THE BAZAAR (The Devany Miller Series) (28 page)

THIRTY-THREE

T
he air pulled at me like the long fingers of monsters. I didn't step through to the other side as I would have with a hook; instead, I stepped into the energy that separated Midia from the Slip, a trip designed to creep out the traveler long before they reached their destination. And it worked.

The woman I dragged along with me choked on her cries. I wondered if she'd ever been in the Slip. Doubtful, which meant this trip ought to scare the shit out of her. I removed her gag, remembering my first reaction to the awful place. Sure enough, as soon as we set foot on the spongy there-but-not-there ground, she took in her surroundings and vomited.

I waited, my hand still gripping her arm. I was in an open-air arena, reminding me of the horseshoe shaped outdoor theater at my college. On the steps sat a frightening crew of Skriven, some looking like demons from a movie, some so beautiful my eyes kept straying to look at them. Purple dreadlocks kicked at me but the move was half-hearted and Neutria had control over her. 

"I curse you, stupid cow. I wish Yarnell had killed your children. I would have taken their hearts!" 

I slapped her and then balled my hand into a fist at my side to keep from knocking her senseless. I could feel her thoughts throbbing at me and pushed them away. 

"Little mutt, you've come."

Ravana resolved from blue and white clouds on the far side of the arena. To say that she wore the clouds wouldn't be correct. She was made of the clouds; she didn't look like she had any solidity to her at all. Shit. How was I supposed to hit a cloud? "I need a fan," I muttered. “I could blow her away. Where’s Acme Incorporated when you need them?”

Across the arena, Ravana said, "You accepted my challenge. I'm impressed. Let me guess, Tytan convinced you to come." She came closer and I saw her feet forming. When they did, footprints appeared in the dust behind her.

"I had to come, you gave me no choice."

Skrivens stirred on the seats. Nearby a Skriven that looked more tree than anything else, spoke. "What manner of thing is this, Ravana?"

Huh. It was a fine one to talk and call me thing. I had boobs and they weren't exactly hidden from view in the low cut red shirt. If it couldn’t tell I was a human female, well, then it needed to get out more.

The thing continued to speak. "It smells human. Midian. Fleshcrawler. Skriven. I even smell a hint of chythraul. Why do you seek to destroy it?"

Ravana smiled at me, close enough I could see the clouds swirl in her eye sockets. It reminded me of the strange Skriven I took as my Draw. "I am an Originator. Yet she dared take me as her Draw as if I were a common animal." Her gaze flicked to the spectators and yup, there was stormy-eyed guy. He didn't look pleased that she considered him a common animal.

"I don't see how this calls for a challenge. If you were stupid enough to be caught by a mere," the deformed thing faced me full on. It had five eyes, each a different color. "whatever it is, then you deserve to be left to your fate."

Yay. I opened my mouth to agree but Arsinua stayed me.
Don't speak to it. Please.

'Okay.'

The woman jerked again, her sobbing causing the thing's attention to turn to her.

"Shut up," I hissed. "Do you want to draw attention to yourself here?"

"It brings tribute." The thing turned—and it had to turn its whole body because the head was fused to its trunk—back to Ravana. "It knows our ways."

"She had help from my spawn," she snapped, and then something in her expression made my heart leap with hope. She'd made a mistake. I don't know what that mistake was, but it had her worried.

A murmuring rose from the crowd. I tried to swallow but the spit wouldn't go down my throat. Good? Bad? I couldn't gauge their reactions at all, except for stormy-eyes. He smirked at me.

"Another of your mistakes, Ravana. These experiments will be your undoing." The thing aimed its next question at me. "What are you called?"

My heart thunked. "Devany."

"What do you hope to gain here?"

"My life."

A low grating sound came from it. I clenched my teeth tight at the noise. It said, "Power? I sense you have a lot of it but no grasp of the reins. And there is a bond between you and Ravana. You are her Archaeon and she is your Draw."

Okay Captain Obvious. I knew all this. Ravana knew all this. Old news. "I don't want power.” Not anymore. Not now that I know how damned awful it was. “I don't want anything to do with any of you. I want to go home."

"I want her soul," Ravana sighed, as if imagining a drink of ice-cold tea after an hour of walking in the hot sun.

"She is Tytan's Archaeon as well." Stormy-eyes had spoken up.

I frowned at him. Was he helping me? Since I knew that couldn't be true, I wondered what he was up to.

"Is she, Ravana?"

One minute she stood in the middle of the amphitheater, the next right in front of me, her clawed hand an inch from touching my neck. "I took her. She pledged herself to me. I banished Tytan and their bond no longer applies." Her fingers snapped shut, then she blinked back to the same spot as before without even a stir of dust.

Another murmur, this one louder. I still didn't know shit. "Listen, I'm willing to break all bonds with her if she will break with me. I don't want any of your power."

"Then you're stupid," the thing said. "Ravana, I consent to let you fight this person. When you win you may have her soul."

Ravana laughed and now she looked solid. That was good. I might get a few punches in before she vaporized me. She stopped a few yards from me. "Shall I give you a head start?" 

"Wait a minute. What if I win?"

She cocked a brow. "What if you win?" She addressed the crowd. "What if she wins?"

Laughter from some. Not all, though. Some gazed at me as if assaying my chances. Then a few of those laughed. Stormy-eyes didn't but he wasn't rah-rahing for me, either. The other Skriven spoke. "If you win, you will be an Originator."

"No. I don't want to have anything to do with you people—things—whatever you are. I don't want to be anything to you but a distant dream."

It didn't listen to me. "It is decided."

"Damn it." The words barely left my mouth before she hit me. It felt like a fist to my jaw and sent me reeling but she hadn't moved anything but her lips. The next blast lifted me off my feet and tossed me in the dirt. I rolled, instinct screaming at me to move! and the ground where I'd been cratered like a meteor strike. A small one, but it would have left me smashed. Nice word, that. Smash. 

I drew on the heart, pulling hard through Ravana. She gasped, clutched at her stomach. Harder and faster I drew from her, trying to spool away all her power so she didn't have access to it. Should've known that was stupid. I knew better, I'd felt that her power was limitless. A violent red pulse shot from me, kicking me back like the recoil on a shotgun.

She laughed. Didn't even blow back her hair, which curled around her head in white blonde tangles. "You can't expect to kill me with my own power."

Shit. I ducked as she tossed a small ball at me. It exploded on the seats, blowing a Skriven into bits. The bits ran together like droplets of mercury and reformed. Not good. 

Think of your kids, Devany. You can't give up now.

"I can't defeat her." The next volley whined through the air. Three hit my shoulder, two my side, one my leg. Gasping, I stumbled into the legs of a Skriven who pushed me back toward the middle. "What do I do? I don't know what to do." I had another Draw but I had no idea how to pull from him instead of Ravana and didn't know if even that would work.

Move to the left. Now!

I spun away as a whistling silver star grazed my cheek. I yanked magic from the heart, but didn't Draw it through her. It would wear me out but I couldn't use her power. I set a shield around me as another volley shattered against the shield and exploded in front of my face. I could already feel the magic draining from me.

Use your weapon.

The woman. She'd balled herself up at the side of the arena as far away from the Skriven as she could. I dropped the shield and ran to her, yanking her to her feet, gathering the shield around us both. "How? Throw her?" As if I could. Another burst of energy against my shield. Ravana hadn't moved, didn't look like she'd broken a sweat. She was playing with me, wearing me down. 

He said you'd need a soul.

"But why?"

"Talking to yourself? Will that help?" Ravana cocked her hip to the side and propped a fist on it. "You're already looking worn out. Shall I finish you off quickly or let you squirm on the hook for hours?"

The Skriven on the sidelines called out their answers. Squirming on the hook seemed the popular choice. They were heartless. Without souls. 

The woman clawed at me, catching my neck with her nails. "Damn it. Knock it off."

"Kill me. Kill me now. I don't want them to take my soul. You hear? That thing of Yarnell's touched me once. That Cambion. I burned for days." She kicked and this time connected with my shin. She made a break for it.

My concentration broke as I tried to catch her. Ravana sent a storm of magic down on me. I couldn't get the shield up in time, couldn't move. I panicked and formed a hook, hoping another syntarsus wouldn't crawl through. It didn't. I couldn't go anywhere, though. The way was blocked but my actions had Skriven sitting forward in their seats.

"What is it doing?"

Ravana tipped her head. "Opening a doorway."

The burnt Skriven five eyes leveled on me. "The way has been blocked as a challenge has been made. You cannot step through a portal." Two eyes looked at my foe. "She is Skriven."

Ravana shook her head. "No. I did not make her. I don't feel her essence in our power stream. But there is something that makes her similar."

The thing grunted. "Bring Tytan. He will tell us."

"I tortured him. He wouldn't talk."

I wanted to walk up and slap them both. Having a conversation as I was weakening, casually talking while I spent my last minutes alive fighting to hang onto the she-bitch. If only I could control her. Knock her out or better yet, command her like a puppet. Use her to distract Ravana.

'If I jump into her, can you keep my body safe until I get back?'

What? Of course, but what do you plan to do?

'I don't know.' I made a hook. Maybe it wouldn't work, but the thing had said I couldn't leave. I wasn't planning to leave—

—
I saw the tunnel form in front of me and I fell into it. When I came out the other side, I was looking at myself in horror. Her horror. When she felt me inside her she went ape-shit. I tamped down on her hard. Ravana was focused on the ugly Originator but kept herself angled so she could see my body. 

Could I use the magic from the heart while inside Dreadlocks? Of course, I would give away my position and I didn't want that yet. Instead, I circled around, trying to get behind the crazy bitch goddess. I would've succeeded but for the thing and its damnable multitude of eyes. 

"What does it do now?"

Ravana dismissed me/Ivy with a sneer. "Escaping."

It knew I was in this body but Ravana didn't. It was more observant. Arsinua blasted Ravana with her energy balls, distracting her. I ran up behind her, both fists clenched together, trying to drown out Ivy's screaming, moaning protest of my invasion of her body. I brought my hands down hard against Ravana's neck. She stumbled forward but the blow did little good. She snatched me up by the neck faster than any vampire in any horror movie I'd seen. "What are you up to?"

The thing on the sidelines chuckled. Ravana frowned but didn't look his way. She stared at me. I hadn't had this close a look at her and realized her eyes were empty. Oh, there was color there, but no life. Truly soulless. 

Her touch caused Ivy tremendous pain but I moved away from those pain centers and didn't feel it. Soulless. The Originators killed their souls. Why? Why did they do that?

Just to get rid of them? Or was it because, with their souls, "they could be killed." The words came out in a croak. Ravana would break Ivy's windpipe soon—already she was clawing at Ravana's hand, unable to breathe—and I would lose my chance at a long shot idea.

I had no clue how to do it, so I winged it, in perfect Devany fashion. Maybe it was good I didn't know the rules. If I didn't know them, I didn't have to worry whether or not I was breaking them. I plumbed Ivy's depths, looking for her essence. Her soul. Although smutty and pockmarked, I found the shining center of her. I grasped it with my mind, picturing my hands forming hooks that dug into that essence and held on. 

One of her legs kicked out. A bone snapped in her neck. Her tongue was forced from her mouth. Ravana cooed, "Soon I will drink your soul, my dear. A snack before the main course."

I dragged Ivy's soul from her body as she died. Then I did something I would probably regret. I hooked into Ravana's body, shoving Ivy's soul into her. The vast evil of Ravana repelled me, literally tossed me from her. I slammed into my own skin, knocking myself on my ass in the dirt. Again.