Kindling the Moon
Page 71
The men held me tighter at the edge of the circle, so tightly my circulation was cut off and my arms tingled. I didn’t want to call out Lon’s name; it might create a distraction that the gray demon could use to its advantage. But I had to do something.
“Mmm … exciting,” David murmured to my side. He looked out over the fighting ring and spoke louder. “So kind of you to volunteer, Lon. Good sport. After all, you’re already carrying around that nasty scar courtesy of your ex-wife, I’m sure you won’t mind a few more.”
Lon didn’t respond. He was concentrating. Blank. Centered. The only betrayal of his rising panic was the splotchy redness accumulating on his neck; seeing it made my stomach queasy.
But as I listened to the talk around us, I noticed that not everyone in the audience was ecstatic. “David is really pushing it,” one person remarked. “Mr. Dare wouldn’t approve of this if he knew what was going on.” I didn’t know who this Mr. Dare was, but most of the thirteen parking spaces outside were filled, so I hoped like hell that he was somewhere inside the caves. I turned to one of the dissenting couples nearby.
“Please, go tell Mr. Dare—get help,” I whispered.
They looked at me, shocked that I’d spoken.
David put a hand over my mouth and chastised the couple. “Now, now—don’t go running to Daddy or I’ll get you kicked out. We’re just having some fun, nothing more. If you don’t like it, leave.”
Refusing to look at me, they turned and left the room, along with a few other people.
“I mean it!” David called after them. “If there’s a rat in here, I’ll find out. Don’t cross me.” A manic laugh bubbled from his lips. The people around us went back to cheering the fight on. David then turned to me and spoke quietly near my face. “Now, then, love, no more tricks like that. Since neither one of you wants to tell me exactly what kind of Earthbound you are and how you banished our sex demons—or why we can’t seem to summon them back, for that matter—then we’ll just leave Lon here to battle it out with the Salixen. You and I can retire to another succubus chamber and have some fun.”
Oh, hell no.
Before I could respond, a high-pitched snarl stole our attention. The gray demon made a swipe at Lon. Lon made a clumsy duck but not fast enough. A line of blood welled on his cheek.
As the crowd cheered, David clapped ecstatically, then turned back to me. Pawing my chin, he whispered in my ear, “Exciting, no? Just like you did with me earlier, we’ll make a new game of all this and see who breaks first, you or Lon. I’m betting on Lon. He has a bad history with women, but I think he’s learned his lesson with Yvonne. I doubt he really wants to put himself on the line, even for a pretty young chickadee like you.”
I stared back at him as he smiled at me, hearing him but not listening. My mind scrambled to piece together a solution. I couldn’t reach the sigils on my arm; they were being squeezed dry by my guards, so that was out. What else? I hadn’t summoned the gray demon, so I couldn’t banish it … except that I was somehow able to banish the incubus and succubus. Maybe it was due to something elemental in the caves? Something that enhanced my Heka? I concentrated and tried to will the floating blue imp portal into existence. All that did was give me a headache. Nope, not happening.
If I couldn’t banish the gray demon, and Lon couldn’t leave the charged circle because of the red mark on his head, then the only option remaining was to break the circle. But how? I couldn’t even reach it. We were several feet away.
David twisted my face to his and planted a brutal kiss on my lips. I tried to jerk away, but he clamped his hand on the back of my head. His mouth tasted of top-shelf liquor, cracked lips scraping against mine. He stank of sweat.
Furious, I shut my eyes to concentrate and pulled from the electricity wired through the caves, as hard as I could. The lights in the cavern wavered and flashed. A murmur spread through the crowd. I pulled harder, kindling Heka until it made my body quake. I held it for a moment, then slowly released it through every pore in my body.
David pulled away from me, crying out and covering his mouth with his hand at the same moment that the bodyguards dropped my arms. Heka kindled with electricity creates a nasty shock without a caduceus to pinpoint the release. They fucking deserved it.
The shock would disorient them, but it wouldn’t last. My eyes flew to the edge of the circle near the gray demon. I shoved the person in front of me, then dove with outstretched arms. My fingertips barely grazed the glass circle. Close enough.
The remaining kindled Heka poured through my fingertips into the embedded piping, heated the glass instantly, and scalded my fingers. I lurched away from the glass and crashed into the legs of the bodyguards, bowling them over like tenpins.
Vermilion bubbled and surged through the pipes. Like a lit fuse, it spewed inside the glass until it found my willed mark near the demon.
“Get down!” I yelled to Lon. He covered his head as the sound of shattering glass filled the chamber.
The gray demon wailed and emitted a dog-whistle-worthy cry that set off a chain reaction of pain-filled screams throughout the crowd. Glass glittered on the stone floor around the broken circle. Some of it was also lodged in the calf of the gray demon, who was now limping. I’d only blown a small section of the glass pipe, just a few inches. In the break, liquid vermilion was oozing out and running in rivulets through shallow crevices on the surface of the rock. Toxic rivulets, to be exact, because vermilion is a mercury compound. It burned with a whispery, delicate blue flame that spread up the pants and dress hems of a handful of club members. They screamed in horror, frantically slapping at the creeping blue fire. Hello, mercury poisoning.
“Mmm … exciting,” David murmured to my side. He looked out over the fighting ring and spoke louder. “So kind of you to volunteer, Lon. Good sport. After all, you’re already carrying around that nasty scar courtesy of your ex-wife, I’m sure you won’t mind a few more.”
Lon didn’t respond. He was concentrating. Blank. Centered. The only betrayal of his rising panic was the splotchy redness accumulating on his neck; seeing it made my stomach queasy.
But as I listened to the talk around us, I noticed that not everyone in the audience was ecstatic. “David is really pushing it,” one person remarked. “Mr. Dare wouldn’t approve of this if he knew what was going on.” I didn’t know who this Mr. Dare was, but most of the thirteen parking spaces outside were filled, so I hoped like hell that he was somewhere inside the caves. I turned to one of the dissenting couples nearby.
“Please, go tell Mr. Dare—get help,” I whispered.
They looked at me, shocked that I’d spoken.
David put a hand over my mouth and chastised the couple. “Now, now—don’t go running to Daddy or I’ll get you kicked out. We’re just having some fun, nothing more. If you don’t like it, leave.”
Refusing to look at me, they turned and left the room, along with a few other people.
“I mean it!” David called after them. “If there’s a rat in here, I’ll find out. Don’t cross me.” A manic laugh bubbled from his lips. The people around us went back to cheering the fight on. David then turned to me and spoke quietly near my face. “Now, then, love, no more tricks like that. Since neither one of you wants to tell me exactly what kind of Earthbound you are and how you banished our sex demons—or why we can’t seem to summon them back, for that matter—then we’ll just leave Lon here to battle it out with the Salixen. You and I can retire to another succubus chamber and have some fun.”
Oh, hell no.
Before I could respond, a high-pitched snarl stole our attention. The gray demon made a swipe at Lon. Lon made a clumsy duck but not fast enough. A line of blood welled on his cheek.
As the crowd cheered, David clapped ecstatically, then turned back to me. Pawing my chin, he whispered in my ear, “Exciting, no? Just like you did with me earlier, we’ll make a new game of all this and see who breaks first, you or Lon. I’m betting on Lon. He has a bad history with women, but I think he’s learned his lesson with Yvonne. I doubt he really wants to put himself on the line, even for a pretty young chickadee like you.”
I stared back at him as he smiled at me, hearing him but not listening. My mind scrambled to piece together a solution. I couldn’t reach the sigils on my arm; they were being squeezed dry by my guards, so that was out. What else? I hadn’t summoned the gray demon, so I couldn’t banish it … except that I was somehow able to banish the incubus and succubus. Maybe it was due to something elemental in the caves? Something that enhanced my Heka? I concentrated and tried to will the floating blue imp portal into existence. All that did was give me a headache. Nope, not happening.
If I couldn’t banish the gray demon, and Lon couldn’t leave the charged circle because of the red mark on his head, then the only option remaining was to break the circle. But how? I couldn’t even reach it. We were several feet away.
David twisted my face to his and planted a brutal kiss on my lips. I tried to jerk away, but he clamped his hand on the back of my head. His mouth tasted of top-shelf liquor, cracked lips scraping against mine. He stank of sweat.
Furious, I shut my eyes to concentrate and pulled from the electricity wired through the caves, as hard as I could. The lights in the cavern wavered and flashed. A murmur spread through the crowd. I pulled harder, kindling Heka until it made my body quake. I held it for a moment, then slowly released it through every pore in my body.
David pulled away from me, crying out and covering his mouth with his hand at the same moment that the bodyguards dropped my arms. Heka kindled with electricity creates a nasty shock without a caduceus to pinpoint the release. They fucking deserved it.
The shock would disorient them, but it wouldn’t last. My eyes flew to the edge of the circle near the gray demon. I shoved the person in front of me, then dove with outstretched arms. My fingertips barely grazed the glass circle. Close enough.
The remaining kindled Heka poured through my fingertips into the embedded piping, heated the glass instantly, and scalded my fingers. I lurched away from the glass and crashed into the legs of the bodyguards, bowling them over like tenpins.
Vermilion bubbled and surged through the pipes. Like a lit fuse, it spewed inside the glass until it found my willed mark near the demon.
“Get down!” I yelled to Lon. He covered his head as the sound of shattering glass filled the chamber.
The gray demon wailed and emitted a dog-whistle-worthy cry that set off a chain reaction of pain-filled screams throughout the crowd. Glass glittered on the stone floor around the broken circle. Some of it was also lodged in the calf of the gray demon, who was now limping. I’d only blown a small section of the glass pipe, just a few inches. In the break, liquid vermilion was oozing out and running in rivulets through shallow crevices on the surface of the rock. Toxic rivulets, to be exact, because vermilion is a mercury compound. It burned with a whispery, delicate blue flame that spread up the pants and dress hems of a handful of club members. They screamed in horror, frantically slapping at the creeping blue fire. Hello, mercury poisoning.
