see—or at least hear—what was happening here?
I tried to sit up, but the shift had left me weak and my right arm was useless. I rolled onto my side and looked for the amulet. There it was, glowing with its soft light, about twenty feet away. So far, no one had noticed it. I flopped onto my stomach and crawled on my belly across the cold concrete floor. It was slow going; I couldn’t use my right arm at all.
Difethwr growled. Flames hit the floor two inches in front of my face, blocking my way.
“Let her be,” said Baldwin. “Come over here and assist me. She won’t get far.”
He was right; I didn’t get far. Just far enough to reach the fallen pendant. Checking over my shoulder to make sure the others weren’t paying attention, I reached out and grabbed it with my left hand, the hand that was still mine. The right, marked arm lay heavy and useless like a dead tree trunk.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Baldwin sounded amused. Hands grasped my ankles and dragged me backward. The floor’s grit scraped my naked skin. I clutched the glowing stone in my hand, trying to keep it hidden, hoping the witches could hear us. Maybe they’d send help. But what kind of help could stand against the Destroyer? That was supposed to be my job.
Baldwin dumped me near the second altar.
“Give it up, Baldwin,” I said. “There’s no way you can blast a hole in the shield from an abandoned building in the New Combat Zone.”
“Stupid. Location makes no difference. But your blood will. Shapeshifter blood, mixed with the Blood of an Evil Man, will shatter that damn shield beyond repair.” He laughed and turned back to his preparations.
Clarinda stepped over me to place lighted candles on the altar.
“Clarinda,” I said. “Why are you doing this? You’re a witch. You took a vow to do no harm.”
She stepped over me again and didn’t answer. But she glanced at me with pain-filled eyes.
“My servant Clarinda is not permitted to speak,” Baldwin said. “She renounced her vow and bent her will to mine after she’d seen a small demonstration of what a Hellion can do. Her uncle, it was. I believe he was a client of yours.”
I stared at him. “Are you talking about George Funderburk?”
“Funderburk. Yes, that was the name. She’d created a charm to protect him, but obviously it did no good. When I explained that her child would be next if she refused to serve me, she gladly agreed. You see, I could create a spell to neutralize a single charm, but the shield was too powerful. I needed assistance. Clarinda’s has proved adequate.”
“So you sent the Destroyer after Frank, too. It wasn’t coming after me.”
“Not then, no. But it was delighted to find you there. As was I. I hoped I could deepen my knowledge of demonology through you, but you had nothing to teach me. I was already far advanced beyond your primitive skills.” He made a dis missive gesture and turned away.
I had to keep him talking. Even if the witches couldn’t help me, at least people would know what had happened here.
“What changed you, Baldwin? You wanted to be governor of Massachusetts—and now you’re bent on destroying Boston.”
“You’re right. At first I did want to be governor. I made ridding the state of monsters my issue. That weakling Sugden, with his zombie daughter, would never get tough on paranormals. So to win I had to increase people’s fear of the monsters. I summoned Difethwr, bound the Hellion to my will. My plan was to send an army of Harpies to disrupt the Halloween parade. With that kind of terror three days before the election, how could I lose?”
Exactly what has happening out there right now. “But that wasn’t enough for you, was it?”
“Governor.” His lip curled with disdain. “Who cares about being governor? That’s not power. Real power, as my servant Difethwr helped me to see, has nothing to do with humans and their puny institutions. Real power is irresistible. Real power crushes whatever opposes it, whatever it wishes to destroy. Binding Difethwr has given me a taste of
He scooped me up as though I were a child and dumped me onto the makeshift altar. The amulet fell from my hand. Baldwin saw it and laughed. He held me flat on the altar. I struggled and kicked, but I hadn’t recovered my full strength. I did land one good kick in Baldwin’s stomach. He gasped and doubled over. I slammed him in the forehead with another kick.
He staggered back, but my bare foot hadn’t done any real damage. Where were my stiletto-heeled boots when I needed them? I jumped off the table and ran for the door.
“Difethwr, you fool, stop her,” Baldwin wheezed. I’d winded him, but the Hellion still heard the command. It appeared in front of me, its teeth bared, its eyes simmering with flame. Slime dripped from its warty blue skin. It reached for me, and I backed up, my right arm throbbing with fiery pain. Difethwr advanced, laughing, its eye- flames inches from my skin. It forced me back, until I bumped into the altar table behind me.
“Bind her,” Baldwin said. “She’s wasted too much time already.”
Difethwr reached for me. Flames sparked from its fingertips, sheets of fire shimmered along its skin. I felt the heat approach, smelled sulfur and charred flesh. “No!” I screamed. I couldn’t let it touch me. I couldn’t. Still it came closer, reaching. I leaned back over the table until I was half lying on it again. I was trapped. Difethwr reached out to touch my right arm, which lay unmoving, obedient, awaiting the Hellion’s will.
The Hellion touched me. It touched my defenseless arm, and the mark exploded with new pain. The demon essence, in contact with its source, burned through my arm in an enormous surge of power, like a never-ending lightning strike. I screamed and screamed.
Difethwr bellowed, its own voice rising into a howl of pain. It tried to pull back its hand, but it couldn’t. It was locked onto my flesh, onto the demon mark, as though welded there.
Baldwin appeared, furious. “Difethwr, what in hell are you—?”
Words poured forth from me in a torrent. I didn’t know where they came from; I barely recognized my own voice:
“This Hellion is mine! I have the greater claim; our marks are upon each other. I repudiate your mastery, human, and bind Difethwr to me.” A sound like a thunderclap shook the building, as furnace-fierce heat blasted through the room. Difethwr reeled backward, its hand free, and for a moment everything froze.
There was no sound, not even a whisper of wind through the broken windows.
The first thing to penetrate the silence was Difethwr’s laugh, a low rumble that rose in pitch and strength until it sounded like a roomful of damned souls howling. Baldwin’s mouth dropped open. Fear glittered in his eyes. Difethwr moved toward him, each footstep shaking the ground. Blue and yellow flames shot from its eyes, its mouth. Its entire body blazed with fire.
“No! Stop! I command you!” screamed Baldwin. He commanded nothing now. The Hellion advanced. Baldwin turned and tried to run, but he tripped on his long black robe and fell hard, facedown. The flames of the Destroyer singed the hem of the garment. Baldwin whimpered in terror.
“Stop, Hellion!” I called.
Difethwr jerked, then stood still, as though some hand had yanked an invisible leash. It turned, slowly, and glared at me with bottomless hatred. It gnashed its teeth and made slashing motions with its claws. Its eye-flames shot toward me, but extinguished before they came near.
I climbed down from the altar and stood as tall as I could. I pointed at the demon; it cringed and wailed and howled. The Hellion’s flames flared out in all directions. Except mine.
“Difethwr,” I said, the words ringing clearly, “I banish thee back to the Hell whence thou came.”
The Hellion shuddered. It contorted its body, bending its spine and twisting its limbs, and moaned in pain. “We cannot go,” it whimpered. “The shield holds us in.”
I picked up the amulet from the floor and held it to my mouth like a microphone. “Now!” I shouted. “Open the shield!”
Nothing happened. Ten seconds, Roxana had said, but I couldn’t count. There was no time in this moment— how can you pick ten seconds out of eternity? Difethwr moaned and writhed, and its moaning and writhing were eternal, the fate of the damned.
