Page 86 of Fate and Fury

The demon Sammael. In hercottage.

Katerina had done it. She had summoned this demon from the depths. A prince of Hell, a ruler of the Underworld.

And he was not happy.

The demon spun, dark eyes wide with confusion and fury. His gaze roamed over the ceiling, the floor, the confines of Katerina’s bedroom. And then he spun, his eyes fixing on her. In their depths burned a rage that would have brought a lesser Dimi to her knees.

“Where am I?” he snapped. “What have you done to me?”

Katerina advanced, fingers digging into the blade’s handle. “I summoned you, demon. You are in my circle. An unwilling guest, if you will.”

It was a pleasure to hear the arrogance in her own voice, the tone of command, after weeks of feeling like a victim, a grieving supplicant begging for the favor of those who used to revere her. She smiled, and the demon snarled at her, baring his teeth. “Dimi Ivanova. How dare you summon me? I am Sammael, ruler of the?—”

“Oh, I know, I know.” Katerina cocked an eyebrow at him. “You don’t have to recite your many accomplishments. Eater of souls, devourer of the innocent, plague of the Seven Villages. What good will they do you, after all? Right now, you are my prisoner. And you’ll answer my questions, or I’ll cross that circle and put this blade through your heart.”

“If you cross this circle,” the demon hissed at her, “I will kill you.”

“And how do you think that will go for you? Perhaps you should ask the army of demons that sought to take my life on the road to Drezna. Oh, that’s right…youcan’t.”

The demon threw himself against the boundaries of the circle, struggling to escape. Katerina watched him, eyes narrowed, her magic pulsing at her fingertips. But the circle held.

He took a step back, regarding her warily. “Gadreel was right to covet you, Dimi Ivanova. Centuries have passed since yourkind have cast this kind of spell. I thought the magic had been lost. What do you want? Why have you summoned me here?”

It was such a ridiculous question, Katerina gave a bitter laugh. “What do Iwant?I want answers. What has Elena done to my Shadow? Is she torturing him, even as we speak? And if he exists alongside her, in whatever form…what must be done to set him free?”

“And you think I possess these answers.” He folded his arms across his chest.

It might be worth crossing the circle, simply to see the look on his face when she put Niko’s blade through his heart and set him aflame. “I know you do. I know you’re with her, wherever she is. You worked too hard to bond her to you, whatever your reason. To make her what she became.”

She glared at the demon, challenging him to defy her. He glared back at her. And finally he said, “I have the answers you seek.”

Triumph shot through Katerina. “Give them to me.”

“Let me out of the circle,” he countered, “and I will.”

Katerina snorted. “You must think I’m an idiot. If I let you out, first you’ll kill me, and then you’ll go rampaging through Kalach, on a murder spree.”

Sammael sighed, and Katerina realized he actually looked…tired. Could demons be fatigued? “I give you my word that I will not. The realm has souls aplenty right now, Katerina Ivanova. Maybe too many souls.”

Her eyebrows knit. Was he talking about the demise of Drezna and Satvala? “Then why don’t you stop taking them?” she challenged. “Why destroy our villages?”

“That wasn’t me.” He shook his head. “If you’d let me out of here, I can explain?—”

“You can explain from inside the circle.” She glared at him, jaw set. “Tell me what has befallen my Shadow. Tell me that, and I might not incinerate you where you stand.”

The demon drew himself up to his full height. His red hair glinted in the light that emanated from the runes. “After Elena chained your Shadow’s soul to hers, you tried to cast us both into the Void, but succeeded only in banishing us to the Underworld. So…there she stays. And your unfortunate inconvenience of a Shadow with her.”

Hearing this, Katerina swallowed hard. Relief coursed through her at the knowledge that her actions hadn’t cursed Niko to wander the limitless Darkness of the Void for all eternity, even if it meant that the demons and Elena still remained a threat. Still, it boiled her blood and broke her heart anew to envision her Shadow, a creature of the Light, trapped in Sammael’s realm, enslaved to the woman who had taken his life.

“I have tried to make her comfortable there, to make a home for her,” the demon went on. “To make her happy. But she is filled with rage. She blames you for the death of the Shadow and for your curse. She commands the Shadow to do her bidding. To love her. And when he refuses…her wrath is a terrible thing.”

A knot of anguish formed in Katerina’s throat, threatening to choke her. Aside from dooming Niko to the Void forever, this was what she had feared most.

“Dimi Ivanova.” His voice was low, persuasive. “I know how you must miss him. Let us strike a bargain that will benefit us both.”

Katerina bared her teeth. “I don’t bargain with demons! Unless you plan to end Elena once and for all, and give my Shadow peace, then you have nothing I want.”

“I think,” the demon said, offering her a terrible smile, “that you’ll find I have something better to offer you. It’s good fortune,really, that you summoned me this way. For if you hadn’t, I had planned to come to you. We are running out of time.”

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