by Sarah Noffke
Liv was just about to swing Bellator again and finish the monster off when another demon soared overhead, landing close to the first. This new one spun, catching sight of Liv immediately. So, apparently the goat race was over, she thought, her eyes darting between the two.
The unharmed second demon lunged at Liv, screeching horribly. She thrust her foot at him, trying to push him back. Instead, he grabbed her foot, twisting it to the right and forcing Liv off her feet. Her face met the snow, which pierced her skin with cold.
Before the beast could jump on her back, Liv rolled to the side, then popped to her feet. She’d dropped the sword during the fall, and it was now partially covered in snow.
Liv lifted her hand and directed it at the uninjured demon, hitting him in the chest with a gale-force wind. He flew back several yards, giving her a moment to scramble for Bellator and recover it. The injured demon lumbered in her direction, but she wasn’t worried about him. He was on the decline, albeit slowly. The second one would be easy enough to take down once she finished off the first. Bellator made demon hunting a breeze since the blade was lethal to the demons. She started regretting the bout of confidence when a third demon launched himself over the embankment, landing with a thud that shook the ground under her feet.
This one was massive.
“Well, looks like the party officially started,” Liv said, backing up as the meaty beast squared his shoulders and regarded her with the deep-seated hatred demons felt for all humans.
“Thing is, I didn’t bring party favors for you all, so someone is going to get their feelings hurt.”
The three demons had her cornered and moved in slowly with their shoulders down and teeth bared. The smell was overwhelming. Liv sucked in a breath through her mouth and remembered her training.
We are one, she thought, gripping Bellator tightly, and something shifted in her. She wasn’t a Warrior holding a sword. She was the sword, and the sword was her. They were one, moving together like the way a rush of droplets of water barrels over a waterfall. Separate and yet together. Soft and unyielding.
As the demons broke formation, Liv brought Bellator around and overhead, not even knowing what she was going to do. The blade ripped across two of the demons, knocking them back. She hiked up her leg, back-kicking the first demon and sending him into a pile of freshly-packed snow.
The other two were already on their feet, although they weren’t quiet about their injuries. Bellator’s mark would eventually kill them, but for now, it only slowed them down. As they barreled in her direction, Liv held Bellator above her head and threw it like a spear at the smaller of the two demons, impaling his chest. He stumbled back, clutching the blade as unintelligible language spewed over his blackened lips.
Weaponless, and with the larger demon lumbering in her direction, Liv waited until he was almost upon her. Then she moved the way Akio had taught her—with blinding momentum, blurring as she sprinted across the snow, away from the beast’s clutches. She knew that the trick would draw down her magical reserves, but it would be worth it if things went according to plan. Fighting three at the same time was not the plan, but then nothing ever went to plan when it came to battling demons.
The beast realized too late that Liv had swerved around him and nearly slammed into the side of the embankment. Had he done so, it would have saved her the trouble, but she didn’t mind. Holding up her hand, she muttered a single incantation. The ground rumbled under their feet, and the mountain of snow crumbled over the cliff’s edge, burying the demon.
Liv backed up, trying to stay out of the mini-avalanche she’d caused. For some reason, this reminded her of her parents’ death. She hadn’t been there when they supposedly fell from the Matterhorn, but she had dreamed about it often, seeing her parents battling snowstorms and trying to help each other survive until something took them both down to the bottom—a fall neither survived.
The snarling of the beasts behind her brought her back to the present moment. The sight of the demon clawing at Bellator, which was protruding from its chest, was creepy and strange. Liv shook her head, realizing it was time to end this.
She strode over to the deadly demon she’d once have feared. However, she had found that there were worse things than evil dressed as a monster. No, worse was disguised evil. Buried secrets. A mystery linked to forgotten history. At least with a demon, she knew what she was getting every time, and she felt no remorse for ridding the Earth of them. If anything, she felt like she was saving a lost soul. And in truth, that was exactly what a demon hunter did. They did it the right way when they could.
Liv grabbed the hilt of the sword, enjoying the moment that her hand met the metal and she reconnected with her other half. With a yank, she released Bellator from the demon’s chest cavity, black blood spurting all over the white snow.
“Metuendas Dcemonis violentias,” Liv began, repeating the ancient words that would release the soul trapped inside the demon. Simultaneously she swung Bellator over her head, using that momentum to stab the demon who thought he was about to sneak up on her. It was an injury most demons could survive, but not when done with Bellator. Liv twisted the sword, watching as the demon coughed up blood.
She pulled up her foot and kicked the demon off her sword, allowing it to lead the way. “Dimittere unam animam de amicae tuae involasti, permittens eos tandem requiem,” she continued. To her surprise, the sword came straight up in and in an arch like she was a batter hitting a grand slam. It sliced across the demon at her back, cutting off a portion of its top half. Liv didn’t have a chance to determine what portion of the top half. Two down. One to go.
Under the fallen snow, the last demon was stirring at last, his screeching growing louder.
Liv positioned herself just in front of him, gripping the bloody blade with burning heat in her eyes. She pulled in a breath. “Ad infernum, a quo factum est tibi in sempiternum in ipse comburetis,” she nearly yelled as the demon shot out of the snow. Before it was even close to out all the way, Liv swung Bellator around, lopping off its head, leaving her in silence. She looked around at the evidence of the massacre marking the snow before peering at one of her most trusted companions—Bellator.
Chapter Three
“So you didn’t need my help?” Stefan said. He was standing majestically at the top of the snow embankment holding a sword and breathing heavily, his brow covered in sweat.
Liv gazed at the severed head of the biggest demon lying on the snow and shrugged. “Yeah, I guess not.” She motioned to the blanket of black-stained snow. “If you want to clean up, though, that would be welcome.”
He laughed, his voice echoing over the hills. “Oh, no. I’m not cleaning up after your blood bath. Getting demon blood out of clothing is the worst.”
Liv tried to laugh, but it was fake. Even though Stefan was acting strong, she saw the fatigue etching his features. Every day it was deeper, making him look darker—taking away from his human features. Each day he looked less like himself, and they ignored it; pretended it wasn’t happening to him…to them. That things weren’t a day, a week, or a month from changing.
One day, she might be hunting him.
The ache of that potential reality was too much for her to process, so she pressed it down and pretended that he’d always breathed heavily and had the pale complexion and hollow eyes. In the back of her mind, she remembered Stefan Ludwig as he had been before the demon bite got worse. She remembered him as being strong and outrunning her. Liv remembered him as agile, chopping down the wood for the fires at night. Now, he wasn’t capable of even gathering water before dinner, his chest heaving dramatically from the simple act of breathing.
Presently though, he was trying to pretend he was strong and she could have used his help. Liv indulged him with a smile.
“Was that all of them?” Liv asked.
Stefan gazed around at the snowy hillside. “Yeah, that’s it.”
That was what Stefan was good at. They’d actually made the perfect team be
cause the demon blood in him enabled him to find and track them. He knew where they needed to go, saving weeks of time. Never had they found Sabatore. No, finding the demon who had bitten Stefan was not part of the equation. However, they slaughtered many others. Well, Liv did. Stefan led them to the right location, and Liv used Bellator to make the job easy. It was a great arrangement, except that it was getting harder.
Stefan could point her in the right direction, but then he preferred to stay back. It was getting harder for him to slaughter demons since he saw them as his own. He recounted to Liv over the evening fires that he felt more akin to them than magicians these days. She shook her head, refilling his water, telling him they’d find Sabatore and save him. However, she didn’t believe that anymore. What they needed was a strategy they hadn’t tried before. Tracking down demons and questioning them wasn’t working any longer. They needed to revamp things and do something unconventional. Stefan didn’t have much more time and they both knew it, even if no one said it out loud.
“We’re no closer to finding Sabatore,” Liv finally said after a moment, suddenly feeling the cold after the intense battle.
“Well, then we start again tomorrow,” Stefan stated, sniffing the air. “There are more demons to the east.”
Liv shook her head. “No, I think we need better eyes.” Sensing Stefan’s reluctance, she corrected herself. “I mean, we need to use our contacts. You yourself said that you were blocked from him, so finding him ourselves won’t work. We need an expert on the subject. Someone who watches such activity.”
“What do you have in mind, Beaufont?” Stefan asked, climbing down a safe area of the embankment and taking the spot next to her.
“Well, I’ve used the brownies before for such things,” Liv began. “They have eyes everywhere. Maybe they can help us. I have a friend in the government center.”
“Of course you do,” Stefan said with a laugh, which made him cough, spitting up blood. They both pretended like that hadn’t happened as Liv kicked at the snow.
“Yeah, I’m now thinking that maybe they know where Sabatore is,” Liv continued in a hurry, trying to cover her nervousness. She knew all too well that Stefan could turn into a demon at any moment. No longer did she worry about herself if she was caught in that situation. She slept with Bellator beside her, and anyway, she hardly slept. She worried about Stefan. If…when he turned, she had orders that she wouldn’t ignore. And killing what Stefan Ludwig became? That would forever live in her soul. Still, that was the agreement they’d come to after many late-night discussions. She’d made promises, though. She’d stand by them. And she believed in them. She just hoped things didn’t come to that.
“Okay, fine,” Stefan agreed, his voice tired. “You enlist your brownies. But you’ll have to do that after you update the council.”
Liv looked up at him suddenly. “We’re hunting demons, as they requested. Why do we need to give them an update?”
Stefan shook his head, looking away from the scene of the slaughter, unable to stomach it. “It’s easier if you check in with them regularly; better that way. Adler gets unruly if you let too much time go by.”
“Well, why do I have to do the update?” Liv asked, but they both knew the answer.
Stefan was in no shape to go before the council. They’d know immediately that there was something wrong with him. They had to buy a little more time. Keep the council from getting suspicious. Find a different strategy. All they needed was time—and a miracle wouldn’t hurt.
“Yeah, fine,” Liv said. “I’ll cover for your ass. But this is the last time.”
He winked at her, hiding his wheezing breath. “Thanks. Last time, I promise.”
Chapter Four
Even though Liv knew she was close to being late for the meeting with the Seven, she couldn’t force herself to look away from the Black Void.
“Black Void,” she muttered to herself. Why did that sound so right? She hadn’t known what to call the swirling darkness before. No one knew what it was, so they hadn’t called it anything. Hell, most didn’t even notice it when she pointed it out. They’d see it and then forget it immediately.
Liv didn’t understand. How could magicians walk by the black abyss all the time, but no one saw it? Her parents had always dismissed her when she cringed as they walked by it on the way to the residential wing, telling her it was nothing. It didn’t feel like nothing. It felt like a foreboding presence that might squash her if she got near it.
Actually, it felt like the very end of the Earth, and more than once she had the urge to hurl herself over it. That had been after her parents’ death, though, when Liv had feared she had lost all hope for any happiness in the future. With her world destroyed and her heart broken by the community she was supposed to trust, Liv had sunk to her lowest, having many deranged impulses. But that was one of the many reasons she left the House of Seven—wishing to be a mortal living in a less complicated world.
The Black Void was different now, but Liv didn’t know how or why. She couldn’t look away from it easily. Although it was only darkness, she could have sworn she saw a rotating pattern drawing her in, begging her to continue staring. And then she heard it!
A ghostly whisper emerged from the Black Void, and Liv leaned closer. What was it chanting? Was that her name? No, but whatever it was, it sent a shiver down her spine. It seemed almost like a threat. Liv strained to hear it, nearly hanging over the edge into the Black Void.
“Back away or else,” she thought she heard a voice say. That couldn’t be right. Liv pressed her eyes shut, focusing on nothing but those four words as they were repeated, trying to discern them.
“Ms. Beaufont!”
Liv’s eyes popped open, and she straightened to face Decar Sinclair. His long white hair was braided down his back today, contrasting with his black robes. Disapproval was heavy in his light-colored eyes, spraying the area around them with wrinkles. “What are you doing?”
Liv kept herself from looking back at the Black Void. Something told her she shouldn’t ask Decar if he saw it too or knew what it was.
“I’m looking for Clark,” she lied. “We’re playing a game of hide and seek, and I thought he might be disguised as the wall here.” She pointed to the area beside the Door of Reflection.
Decar shook his head. “You and your brother play such games? Don’t you have more pressing matters?”
Liv couldn’t tell him that it was her brilliant little sister she played this game with and that she was incredible with disguises, so she simply nodded. “Yep, it’s our thing.”
“Don’t you think you’re both too old for such things?” Decar asked, condescension heavy in his tone.
Good, he believes I’m an immature brat now, Liv thought, grateful she’d thrown him off, even if it made her look ridiculous.
“I’m sort of having a second childhood,” she explained with no shame on her face.
“Well, if you can act like an adult for a little while, the meeting is about to start.” Decar strode past her and straight through the Door of Reflection, disappearing at once.
“I’d rather act like a kid than a stuffy old magician who is zero fun at all,” Liv muttered to herself, looking over her shoulder at the Black Void before heading for the Door of Reflection. She didn’t know what it was, or if it was hiding something, or if she had in fact heard a threat from it, but she was determined to find out more.
What blanketed her vision next was a blow to the stomach. Before her, she saw her parents standing together, their arms crossed, shaking their heads in disappointment. “You really let us down, Olivia,” her father said, his blue eyes brimming with frustration.
Liv’s mother dropped her chin as if she couldn’t stand to look at her. “We were counting on you.”
Tears welled in her eyes, threatening to burst from her, and Liv’s insides were shaking. She hadn’t felt this close to losing it…well, since after her parent’s death. Pushing down the ache, she reminded herself that this
wasn’t real. These were her fears appearing as waking dreams. It might feel very real, but it wasn’t. It might appear like she could reach out and touch her parents, but they weren’t there. It was all her imagination.
Stepping through the Door of Reflection, Liv sped toward her spot, keeping her head down to cover any rogue emotions she hadn’t corralled yet. She nearly walked into the white tiger, who was standing on her spot, staring casually at the council.
Liv halted abruptly, hoping that the tiger would realize he was in her place and move. She even considered that he’d glance at her with those old-soul eyes and then move. Instead, he stoically stared ahead, not seeming to notice her.
Adler, as usual, was lecturing Trudy about something. The Warrior had dropped her head with a look that was undoubtedly shame.
Since no one had seemed to notice Liv yet, she cleared her throat quietly, hoping to gain the white tiger’s attention. It didn’t work.
“How many times have we been through this?” Adler asked, borrowing his brother’s condescending tone. “Unregistered magicians aren’t given second chances. If you let them go, they aren’t going to immediately run off and register with the House. They are rebels who are going to revel in the fact that they’ve beaten the system yet again. You realize you’ve made us look like fools, don’t you?”
“It’s just that it was a family,” Trudy explained, her tone troubled. “The parents had young children, and it didn’t seem right—”
“The law is clear on how we are to handle offenders, regardless of whether they have offspring,” Adler interrupted.
“Actually, we should be even more strict on offenders who have children, since they are going to perpetuate the problem by handing down their rebellious ways to their offspring,” Bianca imparted.