Dancing With Demons

by Trudi Jaye

  He hesitates and then nods, hitting the button on the phone. “Director,” he says grimly.

  I nod at him, and then turn. I walk a couple of steps and then find I can’t handle the slow pace and start to run.

  I’m gasping by the time I get to the stairs down into the basement lab. I pause for a second to get my breath, gathering my nerve. I’m terrified. But it’s my fault Nelson’s in there. I have to save him. There’s no time to be scared. I walk forward, pushing open the still-broken door into the lab.

  Connor is standing in the middle of the room, two men on either side of him.

  “Where’s Nelson?” I ask, my heart sinking. Have I walked straight into a trap?

  “He’s safe, which is where he will remain until you and I come to an agreement.”

  “You didn’t bring him.”

  “He’s safe, that’s all you need to know.”

  I’m more frightened than I’ve ever been. I can’t let Nelson die. “I won’t go anywhere until you set Nelson free,” I say desperately.

  “You will come with me and help me with a particular project. You will come alone. In return, I will set the boy free. Those are my terms.”

  “And if I don’t agree?”

  “Nelson will be dead by morning… in the most painful and horrific manner I can think of. And it will be all your fault.”

  Bile burns my throat. “Don’t you dare hurt him. I’ll do anything you say, just don’t hurt Nelson.” My voice is raw and gravelly.

  “I don’t want to hurt him, but if you don’t do exactly as I ask, I will be forced to. If you break any of my rules, or try to stop me, Nelson will be killed.”

  My whole body is shaking, and I suddenly remember Blade is somewhere. “I’ll go with you. But we have to go now. The faster we get this over with, the faster Nelson will get home.” We need to get out of here before Blade realizes something is wrong.

  Connor smiles over at me like I’m a particularly able student. “Excellent. I knew you would be compliant, Hazel. Let’s go.” He nods to the two big men on either side of him, and they move so suddenly I don’t have time to do anything to protect myself.

  One grabs me, and the other holds a large black sack, as the first shoves me headfirst into the darkness. A moment later, I feel ropes being tied around my waist and over my whole body, holding me in position. I want to scream, to thrash and cry out, but the thought of Nelson, alone and scared in the hands of Connor’s men, is enough to keep me still.

  I’m thrown over the shoulder of one of the big men, and then we’re off.

  As I’m thrown in the back of a van, my shoulder knocks against the floor, and I wish yet again that I hadn’t broken my own rules. I should never have let Nelson come into my apartment. I should never have given him food and encouraged him.

  It’s all my fault the people I love are being hurt. Again.

  A sob tries to force its way up my throat, but I refuse to let the situation overwhelm me. I’ve been in worse. There are no demons threatening me, just mortal men. I can do this.

  At first, I try to feel which way the van goes, as if I can keep some measure of control in the situation by figuring out where we’re going. But I soon realize that it doesn’t actually matter. I’m not planning on escaping.

  I’m going to save Nelson, and then I’m going to find some way to destroy Connor.

  It seems like forever—and maybe it is—before I’m pulled out of the van again by one of the big, beefy bodyguards. The heat hits me like I’m in the depths of hell, and I have a bad feeling I know exactly where I am.

  “Put her down over there,” says Connor, his voice muffled by the thick material I’m encased in.

  I’m dumped on something soft, a sofa I think, which is a relief after the hard floor of the van and the big dude’s shoulder.

  I take a few breaths, difficult in the claustrophobic environment of the bag.

  My demon dances inside me, and the blue glow lights up my hand, giving me a small amount of light in the darkness. I clasp it tight against my chest. At least I’m not completely alone in here. I have a strange little demon inside me that knows how to throw knives and loves forcing me to act out.

  36

  Hands grab me, and I have to resist the urge to kick and bite as they pull off the black bag, exposing my face to a small office area. The heat is suffocating even in this bland office space. I have to squint at the harsh light, and it takes a few moments for me to get used to being without the blackness. Through large windows to one side of the office is the inside of the smelting plant that Blade and I only just escaped from.

  “I’m glad you’re being so cooperative, Hazel. I have to admit, I wasn’t sure the boy would be enough to persuade you.” Connor gestures to one of the men and they cut off the bindings at my hands and feet.

  “As long as you send him home again, I’ll do what you want,” I say, trying to keep the emotion out of my voice.

  “Come, sit down over here,” says Connor, gesturing to a circular white table and chairs in one corner of the office.

  “Where are we?” I ask.

  “My smelter plant. I use it to test demon energy. I’ve been told you were here the other day. If you’d mentioned it to me, I could have saved you the double trip.” He says it as if we’re discussing the weather.

  I struggle to stay composed. His aura of manic calm is more frightening than if he’d been angry. But I think of Nelson—scared and alone—and anything seems possible. “What kind of tests?”

  “I’ve been waiting for you, Hazel. I’ve been preparing for the day your powers come into full force and you can provide the power I need.”

  I frown. “What do you mean?”

  Connor tips his head to one side and smiles. “My mother saw you as a young girl and recognized what you were. How powerful you would become. She created everything you see before you based on your powers.”

  “I don’t... I don’t understand. What did she arrange?” Connor starts to blur in front of me as I try to decipher what he’s saying. Did she know my parents?

  “She recognized that the people raising you weren’t your real parents. She knew that when the time came, you would need help to discover your true potential.” Connor is speaking as if I’m a small child.

  A loud rushing noise blocks up my ears, and for a moment I can’t think. He’s just confirmed what I’ve only assumed up till now. “How did she see me? When?”

  “She had some business near your hillbilly outpost. Her car broke down, and they helped her. She saw you playing among the children.”

  “Why didn’t she say something, then?”

  Connor waves his hand. “She determined that it would be safer for you to be raised in the solitude of the forest.”

  “Did none of the others at the compound know anything?”

  Connor shrugs, uncaring. “She never said.”

  “Why did they pretend that the supernatural world didn’t exist? Why did they send me to therapy?” None of this makes sense. I feel like I’m drowning in the quicksand of Connor’s revelations.

  “I don’t know why your parents raised you like they did. But Mother didn’t want you knowing about that side of your family until you were of age. She said it would make you jumpy. Too many chalices fail to survive to adulthood, drunk on their power over the demons. They make mistakes and die because of it. She wanted you to be an adult before you learned the secrets of your kind.”

  My brain seizes on something I can understand. “You know what I am? You know everything?” In his screaming rage the other night, he’d called me a demon, as if he didn’t know any of this. It’s like he’s Jekyll and Hyde.

  “Of course. We’ve been watching over you for the last fifteen years, making sure you survived until we were ready for you.” Connor twitches, a movement so minuscule, I almost think I imagined it. Then his mouth expands into a smug smile that makes my hands clench, and my heart contract in my chest. I don’t think Connor is firing on all cylinde
rs. If anything, he’s one screw short of a set. Maybe even two. The knowledge hits me in the center of my chest, and for a moment I struggle to breathe.

  My only option is to keep him calm, and somehow get Nelson free. “Why did you call me a demon if you knew?” Okay, so I’m not that good at keeping people calm.

  “I was angry. You don’t need that SIG agent. You were supposed to come to me, not him.” His eyes blaze for a moment, and his magic swirls around him. Tendrils of his power leak out and curl like smoke toward me. The demon inside me sparks, and my hands glows blue. Connor’s magic hesitates, swirling just out of range.

  “You can’t control me like that,” I say conversationally. Even though he’s been trying to control me my entire life. How much did he really manipulate? “Did you keep track of me? Even when I was on the run?”

  “Yes.” Connor still sounds smug. “I was the one who got you a job with Professor Hasselblatt. It was the perfect opportunity to meet you, finally.”

  He’s been watching me like a stalker this whole time. No wonder he was pissed when he saw me with Blade. He was expecting to swoop in and control me. “How did you find me? I don’t understand.”

  “We allowed the authorities to incarcerate you in Ravenwood. Mother decided it was the best place to keep you for a while. Then, while you were there, we paid to have a tracer implanted during a medical procedure.”

  I feel like I’m going to throw up. The buzzing in my ears is so loud, I glance out the window to see if a jet plane is landing next to the building. His words tip me over an edge I didn’t realize I was teetering on. “You asshole. You mother-fucking, sewerage-eating, dirty-dealing asshole!” I grind my teeth, and suddenly the demon inside me rises to the surface, more than it’s ever done before. There’s a blue glow around me, all over my body, not just my hand.

  “Where is the tracker?” I grind out the words, more angry than I can ever remember being. All I can think of is how I’m going to kill Connor. I lean forward, growling like some kind of animal. And in this moment, that’s how I feel. Like I could rip his flesh from his body, piece by piece.

  For the first time, Connor looks like he’s not in full control of the situation. His eyes widen, and he holds his hands up in front of him. “Hazel. Think of Nelson. The boy is relying on you. Are you prepared to kill the boy?”

  Connor’s words pull me back. I take one big gasping breath, then another. He’s right. Nelson is more important than anything else. The demon goes back inside, although it’s still sizzling with energy. I have a mission, and I won’t let myself get distracted by my own feelings.

  “Where’s Nelson?” I rasp out, my throat still raw.

  “He’s somewhere safe. As long as you do what I ask, he’ll remain safe.”

  Connor stands and takes a step toward me. “We need to get on with it. Come, stand up, Hazel.”

  “What are we doing?”

  “You will harness the power of the demons I’ve been catching for you. Then you’re going to give that power to me.”

  “I don’t know how to do any of that,” I say.

  “If you don’t, Nelson won’t live through the night.”

  “What are you?” I ask. “Are you a siren, like Blade said?”

  Connor grabs my arm and pulls me with him as we head to the door. At first, I think he’s going to ignore my question. But it’s like he’s compelled to talk about his mother.

  “My mother was a siren, a powerful woman. She wanted the same for me. She was devastated when she realized she had a child from the wrong man, a mere human.” He opens the door to the main smeltery floor, and the red glow of the smelter hits his face and creates an eerie red glow. “She worked to ensure I would be as powerful as she was her whole life. She did everything for me.”

  “She messed with my life, all for you,” I mutter, my chest tight. My legs feel like they weigh a thousand tons, but I manage to walk with Connor out into the massive room. This time I’m entering through the door at the bottom, and everything looks bigger and more intimidating. The massive ore smelter at the center is like an enormous metal cup with a burning orange core. The acrid smell is overwhelming, and the heat is like a weighted blanket has been draped over me, pushing me down into the ground. How does anyone ever manage to work in here?

  The two men operating the smelting machinery are wearing full protective clothing, including a special visor that I can only assume must be heatproof. I doubt it would save them if the enormous cup full of molten iron ore poured on top of them. They both seem to be human.

  Connor ignores the smelter and crosses straight over to the far corner of the room, dragging me with him. I look around, trying to spot where they’ve hidden Nelson, but I can’t see him anywhere.

  Connor halts abruptly, and I’m so busy looking for Nelson, at first, I don’t notice anything.

  “It’s a wonderful sight, is it not?” says Connor.

  He’s looking up, and confused, I follow his gaze. I gasp. From this angle, the two dangling cages filled with demons look far more ominous than when I saw them last time. They’re high above our heads, but we’re not directly below them, so I can still see the demons swarming, moving continuously at the edges of the bars, their blue glow intermingled. I can’t actually tell how many are in each cage. Lots. That’s what I can tell. At least six in each cage. Maybe more.

  Too many. That’s what else I can tell.

  How am I going to survive this and save Nelson? I’m terrified the answer is that I’m not. He’s not. Except I can’t accept that. I can’t give up. I’m going to fight Connor to my very last breath. And to do that, I need information.

  “What’s keeping them locked in there?” I ask, my heart thumping heavily against my rip cage. Demons usually love metal. And it doesn’t hold them, not when they can change into their ephemeral glowing form and drift through.

  “My mother learned much in her research. She probably knew more about demons than any chalice.” Connor says chalice as if it’s a dirty word.

  I peer closely at the cage. It has strange designs over the bars and is locked with an intricately carved wooden lock. Some kind of weird magic is being used to hold them in.

  Connor pulls out a wooden key. “This unlocks the oak lock that is part of the binding. As soon as they’re loose, you need to take their energy and put it inside you. Then we can transfer that demon energy from you to me.”

  “And can you explain how to do that, please?” I ask, trying not to sound sarcastic.

  “Your voice is your weapon,” answers Connor. “To control the demons, all you need to do is sing. You can call them to you and push them away. You can use them, or you can kill them. It’s all under your power.”

  “What about the ones that can possess me?” I ask.

  “That’s only if you’re not using your powers properly. And you can only be possessed by one demon at a time.”

  I follow his gaze down to my hand and see that it’s glowing bright blue. My demon is showing its face. I put the hand behind my back, and Connor smirks at me. “Too late for that, Hazel.”

  He gestures to a man standing at the edge of the room, beside two automatic hoists that lead to the top of the cages. “You and I are going to wait until my workers leave for their scheduled work break in about three minutes, and then we’re going to lower the cages and set the demons free. You are going to capture them and gather their powers.”

  I immediately have visions of letting the demons kill Connor, but he seems to read my thoughts and shakes his head.

  “Nelson is being held by two associates of mine. If I don’t call them to give the okay to release him once you’ve done what I ask, they are under orders to kill the boy.”

  37

  Connor makes me wait below the demon cage.

  It swings idly in a nonexistent wind. I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but I can hear the gnashing of demon teeth directly above. Or perhaps it’s their claws, scraping against the metal of their cages?


  The heat from the smelting pot is smothering me, and sweat beads down my body. Three minutes seems to take forever, but eventually from somewhere in the distance, a whistle blows, and the men in the large room seem to let out a collective sigh of relief. I don’t know what they see when they look at the cages full of demons—I suppose the spell web must make it into something their human brains can understand—but I’m sure it must make them uneasy.

  All the men leave the work area—except for the one man standing by the spot where the chains are connected to a machine hoist. Connor gives him a nod. The man presses a button, and the chains start moving slowly through the hoist machinery, lowering the first cage. Now I can definitely hear the movements of the demons. Low pitched growls and snarls mark their descent, and I manage to keep from running as far and fast as I can. Nelson needs me.

  Connor gestures again, and the man presses the second button, and the second demon-filled cage starts to lower to the ground.

  Soon the demons in the first cage are low enough to see me through the bars. Their blue glow is fading—they’re moving into their more solid false-human shapes, readying themselves for meeting me on the ground. Their big black eyes reflect the flickering light of the massive burning fires around us, and several are licking their tongues over blue-stained lips. There’s an air of expectation around them that has me wishing I felt better prepared.

  More of their bodies come into view, and I gasp.

  They’re the strangest demons I’ve ever seen. They seem to be covered in tiny reflective metal pieces. It’s almost like sand, it’s so small. But what’s truly amazing is that now they’ve turned from their glowing shapes, they’re all glittering like they’re covered in tiny diamonds. Multifaceted, brilliant diamonds. It’s beautiful and painful at the same time. I squint, trying to see if they’re all the same—I don’t know what kind of material they’ve absorbed, but I can only assume it’s some kind of glittering metal. They must have been found together, for them to be so dazzlingly similar.