Sins of the Demon

bones, wrenching a scream of pain from Tracy. “Doesn’t matter,” Roman said through gritted teeth. “You are a summoner, and I’m going to get my fucking gate no matter what!” With that he stood, holding Tracy in a bear hug from behind and headed to the diagram.

“No!” I shouted, leaping toward Roman to yank him back from the circle. “It’s active!” I grabbed onto his arm to try to stop him, but I might as well have been a mosquito on an elephant.

Tracy kicked and twisted, but Roman was still one strong son of a bitch. He flung Tracy into the diagram just as the doors burst open behind us. I turned away and ducked as Tracy let out a spiraling scream of horror and agony. The scream abruptly cut off, and I quickly covered my head to shield myself from the spatter of gore as the energies of the gate shredded Tracy as effectively as if Roman had thrown him into a jet engine intake.

A silence fell, broken only by my ragged breathing and the sick, wet plop of stuff I didn’t want to look at. I cautiously looked up as Ryan and Zack ran forward, then got back to my feet, and reluctantly turned to look back at the carnage. The diagram itself looked untouched, but surrounding it was a corona of blood and flesh, no piece bigger than a fingernail. I fought back a surge of nausea, abruptly thankful that there was nothing left in my stomach to throw up. I’d seen grisly scenes before, but this was beyond horrific. I’d never quite grasped just how much gore one human body could make.

Seeking to distract myself, I grimaced down at my coat—now covered with blood and bits of Tracy. Shuddering, I yanked the zipper down and shrugged it off. Not sure if I could bear to wear it again, even if I could get the gore cleaned off. I resisted the urge to run my fingers through my hair. I wasn’t ready to face Tracy-parts mingled with my split ends.

“Take him into custody,” I told Ryan, jerking my chin toward Roman. “I’ll find a way to pin these murders on him if it’s the last fucking thing I do.”

Roman didn’t resist. He too was spattered in gore, and he seemed to be frozen in shock. “You might want to hose him off first,” I added. And me as well. Though a brief assessment seemed to indicate that my coat had taken the worst of it. My poor, beautiful coat. Yes, I’m worrying about my coat. Better than thinking about what just happened.

I started to inspect the coat to see if it was salvageable, but I froze as a tremor shook the floor.

“Kara,” Zack said, standing a few feet from the diagram. “We have a problem.”

“The gate,” I breathed, cold clenching my gut. I couldn’t see the energies of the portal, but I could imagine what they looked like. Under normal circumstances the gate could have held steady until a summoner closed it down properly, but when Roman threw Tracy into it, the whole structure had unbalanced. Like an uneven load of laundry in a washing machine. “How bad is it?” I asked. “Won’t it just collapse in on itself?”

Zack shook his head, face stricken as he turned back to me. “No. I mean, yes, but the backlash of the power.…” He swallowed visibly. “Kara, it could wipe out everything in a mile radius.”

My mouth went dry. There was a school only a couple of blocks away. Subdivisions, businesses. “A summoner needs to shut it down,” I said, barely hearing myself over the pounding of my heart. “How long do we have?”

“Only a few minutes,” he replied, voice cracking.

I nodded. Not enough time to get Tessa here.

“Wait,” Ryan demanded. “Zack, how can you be sure? Kara, I know what you’re thinking. If you take the cuff off, you’ll be summoned! Have you forgotten that someone in the demon realm is still after you?”

“I haven’t forgotten. But would that stop you?” I challenged.

“Fuck.” He closed his eyes, shook his head. “No.”

“If I work quickly, I might be able to get this shut down before a summoning gets a lock on me.” I moved to the edge of the diagram, glanced back at the two agents. “Here goes.”

I slipped off the cuff and dropped it behind me, then nearly staggered at the force of the energies raging around the diagram. Damn good thing I’d destroyed the focus. I didn’t even want to think how bad it would be if I hadn’t. But as bad as it was, this was—first and foremost—a portal, and all I needed to do was ground it and release the power safely. And that was one of the first things I’d had Rhyzkahl teach me.

Working as quickly as I dared, I set up the power sinks, tied the arcane strands into them, then shunted the energy away from the gate and into the earth where it would dissipate harmlessly. Within heartbeats the raging tempest had wound down to a mild whirlpool, and I could release the breath I was holding.

I spun to retrieve the cuff, but a blast of cold air stopped me as my fingers were millimeters from the cuff. I froze, mind racing. Run. I need to run! I thought in flailing panic. But even as I thought it, I knew there was nowhere I could run to. There were no wards nearby that would shield me from this summoning. And if I put the cuff on now—after the summoning had locked onto me—it would alter the forming of the portal and tear me to shreds. I’d be effectively committing suicide. Mouth dry, I straightened, leaving the cuff on the floor. I guess this is it.

“What are you doing?” Ryan shouted. “Put the cuff back on before it’s too late!”

“It’s already too late,” Zack said, agonized. His eyes met mine. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right,” I said, even though it wasn’t all right. Not at all. I was scared shitless, but I couldn’t let them see it. “I knew it was a long shot. But at least I saved the world, right? At least a little piece of it.” I gave a weak laugh, then took a shaking breath. “Take care of my aunt and Jill. And Fuzzykins.”

“We will,” Zack said. “You have my oath.”

The wind swirled around us, and I felt the first cold touch as the tendrils of the portal began to wrap around me. Ryan shot a look at the swirling energies, then stepped to me and seized my face in his hands.

“God damn it. You’d better come back to me. You hear? You fucking come back to me!”

I tried to nod, but it was tough with him holding my head like that. And the big lump in my throat made it tough to speak. He didn’t seem to care, because in the next instant his lips were on mine. This wasn’t some friends-kissing-friends kiss either—this was a full-blown, passion-filled, hungry as hell kiss as if there would never be any more kisses after this one. This was a kiss to tell each other everything we’d danced around for so long, full of fervor and heartache and grief and joy and longing. I clutched him to me, returning it with just as much passion, not breaking it until the arcane tendrils began to tighten and pull. I quickly released him and pushed him away from me. “You…you need to stand back now,” I gasped.

He stepped back reluctantly. “I love you,” he said.

The pull on me was increasing to the point of pain, but I managed a weak smile. “If I say ‘I know’ will you laugh?”

He chuckled. “Nerd.”

The power swirled higher as the portal widened. “I love you too,” I said.

And then the world disappeared.

Chapter 24

I’d been to the demon realm once before. The last time I was here I’d been close to death. I remembered lying on a white marble floor. I remembered it was full of light and wonder. I’d been in the throne room of Rhyzkahl, and it was beautiful. A throne of white and gold. Marble walls and open archways. A turquoise sea and demons in flight.

Even without looking up, I could tell this was different.

I was on my hands and knees on a dark stone floor. Blood dripped from my nose with thick plops, marring the grey of the stone. Razor coils of pain wound around my limbs, slowly fading as I struggled to catch my breath through the burning in my lungs. Holy shit, but that hurt. Did it hurt the demons like that when I summoned them? If so, why would they ever agree to go through that? Because that sucked ass.

I slowly pushed myself back to sit on my heels, blinking to focus. I wasn’t surprised to see that I was inside a summoning circle. Even without shifting into othersight I had no trouble seeing the bindings and protections wound around the perimeter. I didn’t make any attempt to move from the center. I was already hurting enough.

A young man stood a few feet from the edge of the circle, looking almost absurdly pleased with himself. He had a slim, athletic build—easy to see since he was naked from the waist up. Below the waist he wore black jeans