Demon Heart (The Darkworld Series Book 3) (9 page)

Leo looked like he was going to say something, but without warning, the entrance to the tent blew inwards and the fortune-teller entered. Her fair hair streamed behind her, and she wore her usual long, black coat.

“About bloody time!” said Berenice. “Howard’s injured.”

“I’m fine,” said Howard unconvincingly. Although the wounds had sealed somewhat, bloody lacerations covered his face. But it could have been much worse. A shiver went through me at the thought.

The fortune-teller moved to examine him, kneeling down beside the bench. “You’re lucky they used the right solution,” she muttered. “Did you have any idea what you were doing?”

“What choice did we have? You weren’t here.” Berenice glared at the fortune-teller. “Is he okay?”

“He should be, but he was lucky. You shouldn’t use these medicines lightly.”

“There was a
hole in his face
.” Berenice looked positively vicious. “Where the hell were you when we needed you?”

The fortune-teller gave her a cold look. “I was protecting this town from a shadow-beast attack.”

My heart missed a beat.

“You what?” said Howard. He, Leo, and Berenice all stared at the fortune-teller.

“It’s worse than that,” said the fortune-teller, and looked at me grimly. “Jude was there, and he was possessed.”

hat
?” Leo stared at her. “Jude? He let one possess him?”

“I do not know how this happened,” she said. “But the Venantium have finally sorted out the evidence from the robbery the other day. They tracked the magic down to one person. It was Jude who broke in and stole the demon heart.”

“But… why?” I said. The thought of Jude wandering around free after he’d nearly killed me had never filled me with confidence, but possessed by a demon? That was… I hesitated to say
worse,
because as a human, Jude had tried to kill me, tried to burn the demon out of me. He was as pitiless as a demon himself. And yet… demons had powers even Jude, as a sorcerer, didn’t.

Either way, cold fear struck my heart, and the demon inside me seemed to shrink away at the memory of the pain when Jude had set my demon heart ablaze.

“I have reason to believe that he isn’t acting alone,” said the fortune-teller. “Someone is playing him, and I fear they intend to attack the Venantium.”

“How?” I said. “I thought their security was up again.”

“It is. That’s how they were unable to get through tonight. Jude must still have been human when he broke in last week. But when I saw him tonight in the tunnels―”

“You were in the tunnels?” I said.

“Patrolling. The Venantium don’t like it, but ever since the crypts…” She shook her head. “Something’s been wrong. The spirits are enraged, and now the heart of one of the most vicious demons I’ve ever met is out in the world again. Mephistopheles―”

With a sharp intake of breath, Berenice stumbled, clutching at the bench.

“Did you say―Mephistopheles?” Her face was ashen, genuine terror etched on her features.

The fortune-teller looked at her, gravely. “Yes. He is a known manipulator of humans and has managed to get out of the Darkworld numerous times, but his true heart contained the majority of his powers. Now that he has it back, he is the most powerful demon in existence.”

“You call a demon ‘he’?” said Leo.

At the same time, Berenice gave another sharp gasp. She trembled all over. I stared at her. She’d faced demons before, right?

“Shit,” she said, and then let out an unconvincing laugh. “Well, we’re all fucked now, aren’t we?”

“Care to elaborate?” said Leo, looking at her curiously.

“What part of ‘most powerful demon in existence’ do you not get?” Berenice made an attempt at her usual indifference. But I had a feeling there was more to it than that.

“Is he the one possessing Jude?” I asked the fortune-teller.

“Yes.” She sighed. “If ever a demon could be called unhinged, it’s him. Most are indifferent to humans the majority of the time. But he’s ancient, and powerful, and I’d almost say he gets pleasure out of torturing people.”

Berenice gripped the bench convulsively, her hands stark white.

Leo said, “It makes no sense. Jude, a demon’s slave? He wanted to kill them, not join them.”

However twisted his methods had been.

“Never underestimate the persuasive power of a demon,” said the fortune-teller. “But tell me what happened to you. Was this a shadow-beast, too?”

Leo told her, including how we’d carried Howard here from Redthorne. I watched Berenice, who seemed to be composing herself, while Howard half sat up, groaning to himself and running a hand over the wounds. I tried not to look too closely at them.
We were lucky,
I thought. All the times we’d been attacked by shadow-beasts before, we’d been lucky. Really lucky. It could have been any of us, any of the times we’d been attacked.

And Jude—no, a demon wearing his face—was the one summoning them. It felt unreal.

When Leo finished speaking, the fortune-teller sucked in a breath.

“That was incredibly risky.”

“What else were we supposed to do?” said Berenice. “He was bleeding to death!”

“Was the attack provoked?”

“Of course not!” said Berenice. “There were six shadow-beasts, and they just pounced on us. There wasn’t anywhere to run. I’ve never seen so many at once.”

“Well, you were both lucky to survive. And lucky that your friends were able to help. But using that level of Influence, I’m surprised you made it back. Even the four of you combined…” She trailed off, and I didn’t miss her significant glance at me. “You should go back to campus. I’ll take care of him. He needs to go to the hospital.”

“Why?” said Berenice. “He’s okay, isn’t he?”

“I’m not a doctor, Miss Payne,” said the fortune-teller. “Alchemical medicine will only get you so far. There’s not much I can do for the scarring, but an ordinary doctor may be able to help more than I can.”

“Fine.” Berenice pouted. “But I’m coming with you.”

She shot Leo and me a daggerlike glare, like we’d been the ones who’d attacked Howard. Back to her usual self. But I couldn’t forget her face when the fortune-teller had mentioned Mephistopheles.
She knows him. Somehow.

“I’ll take him myself,” said the fortune-teller firmly. “Go back to campus.”

Berenice started to argue with her, but Leo and I didn’t need any encouragement.

“The ungrateful shit,” Leo said, as we walked back through Blackstone, accompanied by a sullen Berenice. “Almost makes me wish we’d left him.”

I couldn’t manage a smile.

“Hey,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. We beat the Skele-Ghouls before, we can beat them again. And Jude possessed is probably less dangerous than Jude nonpossessed.”

“We don’t know that. Something really weird’s going on.”

“Yeah,” said Berenice, suddenly. “I can’t
imagine
why.”

She threw me a significant look, and I glared back.
Don’t you dare say a word
, I thought
.
But as long as she held the knowledge of my status as not-quite-human over me, I was at her mercy. Like we needed to be fighting among ourselves now.

“Well, that’s nothing new,” said Leo, seeming oblivious to the silent conversation between Berenice and me.

He had a point. Normal didn’t exist here, not for us.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s head back.”

I couldn’t sleep. Jude’s grinning face greeted me every time I closed my eyes. Last time I’d seen him, he’d tried to kill me by destroying my demon heart, and I’d never felt pain like it. Fire was as deadly to me as to any demon, and I’d felt part of me screaming, dying. When I did fall asleep, I relived the last part of the dream about the girl running into the flames, and jolted awake, breathing fast, the memory of facing my own death in the catacombs vivid in my mind. Rolling over, I drifted off into an even more disturbing nightmare. I walked through a hall of mirrors, and each time I glimpsed my reflection, my own face grinned at me, violet demon eyes gleaming. I kept my eyes on the path ahead, but when I rounded the corner, the mirrors turned at right angles, and four demon-eyed faces stared at me, split down the middle so my face looked distorted.
Not real. Dreaming.

Then in another mirror, I saw another me. Younger. On either side of her stood two taller figures, but when I turned that way, they faded to the background.

“Ash,” whispered my younger self. “Why do you run from the truth? Why do you hide what you are?”

Her eyes gleamed, violet and cold. “You’ve been her all along, Ashlyn. You’re as much a demon as I am. More.”

“Who are you?” I said, my voice echoing. “The doppelganger? Get out of my dreams.”

She stepped forwards, hands splayed across the mirror like she stood inside a glass case.

“You trapped me here,” she whispered, her voice no longer recognisable as mine. “You’re going to pay.
He’ll
make you pay.” Her face twisted into a smile. “Oh, he’ll make you suffer. Count on it.”

“Who?” I said. “Are you talking about Mephistopheles?”

“Don’t speak his name, you idiot. He’ll hear you. He’ll hunt you down.” She reached
out
of the mirror, hand stroking my hair. I recoiled in horror.

One foot stepped from the mirror to the floor, and she came forwards. I moved aside, elbows striking the mirror beside me, and a hand gripped my arm.

Mine.

I pushed the hand aside and stepped back, into another Ash. All my reflections had stepped out of the mirrors, silently, like ghosts. Ash after Ash turned to face me, moving in a zombielike fashion. Dread flooded me. I’d backed myself into a corner. Nowhere to run.

As another hand grabbed my arm, I panicked and lashed out. The girl fell clumsily, and her pain hit me as she struck the stone floor. As she sat up, her face twisted, and before my eyes, the skin peeled back from the bones. I watched my own face disintegrate in almost-fascinated horror, unable to look away from the ghastly unreality of seeing my face turn into something resembling a corpse. Blood leaked from the corners of her eyes. I stumbled into another Ash―and screamed as a decaying hand gripped my shoulder.

Zombies.

The rational part of my subconscious yelled at me to wake up.

Pushing zombies aside, I flat-out ran, kicking bits of flesh out of the way. Hands grabbed me, decomposing feet appeared to trip me up, and I almost ran headlong into a mirror at the next corner. Another Ash faced me―normal, not a zombie.