Fused in Fire (Page 36)

He shook his head and pointed at the worst of the problems, already nearly closed up. His monster form wasn’t as good as the snake, but it was close.

“Now what?” I asked, returning the snake to my backpack. I finished putting on my leathers and strapped on my weapons again.

He hovered near the door. We skirt the battle, try not to reveal your magic any more than we have to, and find the leaders of this sect.

“A human running around this battle is going to draw notice.”

Hopefully not with all the fighting. They’ll be focused on survival. They won’t have time to notice you. He loosened the straps of the backpack, something that didn’t look easy with his claws, before putting his satchel and clothes in it. He would be using his monster form. This fight was about to get uglier.

I ran out ahead of Darius, sword in hand. At the end of the corridor, I threw a spell that created a riot of noise and light right in the middle of all the fighting. It exploded, throwing a demon up and over the crowd. The light flashed like a strobe, and some demons flinched away or jerked up their hands to cover their faces. Others stabbed those that gave in to fright.

We ran along the wall on the outskirts of the battle. A demon stepped into my way, and I thrust forward and stabbed it in the chest. Darius launched at another, hitting the demon’s upper body with his clawed feet and knocking it over. Then he raked his claws across the demon’s face and stabbed its throat before jumping on to the next one.

I slashed another demon in the back as I got moving again, making it arch and reach for the wound. One of its enemy demons descended, taking the opportunity for an easy kill. I left them to it.

We ran down a side corridor and turned left. Darius kept looking up, directing us toward the building looming over the rest. A creature with three legs ran our way. Darius got to it first, ripping and tearing at it like a wild thing. He hardly slowed, continuing on at a fast pace.

More fighting and clangs came from the right. Darius ignored it, continuing straight. We ran down another corridor, the design like an above-ground ant colony made of stone. I got the feeling it was supposed to make a stranger lose their way. Darius never faltered in his directional choices.

Five demons stood in the courtyard at the base of the tallest building, large things without weapons. Which meant they didn’t think they needed them. Their eyes came to rest on us, and their power instantly welled up, thick and heavy. I felt it pushing and pulling at me, giving mine the boost to which I’d grown accustomed.

“They are powerful,” I said to Darius right before the air condensed around us.

Kill them. He raked his claws through the air, shooting sparks as he cut through the ice power.

I blasted two demons that were standing close to each other with hellfire, cutting down the air around me as I did so. They squealed as the fire ate away at their bodies. Darius ran at the others, spearing one with his claws as a wall of air swung toward him.

I finished the two I’d blasted. I wasn’t taking any chances.

An air impact shoved Darius across the ground and toward a stone wall.

I broke up the power and struck the demons back with an air and fire one-two punch that I pulled out of my ass. The effect was like hitting them with a giant paddle embedded with spikes. I felt them try to dismantle it, but they couldn’t counter both types of power, so their efforts were ineffective.

That seems like the Great Master’s power, I heard from one of their thoughts.

I hacked at its neck with my sword and Darius full on ripped the other’s head off. No wonder he liked when I let my rage show.

The door they’d been guarding burst open. The wood slapped off the stone wall. Power the likes of which I’d never experienced wrapped around me and lifted me into the air. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t understand the weave. Didn’t know how to break into it even with my mixed power.

A huge demon with wings folded close to its red body stepped through the door. A tail with a triangle at the end flicked out from behind it. Its eyes glowed white from within a bony head. All it needed was a trident and it could be a cheesy Halloween costume.

“So it is true,” it said in a rough voice as it sauntered out of the door. “An heir does exist. And she has delivered herself to me. How convenient. It saves me so much tedious effort.”

Its gaze swung to Darius, who was suspended ten feet away.

“And she has somehow brought her vampire lap dog into the Dark Kingdom.” It tsked. “I detest your kind. We do not need any more of your half breeds. Killing you will give me no end of pleasure.”

If Darius was as confused as I was by the half-breed comment, he didn’t show it. The demon lifted its hand, and air turned into a stake directly in front of Darius’s heart.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“No!” I shouted. “If you want my cooperation, you’ll leave him be.”

The demon studied me for a moment as two other demons ran into the courtyard. They slowed in jerky movements when they saw the dead littering the ground.

“What of Tensess?” the red demon asked the others, not looking away from me.

“It killed our ambassador,” one of the demons answered. “It wants your head.”

“Does it, now? That isn’t very friendly.” The red demon paused for a moment, considering. “Send someone to attend to the Great Master. Take him gifts. Try to keep him put, and unaware of our activities until we have Tensess’s head. Release our full arsenal. Tensess has no idea what it has unleashed.”

“Yes, conspector.” They turned and ran.

“I have been at odds with our neighboring sect for centuries. They are always under my skin.” The demon turned and walked through the door. We followed it through the air as helplessly as kites on a string.

Can you get us out of this? Darius thought.

I closed my eyes and felt the magic around me. Solely ice magic but so expertly woven, and backed by so much power, it almost seemed like an inanimate object. Even hacking at it with fire wouldn’t disturb it. This demon was out of my league.

Miserably, I shook my head. We were in a fix here, and I wasn’t sure how to get us out of it.

Two floors up, the red demon opened a wooden door and poked its head in. “Call the Five. I have important business to discuss. It cannot wait. And have them bring in that sniveling Agnon. We need all enlightened parties in one place.”

That would have been good news if I’d had a hope in Hades of breaking out of this hold.

An affirmation had the red demon pulling back and shutting the door.

“What’s with the getup?” I asked.

The red demon entered something like an elevator shaft that had no elevator. We drifted in beside it like balloons.

“This, you mean?” It ran its hand in front of its chest. Its tail flicked.

“Yeah. It’s a little cartoony for the leader of a sect this close to Lucifer.”

Its smile pulled at its cheeks, showing a mouthful of rotten, brown, pointed teeth. At least, they looked rotten. The demon was probably hamming it up for my benefit. What a sweetie.

“You call him by his real name,” it said. “Amazing. Either you have no fear, and are therefore stupid, or you are playing games. I wonder which it is.”

“I can’t really get a reading on you. Was that rhetorical?”

We rose through the air, up through the spacious shaft. This thing was its own elevator. I hated how cool that was.

“And you speak our language. More amazing still. That will make things so much easier. Tell me, who taught it to you?”

“Oh no.” I shook my head. “This isn’t some one-sided Q&A. If you want answers, you have to give them. I’m still waiting for your reasons for looking so ridiculous.”

“Stupid, then. I see.” We reached the very top floor. I looked down and my stomach threatened to revolt. There was a void of empty space below us. A lot of it. And we were totally under this demon’s control—we would go splat if it wanted us to.

Darius had been right, though. The most powerful thing in the sect (hopefully) made its…office? Hall?…on the highest floor.

I mentally checked in with the vampire, and was absolutely astounded to realize his heart was beating regularly, strong and slow. Either he was going dormant until he had an opening to revolt, or he thought I would come up with a way to save the day.

I hoped it was the former. No ideas were coming to me as of yet—all I could think to do was study that magic and hope something came to me.

We drifted after the demon into a large rectangular room with huge rugs covering the stone floor. In the first half of the room couches and chairs were clustered together for easy conversation. The second half seemed like a king’s chamber, with a large wooden chair at the front and smaller chairs lining the walls leading up to it.

The red demon took the chair at the front while Darius and I were forced to split up, each controlled by a different surge of air. I was brought to a stop front and center, facing the demon, while Darius was put off to the side.

“So.” The demon crossed an ankle over a knee and leaned back, reminding me of a human. I wondered how much time it had spent in the Brink. “You have come to me.”

“Surprise!” I said.

“You realize your worth, I take it.”