the world anymore, she said. Now leave, you’re bleeding all over my floor.
Sure enough, a puddle of clear rain water was spreading out around him. The Lord of Storms squeezed his eyes closed, willing it to stop, but he wasn’t a human, wasn’t the Heart of War, blessed with the Lady’s power. He was a storm, a common spirit, and his will could do no miracles. Bit by bit, he was draining away, but he had a little strength yet.
His hand began to creep across the white floor. His fingers, now little more than tendrils of cloud, pulled themselves forward until they reached the Lady’s bare white foot. With a final burst of strength, he grabbed her ankle and squeezed with everything he had left.
“I—” he gasped. “Will not. Let you. Betray. Your duty.”
She scowled down at him, kicking his hand away.
It is the world who betrayed me, she said. Get out.
With that, she raised her foot and brought it down hard on his chest. Pain greater than any he’d ever felt exploded at the impact, and then he was falling. The last thing the Lord of Storms saw was Benehime’s back as she turned away, fading into white as her world closed to him forever.
You’d better wake up, little girl.
Nico flinched in her sleep, her abused body going stiff with panic.
Why are you here? she thought frantically. The demon was buried. She’d buried him herself. He wasn’t supposed to be able to talk anymore.
I’m always here, idiot, the demon sighed. I’m part of you. And as part of you, I’m telling you that you need to wake up. Right now.
Nico’s eyes popped open.
She saw nothing but storm. A great primordial storm that spread out as far as she could see. The clouds were as black as char except for where the blue-white lightning shot between them, lighting them up in purple flashes. But right through the middle of the storm, cutting across the black expanse like a razor, was an unnaturally straight strip of blue sky. Clouds rolled at the edges of the divide, cracking and rumbling, but they never moved forward. They could not close it, and Nico could not understand why.
Use your eyes, stupid girl.
Nico blinked in surprise. Suddenly her mundane, human vision reasserted itself, layering over the spirit sight, but what she saw there was no less horrible. The Lord of Storms filled her vision. He was nearly on top of her, his black form towering over her head. He was injured, his chest rent in a great gap lined with the same black clouds she’d seen before, nearly splitting his chest in two. But the wound didn’t seem to be slowing him down as he slammed his hand into her chest.
Nico had put her body through a great deal in the years she remembered, but she had never, never felt pain like this. The Lord of Storms’ hand dug into her flesh, burrowing through her like it was searching. And then, just when she was sure the pain couldn’t get any worse, his fingers closed on the hard, stiff mass in her chest she’d never actually felt before he touched it.
The panicked pain that shot through her at the contact would have knocked her to the ground had his hand not been inside her, holding her upright, but Nico couldn’t think of that. She couldn’t think of anything but the feel of his fingers wrapping around the thing inside her. Her seed. He was holding her seed.
I’d help if I could, but it seems a little late now. The demon’s voice was almost wistful as it floated through her pain-washed mind. I would like to say I’m sorry, though.
That was almost enough to shock her out of what was happening in her chest. The demon never apologized.
I’m sorry I didn’t kill you when I had the chance, he continued. For all our differences, you are still my daughter, and I owed you that kindness. Trust me, you’ll hate me for it later.
Nico found that very hard to believe.
Believe it. You’re going to miss me when I’m gone, darling, and I’m not talking about wishing you’d taken me up on any of my hundreds of generous offers.
Why would I ever miss you? Nico thought, gritting her teeth in the hope that she could somehow keep herself from passing out.
Because I’ve been the only thing holding it back. The words were a whisper, but Nico could hear the demon’s smile. Good-bye, daughter.
Nico was about to ask what he meant, but then the Lord of Storms began to pull and the pain drove everything else from her mind. The whole world shrank down to the hand in her chest, and then, with a ripping jerk, the Lord of Storms pulled the seed free.
It was like he’d torn out her core. Nico flopped forward, her body spasming against the snow. Her chest was ripped wide open, but that seemed like a minor concern. Without the seed she felt like an empty skin. Even the pain was fading into the distance now, eaten by the yawning emptiness, and it suddenly occurred to her that she was dying. This was death. Normal, human death.
The realization nearly made her weep. She’d never thought she’d be able to just die, to open herself to the emptiness and pass into the mists. But as quickly as it came, her relief morphed into anger. She couldn’t die. Not like this, not after Josef had risked so much to save her so many times. She couldn’t throw away his efforts, his suffering, and take an easy death. Even if she could, she wasn’t ready to give him up. She wasn’t ready to give any of it up. She wanted to live. She was going to live.
Her fingers clenched in the icy ground, slowly at first, and then stronger. She could feel the Heart of War’s spirit dimly nearby, wrapped around another soul she knew as well as her own. Josef was close, and he was furious. So furious that even the Heart’s presence faded beneath his rage. Why? Nico wondered, and then she pushed it aside as unimportant. All that mattered was that she had to get to him. Had to help him.
Slowly, deliberately, she forced her arms to extend. Grabbing the icy rock, Nico pushed herself up inch by burning inch. Finally, she made it to her knees. Only then, when she was firmly anchored, did she let her eyes open again.
Josef was the first thing she saw. He was standing on a ledge with the Heart of War in his hands, screaming in an enormous, wordless, enraged roar. Nico tried to move toward him, but her limbs wouldn’t obey. Weeping with frustration, she focused on her legs, trying to make them cooperate, but the more she fought to move, the more she became aware that she was hungry. Frighteningly hungry. Ravenous. Unbidden, her head snapped back to Josef and the Heart of War. She could see both spirits clearly, see the power coursing through them.
A spike of hunger hit her, slicing through her body with such fury it reduced the pain to a whimper. The Heart of War drew her like a beacon, and the need to devour its power was almost overwhelming. She would devour the swordsman as well, and the cliff he stood on, and the mountain below that. She could eat the snow and winds overhead. Eat everything.
Before she knew what was happening, she was on her feet, stalking toward Josef like a predator on the hunt. The moment she realized what she was doing, Nico slammed herself to the ground. As she buried her head in her hands, she noticed that her sundered chest had stopped bleeding. The wound was still open, but it didn’t hurt much anymore. It was just a black hole in her chest—
Nico stopped cold. Black. Her blood was black. No. The seed was gone. She should be human, a normal girl with red blood and normal hunger, not this all-consuming need. Why? What was happening?
The answer came to her in the demon’s voice, something he’d said to her days ago on the beach at Osera after she’d defeated Den. Rival, he’d called her. A new demon.
Nico clutched her chest with shaking hands. The skin was healing as she watched, the black edges knitting together, and as the wound closed, the hunger rose in her until it was all she knew.
The need to eat was like a madness. It came over her in waves, pushing her will away with careless strength as it strained toward Josef and the Heart. Her mind was emptying until all she could think of was how delicious that power would be, how filling. To hunt, to eat, these things were her right. These things were her nature. The only truth that mattered.
Just before the need to devour took her over completely, Nico slammed her eyes shut. New demon or old, it didn’t matter. Nothing had changed. She would beat the hunger, beat anything that stood in her way. This was still her body, her soul, and she was still master of herself. The only master she would ever serve.
When Nico opened her eyes again, she was standing in her field where she’d first buried the demon. As it had been in Osera, her inner world was dark, the hills hidden by a pitch-black, moonless night, but the darkness
