CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE #2
Devourer of Souls. An ominous name. Sudden doubt filled her. What awaited her beneath Bright Renewal Academy? Something older than demons, and far stronger.
“Even I know to keep my distance when it emerges,” Silvanus went on.
“How could someone of my own blood not understand the danger? The Devourer consumes everything once it achieves Ascension, human and demon alike. If you dare get close to it, enter its sphere, you may gladly dance to your own destruction. The humans stupid and arrogant enough to think they could harness its power will be devoured as well. This town and the great enclave of humanity to the north will be consumed before its hunger is satisfied. And then it will sit like a great fat spider and rule over the ashes for eons.”
His tone had grown more and more portentous while his form had taken on a hideous aspect, all bulging muscle, claws and fangs, his silky raven black hair writhing snakelike about his narrow skull.
He loomed over her threateningly, as he had done so many other times in her life.
She had stopped fearing him after his initial visit when she was still a child, quickly coming to realize that her father was all bark and no bite.
Abruptly, Silvanus clapped his hands and returned to his usual beautiful self.
One didn’t seduce hundreds of human women by appearing ugly.
“So,” he announced brightly. “You merely have to travel a few hundred miles, hmm, west, preferably, before the beast breaks its bonds and rises. Leave these humans to their fate and save yourself, daughter.”
Hero’s mind raced. A few hundred miles? So it wasn’t the unstoppable force he was intimating. He’d been warning her off since the start. Why? She could come to only one conclusion: her father wanted her away from it – which meant she had a chance to kill it, or at least stop it.
It hasn’t yet reached Ascension. There’s still time to keep it locked in Pandemonium.
The one thing any good demon loved was chaos, and unleashing such a powerful creature on this plane would provide it in spades. Her father’s lust for women was only outshone by his lust for destruction – which begged the question: What did he have to gain from the Devourer’s Ascension?
“What comes in the wake of this Devourer, dear old Dad?” she asked. “I have a feeling you’re leaving out something important, yes?”
He shrugged. “Death. Destruction. A little Hell on Earth perhaps.” A disingenuous grin split his face. “It won’t matter to you, though. You’ll be free and halfway across the Realm with no one left to chase after you.”
No one left …
The Citadel in New Savage. Goddess. He hoped to see the source of all the demonhunters of the Realm sucked into oblivion. As much as she was loath to admit it, without demonhunters, there would be no one left to stand against Pandemonium. The Realm would become a demonic playground.
And she would be free.
Free to do as she pleased. Free to watch humanity suffer.
He took her silence to mean she was considering his proposal. Joy practically radiated from him, his skin shimmering with excitement. “Think of it, daughter! This could be our Realm – here on Earth, not in the halls of Chaos! Demonkin would rule unopposed. Humans would be our slaves!”
She stood, snatching up her cane from where it leaned against the table.
It was time to end this farce. “Tempting, Father.” Slowly, she drew her blade and watched his grin turn to a frown.
He didn’t step back – she couldn’t really hurt him; he was too smart to appear before her in his corporeal form, no matter how it might look from the outside. “But you forgot one thing.”
His frown deepened and his eyes blazed. “What have I forgotten ?”
“I am not just an inspector death speaker disgraced ex-nun arsonist half-demon.” She struck her sword, blade flat, against the table and it leapt back up, the steel vibrating in her hand.
A metallic ringing filled the room, rippling the very air, the ripples striking Keen’s frozen form, stuck in mid-swing.
It broke her father’s spell and her partner stumbled forward, his saber cutting through empty air.
He grabbed at the table, nearly losing his balance, but he was shaking his head, coming around.
Her father hissed in alarm, backpedaling. Hero pointed her blade at him, filled with righteous fury. “I am half HUMAN!”
The next instant, a vial landed at Silvanus’ feet and exploded with a pop. Yellow smoke billowed up from the faded linoleum, engulfing the wide-eyed incubus. His shriek was music to her ears. He vanished in an ear-breaking clap –
–just as Keen’s saber split the air where he’d been standing.
“Mother Mercy, what the fuck was that?” Keen spun on her, panting, eyes wild. How much had he seen or heard? Anything at all? “It was a cat a moment ago!”
Hero returned her sword to its ebony sheath. Irritatingly, her hands were shaking. “ That was a liar and a rapist and a trickster. That was my father.”
Keen seemed at a loss for words, staring at her wide-eyed. Finally, he shook himself. “Well?” he demanded, a bit shrilly. “What did he want?”
“To warn me off, to try and get me to run.” Filled with a sudden surge of energy, she went to grab her jacket from the coat rack in the corner. “He wants the Devourer to win. He wants Pandemonium to get a toehold on this plane. He wants to see all the men and women like you destroyed.”
“Like me? You mean demonhunters?” he asked, looking shocked. “Is that really a possibility?”
“I don’t know, not for certain, but we can’t ignore the chance that it might be.” She threw on her coat and fixed him with a hard stare. “Gird yourself, Keen. We’re going into the belly of the beast, and we’re going now.”