Another bolt of lightning sped toward me. I slid backward. It flashed over the top of my head as I lunged forward.
Realizing he couldn’t stop me, Bandhal pulled away from the rain queen. She didn’t cease though. Her bolts of lightning kept coming, though they moved right past me toward the fires where Renee and Gary were presumably laying.
The swoosh of it slapping against energy filled my ears. Good. Scott was back at it, keeping the others safe. Hopefully he would be able to keep the field up long enough for me to take out Bandhal and the queen.
Bandhal came at me, his fists glowing with the power of his ancestors. My fists were glowing too, but it was with my father’s demonic energy. It slid out of me like hot lava, burning as it pulled itself from my pores. I dodged his first attempt to punch me and drove my own fist into his ribcage. I felt it crack against the weight of my fist and watched him yelp in pain.
“You’re making a mistake,” he gasped. His eyes narrowed, and I could tell from the way they darted back and forth in his head that he was trying to conjure up something magically offensive. “This won’t end, Detective Morgan. Don’t you understand that? He’ll burn down the world looking for her! She’s the only one! She’s the only person who can help him!”
“Why?” I asked, slugging him in the face. Demonic energy swam over his skin, causing boils to appear on his cheek where my fist landed. Damn. I had some potent demon energy swirling around inside of me. “Why is she the only one who can help him?”
“Because she’s the only one!” he said like I hadn’t heard him the last ten times. A swirl of power leapt from his hands right before they collided with my chest and sent me flying through the air. My demon side took over, and my body flew into action. Flipping backward, I landed on my feet. Power flowed through me, negating the ancestral energy Bandhal was throwing at me.
“She’s the only one left. Don’t you understand? If there was another, she wouldn’t matter. It has to be one. It has to be the only one. Don’t you get it?!” Bandhal cried.
“No, I don’t get it” I said through gritted teeth. “But I will.”
The demonic energy had spread throughout my entire body now. Not only had it infiltrated my body, but it felt like it was poisoning the warlock power inside of me.
It mingled with my warlock side, making it something else, something new. I had spent so long keeping the pieces of myself separated, knowing my warlock side would try to destroy my demon side and kill me in the process. I never stopped to imagine what might happen if my demon side proved stronger.
It twisted my abilities, tinting them with hunger, spoiling them with darkness.
And made them much more powerful.
I extended my hand and a demonic tentacle shot from it. Red, like my demon eyes, it roared toward Bandhal, latching itself onto him and covering him in a cocoon of power.
Then I started to feed.
I had never been able to feed from someone without touching them before. I’d never thought it was even possible. It was though. It was more than possible, and it was feeding a hole in me I had never thought could be filled.
Instantly, I swallowed up every last one of his abilities. All of his power, all of his memories, all that he was and had ever been was inside of me now.
As I turned away from him, a withered and destroyed husk fell to the ground where Bandhal used to be.
I threw myself backward, landing on the floor. Now that it was fed, the demon was happy to revert back into my subconscious, leaving me to stare in abject horror at what I’d just done.
I had killed him. I had killed Bandhal. He was just a kid from South Africa who was only doing what he thought was right. Sure, he might have been willing to let me, Gary, Scott, and Renee die in order to save his queen, but was I any different?
I would let the world fall apart if it meant saving Renee. He told me the Benefactor would kill every supernatural creature in the world to get to Renee, and perhaps I would have allowed that too. I searched his memories, the ones that came along with the snack pack I had made of his soul. He had no idea why Renee was so important in all of this. All he knew was that she was, and that left me in the exact same position as I’d been in before, save the fact that I was now a murderer.
I shook my head. I had always known there was a monster inside of me I knew I would have trouble keeping it at bay and I knew that- should the moment even come that I decided to let it loose fully, I might never be able to pull it back in. And I certainly wouldn’t be able to undo whatever the monster might accomplish on its path of destruction. Still, I never thought I was capable of something like this. I never thought I’d be able to kill someone who didn’t deserve it. What had I done?
Something horrible, of course. A voice inside my head chimed. It was a thousand voices all at once, all tinted with the same accent Bandhal had.
“The ancestors,” I gasped. Of course, feeding on Bandhal meant I got what made him special for a short time. I had all the South African tribal ancestors bouncing around in my head, all speaking as one. And they were pissed.
You killed an innocent, demon. You proved everything anyone has ever said about you. And you did it for nothing. She’ll still end you, demon. Our queen will still survive. She’ll kill you and then the girl. The Benefactor will not stop without the girl. She has to go inside. She has to open the door.
My mother’s words rang through my head. She had called Renee the key to a door, but what door?
Looking up, I saw the rain queen over me. Her eyes had gone normal again. She was free of the Benefactor’s pull and, judging by the way she was nodding along to what the ancestor’s statements, it seemed she could hear everything they were saying in my head and agreed with most of it.
Her dark lips parted as she spoke with an accent thicker than Bandhal’s had been.
“He killed my mother in an attempt to free himself, demon,” the rain queen said, shaking her head. “For the spell necessary to free him is a strong one. It takes the blood of all that is rare to bring forth the door.” She pointed to the swirling tear in reality that spun overhead. “And it takes a true oddity- the last or only of its kind- to allow him through it. He thought my mother was the last rain queen, but I was already born. Even now, I have a cousin who will take my mantle should I die.” She looked in the direction where Renee was likely lying. “But she is the last Cypress, the last of his heirs, and she will do nicely.”
What the hell did that mean? Who cared if she was the last Cypress, and who was she the heir of?
“You’re not taking her,” I said, stumbling up to my feet. I felt Scott at my back, helping to lift me up. “I won’t allow it.”
Looking back, I saw my brother. He looked drained and bloody, which made sense, given what he’d just been through. There was something else there too though, something I wasn’t sure I expected. He was there for me. Even after all of this. Even after nearly consuming him, he was there.
“I’m not taking anyone, demon. This isn’t my fight. The ancestors know the truth. They tell you now as they tell me. The Benefactor will corrupt the minds of all on the earth to pull himself back to this dimension. He will tear a hole in the world to get what is needed. He will never stop. But the spell will not allow that for the last sacrifice. The last of her kind will have to give of herself freely, with control of her faculties. Otherwise, the spell will not take hold. Renee will have to offer herself up to the door in order to open it. That’s the only way this will stop. And it must stop.”
“Go back there,” I whispered to Scott. “Keep her safe. You might not trust her. You might not understand her, but if you want me to really forgive you, then keep her safe. Because I’m not letting her go into that damned thing.”
“Something happened, baby brother,” Scott said, squeezing my shoulder. “Something’s happened to Renee.”
My heart jumped, but before I could ask what was going on, the rain queen continued her tirade.
“You would give your life
for her. Would she do the same for you? We will soon see.” Lightning flashed through her eyes and fiery agony burned through me. The rain queen was giving me everything she had. She was calling Renee out, and she was using the threat of my death to do it.
26
The lightning tore through me, causing my lungs to collapse. It fried the synapsis in my brain and sent shockwaves through my bones and muscles. I felt like I was melting away into a horrible agony, like the person I was had dissolved into an inconsequential puddle of pain and fluid. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could ride the lightning. Certainly not much longer, though I wasn’t sure that was the point.
The rain queen was attempting to get Renee to sacrifice herself, to through herself into that damned tear and allow the Benefactor to slide into this dimension unencumbered. The idea of that stung on several different levels. I had no idea who the Benefactor was. He may have been the reincarnation of Mary Poppins for all I knew, and his master plan involved nothing more sinister than enjoying tea and crumpets in a park somewhere.
Something told me that wasn’t the case though. Something told me this was a bad dude who wanted bad things. This dimension likely wouldn’t be safe with him running around it. Still, even that was secondary. The fate of the world didn’t matter to me nearly as much as the fate of a solitary woman.
I’d have rather died a thousand deaths than let Renee give herself up for me. I’d go through this for centuries. I’d endure hundreds and hundreds of years of unrelenting pain if it saved her from that fate.
All I could do was hope Renee knew this, hope she knew enough not to throw herself on this sword the way I definitely would if the positions were reversed.
Maybe Scott could help with that. I’d told him to keep her safe, to do whatever it took. He’d said something though. I couldn’t remember exactly what through the fog of hurt and despair running through my mind now.
It was something strange, something unsettling, something about Renee.
Panic filled me. Something had happened to her. Scott had said something happened to Renee.
The intensity of the assault grew greater and greater with each passing moment. My jaw locked up. My joints tensed and began to shake. I couldn’t see anything as the power streaming through me increased tenfold.
I’d have screamed if my jaw hadn’t contracted into one solid piece.
This is how you die, demon, the ancestors said in my mind, taunting me in one solid voice which sounded like thousands. Ironically enough, I heard Bandhal’s voice right along with them. Wasn’t that fitting? I had sent the boy to the ancestors he revered so much and now he was going to watch me die alongside them.
You should have listened, they said. You should have listened when he told you to give her up. She’s not worth it, demon. She isn’t worth your life. She’s not worth the end of the world. We should have known you’d refuse to see reason. After all, you’re a monster, and monsters don’t listen.
As they spoke, the agony ravaging my body stopped hurting. The energy was still hot, plentiful, and everywhere, but I just didn’t feel it anymore. Still, even without the pain, I knew it was killing me. I felt weak, I felt empty, and more than anything else, I felt alone.
Strange thoughts passed through my mind. Though my mother’s soul was gone, scattered throughout the ether, the idea of finding her after my death brought me comfort. Maybe she was standing right above me. Maybe she was right past this blinding light, and after I had suffered through it enough, she would lean down, pick me up, press me close to her bosom, and take me somewhere without things like Benefactors and demons, somewhere without pain.
Maybe she’d take me somewhere I’d be happy, somewhere we’d be happy together.
But what about the world? What about Gary? What about Scott? What about Renee?
“Stop this!” a voice pierced through the blinding light, pierced through the pain, pierced through the encompassing solitude.
I recognized it instantly and the sound of it made my heart fall.
The lightning stopped, leaving me breathless and writhing on the floor.
Looking up with aching and adjusting eyes, I saw Renee standing there, face to face with the rain queen.
Frantically, I tried to stand. My body didn’t work though. Scott leaned down, picking me up. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I tried. I tried to stop her, but she’s too strong.”
“Gary?” I said, my voice low and nearly crispy. “G-Gary?”
“Is unconscious and hurt, but he’ll be okay. I’ll take care of him,” Scott answered in a way that told me I’d just won a consolation prize. Thanks for playing, here’s your participation trophy.
I looked over at Renee. She wasn’t hurt. Hell, she wasn’t winded, or burned, or anything. She was breathtaking. Her skin glowed with bright white light. A streak of gray ran down the front of her dark hair. It billowed in wind that didn’t actually exist.
And she was floating. My exceptionally human girlfriend was now pulsating with energy and literally floating in the air.
What the hell was going on?
“Renee?” I said, licking my busted and dry lips. “What’s going on?”
She looked over at me, blinking and staring as though she was seeing me for the first time or the last.
“She’s right, Roy. This won’t ever stop. He’ll never stop coming for me. He’ll never stop hurting people to get to me. I know that now. I understand it.” She shook her head. “I understand so much.”
“What happened to you?” I asked and was embarrassed to feel tears pooling behind my eyes.
“I didn’t know,” she said. Her voice was calm in a really eerie way. It was like a veil had been lifted from her eyes and, whatever she saw behind it, put her at peace. “I didn’t understand what I was, what Nate was too. We were both his heirs, Roy. We were the last of the Cypress heirs, and that meant we had his power, even if we didn’t know enough to access it.”
“Who?” I asked. “Whose heir? Whose powers?”
She shook her head as the tear in reality made a horrific gurgling noise. It was hungry. It needed to be fed.
“I’m sorry, my love,” she said. “There’s no time, and I have to do this. He won’t stop. He’ll never stop. He just wants to come here. He wants revenge on those who hurt him, who hurt the people he loved. After that, he’ll go away. He just wants his revenge, and he’ll go away.” She blinked back tears of her own. “And then it’ll all be over. You can go on with your life. You can go home if you want, be with your brother. You can get married, have kids. You can do whatever you want once it’s over. But it has to be over.”
She smiled a smile that broke my heart into a thousand pieces I knew would never really come back together. My mouth went dry and my eyes pinned onto her. This woman had found her way deeper into my heart than I ever expected her to, than I ever expected anyone to.
And now…now it was over.
“When I met you, I didn’t know the truth about who you were either. Back then, I wouldn’t have believed what really existed in the world, Roy. And I certainly wouldn’t have thought you were something so unique. But I did know you were special. I could see it in you. I could feel it coming off you, even if I couldn’t put a name to it. You’d give anything to save people, to make things right. And that’s a beautiful thing, Roy. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. That heart of yours, that gorgeous heart, is the reason you could never really be a demon. I don’t care who your father is. It wouldn’t matter if you had the blood of Hitler running through your veins. You’re a hero, and the world needs heroes, and heroes need the world. So, let me make sure they keep the best one. Let me do this for you and, more than that, let me do it for them. Because they deserve you, Roy. They really do.”
A feeling of complete and utter hopelessness filled me. It was horrible, and it was beautiful. She was going to die. She was going to give herself for me and for the world.
Fuck that.
“One ki
ss,” I said, shaking my head. “Just give me one more kiss, baby. Please.”
A sad, brief smile flickered across her beautiful face. Just as quickly, it was gone.
“Okay,” she said softly.
I moved closer, stepping into the bright, ambient light surrounding her.
I touched her hand and brought my lips to hers.
“I’ve never loved anyone like I love you,” I said. “That’s why I’m doing this. That’s why I have to.”
I pressed my lips against hers, and as the sweetness of her filled me, I called on the demon.
She shuddered at first and tried to pull away, but it was no use. It didn’t matter whose heir she was, she wasn’t getting away once the demon in me had sunk its teeth into her. I pulled back though. No inner demon, regardless of how strong he was, would ever force me to hurt Renee in a way she wouldn’t recover from. I wouldn’t damage her. I wouldn’t take any more than I absolutely had to. She’d recover soon and this would all be over for her. I could hold onto that.
I pulled at her life force, stuffing it into me. Maybe it would help her stay close to me. Maybe it would let me feel her.
That would be nice.
I pulled away as she collapsed into my arms. I laid her softly on the floor. She was going to hate me for this, but it was better than her being dead.
“What are you doing?” the rain queen asked. “It has to be finished.”
“It will be,” I answered, turning back to my brother. “You said you would take care of Gary. Take care of her too. Whatever she is, whatever the truth is, help her through it. Do that for me, okay? I might have been horrible to you. I might not deserve it, but please, just—”
“Yeah, I’ll take care of them,” he answered quickly. “But I don’t understand.”
“It takes the last of its kind to finish this,” I answered. “The last or the only. Renee might be the last Cypress, but I’m the only me.”
Flesh and Blood: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Half-Demon Warlock Book 2) Page 15