Demons of Desire

by Debra Dunbar

  “And under? Where the roots are?”

  I closed my eyes, feeling the wind on my face and reaching with an inner part of myself down through the plant into the dirt below.

  “The grass has taken hold nicely. These roots have been known to reach two meters down into the soil, but the deepest I feel here is about ninety centimeters. Most of the root bed is half a meter deep.”

  “Further.”

  I hesitated. It was like jumping off a cliff at midnight into the unknown. Tentatively I felt the soil around the roots, noting the phosphorous and nitrogen levels. Sensing Irix’s eyes on me, I took a deep breath and reached further.

  Dark and shifting. The sweet smell of decay. There was nothing to hold onto and I fell, my insides lurching like the downward plunge of a rollercoaster. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder, and everything within me snapped into place.

  “Topsoil, then sand and a crushed rock mixture. Alternating stone and sediment layers. There’s a synthetic mesh. I think it’s to anchor the levee foundation in case of severe flooding. There’s some kind of baked clay, tiles maybe, at the riverside edges about two feet in. To divert water from the foundation? Under the levee … holy shit! Mud. And water. This whole fucking city is built on water!”

  “Language,” Irix scolded. I could hear the amusement in his voice. It’s not like he hadn’t been flinging the curse words around lately. Pot and kettle, baby.

  I pulled up from the water table and extended my awareness out along the stretch of earth and stone. It was cleverly constructed and stable enough to withstand a sizable storm. The only way this levee could be breached would be if the floods from the river topped it. Not impossible, but the river at that level would be a once–in–five–thousand–years event.

  Nothing. Nothing. I kept reaching, grounded by Irix’s touch. What had Jordan seen yesterday? Maybe it wasn’t the levee, but something else that had been spelled. Just to make sure, I continued searching and smacked into something that felt like a thousand nettles against my skin. I gasped and pulled back, hesitating when Irix squeezed my shoulder reassuringly.

  “Easy there, elf–girl. That’s the spell you’ve been looking for.”

  It was unnerving enough venturing out into unknown territory like this, but actually coming up against the spell brought it home to me that I was absolutely not prepared to do this sort of thing. All I knew was that it hurt. I hadn’t the foggiest idea how strong it was, what it was meant to do, or how to go about containing the explosion Irix was about to cause.

  “Ready?”

  “No.” Fear and uncertainty made me a little snappish. “Just give me a second. I’ve got to figure out what I need to do once you remove it, or we’re going to be totally fucked.”

  To give Irix credit, he didn’t get on my case again about my potty mouth. I carefully reached out, examining the area surrounding the spell to try and learn what I could without getting zapped. I could see a network of links, like little feeder roots, from the magicked area into the levee, ten feet in diameter. The links were dormant, invisible unless traced backward from the spell. As I dove down, I saw a column of magic, held in stasis. It reached all the way through the levee, deep into the water table below.

  “I can’t really tell what the trigger is, so I’m thinking it has to be something external, perhaps from the magician? I do know what it does, though. When triggered, ten feet of the levee drops like a sink hole.”

  I heard someone behind me inhale sharply. “If there’s a flood, the water will rush right through into lower ground.” It was Jordan, her voice pitched high with anxiety. “The pressure will erode the surrounding walls of the levee and huge sections will collapse. This whole district would be underwater in no time.”

  “That’s not all. There’s a significant part of the spell driven down into the water table. It acts like a water spout, pulling everything up and sending it like a geyser into the air.”

  “Erosion of the foundation,” Jordan added. “It’s not just the geyser of water, but the sudden fast flow underneath that’s a danger. There’ll be a chain reaction of sinkholes all along the levee. I saw twenty along the portions we looked at yesterday. The whole thing would come down if that happened.”

  And a failure like that would make the damage from hurricane Katrina look like a rainstorm puddle.

  “Ready now?” Irix asked, his hands on his hips.

  “Hold on there, cowboy. Let me figure out what I need to replace before you start blowing us all up.”

  “No.”

  That was the only warning I got before everything went to shit.

  I felt the prickly, forbidding area of the spell collapse upon itself, leaving a vacuum of space that tried to suck in all the matter around it. I panicked, holding onto the structure of the levee with every ounce of magical might I possessed. A full demon would have quickly created additional dirt and rock to fill the hole, but I had no practice with that skill. Sweat trickled down the sides of my face and between my breasts as I struggled to hold on. I wanted to tell Irix to hurry, but couldn’t even spare the concentration to speak, I was so intent on holding the barrier together. Just as I thought I could hold on no more, the vacuum that had been the spell blew apart in a burst of energy.

  I heard myself scream, and I pulled. It was like yanking on the end of cooling taffy. The energy spun into me, too much to handle. I didn’t know what to do with it all, and it burned through my nerve endings. My muscles spasmed and pushed against my skin. I struggled to hold it, juggling it around like a hot potato while simultaneously supporting the fragile edges of the levee. My body shook with the effort, and I felt myself begin to lose control. Damn Irix for putting me in this position! Everyone around me was going to die, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Jordan, Ourson, all their friends. Irix.

  This time my scream was in rage and frustration. I summoned every ounce of control and turned the energy searing its way through me outward, driving it into the empty hole in the barrier that had once held the spell. Like pieces of a puzzle, the energy slotted into place. I directed its formation, mindlessly deciding what atoms and molecules it should take. When the last piece of explosive energy transformed, I opened my eyes and swayed. A hand reached out to steady me, strong and firm against my shoulder. Irix.

  I turned toward the incubus and, without a word, punched his jaw as hard as I could.

  His head rocked to the side, and I cradled my hand, wincing. Our audience of witches and vampires stared with round eyes at the pair of us. I wasn’t sure whether they were speechless from the miracle I’d just pulled off, or from my assault upon a demon nearly two–thousand years my senior. It didn’t matter. The only thoughts in my mind were relief that we all weren’t dead, and fury at Irix for nearly killing us all.

  “You fucking asshole!” I hissed, hitting him once more, this time in the chest. “I. Wasn’t. Ready. What part of ‘wait’ did you not understand?”

  My breath came in fast gasps, and I noticed my hands were shaking. Hell, my legs were shaking too. It was all I could do to remain standing. We’d all nearly died. The realization of my mortality, of the fragile lives surrounding me, crashed through my mind. I felt shaken to the very core, but Irix stood before me, calm, his eyes like crystalized honey.

  “Do you want to do this or not?” His voice was as cold as dry ice, freezing its way through to my heart. This incubus was nothing like the passionate man of this morning. Gone was the irreverent playboy, the unexpectedly gallant hedonist. Instead, I faced a harsh, powerful demon — a being to be feared and respected.

  “I wasn’t ready,” I repeated, but this time my voice trembled, rising into a fearful soprano at the end. Irix’s stern countenance didn’t betray an ounce of sympathy. His hard eyes traveled down my length and up again, clearly finding something in me that was lacking. I ached from the inside out, hurt and confused over his unyielding attitude, and feeling a twinge of sorrow that I’d let him down, that I wasn’t the demon he’d thought I w
as.

  “I understand that.” His eyes softened slightly, only to retreat into fossilized amber again. “But this is your venture, not mine. I care not one whit about human losses, or petty power struggles among their magical groups. I’ll be irked if my beloved home here is destroyed, but such is the fate of all things physical. We have nineteen more spells to break, nineteen more sections of the levee system to rebuild. If you’re not up to the task, stop leading your friends on and tell them. We’ll pack up and be on the next plane back to Maryland.”

  I gasped like he’d thrown ice water in my face. His honesty was brutal, and I wasn’t sure what to say. I wasn’t up to the task. I hadn’t realized what I’d needed to do when I’d committed to this thing, and I was in way over my head.

  “I can’t… .” I’d barely held on this time. The thought of going through this nineteen more times filled me with fear. This was an impossible task — one that I had rashly taken on without understanding the demands it would place on me. There was a tiny part of my mind that was still angry with Irix — angry with him for assuring me I was up to this, and for throwing me into the deep end by breaking the spell before I had determined what I needed to do.

  There was a flash of disappointment on his face, a moment of sorrow. “You’re so young. There’s no shame in recognizing your limitations. We’ll leave the humans to deal with this themselves and return to Maryland where we can continue your training.”

  I felt a horrible twisting in my gut. Irix was speaking to me as though I was a schoolgirl unable to pass her finals and being held back a grade. I wanted to be more than that to him. I wasn’t addled enough to think I’d ever be his equal, but somehow I wanted his respect. I wanted him to see me as an adult.

  “Maybe we can help,” Jordan interjected hesitantly. “A spell to contain the area, or to help with channeling the energy from the spell dissolution, perhaps.”

  I appreciated her offer. It made me realize there were people here who depended on me, who would give me any assistance necessary to help protect their livelihoods and their city. If only I knew what I needed.

  “This is going to kill me.” I ran a hand through my hair. “I’ll eventually slip up and we’ll all die.”

  He shrugged. “So give up.”

  I’ll be damned. Something of the Lowry stubbornness must have worked its way into me through my upbringing, because I’d seen Wyatt and Nyalla assume the same immovable stance that I now took.

  “Everyone needs to stay at least a hundred feet away until I’ve completed the repair. We’ll take this slow and get as many in as we can before nightfall. If we don’t get the rest done, I’ll come back tomorrow and finish. There’s no imminent danger from any storm, so we’ve got some time.”

  I heard voices behind me agreeing. My eyes were fixated upon the demon. Irix nodded, a sharp, quick jerk, before he motioned for us to move on. His expression was guarded, but for a second I thought I saw a glimmer of pride.

  * * *

  24

  I was practically face down in my muffaletta, conversation an indistinct buzz around me. Nine. All I’d managed was nine of the twenty spots of the levee that we’d identified as being magically compromised. The smoked meat, cheese, and olive–pepper relish filling the sandwich were the perfect choices to refuel my body, but something deep inside me remained drained and numb.

  “You okay?” Darci’s hand rubbed my back, her dark eyes peering up at me as she bent her head low to see my downturned face. She’d brought us all lunch. I’d barely managed to extract my sandwich from the waxed paper bag. Even simple tasks were becoming beyond my capability.

  “Just tired.”

  Understatement of the year. There’s no way I could finish this thing, no way I could even manage one more. The next one would kill us all — or at least Irix and me. I’d been ensuring the others stayed well back from us as we worked. The vampires didn’t mind, but Jordan and her friends were frustrated with their inability to help. They saw me struggle, knew the risks I was taking, and kept proposing ways they could assist. I probably could have used a few of their ideas, but I was too worried about their safety to try any.

  “Finish up your sandwich, and let’s get going.” Irix’s voice was measured and calm. He’d driven me along with a combination of encouragement and insults all day. In spite of my exhaustion, if he snapped at me one more time I was going to yank his head off and toss it into the Mississippi.

  “I can’t do any more.” I’d said that before the last one, but this time I really, really meant it. Staring at his knees, I refused to raise my gaze any higher and see the inevitable look of disappointment in his face. I already felt like enough of a failure.

  “I know. I’ll take you back to my place or to Darci’s for some sleep then we’ll go out tonight to recharge. You can come back tomorrow and finish up.”

  A long nap sounded good. I was too exhausted to worry over what Irix’s idea of recharge might mean and the expected conflict it might cause with my ethics. And I was too exhausted to think about the daunting task of repairing eleven spell–weakened areas tomorrow when today’s nine had just about put me in my grave.

  “Your place.” I didn’t want to hurt Darci’s feelings, after all I was supposed to be here visiting her and not shacking up with some demon, but I longed to doze off in Irix’s bed with his scent all around me. Yeah, I was pissed that he’d driven me like a mule today, but he’d pushed me to do things I’d never thought possible. Without him, I’d have given up at the first spell.

  A strong hand brushed along the top of my head with tenderness. That did more than any words could to let me know how much my decision had meant to the demon.

  “Text me later and let me know your plans.” Darci gave a short snort of laughter. “Unless you intend on spending the evening on your backside, I’ll join you.”

  “Dinner, maybe?” I’d probably need to spend a good bit of the evening recharging through sexual activity, but unless Irix was into sploshing, dinner should be at maximum an R–rated event.

  “Deal.”

  Sandwich consumed, I pulled myself to my feet and sought out Ourson and his vampire buddies. We’d need to set up some sort of watch schedule along the levee before I went to take my big nap. The vampire was, surprisingly, talking with Jordan, his buddies milling about with the other witches as they finished their lunch. From the last few days, I’d discovered vampires generally regarded humans as no more than inanimate bags of blood and seldom bothered to interact with them. The fact that Ourson was chatting with Jordan and she wasn’t trying to stake him or lop his head off was odd.

  “Umm, sorry to interrupt, but we need to figure out who’s going to watch which site, and some kind of rotation.”

  Ourson turned to me, a happy smile lighting up his face. “We were just discussing that. There’s nine locations and only eight of us. Jordan said she can put alarm traps on the remaining one, but I’m worried we wouldn’t get here in time to catch him or her. Or them.”

  “Ourson is going to ask his family to send another vampire,” Jordan chimed in. “I’ve had three more of my former coven members call me to express support. They said they’d take a shift. Leaves us a bit short–handed, but we’ll make it work.”

  “Irix and I can take a shift too,” I volunteered.

  Ourson shook his head. “Better not. After what happened at the bayou, they may have spells that detect demon presence. We don’t want to scare them off.”

  “But won’t they detect Jordan’s spells, too?” I turned to her, eyebrows raised. If the Crimson Moon guys were detecting for demons, I’d assume they’d be scanning for other magic. We weren’t exactly stealthy at the bayou. We didn’t think we needed to be.

  “Probably,” she replied. “These guys are pretty arrogant. I’m doing some basic spells. They’ll think we’re a bunch of amateurs, disable it and head on in.”

  “Then we’ll grab them.” Ourson grinned, gleaming white teeth contrasting with his dark skin. “Th
ey won’t be expecting a vampire. We don’t broadcast our presence, and with all the human vampire–wannabes in New Orleans, our activities go very much unnoticed.”

  Seemed my friends had everything worked out. Warmth ran through me as I looked at the vampire and witch. How wonderful it was to be working with such intelligent and capable people.

  “You guys are awesome.” Jordan beamed at my compliment. “I’m leaving it all in your hands. Text me any time, day or night, if you need me.”

  “Got it.”

  Jordan jogged off to consult with her friends, leaving me with Ourson. I narrowed my eyes as I gave him the stare–down.

  “Okay, spill it. You don’t look twice at a human unless it’s to check their blood type, never speak to them beyond persuading them into a back alley — why the sudden buddy–buddy with Jordan?”

  The vampire shuffled his feet, looking sheepish. “Well … she’s a witch.”

  “And?”

  “We have a long history of working with witches and magicians. They provide us with valuable services, and we partner with them in business or provide support to them in other ways.”

  I took a deep breath, wondering exactly what “services” Jordan would be expected to provide, and what exactly a vampire could offer a group of Wiccans. I might be half demon, but I was very protective of my friends, and I absolutely counted Jordan in my inner circle of protectiveness.

  “What would you want her and her friends to do?”

  Ourson’s eyes widened in alarm. “Things like camouflage and look–away spells, or attraction charms. Some of our family aren’t physically appealing, and they have difficulty attracting humans. We don’t condone forced feedings. A good witch or coven can make all the difference to these vampires.”