by Ann Aguirre
“Because I’ve seen what life is like without you.”
“But you’d meet someone else—”
“Don’t you think I tried? You were gone eighteen months before I came looking that first time. Until Min vanished, I had decided to let you go.”
“For my own good,” I muttered.
“Well, yeah. I dated. But never more than once with the same woman. I was empty. Broken. When I had a reason to find you, I did. I was so glad to see you, even under the circumstances. Because in that time, I never found anyone who clicked with me like you. Now that we’re together again, I’m not leaving you. Ever.”
“It won’t come to that. I’ll do better at reining her in…and I won’t drink any more weird potions against your advice.”
“I understand why you did,” he said. “But your recklessness scares the shit out of me, love. Sometimes I think you don’t care if you live or die. You play chicken with the universe.”
I didn’t—couldn’t—deny it. Instead, I reached for him and when his arms went around me, I luxuriated in his familiar, comforting heat, the lovely cadence of a heartbeat that had lulled me to sleep in years past. “What’s your last name?” I asked.
Like he would tell me.
But his tiger’s eyes glimmered with amusement. “Yi, of course.”
“That’s your mother’s name.”
“She never married my father.” He cocked his head. “I can’t believe you didn’t know we were teasing you. I mean, she hasn’t told me who he is. That much is true. But I don’t have a secret name.”
So ridiculously simple.
“It was a running joke?” I ventured.
“I thought you were in on it too. Mom and I both did.”
Heat suffused my cheeks. God, my naïveté when I started dating him had been painful. “Oh.”
“We need to communicate better this time around.”
I smiled. “We’re working on it.”
He kissed me then, but before I fell into the pleasure, an idea struck me like a lightning bolt. The backpack. Shan had it with her when she was taken, and they let her keep it until they moved her that last time. If she saw anything at all during the kidnapping, the bag might know about it. I broke away from Chance.
“I’ve got an idea,” I explained, giving him a quick consolation kiss.
She always wore it lopsided, hanging on her right shoulder. So I went for that strap with an incoherent prayer. Please, please let this work. The charge was fierce enough to thrust me into her head, and I lost myself.
I’m walking to work. It’s pretty far, but I don’t have enough money for a car yet. Sometimes a girl from the store gives me a ride home, but I don’t know her well enough to ask if she’ll come pick me up. I’d totally kick in for gas. But car pool stuff can wait. It’s just fucking awesome that I’m self-sufficient.
Jesse’s coming to take me to lunch. A happy starburst, remembering. We’ve been together a whole month now. Which doesn’t seem like that long, but the boyfriends I had before were such children compared to him. I love how he supports me. He wants me to go to college.
A dark van passes. I don’t worry until it fishtails to a stop, blocking my path. I know how trouble starts, so I turn to run. They’re on me in four steps. Pain wracks me as I’m stuffed into the vehicle. Bound. They look like ordinary men, except for their eyes. Those are dead. Bloodred. As the van starts, I tip over. Hit the floor hard. One of them smashes a fist into my temple, and that’s the last thing I see.
* * *
I became Corine again, my head throbbing with Shannon’s phantom pain. Chance stroked my cheek. “How bad was it?”
“Bad enough.”
“Did you get anything?”
“I think, maybe. We’ll have to ask Greydusk if he knows of any demons that manifest in possessing a human host by showing red eyes.”
“It could point us to the right caste,” he said with rising hope in his voice.
“Then he can start threatening to suck the life out of those who don’t cooperate. I’m pretty sure that’s what he’s doing now, in fact. With less direction.” Because he’d been willing to support me, I owed him complete honesty. And so I shared Butch’s warning. I concluded, “If we don’t find Shannon soon, this might be irrevocable. I’d understand if you changed your mind.”
“I’m not going to. I fucked things up with you before. I failed Lily. I’ll do it right this time.”
I cracked a reluctant smile. “I don’t think the relationship manuals cover this kind of thing.”
“Since when did normal ever apply to us?” Chance rubbed his cheek against mine, and then nuzzled my jaw with his lips.
A pleasurable thrill trembled through me. The demon queen wanted to push him down and force him to serve. Demand immediate sexual satisfaction. I strangled her, but Butch whined, as if he could see the dark tendrils wrapping tighter about me. Before I could kiss Chance back or thank him or any number of interesting options, Greydusk slammed through the front door. By the demon’s expression, one of great excitement, his errand had not been in vain.
“You learned something?”
“How astute of you. But before I go into detail, I must ask your help.”
“What’s wrong?” After pulling the gloves from his pocket, Chance drew them on and pushed to his feet.
The Imaron gestured toward the window. “Well. There seems to be a mob gathering outside.”
Club Hell
“Come out now, or we carry you out in pieces!” By the roar that followed, this demon meant business. And it spoke so I could understand it, though the thick accent sounded Slavic.
More shouts followed—threats in English and demontongue—and unfortunately, I could understand the former. Something crashed against the house, and then a small boom followed. The door thumped inward, bowing on the hinges. We had little time.
“I guess some demons don’t need an invitation?” I backed away.
Greydusk shook his head, making frantic preparations for our escape. I hoped.
“Who are they?” Chance demanded.
“They’re minions, working for the castes who want to use you, Binder. Some would take you captive. Others would kill you.”
“How did they find out you’re working for me?” I asked.
“If Sybella has kept her end of the bargain, then I suspect it was the informant I spoke with earlier. He must have put the pieces together from street whispers and my rather pointed questions.”
About Shannon.
“He wasted no time selling that info,” Chance muttered.
That didn’t matter. “How many?”
“Twenty or so. More will come.”
“Do you have a back door?” I asked.
“I do, but there’s no escape from it. The courtyard dead-ends in walls from the other houses nearby.”
Chance thought for a moment, then said, “Can we go up and over?”
None of us wanted to fight twenty—or more—demons. Well, except the evil queen in my head. She was sick of running. She was ready to march out and smite them all. The queen whispered of lost and ancient knowledge, demon magick she could teach me.
Join with me, she whispered. I can end this. You shouldn’t be forced to flee like a fugitive. You carry royalty in your fragile human skin.
For a moment I was tempted. But if I let her fight this battle for me, it would make her stronger. I’d fade even more. It was happening without my cooperation, so I sure as hell wouldn’t embrace my own annihilation.
“Does the demon rope we used in the caves work in the opposite direction?” Like, could we slide up or would it make it easier for us to climb?
Greydusk seemed much struck by this idea. “It might, if I reverse the command.”
Something smashed into the side of the house. That spurred me into motion. I grabbed Shannon’s backpack while Chance shouldered his. Then I snagged my purse and stuffed Butch into it. “Let’s get out of here.”
The Imaron
ran for the rope and met us at the back door that led out from the kitchen. Demons cooked. Ate. Tended gardens. Oh, man. I puffed out an exasperated breath; I didn’t want to find kinship in them. But everything I learned about their world made me view them in a different light.
Out back, Greydusk had a tidy plot of land with weird, exotic flowers. The surrounding walls were of chipped gray stone. He had tied one end of the cord to a grappling hook and I backed up as he swung it in a tight arc before slinging it toward the top of the wall. It clattered and struck, then the tines reacted like claws, burrowing into the wall. Magickal, no doubt.
A whispered word and then, “Test it out, Binder.”
Shouts came from close-by. Our pursuers had broken into the house. Fear proved a powerful motivator, so I launched myself at the rope. I’d never had the upper-body strength for climbing, but as soon as I touched the cord, it felt like I’d dropped a hundred pounds. I hauled myself up as if I weighed nothing. Reaching the top of the wall, I scrambled over into someone else’s backyard. The lots were terraced here, which made sense as the city was built in the mountains. We’d passed through a chasm to get here, after all. The other two followed me and Greydusk whispered the word that let him reclaim his rope. On deactivation, the crablike grappling hook folded into a package the size of a large coin. Handy.
“Who can we trust in the city?” I asked.
“No one,” Greydusk answered.
If I unleashed the queen, I could command anyone to render aid. And then enforce their loyalty. Eager to begin her quest for Sheol domination, she pushed at the box that caged her in my head. I whispered no again and she howled in rage. The chaos in my brain could drive me crazy if I let it.
“Well, let’s move,” Chance said. “There are demons who look humanoid, like the Luren. We should find a crowd and try to blend in.”
“You could pass for Luren,” the demon admitted, after a cursory inspection.
That was a backhanded compliment if ever I heard one. Chance’s mouth tightened, but he didn’t protest as I hurried alongside the neighbor’s house and out the unlocked courtyard door. I emerged onto a different street. From here, I looked to Greydusk for leadership. He could decide where it would be best for us to hide in plain sight and plot our next move.
“One thing.” The demon touched the corner of each of my eyes, and it stung. The feeling spread, leaving my irises prickly.
Chance drew in a sharp breath. “What did you do?”
“Camouflage. While you can pass on your own, she needs a little help.”
“What?” I demanded, seeing the anxiety he couldn’t hide.
“Your eyes are bloodred.”
“Like the Dohan,” Greydusk said, unconcerned. “It will wear off in time.”
The Dohan were the Drinkers, if I recalled correctly. Which meant I had to feign a yen for human blood. Awesome.
“Thanks.” I meant it.
“It falls within the agreement, Binder. I pledged to serve your interests. It does not benefit you to be captured by your enemies.” He turned to Butch, just barely peeking over the edge of my bag. “Now something must be done about your mammal.”
“Like what?”
By his worried yip, Butch shared my concern and curiosity.
Greydusk didn’t reply. He merely whispered in demontongue until my ears burned with it. Magick built around us and Butch tried to hide. But he couldn’t. Because in a swirl of darklight, he turned into something else.
And he had wings.
After a moment, I recognized what the demon had done. He’d turned Butch into a quasit. It was a revolting but sensible choice, as an imp might serve a demon, but any self-respecting Dohan would eat a Chihuahua, not lug it around and pet it. Butch couldn’t even whine over his fate; his vocal cords were shaped differently now. A muted chir came from his throat. He flapped his wings in agitation.
“Don’t be dramatic,” the demon told the dog/quasit. “This wears off too. It is best for your mistress. Be brave.”
That actually seemed to work, as the quasit settled, still in my purse, but you know, you couldn’t build Rome in a day. Time for us to move. It was odd because we didn’t gather a second look from passersby. Well, Chance did, from time to time, but that was due to his beauty, not anyone’s suspicion. Some glimpsed my red eyes and gave us a wide berth. Apparently the Drinkers didn’t limit themselves to human sources. Which made sense. So they could live on the blood of other demons, but maybe humans tasted like a really nice Shiraz, a treat they couldn’t pass up.
Greydusk led us through winding city streets. In place of the split-faced sun rose a breathtaking moon. It was whole and haunting, larger than any moon I’d ever seen on earth; the edges burned with silver, softening all the ugly lines and imbuing Xibalba with alien beauty. For the first time, this land was not merely strange and terrible, and the dark queen in my head rejoiced.
“Is it not lovely?” Greydusk whispered, following the trajectory of my gaze.
“Gorgeous,” I admitted.
“There was a well-known poet here who wrote, Night in Sheol steals the soul. I have forgotten the rest, but each time I see the moon, I remember that one line.”
“For obvious reasons,” Chance said softly.
I put my hand in his. For long moments, I just stared up. I didn’t care about finding Shannon. I felt warm and languid, as if my skin soaked up that lunar light. I wanted to take Chance somewhere dark and private and spend hours— No, that wasn’t me. The demon queen craved those things. The flavor of her desire differed from mine; it was deep and sharp, like a rapier lodged in my rib cage.
“I understand the land was not always so dark and cold. Barren,” Greydusk observed.
Raising a brow, I prompted, “Oh?”
“There was a civil war. Our records are incomplete.…It was so long ago. But I imagine how majestic it must have been, before our forebears broke the world.”
Damn. I’d assumed—wrongly—that Sheol was ugly because it was full of evil beings, but that involved a logical disconnect. Places weren’t inherently bad; sometimes people populated them who did terrible things and it scarred the land.
“You have a destination in mind,” I said to the Imaron, making a mental note to consider the implications later.
He nodded. “I know of a club where we won’t draw attention. Mixed-caste parties often venture there for a night of carousing.”
Demons, carousing. My spirit recoiled, and my instincts screamed this couldn’t end well. “Take us there.”
Greydusk did.
The walk took a while. I felt we couldn’t afford to flag a cab and leave someone with a clear memory of us. I chose not to use my forget fog again because I didn’t intend to use more demon magick than I absolutely must. Each spell gave the demon queen more purchase in my head, and she was already fighting me for control. Though I hadn’t confessed as much to Chance, I feared how this would end.
I could lose myself here, forever. There might be no avoiding it.
The club was nothing like I’d expected. For one, the building was made of metal, which must create a hellacious echo inside. The segments looked to have been fused together with incredible heat; other plates had been riveted in place. It looked like a drunken remodel of a battleship, turned on its side so the stern pointed straight in the air. Over the door, someone had scored CLUB HELL into the rusty steel.
“Seriously?” I said.
“What?” Greydusk shrugged. “The locals like it. They think it’s kitschy.”
Well, it was that. Shaking my head, I followed the demon to the door, where he paid the cover charge for all of us with more of those ivory disks. Inside, it wasn’t as noisy as I’d expected. Sure, there was music, but it was more the torch variety. An enormous red-skinned Hazo female crooned from the stage in a surprisingly lovely voice. Which went to prove, you shouldn’t judge by appearances.
Just inside, the demon whispered with the host, and then he showed us to a private room. More accu
rately, it was a round niche with a booth in it, covered by a folding screen. I slid inside and Chance flanked me. The Imaron chose to slide in the other way, leaving plenty of room between us. In contrast, Chance settled against my side, an arm around me, and Butch flapped his brand-new wings. He made a delighted noise when he discovered they would, in fact, lift him off the ground. Soon we had a quasit-Chihuahua swooping around our heads. Which was just what the day needed.
“Come here often?” I joked.
“Sometimes,” Greydusk replied. “This is a good place to do business.”
That didn’t make a lot of sense. At first. But when the demon lit the taper on the table, all sound from the outside ceased, one of the coolest tricks I’d ever seen.
“Magickal?” I turned the fat white candle in my hands. “How’s it made?” Then I read his expression and supplied, “Let me guess—I don’t want to know.”
“You catch on quick.”
The demon ordered drinks using a magickal panel on the wall. By tacit consensus, we waited until the server had come and gone. It hit me then. With this illusion, Greydusk had answered the question I had about the caste with red eyes. I looked like one of them. Quickly, I filled the Imaron in on what I’d learned from handling Shannon’s things, including the detail about her red-eyed captors.
“This helps immeasurably,” the demon said, once I finished.
Chance frowned. “Were they manifested Dohan who took Shannon or—”
“Spirits who had been summoned in a blood ritual?” Greydusk completed the question. “Since the Drinkers look human in their natural form, it’s hard to say. It would take a soulstone to transport them, and those take an incredibly long time to manufacture.”
“In a factory?” Chance asked, aghast.
The demon shook its head. “In a magickal lab, though we have factories for mundane goods. At one point, the Birsael owners tried to enslave the Noit to work in them, but they only broke the machines and ran amok.”
“So they were probably humans, possessed by Dohan?” I guessed, steering us back on track before Chance pursued the idea of that goblin creature working an assembly line. I sympathized; I was intrigued too.