Devil's Paw

by Debra Dunbar

  He shrugged. “In Aaru, you quickly learn to trust no one.”

  But he trusted me enough to tell me this much, at least. A demon. I shook my head at the absurdity of it all.

  “Do you suspect an angel killed them?”

  Gregory’s eyes met mine. “I don’t know. It seems implausible, but the manner of their death gives me cause for concern.”

  “Why do you care?” I asked softly. “It’s just a demon. A demon who has clearly violated the treaty by his presence on this side of the gates. Dead is dead — by your hands or someone else’s — it shouldn’t matter to you.”

  His shoulders tightened as he clearly struggled to decide how much to confide in me. “There is no reason I can think of for an angel to cover up the execution of a demon, or to kill one in such a fashion, but if one is doing so, I need to know why.”

  My mind darted back to yesterday, to the angel so determined to kill me. But Gregory was right. There was no reason for an angel to cover up the execution of a demon like this.

  “What if it’s not an angel killing them? What if…” My voice trailed off as I remembered my conversation with Dar this winter. The hypothetical one where he’d casually mentioned a devouring spirit could erase demon energy to this degree. A devouring spirit like me.

  “No matter who’s killing them, you’re the Iblis. It’s your duty to assist me in the investigation and attempt to protect your people.”

  He obviously had a different job description for Iblis than I had. None of the demons outside of my own household recognized any increased authority with the title. And demons really don’t give a flying crap about investigating murders. But I was beginning to wonder if I really was a demon anymore. Reaching over, I ran my hands down the side of the cool skin, picking the head up to examine it with my human senses.

  “How can you tell they are demon corpses? How the heck are they brought to your attention?”

  He stepped close to me, the heat from his power leak intensifying. “That is not something you need to know.”

  “This is the second one in less than six months. Are you sure you’re catching them all? Is it possible this has happened to hundreds or thousands of demons, and you’re only aware of these two?”

  I saw him shift at my words, felt a discomfort from him. “I suspect there are many more we’re not aware of, but I have no proof.”

  I stared at the head in my hands. It was just a head. A human head. I couldn’t tell the cause of death, couldn’t tell it was ever a demon. On impulse, I turned it to examine the severed portion of the neck, running my fingers along the edge of skin, which was beginning to dry and curl.

  “Was he decapitated when you found him? Was that how he died?”

  “No. It’s easier to transport a head as opposed to a whole body, and that is where the majority of the energy signatures reside. There was no visible cause of death. He appeared to have been simply removed from his body.”

  I frowned. There was no “simply” about it. This sort of thing didn’t just happen. Demons didn’t die and leave absolutely no trace in their corporeal forms. I smoothed the dried, curled edges of skin and felt something … slippery. And familiar. Again I ran my fingers across the area, sending my personal energy into the flesh. There. A small spot on his neck. It felt like that silicone stuff the angels used to cover our raw energy to keep us from using it. The trace was too miniscule for me to determine if it was the same as what the angels used, or if it was a similarly effective magic taught to sorcerers by the elves. Either way, its presence sent chills down my spine. Without the use of raw energy, a demon would be as defenseless as a human.

  “Next time, I need to see the whole body.” I put the head on the table and turned to look at Gregory.

  He nodded. “Difficult, but I will make every attempt. What do you think?”

  I glanced back at the head. Slippery blocking stuff would be angel or sorcerer. The absolute lack of any energy signature at all would be devouring spirit, according to Dar. But neither of those made any sense.

  “No fucking clue. I’m just thinking with more of the body, I might be able to pick something up.”

  He didn’t reply. An awkward silence filled the room. Why was he still here? We’d discussed the head. He’d delivered the message about tomorrow’s meeting. Was I supposed to invite him to stay for lunch?

  “What did you find out from the elves? You said last time you thought it might be possible for a sorcerer to do this, and that you’d check it out.”

  I poked at the head, rocking it backward. “I didn’t bother. You said at the council meeting you’d been mistaken, so I didn’t think there was any need to inquire further.”

  That was a lie. I’d already asked Dar to check it out and he’d reported back to me. I’m not sure why I kept our conversation from Gregory. Perhaps because I had a feeling that he was holding back information from me and I was piqued. I’m a terrible liar. He glared at me, his jaw tightening.

  “Cockroach, I know you better than that. You’re a dog with a bone, and I know you ‘bothered’. What did you find out?”

  “Nothing important, really. Dar said he wasn’t aware of any elf magic that could do this. He said it was probably a devouring spirit.”

  Gregory recoiled at my words. “I, too, had suspected a devouring spirit, but why would they leave the body behind? I’ve only seen them at the stage where they take everything.”

  I deliberately looked at the head on the table, keeping my face averted from his. It hurt to hear the coldness in his voice. “I …I’ve seen cases where they have left the physical form behind.” Like when I devoured Haagenti. Like when I devoured my first breeding tutor so long ago.

  “You’ve seen that?” Gregory made a noise back in his throat, like he was swallowing something bitter. “You’ve seen a devouring spirit? Watched one kill? That’s disgusting, even for a demon.” I couldn’t help but flinch at the revulsion in his voice.

  “Why? Why is it so disgusting?” I was angry. Demons thought devouring was perverted and icky, so I’m sure the angels thought even worse. Still, I had complicated feelings for this angel, and it hurt that he would think I was disgusting. It’s not like I could help it.

  “Grabbing another being and basically eating them? Seizing a portion or all of someone without their permission and keeping it, using it for selfish purposes? How is that not disgusting?”

  His words ended abruptly and he stared at me in shock. “You? But you’re an imp, you’re not…”

  “How do you think I killed Haagenti? There’s no way I could have taken him out at my level otherwise. I devoured him.”

  Comprehension crossed his face. “That’s what went wrong with the binding! No wonder you seized part of me and managed to keep it. If I’d have known you devoured, I would never have attempted it.”

  He would have just killed me. That was the unspoken end of his sentence. Pain lanced through me like a hot iron on every nerve ending. I knew he wanted to kill me when he first met me, but hearing this twisted something inside me. If he’d have known, I’d be dead. We’d never be where we were today. It would have all ended before it started.

  “I didn’t do it on purpose.” The hurt managed to leak into my words, no matter how hard I tried to keep it out. “If I could give it back, I would.”

  “I know,” he said, his outrage transforming into something gentle. “It’s not like you can help it.”

  His eyes were drawn to the head on the table, and he frowned.

  “I didn’t do it. I didn’t kill this demon, or the one you brought over this winter.”

  He looked back at me, assessing my words for truthfulness. “Devouring spirits are extremely rare, thankfully. I doubt there are any besides you on this side of the gates.”

  “I didn’t do it,” I insisted.

  “If a devouring spirit is killing other demons, if there’s no underlying plot or plan that would threaten the humans or angels, then I don’t care. It’s an internal issue t
o Hel, not of my concern.”

  I got the feeling that he was lying. That a devouring sprit, either in Hel or here, was very much something he cared about. But either way, he didn’t believe me.

  “It. Wasn’t. Me. And it may not be a devouring spirit. Look here.” I picked up the head and showed him the section of the neck with the tiny slippery spot. He ran his hands over it and tilted his head, perplexed. “I can’t really tell from this small spot, but it seems the demon may have been restrained.”

  Restrained. As in what he did to me when he wanted to completely block my use of raw energy.

  “Demons don’t do this. And devouring spirits certainly don’t do this. I won’t rule out a devouring spirit, but this may have involved either an angel or sorcerer.”

  He examined it closer, a small smile on his mouth. I suddenly realized that in his sneaky way, he managed to get me to reveal everything I knew, everything I suspected.

  “Okay, cockroach. I’ll withhold judgment until we have further evidence.”

  Jerk. But I still wanted to ease the pain in my chest.

  “Do you really think I’m disgusting?” Pathetic, but pride was never my sin.

  He turned that devastating smile on me, the heat from his power increasing, his spirit–self reaching out to touch me.

  “Yes. Psychotic, greedy, crass, unenlightened, and disgusting.”

  I smiled back. “Thank you. I think you’re pretty awesome too.”

  There was a moment between us. A brief second of peace where we both recognized our differences and the attraction we felt in spite of them, or perhaps because of them.

  “Tell no one else what you are,” he said, a note of worry in the seductive tone. I brushed against his spirit self, missing this caress, the feel of him. It had been all business lately, and I’d worried that my relationship with Wyatt wasn’t the only one teetering on the brink.

  “It’s a bit late for that. I announced it to a big crowd of demons after I killed Haagenti.”

  He pulled back, his lips in a tight line as he examined my face. “That’s not good. Not good at all.”

  I got the feeling that was a gross understatement.

  “They saw me kill Haagenti — saw me do it. I’m sure it’s all over Hel right now, but it’s not that big of a deal. Devouring is kind of twisted, even for a demon, but there are worse things.”

  “No, there are not worse things. If anyone confronts you about this, lie. Say they were mistaken, that it’s a vicious rumor. Don’t ever devour again. Ever.”

  “I don’t exactly run around doing it on purpose!” Well, I had done it on purpose a few times, but that had been self–defense.

  “No more,” he insisted, taking my face in his hands. “No more, and don’t tell a soul.”

  His face was close to mine, his thumbs brushing my cheekbones with a physical caress so unusual for him. I was breathless with him this close, my thoughts shifting to other, more pleasant activities. “Okay. I won’t devour again, and I won’t tell anyone.”

  I expected him to pull away, to break contact now that he’d gotten what he wanted, but his hands remained on my face, his spirit self reaching out to touch mine. I held still and closed my eyes, enjoying the heat of his power, the feel of him moving against me.

  “Are you ready for the council meeting tomorrow?” he asked, that seductive note creeping back into his voice. “It’s going to be a rough one. I have a premonition that you’ll be spending quite a bit of time in Aaru being punished.”

  I shuddered. Naked and restrained wasn’t as fun as it sounded. Maybe if I hit one of them in the face with a pastry again, I could manage to get the meeting adjourned. Probably not.

  “Seriously? I mean, I know that Gabriel guy hates my guts, but the others might vote my way, right?”

  His eyebrows shot up, practically disappearing into his copper curls. “I read your report, little cockroach. It’s incomplete and flippant. I’m not sure even I can vote in your favor.”

  “You just want to punish me again,” I complained. He seemed to get perverse joy out of dragging me up to Aaru and torturing me.

  He smiled, and I felt his touch grow even more intimate. “Well, yes. I do.”

  In retaliation I withdrew from my flesh, pulling my spirit–self deep within and away from him.

  “Nice,” he told me. “Have you practiced animating your form while dead? Can you now reside within an inanimate object or energy?”

  I moved away from him physically, extending my spirit–self fully back into my human form. So much for the prospect of angel sex. We were clearly back to business …again.

  “No. I can’t figure out how to move around dead. I just lay there.”

  He scowled. “And inanimate objects? Energy? Elements? I told you to practice these things!”

  Yeah. And I always do what I’m told.

  “Why the fuck would I want to live inside a rock or a chair? Or inside air molecules? That’s just stupid.”

  I felt his anger, but also felt a sense of urgency within him, almost panic.

  “You need to do this.” He went silent, as if he were considering something.

  “I want to take you somewhere. Show you something.”

  “Right now? I need to be back before tonight.” Crap, before that even. I hadn’t even begun to decorate. And Nyalla was upstairs, sleeping in one of my spare bedrooms. She might be alarmed to wake up and find herself alone in the house. “I can’t. I really can’t today. Maybe after the council meeting tomorrow, but not today.”

  He reached out and pulled me to him. “It will only take an hour at the most.”

  Before I could protest, he’d transported us in a disorienting jerk.

  ~5~

  I could feel the heat all around me, stealing the air from my lungs and searing my skin. The angel pressed to me, smashing a furnace of power against my front, while the natural element of the forest fire raged against my back, squeezing me uncomfortably between them. I felt the threads of my clothing smolder, exposed skin beginning to blister. We were close, practically inside the blaze.

  Pull back as you burn.

  I did as the angel said, distancing my spirit self from the flesh. I still was aware of the pain, but it was as if I watched another. Thick smoke blurred the angel who was inches from my face, and I closed my useless eyes. I burned.

  There was a caress against me. I felt his admiration and his attraction. Whatever it was I was doing, I seemed to be doing it properly, according to him. Even with the distant pain, the edge of fear as my body died, I felt safe. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me; I’d be okay as long as he was near.

  My body failed, lungs choked with smoke, skin cells erupting. I tried to move an arm, but couldn’t figure out how to do it without extending my spirit self dangerously into the dead flesh. Struggling a few seconds on my own, I turned to him, awaiting his instruction. This was a lesson, and I was an eager pupil in the arms of an angel who was older than the sun.

  Let the body go. See without eyes. Hear without ears. Move without limbs.

  I’d die. What did he want me to house my spirit self in, if not this burning flesh? I felt the physical form of the angel shift like molten lava, his spirit self still reassuring against mine. Did his flesh burn too?

  Open your eyes and see.

  I knew he didn’t mean human eyes. Reaching out with my senses, as I did while in Aaru, I saw him, a smokeless fire before me, shielding my burnt body from total consumption by the inferno around us. What would happen if my body was completely destroyed by fire? I’d learned to exist safely inside a corpse, but had an uneasy feeling I’d die if the body no longer existed. He moved, as if to leave me to the fire, and I pressed against him in panic, my spirit self clinging to his for protection.

  Let it go.

  No fucking way. I couldn’t think of any Owned form that would safely exist in the blaze around me. The only option left was to hold on to this angel as if my life depended on it. Because my life did depe
nd on it.

  Let it go. Trust yourself. Trust me. I’m here to catch you, like a safety net.

  I was like a trapeze artist frozen at the apex of a swing, on the verge of releasing from the bar to fly free a moment before snatching another. Would I have the courage to let go, to trust I’d survive that moment of free–fall? Or would I swing back, clinging to incinerated flesh?

  Let go. Become the flame.

  But how? I felt his spirit self merge slightly with mine, two becoming one in a thin line of translucent white. Yes, I could create fire, but how could I house myself in a form of energy? The angel before me had, but I wasn’t an angel. None of us demons were angels anymore. We’d devolved — perhaps too far for this sort of thing. I didn’t trust that I could do it and live.

  I have you. I won’t let go, he insisted.

  I didn’t trust myself, but I did trust him. I jumped, feeling the remains of my human body fall away into flame and ash. There was the familiar stab of panic and joy, just like what I felt when I exploded out of my physical form and collapsed it back into a new one, converting the matter around me to my whim. For a second, I was free, a being of spirit unrestrained. I spread thin, stretched and on the verge of dissipating into nothingness. Fire of my doing burst around me, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it cloak me. The stretching became painful, and I felt a tear at the edge of my being, where the scars from my fight with Haagenti would always remain.

  I’ve got you.

  And he had. My panic subsided, leaving me shaky and drained. I wouldn’t be doing this again. No fucking way. I’d almost died. If he hadn’t been here to catch me, I would have died. Whatever it was I was supposed to have learned, I hadn’t. I’d failed, and I just wanted to go home, out of this fire, to where I could remain safely in a flesh form, as I had for centuries.

  Try again. His voice was gentle, but I heard the firm command behind the softness.

  No. I hated to disappoint him, didn’t want to admit to my failure and my terrible fear to try again. I just couldn’t. Couldn’t. For a moment my panic returned. What if he forced me? Pulled away and threw me over the edge? There was nothing I could do to stop him.