Mark of the Demon

believable as a serial killer.” He gave me a crooked smile that I found myself returning.

“Enough,” Cerise snapped. “Bind him and put him in the circle.”

Ryan clenched his jaw as the demon quickly bound his ankles, then lifted him and dumped him rudely beside Michelle. As the demon stepped close to her, she gave a muffled squeak of terror, eyes so filled with horror that I was forced to wonder if the demon had already engaged in “sport.”

I tried to shift my wrists in the bindings, but the pain of the broken bones flared hotly, forcing me to take several deep breaths to keep the nausea at bay.

“I’m so sorry, Detective Gillian,” Cerise said. “You don’t get a turn in the circle. I need you and your essence right here with me.” He looked to a high window in the wall that had the moon perfectly framed. “In the few moments that you have left to live, you’ll have the opportunity to witness the greatest summoning ever performed.” He gaze slid to me. “I think you’ll enjoy it, albeit briefly. There are many who say that Rhyzkahl is quite beautiful.”

He doesn’t know, I realized with a cold shock. He didn’t know that I had already encountered Rhyzkahl. But could I turn that to my advantage? I was pretty shy of advantages at the moment.

I can call him to me. Ice formed in my gut at the thought of this world ruled by a Demonic Lord. Humans enslaved, resources plundered, potency drained. No. There has to be another way.

Before I could think about it any more, Cerise approached me with a knife and yanked my left arm up at the elbow, sending another blinding flare of pain shooting through me. Willing myself to not black out, I sucked in breath, barely feeling the fire of the slice that he made in my left forearm.

I turned my head and watched in sick fascination as my blood flowed from the cut in the vein into a silver bowl held by the demon. It wasn’t a deep-enough cut for me to bleed out, at least not quickly, but it was enough for what he needed. After the bowl held what was probably a pint of blood, he dropped my arm and strode back to the circle, dipping a thick brush into the bowl and then carefully painting the outer perimeter of the circle with my blood. I shuddered as I saw the potencies flare into life, winding energies and complex structures that I had to grudgingly admit were elegantly created. It would probably work, I realized.

He was insane, yes, but that didn’t mean he was stupid. His planning had been meticulous, even down to luring me—a summoner—right into the ritual so that he could utilize my potency and essence for the bulk of the calling, saving his own strength for the binding of the lord. This level of summoning required the decades of preparation that Peter Cerise had devoted to it, as well as the alliance of a powerful high-level demon.

The energies coruscated in my othersight, and I could see Ryan looking around, wide-eyed, at the twisting runes that I knew he could see clearly. Hell, it was possible that even Michelle could see them, as powerful as they were. Peter Cerise was pouring all of the potency that he’d stored from all the victims he’d taken this month into this.

A sudden wave of weakness struck me. It’s starting, I realized with horror. He’s pulling potency from me. How long will I be able to last?

Cerise stood at the edge of the diagram, the silk of his robes fluttering in the arcane energy. Power arced dramatically from his hands as he crafted bindings that I knew would be holding an immensely powerful creature. And he’d be able to do it too. The diagram was flawless, the runes exquisitely prepared.

And there’s going to be a fucking lunatic on the loose with the power of a Demonic Lord on his leash. Might be a good thing that I’ll be dead by the time it happens, I thought grimly as the weakness increased. This world will still be enslaved and plundered, but by Peter Cerise instead.

The light of the circle flared as he began to chant, so brightly that I could barely see Ryan and Michelle in the center. They would die, I knew. And knowing Rhyzkahl, it would not be quickly or easily. Cerise was performing the ritual according to every nuance of the code of honor, which meant that Rhyzkahl would take the sacrifice and then make Ryan and Michelle suffer his retaliation for the fact that he would be enslaved.

Knowing Rhyzkahl…

My breath caught and the ice in my gut grew thicker. That was my only advantage. I knew Rhyzkahl, I was linked to him, and Cerise didn’t know that. I was still outside the circle. If I called Rhyzkahl to me, he would not be entrapped, would not be subject to the bindings and the wards, would not be subject to the will of a sociopath who thought nothing of murdering his own son.

Yeah, and instead Rhyzkahl will be here on this plane, completely unfettered, uncontrolled, and on the loose. I’ll be calling a lord and taking my fucking chances that he won’t rape this sphere. But if I didn’t call him, Ryan and Michelle would die, I would die, and Rhyzkahl would still be in this sphere, but under the control of Peter Cerise. Better the demon you know than the demon you don’t…?

Many were going to die no matter what. Time to decide was rapidly running out. Cerise was shouting the chants now and getting close to the point where he would name the demon. I pushed onto my elbow and struggled up to my knees, fighting the increasing weakness. Cerise paid no attention to me. His full focus was on the summoning.

But the demon was paying attention. His eyes snapped to me as I opened my mouth. He shrieked in rage, bounding across the distance to me as I put the full force of my will into the call. You have to mean it, I remembered my aunt saying.

“RHYZKAHL!” I screamed through the chants.

And time stood still for a heartbeat.

The demon gave an enraged scream, leaping at me and slicing at me with clawed hands. He knows. He knows what I’ve done. I struggled to twist away from him, but his speed was beyond belief. I felt a sharp tug across my chest and on my belly, then a surreal sensation of lightness. There was no pain. It was only the slow-motion vision of the blood spraying and my belly emptying itself before me onto the tile that told me what had happened.

The demon screamed again, spreading his wings as the brilliant runes suddenly went dark.

There was no pain. I collapsed onto my side, seeing the coiled mounds of my bowels beyond my body amid the spreading stain of blood. I’m not dead. But I would be soon. Had I called him in time? Sounds echoed strangely. I thought I heard Ryan shouting. I knew I heard Cerise.

“What have you done?” he screamed. He spun to face me, enraged. “You fucking bitch! What have you done? Where is he? What did you do?”

I turned my head lazily and smiled up at him. “I’ve got your Demonic Lord right here,” I rasped. “Bitch.”

CHAPTER 29

Light flared again, but not from the runes surrounding the circle. I knew I had only a couple of minutes to live, but I wasn’t going to miss this for the world.

Rhyzkahl stepped forward, dressed in dazzling white robes, eerie blue and gold light shimmering around him. I had a supreme vantage point and could see the expression on Cerise’s face as he registered the fact that the Demonic Lord was here but was most assuredly not within the circle or contained by any of his bindings.

Rhyzkahl gave a low growl that crawled through the floor and echoed off the walls. I could feel the strangling aura of power and fury streaming off him, but it barely seemed to affect me. I’m dying, that’s why, I decided, with remarkable calm. My innards are on the floor in front of me. Nothing can scare me now.

Cerise was not so fortunate. He could feel the full effect of Rhyzkahl, and I knew it wasn’t the first time he had felt it. He gibbered in terror, stumbling back and scrabbling until he came to the wall where he huddled, head down, whimpering.

Rhyzkahl turned slowly, assessing, gaze pausing on the reyza. His eyes flashed with power as he said something to the demon in a harsh guttural language.