“Now you’ve done it,” I said through gritted teeth. As the first vampire stalked towards me, I climbed over the coffin. The second vamp mumbled something unintelligible. I dodged out of his line of sight, catching the blood-crazed eyes of the first vampire again.
He leaped like a jungle cat, crashing into me. I hit the wall, pinned beneath his solid form. Freeing one hand, I jabbed a finger into his eyeball. The vampire screamed, and I took my chance to switch on the light, directly into his face.
He moaned, leaning out of reach, hands twitching. I quickly turned off the light, hoping nobody else had been roused by its brightness, and sprinted to the door.
My hands scrambled for the handle. As I’d feared, it was locked—from the other side. I rammed my shoulder against it, hard. The first vamp groaned, writhing on the floor.
“What are you?” slurred the second guy, stumbling towards me. “Why are we awake?”
“You’re sleepwalking,” I improvised. “Get back in your coffin. I’m not really here. You’re dreaming.”
“Smells human,” said the second one. “Human…” His eyes opened a little. “Why is a human here?”
“Not human.” I flashed my demon mark, improvising. “I’m a demon. I came through your summoning trap by accident.”
“You smell good.”
Ew. “Yeah, great. Can I go, now? I’m needed at the Great Arch-Demon Themedes’s palace.”
“You’re with him?” asked the second vampire.
“Yes,” I said. “He wouldn’t like it if you hurt me. My blood tastes terrible anyway.” Vampires didn’t like warlock blood, I knew already—and Nikolas had said my mark would repel or attract some other demons. Would it affect vampires, too? I pushed the wristband up, entirely exposing the black mark for the vampires to see. “I’m on a mission, and I came here by accident. I have his mark. See?”
“You have his mark,” slurred the vampire. “That’s not his… that’s not his mark. Intruder!”
His voice rose to a shout. Heads popped up in the other coffins, and I gave up on the door, sprinting to the demonglass.
I didn’t make it more than a metre. My knees hit the wooden edge of a coffin as a very much awake vampire yanked me on top of him.
“Did he send us human prey?” he purred, teeth grazing my arm through the sleeve. I elbowed him in the face, climbing off the coffin, but more lay between me and the demonglass.
“It’s been too long,” groaned another one, fingers grasping at my ankles. “Demon blood tastes foul.”
Demon blood. They were in the service of the arch-demon, for sure. And the bloodstones—were they infused with demon energy?
The vampire grabbed for me again. I kicked him away, my gaze snagging on the demonglass. It’d turned dull, the battery dying out. Oh fuck. The only way out was the locked door. So much for not causing a scene.
I yanked my left armband down fully, engulfing the room in blinding celestial light. Shrill screams came from the vampires, but their hands stopped grabbing for me. Once again, I slammed against the door, which barely rattled. Cursing, I kicked it, hard. Wait. I can climb.
I ran up the wall, and my feet stuck like velcro held me in place. Thanks for that, Rachel. I kept the light turned up to max, taking advantage of the confusion to grab my sword. Light glided up my arm, and its familiar weight settled in my hands.
I hung from the joint between wall and ceiling, holding the sword as a shield. A vampire got too close, and I severed his hand. He yelled, high and loud, and the others did, too. The light was painful to look at for a regular human. To a half-awake vampire during the day, it was unbearable. Keep making noise, I thought at them. The more of a racket they made, the more likely it was that someone would come and unlock the door. I was more than content to hang around on the ceiling all day, at least until one of them calmed down enough to interrogate.
“So,” I said, “as long as we’re at a stalemate, can one of you please explain to me why we’re locked in a room with a demonic summoning trap?”
“Only if you explain how you got in.” One of the vampires stalked towards me. The celestial light gleaming from my hand made his pale skin glow—another marble statue, too beautiful and deadly to be real. If any of them bit me, I wouldn’t turn into one of them, but if I got bitten too many times, I’d be infected with venom that would put me under their thrall until they drank me dry. I hoped these boots didn’t have a time limit on them.
“I got in through the glass,” I told them.
“You’re a celestial,” spat the vampire. “You stole something of ours.”
“The bloodstone?” I asked. “No, I’m not giving it back. Did the demons give it you? Is that why you’re working with them?”
“The demons offer a better world than the celestials ever could,” said the vampire in front. Something was slightly off about his dead-eyed stare. The others, too. Now their eyes were fully open, I could see every one of them had the same weird dark irises. Vampires’ pupils were dilated when they were blood-crazed, but I had the sense there was worse wrong with these ones. What had the demons done to ensure their loyalty?
“You’ll die if the demons take this realm,” I said. “But you killed someone I care about.” I pointed the blade at him. “If you touch my sword, you burn. Tell me… which of you will it be? Who gave the order to murder my mentor?”
“You’ll all die the same.” The vampire below me slammed his iron-like fists into the wall. Now they’re trying to shake me loose?
I waved my sword down at them. “Last chance,” I said. “I’m planning on bringing as many of you bastards down with me as possible, one way or another. Whose bright idea was it to set up the demonglass?”
“The great arch-demon,” growled the vampire. “It’s time for you to die, celestial.”
My boots lost their grip as the vampires hit the wall again. I flipped over, sword pointed downwards, and vampires darted out of my way to avoid the blade. I spun it in a circle, whipping the celestial blade through the air to hit anything that came near. The sword point sank into flesh, and the vampire I’d hit screamed in fury, a hissing noise rising from his marble skin as the celestial light burned him. One touch and he burst into white flames. Nothing was more deadly to vampires than the light of heaven.
Light blazed around me, the magic forming a halo that stopped them from touching me. Temporarily. Like my boots, it’d blaze out within less than a minute… unless I took them all out in the next few seconds.
Challenge accepted.
Chapter 20
I decapitated the first vampire to lunge at me, sweeping low to catch a second one who’d tried to grab my legs. Keeping the light on max power meant I burnt out faster, but it also blinded them. I cut three vampires down, dancing lightly over the coffins, until I was nose to nose with the first one who’d woken. He bared his sharpened canines at me. “I’m looking forward to tasting you, human.”
I stuck the blade in his chest. He snarled, writhing, his body glowing as the light consumed him from the inside out. His eyes burned bright, blazing, and I froze, still gripping the sword.
He slumped down, dead. Like the fires of heaven or hell had extinguished what remained of the life inside him.
Three vampires stirred amongst the dead, and I ran for the door, sliding my celestial blade between door and wall. Before I could shove the door again, one of them grabbed my leg.
“I’m gonna tear you to pieces,” he growled.
I threw my weight against him, and we toppled through the door. Kicking him down, I lurched forwards, only to hit the floor again as he grabbed my ankle. I slammed the heel of my boot into his face as hard as I could. Even with his abnormally tough skin, he screwed his face up against the impact, and I took the opportunity to break free and run into the hallway. Now I was out of that damned room, I could figure my way around better. First step: find the nearest window.
The vampire lurched after me, bleeding from his nose where I’d kicked him, but not weak
ened. I ran, and he slammed into my back, sending us both crashing into the floor. I thrust my elbows back, bruising them against his rock-hard chest. His teeth grazed my neck, nearly breaking the skin.
I wrenched my celestial-marked hand free and turned the power up, flooding the hall with blinding light. He roared in rage, but didn’t let go. I squirmed away from his teeth, waving my hand beside his face. His teeth brushed against my palm. Wait. Inspired, I tore my other hand free and waved it underneath his teeth. If demon blood tasted as foul as he’d said, what would the mark taste like?
He turned his head away. “Get that mark gone.”
I crawled free, darting through the nearest door into a living room. The windows were boarded up from the outside. So much for Plan B. I snatched up a wooden chair and hurled it at the window. Glass shattered, but the boards held together. I climbed onto the windowsill and grabbed my sword again, thrusting it into the gap between the boards.
The vampire’s arm locked around my neck, and I lost my balance, crashing on top of him.
“You’ll pay for this,” he growled.
“You really shouldn’t… stand so close to the window.” Hot blood trickled down my face. I hoped the wound was shallow.
“We can make you forget, if you like,” he whispered, leaning over me from behind. “We can drink the light out of you. You’ll become one of us, one of the undying.”
“No thanks.” I twisted around, holding my blade between me and him. His eyes gleamed, partly with bloodlust, partly with that strange darkness as the others’. “What did the demons do to you?”
Blood dripped from his nose. “We are infused with the power of hell. We’ll burn the sin out of you.”
I recoiled. “You—you’re consuming demon blood? I thought it was deadly to you.”
“It depends what type.” His obsidian eyes glimmered with bloodlust. “Demon energy makes us stronger. Soon we will walk in the day as well as the night.”
Shit. I’d been looking for a demon mark. But vampire wounds sealed within seconds. If the vampires really had some kind of demon magic, biting their victims was the easiest way to spread the virus. And if the demon magic ended up inside a celestial…
“You infected them,” I said. “Even Louise.”
He laughed. “He didn’t mean to kill her, believe it or not. He didn’t realise there was a deadly side effect to our bite. He was one of the first to try the demonic energy. And you, celestial… I wonder if you will burn the same?”
His teeth grazed my ear, and my elbow snapped back into his sternum. Pain spiked to my wrist and I snatched it away, spinning into a kick that barely winded him. There were few ways to keep vampires down—except the obvious.
I jumped at the shattered frame of the window, kicking at one of the wooden planks shutting out the sunlight. A thin beam came through, and I stood directly in its path. “If you touch me,” I told the vampire, “you’ll die.”
The vamp halted, hissing between his teeth. “Soon I need not fear the sunlight, celestial.”
“You’ll still burn,” I said. “And it’ll be as painful as divine judgement for your crimes. If you want me to let you go, tell me which demon’s behind this.”
He lunged, and I moved, too. My sword impaled him before his teeth could pierce my neck, and his lifeless body collapsed on top of me, still burning. I crawled out from underneath him and walked into the corridor.
“If there’s anyone still alive in here,” I said, “tell me who you’re working for and I’ll spare your lives.”
Silence followed. Swearing under my breath, I stalked back to the open door to the coffin room.
A vampire slammed into me, landing right on my sword. Once again, light burned in front of my eyes. At the same time, the front door flew back on its hinges, and two people ran into the hall.
“Devi!” shouted Rachel. “Get back, vampire, or you’re dead.”
“He already is.” I spun to face her—and Nikolas, who stood at her side, wielding palms of black lightning. “You’re a little late. But there’s one witness still alive in here. They’re summoning the demons on someone’s orders.”
“Who do I need to kill?” He stalked to the open door beside me.
“Nobody,” I said. “There’s one survivor, maybe more. None of the others gave me adequate answers as to who’s calling the shots here. But it’s definitely someone working with the arch-demon. It’s that dimension, for sure. Their demonglass linked there.”
I found the light switch, and turned it on. Bodies lay draped over the coffins, still smoking where I’d burned them with celestial flames. None appeared to be alive. I turned back to him. “There was one alive. He must have run off, but he can’t go outside with the sun up.”
“He must still be in here,” Rachel said, running for the stairs at the corridor’s end. Nikolas, meanwhile, tried one of the other doors.
“Locked,” he said.
“That’s the main demon summoning room.” I jerked my head over my shoulder. “The person in charge should be reported, but the other vamps are dead. There were never demon marks involved. It was vampire venom—spiked with demon energy.”
Once bitten, all the victims would have to do was summon their celestial light—say, if they saw a demon—and they’d die. It was a deceptively easy way to kill without leaving a demonic trace behind at all.
Nikolas turned to look at me properly. Heat flushed my cheeks at the memory of our kiss—part of me had thought we’d never see one another again, and hadn’t accounted for the awkward aftermath.
“They’re being bribed, I think,” I said, looking away. “They get the blood of their victims and demon energy out of the deal, and the venom takes care of the rest. But if they’ve already bitten anyone else, they can’t use their celestial power. If they do…”
“It reacts.” He nodded. “All right. I’ll inform the leader of the vampires. She’ll question the survivors. She takes threats to the vampire code seriously, and biting celestials definitely counts as violating the code.”
“And then some,” I said. “I took out one bloodstone and killed the demonglass, but we need to remove the others.”
“Yes, we do,” he said, sweeping into the room. “You killed all of them yourself?”
“Yeah. They woke up when I dismantled the demonglass. I used my sword to break the door down.”
“If I’d known the situation was that dire, I’d have been here in a heartbeat.” His hand brushed against mine, and I stilled, feeling vaguely ridiculous when he took the bloodstone. “Did any of the vampires say who they summoned?”
“No. They died first.” I turned away to search for the other bloodstones, picking two of them up. “This isn’t the work of a single vamp. They must have volunteered, but I don’t know if they all did. Apparently Louise’s vampire boyfriend didn’t know he’d kill her when he bit her.”
Lightning flashed from Nikolas’s hands, and the bloodstone exploded into a million pieces.
“Er…” I stared at him. “That can’t be reused, right?”
“No,” he said, reaching out a hand for the others. Lightning sparked between his fingertips, changing colour from white to blue, to jet black yet strangely luminous. The same colour as his aura. I watched, slightly mesmerised, and the snap of the bloodstones breaking brought my attention to the demonglass.
“Are you going to break that, too?” Stupid question, Devi.
“It’s defunct. I’ll send someone in to remove it later. The important thing is establishing if the vampires bit anyone else. A mass death of celestials might push your boss over the edge.”
I grimaced. “Yeah. I know. The vamps are dead, so it’s not like they can confess. If it’s been over twenty-four hours, the venom has fully spread. But it still doesn’t explain how the victims kept appearing miles away from where they were supposed to be.”
“No.” His brow furrowed. “I don’t think we were supposed to find out the vampires were behind this at all.”
&n
bsp; I shook my head. “Vampires wouldn’t have been our first conclusion, not when we were fixated on the other details. Anyway, we need to warn the guild. Have you heard from Javos since he went there?”
“No.”
“Shit,” I said, another possibility striking me. “I just thought. There is a demon who can appear and reappear pretty much anywhere in the city if he’s summoned.”
I’d met Dienes the night of the murder. He was from that dimension.
He’s been going back and forth between dimensions for weeks. And he’d known about the bloodstones…
“I think,” I said quietly, “I know who their messenger is.”
Chapter 21
Nikolas looked at me expectantly. I took in a breath, and told him my brief history with Dienes. The demon who’d helped me, even when the price I offered was low. I’d known he was as conniving as the rest of them, but I’d never have connected him to a murder plot.
“I don’t think he’s innocent, but he’s probably been coerced,” I said. “You know what that world is like.”
“I do,” he said. “However, a lesser demon wouldn’t have had the ability to throw those humans around the city.”
“But I’ll bet he’s the one who let them know who the targets were. I told him I was investigating the murder. It wasn’t connected to what happened two years ago at all.”
“Two years ago?”
“I’ll explain later.” My mind whirled. “I have to summon the bastard. He can confirm who’s behind the attacks.”
“Do it now,” said Nikolas. “The other vampires will be sleeping, and even I don’t have the authority to wake their leader. We need to find this demonic killer.”
The arch-demon. Or someone from that realm. This room wasn’t a great place for a demonic summoning, but the familiarity might help my case. I shone celestial light onto the wall, forming a pentagram shape. The whole room already stank of that dimension.
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