Chaos Rises: A Veil World Urban Fantasy (6 page)

With my demon thrashing so close to the surface, I couldn’t separate which urges were human and which were demon. Like with the stone, I wanted to get away, to run, but running was weak. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t lose control—not like this, not in front of Allard. Control was everything. Without control, the demon would win. I couldn’t let it win, couldn’t let Allard win.

I snatched my arm free and staggered back, not caring if I angered him. “I got you the vase—the thing. I did what you asked.”
Did the floor just tremble, or was it me?
“Where’s Del?” I slumped against the windowsill.

Allard tossed a meaningless gesture at me, his gaze pulled back toward the stone. “He’ll be found.”

“That’s not good enough.” The depth of spite that rang in my voice surprised me, and by the flare of Allard’s nostrils, it surprised him too. Bits of vase rattled against the floor. I
had
felt the floor move. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—I’m just…”

He was suddenly in front of me. My gaze was level with his chest. He was too close, crowding me, cornering me. Panic fluttered my heart. I couldn’t let him get close. My control was already in shreds. I had to force some space between us so I could think without his demon presence distracting me. And still, I wasn’t moving.

“Gem.” Allard’s rich voice wove through all the crazy, making it all seem so unnecessary. “Your brother is more than capable of looking after himself.”

He’s not. He’s really not. You don’t know. Nobody knows!

Allard’s warm fingers touched my chin.
Push him off,
the fearful human part of me demanded.
Get away.
He tilted my head up. The dark filled his eyes, expanding his pupils, swallowing the human pretense. His element swelled. I tasted its spice, its heat, and bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to draw bitter blood. I’d seen his true demon form only once, inside the white room. The truth of Allard was close now, circling like a shark in deep waters.

I’m not stock.

Did he tell you that?
Torrent’s words mocked.

Allard’s fingers gripped my jaw, tightly enough to hold, but not restrain, and he turned my head away, exposing my throat. He bowed low and breathed in, his cheek grazing my jaw.

“I’d like to see you give up your precious control.”

I know you would
.
And you won’t because I am human first, demon last. I will always have control.

He’d pinned me against the window, and sometime in the last few minutes of madness, I’d let him get close enough to feel his heat against my thighs. His smell laced my throat, sweet and sickly, but so undeniably delicious. He wrapped his elemental touch around me, drowning me in demon. I didn’t stand a chance.

Del had never known about the other parts of my agreement with the demon dealer. It was my secret, my sin.

Allard stepped back, peeling his elemental touch away like throwing back a warm quilt, and the demon part of me let out a pitiful whimper. Anger flushed through my veins, pushing out the demon’s lust. It was his power I lusted after. That was all. Against a higher demon, I couldn’t—my demon couldn’t resist.

“Here…”

I blinked back treacherous moisture in my eyes and forced myself to look up.

Allard held out a strange little trinket. He turned his hand over and it dangled from his finger and thumb: a circle of metal, a chain, and a picture encased in plastic. I reached out without thinking and snatched it before he could change his mind. “What is it?”

“Humans call it a key ring,” he said, voice carefully level. “It was found half buried in the hotel grounds.”

I brushed my thumb over the picture of the glowing Santa Monica Ferris wheel.
Why do keys need rings?
The picture glittered as it caught the sunlight. It was…beautiful. I wanted to thank him but wouldn’t. When I looked up, his eyes had softened, as they often did when he presented me with bits of debris from before the Fall: tiny bottles of shells, mugs printed with
I LOVE LA
. Postcards were my favorite.

His small smile seemed real. It would be so easy to believe the man standing in front of me might care what I thought of his gift. But it was fake. Demons don’t do gifts.

“Add it to your collection of human detritus.” At his words, a rumbling rolled through the walls and floor. His element flexed. He wasn’t as calm as he appeared, but it wasn’t anger ruffling his power but something else, something I couldn’t read on his expertly crafted human mask. Frustration perhaps, or anticipation—whatever it was, I wet my lips and bowed my head, as was proper because I was little more than a lesser, a half blood. And just like Torrent had said, I was owned.

Joseph flung open the door. “My lord—” He hesitated, most likely sensing the strange play of elements in the room: mine, Allard’s, and the chaos energy throbbing around the
coronam
.

Allard turned slowly, and as he did, a deep grumbling shuddered through the floor.

“The larkwrari is breaking free,” Joseph said.

“Impossible,” Allard snarled, the roll of his voice pushing at the walls. All traces of the softness had vanished.

Joseph ducked his head, and I swallowed the urge to smile. Seeing the formidable Joseph bow his head wasn’t ever going to get old.

Allard snatched my hand and planted the stone once more in my palm alongside the key ring. “Stay here.” He fixed his glare on mine. I flinched, desperate to throw the stone away, but his dark eyes made it clear his words were to be obeyed. “Stay.”

Only when I nodded did he turn away and leave with Joseph. As soon as the door closed, I tucked the stone and key ring deep into my pocket, wiping my hand on my pants to try to brush off the itching power. My demon shifted, re-settling and fading into the deepest parts of my mind, buried once again by control.

“That was too close.” I pushed away from the window and ran my fingers through my hair, dragging it back from my face. “Don’t let him fool you, Gem.” I couldn’t trust myself around Allard. I didn’t like who he made me,
what
he made me, but it was a small price to pay for protection, for getting my brother back. Wasn’t it?

The stone throbbed against my hip.

I just have to find Del, and everything will be okay again.
Was he out there somewhere, afraid? Or was he free? What if he’d always planned this? No, those were my own hang-ups rising.

“He wouldn’t leave me,” I told the empty room and started pacing.
He might.
He’d been skipping his meds. What else hadn’t he told me? There was only one reason to deliberately miss a hit. He was testing his demon and with it, his control. I chewed on my thumbnail, boots beating against the carpet. It hadn’t been long. There was still time to find him, to help him.

…decided to stretch his wings…

I almost laughed. Allard had no idea what my brother was capable of. If he decided to stretch his wings, we’d know it.

The ground jerked, lifting the hotel floor with an almighty groan and dropping it just as quickly, throwing me against a chair. The walls shuddered. The door creaked and popped open on its own. I reached for the wall as a crack twitched through the plaster.

Allard…

He was drawing on the earth—his element—and fast. If he was in trouble, so were the rest of us. I dashed for the door, and a thundering roar tore through the air. The sound bored deep into my ears, threatening to crack my skull open. I yanked on my demon, poured her strength into my veins, and called on her toughened senses to armor me.

The
larkwrari
was free.

D
emons scattered
. Some rushed in toward the bungalows while others fled for the safety of the hotel. I couldn’t blame those that ran. In the center of the garden, the
larkwrari
tore at anything that moved. Free from its cage, its serpentine body seemed to have doubled in size. Sunlight washed over its pearly scales, each the size of a shield. It swung around, thrashing its tail through the palms, tearing with its claws, crazed with rage.

Allard was nowhere in sight. But Joseph was here. Fire had gobbled up his human vessel, revealing the winged demon beneath. His wings flicked open, scattering burning embers at their multi-jointed tips. Ash and smoke poured off his muscular bulk. In full sunlight, he looked every inch the beast straight out of hell.

The
larkwrari
whirled. Its huge eyes widened. It pulled back, reared up on its hind legs, and drew in breath so deep its ribs expanded.

Oh, no!

I bolted forward, fast and light, pulling my element from every source I could find. There wasn’t much cold to tap into in a sunbaked ocean city, but I snagged enough and flung my element in front of Joseph. A sweeping fan of ice burst open as the
larkwrari
vomited up a wave of viscous liquid. The goo splashed away into the bushes.

“Get back, half blood!” Joseph snarled, his demon lips and teeth distorting the words, twisting them up into little more than grunts and growls, but I heard him clearly enough.

I looped my ice over us, even as Joseph’s heat beat at my back and eroded my strength. “It’s flammable, numbnuts. You want this whole place to go up?”

“Get outta my way!” He swept me aside as easily as swatting a fly. My ice shattered—too weak in the city’s heat—and rained over him in hissing chunks.

The
larkwrari
turned its massive head and now appeared to be stomping toward Ocean Avenue. Joseph’s wings flexed. He rolled his broad shoulders.

“Where’s Allard?” I called.

Either Joseph didn’t hear, or he chose to ignore me. In the next step, he spread his massive wings and launched himself skyward.

The ground trembled. Debris skittered and danced. All kinds of elements swirled, making it difficult to pick out Allard’s unique touch, but he was nearby. He had to be. Why wasn’t he fighting the
larkwrari
? I stood still, melted ice water dripping from my fingers, and sent my elemental touch outward, but it was no use. Too many elements swirled. Too many demons charged up to fight or flee. I couldn’t separate whose element was whose until a soothing lick of liquid swept up my spine a moment before a blade touched my throat, and the demon yanked me back into his arms.

“Don’t make this difficult.”

Torrent! How was he alive? I tensed, but his blade dug in, and his left arm wrapped around my waist, clamping me hard against him. Warm blood trickled over my collarbone. “I killed you,” I hissed.

“You missed.”

“I never miss.”

He shifted his left arm and rode his hand down my front. My teeth chattered. Anger and ice snapped through my veins, straining to be released. Lower, his hand crawled until he found my pocket and dug his fingers inside. I twitched, the blade stung my throat, and more blood crawled down my skin.

“There, there, easy now, Icy,” he purred. “I just came to get back what you stole.”

“The second you let me go, I’m going to run you through.”

“Then I guess I’d better not let you go, huh?” He pulled the stone from my pocket, closed it in his fist, and held it against my stomach. The stone throbbed, low and thudding, like a heartbeat. He felt it too, the power. His breath hastened against my cheek, and the hard press of his chest suddenly seemed to burn against the chill of my back.

He wasn’t letting go. Would he cut my throat?
He should. I would.
And if he let me go, I’d kill him before he could draw a single breath.

“In another place, another time, we might have gotten along.”

“I doubt that,
demon
.” I shaped a thin ice dagger in my left hand, fingers tingling as my element tightened and twitched.

“I’m going to take the
coronam
back, and you’re going to walk away, Gem.”

“I’m not walking away.”

“I’m stronger than you.”

I managed a slight shrug. “Is strength all you have?”

“Don’t push me.”

I twisted the dagger so its edge pressed against the inside of my wrist. “You should have killed me when you had the chance.” I clenched my fingers tighter, careful to get a solid grip, and punched it deep into his side—only it didn’t quite work as I’d planned. The dagger burst apart.
Too late.
I’d made my move. I had to attack and smacked my head backward. Something gristly crunched. Torrent let out an
oomph,
and his grip loosened. I stamped my boot on his, spun out of his arms, and punched a loose right fist into his cheek. None of it was particularly strong, but it was all fast, precise, and enough to drive him back.

He blinked watery eyes at me, cradling his bloody nose. “Fugh!” He grunted and spat blood to the side.

He should have been bleeding from the stab wound in his side, but beneath his tattered coat, above where his compact crossbow hung, there was no sign of my ice doing him any damage. I didn’t miss. I never missed. Why wasn’t my ice getting through?

He straightened, jerked his chin, and flicked blood from the hand clutching the
coronam.
“’ou gan fight. Agh gib ’ou ghat.”

“Give it back.”

He backed up, saluted me with the dagger I’d lost at his house, turned in a whirl of frayed coat, and ran, disappearing into the bushes. I bolted after him. The ground trembled beneath my feet, and as I leaped over a fallen palm, the earth shifted, dropping out from under me. I landed awkwardly, but I caught a glimpse of Torrent’s coat and burst off my back foot. A roar split the air. The
larkwrari
. I couldn’t worry about that. Joseph would deal with it. Torrent had the stone. Allard had told me to stay put. I disobeyed, and now, I’d lost the
coronam
. This was worse than not getting him his lesser demon. This stone was precious. I’d lost it. I had to get it back at any cost. If I had to chase this demon to the ends of the earth, cut him to shreds, and pry the stone out of his cold, dead hand, I’d do it.

He twisted and turned through the overgrown gardens, almost too fast to track. He glanced back once, saw me, and smiled.
Smiled!
He wouldn’t be smiling when I dug my claws into his chest. I pushed more demon into my veins, welcoming her crackling energy. With her, came the strength. Head down, legs pumping, I was catching the bastard. Left and right, he zigzagged, trying to lose me. It wouldn’t work.

He burst from the foliage, leapt up, bounded over the rusted carcass of a car, then sprinted through the disused parking lot. Damn, he could run like the wind.

You’re mine.

Demon spilled into my vision, bringing the parking lot and the barren street ahead sharply into focus. I saw his element. A turquoise swirl spilled in his wake, speckled with glistening sunlight. He was pretty. I’d give him that much. More power pulsed through me. I funneled its quickening into my right hand, shaping a spear in my mind. The ice responded, snapping, reaching, spiraling at my command.

Dodge this, you son of a demon.

I lifted the spear over my shoulder. He continued to weave, springing over a concrete planter, thinking I couldn’t predict his path. Chasing hard, I narrowed my gaze on his back, thrust power down my arm, and launched the spear. I never miss.

I missed.

Without looking, he swerved right, dipping his right shoulder, leaning away, as if he knew exactly where my spear was. It sailed right on by him and shattered on the road beside a demon cloaked in fire.

I spotted her too late. Black horns. Proud wings. Eyes like raging infernos.

Fire blasted toward Torrent and me. He ducked, clearly expecting it. Heat and flame rolled closer, and with it came the pain. Demoned up, I had no choice but to pull back. I skidded, dropped to a knee, and flung up a shield of ice. As soon as the blast hit, my defenses crumbled. On and on, the fire pushed, hotter and hotter. I summoned more cold, dragging it down from the air, from the cool spots littered inside the empty buildings behind Fairhaven, and shoving it into my rapidly melting shield.

It wouldn’t be enough. She was a higher fire demon. I couldn’t win this.

Shoulder hunched against the shield, I pushed, summoning everything I could with PC34A shackling the full extent of my demon, until the cold was gone, and my element spluttered.

“No!”

The ground beneath me growled, or so it seemed. The road shifted, rocking me sideways. The fire spluttered. In a deafening howl, the road surface between the fire demon and me cracked apart. The fire ceased its onslaught. Spent, I fell forward, drenched in melted ice water, panting out raspy, heat-burned breaths.

The crack snapped toward the female fire demon but stopped a few feet short. She eyed it warily, her bright yellow eyes burning with scorn. Not for me—I realized, as she lifted her gaze—but for Allard. He sauntered up the road, opening another crack in the concrete alongside him at the flick of his fingers. Wisps of smoke rose off his clothes. He’d already tangled with the fire demon, but his only outward sign of frustration was the faint snarl pulling at his mouth.

Torrent. The
coronam
.

I lifted my head, blinking through dripping bangs, and saw Torrent standing behind the fire demon. He held his hands clasped behind his back and mastered a blank expression. All the humor had vanished. He looked…cold.

The fire demon owned him.

Her yellow eyes fixed on Allard. She’d pulled her wings in and eased off on the fiery glow. The lines of her face were so sharp they could have been chiseled into bone. Her throbbing black and red skin bubbled. I might have thought her terrifying, if I hadn’t once seen a demon prince.

Allard stopped in front of me, protecting or hiding me, I wasn’t sure which.

“Vanessa, how pleasant,” he said in a tone that was as far from pleasant as you could get. He sounded like he’d much prefer to rip out her innards. “The
larkwrari
is secure. I assume I have you to thank for its escape?”

Vanessa’s black tongue flicked out. She licked her cracked lips and took a step forward. Her sweltering skin peeled open, turned over, inside out, rippling the air around her. My eyes burned, forcing me to drop my gaze. Some things, human eyes are not meant to see.

When I was sure it was safe, I looked up and found Vanessa to be a mid-thirties blonde. She brushed down her emerald sleeveless top and picked a speck of dust from her loose-fitting white pants. Her painted toenails peeked out from dainty white heeled-strappy shoes. The only parts of her that burned with her true fierceness were her eyes, now swirling pools of lava. She blinked and sealed her human vessel with pretty green eyes.

She was good at this.

“Half bloods have their uses.” She flicked her right hand, intimating Torrent had been the one to release the
larkwrari
. I wasn’t surprised. “Yours looks somewhat poorly, Allard. You should look after your pets,
my lord
.” She snarled.

Allard’s element bristled. I couldn’t see it now that my own demon had retreated to lick her wounds, but I felt it prickling against my skin.

I pushed up on my hands but didn’t dare attempt to stand—not yet. The road was comfortable enough for my wracked body. Still, I wanted to stand behind Allard the way Torrent stood behind Vanessa. It seemed important that I be seen as strong.
Too late for that.

Torrent masterfully avoided my gaze and stared somewhere behind me—a typical disconnected glare. I’d used it a lot at the Institute, staring into nothing and nowhere, mastering the look of boredom while drowning out the screams in my head.

“This is unnecessary.” Allard sighed a ragged, weary sigh. “You know there is always a space for you by my side.”

“I don’t associate with your ilk, Azazel.” She said the name
‘Ah-zahz-all’
. Allard’s true name, I assumed. “No matter what promises your sweet tongue weaves.”

“Promises I’m close to keeping.”

Vanessa’s catalogue model face lit up in a smile too broad and filled with too many sharp teeth to be human. “You’re little more than a lesser playing above his stature.” She snapped her fingers. “Come, Torrent. Let us not waste our time.”

Torrent followed her like a good little pet, but as soon as his mistress turned her back on us, he flashed me a crooked smile and showed me the stone between his fingers and thumb. He tossed it in the air, caught it, slipped it into his coat pocket, and winked.

The
coronam
. Oh, by the netherworld-hell, I’d lost it. “Allard…” I whispered.

“I know.” He watched the pair walk away, and with every one of their steps, Allard’s element swelled around him, pushing down against my shoulders until the weight of it began to crush the air from my lungs.

I closed my eyes and listened to the nearby hiss of the ocean waves. I’d failed. Allard didn’t suffer failure. Vanessa had snubbed him, and he’d let them walk away because they’d won. I’d let them win. If I had stayed in the red room, the
coronam
would still be in my pocket, and all would be well.

Allard turned. His cheek twitched. Fury bled blackness into his eyes. He reached down, sank his fingers into my hair, and yanked me to my feet. His smile peeled back over rows of jagged demon teeth.

Spent, I couldn’t fight him, but I beat my little human fists against his chest anyway. Allard’s arm hooked around my back, pulling me close, holding me tight against his rigid body. With his hand still in my hair, he pulled my head aside, exposing my throat, and sank his sharp demon teeth in.

I screamed. I know I did, although it didn’t sound like any cry I’d make. It clawed its way out of my throat and howled like a storm into the perfect, blue-sky day.