Goetia

Warren in as one of them. He had barely known them when the initial group he had met summoned Merihim. Few forgave him the deaths of all those people. Naomi had been the only one to show him any kindness or respect.

Now it looked as if Kelli was more true to him while she was rotting away in one of the rooms of his sanctuary.

Fear ran wild within Warren, like a rabid animal jacked up on amphetamines.

“Get his arm up here,” Cornish ordered.

At least three men struggled to pull Warren’s arm up from his side. He yankedand pulled against them with all the strength that he had. Since the demon hand had been grafted onto his arm, he knew he had become faster and stronger than anything human. At least, faster and stronger than any human he had so far met.

In the end though, he was one man against several. They pulled his arm forward.

“Hold it still,” someone ordered.

Even with his senses ricocheting inside his head, Warren realized they had made a mistake. He almost laughed. Except that he knew they would correct the mistake as soon as they caught it. To make matters worse, they might not catch that mistake until it was too late. He might end up with no hands at all.

“It’s not this hand,” a man said. “This hand is human. Get the other hand.”

The guards struggled to bring Warren’s other arm forward as they took hisother arm back. Warren stopped fighting when he realized that struggling against them also served to break his concentration.

It was hard mastering the panic within him enough to shove it away and allow him to focus on building his energy. He tried to ignore the trapped feeling he had as he lay on the floor with his arm stretched out. He gathered his power and envisioned what he wanted to do.

“Do you only want the hand?” a man asked. “Or do you want part of his armtoo?”

“Just the hand,” Cornish answered as coldly as though he. were ordering a cutof meat from the local butcher.

“Someone pass me that bone saw.”

When there was no time left, as he felt the cold bite of a sharp, serrated blade against his wrist, Warren unleashed the power within. A violent shockwave exploded from Warren’s body and hurled his attackers from him.

They sailed in all directions, many of them yelping at the sudden contact against the floor or walls.

Surprised by how well the attack succeeded, Warren pushed up from the floor and stood swaying. He faced Cornish and pointed the demon’s hand.

Flames poured from Warren’s fingers and streaked for Cornish. The First Seercrossed his hands in front of him. Flames encircled Cornish and filled the room with heat. Still struggling to stay on as feet, Warren tried to peer through the flames but couldn’t see anything. He fully expected nothing to be left of theman but charred bone, and he didn’t know how the other Cabalists were going todeal with that.

But in the next moment, Cornish stepped through the flames. His robes smoldered in several places. Smoke eddied up from his hair and clothing. He patted several embers out and smiled.

“Well, after that, I don’t know if I’ll be needing your demon’s hand ifthat’s all you can manage,” Cornish declared.

It might be different if I weren’t drugged, Warren thought. He summonedhis power again, but it was hard to manage because it kept slipping through his fingers.

Cornish gestured. In the next second, Warren felt as though he had been kicked in the chest by a mule. He left his feet and flew backwards into a group of guards. AD of them went down flailing.

Several of the guards tried to hold on to Warren. He broke their attempts to hold him while he rained blows on exposed faces. Eventually, they let him up.

No longer able to bear the drug in his system, Warren changed tactics. He concentrated on the drug, visualizing it as a liquid in his bloodstream, as a poison that wasn’t part of him. He’d never tried to affect anything in his body.Once he had the image smoothed out, he used power to burn out the poison inside him.

Almost immediately, he began to feel better. His head cleared and he was better to able to focus.

Cornish gestured again, and once more Warren was driven backwards. This time, though, he kept his feet through sheer willpower.

It wasn’t going to do any good, he knew. Ultimately they were going to havewhat they wanted. Cornish gestured again, and Warren rebounded from the wall behind him. His breath left him in an explosive rush. Black spots whirled, flared, and died in his vision.

Panic escalated within him. What he felt now set off the old fear that he’dhad as a child when his stepfather had beaten him and his mother. The medicines and counseling he’d received as a child after he’d caused his stepfather’sdeath—the police investigators had ruled the shooting a suicide, but Warren knewhe’d caused the man to shoot himself—had taught him to wall that fear away. He’dnever been able to rid himself of it.

Now it was back. He didn’t want to be afraid. He didn’t want to be hurt. Andhe didn’t want to die.

Then don’t die, Merihim whispered into his mind. You’re not asvaluable to me dead.

For one hideous moment Warren realized that he wouldn’t be free of thedemon’s control even in death. Merihim could animate his corpse and order him toserve him still further.

As he stared at the Cabalists regrouping to come at him again, Warren’svision cleared. His breath returned as his heart rate slowed to more manageable levels. He felt Merihim’s strengthwithin him.

Your enemies are my enemies, Merihim stated. There’s more to thisencounter than meets the eye.

Warren didn’t worry about that. He wanted out of the meeting alive. He pulledhimself together and stood a little straighter.

The Cabalists noticed the change in his demeanor. A few of them hesitated.

“Give up, you fool,” Cornish ordered. “Accept your fate and I’ll make it aspainless as possible.”

Painless? Anger grew stronger