“Ezra?” he called, stopping halfway between his friend and the Keys.
Ezra kept pacing, five steps one way, five steps back, his hands bunched into fists and his teeth bared. With no idea what might happen next, I stuffed my feet in my shoes, then shut the passenger door and circled the car to the driver’s side. Should I cut the engine?
Burke laughed, the cruel sound carrying easily through the park. “He’s got quite the temper, doesn’t he? He’s dying to attack us.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” Kai growled at the contractor. He hadn’t tried to get past Halil; without a switch, he was at a huge disadvantage against the pyromage.
“And spoil the fun?” Burke replied gleefully. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this. After Enright, we thought there were none left. If he wants to work himself up first, I’m happy to wait.”
“Ezra,” Aaron tried again.
The aeromage whirled on Aaron, bared teeth glinting in the headlights’ glare. “I’m leaving. This time I’m leaving and you can’t stop me.”
I couldn’t breathe. That furious, snarling rasp sounded nothing like the Ezra I knew.
“You’re not going anywhere—” Burke began.
“You should have let me leave the first time!” Ezra shouted at Aaron. He pointed at the Keys. “Now I have to kill them! The one thing—I swore I wouldn’t—now I have to because you wouldn’t let me go!”
Aaron raised his hands placatingly. “Calm down, Ezra, before you—”
“Why?” he growled. “Why calm down? Why stop? I don’t want to kill again. Let him do it.”
“No, Ezra.” Urgency tinged Aaron’s protest. “No, you can’t. You have to stay in—”
“Go ahead,” Burke taunted. “Show us, boy. Give us all you’ve got.”
Paleness gleamed around Ezra’s feet—the grass had frozen to sparkling white ice in a two-foot radius around him. He pivoted toward the contractor and hissed, “You want to see?”
“No, Ezra. You don’t have to do this.” Aaron stepped toward him. “Trust me—”
Wind erupted from Ezra. The force threw Aaron backward off his feet.
“Stay away,” Ezra snarled.
Burke stepped forward instead. “Show us,” the old man commanded haughtily. “Show us what you really are.”
Ezra lifted his arm and stretched his hand toward the Keys. “If that’s what you want, then so be it. It’ll be the last thing you see.”
“No!” Aaron roared, shoving to his feet.
Red light lit across Ezra’s palm, then raced up his arm in snaking veins. Lungs seizing, I jerked forward against the car’s open door, but I was too far to stop this—too far and too late to do anything.
My sudden movement caught Ezra’s attention. His gaze shot to me, and for an instant, the rage contorting his features splintered into shame.
But red magic was still surging up his arm. He hunched forward, head bowed. Crimson light burst out of his shoulder and solidified into semi-transparent spines. Veins of power climbed up his neck and the side of his face, and two curving crimson horns formed on the left side of his head.
He lunged for Burke.
He was across the distance in scarcely a blink, but Halil was ready. Sword in one hand, he cut in front of his comrade and swung his fist, brass knuckles gleaming. “Ori amplifico!”
Ezra caught the blow in his palm—and a concussion of air detonated around the pair, knocking Burke and Fenton back. Whatever Halil’s spell had done, it hadn’t slowed Ezra down. He held Halil’s fist as crimson power lit his hand. It rippled off his fingers and condensed into shadowy crimson claws that curled over Halil’s wrist.
“Finally!” Burke crowed, grabbing his infernus. “Finally, a demon mage!”
Red power swept over his pendant as he called on his demon, and Fenton grasped his pendant as well.
One thought jammed itself through my shock: I couldn’t let the contractors summon their demons.
I had no magic—no artifacts or weapons that could stop them—so I leaped into the running car, jammed the gearshift into first, and dropped the clutch. The car shot forward, open door flapping, and I cranked the wheel toward the men. In perfect unison, the three Keys mythics and Ezra looked at the oncoming vehicle.
When Ezra looked up, my brain froze.
Luminous power laced the side of his face, and his left eye, normally pale as ice, glowed crimson. The demonic red, deep and cold and gleaming with sinister hatred, was identical to the winged demon’s magma eyes.
Shock rippled over his face, then he jumped clear—but the Keys mythics, lacking his inhuman reflexes, weren’t as fast.
The car hit Burke like a wrecking ball and threw him backward into Fenton. They tumbled across the grass. Their taller champion crashed onto the hood, slid halfway up the windshield, and fell off the side.
Clutching the steering wheel, I realized my foot was planted on the brake pedal, but I didn’t remember moving it. Aghast, I gawked at the car’s unmoving nose. Holy. Freaking. Shit. Had I just done that?
Halil’s pained groan floated through the open car door. Ezra, glowing crimson eye and all, stared at me through the windshield like I was the one who’d sprouted demonic features. Aaron and Kai stood a ways back on either side of the vehicle, equally stunned.
Fenton, who’d been hit by Burke instead of the car, staggered upright. He didn’t seem badly hurt; I’d only had thirty feet of slippery grass on which to accelerate and I wasn’t sure when I’d hit the brakes.
Eyes bulging with fury, Fenton grasped his infernus. Aaron and Kai leaped toward the car.
“Pop the trunk!” Kai yelled at me.
I flailed at the dash, found the latch, and pulled it. A clunk from behind told me it had worked. In the side mirror, I saw Aaron throw Kai his katana. Ripping the sheath off Sharpie, Aaron ran back toward the nose of the car.
Out the windshield, Fenton’s demon had taken form. Burke was on his feet, and his demon was emerging from its infernus, red magic glowing over its extremities. Both demons faced Ezra, who stood alone, lit by his own demonic power.
Aaron and Kai rushed to help him, but they were behind the demons, their contractors, and Halil. The contractors’ champion turned to cut off the mages, fire rippling over his sword and his brass knuckles gleaming. Ezra would have to fight two demons all on his own.
Laughing, Burke pointed imperiously at Ezra. “Now, demon mage, let’s see what you can really do.”
Ezra tensed, his left eye flaring with crimson light. Barehanded, he waited for the attack. The two demons crouched, preparing to leap.
The air thudded with a rhythmic beat scarcely audible over the car’s rumbling engine. Ezra’s head snapped back, his terrifying stare scouring the dark sky. Burke and Fenton looked up too.
A shape dropped out of the darkness and slammed into the ground beside Ezra. Rising to its full height, two horns missing from its head, the demon spread its curved wings and turned its glowing magma eyes on the Keys contractors.
Chapter Seventeen
The winged demon had returned.
It stood beside Ezra, glaring hatefully at the Keys men and their pet demons. Ezra’s eyes, the left one lava red, were wide with shock as he faced the beast beside him.
Aaron and Kai stood frozen, seemingly unable to react. The Keys didn’t know what to do either. The demon was standing beside Ezra. Not facing him. Not attacking him. Beside him. As though …
As though the demon and Ezra were not enemies, but allies.
But the demon had attacked Ezra twice now. It had wounded him, almost killed him. It wanted to rip him apart. It—
The demon turned to Ezra. “Kah kirritavhʾathē hhʾainunthēs tempisissā?”
Its harsh language filled the night, and I remembered: during both their encounters, the demon had spoken to Ezra. But he had attacked the demon without responding.
He lurched backward, his face contorted with disgust as though he couldn’t bear to hear the demon
’s hoarse, growling voice. A malevolent smile twisted the demon’s lips, and with its good hand—the other damaged by Ezra in their last confrontation—the demon hooked a clawed finger through the long chain around its neck.
The beast lifted the chain. Hanging from it was a round piece of dark metal—an amulet. The demon held it toward Ezra. An offer.
Ezra looked at the amulet in confusion.
His glowing left eye blazed—and he went rigid. Arching like he’d been skewered on an invisible spear, he gasped. The red veins on his arm writhed and brightened. Then his warm brown eye, wide with panic, flashed to deep, burning red. He lurched back onto his heels, the sudden tension leaving him.
Both eyes glowing like magma, he reached for the offered amulet.
“No!” Aaron shouted.
The instant before Ezra’s red-veined fingers touched the dark metal, Aaron tackled him around the middle.
They slammed into the ground. Ezra’s crimson claws flashed, barely missing Aaron’s throat. Kai burst past the Keys and raced for his friends. With a roar, the winged beast surged toward them too.
Fenton’s tall, scaly demon leaped onto the winged demon’s back. The winged beast whipped in a violent circle, throwing the Keys demon off, then pounced on its fallen opponent. It ripped its talons across Fenton’s demon, slicing easily through its protective scales. The Keys demon made no sound, but its eyes bulged in agony.
A few yards past the battling demons, Aaron broke away from Ezra and rolled clear. Tossing his katana aside, Kai jumped on top of Ezra, slammed his palms down on Ezra’s chest—and unleashed a bolt of lightning into his friend.
Ezra convulsed, crackling electricity racing across his body. My heart stopped, and my hands gripped the car’s steering wheel so hard it hurt. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, as Ezra thrashed and jerked under the onslaught. It went on and on, and Ezra was dying, surely he was dying, Kai was killing him—
Kai lifted his hands. Ezra slumped onto the grass, motionless, smoke rising off his clothes. No crimson power glowed over his hands or face.
As I panted for air, I realized Kai’s attack had only lasted seconds, though it had felt like so much longer.
A bloodcurdling laugh snatched my attention away from the mages. The winged demon still had Fenton’s demon on the ground. In a silent charge, the shorter, heavier Keys demon bowled into the winged beast. The winged demon lurched around and swung the bone-crushing plate on the end of its tail like a mace.
Aaron and Kai grabbed Ezra by the arms and dragged him away from the battle. Getting a better grip, Aaron heaved the limp aeromage over his shoulder and skirted the demons, heading toward the car.
I leaped out of the driver’s seat and rushed to the passenger door. I folded the seat down just as Aaron reached me.
Fenton yelled in furious dismay. Aaron, Kai, and I looked over.
Fenton’s demon was on the ground in a puddle of gleaming blood, and Burke’s demon was locked claw to claw with the winged beast. Clustered dangerously close were the Keys mythics. Halil stood protectively in front of the contractors with his sword in hand.
“Get up!” the younger contractor yelled at his demon. “Get up, get up!”
The creature stirred weakly, then slowly pulled its torn limbs under it. Holy shit, it was still alive? How?
The other two demons pushed into each other, fighting for dominance—and the stronger adversary was obvious. Burke’s demon slid backward, its clawed toes scoring the damp grass.
Aaron shoved Ezra into the backseat, urgency sharpening his movements—and I knew why. The Keys were losing, and once they were defeated, that demon was coming for us.
As Kai raced to his motorcycle, I fumbled to straighten the seat so I could get in. Useless coupe! We needed a van like the Keys had.
Aaron pushed me aside and pulled the lever with steady hands. The seat snapped upright. When had I started shaking so badly?
Leaning into Burke’s demon, the winged beast laughed again. A circle of crimson light erupted around its feet. The magic rippled out, and runes appeared among the spreading lines—a sorcery-like spell taking form in seconds. Power rose off the markings, singeing the air.
“Demon magic!” Halil yelled. “Get back!”
The Keys scuttled frantically in retreat. Burke’s demon jerked away, but the winged demon held onto its hands, talons piercing flesh as the crimson magic built to a horrific crescendo. I clutched the car door—we were too close, the car was too close, there was no time to get away—
A dart of movement in the night.
Someone flashed between Aaron’s car and the Keys’ van. Dashing straight for the winged demon and its spell, the stranger spun around in mid-step and landed in a backward skid as he dragged his hand across the crimson spell.
The glowing circle tore, the lines and runes breaking apart. The magic shuddered, then burst like a shattering damn. Red power exploded outward.
The concussion threw me back into Aaron, who hit the car’s side panel. Kai ducked behind his bike as dirt showered him, and Burke’s demon was hurled to the ground. The winged beast roared furiously, battered by its own failed casting.
The new arrival had sprung nimbly away, dodging to safety as though the detonation had been moving in slow motion. Illuminated by the car’s headlights, he paused in a ready crouch, waiting.
It was a demon. A fourth demon.
It was the smallest one yet—shorter than Kai and barely taller than me. Its build was lean, but defined muscles warned of strength. If not for its reddish toffee skin and long thin tail, I might have mistaken it for a human.
Before I could see more than that, it—he?—leaped into motion again. He shot past the winged demon, and the beast spun clumsily. The new demon ducked, pivoted, and rocketed past the winged demon again—and blood sprayed in his wake. The winged beast shrieked. The new one whirled and sprang. He landed lithely on the winged demon’s back, his claws flashing, then he leaped away.
Fast. So fast. The winged demon had seemed impossibly swift and agile, but this opponent was leaving it in the dust.
More blood spilled from gaping wounds torn in the winged demon’s back by the new demon’s claws. Roaring, the winged beast grabbed for its attacker and completely missed. Thin tail lashing, he darted under the swing, cut behind the larger beast, and grabbed the back of its leg just above the bulging calf muscle. He ripped his claws out again.
A pained screech. More blood. The winged demon dropped to one knee.
The agile demon struck three times so rapidly his movements were a blur—tearing strikes into the winged beast’s back. It screamed again, lurched onto its feet, and sprang into the air with its wings beating frantically.
Head tilting back, red eyes glowing, the new demon watched his adversary flee as though considering his options. Then he braced his feet, coiled his body, and leaped.
He might look human-ish, but no human could jump that high.
He slammed into the winged demon in midair and they plunged back to earth—right toward me and Aaron. We scrambled backward as the demons crashed feet from the open car door. Heel catching on a clump of grass, I stumbled and fell on my butt.
That moment of klutziness might have cost me my life, but it didn’t matter. The battle was over.
The only movement came from the winged one’s head—namely, its head rolling across the grass and coming to a stop at my feet. Its eyes were dark and empty, and gooey icky stuff leaked from the stump of its neck. My stomach attempted to abandon ship.
The new demon crouched over the head he had ripped off—putting him about a foot away from me. His red eyes stared into mine with narrow, vertical pupils. His features were disturbingly human, and terror burst through me, weakening my joints and shaking my hands. I gasped in a shallow breath.
For an instant so brief I might have imagined it, a grin flashed across the demon’s face, pointed canines bared in delighted savagery.
Then he rose to his feet, his expression a v
acant mask with zero animation. Turning woodenly, the demon walked past the winged corpse. The Keys contractors watched him—no, it amble past them, heading toward …
I peered into the darkness.
… toward a short human silhouette standing between two trees at the park’s edge. The contractor. Stepping into the glow of the vehicles’ headlights, the newcomer waited for his demon.
Er, actually … her demon.
If I’d had a chance to think about what sort of badass contractor commanded that demon, I would’ve pictured someone like Alistair—older and experienced, tough as old leather, all casual confidence and unshakable attitude. Someone who matched the insane lethality of a demon that could tear the winged beast down without getting so much as a scratch.
But this super-killer demon’s master was nothing like Alistair. The contractor was a girl.
Like … a girly girl.
Short, waif-like, her brunette hair cut in a shoulder-length bob, dark-rimmed librarian-esque glasses perched on her nose. Her tough-as-shit contractor outfit consisted of skinny jeans with a pink flower embroidered on one hip, a white tank top, and a purple zip-up sweater, half undone to reveal the infernus pendant resting just below her slim chest.
The demon walked sedately to her and stopped. It was only a couple of inches taller than me, but it towered over her. She barely cleared its shoulder, putting her at, what, five feet? Maybe five foot two?
Not that short people can’t be tough. It was just, you know, she looked as threatening as a librarian’s assistant. Not even the librarian. An assistant.
She stared first at the Keys, who stood in a cluster with Burke’s demon guarding them; Fenton’s demon still hadn’t gotten up. Then she looked at us—me sitting on the ground, Aaron standing close by, and Kai holding his bike. Ezra, unconscious in the back seat, was hidden from view.
Then she glanced at the lovely demon corpse oozing gore all over the grass in front of my toes.
After a long moment where no one said anything, she twitched her shoulders in a slight, awkward shrug, then slipped her hand into her pocket. She pulled out a phone, and we all watched her dial a number and lift it to her ear.
Demon Magic and a Martini: The Guild Codex: Spellbound / Four Page 15
