Nightmare in Steam (Alliance of Silver and Steam Book 1)

by Lexi Ostrow

  Nothing passed through his mind, it was an absolute blank. No saying the right sentence, no torturing the demon for what he’d done. He lunged forward and impaled the Royal Guard’s sword deep into its stomach. The creature wasn’t laughing then. It’s hands tried to pull it out, but were slick with its own blood. Lucius growled as he twisted the sword to the left, then the right and finally jerked it from the Thrasher’s body. The leader hit the floor with a thump and blood splashed onto Lucius’ pants. He was breathing so hard, anger bubbling in his ears he didn’t hear Felicia yelling at him for messing things up. He turned sideways just in time to see another Thrasher coming at him, it’s claws tore across his shoulder in a blaze of pain. He let the sword clatter to the street; it was too big for the small alley. He grabbed the crystal gun and fired, sizzling a hole through the thing’s chest even as it stuck a claw into his other shoulder.

  Blood poured down his arms, but he couldn’t care. Thrasher’s had no fears, nothing he could latch onto and kill them that way. So there would be blood, his and his enemies. A beam of purple light flared to his right and he heard a demon scream. Felicia whizzed by him, a flurry of arms and legs and had thrown herself on top of the wounded demon. He stopped what he was doing and watched. Blowing yet again another portion of the plan. She didn’t move off the creature, didn’t flinch or stop pummeling it as it sliced a claw down her upper leg.

  “This one’s for my mother!” She grabbed the gun off the street where it landed in her assault and fired it, directly against the Thrasher’s head. Blood flew everywhere and chunks of the demon landed on Lucius’ boot.

  Three down and two to go and suddenly his prick began to twitch with desire. He turned and snarled at Greyston. “Fuck you, Greyston. Fuck you for this.”

  “Not my fault, Willan. I can’t help how we kill.” The Incubus’s hormones were flooding the tiny space. It amazed him how Greyston had used it to get game as Captain of the Guard, pretending to take down the bad guy with just punches. Truth was that scent was strong enough to distract anyone, any creature; even most Fallen. Greyston’s hand wrapped around the creatures neck and he grabbed the sword off the floor and hacked its head from its chest. It bounced off Greyston’s chest and rolled a few feet away.

  Felicia screamed out and both men turned. A scarlet trail shone angry on her neck where the last demon had gotten her. Her fingers squeezed the trigger on her gun and nothing happened. The creature slashed at her cheek, the action knocking her backwards and it made a move to mount her. He didn’t waste any time and neither did Greyston. Two beams hit the demon on the chest and knocked him off Felicia, twin holes steaming on its body.

  Greyston ran to Felicia and swept her up, slamming his mouth over hers as he ran his hands everywhere over his mate’s body. Most likely checking for non visible wounds. Lucius cleared his throat and Greyston set her down. All three of them were breathing hard and only Greyston was walking out of this battle unharmed. Both his shoulders were screaming in agony. But it didn’t matter. It was all over now; Eliza was going to be safe because he’d make sure no other demon ever came within a meter of her. Lucius dropped his hands to his knees as his chest continued to heave with emotion and depleted air. When his breathing was under control, he picked his head up and looked at the pair still standing in the alley with him.

  “Oh you two are nuts if you think you’re getting this gun back.” He grinned wide and they all laughed, letting the tension from the whole day slide off their backs as they cleaned up any sign of what had gone on in the small back alley. None had come out during the fight, and none interfered as they removed each trace of blood and flesh from the ground. All that remained were scorch marks from the handy little crystal guns.

  Chapter 17

  The light slowly streamed down onto her face and splayed a pattern over her eyes. Eliza winced and rolled over, only to find she couldn’t. She felt a tug on her arm as she tried to turn left and her eyes snapped open. The suspension, Lucius, the attack. Her parents. A cry tore from her throat as everything came rushing back all at once. Images danced in her mind, Lucius and her on the train, fighting with her mother, the two large demons talking to her, the blood sliding from her stomach wound. Over and over different variations of the same scenes bombarded her. Her body sat upright in bed, her knees tucked and her head tucked between them as her hands went to the sides of her and she rocked as the tears fell down her face. The tug from the medical monitoring device she was hooked up to snagged and she felt the small blonde hair on her arms tug. Felt it but couldn’t summon any reaction. There was too much in her head, too many memories. Too many mistakes.

  Her body rocked and the tears fell for quite a while before she heard the knock from the other side of the room. She grimaced that anyone at the guild, or the Alliance, would have walked in on her during such a moment of weakness. Inventors and scientists weren’t supposed to feel, they were expected to be cold, calculative, analytical. Which she was, but she did feel. Her body shuddered one last time as she inhaled and exhaled a series of deep breaths. The tears wouldn’t give up though, they continued to stir in her eyes and pour down her cheeks to the point where she feared she might never stop. Her eyes squeezed shut of their own volition, but she forced her head up, though it still shook side to side as if her denial of the death of her family and betrayal of Lucius could be gone like the wind extinguished a flame.

  “Eliza,” the voice was soft, feminine.

  Slowly, she forced the unsteady breathing to stop and focused on the room, on the crystal glow beside her, on the way the sun let so much light into the room it must have been past midday.

  “Eliza, I don’t want to push you, you have to believe that I don’t. But we need to talk.” Felicia’s hand ran down her shoulder and had Eliza not opened her eyes to see it, she wouldn’t have even known it was there. How could she be so incredibly numb and be drowning in a storm of emotions on the inside? She didn’t even remember being brought back to the guild, though it made sense that at some point they would return her to London. She was alone now, save for an Uncle in America who wasn’t known for having the most stable mind. All she could remember was the made up images of her parents and the stolen moments with Lucius.

  Lucius. Her body burned with desire and the need to pin this all on him. To force his hand as the blame behind her tragedy. But she took this position long before him. None were to blame but herself for becoming involved in a dangerous way of life; even if it hadn’t appeared to hold any danger for a simple inventor until recently. She thought about that final row with Lucius and wished there was a way to take it back. To not ever hear that he chose that demon bitch over her. But she supposed that was a part of life. All of this was and placing the blame on someone else did nothing except give her false absolvement from her own problems.

  A cold metal flicked across her hand that was over the bed and a harsh bark filled the room. Jessabelle was back. She scratched her hand over the dog’s head, but said nothing. Jessabelle wasted no time jumping onto the bed with her, which caused a streak of pain. The dog happily put her head on Eliza’s chest and wagged her tail for attention.

  “Eliza…”

  “I heard you, Felicia. Did it occur to you that I just might not be ready?” she snapped at her closest friend and felt no remorse.

  “Eliza, you’ve been asleep for two days. If not for the designs Antonio knew about stashed in your desk draw you might be dead. You lost a tremendous amount of blood, Eliza.”

  The statement should have shocked her. She could remember the pool of blood beneath her legs and the way her fingers had been stained red with a dripping, steady, wound. The designs must be the ones for a transfer. She’d been playing with the idea of blood transfer since she learned it was blood that powered the strange crystals that allowed them to track and detect demons. With a small metal tube and twin needles powered by the crystals it would be far faster, better to heal those in trouble than the invention of Mr. Blundell a few years back. That it wo
rked, well she was shocked at that.

  She turned to face Felicia finally and recoiled from the bright sunlight. Much of the guild was interior only, especially the labs and she was beginning to feel a bit like Lucius, with his weakness in the sun. “I’m tired, Felicia. I lost quite literally everything in that attack, what could there possibly be to speak about to you as opposed to the Guildmaster’s and Master Agardawes?”

  “I want to know how much you care for Lucius.”

  The statement took her off guard and she stared, mouth open at her friend. “I don’t see why that’s any matter of yours.”

  “Because the demons that did this to you have been killed and Agardawes is going to want to know how Greyston and I were able to track them down. Lucius is prepared to turn himself in for his crimes, Eliza. I never thought I would say this, but it would appear a demon can change, for the right reasons.”

  Eliza didn’t quite understand the information. Lucius had tracked them down for her even after she’d kicked him out? But why, and why turn himself in when he loved life and freedom so much? “I’m not sure I understand what you’re telling me, Felicia.”

  Her friend pushed up off the small cot bed and sighed. “I’ve been here you know. Almost literally where you are now. Only I hadn’t had months to learn the truth, a few days at best. To tell you the truth it’s been such a short time and yet the only thing I remember from Greyston is the first time he took me, against the alley wall. Life without him is such a blank, I can’t even fully remember the attack on MY parents.”

  She swallowed hard. She’d forgotten that Felicia had gone through this at a much younger age. That she’d witnessed the brutal slaying of her parents, parents she was close to. Eliza exhaled a contrite sigh, mad at herself for her inconsiderate attitude. “I had forgotten you know, that you’ve been here.”

  Felicia walked over to the window and looked out. “There’s no way to heal from this without Lucius, Eliza. So I suggest when Master Agardawes gets here you don’t give him up. He’s a wanted demon, Eliza, not like Greyston.” She turned back to Eliza and offered her a small smile before the knock rapped on the doorframe and the familiar old man filled the space.

  He inclined his head to Felicia who quickly scurried from the room, away from her adoptive father, with Jessabelle close behind. Master Agardawes blue eyes were laced with concern, they seemed to lack any sort of the crystal clarity she always saw in them. He gently closed the door behind him and walked to stand next to her bedside. “What are we going to do with you, Miss Dorley?” He sighed and shook his head, she could swear she heard the weight of the world on the Alliance leader’s shoulder. “Two times in a little more than a week I have to wait by your bedside with a heavy heart and low spirits and pray you will awaken.”

  She flushed at his statement, but found the courage to respond. “More than your hunters then, isn’t it?”

  That earned her an honest chuckle and some of the clouds cleared from his eyes as his laughter resonated through the small medical bay room. “Yes, my dear, it truly is. Though they all have added to this mess of grey hair at one time or another.” He smiled and winked at her. “I’m not nearly as old as my coloring would have you lot think.”

  It was her turn to laugh this time. When she stopped the room was quiet,, he was looking down at her, but saying nothing. Felicia’s words, her warning, ran through Eliza’s head. Was it truly possible he would have somehow found out about Lucius? Would he really order his death?

  “I have no reason to put this off any longer, Eliza. I need to speak with you about what happened that night. I do not need a recap, the blood on the floor told stories I have seen a thousand times and your wound tells all it needs to of your own injury.” He walked away from the bed and scrubbed a hand over his wiry beard. “The problem is I have a report from Bradley that you told him you were out testing new weaponry.” She went to cut him off, to try and explain, but he put his hand up and silenced her the way her father used too. A pang of pain tore through her thinking about him but now was not the time. “I do not wish to know why you told a lie, or why you were out hunting when you’re not trained. Those are disciplinary problems and I will see to it that when you’re fully recovered we take action for them.” His voice was calm, he didn’t have a threatening tone, just very matter of fact.

  “I understand.”

  “But what does need to addressed is that when you ran away from the Fallen you weren’t anywhere near qualified to be near, he reported that a man tackled you to the floor, a demon to be precise.” He turned his gaze directly to hers and she felt the world closing in on her. She couldn’t lie to the this man, she couldn’t lie to anyone really. But how could she condemn the person she loved simply because he was what he was born to be? She’d come to terms with his genetic background over the week, not his betrayal, but at least the knowledge that he was who he was and changing a person for their birth is disgusting.

  She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes causing a tear to slip down her right cheek. Another deep breathe in and another tear fell before she opened her eyes. “I was in the company of a demon, I cannot deny it.”

  “I see. Can you tell me why you were doing such a thing? Following him perhaps? Or is he the reason behind the attack that left your family dead and you severely injured?”

  The tears felt like acid as they ran down her face in hot streams. She didn’t wipe them away though, the truth could be painful. It didn’t mean you swept it under a rug and hid from it. “I need to know what will happen to him before I say anything, you cannot track down someone when you haven’t an inkling of who they are.”

  “You’ve properly damned him just now, my dear. But since he means something to you, and I regretfully now have experience with this idea, I will be forthcoming. He will be put on trial. There will be no hope for his escape. However, he must have helped Felicia and Greyston the other night and for that there is a small debt of gratitude. As well as a small hope he is decent, as Greyston is. But if he doesn’t answer he will be taken to the few rooms we use for torture.”

  She didn’t blink. She’d had no idea they had ever done such a thing to demons. She’d always assumed they were slaughtered and taken care of outside. But how else would they have learned so much without studying them? Did it have anything to do with the Angels that Lucius had brought up? “And of his death?”

  “His cooperation will determine his sentence.”

  Fear for her mate was a lead stone in her stomach. He hadn’t been willing to betray his kind for her, did that justify her giving him up to the Alliance? Would he talk for them or would he be tortured and killed?

  “Eliza, I need your answer. If you do not wish to help me I can go to Greyston and Felicia.”

  “He is my mate.” There was no shame in her voice, no sense of regret and she realized she didn’t regret it. She may not have found the ideal person to love but she had loved, and been loved for a short period of time. She would let nothing spoil those memories. Even how it all ended.

  “I see. That means my actions against him will surly trigger something from you. While you’ve been sloppy, you wouldn’t be top inventor if you didn’t have something the others did not. The countless future tools we could lose, the secrets you could tell the other side...”

  Her vision burned red at the accusation. “I would NEVER tell guild or Alliance secrets. This is my home and I am loyal.” She wished she had the nerve to slap him for his insult, but that was not how she was brought up and she would not tarnish her parents good name by acting like a hooligan.

  “I was hoping you would answer that way. But you need to understand, I had the same fears with Felicia, and I knew what sort of man, demon, Greyston was from his position within the city. I have nothing but a theory from Bradley as to what this demon is, save for that he may rescued you.”

  “I am not interested in sharing more information. I have answered the question that yes; I was working with a demon. And yes he is the reaso
n I was attacked. Seraphina wanted him back and I suppose because he and I were, are, in love it was making that impossible.” When the Guildmaster didn’t flinch at the name Seraphina she wondered how long he had known it, since Eliza was fairly certain Felicia found out when she did.

  “That is fair. I will be speaking with Felicia and Greyston and by the way. She brought your communicator back. It’s been completely checked and resonated with demon energy. Which means your mate had stolen it from you at some point and used it to contact them. So you can be certain I will get the information from her as she is not as invested in the demon as you are.” He walked to the door and said one last thing before disappearing through it. “We will be fair, Eliza, Greyston has taught this old mind a lesson or two. But if he is a problem, the Alliance of Silver and Steam will do what the Royals pay us to do. We will protect the city from him.”

  Eliza hadn’t the slightest clue where the bravado came from, but she knew it would be her only chance to say something to him and she wasn’t about to miss the opportunity. “Master Agardawes, just know that one day you will have to stop keeping secrets from the Alliance. I don’t know how long you’ve known about Seraphina, but we had a right to know we were dealing with organized attacks and not simply random acts of demon nature. And about the angels. We all know that a dying Angel told the Royals what was going on, but there has to be more to it and we deserve to know. One day you will have to tell us.”

  There was no response from the man. No tightening of his shoulders, no sign of annoyance. He just left the room. And it infuriated her. She was tired of secrets. There had been enough of them going around and while she understood not starting a worldwide panic over the actual existence of demons she was never going to tolerate another secret between herself and the Alliance ever again.