“Unless?”
“Unless he is claimed as mate by another. If he is already spoken for, you can challenge her.”
I folded my arms defensively.
“First, he’s not my mate. Definitely not my mate. Second, challenge her to what?”
“A battle, of course. If you beat her, you will win your mate back.” Kiran looked at me with sudden hope in her eyes. “And if you kill her, I will be freed.”
I chewed on my lip.
“I don’t know. I’m not a murderer. I don’t think I can just walk in there and kill someone.”
“Please, Samira. I have been a slave almost my whole life. When she saw what I could do, she tricked my parents into selling me as a child. And she refused to return me, even when they offered more money. She is evil. Please, I beg of you.”
Her big blue eyes welled up with tears. I peeked into the tent again, and saw Dhav was now on his back, with the insectoid creature stuck like a leech to his throat. The sucking noise was repellent, but he murmured blissfully, unaware he was slowly dying.
As much as I disliked him, I couldn’t leave him there. No-one deserved to die like that.
And then there was Kiran. She said we had the same ancestors. Maybe she could tell me about my background, where I came from.
Plus, she was a slave to this hideous creature. I couldn’t just leave her here.
I turned back to her.
“Okay. So how do I kill a succubus?”
“There is only one way. You must rip out its heart. But demons are incredibly strong and fast. Can you fight?”
“I’ve done a few self-defence classes,” I offered, with a bravado I wasn’t feeling. “And I was in a fight just recently. Against ghuls, actually.”
“Ghuls? Did you win?”
“Sort of. Not exactly. Look, I’ll be fine.”
She didn’t seem convinced.
“Remember, she will only agree to your challenge if she thinks he is your mate.”
“Fine, fine. Though I might choke on the words.”
“And don’t let her mouth touch you. If my Lady gets hold of you, she will drain your will and then rip your head off. And probably lay eggs in your corpse too.”
“Thanks for that graphic description. Good to know.”
I took a breath and metaphorically girded my loins. This day was totally not shaping up the way I expected. Then I marched into the tent and yelled at the top of my voice.
“Hey, bitch. What the hell are you doing with my boyfriend?”
Chapter Fourteen
The demon sprang to its feet, hissing. I grimaced as I saw its bulging, misshapen body beneath the layers of filthy gauze. It seemed to have more than one pair of legs under there.
I tried not to look too closely. But now that I had seen through the illusion, every last detail was clear as day.
“Get away from him. He’s spoken for,” I said firmly.
“Who are you?” it ground out. Its voice was no longer mellifluous and musical. Now it was a grating rasp, spat out of a mouth made up of a pair of mandibles. I couldn’t believe I had wanted to kiss it .
“I’m his better half,” I said, jerking a thumb at Dhav. He was semi-conscious, a beatific smile on his face, but he looked weak and pale. “He was just trying to make me jealous. It worked. We’ll be going now.”
“No. He is mine.”
“Sorry, sweetheart. I’m all for mixed relationships, but you’re definitely not his type.”
“You are claiming him as yours?”
“Yes. He belongs to me.”
Dhav’s head rolled round drunkenly towards me. I looked at him sprawled helplessly, and a cold anger started to trickle through my veins. This creature had done that to him.
I started towards him, and suddenly the demon was in front of me. Its stench made me gag.
“He wants to stay with me. Don’t you want to stay with me too? We could all be so ecstatic together.”
It reached out with one hair-covered paw, and I suddenly realised it thought the illusion was still working on me. It was trying to seduce me. I didn’t know whether to laugh or scream.
“Don’t bother. I see you, succubus. Your tricks won’t work on me.”
The thing recoiled.
“What are you?” it snarled. “You smell human, but you are something else too.”
“If you don’t get out of the way, you’ll find out what I am.”
“Are you challenging me?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
The thing leapt. It was a blur, so fast I barely saw it. Its body slammed into mine, throwing us into the pile of crates and smashing them to bits. A piece of wood jammed into my thigh and I let out a scream.
Then it was on top of me, its rank breath in my face and jaws slashing at my throat. I shoved an arm against its chest, straining to hold it back. It chuckled, a line of drool hanging perilously close to my cheek.
“When I kiss you, you won’t want me to stop.”
“Forget it. I never put out on the first date.”
Bringing my knees up, I got one foot under its abdomen and levered it off me. It rolled upright, tossing aside its human clothing to reveal a segmented body with two pairs of legs. The lower part of its abdomen was secreting some kind of white goo from a puckered sphincter. I grimaced.
“I take it back. You’re a real catch.”
“You will pay for your insolence, mongrel.”
“What, no more sweet-talk?” I staggered to my feet. The wood was still stuck in my leg but thankfully it hadn’t penetrated too deeply. I yanked it out, wincing. “You know, this relationship’s too painful already.”
“I will rip out your eyes and lay eggs in your sockets,” it hissed. “Your human will watch while I do it. And do you know what he’ll be thinking?”
“Is it, what the hell is that smell?”
I put one hand behind my back and called up a swirl of air.
“He’ll be thinking how much he wants to make love to me.”
“I don’t know, that smell is really…”
It leapt again, screeching angrily, but this time I was ready. I hit it with a blast of wind shaped into a solid force. The demon was thrown sideways, but the impact didn’t affect it as much as I hoped. It landed on its feet, more agile than its squat body suggested.
“So, you have a little power of your own. And now I know what you are, djinn.” Its eyes swivelled in all directions. “Did Kiran call out to you? Did she bring you here? When I am done with you, I will deal with her. Ah, there you are, my disobedient sprite.”
I caught sight of Kiran cowering behind one of the boxes. She looked terrified, and her face was streaked with tears. Her eyes widened, and too late I saw the demon had purposely distracted me.
Something smashed into me from behind and I went down hard. Black spots danced on the edge of my vision and I pressed my nails hard into my palms, fighting to stay conscious. Something heavy climbed onto my back, and the succubus whispered into my ear.
“I will enjoy this, djinn.”
“Drop dead, bitch.”
I tried to wriggle free, but it brushed my hair aside and placed its mouthparts delicately on the skin at the back of my neck. Instantly a wave of contentment rolled over me.
A pleasant humming sensation filled my mind, hypnotic and comforting. All my worries melted away. Even the creature’s reek seemed to disappear, and I couldn’t remember what I’d been so worked up about.
I relaxed with a sigh, the weight on my back now barely noticeable. My gaze wandered hazily about the room and settled on Dhav. He’d regained consciousness and was looking right at me.
He had a nice face, I thought as my mind filled with pink fluffy clouds. I hadn’t noticed before, because he was always so stiff-necked and arrogant. Now he just looked concerned. I wondered fleetingly what he was so worried about.
My eyes drifted to his lips. Mmm. Strong yet sensuous. Warm yet firm. Pliant yet… hang on, was he saying something
?
I made a monumental effort to cut through the blissed-out buzz in my head. Like hitting the right frequency for a radio station, Dhav’s voice suddenly sounded loud and clear. He was yelling at me at the top of his voice.
“Wake up, Samira! That thing is draining you. Snap out of it!”
I frowned. What thing? He wasn’t making any sense. I shifted uncomfortably. The weight on my back seemed to be getting heavier.
I squinted at Dhav again. His face had reverted to its usual stoniness and I giggled sleepily. Normal service resumed. Though he seemed angrier than usual with me.
“By the gods, you are the most stubborn person I have ever met. Now focus some of that stubbornness and wake up before it kills us both!”
His anger drilled through the haze, and suddenly I knew he was right. I had to get up. I had to break the demon’s hold on me, or I would simply lie here until it sucked every last ounce of strength from me.
I fought the numbing grip on my mind, clawing back my thoughts until they became mine again. But my body wouldn’t obey me. I couldn’t move a muscle. Fear travelled down my spine.
My eyes darted round the tent, panic-stricken, looking for anything that might help. And when I saw it, I nearly sobbed with relief.
It was sticking out of the mound of shattered crates. A weapon. A jagged shard of broken wood shaped into an almost perfect point. All I had to do was bring it towards me.
But it was difficult to concentrate. Whatever the succubus was doing to me, it was sapping my will. With every passing second more of my strength ebbed away. It was easier just to lie there and let it happen.
But Dhav wouldn’t let me. He kept shouting at me, his voice cutting through the hypnotic fog. I held on to it like a drowning person hangs on to a rope.
With an effort I directed all my energy towards my power and finally, like a damp match spluttering into life, it ignited. I aimed it towards the broken piece of wood.
Nothing to it, I told myself. Like taking a wallet from a fat, inebriated businessman. Easy peasy.
I felt the cushion of air form with aching slowness. I envisaged it curling around the shard of wood, gripping it like a coil of rope. I waited for one precious moment to gather my strength, aware I only had moments before my will faded completely. And then I snapped it hard towards me, praying I had been accurate.
It flew through the air like a javelin and slammed into the heavy weight on my back. There was a shrill scream as the succubus was violently thrown off me, then silence.
As soon as the sucking mouth was gone, my strength started to return. The pink haze cocooning me receded, leaving me faintly nauseous. I took a deep breath, then cautiously got to all fours, spitting bile from my mouth.
My limbs felt heavy, as if I’d just done an extreme workout, and my thigh throbbed where it had been impaled. But otherwise, I was remarkably unscathed considering I’d just faced off with a demon.
“Well done, little thief.” Dhav’s voice sounded hoarse. “For a moment there, I thought you were giving up.”
“Then you don’t know me very well.” I looked across at him. “Can you stand?”
“I think so. What was that thing?”
We both looked at the succubus. It was hanging limply, pinned to the wall by the weather-hardened wood. The jagged point had penetrated it through the heart. As we watched, its corpse began to shrivel until it was nothing but a wrinkled piece of black flesh.
“A kind of demon,” I said. “And your former girlfriend.”
Dhav grimaced.
“It put a spell on me.”
“You said you loved it.”
“A very strong spell.”
“You were kissing it.”
“A very, very strong spell.”
He got to his feet, wincing. I went to help him, noticing as I did so a fading red mark on his throat. The place where the succubus had been feeding on him. I touched it curiously, wondering if I had the same mark on the back of my neck.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing. Just a memento of your wild passion.”
He scowled as he draped an arm about my shoulders. I held onto his waist, and we leant on each other for support like two drunken sailors.
“If you’d arrived sooner, I would not have had to bear the indignities that creature inflicted.”
“You’re just pissed because I killed the love of your life.”
“I suppose you will not let me forget this?”
“Never. I’m actually going to write a blog about it. Maybe a poem. What rhymes with demon?”
We stumbled out of the tent together, blinking as the morning sunshine hit our eyes.
“I suppose I ought to thank you,” he said grudgingly.
“It was nothing.”
“It was anything but.” He stopped suddenly and turned me towards him, his expression solemn. “You saved my life today, little thief. I am in your debt.”
“I take cash,” I wisecracked, suddenly uncomfortable under his gaze. A smile tugged at his lips.
“Duly noted.” He looked over my shoulder. “Who’s that? Is that a child?”
I turned to see Kiran smiling shyly. Silently, she extended her palm towards me. It shone clean and white. The symbol was gone.
I dropped to my knees in front of her.
“Looks like you’re free now.”
“For the first time in my life. Thank you, djinn. You saved me.”
“It seems to be a habit of hers,” said Dhav drily. I introduced them.
“This is Kiran, she’s a lot older than she looks. She was forced to work for the succubus. And this is Dhav, he’s…”
“Your human pet?” supplied Kiran. Dhav’s eyebrows shot up.
“Um, he’s actually a prince,” I said hastily. “We’re working together.” Kiran looked at us doubtfully.
“Can we take you home, little one?” asked Dhav courteously. “We are heading into the mountains.”
“Why? It is not safe for humans.”
“It’s sort of a quest,” I said cautiously. “We have to find something that someone stole from us.”
“Then let me take you to my cousins’ village. It’s in the foothills. You will have fresh beds and good food to prepare for your journey. It is the least I can do.”
I looked across at Dhav, and he nodded.
“Let’s return to our campsite and retrieve our supplies,” he said. “Can you remember where it is? I seem to have no memory of which way we came.”
“No worries, Bear Grylls. By the way, I brought you something.”
I cast around for my bag, spotting it on the ground near the muddy puddle. I pulled out his shoes, and he looked at them sheepishly.
“I certainly seem to have been in a hurry.”
“At least one of us had our wits about us,” I said smugly.
I led us out of the shallow dip where Kiran had spun her mirage, and stood at the top of a dune, trying to get my bearings. I was fairly certain I’d come up the same way I’d followed Dhav down earlier, but try as I might, I couldn’t see our campsite.
I turned in a full circle as Dhav watched me expectantly.
“Well?”
“I thought we’d be able to see it from here,” I said, confused. “We didn’t walk for long. I could definitely still see the buggy flags when we got here.”
“I thought you said you had your wits about you?”
“Maybe the sandwraiths took them,” said Kiran helpfully.
“Sandwraiths?”
“They live under the sand and when no-one’s around they steal stuff.”
“That’s ridiculous,” said Dhav impatiently. “Samira is just lost.”
“I’m not lost. I promise you, I made sure I could see the campsite before I went down the sand dune.”
“It can’t have just vanished into thin air.”
“Sandwraiths,” said Kiran darkly.
Dhav swore under his breath. We spent an hour doing a big sweep around the oasis, b
ut there was no sign of our campsite or the buggies.
“We’re wasting too much time,” said Dhav. “We’ll have to go on foot.”
“Or the djinn can make us fly.” Kiran’s voice was matter-of-fact, and Dhav and I both turned towards her at the same time.
“What?” We spoke in unison.
“The djinn has power over the air. She can use it to fly us towards the mountains.” Kiran sounded confident, and Dhav raised an eyebrow inquiringly at me.
“Can you?”
“Of course I bloody can’t.” I laughed at the notion. “Lift three people through the air? That’s impossible. There’s no way, Kiran.”
“But you are a powerful djinn, you beat a succubus!”
Her expression was so hopeful, I hated to disappoint her.
“Sweety, I’m good at throwing things and lifting wallets. That’s it. I’m not a superhero.”
Kiran frowned, her impression of me clearly dented. Whatever awe she felt for me was fast evaporating. Dhav cleared his throat impatiently.
“Walking it is. Let’s get going.”
We sent Kiran back to the oasis to collect as much water as she could find, then fixed our sights on the distant mountain range. We began trudging.
Barely ten minutes in, there was a sound behind us. A high-pitched buzzing like an electric saw, or a swarm of locusts.
We whipped round to see a giant cloud of sand pluming into the air where the oasis had been. The sand spiralled wildly before being sucked down as if it was draining through the world’s biggest plug hole.
The buzzing stopped abruptly, leaving the desert still and calm as if nothing had happened.
Into the sudden silence, Kiran dropped one word.
“Sandwraiths.”
Chapter Fifteen
“So tell me about our ancestors,” I asked as we walked several steps behind Dhav. He’d set a steady pace, hoping to reach the mountains by nightfall. “You called them fae?”
“Desert fae. There were different fae tribes, like marid, ifrit, and pari. Sprites were part of the pari tribe. But the most powerful were the djinn.”
Mark of the Djinn: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Romance Page 9