Black Widow Demon (26 page)

“I don’t believe they mean to be,” Blade said. “But it’s not just them we should worry about. What if spawn were to settle in a strange land that knows nothing of demons, then marry mortals and have children with them? Who can guarantee that those children won’t someday become problems? Do we have the right to take this into an unsuspecting world?”

The silence stretched to the point he wondered if she had fallen asleep. He began to drift off.

Then she spoke. “You’re right. There wouldn’t be any guarantee about children.” She sounded thoughtful and less angry with him than before, but she pulled a length of blanket from under his arm and rolled away so that they barely touched.

He stared at the black sky for a long time after that, unable to sleep, as he had predicted, but not for the reasons he’d anticipated.

He’d said something wrong and had no idea what it might have been.

…

The woman had summoned a demon.

She had brought it into the second circle of the linked figure eight however, indicating to Justice that she did not intend them immediate harm. She planned to play with them first, the way a cat played with a mouse.

Cold and fatigue were forgotten as Justice’s mind raced to cobble together a plan of action that might save their lives. Rapid-fire thoughts twisted through his head. He had never seen a summoning before but had heard they were conducted by priestesses whose containing circles were drawn using water consecrated by the goddesses.

Demons, however, had been banished from the world, so summoning one should no longer be possible. And as far as he could tell, this woman did not have water of any kind on her, consecrated or not.

But she had raised one nonetheless, and hers was surrounded only by demon fire.

Justice saw the sly way the demon regarded her, how the muscles of its face and shoulders tightened as if ready to spring every time her concentration wavered and the blue flames flickered. The demon was why her control over the fire was now so erratic, he thought. That was what she did not know or understand. It toyed with her and allowed her to believe she was in charge, when Justice suspected all that really kept it contained was an inability to cross completely into the mortal world because of the banishment.

“We should make a run for it while her attention is divided,” Cage said to him. “She can’t maintain both circles for much longer, and I’m willing to bet if she has to choose between them, she’ll keep the demon contained.”

Cage’s chest expanded and contracted as if he fought for every breath, which had to be at least partly the case. The air was already thin at this elevation, and the fire surrounding them burned up enough of what little remained within it to make them both light-headed.

That explained why Cage had not thought his plan through with more care.

Justice grabbed his friend’s arm above the elbow. “No,” he said. “That’s the last thing we should do. If we run, we’ll have to pass too close to the demon.” He was not convinced it was adequately restrained.

Cage’s nose began to bleed in the thinning air, and the demon’s head swiveled sharply to stare at the blood streaming from his nostrils. Cage wiped at it with the back of his sleeve before pinching his nose in an effort to stem the flow. The demon, transfixed, followed each movement.

The woman, too, had taken note of the blood, as if equally fascinated.

Cage, who in most situations could remain calmer and more steadfast than even Justice, cracked. He shook off Justice’s hand, and with his arms covering his head, dashed through the flames toward freedom.

As predicted, his mad flight took him too close to the demon. Justice watched in numb horror as it reached one hammer-like fist through the ring of fire and snagged the back of Cage’s coat. It lifted the man into the air, his legs peddling crazily, and drew him inside the circle.

Cage’s screams curdled Justice’s insides. Never in his life had he heard a man make such terrified, animal noises. The worst, however, was when the demon started to feed. Beginning at the lower extremities it tore the flesh from Cage’s body, eating the man alive.

Fear settled into the fibers of Justice’s flesh, bone-chillingly cold and so deep not even the fire encircling him could banish it. Yet he forced himself to watch, to keep his fear and revulsion from showing, because while he was witnessing his friend’s final moments he knew the woman studied him, and he had learned from his time with a goddess. Revealing weaknesses to an immortal gave it an opportunity to exploit them. He dared take no chances that the same would hold true for spawn.

When the screams finally stopped and all signs of life had ebbed from Cage’s torn and battered remains, the demon tossed him aside. Blood and gore dripped from its jaws and between the knuckles of its clenched claws.

The woman spoke a sharp command. Hatred filled the demon’s eyes, but she did not seem to care. She was too busy fighting to keep the flames encircling it in place.

Cage had been correct in that she could not hold both circles. The fire around Justice died away, leaving a blackened ring of scorched earth behind as she concentrated on the demon.

He pushed all thoughts of his friend from his mind. He had told Cage to stand his ground, and he had paid a heavy price for not heeding the warning.

After a few more harsh words of command, the demon bowed its head and was gone. Justice’s eyesight slowly adjusted to the sudden, deepening twilight. The woman looked tired. The summoning, and maintaining the fire, had taken much of her strength. Her hands shook with fine tremors from her fingertips to her wrists.

She had not yet recovered enough to turn her attention back to him, and he took several quick steps toward her and struck her, hard, across the face, knocking her to the ground.

“That was for my companion,” he said. He grabbed her under the arm, yanked her to her feet, and hit her again so that her head rocked back. He heard her teeth click together. “That was for not hearing me out. I’d planned to help you. Tell me why I should do so now.”

He might have caught her by surprise with the blows, but she recovered quickly enough. He felt the wash of her allure touch him, then be effortlessly deflected by the goddess amulet he wore.

This creature did not have the same thought-dissolving effect on him that Raven did. Was it because the woman had already used most of her strength to contain the demon? Or did she not have as much power as Raven to begin with?

She touched the back of her wrist to her bleeding lip. Then she licked it clean, her eyes never leaving his. The action made his insides shudder. However mortal she might look on the outside, she was demon to her core.

“Your friend was weak,” she said. Her disdain for Cage was obvious by the dismissal in her tone. “He shouldn’t have run.” Her head tipped up and down in a slow examination of Justice. “And I don’t see why I would need the help of a goddess’s discarded plaything.”

He would have liked to kill her for that. It was too soon to do so, but he might kill her yet. It depended on the answers she gave him.

He tightened his fingers, digging them into her flesh. “I’m proof that not everyone will run. Raising that demon drained you and left you defenseless. How do you plan to protect yourself? Can you protect yourself against me right now?” Her sullen silence was response enough, and he released her. “I didn’t think so. I’ll ask you one last time. Why should I help you?”

She flipped her hair away from her face and rubbed her arm where he had held it. “I should have had the demon eat you instead of your friend.”

She’d had that demon do nothing. It did as it pleased, and one thing he did not doubt was that one day it would turn on her.

He wondered if she had other talents that he had not yet seen.

“How did you manage to get all of those villagers into the temple before you set it on fire?” he asked.

“They believed I was a goddess. They came to worship me, and to celebrate my return.”

He was impressed at her daring. “Why would you attempt to make them believe such a thing? It could have easily failed.”

“If the children of demons are to survive, they need to establish their place here. Which is as immortals.” The wind stirred to lift a thick strand of her hair and tug at her skirt. “People should worship us. I took what was due to me.”

“Be that as it may, you’ll have little luck impersonating a goddess too many more times.” She was far too demon for that. Possibilities, however, were already circulating in his head. He did not yet know how he might take full advantage of such a charade, only that opportunities existed. “The assassins now know that spawn can be female, and word is spreading rapidly. But if you had the support of a Godseeker, who is also one of the goddesses’ chosen, your game might last somewhat longer.”

“What if I don’t want your support?” she asked.

The question was nothing more than arrogant female petulance. She could use him, at least for now, and they both knew it.

“How long does it take you to recover from raising a demon?” he asked.

He watched her consider her answer and weigh whether or not to tell him the truth—something that was unlikely to come easily to her.

“A week,” she said.

He would have to monitor her in order to be certain of that. The real number of days could be more or less. He suspected less.

He gave her the same slow, careful scrutiny she had given him and played along with her lie. “So for the next week you’ll be vulnerable. Mortals and spawn can all harm you. So can wolven. I could kill you right now, if I wanted. Or,” he said, “we could agree to help each other.”

Rebellion, then sullen acceptance, marred her features. “Let’s say I agree—what do you want in return?”

He thought of the old assassin trainer who did not show the proper understanding of the emerging danger of spawn. Perhaps it was time the old man learned new lessons himself.

“I believe,” Justice said slowly, “that I have someone I want you to meet.”

She told Justice that her name was Willow.

Justice examined her face in the morning light as they ate around a small fire. She looked to him to be several years older than Raven, but there was a level of worldly experience to her that Raven did not yet possess.

“I grew up in the desert. A few months ago, right before the demons were banished, I saw a demon summoning during a slave auction in Freetown. One of the old priestesses brought it into a circle. It didn’t seem to be difficult.” Willow dipped her spoon in her bowl, relaying her story with little emotion. “I decided to try raising one of my own.” She shrugged, her eyes on her food. She ate as if she were starved and spoke with her mouth full. “It was even easier than I expected.”

“What would possess you to summon a demon when you had no idea if you could contain it?” Justice asked.

“I was with a wagon train on its way to the mining villages, and about to be sold to the miners. What did I have to lose?” She took another bite. “The priestess threatened her demon with the Demon Lord himself, and the Demon Lord owned demon fire. What do you suppose it means that I, too, can control it as well as I do?”

She’d been nothing more than a slave, and still, she was arrogant enough to believe she’d been spawned by the most powerful demon of them all. While Justice could not deny it was a possibility, he found he did not believe it. Other than that she was violent by nature and could manipulate fire, her talents were not so extraordinary. She had not yet recovered them either. If she had, she would have tried to kill him. His disdain for her increased. She could not possibly hope to control the demon she raised forever. Sooner or later it would escape and turn on her.

But she alone knew for certain what had happened in that burned village, and could attribute the blame for it to Raven. If Justice took Willow to the Temple of Immortal Right and presented her to Siege, other than for the natural demon allure she exuded that the old man claimed all women possessed, she would appear harmless to him. Justice would have her claim it was as he had told Siege—Raven had enslaved the men, forced them to round up the rest of the villagers, and burned them all to death in the goddess’s temple. He would say that Willow had been spared only because she, too, was spawn, and sent by Raven to deliver a message to the assassins.

And because Willow appeared harmless, Siege would not feel the need to call in other Godseekers to question and test her. By the time he realized his mistake it would be too late— Justice would have the support he needed. He did not intend to wander these mountains in search of Raven without sufficient protection. He could see the benefits of using spawn to hunt other spawn. As long as Willow expended her demon energies elsewhere, he could use her to tighten the trap around Raven. Once Raven was captured and the Godseekers saw the extent of the problem, Justice could take over from Siege and have the assassins begin rounding up any others. Those spawn who wished to work for him might see their lives spared, as long as they understood their positions.

He hardly trusted a slave who believed mortals should worship her. If Willow tried to challenge him, or summon another demon against him, he would kill her without hesitation.

…

Blade and Raven waited an extra few hours after the others were gone to depart.

Then they took a trail near the mouth of the small river that fed the lake and walked upstream for a short distance before cutting through the forest.

Several mornings later, as they continued to travel the mountain’s circumference, an oppressive weight in the air suggested they might be close to their destination. Blade first noticed an unintended reluctance to go forward, then an unaccountable heaviness in his legs that had not been present the day before.

Raven’s pretty black curls gleamed in the bright shafts of sunlight streaming through the rocks and trees, red highlights shining like coppery threads interlaced with onyx.