Black Widow Demon (Demon Outlaws)

by Altenburg, Paula

  Because Creed, no matter how much she loved him, had been more like a brother and did not stir the demon inside her the way this man did.

  Blade held the quail upside down, plucking them quickly. Once they’d been gutted and cleaned, he threaded them onto long wooden skewers that he propped over the flames.

  Raven sat on the other side of the fire, wrapped in her blanket. She held her bare feet out to the heated rocks lining the fire pit.

  “We can either talk about your demon boundary now,” he finally said to her as he crouched on his heels by the fire, “or wait until you’re stronger.”

  Dread fluttered through her. She hoped this was not going to be the discussion she wished to avoid. She studied her toes. “What about it?”

  “When did you first discover it?”

  His question relaxed her. He was interested in the boundary itself, not all that had happened in it. “When I was a little girl—around the same time Justice came into my mother’s life.” The darkness of those early days touched her, and she braced herself against the rush of memories. “It was a refuge for me at night. Then, about three months ago, demons began to appear in it. They’d call to me in my sleep, trying to summon me to them. Now it’s a nightmare.”

  Raven watched Blade’s face as he sifted through what she had told him.

  His dark-eyed expression gave nothing away, although his jumbled emotions, including the thread of a fast-suppressed fear, were what she would expect given such a conclusion.

  “So demons can summon you,” he said.

  “No. I said they tried,” she corrected him, though she did not know if that remained true now that her father knew of her existence. She had given him something. Some hold over her. She did not know what it might be.

  “Then they must believe it’s a possibility.” He spoke to himself, as if puzzling out the logic. “Why wouldn’t it be possible? Back in Freetown I saw a priestess summon demons. Why couldn’t demons summon spawn?”

  Grease from the roasting birds dripped into the hungry flames. The severe lines of his face softened and blurred in a blaze of light, like the smudgings made by a charcoal pencil on vellum when rubbed by an artist’s thumb.

  Raven drew up her knees beneath the blanket and rested her chin on her kneecaps. She hugged her shins as she stared into the fire. “I didn’t escape from one form of servitude to have it replaced by another. I won’t be summoned.”

  Blade balanced on his heels, his forearms braced against the tops of his thighs, and relaxed his strong hands between them. Always, she noted, he kept his hands unimpeded.

  “You haven’t escaped anything yet,” he said. “If you’d killed your stepfather—who is one of the goddesses’ chosen—and then had gone into the Godseeker Mountains, their assassins would have had no choice but to kill you, too. Your friend Creed couldn’t have saved you. He probably can’t, even now.” Blade’s gaze remained steady, forthright. “Becoming one of their assassins changes a man, Raven. They’re killers, nothing more. I think you’re placing too much faith in your friend.”

  “You’re an assassin,” Raven countered. She saw by the tightening of the fine lines around his lips that her assumption was correct. “Yet you stopped me from killing Justice even though you didn’t know me. You stayed with me and cared for me for three days. You fought demons with me.” You made love to me because I asked it of you, even though it was not what you wanted. “That makes you more than a killer.”

  “I received the Godseekers’ training because I needed it, but I never became one of them. When it was obvious to them that I wouldn’t be what they wanted, they plotted to kill me.”

  “Yet you survived.”

  “It wasn’t easy. And the first chance I got, I attempted to cross the desert alone—through demon territory—to escape them completely.”

  He had said attempted, not succeeded.

  Raven had heard the stories of what demons did to the mortals they captured. She wondered if this was why Blade feared them so much. How had he managed to survive?

  She did not ask. She, too, had things too difficult to discuss.

  “Creed is more than a killer, too,” she said. “He’d never harm me or let anyone else do so.”

  “I know you believe that.” Blade adjusted the quail skewers and added more kindling to the fire. “But I assure you, the training will change him. Going to him will be taking too much of a risk if you truly want to survive.” He looked up from his task. Deep brown eyes met hers. “Two nights ago, three Godseekers passed not far from here on their way into the mountains. One of them was your stepfather. Either he suspects that’s where you’ll head, or he plans to use the assassins against you. Probably both. He’s placed a bounty on you, you know. I found that out when I went back to Goldrush for supplies.” Sympathy crept into his eyes. “He’s offered to pay more if you’re brought to him alive.”

  She would never go back. But Justice was two days ahead of her, and he knew the way to the temple. He would get to it first. Except… Blade knew how to get there, too. On foot, they could travel through shortcuts that a hross could not possibly navigate. There still might be time.

  She would not give up hope. “Creed would never refuse to help me,” she said. “All I need to do is get to him. Would you guide me?”

  He did not answer right away.

  “I didn’t keep you alive for three days only to help you commit suicide,” Blade finally said. “I’d be willing to find a place for you to hide where you’ll be safe, but I won’t lead you to the temple. There are a number of small, isolated communities in the mountains.” A muscle contracted in his jaw. Other than that, he did not move as he continued to watch her. “But first, you’d have to guarantee me that demons won’t be able to harm the mortal world through you if I do.”

  More than the raw, pine-scented wind chilled her now. She understood his silent message. He would not hesitate to do what he believed necessary in order to keep demons away from this world. That put her life in peril—she could give him no such guarantee.

  She contemplated her stupidity. She was the one who had placed too much meaning on their lovemaking, not he. He owed her nothing, while she owed him far more than she could hope to repay. It would be best if she were done with him now and went her own way. She’d have to find Creed herself. Even if she could not join the assassins, he would find a way to help her.

  Before the words had time to form on her lips, however, Blade twisted on his heels. His hand flashed to his hip.

  “Whoever, you are, show yourself,” he commanded the shadows.

  A thicket of rabbitbrush rustled as the blond boy who had sat with her during Blade’s absence crawled out from hiding. He was even dirtier and thinner than she recalled, and Raven’s breath caught at the sight of him. He faced Blade bravely, something she doubted many full-grown, healthy men could have done.

  He lifted his chin a bit higher, looking Blade in the eye. “Demons aren’t what threaten this world.”

  …

  Instinct alone stayed Blade’s hand, and he did not remove it from the hilt of the knife at his hip. This half-starved boy did not realize how close he had come to death. Blade had no idea how he had gotten so close, only that it had not been by natural means. He narrowed his eyes at the implications of that.

  “You’re spawn,” he said.

  The boy stiffened, insulted. “My name is Roam.”

  Roam’s attention shifted to Raven, with her untidy curls and bared legs. The interest in his eyes warned Blade he was too close to manhood to be trusted around her.

  Frustration left Blade ill-tempered and dangerous. Rationale and past experience said that the demon in Raven could not be trusted either, but male instinct drove him to protect her, counteracting his usual common sense. He felt no such indecisiveness toward this boy or the demon blood in him. While Blade did not want to kill him in front of Raven, he would if given a reason.

  A single step in her direction would be reason enough.

/>   “You’re feeling better?” Roam was asking, the question directed at Raven.

  She nodded, tugging the blanket tighter as if uncomfortable with the raw male scrutiny. It did not concern Blade as much as the discovery that Roam seemed to know of her recent illness. He remembered her asking him a question about a boy. At the time he had thought it part of a hallucination.

  “Do you know him?” Blade asked her.

  Her eyes, so bright they sparkled even in the gloom of approaching nightfall, fixed on him. “He stayed with me that first day, while you were gone.”

  She had not intended any criticism, he knew. She understood he’d had no choice but to tie her. Still, an unpleasant knot formed in his chest. He had known that any number of things could have happened to her while he was gone and judged it worth the risk. Fortunately, nothing had. But the fact that Roam had managed to find her meant the danger had been greater than he’d suspected, and that did not sit well.

  Roam again spoke to Raven. “Do you remember how I told you there are others like you and me? It seems some are less like us and more like our fathers.” Half turning, he lifted the tail of his shirt to expose the flesh above his bony ribs, which had been torn and bore partially healed, livid red scar tissue. Raven sucked in a sharp breath at the sight.

  Blade looked between Roam and Raven. “One of you had better explain this to me right now.”

  Roam lowered his shirttail and faced him. “All my life I thought I was alone in the world. Then three months ago, everything changed. I began picking up the presence of others like me, so I set out to find them. Most seem to blend in well enough with their communities and don’t have any unusual abilities. They might not even know what they are. But some of us don’t blend in at all. I thought there might be safety in numbers, so I’ve been approaching a few who have obvious talents.” His chin, with its faint, scruffy-blond, adolescent growth of hair, trembled slightly as his hands curled into fists at his sides. “I discovered that some of them don’t need protection. Or want it. And that others are banding together, but not always for safety.”

  It was as Blade feared, and the Godseeker, Justice, had claimed. Spawn were more common than anyone suspected, and with the demons gone, some of them had grown into their abilities.

  Roam turned back to Raven. “Someone has attacked some of the smaller outlying towns. They’ve tried to make it look like demons, but it won’t be long before people realize the truth. Already, rumors are spreading.”

  Blade had heard those rumors. He considered the further implications of what he was hearing. Raven had not answered him when he’d asked her for reassurance that the world would not be threatened by demons if he helped her, especially since they were trying to summon her to the demon boundary for some reason.

  And who was to say that she was the only spawn being summoned? He looked at Raven as she worried the edge of the thick wool blanket with her fingers. The low flames in the fire flickered. Soon he would have to extinguish it so it would not be visible in the night.

  “A man named Creed asked me to give you a message,” Roam said to Raven. “I spoke with him a few days ago, in the mountains. He said it’s too dangerous for him to come for you and wanted me to tell you of a place where you can hide. By the time I found you, you were hallucinating and couldn’t understand me.” He shifted his gaze to Blade. “Her hallucinations have been acting like a beacon. Combine that with how she…defends herself, and she’s attracted a lot of attention from other half demons.” His expression grew boyishly awkward, and he evaded Blade’s eyes. “A lot.”

  Blade, too, was aware that her natural defenses had been working overtime the past few days, particularly when the Godseekers had passed so close to them. He had worried they would sense her and be drawn to investigate. Now he had the additional concern that spawn would be drawn to her, too.

  She turned in his direction, her gaze sharp and bright, as if she could read his apprehension. Perhaps she could. He did not yet know the extent of her abilities. He had an even greater fear, however, and he didn’t want to alarm her with it, but once word spread that spawn did exist and irrefutable proof was presented, the Godseeker assassins would become involved. Despite her faith in Creed, her friend would have no choice but to hunt for spawn too, and he already knew about Raven. It would not matter to the Godseekers if some of the half demons were peaceful. They would all be exterminated. Blade could see the sense in such an approach, and it was the one he would have taken.

  But he was neither a Godseeker nor one of their assassins, and Raven remained his sole concern.

  “You’re supposed to tell me where I’m to wait for Creed,” she said to Roam.

  That was not the exact message Creed sent her, but Blade did not miss the way hope and longing lit her beautiful, golden face as she spoke and so he did not correct her interpretation. An unwanted thought occurred to him. Maybe she and her friend had not been lovers, but that didn’t mean they never would be. He knew she could defend herself from unwelcome attention—she had done so her entire life—but what if not all the male attention she received remained unwelcome? Particularly from a man who was willing to accept her for what she was?

  Desire for Raven, along with the memories of how she had felt naked beneath his palms, of him inside her, filled his thoughts. He did not like the idea of another man touching her so intimately—or that she might respond to him as willingly. He was not yet ready to give her up and leave her in someone else’s care. The thought was not honorable, but he had done little enough in his life that was, so it hardly mattered.

  Again, her head cocked abruptly toward him. This time he allowed his thoughts to creep into his eyes, passing a silent message from his gaze to hers. He watched as a slow blush crept from the collar of her shirt to stain her cheeks. If she could read his thoughts and emotions, she did not get to pick and choose what she liked. If she took some of them, she had to take them all.

  Roam began to draw a map in the dirt with a stick. “Creed said that this abandoned village could be safe for more of us if we agree to lay low and not draw unwanted attention.” He looked up at Raven and grinned. “Apparently, it’s close enough to the Temple of Immortal Right that we’d be hiding right under the Godseekers’ noses. I plan to round up a few people who can travel like I do, undetected, and head there for the winter. Others who are slower can join us in the spring, after the snows melt.” The grin faded. “But you’ll have to get there on your own.”

  He did not include Blade in his invitation. Raven did not agree or disagree to it, or answer his unspoken question about her ability to travel, but listened attentively as he gave her directions to go with the map sketched in the dirt by the fire.

  Blade knew where the village was. He had grown up very near it. And the goddesses’ boundary would be on the far side of this mountain range. He had come here to see if he could pass through it, although it, too, was dangerously close to the Temple of Immortal Right. But Raven would have him to protect her. And there were other places along the way to leave her where she’d be safer than in a village a Godseeker assassin had chosen.

  As Blade rotated the quail again, he noted the way the boy’s hungry eyes followed his movements. He drew one from the fire, tested it for doneness, then passed it to him. The boy accepted it with an awkward nod of thanks.

  Blade removed the remaining quail from the fire and set them aside to cool. They would save the birds for the morning with the last of the bread Raven had taken from her stepfather’s house.

  He watched Roam eat. “What kinds of abilities do the half demons you’ve seen have?”

  “For the most part, they’re all different. I can sense others with demon blood, and I can travel long distances without being seen in a fraction of normal time. Some have two talents, others have three. I haven’t seen any more than that. A lot of talents are hybrids and unique to the individual. So far, no one seems to have inherited full demon strength.”

  “How many have Raven’s ability
to defend herself?” Blade asked.

  “All of the females seem to, even the ones who don’t have any other talents,” Roam said around a mouthful of meat. “It’s a common demon trait. But to the extent she possesses, so far, I’ve seen none.” He swallowed, sending her a shy smile. “She’s unique.”

  “How fortunate for me.” Raven’s dry tone indicated she thought the opposite.

  Roam finished his meal and lingered a while longer before disappearing into the shadows, but Blade did not suggest that he spend the night. He knew that while Raven probably would have liked to, she would not offer Blade’s hospitality for him.

  But the visit disturbed Blade and he wanted time to think. While Roam seemed harmless enough, if he could find them so easily, others could too. And they might not be as benign. Blade itched to be moving.

  “Are you strong enough to walk?” he asked Raven once Roam was gone.

  “Yes.”

  He did not know if he should believe her, but he would watch her and stop if he thought she was becoming too tired. They had to leave this place.

  “We may as well climb as far as we can while the moon is up,” he said. If they traveled at night and she did not sleep, the demons might not try to reach her. He began to scoop dirt onto the fire. “Roam had the right idea. Hiding under their noses is a good enough plan, at least for the winter.”

  Stubbornness etched the line of her delicate, lifted chin. “I’m going to the temple first, as we planned. I’ll hear those directions from Creed and no one else.”

  He finished with the fire, then wrapped the cooked quail in broadleaves and tucked them into one of the packs. They dismantled the shelter together and packed up the last of the campsite. He strapped on extra weapons because knives were not enough in the dark. As far as he could tell, she seemed recovered enough to walk for at least a few hours if they went slow.

  He did not argue with her as they set out, even though she had overlooked two minor details of her plan.