She dragged me by the hand to her music player where a collection of various pop artists had made quite the home. She paused, sucking on her finger. After several long seconds, she grabbed an album and popped it into the player.
“Erm…” I murmured and shook my head. I had to focus, and that was suddenly very difficult to do because all I could imagine was throwing her down on that bed and doing all sorts of things I don’t normally do. I closed my eyes and swallowed. I dug my fingernails into my palms, and the pain brought me back to my senses… at least a little. “I was attacked by an Owl the other day. He stole something from me.”
Her eyebrows arched upward as she put a single finger to my chest. Her warmth rushed through me, radiating out to the tips of my toes. My knees shook so hard under her touch they gave out, collapsing beneath me. She knelt down and took my hand in hers. Her touch raged through me like wildfire, threatening to consume me completely.
“What would you have me do to make amends?” Her voice was like silk on my skin, and for a second, I couldn’t even breathe. I wanted to take her voice and wrap myself in it, wanted to roll around with it until my body was covered in the wonderful sound. I looked up at her, kneeling there with a satisfied smile on her face, and something about it filled me with rage. My power rose up inside me like an angry serpent, and I yanked my hand away. Danae stumbled backward, a look of fear flashing across her face.
Her hand shook as she reached out to touch me. I grabbed her wrist, squeezing until pain filled through her eyes. She had been the one putting all sorts of dirty, uncomfortable thoughts in my head, but now, now she looked like she might regret that decision. Good.
Her eyes dropped to the floor, and she bent her head forward. “Please, mistress.” Her voice came out like a squeak, so full of fear it made me release her. “Please don’t hurt me. Please…” Danae fell to her knees sobbing, and honestly, I wasn’t sure if she was messing with me or not.
I cocked my head, studying her. Deep down, I knew this could be an act, but, for some reason, I was pretty sure it wasn’t. As tears bubbled out of her eyes, my heart wrenched.
Something very strange had happened, but I had no idea what it was. Calling upon my power, I knelt down and put my hand against her cheek. An emerald spark leapt from her skin like a tiny static shock.
I jerked my hand back, and as I did, magic swarmed around her like a cloud of oily bugs. She tried to pull away, but I grabbed her face in both of my hands and forced her to stare into my eyes. Her abnormally blue eyes were usually crisp like a winter storm. Now they were strangely cloudy, almost opaque.
Someone was trying to control this vampire, trying to buy time… I wasn't sure why someone would purposely try to make Danae charm me. I mean, no one had known I was coming here until I’d shown up, right? Or maybe they were expecting me.
Maybe that’s why I’d been detained in the lobby for so long. Maybe they were just buying time. I sighed. I was going to have to help Danae because it irked me that someone would steal another person’s free will, vampire or not, and try to make her do… things. Maybe we could help each other after this was over. She had to know who was behind the stall tactic.
My power built inside me, rising more like a cooling wave than a striking serpent. I envisioned it washing out of me and sweeping into Danae like a cleansing wind. If I opened my magical sight, I would have seen my power crashing against the mind control like the ocean slamming against a sandcastle. There was resistance at first, then… nothing.
Danae shook her head as I took her hand into mine.
“Who did this to you, Danae? Is someone trying to keep me busy?” I asked her in my best comforting voice. Which, let me tell you, wasn’t really that good. I’m not exactly the most empathetic person in the world. Games of pin the tail on the werewolf don’t exactly teach you how to comfort and console someone.
“You shouldn’t try to make me feel better Lillim. It doesn't suit you.” Evidently, she agreed with me.
“Fine then. I want to know the who and why of the kidnapping. You know, the usual questions.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“I have no idea who did that.” Her eyes darted around the room, like a mouse suddenly caught alone with a cat.
I smiled. Vampires can’t lie. That’s one of those things most people don’t understand. They can sure twist the truth like hell, but straight up lie… not them. Call it a curse, but she’d given me the answer I wanted… of sorts.
“So why was it stolen?” I asked, trying to keep the smile out of my voice.
“I’m under no obligation to answer you.” Her eyes wavered uncertainly. There was definitely something very strange going on here. Too many things were happening all at once for them not to be connected. I just needed someone to give me the final piece.
“I’m aware. But I could really use your help,” I said, hoping I could convince her to help me. If I couldn’t, I was going to be doubly pissed.
“We don’t have a founder anymore…” she murmured, looking down at the floor. “So when Bob asks for something, well, we have to do it.”
“You guys stole a werewolf prince because Bob asked you too?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No,” she said, cutting me off with a wave of her hand. “We did it for the power. The kind of power we’re talking about has almost limitless value to a vampire.”
“And what sort of power is that?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t something that would have me tangling with another vampire founder. As I said before, I’ve fought a vampire founder, and when they’re up to no good, they’re up to the kind of no good that gets unwanted part guests like me killed.
Danae opened her mouth to reply, and as she did, the wall behind me exploded, flinging me face first across the room.
9
I peeled my face from the wall as the loudest footsteps I’d ever heard echoed in the hallway. Ignoring the ringing in my ears, I spun on my heel and raced out of the room, my hands already going to the hilts of my swords, but what I saw made me wish I’d stayed in Danae’s bedroom and hidden under the bed.
A gigantic fire demon seething with rage stretched its clawed hand toward a fallen vampire, turning the undead bloodsucker to ash in the space of a heartbeat. Flames licked up and down its reddish form, making it appear solid and translucent at the same time.
As its eyes settled on me, only one thought went through my brain. I did not want to die here. I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage that, but I was sure as hell going to try. I jerked my katana and wakazashi free of their respective sheathes as oranges and blues danced across the demon’s vaguely humanoid body like delicate ballerinas.
It caught sight of my pure white blades glinting in the dancing firelight of the hallway, and a sound like screeching metal and breaking glass erupted from its blast furnace of a maw. Its beady, flame-filled eyes gleamed. I don’t know how I knew it was smiling, but I did.
Swell.
The demon moved like smoke, scooping fire out of the very air itself and flinging it in my… no, in our direction, like a softball. Christ! I could probably dodge the fireball, but Danae was standing right behind me. Part of me wanted to let the demon destroy them all, but if these vampires died, whatever information they might have would, literally, go up in flames.
A spell I hoped would keep me from being charred into very tiny bits burst from my lips as I slammed my katana into the ground in front of us. The glowing blade cut through the marble floor with ease as I poured magic into it while grabbing Danae with my other arm and whirling so my back was to the blaze.
Fire hit my katana and exploded around us. Searing heat rushed by me, and even through my spell, the edges of my spell-hardened overcoat yellowed. This was not good. If my overcoat got destroyed, it’d lose the ability to magically hold tons of stuff. Then again, if the overcoat kept me from dying, I could live with the loss.
I dropped Danae who stared at me wide-eyed with fright. “Do something, Lil,” she cried as she tried to scurr
y backward away from the demon.
“I’m thinking!” If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me to save them I’d be… well, poor. I’d probably have like thirty-five cents. Still, I was technically a Dioscuri, and it was our job to stop supernatural bad guys. I just didn’t know if I could stop this particular supernatural bad guy. I’d never gone up against a flame demon before. Hell, I’d never even heard of someone who had.
Usually, you needed holy water and the like to fight demons, but since I was in a vamp house, I was pretty sure those things would be in short supply. As it stood, my best bet was to try to brute force my way through the creature. Hey, it wasn’t the best plan, but it was a plan. If that didn’t work, there was always plan B. Run away, screaming.
I pulled my wakazashi from its sheath with my left hand, filled it with power, and flung it straight at the chest of the demon in one fluid motion. As the blade left my hand, I charged forward, a spell on my lips. The sword slammed into the creature with a whoosh, and I screamed wordlessly. A flare of crimson light exploded from my weapon, and the demon staggered, letting out a howl that shook the floor beneath my feet.
That’s when I saw Logan. He stood just behind the creature. Blood streamed down his face, but even still I could tell he had planned this. Had he brought this demon here to stop me or was I here to stop it? Either way, it didn’t seem like he could control the monster. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have lost vampires in the chaos.
“I have him right where I want him,” Logan screamed at me while making no effort to actually help me.
“Clearly,” I muttered as fire licked up the walls of his home, engulfing priceless artwork and kitten calendars alike.
The demon ripped my wakazashi from its chest and tossed it away. As my sword fell over the railing, the demon took an ominous step toward me. Flame spread around its feet, sweeping across the floor like rolling waves.
Fire rose up between us, and the heat engulfed me. Blisters rose like goosebumps on my bare flesh, making me cry out in pain. Scalding air filled my lungs as I fell to my knees. Coughs wracked my body and tears welled in my eyes. I reached out and put my hands on the hilt of my katana still stuck in the marble while Danae ran for safety. Great, the vampire was safe. I wonder if that got me a door prize.
I forced everything away and focused on the cold touch of Isis’ steel. A surge of magic filled me, rushing through my veins and filling me with energy. I stood, tearing the katana from the floor in a flurry of rock and ash.
The demon was nearly upon me. The heat radiating off of it was more suffocating than a turtleneck sweater in the middle of July. The creature’s fist came at me, and I flung Isis up to block. My blade wobbled under the creature’s power, but it did not break.
I took a step forward, forcing more of my will toward the demon. It skidded backward, but the flames did not move. They rushed forward, sweeping around me until I was surrounded by fire. The creature reared back with its other fist, but it was all I could do to hold off the blaze as it seethed around me, violent and hungry. The demon’s giant fist struck me, and my feet left the floor.
Breath whooshed out of me as I slammed sideways into the giant window that lined the hallway. There was a shrieking sound, and the glass behind me shattered. I fell out onto the charred remains of the roof and slid on the rain-slicked surface.
My hands shot out as I clawed for purchase on the soaked wood. I gripped something, and my body jerked to a stop. My arm screamed in pain. It felt like it had been torn from its socket. I swallowed and shut my eyes. Water was pouring from the sky in buckets. Now that I’d stopped moving, I was good with the rain.
I lunged forward, driving Isis into the roof and grabbed onto it with both hands. I lay like that on the rain-soaked rooftop until the wood beneath my blade crumbled to ash. I slid backward, the wood flaking away beneath my fingernails as I carved gouges into the roof. Then I was falling.
Thud!
It hurt so much, I couldn’t breathe. I struggled for air that would not come. Glass and flaming bits of wood rained down on me as my body finally remembered how to work. I threw my arms up, trying to ward off shards that gouged my flesh.
Gib stood over me with his arms crossed, staring down into my face with rage-filled eyes.
“That’s okay. I really didn’t need you to catch me anyway,” I muttered.
Before he could respond, the demon exploded through what remained of the wrecked window, moving brazenly in the hellish storm. I was glad Gib was outside because when he saw the demon, he dove forward.
His claws reached defiantly into the heat and raked into the ashy flesh beneath. I slipped once in the dark mud as I tried to get to my feet and fell down hard on my knees. Pain flashed through my legs, and I bit my lip to keep from crying out.
The once lavish peaks of the building had been totally consumed by flames, making it resemble an enormous funeral pyre. Thankfully, the rain was starting to beat the blaze down. Every time flames pushed up through the crackling wood, storm clouds seemed to concentrate on it, so the fire was sent scurrying down into the house. Was it Gib’s doing? He must have seen the blaze from outside and summoned the rain to help with the fire. After all, as a shaman, his thing would most likely be elemental magic.
Gib circled the demon like the predator he was. His wolfish features glinted in the firelight, making him seem more like a bronze god and less like a creature of flesh and blood. He darted forward, raking the demon’s flesh and tearing away gobs of a sickly yellowish substance. Even as I watched, I knew it couldn’t last forever. Each attack was melting Gib’s flesh nearly to the bone, and he wasn’t allowing his body time to heal. If he kept it up, even he wouldn’t be able to heal the injuries.
The rain was coming down so hard it was like standing in a hurricane. The trees to my left swayed so violently they nearly bent in half. The Owl’s gardener was not going to be happy when this was all said and done. My hair was plastered to my face, and I was soaked with muddy water. I wiped my hair from my eyes and crawled to my feet. I reached my hand out and called my katana to me. The blade flew through the air and into my hand, but even that tiny effort caused stars to shoot from behind my eyes. I wasn’t going to be doing much more magic tonight.
The demon caught Gib by the throat. Fire licked down Gib’s skin, but the werewolf kept attacking, kept slashing. Deep wounds continued to open on the fire demon as it stood there, allowing its flame to blaze down Gib’s body. The smell of burning flesh and melted hair filled the air and my gag reflex started to kick in. Still, I had to help the werewolf.
As I staggered forward, clutching my katana for dear life, Danae screamed from a frost-covered balcony high above. She threw her hands outward and large shards of ice tore through the sky. They sliced into the burning monster, ripping holes that gushed foul yellow ichor where they struck. The demon snarled and dropped Gib. The creature struggled there, steam curling off him in tendrils as it tried to tear itself free.
The demon’s eyes settled on Danae, and it tried to raise its hand toward the vampire. The ice held it pinned in place, but I could tell that wouldn’t hold for much longer. Already the ice was melting away. I had to make my move before that happened.
I threw my battered hand out toward the creature and cried, “No!”
There was a ripping sound as power leapt from my fingertips. The magic struck the demon full on and tossed it to the ground. Yellow blood burst from the thing like a geyser. There was so much fluid, I could scarcely believe it all came from the creature. Was there truly flesh beneath that exterior or was it just a giant bag filled with snot?
White stars danced across my vision as I reached into my overcoat and pulled a bag of salt from one of my overcoat pockets. Yeah, I carried salt around, and if you dealt with supernatural creatures all the time like I did, you’d have some too. Why? Because salt tends to dissipate magical energy. It’s not a hard and fast rule, mind you, but hey, salt weighs and costs nothing.
Clutching my salt like it
was the last lifeline in a storm, I hobbled toward the broken creature. If there was one thing that could stop a demon it would be salt. If it didn’t, we were all screwed. As the demon’s skin started to sew itself back together, one angry eye focused on the bag of salt in my hand.
A roar that nearly burst my eardrums erupted from the creature as a spear of flames exploded from the demon and barreled toward me. I took a deep breath and charged forward, dumping energy into my injuries to numb them, before I leapt over the flames. When I dropped, I rolled and crashed into the creature.
It burned me even with magic shielding me, but I ignored it. I shoved the bag of salt deep into the creature. The demon’s scream ripped through my thoughts as an explosion threw me backward. I hit the ground with a wet thud, sliding in the mud until I was covered in its soothing coolness.
Ash from the explosion fell from the sky with the rain, plastering me with dark sludge. I coughed and tried to wipe my face with my hands. My limbs flopped uselessly in the air before falling limply onto my chest. I was so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open. Even the giant, blackened handprint on my coat didn’t scare me as much as it ought to have. Then again, it wouldn’t sting until tomorrow. I’d worry about it then.
Despite the vast majority of his skin being blistered and oozing Gib was standing. His nostrils flared as he scanned the courtyard. He looked like a roast that had fallen into the fire. When Gib spotted Logan hiding behind a giant elm tree, he marched up to him and grabbed the vampire by the throat.
“A fire demon?” Gib yelled in Logan’s face. His voice was loud and ferocious. “Did you think it would be so easy to have it do your bidding?”
“I was trying to contain it in a cold iron sword when you arrived,” Logan managed to squeeze out through his restricted airway while avoiding direct eye contact.
He hadn’t answered the question directly. Interesting.
The Lillim Callina Chronicles: Volumes 1-3 Page 7