Ashvial’s head appeared at the top of the stairs, and I fired the Raider three times. One of the bullets managed to graze him along the side of his head, and he roared. He launched himself toward me, flying through the air in a leap no human could possibly make. I fired again and again as I scrambled away from him, one of the bullets hitting him in the shoulder.
I managed to duck away when he landed, although he knocked me down with a swipe of his arm. I rolled and came up to my knees, aiming the Raider at him and hoping I still had bullets in the gun.
He came to his feet and roared at me again. Black demon blood poured from his head and shoulder.
And then a golden arrowhead emerged from his mouth like a strange tongue, and he froze in place, swaying slightly. He turned his head, and I saw the fletching end of an arrow sticking out of the back of his head. Beyond him, about thirty feet across the room, my mother stood, calmly knocking another arrow to her elven bow.
Ashvial began to shimmer, and then melt, and then he was gone. The elven arrow lay on the floor where he had been.
“How?”
She gave me a sad smile. “Kirsten called me. You really should know better than to go into this kind of situation alone. Are you all right?”
“I think so. I’m probably going to be really sore tomorrow.”
“I think you’re right. Did you find the girl?”
“Yeah, she’s downstairs.”
“Do you need my help to retrieve her? Or should I stay here in case any of his minions come down?”
I took a deep breath and took a careful inventory of all my appendages. Everything hurt, but it didn’t feel like anything was broken. “I’ll go get her.”
“Good. My car is outside.”
Chapter 54
“Cracked ribs, torn cartilage where your ribs meet your sternum, probably a concussion, and then there’s the bruising. Otherwise, you seem to be okay. Drink this.” Kirsten’s assessment was very businesslike, but her first exclamation when I took my clothes off was, “Oh, dear Goddess.”
I drank the potion she handed me and clenched my jaw as she wrapped my ribs. They really didn’t hurt unless I moved, whereas the bruising that covered about ninety percent of my body hurt when she touched me.
The worst part was the expression of worry and disappointment on my mother’s face while she stood watching over us. I knew the worst pain was yet to come—the pain when she cast an elven healing spell after Kirsten finished her ministrations. I’d suffered through such spells in the past, and while I always felt much better afterward, the magik flowing through my body to stimulate healing was not for the faint of heart.
When Kirsten finished, she gathered up her potions and salves, leftover bandages, and tools, and stepped aside. “She’s all yours, Amelie.”
Mom approached me, placed one hand on my head and the other hand on my ribs, and a rune appeared in the air between us. The rune sank into me with a blinding flash of pain that stole my vision and my breath. I always imagined that’s what it would feel like to be dropped into a volcano, but it only lasted for a few seconds.
“There,” Mom said. “Take it easy for about a week, if you can manage to stretch your attention span that long.”
“How’s Sarah doing?” I asked.
Kirsten answered me. “She’s in rough shape. Not physically, but she’s going to need extensive therapy. Between the mages and the demon, they were conditioning her to be a play toy. Stimulate feelings, sensations, and emotions in her, and then receive the feedback amplified. They rewarded her for pleasing them, either with her favorite foods, drugs, or by cessation of whatever they were doing to her. Pretty sick.”
“What about the other girls, the ones Hiroku tried to take with him?”
“They’re also empathic projectors, though not as strong as Sarah. They’ll need lengthy therapy as well. Deputy Commissioner Whittaker said that they’ve found the girls’ families.”
Mom had taken me and Sarah to Findlay House after she retrieved us from Lucifer’s Lair. We turned the girl over to my grandmother, and then Mom and Kirsten had taken me to my room, stripped and bathed me, and doctored me.
“Okay,” Kirsten said, “to bed with you, and that potion should keep you there until sometime tomorrow.”
Considering that I hadn’t slept in more than twenty-four hours, I thought she was probably right.
When I woke up mid-morning the following day, I felt a lot better. It didn’t even hurt too much to get out of bed. Marjorie must have been hovering, because she appeared with my breakfast as soon as I came out of the bathroom, and Kirsten showed up less than five minutes later.
“How are you feeling?” my roomie asked.
“Approaching human.”
“Just take it easy for a while.”
After breakfast, I put on a loose summer dress—a totally different look than my normal jeans and leather, but it didn’t press against my bruises—and went to find my grandmother.
“Come in,” she said with a bright smile when I tracked her down in her office.
“I was hoping you might have some time,” I said. “Catch me up on what’s going on.”
“Well, the Benning girl is still here. Amalie cast a spell on her, and she’s been sleeping. Courtney and her family are here also. They’re in the west wing under heavy guard, and we’re calling it protective custody.”
“What about Hiroku?”
“He’s in hospital, also under heavy guard. Your Uncle George and Frank Novak have sent a message to Binjiro and are awaiting an answer.”
“So, everything is cleaned up and we can get back to normal,” I said.
Olivia laughed. “Well, there is the minor matter of a couple of thousand demons laying siege to Annapolis, the question of who—or maybe I should say what—is going to fill the power vacuum in the Mid-Atlantic with Ashvial dead, what reactions we’ll get from Alan Moncrieff and Akiyama Benjiro, and
