Page 71 of A City of Smoke and Demons
Two days ago, Ezra watched her kill a rat and bring it back to life.
He hadn’t lied to her. She scared the shit out of him, but not for the reasons she thought.
Ezra followed Jem and Tobias through the back doors of the club. The woman between them was unconscious, her head hanging towards the ground. She was dressed in what would have once been nice clothes, but were now dirty and stained, the lace hem of her skirt shredded. She was thin and pale, nothing but skin stretched over bone. Ezra’s stomach twisted. Familiar or not, there was a woman trapped inside that shell, and he hadn’t been keen on hurting her; a swift hit to the side of the head was enough to knock her off balance and allow Jem to tie her wrists. Thankfully, no one had seen them dragging her through the streets. Though chances of anyone raising the alarm were slim.
Jem glanced over his shoulder. ‘Get Analise.’
Ezra slipped through the busy front bar, then took the stairs two at a time, hesitating before knocking on her door. She answered with a scowl, then froze. ‘Oh. You got one?’
He nodded.
She ran her hand through her hair. ‘What if this doesn’t work?’
‘What if it does?’ Ezra countered.
She stared at him for a moment, then nodded, retreating into her room. He leant in the doorway, watching her. She was wearing a man’s shirt, shapely legs on display. If she felt him looking, she didn’t react, lifting a pair of trousers from the floor and pulling them on. She sat on the end of the bed to put her boots on.
She looked up at him.
‘It’ll be okay,’ he told her. ‘We’re not leaving you alone with her.’
Analise rested her hands on her thighs. Her fingers were trembling and she was pale, her breathing short and sharp. She took a deep breath, then stood and tied her hair back. Ezra led the way down stairs and she stuck close to him as they passed through the evening crowd. Neither of them spoke as they went down into the bowels of the building.
The Familiar was chained to a chair in an empty room, and she was conscious. Charles hovered in the background, his eyes pinned to the woman. The skin hung slack on her twisted face. Her black eyes glimmered like wet stones, and her hair was dirty and unkempt, falling to her waist. Bloodless lips stretched over a mouth of yellowed teeth. Ezra wondered how long she’d been like this.
Analise approached her cautiously.
Tobias indicated the chain. ‘It can’t get free, don’t worry.’
Analise was trembling slightly, but doing her best to keep it hidden. Ezra moved to her side and reached for her handwithout thinking. It was support, nothing more, and for a moment, she froze. He expected her to rip her hand free, but she didn’t. She squeezed.
‘Breathe,’ he told her quietly.
Pale grey shimmered around her.
Ezra could see, as he knew Analise and the others could, the woman’s true face beneath the one Asmael gave her.
Jem turned to Analise. ‘Shall we see if you can do it?’
The Familiar let out a sudden scream, straining against the chains; Analise jumped. She pressed trembling fingers to her chest, where her amulet was hidden beneath her clothes. The Familiar followed the motion of her hand.
‘A useless trinket,’ the creature said, her voice like water flowing over rocks. ‘My master is waiting.’
‘For what?’ Analise managed.
The Familiar chuckled. ‘The sun shall be darkened, and the moon will not give her light. The stars will fall, and the heavens will be shaken.’ Her eyes roamed over the others one at a time, settling back on Analise. ‘Have you come to shake the heavens, Daughter of Lilith?’
‘No, I’ve come to free you. Give you back your life.’
For a second, the woman’s face flickered and she was more human than Familiar. Then she laughed. ‘You cannot free what chooses to be.’
Analise let go of Ezra’s hand and went to stand behind the Familiar, who craned her neck trying to see her. The magical chains bit into the woman’s skin and the smell of burning flesh saturated the basement.
‘Remember your drawings,’ Charles told her softly. ‘There are many paths to travel.’
Analise took a deep breath, then placed her hands on the woman’s head.
At first, nothing happened. Then, the Familiar stiffened, the muscles in her neck straining as though she were fighting to rip herself from Analise's grasp. A fine mist, silver and gold, haloed the woman’s head. It ran the length of Analise’s arms and swirled around her. Ezra sucked in a breath.
