The Trouble with Demons

by Shearin, Lisa

  That made two of us.

  I didn’t know what I could do to help, but I wasn’t going to let him down. I’d think of something.

  The students who had been sitting at the café table with Piaras had knocked over their chairs and scrambled out of the line of fire should that demon be able to strike back. All of them ran except for one young goblin student—Talon Nathrach. Piaras’s friend. The son of a more-than-good friend of mine, Tamnais Nathrach.

  Piaras’s expression turned from fear to fierce determination; the demon’s sharp features contorted with raw hatred. If Piaras’s spellsong faltered, that demon would fry him where he stood—or rip his throat out like that elven mage.

  No way in hell or anywhere else.

  Vegard swore and kept his fireball in readiness, but didn’t launch it. I knew why. Interrupting another magic user’s spell with one of your own was potentially deadly for anyone in the general vicinity—especially the spellcaster. Piaras was in enough danger without me or Vegard making it worse.

  Piaras’s song held the demon immobile, but the thing was strong enough to snarl and tighten his grip on the back of the Katelyn’s neck, puncturing the girl’s skin with his claws. Katelyn screamed. Piaras snarled and redoubled his attack.

  Talon hissed a low countermelody in Goblin to run under Piaras’s spellsong, merging seamlessly into his spell. The unwholesomely handsome goblin was a spellsinger and dancer at Sirens, his father’s nightclub. I had thought his songs were limited to making the clientele horny. Apparently I was wrong. Piaras’s spell held the demon; Talon’s spellsong told the demon in no uncertain terms what was going to happen to him unless he let Katelyn go.

  Piaras and Talon were both scared to death, but they were doing what needed to be done, and damned if they weren’t doing a fine job. I’d worry about how they were doing it later. But they couldn’t keep it up for much longer.

  Vegard extinguished the fireball and carefully stepped into the area beneath the demon and the dangling girl.

  Phaelan swore under his breath.

  “Miss Valerian,” Vegard said, “I’ll catch you; you’re going to be fine. Just try to relax.”

  “Good luck with that,” Phaelan muttered.

  I elbowed him in the ribs.

  The big Guardian’s voice was calm and commanding, but most important, he pitched his voice low, carefully avoiding vocal conflict with Piaras and Talon’s work.

  I stood there feeling worthless, desperately trying to come up with a way to help without making matters fatally worse.

  With visible effort, the demon unclenched his fingers, letting Katelyn fall into Vegard’s waiting arms. Vegard pushed her in the direction of a coffeehouse. The demon’s thin lips stretched in a mockery of a smile. He had wanted to be rid of her; now he could focus all of his attention on Piaras and Talon.

  Steel weapons wouldn’t work and neither would fireballs. Dammit. Those kids couldn’t hold him all day.

  “Can the boys let him go and dive for cover?” I asked.

  “He’d roast them before they could blink,” Vegard said. “We need a demon trap.”

  “So get one!”

  “I’ve sent Dacan, but he won’t be back in time.”

  A voice brushed against my mind, its familiar intimacy like a caress of dark silk against bare skin. I didn’t need to see him; I knew who he was.

  Tamnais Nathrach. Goblin dark mage, former chief shaman for the royal House of Mal’Salin, ex-magical enforcer to the goblin queen—but right now, Tam was a really pissed-off father whose son was in mortal danger.

  “Get behind the demon where he can’t see you!” Tam commanded. “Quickly! He can’t turn while the boys still have him.”

  Tam and I had spoken mind-to-mind many times, but never like this. Never this close. Tam wasn’t just speaking to me; Tam was inside of me.

  “How . . . What the hell are you—” I blurted out loud.

  “Just do it, Raine!”

  Vegard glanced sharply at me.

  “It’s Tam,” I told him.

  We had a demon on a rampage; Tam was a dark mage. It was clearly a match made in hell. I didn’t know what he could do to help; but whatever it was, I was all for it.

  “Tell Talon to stop,” Tam ordered. “Then you can take the demon from Piaras.”

  “I can what?”

  “I’ve fought demons before.” His words came in a rush. “I can work through you; tell you what you need to do.” Silence. “Raine, my power is your power.”

  I froze, thoughts running in panicked circles in my head. I knew what Tam was saying, but worse yet, I knew what he meant.

  Last week, when I’d used the Saghred to keep innocent people from being slaughtered, Tam and his potent black magic had been right there with me. We’d worked together, combining our power, doing what had to be done. That had earned us both a lot of unwanted attention and accusations. That six lives had been saved didn’t mean a rat’s ass to our high-ranking accusers.

  “Raine!”

  “I’m here,” I snarled. My breathing was shallow and rapid. What I was about to do through Tam—with Tam—scared me more than the demon did. I didn’t like being scared; it pissed me off. Tam was asking me to unleash some demon whoop-ass, and I had no idea how.

  Piaras was weakening; the intensity of his notes wavered. The demon howled in gleeful anticipation.

  “Tell me. Now!”

  Tam did, and I understood. I didn’t have the skill or experience to do it, but Tam did. He told me what to do, and if I used his power, I could.

  In theory. I hated theories.

  “Find a mirror, thick glass, something you can force him inside of,” Tam ordered.

  Mirrors were too dangerous to keep out in the open, but several of the shops had glass in their windows, diamond panes. I didn’t need Tam to tell me that wouldn’t work. Then I saw them. Some of the kids had gotten an early start on their drinking. They’d run, but they’d left two bottles of wine behind. Two empty bottles—with corks. Let’s hear it for partying college students.

  “Would a bottle work?” I quickly asked Tam.

  Silence and some fast thinking. “Yes. Is there a stopper of some kind?”

  “Cork.”

  “Get it.”

  I snatched a bottle and cork off the table. The demon saw and laughed, a deep rumbling that vibrated through my chest all the way down to my toes.

  “You are no demon master.” He smiled, slow and horrible, and held out a clawed hand. “Come to me, elfling, and I will let the young ones live.”

  “Shove him in!” Tam growled.

  “And just how the hell am I—”

  “Visualize him flowing into the neck of that bottle and it will happen.”

  I froze. “Do I have to hold the bottle?”

  “Yes!”

  Dammit.

  “Tell the boys to release him.” Then Tam’s voice turned imploring; Tam didn’t implore anyone. “Raine, I will help you. You can do this. We can do this.”

  I felt as if I were about to step off a cliff. I swallowed. “Talon, stop.” I tried to keep my voice calm and rational. “Ease your song away from Piaras and run.”

  The kid looked at me as though I had lost my mind.

  I wasn’t entirely sure I hadn’t.

  “Trust me.”

  Talon hesitated, then carefully did as I said. He’d seen me in magical action before.

  “Let him go,” I told Piaras. “I’ve got him.”

  Piaras couldn’t believe what I was telling him to do. His song faltered and the demon thrashed and lunged. I swore. He thought I was going to use the Saghred. The kid was going to hold that demon and get himself killed to protect me from that damned rock.

  “Let him go!” I screamed.

  Piaras did and dove behind some overturned tables.

  Free of all constraints, the demon roared in triumph and turned on me.

  I had the bottle and cork in one hand, and Tam’s power coiled inside me ready t
o strike.

  We were ready for the son of a bitch.

  I thrust my empty hand toward the demon, fingers spread, much like Piaras had done. Piaras had only focused a spellsong; I was focusing Tam. My arm shook with the effort and my shoulder was on fire. Tam’s power exploded through my body, my own surging upward to meld with it. Tam’s dark magic rushed up from the deep, primal core of him. My own magic coiled and flared through my body, seeking and triumphantly finding the source of Tam’s power. It was like a well, dark and deep. I dove in headfirst.

  The demon’s roar turned to a scream of rage and disbelief, and finally to a thin shriek as Tam’s magic shoved him face-first into the bottle with enough force to knock me on my ass. I shoved the cork in and grabbed the bottle in a two-handed death grip, holding it as far away from me as possible. Purple mist writhed inside.

  I really wanted longer arms.

  Chaos surrounded me. Vegard was barking orders, and Guardians were running out of the Quad to carry them out. Meanwhile, more Guardians were arriving, and so were officers of the city watch. From Vegard’s expression and all the armed men shouting and running around, you’d think we were under attack. And here I was sitting on my ass holding a demon in a bottle. I got to my feet. My knees were a little shaky, but I made it.

  “I’ve got him!” I yelled to Vegard over the din. “What’s the problem?”

  “You have one, ma’am. There’ll be more just like him.”

  I gripped the bottle tighter. “More?”

  “It’s a Volghul, Raine,” said Tam’s voice in my head, as if that explained everything. It didn’t. Tam sounded as though he was running. I don’t know how I could tell, but I could.

  “What the hell’s a Volghul?” I asked Tam, Vegard, or whoever could tell me what was going on. And why were Guardians in full battle armor running into the Quad?

  “There will be more of everything,” Vegard told me.

  I was incredulous. “Some lunatic is summoning these things?”

  “Volghuls aren’t summoned,” Tam said. “They cross over by themselves. Vegard knows this.”

  “Cross over?”

  “Through a Hellgate.”

  I stopped breathing for a few seconds. “You mean a gate to Hell? Literally?”

  “If by Hell you mean the dimension in which demons reside, then yes, I mean a gate to Hell. Volghuls are advance guards.”

  I froze. “Guards in advance of what?”

  Vegard and Tam answered me at the same time. “A legion of demons.”

  Chapter 3

  We were in the headquarters of the Isle of Mid’s city watch. Bars on the windows, bars on the cells, and wards just about everywhere. Most people would feel safe, but I wasn’t most people. One, I was a Benares, and we didn’t feel safe anywhere there were bars, unless it had bar stools and a lot of rum, which I could use a shot or two of right now. Two, according to Vegard, things were on their way here that iron bars and wards couldn’t hold, at least not for very long. Every Guardian and watcher was now on full alert. Anyone on leave was being recalled, and a day off had just turned into on duty. The demonology department faculty was aware of the situation and was taking steps. I hoped they were big ones.

  I hadn’t seen any demons on the way here. Aside from a lot of heavily armed men, daily life and classes seemed to be business as usual. Word had to be getting around about the demon in the Quad, but as of yet, there was no terror in the streets. Then again, on an island full of magic users, seeing a demon might not be all that unusual. If we were lucky, people thought that a demonology grad student’s class project had escaped or something. The last thing the authorities on Mid needed right now were panicked citizens.

  The possibility of an impending demon invasion did deflect some uncomfortable questions. Vegard told the chief watcher that I didn’t murder that elven mage. It was Vegard’s word and the word of his Guardians versus the groundless accusations of citizens with an overdeveloped mob mentality. My accusers had come out of hiding only after the fight was over; what they had seen was me confirming that the dead elven mage was indeed dead. It wasn’t my fault they mistook confirmation for carnage.

  My being wrongly accused of murder wasn’t anyone’s biggest concern right now, and fortunately, neither was the other thing that I’d done.

  I’d just taken out a demon in front of hundreds of people using a magical skill that obviously wasn’t mine. My enemies would think I’d used the Saghred. Actually, having them think that was better than what I’d really done. I was linked in some way with a goblin dark mage. To certain powerful and influential people on Mid, that was an even worse offense. It wouldn’t matter to them that I’d saved student lives. I’d be declared elven public enemy number one within the hour, if not sooner.

  The purple demon was imprisoned in the wine bottle like an evil genie. The bottle was sitting in the middle of the floor in a jail cell so heavily warded it crackled. I wholeheartedly approved of the city watch’s security precautions; I didn’t think they were in the least bit excessive. I just hoped they held.

  And I thought shopping and an attempt on my life would be the worst that could happen to me today. Though I shouldn’t complain, I wasn’t the one who’d had my throat ripped out. That dead mage was downstairs on a slab in the morgue. Some of the students were in the infirmary—a few had broken bones, but none had been killed. Katelyn Valerian was one of those in the infirmary. Considering that a demon had her neck in his claws, she was doing surprisingly well, though we’d almost had to drag Piaras from her side to come here.

  We were sitting outside the corner office of Chief Watcher Sedge Rinker. Piaras sat on one side of me, Talon on the other.

  The room was one big office area filled with the usual: desks, chairs, file cabinets, watchers, accused perpetrators, and plenty of noise. Cells lined one wall. Some had bars, some had wards, and some had both. If the city watch had gone to the trouble to apprehend someone on an island full of magic users, I guess they wanted to make sure they stayed put. One cell held a couple of students who looked as if they’d done something last night that’d sounded like a good idea after a few rounds. A few hours behind bars and killer hangovers were giving them second thoughts. The Guardians had captured four of the blue demons that had attacked that mage and then us. They were in a warded cell. The wards were thick, but not thick enough for me. The demons hadn’t taken their beady, yellow eyes off of the three of us since we’d arrived. With Piaras and Talon, I couldn’t tell what their interest was, but having demons interested in the boys was bad enough. I didn’t know anything about demonic facial expressions, but from what I could see, I think they were either afraid or in awe of me. I’d take either one, even though I knew it wasn’t me they were terrified or intimidated by. When I’d taken on their purple leader, they’d gotten a good whiff of the Saghred. I didn’t blame them one bit for being afraid—that damned rock scared me, too. But what Tam and I had done had scared me more.

  I glanced at Piaras. Being escorted to headquarters by watchers and Guardians was yet another first for Piaras that was a direct result of knowing me. Most of the trouble I’d gotten into, Piaras had been sucked into right along with me.

  Phaelan was still in Sedge Rinker’s office with Vegard. I had given my statement, then the boys had come in and told Sedge their part of the story. While they did, I’d stayed with them. For all intents and purposes, I was the closest thing Piaras had to family on the island. He was the grandson of my landlady back in Mermeia. I had lived in the apartment above her apothecary shop. Piaras was like the little brother I never had. And since Tam was the closest thing I had to a man in my life, I felt compelled to keep an eye out for Talon’s rights, too.

  Not that Sedge Rinker was going to violate anyone’s rights. Sedge wasn’t just Mid’s chief watcher; he was also good people. He didn’t get to be chief by sitting behind a desk all day. He was a consummate professional, knew his business, and cared about the safety of his citizens. Sedge did tell me that
before the elven mage’s fatal run-in with the demons, he had been the chairman of the college’s demonology department. I hoped one of those steps the department faculty was taking right now was finding themselves a leader who stood a better chance of survival than their recently deceased predecessor.

  I sighed and slouched in my chair, crossing my legs at the ankles. I think even my bones were tired.

  I glanced sidelong at Piaras. He’d been running a nervous hand through his dark curls, making them even more tousled than normal. Though if he stayed around me for much longer, he’d probably get some white hairs to go with the dark. Piaras was tall and lanky, and he didn’t quite know what to do with his height, so he had a tendency to slouch, which was about the only comfortable position in these torture devices that passed for chairs. I guess watchers didn’t care if accused criminals were comfortable or not.

  “Sorry, sweetie,” I told him.

  Piaras still looked straight ahead, but one corner of his lips curled upward, trying for a smile. “We’re making this a habit, aren’t we?”

  He tried to sound casual, but I wasn’t buying. The kid had a death grip on the arms of the wooden chair he was sitting in. I didn’t think he even realized it. Probably his first time in a watcher station, along with being his first time latching on to a demon.

  “No, I’m making this a habit,” I told him. “You just keep coming along for the ride.”

  His lips twitched again and his grip lightened. A little. “You’d think I’d know better by now.”

  “Hey, at least this time we weren’t kidnapped, tied up, and blindfolded. The watchers asked us nicely and there were no handcuffs involved. And we’re not in a cell.”

  Piaras almost grinned. “That is an improvement, isn’t it?”

  “Damn right, it is.”

  “So, how many times have you been arrested?” Talon piped up, his aqua eyes sparkling.