The scorsi slunk low, its pincer up and wide, trying to beef up its size. Its stinger swayed hypnotically above its body. And Torrent bled every last moment of tension from the crowd, smiling all the while.
Allard slid a sideways look over me, checking for my reaction. I let a small smile slip through.
“Did you know?” he asked.
“He said he wanted to stretch his wings…”
The scorsi struck, launching its stinger at Torrent’s chest. A strike at his heart might kill him, but I’d seen him fight, seen him move. He reacted lightning fast, threw back a right hook, and smacked his fist into the barbed stinger, sending the strike veering off and startling the scorsi enough for the lesser to scuttle backward. It was a foolish move. He’d have been better to grab the stinger and rip it off, but Torrent wasn’t going for the kill. He was playing.
The crowd roared. The scorsi scuttled in and snapped at Torrent’s legs, but he skipped back, way out of reach, veering around the lesser, causing the beast to whirl. The pair of them used the full width of the cage, circling fast and kicking up dust in their wake.
Damn, he was good. But then, what had I expected? If he was truly netherworld born, fighting a scorsi was a fact of life. He could probably dance with a lesser all night.
The stinger punched outward again. Torrent twisted at the hips, snagged the scorsi’s tail in his left hand, and ripped the barb off with his right. I spilled enough demon into my vision to see the hypnotic swirl of greens and blues in his eyes, his power rising but held in check. The scorsi squealed a high-pitched alarm. In the netherworld, that shriek would have its companions rushing in. Here, all it did was push the crowd to their feet.
Torrent tossed the barb aside, but as he did, the scorsi twitched and snapped its razor-sharp pincers close to Torrent’s neck. Too close. The pincer snagged Torrent’s shoulder, slicing open a gash. He recoiled, but the pain slowed him down, and he stumbled. The scorsi lunged for his legs. I heard Allard’s sharp intake of breath and felt my heart leap into my throat. But Torrent was done screwing around. From one step to the next, his wings snapped open—vast, shimmering gray sails that filled the cage. Horns rolled over his skull, flicking up at their ends. Gloriously demon, he spun and punched the barbed tip of his right wing through the scorsi’s carapace, skewering it to the cage floor. Blood bubbled. The lesser screamed. Its pincers snapped, and its blunt tail lashed, but the span of Torrent’s wings kept it way out of reach.
The demon in me salivated and pushed to be free, to get down there and challenge Torrent, force him to fight and a whole load of other things too. And my demon wasn’t the only one out of her mind. Allard stood wide-eyed, jaw clenched, his element rippling unchecked around him. The veil could have opened right above his head, and he wouldn’t have noticed.
Warmth lapped at my back. Fire.
Van was here, right on cue.
I freed the armatae-demon spike, clenched it in my right hand, and stabbed the shaft deep into Allard’s back. His element burst outward at the same time as his demon form tore from his human vessel. I had a second to flush ice through my veins and fling up my armor before Allard’s backhanded strike flung me against a wall. Ice shattered instead of my skull. I watched through blurred vision, saw him rise up in all of his white-marbled glory. I had a second to wonder if maybe the armatae poison didn’t work on ascended bastards like him before he stumbled, reaching out a hand to steady himself. His wings briefly flapped, scattering litter. He tried to find his balance and then dropped to a knee, shaking the floor.
The crowd’s screams erupted into panic. None of them expected to find demons among them, and certainly not one as vast and devastating as Allard. As the people scattered, Van emerged from the chaos, heat haze rippling about her wingless demon form. I quickly scanned the chaos for any sign of Torrent, but the fighting cage was empty.
Allard reached behind his shoulder and yanked the barbed shaft free. His deep rumbling breaths had turned to strained rasps. He regarded the shaft with a snarl, settled those all-black eyes on me, and crumbled the poisoned spine in his hand, turning it to dust. “You think this will prevent me from ripping you apart, Gamma?”
I climbed to my feet and shook myself free of loose ice. Van stood to my right, a silent smile curving her blood-red lips. “No.” I rolled my shoulders, settling into my demon skin. “But it has slowed you down. Armatae poison can be quite deadly. But since you’re immortal, I guess we’ll have to settle for some disorientation and loss of motor functions. Right about now, I figure the poison is starting to pump around those big-ass veins of yours.”
More. Demon urges plucked on forbidden desires: to slice, bite, maim, and finally kill.
His breathing had quickened, but it was hard to tell from his white-marble face whether he was sick or about to rage at me. He clung to the chair like it was his lifeline, and his wings drooped, lending him a sorry, wilted appearance.
Van made an appreciative purring sound. “Azazel on one knee.” She stepped down a few steps, bringing her close enough for her heat to beat against me. “You know what would make this even more entertaining? A little torture thrown in.” She rippled her long, clawed nails. “An appetizer, for the main meal.” Cocking her head, she crouched down, making sure he got a good look at her face. “You didn’t think I was going to let you get away with taking my wings!”
Her fire surged blue for a few excruciating seconds.
“Van.” I warned. The word yanked her back, but the scorn in her eyes was clear enough.
Allard’s top lip rippled, and his element crawled outward, but it spluttered and failed. His touch did little more than tickle. He made an attempt to stand, but his bracing arm gave out. The chair cracked and folded under him. He managed to prop himself up, but his whole body trembled with the effort.
Van arched her brow at me. “Let’s try a little fire and ice on for size.”
More. I cracked my neck and reined back on demon desires. Not yet. I had to maintain control. “You’re going to let my brother out.”
The bastard’s smooth white lips curled into a smile. “No,” he sneered through clenched teeth.
“This pain has only begun, Allard. We won’t stop until we get what we want. Let me leave with my brother.”
Laughter rumbled up his chest and tumbled from his lips. “You have no idea what it is you ask, you foolish girl.”
“No, you have no idea. Delta will get free, and without my help, without…” Ice cracked and sighed, shifting, settling. “Without me, he can’t be stopped. I have to take him far away from you, from everyone. I have to do this.”
Allard’s glare held mine. “Delta is mine.”
I yanked on all the available cool spots I could find and pooled my element into my claw-tipped fingers. Ice crawled up my arms, over my shoulders, and started to build, layer upon layer, into wings.
Following my lead, Van wrapped her element around her. Her fire crackled painfully against my ice, but the pain would be worth it to see Allard suffer.
I thrust my hands out, pushing ice into Allard’s element. He turned his face away, trembling as ice climbed over his massive bulk. But my ice alone wouldn’t be enough. I cut my element, yanking it back. Instantly, Van’s flames gathered against her, whipping up a firestorm. More and more heat poured into the theatre, until my wings wilted, and superheated air burned my lips. Only then did she send it all out in a single, targeted blast.
I wasn’t sure if she roared or the fire did. I staggered, drawing what remained of my wings around me. On and on, the heat poured, and then, in a sudden flash and hiss of steam, it stopped.
Allard lay sprawled against the chairs, and at first, nothing had changed. Then I heard it: cracks, like gunfire, followed by the sight of snapping, twisting fissures dancing through his broad wings. He let out a soul-deep roar so loud it shook the theatre and pounded into my skull.
I flared my wings wide and grinned. “Release my brother!”
“More, Gamma,” V
an snapped.
“No,” I growled, keeping my eyes on the cracks twitching through his wings. I needed him coherent. “Let us go, and it ends.”
“Gem—” Van hissed.
“No!” I sneered, baring my teeth. Her glower was fierce, her eyes ablaze. She lifted her chin. If she’d had her wings, they’d be spread threateningly wide. “Not yet.”
Allard shifted his broad shoulders and pushed up on trembling arms. He looked at me, those bottomless black eyes almost sorry. The human in me wanted to pull back, to end his agony. More.
“Release Delta,” I ordered. “And you’ll never see us again.”
One nod. That was all it took—one single nod for the power to shift. Allard was on his knees, his gaze low, crumbling wings bowed. A solid sense of rightness slotted into place.
My wings settled, each glass-thin feather sighing. This was right. This was how it should be.
I crouched down, eye to eye with him. “How does it feel?” I purred. “Being owned?”
Chapter 24
Demons crawled all over Fairhaven as Allard’s car pulled to a stop at the entrance. The hotel had attracted a few hundred more since the ascension. They scurried into shadows, shining eyes aglow. Their increasing numbers weren’t my problem. I was leaving Fairhaven and its demons far behind as soon as I had my brother.
Van waited by the doors, fire in her eyes, but there was no sign of Torrent. He and I hadn’t discussed what might happen after we’d subdued Allard. But Torrent was more than capable of looking after himself.
At the theatre, Allard had struggled to tuck his demon self back in to his human vessel. Poisoned and weak, the change took much of his remaining strength out of him. I’d soon take the rest, but not yet. Not yet, not yet, not yet. The words pulsed like a second heartbeat. More, my demon crooned, her insistence becoming louder and louder.
Allard staggered from the car. He swayed every few steps but stayed on his feet. I followed close behind, my demon just below the surface of my every thought, and Van trailed along behind me, close enough that her patient heat pushed uncomfortably against my back.
As soon as I was done with Allard, Van would tear into him. Maybe I should have felt bad. Maybe, had I been entirely human, I’d have felt something. Pity, perhaps. But with my demon riding high, I cared for one thing. His suffering.
One press of his hands and Allard banished the glyphs coating the basement door. He gathered a deep, shuddering breath, and pushed into the stairwell, running his hands along the walls, wiping away all the marks as though they were made of dust.
At his every stumble, every ragged hiss, pleasure trickled through my veins. I couldn’t stop the demon thrill, but I could control it. For now.
“This is a mistake.” Allard stumbled from the last step and braced an arm against the final door. Behind it, Del would be caged and waiting. So close to freedom.
Van’s heat continued to push at my back, an ever-present reminder of what awaited Allard.
“You believed you could control us,” I said. “The mistake is yours.”
“Control?” His lips twitched. “This was never about control. You can’t control chaos.” He bowed his head and closed his eyes. A shudder ran through him, poison eating up his insides. Weakness pushed his shoulders down, but his sad smile clung on. “I gave you a gift… Took two half bloods and made them of the Dark Court. Any demon worth their name would thank me—worship me for the power I’ve given you. This betrayal…” He made a soft, huff of a laughing sound. “You’re more demon than I realized.” He looked up, and that expertly crafted expression of his portrayed both dismay and hope. “This is just the beginning. If you release him…it will be the end.”
I smiled back at him. Allard was so good at playing my human feelings, using them against me, offering little gifts, hankering after my human need to belong. But this close to the edge, his sad eyes didn’t work on me.
“I know my brother. Better than you do. Get out of my way.”
He set his jaw. “You’ll unleash chaos.”
“Isn’t that what you want?” I closed the small space between us and squared up to him. It seemed a whole lot easier to look him in the eye now that he was the weaker one. “Isn’t chaos all demons really want?”
“Chaos destroys.” He chuckled, but there was no humor in it. “What use is there in presiding over death and decay? I’ve seen what chaos did to the netherworld. Why do you think the demons wanted to escape it? Don’t—”
“We’ve already been through this.”
“You can’t—”
I had him by the throat and pinned against the door in the next second. All I had to do was form a shard of ice at my wrist and punch it through his neck. It wouldn’t kill him, but it would remind him who had control, and it’d sure feel good. “I’m not leaving without my brother. If I have to shatter your soul to free him, I will. You’ll be reconsidering that whole immortal deal once me and Van are finished with you. Fire and ice. You’ve felt a fraction of what we could do—what we want to do.” I felt him swallow beneath my grip and parted my lips, drawing his scent across my tongue tasting his fear.
More.
Desire strummed through me, not a sweet, human desire, but the darker swirl of demon desire. In seconds, I could turn fully demon and sink my teeth into his neck, truly own him. He’d be mine.
I leaned in closer, pressing my thigh between his legs and pushing into his chest, crowding him against the door. Every tiny shiver, every hitched breath pulled on wild urges, drawing them out of hiding until I could barely breathe beneath the effort of holding back.
“You’d be quite the demon, if you’d allow—” His words lodged in his throat when I trailed my lips down his jaw and flicked the tip of my tongue over the thudding pulse point in his neck. My demon rippled beneath my skin, roiling human urges into a intoxicating mix of needs until I couldn’t separate what was good, bad, right, wrong, human or demon. It felt…divine. My gums tingled. My teeth sharpened. One bite, that was all I wanted, one little bite so that Allard would forever know I’d had him under me.
“I won’t let this go unpunished.” Allard’s whispers brushed my cheek. “Half bloods must be owned.”
I eased my grip from his neck and cupped his chin, digging my lengthening fingernails into his cheeks to force his head to the side. And there, his throat was exposed. Great shudders tumbled through him, building my hunger.
“Gamma.” Van’s cutting voice sailed through the cloying hunger.
Not yet.
I shoved off Allard, forcing distance between us, and cast a quick glance at Van on the steps. Need burned in her eyes. She would have waited her turn.
What was I doing, trying to own Allard like a beast of the netherworld? This wasn’t me. You’re more demon than I realized. That wasn’t happening. Ever. I wiped a hand across my mouth. “Open the damn door, Allard,” I snarled, flicking a little scattering of my element from my fingers. “We’re done.”
Allard opened the door, muttering what sounded like old demon words, but my gaze went straight to my brother crouched in the cage. For a few seconds, I saw the demon prince there, his burned wings stretched behind him, but in a blink, the memory cleared, leaving Del, bowed forward, his head buried in his arms.
“Get him out of there.” My order rumbled, deeper and darker—my demon rising. “Now!”
Van made a noise like an appreciative hiss, or perhaps it was the effects of the glyphs etched into the cage. I didn’t care what she thought and snatched Allard by the arm. If he had any further protests, they must have died when he saw my face. I bared my teeth and shoved him into the throb of anti-demon glyphs. He went to work, running his hands across the metal framework. Raw anger—the icy kind—seared through my veins. Ice sparkled across my exposed hands and glittered in my bangs, probably dusting my clothes too.
The hotel, Allard, Van all fell away, until all I could see, all I could think about was my brother, subdued and small inside that cage. My brother
, who’d always protected me, always been there for me. My brother, the demon who could rip this world in two, trapped and owned.
With Allard’s final hand gesture, the glyphs fizzled away. I stepped closer to the front of the cage and peered down at Del. His shoulders rose and fell with his steady breathing, and once I’d eased my ethereal touch inside, his element uncoiled from around him and reached out to mine—entwining the way our fingers used to when we had nothing and nobody left.
“Del? It’s me.” I whispered. Del’s shoulders shuddered. Look up. Please look up. Look up and smile and tell me everything is going to be all right. Tell me you’re the same as you always were. Tell me you’re still Del.
Allard and Van were talking—arguing—saying the same things. Mistake. Dangerous. Over and over. It was noise, just noise. I wrapped my fingers around the cage handle, spilling ice from my touch.
Del slowly lifted his head, and my breath caught. Black veins spread through his cheek and forehead, branching out from his dark eye. A tiny flutter of fear clamped an icy grip around my heart, but it didn’t last. My demon, unbridled and enraged, surged forward, smothering all human fears.
Help me. Del’s gaze pleaded, but it was too late for that, too late for us both.
Allard’s element tickled around the edges of mine. He was summoning his power, but it didn’t matter. All it did was give me a target. I flung open the cage door, stepped back, and turned my attention toward the demon who’d tried to use me, who had beaten me, used me, controlled me. He’d trapped me, and he would now pay the price. With a wrist flick, I flung shards of ice low and lethal, catching Allard in the legs. He cried out as he dropped to his knees.
Del’s element rose up—a dark, crackling wave of power—and as my demon overrode all that remained of my humanity, I saw chaos spill from the cage and race toward Allard. Glorious chaos. If Death could be glorious.
Now. The time is now.
I wrapped my hand around Allard’s throat, thrusting barbed ice through my touch to fix him in my grip, and lifted him off his knees. “You believe you know what I am: just a half blood girl you found in the gutter?” Choking sounds bubbled from his lips. His element lashed, but in his weakness, his attacks slid off my ice. “You don’t know. You can’t know.” I pulled him close, close enough to see fear in his eyes. “They made me live to kill.”
Chaos Rises: A Veil World Urban Fantasy Page 22
