Chapter 42
42
J ackson is our best option,” the blond spellcaster says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Sure, we have other dissidents on the chopping block, but Jackson is the most recent?—and, frankly, the most expendable. No one will miss him.”
“Not sure if you’ve noticed this,” the brunette spellcaster argues, “but we don’t currently have Jackson. We can’t just wait around for an attempted jailbreak that may or may not happen.”
“Oh, it’s going to happen,” Blondie says. “The only question is when.”
Privately, Cass agrees. He’s not about to say that out loud, though. Partly because he doesn’t want the prison to tighten its security even more, and partly because, well??—
Partly because he’s trying not to draw attention to himself at this point. There’s no sense of time in here, but Cass knows Nasir gave Nostrand an hour to interrogate him, and he thinks he’s been with the spellcasters for roughly the same length of time.
Nostrand spared no expense in flaying skin from bone. He also had more than one backhanded comment about JJ that made Cass see red, and the fact that Nostrand had JJ under his knife last month makes Cass want to cry and commit a felony in approximately equal measures.
The spellcasters’ “testing” was almost worse. He had no idea what to expect when Blondie and Brownie first sauntered into his interrogation room, but their tag-team spellcasting?—already a rarity in a world of predominantly solo spellcasters?—was like nothing Cass had ever seen. Human magic might be different from demon magic, but their dual incantations were astoundingly unfamiliar, incorporating esoteric bits of spell work that he doesn’t even think Ez would know.
He didn’t have much time to critically analyze them, though, because the sheer level and depth of agony from the spells drove out every coherent thought in his head. And this wasn’t the physical pain inflicted by an interrogator?—no, this was something that reached deep inside of Cass, down to a part of him he’s barely noticed since he was summoned from Tamaros, down to the most private and sacred foundation of his being.
They did something to his soul. Something that makes his bones feel chalky and his blood feel sticky and his entire body feel unstable, like the slightest wrong move could make him shatter into a thousand pieces.
Soul magic is dangerous at best and suicidal at worst, but these spellcasters drove their spikes into Cass with a ruthless precision that says they’ve done it many times before. He doesn’t even want to think about the implications for all the demons they’ve held in this prison over the decades.
Now, though, Cass is just exhausted. He’s exhausted and threadbare and desperately needs a friendly face. He needs to see Ez, to see Obie??—
To see JJ and Desi.
He can’t die without seeing them one last time.
Brownie is talking again. Cass forces himself to tune back in. “?—?and Nasir said she wants this done as quickly as possible. Chin’s soul is too powerful of an asset to waste?—if the alleged jailbreak-to-be succeeds, then we’ll have lost another weapon.”
Blondie scoffs. “Oh, come on. What are the chances of that?”
The words are barely out of his mouth before the interrogation room’s door flies off its hinges, crashing into the opposite wall with a strangely muted bang. Both spellcasters whirl around, teeth bared and hands glowing with power??—
Purple-gold magic roars towards them, throwing them across the room like rag dolls. Two familiar figures streak past in Cass’s peripheral vision, clearly ready to finish the job, and now, the person blocking the harsh light above him is??—
“JJ?” Cass manages.
JJ’s face breaks into a watery smile. “Hey, sweetheart,” he whispers, and his fingertips briefly skim across Cass’s cheek before darting up to fumble with the strap at his forehead. “You were right, Cass?—you were so, so right, and I’m so sorry I ever doubted you, and I love you so much, and we’re going to take care of you now, okay? We’re going to get you out of here, and??—?”
“Less talk, more jailbreak,” Ez orders, and Cass dazedly squints in her direction. She strides up to his interrogation table, eyes narrowed and face pale. “What the hell did they do to you, Cass?”
“I think they tried to rip out my soul,” he rasps, and he bites back a whimper when JJ briefly has to tighten the strap around his chest before releasing it. “Testing isn’t just torture?—they’re doing something with soul magic. And they’re experimenting with both demon and human souls. Demons and dissidents.”
“It looks less like they tried to rip it out and more like they tried to rip it apart.” Obie’s eyes are fixed on Cass’s chest, looking straight through Cass’s human fa?ade to the shimmer of his soul underneath. “And I?—I think they succeeded.”
For a split second, JJ’s fingers go still on the strap around Cass’s ankle. “What?”
Ez snaps her fingers impatiently. “Less chatter, lackey. We can properly diagnose him back at home.”
There’s an undercurrent of fear in her voice that Cass is pretty sure only he and Obie can hear, and dread roils through him. He knew he was weak before the spellcasters even arrived, but they managed to shred his soul apart in less than an hour? How long have they been doing this? How many other demons have they tried to do this to?
How many other demons have they succeeded with?
At long last, JJ finishes unbuckling the last corrosion-imbued strap. Almost instantly, Cass feels like he can breathe again. “All right,” JJ says. “Everything’s off. Can you walk, Cass? I can?—I can help you walk.”
With a great effort of will, Cass fixes his bleary eyes on JJ’s face. He looks younger and more scared than usual, and when he smooths Cass’s hair away from his forehead, Cass can feel his fingers trembling. “Did you say you loved me a minute ago?” he asks hoarsely.
JJ laughs shakily. “Yeah. I did. And I?—I do. I love you.”
The slightest bit of tension in Cass’s chest eases at the words. “I love you, too.”
“Nostringvadha alive,” Ez groans. “The question was whether you can walk, Cass. Can we please save the make-up for later?”
“I can try,” Cass says, and with JJ on one side and Obie on the other, they slowly pull Cass up to sitting. His stomach turns over on itself, vision swimming as nausea claws up his throat. “Just?—just might need a minute.”
Abruptly, there’s a shout from across the prison. Obie curses. “Looks like they found Locke.”
“Yeah, we might not have a minute, Cass,” Ez says sharply, and none too gently, she grabs his arm. “On three, okay? One, two??—?”
This time, Cass has to muffle a scream as the three of them pull him to his feet. Pain shrieks through him as some of his half-scabbed injuries split open, and the only thing that keeps his unsteady legs from buckling is his friends’ hands holding him up. “This isn’t ideal,” he manages.
Obie barks out a surprised laugh. “Understatement of the century.”
“Can you heal him, Ez?” JJ asks, a hint of anxiety snaking into his voice. “Or?—or at least heal his worst injuries?”
“Not with the magic-blocking spell work. Our best bet is to get him out of here as quickly as possible, and then?—?” Ez cuts herself off, her eyes darting back to Cass’s chest. Back to where he knows his soul is hanging in tatters. “And then I’ll, um, see what I can do. About everything.”
The thread of apprehension in her voice is more pronounced now. Cass swallows hard, trying to settle his churning stomach.
“All right,” JJ says, and he pulls Cass’s arm over his shoulders, coaxing Cass to lean his weight against JJ’s side. Relieved, Cass obeys, letting JJ’s steadfast strength keep him upright. “Let’s get him back to Obie’s safe house, then. You two lead the way, I’ll protect Cass, and?—and we’ll fix everything they did to him.”
It’s not going to be that simple. Cass knows it, and he’s pretty sure JJ knows it, too. But for now??—
For now, JJ is firm and solid next to him, holding him up and pulling him close.
For now, that’s all Cass needs.
Cass was right. This really isn’t ideal. Even with JJ’s baseline strength and the adrenaline racing through his veins, he’s still struggling to keep up with Ez and Obie’s quick pace as they stride towards the interrogators’ break room. So far, this hallway is blessedly silent, but JJ knows that won’t last long.
This is just the calm before the storm.
Cass’s voice is low and drowsy next to JJ’s ear. “Hanging in there, JJ?”
JJ swallows down his fear. “Yeah,” he whispers back. “You?”
“I’ve had worse,” Cass mumbles. “You should’ve seen Normandy.”
JJ fights back an unhinged laugh. “You’ll have to tell me about it when we get home.”
“I can bring you there.” Cass’s voice is dazed. Almost delirious. “I can take you to all the important sites from Operation Overlord, and?—and I can tell you about all the places I saw and the people I met. And then we can drink apple brandy by the church where one of the paratroopers got tangled in the spire. And then??—?”
“Quiet,” Ez hisses, and Cass cuts himself off. When JJ glances up, it’s to see Ez and Obie furtively checking around the corner up ahead. “No way around them, right?”
“No way around them,” Obie agrees grimly. “JJ, stay here with Cass and watch your back. We’ll clear the room.”
JJ flinches. He can only imagine what “clearing the room” means to two of the most powerful demons in Redwater, but to get Cass home, he’ll have to accept it. “Roger,” he says reluctantly, and he pulls Cass back towards the wall, letting him lean against it.
Instantly, there’s a familiar plume of black smoke billowing around Ez and Obie. Within seconds, they’ve shifted into their true forms: Ez, a bloodred creature that looks like a cross between a lion and a dire wolf with all its proportions glaringly wrong, and Obie??—
Obie, an inky black monster with glowing red eyes that looks like the cursed offspring of a chimera and a dragon.
Holy shit. JJ’s heart nearly jumps out of his mouth as the two demons streak around the corner, leaving panicked screams and bones crunching and bodies hitting the floor in their wake. He tries to keep his breathing steady, focuses on keeping Cass upright, waits for the carnage to end??—
The dire wolf races into JJ’s hallway, turning back into Ez’s human fa?ade with a swirl of black smoke. “Clear,” she says, sucking in a ragged breath. “If we move quickly, we should be able to make it out of the prison unchallenged, and then I can open a rift and?— watch out!”
JJ automatically whirls around, shielding Cass’s body with his own, as Ez jumps forward, one glowing hand held high. He has just enough time to process a sleek arrow less than a foot from his chest before it bursts into flames, and he jerks around to stare down the hallway, heart pounding. “You almost killed me,” he says hoarsely.
Bryant is already nocking another arrow. “I was aiming for Chin,” she says flatly, and she raises her bow again as Roma bolts forward, her second-favorite ax held at the ready.
There’s a low, primeval snarl from behind JJ. Obie rockets between JJ and Ez with the strength and ferocity of a missile, tackling Roma to the floor and diving for Bryant afterward. JJ resists the urge to squeeze his eyes shut as Obie attacks, breaking bones and shredding flesh and leaving them bloody behind him.
Bloody, but alive. JJ has the bad feeling that the only reason Obie didn’t kill them is because he didn’t want to deal with JJ’s protests. He swallows down his horror. “Let’s get out of here?”
“Let’s get out of here,” Ez agrees, and Obie’s true form leads the way as JJ fights to keep up, guilt snapping through him every time Cass whimpers with pain. The crackle of Ez’s last magic attacks from behind him, the bloodcurdling growls as Obie tears through the few hunters reckless enough to get in their way, the shriek of metal shredding as he rips through the prison’s door??—
He opens up a rift and bounds through it without even breaking his stride. JJ scrambles in after him, half-dragging Cass, and Ez brings up the rear, snapping the rift shut and leaving them blessedly alive in Obie’s heavily warded safe house.
“Cass!” Desi shouts, and she races up to Cass’s side, tugging his hand insistently. “Cass, are you okay? JJ, is Cass okay? Cass??—?”
Blearily, Cass reaches down to run a hand over her hair. Desi grabs his arm and hugs it to her chest. “I’m okay, Desi,” he whispers, relief making his vision blur and his legs wobble underneath him. “I’m gonna be okay.”
“Hopefully,” Ez says tightly, and she beckons them down the hall. “JJ, get him to the bedroom. I need to take a better look at?—at those injuries.”
“You can fix him, right?” JJ asks, desperation winding through his voice as he coaxes Cass onward. “You can??—?”
“I can try,” Ez says, and she slips Cass’s other arm over her shoulders, guiding him into the bedroom.
Cass fights back a hiss of pain as JJ and Ez lay him down on the mattress, Ez belatedly snapping her fingers and making clothes reappear on herself, Cass, and Obie. His flannel pajamas are worn and familiar against his tattered skin, and when Desi climbs up on the bed next to him, he can almost imagine that it’s just another night at bedtime, Desi begging for one last story.
Almost. “I’m going to be okay, Desi,” Cass repeats, squeezing her hand lightly. “I’m gonna be just fine.”
Cass is pretty sure it’s a lie, and he knows it. Ez and Obie know it, too. As for JJ and Desi, well??—
They’ll find out soon enough.
“I’ve never seen this much soul damage before.” Obie’s voice is low. “Not inflicted over such a short period, anyway.”
Cass attempts a grin. It feels more like a grimace. “Well, you know how much I like making history.”
Obie’s lips twist into a bitter smile. “I’d really prefer if you did it in less life-threatening ways.”
“Never.”
The mattress on Cass’s other side dips down. JJ sits close next to Cass, threading their fingers together. “But we can fix him, right?” he asks, a hint of panic in his voice. “We can make him better?”
Ez’s narrowed eyes are locked on Cass’s chest. “Usually, soul damage fixes itself. It takes time and energy, but given sufficient rest, souls will naturally heal themselves.” She lets out her breath in a hiss. “But this level of soul damage is a different story. If that were his only issue, it would still take weeks to heal. But couple that with his corrosion burns and other injuries?—?” She cuts herself off. “It’s going to be dicey.”
Cass’s chest hurts at JJ’s scared expression. Gently, he squeezes JJ’s hand. “Sounds like a challenge fit for a million-year-old demon and the best spellcaster on the East Coast,” he says pointedly, looking at Obie and Ez. “Thoughts?”
Obie looks affronted. “I’m not that old, Chin.”
Ez hums noncommittally. “I have a few ideas, actually. Some unconventional spells I can try. But, uh.” She winces. “Most of them will work better if you’re unconscious, Cass. I think I can heal some of your injuries, but since they’re mostly tainted with corrosion burns, it’ll be excruciatingly painful. And the other spells won’t be a walk in the park, either.”
Despite the ominous words, a wave of relief unfurls in Cass’s chest. Leave it to Ez to already have a list of obscure spells lined up. Obie will be just as helpful, of course?—even though spellcasting is more Ez’s game, he’s collected an impressive library of spell books over the millennia?—and JJ might even have some ideas from his human spellcasting experience.
They’ll keep Cass safe. He knows they will. For now, he’s just??—
He’s just so tired. “Sleep sounds great,” he admits, and he ruffles Desi’s hair. “See? Auntie Ez is going to make me all better.”
Desi hugs his arm tightly. “Okay. Thanks, Auntie Ez.”
“Of course, sweetie.”
Cass turns his head to the other side, looking up at JJ. “I love you,” he repeats, because it seems important to say again. To say as often as possible, preferably. “You know that, right?”
JJ’s eyes soften. Gently, he pulls Cass’s hand to his lips, pressing a light kiss to his bruised knuckles. “I love you, too.”
“Gag me with a spoon,” Obie says.
“Piss off, Obie,” Cass says, and he takes a deep breath, looking up at Ez. “All right. Knock me out.”
And he gives JJ what he hopes is a comforting smile before Ez snaps her fingers and everything fades into peaceful darkness.