The Demon Beside Me (7 page)

I opened my mouth, caught the golden light reflecting off the hood, and dropped to the ground. Ichor rushed through my veins as a scimitar narrowly missed my head, shattering the car’s window instead. Before the other scimitar could reach me, I pushed off from the ground, throwing myself away from the car, out into the partially empty lot. “Sneaky little angel,” I growled.

“Son of a bitch!” Tink snarled. “My car!”

Victor didn’t respond to either of us, simply oriented on me and charged. I crouched on the balls of my feet, ready to move in any direction as ichor transformed me into my full demonic form. Even fully transformed, my skin wouldn’t turn his blades, my hellfire wouldn’t consume him, and my strength paled compared to his. Still, it gave me a fighting chance.

What put the odds in my favor was a seriously pissed off mage. Her first spell wrapped around his knees like a bola, throwing him off his stride. I leapt over him as he fell forward, landing behind him and driving one heavy foot down toward his exposed ankles. He grunted as the blow landed, flipped over onto his back and launched himself to his feet. Tink’s next spell left frost rippling out from where he landed, encasing a nearby car in white rime. Victor slipped, and I gave him a taste of my own magic, a spark of hellfire aimed right between the eyes.

He took the spark on the flat of one scimitar and launched himself forward, both blades wide and low. I threw hellfire in front of me, but it wouldn’t stop him. His stance prevented me from dodging sideways and there was a SUV parked right behind me.

A car flew into his path, its hood pointed down toward the ground. I recognized it as Tink’s car just a second before the sparkling hellfire started to eat into it. A metallic thud from the opposite side told me that the archangel hadn’t changed course quickly enough to avoid it. I looked over my shoulder and saw blood coursing down both of Tink’s bared arms as she lifted them into the air. The car, with attached archangel hood ornament, rose higher into the air, tilted over backwards, then dropped to the ground with a crunch. “Asshole,” she said.

“You know that’s not going to stop him,” I said, circling around to where she was.

“No, but what’s going to hit him next will.” She grabbed my hand and laid my palm open with her knife, drawing ichor to the wound, and then mixed our blood together. The mixture of our blood would amplify her magic. I didn’t recognize the rune she traced with the mixture but whatever it was, it would hit Victor far harder than he’d ever expect.

The ruins of her car, hissing and groaning, started to move. Two scimitars sliced through the undercarriage, and pieces of metal and plastic popped free. Victor pushed his way out of the wreck. His clothes were torn and purity was dripping from a couple of minor scratches, but overall, he looked wonderful for someone who just had a car dropped on them. He hit the ground, crouched, and flung himself toward me.

Tink clenched her fist.

Victor stopped short and his eyes popped open wide. He sliced wildly at the air in front of him and started coughing. He sucked in another breath before coughing again. Tink lifted her fist up to eye level. The angel lifted off the ground, legs kicking. His weapons clattered to the ground and his hands clutched at his throat. “I don’t think you’re going to stop her that way,” I observed.

His eyes burned gold as he glared down at me, his wings manifesting as he called upon his power. He rasped something unintelligible at me, but Tink simply lifted her fist higher. “Don’t try, Victor,” she said. “He’s my demon, contracted and bound by blood. If you’re trying to kill my demon, you have to deal with me first. I’ve faced down Dukes of House Lucifer before. You’re nothing compared to them, angel. Nothing. I’ve only grown stronger since then.”

I watched with some amusement as his gaze flickered over to her. His chest inflated as he forced a deep breath past her grip and snarled something in his native language at her. Tink grinned and slammed her closed fist down into her thigh. Victor smashed into the asphalt of the parking lot with a sickening crunch. She immediately lifted her fist back up and slammed it back down. This repeated a couple of times, and then she flung her arm out to the side and opened her hand.

Victor flew across the lot and slammed into another car, thankfully not mine. The impact nearly tilted the car onto its side. Tink walked toward him, clenching her fist again and looping it up over her head, then down into her thigh again. Victor described an arc up into the air, then back down into the ground just a few feet away from us. Gravel sprayed my feet. “What did he say to you?” I asked.

“It wasn’t very nice. Why do you want to know?”

“I don’t ever want to say anything remotely like that to you.”

She smirked at me and walked over to where Victor lay. The angel’s eyes were dark and unfocused, but his attention was clearly on Tink. “You’re nothing to me, Victor,” she said, her voice soft, almost pitying. “You’re a fool, serving a fool, doing nothing but foolish things. You think that since he’s just a halfblood demon, you can walk all over him? Think again. He’s the Gatekeeper, and he’s got more power than you can possibly dream of.”

Victor’s lip curled up in another snarl. She didn’t give him a chance to say anything; she simply kicked him in the face. His head rocked, but his expression remained unchanged. She shrugged and planted her heel on his nose. The pop was audible from where I was and the angel’s choked groan made me cringe. “Tink, hold on-”

She kicked him in the face again and looked over her shoulder at me. “Sorry, demon, but he’s really pissing me off.”

“I noticed. He’s about to grab your foot, by the way.”

“I know. If he does, he’ll lose the hand.” Victor’s hand paused, then lay flat on the ground. “So he is listening. Victor, you need to knock this stupid shit off. If you keep it up, I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you for myself, not for the demon, just for myself. I’ll do it slowly. You won’t like it.”

The angel didn’t say anything, just stared up at her. I stared at her too. My partner’s face was typically a scowl. Most of the time, her emotions were completely visible, much to her chagrin when we played poker. This time, she was unreadable, almost serene. It scared me.

A silver glow caught my eye. Caleb stepped in from the side and put a hand on Tink’s shoulder. “Peace, Anna,” he murmured. “He’s not worth this.” She looked up at him and her normal scowl returned, but she held her hand open and drew a finger through the rune on her palm. Victor gasped in a deep breath and sighed.

As I released my transformation, a hand fell on my shoulder as well. “What the hell just happened here?” Hikari breathed in my ear. “You two are both dangerous and stupid. It’s a good thing that Caleb noticed what was going on out here. I’ve been warding off the police, but it’s not going to hold up much longer. Dammit, Zay, why did you let her go so far?”

“Let her?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I really don’t.” I pointed at the new potholes, the wrecked cars, and the bloody angel. “She was throwing around enough power to kill me outright. Many times the power needed, actually. Do you really think I was going to step into that?”

“You’re the one who gives her that sort of power!” Hikari’s hand tightened. “It’s so idiotically dangerous. You need to stop. She’s not stable!”

I sighed. The irony nearly overwhelmed me. “So you’d rather have me get killed?” I pointed down at the twin scimitars at my feet.

“If you two had come inside rather than stay out here and-”

“And what?”

She hissed and her hand abruptly released my shoulder. “Whatever.”

I rubbed my face as she stalked off. Hikari being jealous of Tink and paranoid about her magical strength was nothing new, but her timing was terrible. If she hadn’t used the contract’s power, Victor would have turned me into halfblood strip steak. Hikari was being irrational. More irrational than usual. Wonderful.

“Demon.” Tink was in my face. I blinked. “What are you spacing out about?”

“Hikari.”

“Like I was saying, she’s nuts.” She shook her head. “Caleb wants to know what you want to do with Victor. There are two votes in favor of execution here, but you have the veto power.”

I bent down and picked up Victor’s weapons. Both of them were long curved scimitars, sweeping backwards, angelic sigils etched in silver decorating the flat of each blade. I walked over to where Victor was lying, Caleb standing over him with his own sword pointed toward his gut. “Caleb, desist.”

“As you wish.” He stepped back, his features as inscrutable as Tink’s had been moments before, but not quite as scary.

I stood over Victor and dropped the scimitars on his chest. “We three are the Gatekeepers. I am the First Gatekeeper,” I told him. “You should know by now that you’re outmatched. The next time you attack any one of us, or anyone I know, or do a single damn thing to mess with me, you’ll die, Victor. You’ll be lucky if I let Caleb do it, because I know he’ll make it fast. Do you understand?”

His face twisted in a snarl, but then Tink’s knife fell into her hand and Caleb’s sword pointed at his throat. His face smoothed out and he nodded. “Good,” I said. “I’m not going to tell you to do anything. I’m not even going to ask you to do anything. Understand this, Victor. I am giving you your life. If it weren’t for me, you would die, right here and right now. Do you understand that?”

He nodded, his eyebrows drawing down into a frown. “Good,” I continued. “I’m glad we’re able to communicate so well this time. Now, as I said, I’m not going to tell you or ask you to do anything. However, I’m going to make a suggestion. I suggest you let your Cherubim know that the Gatekeepers hold a rather inordinate amount of power. I suggest you let them know that getting us angry is a bad idea. I suggest you let them know that I’m more than willing to give Heaven back, but continually trying to take it from me is going to cause some issues, namely, the use of the Gatekeeper’s powers against you. Understand this, Victor.” I leaned down close to him. “We opened the Gates of Purgatory by uniting the powers of humanity, demons, and angels. Working together got us this far, which is farther than we came in the past five hundred years. I suggest you think about that.”

I stood up and took a couple of steps backwards. Caleb and Tink stepped back as well, but neither turned their blades away. Victor’s hands curled inwards and gripped the hilt of each scimitar. Both Tink and Caleb tensed. Victor’s hands tightened and his weapons vanished. He sat up, wiped purity from his nose, and looked at me. I saw no understanding, no comprehension, just hatred. Even so, he levered himself to his feet and made no sudden moves. “I will remember this,” he said, and kicked himself into the air. Golden wings thrust from his shoulders and in moments, he was gone.

“I’m pretty sure that was a mistake,” Tink said.

“It was,” Caleb said. “But it was relatively harmless. Victor is not a threat.”

I yawned and stretched. The slice across my palm sealed, leaving just an itch behind. “It’s been one hell of a night,” I said. “Considering the situation, you guys might as well stay here overnight.”

Caleb nodded. “I’ll take you up on that.”

“You two aren’t going to get into another fight as soon as we get up there, are you?” Tink asked. “The last thing I want to hear is Hikari shrieking all night. For any reason.”

I snorted. “No chance of that tonight, I’m sure.”

“All right. Let’s get out of here before the cops show up.”

Our apartment was on the second floor. We creaked our way up the stairs and I opened the door, which looked to have been professionally re-hung already. “Sweetheart, we’ve got a bit of a situation here.”

“Oh, do we?” Hikari smiled sweetly at me as she lifted a steaming cup to her lips. Two imps sat on the coffee table and mirrored her movements, from the sweet smile to the lifting of the cup. One of them was Kibs, and the other was rather more important. “I hadn’t noticed. More guests? How lovely.”

“Good evening, Chairman,” I said. “What brings you here tonight?”

“I seem to recall a certain halfblood who pushed for a clause in the Pact that limited use of magic amplification,” the Chairman rasped. His suit and demeanor were impeccable, as always.

“I seem to recall that clause being amended out of the Pact,” I said, taking a seat on the couch. “Am I wrong?”

The Chairman smiled. “The amendment was challenged, but once the Gates of Purgatory were opened, the challenge lapsed. Therefore, I must investigate the unauthorized use of magic amplification tonight. I understand there may be some mitigating circumstances. How about you explain yourself so I am not forced to kill you?” He took a sip from the cup clutched in his claws.

I rubbed my face. It hadn’t even been three hours since Conquest had shown up at my doorstep, but it felt like three days. All I wanted to do was sleep. “Chairman, do we really need to go through this at this exact moment?”

“Unless you want the Choir’s pending complaint to be validated, yes.”

“I am the Gatekeeper,” I said.

“Yes. And?”

“Isn’t that enough?”

The Chairman shook his head. “It isn’t.”

“Isn’t it?” I stood up, looming over the imp. “Chairman, I am the Gatekeeper, I hold the reins of the Four Horsemen. My death places control in the hands of Caleb, and his death places control in the hands of Tink, and her death releases the Horsemen to do as they will to this world. If I die, the Host will kill Caleb to prevent the Horsemen being used against them. If he dies, both Host and Choir will kill Tink to prevent a revenge attack. We know what the results will be, Chairman. In my capacity, my unique capacity, I judged that unauthorized use of amplification to prevent my death and the resulting chain of events would be better than allowing Conquest, War, Famine, and Death from running roughshod over all of creation!”

The Chairman took another sip from his cup and clicked his claws against the side, but said nothing. His beady eyes regarded me, expressionless as only an imp could be. I had no idea how old the Chairman was, but I suspected he had seen more than anyone in this room. His silence was unnerving.

A buzz from the ceiling caught my attention. An archon floated down, a sphere of light with shadowy limbs within. “Chairman, I come as a representative of the Syndicate, bearing a message from-”