Defying Instinct (Demon Instinct Series) (34 page)

The
flesh the Tempter, Razer, and Mischief demon took from their arms rose up,
blood of different colors dripping from the pieces.  As if ghostly hands were
manipulating it, the flesh found her arms, and burrowed beneath her skin.

I
shivered, and as if Rowan’s memories reminded my body of what happened, the
three spots on my arms I’d just seen filled up began to sting.

Dmitri
went to Ivy, Holly went to Hadrian, and Connell went to Rowan, using the knives
on their right arms.  Rowan put his arm out without hesitation, but he watched Dmitri
have to coax Ivy into it.  She was shocked, despite seeming emotionless most of
the time.

“Savannah
has little time,” Dmitri had said.  Rowan saw Iliana’s face twist at the words,
and then twist further when Ivy lifted her sad eyes that usually focused on the
floor, and thrust out her arm.

Three
more pieces of tissue found their way to Savannah’s mutilated arms, burrowing
into the unoccupied slashes.

Then
Rowan saw the disappointment in the Royal’s bronze stare as the slashes along Savannah’s
arms began to stitch back together, a piece of flesh from each caste buried inside.

And
I was still standing.  Still with that small upturn of my lips, still with
defiant eyes even though I couldn’t see.

“Well
done, Daughter.”
  Iliana spoke to me,
but surely she knew I couldn’t hear her, couldn’t respond.  The snake had to be
slithering inside my brain by now.

When
I did respond, Iliana couldn’t hide the shock on her face.

“Thank
you, Royal.”  Savannah’s voice sounded wrong to Rowan, but Iliana didn’t seem
to realize it.

“You
have proven to be strong this day.  What have you to say on behalf of your
chosen people?  What have you to say for the humans?”

“Humans
have a saying, Royal.  What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”

Whatever
force in me that was able to respond to her even though I wasn’t lucid knew
exactly which buttons to push.  Iliana had wanted me to die.  I’d be stronger
because I didn’t, not physically, but in the eyes of the ‘realm.

“But
I’m not letting anyone strip away everything in me before I find my strength.”

I
didn’t understand what it meant, but Iliana and the surrounding demons apparently
did. I watched inside Rowan’s memory as my mother grimaced.  More than a few
demons along the walls mumbled words of interest.

Rowan
was looking at me in the memory, stunned, and I knew his expression was that
blank, empty one that scared me sometimes.  Now, I was grateful for it.

But
I needed to see her face.  I had to be able to see her expressions.

“Okay,”
I said, back in my own head, with my own thoughts.

“Holly,
it looked like you had a better view of Iliana at the end.  Can you show me
what you saw?”

She
did, and the events played out again, once I began speaking.  Holly couldn’t
tell my voice was off, that something was strange with me like Rowan could. 
She was astounded, though.

“What
did you see, Savannah?” Connell asked, his unglamoured, veiny eyes huge.  He
had to tuck his wings tight against his back to fit into Hadrian’s living room,
but he stayed unglamoured anyway.

“She
needed me to break.  When whatever she was doing didn’t get the job done, she
made it worse, tried to get into my mind.  She couldn’t make me fall.  If I
had, she could have denounced me.  She could have argued that she hadn’t told
the ‘realm about me in the first place because she didn’t think I was strong
enough.  Withstanding the Blooding…threw a wrench in her plan.  She got
desperate.  The only thing she could do after all those demons saw me survive…”

“Not
only survive,” Rowan said, putting his arm around me.

“Prevail,”
was Ivy’s quiet word.

Connell
laughed.  “With flair!”

I
smiled at the Mischief demon because only he could sound so jovial under the
circumstances.

“The
only thing she could do was take us out.  Iliana doesn’t want us stealing the
‘realm from her.  She didn’t like how the demons she thought were hers reacted
to us during the ceremony.  We’re a threat.  Together, we’re too strong.”

“What
do you want to do, love?” Rowan asked, and I could tell he was trying not to
crowd me, but couldn’t stand to keep his distance.  I’d almost died twice
today.  I think he needed my touch to convince himself I’d survived.  I liked
that.  I loved that I understood it.

I
foresaw another world-shattering night ahead.

If
we could make it to tonight.

Yes. 
What do you want to do, Savannah?
Hadrian asked, the telepath surprising because I had a feeling it was rare for
the Sorcerer to do it.

All
eyes were on me, looking to me for answers, for decisions. 

I
made them, but didn’t think even one of the members of my council of demons
were going to like it.  I wasn’t even sure I liked what I came up with.  But I
knew it was the right thing to do.  My demon half agreed.  No matter the
consequences, when my two halves worked together, everything was clear.

Hadrian
took us into the Underrealm through the back door, the one only Sorcerers could
use.  Since they were the caste who created the Gates, they’d been sure to
provide themselves with a secret way in.  My Razer half understood it
completely.

I
asked him if Octavia knew about the back way in, since theoretically, she
should have beaten us to Iliana my first trip to the Underrealm if she did. 

“Octavia
is a youngling, and formed ties with Iliana instead of with her own caste,”
he’d told me.  I wanted to know more, but would have to save it for a time when
our lives weren’t being threatened.

I
wondered if there would ever be a time when our lives weren’t being threatened.

The
Sorcerer in my council also managed to lift the ban on Hammer demons jumping
inside the fortress.  I suspected Octavia, who had no doubt set those
restrictions, simply wasn’t as powerful as Hadrian.  No wonder she kept her
attention fully on him anytime he was around.

So
when the seven of us jumped into the white and gold hall unannounced, Iliana
didn’t stand a chance of seeing us coming.

We
stood in front of her.  The hall was still filled with the demons along the
walls, but Iliana’s half-caste slaves weren’t behind her.  Her advisors weren’t
at her feet.  Matteo stood with his hand on her shoulder.  This must have been
the way they relaxed together.  Too public a forum for my taste.  When I wanted
to spend time with the male I loved, it was going to be in private. 

I
wondered if the demons lining the walls ever got to leave.

She tried
to hide it, but as I appeared before her, Rowan, Connell, Dmitri, Holly, Ivy,
and Hadrian standing tall behind me, I knew she wanted to ask how we got in
undetected. 

Surveying
her emotions, I realized she hadn’t even known we survived the explosion.  She’d
been lounging here, waiting to hear news of our demise.

Inside
me, human and demon instinct alike grinned.

“Seems
like we have some tricks up our sleeves too, Mother.”

Iliana
hissed, and the gold tattoos on her arms began to change, to move.  To slither.

I
felt what she was feeling, the questions she had.  How was I on my feet after
the Blooding?  I hadn’t lost my mind, hadn’t needed fourteen days to recover
like she had.  I didn’t know why I was okay, but I loved that it made her
uncomfortable.

Except,
it also made her desperate.

The
moment I knew what she was going to do, she got into my head.  I hadn’t reacted
in time to keep her out.  My control wavered for the first time in her presence
as I stumbled, feeling poison in my brain.

Before
Iliana could fully attack me, do any real damage, take advantage of my
weakness, the six demons that surrounded me, that were forever bound to me,
reacted. 

Rowan
was the first to move, jumping his body in front of mine, ready to take
whatever came to spare me from it. 

Holly
stood to the side, in front of him, and was unglamoured for the first time I’d
seen, silver eyes looking maniacal, the deep purple and silver pattern on her
skin pulsating in waves, making her glow.  There was more than one set of male
eyes that couldn’t look away from her—including Matteo—stunning them
incapacitated.

Dmitri’s
glamour was also gone, and the cobalt blue of his skin was so bright, I had to
look away.  He stood to the left and in front of Holly, and my demon half saw
the strategic perfection of how they had fanned out, one shielding the other,
all shielding me.

Ivy had
slipped in close to my right.  She leaned in, her eyes white, that soft,
beautiful voice in my ear.  “She won’t touch you now.” 

The
sound of the air around us made me look up.  Connell, unglamoured in all his
winged magnificence, hovered overhead.  His impressive, expansive wingspan
cradled all of us, and elicited gasps from demons all around.

Hadrian
was the one I noticed last, because he had taken several steps to the right
away from the rest of us.  He cast one of those impenetrable shields around us
all.

Iliana
didn’t seem to know which of us to attack first.  I couldn’t feel her waves
through the energy field.  Incidentally, it kept us in too.  I couldn’t
telepath outside of the circle, and couldn’t anticipate her next move since I
couldn’t feel what she felt.

Her
bronze eyes finally rested on Connell.  He was pretty threatening, with his
aerial advantage.  And he was unglamoured.

“How
dare you show yourself in front of Royalty, Fae.  You will mask yourself
immediately.”

I
couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face, and the light that shined
within me as Connell said, “I am not yours to command, Royal.  Only Savannah’s
word matters.”Moments passed, the seven of us challenging her to retaliate.  She
couldn’t, not with Hadrian’s protective energy field around us.  At least, for
the moment.  Hadrian told me before we left his penthouse that the field drains
him.  The longer he used it, the weaker he would become.

We
couldn’t stay like this forever.

Octavia,
beady, black eyes totally focused on Hadrian again, slinked up to Iliana’s
throne, and awaited instruction.  She nodded once.

“My
Devil is preparing to replace your glamour, Daughter.”

I
had to bite my tongue so I wouldn’t snort.  Was that the best she could do? 

“I
suppose you expect me to quake in my boots?”

Iliana
hissed, showing white teeth and short, sharp canines.  She was still glamoured,
but her eyes were dilating uncontrollably, and the pattern along her arms that
I’d thought was some kind of henna tattoo spun and slithered all over the
place.

“Do
you honestly think your precious Warrior would want you if you looked as you
did before?”

I
smiled.

I
used to think looks were everything, because I let my ugly features define me. 
I knew it hadn’t been my looks that held me back, but my muted humanity.  That
had been the worst of what my mother did to me.  She took away my feelings, my
heart and soul.  Now that I knew how to feel, she couldn’t take it.  Maybe she
could glamour me again, but she couldn’t take the important things away.

Plus,
Hadrian was on my side now.  I didn’t for one second believe Octavia had the
kind of power he did.  She couldn’t cast a glamour on me like he had.

“Do
your worst, Mother.  But it may be more difficult this time around.”

She
stared down at me.  I’d called her bluff, and she wasn’t the only one who
realized it.  Demons along the walls murmured, and though I couldn’t hear what
they were saying, Iliana could.  And she didn’t like where their conversations
were headed.

Sitting
back in her throne, she took in the sight of the seven of us.  Whatever Iliana
saw, it made the swirling pattern on her arms relax and her bronze eyes stop
dilating crazily.

Recognizing
a momentary ceasefire, I telepathed to Hadrian to let down the field.

How
have you persuaded their loyalty?

She
didn’t ask for a telepathic link, and I think she expected it to make me mad,
or uncomfortable.  Iliana didn’t know that no one had asked for permission from
me for several days.  It was stranger when someone did, but it didn’t bother me
either way. 

Failed
again, Mother.

It
wasn’t persuasion.  I earned it.

By
what means? 
She actually seemed
interested.

I
looked up at Connell, over at Ivy’s white eyes, then to Holly, who I couldn’t
look at for any amount of time before returning my stare to my mother with a
slow grin.

Choice.

Not
for the first time, her reaction made me wonder and fear what she must do to
encourage loyalty.  My answer horrified her.

Why
have you come here?  To attempt to destroy me?

“No,
Mother,” I said aloud, because it was too hard to telepath with her and not let
my council of demons hear me too.  I wanted them to know.  “I’m here to make a deal
with you.”

All
six of the demons behind me—plus Grayson and Cyrus, who I hadn’t known were
somewhere in the crowd along the walls—tried to telepath with me at the same
time, warning me, urging me to stop.  I kept them out, blocking not only their
telepaths, but the waves of their emotions that were practically lighting the
air. 

They
didn’t think I understood how dangerous this was.  Never make a deal with a
demon.  I knew that.  I had to get her attention, make her agree.  There would
be consequences.  I might pay dearly for this.

But
they wouldn’t.  They’d be okay.  I knew what I was doing.  I was saving their
lives.

I
knew they wouldn’t like the plan.

My
mother’s beautiful, cruel mouth curled, and I believed this was her real smile.
 “What deal do you propose?”

“Something
you want,”
within reason
, “for something I want.”

She
said nothing, and I waited, protected behind my council, behind a Sorcerer other
Sorcerers feared who was ready to cast his field of energy at any second.  I
imagined what she must be thinking, seeing us before her like this.  My demon
half knew she had to be worried.

“What
do you want, Mother?” I impatiently interrupted her silence.  “What will it
take for a truce between us, for the safety of the ones that are mine?”

“Return
my waiting maid.”

“Absolutely
not.”

“Sacrifice
one of—”

“Never
going to happen.”  I didn’t care who she wanted me to sacrifice.  It was not an
option, and she knew it.  She was testing me.

“Vow
to me, and let this hall be witness.  You will never set your sights on taking
my place.  You will not aim to become Royal.”

Without
hesitation, “Agreed.”

“And
stay out of the Underrealm unless I call upon you.”

This
time I hesitated, but only for effect, to not seem too eager, all the while
considering how glad I was I could control my projections now.  “Agreed.”

“And—”

“I
will not grant you a third.”  That voice, that chilling, other-worldly voice coming
from my mouth wasn’t mine.  Like when I’d answered her after the Blooding, when
I hadn’t been conscious.  I could sense Rowan’s unease, and wished I could look
at him, and shrug.  ‘Cause I sure as hell didn’t know where it came from.

“Who
do you aim to protect with this bargain, Daughter?”

Within
the span of a moment, I telepathed to every single demon in the white and gold
hall an image of each of them.  Benn.  Dad.  Rowan.  Tanis.  Connell.  Ivy.  Dmitri. 
Hadrian.  Holly.  Cyrus and Grayson.  Then Mina, Sam, Jake, Director Pakala, every
human and demon I’d seen at breakfast that morning.  Every demon I even
glimpsed at Faction.  Our
Demon History and Defense
class.  The regular
patrons at The Bookstore which no longer existed including that lady who called
me missy and pissed me off so much a week ago.  The realtors and the
hairdressers who worked next door.  The staff at my favorite coffee shop. 

Everyone
I could justifiably argue a claim to. 

Mine.
  My telepath shook the gold plates and rattled
jeweled goblets.

“Any
demon harms any of them in any way, directly or indirectly, this deal is
broken.”  That ethereal voice again, but I welcomed the precision of it right
now.  The power behind it.  This was too important.

“Agreed,”
Iliana said, and the hall erupted with demon voices, but I couldn’t tell if the
majority were on my side, or against it.

Slowly,
I eased down the opaque cages so I could feel what Rowan and the rest of my council
were feeling.  Such love glowed inside Rowan.  Love for me.  Dmitri’s pride
nearly choked me. 

Holly,
whose emotions I could apparently feel like anyone else’s now that she was
unglamoured, was fighting not to cry.

At
that, I had to force the cages up again, because I couldn’t let myself feel
it.  Not yet.

“Is
there anything else you want, Daughter?”

My
mind was on the hooded half-castes Iliana commanded.  The request I’d already
made was pretty steep.  The fact that I’d included one of her own advisors, I
knew, didn’t set well with her.  If she knew how much I wanted to add Stratton
to the list because she had hurt him, even though I hadn’t even met the demon,
she might not be acting so calm. 

If I
made one false move, one unreasonable request, my credibility would be shot.  I’d
have to find another way to save those females, and hope this decision was the
right one.

Telepathing
to my council, Holly and Dmitri reglamoured while Connell landed.  Ivy’s eyes
became sad and brown again.

“We’re
done here,” I said, almost sounding snide.  But Iliana didn’t seem to notice. 
Or care.  “Goodbye, Royal.”