Blessed by a Demon’s Mark (10 page)
I’d been stupid. I never should have gone there, never should have fed that openly. I didn’t know how Adrian’s wolves found me, and quite frankly, I didn’t care.
After what I’d just seen, I was happy I was still alive.
I tore down the road, my heart pounding. With the way my life had been going lately, I wasn’t sure I could say that for much longer.
10
As I rode home, I started getting pissed all over again. It wasn’t so much about the fight or about Adrian’s wolves coming to gather me. I’d brought that on myself by going out like I had.
No, I was fuming over something else entirely.
I’d always been someone who did what I thought was right. I did whatever I wanted, how I wanted, and when I wanted. I never bowed down to anyone, never let myself get distracted from what needed to be done. I was focused.
Yet somewhere along the way, I let others in. I’d gotten weak, let others dictate how I lived my life. They didn’t come out and say it, didn’t even tell me what to do, but I was doing things based on what they’d think of me, how they’d react.
No more. I refused to let myself get killed because someone didn’t want me to do something I knew was necessary. I never should have let Jonathan talk me into not killing Adrian. I should have shot the backstabbing bastard the first time I saw him at The Bloody Stake. But no, I just had to see what he wanted, and by then it was too late to act.
Next time I saw Adrian, he was dead. If Jonathan didn’t like it, then screw him. He didn’t own me. No one did. Everyone has stuck their noses into my business for far too long now. It was time I put a stop to it.
By the time I pulled into the garage, I was fuming. I’d even managed to get the Honda all the way up the driveway despite the increasing snow. It was a wonder I hadn’t broken my neck with as wild as I was driving.
I turned off the motorcycle and stormed into the house, ready to start setting things to right.
“Ethan!” I shouted, throwing my coat onto the table. I started to strip off my belt but stopped myself. With what I was about to do, I’d probably want what weapons I had left on me close at hand. “Ethan!” I called, angrier this time.
I glanced into the living room and saw a wide-eyed Jeremy staring at me. He was propped up on the couch, a bowl of popcorn in his lap. The TV was on with the volume so low only a werewolf could hear it.
Some watchdog he was. He should have been on his feet the moment I’d come storming into the house, yet there he sat, like the cripple he was.
“Where is he?” I snarled, hating him more than I thought possible. Rage continued to build. I was nearly seeing red.
Jeremy’s eyes flickered toward the stairs and then back to me like he didn’t trust me enough to look away. He opened his mouth but closed it again when I turned away without waiting for an answer. His eyes had been answer enough.
I headed straight for the stairs. The light in the sitting room was off, but a fire was burning. It warmed the room considerably, and its comforting flicker eased my anger somewhat, but it couldn’t fully quench it.
What I’d give to be able to sit in front of the fire and just relax without wondering if someone I knew was dying because of me. Just one night to forget everything, to have peace within my home and around those I cared about.
I took a deep breath before opening the basement door. I knew it would never happen, not while I was who I was. Someone would always be after me. Someone would always get hurt because of me.
I went down the stairs, trying really hard not to stomp.
Ethan wasn’t in the first basement, so I assumed he was in his lab, most likely talking to his demon. That would make what I had to do go that much quicker.
I walked over to the door that led down into his lab and pressed the intercom button. “Ethan,” I said in what I hoped was a reasonable voice. “Come up here.”
There was a long pause; then his nervous-sounding voice came through the tiny speaker. “Okay.”
I waited as he finished up whatever he was doing, trying my best to calm myself. I stared at the lab door, wondering why Ethan thought it prudent that I didn’t have a key. It was the only door in the house I couldn’t get into. The entire room was soundproof and bombproof. Nothing could get in there without Ethan letting them in.
I wondered if the reason I didn’t have access was because he wanted the sanctuary for himself. Or was it because he was afraid I might break someday and wanted to be able to hide inside where I couldn’t get to him?
The door opened and he stepped out, eyes wide. I almost punched him because of it. I was so tired of people looking at me that way.
And he wasn’t sweating, which only served to upset me more. Whatever he’d been doing, it hadn’t involved his demon.
“I want you to summon Beligrow.”
“Beligral.”
I glared at him.
“Sorry.”
“I want you to summon the bastard so I can talk to him and get this fucking mark removed.”
Ethan glanced toward the lab door. He’d closed it when he’d come up. “Are you sure that’s a good idea right now? You seem a little . . .” He winced.
“Why the fuck wouldn’t it be?”
He opened and closed his mouth a few times, then visibly slumped. He knew there was no chance he was going to talk me out of this, not with the mood I was in.
“Um, okay,” he said. “Let’s go.” He started to open the door but stopped. “You’ll want to leave your weapons here.”
“No.”
He blinked at me like I’d spoken in Swahili. “What?”
“I said no. Your goddamn demon can deal with the weapons. If I wanted to kill him, there’s more than enough lying around down there to get the job down.”
Ethan paled and licked his lips. “He won’t like it.”
“I don’t give a fuck about what he likes and doesn’t like.” I was breathing hard now, so angry I wanted to hurt someone. “I want this mark taken off me and I want it done now.”
Ethan scrambled to get the door open and rushed down the stairs ahead of me. I stalked after him, my anger back in full force. How hard would it have been for him to simply do what I asked him to do without arguing?
A drawer slammed as I reached the hard concrete floor. Ethan turned back to me, red-faced. I didn’t want to know what he’d just hidden from me, I really didn’t.
“Summon . . .” I trailed off as my eyes took in the rest of the room.
A lot of the stuff was the same. The shelves with the darkened containers were still there. The workbench was in the same spot, as was the circle on the floor with the recliner planted firmly in its center.
But the cage across the room was new.
I stared at it, dumbfounded. Why in the hell was there a cell in Ethan’s lab? A silver one at that.
“Ethan,” I said warningly.
He gave a nervous laugh. “I knew you’d hate it,” he said. “But Jonathan thought it would be a good idea in case something like . . .” He coughed and changed what he’d been about to say. “In case we have to hold someone,” he finished lamely.
“Why would we need to hold anyone down here?” I was nearly growling my words by now.
“It works wonders during the full moon,” he said. “Jeremy comes down here and it keeps him from going all crazy on me. Well, he’s still crazy, but he can’t eat me while he’s inside.” Another nervous laugh.
I had to close my eyes to keep from exploding. I hated cages. I didn’t care whether Ethan decked it out with all the comforts of home or if he kept it as a bare stone floor as it was now. It was still a cage, meant to hold people inside against their will. I’d been trapped in more cells than I cared to remember.
But it did make sense. If we’d had the cell when we’d caught Thomas, he’d still be alive today. He might even have recovered. I should have thought of it before.
“Fine,” I said, opening my eyes, though I pointedly looked elsewhere in the room. Maybe if I refused to acknowledge it, it would go away. “Summon your damn demon so we can get this over with.”
Ethan nodded and rushed over to his desk. He withdrew his fleshy candles and his sidewalk chalk, and went about setting up the circle.
I watched him for a few moments before I couldn’t take the silence anymore. “Is all of this really necessary,” I said. I was tired of waiting. I’d waited too long already.
He glanced at me as he set one of the candles. “What do you mean?”
“All the candles and circles and chanting you do. Isn’t there an easier way?”
He laughed again, but it was still nervous sounding. “Not really,” he said. “But it helps me focus. I’ve done it this way since I was little.” He sort of mumbled the last.
I didn’t know much about Ethan’s life before I’d met him. I suspected his demon summoning was the reason Count Valentino had kept him locked up and hadn’t fed on him like he had the others. I’m not sure if there was more to it than that, but honestly, there really didn’t need to be. It kept him alive when the rest of his family had died.
Ethan set the last two candles and turned to face me. “It isn’t the words or the ritual that summons the demon, really. It’s the will of the summoner, the desire to bring the demon into this realm that matters.”
I cocked an eyebrow.
“So, let’s say Bob the neighbor finds a ritual in a book. If he doesn’t believe in it or doesn’t want it to work, he could repeat it over and over and nothing will happen. The summoning comes from within the summoner. You have to believe in it
and
want it to work at the same time. After that, it’s cake.”
and
want it to work at the same time. After that, it’s cake.”
“So that means you wanted to summon a demon as a kid?” That seemed wrong on so many levels.
Ethan’s face reddened. “I didn’t have many friends,” he mumbled as he turned to start the ritual.
I felt bad for him. How bad of a life did he have that he had to resort to summoning demons to keep himself occupied? Did someone show him how to do it or did he go looking for it himself? I just couldn’t picture a young Ethan looking for trouble of this sort.
I’d seen him do it before, but watching Ethan perform the summoning was hard. I couldn’t believe he of all people was capable of doing something so inherently evil. The guy hardly ever cursed and here he was doing so blasphemous, it made
me
look like a saint.
me
look like a saint.
Ethan drew a chalk outline around the silver circle on the floor, careful not to step inside. He’d said it was only precautionary, but I wondered how true that really was. I’d seen his demon. The thing was scary.
He started his chant, keeping his voice low so that I never could quite understand what he was saying. The foul candles flickered, giving off the smell of burning flesh. My stomach curdled at the thought that they might have been someone once. No matter how innocent I thought Ethan might be, there was a dark streak in him that was scary as hell.
The room started getting hot, and the mark behind my ear started buzzing. It felt like I had some sort of small vibrator beneath my skin and I reached up to touch the bumps. They were more pronounced now, as if they were trying to tear free of my skin in response to the summoning ritual.
A dark speck appeared in the middle of the circle. The room got almost unbearably hot. Ethan was sweating so badly his shirt looked as though he’d dipped it in a bucket of water.
Heat poured from the speck. It grew, rising vertically as if the opening between realms was being drawn by a zipper.
The mark throbbed in time with the pulses of heat. Fear bubbled in my gut, and my brain kept screaming at me to run before the demon saw me, to get out and as far away as possible. Nothing good could ever come of treating with a demon.
I held my ground even as the dark portal opened and a wave of heat poured out. It was like standing in front of the sun. Oppressive heat washed over me and I cringed back.
The demon emerged.
11
My eyes burned and watered, but I forced myself to watch as Beligral stepped through the portal. There was a hint of red skin, of horns, and of black, demonic wings, but before the image could truly form, he turned into a seemingly dapper man, dressed smartly. Only his sharp yellow teeth and red eyes gave him away as anything but normal.
I knew for a fact the human appearance was fake, a glamour cast to fool the eye, but I wasn’t sure about the other demonic visage. Did he do that only to confuse me about his true appearance? Or was he really as nightmarish as he appeared to be?
Part of me never wanted to find out.
As soon as he was through the black portal, Beligral turned to me and bared his teeth in what I took to be a smile. The tear between realms sealed itself behind him, leaving behind the heat and the demon trapped within the circle.
“Well, well, well,” he said, leaning forward on a cane that seemed to appear from nowhere. Knowing him, it probably had. “Look who finally decided to make an appearance. I’m so glad you could join me on this most glorious of nights.” He took a deep breath and let it out in a contented sigh.
I had to swallow a lump in my throat before I could even think to speak. Every nerve in my body was hopping. I wanted to run, wanted to flee right back to Delai and never look back. My skin felt as though it was just about to melt from my bones. Ethan didn’t look much better, even though he claimed to be used to the heat.
Beligral laughed and walked over to the recliner in the middle of the circle. He sat down and laid the cane across his knees. There was something on the head of the cane, but I couldn’t tell what. The demon never lifted his hand enough for me to see.
“Not much for words today, I see,” he said. “Sometimes my entrances can be . . . overwhelming.” He bared his teeth in that smile again. “But you’ll get used to it in time.”
I took a deep breath and nearly choked when it burned my lungs. I knew most of the heat was imagined. Beligral probably created some of it himself just to fuck with anyone stupid enough to summon him. I had to admit, it did its job.
It took me another moment, but I was finally able to find my voice. “What do you want?” I croaked. I sounded like someone stranded in a desert with no water and no hope of rescue. I cleared my throat, which helped a little. “I got your message.”
My hand went reflexively to the mark behind my ear. It felt like I was touching a hot iron and I jerked my hand away. I was surprised my hair hadn’t caught on fire from the heat. I wondered if Ethan had the same sort of mark, and if it felt as hot as mine did or if the demon was only causing mine to flare for my benefit. I wouldn’t put it past him.
Beligral leaned forward in his chair. That damnable smile was spread across his face. It made me want to step over the circle and punch him just so he’d stop, but that would be bad. Really bad.
“Why, I only want what is owed to me. You promised to return and I’ve decided it was time you repaid that debt. I can only wait so long.”
“Well, I’m here now,” I said. “The debt has been paid. Now leave me the hell alone.” I turned to go.
“Ah, but is it?” Beligral laughed. There was no humor in it.
I managed not to shudder when I turned back to face him. “You said all I needed to do was to see you again. Here I am.”
The demon stood. The cane was gone, vanished as if it had never been there to begin with. He walked to the very edge of the circle and stopped. “I know where you have been,” he said, his voice conspiratorially low. “But do you?”
I clenched my teeth and refused to speak. I wasn’t sure if he was talking about earlier that night or if he was talking about the last few months. I really hoped he wasn’t referring to Delai, because a demon in a place like that would destroy the peace the people there had fought so hard to achieve.
“I see you don’t,” he said. He shook his head as if disappointed in me and started walking around the inside of the circle. “You think you know what you’ve been experiencing. You think you have things under control. Do you know what you’ve really been doing since you left here? Do you know what kind of monster you’ve been playing house with?” He gave me a sad smile. “I don’t think you do.”
I didn’t say anything. I knew speaking would only make things worse for me. He’d find a way to twist my words, a way to get me to add yet another mark. I knew that was his game. I wanted my mark gone, not to add another.
Beligral sighed. “Delai is not a good place for someone like you.”
Ethan glanced at me, a confused look on his face. I shook my head and continued to stare at the demon. My eyes were dried out from the heat, but I wouldn’t look away again until he was gone.
“If you go back, you might never escape. That’s what he does. He traps your kind in, turns them into husks that do his bidding. He will burn you out of your own body and will enjoy every moment of it. He may claim it as a cure, but we all know what he does is far from it.”
I couldn’t hold back any longer. “You don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Don’t I?” He laughed. “I think I have much more experience in regard to matters of this sort than you.”
“And you’re a liar.”
He smirked. “Tell me, what have I lied to you about? I’ve done everything in my power to help you. I’ve never led you astray.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. He’d claimed to do a lot of things, but I couldn’t prove any of them. He’d said he tried to help my brother, but I hadn’t seen or felt anything that could prove it one way or the other. I had only his word, and I sure as hell wasn’t about to trust the word of a demon.
“I’ve invested too much in you to have you throw it all away,” Beligral said. “I cannot let you succumb to his magic without giving you something to fight back with.”
“You’ve done enough already.” I growled the words, angry at myself for even getting involved in the conversation. I should have kept my mouth shut and walked out of the room when I’d had the chance.
“But clearly I haven’t,” he said. He resumed his seat in the chair. “If you knew what you were getting into, you would never have gone there in the first place. Since you’ve spent so much time in Delai, it is doubtful you’ll ever believe what I have to say. The people there are no good.”
I looked at Ethan. He was looking back and forth from me to the demon. He looked hurt that there was something passing between us he didn’t understand. I felt like a bitch for not filling him in already. It should have been the first thing I did when I’d gotten home.
“Tell me,” I said, turning my attention back to Beligral. “And then let me go. I never want to see you after this.”
The demon’s lips lifted in a grim smile. “Of course,” he said. “I will even give you this information for free. It will be up to you if you wish to accept what I have to offer afterward.”
I ground my teeth, hating how this sounded. I knew he was trying to trick me into another mark somehow. Free information is never really free when it’s coming from a demon, I was sure.
“Fine,” I said. “Say what you have to say.”
Beligral leaned back, his cane once more resting across his knees. “Does he still call himself Levi?”
I thought I kept my face neutral, but he read my expression as easily as if I’d spoken.
He nodded. “He isn’t what he appears to be. The name is as much of a lie as the rest of his world. If you let him get to you, he will turn you into one of his pets. I can already see his mark upon you.”
I glared at him and tried not to let my unease show. I didn’t know why, but as soon as he started talking, I pictured Ronnie, how he stared at nothing all the time, how he did whatever Levi told him to do. I didn’t know if I was thinking these things on my own, or if Beligral was somehow putting the thoughts in my head.
“They say all roads lead to Delai,” he went on. “It appears you’ve traveled that road and back again, something not many have done. It was only by my intervention that you managed to escape when you did. Much longer and he would have had complete control over you.”
Beligral was staring directly into my eyes as he spoke. I knew that was a bad thing. It had to be, right?
It was a struggle, but I managed to look away. I kept wanting to look up, as if his eyes had a pull to them. I so didn’t want to get trapped in his gaze.
“If you go back, he will have you. I can’t keep you safe forever.”
I almost laughed at that. “I don’t want you messing around in my life.” I looked squarely at his knees.
I could hear the smile in his voice as he continued. “I’m already in too deep. You are stuck with me whether you know it or not. You don’t have to like it.”
I glanced up at his face and could see the fierce glow in his eyes. They flared with an almost feverish intensity. I looked away before I got burned.
“Delai will always be there because you expect it to be. No matter how you get there, it will be waiting.” He paused. “At least until you are no longer wanted. I will make sure that happens.”
“Why would I want you to do that?” It was hard to sound as angry as I felt when I couldn’t look him in the face. It felt too much like I was subservient to him, but I knew looking him in the eyes would only make things worse.
“Do you know what Levi is? Di’leviathan? He is older than even I.”
I really wanted to turn around and walk out. How could I ever believe something coming out of a demon’s mouth? I wondered if he was afraid that Levi would find a way to save me from the demon’s influence. Maybe it had started happening already and that was why he’d sent the pain, to draw me back before I could be fully swayed.
But despite the desire to leave, I’d stayed. I knew from the first day I’d gone there that Delai was different. I never could put a finger on it, but it always had seemed ever so slightly off. I knew I’d never get the whole story out of Beligral, but I was sure he would at least leave me with some half-truths as long as it served his purposes.
“The slice of time he controls will always remain as long as he remains stuck between our worlds. Something has anchored him there. He cannot escape his little haven, but he isn’t forced to return either. If you find out what is keeping him, most likely his summoner, then you can send him back to where he belongs.”
“He’s a demon?” I looked up, startled.
“No.” Beligral shook his head and frowned. “Not in the way you think of demons. He comes from the same realm as I, will destroy anything he touches, much like my brethren would do if they were to escape. He is similar, but something oh so different.”
“Then what exactly is he?” I challenged. It bothered me that he was being so damn vague.
Beligral smiled and waggled a finger at me. “Tsk, tsk. Do you think I would share everything I know? If you want to find out what he is, you will need to do that on your own.” He looked at his nails and smiled. “I could provide you with a way.”
“How?” Something inside me groaned. I really should have left a long time ago.
“I will allow you to see him for what he truly is. I will give you the Sight, something only a few have ever been blessed with. It will allow you to see past his glamours, to see into his heart. Once you see what kind of hold he has on those he’s trapped, you will understand my concern.”
“And what’s in it for you?”
Beligral chuckled. “Nothing but your return. I will give this to you and you will see I have not led you astray. There is so much more we could do together if only you’d learn to trust me.”
Yeah, like that would ever happen.
I looked at Ethan. He was shaking his head frantically from side to side, though he didn’t voice his disapproval. I knew it was a bad idea to agree to anything the demon offered. He would somehow turn it to his own uses, would trap me like he’d trapped Ethan.
But I had to know. Could I really walk away without knowing for sure whether he was telling the truth?
“What do I need to do?” I asked, resigned.
Ethan visibly slumped and closed his eyes. I was disappointing him, I knew.
“Come into the circle with me. I have to touch you to impart this most wondrous of gifts.”
“Not happening,” I said. How stupid did he think I was? “Find another way.”
“There is no other way,” he said. “My powers are limited to this circle. If you wish to receive my gift, then you must cross the barrier and take it from me.” He smiled, exposing his teeth again. He was almost salivating.
I considered the offer. There
was
something off with Delai, I couldn’t deny that. I cared about Sienna and Eilene, and even Ronnie and Levi in a way. They’d taken me in when I felt I had nowhere else to go. They’d given me a place to live, a place to control the hunger inside me.
was
something off with Delai, I couldn’t deny that. I cared about Sienna and Eilene, and even Ronnie and Levi in a way. They’d taken me in when I felt I had nowhere else to go. They’d given me a place to live, a place to control the hunger inside me.
Yet it always felt wrong. There was something unnatural about the way Levi could calm me when I was at my most ravenous.
And then there was his family. They feared him. Could Beligral really be telling the truth? Could I take the chance that he wasn’t? I couldn’t leave Sienna and Eilene there if something bad was happening to them.
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