Rival Demons

by Sarra Cannon

  Andros stood and held his hand out to me. Tentatively, I took it, amazed at how much his view of us had seemed to change in the past week.

  Jackson greeted the blonde woman, then took a seat next to her. Even though there was an empty chair by his, I stepped to the side and took the seat next to the child instead, leaving two empty chairs between he and I. The little girl immediately took my hand in hers as if we'd always been best friends. I couldn't help but smile, thankful to be treated so nicely among strangers.

  Mary Anne sat next to me, leaving one seat still open.

  Lea came in just moments behind us, looking as beautiful as ever in her leather ensemble with her long black hair free-flowing down her back.

  "Hope I'm not late," she said, smiling. She embraced both Andros and the blonde woman, then took the seat next to Mary Anne and Jackson in the circle.

  "I am sorry you've been locked away in your room for so long," Andros said. "Many were concerned you were spies who might report back to the Order. It took some time to convince the council to allow you all to stay here long term under our protection."

  "Does that mean a decision has been made?" I asked.

  Andros laughed, taken aback by my honesty. "Right to the point," he said. "Yes, as a matter of fact just this afternoon the council voted to accept you into our community. Jackson and Lea have been telling us a lot about your struggles against the Order."

  I noticed Andros had called him Jackson instead of his demon name.

  "It's definitely our pleasure to have you here with us," the blonde woman at his side said in a very sweet voice. "It isn't every day that we hear of a witch who wants to fight back against the Order. And from what I hear, you are quite a powerful witch for someone so young."

  I bowed my head and stared at the scarred wood of the circular table. I didn't know how to respond. Was I powerful? I certainly hadn't felt that way lately.

  "And you must be Mary Anne?" Andros asked, turning his attention to her. "I don't sense any kind of connection to the Order within you, is that right?"

  Mary Anne cleared her throat. "Yes," she said nervously.

  "Jackson and Lea have told us a lot about you," the blonde demon said. "I felt awful knowing you were in those rooms all alone with nothing to do. As soon as the council's vote came in, I made sure to arrange this dinner right away.

  "Thank you," I said. "The rooms are very beautiful, but it's still been a little bit boring, if you'll forgive me for saying so. We are very thankful for a place to stay, though."

  "Yes," Mary Anne said. "Thank you."

  "You are most welcome," the blonde said. "My name is Ourelia, I am Andros' mate. And of course, you have met our daughter Sasha. I hope we'll be seeing much more of each other now that we've sort of broken the ice."

  "It's nice to meet you," I said.

  The conversation around the table continued on in this very polite way, no one really saying anything important or deep. Mostly, Andros wanted to know about Peachville and how life was different in the human world. We avoided topics like demon slavery and the fact that almost every demon down here hated humans.

  More than once, I caught Jackson's eyes on me, but I quickly looked away.

  A waitress in a silky blue dress entered the room and poured glasses of wine for everyone. I hesitated as Andros raised his glass in a toast. The only wine I'd ever had was with Jackson that day in the pecan orchard and it had made my head swim. I didn't think now was the right time for me to be clouding my own judgment. Still, it would be rude to refuse when these demons were obviously going out of their way to serve us.

  I raised my glass.

  "To old friends," Andros said. "And new ones."

  Everyone leaned in to the center of the round table to knock our silver cups together. At first, I drank only a sip, not intending to have much of the wine. But it was surprisingly sweet and bubbly, and I was so thirsty.

  The wine seemed to loosen everyone up. By the time the food arrived, Jackson and Andros were sharing funny stories of their childhood.

  "Remember the time you and Aerden slipped past the castle's guards and set off those homemade fireworks from the east tower?" Andros said, laughing so hard there were tears in his eyes. "I will never forget the look on your father's face when he caught up with you two."

  "Oh man, that was such a long time ago," Jackson said.

  I watched as they talked, an outsider gazing in. Their childhood didn't seem all that different from a normal human experience except for their stories of magic and castles and kings. And the fact that their childhoods lasted for about a hundred years.

  I think I would have laughed with them and enjoyed their stories except for the way that Lea kept smiling and talking about how much time she used to spend with Jackson and his brother. I knew they had a past together, but I never realized that it was a hang-out-everyday-best-friends kind of past. I willed myself not to care, but it didn't work.

  Thankfully, once the dessert came – a beautiful pie with some kind of sweet blue fruit inside – Andros turned the conversation back to the present.

  "You wouldn't believe the changes in the Kingdom since you left, my friends," he said, shaking his head. "The laughter has been replaced by fear."

  Ourelia sighed, a dark sadness in her eyes. "Especially after what happened in Genestra. Nothing was every the same after that."

  "Genestra?" Jackson asked, sitting up straighter. "The king's northernmost city?"

  "A few years after you left, a group of citizens in Genestra decided to set up watch against the hunters," Andros said. "They patrolled the city streets, waiting. One night, a demon on watch set off the alarms. One of the hunters had come for an innocent girl, the new mate of the city's head guard. Many rose up against the hunter, and even though they weren't strong enough to kill her, they did manage to wound her and banish her from the city. At first, they considered it a great victory, sure they had scared the Order away from their city."

  "What happened?" Lea said. The earlier smiles had been wiped from her face and replaced with worry.

  "It was horrible," Ourelia said, her voice shaking. "The Order of Shadows brought an army into Genestra about a week later. Human witches and hunters both. In a matter of hours, every single demon in the town was either dead or captured and sent to the human world to be a slave."

  Jackson's eyes grew wide. "How could that happen to such a large city?" he asked. "I mean, Genestra had what? Three thousand demons living there? There's no way the Order was strong enough to take them all."

  "Never underestimate their power," Andros said. "Their darkest magic is enough to kill us all, especially when their attack is a surprise. The city was helpless against the power of the Order of Shadows."

  "Who did this horrible thing?" Lea asked. "What was the name of the head witch? Do you know?"

  Andros shook his head. "No one survived to give any specific details of what happened there that night."

  I shivered and glanced at Lea. Her eyes met mine, and I know we were both thinking of the memory she'd shown me of Aldeen, Kansas. The Order had killed everyone in the blink of an eye. We knew what they were capable of, but how were we supposed to fight back?

  "This happens in the human world too," I said. For most of the night I had sat back and been a spectator, but this was a conversation I was passionate about. "The Order gets rid of anyone who opposes them, even if it's their own people."

  Andros looked confused. "You mean they kill their own witches?"

  "Yes," I said. "Entire cities of them. I've seen it with my own eyes."

  "Why don't your people fight back?" Ourelia asked. "Are they also afraid?"

  "Well, fear is part of it, but it's also misinformation," I said. "The Order doesn't exactly go around advertising the fact that they killed one of their own covens. Instead, they find an enemy to blame it on, making sure the other towns hate whoever it is they think really did the killing."

  "Very smart," Andros said, rubbing his forehead. "They
build loyalty through their lies, using it to take out any groups who oppose them."

  "Yes, and they get the rest of the covens to rally against any enemy they choose, whether those enemies did anything wrong or not," I said. "The Order is the Order, no matter which side of the portal you're on. They hold all of the power because none of their true enemies ever communicates or works together."

  Maybe I'd had too much wine. My tongue was loose, and I could feel my cheeks getting warm. Across the table, Jackson tensed and tried to change the subject.

  "It's been a long night," he said. "And this isn't really the time or place to be discussing politics and other unpleasant things."

  "Perhaps you're right," Ourelia said, pushing her half-eaten pie toward the center of the table. "Our evening so far has been so nice, let's not ruin it with talk of the Order of Shadows."

  With that, I knew my chance to speak my mind had come and gone. There was so much I wanted to say. I wanted to ask him why we couldn't find a way to work together? I wanted to explain that there were other witches like me who would be willing to risk their lives to expose the Order for who and what they really are.

  But the conversation was already back to pleasantries and smiles.

  I sat back in my chair, the bitter taste of unsaid words on my tongue.

  Almost Freedom

  Back in our suite, a set of wrapped presents were waiting for Mary Anne and I. We found them on each of our beds. Two identical small boxes wrapped in shiny red foil wrapping. Excited to see what was inside, we both met up in the living room and tore them open at the same time.

  Inside, we found a black armband with a red dragon embroidered on it. Confused, I looked to Lea and Jackson for some kind of explanation.

  "I told Andros you were having a hard time being stuck in these rooms," Jackson said. "The dragon is his family's insignia. If you wear that in the marketplace, people will know you are there as friends of Andros."

  "Basically no one will mess with you," Lea said. "Not that they probably would have anyway."

  "It's more for my peace of mind," Jackson said. I noticed that with Lea in the room, he rarely met my eyes. "I'm sorry you had to stay in here for so long, but now that we have the council's approval to stay, things should be much easier."

  "Thanks," Mary Anne said. She hugged Jackson, but I kept my distance.

  Jackson reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of matching black cards that were also decorated with a red dragon. "Here," he said, handing one to each of us. "These cards work like money down here. Or more like a credit card, I guess. I mean, it's not free reign to go buy anything you want, but if you go to the marketplace, you can at least shop around a little bit and try out some of the restaurants."

  "Great," I said. "Thank you."

  The prospect of being able to go to the marketplace anytime we wanted was a huge relief. With these new armbands, we might still get some strange looks, but no one was going to be too mean to us. At least not to our faces. It was like we'd been handed keys to our freedom.

  "Just keep it to the marketplace, okay?"

  I sighed. Almost freedom. Yes, the marketplace was better than nothing, but his statement immediately made me wonder what other places he was trying to keep me away from.

  The Cycle Continues

  The next morning, Mary Anne knocked on my door early.

  "Want to go exploring?" she asked. Sleep and food seemed to agree with her, because she was back to her normal self this morning.

  "As long as exploring means getting some breakfast, I'm in," I said. "Just let me get ready."

  I was showered and dressed in no time, making sure I had the red and black armband securely over my clothes. The two of us made our way to the Grand Hall marketplace. I wasn't sure what time it was exactly, but the place was booming. There were more people bustling around the shops than any other time we'd been in here so far.

  "Where to first?" Mary Anne asked.

  "Somewhere they serve food," I said.

  "How can you still be hungry after all that food we had last night? I'm still stuffed."

  I laughed. "I guess my stomach is making up for two weeks of being starved."

  I looked to the left and right, searching for a place that looked promising. Finally, I just picked left. Mary Anne followed by my side.

  We passed all kinds of shops selling everything from handcrafted weapons to what looked like prayer beads of some kind. In a way, it reminded me of going to the Farmer's Market in Atlanta with all these independent vendors set up in tents selling their wares. I hadn't expected there to be such a big economy down here. I wondered where they got all their supplies. Did they constantly have people going up to the surface to get things?

  When we got to the end of the first row, Mary Anne turned right and led us down another row of shops. A store selling bags of all sizes caught my eye, and I stopped. I really needed a bag of my own. I wasn't sure how long I was going to stay here, but if I decided to leave, I'd need a way to carry my new clothes and some supplies.

  "Excuse me," I said to the old female demon sitting in the corner. Behind her, a row of bags were sewing themselves at her direction. Each of the sewing needles moved together in unison.

  When she looked up at me, they all stopped in unison too. "Yes?"

  She pressed her cracked lips together tight and held her body rigid. Her eyes flickered over our armbands.

  "I was just wondering how much one of your backpacks costs," I said. It was a silly question, really. Especially since I didn't have the first idea about their money system down here. She could have said it costs a million thingamajigs and I wouldn't have had a clue what that meant. Still, it seemed like the polite thing to ask.

  "My bags are not for sale today," she said. She turned back to her sewing, obviously wanting us to move on.

  "Please," I said. "I know you don't really know us, but I promise you, I'm not your enemy."

  The woman's back straightened and she pulled her elbows in tight to her sides. I was trying to reason with her and let her know that I was a good person, but I could tell from her body language that all I'd done was make her angry. Was it going to be this way with every shop we came across?

  Mary Anne tugged on my arm and backed away from the tent's entrance.

  "I'm sorry," I said, stepping back. "I didn't mean to offend you."

  Behind me, Mary Anne screeched, then tumbled backward, straight into the arms of another demon.

  He laughed and helped her get her footing.

  "I'm so sorry," she said, her cheeks bright red. "I must have slipped on the edge of the fabric. I didn't mean to-"

  "It is no problem," the guy said. He was of medium height with dark hair that was longer in front than in the back. His eyes were every bit as blue as Mary Anne's and instead of looking at her with disgust, he was actually smiling at her. "I have heard very much about you. It's very lucky running into you today."

  His speech was strange. Different from the other demons we'd met so far. But he was friendly, which was also a nice change.

  Mary Anne seemed to realize she was still clinging to this stranger. Nervously, she backed away, straightening her hair and staring down at her feet.

  "We never get to see humans down here," he said. "I never thought I would see you in my own shop. Did you find something to your liking?"

  I looked from him to the small tent. "This is your shop?"

  "Yes," he said, puffing out his chest with pride. "Well, my family's shop. We are tailors. In fact, I helped make the clothes you are wearing now. Do you approve of them?"

  Mary Anne ran her hands along the sleeves of her silky black shirt. "I love them," she said, blushing again.

  I couldn't help but smile, watching them two of them stare at each other, then look away as if they were embarrassed.

  "There was a bag inside," I said. "A backpack that I really wanted to buy, but the woman inside, she wouldn't sell it to me. Is that your mother?"

  I wouldn't
have mentioned it except for the fact that I really needed that bag. I was hoping this guy could maybe convince her to sell it to me.

  His eyebrows came together in a point and he shook his head. "I am so sorry for my mother's behavior," he said. "But she has had much sadness in her life. My father was taken by the human hunters, and we have never seen him again. She doesn't trust any humans."

  I nodded. I completely understood why she wouldn't trust us, and I didn't blame her for it one bit. It had to be hard to live in a world where anyone you loved could be taken away from you at any moment. "I'm sorry," I said.

  "I'm sorry too," Mary Anne said.

  "It was many years ago," he said. "Besides, you are not like those hunters. I know that our princess and our leader would never let any of those types of humans into the Underground. I will get you a bag. Please, wait here just one moment."

  He disappeared into the tent, and we heard some whispering, then some arguing. Finally, he emerged carrying a pair of backpacks made from a heavy cloth.

  I smiled. "Thank you so much," I said. "You have no idea how much this means to me. Here, please let us pay."

  I tried to hand him my black card, but he waved it away.

  "It is my pleasure," he said. He looked at Mary Anne, his eyes sparkling. "You may repay me by spending the day with me, telling me all about your world and what you have been up to since you arrived in the Underground."

  I had to hide a smile. We seemed to have run into the one demon here who didn't hate us. In fact, I think he had quite the crush on Mary Anne. I waited for her to respond, but she just stared up at him.

  "That sounds like a fair trade," I said. I held my hand out to him to shake. "My name is Harper and this is Mary Anne."

  He took my hand and bowed slightly to me. "My name is Essex. It is such a treat to meet you both. Where would you like to see first?"

  "Can you show us a good place to get some breakfast?" My stomach growled.