Page 16 of The Demon's Discovery
“Can you get a message to your brother?” Magnus asked.
I agreed to try and told him I would meet him in the dining room, stopping first by my apartment to use the scrying mirror and grab my sword.
“Dammit, Rylan,” I swore after several failed attempts to make contact.
I focused on an image of my brother’s face in my mind and thought the information at him as firmly as I could, feeling my body fade into mist for a moment before solidifying back again.
I’d never wished to have an owl like he did, but it would have come in very handy for situations like this. If my message was not received, there was nothing I could do about it. As it stood, I was readily providing my service in his place. That would have to be enough.
Grace was doling out tankards of coffee and plates full of food when I got back to the dining room. “Eat up. I don’t need to know the details, but I can tell bad news when I see it.” She dusted her hands across her apron and returned to the kitchen.
“Should I know anything about Gaius?”
He sighed. “He and Grace have a not so friendly history.”
“Oh?”
“Before she and I… That is, when she was going into the city regularly, they had several uncomfortable interactions. But it’s all sorted now.”
“Mm.” I smirked as he stumbled over his explanation.
“Don’t start,” Magnus said, shaking his head at my raised eyebrow.
“I said nothing, stone man. But it’s about time something was finally done about all that tension boiling over between you. I assume you enjoyed a lovely night away?”
“About time?” he mocked. “You basically just got here, demon. And none of your bloody business.”
“It was driving me mad, so I can’t imagine how relieved everyone else will feel when they find out.” He flicked a drop of hot coffee at my face, which earned him a foul hand gesture in return.
The rituals around preparing for battle were varied but never failed to calm me as well as the hilt of a sword in my palm.
“Here,”Magnus said, handing me a blade as we advanced on the large group of small demons that were scattered around the road on the outside of the city gate. Dozens of stone kin soldiers had arrived and were being given direction by Gaius. “I’m assuming the one strapped to your belt is not a Light blade?”
I shook my head. Light blades were rare; the metal of the blades forged with Heavenly essence from either the blood or feathers of angels. Such materials were strictly monitored by the councils but provided excellent effect against creatures like demons. “No, Rylan is the collector of that type of sword, I’m afraid. I’ve never had the pleasure.”
“Use this one then. Yours will be useless.”
I nodded, testing the weight and balance of the one he’d handed me. It was a good fit for my hand and similar to the one I carried. “Thank you.”
It didn’t take long for the fighting to start. The creatures screeched as they charged around creating chaos, most of them starting the moment they crawled out of a glowing rift in the earth. Stone kin soldiers dispatched them as quickly as they could, blood and gore staining the dirt and flesh beginning to stink as it baked in the sun.
Rylan flew in not long after we’d begun to battle in earnest. Our habit of fighting in tandem slipped over us as easily as a well-loved shirt. He twisted left, I went right. His blade plunged into the chest of a demon on the ground, and I swiped at the throat of one running at us. If he needed someone at his front instead of his back, or perhaps I needed to dodge a well-aimed blow, I could call the mist and blink out of my body only to reappear where I was best needed or just out of range. It was a dance we’d perfected in Hell, and our quarry was not that different here.
“I’m glad my message arrived,” I grunted, tugging my borrowed blade out from between a creature’s ribs. “Hang up the damned mirror.”
“Come on, Vago, aren’t you the least bit impressed some of our telepathy still works? I thought that was something we’d lost altogether. It’s good to know that some time in close proximity has given it back.”
“I’m happy it worked so you could still be useful while on your country holiday, but the two-way mirror is much easier. Hang. It. Up.”
He darted off with the help of his wings and a blast of the electrical magic he possessed to take care of a cluster of little demons that had ganged up on a young stone kin soldier.
Somehow, the little bastards had started to get the upper hand and the stone kin were getting worn out, cornered and injured. If we didn’t turn things around, this was going to go very, very badly.
“If either of you demons have been holding back, now’s the time to show off a bit, yeah?” Magnus called out, he and Gaius grunting and thrashing as they helped a handful of stone kin soldiers get out from under a surge of the vicious little demons.
I inhaled, the stench of blood ripe on the air, every sensation in my body amplified. I’d mostly managed to compartmentalize since Greta’s visit, but here, there was no more resisting my curse. I called it to me, revulsion heavy in my chest despite knowing this was needed.
A red haze descended over my vision and my fangs ached, begging to be put to use. Rage, incandescent in my veins, moved my body from one little demon to the next, my hand pulling at their coarse hair so their necks would be bared to me as the bloodlust curse I was haunted by took over. I tore through throats and slashed my blade, disgusted at myself even as I reveled in the warm splash against my face as their life drained from their severed arteries. Memories assaulted me as I tore through my victims. I blocked what I could as I moved methodically, blade and fangs taking down one after the next.
