Pale Demon

“Oh!” he exclaimed suddenly as a memory of Trent grew strong. Jonathan was there, his face having Ku’Sox’s eyes. And then I was gasping, my fisted hand scraping the pavement as I tried to get up, alone again in my thoughts. Panting, I bowed my head as the heat soaked into me. Oh God, it had been awful. My life. He’d seen my entire life.

“You can invoke demon magic?” Ku’Sox said softly, bending over me with the faintest hint of burnt amber between us. But if it was from him or me, I didn’t know.

My breath came in fast as I felt arms go around me. Head lolling, I tried to focus, failing. He was holding me, and I was too tired to even protest. I’d lived my entire life in eight heartbeats, and the heat washed out of me as I fell into shock.

“S-stop,” I managed, jerking when Ku’Sox murmured a word of Latin, and Vivian cried out in pain. The only reason they were still alive was because he was interested in me.

My hand was in a fist, and he brought my bleeding knuckles up to his mouth, licking my blood. Working at it, I managed to focus on him. He had a scar on his eyelid, like Lee. He’d be minus an eye if I could move my other arm.

“You’re a link,” he said, grinning at me like he’d won a doll at the fair. “And you have red hair and wear pants. I adore red hair. I once gave an entire generation of witches that color. That was before they locked me in the ground.”

“Put me down,” I demanded, and he did, holding me until I got my balance, but when I tried to escape, his grip tightened about my waist.

“Seems as if I got out just in time,” he murmured, looking me over again. “Why are you dallying with Algaliarept? He’s a hack. But then, he’s probably the best they have now. Unless Newt is still alive. I’ve been gone for…” Squinting, he looked up at the sun in evaluation. “Somewhere in the vicinity of two thousand years?” Frowning, his gaze dropped to me. “Two thousand years and you have red hair. How’s that for a legacy!”

He seemed happy about it, but I was still trying to stand on my own feet. I didn’t like what I was hearing, and I was sure Vivian was even more pleased than she had been. Ku’Sox was indeed a demon. In. The. Sun. I needed answers, but I wanted them from Al, not…Cute Socks here.

Vivian was ashen faced, standing in front of the car with a bit of chalk in her hand. There was an uninvoked circle around Ku’Sox and me, and her intent was clear. Ivy was next to her, and Jenks. The wild pixies still with us were under the car. I met Jenks’s eyes, and he shrugged, pantomiming slugging him. Might work, I thought. I’d have a better chance of holding him in a smaller circle than keeping him out of one as large as a car. My heart pounded, and I pulled my foot back and slammed it into Ku’Sox’s shin.

The demon howled, his grip easing just enough.

“Roll!” Jenks shouted, and I dove for the pavement, feeling Vivian’s circle lick my heels as I made it through. A grunt slipped from me as I hit the parking lot again, finding my feet a little more slowly. Hand still clenched around my chalk, I turned, panting. The demon was in a circle—a coven-made circle—and it wasn’t going to hold.

Sure enough, Ku’Sox was pushing at it with a determined expression, smoke rising from where his fingers touched. The familiar scent of burnt amber grew obvious, and I scrambled into motion. Hunched, I crab-walked around Vivian’s circle, praying that the magnetic chalk wouldn’t skip, wouldn’t leave a gap. It had to be perfect. And it still might not hold.

“Rhombus.” I inhaled as I finished, sitting back on the hot asphalt as the circle formed.

“Son of a Were whore!” Ku’Sox shouted as his smoldering fist broke through Vivian’s barrier only to smack into mine. Yanking his hand back, he shook it as if stung. His washed-out eyes dropped to mine, and I scooted back. It was perfect. It would hold. It had to.

“I couldn’t hold him,” Vivian panted, and I looked to her, haggard and slumped against the car.

I jumped at Ivy’s touch, then relaxed as she helped me up. “You okay?” she asked, and I nodded. Slowly her touch slipped away, and I took a deep breath as if trying to find myself. Trent was leaning against the car, avoiding everyone’s eyes. Bastard.

I exhaled, scooting back a little more before I got up and wiped the grit from my palms. “Thank you,” I said to Vivian as I tucked the chalk in my waistband, then glanced at Trent, wondering what the hell his game was. Idiot summoned a demon he couldn’t control. What did he expect to happen?

“I couldn’t hold him!” Vivian said again, and I shuffled to her, tired. The upside? At least now the coven had proof that demons could be in reality while the sun was up. Al had done it once while in Lee’s body. But I didn’t think Ku’Sox was possessing anyone. This was something different. Swell.

“I couldn’t hold him!” Vivian said a third time, and I frowned.

Pierce might have been able to make a circle to hold him. But he wasn’t here. “He’s a big guy,” I finally said, glancing at Ku’Sox and away. “Everyone okay?”

Much to my relief, Ku’Sox didn’t start spouting threats or monologing, and the chorus of pixy shouts brought back memories of Jenks’s kids, memories that Ku’Sox had now. I didn’t like that. If he knew my history, then he knew what I was going to do to him.

“It wasn’t even a very big circle.” Clearly shaken, Vivian sat sideways in the open front seat, dejected and weary.

I looked back at Ku’Sox patiently waiting, and Vivian’s useless scratchings on the pavement. “It’s a tough world.” Limping to Ivy, I leaned back against the warm car. “I don’t know this one,” I said, talking to Vivian but accusing Trent. “He’s nasty.”

“Nasty?” Ku’Sox said, and my eyes jerked to his at the hidden threat his words held.

“If you ever touch me again,” I said softly, “I will explode your ’nads. Got it?”

Trent had his head down in thought, worrying me. If I wasn’t so darn tired, I would have barked at him, too. “Demon,” I started, and Ku’Sox grinned in anticipation, making me shiver. He wanted to be released.

“Wait!” Trent said, his hand outstretched.

“You will leave this place and return to the ever-after, not to bother us again,” I finished.

Trent slid to a stop, turning away to hide his disgust, but I’d seen it.

“For now,” Ku’Sox said, his eyes going from Trent to me. They vanished first, then his body, until finally all that was left was a black obsidian feather, making me shudder when it finally melted in the sun.

My eyes shut, and I heard Ivy sigh. “I really hate demons,” she said. I agreed.

“Okay, everyone smaller than a teapot, get out of the car!” I said loudly. “Jenks, you stay. And I swear, if you feral pixies give me any trouble, I’m going to jam you all in a box! I’ll send you your syrup by mail, and you’ll be happy with it. Clear?”

Without a protest, the pixies began to leave in threes and fives, their excited chatter making my already pounding headache hurt all the more. The head pixy wasn’t around, and I didn’t care. Like he’d ever say thank-you. My headache throbbed when Trent walked stiffly past me, sweat matting his pale, baby-fine hair.

“Letting him go like that was a mistake,” he said in passing, and I lashed out, spinning him around to a shocked, angry halt against the car.

“You think we could have used him?” I shouted, and Ivy, putting my scrying mirror away in the trunk, hesitated. “Maybe traded a jump to Seattle for his freedom? Stick to helping with your checkbook. We’ll all live longer.”

Jaw clenched, Trent held his ground as Jenks joined me. “I’m just saying—”

“Nothing!” Okay, I was shouting, but I had a lot of adrenaline to burn before I got back in that car and drove out of here as if nothing had happened. “That was a demon! One in the sun. You think you’re smarter than him? You’re not! You mess with demons, and you die!”

His gaze flicked to Vivian. “You work with them,” he said. “Think you’re special?”

That had been barbed and pointed, and it made me angrier still. “I wish I wasn’t, Trent,” I said, managing not to shove him. “I’m so special it’s going to kill me. That one…” I pointed to my empty circle. “That one is bad. Banishing him might cause a problem tomorrow, but nothing like keeping him around and trying to harness him would, and the sooner you get that through your thick skull, the longer we all will live. It was my decision to banish him, and you will sit down, shut up—”

“And enjoy the ride,” he finished, the last of his suave businessman exterior vanishing as he bent at the waist and smoothly slipped into the car. He slid to the opposite side and slammed the door shut, waiting.