"Now you wake him up, witch," said a voice that definitely wasn't Ajax's. It wasn't human at all.
I spun around, not caring about the gun.
The thing that stood next to Ajax wasn't an imp. At least I didn't think so. It looked more human than imp. Taller and less oddly bony. Not quite as human as the demon had looked though. It seemed unfinished somehow, the planes of its face and limbs wrong. As though someone had made the shape of a human with their eyes shut, then reached into their nightmares for ideas to finish it off.
"Well, witch?" it said. The words almost oozed and bubbled, as though there were too many teeth or tongues in its mouth. It made me feel like I was listening to something underwater.
"Why do you need him awake?"
It grinned then, and oh yes, there were definitely too many teeth. Gleaming black and spiked. Disconcerting against the almost human lips. Of course, any human with lips that shade of purplish gray would have been dead for quite some time.
A lesserkind, if I had to guess.
Damn it, I should have made Cassandra show me pictures of those as well as the imps. Though behind it stood an imp that looked remarkably like the one that had attacked us at my house. And several of its smaller friends, gleaming oily black, like the ones that’d first chased Damon and me through Dockside. From around me, chittering, rattling noises came from all angles, and more imps began to appear. I didn't waste time counting them. "A lot" was a near enough number. Too many for me to fry at once without a flamethrower.
"You are not here to ask questions," the lesserkind said.
"What am I here for?" I asked, stalling. Every second could be one second closer to help arriving. And I didn't think Ajax was going to shoot me for asking a question. Not without permission. Of course, the lesserkind probably didn't need to tell him to do it, it could probably just force him.
I snuck a peek at Ajax's aura. It swirled orange and yellow. Not jittery like Damon’s, just agitated. That was better than dead gray like Ted's, I supposed.
"Keep your magic for the man, witch," the lesserkind said. Its gaze slid to one side, toward Ted. "Edward, step back and give the witch room."
Edward. Not Ted. Why was that name familiar? I moved to the stretcher, trying to remember. I laid my hands on Damon, knowing I couldn't stall too long. Not if the lesserkind could tell when I was using my magic.
Edward. Edward.
Then it sprang into my brain. Edward Greenstone was the last Archangel beta tester released from the hospital. It had to be him, surely? Did that mean he'd been the worst affected? And how in the hell had the healers let him go if his aura looked like that? Maybe it hadn't? It seemed hard to believe. But if a lesserkind could serve a demon, surely it could also corrupt humans. When that corruption had happened was less important than how far under its control Ted was. If I had to guess, I’d have said all the way. Which meant I needed to think of him as an extension of the lesserkind at this point.
"Do not waste time, witch." The lesserkind sounded annoyed, the bubbling quality intensified.
I stared down at Damon. Should I wake him up? Could I wake him up might be more the question. I actually had no idea what I was doing. I'd put him to sleep, but that had been half panic. Was he safer asleep?
Probably not. They had me now. Maybe they didn't need him as leverage for much longer. In which case, I wanted him to have at least a chance of surviving this. If Mitch or the Cestis managed to find us, then awake, Damon might get out of here alive.
I closed my eyes and remembered what the book said. I needed to pull his energy field back up to where it should be.
Okay. So, if right now, my magic worked better when I was scared, then I would let myself be scared. Just for a minute. I opened my eyes and stared down at his face.
Let myself, just for a second, imagine what it would feel like if I never saw it again. If he never woke up. The fear that roared through me was torrential. I had to brace my knees to stay upright. But in its wake came a wave of fury.
No.
I wasn't having anything more taken from me. Not if I could help it. Not this man. Not my life.
Not without a fight.
I sent a pulse of power through Damon's aura, and his eyes snapped open, the blue unearthly bright in the weird half-light.
"Maggie?" he said.
"Stay still," I said. "We're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy." He was a fan of retro culture, as Nat had been. A weird trait in people who embraced the future and technology so enthusiastically, but there it was. I hoped he knew the reference.
He frowned but didn't ask anything else.
"Step back, witch," the lesserkind said. "Edward, untie him."
That made me scared all over again. Why was he happy to have Damon loose? Two humans against all of them wasn't great odds, but it was better than one. Unless it was counting Damon as being on his side. Another weapon. One who might just willingly put his hands around my throat again.
I stepped back, suddenly wary, angling my body so I could see the lesserkind, Damon, Ted, and Ajax. If Damon was under their control somehow, then it was three humans against one. That was without counting the lesserkind and its imp army.
In other words, I was screwed.
Ted released Damon, who sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the stretcher. Ted pulled a set of navy scrubs out of a bag tucked underneath and shoved them toward Damon. "Put those on."
Damon obeyed, face expressionless. That didn't ease my nerves. If you wanted to keep a human off balance, then keeping them mostly naked was a good tool. Giving him clothes gave him security. Did that mean they thought they had him under control?
While they were all distracted watching Damon dress, I risked a quick glance at his aura. Still full of static.
And maybe, just maybe I could see a thread of energy extending out from his chest, the faintest glimmer of blue twisting in the air. But I couldn't turn to see exactly where it went. Not yet. I cut my power before the lesserkind could notice what I was doing and concentrated on Damon. If he came for me, then I would try to knock him out again. It was my only option.
"Now, witch," the lesserkind said. "Look at me."
I turned reluctantly. Demons could take over a human through sheer willpower if there was an opening. Could lesserkind do the same? I tried to remember what Cassandra had taught me about shields once upon a time. Something about pushing power out to strengthen your aura. It was worth a shot. I stared at the lesserkind, visualizing my aura turning solid. Nothing felt any different, but it snarled.
"Do you think that will save you?" it asked.
"Do you think your power will save you?" I spat back. "What do you want?"
"You hurt my master. You hurt us," it hissed. "We have slept, but we are awake now.
I hoped by “we” the thing meant it and its imps, not it and the demon. If the demon was already trying to find a way back to our dimension, then we had a bigger problem.
"So you took a nap." I tried to sound unconcerned. "If you were hoping for some beauty sleep, it doesn't seem to have worked."
It hissed at me. "Vanity is a human thing, witch."
Yeah, I didn't think so. The demons and their kind might be ugly, but they wanted to claim our world. That took ambition and greed, and vanity was an emotion wrapped up in that family.
"Edward doesn't look too hot either," I said. "What the hell have you done to him? Judging by his aura, he should be dead."
The lesserkind laughed. "He is useful but weak. He escaped us once. Now he is returned to us. His emotions twisted him. When the humans set him free, his despair called. And I found him again."
Found him and did what exactly? Drained his energy somehow to bolster whatever it was the lesserkind lost when I sent his boss back to the netherworld? That would explain the dullness of Edward's aura and his lack of independent action.
Come to think of it, I hadn't seen him do anything yet that Ajax or the lesserkind hadn't told him to do. So maybe he wasn't such a big threat after all. Sure, he would probably attack me if ordered, but I didn't think he would do anything at all, left to his own devices.
"Okay, so you got one of your demon's little toys back. Why do you need me?" I had a pretty good idea, but every word bought me time.
"Stop with the questions," Ajax snarled.
"Fuck you, Ajax," I said. "Shoot me if you want. But that won’t change the fact that you're a piece of shit, selling humans out to these things.” I waved my hand wildly, taking in the lesserkind and the crowd of imps. “I don't know what happened to you, but at this point, I don't care. Edward at least has the excuse of the Archangel glitch giving the demon access to him. And I'm sorry for him that he wasn't able to be cured. But you...you seem healthy enough."
For a moment his face twisted, his eyes going wide before his expression returned to calm. "We have an understanding," Ajax said, nodding at the lesserkind.
"What? Power? Revenge? Money?" I asked. "Trust me, Ajax, whatever it promised you, this can only end badly. My mother made a deal with a demon. She was dead weeks later."
His face twisted into a snarl. "You survived."
"I wasn't a volunteer. And you know what? When I found out about the demon, I kicked its ass back to hell. I wasn't stupid enough to join its team."
"Shut up," Ajax said. "You think you're so clever. But this demon came because of you. People got hurt. People died."
"And yet you teamed up with its little lapdog here? Slow learner, Ajax. I thought Riley was too smart to employ morons, but clearly I was wrong. I can't believe Nat thought you were cute."
“If I’m so stupid, how did I fool you all?” he snarled.
“Fuck off. You’re going to regret this, loser.” It wasn’t the snappiest comeback ever, but somehow it hit home.
Fury flashed over his face, followed by something more like...regret? Was the old Ajax still under there somewhere? Could he be freed? Cured? Maybe. But at the moment, I had no sympathy to spare him. I would get myself out of this. And Damon. Then I'd worry about Ajax.
"Enough," said the lesserkind. "Wasting time is pointless." It stepped closer. "My master wants your power, witch."
"Your master can bite me," I said, baring my teeth at it.
"Brave words. But will you be less brave if I rip out the throat of the man? Or torture him until you comply?" It tilted its head at Damon, who hadn't so much as flinched at its words. "Do you value his life, witch?"
Fuck. My heart twisted. Tore a little. Did I want Damon to live? Yes. Did I want to live? Yes. Was I willing to rebind myself to a demon to do it? Hell no. Nor would Damon want me to.
Was I willing to give up just yet when there was a chance that the cavalry might still be coming to save us?
No.
My hand strayed to the pendant at my throat.
"Your little stones are weak, witch," the lesserkind said. "They might give one of my children pause, but they will do nothing more than sting me for an instant should I choose to tear them from your throat."
"If human magic is so weak, why haven't you come for me before?"
"I was sleeping. When I woke, I was weakened. But I rebuilt my strength so I could find you. You were warded. Protected. But Ajax said the man would draw you out."
Fucking Ajax. But it made sense now. Someone with access to Riley’s security and all its toys—someone computer savvy like Ajax—would be able to hack my system maybe. Or figure out how to set up a clone system that appeared to be mine. And Ajax had seen Damon and me together plenty of times at Riley. Nat might even have told him we were sleeping together.
"So much for company loyalty," I said, letting my disgust at him spill into the words.
"I don't owe Riley anything," Ajax said.
I wondered if he meant the company or the man. Close enough to the same thing in the end.
"He was right," the lesserkind interjected. "He will be rewarded."
Ajax smiled nastily.
I gave him the finger. In his place, I would have
asked to read the fine print. A demon's reward for service from a human most often seemed to be death.
"You will be rewarded, too, if you take the bond," the lesserkind said. "Power beyond your weak human magic. Whatever you want."
If I took the bond? Interesting. The demon couldn't make the connection with me unless I agreed? Meaning they couldn't knock me out or hurt me enough to make me insensible. Good to know.
I risked another quick peek at Damon's aura. Or rather I looked for the glinting thread I'd seen emanating from it. I was expecting to see it join to the lesserkind, but instead the filament of light arrowed to the pale imp behind it. Apparently it was the one from my house. And it had somehow formed a connection when it hurt him. Maybe touch was enough for its contagion to work after all. Planting a seed of connection like a single bacteria. Something small enough that Radha had missed it. But now it had grown.
I needed to make sure it didn’t grow more. A thicker thread, like a rope of smoke, ash gray and lifeless, stretched between Edward and the lesserkind. I wouldn’t let that to happen to Damon.
I had to free him. And given it was an imp, not the lesserkind controlling him, I thought I could.
Breaking this kind of link was something I knew how to do. I'd done it before. See the energy field, change the energy field. "Whatever I want?" I tried to sound tempted and took a step toward the lesserkind.
"My master is kind to those who serve," the lesserkind said. The corners of its mouth widened in some terrible parody of a smile.
I remembered standing by my mother's grave. They never let me see her body. Too shattered from the crash that sent her off a mountain road. I’d been shattered, too. With grief and loss, my whole world destroyed in an instant. And shattered again when I found out she’d sold my magic. That was a demon's kindness for you.
I took another step, then whirled and lunged for the stretcher, shoving it hard at Edward. He yelped and pulled his gun. I ignored him, taking advantage of the moment of chaos to reach for the link between Damon and the imp and sever it with a blaze of power that made my head swim for a second.
Damon blinked once before his expression snapped into focus, and then he seemed to take in the entire scene. He launched toward Edward, whirling into motion with a skill that told me Mitch had ensured his boss knew how to do more than just shoot. A gunshot, so loud it hurt, rang out. I ducked instinctively, not knowing where it came from. It was followed quickly by a second as I rolled back to my feet. Something hot tore across my arm.
"No!" shrieked the lesserkind.
I looked up to see it backhand Ajax with a furious blow. Ajax crumpled to the floor, his gun falling from a hand gone suddenly lifeless. Another shot sounded, and Edward also went down. Damon had the gun now. He aimed it at the lesserkind.
The lesserkind lifted a hand, face snarling.
"No!" This time it was me screaming, whether to warn Damon away or the lesserkind, I didn't know. I sent a bolt of fire in its direction, sending the imps scattering, but it dodged and gestured back at me. Magic rolled over me like a blow, followed by heat, as though my aura had caught fire. Pain shrieked through me for a moment before it faded, leaving me gasping for breath.
Fuck. I wasn't strong enough to beat that. It wasn't though I could call lightning to strike it down like I had the demon. We were inside, for a start.
The lesserkind laughed. Lifted its other hand. I tried to call the shield back to life, to put something between me and Damon and it. My magic surged, then sputtered.
"Weak human magic, witch," the lesserkind hissed. "You will serve or—"
Behind it, the front door blew inward. I dove toward Damon, pulling him to the ground as more gunfire started. The lesserkind screeched and twisted toward the light. The pale imp from the garden fell to the ground, screaming as bullets tore through it.
I started to lift my hand, hoping to take advantage of the lesserkind's distraction as humans in black uniforms began to pour through the door. But the figure in the lead wasn't the sort of lean and muscular build I associated with Mitch's security team. No, it was short and curved. The one beside it was also short but slight. Another taller, curvy figure moved with them. Cassandra. Lizzie. Radha. The three of them moved faster than I would have thought possible. White light spewed from their fingers, though I wasn't sure if it was fire or magic. Wards sprang up around the lesserkind, and it twisted, screeching again, its own hands ablaze with magic pushing against the cage of wards.
"That won't save you," Cassandra said calmly. She looked over her shoulder, and Ian walked up to stand with them. He carried a complicated-looking bow. I knew immediately what the arrows it shot would be made from. Demon stone was too dangerous to put in a bullet. A bullet might go straight through a target and hit something beyond it. An arrow wouldn’t. I'd been given demon stone-filled daggers to try against the demon, so an arrowhead made the same way made sense.
The lesserkind shrieked despairingly as though it knew what was about to happen, the sound ripping through my ears, making me want to curl into a ball and hide until the monster was gone. But I stayed put, made myself watch.
Ian's face was perfectly calm as he lifted the bow and sent the arrow arcing free.
He didn't miss. He could hardly miss from so close. The arrow took the lesserkind through the eye.
I’d never thought about what demon stone did to actual demonkind before now. It was almost anticlimactic to see the lesserkind fall forward, its skin turning silver. The thump it made as it hit the ground seemed to shake the building. The wards flared brilliant white around it, the four Cestis all sending more magic into them, until I couldn't see the lesserkind anymore.
It was no longer a problem. But we had another one.
The imps had gone crazy. More of them poured down the staircase and from every nook and cranny of the house. Damon and I pulled each other up, scrambling as one landed on Edward and bit a chunk out of his neck. I flung fire at it, and it caught like a candle’s wick.
The next few minutes were a blur of flames and gunfire. Ian sprinted around the dead lesserkind and herded Damon and me back toward the door while Cassandra and Lizzie flambéed imps and the rest of Mitch's team rained bullets everywhere that wasn't our path. We stumbled out into the light, and the Cestis moved together like a well-oiled machine, bathing the house in a bright silver sheet of wards that hurt to look at.
Imps screamed at us from the destroyed doorway and from windows as they tore blinds down and smashed glass. I wasn't sure if their frenzy was their need to get free of the house or because of the lesserkind's death.
The Cestis watched them, deadly concentration in their combined gazes.
My attention snapped back to focus when Mitch strode up to me, a first aid kit swinging from the hand that wasn’t holding the datapad he was barking orders into. Another of his team was already checking Damon over. From what I could see, he was in one piece.
"Let me look at your arm," Mitch said, shoving his datapad into his jacket. "You're bleeding."
"You found us," I said stupidly, still struggling to process the last few minutes.
"Well, you brought his datapad with you. Good thinking." He began to cut away at the arm of my jacket. Crap. I liked that jacket.
"Damon. They did something to his chip," I said.
"We know. It going offline set off an alarm. It was how we knew you were in trouble even before you didn’t arrive at the hospital. Not smart of them, really." He grimaced, a flicker of grief crossing his face "Ajax...."
His voice cracked a little, full of disbelief. I knew how he felt.
"Demons twist people," I said softly. It was easier to believe that. Or at least to let Mitch, and the people who cared for Ajax, believe that. I wasn’t convinced that he’d been under the lesserkind’s control, but he had, at least, been seduced by its lies. Mitch would have to come to terms with that betrayal. I didn’t need to add to that hurt if I could avoid it.
"That...thing. Was it the one who killed him?"
"Yes." I hissed in pain as Mitch dabbed at the bullet graze on my arm with antiseptic. "I'm not sure it meant to. Ajax tried to shoot me, and it hit him. Too hard." I didn't say more than that. Neither did Mitch. He just cleaned and dressed the wound before hitting my arm with a hypospray of painkiller.
"We should get Damon to the hospital," he said, packing everything back into his kit. "Dr. Barnard needs to replace his chip. My team can help with cleanup here." He suddenly had a lot more people on his team who knew about imps, I realized. That was going to prove interesting for the Cestis to handle. And Righteous.
"Thank you," I said to Mitch. My arm was comfortably numb. Pity he couldn't hypospray the rest of me.
"No. Thank you," he said. "Damon was right about you, and I was wrong." He looked me up and down, gave a satisfied nod.
That seemed to be as close as I was going to get to an apology. Before I could even start to think of a response, Mitch headed over to join the guy looking at Damon's wrist.
"We need to come up with Plan B for a panic button,” I heard him say.
Damon laughed, the sound a little shaky but better than I would have expected.
Cassandra left the other three Cestis and walked over to me. "Are you all right?"
I looked back at the house and the imps, shrieking for freedom. "I'm alive," I said. "Other than that...." I shrugged. I was a long way from having any idea how I felt. Other than numbly exhausted.
"What do you think we should do?" Cassandra asked. "The wards will hold for a time, but that's a lot of imps for us to deal with. They'll be confused without the lesserkind, but they're still dangerous."
Ajax's body still lay within. And Edward's. At least, if anything remained of them. I shuddered at the memory of the imp tearing into Edward's neck. Should we try to bring them out? Or leave them?
That was what Cassandra was asking.
Presumably whatever cover story was going to be concocted could offer their families an explanation, just as one had been given to Nat's. And I had no sympathy left in me for Ajax, regardless of what I’d told Mitch. He hadn't been controlled like Edward. He'd chosen, and he'd paid for that choice. It was senseless to put anyone else in danger merely to make sure there was something left to bury. No doubt there'd be some spin, that he'd died saving Damon's life, perhaps. But that was as much as he got from me.
Edward was harder. I didn't know if he’d been willing. But he was dead, too. Which might be kinder in the end, given what I'd seen of his aura.
The rest of us were alive. There was no guarantee we'd stay that way if we went back in that house. I didn't want more families to lose someone today.
I turned my back on the house and nodded at Cassandra. "Burn it down." I looked across to Damon.
He nodded agreement. "Burn it down."
Mitch grimaced and bent his head, then straightened and gestured at his men. They backed away from the building.
"Do you want to do the honors?" Cassandra asked.
"I'm not sure how much magic I have left," I said.
"We'll help."
We walked to join Lizzie and Radha and Ian. Lizzie reached to squeeze my hand quickly, her eyes sympathetic. On Cassandra’s word, we sent flames snaking along the ground. Five streams of fire to raze the evil within.
I watched just long enough to see the flames reach the house before I turned and walked away.