Chapter Ten
CHAPTER TEN
Nox
It felt like something sharp and hot was piercing so deep into my ears that it was penetrating my brain by the time I slid off of Daemon’s back.
Even with my hands pressed to my ears, it didn’t ease the pain.
But I was so distracted by what I was seeing that my hands fell away.
Daemon’s gaze slid to mine, brows raised, eyes round. “Is that…”
“Nemesis,” I said, my voice barely audible.
I’d been looking for her so long that I was starting to think it was a fool’s errand, that I was just so committed to it because it gave me the illusion of power in a powerless time.
But there she was.
Even more beautiful than any of the writings had claimed.
Long black hair, a sharp, angular, gorgeous face, and dark eyes. Then there were her wings, soft, supple white with black-tinged edges.
Her scales and dagger were on the ground of the cave, already heavily covered in dirt.
None of that, though, had my heart slamming against my ribcage, had my belly twisting and turning.
Because, yes, she was right there.
Five feet in front of us.
But she was encased in some sort of… glass tunnel filled with an aqua-blue liquid.
“No, don’t,” Daemon said, grabbing my wrist as I raised my hand, wanting to touch the glass.
“Let me go,” I grumbled, watching Nemesis’s eyes slip toward me, expression unreadable. “That’s my sister,” I snapped.
“Let me try,” Daemon said, giving my wrist a squeeze before dropping it.
“Fine.”
His arm lifted.
But the second his fingertip touched the glass, his body was flung away with enough force to send him slamming back against the cave wall.
“Daemon!” I cried, turning and running toward where he was crumpled on the ground. “Daemon?” I called, voice thick even as unwanted tears stung my eyes.
I pushed at his shoulders, forcing him onto his back, then pressing my ear to his chest, listening for a heartbeat, feeling for his breath.
Something.
Anything.
“Don’t be crying over me, shadow girl,” he said, voice small and airless as his hand went to my hip. “Told you I can’t die.”
I lifted up, looking down at him, seeing a dark pool forming around his head.
“You’re bleeding.”
“Been doing a lot of that lately,” he agreed, his pretty eyes looking pained. “Hit my head on a sharp rock,” he told me, fingers digging a little harder into my hip. “Wouldn’t mind a little pain relief, though,” he said, eyes dancing, smile wicked.
“Oh, you’re fine ,” I said, whacking him in the stomach before getting to my feet and offering him my hand.
He hauled himself up, eyes going unfocused for a second. From the blood loss? Concussion? Could demons get concussions?
“You’re just noticing that now?” Daemon asked, turning his face side to side for inspection, eyes bright.
“Could you be serious?” I asked.
“I can certainly try.”
“Was it an electrical charge?” I asked, looking around the glass enclosure.
“It packed too much punch,” Daemon said, shaking his head.
“A spell, maybe?”
“Maybe. I don’t really know enough about magic to say if that’s possible. All I can say was it would kill anyone who wasn’t immortal.”
“Damnit,” I grumbled, looking up at my half-sister, wondering what she was thinking, if she was as furious as I was on her behalf. “Do you think she can hear me?”
“I have no idea. Wouldn’t hurt to talk to her, though.”
“Can you hear me?” I asked, looking up at her, suddenly wondering how much she looked like our mother, how much I might. “I know they did this to you. I’ve been looking for you for so long,” I added, surprised when my voice got thick, and I needed to blink back tears again. “I’m going to get you out of here,” I told her.
I could have sworn I saw a spark in her eyes at that.
“I just… don’t know how,” I admitted. “But I am going to figure it out,” I assured her, looking over at Daemon. “Do you have any ideas?”
Daemon rocked on his heels for a moment.
“I do. But you’re not going to like it.”
“Why?”
“Because it involves leaving here. Both of us leaving here.”
He was right. I didn’t like that. Without him, the gods would turn back to abusing humans. Killing them because they couldn’t withstand the abuse Daemon could.
That said, if we couldn’t free my sister, how many humans would die as the gods continued to wreak havoc on the mortal world? Wars and pettiness; the books were full of their schemes and selfishness. Left unchecked, without the good or neutral gods to balance the antics of the more wicked of them, the world could descend into a dystopian hellscape.
It was horrific to believe any human lives were expendable, that their sacrifice would be acceptable.
But if this was war, the humans against the gods, then there were bound to be casualties in their quest for freedom.
“We can be quick,” Daemon said, sensing my inner battle.
“Where do we need to go? To see your… demon friends?”
“No. They don’t really know anything more than we do. And while there is a witch there, she’s not this sort of powerful,” he said, waving his hand closer to the glass, and I could hear the sizzle of the charge that kept people away and Nemesis contained.
“Where then?”
“A friend of mine. He’s a warlock. A really powerful warlock. If anyone will know what this magic is, and how to get through it, it’s him.”
“How long would it take?”
“Two days?”
Two days.
That could be two human lives, possibly more.
But if it meant we could free Nemesis so she could balance the wickedness of our siblings, it might be worth it.
“There’s no situation in which everyone gets to live,” Daemon said.
That was a harsh truth.
One I needed to hear.
“Okay,” I agreed, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach.
“Do you want to go now, or do you want to stay one more day? Let them get their rocks off with me one more time, then leave?”
“It will take them hours, if not longer, to find a human to replace you once they find you’ve gone missing. We could already be halfway to the warlock’s home.”
“Let’s get moving then.”
“We’re going to go get some help,” I told Nemesis, willing her to hear or understand me. “We’re coming back to get you out.”
I hoped for a nod, a smile. Something. But she just stared back at me.
“Maybe she can’t hear through that goo,” Daemon said, turning around and starting to squat down.
“I can walk.”
“I’m sure you can. But I’m gonna carry you until we’re out of the cave.”
I knew I probably should have objected. I’d already gotten a bit too friendly with the demon. But everything was still hurting, a deep ache in my muscles and bones that throbbed with each step.
Besides, he was warm. And I felt like I was never going to stop feeling cold.
So I climbed on his back, held on tight, and soaked up his warmth. Through the cave, out into the woods, right up until he lowered me down beside my car.
“How about I drive?” he suggested.
“Okay,” I agreed, handing over the keys.
“Can I ask you something?” he said once we were inside and he had the heat blasting for me.
“Sure.”
“Why is your hair full of leaves?”
My hand shot up, feeling through the strands. Sure enough, I came back with dried leaves, tiny twigs, and little brambles.
“I… fell asleep in the woods last night.”
“The woods? Why?”
“I was just going to sleep in my car. I was too tired to drive back to the motel. But… I couldn’t make it.”
“Oh, shadow girl. We have to figure out what’s going on with you.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not,” he said, reaching to close his heat vents, which made more blessed air come out of mine. “How about we swing by that motel of yours, get you a shower, change of clothes, and some food? Then we get moving.”
“We shouldn’t be wasting time.”
“Well, I’m gonna need a few minutes to figure out where we are and how to get to Arick’s place from here.”
“Okay,” I conceded, then gave him directions to the motel, enjoying just sitting there and warming up on the drive.
“This is where you’re staying?” Daemon asked when I unlocked my door.
“Yeah. There’s not a lot of money in trying to save humankind,” I told him. “Since I’m not working right now, I needed to keep expenses low. It gets hot water. Eventually. And the bed doesn’t have any creatures that nip at me in the night. I can’t complain too much.”
Though I did walk right into the bathroom to get said water running, since I knew it was going to take a while for it to heat up.
I chanced a look at myself in the mirror as I passed, my stomach twisting at the woman looking back at me.
I hardly recognized myself.
Not only was I pale and exhausted-looking, but I was starting to get gaunt in the face, my cheekbones hollowing out.
“That vending machine had nothing good,” Daemon declared when I walked back out. “How about I drive back to town while you’re taking a shower, get us something decent to eat, that way we’re not wasting any time?”
Maybe I shouldn’t have trusted him with my car when he could easily just take off with it, leaving me without transportation to take care of the hurt and dying humans, or to find someone to help me with Nemesis. But this was a man who willingly let me chain him each morning, who carried me on his back, who let me nap on him.
For a supposedly ‘evil’ creature, he’d been nothing but good to me.
So I tossed him my keys before gathering some fresh clothes and making my way into the bathroom.
The water was hot enough to scald, turning my skin bright pink. But it still didn’t feel warm enough to chase the chill out of my bones.
Eventually, I climbed out, dried off, wrapped my hair into a French braid to keep it out of the way, then slipped into my clothes. This time, I was careful to add on layers: a long sleeve under a sweatshirt, then a zip-up hoodie, leggings, and two pairs of socks.
It was still just barely enough.
But Daemon was knocking, so I made my way across the room to let him in.
The scent of pizza met my nose, making my belly let out an embarrassingly loud grumble. I couldn’t blame it, though. I hadn’t fed myself in over a day.
“Pizza is always a good idea,” Daemon told me. “Plus, I got coffees,” he said, pulling the tray off the pizza box. “And a bag of road trip snacks. But I left those in the car. Dig in,” he demanded, holding the box out to me.
I didn’t even take one of the flimsy paper plates he held. I just shoved half the slice into my mouth, chewing greedily.
Daemon put the box down on the end of the bed, reaching for his own slice. “I get that you’re on this noble mission, sweetness, but you can’t save anyone if you aren’t at least feeding yourself.”
“It wasn’t intentional,” I insisted, bristling as I reached for another slice. “I literally couldn’t go any further. Believe me, sleeping in the woods wasn’t something I wanted. I honestly can’t believe I lived, considering how cold I’ve been.”
“It’s never been like this before?” he asked.
“You mean before I started using my shadows for sneaking around the estate?”
“Yeah.”
“Um… no. At least, not that I ever noticed. If I had, I probably would have just thought I caught a chill or something like that.”
“And it’s gotten worse the longer you’ve been using your shadows?”
“Yeah.”
“At least we know that’s what it is, I guess. Maybe Arick can help with that.”
“How would a warlock know about my powers?”
“He’s a big reader. Has a whole separate guest house full of books. If anyone would know, it would be him. At least until we are back here, though, you can give your powers a rest. See if that helps.”
I wouldn’t lie—at least not to myself—I was looking forward to a break. That made me feel like a selfish coward, but there was no reasoning with feelings.
Between the two of us, we finished the pie—me eating slightly more than he did.
“Do you want to shower?” I asked, looking at his skin, still caked in dried blood that was now smeared with dirt.
The looks he must have gotten in town. Then again, things were so crazy out there right then; people were probably quickly getting jaded.
“I have nothing to change into. I’ll shower at Arick’s. He’ll have something for me to wear.”
“Okay,” I agreed, taking the coffee he held out for me. “Ready?”
“After you,” he said, holding open the door.
I grabbed my purse, then moved back out into the cold, ignoring the way I immediately started to shiver.
“What’s this?” I asked when I opened the passenger side door to find a big, fluffy blanket sitting there. Along with one of those squishy animals that doubled as a pillow. This one was a green-eyed black cat.
“Passenger princesses get to drink coffee, control the radio, point out cows, and take naps,” he informed me, waving it off.
Meanwhile, I felt those stupid tears in my eyes again.
What could I say? Things had been really freaking hard lately. Being offered something soft—even just literally—was making me emotional.
I cuddled under the blanket but clutched the cat to my chest for a while.
Until, inevitably, the heat from the vents, the layers of clothes, and the blankets, started to make my eyelids heavy.
I put the cat plush up against the window.
And I think I was out cold five seconds later.