Celestial Shadows, page 8
part #4 of Celestial Marked Series
“It did.” She paused in the middle of applying the potion to her injured arm. “The lure… their power is based on attraction, right?”
I frowned. “Yes…”
“I’m asexual. The lure doesn’t work on me because I’m not inclined to be attracted to the person using it in the first place.”
“Oh,” I said. “When the vamps lured you into going into that nightclub—”
“That was him. Azurial.” She grimaced. “He was controlling me at the time. I didn’t know, obviously. It’s not like ‘there’s a fire demon possessing me’ was my first thought. I thought I was developing an addiction to vampire venom, and maybe I was.”
“No, it makes sense,” I said. Demons dealt in lust, but love and sexual attraction weren’t the same thing, however much some incubi might have you believe they were. “Glad I didn’t have to wrestle you off a horny incubus.”
“I’m pretty sure our friendship would have survived.” She grinned. “You knew when to duck, though. You don’t need the lure when it comes to Nikolas. You have the same look on your face whenever you meet his eyes anyway.”
“Thanks,” I said. “It’s not the lure that’s the problem, it’s that my demon mark amplifies every kind of demonic power that comes near. The last time he accidentally used it on me, I lost all reason, all memory—everything. Those incubi didn’t actually know that, but if they’d got any closer, my celestial power would have burned them, and probably everyone else in the bar, too.”
“Whoa. You never mentioned his lure hit you.” She pulled a face. “Do I even want to know this story?”
“Probably not. We were standing in an alley full of dead bodies at the time.”
“You know, since it’s you two, that doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.”
“It was… the night the vamps took you.”
“Oh.” Her expression sobered.
“It wasn’t his fault,” I said. “He was aiming at the vampires so we could get away and come back to you.” I released a breath. “I was terrified we’d be too late. I can’t afford to let our relationship get in the way of the fact that—well, he’s a demigod.”
“Star-crossed lovers.” She wore the same dreamy expression as she did when she looked at DivinityWatch. “You two have ‘life partners’ written all over you.”
Something wrenched in my chest at those words. “I thought I had a life partner once. Didn’t quite work out that way.”
“Oh. God, Devi.” She looked stricken. “I’m sorry—I’m so sorry that ended up online. I swear I don’t know how they got it.”
Oh. The information on Rory that had wound up on DivinityWatch. To be honest, I’d forgotten all about it, considering everything that’d happened since.
“It’s okay. Price you pay for being a minor internet celebrity.” It wasn’t Fiona’s fault, and heaven knew we had a billion more urgent matters to contend ourselves with.
“It wasn’t cool of them. I told them to leave you alone, but…”
I gave another head-shake. “I don’t care what they say about me. The cat is out of the bag: I’m a celestial demon. And Rory’s family is dead, not to mention he’d probably roll his eyes at the comments about us if he could see them.”
Including the ones which said I’d made a deal with a demon to kill him in favour of Nikolas the warlock.
Fiona bit her lip. “I really am sorry. About the interview, too. It wasn’t supposed to go the way it did. They said the event would be in a small venue, but those vamps insisted on paying for the big one and it all snowballed from there.”
I shrugged. “Believe me, I’ve had worse experiences in the last week alone than vamps cheering my name.”
“Yeah.” Fiona nodded. “I—I think you and Nikolas will be fine. You will.”
“Just forget the angry arch-demon and we might all make it out alive.”
And then? Who knew. I was highly attracted to Nikolas. But was I in love with him? Let’s face it, I didn’t even know what love was. My relationship with Rory had been completely different, and it was too loaded a question to face with an angry arch-demon’s threat hanging over our heads.
“Is he okay?” Fiona asked tentatively. “Do you know?”
“More than Zadok. I think.” I heaved out a breath. “Gods above, this is a mess, isn’t it?”
“You’re telling me.”
8
Nikolas returned at midnight. I stayed up, nerves frayed with worry, and leapt from my seat when he appeared in the living room.
“Thank the Divinities.”
He didn’t look hurt this time, to my intense relief, though his expression was grim and tired. “He’s dead set on meeting with Abyss. I had to talk him out of opening a portal there and then.”
“Given that there aren’t demons materialising in here at this very moment, I guess you succeeded?”
“Just about.” He crossed the room to me and wrapped his arms tight around me.
I yelped. “You’re as cold as the ninth circle of hell.”
“He never did take my attempts to install central heating in the castle seriously.”
“In that department, this realm’s winning,” I mumbled into his shoulder.
He stroked my hair. “This realm also doesn’t have an angry arch-demon in it.”
“Better hope we keep it that way,” I said lightly, though something inside me broke a little at the thought of Casthus smashing through this realm and destroying everything we had. Even today, at the very least, I could have lost him.
Fiona was right. I was in deep. Way deep.
The following morning brought no updates from Javos on the second murder. Knowing him, he was keeping the details under wraps just to annoy me, but stopping the arch-demon’s rampage through the nether realms took first place on my list.
“He didn’t even say when he wanted to speak to Abyss,” I told Nikolas over breakfast. “He never said I couldn’t speak to her first. Just to forewarn her.”
He gave me an assessing look. “No, I suppose not. Is that what you want to do?”
I took a bite of toast. “It seems to me she’ll be pissed off if he springs this meeting on her without warning. Maybe pissed enough to drag earth into the conflict again. If I warn her he’s coming, maybe she’ll play nice.”
“Perhaps,” he said. “I can’t imagine she’ll react violently to the revelation. She must have expected the other arch-demons to seek her out sooner or later.”
“I haven’t checked on Pandemonium for a while,” I said. “Also, I’m kind of wondering if this is all connected. The murders, even. The demons know earth is weakened, and they probably know some of the celestials turned on one another or died in the fighting, too. The killer is definitely taking advantage of the situation, whichever realm they’re from.”
He nodded slowly. “It’s worth looking around, since you already have contacts. If you’re sure.”
“Seriously. I really should get paid more for this.”
After years of working as a celestial soldier and all the perks that came with it, it’d taken a while for me to adjust to civilian life. Now the old days of first class flights and five-star hotels seemed like someone else’s life, and even the two years following it were a blur. I’d been sleepwalking, unwilling to accept or confront the fact that I wore a demon’s mark. Only in the last few weeks had I begun to let go of the guilt, the notion that Rory should have been spared, not me, and that the mark wasn’t a huge cosmic mistake but someone’s attempt to take over my life. And they’d fail. I’d make sure of it.
I walked into the living room to set up the pentagram. It had taken me a few attempts to get the hang of using my Grade Four celestial powers to burn a pentagram into the wall. The blazing light on my left hand was so reactive, it’d be easy to accidentally open a portal into hell. I held my arm steady, burning five points of light which connected with glowing lines.
I faced the pentagram and said, “I summon you, Dienes.”
A little horned demon appeared with a popping noise. He sank into a bow. “How may I help you, Devi?”
“You can stop being a hypocrite, for a start.” The traitorous little worm had screwed me over when he’d set me up for the demons to reel me in, and I’d only kept him alive because I’d never met another demon with the ability to sniff out other demons. Also, he was terrified of me, so he’d tell me everything Abyss said or did if I asked. One could never have enough allies, even treacherous demons.
“I’m coming to talk to Abyss,” I said. “I’d like you to warn her so she doesn’t flay me alive. Tell her I’ll be over soon.”
He squeaked, his eyes widening. Telling her would probably put him at the mercy of her temper, but I was running low on fucks to give. “For you, Devi? Absolutely. Pleasure to be of service.”
“I bet you are.” I let the five lights of the circle die out. “I’ll give him a few minutes. How’s Zadok? He didn’t break any more holes in the floor?”
Nikolas shook his head. “No. I think he burned himself out. What Casthus did to him drained almost all his power.”
“He didn’t mention having any definite plans?”
“Not until the arch-demon leaves, no.”
“Might have to wait a while for that.” I rocked back on my heels. I wore Rachel’s gravity-defying boots and was armed to the teeth, yet dealing with Abyss brought more apprehension than I’d anticipated. It’d be just my luck to find out she was behind the warlock attacks—and then I’d have to take responsibility, because I was the one who’d handed Pandemonium over to her. Not that it’d been mine to begin with… but she’d accepted my bargain easily. Maybe too much so.
“Has that been long enough?” I asked Nikolas.
He arched a brow. “It’s been less than two minutes.”
“That little demon moves fast. Besides, the longer we wait, the more likely it is that she’ll kick up a fuss or even decide to go and deal with the shadow demon herself. Who even knows how arch-demons’ minds work.”
“Given her actions in the last battle, I doubt she’ll confront him herself.”
“I don’t know. Zadok did.”
His mouth tightened. “Zadok had his own grievances. Perhaps justified, perhaps not. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I have to do something. Anything.”
He leaned over and kissed me, his hands gently caressing my face. “This isn’t all your responsibility, Devi. I promise it isn’t.”
I didn’t entirely agree, but I hadn’t volunteered to play nice with arch-demons in the first place. They’d picked me, so now they had to deal with the consequences. “Time to see what our delightful demonic overlord has to say about meeting her fellow arch-demon.”
Probably nothing pleasant. They likely knew one another already. They’d both been Divinities, once. Thousands of years ago. I couldn’t imagine the shadow demon ever being merciful or kind, but the Divinities were neither of those things. They left bodies of celestial soldiers strewn on their battlefield. And just look at the fallen.
“I’ll wait here,” Nikolas said. “I’ll check into Babylon to make sure Casthus hasn’t already left, but I get the impression my father is temporarily done with exacting his revenge on my brother and me. He doesn’t seem to want me there at all.”
“How are the other warlocks coping?”
“He killed five of them. So, not well. I’ve fooled him into thinking we’re allies and hiding my emotional ties to you, but if he feels that either of us has displeased him, he’ll use one of us to hurt the other. He’d do the same with Zadok, but I told him he died.”
“Shit, really?” I’d known my connection to Nikolas would likely prove problematic at the very least, but having to fake his own brother’s death… “What a colossal twat. And the fallen?”
“Still imprisoned.”
My fists clenched. “I don’t care if he owns the place or not, you can’t own people. Maybe I can break them out when he and Abyss are fighting.”
“I wouldn’t advise it,” he said.
“Worth a shot.” I kissed him once again before activating the demonglass, hoping Dienes had kept his word.
Fire rose from the fragments in my hand. Even now, I had to resist the urge to shrink away from the flames, but they were gone before I knew it. And Pandemonium…
I stared around. Where there had once been a huge demonglass palace with countless towers was a narrow room filled with endless mirrors. My reflection stared back, my aura half dark and half glowing white. It looked like that in every mirror now, not just demonglass, but it was still weird to be pursued by a dozen Devis.
“Is there a door in here?” I asked, aloud. Nobody responded. I stepped forwards and reached out, running my fingers along the glass. Theoretically I could transport myself anywhere I’d already been, but did that apply when the palace had been changed beyond all recognition? Abyss couldn’t look at the sunlight, so she’d either moved all the demonglass underground or rebuilt it into a windowless and possibly door-less palace of her own creation.
I stepped in the other direction and then almost fell headfirst into a wall that wasn’t there. The demonglass didn’t comprise four walls but two, and what had appeared to be two more walls were actually opposite ends of a corridor. Thanks to the demonglass’s dizzying reflections, there was no way to tell how long it went on for.
“Wow,” I said. “This must have taken days.”
I doubted it, though. The arch-demons could easily rearrange the whole world if they liked. She’d probably paved every one of the old tunnels underneath the palace with demonglass in about four seconds. Bloody demons. There was no real way to see an enemy coming in a place like this. My body tensed, my celestial hand switching on and off as I kept walking, pursued by endless reflections all along the way. This was probably her idea of a game—
A demon jumped at me, and I immediately summoned my celestial blade. Luckily for the demon, the blade glanced off the demonglass and just missed skewering it in the chest.
“What are you?” I asked the cowering demon. “Sent to welcome me or sent to kill me? Because I’d hate to damage my relationship with your master by accidentally killing one of her trusted servants.”
“Mistress would be honoured to welcome you,” he squeaked, several arrows falling out of the quiver strapped to his back.
“Poisoned arrows?” I rolled my eyes. “You’re a god-awful assassin. Just so you know.”
“Not poison!” He glanced around in a panic.
“I know demon poison when I see it.”
The blade flashed as I brought it down, and the demon exploded into ashes. Celestial light bounced off the mirror-like walls, momentarily blinding me, and several screeches told me that the assassin hadn’t been alone.
“Is there anyone up there who doesn’t want me dead?” I called through the tunnel.
No response.
“Can’t say I didn’t warn you,” I said, and my hand lit up with flames once more.
By the time I reached the fourth room of demons, my temper was frayed to say the least. “Did you send them here like lambs to the slaughter on purpose, Abyss? I could do this all day, but I think you’re going to want to hear what I have to say.”
I let the last demon’s ashes blow away. Fine, then. I faced the wall and thought, take me to Abyss. The visualising method wasn’t the most reliable, especially when my surroundings were unfamiliar, but there was no harm in trying.
The glass’s reflection didn’t change, and still showed the corridor. “Helpful.” I pressed my fingers to the glass. Surely if my demon power evolved like my celestial abilities did, then I should be able to learn to control the destination, but it wasn’t like I could take lessons from the demon who’d marked me. I was fairly certain he was glad to see the back of me, and the feeling was mutual.
“Take me to Abyss. Or summon someone who will. I command you.”
My demon mark made no impact on the glass, but as my rage peaked, I accidentally let the shadowy magic in my palm leak out. Instead of dissipating without a target, it remained floating there, a piece of disconnected shadow. Oops.
“Shoo.” I waved a hand at the shadow. It didn’t move.
Great. I wouldn’t shed a tear if one of those demons walked into it and got a limb chopped off, but usually I instinctively knew how to use the magic I stole. I had with Themedes, though throwing fire around was straightforward. Both Nikolas and Zadok had a different variant of the same magic, so it stood to reason that their father’s was different, too. Didn’t give me much to work with. I’d only seen him use it to kill.
I waved at the magic, calling it back to the demon mark. To my surprise, it obeyed. Now that was more like it.
All right, then.
Calling the shadows to the surface of my right palm, I aimed deliberately at the glass at the corridor’s end. Then I released the magic.
Shadows burst from my fingertips not unlike Nikolas’s lightning magic, and the glass shattered like I’d thrown a heavy object at it.
Whoa. I’d never encountered anything that could shatter demonglass before, but it figured that the arch-demon knew how to. There was apparently nothing they couldn’t do.
When the glass had ceased falling, I carefully picked my way forward. Another corridor waited ahead, this one with walls of stone.
“Anyone there?” I shouted.
“How dare you use that magic in here!”
The world sped past as a blast of air hit me from behind, sending me flying forwards. My feet left the ground, the tunnel flew past, and I hit the earth so abruptly that if not for Rachel’s boots, I’d have face-planted in front of the arch-demon looking down on me. She wore her human-like form, clad in the same golden armour she’d worn the last time I’d seen her. Her youthful face almost hid the dark intelligence simmering in her golden eyes. Bat-like wings extended from her shoulder blades. Her aura shimmered like spun gold—ironic, for someone whose major weakness was sunlight.
“You carry his magic,” Abyss hissed. “The tainted one is not welcome here.”
