Vowed in Shadows (46 page)

The bead that had run loose on the thick, rough chain was missing. In its place, tiny glass rivets sparkled among the links.

He shrugged. “Not so ugly now, is it? The backlash of the lure power caught me so hard, it fused the cuff down to the bone.” She gasped, but he squeezed her reassuringly. “It doesn't hurt. Not anymore. No straps means whatever weapon I use will fit almost as close as my hand. At least until I take it off.” He gave her a wicked grin. “Good demon.”

She bit her lip. Any weapon he wanted? “You wanted to be a stronger fighter. Now I guess you are.”

He pulled back a little, and she shivered at the breeze that wedged between them.

He stared into her eyes. “I'm stronger with you. Because of you. You made me not the warrior, but the man I wanted to be.”

“You were always a good man,” she protested. “Too good for me.”

He shook his head. “You always knew how to bend without breaking, how to dance even when the world was on fire. If anyone is thrall here . . .” He raised the cuff in a little wave, and the pleasure in him softened the curves of his lips.

She curled into him, and the anklet clicked against his wrist. A single violet spark raced around and through the patterns of his cuff and crossed to the anklet. “Ah, I knew from the start you liked to look. Thank heavens for my newfound ability to prettify hell.”

“You've always enthralled me. Stop fishing for compliments.”

“I don't fish.”

“You caught me.” He slipped off the cushions to kneel beside her.

“I guess I'm caught too,” she said. “Mated-talyan bond.
Symballein
. Whatever that means.”

“Love.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled as it sprang loose. “It means ‘I love you.' ”

“How can you?”

“My body and my sword are yours—were always yours.” He rested his forehead on her thigh a moment. “But you didn't just make me fight again. You let me love again.”

She buried her fingers in the gilded waves of his hair and closed her eyes to focus on the whisper of his breath across her
reven
and faded scars. The sensation he ignited smoldered in her soul, sweet and everlasting. When he lifted his head, she met his gaze. His eyes reflected the blue of the water and sky, and she felt herself falling.

“But my heart is yours too,” he said, “if you want it.” He cupped her cheek, and she realized he'd waylaid a tear at the corner of her eye. “You don't believe me?”

“I do. I can't believe I believe you.” She knew the wonder in her voice betrayed her. “But I love you.”

His smile lit every corner of her heart with a hint of devilish heat. “I have forever to prove myself good and true.”

“Start now.” She leaned into his hand. “And touch me.”

ascendant:
The rise of a demon within a possessed human; refers to the initial incident of possession and subsequent risings.

 

birnenston:
Also,
brimstone
. A sulfuric compound leached from some demonic emanations interacting with the human realm.

 

desolator numinis
:
“Soul cleaver”; a demonic weapon.

 

djinni:
djinn (pl.): Upper echelon of demonkind; fallen angels who are content to stay fallen.

 

djinn-man:
A human possessed by a djinni.

 

ether:
The elemental energy of spiritual and demonic emanations.

 

feralis:
ferales (pl.): Lesser demonic emanation encased in a physical shell of mutated human-realm material. Physically strong, but not so impressive in the brains department.

 

heshuka
:
The unknown darkness; from Aramaic.

 

horde-tenebrae:
Blanket term for lesser demonic emanations, including malice, ferales, and salambes. Also,
tenebrae
.

 

ichor:
A physical by-product of demonic emanations not compatible with the human realm.

 

league:
Isolated clusters of possessed fighters assigned to high-density human-population areas with the mission of reducing demonic activity.

 

malice:
Incorporeal lesser emanation from the demon realm, typically small and animalistic in shape with protohuman intelligence.

 

mated-talyan bond:
The synergistic combination of male and female possessed powers.

 

reven
:
The permanent visible epidermal mark left by an ascended demon.

 

salambe:
Highly emanating demonic form from the same subspecies as malice.

 

solvo:
A chemical version of the
desolator numinis
; produces opiatelike effects in humans while splitting off the soul.

 

sphericanum:
The realm of angels, separated from the human realm by the gates of heaven. Also used in reference to the ruling body of angelic powers.

 

symballein
:
A token, such as an engraved metal disk, that is broken into two pieces and used to establish identity when reunited; from Greek.

 

talya:
talyan (pl.): 1. Sacrificial lamb; a young man (Aramaic). 2. A human, typically male, possessed by a repentant demon.

 

tenebrae:
Blanket term for lesser demonic emanations, including malice, ferales, and salambes. Also,
horde-tenebrae
.

 

tenebraeternum:
The demon realm, separated from the human realm by the Veil.

 

teshuva:
A repentant demon seeking to return to a state of grace.

 

Veil:
An etheric barrier between the human and demon realms and composed of captured souls.

Excerpted from
Chicago league roll call, Updated 4/11

 

 

 

Liam Niall: League leader
Possession date: Chicago stockyards, circa 1845
Teshuva subcaste: Ravager
Bonded: Jilly Chan

 

Ferris Archer: Talya
Possession date: Georgia, circa 1860
Teshuva subcaste: Annihilator
Bonded: Sera Littlejohn

 

Sera Littlejohn: First confirmed female talya
Possession date: Chicago, 2009
Teshuva subcaste: Enigma
Bonded: Ferris Archer

 

Handwritten note from interim Chicago

Bookkeeper Sera Littlejohn:
First confirmed? If you jerks would quit rewriting your history and deleting the parts you don't like, you might actually learn something.

 

Jilly Chan: Second confirmed female talya
Possession date: Chicago, 2010
Teshuva subcaste: Discord
Bonded: Liam Niall

 

Jonah Sterling Walker: Talya
Possession date: Congo, circa 1890
Teshuva subcaste: Bane
Bonded: Nimue

 

Nimue aka Nim, born Elaine Hamlin: Third
confirmed female talya
Possession date: Chicago, 2011
Teshuva subcaste: Thrall
Bonded: Jonah Walker

 

Ecco (last name unlisted):
Possession date: Redacted
Teshuva subcaste: Chaos (unverified)

 

Three yellow handwritten notes from interim
Chicago Bookkeeper Sera Littlejohn:
Allies:
Nanette, possessed by lesser-sphere angelic force
Lau-Lau, Jilly's weird old landlady—possibly a witch

 

 

 

 

Fourth note (author presumed to be Ferris Archer):
Finish your notes tomorrow. Come to bed. Now.

 

 

 

 

Demonic classifications:

 

Djinn: Upper echelon of demon-realm inhabitants
Subcastes: Unknown
Resonant vulnerability: Evil

 

Teshuva: Repentant demons
Resonant vulnerability: Penance trigger

 

Horde-tenebrae:
Known subcastes:
Malice
Ferales
Salambes

 

Early league writings chronicling the First Battle indicate numerous tenebrae subcastes answered the djinn rally against the angelic forces. Many subcastes are thought to have been eradicated at the end of that era, due to the valiant sacrifice of talyan lives.

Handwritten note from interim Chicago Bookkeeper Sera Littlejohn:

Continue reading for a preview of Jessa Slade's next Marked Souls novel,

Available soon from Signet Eclipse

Sid kicked off his filthy jeans and eased out of his shirt. He noted the bloodstains from his draining wound, and suddenly had a better understanding of the league's rather shocking clothing allowance. Standing in his boxers, he wrapped his shoulder in gauze, then with a groan crawled into bed. But sleep eluded him, circling him endlessly as his inbound flight to O'Hare had done, so he grabbed his specs and pulled one of his favorite books into his lap. His father hadn't been thrilled to part with the gold-bound and -illuminated texts, but Sid had convinced him the opportunity to study female talyan with original manuscripts in hand superseded jurisdictional pettiness. Besides, the ancient journal had lots of pretty pictures that weren't done justice in reproduction.

He donned archival gloves in deference to the old man and the old paper and hoped he wouldn't fall asleep and drool on the pages.

Somewhere just beyond the edges of his perception, he sensed the warehouse quieting as the night-fighting talyan rested, secure in their sanctuary. The cinder blocks seemed to breathe out peacefulness that he'd never felt in person among the restless warriors.

Eventually, his eyelids drooped. Through the haze of his eyelashes, the intricately drawn illustrations danced with strange, wild life, a tangle of angels and demons without clear distinction.

He blamed his gritty eyes for making him blink dumbly when he looked up and saw the visitation, as if one of the ethereal figures from the primeval text had stepped off the page, as if a fever dream had come to life. He fumbled in setting his drooping specs higher. “Alyce?”

She ghosted across the room, her bare feet silent on the linoleum. Her pale eyes glittered, amethyst over ice. “Shh. I've come to free you.”

A ping raced through his body, from the sudden acceleration of his heartbeat to his extremities, like a warning signal. “Free me?” He sounded as clueless as he no doubt looked. He pushed aside the book, careful not to wrinkle the pages. “Did Liam let you in?”

“There was a devil-man at the gate.” She fisted her hands in her skirt. The grandmotherly housedress lacked the ichor stains of her last ensemble, but the powder blue polyester was worn to near transparency in places. And now there were fingerprints of blood in the folds. “I did not stop to ask him his name.”

“Oh, Lord.” The ping went round his innards a few more times, gaining particle-accelerator speeds. Had she killed Liam or one of the other talyan? That would put a definite wrinkle in his reintroduction strategy.

Alyce shook her head. “These beings are not of the Lord. I see the devils in their eyes.”

“They are possessed,” he admitted. “But not by devils. Or not evil devils, anyway. Their teshuva—the demons inside them—are like yours.”

“Evil,” she whispered. “Like me.”

“Repentant,” he corrected. “Fighting for the light now.”

“There is no light for me.”

“Not before, maybe. But now that you're here, everything is different.”

She pressed her bloody palms together and raised her hands until her fingertips brushed under her chin. Despite the prayerful pose, her gaze speared him without mercy. “Is this where I die?”

He recoiled. “God, no!”

“Lord and God, you say. I thought maybe you would banish the devil from me.”

“I can't.”

Her hands fell back to her sides, and he was left staring at the
reven
around her neck. The welt briefly shimmered with violet light, then faded to black, as if her teshuva hadn't the strength to maintain its outrage.

But she had incapacitated at least one of the talyan to get this far.

What
was
she?

Slowly, keeping his eye on her, he climbed out of the bed. His navy boxers weren't suitable for an audience with the queen, but he wasn't indecent.