2. Seir
Chapter 2
Seir
“— f ind you!” I shouted uselessly, hands reaching for a woman that was already gone. The familiar dark walls of my apartment in Hell surrounded me once more, the bright taste of her blood still on my tongue.
It had been a long time since I’d brushed up on summoning, but I did know that breaking the circle would temporarily send a demon back to wherever they’d come from, while leaving the contract open. According to the codex, unless I wanted to be punished, possibly demoted and perhaps even tossed into the wastes, the contract had to be fulfilled. I was obligated to return to where my summoner was, and to remain by her side until she banished me properly.
And that’s exactly what I intended to do. She’d clearly been in trouble. The threat of repercussions for not seeing it through was the least of my concerns—she needed help. Immediately.
Besides, I had several questions, not the least of which had to do with how she’d happened to be in possession of a book that had specific instructions on how to summon demons and why she was chained to a bed.
I muttered the name of the place she’d given me, searching my memories for what it felt like and envisioning her face so I could get back there as quickly as possible. I spun, gathering up my other daggers, belt, and sword. One never knew what they’d need, even during a short time on Earth. After a moment’s thought, I snatched up my money pouch and cloak. With another cursory glance around, I used my sifting ability to take me from my apartment to the set of rooms that housed Hell’s system of portals and gates.
On my way, I stopped at the duty desk. Meg, a petite red shadow demon was behind it.
“Something exciting happening?” she asked, seeing my hurry.
“I was summoned!” Despite the situation, I was pleased to finally experience such a thing.
“I’ll make a note for your unit leader. You’re under Keplar, right? Think you’ll be gone long?”
“I’m not sure. It’s my first time. The situation seems straightforward, but there have already been complications.”
“Understood. Broken circles are pretty common, people tend to get nervous. You’re a long-timer to never have been summoned before, congratulations.” She smiled as she stamped the document and slid it into a tray. The parchment dissolved into ash after a moment. I knew by the time I was done talking to Meg, the note would have already made it to Keplar’s desk. Hell’s magical communications systems had been rapidly evolving, and the new advances had unfortunately left my traveling powers less and less valuable. “Good luck. Be sure to check in once a shift cycle.”
I had no idea if my unit leader would be upset by my absence, but there wasn’t much of anything going on at the moment. I’d much rather be experiencing something new up on Earth than stuck sitting around waiting for a task. He’d never been very motivated to argue the rules with a Prince of Hell, though, so I wasn’t too concerned. Besides, he mentioned often how he appreciated my presence on the team as I never caused a fuss, always followed directives, and took more of the assignments to undesirable locations than anyone else.
“Got it.”
I sifted, arriving at the hall of doors nearly instantly, and chose the portal I thought would put me closest to the town the woman had mentioned. After a quick check that I had everything I needed, I walked through without hesitation, enjoying the way it made my body feel like it was turning inside out and back again before releasing me into the cool darkness of a forest. Being summoned had been more of a sensation of being disassembled altogether. I wasn’t sure yet if I liked it or not.
Time passed differently between the planes of Hell and Earth, and the mere minutes I was gone had stretched longer this side of the gates. Focusing on my memory of her face, and the look of the room she’d called me into, I tried to sift directly, but my magic wasn’t able to connect with only her face as a guide. Undeterred, I started to jog. I made my way through the trees toward a sleepy town that lay in a flat, meadowy area surrounded by forest.
Finding the building I’d been in proved less challenging than I worried it might. As I scanned the buildings around the main city plaza from the edge of the trees, I recognized the shape and latticing of the window in her room. Without stopping and blood primed to fight, I barged through the front door and raced up the stairs, throwing open the first door at the top of the landing.
The room was empty now, the chains the woman had been wearing on her legs open and lying on the floor in the same place she’d drawn the circle with my sigil. There was only one smudge of ashes remaining on the floorboards, though I could still smell the water that had spilled.
I turned and listened, the sound of a muffled scream making the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. I followed the noise back down the narrow stairs to the main hall. The lower floor was far more odiferous than her room; the scent of old tobacco and burned onions stung my nose as I rushed through the first doorway I came to.
A man cursed, stepping forward with a small medical blade between his fingers. Behind him, on a low stool, sat the woman. Her brow was damp with sweat, her dark hair wild and tangled as four grown men held her down. She was slouched over to one side, and her hands were bound behind her back.
Rage filled me as I met her eye. She was in pain. There was no reason for her to be held down by so many men. Five to one was an incredibly unbalanced ratio. Even if she was dangerous, this was a disproportionate response to say the least.
I could also feel the faint pulse of magic nearby, though I couldn’t see the source. Based on the awkward cloths covering the floor, I guessed there was a circle somewhere underneath.
“Is that him?” one of the men asked, glancing from me to his companions. “Did it work? Why did he come in through the door, aren’t they supposed to appear from within the circle?”
The man with the tiny knife approached me, taking in my tail and horns with his eyebrows raised in curiosity. “Hello, demon. What’s your name?”
I frowned at him, not wanting to give it, but knowing there wasn’t much he could do with it anyway. “I’m Seir.” I looked past him to the woman again, then stepped to the side so I could see what was happening behind her back. She was too close to the fire, to start. She was dripping sweat, and her skin was turning an intense shade of pink. One of her wrists had been sliced, and blood dripped down her bound hands into a small puddle on the floor.
There was no explanation for the situation that would have satisfied me. Whether she was my summoner or just a woman I happened to stumble across, my response would have been the same.
This was wrong . I needed to help her.
I met her gaze again, fascinated by the colors of her eyes. Both were divided nearly in half, though neither perfectly down the center. The left was a deep brown on one side and a light jade on the other, the right bright blue and opaque yellow.
“Release her.”
One of the larger men chuckled. “She’s irrelevant. We summoned you, demon. You’re under our charge now.”
Amusement flooded in on top of the anger. My blood roiled under my skin, ready for the fight I knew was coming. “You didn’t summon me.”
“Of course we did! If we hadn’t, you wouldn’t be here.” This man was seated on the floor, holding her ankle so hard against the edge of the stool it was blanched white. He seemed to realize as the words came out that perhaps that wasn’t true and frowned.
I kicked at the edges of the cloths, turning them up. As I expected, there was a roughly drawn summoning gate on the floorboards, several very important lines blurred or missing altogether. Whatever they were trying to bring across wouldn’t hear their request no matter how much of her blood was spilled.
Her eyes met mine again, a spark of hope in them. She was tired, I could see that much, but she shifted her weight as though she were ready to battle, if only she could get out from under her captors. I respected her grit.
The surly larger man seemed offended that I wasn’t bowing to him immediately. “We drew the circle, we spoke the words, we made the sacrifice. You will do our bidding!”
I laughed then, long and loud. How foolish these humans were.
“You didn’t draw a good circle. It isn’t even complete, and your sigil is smudged. I can’t think of a single demon who would respond to such disrespect. Never minding all that, she’s the one bleeding for it, not you.” I walked around, meeting each of their eyes. I loved the way their arrogance slowly faded the longer I held eye contact. “S he summoned me. I accepted the offering made of her blood. I’m hers to command.” I leaned forward, intentionally antagonizing him. “To be abundantly clear, I. Belong. To. Her .” I pointed my finger and the tip of my tail toward the woman. Something warm rattled under my ribs as I said the words.
“I didn’t do all this work for nothing,” the largest of them growled, advancing on me. “Damned witch is just the offering. The preparations were ours!”
I stepped into his path, dagger drawn before he fully registered what had happened. My tail wound around his throat, tight enough to make him wheeze. “Untie her hands. Now,” I ordered, all levity gone from my tone.
The glass dome on the lamp nearby rattled as my command echoed through the room, and to my regret, the fire briefly surged in intensity. The man on the floor rushed to comply, but one of the others stopped him. I loved nothing more than to play this kind of game, but these men had tested my patience already.
I looked to her again, limbs trembling under the weight of her bodyguard’s pressure. “You asked me for help, yes?” She nodded. “Do you wish to be left here, with these men?” She shook her head fervently, giving a muffled answer over the horrible leather strap. “Shall I kill them all for performing such terrible acts?” Her eyes widened, pupils dilating. I smiled, seeing a reflection of myself in her. “As their offense has been against you, would you like to help?” All sound vanished from the room; all attention directed to her. She nodded slowly. Excitement bubbled through me, and my smile stretched wide.
“Let’s be reasonable about this,” the man with the tiny blade said. “We’re men of science is all, searching for answers a new way! There’s no need for violence.”
“I disagree. And did you not start with violence yourselves? Against her?”
He tried to protest, but I was done being patient. I dispatched the burly man I was holding, dragging my dagger across his throat then hurling him to the floor. Before anyone could so much as blink, I’d pulled my sword free of its sheath.
The science man rushed me, getting in a good swipe with his tiny blade. My forearm had a nice gash in it, the cut burning as it started to bleed. I tilted my head, making eye contact with him before I ran him through. He fell to the floor, choking on his own blood, face frozen in a mask of shock.
“In case it was unclear, I wasn’t asking. Free her hands. And get that disgusting contraption out of her mouth.”
“Yes sir, of course.” The man on the floor scrambled to do so, then cowered in the corner with his two remaining friends. As she rubbed feeling back into her fingers, I pulled a small handkerchief from my pocket and folded it diagonally. I tied it tightly around her wrist, stanching the remaining slow flow of blood.
“What about you?” She gestured to the cut on my arm, which was freely dripping.
“It’s nothing.”
“Here.” Her hand was warm as she covered the injury, and her eyes slipped closed for several seconds. When she opened them, the bleeding had stopped, and the wound looked well sealed.
“Thank you.” I marveled at what she’d done, and it only made my rage deepen. A person with such a gift should not be treated so callously.
Her eyes landed on the dead men, then she stood and turned toward the three shifting restlessly in the corner.
“We never meant any harm, Jane,” one of them offered, hands up in surrender. He was missing the tip of one of his fingers. I got the odd notion she was responsible for that somehow.
“My name is not fucking Jane ,” she hissed. “It never was. I’ve told you that a hundred times, you prick. And you can all go straight to Hell.”
My blood rose, responding to her anger. “Yes,” I agreed, bouncing a bit on my toes. “They are welcome there. I know several of my kind who will be more than happy to think up new and exciting punishments for them.” I didn’t move except to prepare to block their escape, should they attempt to run.
The woman snatched the dagger right out of my hand and made short, painful work of the men. Even in her weakened state, her aim was true as she plunged the blade through their necks, into their chests, and across their bellies, severing arteries, spilling organs. Impressed didn’t quite convey how I felt as she very efficiently allowed the light to dim from their eyes, their efforts to fight back useless.
It was glorious to watch, as were the sounds of their screams.
Her breath came short and labored when it was done, her face spattered with gore as she handed me back my blade. I marveled at her, stunned even at myself for not having reacted when she’d taken it in the first place. Nobody touched my blades but me. Until her.
She was by far the most stunning creature I’d ever laid eyes on.
I reached out and touched her face, my fingers cupping her jaw as I brushed some of the spatter from her cheek with my thumb. She startled but relaxed when she realized what I was doing, her fascinating eyes staring directly into mine.
She nodded, watching me in a detached kind of way as I wiped my blade on the tunic of the nearest body.
“What do we do now?” she asked, arms limp at her sides.
“We leave,” I said simply, unable to stop smiling at her. My heart felt strange in my chest, too big, too… active. I tried to recall if I’d ever seen a human—man or woman—behave as she had. “Is there anything of value to you here?”
She started to shake her head but changed her mind mid motion. Without a word, she wiped her hands across her shift to clean them and went around the room collecting money and jewelry from the bodies. She also retrieved a medium-sized lockbox from a compartment hidden behind some liquor bottles on a shelf. Her hand hovered for a moment, then she snatched up one of the bottles, too, taking a deep drink before slamming it to the floor. It shattered, splashing potent grain alcohol across the room.
While she worked, I pulled one of the logs from the fireplace and tossed it directly onto the messy huddled bodies of the three men. Then another onto the cloth, and another between the other two. She stepped carefully toward the doorway as the flames caught, vanishing down the hall like a specter. I continued until the fireplace was all but empty and the room was filling with sour smoke. When I got to the entryway, she was just returning from what I guessed was the kitchen with a worn shoulder pack in her arms.
I reached for it, and after a moment’s hesitation she surrendered it. Intending to sift us across town, I curled my arm around her shoulders. “Allow me.” I reached for the place in my mind my power resided but found it empty.
“That’s odd.” I didn’t want to alarm her, but I’d never not been able to find my magic, especially not twice in one day. Panic raced through me as I searched again and found the same void where it usually resided.
She pulled open the front door and walked without hesitation.
Perplexed by what was happening with my abilities, I followed her, jogging to catch up as she rounded the corner of the building. I was glad for the empty street and no onlookers considering the state of us, not to mention the flames becoming a warm glow through the main floor windows. Her feet were bare, and she staggered several times before going to her knees.
“Thank you for helping me get out of there, I’ll be okay from here. I just need to…” Her words slurred, and she blinked heavily, sitting back on her heels as her whole body trembled. She looked equally angry and confused by her weakness; the burst of energy she’d gotten from the adrenaline rush now fully depleted.
I rearranged the packs. “I’m going to pick you up, okay?” She scowled at me but reluctantly allowed me to put her arms around my neck so I could scoop her up. Her grip loosened almost immediately as she slumped over, unconscious. For extra security, I wrapped my tail around her waist and tightened my arms around her thin frame.
Then I released my wings and… stumbled.
Horrified that my body had failed me, I tried again. And again. Each time, my bat-like wings deployed, but I simply could not rise from the ground.
I stared down at the woman in my arms and started walking, all the questions I had about her compounding as I carried us into the dense forest.