by Tricia Owens
Another howl filled the air behind me. It was the sound of Hell and it was so close I could feel my hair rising. The air temperature dropped by at least fifty degrees. My breath fogged. The candles blinked out and trailed gray streamers of smoke, like ghosts. The growing stench of brimstone made me gag.
Teeth chattering, I tried to understand what Orlaton was pointing at but it didn't make sense. He seemed to be pointing down. I wanted to scream at him that yes, I was damn well aware that Hell was coming up to greet us like a freight train.
But he wasn't pointing that far.
When he'd fallen forward he'd disturbed some of the rugs covering the floor, causing two of them to slide and bunch up. As soon as I saw that, I didn't pause to think what I would do next. With a ladylike grunt, I rose to my feet and I ran straight at Diana.
"I'm coming for you!" I yelled like a maniac.
She shrieked, wild-eyed. "Don't come closer!" She raised the sword and stumbled backward to keep me in front of her.
Bingo.
I called up Lucky and blasted him with energy. Diana threw up her hands, screaming, as my golden fury roared toward her like a train on fire. At the last second Lucky dive-bombed into the floorboards at her feet—
—directly into the sigil Orlaton had carved there for a past ritual.
The sigil exploded with light as my sorcery activated the magickal symbol. Diana's hair lifted off her head like she'd touched a live wire. The panda pin on her wrist flared bright white.
She gave a hoarse scream and collapsed in a dead faint across the rugs, nearly impaling herself on the sword as she did so.
I sprinted for her falling body, skidding on my knees for the last few feet. Her chest rose and fell and her eyes moved behind their lids. Thank god she wasn't dead. I don't know what I would have told Christian if I'd killed his mom. The truth—"Hey, I didn't know what the sigil would do but I figured you'd be okay with me risking your mom's life"—probably wouldn't have gone over so well.
I picked up her left arm and took hold of my panda pin. The blue tendrils in her skin appeared to have vanished, but that might not have meant anything. With a firm grip on the pin, cringing, I yanked it off her wrist.
It popped right off, no problem.
"Holy hell," I gasped, falling backward with relief.
I looked down at Diana. The back of her wrist had a small crater in it in the shape of my pin, but I doubted that would kill her. I briefly considered taking the sword, but decided I wanted to keep my distance from whatever happened next.
I jumped to my feet and snatched up the spear that Vale had brought along. I stood with it clenched in one hand.
The demon hadn't fully materialized yet, but I could see the shadow of it straining to pull itself free of Vale's body. It reminded me of the first time I'd tried to climb out of an extra firming Spanx slip—it had seemed impossible without ripping off half the skin from my body. The demon's upper body was rising out of Vale's in that same humiliating, squirming struggle. It hadn't formed facial features yet, but the sight of twisting horns rising pell mell out of its head and the suggestion of dozens of glistening eyeballs was enough. I ground my teeth together, fighting back a scream.
I'd faced something like this once before, and that memory was one I'd locked away for fear of going a little bit insane. To realize I was about to face another such horror made my knees weak. It cracked my confidence. I had lost in a big way during that previous encounter. Was I about to do it again?
I hustled over to the other body lying on the floor. "Orlaton, what do I do?"
The poor kid had blood on his lips and he looked scared witless. I saw a tear in the back of his robe where Diana must have stabbed him with his sword. Would he live? I had no idea. My only concern was whether we'd all survive the next few minutes.
"The blood sacrifice—my blood—initiated its resurrection," he panted. "You can't stop it, but that might be a good thing."
I gaped at him. "Are you out of your mind?"
Even at death's door, he managed to look droll. "You want it out, it's coming out. Consider it food poisoning. Vale's body needs to expel it. I would have preferred a more controlled extraction, but this may suffice."
"This isn't the exorcism I paid for," I muttered, but Orlaton had a point. "What happens once it's out?"
"The good news is that the protection circle will keep it contained."
I braced myself. "And the bad news?"
Orlaton shook his head. "It will kill Vale since he's in there with it."
Just great.
"There's gotta be something I can do. Some words I can say? Cut up a chicken? Come on, Orlaton. Give me something."
"Perhaps…" He winced and pulled himself up to his elbows. Thanks to the blood loss he looked like the living dead. He gave me a meaningful look. "It might be useful to remember that demons can't be killed."
I stared at him.
"Wow, Orlaton. That's a real help."
Disgusted, I turned to face Vale again. The demon was trapped only by its hips now. Beneath it, Vale looked like he was on the verge of death, as if the demon were stripping his life out of him as well.
Once the demon was out, would Vagasso be able to summon it? Could he pull it from the protection circle through a portal or another occult circle? A teleportation pod? Two tin cans and a string? Hell, I had no idea how these things worked. I'd never worked with demons in this way.
But one person had.
In a second I had dragged Diana into a sitting position against one of the bookshelves and was slapping her face none too gently. She gained consciousness quickly, her eyes rounding with terror as soon as she heard the demon howling. I quickly shushed her.
"You're free of Vagasso's compulsion," I assured her.
I showed her the panda pin. She immediately looked at her injured wrist.
"Oh, thank you," she breathed, her lashes fluttering shut. "I couldn't stop myself. I didn't want to do those things, I…" She began to slump.
I gave her a good smack. "No, no, stay with me here, Diana. I need you to tell me how you sent the demon into Vale."
Her eyes snapped open. "It was an accident!"
"I know that," I growled impatiently. "You were trying to send it into a mirror. How were you intending to do that? I need you to tell me the process of the curse."
She struggled like someone who'd just woken from a coma. I could practically see her digging through her foggy brain for the memory. But finally she found it. Haltingly, she managed to spit it out. When I thought I understood it all, I stood.
"You're going to help me," I said with a look that told her it wasn't a request.
Looking fearful, either because of me or the horror show happening behind me, she nodded.
The demon was nearly out of Vale, and from the look of things, Vale was nearly dead. I did my best not to think of him. With the pawn shop spear held in both hands, feeling like a female Attila the Hun, I approached the circle.
It was with a growing sense of horror that I watched through the green glow as the demon pulled the rest of its dark form free. The moment it shook its clawed foot loose, Vale collapsed in a dead heap on the floor. He resembled the shed skin of the monster that had emerged.
And what a monster it was. Hollywood liked to portray demons as humanoid and yes, there were some that were versions of us. Ones like Liliana, the kind that walked the Earth and hid among us.
But not this one.
The deeper into Hell you descended, the more twisted and horrific beings became, as though you were driving car that had run off the road and was driving farther and farther into the darkness, smashing into bushes and plants and picking up leaves and limbs and mud that stuck to it and gradually transfigured the car's silhouette until it no longer resembled your Toyota.
Aglasis was from somewhere deep, where things existed that defied physics and logic. Where creatures were born from a primordial placenta of horror, rage, pain, and madness. Demons like Aglasis were neve
r meant to walk upon the Earth and it showed. The ground seemed to quiver beneath it, as though repelled by it.
I sympathized with the ground. I wanted to turn and run. Wanted to vomit and pluck my eyes out as soon as I was far enough away which, if Aglasis existed anywhere on Earth, meant another solar system entirely.
"This is such a bad idea, Anne," I whispered as I stared up at the demon.
I could feel my heart thudding against my ribcage. My skin was frosted with ice beneath my jacket. Hell wasn't yet in the bookshop, but it could be if Vagasso got his hands on this horrific demon.
I couldn't let that happen no matter how crazy my plan was.
No matter how terrified I was of implementing it.
I took a deep breath, and then I stepped forward. I swiped my foot through the circle of salt, breaking the protection circle that kept the demon safely contained.
Immediately Aglasis spun to face me, which was extra awful because I hadn't realized I'd been looking at its back. Facing me, it looked like something you pulled up out of a clogged sink, all dripping, tangled, long black hair hanging from mottled, muscular limbs—five that I could see but with the hair there could have been more. Its limbs were of varying thicknesses and lengths so that the demon hunched over itself in a gruesome asymmetry that made my mind want to shriek.
Even warped, it was nearly seven feet tall. From the top of it, which may or may not have been its head, sprang twisted black horns. There was madness in their corkscrew reach, a tentacle-like hideousness.
And then there were its eyes, oh, Jesus, those eyes. So many. So bloody. I wanted to close my own and simply wail.
Instead, I took one step inside the broken circle and thrust the spear through Aglasis' chest.
The spearhead slid in easy, like a fork into a baked potato. Just like a fork, it wasn't a barbed hook. I wouldn't be able to keep the demon speared for more than a couple of seconds. So as Aglasis roared its fury and hate, vibrating the spear handle violently in my grip, I called up Lucky and wrapped my golden dragon around the monstrosity writhing on the end of the spear.
Aglasis fought. Oh, did it fight. I braced the end of the spear's handle against the floor and put my foot against it for support. At the other end of the spear lay madness. It was worse than a python battling an alligator while both were balanced on the end of a toothpick. It was ugly and it was wild and I could tell I was losing control—
Until Vale's gargoyle leaped into the mix. Though only a fraction of the size of the other two creatures, the gargoyle was quick and fast and more importantly, it was smart. It darted in with its clawed feet and scraped at the demon's multiple eyes. Whenever the demon began to gain the upper hand against Lucky, the gargoyle dove in like a hyper-aggressive eagle and ripped out tufts of black hair.
The tide began to turn in my favor. With the spear braced on the floor between my feet, I used my weight and Lucky's help to swing the entire shish kebab of horror out of the circle.
I heard Orlaton gasp, "You're mad!" and he was so right and what I was attempting was so crazy that I actually laughed once, like a maniac.
No, like a dragon.
The staff shook wildly within my claw-like grip. I had to pour a dangerous amount of energy into Lucky to make him strong enough to stand up to Aglasis. More than I used at Christian's house.
I could feel myself snarling and spitting. My body was on fire and bright enough to beat back all the shadows in the rotunda. The urge was nearly overwhelming to drop the spear and launch myself at the demon in my own dragon form. To rip its throat out and then, with a roar of triumph, join Lucky in a gleeful rampage of the city.
You can't, Anne. You can't!
Yeah, I didn't need that freaked out voice in my head to know that this was one time I needed to be Wonder Woman both in strength and in goodness. If I gave in to the dragon, Las Vegas would become Hell on Earth, and not in a way that had anything to do with strip clubs or party drugs or tourists with blinding white legs in the summer. I had to beat this demon as plain ol' Anne Moody.
I resisted the call of my ancestral blood and focused instead on the rest of my body. Adrenaline was a hell of a cocktail and I was pretty much drunk on it. I tapped into it. Channeling Brienne from Game of Thrones, I swung the spear out of the circle while the coiling, writhing battle raged atop it.
I glanced back at Diana, who had risen to her feet and stood fearfully beside the stacks.
"You ready?" I yelled at her.
She was muttering something I couldn't hear and her hands were working again. Either she was having a stroke or she was doing what she was supposed to be doing.
"Diana!" I yelled again when she didn't respond.
Still, she didn't look at me.
I didn't know if I needed to wait or if she wanted me to keep doing what I was doing... What a dilemma.
Well, I never was very patient.
"Now!" I shouted, praying I'd chosen correctly.
I flung the demon off the end of the spear like a pit master shaking off a brisket. Aglasis and Lucky arced through the air. At the last second I yanked Lucky back into me. It was like punching a porcupine into my chest.
"God," I wheezed, bending at the waist.
It was total agony, but all I cared about was the demon, which crashed into the same manticore statue I had hid behind earlier. The statue rocked back beneath the impact and then settled with a thunk on the floor again.
Hairy, scary Aglasis was nowhere in sight.
"Is it in?" I gasped. "Did you finish the curse?"
Diana nodded slowly, but I wasn't completely sure she'd heard what I'd said. For several seconds after she uttered the last word she stood staring in trepidation at the statue. She wasn't the only one. I kept waiting for the thing to burst into motion and tear us both to shreds.
But as the seconds passed, I dared to loosen the death grip I had on the spear.
"That worked," Diana finally whispered. She pressed her palms to her white cheeks. "I didn't think it would. I thought for certain it would devour our souls and we'd rot for eternity in Hell."
"Jesus, I'm glad you didn't tell me that before we tried it!"
She shrugged. "Would it have changed your mind?"
She had a point.
I glanced at the bloody figure on the floor. "Sorry, Orlaton," I said, not really sorry, and then I called up Lucky and had him smash the manticore statue into a thousand pieces that scattered across the floor.
"I liked that statue," Orlaton muttered.
"I'll give you a hundred dollar credit at Moonlight."
I slumped against the spear. The temperature in the room was back to normal and I was drenched in sweat. My limbs trembled like I'd run a marathon while carrying King Kong on my back. All of me ached. But I couldn't let down my guard yet.
The wards hadn't been hit for a while but I doubted that meant Vagasso had packed up his toys and left. More likely he was waiting on Diana…or planning a way in that wouldn't alert the Oddsmakers that he was a powerful dark spirit.
I looked hopefully to the gargoyle. It had shifted back into Vale and he looked like he'd returned from visiting the place where I'd just sent the demon.
"You put up some fight," I said to him, just to get him to raise his head where he sat slumped on the floor, totally naked.
Unfortunately, I was so exhausted that I was in no position to judge a Chippendale's dance-off much less the attractiveness of a man who'd just vomited out a demon.
"I need a drink," he said roughly.
I snorted. "Shots are on me if we survive this."
He dragged both hands down his face and peered over his fingertips at me. "I'm holding you to that."
I retrieved his clothes from the bathroom and helped him redress. Together, we hobbled like an elderly couple for the door.
"I'll call an ambulance, Orlaton," I said from over my shoulder.
He lay with his head cradled on his arms and seemed to nod.
"No," Diana spoke up. "I'll take
care of him." She kneeled beside him and gently laid her hand upon his shoulder. "He's my responsibility. Besides, you don't want to answer to the Oddsmakers for bringing in outside help to clean up family business."
Ah, I'd forgotten about the whole lay low business. Seemed kind of pointless to worry about it now, but I guess Diana still thought she could get out of this without consequence.
She lightly stroked Orlaton's thin hair. "This is my debt, and I will repay it to this young man."
"Orlaton, you okay with this?" I asked him.
"Just get out of my life, Miss Moody," he mumbled, "before you make it any worse."
Gee, nothing like an appreciative audience.
At the front door of Tomes, I brought Vale and I to a stop. He hung on me like another set of clothes and I wasn't doing too hot either. But at least I hadn't just given birth to a monster.
"If Vagasso is out there, this is going to get ugly, fast," I warned him. "Maybe you should stay inside."
He gave me a look. "Are you familiar with the word 'emasculating'?"
"Are you familiar with the word 'toast'?"
He tightened the arm that was slung across my shoulders, proving that he might be weak now, but he certainly didn't lack for muscles.
"I want my pound of flesh, too, Moody. If it wasn't for Vagasso and his demon, I'd be the big, strong man in this situation."
"You make it sound so awful," I scoffed. "I've seen you naked and I'm halfway to molesting you. It wasn't all bad, Vale."
He smirked tiredly and his deep brown gaze met mine. "When you put it that way I guess it wasn't."
I could have stood there all day, cracking jokes to make him smile and look at me like that. But there were things that needed doing. Specifically, one dark spirit that needed the heave ho. I propped Vale against the wall near the door.
"Let me see how bad it is," I told him. "It may turn out that I'll take any help I can get. Even help from a beat-up, raggedy-looking gargoyle."
He snorted. "You really know how to build up a guy's ego, Moody."
I shot him a smile, then called up Lucky to hover over my shoulder as I carefully, slowly, cracked open the front door of the bookshop.