Chaos Rises: A Veil World Urban Fantasy (11 page)

I pulled up suddenly and looked down at a pile of rubble and debris that had gathered in the corners of a low wall.

“It’s not a bad thing, being strict. Whatever gets us through the days, right? But still, I’d like to see you lose your control. Just a little.”

I flinched. Allard had said almost the exact same words.

Crouching down, I rifled through the concrete dust, dug my fingers around a wire frame, and gave it a tug, lifting it half out of the dirt. A dozen or so trinkets had rusted to the frame. Key rings. All of them with the same picture of the Ferris wheel. I used a fingernail to hook one out and lifted it up, showing Torrent.

“What is it?”

“A key ring. I have one just like it on my dresser.”

A shadow reared up behind Torrent. I got a glimpse of headlight-like eyes and sucked in a gasp to shout a warning. Torrent’s wings burst open with a sonic crack. Dust-filled air blasted my face. Blinking grit out of my eyes, I saw Torrent stab his wing tips in the dirt, making himself into a shield.

The beast—all snarling, lips, sparkling teeth, and bristling skin—roared, reared up on its hind legs, and used its vast, clawed paw to sweep Torrent aside, tossing him halfway down the street.

I stayed low, stayed submissive, and lifted my gaze way, way up the length of the wild demon. It had to be the size of a rhino. Spines covered almost every inch of its mottled skin. If this lesser was an
armatae
demon, which I assumed it was, those spines were loaded with enough poison to paralyze me in seconds. Death would follow pretty quickly after that, once it pummeled my body into the road. It snorted, puffing foul smelling air over my face, and pawed at the cracked concrete.

“I don’t suppose you’re one of those nice spiny rhinos?”

Tension clamped down on its leg muscles, and it looked at me through cold, soulless eyes.

I yanked on my demon, thrust my element down my arm, and threw up a blast of ice in time for the massive paw to come crashing down. My shield exploded. I fell back against the wall and thrust more ice between us. The lesser’s maw gaped and crunched down on my second shield, shattering it.

No more games.

I released my demon, let her blast her arctic touch through my veins. Ice skipped and snapped, building scaled armor in an exhilarating rush. I ducked low and dashed between the
armatae’s
legs. A jagged-edged blade formed in my hand. I thrust it upward, ripping the demon open from gullet to gut. Blood—and other bits I didn’t stop to name—spilled out in a hot, slippery slick. The air tasted like blood, my vision blurred with it, and I tasted the acidic coppery-ness on my tongue.

The demon stamped its massive paws, jostling me beneath it, and collapsed in a stinking heap. Its mass of dead weight slammed me chin-first into the ground. I sprawled, snapped my teeth together, and listened to my ice-armor shatter. In seconds, it was over with just the ringing in my head and an all-over ache telling me I was still very much alive. I tugged on one leg then the other, but the dead demon had me pinned.

Torrent sauntered into sight, a wry smirk on his lips. All demoned up, he bunched his impressive wings behind him. I blinked up at him, seeing him for the first time through demon eyes, and for a few mind-numbing seconds, I forgot how to speak. He cocked his head. His facial features had sharpened. Hard lines crafted a strong jaw and high cheekbones. His eyes mimicked the roll of the ocean. He didn’t have hair, but he did have crescent horns, and those swept back, close against his skull.

If he hadn’t been a half blood, he’d be a higher demon, the same status as Allard—maybe even higher. I mean, he made an impressive sight, one I could appreciate even while crushed under a spiked rhino.

“A little help?” My voice cracked and spat, along with the ice crawling around me, shifting and resettling in an effort to protect my soft and vulnerable insides. “I have demon guts eating away at my ice.”

He crouched down and clasped his hand around my arm just below the elbow. My ice crawled up his fingers, but it was the fascinating shimmer of his scales that caught my eye. “Don’t touch its spines,” I added. “I don’t want to be carrying your unconscious demon ass back to Allard.” He blinked at the ice marching up his arm then broke out in a grin filled with sharp teeth.

With Torrent’s help, some grunting, wriggling, and a lot of crumbling ice, I managed to tug free of the corpse and stagger away from the putrid mess of guts and crushed ice. Stringy bits of what looked like intestines dangled from my bristling ice armor.
Lovely
. Using my claws, I plucked bits of dead demon off my elbow and tossed it to the ground, where it landed with a wet
schlurp
.

Torrent studied every move. I liked being stared at as much as the next demon, but the silence was unnerving. As demon, it’s all on display. Demons don’t care for clothes. Not many demons or people got to see the
real
me, and Torrent was getting more than an eyeful. I glared back at him. “What?”

His sea-blue eyes shuttered behind oddly human lashes. “I don’t think I’ve seen an ice demon before.” He sounded different, his words smoother, flowing from one to the next in a liquid meander.

I raised a brow, shifting the crown of ice on my head, spread my arms, raining ice chips onto the road where they quickly melted. “Happy now?” I didn’t wait to hear what his answer might be and gave myself an all-over shake, scattering the ice-armor and driving the demon down inside. It took a few moments to ground myself back in human skin and clothes—a little like stepping into a bath. Being human feels warm, wet, and squishy for a few disorientating moments.

Torrent’s attention had wandered back to the dead lesser. While he wasn’t looking, I slid my gaze up the length of his wings. I really wanted to touch their shimmering surface and see if they were wet or dry. They looked wet, but like snakeskin, I figured they were probably dry. I rubbed my fingers against my palms, fighting the leftover demon urges, and plunged my hands into my pockets, finding the key ring in one.

The key ring, the same as the one Allard had given me. There had to be hundreds of the same key rings all over the beach. It didn’t have to mean he’d been here. And even if he had, maybe he was just out for a stroll, in the nw-zone…

“We’d better get back,” I grumbled.

Torrent’s wings flexed, spilling a shiver of light over them. I averted my eyes. The sight of him as demon freed thoughts of what it might be like to wrap myself up in those wings. It was all a bit too…bestial for my human mind.

He turned, and from one blink to the next, his demon dissolved into what looked like rain. Just like that, his wings, his demon, it all collapsed, and he stepped forward, unruffled, dry as a bone, still wearing the same raggedy coat, crossbow, and hint of a smile. I shut my mouth and hoped he hadn’t seen my very obvious appreciation.

I needed more PC34A in my veins.

* * *

F
airhaven was
its usual free for all of demons when Torrent and I returned to the foyer. I spotted Allard at the front desk, engaged in what appeared to be a heated discussion with Joseph—heated, in that Allard stood rigid and immobile while Joseph rattled off whatever it was that seemed so important.

“I need to talk with Allard,” I told Torrent, steering him toward the stairwell. “I’ll find out if we’re going to visit Vanessa, and I’ll be right up.”

He regarded the discussion and the back-and-forth flow of demons and nodded. “Are you sure this is the time?” His concerned gaze settled on Allard.

“I know how to handle Allard.” I turned away, but Torrent’s fingers snagged my sleeve. I growled low, a warning, and he immediately let go. A look passed between us. I saw a challenge in his glare, although I wasn’t sure why. Then he dropped his gaze to the key ring in my hand. “Go.”

He only left the foyer when I was a few strides away from Allard. I glanced back to check and caught the blur of his coat before the door swung shut. I couldn’t imagine what had gotten his wings ruffled and didn’t particularly care. With the key ring clutched in my hand, I bore down on Allard.

“…number of guards overlooking a frontal approach,” Joseph said. “The cliffs make an easier route.”

“I’m not skulking around her grounds like a lesser. We go in via the front, and we do it confidently.”

They ignored me. But I made sure to stand inside their peripheral vision and loiter there, teeth grinding. Finally, Allard blinked his gaze to me, and with it came the little skitters of fear.

I rooted my boots to the spot, fighting the urge to bow my head. “I need to have a word.”

A growl bubbled up through Joseph’s chest. My tone had been dangerously close to a challenge. I hadn’t quite meant for it to sound that way, but I couldn’t take it back, so I went with it and lifted my chin.

“Not now, Gem.”

“Just a few moments—”

“We’ll be visiting Vanessa at dusk—”

“I just want to ask one ques—”

Joseph lunged at me. I hadn’t expected that. If it weren’t for the preceding hot rush of his telltale element, I might not have had time to swerve away from the right hook and retaliate with my own loose-but-fast right fist in the face. I cracked my knuckles dead center on the bridge of his nose. It was reflex, mostly. But as bone crunched, delight spritzed my veins.

Allard yanked me off Joseph, held me out at arm’s length, and gave the rabid fire demon a stern push to the chest, holding him back. Joseph’s human form rippled and almost tore apart. He was losing it, which only made me smile even more. He saw the big, stupid grin on my face and launched into a tirade of demon-tongue that I had no hope of understanding.

Allard shut him up with one word. It was a good word, sounding something like “
shee-lark.”
and whatever it meant, it struck enough fear in Joseph for him to pull himself together, bow his head, and stride away.

Allard dumped me on my feet like a scolded kitty. “I do not have the time to deal with squabbling demons. What is it?”

I dangled the key ring at eyelevel between us. “Where did you get it?”

“You challenged Joseph for this?”

“I didn’t challenge him. He’s just sensitive because Torrent kicked his ass.”

“Your tone challenged me, half blood, and Joseph, as my protector, was bound to respond.” Allard spoke slowly so that my limited half blood brain functions could keep up.

I waved the stupid demon nonsense away. “He’s still an ass. I wasn’t challenging you. I was just… I just want to know where you got this.”

He blinked slowly and side-eyed the spinning key ring. “Why?”

“Can you tell me?”

“One of my flight brought it back.”

That was a damned lie, although it was delivered with perfect confidence. None of his demons would bring back a trinket. They wouldn’t even look twice at the rubble. No, Allard picked up the key ring especially for me. He’s the only one who knew enough about me to know his little gift would bribe my weak human mind into liking him.

He was lying. Why?

I closed my hand around the key ring and tucked it into my pocket. “We leave at dusk?”

He blinked at my sudden change of topic. “Yes, bring Torrent. I assume you still have him on a tight leash.”

I nodded once and marched away, needing to be as far away from him as possible so I could work through what his lies meant. The only reason he would lie would be to hide something—the fact he’d been at the site where Del had disappeared. Why would he have gone there? Allard had no reason to go into the nw-zones.

I stormed into my room and threw the key ring at my dresser. It hit the mirror, skipped off, and tumbled to the floor. The original key ring still sat on the side. They were the same, of course. I sank my fingers into my hair, yanking it back from my face and stomped on the newest key ring, grinding it to dust under the heel of my boot. Allard was lying. The bastard was lying to me about my brother. He’d been there, at that exact spot. He knew more about Del’s disappearance, and he’d lied to my face.

Barbed anger burned in my chest. Allard beat me, used me, lied to me, made me think he was somehow protecting me, made me
want
him. The anger flared, and with it, my element surged. I closed my right hand into a fist and glared at the stupid girl in the mirror. Did I think he cared? Did I really fall for his bullshit gifts and his honeyed lies? I was owned. I was always owned. I’d just buried my head in the sand and pretended I was the one in control when it had been him all along.

I tore the postcards off the wall, fingers turning to claws, and swept all the silly trinkets on the floor. All gifts from Allard.
Bought
. I heard growls—my own—and saw the flash of ice in the eyes of my reflection. When I punched the mirror, jagged cracks streaked through the glass, and pain snapped up my arm, wrenching a short, sharp cry from deep inside. I pulled back and punched again, buckling the frame and distorting my reflection. Again. Pain burned through my knuckles. Again. Blood smeared across the glass, further blurring the girl glaring back at me.

“Whoa, stop… Gem, stop…”

Torrent grabbed my right arm as I swung back for another hit. That was the
wrong
thing for him to do. I whirled, swinging with my left fist. He saw it coming and jerked back, so I kneed him in the groin. Or I tried to, but my knee skimmed the inside of his thigh instead. He still had hold of my right arm, but not for long. I lunged, snapping demon teeth inches from his face. He pushed forward, driving me against the dresser. I bucked and tried to get my arms free, but he’d clamped one arm around my left side, holding me tight against him while still gripping my right arm at the elbow. I bucked again, but the smooth liquid touch of his element had curled its way up my leg, distracting me. My frantic writhing turned to twitches. Rage still ate at my insides, and my demon stalked dangerously close to the surface, turning my fingers to claws and my teeth to fangs. I breathed hot and hard through my nose, smelling the sea, and leather.