by Linsey Hall
The air inside smelled strongly of old paper and even older magic. It sparkled with the stuff, in a way that made the air feel weird. Almost like I was in a dream. I stepped into the dim interior, taking in the tall walls stuffed full of ancient books. The leather was dusty and dry, hardly cared for at all.
Maybe it was for the best, since these books no doubt contained darkness that should be lit aflame and burned to ashes.
“It’s a maze,” Declan said.
He was right. The shelves in the middle of the library left only the narrowest passages for people to use. The lights hanging from the ceiling shed a dim golden light on the space, and it was silent as the grave.
“Hello?” I called.
Silence.
“Hello?” I repeated.
“Hold on, hold on!” A cranky old voice sounded from behind one of the shelves.
A book flew off the shelf and hit me right in the head.
Pain flared and I scowled, rubbing my aching skull. “What the hell?”
Another book flew toward me, but this time, I was ready. I caught it. Three more books shot off the shelves, dust trailing behind them. They sailed right for Declan, who reached out and grabbed them.
Damn it, I really wanted my mace.
“Ugly!” hissed a voice.
“Stupid!” hissed another.
“Dumb as bricks!”
“Who the hell is talking?” Declan demanded as he deflected the books, catching them and setting them on the ground as quickly as they flew.
“I think…I think it’s the books.”
“Troll face!”
“Shit for brains!”
Annoyance surged through me, along with a surge of fear at being attacked while in Grimrealm. I wanted to grab my mace from the ether and smash these damned things, every one that flew at me.
“Horse butt!”
“Monkey tits!”
“Who are you calling monkey tits?” I demanded.
“You, corn ears!”
I looked at Declan as I caught a book. “What the hell is a corn ears?”
“They’re not very good at insults.” A book slammed into his shoulder hard enough to make him jerk. Irritation flashed on his face and he turned.
“Don’t hurt the books.” The voice echoed in my ears, and I swung around, looking for the source. I saw no one, though. “It’s a test.”
A weird test.
Declan drew his sword.
“Don’t hurt the books!” I hissed. As much as I wanted to tear a few pages out—and boy, did I—we didn’t need to piss off the librarian. And if this really was a test…
Declan nodded curtly, getting my gist. As fast as we could, we caught the books that flew at us and shouted insults.
Finally, when I was surrounded by a pile of dusty books that reeked of death and a cacophony of stupid insults filled the air, a figure appeared.
The old woman was dressed in an elaborate gray lace dress. She raised her hands, then brought them down in a slashing motion. “Stop!”
The books stopped flying, the insults fell quiet, with one final curse lingering on the air. “Green monkey dick!”
“That one’s for you,” I muttered to Declan.
He stifled a laugh. “These books have a thing for monkeys.”
“I don’t like monkeys,” the old woman said. Her voice was high and reedy—not the one that had told me not to hurt the books.
And if I had to guess, she didn’t like many things.
“So, was this a test?” I studied her dress, noticing that the lace had been intricately worked to form skulls. Appropriate.
“It was. You passed.”
“Weird test,” I said.
She shrugged. “I’m bored.”
If this was how she greeted people, I wasn’t surprised no one visited her.
“Either way, you passed,” she said. “Why did you come here?”
“We need your help,” Declan said.
“You can buy it.”
He nodded. “All right.”
She grinned, then gestured for us to follow her to the back. We trailed after her into a section of the library that looked exactly the same as the rest.
A large black cat lay curled up on a pile of books, his fur looking almost incorporeal—like it was made of smoke. Something familiar tugged in my chest as I looked at it, and its eyes flared open.
Red flame.
“That damned hellcat, here again,” the old woman muttered. “Like it’s waiting for something. But I can’t shoo it away. They do what they want.”
I let my gaze linger on the cat until the woman turned to us. I reached into my coat and pulled out the medallion that we’d glued back together. “We are looking for the owner of this.”
She squinted at it and held out her hand.
I hesitated, and she grunted in annoyance. I gave it to her, loath to let go of my only clue. She raised it right up to her face and peered at it. “Never seen it before.” She jerked it down. “But I’m sure my books have. They see both past and present, you know.”
“Present?” I frowned.
“Yes. It’s a living collection that knows all the goings on in Grimrealm.”
Then they would know about my family. Maybe they were dead. The little fantasy made me smile.
The woman turned from us, but didn’t walk away. She held out the medallion, about waist high, then commanded, “Search!”
Books flew off the shelf, this time heading right for the librarian. They passed underneath the medallion, pages flicking open and creating a breeze that blew the woman’s hair back from her face. One after another, the books flew by, each pausing under the medallion to flip its pages.
It was pretty damned cool.
I glanced up at Declan, and he looked impressed as well.
Finally, one of the books stopped. The woman leaned over it, nearly pressing her nose to the page.
“Yes, yes. I see.”
“See what?” I moved around to look at the page.
The old woman snapped the book shut, hiding its contents from me.
Dang it.
She gripped the book and the medallion, turning to us. “The payment, please.”
“What do you want?”
“Your soul.”
“Sorry, don’t have one,” I said. “How about cash?”
The old woman frowned. “Fine. A thousand dollars.”
I looked at Declan. “Well, pay the lady.”
He grinned and reached into his pocket. “Is this our first date, then?”
“No, I go Dutch.”
“Quit flirting and pay up,” the woman snapped.
Annoyance surged through me, at both myself and her. Declan handed over some cash—who carried around a thousand bucks?—and she handed over the medallion. Then she opened the book and pointed to the page, where I could see an illustration of the same design as the one on the medallion.
She pointed to it. “Modern history, right here. This is a compulsion charm. It makes a demon do what you want it to do. Specific to Grimrealm.”
So that’s why I’d recognized it, though the memory had been fuzzy. I must have seen it as a child though never understood it.
But hope flared in my chest. “If the demon isn’t wearing the charm anymore, it’s no longer compelled to do whatever evil it’s doing?”
Had I solved this problem already? Was I really that good?
12
“No,” snapped the old woman. “Once the demon is compelled, it’s compelled. Especially if the action it was commanded to do is something it likes.”
My heart fell. “So a necromancy demon will be compelled to do necromancy.”
“Exactly. The charm got the whole process started. He’s doing it on behalf of someone—probably. But he’s still doing it even if he doesn’t have this charm.”
Damn.
Declan leaned down to whisper in my ear, and I shivered. “Then we need to figure out who has compelled him to do this. Maybe t
hat’s our lead to him.”
I nodded.
“Does it tell you who commanded him?” he asked.
“No, but The Weeds will know. He’s the primary go-between for demons and those who want to hire him. Evil little bugger.”
Hoo boy. If this old broad didn’t like him, then he was bad. “Where do we find him?”
“It’s Thursday, isn’t it?”
I nodded.
“He’ll be at the fight ring. Other side of Grimrealm. You’ll know him by his hair. Green.”
“The Weeds.” Finally, I got it. “Thanks.”
“Take the damned cat with you.”
But the cat was already gone. A tiny twinge of disappointment surged through me, though I didn’t understand it. I’d never particularly had a thing for animals. I liked them and all, just not a lot.
I took the medallion back from her, and Declan and I left quickly. Fortunately, the books left us alone on our way out.
We stepped out into Grimrealm, and the shock of it hit me once again. The library had sucked and the magic had been dark, but it’d still been removed from this place and my horrible memories here.
Declan reached for my hand once again, and I let him take it. I’d been through some seriously dark shit, and I really didn’t need to hold his hand here. But I kind of wanted to.
Together, we cut back through the market, headed for the other side. I couldn’t help but let my gaze run over the goods on the tables. More weapons, potions, books. It was impossible not to see them since I preferred to keep my head down while walking, to better cover my face and hair.
Finally, we reached the other side.
“This way.” Declan led the way toward a narrow alley, and I kept a keen eye out for anyone I might recognize.
Honestly, most faces were a blur in my memory now. Even Aunt and Uncle. I’d worked so hard to suppress them that I couldn’t recall exactly what people had looked like.
We cut through a narrow alley, the cobblestones damp beneath my feet. Since it didn’t rain underground, I really didn’t want to know what made these stones damp.
As we walked, I spotted another figure striding toward us. Tall and hulking, his gait was familiar.
A dark memory flashed in my mind. A beating.
Fear devoured me, sucking up my mind and my will. Instinctively, I called upon my ghost suit, turning invisible immediately. Even the cloak I wore disappeared, so Declan looked like he was walking alone.
Shock widened his eyes, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t help it.
I’d never been scared of anything—not since I’d escaped Grimrealm.
But now, I was scared.
Of this man.
His nose was squashed and his eyes a muddy brown. Confused, they searched the area where I stood, but he couldn’t see me. My heart thundered so loud I could barely hear myself think.
Would the man stop? Try to talk to Declan? Try to catch me?
I’d cut his balls off and feed them to him.
The violent thought made me feel a bit better. Until the man stepped closer in our direction.
He was coming for us.
My skin chilled.
Out of nowhere, the black cat appeared. Its fur swirled like dark smoke, and its flame-red eyes were glued to the man. The cat arched its back and hissed, breathing fire like a tiny furry dragon. The flame licked at the man’s legs.
He cursed and stumbled backward, muttering something about bad luck and melted skin.
Hell yeah, bad luck. It was a hellcat, and it had my back.
The man stumbled away, and slowly, my shoulders relaxed.
The cat disappeared.
Holy fates, that was weird.
“You okay?” Declan asked.
Shit.
I let the magic of my ghost suit fade and reappeared at Declan’s side. “I just didn’t like the look of that guy.”
“So you turned invisible. Sure.” He clearly didn’t believe me, but at least he was smart enough not to talk about it now. “And you know that cat?”
“Never seen it before in my life.” I pointed to a sign that was painted with an image of two demons boxing. “I think we’re here.”
“That we are.” Declan entered first, and I followed, stepping into a ticket office that had seen better days. A grimy glass window protected a tiny man with big ears and black eyes.
Declan strode up to the counter. “Two.”
“Fifty bucks.”
Declan pulled out money and gave it to the man, who took the bills with black-tipped claws. Some kind of monster half blood for sure. I got a whiff of stinking magic as I passed him.
Two huge doors sat to the left of the ticket booth, and Declan pushed one open. The roar of a crowd surged out, and my interest piqued. Beyond the doors, there was a massive stadium. We’d entered at the top, so the whole thing had been carved into the earth below. There had to be thousands of people there, all screaming and cheering at the two demons in the ring.
They went at it, two massive beasts who smacked the hell out of each other with huge hands and sharp claws. The ground was sticky beneath my feet as I moved closer to the crowd, peering down into the arena.
Declan joined me, and we searched for green hair.
Finally, I spotted it and pointed. “There.”
He was right at the front, near the ring. I found a set of stairs down and took them two at a time, counting on Declan to keep up. And if he didn’t, well, that was his loss. Because I had our lead now, and with any luck, I could leave Declan in the dust.
Patrons shouted and shoved as we made our way lower, and I took the opportunity to shove my elbow into some sides and work out some aggression. It was better than fear, after all.
I found that I definitely preferred the shops and buildings that surrounded the main market, since I’d never been in these particular places when I’d been a kid.
I reached the bottom of the ring and stopped dead when two bouncers moved to block me from going any closer. Each was at least seven feet tall and covered in muscles. Not that muscles mattered much in the magical world. I could take these two out. Or I could become invisible.
But becoming invisible was often viewed as a threat, and they might put the place on lockdown. I didn’t recognize the guards from my childhood, so I called on my glamour instead. They wouldn’t be able to see the white silk pants and jacket beneath my cloak, but my hair would appear to lay flat and silky instead of up in a ponytail.
Once the glamour was in place, I flicked my hood back just enough so they could see my face, but not enough that any other patrons could. I didn’t know who else was in this crowd, and I wouldn’t advertise myself.
“Watch out, boys. You’re standing between me and my man.” I gave it my best ice queen impression, the kind of chilly beauty that men seemed to like. I pointed. “He’s over there.”
“Tickets?” grumbled the one on the right.
“He has them.” I smiled slightly, as if bestowing a gift upon him, and hoped it worked. Normally, I could pull this off in a pinch, but I was really much more comfortable with kicking ass and taking what I wanted.
It seemed to work, though, because they both parted and let me through. Maybe they were dumb enough to think a woman couldn’t cause problems—which would be really dumb—but they hadn’t looked clever. And this was the type of place where men brought arm candy.
Declan would just have to flirt his way through, too.
I cut through a row of people, headed straight for a slight guy with green hair. He looked oily and altogether unpleasant, with a pinched face that looked like he regularly stiffed the waiter.
I strode up to him without stopping, grabbing his balls before he’d even registered my appearance. “Come on, Weeds. We’re going to go chat.”
He made a strangled sound. “I could scream.”
“You’ll scream if I get my claws out, but you don’t want that, now do you?” I purred.
The blood rushed from his face, making
his green hair stand out even brighter. He shook his head quickly.
“Now come on.” I tugged on him as I shot a glance back at the guards, noticing that Declan had gotten past them and that they also looked a shade whiter.
So he hadn’t gone with the flirting method. No surprise, really.
I dragged The Weeds away from the guards, heading toward a clearing in the crowd that looked like a passageway. Declan caught up to us before we reached it.
“You don’t waste time,” he murmured.
“Nope.” I turned right, heading down the corridor that led deeper into the back of the stadium. It looked like the kind that led toward locker rooms, and I really didn’t want to see any demon balls or butts today.
Come to think of it, I’d never seen demon balls at all. And I’d do a lot to keep it that way.
Fortunately, the passage led to a darkened hallway.
“Who are you?” demanded The Weeds.
I slammed him against the wall. “You really thought it was a good idea to put the word the in front of your name?”
“My mother did,” he blustered.
“No, she didn’t. She probably named you Frank or Donnie. The Weeds is a dumb name you came up with when you were a teenager.” I was guessing, but from the way his eyes widened, I wasn’t far off.
I let go of his balls and looked at Declan. “You take it from here. I don’t want to touch him anymore.” But for good measure, I raised my hand and wiggled my fingers. “Don’t forget the claws, though, Donnie.”
The Weeds puffed up his chest. “You can’t treat me like this.”
“Of course we can.” Declan pressed his hand against The Weed’s throat. Not enough to choke him, but enough to make it clear who was the boss. “Now, tell us where to find a necromancer demon who was wearing this medallion.”
I pulled it out of my pocket and held it up.
The Weed’s eyes widened just a touch, but it was enough to indicate familiarity. “Yeah, thought you’d recognize that.” I glared at him. “Now, who was wearing it?”
“No idea.”
Declan tightened his hand.
“Donnie, look at me.” I gestured to my face, satisfied once his watery green gaze was on me. “I’d love nothing more than to kill you. Honestly, it would make my day.”
