“I’ll escort you back to your team,” the remaining mythic told me. “It isn’t safe out here alone.”
I hunched my shoulders, embarrassed. I knew it wasn’t safe, but what was I supposed to do? Tell Tae-min he had no idea how to lead a team? I started down the street, the man matching my pace. I could feel his gaze but kept mine on the ground.
“I admit I’m curious,” he ventured. “You don’t seem like the usual contractor type.”
Watching my mud-splattered shoes, I said nothing. What could I say? “Stop stereotyping contractors”? Or maybe, “Petite, bespectacled bookworms can be power-hungry, soul-selling contractors too”?
He tried again. “How long have you been a contractor?”
I almost said, “Twenty-four hours,” then remembered my fake paperwork. “Six months.”
“Robin, are you done—” Popping out of her alcove, Amalia spotted my new comrade and froze. “Oh! There you are, Robin! Why didn’t you wait for me? We’re supposed to stick together.”
I glared at her.
“Would you be this young lady’s champion?” the man asked.
“Uh, yeah.”
The leader directed his full attention at Amalia. Her careless defiance, which I’d only seen falter when Zylas had threatened to kill her, crumbled under this man’s stern disapproval. Her guilty stare flicked away.
With slapping steps, Tae-min trotted out of an alley, George trailing after him.
“What’s going on? Who—oh.” Tae-min slid to a halt.
“Tae-min,” the man said. “Unpleasant circumstances under which to meet again. How are you?”
“I—I’m fine, thank you, Darius.”
Darius smiled. I blinked, amazed by how he could look so warmly amicable and like a panther about to pounce.
“I’m delighted to hear you’re well. Before that changes, may I ask why you’re failing to follow basic protocol?”
Tae-min cringed. “Uh—”
“No mythic should be alone in the combat area, and team members should remain within each other’s sight lines at all times. I assume you’re leading this team?”
“I—yes, I am, but—”
“You’re responsible for the lives you expose, and as an officer of a Demonica guild, you should understand the intense danger present on these streets—but what I’m seeing suggests you don’t.”
Tae-min stiffened.
“How much of your shift do you have left?” the mysterious mythic demanded.
“We—this is our last grid.”
“Then you are dismissed, Tae-min. My team will cover this grid.”
The officer’s eyes blazed. “You can’t just—”
“Escort these two young women back to your guild,” Darius continued without pause, his commanding tone silencing the officer. “All else aside, I expected you and your GM to have better sense than to—”
“We know what we’re doing!” Tae-min cut in furiously. “That girl”—he pointed at me—“and her demon will be the ones to take out the unbound demon. I’d bet my guild’s treasury account on it.”
“That isn’t much of a wager. Take them back, Tae-min. I will be speaking with your GM about this as well.”
Tae-min glowered, his jaw so tight a muscle was twitching in his cheek.
Darius offered me a warm smile. “I commend your bravery, Robin, but there will be other opportunities to test yourself against dangerous opponents.”
To my surprise, I found myself returning his smile. As he strode back the way he’d come, Tae-min growled in the departing man’s direction.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“Darius King,” the officer answered grudgingly. “The guild master of the Crow and Hammer.”
The Crow and Hammer? Damn it. Why hadn’t Amalia and I joined Darius’s guild instead of the Grand Grimoire? He knew what he was doing.
“The Crow and Hammer is a joke.” Tae-min pulled his beanie off and wrung it out. “A lecture on following protocol from him? His guild is notorious for breaking rules and skirting regulations.”
“Yeah, but all the same,” George remarked, “they take a big share of the bounties around here.”
Tae-min sneered. “Let’s get back to the car.”
As I followed the others, my thoughts spun, replaying Darius’s lecture. The lives you expose. The intense danger present on these streets. How many mythics were out here, risking their lives to hunt the escaped demon? How many people, like Darius and his comrades, like that other team I’d observed, were putting themselves in terrible danger?
Zylas could mow through a room of contractors in less than a minute. What damage could the winged demon do to the mythics on the streets? Or humans who crossed its path? Though Tae-min hadn’t known what he was saying, I was the one who needed to stop the escaped beast. Or rather, Zylas was the one.
I was no pro, but Zylas was lethal—and unlike properly contracted demons, he could wield his unstoppable magic. He had the power to defeat the winged demon. If he stopped it, no one else would get hurt. No one would have to die.
This was my responsibility. I needed to fix it.
We returned to Tae-min’s car. As everyone else got in, I hovered beside Amalia’s open door. “Uh, I’m going to go … a different way.”
Tae-min twisted in his seat. “What?”
“I need to go home,” I lied quickly. “It’s in the other direction. I’ll catch a bus.”
“You can’t just—”
“I’ll be back in time for my next shift.” I glanced at Amalia. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
She stared at me. “Uh … sure.”
I shut her door. My hands were trembling but I ignored them. While a panicked voice in my head screamed at me to go back, I started down the nearest sidewalk, pretending I knew where I was going. The car’s engine revved, then quieted as it drew away. I kept walking.
I was alone.
The coiling fear in my gut intensified, but I raised my chin. If Zylas and I found and defeated the escaped demon, everyone would be safe. I needed to do this, even if it terrified me.
I cut into an alley and withdrew my phone from my pocket. As I opened the MPD app, the infernus heated. Light flashed and Zylas appeared beside me.
“Payilas? What are you doing?”
I pulled up a map marked with all the demon sightings so far. “We’re going to find the escaped demon.”
His eyebrows drew down. “Why?”
“Because we’re the reason it’s on the loose. Why can’t you and Amalia understand this? I freed you from the circle, and you freed the other demon. People are being hurt, and it’s our fault.”
He examined my face, pondering me like I was some sort of puzzle. “So?”
“Right. Of course you don’t get it. You’re a demon.” I refocused on the app. “The most recent sighting was eight blocks away. We’re too far west.”
Gastown, a busy tourist area, was only a few blocks farther west. And, I saw, the Crow and Hammer guild was almost as close—four blocks to the northeast. I had a long walk to reach the correct area and it would get dark soon. Maybe I shouldn’t do this …
No. It was my responsibility. Shoving my phone into my pocket, I started down the alley.
Zylas looked up from the newspaper dispenser he’d been examining, then started after me. “Where are you going?”
“To find the demon.”
“Just like this?” Mocking amusement joined his swirling accent. “Walk, walk. Na, a demon! So easy.”
I realized I was clenching my jaw again. The more time I spent around him, the higher my dental bills would be. “Help me, then. I’m sure you have a better idea of how to find it.”
“Why would I want to find him?”
“Why did you free him in the first place?”
“Because he is old. He knows more … and he wants to return home too.”
Stopping, I turned to study the demon. “You freed him to see if he knows a way back to your world.�
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Zylas made an irritated sound. “But he does not know or he would not be playing games with hh’ainun. I should have left him in his circle.”
“Games? What kind of games?”
“Stalking games. He likes to hunt weak things on the ground.”
“Do you know this demon?” I asked incredulously.
“His name is Tahēsh. He is the Dīnen …” His nose scrunched. “I do not know your word. He is … king?”
“King?” I gasped. “He’s a demon king?”
Zylas hopped onto a dumpster, crouched on its edge, and peered up into the erratic rain. “He is Dīnen of the First House. All of my kind know his name.”
A memory stirred—Uncle Jack’s email to his partner Claude. I think this is the 12th house??
“How many demon kings are there?” I asked.
He watched the sky, his nostrils flaring as he scented the breeze. “Twelve.”
A king for each House. I rubbed my hands over my face, smearing raindrops across my skin. “Uncle Jack summoned a demon king. That’s insane. And you set him free!”
“What is so impressive, payilas? He lived longest, so he became Dīnen.”
“But … a king! Does that mean he commands other demons?”
“He rules his House.” Zylas’s gaze traced the rooftops. “It is not a great thing.”
I snorted. “Now you just sound jealous. You wish you were a demon king too.”
“Ih?” He looked at me properly, his mouth thinning. “I am.”
“You’re what?”
“Dīnen.”
My expression froze. “Wh … what? You’re a demon king?”
His scowl deepened at my disbelieving tone and his tail lashed, hitting the dumpster’s side with a clang. “Of course, payilas. Do you know anything?”
I stared at him, my heart thudding in a strange rhythm. “You’re King of the Twelfth House …”
He glanced skyward, then hopped off the dumpster. “Finding Tahēsh is stupid, payilas. Leave now. Back to the other hh’ainun.”
“What? No, we have to stop him. I just explained—”
Zylas stepped closer, his dark hair tangled across his eyes and dripping rainwater. “Go back to the hh’ainun.”
“No, I—”
He pushed on my stomach, forcing me back a step. “Go now.”
“Quit it! I’m not leaving until Tahēsh is stopped.”
Zylas shoved me again—gently, but he was so strong I staggered.
“Stop it!” I seethed, skittering away from him. How did I make him understand our responsibility to stop this demon? Could he understand it or was it beyond his moral conception?
His eyes glowed menacingly as he herded me toward the alley’s entrance, his teeth glinting, half bared. His contractual promise to protect me suddenly felt all too flimsy.
“Faster, payilas,” he growled, shoving me with more force. As I grabbed a wall for balance, I almost missed the darting glance he shot toward the rooftops.
And I realized it wasn’t aggression fueling his tension. It was muted urgency. Zylas was desperate to get me away from here without revealing the reason—but I could guess why.
Chapter Twenty-One
Whichever direction Zylas didn’t want me heading was the way I planned to go. Diving under his reaching arm, I bolted deeper into the alley—but he grabbed my jacket, hauling me back. I smacked into his chest, my feet dangling off the ground.
“What are you doing?” he snarled in my ear, his arms banded around me, squeezing my lungs.
“Tahēsh is nearby, isn’t he?” I fought to inhale as his hold tightened. “That’s why you keep looking at the sky and want to leave.”
“If you know, why do you run toward him? Do you want to die?”
Determination eclipsed my fear. “You have to protect me.”
If Tahēsh came after us, the contract’s magic would force Zylas to fight him to keep me safe. He couldn’t refuse to fix his mistake if I was in danger. And he’d told me himself—he never lost.
I sucked in a deep breath and loosed the loudest shout my lungs could produce. “Tahēsh!”
Zylas clamped his hand over my mouth and ducked backward into a dark nook where two buildings met. Satisfaction filtered through me, and I tilted my head back to see Zylas’s face, silently gloating that I had outsmarted him.
He pressed against the wall, head turning, nostrils flaring wide. His crimson eyes were wide and … alarmed. Almost … afraid.
My smug feeling of victory faltered.
Zylas’s head snapped back. Clutching me tight, he leaped out of the alcove.
Red light flashed and the doorway exploded. The force hit Zylas from behind, hurling us toward the opposite building. He twisted at the last second so that his back slammed into the wall instead of me, his body absorbing my momentum. Bricks shattered, the falling debris narrowly missing my head.
He shoved off the wall, threw me over his shoulder, and sprinted away. The buildings on either side blurred with his speed. He veered around a corner, feet sliding on the wet pavement and tail sweeping out.
A red glow bathed the alley.
Zylas dropped, the armor covering his knees and shins screeching across the asphalt. He slapped his hand against the ground and red magic shot down his arm, spiraling into a rune-filled circle.
The sky turned scarlet as power blasted downward. Zylas’s magic arched over us and the two forces collided in a blazing detonation that threw him into me. His forearms hit the asphalt and he shuddered under the impact, braced above me like a shield—with hatred blazing in his eyes.
The ground was still vibrating when he lunged up. He seized my coat, heaved me off the asphalt, and clamped me against his side. Leaping onto a fire escape, he dragged us up with one arm, got his feet onto the steel grating, and raced for the top.
On a building across the alley, a dark shape appeared. Wings spreading from heavy shoulders, the demon stepped to the rooftop’s edge. His eyes glowed as magic rippled up his arms—an attack taking form.
“Watch out!” I cried.
Zylas flung us off the fire escape just before the crimson blast hit it. Metal shrieked as the structure tore away and plunged down to the street. We soared through the air, then Zylas caught the wall with one hand. His claws ripped down the bricks and caught on a windowsill. He clung precariously to his narrow handhold, a three-story drop onto pavement and twisted metal below.
From his rooftop, Tahēsh loosed a deep, throbbing laugh. “Eshathē gūkkinanin venarish antin hh’ainun taridis, Dīnen et Vh’alyir.”
Zylas bared his teeth. He dropped off the wall, plunged downward, and landed on a parked car. The roof caved under his feet. He hit the ground running, his arm a steel band crushing my lungs.
I could hear Tahēsh laughing.
We burst out of the alley into a small parking lot surrounded by three- and four-story buildings. Zylas dashed toward a dumpster, probably to use it as a launching block to get onto a roof—high ground against the winged demon. I desperately clutched his arm.
A few yards from the dumpster, he sprang upward like a startled rabbit.
A blast struck the pavement right under us. Red power hurled us in a violent spin and Zylas hit the ground on his back. Torn out of his grasp, I tumbled to a painful, dizzying stop beside the dumpster.
Zylas flipped onto his feet, red magic spiraling over his arms. He thrust his hands up.
Wings flared wide, Tahēsh plunged out of the sky and slammed into the smaller demon. Red magic rippled out from them like a sonic wave and Zylas buckled under the attack. He rolled clear. As he sidestepped away from his adversary, crimson magic glowed over his hands and extended past his fingertips, forming six-inch-long talons.
Rumbling with amusement, Tahēsh raised his hands and even longer talons of magic sprouted off his thick fingers. “Kirritavh’an Zylas nailēris? Eshanā agrēris.”
Zylas didn’t respond, his eyes glowing and body coiled in readiness. As he fac
ed the winged demon king, I clutched the infernus. Seven feet tall, Tahēsh rippled with bulging muscles, his size magnified by his curved wings and thick tail. And Zylas, facing him, looked like a scrawny adolescent about to take on a wrestling heavyweight.
The two demons stared at each other—then Tahēsh attacked.
Zylas ducked away from the streaking crimson claws. The two demons blurred with speed, Tahēsh striking and slashing while Zylas dodged and retreated. I couldn’t follow their movements—couldn’t tell who was winning and who was losing.
Red power burst off Tahēsh. Zylas slammed into the ground—and the pavement caved under his body. The earth shook from the impact.
For two heart-stopping seconds, Zylas didn’t move. Then he rolled, barely escaping Tahēsh’s downward strike. As he sprang up, Tahēsh’s tail swung around and the bony plate on the end caught Zylas in the stomach.
They blurred again, their slashing, dodging motions interspersed with glimmers of crimson light. Blood sprayed across the ground but I didn’t know whose. Slamming blows, vicious snarls. They broke apart—blood running from deep gashes in Zylas’s upper arm—then clashed again, magic flaring.
Zylas whirled away as the pointed tips of Tahēsh’s talons ripped across his chest. He stumbled, tail lashing, balance lost—and as he faltered, Tahēsh pounced.
My mouth gaped in a silent scream as he slammed Zylas into the pavement.
All sound and movement and magic died. Tahēsh was a dark, motionless shadow, crouched low with his wings arching off his back. Laughing gruffly, he straightened and raised his muscular arm.
Zylas hung from the long crimson claws impaling his stomach. The points protruded from his back, coated in blood. Panting wetly, he clutched Tahēsh’s wrist and crimson power shot across his hands.
Tahēsh roared. Magic exploded in a blinding flare.
A deafening crash boomed beside me. I flinched away as Zylas pitched forward, crumpling to the pavement a foot away. He’d struck the dumpster so violently the metal had split. Garbage fell through the fissure—beer bottles and fast food wrappers and stained cans of spray paint.
Dark, thick blood pooled under Zylas and flowed across his back from the five punctures. He didn’t move except for his rapid, rasping breaths. Tahēsh started toward us, his teeth exposed in a hungry grin.
Taming Demons for Beginners: The Guild Codex: Demonized / One Page 16
