The Devil's Backbone (A Niki Slobodian Novel: Book Five)

by Murray, J. L.

  “This is no Summoner trick,” said Ash. “The Grace would have to rise of their own accord. There is no Summoner for humans.”

  “Okay, so a bunch of freaky witches are on the loose in Hell, and Lucifer is missing.” I sighed. “Shit. I don’t even know where to go from here. Who are the Seers? Who saw them?”

  “The first was the Soothsayer. But he was very old and very sick. He died two weeks back. The other, I did not speak to. One of the lords talked to her. A Seer from one of the Wasteland tribes. Dorinda or Delilah…”

  “Dorana?” I said, surprised.

  “Yes, Dorana. Of course. Do you know her?”

  “She was the necromancer’s wife,” I said.

  “Before you made her into the necromancer’s widow?” said Ash, a bit of admiration in his voice.

  “Believe me, I did her a favor. Who did she talk to?”

  “The youngest lord. The one who now rules Blood House.”

  I stared at Ash. I tried very hard to control my voice so I wouldn’t scream. “Eli Cooper told Lucifer about The Grace?” I said quietly.

  “Yes,” said Ash. “He spoke to the Seer. She told him of a vision. He said The Grace were at the Devil’s Backbone. It’s a strange place. Some say it’s haunted. It lies beyond the Wastelands.”

  “Eli goddamn Cooper? And Lucifer believed him?”

  “He apparently had some evidence. Lucifer took a group of demons with him. Soldiers. He should have been safe.” Ash was watching me try to control myself, and not succeeding very well. I forced myself to unclench my fists.

  “Where is he?” I said. “Take me to Eli. Now.”

  * * *

  They were bickering among themselves when I pushed open the door, letting it slam against the wall. My eyes searched the demons around the table until I found Eli, who glared defiantly back at me. The others didn’t know what to do, but they flinched when I looked at them. At least they had the sense to be afraid. I stepped up on the long table, feeling the wood shudder with each step, ignoring the gasps of the other lords. When I reached Eli I looked down at him. He looked like a full-blooded demon now. His eyes and nose were slits in an alien face, his arms appeared covered in barnacles or stone.

  “Is it true?” I said quietly. So quiet. My mind stilled to make room for my rage. It happened more often than I cared to admit, though it had been a very long time. The last time was when I had watched Uncle Naz shot down by his men in an old warehouse. It had not ended well for those boys. Eli seemed to sense the danger, and glanced at the other lords, seeming to quail under the looks on their faces. If he was expecting them to stand by him, he was mistaken.

  “Is what true?” he said, his expression changing from rebellion to confused fear.

  I jumped down from the table and he pushed away from his chair, falling on the floor and quickly picking himself up and backing away from me.

  “Is. It. True?” I advanced slowly. Eli had to know that if Lucifer was hurt, his life and the lives of everyone in his House would end quickly. Violently. Eli backed into the wall, looking like a cornered animal.

  “Niki,” Eli said. “You can’t believe I would do anything to hurt you.”

  “I can’t?” I said. I wanted to scream at him, to rip him apart, to tear his soul from his body, as I’d done to his father for trying to send Lucifer to the Pit. “You’ve done nothing but try to hurt me, Eli.” I stepped toward him and he pressed himself against the wall. I heard Ash clear his throat behind me, but I ignored him.

  “Niki, he came to me. It was my duty to tell him. I didn’t know he’d go there himself.” Eli was practically trembling under my stare.

  “What in the goddamn hell have you done?” I was screaming now. My body shook, though I wasn’t trembling in fear. I was trying my absolute hardest not to kill him. Eli had once meant something to me, but if he had caused Lucifer any harm… I didn’t know what I would do, and I was afraid to even think about it. I had no doubt I would take a page from Sasha Slobodian’s book, and I wouldn’t be able to hold back.

  “Nothing! I didn’t do anything, Niki, you have to believe me.”

  “Do you know who I am now, Eli?” I whispered. “I’m not the girl I was. I am Death. And you do not want me as an enemy.” I grabbed his throat and his eyes bulged. He was bigger than me, but I was stronger. I let the images come at the contact. I’d seen most of them before, the last time Eli and I had accidentally touched. I waited until I saw what I needed to see. Dorana’s face, whispering, looking frightened. A meeting with Lucifer. Shaking hands. I let go of Eli’s throat before I went too far and he fell to the floor, gasping. I stepped back from him, breathing hard.

  I glanced behind me at the wide eyes of the lords, all staring at me. I waved my hand, exhausted.

  “Leave. Please.” They were gone in seconds, all scrambling to escape Death in her crazed wrath. It was almost funny that these powerful demons were afraid of me. Funny if they didn’t have perfectly good reasons. I was certainly not the docile stalker Death that Samael had been. And I wasn’t afraid of them, which I was pretty sure what scared them most of all. They didn’t know what to do with someone who didn’t fear them. Fear was all they had.

  Ash lingered at the door, looking unsure. I turned to look at him. He was staring past me at Eli on the floor.

  “It’s okay, Ash,” I said, my voice tired. “I’ll be okay.”

  “Will he?” he said, gesturing to Eli. “If you harm him, it could start a conversation with the lords.”

  “I’m not going to kill Eli,” I said. “I just want to talk to him.”

  If Ash had eyebrows he would have raised one.

  “Promise,” I said. “Cross my heart. I won’t hurt him.” I looked at Eli. “Much.”

  Ash turned to go, closing the doors behind him, but he stopped just short. He looked at me. “You’re very frightening when you’re angry,” he said.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “It’s a compliment,” he said, looking at me with something like approval. “If anyone can help Lucifer, if he’s in as much trouble as I think he is… Well, I’m glad to have you on our side. I fear that if the tables were turned and you were against us, we would lose. Badly.”

  I didn’t know how to respond, and just stood there staring at him. But he didn’t seem to expect an answer, simply nodding at me and closing the doors behind him with an echoing clang.

  “Were you lying?” Eli said hoarsely, still sitting on the floor.

  “Get up,” I said, offering him a hand. He looked at me suspiciously. “I’m not going to hurt you, okay? Just get off the floor and sit with me for a minute. I want to talk.”

  * * *

  It took some time to convince Eli to relax. He still glanced toward the door every once in a while, avoiding my gaze.

  “You don’t have to be afraid,” I said. “I saw what you saw. I believe you.”

  “I’m not afraid of you,” he said, but there was no strength behind his words. He finally met my eyes. He tried for a moment to be angry, narrowing his eyes to slits, but he gave up and slumped back in his chair.

  “How did this happen?” he said.

  “What?” I said.

  “Us. This. How did we become such enemies? We never hated each other before. Even when…”

  “When I left you?” I said gently.

  “At least not after the first time,” he said.

  “I’m sorry, Eli,” I said. “I just didn’t…I don’t know. Something was missing.”

  “You didn’t love me,” he said. “It’s okay. I understand now. In fairness, you tried, didn’t you?”

  “I wanted to,” I said. “You were my last chance at humanity.”

  “Until I wasn’t human any more, is that it?” he said. “It was hard, you know? I didn’t want to see you like that.”

  “Like what?” I said. “Like Death?”

  “No,” he said quickly. He was staring at me with something like hunger. “I don’t care about that. I mean, i
t’s scary as hell, but then, so am I.”

  “What then?” I said.

  He frowned, as if tasting the words before he said them. “Happy,” he said finally. “With someone else.”

  “I never meant to hurt you, Eli.”

  “You can’t choose who you love, right?” he said. There was bitterness in his words. “And then you killed my father, and I used it as an excuse to keep hating you.” I opened my mouth to speak, but he held up his hand. “No, I understand why it had to be done. He was a traitor. He rebelled and had to be stopped. I get it now. He was not a good man. But that wasn’t the real reason I let myself hate you, Nik. It was because you were my dream. You were it for me. I wanted you to come down to Erebos, to live in a big house with me, the two of us together and be happy about it. You were living my dream, but you were living it without me. And with the king of Hell, no less.” He laughed. “How do you compete with that? A giant, golden archangel with powers beyond anything I could even imagine. Of course you fell in love with him.”

  “I’m not in love with Lucifer,” I said.

  Eli looked hard at me. “You’re so bad at this shit, Niki. Of course you’re in love with him. You broke the rules of nature to save him. And you’d do it again.”

  “Rules of nature?” I said.

  He shook his head. “Do you think it’s normal for Death to go around avenging people? For Death to love, to murder, to fight? Death isn’t supposed to be a warrior, Niki. But then, I guess you never were good with rules.”

  “I told you, I’m not in love with him,” I said, but it was me who couldn’t meet his eyes this time.

  “Bullshit, Niki. I’ve seen you. I’ve seen how you look at him.”

  “So?” I said.

  “So,” he said slowly, “it’s how I always wanted you to look at me. I’ve never seen you look at anyone that way. Just him. Only him. Don’t fool yourself, Slobodian. You’re in love with the devil. Don’t you think that’s weird enough without you making it stupid?”

  I shook my head. “I can’t help it. I’m broken.”

  “Poor little Niki,” said Eli. “All that power, all that emotion, and you still can’t find the courage to say what you feel. Well cry me a damn river, Slobodian. I get it, you had a messed up childhood. Your dad was a Ukranian Abby kingpin. So what? My dad was a ruthless demon from Hell who terrorized my mother into letting him spend time with me. I died seven times coming down here just to talk to him. I watched my ex-girlfriend rip his soul out through his goddamn throat. You see me crying about it?”

  “Jesus, Eli,” I said.

  “Sorry, Niki, but you get so caught up in this shit inside your head that you can’t see the whole picture. You love him?” I didn’t answer and Eli leaned forward so I couldn’t look away from him. “Do you love Lucifer? Just say it, for God’s sake. Do you love him?”

  “Yes!” I blurted, flinching at my own voice. I pushed away from the table, knocking my chair over just to get away from Eli. I covered my mouth with my hand, as if I thought I could keep any more words from tumbling out. Shaking, I lowered it and let it hang limp to my side. I leaned against the wall with my back to Eli.

  “I would do anything to get him back,” I said, my voice flat. “Since he’s been gone, he’s the only thing I can think about. Something’s wrong in the World, something’s wandering around doing God-knows-what, but all I can think about is finding him and bringing him back. Nothing else matters. And if he’s dead, I have no reason to…” I trailed off. “I don’t like feeling this way, Eli. I hate this.”

  “What do you hate?” he said.

  “Being helpless.”

  He snorted. “That’s love, Niki. Welcome to the club.”

  “I don’t know how to find him,” I said, turning. “I don’t know what to do.”

  He nodded. “I’ll help you. I’ll get together a search party. A guide.”

  “Where’s Dorana?”

  He shook his head. “No idea. She disappeared as soon as she told me. It was really just chance that I met her. She was looking for you.”

  “She was?”

  “Yeah, I just happened to be leaving the castle. You weren’t here. You were doing your Death thing.”

  “She didn’t say where she was going?”

  “No.”

  “Where do we start, then?”

  “At the beginning,” said Eli. “I told Lucifer where to look. At the Devil's Backbone.”

  “How do I get there? Ash said it was hard to get to.”

  “It’s in the Wastelands. I’ll get a guide to take us there. My father sent me there with my brothers once. It's a creepy place. And I live in a place called Blood House.”

  “Why, though?” I said.

  “Why what?”

  “Why would you help me? You’ve spent all this time hating me. Why the sudden change?”

  He shrugged and I could almost imagine the man he had once been. “I guess it’s hard to be mad at you when you’re hurting just as much as I did once. I forgive you, Niki. And maybe if I do this thing for you, you’ll trust me again. One day.”

  I studied his face. I couldn’t make out any emotions there. His expression was as stony as his skin.

  “How do I know you’re not planning to just kill me while we’re in the Wastelands?” I said slowly.

  Eli shrugged. “You don’t. Be ready at sunrise. Do everything that needs doing before then. I’ll meet you at the gates of the city.”

  I watched him go, breezing through the thick double doors, his rough skin scraping on the stone walls as he went. After a moment, Ash appeared in the doorway.

  “What’s happened?” he said.

  I looked at him, taking longer to focus than it should have. I tried for a smile and failed.

  “I think I agreed to let my enemy lead me into the wilderness,” I said.

  He watched me, pushing a clawed hand across his hornless head. “Well I suppose you’d better get ready then,” he said finally.

  “I suppose I should,” I said. Ash turned to go. “Ash,” I said, “what do you know about the Devil’s Backbone?”

  “Only superstitious nonsense,” he said.“They say that it is haunted. They say there are voices calling through waves and waves of nothing. They say there are visions that disappear in a moment.”

  “Ghosts?” I said. “I can do ghosts.”

  “No, not ghosts,” said Ash. There was an odd haunted look in his eyes. “It’s more like things calling from…somewhere else.”

  “Other worlds?” I said, barely daring to breathe.

  “I suppose so,” he said, as if he’d never thought about it before. “Yes, perhaps. Like they’re trying to claw through the surface. It’s an evil place.”

  “You’ve been there before?”

  “As a very young man,” he said. “I did not last the night. I’ve never been what you might call brave. I’m better off indoors. Lucifer went there?”

  “Apparently,” I said.

  “If anyone can bring him back from that forsaken place, it would be Death herself.”

  “I’ve got to find him, Ash. He has to be okay.”

  He nodded. “I know. You’re going to need help.”

  “Would you?” I said. “I have some errands to run.”

  “I will find the most loyal of Lucifer’s guards. They will protect you with their lives.”

  “I’m afraid that this is a trick,” I confessed. “If it is, I might have to kill Eli.”

  “That may be best in the long run,” he said.

  “I know,” I said. “But he used to be such a good man.”

  “You cannot think about the past in these matters. Where Lucifer is concerned, you have to do what it takes to bring him home.”

  “It doesn’t mean I have to like it,” I said.

  “No,” he said. “It never has to mean that.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Despite preparing myself, the pull of the souls was overwhelming when I touched down in the World. I t
ried not to scream as I staggered in the street, the dead trying to tear me apart from the inside. Sucking air through my teeth and clenching my jaw, I took a step toward my destination. One foot in front of the other, I made it to the door of Gage’s apartment and entered without knocking.

  He was sifting through a large, leather-bound book, glancing up when I came in. He looked right through me and shook his head, going back to his book. Remembering I had not made myself visible, I took a mental step into the World, and Gage cried out, startled.

  “Jesus, Niki. You scared the shit out of me. Don’t do that!”

  “Sorry,” I said, my voice strained. I pressed the palm of my hand over my sternum, as though that would keep the pull inside and not drag me away before I was ready. I gasped as the feeling intensified. It was growing stronger by the minute. Something was going on.

  “What is that, your Death invisibility superpower?” said Gage. He seemed to really see me for the first time, and his smile turned to a look of concern. “What is it?”

  “It’s too strong. The dead. There’s too many. I think whatever is loose might be doing something. I have to go, Bobby.”

  “What’s happening, Niki?” Gage said.

  “They’re dying,” I said. “Something’s killing them. It’s just like when Michael came here. It feels like war.”

  “Wait, Niki. I found something,” he said. He dragged a book out of a nearby pile in front of him and pushed it toward me. “Can you hang on another minute?”

  “Do you have whiskey?” I said. He raised an eyebrow. “Shut up, it helps. Makes it hurt less.”

  “I think I might have some rum,” he said.

  “Bring it.”

  The cheap booze burned my throat and threatened to come back up again, but I managed to keep it down. The pull in my chest became muted, but I still had trouble breathing.

  “What is it?” I said. “What did you find?”

  Gage opened up the book and pushed it toward me. It was in a language I didn’t recognize. I’d been working on a few with Lucifer, but this one didn’t even look recent. There was a black and white picture of what looked like a beautiful Asian woman, eyes burning through the page, surrounded by snow.