by Sara Snow
The next light I saw wasn’t Georgia. As the heavy iron door to my chamber opened and the burlap bag was ripped from my head, I was met by the fiery glow of the hallway cutting through the room, itself cut only by the inhumanly tall silhouette of Paimon standing before me with a cloth in his hand, his elegant, pointedly-bearded face eerie and shadowed. His grin was twisted and seething and his crown sparkled in the firelight. It sent a shiver down my spine.
“Time’s up,” he said, cruelly pleased. “Looks like she doesn’t really love you after all.”
“Fuck you,” I spat. “She loves me plenty, she just hates you more.”
Paimon shrugged his wide shoulders, unwrapping something from the cloth in his hands. I caught a glimpse and my stomach churned—a stake made of gleaming metal.
“Unfortunately for you, I’m a man of my word and have to hold up my end of the bargain,” he said, dropping the cloth and taking a few steps toward me.
I pulled and pulled against my restraints as he pointed the stake at me, but the shackles were steadfast.
“I made sure to get a silver one just for you,” said Paimon. “Extra painful for vampires.”
As he pressed the tip to my chest, pricking my skin, I could already feel the silver burning me. I clenched my teeth, but as he pushed a bit more firmly, I couldn’t hold back my cries.
“Don’t worry, Carter. I’ll be sure to take it nice and slow for you.” Paimon was grinning ear to ear.
The pain was unbearable, my skin searing, smoke rising from my chest where it scorched me, becoming thicker and thicker by the moment. The further in the stake went, the more I tried to think of Georgia to distract myself. I thought of her smile. I imagined us running toward each other with arms outstretched, ready to hold her close. I ran to her, running, running, running. My heart reached out desperately for her.
Then finally, in one last explosion of scorching pain, as I took hold of Georgia and clasped her to my chest in my mind, the smoke overtook me.
6
Paimon
“My King, with the vampire dead, what will we do when your daughter comes to pledge herself to our cause?” Abalam asked, much bolder than I liked him to be.
I studied his scarred, reptilian face, remembering the attack my daughter had launched against us in that cemetery. It had been impressive. Her power seemed young still, but I knew it could grow. It must, if she were to fulfill her duty to me.
“I suspect when she discovers that he’s gone, she’ll show us what she can really do,” I told him. “If she is truly in love with him, I suspect his loss will urge her powers on further, and I need her strong when I take her under my wing.” I took a sip of the wine in my hand, studying the deep rouge of the liquid.
“King Paimon, at the risk of sounding too forward, do you truly believe that she will pledge herself to you?” he asked. “If she doesn’t trust you once she finds out about the vampire, what will drive her to you?”
In an instant, I sprang from my seat and my wine glass exploded against the wall next to his head where I’d thrown it, casting that same rouge liquid splattering across his robe.
“Before you question me again, King Abalam, use your brain,” I snarled. “Of course she will. I have planned counters to at least twenty possible moves she can make against me, and regardless of what she chooses, it will end with her swearing her allegiance to me.” I stalked across the room, toward Abalam’s bowing form as he quickly tried to remedy his offense. “Do you think I am incapable of swaying one simple human whose life I have already silently shaped for twenty-one years?”
“Of course not. I apologize, my King. I meant nothing by it.” he said.
“The next time you open your mouth to say something and mean nothing, consider not saying anything at all.” I retorted.
He bowed again pathetically, retreating from the room with a polite excuse, leaving me to consider why I put up with these idiots. I took a breath, calming myself again. I didn’t like to lose my temper that way, but I despised being questioned even more. I took my seat again, pouring another glass of wine for myself, taking a generous sip.
That imbecile doesn’t understand that the vampire provided everything I need to ensure that Georgia will be bound to me forever, with or without her cooperation. Soon, I will be the king of both the mortal and demon world, and all of this nonsense will have been worth it.
Georgia
Resting was getting tiring. I was completely restless and there was no hope of sleeping now, even though I knew I needed it more than anything if our plan to turn me over to Paimon before sunrise was going to work. Even if I did manage to sleep, I knew I’d only dream of Carter. I could only think of the coming trip to Paimon’s hideout now and with the growing uncertainty in my mind around our plan, I started to get impatient.
I remembered at the church, Carter had told me I’d never be alone as long as he was alive. He would do anything for me, and sitting around here waiting didn’t seem like me returning the sentiment. It felt wrong to just wait, and aside from that, I didn’t trust Paimon to not try anything funny when we did arrive. Maybe showing up early would throw off whatever devious shit he was obviously going to be brewing and ensure that we got Carter out okay.
I crawled out of bed, got dressed in what I thought was an appropriate outfit to go surrender myself to my demon king father in, and headed downstairs, where it quickly became obvious that no one else was sleeping, either.
“Welcome to the party, grab yourself a cup. I just boiled some more water,” Olympia said, taking a sip of what I assumed was not her first cup of tea.
“Thanks, but I’m good,” I said. Eli and Jacob seemed to have abandoned their own tea cups a long time ago, both of which sat completely full on the coffee table in front of the couch where they were seated. They both seemed on edge, same as me.
“Anyone else itching to just get this out of the way?” I asked.
“Absolutely,” Eli said. “I was actually just thinking that it still may be advantageous to show up early, even though we’re complying. We can’t discount the possibility that he’s up to something, and if we can catch him off guard, we might be able to foil whatever he’s up to.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” I said. “What do you guys say when we get over there?”
“Let’s do it,” Jacob said.
I hoped he wasn’t upset about our last encounter. I felt terrible for how we left things and wished I could talk to him, but at the same time, there wasn’t much to be said about it. Carter and I were together—we loved each other. That was that. I did want to reassure him that I care about him as a friend, but I knew that wouldn’t do much good right now. It’d be best to leave it alone.
Everyone stood and before we’d even gone anywhere, Olympia clasped me in a tight hug, squeezing me with near supernatural strength.
“You’re so strong, Georgia. I know you can do this.”
“Thank you, Olympia. I hope so,” I said, squeezing her back.
“Just be safe, okay?”
“I promise I will.”
What I meant was that I promised that I would try.
I said goodbye to Jose, hoping I’d see him again soon, though I was afraid that was a bit optimistic of me. When it came to Paimon, things were incredibly uncertain. But I’d be damned if I didn’t do my best to take that fucker down.
The factory grounds were huge, much more sprawling than I’d expected. Even the pictures online didn’t make it look this enormous, and as we pulled up to the front gate, I felt my heart enshrouded by dread. This was becoming more and more real by the second.
As we climbed out of the car, stakes in hand, the place seemed so normal. Creepy for sure, especially in the dark hours of the early morning, but nothing immediately gave away its nature as a demon hideout. We all looked around for signs of life, finding that the still air didn’t seem to house anyone besides us.
We tested the gate cutting off the driveway into the factory proper, noticing a chain wrapped
around the end that fell away immediately when we gave it an experimental push. The gate swung open with an eerie iron creak, and almost immediately, something leapt out, knocking me off my feet.
“Demons!” Eli called as he was overtaken by a couple.
It seemed like our plan to surrender me to Paimon wasn’t going to work out after all if this was the greeting we were getting. I didn’t have much time to think, reacting simply on instinct. I managed to roll the demon off of me, pushing myself back to my feet before landing a blow to its head. We were surrounded, dozens of demons eager to get their grubby little hands on us. I quickly whirled around with a back hook kick to knock the demon backward before gripping my stake tightly and plunging it into the demon’s chest, listening to its hissing screech as it fell dead at my feet.
My blood started to pump, a new driving energy emerging in me. These bastards had helped Paimon hurt Carter. I dodged another demon and threw another punch, feeling more strength and agility than ever before. I knew that I could set them on fire and end it that way, but the drive to feel the attacks I was dishing out against the monsters who separated me from him was overwhelming. I wanted to feel my rage in my fists and my feet.
I’d take every single one of them down by hand if I had to.
Eli and Jacob were holding their own. I could hear Jacob shouting his invocations, banishing the demons assaulting him while Eli was charging around with his stake, no creature safe from its iron peril.
As we downed demon after demon, I began to feel more confident about our plan. These guys were just minions, sure, but I could feel us getting stronger, more unified. It gave me hope, which felt nice after the few days I’d had. More than anything, it made me feel like seeing Carter again was just within my reach.
The demons fell quickly, and soon the three of us were the last standing, save for one demon that I had by the hair.
“Where’s Carter?” I demanded to know.
It cackled roughly, spitting blood. “You’ll never get him out of here.”
“Well I’d sure like to try,” I said, jabbing my stake into its skin, just hard enough to pierce, making it cry out. “So be a pal and show me where he’s at.”
I retracted my stake, pushing the demon toward the door. Eli and Jacob had their own stakes in hand, watching it sternly, giving off pretty heavy “don’t fuck with us” vibes. The demon seemed to get the message, trudging toward the door, its head hung with embarrassment.
“Hey, no funny business,” I called out as it led us to a discreet door around the side of the main building. It paused. “Try anything and you’re dead.”
He nodded wearily. “No funny business,” it said.
I almost felt bad, but I remembered who it was working for and what Paimon was doing to Carter, even at this very moment. It made my skin crawl to think of the state we’d find him in, but knowing that rescue was on the way gave me a bit of peace. My heart was racing, imagining myself taking his hand as we led him out, telling him that I loved him and how glad I was that he was safe. Tears threatened my eyes, but I kept steady.
The demon slunk down the dim and winding hallways, managing to dodge any patrols that may have been circulating through our path. I surveyed the area around us, ensuring that I would remember the way back, nearly distracting myself with how different the place was inside than I expected. Though the outside looked like a filthy abandoned factory, the inside was more akin to an old fortress, the walls gray brick and mortar, appearing much older than they had any right to be in this location. Some sort of ancient, labyrinthine palace. I had to assume there was magic at play that Paimon was using to disguise his palace from the outside world, making it appear to be a factory on the outside while it retained its demonic palace interior.
As we descended a long flight of stairs under the flicker of torchlight, we came to a landing leading to a heavy iron door.
“What’s in there?” I asked.
“The crypt,” it answered.
“Is Carter in there?”
The demon nodded.
Immediately I was worried. What kind of person uses a crypt as a torture chamber? A thought suddenly occurred to me that made me dizzy. If you were going to kill someone, wouldn’t doing it in the crypt save a step?
“Open it.”
It complied, pushing the heavy door open slowly, the light leaking in across the crude stone floor. I pushed it into the chamber and it stumbled forward, nearly knocking into a chair in the middle of the room. Chains attached to the chair rattled, and its surface was dark with splotches of blood. My heart sank. The demon looked at the chair and began to cackle, prickling the hairs on the back of my neck.
“Where’s Carter?” Eli asked.
“It looks like Paimon already killed him and we missed the show. How unfortunate,” it sneered.
Paimon… what…?
The words didn’t make sense in my head. I couldn’t make them. My mind went blank and as my anguished cry left my throat and the demon’s eyes went wide as it burst into flames, flailing around the room. I couldn’t be concerned with controlling my engulfing flames as tears rolled down my face. I could feel Eli and Jacob taking my arms, pulling me out of the room.
“We have to go, Georgia!” I heard Jacob shout. “We have to get out of here before Paimon finds us!”
But I couldn’t feel my legs. So what if Paimon found us? Carter was gone. The last person I ever thought I’d lose, I had now lost. What was left for me? There was only pain. It was all I had ever known, so I didn’t know why I was so surprised. The thing about pain is that no matter how much you experience, it never seems to hurt any less.
Jacob scooped me up into his arms and carried me back through the winding hallways out of the building. I managed to stifle my tears until we were safely back in the car. I lay down in the back seat and could only remember the sting of tears running down my face as I sobbed the whole way home.
7
Georgia
The car pulled up to the warehouse, and as Jacob came to retrieve me from the back, I felt numb. I could feel the same energy from him and Eli. Clearly no one had prepared for this outcome, but here we were whether we liked it or not. I took Jacob’s hand and let him help me out of the car. I made my way toward the warehouse with the dreadful knowledge that I’d have to tell the others, yet again, that we’d lost a teammate. I felt sick, like I wouldn’t be able to open my mouth to say the words without screaming.
Eli held the door open for me and I stepped in, the familiar air of the warehouse choking me, and I began to search for Jose and Olympia to tell them the news. It felt better to just get it out of the way so I could go decay in my bed in peace.
When Jose ran down the stairs and spotted me, my heart sank again. His face was lit up like a kid on Christmas morning, and I knew he was going to be crushed. I was confused, though, when he grabbed my hand and tugged me along back the way he came. I stumbled up the stairs behind him and he led me to Carter’s room. My heart was in my throat by that point, but when he pushed the door open and I saw Carter’s barely conscious form laying on his bed, I froze completely.
Olympia was sitting beside him, dabbing at him with salves and mixes and various magical things. I could see a pile of empty blood bags beside him. It seemed to take a moment for him to notice that I was there.
“Georgia…?” he rasped.
I wanted to answer, but I was honestly stunned. I thought I’d fall to my knees if I thought about anything besides keeping myself upright. He reached his arm weakly out and I went to him, taking his hand. It was heavy in mine, but it was warm and it was real and it was his. I was sure of it.
“You’re alive…?” I managed.
“Mostly,” he said with a laugh that made him wince. “Are you alright?”
“Mostly,” I said, returning his smile.
I knelt down by the bed, gently brushing a few rogue hairs off his forehead. I had never seen him so exhausted, his skin covered in blooms of purple and blue, cuts of var
ious sizes littering his skin. A few of his fingers were splinted together.
“I thought you were dead,” I said. “I was afraid I’d lost you.”
“You can’t get rid of me that easy. Ask Paimon, he really tried,” Carter said, huffing a laugh. His face became softer as he looked at me, squeezing my hand. “He couldn’t dream of it, though. Not when I had to get back to you. I couldn’t stop thinking about you, Georgia. You were the only thing that kept me going.”
“How did you escape?” Jacob asked.
“Turns out these stories my mother used to tell me about vampires being able to shapeshift into smoke were actually true,” he said, turning to look at me again. “I had no idea I could do it, but suddenly he was putting a stake in my chest and all I could think of was seeing you again. I pictured myself coming back to you and the next thing you know, poof. Smoke. Once I figured out I wasn’t a ghost, I just floated out through a window. Easy.”
“Wait, Paimon put a stake in you?” Eli followed up.
“Not all the way, though he got damn close if you ask me. He… he took his time with it, so I had the chance to turn into smoke before he hit my heart. I’m not entirely sure that he’d have been able to kill me anyway, although that silver he used did hurt like a son-of-a-bitch.”
“What do you mean he might not have been able to kill you?” Eli asked.
“It was something Kingston told me a long time ago about my bloodline. It’s… special. Supposedly. Descended from Elizabeth Bathory, if my mother is to be believed. But according to Kingston, in order to kill a vampire from that bloodline, you have to stake it with an iron crucifix that’s been consecrated by holy water.”
Everyone seemed shocked at that reveal, a fact that Carter picked up on fairly quickly.
“Well I had to keep some cards close to my chest. But honestly, I’m still a bit skeptical. A crucifix bathed in holy water? Doesn’t that sound kind of… I don’t know, overkill?” he shrugged with a hiss.