Queen of the Dark Things (47 page)

“There you have it,” said Colby, having broken the stalemate. “Your immortality.”

The Queen stared at Colby in stunned silence, a few lilac petals resting in her otherwise empty hand.

“It wasn't going to work for you, you know,” said Colby. “After, I mean.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The ring. That's the trick of it. It only works for mortals. They would have torn you apart the second you were free.”

“Wait . . . so all of this—”

Colby nodded.

“Was for me?”

“There was no other way out for you. You weren't going to give it up willingly. Not without a fight. I had to take it. So I gave you no other choice but to give it to me.”

“So what now?”

“Now you get on your bunyip and ride until you can't ride anymore. Go home. Do what you do. And if anything ever comes for you, you fight it on your terms, on your turf. Go be what you were always destined to be. Go dream forever and never wake up.”

She pointed to the kutji, who stood mute, unsure, staring at them from within the trap. “What about them?”

Colby pointed east to the horizon. “The sun will be up soon enough and there isn't so much as a rock for them to hide under in there. It'll be painful, but quicker than they deserve.”

The Queen threw her arms around Colby, hugging him as hard as she could. “I don't deserve a friend like you.”

“Then go make sure you do. This cost me more than you'll ever know. Don't waste it.”

“I won't.” She turned, then immediately turned back. “Can I ask you something first? As a friend?”

“Anything,” said Colby, happier at the sound of that than he thought he'd be.

“The girl. Do you feel about her the way she feels about you?”

Colby nodded. “Yeah. I reckon I do.”

“What is it about her?”

Colby thought hard for a second, scratching his scalp through layers of matted red hair. “I like girls who are smarter than me.”

The Queen laughed. “I won't tell her you said that.”

“She already knows.”

The Queen of the Dark Things whistled, loud, snapping the fingers of a single hand in the air and her bunyip trotted next to her. She turned, put her forehead directly against his, scratching behind its ears with both hands. “You were very brave,” she whispered. “Thank you.” Then it bowed before her and she launched herself astride its back. She smiled, warm, unencumbered, like an eleven-year-old girl out for her first time in the dream. “Good-bye, Colby.”

“Good-bye, Kaycee.”

And then she ambled off into the dark of the woods until she vanished completely.

Colby sauntered up to the summoning circles, smiling at Austin. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“You're welcome,” she mouthed silently back.

“Let us out,” said Dantalion.

“Yes,” said Astaroth. “That was your deal, was it not?”

“It was,” said Colby. “But we never agreed on
when
.”

At that, the demons growled and howled in unison, their rage shaking the earth beneath their feet.

“You can't stop us from killing her,” said Focalor. “Not after what she did.”

“Oh, but I aim to,” said Colby. “Austin, how long do you think you could keep this up?”

“Oh,” she said, as if thinking deeply. “A couple of days before I get bored, I guess.”

The demons thrashed like antagonized baboons in their circles.

“Hmmm, a couple of days. That's an awfully long time.”

“What do you want?” gnarred Dantalion.

“One day,” said Colby. “I want you to vow right now that you will seek no retribution against me or my friends here.”

“We can do that.”

“And that you will not pursue Kaycee until sunset tomorrow.”

“Just one day?” asked Focalor.

“Yes,” said Colby. “I'm hoping after that you'll choose to leave her be of your own accord.”

“I doubt that,” said Astaroth.

“Doubt is the right word. I like doubt. It leaves a lot open to change. I'll take that. Sunset tomorrow. And no retribution against us. Ever. Agreed?”

“And you will set us free?” asked Dantalion.

“Right this minute.”

The demons exchanged glances, nodding one and all. “We swear,” said Dantalion.

“We swear,” said the rest in unison.

Colby nodded and with a gesture Austin wiped the runes and circles away from the earth. “Go free,” he said. “And tell your brothers our deal is done.”

“Not yet,” said Dantalion. “I believe you have something of ours.”

Colby shook his head. “Yeah, but it's not for you. You're the one who lost it. You have to go back and face the music on that. The ring is meant for another of your brothers, the one who's earned it.”

“That's not how this works.”

“It is today.”

“You made a vow.”

“Not for the ring. Never for the ring. That I'll give back on my own.” Colby slid his hand into his pocket. “We're not going to have a problem, are we?”

Focalor eyed Austin up and down. “Another time,” he said.

She smiled, nodding, unfazed. “Another time.”

The air sizzled and the ground warped and the wind howled like it was being murdered and the trees swayed their branches away in mortal terror; the entire universe bent in upon itself, threatening to snap, almost giving way. One by one the demons vanished, each unique in their exit. Focalor became a puddle that boiled away in an instant; Astaroth collapsed into a singularity, burning bright, like the sun before winking out; Dantalion simply smoked away into mist; Berith exploded in a gusher of gore; and Bune immolated, burning to ash that fluttered away on the wind. Then the universe bent back; the trees relaxed and the wind died and the ground flattened and the air calmed to a standstill. And they were gone.

Colby looked at Austin, nodding sadly. “Now for the hard part.”

“I still don't understand what's going on,” said Austin.

Gossamer nuzzled Colby, looking up at the two. “You will,” he said. “It'll all make sense by morning.”

“Let's go, Goss,” said Colby.

“Sure thing, boss.”

Colby gave a somber wave, then he and the dog walked off into the woods together, stepped into a tree, and vanished, leaving Austin and the kutji behind.

C
HAPTER
59

W
ITH
T
HIS
R
ING

T
he night was darker out here, the stars brighter, the light pollution of the city too far to ruin the sky. Half the horizon was covered in clouds, flashes of lightning rippling through their bellies. At last, it seemed, rain was on its way. Maybe this time it wouldn't just be a tease; maybe this time the drought would end.

Colby and Gossamer were nowhere near home, too far out for Austin to hear them. They were deep in the Limestone Kingdom, but nowhere near anyone's haunt. The two were entirely alone.

“This is as good a place as any,” said Colby.

“They'll find out eventually.”

“Yeah, but not tonight. We get tonight.”

“Last chance,” said Gossamer.

“The last chance has come and gone. You know that.”

“I do. I just thought I'd make it
feel
like we had a choice in the matter.”

“I appreciate that.”

Colby held out his arms and started screaming in an infernal tongue, chanting once again the means of summoning. Then he shouted, “President Amy, I summon thee. Appear and speak.”

The earth clattered awake and the demon appeared in a burst of hellfire. Amy. The Holocaust Man.

“It was my understanding,” he said, flames trickling off his tongue, “that our business was concluded.”

“Between myself and the Seventy-two it has. But not between me and you.”

“There is no business between
me and you
.”

“Oh, but there is,” said Colby. “You see, I've brought the ring.”

Amy eyed the ring nervously. “You should have given it to Dantalion. He's the one who lost it. He should be the one to put it back where it belongs.”

“But he didn't fight for it. Not like you did.”

“I'm not sure I know what you mean.” He was lying. Colby could sense it.

“Thank you,” said Colby, smiling politely.

“For what?”

“For lying so directly. You could have played with some version of the truth, kept us going round and round until I had to get direct with you. Now I know for sure what I only suspected.”

“Which is?”

“You killed Bill the Shadow. And you torched our bar.”

The Holocaust Man stared blankly at him, eyes dimming, curious. “I'm listening.”

“From the get-go everything seemed wrong,” said Colby. “Orobas consented to my deal too quickly, didn't niggle over the details. He could have demanded the ring, but he didn't. Then, each of the five did exactly as I asked, no exceptions.”

“That was the deal.”

“That was. But no one tried to pervert it. No one cheated, tried to screw me out of what I asked for through loopholes. I gave each of them ample opportunity for shenanigans, but they didn't take the bait. They were each punctual, exact, and saw to it that they honored our deal in toto. They even played upon my own weakness for knowledge, almost all of them more than happy to engage me in discussion, hand me secrets men have died trying and failing to learn. All because they wanted me to trust them.”

“And you did,” hissed the demon.

“No. Because there was something else nagging at me.”

“What was that?”

“Orobas. He told me that he didn't know why he couldn't see my future anymore. That none of you did.”

“We didn't.”

“Oh, I know. But for that to be true it meant that merely being involved with the ring wouldn't cloud your sight of my destiny. It meant that I would, at some point, come into possession of the ring. And what Orobas meant when he said he didn't know, was that he didn't know whether I would take the ring and hand it back or if I would keep it for myself.”

The Holocaust Man nodded, flames jumping, licking the air, as he did.

“I can only assume there was some debate over which it might be and how best you could convince me to give it back. The prevailing thought must have been to earn my trust. But someone dissented. Thought it best to scare me, make me think the ring was far more trouble than it was worth. Convince me that everyone and everything that I loved would be at risk if I kept it. And that was you.”

“How did you know?”

Colby threw a stiff thumb at Gossamer. “My dog.”

“Your familiar?”

“He was there when your kutji torched the place.”

“And how did you know that wasn't the Queen?”

“Because your kutji had both of their hands.” Colby held both of his hands open in the air.

The demon smiled, his charred teeth large, cinders smoldering between them. “You're a clever boy after all, Colby Stevens.”

“You couldn't help yourself.”

“No, I couldn't.”

“No, I mean you couldn't help yourself. You were destined to do it. This had to happen. You were the reason you couldn't see my future. Before you intervened, I wanted nothing to do with the ring. It scared the shit out of me. I didn't want that kind of responsibility, or to earn that much enmity. But the minute you made your play, I saw just how untrustworthy a lot you were. I almost bought into the idea that you were all just fallen angels, doing your own thing. But you're not. You're demons. You're Hell. And I will never be free of you.”

Colby reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring. He held it up, pinched between thumb and forefinger, eyeing it as it flickered in the firelight.

“You can't keep it, Colby,” said the demon. “We'll never let you keep it.”

“But that's just it. I don't have a choice. You robbed me of that choice the moment you interfered. That's why you couldn't see my future. You were always meant to let me know that I was never safe from you, with or without the ring. So my choice was to fear you without it, or fear you with it. Which is no choice at all.”

“Colby—”

Colby slipped the ring on his finger. “You killed my friend, you son of a bitch.” He punched the demon square in the chest, the brand of Solomon burning immediately into him. Amy reeled back, but not in time. His eyes smoldered black, flames erupting all over his body. He screamed in agony.

“Kneel,” growled Colby.

The demon fell to his knees.

“Who do you serve?”

“You.”

“You're going to go back to your brothers. You're going to tell them what you've done. You're going to tell them that you're the reason I've kept the ring. Then you're going to give them a message.”

“What's the message?” asked the kowtowing demon.

“That I'm going to leave your punishment to them.”

The Holocaust Man looked up fearfully. “What?”

“If I'm satisfied with your punishment, I won't use this ring in any other way. But if I'm not, or if a single one of you interferes in my life again, or shows its face without me asking, or goes after one of my friends, I will summon you one by one over the course of a single afternoon and I will bury you so far and deep within the earth that your five hundred years in the sea will feel like a fucking holiday weekend. And that goes for Kaycee too. She's off-limits now. And they have you to blame.”

“No. Please. You have no idea what they'll do—”

“You're right. I don't. I lack their capacity for cruelty. I can't even begin to imagine the suffering you're about to endure. You see, that's the illusion of choice. Your brothers can go to war with me for the ring. Or they can just shit on you and wait me out. Do you imagine there will be much of a discussion?”