by Kim Harrison
“Eden Park?” I asked Bis. “Whose line is this?”
Bis shifted his clawed feet nervously, jumping onto a rock that was probably mirrored in reality by the statue of Romulus and Remus and the wolf. “The only demon who isn’t gunning for us,” he said. “Al’s.”
My feet shifted in the dirt, and I looked down, thinking there should be something to differentiate this from everything else. We were standing on the very spot where I’d made my pact with Al to be his student if I could have Trent as my familiar. And there Trent was, coughing at my feet, wearing a ring that made him my slave. Slaves could be freed, though.
As if sensing my emotions of regret and inevitability, Trent wiped the grit from his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said as he stood gracefully, the red rock staining his lab coat like blood.
“For what?” Head down, I dragged my foot around us in a circle, rude but effective—my thoughts waiting for the twinge that would mean we were found.
“The sacrifices I asked of you.”
Surprised, I looked him up and down. “I’m not the one wearing the slave ring. Besides, I’d be content if I could get an apology for you slamming my head into a tombstone and choking me half to death,” I said, twisting the master ring on my finger. Either he knew me better than I thought, or he was getting far more through the rings than I’d gotten from Quen.
His half smile made something in me twist. “Then I apologize.”
“And I accept,” I said, tucking a rank strand of hair back. “It never happened. Thank you for saving the babies. That was important to me.”
His expression went blank. Silent, Trent put his hands on his hips and scanned the brightening skies, squinting.
He isn’t telling me something. My nose wrinkled at the stench and gritty wind, remembering when we’d walked from the church to the basilica in the ever-after. There were no surface demons here now, and I wondered where they were. “It’s awful,” I said softly. “It used to be woods, springs, and fog. All of it, the entire ever-after.”
Trent’s attention fell to me. “How do you know?”
I shrugged. “I eavesdropped on one of Al’s dreams. I think I know what they used to look like, too.” My head turned. “They were the slaves of elves once, weren’t they? And they rebelled. Got the best of you.”
His expression went empty. “Rumor has it.”
“And you tried to destroy them.”
Trent took a slow breath. I could feel Bis paying attention. “I wouldn’t argue with that.”
“And now you’re helping me save them.”
Nodding, he smiled with half his mouth again. “My goal was to save you, but yes, I suppose I’m saving them as well.”
Bis jerked. An instant later, I felt it too. Someone was coming. With three wing flaps, Bis was on my shoulder, the healed line singing. I pulled heavily on Al’s line, and it hummed through me, drowning out the damage we had yet to repair in other lines. Trent’s head came up in shock, feeling it as well.
“Okay, time to see if these rings were worth lying to me about,” I said, putting my back to Trent’s and readying myself.
“Time to see if you’re as good as I think you are,” Trent whispered, and I blinked as he raised a circle with the line I had drawn in the dirt. The energy didn’t exactly flow through me, but I felt it as keenly as if it had. In my mind, whispers of spells I’d never heard of breathed and glowed with the sound of distant music. My lips parted in awe. Trent’s magic. And if I was seeing his internal spell book, he was probably seeing mine.
Along with his wisdom came Trent’s desire for Ku’Sox’s end. His anger and hatred flooded me, almost sending me down. Trent was driven, and through the rings, I saw the depths of depravity that Ku’Sox subjected him to, what he had casually threatened his child with, and the extent Trent would go to in order to stop him. His emotions joined mine, Ku’Sox becoming ugly and sordid in our shared view as our comparisons made a more perfect picture of his broken, lacking soul. My eyes welled, and Bis touched my cheek in concern.
Trent turned to me, shock in his eyes. It was as if I’d never truly seen him, and it shook me to my core. I blinked fast, wanting to touch him but afraid.
With a pop of air, Ku’Sox was abruptly standing between us and the rising moon. Snarling, he took two running steps, throwing a black ball of hate like a pitcher. I stiffened, still lost in Trent’s mind. Ku’Sox hardly seemed to matter compared to the depth of connection the rings could foster. I’d felt nothing like this when Quen had worn them.
Trent looked to Ku’Sox. At the last moment, I pulled deeply on the line Trent and I were connected to, feeling our circle strengthen. Our shared emotion about Ku’Sox—neither entirely his, entirely mine, or entirely real—echoed through us as we stood unbowed as Ku’Sox’s magic sped forward, shedding silver sparkles like pixy dust, the very air hissing from the assault.
It hit our barrier with a shower of energy, lighting the inside of our circle with a black haze. Bis’s tail tightened, and I heard in Trent’s and my mind, the drums of his wild magic. They blended with the humming purity of Al’s line—and grew strong. There was no hesitation in Trent’s abilities as there had been between Quen and me, and a small part of me wondered why.
“No monologue,” I taunted as Ku’Sox took in his lack of result. “I like that.”
“I’m going to eat you from the inside out, Rachel Mariana Morgan,” Ku’Sox intoned, his hunched form circling us like a big black cat.
His words iced through me, and Trent shuddered.
“Rachel?” Bis warbled, and I turned to follow Ku’Sox, backing up a step at Trent’s clenched jaw and pained expression. Ku’Sox was trying to use him.
“Fight it!” I said, grabbing his upper arms. “Trent, you can say no!”
“No, he can’t,” Ku’Sox mocked, flinging his coat out of his way as he stalked closer, breathing on our bubble to make the black run to him. “Dolore adficere . . . Do it, slave!”
Trent shuddered under my grip. The music in his mind faltered, the rushing sound of the line in mine grew loud as Bis’s tail tightened. “I am yours,” Trent gasped through clenched teeth, and my hand sprang from him, thinking I was betrayed. Trent fell to a knee, looking up at me, pleading. “I. Am. Yours. Claim me, Rachel! Damn your morals and claim me!”
Breath held, I spun to look at Ku’Sox, my hand falling to touch Trent’s shoulder. “Mine!” I shouted, feeling Bis’s weight light on my shoulder and the slave rings burn between us. I fastened on the wild music, remembering the rings’ creation, the ugly promise of domination they held, and I claimed it. Black filth roared in as the rings found their purpose and came truly alive—smut for this ancient magic of stream and wood, song and deviltry. “He’s mine!” I shouted again, and Trent’s head snapped up, his eyes wild as my will dominated him.
Fear slid through me, but the music had grown stronger, not less, and Trent panted, blood leaking from his nose. I didn’t know if I had him or not. “You’re bleeding,” I said, wiping it away with my scarf. His eyes met mine at the soft touch, and a chime seemed to shake the ley line, realigning the universe.
He was mine.
“No!” Ku’Sox raged, hammering on our bubble.
Trent was mine, and scared out of my socks, I extended a hand to help him rise. I was responsible for him, and I didn’t want to be. Was this what Trent felt for his people? He was stronger than I.
“You can back off now,” he panted, and I hastily lifted my domination from his thoughts until Trent sighed in relief. “Thank you.”
“Sorry.”
“You will not take him from me!” Ku’Sox raged. “I will eat all that you hold dear, I will swallow the sun. I will burn the moon!”
Making a pair of horns with his pinkie and thumb, Trent showed Ku’Sox the back of his hand.
Ku’Sox’s eyes widened at the ancient elven insult. With a cry of outrage, he slammed his foot into our circle, bouncing back and screaming when it repelled him with a burst of ozone-
tainted energy. “Mine!” he screamed like child in a tantrum.
“Not anymore,” I whispered, wondering if we should jump out. We were kind of stuck in this circle. The half-moon was rising. If I remembered right, it would be almost straight overhead at sunrise. We had hours to finish this, or Newt would kill me herself.
“Perhaps we should circle him?” Trent suggested, and I wiped my palms on my pants.
“Good idea,” I said, wanting to leave our circle as much as I’d want to jump into a bath of ice. “Pound him into the earth. It’s elven charms he doesn’t know. After you.”
Trent looked at me, and it was all I could do but not laugh for crying. He had the drive, I had the strength, and neither of us had the skill. What in hell had Al been talking about?
“I’ll go,” Bis said, and I reached out after him, cursing my hesitation.
“Bis, no!” I shouted, his tail a whisper across my neck, and then he was through our bubble, darting madly to evade Ku’Sox’s thrown charms.
“Hey!” I cried, and Trent dove through the bubble as well, rolling to a stop behind a slump of rock. I was surprised that the circle around me hadn’t fallen. Perhaps the slave rings enabled us to share the same energy fields.
My head snapped up as wild magic coursed through me and Trent threw a charm. “Adsimulo calefacio!” I shouted, sending my own curse hot on the heels of Trent’s.
Bis flipped in midair to avoid Ku’Sox’s strike, his wings gray in the moonlight. Trent’s spell hit the demon’s raised shield, and the hazy black shattered with the sound of glass. Unhurt, Ku’Sox turned, his eyes widening as my incoming curse hit him square in the chest.
“Yes!” Trent exclaimed, elated as Ku’Sox was thrown back, an ugly gold and black crawling over him, making his back arch. But I wasn’t so confident, and I pulled heavily on the line, stockpiling energy until my head hurt and Bis’s hair stood on end as he landed on a crag of stone.
“Again!” Trent shouted, his face grim, and together we struck.
Ku’Sox jerked, a haze covering him for an instant as he jumped out of the way, and our combined curses hit the empty ground and exploded, light seeming to splinter and fly.
I ducked, throwing myself behind a rock as our curse flew like shrapnel. Fire burned in my mind, and I rose up, horrified. Trent had taken refuge under a bubble, and since our broken curse held his aura, the energy tore right through it.
He was down, his lab coat filthy with rock, the gritty wind shifting his hair about his closed eyes. But he breathed.
“Rachel! There!” Bis shouted, pointing, and I spun, my breath catching as I saw Ku’Sox leaning against a boulder the size of a small car. The demon smiled, hurt but alive.
“This is only making your sunrise harder, love,” he said, and I ran to Trent. I could feel Bis following above.
I slid to a stop, my mind delving deep into Trent’s, running the counter curses before the damage could seep in any further. Trent came to with a snort, jolted to full awareness by my stinging mental slap. The rings made it possible. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have done that,” Trent said, and I helped him up again, dragging him back into our uninvoked circle.
“You can’t kill me. Therefore, I win.”
Ku’Sox’s words echoed over the dead earth between us, chilling me. Light glowed from the crater that Trent’s and my magic had made, and in the slashes of angry light, Ku’Sox smiled, shadows making him harsh. “You can’t kill me, even with your elf slave,” he said, the rock sliding from under his feet as he stood. “The collective won’t help you. And you—are—dead.”
Bis landed upon Trent, and the lines echoed in my mind. “I’ll jump you out,” the kid said, but both of us shook our heads. It ended here. It ended now.
“Dali-i-i-i!” Ku’Sox screamed at the rising moon. “Newt! Show yourselves, you cowards!” His head dropping, he looked at me with savage eyes from under his hanging hair, clearly shaken from the curse that had landed on him. “I will talk to you, you poltroons . . .”
“Stand up,” I said, poking Trent in the ribs to make him jump. “Fix your hair, will you? You look a mess.”
“Look who’s talking,” Trent said, even as he ran a hand through his hair to arrange it, his missing fingers obvious.
We both stiffened as the energy in the lines shifted. Nearly where the sun would rise in a scant four hours, a round, squat demon misted into existence, tired and slack-faced. “Is it done?” Dali said, facing Ku’Sox and taking in his ragged appearance. “Fix the damned line before there’s nothing left and we’re all . . .” He hesitated, breathing the air as if he could smell me. Or maybe he was smelling Trent. He reeked of cinnamon and wine, almost covering up the stench of burnt amber.
“She’s alive?” he exclaimed, spinning to us, his expression shocked. “You’re alive!”
“I’m alive,” I said, breathing hard. For the moment.
“For the moment,” Ku’Sox muttered, echoing my thought, frowning as Newt misted into existence beside Dali, wearing exactly the same thing I was. Al slumped at her feet, and my heart leaped until I saw the chains about his wrists and the downcast slouch to his shoulders.
“Of course she’s alive,” Newt said, and Al’s head snapped up, his fervent eyes finding mine and tension pulling him straight. “She’s Al’s wonder child,” the demon finished lightly, smacking Al to make him glower at the ass-backward praise.
“Al . . .” I breathed, elated, and Trent stared at me. In my mind, Trent’s hatred for the demon rose up, anger for his missing fingers, his fear for having been helpless. It joined my memories of Al’s awkwardly given kindnesses when none was expected, and then my pity for the loss of his wife, his life, his love, being forced to live in a hole in the ground, an understanding found, a respect granted unasked, vulnerable and fragile.
“Al?” Trent said, and I blinked, not comfortable having shared that with him.
“I-I . . .” I stammered, then shut my mouth, unable to explain. Al was cruel, vindictive, angry, elegant, powerful. He gave me strength, he gave me wisdom, not only about magic, but about myself. He was a lot like Trent, only harsher around the edges.
Sensing my emotions, Trent turned away, head down and grimy hair shifting in the gritty wind. “I will never understand you. How can you forgive so easily?”
“Yeah? Well, that’s what’s going to save both our asses,” I said, hoping it was a prophecy, not a prayer.
“Take her!” Ku’Sox shouted. “Finish her!”
Heart pounding, I shifted my feet to find solid earth beneath the scree. My will strengthened our circle, and I felt Trent do the same, wild magic seeping up from the earth to send darts of gold through the black smut crawling over the barrier. “What’s the matter, Ku’Sox?” I mocked when Dali and Newt exchanged worried glances. “Since when do you need anyone’s help? I though this was between you and me? How come you called them? Can’t do it yourself?”
“You are hiding behind a stinking elf!” he snarled, gesturing wildly.
“He smells quite nice,” I shouted back, making Bis giggle. “And it’s not hiding, it’s using my resources to the fullest! You can use Nick if you want.”
Ku’Sox’s eye twitched. Next to me, Trent lifted his chin. “I stand with Rachel to fix the ever-after,” he said quietly, making a sharp contrast to Ku’Sox’s loudmouthed bullying. “I stand to save the demons. What do you stand for, Ku’Sox Sha-Ku’ru?”
Trent held up his mutilated hand, his ring glinting. Newt leaned to see and Al winced, dragged behind her as she came forward a step. “Al. Where did you get a working set of slavers?” she asked, and then she blinked in what had to be shock. “They’re using them backward! Is that even possible?”
Al slowly got to his feet, saying, “Apparently. And I didn’t give them to her, she made them herself.”
“No wonder she was able to strike me down,” Newt said smugly, but I didn’t think anyone believed her.
Ku’Sox limped forward. “You’re not going to help me
finish her? She’s using an elf!”
“So?” Dali said, gesturing. “This is your issue. Your word against hers. If you can’t best her, then maybe she is right, and you are—wrong?”
“She ran away!” Ku’Sox said, gesturing, and I stiffened as I felt another demon show up. He was on the outskirts, listening. “It proves she’s at fault! I’d take her down now, but she’s grown inventive.”
“I think you mean powerful,” Newt said slyly, jerking Al closer to make his chains clink.
Dali crossed his arms, looking more confident as several more demons misted in beside the first. “Why should I help you? She fixed my line. My rooms won’t be shrinking when the sun comes up.”
“But she was the one who broke them!” Ku’Sox glanced nervously at the accumulating demons between us and the waning moon.
“Did she?” Dali’s head tilted, and the demons popping in one by one discussed.
Breath held, I did a mental count. Dali’s line was the one running through Trent’s compound? I looked at Trent, seeing his pale face as he figured it out as well. On my shoulder, Bis squirmed. He’d chosen what lines we jumped to with precision—mine, Newt’s, Dali’s . . . and Al’s?
“You are blind fools!” Ku’Sox paced in the fading light from Trent’s and my last joined magic. “If she doesn’t die before the sun rises and the energy tide shifts, you will lose too much, and the ever-after will fall regardless of whose lines get fixed.”
“Then kill her and let’s get on with it,” Newt said, making Al scowl at her pleasant smile. “I tried already, and she hit me.”
“Hey, would any of you mind if I go take care of a few things and get back to you in about an hour?” I said loudly, then ducked when Ku’Sox sent a token shot of energy at us.
It hit the barrier and was absorbed cleanly, making the surrounding demons buzz with interest.
Trent leaned close, whispering, “I think it’s funny how they keep trying to kill you when all you want to do is save them.”