Dh’ērrenith. Zylas had been right.
Tahēsh’s movements grew more frantic. Roaring again, he swung at Zylas—and missed. Zylas ducked in low and tore out the back of Tahēsh’s knee, and I knew the fight was over.
It took three more gouging strikes for Tahēsh to realize it too. Screeching like a bobcat, he spread his wings and leaped into the air. Zylas looked up, tracking his enemy’s ascent.
No magic, I reminded him with a loud thought.
He coiled his legs, then sprang upward. He slammed into Tahēsh in midair—lithe, agile, deadly. In the darkness, the faintest spark of red magic flickered off Zylas’s hands. Then he and Tahēsh plunged back to the ground—and when they hit the grass, Tahēsh’s head rolled away from his body.
It was over. That fast, that easy.
I understood now what Zylas had meant when he’d said he never lost; he waited for the odds to shift in his favor. But what had shifted the odds so far? In our last encounter, Tahēsh had seemed invincible, but over the last two days, someone had dealt the demon debilitating wounds. Who had injured him? What mythic could have done what Zylas couldn’t?
Silence had fallen over the park. The combat team was staring at Zylas. So was the redheaded woman, who’d fallen to the ground a yard from Tahēsh’s body.
Zylas rose out of his crouch and ambled woodenly toward my hiding spot. Right. His contractor needed to make an appearance or those mythics might assume he was an unbound demon too. Which he sort of was … but we didn’t want anyone to know that.
Steeling myself, I walked out of the sheltering trees and into the glare of headlights.
Six pairs of eyes turned to me—the three mythics, the two maybe-human men, and the redhaired woman. Zylas walked to me and stopped. With his back to our witnesses, he flashed me a pointy-toothed grin full of victory and bloodlust, then turned to face the park, his expression blank.
Shivering, I turned my attention to the three mythics—a short older man, a super tall middle-aged guy, and an average-built young guy. I waited, but they did nothing but stare at me. Okay then.
I looked at the others. The redheaded woman was still sitting on the ground beside the car, her mouth hanging open. Behind her was another redhead—one of the two guys—and his pal stood beside an overturned motorcycle. Their unconscious friend must be in the car. I hoped he wasn’t hurt.
They, like the mythics, didn’t move or speak or … anything. Was no one going to react at all?
I glanced at Tahēsh’s corpse, summoned another dollop of courage, and pulled out my phone. My audience silently watched as I dialed the MPD’s emergency number.
It rang twice, then a cool female voice said, “MPD hotline, what is your emergency?”
“Um, hello,” I mumbled. “Yes, um … this is Robin Page from the Grand Grimoire. I’d like to report the unbound demon, please.”
“The unbound demon?” the woman repeated, startled. “Do you know its location?”
“Yes …” I tried to gather my thoughts, but the staring was getting under my skin. No wonder Zylas got angry whenever I gawked at him too long. “Um, it’s in Oppenheimer Park.”
“The demon is in the park?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“What’s it doing?” she barked urgently. “Are you in danger?”
“Uh, no, the demon is dead.”
A long pause. I nudged my glasses up and glanced at Zylas. He stood motionless, looking bored.
“Are you sure the demon is dead?” the operator asked.
“Yes, I’m sure. It’s definitely dead.”
The clatter of a keyboard sounded through the phone. “Robin, stay right where you are. I’m sending agents to your location immediately. Please wait for them—right where you are.”
Did she think I would wander off? “Okay, I’ll wait here. How long will MagiPol take to arrive?”
I almost missed her reply as the mythics in the park snapped to attention. The contractors’ demons lit with red magic, and as they dissolved back into their pendants, the mythics rushed toward the black van.
“Ten minutes or less,” the operator replied. “I’m also alerting all GMs and officers. Some of them may arrive first.”
The van’s engine rumbled to life, and the wheels spun as the driver gunned it. The vehicle tore away.
“Robin? Are you still there?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled, my confusion growing as the two civilian men and the redhaired woman also launched into motion. Two of them jumped into the car, and the dark-haired guy picked up the bike and started it. “I’ll wait here.”
I ended the call as the red sports car reversed off the grass and onto the road. The motorcycle followed, their engines roared, and a moment later, Zylas and I were alone in the park.
While I pondered the bizarre behavior of the witnesses to Tahēsh’s defeat, Zylas relaxed out of his wooden stance—then let out a whoop that made me jump a foot in the air.
“Vh’renith!” he shouted, pumping his fist. “I killed the Dīnen et Lūsh’vēr! I killed Tahēsh of the First House!”
Eyes glowing and a broad grin stretching his lips, he spun on the spot like he couldn’t contain his exuberant energy.
“That was lalūdris, kirritavh’ dahgan rūs hh’istaran,” he spouted, slipping into his native language. “I will be …”
He trailed off, his victorious outburst fading into a scowl, then he groaned and flopped backward, landing on the grass.
“Zylas?” I yelped. “What’s wrong?”
Flat on his back, he glared at me. “No one will ever know.”
“Huh?”
“I am the first of my House to kill a Lūsh’vēr and no one will ever know!” Heaving a sigh, he sat up and glowered at Tahēsh’s body like it was all the winged demon’s fault. “No glory for me.”
“Glory? For killing another demon king?”
“It is the greatest victory for my kind—to kill a Dīnen.”
I crouched beside him. “Doesn’t that mean that other demons try to kill you all the time?”
“Ch. Of course.”
Hesitantly, I patted his shoulder. “Well, you know you defeated him, and that’s what’s important.”
He squinted at me like I’d said something utterly moronic, then gazed across the park. “Maybe the other witnessed my triumph.”
“The other what?”
“The other demon.”
Confusion fizzled through me. “You mean the two contracted ones?”
“No. There was another.” His nostrils flared. “I can smell his vīsh. Different from Tahēsh.”
Vīsh. Magic. Zylas could detect the magic of another demon? But contracted demons couldn’t use magic.
“I could smell him on Tahēsh,” Zylas added. “This other demon … he is the one who injured Tahēsh. The one Tahēsh was hunting. He is powerful. Second or Third House.”
A chill washed over me. Another powerful demon, one capable of using magic, had injured Tahēsh. Did that mean there had been a third unbound demon in the park?
“I did not see him.” Zylas pointed to the dark street where the red car had disappeared. “But his scent … it disappeared with them.”
I stared at the empty street. Two dark-haired men, one unconscious. A pair of redheads, one male and one female. They’d looked human to me, but Zylas didn’t lie.
Who were they?
Chapter Twenty-Four
I sat on the grass, bored and exhausted. More than a dozen MPD agents and high-ranking mythics—GMs and first officers from multiple guilds—swarmed the park.
Over the past couple of hours, I’d been questioned, questioned some more, then questioned again. The demon corpse had been bagged up and a nondescript van was parked beside it, back doors open to receive the body. Someone was pouring liquid from a large jug over the bloody grass, and silver vapor rose from it in unnatural corkscrews.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, but I ignored it. I had a dozen messages from Amalia and Tae-min—the former a
sking if I’d killed the demon, because rumors were flying, and the latter demanding, with growing urgency, that I return to the guild immediately to see the GM.
I pushed my glasses up my nose, nervousness skittering through my belly. This was way too much attention. Would the MPD investigate my paperwork and realize it was all a forgery? The Grand Grimoire guild master summoning me didn’t seem like a good thing either. Hopefully he just wanted to congratulate me on a job well done.
Chewing my lower lip, I watched a tall woman in a crisp business suit bark orders at various agents. From what I’d overheard, she was the captain of this MPD precinct. That made her the biggest boss in the city, and I was extra glad I hadn’t had to talk to her. Despite her waves of soft blond hair, she was inexplicably terrifying.
A man broke away from the crowd and strode toward me. I got wearily to my feet, trying to place his thick beard and longish gray hair. He seemed familiar.
“Robin?” He held out his hand. “Girard Canonach, first officer of the Crow and Hammer.”
His guild jogged my memory; he was a teammate of Darius, the Crow and Hammer’s GM. “We met a couple of days ago, didn’t we?”
“Briefly,” he confirmed as he shook my hand. “You did an excellent job on the unbound demon. Are you hurt?”
“Not a scratch. My demon did all the work.”
“Glad to hear it. The entire city owes you a favor—though I believe the bounty for an unbound demon kill should go a long way toward that IOU.”
Right. In return for completing bounty work, the MPD awarded bonuses that increased depending on the difficulty and danger of the job.
“I’m just glad the demon can’t hurt anyone else,” I said quickly.
“As are we all.” He studied me, his gaze bleakly assessing, and I got the feeling he was skirting around something. “You’re a new member of the Grand Grimoire, correct?”
I nodded. He waited to see if I would offer any more information about my recent guild transfer, but I changed the subject. “Did you ever find out what that sorcerer was doing? The one who attacked me?”
“I was going to mention that. Is there any reason someone might be stalking you?”
“N-no,” I replied, startled. “I can’t think of anything.”
He considered me carefully, then shrugged. “We’re still investigating the sorcerer. He wasn’t part of a search team … and he wasn’t alone.”
Gooseflesh prickled my arms.
“Be careful, Robin. The demon is dead, but I’m not sure this is over yet.”
I nodded numbly as he returned to the MPD group. No one was looking my way, so I cautiously backed toward the sidewalk. I was supposed to wait for permission to leave, but I’d been sitting around for an hour. If they needed me, they could call my cell.
Turning on my heel, I hurried away from the park. It was after eleven and darkness lay thick and heavy over the abandoned roads. Streetlamps glowed overhead, holding back the shadows. I should’ve been fearful of walking alone in a poor neighborhood at night, but I wasn’t alone—not with the infernus bouncing lightly against my chest.
My thoughts spun, tangling across too many threads and puzzle pieces.
Tahēsh was dead, but the Crow and Hammer’s first officer was concerned about something else … something more.
A sorcerer had attacked me in the streets, and he hadn’t been alone.
Zylas and I had heard voices in an alley earlier that afternoon. “Where are they? I lost them.”
A mysterious third demon had attacked and injured Tahēsh.
Tahēsh had been stalking the Crow and Hammer guild.
The seven people who’d been battling Tahēsh in the park had fled the scene once the demon was dead.
The mysterious third demon’s scent had vanished with the red sports car.
I rubbed both hands over my face, almost knocking my glasses off. None of this made sense. Where had the third demon come from? Who were those people in the park? Who were the strange men we’d heard in the alley? Who was the sorcerer who’d attacked me?
And how did the Crow and Hammer fit into all this? They kept cropping up. Tahēsh had been watching their guild. Their GM had bumped into me during the search. Their first officer had sought me out a few minutes ago but hadn’t said much of anything.
I didn’t understand any of it, but at least I was alone with my thoughts instead of—
Heat washed through the infernus, followed by a flare of light. Zylas materialized beside me.
“Were you listening inside my head again?” I demanded accusingly.
“What else is there in the infernus?”
“I told you not to do that! I also told you not to pop out whenever you feel like it.” I glanced around, but the street was abandoned. “You’re lucky there’s no one nearby.”
He was unrepentant. “Where are you going?”
“To the Grand Grimoire.” I resumed walking. “The guild is a few blocks down this street. I’m supposed to see the GM.”
I drew several steps ahead before Zylas caught up and matched my pace. Noticing the undemonlike bounce in his step, I had to suppress a laugh. “Still feeling good about defeating Tahēsh?”
He smirked down at me. “You do not understand. He is First House. I am Twelfth House. The best I have killed before is Fifth House.”
“Is that what demons do all day? Plot how to kill each other?”
His nose scrunched in thought. “Hnn. Yes, mostly. Males do.”
“What do female demons do?”
“They eat and drink and lounge and raise young. And kill males.”
I laughed and shook my head, unsure how to react. “The females kill males? Do males kill them too?”
“No.” He widened his eyes. “I have never tried to kill a female. I would die.”
I blinked. “You would?”
“Females are stronger,” he said bluntly. “Their magic is …” He spread his hands wide as though measuring the size of something. “Much greater. We do not fight them. We fight each other.”
“Wait, wait. Female demons are stronger than male demons?”
“In vīsh. We are bigger, though.”
“Even you?”
His upper lip curled in a silent, offended snarl. “Now that Tahēsh is dead, you will find the way I can return home?”
“Yes,” I agreed, disappointed by the change in subject. “I’ll start first thing tomorrow. I already made a list of sources. But this won’t be quick. I can’t find answers in a few days.”
“If you are searching, I will wait.”
I nodded, understanding. As long as I was making progress, he could be patient. “I’ve been thinking. My mother had a special grimoire about demon summoning—or I think it’s about Demonica. She protected it for years, but now Uncle Jack has it. I’m pretty sure he used it to summon you and Tahēsh.”
“Na?” He walked in silence for a moment. “All Dīnen fear being taken by the hh’ainun. Any moment they can turn to light and vanish. Some come back after a short time, some after a long time. Many never return. All Houses fear this … except the First House and the Twelfth House.”
My steps slowed. “What do you mean?”
“In some Houses, each Dīnen is taken almost as soon as he claims his title. In others, not as fast. In the First House, almost never. In my House, we are never taken. The others hate us because we are safe from hh’ainun.” He slowed to a stop, his crimson eyes unreadable. “Until me. I was taken, but I do not know why.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s because Uncle Jack got my mother’s grimoire. It had your House name in it. Humans can’t summon demons from a House without its name.”
His brow furrowed. “Why did your mother have my House name?”
“I don’t know.” My nerves prickled and I hurriedly resumed walking. The Grand Grimoire building was just around the corner.
Why had my mother protected that grimoire? Had she concealed it because it had Zylas’s House name? Or beca
use it had the name of the First House? Or some other reason?
“Anyway,” I muttered, “I think the grimoire has important information about summoning that could help send you home. We need to get it back from my uncle.”
He trailed after me. “Is it something you need? Or do you want it because it is yours and not his?”
I inhaled sharply. Zylas was easy to underestimate, but he saw and understood more than I cared to guess—including this.
“I want it because it’s mine,” I said, staring at the ground. “But it might also help with my research.”
He walked beside me, his tail swishing against the sidewalk. “I will help you.”
My head snapped up. “You will?”
“If he used this grimoire to take me, I will help you get it back—and you will purge my name from it so my House cannot be taken again.”
“Oh.” I sighed. “I thought you were offering just to be nice.”
“Nice? Ch. ‘Nice’ is for stupid hh’ainun.”
Annoyed, I marched toward the corner. “There are benefits to doing nice things for people, you know.”
“Zh’ūltis.”
“There are! They’ll do nice things for you in return, things you might not think to ask for. It builds trust and comradery and—”
“How is that useful?”
As we turned the corner, I glared at him. “You, selfish demon, are completely ignorant about a whole lot of ‘stupid human’ things.”
“If they’re stupid things,” he mocked, “why do I need to know them?”
“I mean you think they’re stupid when they’re actually—”
He planted his hand on top of my head and pushed downward as though trying to shrink me. “Small and weak and stupid, payilas.”
“Stop calling me stupid!” I whacked his hand. “And let me go!”
“I will if you—” Jolting in surprise, he dragged me to a halt beside him.
Two dozen yards down the sloping sidewalk, a streetlamp dimly lit the Grand Grimoire’s green awning, and standing in front of the door was Burly—or rather, Todd, the guild member who’d greeted me and Amalia.
He stared at me and Zylas, his mouth gaping in silent horror.
He’d seen Zylas talking—something a contracted demon couldn’t do. He’d seen me trying in vain to push Zylas’s hand off my head—further damning evidence that I couldn’t control him.
Taming Demons for Beginners: The Guild Codex: Demonized / One Page 19
