by Linsey Hall
Demon Curse
Linsey Hall
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
Thank You!
Excerpt Of Hidden Magic
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About Linsey
Copyright
1
Bourbon Street was disgusting at midnight.
I sidestepped some beads and puke and peered into a neon-lit bar that sold daiquiris by the bucket.
Nope, no demon in there.
I looked down at my tracking charm and shook it. Damned thing was faulty.
A job for the Council of Demon Slayers had brought me to New Orleans—an otherwise very beautiful city—but of course the demon had headed straight for Bourbon Street. On a Saturday night.
The result was a hunt through masses of drunken humans, all who seemed to think this was their last day on earth, and they were going to live it up with alcoholic day-glow slushies loaded with cheap booze.
Well, it wasn’t their last day on earth, but I had to bet they’d wake up tomorrow and wish it had been.
I dodged a tall man who was so wasted that he listed to the left like a ship at sail.
“Hey, pretty lady,” he slurred, his bleary eyes meeting mine.
“That’s going to be a hard pass.” I gave my voice its iciest inflection, but he didn’t seem to notice.
Instead, he reached for my hip and squeezed. Hard.
“I didn’t say you could touch.” I kneed him in the balls, giving it all my strength.
His eyes nearly ejected from his head, and he gave a long keening wail before toppling over.
“Bitch!” his friend shouted.
I turned to him and hissed.
He stumbled backward. “Uh, sorry. Sorry!”
“Morons.” Maybe I needed to engage my ghost suit. That would at least allow me to avoid these little irritations, and none of these drunks would notice bumping into someone who they couldn’t see.
But then again, I liked teaching assholes a lesson. After all, everyone needed a hobby.
I strode away, dividing my attention between the street around me and the charm in my hand. It vibrated harder the closer I got to my prey, and it was rumbling low right now.
The party heaved around me, people spilling out of bars and onto the street. Wild faces and cups of neon booze filled my vision, along with beads flying from the balconies above.
In the distance, a tall, dark-haired figure caught my eye.
Declan.
My heart leapt, just slightly. Then he turned.
Not Declan.
Not even close.
He wasn’t as tall or as handsome; his shoulders weren’t as broad. And I’d bet the guy—a thoroughly average human, at that—wasn’t half as charming or clever.
Damned Declan had been on my mind ever since we’d parted ways a few days ago. He’d figured out what I was—and promised not to tell—but since I’d created nullification magic within myself, my touch made him sick. That was one of the major downsides of repressing someone’s magic—they wanted to puke.
And as much as he wanted to kiss me, becoming physically ill while doing so was a pretty big buzzkill.
Ah, well. I shook away any thought of him and focused on the hunt.
The charm in my hand buzzed hard, and I stopped, peering into the bar next to me. It was dark and dirty, with no neon daiquiri machines. The long bar was filled with slumped-over regulars—people who considered boozing their job rather than an infrequent opportunity to get crazy.
From what I knew of the demon, I wasn’t surprised that he would be here.
When they’d sent me on this job, the council had told me that he was an Arokia demon—extremely strong and almost human looking. He specialized in stealing the senses of humans around him, making them blind or deaf. He could keep the senses for his own—thereby making his stronger—or sell them on the black market.
Though I’d normally work only in Magic’s Bend, the New Orleans demon slayer was on a well-deserved holiday, so they’d called me in.
I flicked up my hood, igniting the magic in my ghost suit, and slipped into the bar, totally invisible except for the faintest shimmer on the air. Sad sap music was playing on the radio, and I avoided getting too close to the patrons.
As expected, I found the Arokia demon sitting at the edge of the bar, cozied up to a man who was so deep in his cups that he looked like he might fall asleep. The Arokia demon wore an old hoodie to cover his horns, but the rest of him looked almost human, if you ignored the unusually gray pallor to his skin.
He had his arm draped over the man’s shoulder, looking for all the world like he was comforting him after a bad breakup. Magic sparked in the air, so faint that you wouldn’t sense it if you didn’t know to search for it. It looked like the slightest glitter of energy, traveling from the drunken man to the demon.
I focused on the Arokia with laser precision as I crept forward, drawing a dagger from the ether. Silence was key here, since the demon could have extra strong senses, depending on how many humans he’d stolen from.
I was careful to keep my magical signature repressed. It was stronger since I’d created the nullification magic, almost impossible for me to fully hide. It’d get even worse if I created more permanent magic, which I sure as hell wasn’t going to do.
But that was a problem for another day.
Today, I had a demon to catch.
The bastard in question tilted his head to the left, his hoodie shifting with the movement.
Shit.
Before I could throw my dagger, the demon leapt off the stool and ran for it.
“Hey!” The drunk nearly tipped over without the demon to support him.
I raced after my prey, who sprinted toward the back of the bar, shoving chairs and people aside.
I stayed right on his tracks, avoiding any collisions, and plowed out of the bar behind him. The alley was dark and dirty, with the distinct scents of piss and puke. I didn’t even want to think of what was happening to my boots out here.
The demon sprinted down the alley to my right, fast as a snake.
I turned and raced after him, only able to gain on him by a few feet. Damn, he was fast. My lungs heaved and my muscles burned as I ran, gripping the dagger in my hand.
He was about twenty feet in front of me. When I had a good line of sight, I hurled the dagger at him. As if he heard it whistling through the air, he veered left to avoid it. The steel plunged into his shoulder, but he didn’t make a noise, just flinched and slowed a bit.
I put on a burst of speed to catch him.
At the end of the alley, he veered right onto the street. It was much quieter there, and cleaner. No revelers or cars, just the ancient silence of New Orleans at night.
Exhaustion tugged at me, but I pushed myself faster. The demon sprinted across the street, headed straight for a voodoo shop with wide glass windows. He leapt straight for one, plowing through the glass. It shattered as he smashed into the shop.
I raced in after him, leaping over the broken glass and landing in the darkened shop on silent feet. It was cluttered with all kinds of things, from glass vials of potion to dried alligator heads that stared at me with glassy eyes.
I stopped dead in my tracks, listening for my prey.
He was smart, though, silent as the grave as he crept between the aisles.
When a potion bomb hurtled toward me, I barely caught sight of it in time. I leapt left, diving along the aisle. The glass shattered on the ground behind me, exploding outward.
Clouds of stinging dust and rocks billowed up.
I curled into a ball and covered my head as the shards rained down upon me.
No wonder he’d come in here. Arokia demons didn’t have much long-range offensive magic, but a place like this would be full of it.
On hands and knees, I scrambled around the side of the shelf, heading to the spot where the demon should be, given the direction from which the bomb had flown.
Instinct had me looking up just in time to see another bomb flying at me. Bright blue glass sparkled in the faint light from the street. I lunged forward, managing to get out of the way before the bomb exploded behind me. Icicles shot from it, sharp and fierce.
Perfect weapons, since they melted away from the crime scene almost immediately.
One of them sliced the outside of my thigh. Pain flared, and I winced, looking down. My white blood turned red on contact with my suit, spreading outward slowly.
At least it was a small cut.
Still, it hurt like hell and pissed me off.
I rose to my feet, my gaze going unerringly toward the demon, who was now sprinting for the back door.
Damn, I was so done with this hunt. I needed some dinner and a drink.
“There’s no point running,” I said.
The demon scoffed and raced out through the door. I sprinted for him, giving it all my speed as I drew a dagger from the ether. As soon as I made it through the back door and into another alley, I spotted the demon.
Carefully, I aimed, then threw, following it up with a second dagger from the ether. Then a third. The demon would dodge when he heard the first blade coming for him, so I’d made sure to cover all my bases, sending a blade in each of the directions that the demon might go.
The first two didn't hit him, but the third did, right in the back and so hard that he stumbled to his knees.
I put on a burst of speed and leapt onto his back, taking him down to the ground. He was fast—and stronger than I expected— scrambling out from under me.
Instead of running, he lunged around, leaping on top of me and slamming me to the pavement. My hood must have fallen off, because he’d had no problem finding me. Quick as a snake, he reached for my throat, his face twisted into an ugly grimace.
Damn, he was faster than an Arokia should be.
Ice cold radiated from his hands, seeping into my skin. Shock spread as my heart thudded hard, and I tried to call another blade from the ether.
“Uh-uh-uh,” the demon muttered, an evil grin on his face. “Can’t get to the ether when I’m touching you.”
What the hell kind of magic was this? The cold was seeping into my bones, but worse, it was blocking my access to my stash of weapons.
Bastard.
I called upon my new nullification magic. It wasn’t as strong as a true nullifier’s power, but that was good, since the nullification magic would crush all the other magic in my body and make me feel like my soul had been devoured. Still, the nullification magic came in handy at times like these.
I let it fill me, wincing at the emptiness that expanded inside my chest, then pressed my hands to his stomach and pushed it into him. He frowned, his hands faltering.
I pushed harder, envisioning killing his magic, making it go dead inside him. It only worked while I was touching him, but boy, did it work. His hands were no longer icy on my neck, and when I reached for the ether, I managed to withdraw a dagger.
This time, I sent it straight into his chest. He gasped, his eyes widening, and I twisted the blade.
“Have I hit your heart?” Sometimes you couldn’t tell with demons. “From the way you’re gagging, I’m going to guess yes.”
I kneed him in the stomach, kicking him off me so he tumbled to the ground. Brushing myself off, I climbed to my feet and stood over him, watching him die.
The magic he’d stolen wafted off his body, sparkles in all shades of silver and white. Would it go back to the people he’d stolen from?
I hoped so. Suddenly waking up blind or deaf would be terrifying.
He took his last breath, and I knelt by his side, patting down his pockets for any kinds of charms or goodies.
I felt a few lumps, one of which turned out to be a small black transport charm.
“Perfect.” I pulled it from his pocket and stood, looking down at him.
Sure, the nullification magic had its downsides, but it had saved my life today.
Well, maybe. I’d have probably gotten out of it. I always did.
His body began to disappear, making cleanup easy on me. I’d still be a demon slayer even if I had to clean up after myself, but damn, I was grateful I didn’t.
When the demon was gone, I hurled my new transport charm to the ground. A cloud of glittering gray smoke burst upward, and I stepped inside, letting the ether suck me in and pull me through space.
When it spat me out in front of my house in Darklane, I sucked in a relieved breath.
Home sweet home.
Sure, it looked like a haunted mansion that might fall apart at any moment, but it was mine.
And Mari’s.
We’d worked hard to build a safe, prosperous life for ourselves, and it was going pretty damned well. For the most part. Sure, there were times when we almost died or lost everything we loved—often, actually—but that was life in the magical world.
It was two hours earlier in Magic’s Bend, Oregon, and the streets in Darklane were just picking up. Unlike the other neighborhoods in town, residents of Darklane didn’t get started until later at night. Mages and shifters and Fae bustled around on the street behind me, heading to bars and shops.
Muscles aching, I climbed the stairs to my front door. Long-held habit had me running my hands over the door frame to disengage the charm that protected the house, and I stepped inside the darkened foyer. It was done up in a Gothic style like the rest of the main house.
“Mari!” I tugged my white leather jacket off and headed left, toward my apartment. “You home?”
“Yeah.” Her voice echoed from the right—her apartment.
Everyone who visited had no idea that we owned the townhouses on either side of the main one. The central townhouse was our public workspace when we were doing our blood sorceress side hustle. As for the side townhouses, Mari lived in the right one and I lived in the left.
“Come to my place if you want food!” I shouted.
“Be there in a sec.”
I rubbed my neck as I headed down the dark hallway toward the interior door that would lead to my place. We’d built the doors years ago so we wouldn’t have to go outside to get to our personal living spaces, and it’d been one of the best investments ever.
Of course, we’d had to enchant the contractor to forget he’d ever built them.
In fairness, we probably hadn’t had to enchant him, but old habits died hard and we were used to keeping up appearances and our facade. It helped us hide easier. Mostly, though, keeping people at arm’s length was a security blanket, and I had no intention of giving it up anytime soon.
I let myself into the apartment, striding through the all-white space. I found it soothing, especially compared to the Gothic chaos of our main house.
Wally waited for me in the kitchen. The black hellcat sat in the sink, his smoky fur wafting upward. Flame red eyes met mine.
“Hey, Wally.” I headed toward the little bell on the counter that connected to the Jade Lotus, the Chinese restaurant down the street. It was one of my favorites, and a bit of magic had created a portal through which food could be delivered. I rang the bell twice, for two portions.
Add one more.
I looked at the cat, brows raised. “You want Chinese?”
I’m expanding my palate.
“I didn’t see that coming.”
Wally was into souls—spec
ifically, eating them. We never discussed it, since I didn't want to know the details, but this could only be a good thing.
“Sure.” I rang the bell one more time and looked at him. “Fingers crossed it’s not vegetarian.”
He grimaced, his little shoulders flinching.
“I hope food is coming soon.” Mari’s voice preceded her into the kitchen, and she appeared a moment later.
She still wore her black leather fight clothes instead of the plunging black gown that was her normal disguise. The leather was torn and dusty, and her bouffant ponytail was a mess. The black eye makeup that formed a mask over her face was smudged.
She flopped into a chair, looking exhausted.
“Are you just now back from hunting the origin of the orb shards?” I asked.
Mari was hunting a piece of the weapon that had been used to turn our friends to stone last week. We were almost certain they’d been deployed by the same mysterious group in Grimrealm that had sent the necromancer demon to our town.
They wanted to hurt Magic’s Bend, and we had no idea why. Or who they were.
We hoped that the shards of glass orb—our only surviving clue—would tell us more.
She nodded, rubbing her eyes. “Still hunting. But those damned things are elusive.”
It was no surprise.
I grabbed a half-open bottle of wine. Though I’d prefer a martini and she’d prefer a Manhattan, we saved those for celebratory occasions where we had more energy. I poured two cups, shooting Wally a glance to see if he wanted any.
He nodded.
I arched a brow. “That’s new.”
I’m in a new phase.
“Of what?”
Renewed kittenhood.
“All right.” I poured some red wine into a little saucer.
“You sure you should give him that?” Mari asked.
Wally gave her a light hiss, nothing with real venom, then got to lapping up the wine.