“Did you hear me?” she asks. She looks to where I’m staring and her voice goes frantic. I don’t know if she’s new or if she was here for Kassia’s attack, but there’s something primal in her that’s breaking out, something that knows death is on its way.
And that’s when something primal snaps in me.
“Get out of my sight,” I say. I glare at her, my words slow and measured and filled with rage. “Before I kill you myself. Go hide beneath the fucking trailers if you have to.”
“Let me out of my contract!” she screams. The horizon is brilliant now. It’s no longer just the bonfire that crackles; the sky itself seems to burn.
“Fine!” I scream back. Something in me crashes free, a knowledge and power I never realized I had. Suddenly, she's not a nameless face. Her contract blooms in my mind, her life held within the lines of ink and blood. “Tanya Jessalyn Hyll, I release you from your fucking contract. You’re fired!”
She gasps. For the briefest moment I think it’s shock at what I’ve said. Then she gasps again, a hand going to her throat. Another gasp. A gag. She drops to her knees.
Something in me takes over, something filled with rage and power and loathing. I stare down at her without flinching. My fists clench at my sides. I don’t know where this knowledge comes from, don’t know how I know I’m killing her. But I wield the power willingly. They want a devil to crucify? I’ll play the part. My next words drip venom.
“You are worth nothing to this show, Tanya. And we don’t carry dead weight. Consider this your official termination. Your final termination.”
I don’t flinch as fire flickers in her throat, as tendrils of flame burn against her lips. She chokes as her lungs turn to cinder, as she catches the last inhalation of her own charring flesh. I step forward, closer to her burning body, and watch her flesh sizzle. Only when she slumps to the ground, her flesh turning to embers, do I glare at the troupe.
“Who else?” I hiss. “Who else wants out?”
As expected, no one says anything. I take a deep breath, try to steady myself and keep the inner screams from attacking my resolve: What the hell did I do? What the hell did I just do!?
“Let this be a reminder. I am your leader. I control who lives and dies. And now, I have a demon to kill.”
Then, before any of them can say anything, I step around Tanya’s smoking body and head straight toward the approaching demon. As expected, not a single one of them comes to my aid. Even when I leave the fire, the air is bright and hot.
There’s a small voice in the back of my head still screaming at me, wondering what the hell I’ve just done and how I could do it without the slightest bit of remorse. A woman just died because of me. Not only did I somehow suddenly know her true name, but I was also able to end her contract then and there. I’m a monster, just like Mab, and I’m suddenly grateful Austin wasn’t there to see the transformation. But that voice is quickly silenced when I walk past the final trailer. The demon isn’t just approaching. The demon is here.
He stands a few hundred feet away, and for the briefest moment the anger of duty cracks into fear.
The creature burns like a dark star, all broken cinder and black ash, fire wrapped around it in a shroud. Like Kassia, the demon is childlike in stature, though this one is clearly masculine. He tips his head to the side when I approach. The broken-bird gesture sends chills up my spine as Kassia’s image flashes through my mind.
I stop a few feet from the trailer. The demon doesn’t move any closer.
“Who are you?” I ask. The heat radiating from his body makes the night even colder, and I feel sweat forming on my face as my back freezes.
For a while, the demon says nothing. He doesn’t move, doesn’t speak, just stares at me with his hellish red eyes as fire twines around his burning flesh.
“My name?” he says. His voice is deep—old and distant, like it’s echoing out from an abandoned well. “The Oracle wishes to know my name?” His brows furrow as he thinks, a fresh wave of flame wrapping around him.
In that moment, I know he’s different from Kassia. Somehow. The demon I’m used to would have her hands around my throat already. She wouldn’t be answering questions.
“My name,” he says after a moment. “Yes, I had a name. My name was Cortis.”
“Cortis?” I ask. The demon almost sounds sad when he says it. Do demons get nostalgic? “What are you doing here?”
And I realize how insane this is. I’m standing ten feet away from a creature that could burn me apart with a glance. I should be trying to summon my powers, trying to kill the bastard. But as I stand there, I can’t find a hint of the spark anymore—no tingle in my skin, no stars racing through my fingers. And for his part, the demon isn’t being, well, demonic. He’s just staring at the scorched and curling grass at his feet with a wistful expression on his face.
“I…” he finally says, then trails off. “I was sent with a message.”
“A message?” I ask. Who the hell would send a demon with a message? “From whom?”
Another long pause. Then he looks up. A small bead of magma drips from one eye, almost like a tear. Then fire cracks through his features, and that tiny moment of emotion burns.
“My father,” he says.
“Your father?”
“Oberon. And his message is this: Burn.”
I don’t have time to react. The moment the words leave Cortis’s mouth, his arms snap out to the sides and fire bursts from his body. I try to cover my eyes but can’t block out the blinding light, the red and ash that sear my sight.
A moment passes. I know I should be dead. Burnt to a crisp. But although my skin is blistering with heat, I’m still alive. I take a deep, burning breath and open my eyes.
Fire billows inches in front of me, sweeping up and over like I’m shielded by some invisible dome. Melody’s tithe: it’s actually working. Flames rage toward the sky, but they don’t get through, they don’t touch the trailers that glow red and white in the hellfire.
“Are you finished yet?” I call out. There’s no answer at first, but after a few more moments of futile fire, the flames subside.
“Is that it?” I ask Cortis. “All bark and no bite?”
The demon smiles. Whatever trace of humanity I’d seen in him earlier is gone; the creature that stares out through those red eyes is filled with hatred.
“Why not cross that line and find out?” he asks.
My eyes flicker to the grass at my feet; sure enough, one side is blackened, a razor-straight line cutting it from the browning earth on my side. Barely three inches separate me from disintegration. But I don’t step back. I square my shoulders and stare the demon down.
“I could say the same,” I say. “Or is your magic not as strong as Daddy hoped?”
Taunting a demon may not be the smartest thing I’ve done in my life; in fact, it’s probably a close second to joining this damned show in terms of life-threatening stupidity. But as far as I can tell, Cortis and I are at a standoff, and I’m not about to walk away when he’s already fired a warning shot. I have no idea what would happen if he did cross the line.
“Jesus Christ,” says a voice to my left. “And here I thought I was just getting hot flashes early.”
The demon’s smile turns even more wicked when Melody stands beside me.
“I told you to stay with Lilith,” I hiss.
“I got bored,” she says. “Besides, I handcuffed her to the wall and put Austin on guard duty.”
I have just enough time to wonder if they’re the same handcuffs Kingston borrowed from Mel when the demon shatters the moment.
“Is this the bound girl?” he asks. He reaches out like he’s going to stroke Melody’s face, but his hand stops short, right at the line where the magical barrier would be.
“Only when I’m feeling frisky,” Melody says. She glances down at the line in the grass and puffs herself up. “See that? I did that. Looks like you learned I’m the wrong lesbian to cross. Who the hell
are you, anyway?”
“Cortis,” I answer for him. The demon’s eyes narrow. “Apparently he’s Oberon’s son.”
“Never met the guy,” Mel replies, “but I didn’t think he was that ugly. Unless this dude’s mother’s a toaster.”
“Enough!” The demon takes a deep breath, the sudden flare of fire around him dimming as he visibly calms himself. “That is enough. I did not come here to be insulted.”
“Then why did you come here?” I ask. “You know about the tithe. You know you can’t hurt us. So why the hell are you here?”
Cortis chuckles. It’s a deep, rumbling sound, one that settles in the joints of my bones and refuses to leave.
“I am here to distract you,” he says. “Tell me: Your lover, the mortal, has he shared his dreams with you?”
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
Cortis grins.
“I thought as much. If he had, you would know he has been troubled, lately. Dreams of monsters. Dreams of burning. Every night for the last few weeks, he has watched you die—over and over and over again. That is why he set out to find you. To save you. Or did he not tell you that, either? Did you truly think it was just for love?” He sneers at me. “Do you know what the monster in his dreams looks like? The monster wearing a girl’s skin?”
“Lilith,” I gasp as things connect. I’m here to distract you. I turn to Melody, whose face drops by the second.
“Yes,” Cortis says. “And there’s only one way to stop the girl in his nightmares, only one way to save his love from the flames. He must tear the demon girl away from the circus. He must let her kill him. He believes his sacrifice is the only way to keep you safe. He believes he was brought here to be a martyr.”
But I’m not listening. Before the last words leave his lips, I’m running back toward the trailers. I already know what I’ll find. Sure enough, the door to bunk zero is open, and I peer inside. The room looks like a barnyard attic, with straw on the wooden floor and a dusty loom in the center, spinning the ether into the fabric that caused this war in the first place. There's nowhere to hide, and Lilith is nowhere to be seen. Neither is Austin.
“Shit.” I thump my forehead against the door.
“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry,” Melody says as she races up beside me.
“I told you to stay with her,” I mutter, my voice laced with bitterness. I take a deep breath and turn, pushing past her and jogging back toward the field. Toward the demon. Melody doesn’t follow.
I know the creature’s not gone; as I wend my way through the trailers, it’s impossible to miss the glow of his muted rage. When I finally reach him, he hasn’t moved an inch.
“Troubles?” he asks.
“You’re going to tell me where they went. Now. Or I’m going to step over this line and rip your throat from your neck.”
“I believe that is what they call an ‘empty threat.’” Another smile cracks his face, veins of red light streaking out. “In any case, I don’t know where he is. My specialty is dreams. I merely showed him what would happen if Lilith was kept in the circus. I have no clue how he interpreted it from there.”
“You bastard,” I say. I take a half step forward.
“I know exactly who my father is, thank you,” he says. “And he will be quite pleased when I tell him I have succeeded.” He cocks his head to the other side, and his face takes on a distant expression, as though he’s listening to something far, far away. Then he slowly rights his head and smiles at me. “In fact, tonight has gone exceedingly well.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You will find out soon,” he says. “Until we meet again, Oracle. And we will meet again.” He bows with a sweep of his arm and disintegrates into ash. His dust flutters to the ground, a flurry of soot and sparks. Then even those sparks fade, and darkness swallows the night.
Chapter Nine: Midnight City
I stare at the pile of Cortis’s dust for a while, letting my eyes readjust to the dark and waiting for him to rise again like some demented phoenix. I don’t even notice Melody stepping up behind me until she speaks.
“I didn’t know he would take her,” she says.
“How could you have?” I say. I don’t look back at her, but the rage is gone. I mean, I’ve fucked things up so much already, losing Lilith is kind of par for course. I’m actually a little surprised she didn’t escape sooner. “I didn’t take Austin for the vigilante-hero type.”
She sighs and steps up beside me, leans her head on my shoulder. She doesn’t say anything, so I press my cheek to the top of her head and try to convince myself that our friendship, at least, is stable. In the shit-storm of everything else, she can be a rock. I need to stay calm, to keep my thoughts clear; flying off into a rage isn’t going to get Austin back. My anger won’t keep him safe.
“Why did Cortis need Austin to take Lilith?” I ask. “I mean, if Cortis wanted her to leave, couldn’t he have just contacted her in her sleep?”
“Maybe,” Mel says. “But it wouldn’t have mattered. Lilith can’t leave the show without an escort, and said escort has to be employed by Mab. Austin was just the unlucky accessory.”
I let this roll over in my mind; it’s not a stipulation I’ve ever heard of, but it does make sense. Mab couldn’t have risked Lilith just going off on her own, and I don’t think anyone in their right mind would have willingly brought the girl anywhere off site.
“Cortis said he’d been planting dreams for weeks,” I say. “Austin just got here a day ago.”
“If Cortis is following Oberon’s orders, anything is possible. Faeries are good at scheming, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
I laugh humorlessly. The weight of duty settles in my chest—humor’s a luxury I can’t afford anymore. Stay calm, think clearly. There has to be a way to fix this.
“I have to find Austin,” I say. “He thinks he’s saving us by taking her away, but it’s just going to get him killed and let her out early.”
“You can’t leave,” Melody says. It’s not imploring; she says it as fact. “You’ve got a show to run. You know what Mab said—if you’re not onstage, you’re dead. Along with the rest of us.”
“And we’re all dead if Lilith stays out there,” I reply. “Fuck, Mel, I think we need to come to terms with the fact that I’m dead no matter what.” I know that statement should crush me, but there’s actually a small note of relief. What was it Kassia had said about my past life? The last thing you said before you died was ‘thank you.’ I’m starting to understand where past-life-me was coming from.
Not that death is a release—that’s already been proven. I’m bound to this battle for eternity.
Melody sighs. “Do you think you could catch him and be back in time for tomorrow’s act?”
“Catch who?”
Mab’s voice cuts through the cold night air like a dagger. The blood drains from me immediately; there’s no way I can explain this to her, and no way I’m going to make it out of this with my skin. But when I turn, there’s a distinctly frazzled look to her. Her black hair is wild, and her usual sultry attire has been replaced with full-length black leather armor studded with emeralds.
“Mab,” I say. Words war in my head at that moment, and my body is gripped by the unshakable desire to kneel or curtsy. The rest of me wants to start screaming at her or apologizing or both.
“I believe I asked you a question,” she says, striding closer. And there’s no doubt about it, now—what I thought was just the scent of the ash or bonfire is, in fact, her. She smells crispy.
“Austin is missing,” I say, quickly glancing at a very stoic Melody. “He took Lilith to try and save us. There’s another demon out there manipulating him.”
Mab’s jaw goes tight, her crimson lips puckering with anger.
“That is not important,” she says.
Did I just hear that correctly? Another demon isn't important?
“Not important?” I ask, but she waves her hand and shuts me
up. At least this time it’s not magical.
“You will come with me,” she says. There’s no nonsense in her voice, none of her usual provocative taunt. She is all business, and that business is terse. “Melody, you are in charge.”
She turns and begins to stalk away.
“Wait,” I say. “Just like that? You come back after a month of making me figure out this stupid ringmaster role and then you just give it to her?”
“Don’t be a fool,” she says, looking at me over her shoulder. “You’re still ringmaster. You aren’t getting out of it that easily. Melody is simply in charge until you return. And you will return, just in time for tomorrow’s opening.” Her eyes narrow. “Now, if you’ll hurry, I didn’t come here to discuss show business. We have a problem.”
I share a glance with Melody before jogging up to Mab, who’s already resumed her walk back through the trailers. Mab admitting we have a problem is basically her way of saying we’re fucked.
“I know we have a problem,” I say. “I already told you the problem: Lilith is gone, and there’s another demon out there. How the hell is there another demon out there?”
Mab rounds a corner, then stops to face me. There’s no light in the corridor of trucks, but somehow I can see her through the shadows, like she’s illuminated by strips of nonexistent moonlight.
“Oberon,” she says. She puts a hand on my shoulder. Her touch is colder than frostbite, but I couldn’t shake it off it I wanted to. And in that moment, I don’t want to—for some reason, just having her there is a reminder that I’m not the only one fighting this war. She abandoned me in the past, but she’s still in the game. “And there’s more. More demons, more problems. We’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg.”
Before I can open my mouth to ask what she’s talking about, shadows swirl from her fingertips and engulf us whole.
* * *
The city sparkles in the twilight, like diamonds thrown across obsidian sand. It’s impossible to take in at first—the lights stretch into the horizon in all directions, buildings of every shape and size rise up from the landscape, everything black and foreboding. From the ridge where we stand, the city seems infinite.
The Immortal Circus: Final Act (Cirque des Immortels) Page 9