Page 168 of A Tower of Half-Truths
This had to be a demonic trick, just like in the old folktales. She clenched her fists, dug her nails into her palms—a bit of pain to keep her wits sharp. She doubted she had anything in common with a Necromancer and demon sympathizer.
The beast stepped closer. It had found her hiding spot, but it hadn’t charged after her. In fact, it could have easily overtaken her on the stairs, but it had allowed her a head start.
Slowly, she turned and met the demon’s gaze. Its red eyes were still unsettling, but gone was the fierceness she’d seen downstairs. The beast cocked its head as it eyed her with the curiosity of a housecat, despite being at least ten times the size of one.
“You can Sense arcana, can you not?”
Never once did the demon’s jaws move. She heard its voice only in her mind. And she once again smelled that strange arcana: burnt wood and petrichor, the aftermath of fire and rain. It was now stronger, more concentrated, than the aroma emanating from the discarded books.
The demon took another step, then stopped. It was close enough that Mavery could reach out and touch it. She should have been trembling in fear, watching her life flash before her eyes. And yet…
“Aganast was a Senser, too?” Mavery whispered.
The demon inclined its head.“Senser, Senova… Call it whatever you prefer, for they are one and the same.”
She remembered something she’d discovered in the University’s library weeks ago: one scholar’s claim that Sensers were possessed by demons. She’d dismissed it outright, but what if there’d been a modicum of truth to it?
“You mean Sensers are…connectedto dem—?”
“NO!”
The demon roared aloud at the same time its voice pealed inside her mind. She flinched, clutching her temples.
“MY KIND ARE NOT DEMONS. WE ARE—”
An explosion resonated through the room. Mavery flinched again and covered her ears. Her mind flooded with memories of a frigid night, her stomach clenched from a phantom pain.
She had enough presence of mind to watch the creature turn on the spot as it roared at the intrusion.
Another shot fired. Then a third.
The creature whimpered before collapsing to the floor. It lay on its side, fur saturated with black liquid in the area where Mavery imagined its heart would be. Its body shuddered as it drew a ragged breath, then stilled.
It was dead.
The ringing subsided. Her gaze drifted from the creature’s body to the smoking pistol in Neldren’s right hand.
“Godsdamned beast. Bullets were too good for it.” He looked at Mavery, and his gaze softened. “You all right, Mave? Did it hurt you?”
She regarded the creature’s corpse as its final words echoed in her mind.
My kind are not demons…
“No,” she whispered. “It didn’t.”
“Good. Ellice finally cracked the door. Your wizard’s a little bruised—his ego more than his body, I’ll wager.” Neldren holstered his pistol and offered his hand. “Now, let’s get the fuck out of here before something else tries to kill us.”
Fifty-One
As Mavery stepped through the open door, the midday sun blinded her. She closed her fist and at last extinguished the light hovering above her palm.
“Watch your step,” Neldren said.
She took his hand again, and he helped her down the two-foot drop from the tower’s door. The ascent had fractured the ground and felled several trees on the outer edge of the forest.
Ellice was leaning against the tower’s exterior, arms clutched around her midsection. Upon seeing Neldren, she became a blur of red hair as she launched herself at him. She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a hard kiss. Mavery raised her brows. Even Neldren seemed taken by surprise, but he quickly recovered and returned her kiss with wild abandon. When Ellice pulled away, her face was nearly as red as her hair.
That was yet another mystery solved.
