Wasteland (11 page)

“It is not faith I have in my Master. It is obligation.”

“That’s the difference. I
choose
to follow mine.” He faced me again. “Why would you opt to follow evil, kill innocent people, just to please your Master?”

“It is not your concern, Russell.” I pointed at Jessica. “She hasn’t moved since I retrieved her. Do you know what is wrong?”

He snuck toward the bed, and I patted his shoulder with the flat of his sword. “No farther. Just answer.”

“She has not moved? Eaten? Used the restroom?”

“She is catatonic.”

“Supernaturally, maybe. Preparing her body for a change.”

Russell stared at the child while rubbing his stubble-dusted chin. I sensed the desire to snatch her and try to escape oozing from his body. To try anything to save her from me. As much as I hated to admit it, I trusted this Russell, dare I say even liked him.

“What change?”

Russell’s lips turned downward. The nobility he’d shown toward Beka and now to Jessica and the honor rolling from his mouth when he spoke of his Master was enviable. My chances of successfully removing the contract for my soul might best be served by siding with the Guardians.

My demon side slashed at my heart so fiercely I clutched my chest wondering if his claws had poked through. The constant inner war between demon and human was growing tiresome.

“Sit.” I ordered Russell. “I shall make a deal.”

He eyed me as he descended into his chair. “I am not in the business of making deals with the devil. We kill demons like you, David.”

“I am not—well, hear me out and then decide.”

He sat back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his neck, holding my gaze.

“I will accompany you to where Beka and Elizabeth stay. You will share with me your plan. And I will share mine with you.”

“You would do that?”

“Use your brain, Guardian. In four hundred years, have you come across a demon such as myself?”

He shook his head.

“Then you must realize, I am different.”

“Is that why you toyed with Beka? You’re more of a devious demon. You do not just go for humans’ souls, you devour their hearts and will to live for sport?”

“Will to live? Explain this to me.” My heart suddenly chiseled my ribs. This time, it wasn’t in response to the demon but fear for Beka. Her safety. Anger at the thought of anything happening to her stabbed at my chest, which my demonic side loved. It fed on the agony and clamped its piercing fingers around my heart. “Is there something wrong with Beka?”

“What do you want with her?”

“Nothing. Your words confused me. You said something about her will to live. Did you not mean Beka?”

“I can’t figure you out.” He planted his palms on the arms of the chair.

I tensed, unsure if he planned to attack again. I thought him smarter, considering I held his sword, and easily overpowered him when he first charged in the room, but he seemed bewildered suddenly. Confused.

I stood, holding the sword out. I peeked at Jessica, and she lay silent, still. “Explain yourself. My patience grows weary.”

“You act as if you worry for Beka, yet, you’re a demon, how could this be?” He let out an audible sigh. “What I meant was, you broke her heart when you turned out to be—” He gestured in my direction. “When you turned out to be what you are. Whatever that is.”

“Is she well?”

“Her broken leg healed, of course. We Guardians are not so fragile. But hearts do not heal as easily, even for us.”

I had to see her. If only one last time before I left with my Mark. “Take me to her.”

“You would come with Jessica?”

“Yes. Only to learn more about her. I shall not allow you to take her. She is my Mark and I will complete my contract.”

“Demon.”

“Decide.” I twirled his blade in my hand.

“It is not far from here.”

“Then we shall walk.”

“But it’s mid-day.” Russell rubbed his eyes. “Do you not have an aversion to daylight?”

“I rather enjoy the sunlight. I can see things so clearly. But you are right, we will wait until the cover of dusk.”

My thoughts fell immediately to Beka. The day in the restaurant. My first vision of her in daylight. It will be forever etched in my mind, which would be torture if confined to solitary for the rest of eternity for killing Gage and loving a Guardian.

CHAPTER 16

“Would you like me to carry her?” Russell asked as the shadows of evening crept around us.

“Thank you, yes.” I handed the limp girl to the Guardian.

He received her with wide eyes and raised brows. “You trust me to carry her without running.”

“You couldn’t outrun me, even if you were not carrying an eighty-pound girl. I am not worried.” I eyed him. “And I know you do not want to die, which you would if you chose to run, as I mentioned earlier in the hotel. Jessica is mine, and I will kill you if you try to kill me or take her.”

“Demon.”

I almost said, ‘not yet’ but held off. That revelation will be made at the appropriate time, should I make the last resort choice.

“Have you been with Beka for all of your four hundred years?”

Silence. Russell stared down at the girl in his arms. He rested his cheek against her forehead.

“You refuse to betray any information about Beka to me.”

Russell’s lips pressed into a thin line.

“I respect that.”

He looked at me. “I told you too much as it is already.”

“I shall not betray your confidence to her. I must see her. Ensure she is well. Your slip has left me worried. The will is a very powerful thing. Without it, one would surely crumble.” The familiar hardware store near the club came into view. “We are near your club.”

“Yes.”

“I am sure it will be under surveillance.”

“We are not going in the front door.” He cast a glare over his shoulder. “Give me some credit.”

I stopped on the sidewalk in front of a vacant building across the street. The
For Sale
sign cluttered the front door and boards covered the main picture window. Possibly an old gas station or drive thru in a former life.

I turned to Russell. “Give me the girl.”

“No. I’m fine.”

“I was not inquiring about your status. I was instructing you, which means you do not get to choose. You do it.”

He faced me. “If I might be so bold to say, I sense great conflict in you, David. I know you will make the right choice, despite what you are.” He handed me the treasure.

The breath rushed from my lungs as Jessica’s limp body sagged against mine. “I am not afforded the luxury of choice.”

“I believe you made one by taking the girl and not giving her to your Master yet.”

Choice. He knew nothing of
my
choices. One was to bring the girl in, complete my assignment and move on to the next, continuing my enslavement. Second choice would be to give her to the Guardians and declare my Mark missed, earning me another two hundred and fifty years in sensory deprivation. Third, keep Jessica, and discuss a trade with Master for my contract.

Not much for choices. All had dire consequences.

Shuffling to our left paralyzed me. Russell must have sensed it, or my sudden slowing, and mimed my reaction. He reached behind him, but grabbed only air and cursed. I still had possession of his sword. It was bound snug to my back while I held Jessica to my chest.

Not exactly a great position for battle.

It was only a matter of time until Master sent a legion after the girl and me. It appeared my choice was being made for me.

“David.” Someone called out to me from around the corner of the vacant building.

“How close are we to your fort?” I whispered to Russell.

“Two blocks down, through the side door of the Coffee Grind.”

“Then where?”

Silence.

He still didn’t trust me. I could hold no fault in that. I’d earned it.

“You killed Gage.” The demon that had been with Gage came into focus. Two demons on either side.

Okay, five was manageable. Maybe the rest hadn’t gotten to town yet.

“Now you walk with Guardians?”

“What is your name?” I asked while scanning the darkness to the sides and behind us. Russell did the same.

“They call me Ignis.”

“That’s too bad. Do you dare challenge me, Ignis?”

He bared his fangs.

“You saw what happened to Gage. Six hundred years of servitude to Master, and he fell within seconds. You cannot harm me.” I glanced at Russell. “Keep moving.”

I hugged Jessica tight. For the first time since I’d grabbed her, she moved. Her glowing chest pulsed brighter, and it shimmered against me. She must sense my demon starting to surface. Starting to sizzle and claw at my chest.

“You hold the Mark in your arms, you must return to Master.” Ignis drifted closer, a dagger in each hand. Three more demons rounded the corner.

Eight wasn’t so easily manageable.

“I shall. I am not in breach,” I said.

“We will escort you.”

“No thank you. Be gone. I will return in a few days time. After I learn more about her.”

“You are a runner. Not a researcher, there is no need. Come now.”

I twitched my lip over my descended fangs. “You do
not
command me.”

“I speak on Master’s authority.”

Pain seared my heart. I couldn’t hold back a grunt. “I will return.”

“David, don’t,” Russell said.

“I must.” I nailed Ignis with a glare. “Come help me with the girl, but the Guardian lives.”

“We cannot allow that.”

“He is of no consequence. He cannot hurt me, and I have the child. He can go.” I glanced at Russell. “I suggest leaving now.”

“I will not.”

“Stubborn fool.” I backed toward him. “Don’t forget your sword.”

He shot me a look of utter surprise. Hopefully that meant he understood what I was about to do, though I was unsure I did. I couldn’t turn this girl over, yet if I didn’t, I would be punished.
Again.
But if she had the power to free me, make me human, somehow . . .

“Ignis. Give me your word the Guardian lives.”

He offered a brief nod.

“I will come with you.”

The demons crept forward, like timid dogs. I let my evil surface enough to give me the long nails, fangs, and heightened senses. Two more demons stayed back in the thicket across the street. Their outlines barely visible, even with my sight.

I lifted Jessica to Ignis. Delight brightened his tar-black eyes, and a smile creased the red skin at the corners of his mouth. He reached for the girl.

With lightning speed, Russell withdrew his sword from its sheath, circled me, and sliced the hands from Ignis. Another spin decapitated him with the ease of a true warrior. Russell stood in front of me, facing four demons while I held the girl. A Guardian protected me. A demon.

Four demons stepped out from the darkness. They wore the badges of my Master on the left breast of their shirts. Elite warriors. Ones sent to impose punishment. They could incapacitate me enough to get the collar activated, rendering me weak enough for transport.

Their all too familiar seven-foot-frames sent the hair prickling on my forearms. Metal to metal clanked as Russell engaged three demons.

One got through.

I shifted my treasure to my hip and finished morphing into my evil half. I held my big hand out and ducked at the first swing of the sword. My fingers slashed his neck. His head tipped, and thudded to the ground.

Two of the Elite approached. “You have missed your Mark. We have come to impose punishment.”

“I have not. She is in my arms. By contract, you cannot.”

The warriors stopped. “You agree to return with her?”

“Yes. I am not in breach of contract.”

“You must return with us,” they said in unison, like programmed robots.

“I shall return in two days. On my own, as I always do.”

They surged like lightning bolts of energy. Flashes of silver ignited as they drew their swords. I raised my forearm to meet their strikes, holding Jessica with my other arm.

Their swords rushed me, but they were intercepted by two others and sparks rained. Russell on my left, Beka on my right.

Beka spun, snipping the legs out from the warriors while Russell worked simultaneously to run his sword over their necks, toppling their heads. The two remaining bolted into the air and came down on us.

One collided with Russell, knocking him to the side. The other sliced his weapon down the side of Beka’s arm. She sprung back onto her hands, and her foot rammed the demon’s face, knocking him off balance.

I charged, reaching for his neck. He swung his sword. I ducked and slashed his mid-section. The demon darted toward Beka, drawing a second sword. He crossed it over the other, aiming for her throat.

I vaulted over Jessica's small body, into the path of the crossed swords, familiar with their lethality. I planted my palm in Beka’s chest, knocking her over. The blades connected with my neck. Sparks sprayed.

I dug my fingers into the demon’s chest and lifted him from the ground. His swords grated against my neck again, rendering more sparks into the air. With my other hand, I swiped at his neck, and he faded into the ground.

I snatched Jessica into my arms. A prick stung my throat.

I looked down a long, silver blade and met Beka’s vibrant eyes. Blood followed the curve of her high cheekbones and dribbled off her jaw.

Her moist eyes flickered and chin quivered. “Give her to me, Demon.”

I’d been called demon many times, yet it stung more than ever coming from Beka. “I cannot.”

Beka’s blade waivered. “Please. David,” she whispered. Her shoulders sagged.

“I cannot.”

A tear escaped from the corner of her eye as the tip of Beka’s sword dented my flesh. “Then I have no choice but to kill you.”

CHAPTER 17

Beka swung, and I blocked the blade with my wrist. Sparks flared. Her eyes widened, but she forged onward.

Jessica’s weight held me captive, not that I intended to fight Beka. She surged forward, full strength, with another swing. The demon burst from inside me with a roar.