Instrument of Chaos

by Rebecca Hall

  “I’m fine,” he croaked before Mitch could comment. He coughed and spat, looking worse than ever.

  “I swear I’m going to plaster the definition of fine over your room until you know what it actually means.”

  “I’m still standing aren’t I?” Nikola asked, wiping his mouth. “It knows we’re coming,” he grimaced. “The stars-cursed thing is telepathic as well.”

  “Guess there’s no need to sneak then,” Mitch said. “Do we have a plan?”

  “Avoid the knives,” Nikola replied.

  “I was hoping for something a little more detailed,” Mitch said. His last badly thought out plan had ended with him becoming a vampire and eating the principal. He still had nightmares about the hail of glass that had ended his life and the Host coming to extract revenge for the murder of one of their own.

  Nikola hugged him. Mitch blinked and hugged him back.

  “Sorry,” Nikola said, “I can hear everything right now.”

  “You know that doesn’t bother me,” Mitch said. In the abstract the idea of anyone reading his mind was kind of creepy but Nikola doing it had never concerned him.

  “So do we just knock on the door?” Mitch asked. The door bore no sign of the house’s demonic inhabitant. It didn’t even have a trace of magic. Everything about it was resolutely normal.

  The door swung open, the fragments of the lock remaining in the door frame. One day he was really going to have to work out exactly what Nikola’s magic could do. Knowing that he could read minds and manipulate space was all very well but it wasn’t very specific.

  A ravening demon completely failed to jump out at them as they stepped inside and moved deeper into the house, the door swinging shut behind them.

  “Where is it?” Mitch asked, looking uneasily at the closed doors along the hallway.

  “Down there,” Nikola pointed to the end of the hall and the door vanished.

  “We’re not going to find a stack of doors in the hallway are we?” Mitch asked, Nikola had to have sent it somewhere.

  “I just moved it into one of the bedrooms,” Nikola said. “No one is peeping in through the windows.” The plasterboard on the walls vanished, leaving behind only timber frames. There wasn’t any insulation. The house was just a typical student flat with no indication that the demon had done anything to make it into a home.

  Mitch strained his ears for the slightest sound, even using a little magic to make them extra keen, every nerve ready to duck or dodge or maybe even scream. He couldn’t put his finger on it but something about this perfectly normal house was deeply unpleasant. Maybe it was knowing that there was a demon in here, somewhere.

  “Are you sure it’s through there?” Mitch asked.

  “No,” Nikola replied. “It’s older than I am, it could probably show me whatever it damn well pleases.” He sighed and the other doors and walls began to disappear.

  “Remember your lessons on compulsion?” Nikola asked.

  “Yes,” Mitch replied, already certain that he wouldn’t like where this was going.

  “Good, it’s trying to break into our minds.”

  “How do I stop it?” Mitch asked, his skin crawling. He didn’t want a demon smashing its way into his mind and redecorating.

  “The same way you do any magic,” Nikola replied, “you bend reality to your–”

  The demon charged, blood stained kitchen knives held in its hands. Mitch cringed, fully expecting the blades to plunge into Nikola’s unprotected chest. Instead they stopped just short. The demon snarled a curse and whipped the blades around again, this time going for Nikola’s throat. Again they failed to connect with anything.

  “Well the good news is that it isn’t trying to get into your mind anymore,” Nikola gasped, magically deflecting another stab.

  “And the bad news is that it’s trying to kill you,” Mitch finished. The demon finally managed to score a hit, opening a long, shallow cut along Nikola’s arm.

  The demon itself was a lot smaller than he’d been expecting. Not that he was entirely sure what he’d been expecting. It had probably involved horns, a pointed tail and glowing red eyes. Instead it was an emaciated wreck of a man with matted hair and wild eyes. And two very sharp knives.

  “You should have brought that sword,” Mitch said. Nikola was mostly keeping the demon at bay but he didn’t have anyway to attack it.

  “It would just be another thing to worry about,” Nikola said, blood trickling from his nose.

  The demon lunged forward and the knives plunged through the door that was suddenly in front of them. Mitch expected it to pull the knives out and attack them again, instead it ripped the door apart, littering the floor with splinters. The next relocated door didn’t appear in front of them, it appeared over the demon’s head and dropped.

  The demon brushed it aside as one might a fly, sending it through what remained of the wall, and grinned at them.

  “Remind me how we’re supposed to catch that thing again?” Mitch asked, backing away.

  “Luck,” Nikola gasped.

  “Right,” Mitch replied. With the walls all but gone he could see into the rest of the house… perhaps if he could get in behind the demon. He gave Nikola’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze and darted outside and around the house. There had to be another door somewhere… There.

  He had to force it open, dreading the moment that the demon reacted to the noise, but it seemed that it was too engaged with Nikola to pay him any mind. He picked up a broken piece of two by four and advanced on the demon from behind.

  There was a lot more open space than he recalled, he hoped that none of those walls had been load bearing. There was a lot more blood as well, all of it Nikola’s. It stained his clothes where the demon had cut him and dripped from his bleeding nose.

  On the plus side, all the extra space meant that he could put everything into swinging his club at the demon’s head. Impossibly the demon blocked him, dislocating its shoulder to do so with no perceptible sign of pain. At least it dropped one knife to grab the piece of two by four and use it to hurl him across the room and into a still standing wall. It hurt just as much as it had the last time he’d been thrown into a wall.

  Wheezing, Mitch pushed himself to his feet just in time to see Nikola stab the demon with its own knife, the blade plunging into its heart.

  “I thought Rana wanted it alive,” Mitch gasped.

  “It is,” Nikola replied, jumping back as it tried to stab him again. The knife once again struck an invisible barrier and this time it shattered. The demon made an odd gurgling sound that might have been laughter and pulled the other knife out of its chest. Mitch picked up another piece of two by four.

  Nikola broke the second knife as well and then he broke the ceiling and it came tumbling down on the demon.

  “You couldn’t have done that sooner?” Mitch asked. Part of a leg was sticking out from under the rubble, the foot twitching as the demon struggled to free itself. Mitch didn’t think it would stay trapped for long, all it needed was a little leverage and it would free itself.

  “Are you ok?” Mitch asked, staggering over to Nikola. Some of those cuts looked a lot deeper than he’d first thought and Nikola was shaking.

  “I’ll live,” Nikola said, a permanent marker appearing in his hand. “Hold it still.” Mitch sat next to him and pinned the demon’s leg to the ground while Nikola drew a series of sigils, muttering to himself in Faerie.

  “What are you doing?” Mitch asked.

  “Sealing it into the host’s body,” Nikola panted. He leaned forward, wincing when he put pressure on the arm he was bracing himself with, a fresh stream of blood running down it and pooling around his hand.

  “Maybe you should add something to immobilise it,” Mitch suggested as the heap of rubble groaned and shifted.

  “What do you…” Nikola swallowed and closed his eyes, his breathing loud and ragged. “… do you think I’m…” he swallowed again and then turned aside and threw up.

 
; “Nikola,” Mitch put a hand on his shoulder and winced when he felt the heat radiating off him even as he shivered.

  “See…” Nikola coughed. “See if there’s a phone, call Rana.” He pulled the note Rana had given him out of a pocket. On one side was the demon’s address, the other a phone number, barely visible through the blood.

  “Be careful,” Mitch ordered, the demon was still twitching and it looked like Nikola was running out of accessible skin. He wasn’t even sure Nikola could hold the marker steady enough to write properly but what choice did they have? Mitch had never liked Alchemy and what Nikola was doing now was several steps beyond what they’d learnt at the Academy.

  He hurried through the house, searching, praying that there was a phone and the bill was paid and the handset still in once piece. God only knew what the neighbours would think if he asked to use their phone. He was covered in dust from head to foot, probably bruised black and blue beneath it and his hand and clothes were spotted in Nikola’s blood.

  There was a crash behind him and he jumped and spun, sighing in relief when he saw that it was a wall giving way rather than the demon freeing itself. Much to his relief the phone was still intact and the call connected when he dialled Rana’s number, getting it right on the second try.

  “Come get your bloody demon,” he spat before hurrying back to Nikola. Nikola had freed more of the demon’s leg and was carefully adorning it in sigils, sweat and blood dripping off his face.

  “I think I’ll take a rain check on that drink,” Mitch said, sitting next to him. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  Nikola shook his head and added a couple more sigils before sitting back.

  “That should hold it for now,” he said. “No doubt Rana will be able to set something up in Tartarus.” He swallowed and retched but he had nothing left to throw up. Mitch helped him stand, pulling him away from the demon and finding a wall that was still relatively intact to sit against. Nikola curled up next to him, his head resting in his lap.

  “What’s wrong Nikola?” Mitch asked. “And don’t you dare say that you’re fine.” If anything he felt even warmer than he had before.

  “Poison on the blade.”

  “Oh fuck, we need to–”

  “It’ll be fine,” Nikola gasped weakly. “I have potions at home.”

  “We’re not at home,” Mitch reminded him. And there was no way he could get Nikola there without someone calling the police. Perhaps Rana would give them a ride, he didn’t care what it cost him.

  Nikola shivered and Mitch struggled out of his coat and draped it over him. He wasn’t sure if it actually made Nikola feel any better but at least it covered up a little of the blood.

  “So where do you keep these potions?” Mitch asked, brushing Nikola’s hair away from his face.

  “The chest,” Nikola replied, “there’s a case.” He grimaced in pain and lay there panting, his eyes glazed and wandering.

  “What potions Nikola?” Mitch asked, hoping that there wasn’t a magical lock on the chest.

  “Blood purifiers,” Nikola gasped, “and suppressants.”

  Mitch blinked, “You hate magic suppressants.”

  “Blood purifiers have side effects,” Nikola whimpered.

  “Shhh, it’s ok,” Mitch said, running a hand through Nikola’s matted hair and taking his hand with the other. “Everything’s going to be fine.” He continued to offer empty reassurances until a ghoul preceded Rana into the partially destroyed house.

  “Where’s the demon?” she demanded.

  “Under that,” Mitch snapped, pointing to the rubble.

  Rana raised an eyebrow and her ghouls started digging through it. Mitch winced at the crashing as they tossed aside bits of corrugated iron, two by four and plasterboard. Nikola didn’t seem to notice.

  “I’m surprised you haven’t gone for him,” Rana said, her eyes dancing across the blood on the floor, it was even beginning to soak through Mitch’s jacket. Mitch didn’t think he’d be wearing it again. “Most vampires would have by now.”

  “Nikola isn’t food,” Mitch snapped. “I need to get him home.”

  “We have medical facilities–”

  “No,” Mitch cut her off, “drop us off a home and stay the hell away from him.”

  Rana sighed, “Henrik.” One of the ghouls came to take Nikola and Mitch snarled at him. Nikola was rail thin and light as a feather, he’d be able to manage on his own (with a little bit of magic). He got up slowly, wincing as bruised muscles protested, and picked up Nikola, cradling him against his chest.

  He followed Henrik outside and slid into the back seat of the waiting car, smearing blood across the leather seats. A few minutes later they were pulling up in front of their house. Henrik hadn’t asked for their address.

  Mitch let himself inside as the ghoul zoomed off, awkwardly juggling keys and unconscious changeling, and carried Nikola inside.

  “You really need to put on more weight,” Mitch said, laying Nikola down on his bed and going to Nikola’s chest. He felt a faint tingle of magic but it opened easily. Bracelets, books, a sword, other odds and ends he couldn’t identify… and a small chest carved with a single sigil. Mitch pulled it out and cursed when he opened it, of course the potions were labelled in Faerie.

  “Damn it Nikola,” he muttered, peering at the caps and hoping to spot something familiar. “You know I was lousy at Alchemy.” He wracked his brains, trying to remember lessons that he hadn’t thought about since his expulsion and the one time he had taken magic suppressants. He couldn’t even remember what colour it had been. Finally he grabbed two vials that he thought might be the ones he was looking for. One bore the sigil for blood the other for magic.

  “Nikola,” Mitch said, shaking his shoulder. “Hey, Nikola, come on, you need to wake up.”

  Nikola groaned, his eyes fluttering open. “Mitch?”

  “You need to drink these,” Mitch said, showing him the vials. “I think…” He helped Nikola sit up and held the vials out. Nikola blinked at them owlishly. “Nikola?”

  “They’re the right colour,” Nikola said, “but I’m seeing double.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “You’ll have to open them.” He was shivering violently, Mitch wasn’t even sure that Nikola would be able to hold them. After a second’s thought he opened the magic suppressant and held it to Nikola’s lips. Nikola gulped it down and coughed so hard that Mitch worried that he’d bring it up again before he stopped, his chest heaving up and down.

  “One more,” Mitch said, opening the second vial and holding it while Nikola drank. Nikola seemed to find this one easier and Mitch helped him wash it down with a mouthful of water.

  “We need to get you cleaned up,” Mitch said. It looked like most of the cuts had stopped bleeding but Nikola was coated in dust and blood from head to foot and it was hard to be sure.

  “I can barely stand,” Nikola said faintly. Mitch wasn’t sure he could stand at all.

  “A bath then,” Mitch said, choosing not to think about how someone who couldn’t stand was supposed to undress themselves. “You have disinfectant and bandages in your bathroom right?” Though there probably weren’t enough bandages.

  “Yeah. Mitch? Make it cold.”

  #

  “I swear the two of you are like kittens.”

  “What?” Mitch asked groggily. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, looking around until he spotted Amelie at the foot of his bed. “Shouldn’t you be in class?”

  “Like you were supposed to be?” she asked. “It finished half an hour ago.”

  “Oh,” her earlier words registered. “I’m not a kitten.”

  “Sure you’re not, you’re just curled up around my cousin.”

  “He was having a nightmare,” Mitch said, remembering Nikola’s thrashing. He’d quieted when Mitch sat down beside him, falling into a deeper sleep as his fever rose. Mitch wished that he could read the labels on the potion vials and work out exactly what the side effects were but he didn’t have his
alchemy textbooks and the database on the Aether was large and unwieldy and, according to Nikola, not worth the effort.

  “In your bed?”

  Mitch shrugged, “His is covered in blood.” He sat up and checked the bandages that seemed to cover most of Nikola’s skin. He might not have enjoyed the first aid courses that the Academy put them through but he was glad of them now. It didn’t look like Nikola had bled though any of the bandages and while he was white as a sheet at least he was clean now.

  Nikola whimpered, one hand reaching out to where Mitch had been and Mitch lowered himself back onto the blankets, letting Nikola curl up against him. He hadn’t meant to take a nap himself, just comfort Nikola as he wandered in fever dreams, but his bed was far softer than the wall had been and he’d been warm and relaxed after his own shower.

  “What on earth did the two of you do instead of coming to class?” Amelie asked, sitting on the end of the bed, “I only left you alone for a few hours.”

  “It’s a long story,” Mitch said.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Amelie said, “I don’t think he is either. Now tell me.”

  “A demon,” she said when he was done, “you should have called me.” She grimaced, “And I will call daddy, we can’t let that bitch get away with blackmailing Nikola.”

  “What about Nikola?” Mitch asked, “what exactly are those potions doing to him?”

  Amelie bit her lip. “The suppressant is fine, it’s just a… a precaution.”

  “And the blood purifiers?” Mitch asked. Nikola was hot, very hot, and if his temperature rose much more it would cook his brain.

  “Exactly what it says on the bottle,” Amelie said, “it will burn any impurities out of his blood.”

  “But…” Mitch prompted.

  “It causes a high fever and delirium. This time tomorrow he’ll be fine but…” she ran a hand through her hair. “Gawain meant for them to ensure that Nikola wouldn’t get too sick but he was worried about them as well. You know about Nikola’s condition, if his brain has deteriorated too far then it could cause seizures.”