“You were lucky,” he said. “You’re immune to demon poison, so whatever was in that sword had no effect on you. I stemmed the bleeding using a spell, so don’t try to move for a bit.”
“I didn’t even see he had a sword,” I mumbled.
“It was one of the others who stabbed you from behind. You have an alarming habit of nearly dying in that palace.”
“Since I didn’t take the vampires’ king down with me, I’ll have to go back for an encore.” I looked up. “Where’s Fiona?”
“Sleeping. Rachel took her to a guest room.”
“Good.” I closed my eyes, then opened them again. “Is Javos still yelling and breaking the furniture?”
“Rachel calmed him down,” he said. “We need to discuss our next move, but later, when you’ve recovered.”
“Nope. They’re plotting now,” I said. “What the hell was that guy? I thought he was a vampire before he attacked me.”
“Either a demon or a demigod, and not one I’ve seen before,” he responded. “The magic he used was a demon’s, certainly. But he looked human, from what I could tell.”
Guess you’re not the only one with lightning magic. “Azurial’s replacement.”
“I suspected someone of his power level was in charge of the vampires, but I thought they might be following orders their former boss left behind, not following someone new. Azurial himself is, as far as I know, still imprisoned in the palace’s west tower.”
“Great.” I groaned. “So not only are all the bad guys still alive, there’s a new hellion who wants me dead. What was his issue, anyway?”
“If I had to guess, it’s that you’re an outsider, and a celestial at that,” said Nikolas. “And Azurial evidently told him about your friend. Or the vampires did.”
I pushed a clump of matted hair from my eyes. I probably looked a wreck, and heaven knew how much blood I’d lost. “So he’s behind the army of vampires messing with this dimension?”
“So it would seem.”
“Well, I didn’t see any bloodstones or cures in there, but I’m taking a wild guess that’s where they came from. The same people are involved, anyway. But what in hell did they want with Fiona? They didn’t know me.”
“I think they did,” he said. “They took Fiona because they knew you’d come after her. It’s likely why they lured her over to their side in the first place. However… she must have had reason to go and see the vampires.”
I heard the implied meaning.
“She was already bitten. A while ago.” My throat closed up. “It must have happened in the demon dimension the first time around. That’s why she was looking for them. But why not tell me?”
“She went through a traumatic experience, and I imagine she wanted to forget it.”
“But she told me everything else. Why not the fact that she was bitten by an infected vampire? What the hell does it do to a human?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But the celestials weren’t craving blood, were they? Maybe that’s why she didn’t know it’d affect her. It’s been weeks. If she was going to go full vampire, you’d know.”
“Crap.” I let my hand fall to my side, my heart sinking. “If the venom can kill a celestial via the same transfer, it’ll definitely be in her bloodstream. But I’ve never seen a regular human get bitten. She went to them… deliberately.”
“Rachel said she mentioned the cure. I think someone at that bar promised to give it to her.”
“Oh.” I nodded, exhaustion washing over me. “That makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is why Pandemonium has such an interest in us. Azurial… I don’t get why he picked this dimension to target in the first place.”
“Generally, the goal of all demons is in the service of the arch-demons. Acting alone or not, they have a single aim.”
“To conquer everything, turn all dimensions dark, and wipe out the celestials.” With those vampires at their command, they had all the tools they needed to destroy the celestials in this dimension.
Maybe even planted amongst them.
I swallowed hard. I was in no shape to check up on the guild, but… I had a bad feeling they were more involved than they knew.
“Exactly right,” he said. “I think that’s reason enough. It’s not like the arch-demons are unaware of this dimension, even if they lost the war here thousands of years ago.”
“You think it’s one of them behind this?” I stared at him. “I mean, sure, I get they want power, but vampires… it’s not exactly an orthodox method of conquering. I thought demons were more direct.”
“All direct attempts on this realm in the last few centuries have failed.”
Yeah. They have. Because of us. Even when the demons had attacked the heart of the celestial guild itself, they’d always lost. That’s why it was so damned easy to believe in the guild and their mission. Because they’d won every battle.
But maybe this was one they couldn’t survive.
“So we need to find the portals,” I said. “There must be more of them, if this has been going on for weeks. The answers are in that dimension.”
“I agree,” he said. “But we don’t have anywhere near enough information.”
“Vamps can pass through those portals because they aren’t true demons,” I said. “Right? It looked that way. It’s clever, actually, because homemade pentagrams aren’t strong enough for Grade Three or higher demons. Definitely not a demigod. So he has the vamps acting as his lackeys. They bypass most demon detectors, too. The ones in the warehouse didn’t even set off their own security.”
Nikolas nodded. “Yes. Only an arch-demon can summon a demigod without a significant ability in magic, so there’s no way for Azurial or his replacement to directly travel over to this dimension without an anchor.”
Like celestial fire. A chill raised goosebumps on my arms. I wished I’d permanently killed the bastard. Summoning a demigod wasn’t impossible for a non-arch-demon. I’d summoned both Nikolas and Zadok myself, but the former had been drawn into the celestial guild’s most powerful pentagram, and the latter had been imprisoned with his magical ability significantly reduced.
“They have a whole palace of demonglass,” I said. “That’s strong enough to make a portal anywhere, especially when you take those bloodstones into account.”
“Not if there isn’t an equally strong beacon on this side,” he said. “Considering Azurial never came through, he’d need more than a portal. He’d need an anchor. For Azurial, that’s fire. For me, it’s shadows.”
“And for me, it’s demonglass,” I murmured. “Does the arch-demon with the power get to choose, or is it entirely random?”
“Demonic scholars across the realms have asked that question for generations.”
Like your brother? “I figured demigods knew something about the nature of the arch-demons’ magic. Or whichever part I got marked with.”
Damn the guild. I’d never found anything conclusive in their files about demigods, not at all. Let alone arch-demons. It was the one thing I regretted about leaving them. Javos doubtless knew more—and Nikolas certainly did.
“Your mark is unlike anything we’ve seen on a human, so at this point, everything is guesswork.” His gaze dropped to my right hand, and he reached for it with a questioning look in his eyes. I nodded, my stomach swooping. The mark lay across my wrist, an inverse arrowhead. Like the opposite of my celestial mark, pointing inward instead of out. My breath caught when he traced the mark with his fingertip, remembering all too clearly the grip of his lure, how it’d raced through my veins and stirred my blood. Maybe it was the demon in me who was drawn to him, and his demon side who was fascinated with me.
Maybe part of me didn’t care.
He removed his hand from mine, to my disappointment. “What are you thinking?”
“The mark reacts… sometimes,” I said. “When I’m close to demons… or warlocks. It’s like it’s drawn to magic. But not all of it. Just demonglass, and you.”
; He arched a brow. “Me?”
“I don’t know, maybe it likes you.” I spoke teasingly, though I didn’t miss the heat that inched into his eyes. Encouraged, I added, “I can’t tell if it’s responding to your magic or not, but maybe it’s a similar type. The only other thing it reacts to is demonglass.”
“I’d know if you were shadow-aligned,” he said. “I’d guess that the mark reacts particularly strongly to demigods. It might explain why my power had such a strong effect on you.”
Warmth rose to my cheeks. “Your lure’s supposed to make people lose their senses.”
“It is, but not to that degree. I’m not an incubus. They use a similar power, but render their victims entirely helpless. My ability is more intended to be used as a distraction.”
“As opposed to what, seduction?” I could put the tremor in my hands down to the blood loss, but I had my doubts. I remembered all too clearly the fantasies his power had conjured up in my mind. And I hadn’t even been the target. But the vampires hadn’t started stripping naked. Admittedly, he’d hit them with lightning immediately afterwards, but still. Maybe there was something up with my demon mark. Simple attraction to him didn’t explain it all.
“Correct,” he said. “Incubi are masters of seducing their prey.”
“Then it’s pretty safe to say I don’t have that type of magic,” I said lightly. “My technique could probably use some work. That alley was filthy.”
Amusement flared in his eyes, but there was definitely some heat in there, too. “Yes, it was. I’m rather alarmed at how quickly the effects came on. Normally if I hit a victim at that close range, I’d be a mile away before they realised I’d gone. The first time I used the lure against you, I assumed you were mostly immune.”
“Huh?” I frowned. “Good point.” The first time he’d hit me with the lure, I’d been dazed, but definitely hadn’t started stripping. But my demon mark hadn’t been active at the time. Was this yet another price to pay for moving closer to hell? Nikolas might not mean me harm, but if demon magic was several times more effective on me now… it couldn’t mean anything good.
“Maybe the mark reacts to different types of magic more than others,” he said.
“Perhaps,” I said. “It’s never reacted to any regular demons, though. Or vampires. Guess I don’t get a built-in demon detector.”
“Unfortunately, I can only track pure demons and warlocks, not infected vampires, unless they’ve used strong demonic magic. That would at least help us track down which are hiding amongst the regular ones. Even their auras don’t show up as exceptionally different. Perhaps because they’re already demonically aligned.”
“And some are selling the cure or bloodstones without taking them,” I added. “Like the woman last night. The guy at the bar was a different story, though. He’d taken it, all right.”
“The bar has been shut down,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s looking like the vampires are keen to push blame for the deaths there onto us.”
“Because of Alec the idiotic newbie vampire.” I groaned. “Any idea where he wound up?”
“Assuming he woke up from being knocked out before the sun rose, he’ll have crawled back to the warehouse by now.”
“Wish I’d gone in alone,” I muttered. “I should have figured I couldn’t trust a vamp to control his blood cravings in a room full of willing victims.”
“Your plan might have succeeded if the vampire had been carrying the bloodstones herself. I should have anticipated there’d be backup waiting in case of an attack.”
“Well, they’re dead,” I said. “Hand their bodies over to Madame White, and let her deny there’s a problem now.”
“She won’t deny there’s a problem,” he said. “However, it’s a cross-dimensional matter. According to our rules, we don’t interfere unless there’s a direct threat to the inhabitants of this one and even then, the rules are shaky.”
“Thought there weren’t any rules.”
He looked at me. “In Pandemonium, there aren’t. But you know why we can’t go back without a plan.”
“Because I’m the only way for any of us to go back into that dimension and kill the vampires’ king,” I said. “Right?”
“In theory, yes. There’s also an entire palace full of vampires infected with unknown demonic powers keen to flood this realm. If you travel through, you risk any of those creatures coming out in your place.”
“That’s what happened before, right? When you used the demonglass portal in here to go after Azurial?”
He nodded. “I didn’t anticipate the effects would be that strong. It blew out the wards all around the headquarters. If we did that again, it’d draw the attention of every demon in several realms. Not just Pandemonium. There are others that lie directly on top of this city which were affected by the events a few weeks ago.”
“Like Babylon.”
“Yes, like Babylon. I’d prefer not to bring that realm into it.”
“You’re really never going to tell me about that place, are you?” I asked. “Sometimes I think you get a kick out of keeping secrets from me.”
“Sometimes I think your penchant for asking the wrong questions will get you into trouble.”
“Been there, done that.” I frowned. “I’m not human, you know? I won’t cause untold chaos by eating from the tree of knowledge.”
His gaze dropped to my bandaged side. “You’re still mortal, Devi.” His voice had the faintest undercurrent, some emotion I couldn’t place. “And I never said I thought you were a mere ordinary human.”
Warmth filled my chest, but I gave him a mock glare. “Nice job flattering me to distract from not answering my question.”
“I told you,” he said. “We restrict who we give information to. You already know more than you should for someone of your level, and if the other warlocks find out, they’ll think we’re passing on our secrets to the celestials.”
My blood-loss-addled brain couldn’t quite process that. “So you’re saying I need to earn Javos’s trust, right? Or yours?”
“You have mine. It isn’t about that. Warlocks are secretive by nature and share none of our secrets with others, and only your position as an honorary novice keeps the others from kicking up a fuss.”
Hardly an answer, especially as my link with the celestials was always going to put a wedge between me and earning the warlocks’ respect.
“Wait.” I screwed up my forehead. “You’re saying you trust me? Seriously? Even after all the rule-breaking and winding up Javos?”
“I’d find your winding up Javos more amusing if he wasn’t likely to take your head off for it at some point, but yes. Against my better judgement.”
My mouth dropped open a little. “Wow. Am I asking the right questions now?”
“Get your rest.” He trailed a hand down my face, sparking a current of warmth in my blood. “We’ll talk when you’re more awake. It’s endearing, but you’re drooling all over the sofa.”
So I was. Way to go, Devi. “I meant every word.”
“I’m sure you did.”
I think he smiled, but I was too far gone by then.
Chapter 13
Next thing I knew, the sound of arguing voices drifted in from the kitchen. I pushed the blanket off me and sat up, looking down at my bandaged side.
My wound seemed to have healed up, so I climbed off the sofa and walked upstairs. I kept spare clothes in the guest room and I was covered in blood and dirt, so it was a relief to have a proper shower. Afterwards, I went looking for Fiona.
I found her in one of the guest rooms, lying asleep in the bed. Guilt twisted inside me. I’d put her weird behaviour down to the trauma of being kidnapped. I hadn’t considered the possibility that she’d been bitten during the struggle. After all, vampire wounds healed too quickly to be noticeable after a few hours, and I’d been severely injured at the time.
Her eyelids flickered and she tilted her head to look at me. “I thought I’d have to pretend to be a
sleep forever. Those guys don’t sound happy.”
“Javos’s speciality is yelling and breaking things,” I said. “It’s me they’re angry with.”
Her brow furrowed. “Why?”
“How much do you remember of yesterday?”
Her face clouded. “I’m sorry. It was stupid of me to go to the vamps for help. I was just—I wanted to know if I was going to turn into one of them.”
“You could have asked me,” I said. “Well. I didn’t know—still don’t. Was it definitely an infected vamp who bit you?”
She nodded. “I didn’t know he’d bitten me at first. And then—I didn’t think we’d make it out of that realm alive. Afterwards, I wanted to forget about it. I was having nightmares of that place, but I didn’t feel the urge to drink blood, so I figured I couldn’t be a regular vampire. But then I heard about the others. How they turned violent and attacked people. I was terrified I’d be the same.”
My fists curled at my sides. “That was the cure. I think. The only people who turned into killers were the ones who took the cure. You didn’t take any, did you?”
She shook her head. “No. I was spotted in that bar, and you saw… they recognised both of us. I shouldn’t have gone there.”
“It’s not your fault. Just warn me next time.”
Her eyes shimmered with tears. “What’s going to happen to me?”
I don’t know. Blood cravings were one thing, but she’d never been bitten by a non-infected vampire. But that didn’t mean she was immune to the venom.
“If you were going to turn, you’d have experienced symptoms by now,” I said. “So the demon virus must have spread but not the vampire venom.”
Which was hardly better. Because we didn’t know what the demon virus did. But I knew I couldn’t risk her getting her hands on the cure. Not after what’d happened to the others.
I have to ask them. I didn’t know if Alec had made it back to the warehouse, but I did have his number.
Celestial Fire (Celestial Marked Book 2) Page 12