The First Book of Demons

by Raquel Dove

Alex yawned lazily as she sat up in the bed and stretched her arms above her head. She looked around the room and saw Shiri sitting in a chair on the other side of the bed. Her black eyes were trained on Alex and she had a polite smile on her lips as her hands rested in her lap. Alex knew she should feel uncomfortable with Shiri just sitting there watching her sleep, but she couldn’t seem to care about anything right now. She just felt so damn good.

  “I feel amazing,” she said with a lopsided smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever slept that good.”

  “You’re finally awake,” Shiri said, standing up and walking over to the bed. Her eyes popped with delight and there was a little bounce in her step. She rested her hands on the bed and leaned over so that her face was only inches from Alex’s. “I’ve never seen someone sleep so much.”

  “How long have I been asleep?” Alex asked, scratching absently behind her ear. She knew she was supposed to be concerned about something, but she just couldn’t for the life of her imagine what the hell it could be.

  “Most of the day and the entire night,” Shiri said, her head cocking to the side. “I was worried, but Lord Azi assured me that it’s normal for a human. Does your kind truly sleep that long?”

  “Sometimes we do,” Alex said with a smile at Shiri’s excitement. “If we’re really tired.”

  “So odd,” Shiri said, shaking her head. She straightened off the bed and looked down at Alex as she held out her hand. “Come now, I’ll show you to Lord Azi. He’s been anxious for you to wake.”

  Alex took her hand and slid out of the bed. She followed Shiri into the hall where the sound of soft music greeted her ears. The vibrating strum and twang of a stringed instrument rang through the rock walls of the palace. The melody was so beautiful that Alex felt absolutely entranced. It became louder and louder until they stopped at a pair of doors that looked like they had been forged of solid gold. With a push that seemed too easy for how heavy the doors looked, Shiri opened them. The Dragon King sat in the middle of a large bedroom that was luxuriously decorated with furniture carved to resemble tangles of coral and seaweed. He sat on a high-backed chair and his black claws plucked the thin white strings of a golden harp. When he strummed the last cord Alex applauded the performance with a wide smile. Azi stood and gave an exaggerated bow, then motioned for Alex to have a seat in one of the sofa’s that made up a seating area on one side of his room. He sat down right next to her and studied her face for a moment.

  “How is it you’ve found yourself acquainted with a demon,” he said finally as he relaxed a little into the cushions on the couch. Alex noted with some discomfort the disdain in his voice when he said the word demon. It was right then that a flood of memories came rushing at her, almost as if she’d been under a spell that was finally lifted. She felt guilty for forgetting about Balthazar.

  “He found me,” Alex said, “when I woke up here. He’s going to help me get back home.”

  “Is that what you desire, Alexandra?” Azi asked, leaning in closer. He threw his arm around the back of the couch so that it was almost wrapped around her shoulders.

  “Well, yeah,” Alex said, her eyes softening as they drifted to the floor. “I miss my friends. I know they’re probably worried sick about me.”

  “And the demon, this Balthazar, has said he’ll send you home?” he asked.

  “There are strings attached of course,” Alex said, “but yeah.”

  “Ah,” Azi sat back a little from her and lifted a finger in the air. There was something akin to disgust in his voice as he spoke. “So there is something of yours the demon wants.”

  “He thinks I can help him,” Alex said with a shrug, “ and I promised I would try in any way I could.”

  “Why would you promise him such a thing?” Azi asked. His hand dropped into his lap. There was absolute astonishment in his eyes as he watched Alex, waiting for her response.

  “Well,” Alex nibbled on her lip, trying to think of a reason that didn’t include the simple fact that she had become rather fond of him. She couldn’t really think of a solid reason to tell Azi, aside of course for the possibility that he’d help her get home. “I think he needs help, even though he doesn’t want to say it. And he promised to help me get back home, so I owe him my help.”

  “Humans,” Azi said with a bemused look in his eyes. “I’m sorry to inform you, the demon is incapable of sending you back where you came from.”

  “How do you know that?” Alex asked, her face falling as her heart dropped into her stomach. She sat up straighter on the couch. “He said he could.”

  “Yes, I’m sure he did,” Azi said with a wave of his hand, “Demons will say anything to get what they want.”

  “Are you saying I’m not going to be able to get back home?” Alex asked, her voice rising sharply.

  “I didn’t say that,” Azi said with a smile as he leaned over and placed a hand on top of hers. “In fact, I would like to render my services to you in just such an endeavor.”

  “You would do that?” Alex asked, looking from their coupled hands up to his black eyes. “You can do that?”

  “It’s not a simple task,” Azi said, “ though for someone of my station, it is do-able. And I am rather inclined to help you.”

  “Thank you,” Alex said. Her hand began to itch under his touch and she wanted to pull away, but she resisted the urge. If he really could send her home, she didn’t want to jeopardize anything by offending him. “But…why would you help me?”

  “I’ve always had an affinity for your kind,” he said as he held his hands out wide. Alex was thankful that his skin no longer touched hers. “And this world is not the place for you to be.”

  “That’s great,” Alex said. Her lips spread into a wide smile. “I’ll help Balthazar, and then I can go back home.”

  “The demon,” Azi said, his eyes darkening suddenly with his mood. “Why would you help it? I have freed you of your need for its help.”

  “Because, I..,” Alex narrowed her eyes. She had caught the way Azi called Balthazar ‘it’ instead of him and she didn’t like it. “I promised him.”

  “Come with me,” Azi said, standing abruptly. He stalked from the room with his shoulders tense. Alex followed him through a couple empty hallways until they came to a narrow wooden door. Azi opened the door and Alexandra’s heart sank like a stone in the lake that sat above them.

  Balthazar was beaten and bloody, chained by the neck to the stone wall behind him. His wounds, once almost healed, were reopened and bleeding badly. His shoulders slumped forward and his breathing was labored. He shook his head, as if trying to clear a fog from his mind and looked up. When he saw Alex he tried to stand, but his knees buckled and he fell back to the ground with a weak growl echoing in his chest. The breath stuck in Alexandra’s throat.

  “What have you done to him?” Alex cried as she rushed passed the Azi to Balthazar’s side. Her fingers prodded the collar around his neck as she tried to find a latch that would remove it. It hurt to see Balthazar so broken and subdued. It just wasn’t him.

  “It’s a demon. It’s exactly where it belongs,” Azi said casually, as if he had just commented on the weather.

  “You stupid little girl,” Balthazar growled. He lashed out at her and she had to jump back before his claws ripped through her torso. The whites of his eyes had clouded over to a chilling blood red and he barred his fangs at her and snapped violently at empty air.

  “Do you see?” Azi said, waving a hand at Balthazar. “The true nature of the demon is showing itself. Its a beast, lurking beneath a pathetic excuse for a Lord.”

  Balthazar crumpled forward, held up only by the chains on his wrists. His chest rumbled weakly and it tore at the strings of Alex’s heart. She couldn’t stand to see him like this anymore. He was struggling so hard to be strong, but he was so weak with his injuries.

  “Please,” Alex pleaded, looking from Balthazar to Azi. There was a burning hatred in his eyes that made Alex want to shiver. “Please, l
et him go.”

  Azi looked as if she had slapped him in the face.

  “Why do you defend this creature?” he asked, his eyes searching her for understanding. He had expected her to be thankful, not ask to let the demon go.

  “He doesn’t deserve to be treated like this,” Alex said, tears threatening to fall down her cheeks as she watched Balthazar struggle helplessly against the pain of his injuries. His wounds were terrible, but there was something else bothering him. Alex didn’t know what it was, but she just knew there was some unseen force continuing to harm him and she knew it was coming from Azi.

  “I’ll make you a deal, Alexandra,” Azi said, his voice losing any kindness it once held. He crossed his arms over his broad chest. “I’ll allow this demon to live, but I’ll no longer offer you my assistance.”

  “Done,” Alex said, without hesitation. She didn’t want help from someone that would do this to Balthazar. She wished more than anything that she could stare daggers cause she’d be visually throwing them right at Azi.

  “This is the only chance you’ll have to get home,” Azi said, narrowing his eyes at her. “It takes a great deal of magic to send someone over the threshold of the worlds, and that’s not something the demon can provide you.”

  “I don’t care,” Alex said sharply. She looked at Balthazar and felt a stab of guilt, realizing it was her blabbermouth that had gotten him in this predicament.

  “Just let him go,” she said softly, “Please. Let us both go.”

  “You’ll never get home,” Azi said, his brows pulling together. He just couldn’t seem to fathom that Alex would choose Balthazar over going home. She would have thought that she would give anything to get home, but there was definitely a line, and the feelings she had developed for Balthazar wouldn’t allow her to leave him behind like this.

  “I will,” Alex said mostly to herself as she watched Balthazar struggling for each breath. “I trust him. He’ll find me a way.”

  “Your trust is misplaced,” Azi said. He looked like he was pouting. His face had a sour look plastered on it and he turned away from Alex. “But very well.”

  He snapped his fingers and the chain around Balthazar’s neck disappeared in a small puff of blue smoke. He struggled to stand as a growl grew in his badly wounded chest. He lumbered after Azi with rage in his crimson eyes.

  “Don’t challenge me demon,” Azi warned, puffing out his chest. Balthazar stopped dead in his tracks as if held by an invisible force. Alex noticed the bloodied whites of his eyes returning to normal. “Even if you were fully healed and rested you could not best me and we both know it. You can thank the human for your pathetic life, but if I come across you again I’ll not be so lenient.”

  The walls of Azi’s majestic rock palace began to wobble and lose their shape. The floor beneath Alexandra’s feet slowly turned to a puddle of water. Before she could register what was happening, walls of water came crashing down around them. She clamped her eyes shut and braced for the moment of impact, but it never came. As her eyes opened, she could see that her and Balthazar were encapsulated in an air bubble. Fish and other sea life flashed by them as the bubble made its way to the surface of the lake. The bubble emerged from the water and settled them safely on the shore.

  The surface of the water began to ripple. With a rush of wind and tide a blue-scaled serpentine dragon erupted from the middle of the lake and hovered in the air above it. His body covered the lake in shadows. It was the Dragon King in his true form and he was absolutely terrifying.

  Alex could see the same black eyes that had for a brief moment been so kind to her. They focused on her as the long, narrow body of the dragon writhed above the lake surface, untangling itself and finally landing part way on the shore next to them. His eyes remained locked on Alex as a slender paw reached beneath his arm. A split second of pain flashed across the dragon’s face, and in a rush of misty wind Azi was once more in humanoid form. He held a pearlescent white scale in his hand and his eyes finally turned from Alex to Balthazar.

  “I believe you needed this,” he said, holding his prized underscale out for Alex to take. Alex looked at him with confusion. Balthazar had told her the things that they were after, but she never mentioned those to Azi.

  “I’m a dragon,” Azi said condescendingly, as his eyes flashed onto Alex for just a moment before he focused on Balthazar again. “I know many things that don’t need to be told to me. If this is what you think you need, then take it.”

  Alex reached out with a shaky hand and grabbed the scale from Azi. It was about the size of a dinner plate, but it felt as light as air and as soft as silk, but at the same time it felt as solid as titanium. Alex clutched the item to her chest. In a rush of wind and blue smoke, the dragon was gone and she was left alone on the shore with a badly injured Balthazar.

  He stumbled backward for a bit, shaking his head as if he was just now waking from a hazy dream. His eyes focused on Alex for just a moment before he crumpled to the ground. Alex rushed to him and tried in vain to catch him. Even if she had gotten to him in time, she didn’t have the strength to hold him up. The best she could do was scoop his head up into her lap as she rested her back against a tree. She smoothed the hair away from his handsome face and looked him over with a heavy heart. There was nothing she could do but wait and hope for him to heal. She forced herself to stay awake for as long as she possibly could to watch over him, but eventually she succumbed to sleep with a desperate wish in her mind that Balthazar would be alright when she woke.

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