Devil May Care (25 page)

I didn’t want to hurt him, but the longer this went on, the less likely either of us would escape unharmed. It didn’t matter that I was trying to protect these people. They saw only two demons throwing down in the center of the city. The only good demon is a dead demon, so they say. Once, I might have agreed with them.

I wrapped a vine of flame around my right arm, swirling the heat in the air like water in a bath, and then thrust my hand out, surging the heat forward. The wave of heat smashed against Stefan’s shield and broke over the top. A hiss of steam blasted outward. Stefan’s wings took much of the damage. His elaborate ice feathers wilted under the sudden rush of elemental heat. He growled, and sheltering behind his shield, he pulled the snow from the surrounding park toward us. The blanket of snow covering the gardens shifted like a settling quilt and then rose up.

An avalanche tumbled forward. People scrambled to get out of the way. I cast out a few lines of fire, trying to melt the approaching snow before it could mow anyone down, but throwing elemental power around isn’t a delicate operation. I was just as likely to burn someone as save them.

Realizing the futility of my rescue attempts, I twisted and lunged for Stefan, barreling into his shield. He tucked it under me and threw me over him. I flung out my wing, used the momentum to turn me, and landed on my feet. He spun and raised the sword above his head. The lust for chaos burned in his eyes.

A deafening roar thundered from above and shook the ground beneath our feet. The flow of power from the veil stuttered. I assumed the wound was closing, but as both Stefan and I glanced up, it became clear we weren’t the biggest and baddest things in Boston any longer.

A Larkwrari demon, a fully-grown version of the one I’d fought with Yukki Onna, wove its way through the wound in the veil, wriggling and twitching in its effort to be free. This one was the size of a Boeing, and not all of it was clear of the veil. Yet. Its huge jaws could easily have gobbled up a tour bus in one bite. Legs the size of ancient trees broke through the tear, its talons tipped with half-moon claws.

My fight with Stefan forgotten, I yelled, “Close the veil...” and tried to knit the wound closed myself with a few mental swipes, but it wouldn’t respond. I glanced at Stefan. “Close the goddamn veil!”

Stefan finally jolted into action. A frown cut through his crystalline face. He swayed and shot a hand out toward the Washington statue. His strength fled. Body crumpling. He fell against the granite pedestal. The ice-sword slipped from his hand and shattered the second it hit the ground.

Torn between watching the dragon-demon trying to tug itself free of the veil and helping Stefan, I approached him, acutely aware of how easily he could summon a dagger and drive it straight through my chest.
Would solve a lot of problems...

“Stefan—”

A gunshot punched into the statue beside Stefan’s head. He flinched and slipped to the ground. I tried to pin-point the shooter, but bedlam had erupted around us. What remained of the crowd scattered or gawked at the impossible sight in the sky. Apparently, it could be seen by mortal eyes, perhaps not in all of its elemental glory, but pretty damn terrifying even without the special effects.

“Stefan.” I crouched down in front of him, opening the fold of my broken wing to shield us. A bullet hole in my ragged broken wing wasn’t going to make any difference, but one in the head would. I just hoped the Institute aimed for the easy target. “You’ve gotta close the veil now.”

Shivers seized him. The ice he’d shielded himself with started to melt and retreat. He clamped his eyes closed and clenched his teeth. The electric blue veins of energy throbbed beneath his pale skin. “I... can’t.”

“If that thing gets through...”

“Muse, I can’t. It. Won’t. Let. Me.” He opened his eyes wide and clutched at my arm, dragging me closer. “What have I done?” he breathed, then released me and clasped both his hands against his head. He roared.

I covered his hands with mine. He bucked against me, but I held him fast. “Close the veil, Stefan. That thing can’t come through.”

I felt rather than heard Akil. It was always that way with him, like I had internal radar attuned specifically for his power signature. I snapped my head up and searched the scattering crowd, then saw him walking toward us as though taking an afternoon stroll in the gardens. Was he smiling? Right then, I hated him for his nonchalant devil-may-care attitude. He’d probably been watching all this from inside the crowd, choosing the right time to make an appearance.

Nobody hindered his approach. Self-preservation finally kicked in, and the crowd scattered like roaches when the lights go on. In the next step, he shrugged off his human vessel, revealing Mammon. I had a few seconds to absorb the sudden transformation from suave bastard to lava-veined Prince of Hell, when he spread his wings and launched himself skyward.

Mammon was huge, but the gargantuan dragon-like Larkwrari demon gnawing at the veil in its attempt to be free could crush him inside one of its talons. I caught the glow of the elemental blade flickering beside Mammon’s dark outline before the beat of his wingspan blocked my view. The dragon-demon saw him and swung its colossal head round, snapping its jaws in the air with a thunderous snap. It twitched the whiskers on its snout and appeared to measure Mammon with a curiously intelligent glean in its green eyes. The black scales coating its serpentine length shivered, and the resulting rumbling sounded like a passing train. If the dragon got free, there wouldn’t be much left of Boston.

Fire danced across Mammon’s wings like red lightning through storm clouds. A heat haze distorted the air around him, warping my view of the dragon still trying to wrench itself free of the throbbing wound in the veil. They appeared to be assessing one another, weighing their odds of survival. The dragon could swallow Mammon whole, but he wouldn’t be the sort to go down easily.

The dragon snorted and pulled back, rising up with a growl that shook the earth. I couldn’t watch but found it impossible to tear my gaze away.

Fire and flame broke over Mammon, enveloping him in liquid heat. As the dragon lunged forward, Mammon tucked his wings in and dove down beneath the dragon’s reaching jaws. The dragon twisted back on itself, chasing Mammon’s aerial acrobatics. Its talons grabbed for Mammon, but he flung his wings open and pulled up short. The talon missed him, but the beast passed close enough for Mammon to sink the elemental blade into its flesh. The dragon flung its head back and roared.

I flicked my gaze down to Stefan lying cold in my arms. His blue eyes were unseeing. He still trembled. His breath continued to hiss through his teeth, his body rigid, as he fought the onslaught of pain. Maybe the presence of that thing held the veil open until it made the journey through. One way or another.

Ryder skidded to a halt beside me and dropped to his knees. “What can I do?” His face held all the stubborn determination I’d come to rely on. He checked me, seemingly unconcerned, as he peered into my demon eyes. It’s not easy looking a demon in the eye, but Ryder held on.

“Just stay with him. I have to help Akil.” I straightened and checked the mayhem around us for any sign the Institute was about to snatch Stefan while he was down, but their attention was on the enormous dragon wriggling through the wound in the veil. I caught sight of Adam barking orders into a radio and heard the familiar
thwoop-thwoop
of helicopter blades. They’d likely shoot first and ask questions later; never mind that Akil was their best chance of stopping that thing. They’d fill them both full of bullets.

I jogged deeper into the gardens, trying to get as close to the battle as possible. I couldn’t fly, not with one wing and a broken wing at that, and I wouldn’t even know where to start, but there was one thing I could do and that was feed Mammon more power than he could handle.

Firmly planting my stance, I shook my hands and threw my head back. I saw the belly of the dragon and occasionally caught a glimpse of Mammon weaving around it, trying to find a weak point in its armor. The thunderous snarls, roars, and growls gave a good indication of Mammon’s success, but all he appeared to be doing was making it angry.

Sucking in a deep breath, I spread my fingers and called to the slumbering heat beneath the city. Warmth rode over me. The planted seed of Damien’s darkness pulsed in my chest like a drum beat. A stuttering fissure of doubt stalled my attempt until I shoved it aside and regained control. Reaching for the veil is like opening a door inside your mind. It was always there, a part of the mental furniture in my head. I lifted my hands and reached my will inside the veil. The power snapped back at me, angry and chaotic. I staggered, momentarily surprised, and then thrust my will once more into the wound and hooked into the reservoir of heat beyond.

Once I’d overcome the unexpected resistance from the veil, my element flowed easily. It spilled out around the heaving bulk of dragon and funneled down into me. The pressure of energy pushed against my control. Jaw clamped closed, I hunkered low, gathering the storm force of power. Burning embers, fire, and flame spiraled around me, creating a vortex of blistering heat. My demon, the part of me that hungered for destruction, laughed her bubbling power-poisoned laughter. She wanted to let it all go, to ride the wave of destruction and burn the city to the ground. My heart raced. My body burned with hungers and desires. She pushed at my control and tried to lure me into the light. It would be glorious. I’d be free. I slapped her down. I couldn’t fail to maintain control.

The alien dark inside me gulped down the chaos. It gorged. Damien’s laughter scratched the inside of my skull.
Get out!
I snarled.

Head up, I fixed my gaze through the whirlwind of superheated air to the dragon and Mammon. The moment my thread of power reached into him, he stumbled mid-flight, twisting as though I’d hurt him. I doubted he experienced pain. It was more likely a sudden explosion of pleasure that momentarily blindsided him. Locked on, I thrust my hands up and channeled everything I had, every molecule of heat, every fragment of power—I threw it all into Mammon.

He threw his wings back, muscular demon body ridden hard by the river of molten energy. Flames embraced him and burst outward in a shower of hot ash and fizzling embers. Fire devoured him until only a liquid inferno remained. The dragon took a swipe at Mammon’s fiery form, but its talons sailed through the rippling heat. With a sonic boom of a cry, it yanked its foreleg back. The wail cut through my skull. Windows of nearby buildings exploded outward. Car alarms shrilled. I struggled to keep my head clear and my control tethered. As I fed the flames with raw power, Mammon’s molten figure enlarged. Veins of energy sparked through the vague outline of his limbs and across his wings, but really, he might as well have been a thundercloud of fire for all the form he retained.

“
Drive it back...”
I shoved my thoughts toward him with no idea if he’d hear me or not. For all I knew, I was creating a monster just as bad as the dragon: a monster that might turn on us once it had beaten the dragon. This was the part where trust actually starts to have meaning, and I didn’t trust Akil.

I heard his laughter, very real, inside my head. He knew my thoughts.

“
Drive it back, Mammon...”

The veil’s boreal shimmer fractured. The dragon heaved forward, dislodging a few of its scales. A back leg emerged. Its claws dug into the veil, and its muscles bunched. It ducked its head, twisted its body, and rumbled a deafening roar. It was coming through. I heard Mammon’s laughter in the air, not just inside my head, and I had a horrible sense of dread.
Please no, don’t let this be the part where Akil turns around and screws us all.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Demons are, after all, creatures of habit.

Mammon dashed forward as a singular wave of liquid fire consumed the dragon from its snout, over its gnarled face, down its serpentine flanks and around its legs, to the point where the veil clamped closed around its hide. The dragon lit up the sky, its entire body aflame. It let out a gurgling, wet groan and snapped ferociously at the air. Its talons raked across its flesh as it sought to sweep off the fire, but the blaze had taken hold. Black smoke bellowed. I smelled the oily, acrid odor of burning demon.

A helicopter hovered in my field of vision. Another swung in from the left, and both opened fire. Their bullets may have helped, but it was virtually impossible to see past the fire. I sensed someone standing off to my left, and once I noticed them, I felt the presence of others behind me. I couldn’t take my eyes from the dragon still feeding the flames as I was. I just hoped whoever stood beside me didn’t take it upon themselves to tackle me.

Then, with a guttural snarl, the dragon writhed backward, wriggling its burning body back through the hole in the veil. The fire sloughed off its scorched flesh and coalesced into Mammon. The veil snapped shut with a thunder clap that rumbled across the city. It was over.

I fell forward, body wracked with tremors. I’d never felt so utterly spent in all my life. I had to think hard about breathing.
Draw the air in, let it out again. Draw it in. Let it out
. My demon unraveled herself from my mortal body and retreated to where she could lick her wounds and recuperate. On my hands and knees, clothes clinging to me, my body slick with perspiration, I breathed in... breathed out.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
The darkness rumbled a satisfied chuckle.

I was crying. I barely noticed.

“Are you... are you okay, Miss?”

I didn’t recognize the young man when I eventually turned my head to look at him. He stood within a few feet of me, red hoodie, baggy jeans, iPod draped around his neck. Other strangers loitered behind him, watching me curiously. They were just ordinary people who’d been caught up in the spectacle of the netherworld trying to make its presence known.

I sat back, vision rocking as my stomach churned. More people stood around me, not terrified, just... concerned. I sobbed and covered my mouth with my hands. I couldn’t lose it yet. Not like this, on my knees in a crowd of strangers.