Inner Demon

by Jocelynn Drake

  I walked deeper into the warehouse, sparing a quick glance at Gideon, who was now watching me in stunned horror. The air crackled and snapped with magical energy. Overhead lights popped out but were quickly replaced by glowing red orbs hovering in the air. Zyrus stirred within me as I neared the injured warlock, sensing an easy target.

  He caused you trouble, my master.

  “He’s not our target,” I snarled, forcing the demon to focus on the unicorn that was rising to his feet.

  He will harm us. We will have to kill him later.

  “Later.” I clamped down on my control of the demon and closed the distance between myself and Vincent, which helped Zyrus to forget about Gideon. The demon he’d glimpsed something from the future regarding Gideon, but I couldn’t worry about that now. I had enough trouble in my present to deal with. The future could wait.

  The unicorn was ready for me, instantly pummeling me with some threads of Death Magic he’d found a way to save. It either wasn’t as strong as what he’d used on Gideon and me, or the presence of Zyrus was making a significant difference, because the spell caused only a slight cramping before dissipating completely.

  “Now it’s my turn,” I murmured, unleashing a series of spells that rolled off my fingertips like fat drops of rain. There was no need for remembering complicated words or symbols. With Zyrus I was tapped into the raw energy of the Underworld and I could twist it into doing my every whim. The power had become just an extension of who I was, like another hand or leg. Or maybe it was just a bit of my soul. It didn’t matter. I didn’t need to think about it and I didn’t want to.

  Vincent’s maniacal laughter was replaced by his screams, which helped to ease some of the anger that had lit a fire in my brain. The horrible tension in my shoulders and the throbbing in my head slipped away with Vincent’s pain and blood.

  “Gage!” Gideon shouted in my ear. His hand clamped down on my shoulder and he jerked me around so that I was half turned away from Vincent. I blinked, feeling slightly dazed. I’d lost track of time, as if my body had stepped outside the stream of seconds as they ticked by. I shook my head to clear it and Zyrus roared inside me at the interruption. I was confused. Why had the warlock stopped me? Why was he touching me? Why was he alive . . .

  “Gage, you’ve got to stop this. There’s no reason to torture him,” Gideon argued. He was partially bent over as he stood and his face was deathly pale from blood loss. I could sense the pain that wracked his body, and it pleased Zyrus. “Just end it now,” he whispered through broken lips.

  “No reason?” The words tumbled from me, but they echoed through my brain as well. Who had said them? Was that me? Zyrus? “That son of a bitch has killed dozens to raise the dead. He tried to kill us. He was planning to kill my girlfriend and our child. Wouldn’t you let him suffer if it was your family being threatened?”

  “No. I don’t believe in torture,” Gideon said firmly. He straightened a little, meeting my gaze. Something he saw there made him flinch and his frown deepened, but I didn’t care.

  “Lies,” I snarled. Knocking his hand off my shoulder, I gave him a hard shove so that he was thrown to the ground several feet away from me. “You’re a warlock. A member of the Towers. You all torture. You thrive on fear. I was there. I know. You’re like them.”

  “That’s not true, Gage. Think. Take a deep breath and think. I’ve protected you. I have just as much to lose as you. I would do anything to protect Ellen and my daughter.”

  An image of Ellen smiling up at me at the Christmas party, the warm sympathy filling her brown eyes, danced through my brain. She wouldn’t like me hurting her husband. She wouldn’t like me fighting with the man who had protected me from the Towers. It was like a punch to the gut. For a moment, I could feel my mind ripping free of Zyrus.

  A loud, harsh gasp filled the silence of the warehouse and I stumbled back a step. It was like coming up for air after being submerged for far too long. I mentally clawed for some handhold, anything to keep from letting Zyrus take over again, but I knew it was a fight I couldn’t win for long.

  “Watch out!” Serah screamed.

  I twisted around to Vincent in time to see him pulling together a new spell. In that instant, I lost my fight against Zyrus and the demon surged back into the driver’s seat of my body and mind. Chunks of broken glass, wood, and steel jumped from the warehouse floor and flew through the air. Pure, raw energy grabbed Vincent and pressed him, spread-­eagled, against the wall, so that the flying flotsam could spear him through the arms and legs.

  Vincent laughed, a low, choking sound. “It’s fitting. A warlock destroys the last unicorn this world will ever see. And to do it, he had to be possessed by a demon. How will history remember this event? Who will be painted as the monster?”

  A slow grin spread across my faces and I stepped close to him. “No one will remember.” I reached out my right hand toward the rows of pristine unicorns and their bodies ignited one after another. Vincent’s screams were more deafening than when I’d tortured him. He struggled, fighting to pull free of his bonds both physical and magical, but it was for nothing. I stared at him, drinking in the pain deeply etched into his pale face as he watched the black smoke billowing through a broken out skylight. The last remains of his ­people were reduced to ash.

  His screams became heavy sobs as he hung his head. The last hope of the unicorns was gone in a cloud of greasy black smoke.

  “No one will remember you,” I said softly, my voice almost a caress. “No one will remember your fight to save your ­people. No one will even know you ever existed.”

  Vincent raised his eyes to my face and I knew I’d never forget the hatred that blazed there. I was glad.

  Lightning quick, I pulled a large shard of glass from where it was pinning his wrist and plunged it straight through his heart. The unicorn gasped and stiffened in pain, and the mad light disappeared from his eyes.

  As I turned away, I became aware of Missy’s hysterical screaming. Pulling the shard of glass from Vincent’s chest, I walked toward her, leaving a trail of unicorn blood behind me as it dripped from the glass. Standing before her, Zyrus stirred, overjoyed to see her bouncing between mindless rage and abject despair at the death of her companion. Her eyes were wide, and spittle and blood dripped from her lips. She tried to rise and attack me, but she couldn’t get to her feet while still wrapped in the steel rebar.

  “How could you! He was beautiful! He was perfect!” she screamed at me until her voice started to become hoarse.

  In the distance, I thought I could hear Trixie shouting for me. Or maybe it was Gideon. But I couldn’t focus on it. Missy was a Christmas gift just waiting to be unwrapped. Clenching the glass shard in my hand, I grabbed a chunk of her hair and wrenched her head back, holding it at an awkward angle. She could no longer move, but it didn’t stop her enraged screaming. That was good.

  With the glass in my hand, I slashed across her stomach, letting blood pour forth from the massive wound. Her angry curses instantly turned to pain-­filled screams that echoed off the walls of the warehouse. With a chuckle, I plunged the glass into her heart. The screams stopped with a gasp. I released her hair, letting her fall to the ground in a heap as life drained quickly out of her body.

  Backpedaling from Missy, I clung to the relief and joy that Zyrus felt because there was something sick churning in my stomach. I could hear Trixie weeping softly and it was like little daggers driving straight into my heart. Unfortunately, Zyrus heard the sound as well. The temporary pleasure it got from slaughtering the last unicorn was shoved aside by a hunger for yet another kill. A pregnant elf.

  I tried to clamp down on the demon, but the longer it was roaming free within me, the more destruction it caused, the stronger it became so that it was nearly impossible to hold my position. Stealing a glance at Trixie, I was nearly ripped to shreds by fear when I saw that she was slowly approaching me.

/>   “No,” I rasped, falling backward to my ass just so that I couldn’t walk toward her. “Get out of here.”

  “Gage . . .”

  “Gideon, get her out of here!” I roared with more force as I vainly struggled to think of a way to get Zyrus out of me. If she came too close, if she touched me, I was going to kill her and I wouldn’t be able to stop myself. The demon was pooling all of its energy toward that one mindless goal.

  She wants to leave you. She will leave you and take your child.

  “She needs to leave me,” I groaned. I clutched my head with both my hands, wishing I could rip my skull open just so I could pull Zyrus out of my brain. Pain lanced through me as the demon screamed and slashed holes into my soul. “It’s not safe. She needs to leave.” I kept repeating the words while squeezing my eyes shut, hoping that if I heard the mantra over and over again I would get control over Zyrus.

  You can’t let her leave us.

  “Gage?” Trixie’s voice sounded closer. Touchably close.

  “Gideon!” I screamed in desperation, my voice cracking. The warlock was the only thing that could protect her from me.

  A breeze brushed against me as the warlock rushed in, intercepting Trixie. “You can’t. Leave this place.”

  “He needs help,” Trixie argued, panic entering her lovely voice.

  “He’s going to kill you if you don’t leave,” Gideon snapped.

  I sensed movement near me and I wanted to cry. I’d forgotten about Serah. A gentle hand touched mine and my control over Zyrus snapped like a rubber band. We lunged for her, mouth open and fingers curled as if they were tipped with talons, ready to shred flesh until there was nothing left but a bloody puddle. A low rush of energy shoved Serah out of my reach and a scream exploded from my throat.

  Using the demon’s momentary shock and disappointment, I tangled up some dark energy with my fingers and slammed my hands down on the cold concrete. At the same time, I whispered the same words I’d used while carving the demon’s symbol into my hand. Chunks of concrete exploded up into the air around me as magic blasted down into the foundation. In a flash of bright white light, the demon’s symbol was carved into the concrete. With the last breath I could draw, I shouted the binding spell.

  Zyrus gathered its energy and launched us at Trixie and Gideon, but my body crashed against an invisible barrier marked by the edge of the symbol in the concrete floor. The demon’s rage consumed me until I felt my own consciousness floating back away from Trixie’s horrified looks and Gideon’s sadness. My body slammed into the barrier again and again in the demon’s desperate bid to be free, but the binding spell held.

  You’ve betrayed me!

  “No, you are attempting to betray me,” I said in a low, broken voice. My throat was raw from the screaming, and I no longer cared that my companions could hear me speaking to the demon I’d summoned. “Our target was the unicorn. That was all.”

  I want the elf.

  “You can’t have her. And neither can I.”

  “Gage, please, let me help you,” Trixie said softly, tears streaking down her too pale face. Blood stained her tangled blonde hair and there was more blood on her wrists where she’d struggled against the ropes. She’d been hurt because of me and I wanted to cry. This was my fault.

  I slowly collapsed in the middle of the symbol, my legs folded in front of me. I couldn’t remember ever feeling so tired in my life. My body ached. Pain reached down to my soul as Zyrus continued to throw a temper tantrum within me.

  Let her help you.

  Zyrus taunted, but we were one and I knew its hope was to have Trixie step inside the binding spell so that it could attack. I was too tired to keep holding it back. Zyrus would win and Trixie would be dead.

  “You called me Master,” I murmured, ignoring Gideon’s stunned expression. “You will obey me.”

  Zyrus cursed me, causing more pain to tear through my head, but I forced an ugly laugh when I wanted to scream. “You need me.” When the demon stilled and grew thoughtful, I closed my eyes and said silently, We need each other.

  The demon sensed the promise in those words and I felt its smile. Its struggles for control ceased completely and Zyrus redirected the energy that it had toward healing all my aches and pains.

  Turning my left hand over so that the palm was up, I looked at Gideon, who was watching me warily. “Heal the cuts,” I said, because I knew the demon would never willingly erase his doorway into my body.

  The warlock slowly released Trixie, making sure that she didn’t rush toward me before he approached us. Zyrus stirred restlessly within me, but it didn’t act as if it was plotting an attack. It was fighting its own instincts demanding that it kill the warlock. Without crossing the barrier created by the symbol in the floor, Gideon reached out his wand and used the same healing spell he’d taught me just days ago. The cuts slowly disappeared, not even leaving behind a scar.

  Zyrus gave a final snarl through my head before the demon was pulled from me and into the symbol upon which I sat. With the symbol no longer etched into my hand, the demon’s powers were sucked into the concrete floor. It was still close, watching everyone and everything, but it could no longer reach out and harm anyone.

  I slumped, leaning heavily to the side on my right forearm. Never had I felt so drained in my life. It was like my very life force had been used up by the demon. And maybe it had.

  “Is it gone?” Gideon asked cautiously.

  I nodded, patting the concrete with my right hand. “Trapped outside of me.”

  And still no one approached me. No one held me, offering comfort or support. They stayed back, afraid.

  “What the hell was that all about?” Serah demanded loudly as she walked toward Gideon and Trixie, still giving me a wide berth. “Your eyes were glowing red.”

  “A bad spell,” I lied.

  “Bullshit,” Gideon snapped, drawing my gaze up to his face. He was pissed. “What the fuck do you think you were doing? You—­”

  “You would have done the same!” I growled at him. Anger helped put some energy back into my frame so that I could push to my feet. I swayed slightly. While the pain was gone, I was still exhausted to my core. Zyrus rumbled beneath me, but it could only look on and cheer my rage. I ignored the demon. It had caused enough trouble for one day. “If that had been Ellen tied up, you would have done—­”

  “No. Never!”

  “Then you’re a coward and she’d be dead. We’d all be dead.” I stepped closer to the warlock, getting up in his face so that he couldn’t look away from me. “We had nothing. Vincent was toying with us. I wasn’t going to let that thing kill Trixie and my child because you’re afraid.”

  Gideon glowered at me, looking at if he’d like nothing more than to break my nose with his fist, but he held back. It was probably best because I wasn’t holding on to my own emotions too well My mind had become a little frayed at the edges and I couldn’t risk looking too deeply at things. I wasn’t ready to start thinking about the fact that I’d killed the last unicorn and destroyed the bodies of the others. I didn’t want to think about the fact that I’d very nearly killed my own girlfriend and our child because I’d let a demon control me. The disgust and self-­loathing would have snapped what little hold I had on my sanity.

  “The Towers will find out,” Gideon said. The warlock blinked and I saw a brief shimmer of tears in his cold eyes. My bravado wavered. What I’d thought was anger in his voice was actually gut-­wrenching fear for me; fear and disappointment.

  “Tell them. I’m not afraid of the Towers anymore.”

  Gideon nodded. He blinked again and the tears disappeared. His expression was cold and empty. “I’d once said that we would end this.”

  I recalled the moment vividly in my mind. He’d been holding the dead body of a young girl in his arms; an apprentice witch who had tried to escape the Towers and
got caught in the crossfire of a magic fight. I hadn’t thought of Alice in weeks. Another victim of the Towers.

  “And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

  Gideon turned away and clamped a firm hand on Serah’s elbow. He nearly dragged her out of the building with him, not uttering another word. I felt the tiny tugs of a smile at the corners of my mouth. The woman had been in over her head for the first moment, but it hadn’t slowed her down. She also didn’t exhibit an ounce of fear for Gideon as she argued with him every step of the way. Not only did she not understand what had happened, but she wasn’t willing to abandon me. It was touching and misguided. I needed to do something about her.

  It was with some reluctance that I looked back at Trixie. She stood several feet away, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Her tears had dried on her face and the love I was so accustomed to seeing in her eyes had been replaced by fear and a horribly deep sadness.

  “You summoned a demon,” she whispered as if she had to say the words aloud so that she could finally grasp what had happened.

  “I couldn’t let Vincent kill you.”

  “Maybe you should have.” She shook her head and bit down on her lower lip. “You say it’s gone, trapped, but I can still feel it on you. It’s what I’ve been feeling for days now. You’ve tainted yourself.”

  “And I’d do it again to keep you safe.”

  “No!” she shouted, her calm shattering at last. “You can’t do this to yourself. Not for me. I’ll stay. I’ll stay and we’ll be a family together here in Low Town. Just promise me that you’ll never summon the demon again.”

  I wish I could say that her offer tempted me. It hung in the air between us like a golden apple on a low branch. I would have the only thing I had ever wanted in this world —­ the woman I had loved for years. All I had to do was say yes.