lionel’s pendant and lifted it higher to shine light on the uneven surface above my head. “Which way should I climb?” I shouted up.

  “I can see a glow, so I know where you are,” Danielle said. “Hold on, I’ll shine a light your way. Hurry, please.”

  A moment later, I saw a flash of light up and to the left. I reached my hand that way and felt fresh air breathing down. “Thanks. I have a direction.”

  Lionel stretching up, reaching for the same handholds I did. His arms were scratched and bloodied. “Stop,” I told him. “Stay where you are until I get out. We’ll just get in each other’s way.” He wouldn’t be able to pull himself out on his own, and I didn’t want him to realize how much strength it required. “Cover your head with your arms in case something falls.”

  I reached into the space through which the light had flashed, fumbled around until I found a loose rock, and yanked. It came out, and all around it, other chunks of rubble came free. I lurched back in alarm, only to find that the loose rubble floated downward slowly. Whatever Danielle was doing, it was powerful magic. I guided the loose rubble out of the way, then pulled more rocks free.

  Once I’d created a tunnel of space above me, I pushed downward with my arms, and pulled my legs out of the dirt. I was then able to stand, slightly hunched over, with my head in the space I’d just created. I grabbed at every outcropping, pulling free anything that was loose. With Danielle’s magic creating the weird low gravity effect, Lionel was able to grab the falling rubble above his head and shift it into the hole which had once held me.

  The space around me expanded until I could stand fully. I stared in surprise at a pair of chunky black shoes, then turned my gaze upward to see Danielle with her spellbook in hand. We’d made it.

  “What’s going on?” Lionel called out.

  “Give me your hands,” I told him. He raised them and I clasped him around the wrists. “Grit your teeth. This is could be painful.” Then, not giving him a chance to think about what was to come, I wrenched him upward.

  He screamed, a long, agonizing scream. I didn’t give him a chance to recover from the immediate pain of being ripped loose of the dirt. I released him, grabbed the edge of the gap in the floor, then jumped up through. I reached back down, gripped Lionel’s wrists once more, and pulled him through.

  He whimpered when I set him down.

  “We shouldn’t pause here,” Danielle said, nodding upward. “It’s unstable.”

  We were on a section of the living room floor of the house we’d earlier walked through. The broken TV still sat in the corner, untouched by the mayhem all around it. Most of the floor had caved in. Shadowy walls hunkered overhead, leaning precariously. From the angle of some of them, I had no idea how they hadn’t already fallen.

  Lionel was crouched over, breathing in heavy gulps of air. I put my arm under his shoulder, guiding him forward as I followed Danielle. We descended the steps and crossed the street, stopping in the grassplot on the other side. There, I helped Lionel onto the ground, and I collapsed down beside him. Danielle sat opposite us, her sigh of relief even louder than ours.

  The cool fresh air moving over my body was heaven. Our escape felt like a huge victory, even though it only meant that immediate disaster had been avoided. We were no closer to overcoming the demon’s curse and surviving until dawn.

  Chapter 8

  Still, I savored being aboveground, alive and free. Wind rustled through the long grass around us. I shifted slightly, feeling the hilt of the katana dig into my side. The sheath sown into my leather jacket had protected that, it seemed. I reached across and gave Lionel’s hand a squeeze, smiling at him.

  In response, he grimaced in pain.

  I immediately released him, taking stock of how badly injured he was. His clothes were torn to shreds, and much of the fabric still whole was dark with blood.

  “Can you heal Lionel?” I asked Danielle.

  She gave a brief scowl, then nodded. She lifted up her spellbook and flicked through it before finding a page she was happy with. She then began to incant, her lips forming words of power that I could not hear.

  I rose to my knees. What had I been thinking, grabbing for Lionel’s hand like that? We’d only just met, barely knew each other. Being trapped together had forced an intimacy between us that didn’t exist outside our tiny prison.

  Lionel’s eyes widened as Danielle completed her spell.

  “Thanks,” he said to her. “I feel much better.”

  “We should get out of here.” I stood. Danielle rose beside me. As she did so, she wobbled, and I reached across to steady her. Her spellbook fell from her fingers. “Are you okay?” I asked.

  She lowered her face and touched her fingers to her brow. “I’ll be fine. Just feeling slightly dizzy.

  Lionel picked up her spellbook and moved to stand on the other side of her, putting his hand to her back. “Your life force,” he said. “It must be terribly low. After your ice creature illusion, plus whatever you did to get us out...You shouldn’t have healed me. My injuries weren’t life threatening.”

  “I just need a moment,” Danielle said.

  Distant sirens cut through the night air. “We should get out of here,” I said. “We don’t have time to answer questions if the police arrive. Danielle?”

  “I’m okay. Let’s go,” she said.

  Lionel nodded. “Lead the way.”

  We left the grassplot, returning to silent street that ran along the front of the row of condemned buildings. The estate looked and felt even more desolate with one house half fallen. Our footsteps had a hollow sound. Lionel’s hand was on Danielle’s back as they walked behind me. We refollowed the little trail through the long grass, and I helped Lionel and Danielle through the fence.

  We piled into Lionel’s car, choosing the same seats as before.

  Before Lionel got a chance to turn on the engine, a white globe, with a projection of a man’s head inside, appeared in front of the windshield. The man had silver hair, brushed back. His brow was furrowed. “You’re not dead, at least,” he said.

  “Father, what are you doing here?” Lionel asked.

  The silver-haired man was Christian Cressington, and the white globe was a magical spell known as a seeing eye. “Update me on your situation,” Christian ordered.

  “I have it under control,” Lionel said.

  The furrows in Christian’s forehead deepened. “Your clothes are dirty, torn, and bloody, and your face isn’t much better. Ann convinced me you were ready for a senior role. I don’t like making wrong decisions.”

  “You only gave me the job because Mom...” Lionel changed what he was going to say. “I don’t need any help. How did you even know I was in danger?”

  “I was woken in the middle of the night and told.”

  “By who?”

  “Hadrian.” Christian nodded at Lionel’s chest. “The pendant you are wearing transmits a warning in case of mortal danger.”

  “It does?” Lionel lifted his pendant and turned it over in his fingers. “How come I never knew about that?”

  “I don’t know. Why didn’t you?” Christian asked. “Should I send Hadrian to bring you in?”

  “I’ve been healed.” Lionel wiped smudges off his face. “The immediate danger is gone.”

  “Healed? By whom? Whose spellbook is that?” The light from Christian’s seeing eye flared brighter, lighting up the leather-bound notebook that Lionel held on his lap.

  “It’s mi...It’s not a spellbook.”

  “Don’t lie. I’m not stupid.” The light from the seeing eye directed toward me, and I raised my hand to shield my eyes. My heart beat faster. I had no idea if my face was enough well known that Christian would recognize me. The light moved on, aiming for Danielle’s in the backseat. “Which of these two is the hood ma
ge?” Christian asked.

  “Neither,” Lionel said.

  “Hadrian told me that you insisted on confronting a nest of illegal mages alone and without backup. No wonder you are in trouble.”

  “I’m not in trouble.”

  “Hadrian thinks you might be trying to protect the hood mages.”

  “He’s supposed to be reporting to me,” Lionel muttered.

  “I didn’t hear that,” Christian snapped. “Speak up.”

  “Hadrian is supposed to be reporting to me,” Lionel said.

  “Don’t be emotional about it. Both you and Hadrian are new to your roles. I wanted you both to watch out for each other and let me know if either of you was out of your depth.”

  “You never told me to watch Hadrian,” Lionel said sullenly.

  “Are you going to explain what’s going on?”

  “I’m taking care of it. I’ll explain everything when I return to the house.”

  “It better be good,” Christian warned. The seeing eye imploded in a flash of bright light, and he was gone.

  “It better be good,” I repeated to Lionel.

  “Shut up, you.” He had a glum look. “Suddenly the thought of those demon reflections doesn’t seem so bad. If things go wrong, I’ll at least have the satisfaction of knowing that it’s Reflionel that will have to deal with Father from now on. Did you hear him? He had Hadrian spy on me. And he only gave me the role because Mom told him to.”

  “Who is Hadrian?” I asked.

  “We grew up together, though he’s only a distant cousin. He was assigned as my assistant. I knew he wanted my job, though I had no idea he would undermine me like this.”

  A firetruck and two police cars arrived, sirens blaring, screeching to a halt just in front of Lionel’s car.

  “The cavalry has arrived,” I said. “We should get out of here.”

  Lionel switched the engine on, and directed his car out onto the street. Blue and red lights flashed against the windshield. The first cop out of his car watched us accelerate away, seemingly debating whether to stop us before deciding against it and turning his attention on the condemned estate.

  We hadn’t gone far when a red light forced Lionel to stop. He turned to look at Danielle. “How are you?”