Chapter 38 Aurelie #2
“I hardly think this is the time for one of your experiments,” he hissed, but he followed her as she let them into Easton
Hall.
“It’s not for an experiment,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “I need my Helping Hand. I have an idea, and you’re just
going to have to trust me.”
Before she could go, Des stayed her with his hands on her shoulders. “What is it?” She looked up at him, at the sorrow and
pain in his eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Aurelie.”
Perhaps she should be angry with him for betraying her, but then, she had done far worse. She had destroyed the life he worked so hard for. “I’m the one who should be apologizing. I’m so sorry, Des. I’ve done nothing but cause you trouble since the moment you met me.”
He pulled her against him, so tight it hurt, but it was a reassuring hurt, the kind that meant they were still very much alive.
“Turns out I like trouble,” he said, resting his chin atop her head.
“I have to make this right, Des. I have to send the demon back and destroy the portal forever.”
He squeezed her tighter. “And then we’ll go find that cottage in the country and start our new life together. We could be
happy, Aurelie.”
Her heart hurt at his words, because as badly as she wanted to believe them, she couldn’t. People like her, criminals like her, didn’t get happy endings. But she nodded, and because she knew it was what he needed to hear, said, “I know we
could, Des.”
When they emerged from Easton Hall with their materials, the campus was deceptively quiet. Perhaps Aurelie had been too hasty
and they should have waited to hear Commander Yew’s plan. “Maybe it’s already de—”
The demon landed with an earth-shuddering thud directly in front of them.
Aurelie screamed. Had it been on the roof? Could this thing fly? If so, they were doomed. They were caught on the steps. If
they retreated to Easton Hall, they’d be as good as abandoning the city.
“What do we do?” Des asked, squeezing her hand so tightly she could feel her bones grinding together.
They braced themselves, but the demon was watching them, its head cocked in an almost curious way, and Aurelie wondered for a split second if it was hoping to communicate with her.
She was in no mood to talk to this demon.
“We’re going to have to split up, Des. I don’t think it will kill me.”
“You don’t think?”
“I’m going to lure it away from here. Go to Kobal, see if you can set it free. Then meet me at the tower.”
“Aurelie . . .”
She turned her face toward him. “Please, Des.”
She could see he was at war with himself, but finally, he nodded once. “All right.”
Aurelie squeezed his hand one last time and then slowly moved down the first step. The demon didn’t move. She took another,
then another, until she was at the bottom of the stairs. The demon’s eyes were fixed on her. In her peripheral vision she
could see Des moving swiftly down the steps along the left side of the building. Aurelie walked right, away from the cemetery
and the grotto. Skirting the edge of the courtyard, the demon followed her, but it kept the same distance between them.
Finally, she had to turn her back on the demon in order to make it to the tower. She was truly alone with it, and all she
could do was take calm, measured steps, afraid if she sprinted the demon would chase her down and rip her head off as it had
the guard’s.
When she reached the clock tower, she looked back and gasped. The other Iron Guards were trying to engage the demon, which
was still focused on Aurelie.
“Leave it!” she screamed, but they ignored her, instead darting forward and back, hoping to catch it with an iron blade while it was distracted. When one finally managed to slice across its heel, the demon roared and turned on the woman, tearing her in half with its massive fists.
Aurelie felt bile rising in her throat, did her best to choke it down. At least the demon was focused on her again. She crawled
through the jagged hole it had left in the side of the building, praying it would continue to follow her.
Everard’s body was where they’d left it, illuminated by the soft glow from the portal, which fortunately hadn’t released anything
else, though she could make out dark shapes in the distance. Perhaps they needed the gatekeeper’s permission to enter, or
perhaps they were just biding their time.
She stooped next to Everard and held her hand over his mouth to check if he was breathing. She wasn’t sure if she was relieved
or disgusted when she felt a puff of air.
A commotion from outside spurred her into action. Fortunately, they’d stashed bags of salt here as a precaution, and Aurelie
tore a hole in one with her teeth as she walked around the portal, creating an open circle of salt. She could only pray it
would be enough to hold the demon until she could enact her plan.
Aurelie startled when she heard footsteps on the stairs behind her. Des lumbered into the room, Kobal limp in his arms. He
dropped the creature on the floor next to Everard.
“Where’s the gatekeeper?” she asked, referring to the massive demon.
“It’s right behind me,” he panted, taking her by the arm. “What’s the rest of your plan, Aurelie?”
“Lure it into the circle, leap out, and inscribe the banishment rune on the demon’s skin with the Helping Hand.”
Des stared at her blankly for a moment. “That’s ridiculous.”
Aurelie nodded curtly. “Why, thank you.”
“How do you know it will work?”
“That’s what Kobal is for.” She approached it cautiously, fairly certain it was too weak to hurt her but not sure enough to
risk death. She poked it with the Helping Hand, moving a tuft of fur aside and smiling when she saw the faintly glowing runes
on its skin. She had been right.
Now she needed to recall the rune for banishment.
She thought it was something like an upside-down U with a slash through it, but did the slash go left to right or right to left? It was also the rune for everlasting sleep—likely
a euphemism for death—and destruction.
As if on cue, the demon roared again, closer this time.
“Aurelie,” Des urged.
She closed her eyes, steeling herself. She was just going to have to trust her instincts. Using the chalk, she drew an extremely
crude rune on the demon’s skin, and waited.
Just when she was about to give up hope, the runes pulsed in time with the portal.
“It’s working,” Des breathed.
Before either of them could say another word, Kobal slid across the floor with horrifying speed, disappearing into the maw
of the portal.
“It actually fucking worked,” Des said. “You are a genius.”
Aurelie wiped a bead of sweat from her brow and nodded. “All right, it’s time to get the gatekeeper.”
“Let me be the bait,” Des said, taking her shoulders. “It’s the very least I can do.”
“No. You’re much faster than me, and it doesn’t seem to want to harm me. I need you to close off the circle and contain the
demon. And I need your sword at the ready, should it break free.”
He sighed but nodded. “All right.”
Aurelie withdrew her dagger from her waist and hurried to the door, listening. “It’s coming,” she said. “Get—”
Before she could finish, the demon burst into the room, and Aurelie barely leapt back in time to avoid being crushed. The
creature released an ear-splitting shriek, its breath fetid and foul as it moved toward her. It took all her strength to remain
standing, her fear was so great, but she backed toward the portal slowly.
For a moment, the demon merely watched her, its strange fascination with her once more apparent. Or perhaps it sensed this
was a trap. It scented the air, turning its massive head from side to side, clocking Des and Everard but making no moves forward.
Unlike Aurelie’s invention demons, it seemed self-possessed enough not to leap on its nearest food source. Its size was even
more alarming after it fed, and she wasn’t certain it would even fit through the portal now.
It took one step toward her, but Aurelie knew it wouldn’t follow her into the salt circle without a little more temptation.
Quickly, she drew the blade across her hand, eliciting a sharp inhale from Des. Fortunately, he remained in place, poised
to complete the circle.
The blood was enough. The demon rushed toward her so fast she hardly had time to leap out of its path before its foot landed where she’d been standing only seconds ago. “Now!” she screamed, but Des was already on it, spilling the salt in an unbroken arc, completing the circle.
As soon as the demon realized what they’d done, it threw its head back and released another roar.
Aurelie picked up the Helping Hand. The demon was so large it took up most of the circle, which was fortunate, because it
couldn’t move away from her as she began to reach toward it.
It bellowed as the chalk touched its skin, turning toward Aurelie and bringing its face so close to the edge of the circle
she was sure it wasn’t going to hold.
“Over here!” Des ran to the other side of the circle, leaping about, trying to draw the demon’s attention. But he, too, realized
they needed a better lure. He cut his hand on his blade and squeezed his fist, dripping blood onto the ground just outside
the circle.
Aurelie had to blink away her tears of sheer terror to complete the rune. It was as crude and childlike as all her other attempts,
but as she drew the final slash, the portal began to glow again in earnest. Des joined Aurelie, pulling her against him, just
as the demon began to shriek. Its muscles strained as it scrabbled for purchase, but there was nothing to hold on to save
for the portal itself.
Inch by inch, the demon was dragged backward toward the vortex, roaring in fury as it realized it was being sent back to the
hellscape on the other side. Aurelie was about to yell in triumph when she felt something heavy against the back of her head,
and then everything was blackness.