Chapter 33
Analise’s heart was in her mouth as she and Lira hurried to Jem’s side. She knelt and touched her fingers to Jem’s throat. He was alive, his pulse sluggish, but he’d hit that tree so hard Analise wasn’t sure if he was bleeding internally or not.
‘He’ll be okay,’ she whispered, and Lira’s shoulders sagged with relief. It was the first time Analise had ever seen Lira shaken by anything. She swallowed as another realisation slammed into her.
With Jem unconscious and Tobias wounded, that left Ezra facing a demon—alone.
It might be small, trapped within the body of a child, but it was powerful and deadly.
Analise had seen Ezra in the ring during training, but she’d never seen him fight.
The demon was fast, but so was Ezra, and Analise realised that whatever he’d been trying to teach her to do was nothing.
Crouched on the ground with Lira, she tried to follow what was happening, but it was so quick.
His blades sliced at the demon’s flesh—the Order’s daggers were silver-coated, and the demon’s skin burnt where Ezra cut into it.
Analise felt a moment of pity for the child trapped inside that creature, even as it swung those sharp talons at Ezra, who managed to dance out of the way.
He flipped the daggers, closing his palm around the hilts as he curled his hands into fists, the silver-edged blades protruding like a finger.
Ezra laid a series of jabs on the demon’s ribs.
The creature howled and reached for him; he slipped away, charging back without giving the demon a chance to work out what to do next.
Fighting a supernatural entity in a graveyard was not the same as taking centre stage in a boxing ring.
The ground was uneven, dirt and shattered timber spread around beneath Ezra’s feet.
Watching the demon, he failed to see what was in front of him.
His boot caught the edge of a gravestone and he stumbled.
It was a small mistake, but big enough. The demon pounced, closing both arms around him in the parody of a sickening embrace.
Dread filled Analise’s chest. Ezra was about to die, unless she did something. Her blood roared as her magic gathered strength. She wasn’t sure what it wanted her to do, what she could do at this moment, but it called to her and she knew she had to move.
Analise grit her teeth as the demon’s claws punctured Ezra’s back. The creature was shorter than he was, but stronger. It would rip him open like he was a piece of fruit. Analise stood. Lira jumped up and tried to step in front of her.
‘Stay with Jem,’ Analise ordered, pushing her friend back.
Her voice sounded strange, disjointed and lower than usual, like it wasn’t truly hers.
There were voices in her head, powerful and rousing.
Women, Analise realised. They were women, coming to her in layers of sound, an echo that rose and fell and built again.
Analise stepped forward, urged on by those voices. Ezra had managed to free himself, but as he turned to grab his blades from where they had fallen, the demon lunged for him again, claws piercing his chest as it pulled him backwards.
At the sound of Ezra's cry, without thought or hesitation, Analise unleashed her magic.
Death raced across the earth, hungry and more powerful than she’d felt it before. It rushed towards Ezra and the demon and, for a moment, Analise thought she’d made a dreadful mistake. But her magic bypassed Ezra and plunged like knives into the demon.
Its mouth opened in a silent scream as death ripped through that inhuman body, racing through veins and blood until it found the heart. The sinewy arms slackened and Ezra, gasping, was able to slip free. He scooped his blades from the ground, turning to Analise.
‘Stop,’ he ordered. ‘I’ve got it, Analise.’
She couldn’t respond even if she wanted to, caught in the grip of her magic.
Analise was the hand of death, and she smiled as her power began to pull life from the demon’s body.
It writhed and fought her, unnatural life and death locked in their eternal battle.
Analise’s feet moved of their own accord, drawing her closer to the creature a heartbeat away from its end.
She was vaguely aware of Ezra shouting at her, but his voice was muffled, like she was underwater.
All she could hear was a dying heartbeat and those voices crooning in her ear.
Somewhere in the back of Analise’s mind was the awareness that she wasn’t even touching the demon.
She took another step forward, bringing her within arm's reach of those wicked claws, close enough that she could see her reflection in those liquid eyes.
It swiped a claw at her, but she dodged out of the way as her magic tightened its grip and the corners of her vision went dark.
Before her death magic could claim the creature, there was a flash of silver in the darkness as Ezra cut its throat.
Analise dropped to her hands and knees as her magic was thrown back into her. Ezra crouched before her and dropped his blades. ‘Analise? Look at me.’
She lifted her head. There was blood on his cheek, but she wasn’t sure who it belonged to. Magic was swimming through her, dark and dangerous, and as Ezra went to touch her, she recoiled.
‘Don’t,’ she warned sharply.
He let his hand drop, doing nothing to hide the hurt on his face.
‘My magic …’ she mumbled. ‘If you touch me, it might kill you.’
He stared at her, amazed. ‘I might risk it. You saved my life.’
‘Don’t hold it against me,’ she managed. He laughed, then sobered as he looked around. Lira was bent over Jem again, Tobias at her side, clutching his injured shoulder, worry stamped across his face.
‘Can I touch you now?’ Ezra asked.
‘You tell me,’ she whispered, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. Her breathing was shaky, vision blurred and as she tucked her face into his neck, the warmth of his skin, the life she could feel, exploded inside her.
She felt safe, protected, in his arms, as if he was the one who saved her.
Analise could smell the rusty, metallic scent of blood, and pulled away so she could touch Ezra’s chest gently; he sucked in a pained breath. ‘You’re bleeding.’
‘I’m alright.’
Lira called out. ‘Ez, we need your help with Jem.’
Ezra and Analise staggered upright. The dead demon lay a few feet away, a pile of bones and skin.
Between them, Lira and Ezra hauled Jem to his feet, Tobias watching helplessly.
Jem was bleeding and his breathing was ragged, but he was conscious.
Analise ordered him to put pressure on his wound, then dropped her eyes to Ezra’s chest.
‘I’m alright,’ he said again. ‘Let’s get Jem back to the club.’
Lira nodded. ‘We can’t leave the demon there for anyone to find.
We need to burn it.’ She directed Analise to the pocket of Jem’s coat, where a vial of liquid fire was hidden.
‘Break the seal and tip it on it, then get out of the way,’ Lira directed, face strained as she supported her brother’s weight.
With a piece of alchemist's magic in her hands, Analise approached the demon. There was a strange ringing in her ears as she stared at it. This was a human being once, a child, a girl with dreams and ambitions who wanted a better life for herself. That was what she’d asked for.
Analise had heard her voice in her head, telling her about the man in white who found her crying in the street one day after her father lost his job at the factory.
The man in white had offered her anything, and the girl asked for her father to find another job.
He had, instantly, one that paid better, one that allowed them to move from their Credges hovel to a nice house where the girl had her own bedroom.
In return, the Devil told her that life deserved life. He asked the child to murder her pet. At the time, the girl didn’t have a pet, but when fortunes turned, her father brought home a fluffy black kitten with bright, blue eyes …
Analise broke the seal on the vial and, seconds later, flames engulfed the dead demon with the soul of a child trapped inside it. She watched it burn for a moment, then wiped her face and returned to the others. There was blood on her palm—Ezra’s, she realised.
Tobias, holding his shoulder, was looking at her strangely. ‘How did you do that? Use your magic on it without touching it?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe it was because I’d connected to her ghost. Maybe it was because she wasn’t long dead … I have no idea.’ There was nothing in Blackwood’s book about this.
It was an agonisingly slow walk back to the Canem Club. Tobias insisted on helping Jem, so he and Ezra took one side each, Tobias grimacing under the strain of his injury. Lira walked ahead with her blades out, her face pale but alert.
‘I’m so sorry, Ezra,’ she kept saying. ‘I should have helped, but Jem … I’m sorry.’
‘I’m fine, Lira,’ he said each time, and she’d shake her head and repeat the words after a minute or two. Analise walked on Ezra’s other side, making them stop occasionally so she could check Jem’s pulse. He was dazed, but he managed to stay awake.
Maddog was waiting for them at the club, Charles with him. The gangster’s face paled when he saw his nephew being supported by two bleeding men. Analise heard Lira telling him what happened as she hurried to the kitchen for water, while Charles found their medical supplies.
Charles was examining Jem’s head. ‘You need to stay here,’ the alchemist said firmly.
‘You have a huge lump on the back of your head and probably a concussion.’ He left Jem mumbling to himself, Lira watching over him, and turned his attention to Tobias.
Maddog cut Tobias’ shirt away from his body.
Three deep, nasty scratches worked their way over his shoulder and down his chest.
‘Hey, I’d much rather you look at my chest, thanks,’ Ezra said. Analise chuckled, dragging a chair close to him.
‘Can you get your shirt off or do I need to cut it free?’ she asked, dipping a cloth in the basin of water.
‘Could you pull it off with your teeth? I think I’d like that,’ Ezra replied, but slowly removed his shirt. The scratches on his chest weren’t as deep as the ones Tobias had, so Analise cleaned and dressed them as best she could.
‘None of you are going anywhere tonight,’ Maddog said, running his hand over his hair. He looked tired and deeply worried. ‘Lira, you can have the lounge in my office. Jem and Tobias—’
‘Can have my bed,’ Ezra said. Jem went to argue, but Ezra shook his head.
Lira trudged off to Maddog’s office, while Jem and Tobias made their way slowly up the stairs, Maddog on their heels.
Analise followed Ezra, yawning. She was exhausted all of a sudden, the excitement, the fear, starting to wear off.
The voices that spoke in her head at the cemetery had been silent since she’d killed the demon.
Ezra went in to help Jem and Tobias get settled.
‘You killed a demon without touching it,’ Maddog said, making Analise jump. She hadn’t realised he was standing beside her. ‘How?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said truthfully. She didn’t tell him about the voices. She wasn’t sure if she’d imagined them. He gave her a long look, then nodded and left them to it, disappearing back downstairs. When Ezra closed the door and was back in the hall, Analise gave him a smile.
‘Where will you sleep?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’m not tired. I feel like I do after a night in the ring. High, almost.’
‘You should rest.’
His lips curled. ‘I’ve lost my bed in an act of charity.’
She snorted. ‘An act of charity or an act of wishful thinking?’
‘I think I’m offended,’ Ezra replied with mock hurt.
Analise reached for his hand. ‘Come on then. We can’t let saintly deeds go unpunished.’
‘I’m wounded, remember?’
‘You’ll live.’