Demon Heart (The Darkworld Series Book 3) (17 page)

“You think I’d tell you that?”

“I met her recently. I would quite like to continue our acquaintance, but I have reason to believe that she is currently in the custody of the Venantium. Is that true?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“You can’t hide the truth from me, Ashlyn.” Jude’s eyes glowed purple, and the demon heart glowed crimson.
“I can see every thought in your mind. I know where your friends are. I know what you fear. I know where you keep
your
demon heart. And I know you have no inkling of its potential.”

The amethyst pendant burned against my chest again, as if in response to his words.

“I’m not giving it to you. Or Lucifer.”

“We’re not giving you a choice, Ashlyn.”

The shadows rose around him, solidifying, and
things
emerged. Not shadow-beasts, but hunched shapes, emitting an awful keening sound like an injured animal, one after another.
Ghouls.
Horrible, deformed creatures, emaciated like wingless harpies. They stared at me with reddish-purple eyes sunk back in their skulls. Their mouths were like small pipe openings, and they exhaled darkness in streams that curled around me like ribbons. Dread sank its claws into me, dragging at my limbs.

Then came the shadow-beasts―two monstrous, bear-sized creatures with tusks like mammoths. They flanked the ghouls on either side of the alleyway.

“Try not to kill her,” said Mephistopheles. “Just… incapacitate her a little.”

Come on, Ash,
whispered the demon inside me.

I called the Darkworld and made a dagger of ice form in my hand, and a disconnected thrill rang through me as the first beast was impaled on it. The monster cried out, a horrible sound like a thousand glass bottles smashing at once. The second sprang forward to take its place. I dived for it, but suddenly there were ghouls grasping at my feet, pulling me down. Teeth closed above my head.
That was close,
I thought numbly, heart hammering.

Adrenaline buzzed through my veins along with a fresh wave of cold fury. I aimed another ice dagger at the first beast and caught it in the hind leg. It fell with a bellow of rage, but before I could throw another, a paralysing chill rushed up my right leg.

A ghoul clung to me like a grotesque parody of a monkey, claws digging into my flesh. I kicked out, dodging more scrabbling claws, and reached for the Darkworld, trying to make a shield. I’d practised a lot since the fortune-teller had shown me, and I barely needed to think before the darkness rushed to my hands and slid over my skin like a weightless cloak. The ghoul gave a keening cry and dropped to the ground, rolling over. Its skin blistered, and I shuddered with revulsion as layers peeled away to reveal greyish veins beneath―

Behind you!

I’d forgotten about the shadow-beast. It slammed into me, knocking the breath from my lungs, and I hit the concrete with an impact that jarred every bone in my body and ripped the skin from my elbows. I tasted blood on my tongue, bitter and metallic. The alleyway blurred before my eyes as I struggled to a sitting position.

There was nothing before me but a wall of shadow. I was backed into a corner.
Shit.

The second beast bore down on me, a hideous specimen, a shambling mass of darkness with teeth like serrated knives and a tangle of clawed paws.

You can still move, Ash!
whispered the demon in my mind.

I rolled away from the shadow-beast’s claws and kicked out, ice fire flaring from my feet. Its jaws snapped inches from my neck. Desperately, I reached out to the Darkworld, and the shadows closed in around me, forming a protective net. Just in time.

Blind it, Ash!

I conjured a light right in front of the beast’s eyes, and it howled in shock, momentarily blinded. I used that split second to pull myself out from underneath its jaws, wincing as my skinned elbows dragged on the pavement, and I stabbed it between the eyes with the ice-dagger.

The beast roared and leapt away, vanishing into a dark space.

“This is highly entertaining,” said Jude, who was suddenly right in front of me, “but I have little patience, I confess, Ashlyn. My apologies.”

And he seized my arm in a grip stronger than any human’s had the right to be. I cried out as he squeezed my wrist, cutting the circulation off―but he let go without warning, swallowed by the shadows.

Someone else had just run into in the alleyway. Several someones.

“Ash!” shouted a voice, and everything erupted into chaos.

I saw Claudia and Leo running towards me, kicking at ghouls left and right. Claudia yelled something and hurled a handful of bright, fiery light into the sky, and the ghouls howled, scuttling away from the brightness.

More monsters leaped from the shadows, but Howard ran at them, blazing like a human fireball. Jaws snapped. Punches flew left, right, and centre, and fires sprang up so close that I backed away from their hot breath—right into a group of
venators.
I stared at the new arrivals, noticing in a detached way that they were dressed in a less formal-looking variation of their uniform, presumably some form of battle-gear.

Jude had disappeared, but another shadow-beast was fast approaching Leo and Claudia. I summoned another icy dagger and hurled it, striking the beast in the lower back. Leo and Claudia both threw handfuls of flame at the staggering beast, making it reel back in pain.

The
venators
took over, blue-clad figures weaving in and out of the darkness and driving the shadow-beast back into the Darkworld. A hand swiped at my leg, but I moved out the way, throwing icy fire at the ghoul.

Lights burst overhead as several
venators
summoned glowing orbs. That was enough for the remaining ghouls, who shrunk away. As the shadows cleared, only Jude remained.

He hissed as Leo sent a jet of flame that narrowly missed him.

“How nice, Ashlyn, that so many would risk their lives for you. I confess myself surprised. Nobody came to save this fool.”

“You are a threat to everyone,” said David. “Who are you, truly? Is Jude dead?”

“Naturally. What use would he be still living?”

“Demon,” said another
venator.
“Are you working with Lucifer?”

“All demons are under Lucifer’s rule,” said Jude, the hint of amusement to his voice gone. “The same will be true for humanity, too, soon enough. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be leaving.”

He moved so fast he blurred. Several other people lunged after him at the same time, and there was a headlong crash in the middle of the alleyway. A single figure rose into the air, hit the wall, and ran upwards swiftly, vanishing over the rooftops.

“Shit,” I said.

Groaning, Howard disentangled himself from the heap of bodies. He let out an impressive stream of curses when he saw Jude had gone. At least he had no new wounds to add to the scars which now crisscrossed his face. Glowering, he kicked the alley wall.

Berenice wasn’t there, I noted. Had she and Howard had an argument? Or did she just not want to get involved in the fighting?

“Ash,” said Leo, running over to me. “Thank God. I thought―”

He hugged me so hard I felt all my doubt and fear leave, like a door had shut them out. I let out a shuddering breath, my limbs shaking with adrenaline. Mephistopheles gave off this aura of paralysing fear, so subtle I’d barely noticed it on top of the usual chill I felt when I saw a demon. And
my
demon must have muted my fear, somehow. In fact, her warnings had saved my life. Only now did it register that I’d been within a finger’s breadth of death; my immunity to demonic possession aside, Mephistopheles could probably find another way to kill me. I shuddered and clung to Leo, oblivious to everyone around us.

“What on earth were you doing here?” he said.

I gave a shaky laugh. “Looks like I can’t even come into town to go shopping without getting attacked these days.”

“I’d like to know what his game is,” said Cyrus, who’d come over to check that Leo was okay.

Brushing tears from my eyes, I glanced over the group. It didn’t look like anyone had sustained any serious injuries.
Thank God.

“I think we’d all like to know that,” said one of the
venators.

“How’d
you
know he was here?” I said

“Madame Persephone warned us that Lucifer would be making a move. We’ve been combing Redthorne all day.”

So she
is
working with them, after all,
I thought.

“How the hell did Jude defy gravity like that?” snarled Howard. “I’d have throttled the dickhead if he hadn’t turned into freaking Spiderman.”

“He’s possessed, Howard,” Claudia reminded him. “He could have done a lot worse. It was like he was holding back… but why?”

“That is what we need to find out,” said one of the
venators,
a hard-faced youth with a crop of well-oiled black hair. “The Venantium need to know. What were you doing in this alleyway, Miss…?”

“Ashlyn Temple,” I said. “Like I said. I was just taking a shortcut.”

“Leave her alone,” said Leo. “She hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“We need to move,” said an older female
venator.
“We must discuss our next steps.”

She led the small group out of the alleyway. It looked as though several were arguing amongst themselves, and more than one glanced back at us, distrustful.

“Running away?” said Howard. “I knew you
venators
were cowards at heart.”

One of them turned back. David. “
What
did you call us?”

“Howard,” said Claudia. “Come on. Let’s go.”

“Don’t mess with me,
venator
,” said Howard, spitting the last word. “You didn’t do any fighting yourself, I noticed. Scared of getting your face mauled by a shadow-beast?”

“I fail to see what business it is of yours.”

“It’s my business when we put our necks on the line for the likes of you and don’t get so much as a thank-you.”

“The demon
got away
,” said David. “You did nothing to prevent it.”

Anger rushed through me. “Neither did you!” I said.

David looked at me. It was the first time we’d made eye contact since last term, and I honestly had no idea what I’d ever seen in him.

“Want a real fight?” said Howard. “I’ll give you one.”

“Howard!” said Cyrus. “Seriously. He’s not worth it. Trust me.”

David narrowed his eyes at Howard and stalked away. Howard flipped him off.

“What was that for?” Cyrus demanded. “You could have got us all into trouble.”

“I don’t give a flying―”

“Miss Temple, please come with us.” The dark-haired guy beckoned to me.

I felt an icy shudder run down my spine. Had they seen me speaking to the demon?

“What do you want with her?” Leo put his arm around me protectively.

“That is none of your concern,” said the hard-faced
venator.

I took a deep breath. “Can’t you just ask me here?”

“No. These questions are confidential. Speak to us when we’re back at headquarters.”

“Fine.” Swallowing my apprehension, I followed the group out of the alleyway.

The bus journey back to Blackstone was incredibly awkward. I sat next to Leo, but I felt the gaze of a dozen eyes on my back; the
venators
sat in a group a few rows behind us. Leo held my hand in defiance.

“They won’t put you through crap again,” he whispered. “I’ll stop them.”

Howard was far more vocal. “Interfering busybodies. We could have handled them ourselves.”

“Howard,” Cyrus whispered.

He kept up a continual mutter all the way back to campus.
Maybe he did have an argument with Berenice,
I thought. He certainly seemed on edge, not that that was anything new.

Cyrus and Claudia made a valiant effort to talk loudly about other subjects to cover Howard’s grumblings. My mind kept straying to the Angel Box and the cells. When would these people leave me alone? Would they not be satisfied until they’d forced a guilty confession out of me?

But rather than taking me to their headquarters, the group paused beside the Blackstone family tomb without opening the entrance. Leo and the others had to leave, with the promise that they’d be right around the corner and be able to intervene if there was any trouble. I forced a smile and waited until they were out of sight. Then I faced the
venators.

“There’s no need to be nervous,” said David.

“I’m not.” I couldn’t believe he spoke to me as though I were a stranger.

“We just wanted to ask you a question. What was the demon possessing Mr. Anders talking to you about?”

Mr .Anders? Oh. Jude.

“Who said he was talking to me? He appeared from nowhere and attacked me!”

“Did he say anything?”

“Only… that his name was Mephistopheles. The demon.”

“That’s…”

“The demon whose heart Jude stole,” I said. “The fortune-teller told me,” I added, in response to his raised eyebrows.

“I see.” His mouth tightened into a line. “Have you anything else you can tell us?”

“No,” I said. “He didn’t say anything else.”

“If we find out you’re lying―” said the dark-haired guy.

“Enough,” said David, to my surprise. “She’s honest. Let her go.”

The
venator
looked displeased, but nodded. “Very well. You may leave.”

So I went to re-join my friends. The
venators
watched me, as though they expected me to reveal something by my behaviour.

“Will the Venantium ever give up their quest to get me to admit to being in league with demons?” I said, once I was sure they were out of range. “I swear it’s like talking to a wall.”

“I could have a word with them,” said Howard, cracking his knuckles. It kind of surprised me that he’d stuck around; normally he and Berenice would have disappeared by now. I wondered where she was, but no one had asked the obvious question.

“There’s no need,” I said. “I’m fine. See?”

“Yeah, whatever. They’re asking for a fucking punch to the head.”

“Seriously, Howard. Let it go.”