Chaos Rises: A Veil World Urban Fantasy (12 page)

I couldn’t move. “Let me go.”

I can’t move. Can’t breathe. Trapped. Tied down. Can’t move.

“Will you scratch my eyes out?”

They’re coming, coming with their needles. The pain will start soon. They’ll pull my demon from me. I need her. I
need
her. Where’s Del? Where’s my brother?
“Get your fucking hands off me right now, or I will carve your heart from your chest with my claws.”

Indecision trembled through him. His element flared in response to the threat, spiraling around my body, trying to drown me.

“Torrent! Let go!” I screamed.

He threw his arms off me and staggered back, a hand out and his stance low, as though that might placate me. “I’m not going to hurt you—I’m not!”

Demon. He’s demon. Strong. He tried to trap me. To hold me.

I groped behind me at the dresser, knocking bits of glass to the floor.

“Gem, it’s me…” He hunkered down lower, making himself small, submissive. “See? Not fighting you.”

I yanked open the drawer and fished around inside without looking. My fingers skipped over a cool jet injector. I scooped it into my hand, pressed it against my neck, and pulled the trigger. 5 ccs of PC34A. That’s all it took. The madness receded, pulling back like waves from a beach, and finally, I could breathe again.

I let out a gasp and threw my head back, waiting for
human
to fill out my body and regain control. As reality flooded the room, I heard my own ragged breathing, alongside Torrent’s and squeezed my eyes closed. Cool tears slipped free.
Human. Gem. This is me. This is my home now.

I blinked back into the now.
All my little gifts, all scattered and broken.
The mirror was wrecked, my right hand throbbed, and blood dripped in streams down my arm.

I sighed and staggered toward the bathroom. “We’re going to Vanessa’s in a few hours.” I sounded like myself, but it would take a while before I felt like Gem again. Gem the half blood, Gem the pet, Gem the silly little girl who trusted a demon to find her brother.

“Gem?”

“Don’t!” I slammed the door on the questions in his voice.

A shower helped. Something about the water raining over my naked human skin helped remind me who it was I was supposed to be. I hadn’t had an episode like that since the Fall, and it was only having Del that had brought me back from the last one. Torrent hadn’t known holding me would make it worse. He’d been trying to help. That had to stop. I didn’t need his help.

I smelled the ocean around me. It was…nice, and it gave me something else to think about other than how I really would have torn into Torrent if he’d held me any longer. I’d have killed him too. I winced and drew the smell of the ocean into me, letting it trickle through my senses and distract my wandering thoughts—
memories
— of killing, of what it felt like to sink my claws into flesh and rip.

Memories. I wished I could forget.

A
llard’s plan was perfect
, just as long as you didn’t happen to be the half blood bait. Torrent took the news without protest, not even a glimmer of surprise, and no attempt to argue. The perfect pet.

When we climbed onto his bike and I clamped my arms around him on the ride up the coast, he didn’t pull me close the way he had before. And I didn’t indulge by drawing his scent into me. He seemed rigid and cold, and that was probably for the best. We hadn’t said much since I’d threaten to scoop his heart out of his chest. After that, I’d managed to snatch some sleep while he’d stayed at the window, looking over the ocean until Allard had summoned us.

Allard and his demons traveled behind, riding in human cars to keep up appearances. In all, he’d chosen to bring just six of his more trusted higher demons—not Joseph, I noticed with interest—and another six of the grunts, should negotiations go awry. Twelve demons in total. A show of force.

Torrent pulled the bike up outside a sprawling, modern home, the type that clung to the cliffs. He cut the bike’s engine as the cars rolled in behind us. Dusk had settled over LA, dragging with it a blanket of mist so thick I could taste it on my lips.

Car doors slammed, and Allard stepped from his vehicle. Mist swirled around him and his demons as they took up flanking positions behind him. Torrent kicked the stand down and straightened the bike beneath us. He twisted to scan the gathering. His gaze snagged—probably on Allard—before meeting mine.

I wanted to ask if he was okay. The words poised on my lips, but whatever the answer, it wouldn’t change anything. It was too late for words. “Ready?” I asked instead.

His throat moved as he swallowed, and like me, there were unspoken words in his eyes. Faint lines furrowed his brow, nothing that Allard would see, but I saw it all: the concern, the fear. He wasn’t okay with this. Vanessa had owned him, and she wasn’t about to take kindly to seeing him beside Allard.

“I’m ready,” he answered softly, for my benefit and swung his leg off the bike.

We strode toward Allard. The demon dealer acknowledged us with a slight nod. Torrent’s element shifted, stirring the mist, but he stepped into place behind Allard, hands clasped in front of him and his gaze dead ahead.

I mirrored his stance behind Allard and looked Torrent over one last time. I’d seen him up close as demon. He could wipe the floor with some—maybe all—the demons here. As half bloods went, he was a prize catch. Allard was using him as bait, but there was no way he’d give Torrent up.

Shaking ice from my fingers, I raked my gaze over Allard’s back and indulged in imagining what it might be like to shove a shard of ice between his ribs and demand he tell me why he’d lied about the key ring. I couldn’t, of course. Not here. Allard would sense my element flexing and protect himself long before I could lash out.
Not yet.

“My, my…” Vanessa sashayed out of her glass and steel front door. I recognized the searing touch of her element, but she wore a different vessel than the one she’d worn on the beach—all dark skin and loose silky black hair, breasts that threatened to spill out of her painted-on red dress—clearly designed to distract. She would have looked right at home walking a red carpet.

Allard approached, his swagger equally confident. They made a beautiful pair of human pretenders.

“My half blood has been a naughty boy,” Vanessa purred. She leaned out, peering around Allard, and dragged her salacious gaze over Torrent.

Torrent’s focus was lost in that familiar thousand-yard stare. He didn’t twitch, didn’t blink.

“I’d like to trade,” Allard said.

“Mm.” She licked her lips, slow and evocative, and arched a fine dark eyebrow. “I’m sure you would.”

I flicked my attention to the steep rock face beside us and glimpsed the house through the curtain of mist. Allard had mentioned she’d have guards, but I couldn’t see or sense any.

“He’s delightful, isn’t he?” she said. “He was savage once. I invested a great deal of time and effort into taming him.” Her eyes narrowed, and she curled her long fingers, tightening her hand into a fist. “Have you had him under you?” I couldn’t see Allard’s face, but I saw the smile on hers. “No? Well, you really are missing out.” She leaned in and said
sotto voce
, “Male half bloods really are the most fun to break, but I’m sure you already know that.”

A line of tension ran down Allard’s back. Clearly, Vanessa knew where to apply pressure.

“How did you come by him?” A minor tremor shuddered through her words— anger or frustration, hidden well, but not well enough.

“My half blood found him,” Allard replied, casually. My ears pricked. “He believed he could use her to get to me and pledge allegiance. I declined, naturally. I know how fond you are of him.” A threat curled beneath Allard’s words, and that line of tension loosened with a minor shrug.

Fire flashed in Vanessa’s eyes. “Allegiance?” Fire burned in her words too.

Torrent’s elemental touch flinched where it had woven itself around my ankle. I hadn’t realized he’d coiled it close until that moment and shot him a quick questioning look, but he glared straight ahead, his jaw set, body rigid.

“Give me the
coronam,
and you may have Torrent.” Allard’s voice cut through the quiet. “He’s unharmed. None of mine has touched him.”

“That’s very courteous of you and yours.” She pushed the words through her teeth with a hiss.

“What’s the
coronam
to you,” he added, “but a useless rock fragment?”

“If I have it, you don’t.”

This was personal, a demon grudge, perhaps. In the time I’d worked for Allard, I’d never heard Vanessa mentioned. They must have known each other from before the Fall. From the netherworld? She could probably tell me a great deal about
Azazel
if I ever got close enough to ask.

“Such a shame…” Allard sighed, putting on the theatrics. “I have many ways I can use up a half blood like Torrent. I’ll be sure to deliver the carcass when I’m done.” He turned, caught my eye—

“You’ll fail.” Vanessa’s vessel rippled, her element straining to lash out. “You’re not a prince, Azazel.”

“Let’s not drag our pasts into this, Vanth.” Definitely personal. He’d used a name I assumed to be her true demon name and did so with a wicked gleam in his eyes. He turned and opened his arms—
look how friendly I am
. “Come now. This is a new world with new opportunities for demons such as us.” He approached Vanessa, his gait smooth and confident like he had all the time in the world. I’d seen him flirt with humans, seen him crush a demon to dust, seen him broker deals without one wrong word, but I’d never seen him deal with a demon this way. Vanessa clearly had power, but he wasn’t behaving like a demon should around her, posturing, flexing his element. There was none of that demon nonsense. And yet, he had her on her back foot, her vessel wavering, her control slipping.

Her laugh was a sudden, bright, ringing chime through the fog. “Oh, Allard, you foolish thing. It’s what got you banished, you know. You never did know when to stop.”

Allard’s element rattled nearby stones. A few tumbled down the rock face and scattered around the parked cars. He leaned in and said something to Vanessa, but all I heard was a deep rumbling undertone.

She patted his arm fondly and stepped back. “Very well. Take the
coronam.”
She clicked her fingers. The snap cracked through the air, and after a few silent moments, a demon emerged from behind her, slinking through the fog, no larger than a child and wingless, marking him as little more than a lesser. His eyes glowed bright and fearful.

Torrent’s element tightened around my ankle, but nothing of his unease showed on the outside.

The little demon held out the
coronam
. Vanessa snatched the stone from his hand and clutched it to her chest. She dismissed the demon with a sweep of her hand. When he turned, pale scars stood out against his earthy skin—scars like Torrent’s.

Torrent’s touch squeezed tighter. I was about to sneak my own touch around him, hoping to distract him from whatever was playing in his head, but Vanessa’s next words yanked my head up.

“Does she know?” She rubbed her thumb over the
coronam
, her eyes all for Allard. “Your pet? Does she know what she’s for?”

Allard held out his hand. “Give me the
coronam
.”

“I know you won’t return Torrent, Allard. You don’t have another water elemental. You
need
Torrent.”

What?

Torrent’s element crackled.

“I have other water elementals.” Allard dismissed her words. He didn’t, at least none that I knew of. “Give me the
coronam
, Vanth.”

She blinked. “No. You don’t have others.”

A small, obscenely delicious chuckle escaped Allard. He lowered his hand, evidently giving up the charade of a trade. “I have all the pieces I need.”

Vanessa lifted the
coronam
. Heat shifted beneath my feet and blasted through the air like a desert wind. “Not if I melt this.”

The ground shifted, sliding a few inches sideways, setting off all the car alarms, and sending a thunderous crack through the cliff face beside us. Allard was done with screwing around.

“Do not push me, Vanth,” he growled. His vessel rippled.

“Does your pet know you have her brother too?”

“What?” The word leapt out of me, and my element would have too had I not snatched at my control.

“He hasn’t told you, half blood, has he?” She laughed at what must have been a mix of horror and rage on my face. “You’re all his pawns. Why do you think he keeps you?”

Allard backhanded her, simultaneously dropping his human vessel. A ripple of chaos energies burst outward, blasting us with dust and grit. I staggered and shielded my eyes, my heart leaping into my throat and my element surging in defense. But Allard wasn’t targeting me. The fog swirled, and the dust settled, revealing Allard in all of his marble-white, demon glory. Silvery veins of power throbbed along angled, viciously sharp wings, wings he spread wide. His powerful back muscles rolled and quivered, supporting the weight of his massive wingspan.

Vanessa picked herself up off the dirt, dripping flame. She wrenched her element up against her in a blast of furnace-like heat, lifted her claw-tipped hands, and flung the wave of heat at Allard. He hunched down, shielding himself with one wing, and let her heat roll right on over him. The blast lasted only a few seconds. His proud head came up. His broad shoulders flexed, throwing his wings out, and he stalked Vanessa.

My heart thumped hard in my throat.
He has my brother.

She could have been lying. She was demon. They liked their games. But I believed her. She’d said the words I’d feared all along. Allard had my brother.

I glared at Allard’s marble-smooth back, at the proud arches of his wings. What if my moment was now? What if I encased him in ice while his back was turned? I couldn’t fight him fair, but like this, while he was distracted…

I pushed my hands down and spread my fingers, feeling for any cool spots within reach. There weren’t many, not enough for me to form any kind of prison. We were surrounded by cliffs, earth, by Allard’s element. And it showed.

Vanessa tried again, whisking her fire into a whirl around her. The earth rumbled, groaned, and split open behind her. Her foot slipped, and in a blink, she was gone.

Torrent burst forward. Whether it was instinct or loyalty, it didn’t matter. Allard whirled, spreading his wings and expanding his chest, presenting himself like something straight out of biblical nightmares. Torrent skidded, his foot slipping as he recoiled from Allard’s towering mass. He trembled, holding his element and himself back, and finally, he dropped his gaze then awkwardly dropped to a knee.

But it wasn’t over.

Allard huffed a resigned sound and turned. He reached down into the fissure and hauled Vanessa out of the hole in one easy movement. She let loose a hail of hissing and spitting, but her fire, her snarls, her slashes all rolled off Allard. He tossed her toward us. She rolled, wings flapping open, fire spitting, then sprang off her feet and dashed straight for Allard.

He has my brother. I’ll kill him.

Not yet. Not strong enough.

I had to stay back, keep my eyes down, stay out of this.

Allard curled a massive hand into a fist and slammed Vanessa into the earth. Something cracked, the ground or her back, I wasn’t sure. He planted a foot between her shoulders and snatched one of her flapping wings. His black-eyed gaze slid over the rest of us, Torrent, his guards, me. The fog lazily swirled about him until the air stilled, and the world held its breath.

“Don’t!” Torrent gasped.

In one swift movement, Allard pulled on Vanessa’s wing. Muscle tore, bones splintered, and blood sprayed. Vanessa’s screams rebounded off the cliff face, echoed around us, over and over, on and on, turning into ragged wails that clawed into my skull.

My heart pounded, my head light.

Allard ripped her wing off and tossed it aside.

Bile burned my throat. I couldn’t look away. To do so would mark me as weak, but when he caught her remaining wing in his smooth white hand, my gut heaved. His black eyes met mine. A challenge.
I have your brother,
that glare said
.
His gaze scored the others
. This is the punishment that awaits any who challenge me.

He leaned into the arch of Vanessa’s remaining wing, bending it in an unnatural angle, until it snapped. Fire flooded the earth, spilling outward from Vanessa. It licked at Allard’s legs, shimmering blue, but he ignored it. And then, in one vicious twist, he wrenched Vanessa’s wing off and roared like thunder.

That thunder split the earth. Cracks raced down the rock face and danced across the driveway behind him. The ground rippled, shuddering from deep below, and behind Allard, tiles slid from the house and smashed. One, two, more. A crack danced up the wall. Another snapped in. Brick crumbled, and in one final tremor, the house collapsed, sliding off the cliff and out of sight.

Allard strode forward. All around, the ground shook and grumbled. He pulled his wings in and began packing his smooth white skin inside the body of a West Coast tanned man. By the time he reached me, he was Clayton Allard again. Just a man.