by K. F. Breene
“Weak,” one of the sitting demons said.
“She can do much more.” Air struck Darius again, in multiple places, ripping pieces out of his flesh. A spike hovered against his chest in line with his heart, poking his skin. As I watched, it started to turn slowly, burrowing its way in.
Adrenaline dumped into me as I felt his pain. As his heart started to hammer.
I love you, he thought. You have been the highlight of my long life. The softness of his farewell, the reverence, tore at me in a way I could barely comprehend. I could feel his resignation. His certainty that he would die. If not right now, eventually. They would torture him to get what they wanted out of me, and when he was no longer needed, they would kill him like they had Agnon.
He was happy I would live. I could feel it. His only regret was that he would have to say goodbye so soon.
Agony soaked down into the very fiber of my being because he was right. Everyone in that room knew it.
Unless I could do something.
No more hiding. No more fear of what my power would turn me into.
It was time to own what my father had given me in all its splendid glory.
I laughed, a purely demonic sound that I must’ve picked up somewhere along this journey. Power ripped and tore at me, pounding. Rising. I opened up to it, toppling my reservations and letting it consume me.
The rage was first, sending my fire into a frenzy. It traveled beneath my skin and licked at the air. Violence and anger boiled inside me, dragging me under. My vision pounded red. My fingers itched to kill.
Not yet, my power whispered at me, like a passenger sitting on my shoulder and murmuring into my ear. You aren’t complete yet.
I ground my teeth and held on, remaining open. Inviting all the soul-eating power into my body, and allowing it to fill me however it would. When I felt my humanity slipping away, I didn’t flinch back. I didn’t slow it down. I kept going, realizing now all the subtle defenses I’d developed over the years to keep myself safe from this humanity-eroding power. Not anymore. I had to trust in my mom’s heritage. I had to trust that my father’s power wouldn’t destroy me.
“Do my bidding,” the red demon commanded. “Show me your true power!”
Its command drilled into me, but I felt no urge to comply—no, my power coiled, ready to prove my dominance. They thought my father was scary, did they? At least he was sane.
Not yet, my power whispered again, holding back.
The dagger of air twisted into Darius’s skin, leaking blood down his front. He stood still, not thrashing or showing signs of panic, but the tightness in his eyes and his clenched jaw showed just how much pain he was in.
Not yet…
I squeezed my eyes shut and held on.
“What are you waiting for?” the red demon yelled.
“I have no idea.” Stuffed full of violence and the need for retribution, still I listened to that inner call—I let myself remain open for more magic to pour in. That was when I felt it. A rush of love so deep and great that I fluttered my eyes open and looked at Darius.
He was staring at me, in pain, resolute. Waiting for the end and feasting his eyes on my face. The feeling hadn’t come from him.
“Almost,” I said softly, letting my eyes close again. I was almost there. I could feel it.
Another rush pumped into me. Sex. Lust. The need to bang everyone in the room. Which was gross. I would ignore my split personality if it said to do that…
“Do you feel that?” one of the demons asked, its voice grating on my ears.
The emotions and feelings twirled as still more magic filled me, pumping in from somewhere unseen. If I’d had the presence of mind to gasp, I would’ve, because suddenly I could feel where everyone had just been. Whether loitering in the window to watch Darius and I do battle with the five demons we’d fought outside; or in a building across the sect, organizing the fighting effort; or at the dragon paddock, checking in on the momma and its baby.
“They have a baby dragon,” I said without meaning to.
Thoughts flitted around me, not taking shape. Except for Darius’s. I read his loud and clear.
Goodbye, my love.
“Nope.” I shook my head and opened my eyes.
Now, my power whispered.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I rose my hands into the air, feeling my power swell in a sweet, savory, though horribly violent way. Shivers covered my body. Excruciating pain brought me to my knees, surging and boiling my insides and scraping across my skin. All the elements of the underworld—violence, rage, sex, and even love—crashed against one other. Raked across my bones.
I hung my head as the red demon yelled at me. I didn’t catch its words, but it seriously was starting to get on my nerves. Could it not see I was going through something here?
I clenched my teeth and hung on, refusing to stop what was happening.
Heat infused my blood. Then cold. One after the other, flash boiling, then freezing. The two halves of my power coiled around each other, twisting and tightening. The pain from the onslaught of extreme temperatures intensified.
Then, with a final blast of agony, my power fused together.
I grunted and collapsed to the ground, my strength momentarily fleeing. Relief and joy blossomed within me—for the first time ever, I felt balanced. I had always been so afraid of the anger and desire for destruction tied to my powers, I hadn’t recognized or allowed in the good elements. Like any world, there was good and bad here—they were two sides of the same coin—and my powers embodied all aspects of the underworld.
I could marvel later. There was work to be done.
Summoning my strength, I climbed to my feet. Fire exploded out from me, washing over Darius and ripping away the air digging into his body. I thrashed through the magic holding him, hacking it apart. I threw the backpack at him and yelled “healing snake” before batting away a burst of air from the red demon. I could feel the weave of the spell. Understand the intention. It was meant to subdue me.
“Now. Where were we?” I picked up a chair with my power and ripped it across the room. One of the demons threw up a defense. I tore it down before smashing the chair into it. I tried to blast another with hellfire, but a strange weave of the fused magic came out instead. It cut through the sucker like a knife through water, way better than hellfire and impervious to the demon’s attempts to block it.
“Uh oh, the human learned a new trick!” I laughed manically as they started to run. Crazy always freaked people out. Not even demons were immune to that basic life rule.
I bent my newly fused magic into a prison and trapped the red demon inside, even as I chased after the others. “Where ya going?”
I dragged a stream of power across one of the demon’s bodies. The demon fell in two halves on the ground. I grabbed another with a burst of air as it was jumping into the do-it-yourself elevator. I pulled it back as a blur of movement interrupted the pandemonium.
Snake roaming around his monster-form body, Darius joined the fray, moving like a man with a purpose. Or, more accurately, a predator with a vendetta. He had to still be in pain, but he was clearly ignoring it.
He slashed the demon I’d kept from escaping, leaving ragged tracks down its body. When the demon hit him with a solid wall of air, Darius raked his claws through it, sending up sparks, refusing to be pushed back.
Yes, a predator with a vendetta. He was pissed.
I threw up a wall of fire and ice to keep everyone in the room—and anyone else out—and left Darius to it. He needed to take out some frustration, and those demons weren’t nearly as powerful as the red one. An elder was a good match for them.
After turning slowly, I stalked back to the red demon, feeling his attempts to pick through my magic. He was making excellent progress.
“So. Here we are.” I stopped just outside of the cage and spent a moment fortifying the weave. It would be a constant back-and-forth battle, because the demon began picking it apart again
almost immediately.
“I am impressed,” it said, its voice grating. “I did not think you had access to this level of power yet. You hid it well.”
“Nah. You were right. But there is no better way to bring out the best in a woman than threatening someone she loves. That was your bad.”
“I am not the most powerful demon in this kingdom, you should know. Many of them have abilities that exceed my own. Should your father not protect you, you will be at odds with those that wish to use you.”
“Which is a great reason to get the hell out of here, am I right?”
Reagan, we need to end this and leave.
I glanced behind me at the torn demon bodies littering the ground. The snake still traveled Darius’s body, randomly biting before moving on.
“Right. Okay.” As I turned back, the cartoon red of the demon dissolved into a leathery brown that matched my pants. Its wings grew, pulled even more tightly into its body so they didn’t touch the magical bars, and its tail shrunk away. “I think I preferred the red.”
“We can come to an understanding,” it said. “You have cleared away my advisors. You’ve made room for a new leadership. We can forge it together!”
I collapsed the bars one at a time, hitting its body. It fought me, thrashing against the magic and pushing it away. The bars that struck it didn’t slice through it as easily as the woven magic had destroyed the other demons.
I hit it with another blast of fused hellfire as the bars finished beating it. Still, it struggled to get up. The thing was a tank.
Darius rushed forward with claws and fangs bared. I beat him there with my sword, something I wasn’t a novice with. The sword drew fused magic into the blade and I slashed down. It sliced through half the demon’s neck before it stopped, needing another draw from my power. I gave it more, now feeling the drain of energy. Darius raked his claws down the demon’s chest, making it thrash. I cut again with my blade, finally getting it through.
The room fell into silence.
“Dang it, that thing was hard to kill.” I wiped the sweat off my forehead and sagged. I was thoroughly drained and utterly exhausted. “It could’ve been lying, but it said it wasn’t the most powerful demon in the kingdom. Besides my father, obviously.”
I would believe it. The most powerful would be granted the choicest spots within the kingdom, and that would be nearer Lucifer.
“Well, this one was almost too much, and that is with me totally letting go. If he’d had better advisors, I would’ve been screwed.”
There are not an unlimited amount of top level fives. Those with the most power seek it for themselves and collect weaker people under them. You see it in every world, with every species.
“That’s good, I guess. Regardless, we need to get out of here. We’ve gotten what we came for.”
Yes.
He didn’t change back into his human form, and the snake kept working. Darius needed to keep healing. The poor guy had really gotten the short end of the stick in this whole affair. I said as much.
I will get to spend more time alive with you. I would endure much more for that privilege.
I sure hoped not. I wasn’t worth it. A sentiment I didn’t voice, both because I’d seem like an ass, and because he’d just argue with me.
At the do-it-yourself elevator, I paused. “Unicorn blood. I’m not holding up very well, and you’re probably heavy. I’ll end up dropping us to the bottom.”
You’d do better to take us out of a window.
Yes, I would. That was true.
This guy had all the good ideas.
Darius turned so I could get at his backpack. With his claws, he wouldn’t be able to pick out one of the small vials.
You cannot take unlimited quantities of that, he thought as I took off the cap. Too much, and it will confuse the mind instead of clearing it.
I paused. “I’m not at that point yet, am I?”
No. Or I would’ve stopped you.
Right. Duh.
I downed the blood and felt the zing of energy. Underneath that, though, I still felt the pull at my limbs. I didn’t have much left in my tank.
“We can do it.” I shot him a thumbs up to project confidence I didn’t feel and ran around looking out windows. From this height, I couldn’t see the ground directly below. “Eenie, meenie…”
After breaking the largest one, I stuck my head out and looked down. A roof stretched out below us. All the better. At least it wasn’t a straight fall.
“That’ll do, pig. Let’s go.” I stepped up onto the window sill and looked back at him. “This is no big deal. I’ve levitated a dozen times in my life. This is just another day.”
I clenched my teeth and stepped out, falling five feet—and losing my stomach—before I caught myself with magic. I rose back up, supremely focused and not even daring to look at Darius. With his monster form and the snake situation, I was afraid the gross of it all might throw me off my game.
“Okay. I’m coming back over.” I hovered toward him with my eyes on my feet, focusing on my power and not focusing how high I was off the ground.
Ah crap, I am really high!
“I sure wish I could take deep breaths,” I said in a level voice, turning so my back was to him. “Okay. Climb on.”
Climb on? Would you not rather hold me with air?
“No, because I might accidentally crush you, or lose my grip on you. I have more power now, but I’m still not an expert at using it. If you’re hanging on to me, my survival instinct will take control.”
A human arm came around my shoulder. Thank God, he changed form.
The snake slithered across my stomach.
I really could’ve done without that.
I continued to focus as his other arm came around me. His legs wrapped around me next and his weight pulled me down. I lost the feel of hovering and we free fell like a sack of potatoes.
“It is okay.” Darius spoke in my ear softly. “Do not panic.”
The timbre of his voice, and the assurance, calmed me.
But cracking an eye open to see how much time I had to fix this situation scared the bejeebus out of me again.
“I got it. I got it.” We turned ass over end. “I don’t got it!”
“Relax,” he said. “Have faith.”
My power whispered to me. Urging me to do something.
“I liked it better when you did it for me,” I yelled.
“What’s that?” Darius asked.
“I’m not talking to you.” I clenched my fists and focused on hovering. On slowing our descent and then stopping us in midair.
I peeled my eyes open. The roof looked back at me from twenty feet away. It didn’t get any closer.
“Nothing to it,” Darius said softly.
I shook my head as I slowly lowered us. The guy had no idea what a loose cannon I was. Sure, the power was technically fused, and that did give me more control, but that didn’t mean I could leap from tall buildings in a single bound yet. I would fall out of a few and almost land on my face before I got the hang of it.
I’d just proved that.
Our feet hit the roof and we paused for a moment. Below us, demons ran every which way, some being chased, and some heading out in more organized groups. In the distance the pink dragon rose into the sky, a stream of fire scouring the ground under it.
“Let’s try to blend into the chaos and run out of here,” I said.
“Hide your power.”
Now that the suit had been neutralized, I wasn’t so sure I could. Which I didn’t mention. We’d succeeded in our mission, albeit messily. Getting noticed now would ruin everything.
I ran to the edge of the roof. His monster form met me there. One story. Darius swung off of the ledge and landed gracefully, like a cat. I tried the same thing, slipped, and fell in a lump. I caught myself with air before impact, then ripped the air away and landed on my butt. I glanced around quickly to make sure no one had seen me.
Now I would sto
p using my power.
We ran into a crowd heading toward the path leading out the front. A demon glanced our way and did a double take on me. Then flinched away when it saw Darius. It started to slow.
Darius jabbed its side with his claws and ripped forward. It staggered.
“We’re under attack from this side,” I yelled over the dying demon’s shout. Staggering to the ground beside it, I stabbed it with a spear of power, hardly noticeable. Hopefully, they’d buy it, caught up in the fever-pitch of battle, and they wouldn’t think too hard about how he’d come by his wounds.
When the other demons flocked our way, looking for the threat, I lurched up and into another crowd, running parallel. Darius joined me immediately. Another twenty feet and we cleared the corner of one of the large stone buildings. The roar of battle assaulted us from the side, smacking into our forces. Fire rose up around us, the power a blip compared to the demon in that high tower.
Without thinking, I tried to counter with ice, like the power of the defending demons whose ranks we’d joined. Instead, the fused power lashed out like a whip. It tore a strip off the demon’s face.
Oops. Yet another example of how terrible I was at keeping a low profile. Would I never learn?
Darius shoved me back toward the path, where the battle raged on. I couldn’t tell the demons apart. Which of the leathery, scabby, knobby demons were our pretend allies?
Did it really matter?
I pulled out my sword as we ran out of the sect grounds and onto the main path, following another cluster of demons. Chaos ran rampant. A screaming demon shoved a spear at me, but I blocked the blow and countered with my sword. Darius ripped into another. We tore through a one-on-one demon battle, and put on a burst of speed.
A roar shook the ground. I looked up, knowing I’d see a dragon, and trying to judge how best to dodge or duck to ensure it grabbed someone else if that was its design.
Upon seeing the magnificent beast soaring above us, I staggered into Darius. Huge—double the size of the others—it shimmered black with hints of blue and an occasional flare of red. As beautiful and graceful as I had come to expect, it beat its wings before swooping down low, cutting through the fighting. It didn’t shoot fire, or try and score anyone with its claws. Instead, it knocked people around, breaking up the clusters of battle.
