Demon from the Dark

second cousin, and she belonged to the exact three castes that Carrow did, with her strength in the warrior caste. Just like me.

Ruby's green eyes blinked open. 'Crow?'

'I'm right here, sweetheart.' When Ruby's tears welled, Carrow felt a pang like a blade in her heart. 'I've got you.'

Ruby's body tensed against hers. Eyes wild, she cried, 'Mommy t-told me not to kill them! B-but when they hurt her, it ... it just happened.' She was beginning to pant, her breaths shallowing.

'Shh, you're all right now. Just breathe easy.' When Ruby got overly excited, she would hyperventilate, even passing out on occasion. 'It's okay, everything's going to be all right,' Carrow lied, rocking her. 'Just breathe.'

'They swung a sword at her neck!' Her chest heaved for air. 'I saw her ... d-die. She's dead—' Ruby went limp once more and her head fell back. Unconscious.

'Ruby! Ah, gods.' Amanda was truly gone? And Ruby's father had been murdered by rogue warlocks before she'd even been born.

Orphan.

The coven didn't usually spell out things like godparents or custody. Immortals not actively at war didn't have to worry much about leaving behind orphans. But if Amanda had gone to battle, she would have expected the closest blood relation in the coven to care for her daughter.

That'd be Carrow, the House hellion. Poor Ruby.

Though Carrow had been treated so callously by her own parents, she would do right by her responsibilities. She stared down at the girl's ashen face with a new recognition, a momentous feeling of a shared future.

Carrow had long had a unique and curious talent—the ability to sense when another had just become a part of her life forever, when their destinies would eventually be intertwined and shared.

In that instant, Carrow became witch plus one.

But she couldn't even get herself out of this shithole, much less a child!

'Action and reaction,' Chase said. 'You get us our target, and the two of you will go free.' Though tension thrummed off him, his voice was monotone, his accent barely perceptible. 'Otherwise, she dies.'

Carrow stiffened. Against Ruby's hair, she murmured, 'I'm going to take you home soon, baby.' She turned to Chase. 'I'll have the use of my powers?'

'Your torque will be deactivated for the mission,' he said.

Not that Carrow would be able to spellcast even without her torque. She needed crowds and laughter for power to fuel her spells. Here she'd been tapped out, as useless as an empty keg.

'You'll depart tomorrow, remaining in Oblivion for six days.' Dixon continued over Carrow's sputtering, 'Tonight I'll assist you in collecting your gear. You'll be allowed a shower, and we'll provide you with a dossier on your target.'

'Nearly a week in hell? How am I even supposed to get to Oblivion?'

Dixon answered, 'Your sorceress cellmate, Melanthe, the Queen of Persuasion, can create a portal.'

That's right. Lanthe could open thresholds to anywhere.

'We'll briefly deactivate her torque—under SWAT supervision. And of course, we'll keep Ruby here to make sure all goes according to our plans.'

There went that idea. 'I want Lanthe and Regin released as well.'

The doctor shook her head. 'Impossible.'

If they truly set Carrow free, then she'd come back for the two of them soon enough. 'I want the Order's word about releasing me and Ruby.'

The woman said, 'You have it.'

'Don't want yours,' Carrow said in a scoffing tone. 'I want his.'

Chase turned to her once more. After a hesitation, he gave a nod.

'Then we have a deal,' Carrow said.

He narrowed his eyes, as if she'd just proven a point. 'Not even a qualm about betraying one of your own species?'

'A demon is not one of my own species,' Carrow snapped. 'You make us sound like animals.'

Without another look at her or the girl in her arms, he strode out of the room, saying in a chilling tone, 'Because that's all you are.'

Chapter 3

'She's not coming back, is she?' Ruby whispered as Carrow held her, rocking her in the bottom bunk. She'd awakened just a couple of hours ago, immediately bursting into tears.

'Amanda's gone to Hekate, sweetheart.'

'Can we bring her back?'

'No. You know that's forbidden.' At times, Carrow forgot the magics stored in Ruby's trembling little form. The girl had exceeded even Mariketa's abilities until Mari had recently come into her powers.

Apparently, the last time Ruby had cast a spell, she'd tortured and killed twenty men.

'Don't go tomorrow, Crow.'

Carrow had explained that she was setting out to hunt a demon. In exchange, these mortals would free Carrow and Ruby. 'I don't want to leave, but I don't really have a choice. Hey, in a way, this is just a mercenary mission. I go out and do some magic, and I get something in return.' The girl would understand an arrangement like this. The witches were mercenaries, taught at an early age to sell their magic. 'And the sorceress will take good care of you.'

From the top bunk, Lanthe gave a feigned pissy exhalation.

Earlier, with a clipped 'Oh, very well,' she'd agreed to look out for Ruby. Carrow suspected Lanthe might actually like kids but kept that fact secret, protecting her street cred as a wicked sorceress.

After all, she was the notorious Queen of Persuasion, a sorceress who could compel others to do whatever she bade them. To be deemed a 'queen' meant that she was the best at her talent in all the Lore.

Though Sorceri and witches shared a common ancestry, many of the Sorceri class belonged to the Pravus, an alliance of evil factions that warred with the Vertas, the relatively good alliance that Carrow affiliated with.

Before allying, loosely, with the Vertas, Lanthe and her sister had fought on the Pravus front line.

Still, Carrow felt a level of trust toward Lanthe. She usually had a good sense about people, and the week she and Lanthe had spent confined together in this cell felt like a lifetime.

They'd played tic-tac-toe in the condensation on the steel walls, gabbed about the hotness known as King Rydstrom, Lanthe's new demon brother-in-law, and commiserated about the man drought they were both presently gasping through.

Carrow had had lovers—more than a couple, less than a handful—and a single night on Bourbon Street could score her another one. But she had her reasons for her current coitus hiatus....

'What will happen when you get us free?' Ruby asked.

How much confidence the girl had in her. 'I'm going to take care of you myself. You'll live with me.' Mental checklist, item eighty: find us some new digs.

Witches with kids didn't get to live at Andoain. Carrow had felt a pang at the thought of giving up her sorority-style life there—and her coveted suite with a private bath—but when she'd looked at Ruby's tearstained little face, she'd easily decided that it didn't matter.

'We'll get a pad near Andoain so you can still go to spell school there. I'll pack lunch'—bag leftover pizza —'for you every morning.'

Lanthe made a sound of disbelief from overhead.

'I will. And when you get old enough, I'm going to teach you all about the Street that is Bourbon.'