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The unthinkable happened.
Pressure crackled in the air. Another arrival. Just like a damn transport dock. Gods above, this just keeps getting better.
Chaos exploded underneath me. The noise was so instant and so huge I tore my sword out of its sheath, blue flame exploding along the blade.
I heard a howling snarl, then another chilling scream cut the air. This one froze all the blood in my veins and rather rapidly altered the entire situation. One demon who didn’t know where I was I could handle. Two demons in a melee I could most definitely not handle, but it would give me enough cover to get the fuck out of here.
I barely thought, all the compressed energy in my body tearing loose at once. I bolted for the window and hit it with Power and flesh both. Wood exploded out, the momentum carrying me far, I braced for impact, tumbling through the air.
Plasgun fire streaked past, and the coughing roars of projectile weapons. I slammed down, my boots cracking concrete, the shock jolting all the way up to the crown of my head, and took the first two opponents with a clash. All things considered it was actually a comfort to have a clear-cut problem in front of me.
Mercenaries, human, each with guns and blades. It barely slowed me down, I didn’t even kill the second one, just knocked him aside and streaked over smoking rubble, bowling over another two mercenaries. Plasgun bolts crisscrossed my path, I heard a rising scream I didn’t recognize, a sound of lung-tearing female effort. Something brushed my cheek like a whip, a line of fire against my face. The screaming sound was mine, a howl pushed past all endurance and smashing aside crackling yellow plasbolts. They were firing at me because I was moving too fast to engage now.
I burst out into a street, deserted but lit with streetlights, flashes of buildings as I ran using demon speed, hearing the footsteps behind me, pounding. They sounded even swifter than mine—I had to do something quick, gaining on me, gaining on me.
Time to think of something else, Da
There comes a point past which ru
My ribs flared with deep panting breaths. Adrenaline soared and sang through me, pushing me past rational thought and into the tearing-claw frenzy of an animal brought to bay and prepared to go down fighting.
He stood less than ten feet away, the darkness burning around him with a sound like voices whispering, chattering, sneering. My heart slammed into my throat, I dropped into guard, my blade suddenly glowing with harsh, hurtful blue light. The mark flared against my shoulder, soft velvet heat scoring into my nervous system.
His eyes. Anubis et’her ka, his eyes.
His eyes were like Lucifer’s, piercing intense green. And his aura, the diamond-twisting black flames of a demon; he was the same as he had been the very first time I’d ever seen him on my front step.
Tierce Japhrimel was a demon again, and the look on his face froze my blood. My heart smashed against my ribs, my sword blazed blue-white, every nerve in my body sang with the furious urge to kill.
I dug my heels into the concrete and prepared to sell myself dear if he came for me.
Chapter 18
Japhrimel cocked his head, watching me. His face was shuttered, blank, only the terrible burning fire of his eyes to show he was something more than a statue. I swallowed copper. I knew how eerily fast he could move. My heart threw itself against my ribs as if it intended to explode and save everyone involved the trouble of killing me.
We stood like that, Fallen-no-more and hedaira, for about thirty of the longest seconds of my life. My blade, the weapon of a Necromance, spat blue flame, my head was full of the rushing noise of combat. I was set on lasetrigger, dialed up to ten, and just aching, aching to fight.
My patience broke. “If you’re going to do it,” I rasped, “do it, don’t make me wait for it!”
A fleeting shadow crossed his face. He looked puzzled.
“What nonsense are you speaking now?”
I was relieved. He didn’t sound like the soft evil voice that had crawled up from the bottom floor of the ruined apartment building. I was so relieved that he sounded like he always had—flat and ironic—that I actually let out a sharp breath, my swordblade dipping slightly. More thunder walked through the sky, the smell of rain turning thick and cloying. Whatever weather was crossing the city, it was very near.
Relief turned to whipsawing fear and irritation, riding just under my skin. I hadn’t eaten, and I’d expended a hell of a lot of Power. My shields trembled once, snapped back into place. The mark on my shoulder pulsed, another hot wave of Power soaking into the mass of exposed nerves I was fast becoming. Get it while you can, I thought in a lunatic singsong. Get it while it’s good.
“Dante?” He didn’t move. His eyes flicked down my body, took in my feet in ready stance, the blue-glowing blade, came back up to my face.
“What happens now?” My breath jagged in my throat. My swordblade dipped even further, blue flame glowing, my rings flaring with golden sparks. “What now, Tierce Japhrimel?”
Comprehension lit his face. In that one moment he looked completely human despite the lasers of his eyes. My chest gave a horrible squeeze. His eyebrows drew together again, and I braced myself for it. This is going to hurt. This is going to hurt worse than Jace, worse than Doreen, worse than anything. Oh gods, I’ve been wrong, he is pla
“If you think I am about to fight you, Dante, you are exceedingly stupid.” Now his voice held a faint note of disdain, or was it anger? Irritation?
I wished I could tell.
My throat closed. “Oh.” I braced myself. “Are you sure?”
He made a curious little grimace, sighed. Clasped his hands behind his back, his inky hair falling over his forehead, longer than it had been the first time I saw him. His shoulders relaxed infinitesimally. “Someday, Dante, I will discover how your mind works. When I do I will be able to live content, having solved one of the great mysteries of Creation.”
What? “What?” I blinked. My shoulders relaxed. It was going to be all right. He was here.
But the red bath of instinct under my skin wasn’t so sure. The animal in me wanted to fight, wanted hot blood and a deathscream, and I was so twitched-out on adrenaline and fear I wasn’t sure I could stop myself.
“Have you lost your senses?” Definite anger, reined in, controlled, and burning out through his eyes. When had he learned to wear such a human face, the expressions flitting over his expressive mouth plain as day to me? “I told you I would come for you.”
“There’s a lot that expression can mean.” My stupid mouth bolted like a runaway horse. “You told me to stay inside the house. They cracked the shields, if I hadn’t gotten out of there the reaction fire… and the imp, there was an imp, and back there—”