Sacrifice

by Dakota Banks

  “My name is Lucius Antonius Cinna. I have served the demon Sidana for one thousand nine hundred and twenty-six years. He has charged me to make sure you do not collect all seven shards of the Great Lens.”

  He’s Ageless—the Roman centurion who saved me once before.

  “I found the shard you’re holding,” Maliha said between painful intakes of breath. “Give it back.”

  “No. You will heal and search again, and again I will be there.”

  “You’re telling me you’re going to turn up whenever I find a shard and take it from me?”

  “That is the order my demon lord has given me.”

  Maliha shook her good fist at him, sending shockwaves of pain through the right side of her body. “I risk my life for these shards!”

  “I know.”

  His answer infuriated Maliha even more. She started to lunge for him but the dizzying pain stopped her.

  He fired another bolt from the crossbow. This one dug into the rock next to Maliha’s head. Three inches closer and it would have gone through her eye. “I have heard you are persistent. If you continue in this hunt, at least do not make me wait so long next time.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You entered the pool a week ago.”

  He gave her a long, slow appraisal from head to toe, lingering on her naked breasts, the curve of her hips, and her lean and fit legs. Many men had done so before, but this time Maliha felt as though his eyes were scraping her tender skin.

  “I’d look better without all this blood,” she said.

  He nodded and then he was gone, along with her prize. The only thing left to her was the reality of the bolt penetrating her body.

  The longer I wait, the worse this is going to be.

  She could only use one hand. She pushed back as hard as she could against the rock wall, gripped the wooden bolt where it protruded, exerted all of her strength, and snapped it off as close as she could to her skin. Pain shot down her arm and back, her vision went black around the edges, and the worst wasn’t over. She took a deep breath and began wiggling her body forward, first one shoulder and then the other. When she was free of the bolt, she crumpled to the floor.

  For a while she felt terrible sensations of pain and loss. It wasn’t for the physical pain—it would pass. It was for the lost opportunity of collecting all the shards and wiping out the demons forever.

  She stayed there, naked, wounded, her plans broken, for a long time. Thirst brought her out of it. She left the pool room, went to the underground stream, and drank the cool water until she was sated. Then she splashed the water, first on her shoulder wound and then on the rest of her. Her injury was just beginning to heal. Her resolve, too.

  Lucius old boy, don’t count me out just yet. I defied my demon. It’s going to take more than a threat from you to make me back off.

  Chapter Eleven

  The shoulder wound from the crossbow bolt ached. Normally she’d try to block the pain but all during the long trip back from the desert to Chicago, she’d dwelled on it instead, and the circumstances of losing the shard.

  I should have been more alert. I suspected on my way into the cave that someone was there. When I came out of that pool, I was like a kid with a candy bar—not paying attention to anything. I let my guard down. I’m beginning to wonder if I can do anything right.

  The cab from the airport dropped her in front of the Harbor Point Towers building. After getting her luggage sent upstairs, she went back out. She thought a brisk walk might clear her mind. The wind prominent so near the lake made her cold. The warm spell had broken and late November was back to its usual antics in Chicago.

  Walking near the shore of Lake Michigan, swinging her arms in spite of the bitter complaints from her right shoulder, she listened to the slapping of waves. It was a natural and familiar sound and she adjusted her walking pace to form a rhythm with it. Then, as her body stretched and warmed, she moved into an easy run she could maintain for hours without thinking about.

  Every time I go after a shard I’m going to have to fight Lucius for it. Impossible. Why even try? I should drop the whole lens and tablet idea and focus on trying to save my soul. Let the rest of Earth muddle along as it has for millennia. Who says humankind is ready to be freed of all the chaos, wars, and destruction the demons cause? I could succeed in wiping out the demons and find humans turning on each other anyway. And what about my personal quest if I wipe the demons out? I automatically get my soul back? I’m not so sure about that. Anu’s running the show with my scale, determining my aging and the rewards I get toward balancing. Anu’s certainly made that clear lately! Rabishu made a point of saying he had nothing to do with the balancing process. Even if I succeed with the tablet and the lens, I might still have to prove my worth to Anu. He might be a hard sell after I wipe out his seven demon offspring.

  It was getting late. Maliha headed back to her building, thinking of a shower, a cup of tea, and her inviting sleeping mat.

  She paused for a moment and skipped a rock out over the lake, just barely following its path in the moonlight as it caught the tops of the waves and disappeared into the distance. It had taken her years to perfect that toss to catch the waves just right.

  I have to, though. I have to give humanity a chance to see what we can make of ourselves. I don’t think anyone but a demon’s slave or a rogue has the ability to retrieve the shards. I can’t see any demon’s slave searching unless forced to. If Jake found any shards and kept them or gave them to me, I’m sure his demon would take notice, because no demon wants anyone to have all seven shards. Jake would be horribly punished.

  Her whole body shivered at the thought of the kind of pain a demon could dish out. She’d been to Rabishu’s hell briefly, when he was demonstrating to her what would happen if she didn’t balance her scale and redeem her soul. Maliha tried to squelch the image her brain was dredging up, but it was too powerful: being squeezed inside a rapidly shrinking cage made of sharp wire that divided her skin into squares and then began to saw through. And when it was finished, she’d become whole again to experience that or a different torture, continually. The thought of Jake going through something like that blasted all other thoughts from her mind. She came to an abrupt stop, bent over, put her hands on her knees and panted for breath. She wasn’t tired, she was horrified.

  Not Jake. I can’t let him be involved with the shards. I love him, and he loves me, I’m sure of it. I’d sacrifice myself before seeing Jake punished.

  When she caught her breath, she moved on. As for Lucius helping…he’s a hopeless case. He’s out for himself.

  Then she passed a bend in the path, and on the other side stood the centurion.

  This time he was dressed in ordinary clothing and not brandishing a weapon, although it was likely he had one or more weapons concealed. She stopped a few feet away from him. Not wanting to appear unarmed, she reached for one of the small knives from its sheath on her calf. If she had to fight him now, she was not in the best condition to do so. Her shoulder was weak from the crossbow wound. He knew that, and as an experienced warrior would come at her from that side.

  “Lucius.”

  “I go by the name L. A. Cinna. For a Roman the first name is for intimate use only.”

  “I’ll stick with Lucius. I’d say anyone who shoots me, steals from me, and saves my life is past the stranger stage. Are you here to give me back my shard?”

  Without his helmet and armor he looked less imposing. He was still tall, muscular, extremely fit, and radiated enough pure animal sex appeal that she wondered the wildlife in the park didn’t jump him. Without his helmet, she could see that his hair was light-colored, probably blond, and long enough to cover his ears. She had to remind herself that this was no guy looking for a date in all the wrong places, but an Ageless assassin as skilled and enhanced as she had once been.

  “No. I take shards, I don’t give them back,” he said. “This time I’m the one with the questions. I want
to know what put you on the mortal path.”

  “That’s easy. I told my demon to fuck off.”

  His brow crinkled, absorbing this. “You told Rabishu to…go away and have sex? How effective was that according to your contract?”

  “Look, you may be great with a sword but you’re a little dense in other ways. I’m really tired and I’d just like to go home.”

  Two friends murdered because I sent a sample to their lab that I didn’t know anything about and it pulled them into something nasty. It’s my fault. Lucius has the luxury of not worrying about things like that. I remember what that’s like: no attachments, no pain, no guilt. I don’t think I cried once a century, and that was probably when I stubbed my toe or something. I envy his detachment.

  Her view of Lucius blurred for a second. When he reappeared, he had both of her knives, and he threw them into the lake.

  That’s how he did it in the desert cave! He used his Ageless speed. Damn, he could have been right there in the pool room with me when I went into the sand. Letting me take the risk!

  “I am hardly dense. Just puzzled,” Lucius said.

  Maliha wasn’t in the mood to trade quips with anyone, even a two-thousand-year-old hottie. “Damn! Don’t do that speed thing again. You’re starting to piss me off.”

  The brow crinkled again. “You’re going to…”

  “Forget it. You don’t spend much time around people, do you?”

  “I perform the tasks I’m assigned. Otherwise, I live as I choose, and I choose to spend most of my time away from people. When I go among them it is usually to kill. Tell me how and why you left the service of Rabishu.”

  “You’ll figure it out, if there is any compassion in you.” Maliha shook her head and continued on her way home. Lucius moved out of her way, but the next thing she knew, she was crumpling to the path, her vision fading.

  When Maliha woke, she was half-reclining on a chaise longue in a sunroom overlooking a grand view of forested hillsides. The sun glinted on water in the distance, with a hazy area that might be land to one side.

  Lucius was sitting on the edge of the next chaise, looking over at her. When he saw that she was awake, he spoke. “Please enjoy my hospitality.”

  She sat up abruptly and faced him. She was wearing a soft, flowing green gown. It didn’t escape her that somewhere between her street clothes and this gown, there must have been a nude stage. That irked her. It reminded her of the first time his eyes had raked across her nude body, in the desert cave.

  “You kidnapped me and stripped me,” she said, with disbelief and anger fighting for control of her voice. “Whatever you did, you were cowardly enough to do it to an unconscious woman.” She pursed her lips. “Where am I?”

  “I didn’t do anything to you but make you clean and comfortable. I noticed that you did not heal from the crossbow bolt nearly as fast as I thought you would. I have no experience with rogues. I’m sorry to have caused you lasting pain. I’ll act with more restraint now that I know you are so fragile.”

  Fragile! I’ll give you fragile! Just wait until this medicine wears off.

  “As for where you are, you are on my island home in the Mediterranean Sea. I said I wanted answers, and short of torture, this seemed to be the best way to get your attention.”

  Maliha looked around. She could see olive trees nearby, with their evergreen leaves and gnarled trunks.

  Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore. Or Chicago either.

  She shook her head, and regretted it. Dizziness made the world swirl around her.

  “The dizziness will wear off. It’s from the drug. I’m a skilled physician. You needn’t worry about any permanent effects.”

  “You can take your torture and your permanent effects and this gown”—she grabbed a handful of the fabric—“and shove them up your ass. I’m leaving here now.” She stood up and the dizziness was far worse. Sitting back down, she said, “I’m leaving here in a few minutes. In the meantime, you can go get my shard.”

  “The fragment of the Great Lens isn’t on the island.”

  Maliha was distracted for a moment by Yanmeng’s feathery touch on her shoulder. He was checking on her. With her hand at her side, she made an L with her thumb and forefinger and held them out parallel to the floor. It was the sign they’d agreed on for Yanmeng to withdraw. He did so immediately. She appreciated his attentiveness, but there was nothing he could do when she interacted with an Ageless opponent.

  Is Lucius an opponent? He’s been ordered to collect shards and I can understand that. But what is going on here, with no shard at stake?

  “What reason do I have to believe you?” she said.

  “Because what we are doing now isn’t part of my assignment. I’m not doing the demon’s work.”

  “Then you’ve got it all wrong. This isn’t the Stone Age. You don’t knock a woman on the head with your caveman’s club, drag her home, and expect cooperation.”

  “I’ve taken women without their consent. But I’ve matured since then.”

  “That does it. I’m out of here.”

  She stood up and began to walk away. The dizziness wasn’t so bad this time. Instantly he was in front of her, his hand grasping her wrist tightly enough to signal that he wasn’t going to let her just walk off the island. Even though it was a restraining move, his touch stirred something in her. There was no denying that she was physically attracted to him. Relaxed in his own home, with the breeze stirring the curtains on long windows, patches of sunlight on tile floors, and the scent of the Mediterranean in the air, he wore loose shorts and nothing else. She could see the mark of his demon on his chest, faintly pulsing with power.

  “I wish you’d stop doing that,” she said. “I never did anything that annoying when I was Ageless. Are you going to let me leave?”

  “I’d rather you didn’t.”

  His grip on her wrist loosened and his hand slid up her arm all the way to her bare shoulder, leaving an invisible trail of sexual sparks.

  “We’re not finished,” he said. “In fact we haven’t even started. You haven’t answered my questions about your rogue status. Plus, I…” He paused and gave her a slow, appreciative look down to her legs and back up again, ending by gazing directly into her eyes. He had expressive brown eyes, and at the moment they were expressing lust.

  Maliha’s legs felt a little weak and warmth radiated from low in her abdomen.

  He could turn on a rock.

  His hand on her shoulder strayed and swept slowly across her body just above where her breasts filled the soft gown. And back again.

  He was very close to her now, close enough to bend and kiss her shoulder. Then his arm moved around her waist and he pulled her against him.

  Whoa, girl, don’t forget this is a demon’s servant and a stone-cold killer. I think it’s time to toss a little cold water. Remember that business about taking women without their consent.

  She raised her knee to strike his groin, but he caught her leg and gave it a painful jerk. She ended up on her back on the marble floor. He offered her a hand up. She took it, planted both of her feet into his hard, flat belly, and flipped him over her head. But he twisted like a cat in midair, landed on his feet, and ended with a move that left her arm and shoulder half a second away from breaking. She rotated on the floor to face him, taking the pressure off her limb.

  “So you like to play,” she said. “I’ve done this cat-and-mouse thing with another demon’s slave and he came out the worse for it. Don’t think I can’t do the same to you.”

  His face, so warm and welcoming just seconds ago, now frightened her. She thought of all the destructiveness contained in his body, no matter how attractive the packaging.

  “You are mistaken if you think a cat and a mouse are in this room. A tiger and a mouse are here, and I see no stripes on you.” The words were delivered coldly. Both his good will and his lust had been switched off.

  He pulled her up from the floor, gathered her gown in h
is fist and kept lifting, holding her a foot up in the air with one hand. Lucius brought her to within an inch of his face and paused there. From the expression on his face, she expected to be flung backward with murderous force.

  He hesitated, and that was enough of an opening for her. She reached out and grabbed his head with both hands. This time she caught him off guard. She twisted as hard as she could and felt his neck snap.

  His body went limp. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Maliha sprinted away with a burst of speed faster than a human. Then she came skidding to a stop.

  Hold on. I could kill him now, while he’s unconscious.

  She retraced her steps. She had no weapons, and Lucius, lying on the floor in shorts, was carrying nothing but his male equipment. She checked.

  Rather than search the house for a weapons cache that would almost certainly be secured, she thought of another way. Sitting on the floor behind his head, she planted her feet on his shoulders and took her head in her grasp. She’d never tried it before but was almost certain she could detach his head by straightening her powerful legs with all the force she had. If her grip on his head didn’t falter as she sprang backward, it would be all over for Lucius.

  “One, two, three!”

  After calling out three, she was still seated in the same position. Gradually her head sank so that her chin nearly rested on her chest.

  Master Liu said, “Face death with your eyes open and your heart knowing you have done all that you could. That is an honorable death!” Popping Lucius’s head off his shoulders when he’s unconscious isn’t honorable.

  Maliha stood up and gave Lucius a powerful kick in the head.

  “That’s for kidnapping me.”

  Another kick. “And that’s for taking my clothes off.”

  She ran out of the house, down toward the shore, shedding the gown as she went. She expected to have to swim to the Grecian mainland, and the voluminous ankle-length gown would impede her. Then she spotted a helicopter, poised on a landing pad not far from the house, and changed course.