“Shit,” I said.
Teeth snapped at my arm. I jerked back, aiming the beam of light, which fractured off the walls, showing more of them gathering around the stone-walled corridor. The bastard. He was waiting for us.
I grabbed my sword, cutting into the creature’s chest. It fell, bleeding, not disintegrating as it would back home. This was its home realm, and I was far outnumbered. Nikolas was my only way out. And where was Rachel? This was a really bad idea.
I cut down another enemy, my blade the only light in the gloom masking the dark flagstones. The castle probably didn’t have electric lighting, but the demons must be able to see in the dark. I couldn’t see any further ahead than my blade’s glowing edge. What I hadn’t anticipated was that without vanishing, the bodies piled up fast. I climbed over them, stabbing everything that came near me, slowly advancing forward.
Light streamed in from somewhere ahead, and I turned a corner. Moonlight flooded the corridor from a wide open window, reflecting from pillars supporting a high ceiling. The clear glass of the pillars reflected the bodies of dead demons, and my own aura—light and shadow. Demonglass.
There was a startled scream from the open window ahead, at least one floor above the ground. Rachel. I ran towards the window, and stopped, staring out into the night. Rachel struggled in the clawed grip of a demon shaped like a gigantic scaly bat. A vulker demon.
“Put her down,” I warned, holding out the sword. I was too high off the ground to make a jump for it, even taking my celestial powers into consideration. I advanced towards the window anyway, calculating whether it was worth the risk to throw the sword at the demon without making it drop her.
A pair of claws grabbed my jacket from behind. Another demon. With a pterodactyl-like screech, it beat its leathery wings, lifting me into the air. I twisted, cursing, trying to stab it, but the sword slid out of my grasp, my stomach plummeting as we dropped out into the night sky.
Cold night air whipped my exposed skin, and the demon’s wingbeats carried me into the air. I stopped struggling as the dark castle walls wheeled around below us until we were high enough to see the constellations etched in the sky.
“Put us down!” I shouted. “Or so help me—” I shrieked as we dropped some twenty feet. “Stop it!”
The two beasts flew on, wings beating, ignoring my attempts to break free. We flew over a long stone walkway to a spire-like tower, separated from the rest of the main castle. Rather than the obsidian colour of the castle’s stones, it was clear but not transparent, reflecting the coin-like moon and constellations from every angle. A widely open window beckoned, and the two bat demons flew through, tossing us roughly onto the stone flagstones. I landed in a crouch and ran to the window, but stopped immediately. The drop to the walkway below was impossible to jump and survive. And there was no other way out, nor any way back to the castle other than flying. However pretty the stars might be, I didn’t want to die here on an alien planet.
“Damn,” I said, my teeth chattering. “You okay, Rachel?”
“You should be more concerned for yourself.”
Zadok, Niko’s brother, appeared from the shadows behind us. His skin still looked like he’d taken a bath in purple paint. My defensive attack had done a stellar job. Sitting down, walking and otherwise moving would be painful for at least a day. But it apparently hadn’t stopped him from setting up an ambush.
I couldn’t suppress a grin. “How’s your new look working out for you?”
“You’re going to suffer, celestial,” he growled. “You never should have come back.”
“Look, don’t take this personally, but I don’t give a flying fuck about your little grievances now. I’m on a mission, and if you don’t mind, Rachel, your brother and I would like to leave for our own dimension. You can save your eternal grudge until we’re done saving the world.”
“You need to learn some respect,” he said quietly. “Nobody mocks the son of an arch-demon and lives.”
“I couldn’t care less if you were the son of Divinity. Where’s Nikolas?”
He smiled. He had the same even white teeth as his brother did, but far more malice and cruelty in his expression. “I left him in the shadow place. If he can find his way out before one of you dies, you might get lucky. But I wouldn’t count on it.”
“Have you been murdering celestials in our realm?” I asked.
“What?” He blinked, a modicum of surprise entering his expression. “Aside from you?”
“That’s a no, then.” I sighed. “I’m on a murder investigation. I don’t have time to get kidnapped by a pretentious warlock with an ego problem. If you don’t mind—”
“I do mind,” he growled. “You humiliated me.”
“Technically, it was your brother who shot you in the face with lightning,” I said. “If you can survive that, you’ll get over the rash.”
“It’s more than a rash,” he said through gritted teeth. “And you won’t get any more information about me, celestial.”
So much for getting him to admit his weakness. But I didn’t need to permanently kill him. Just incapacitate him long enough to get us out.
Shadows blurred around Rachel, throwing her into the air. She screamed, and a shadowy figure caught her, tossing her to a second shadow-man in the corner. Zadok had created more shadow clones, apparently. I lunged forwards, but the dark figure threw her towards the window, another one catching her at the last second. The message was clear—if I attacked, they’d toss her out into the night.
The shadowy figure whirled around and threw Rachel at me. Her feet caught me in the face, and warm blood filled my mouth where I’d bit my tongue. Before I could pull her out of harm’s way, the shadows snatched her into the air again.
“Put me down, you bastard!” she yelled.
I spun around, but Zadok had disappeared into the shadows himself. He must still be in the room somewhere. Damn. If I can find him, I can stop him.
“Show yourself!” I yelled.
Laughter spiralled around me, echoing. Where the hell is he? He must be here, but the entire room was covered in shadow, save for the window open onto the night sky. To track him, I needed a clue. Even my celestial light—wait.
I pulled off my wristband, letting the light grow brighter until my whole arm was ablaze. His own shadows were immune to celestial light, but regular shadows would disappear when I turned the light up to max.
Light bloomed, filling the room—everywhere but the far corner. Gotcha.
I jumped. Celestial light fuelled me, and I flew in a perfect arc, slamming into the solid shadow. He appeared, snarling in anger, arms over his blistered face as a shield.
“The shadows take you,” he growled. “Bitch.”
“Devi!” Rachel yelled.
The shadows pulled back, revealing her dangling out the window over the walkway. I took one step—and they let go.
I didn’t stop to think. Fuelled by celestial power, I leaped after her. Cold air rushed past, and my hand snagged her jacket—the demon-marked hand. The celestial-marked one grabbed the windowsill. I hung there, gasping. Pain wrenched my shoulder where I held her.
“The shoes…” she whispered. “You should have let me go. The shoes—it won’t hurt when you land. Jump—”
Claws dug into my back, lifting me into the air. Another vulker demon. Twisting, gripping Rachel’s jacket hard, I wriggled free, hoping those magical shoes worked as well as she claimed.
We dropped through the air, landing on the walkway with a thud. The impact should have broken my legs, but Rachel’s miracle boots must have absorbed the landing. Across the walkway was the rest of the castle… but the path was barred.
Three scorpion-like venos demons stood on the walkway, side by side. Scorpion tails waved behind them, equipped with deadly stingers. Insect-like hands sprouted along their bodies, and they had at least four too many legs. Apparently Zadok had high-end guards for his warlock hideout. Crap.
I conjured celestial light t
o my hand, bright as I could make it. While the creatures were momentarily blinded, I whipped out my blade. The sword sliced off a scorpion’s stinger, but one of its flailing legs knocked me off my feet. Scrambling to stop myself from sliding off the walkway’s edge, I collided with a wall of shadow. Zadok. Before I could strike, shadows wrapped around my arms, tying them behind my back.
“You will die slowly for humiliating me, celestial,” his voice purred in my ear.
The shadows pushed me over the walkway’s edge, my legs flailing in the air. Below, water surged. A moat of thick dark water. The shadows slipped, and I kicked at the air, trying desperately to connect with the bridge’s side. The boots stuck, and I pulled myself free of the shadows, leaping back onto the walkway. I landed in front of the tower, which gleamed with reflected light.
The shadows reformed in front of me, and Zadok’s hand reached out, throwing me into the air. I hit the tower’s side. My elbows struck solid glass—demonglass—but a weightless sensation crashed over me almost immediately. How? I’m not falling—
Too startled to yell, I kept falling until my knees hit the floor. Darkness surrounded me once again, and stuffy air filled my lungs. In the space of a second, I’d gone from a bitterly cold night to a warm… cupboard?
Wait. The warlock’s tower… it was made of demonglass, and Zadok had thrown me into it. Had my ability kicked in again? Where was I?
My head spun with vertigo, and my elbow smacked against something hard. Wood—a door. A small space, judging by the closeness of the wall behind me. Definitely a cupboard or similar, barely large enough to contain a person. I pushed the door. Locked.
I might have escaped Zadok, but I didn’t even know which realm I’d ended up on. I’d thought I could only travel between the arch-demon’s realm and Earth. Instead, I’d managed to get myself locked in a cupboard on an unknown planet.
Taking in deep breaths, I braced myself, then shoved with my elbow. My hand lit up with celestial light, showing the cramped interior of a small wooden space, backed with demonglass.
Switching the light to max, I aimed it at the lock, willing it to break. Break, damn you.
Resistance sizzled against my palm. Magic… of a very particular kind.
Celestial.
I was in the storeroom at the guild. Demonglass… someone had put a sheet of demonglass in a cupboard there. I must be in the forbidden part of the guild. Calling for help would get me arrested. Nikolas and Rachel couldn’t follow me if they didn’t know I was here. Unless I went back to find them, through the glass, but I didn’t know how I’d transported myself to this exact spot.
I threw myself against the door with all my strength, grabbing my sword as I did so.
The blade sliced through the locks, and I fell through the door, catching myself at the last second. I really had ended up at the guild, somewhere in the west wing. Well, shit.
I grabbed my phone, snapped a couple of pictures, and hesitated before sending them to Gav. There was no good reason to keep demonglass—a restricted substance—in a hidden room with no explanation. Unless they had a good story, someone would be in trouble.
An alarm sounded. I’d tripped the security system. Lucky I wouldn’t stick around to see the fallout. Sword still in hand, I threw myself through the demonglass again.
My phone buzzed with a response, but I was already falling through smoke. The next second, my feet touched down outside the tower. Bits of dead demon indicated Rachel had been busy, but there was no sign of her—or Zadok.
I frowned. Wait. The west wing of the guild didn’t line up with this part of the castle. The tower clearly belonged to Nikolas’s brother, and besides, I remembered enough of the map to know I wasn’t anywhere near the spot where the guild’s storerooms and the castle overlapped. So did I not need to be in the same place to use the demonglass? That was different to Nikolas’s power.
Maybe I can transport myself anywhere from here. Including wherever Nikolas is.
I turned to face the sheer glass surface and pressed my hands to it again. Rachel and Nikolas, I thought clearly. I didn’t know if my thoughts could affect where I ended up, but short of running through and hoping for the best, I might as well fall back on my celestial training. Belief was central to accessing our power. If there was demonglass anywhere else in the castle, theoretically, I should be able to reach it.
The glass turned transparent, revealing the pillared hall we’d been in before Rachel had been taken. In front, Nikolas and Rachel stood back to back, surrounded by scorpion-tailed venos demons.
All right, then.
The glass swallowed me up, and the next second, I tumbled out of the pillar beside them.
Rachel’s eyes widened. “How in seven hells did you do that?”
“Thought I’d drop in and help out.” I grabbed my sword, and stabbed the nearest venos demon in the mouth. Blood splattered the ground, along with demon venom. “Where’s your delightful brother?”
“I incapacitated him.” Nikolas regarded me for a brief moment. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“Apparently.”
Lightning crackled from his hands, spearing another demon. My blade found another target, cutting it down, and I ducked under another’s stinger. I slid underneath its feet, slicing into its lower back. It fell in two halves, still twitching. Ugh. With another slice, I cut off its head. A second immediately took its place.
I leaped onto its back, sinking my celestial blade into its skull. Rachel was locked in battle with another, while three had Nikolas backed into a corner. I ran to one of them, severing its stinger. “Need help?”
“No,” he said, black lightning arching from his fingertips and striking the three scorpion demons down simultaneously. “Zadok must have left the gates open all day to allow this many demons in.”
“Probably because of me.” I sliced another scorpion demon in two, my celestial blade gleaming with blackened blood.
“I’m still lost on how you got here, Devina,” commented Nikolas. “I wasn’t aware Rachel’s shoes could make you walk through solid objects.”
Rachel screamed. Nikolas and I moved at the same time, bearing down on the scorpion demon at her feet. It was dead, but Rachel had fallen, bleeding from her arm.
Nikolas stepped in. “The venom got her,” he hissed. “It’ll be fatal if I don’t heal her, but we need to get somewhere safe. The castle isn’t. He brought all his minions in.”
“Well, if you’re going to cross over, do it quickly,” I told him. “The guild’s about to be overrun.”
“How exactly do you know that?” He looked at me, dark red hair gleaming in the moonlight, streaks of demon blood on his face.
“Because I found proof there’s something wrong at the guild and alerted them.”
He cut me a sharp look, lifting her in his arms. It’s not like I could have known this would happen. We should never have come into this realm, and heaven knew the proof itself was shaky at best. Keeping demonglass hidden away didn’t necessarily mean foul play, and the inspector wouldn’t take kindly to accusations of treachery. But I hoped Gav would have the sense to look into the issue without anyone getting killed. He, at least, had authorisation to be in the hidden parts of the guild. I wasn’t supposed to be near the place at all, and definitely not with two warlocks—one severely injured—in tow.
“We can’t escape through this dimension,” Nikolas said. “There are too many wild demons waiting outside the castle gates.”
“Shit.” I took a step back, thinking hard. The guild wouldn’t hesitate to take them down, but maybe I could engineer a diversion. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d done it. “All right. Cross over now. I’ll divert their attention.”
Bye, bye, freedom. It was nice knowing you.
Chapter 17
When the shadows faded, sirens rang in my ears, over and over. The celestial guild’s emergency alarms.
“Intruders!” bellowed the inspector’s voice from across the quadran
gle. Dizzy from the abrupt change of scenery, I pinpointed our location as the corridor just down from the morgue.
“Shit, they’re quick on the uptake.” My phone buzzed, and I grabbed it from my pocket. If you’re still at the guild, run, the message said. Great advice there, Gav.
“This way.” I pointed. “The back exit’s through there. I take it you can use your ability on the guards?”
“Yes, I can,” he said. “But not higher level celestials.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll distract them. I have more of an alibi than you do.”
Nikolas gave me a hard look. “If you’re wrong—”
“I’ll deal. Go. Now.”
And he did. I’d consider how in hell I’d got to the point where I was bossing around warlocks when I got out of this situation. I looked wildly around for an obstacle, but short of stripping naked and sprinting through the quadrangle, I hadn’t the faintest clue how to draw attention away from—wait. The shoes.
I ran around the corner to the stairs to the upper floor, took them three at a time, and swung into the nearest empty room. Normally I wouldn’t jump out a window without checking what was below, but normally I wasn’t wearing gravity-defying shoes. I shoved the window as widely open as it would go, climbed out, and was halfway to the roof before shouts came from below. Go on. Look at me, not the warlocks. Look right past them.
I climbed around the roof, not even bothering to hide. The boots’ grip was sure, and besides, the more attention I drew away from the back corridor, the better. I trusted Nikolas would have the common sense to wait until the coast was somewhat clearer before sprinting towards the back gates—and hopefully the guards on duty wouldn’t put up a fight before he hypnotised them.
“Hey!” I shouted, my voice carrying out into the night. “Hey—help!”
Saying goodbye to dignity, I faked tumbling down the sloping roof, before dangling dramatically over the quadrangle. Several torchlights shone up at me—celestial torchlights, that is.
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