Dragon Blood Read online

  We strode up to the bar, and I reached for one of the coins in my pocket. It was always good form to buy before asking for information. I pointed to a bottle of green liquid that was displayed prominently and held up two fingers.

  She nodded and poured into dirty glasses, then pushed them across the bar. “Four durkas.”

  I handed her the coins and pushed a glass toward Declan. Neither of us drank. No way in hell I’d risk it.

  I leaned over the bar. “We’re looking for the Devyver.”

  She gave me a look like I was stupid. “The Devyver?”

  “Yeah. Know where he is?” I pushed a coin across the bar.

  She snatched it up. “How come you don’t know where the Devyver lives?”

  “Because we don’t?” Shit. Maybe that was weird.

  Her brow creased, and a suspicious light entered her eyes.

  “We just arrived from the train,” Declan said.

  “Still, everyone knows where the Devyver lives. Most important guy in Dark World lives in the tallest tower, obviously. Everyone knows that. What’s wrong with you?” She inspected us, her eyes flicking suspiciously over our forms.

  “Just new here.”

  “No one is new in Dark World.”

  From behind, I could hear chairs scraping on the wooden floor.

  Shit.

  “You feel weird,” the bartender said. “Look weird too.” She reached below the bar and withdrew a bat covered in spikes.

  Well, shit.

  7

  Shit, these demons were crazy.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here,” I muttered.

  We turned, but it was too late. Every demon in the place had crowded in behind us, all ten of them glaring. One was tossing a fireball in his hand, a lazy gesture that made it look like he was about to play a game of summer baseball.

  He was, sort of. Except our heads were the targets.

  “They look funny,” muttered one demon with giant eyes and tiny hands.

  “Magic smells weird,” said one who had two heads.

  I glanced at Declan. “Time to go?”

  “Time to go.”

  I drew my mace from the ether, and he drew a sword. The comforting weight of the chain in my hand made me smile, and I began to swing. The demon closest to me backed up. The one with the fireball snarled and hurled his flame right at my head. I ducked, feeling the heat blaze past me. The sound of shattering glass was followed by the bartender’s shriek.

  “Careful, guys, or she won’t let you back in.” I slammed my mace at the closest demon, crushing his skull. “Not that it’ll be a problem for you, since you’ll be dead.”

  Declan lunged for the two nearest him, swinging his blade in a broad arc. He put such force behind it that it sliced both of them in half. Their bodies tumbled, hitting the floor with a series of thuds.

  Damn, that angel was strong.

  A demon to my left swiped his long claws toward me. They glinted in the dim light, and I jumped back, narrowly avoiding an inconvenient evisceration. I swung my mace toward him, and it slammed into his side. He went down with a howl.

  At the back of the bar, Wally had leapt into the air, heading straight for a demon’s face. He shot a blast of flame from his mouth that engulfed the demon’s head. The creature didn’t even scream—just dropped to the ground in silence. Dead.

  Shit, my hellcat was scary.

  Declan moved like a dancer through the crowd of demons, all deadly grace surrounded by arcs of blood. Impressive, really.

  A sound from behind caught my ear, and I turned, swinging my mace. The bartender stood on the counter, her spiked bat raised. My mace smashed into it, shattering the wood and steel.

  With an enraged shriek, the bartender jumped on top of me, her hands going straight for my throat. She was fast and strong, slamming me to the ground and squeezing tightly. Pain flared, and I choked.

  I dropped the mace chain and called a dagger from the ether, then slammed it into her chest. She hissed and fell backward, and I scrambled away.

  Between Wally and Declan, all the patrons were on the ground.

  I climbed to my feet. “Okay, time to go!”

  We needed to get the hell out of here before law enforcement showed up. If there even was such a thing.

  The three of us hurried toward the door, then slowed as we walked through. We turned right and headed up the street, moving as fast as we could without looking suspicious.

  “Well, our disguises obviously suck,” I said.

  “They only stand up from a distance.”

  “No more questioning, then.” I looked up at the sky. “Let’s just look for the tallest building, and apparently the most famous demon in the whole place.”

  The buildings were so close together that it was hard to get a good view of all of them, but eventually we spotted one that was much higher than the rest.

  “We can cut through here.” I headed toward a darkened street that was more of an alley. It led straight to the tall building we sought.

  Declan joined Wally and me, and we strode through, our footsteps silent on the broken asphalt. On either side of us, the buildings rose tall and ominous. These were the first ones we’d seen with intact walls. There were no windows, though.

  “Feels like shit in here,” Declan said.

  I nodded, shivering. The air had a slimy feeling to it, which should be impossible but wasn’t.

  Meet you on the other side. Don’t like it here. Wally disappeared.

  “Smart cat,” Declan said.

  “Hellcat.”

  “Right, hellcat. I forgot.” He grinned, but there wasn’t much mirth in it. He probably meant there to be, but the air in this alley was really starting to feel awful.

  It made my mind hurt. Made my soul hurt. As if it were sucking all the joy out of the world. My vision started to waver, and I blinked.

  “You feel that?” My words came out slurred.

  “Yeah.” His didn’t sound much better.

  I staggered onward, my limbs suddenly feeling heavy.

  The brick walls on either side wavered, as if images were starting to form on them. Dark rooms, huddled people.

  No. One dark room, over and over again. And two huddled girls. Skinny girls—one with blonde hair and one with dark. They were crying.

  I gasped, shaking my head to drive away the vision.

  But it wouldn’t disappear.

  Over and over again, I saw myself and Mari during one of our worst nights in Grimrealm. We’d just been forced to try to make more magic—something violent, I recalled—and we’d failed. Aunt had thrown us in the cellar, a dark hole that had always scared us.

  Something tightened in my chest, and I gasped, trying to get air into my lungs. Nothing happened. My chest ached.

  I staggered, nearly going to my knees.

  Declan grabbed me with strong hands, pulling me upright. I leaned on him, squeezing my eyes shut as we stumbled through the ally. But the visions wouldn’t fade from my mind, and the air continued to push in on me, suffocating.

  I struggled to breathe, trying to get control of myself. I focused on visions of Mari. My friends. Cheetos. Martinis. Anything good in the world.

  Finally, I opened my eyes. If I were going to see the visions no matter what, I might as well have them open.

  But the vision on the walls was changing—wavering. The young girls were replaced by fields of dying angels. Hundreds of them, bloody and beaten, their wings torn and their limbs broken.

  Declan knelt amongst them all, entirely whole and healthy, looking devastated.

  Beside me, Declan began to slow. I looked up at him.

  His horrified gaze was glued to the images on the wall. I could hear the cries of the men and smell the blood. It felt as if we were there. Hell, Declan was there. He stopped as he stared at the scene, his face ashen and eyes dark.

  Shit.

  These had to be our worst memories.

  With mine slightly faded, I had more stre
ngth. I tugged on Declan’s arm. “Come on.”

  He didn’t budge. He didn’t go to his knees like I almost had, but he didn’t move either. He was frozen in horror.

  I yanked on him harder. Nothing.

  Damn it.

  I slapped him on the cheek, hard.

  He shook his head, his eyes clearing. He still looked devastated, but his gaze focused on me. He gave a shuddering sigh. “Thanks.”

  Together, we staggered through nightmare alley, dragging each other along as we tried to avoid looking at the walls.

  Finally, we stumbled out onto an empty street. The images faded.

  Wally appeared. What was it?

  “Nightmares.”

  Wally shivered. No souls.

  That would be a nightmare for him.

  Declan and I took a moment, catching our breaths and trying to clear our heads.

  “That was your childhood?” he asked.

  “Don’t ask me about my nightmares, and I won’t ask you about yours.”

  “Fair enough.”

  We all had our secrets, it seemed. I pulled on his arm. “Come on. Let’s go find this guy before the people in this miserable place figure out what we are.”

  He gave me a look that suggested this wasn’t over, but he followed.

  Wally trotted alongside us. If we want to make a getaway, we need to get out of the city. Onto the broken plain. Then I can take us home.

  I transferred the message to Declan, who nodded.

  Finally, we reached the base of the super tall building. I stared up at it, taking in the open sides that revealed hundreds of rooms.

  “Demons aren’t really into privacy, are they?” I asked.

  “Seems not.”

  The stairs were built onto the outside of the building, with no railings, of course. They looked rickety and weak in places. The demons took their lives into their hands every time they came home.

  “Can we fly up?” Declan asked.

  Not if you want to live. None of these demons have wings, so you’ll stand out.

  I translated for Declan.

  “Here goes nothing, then,” he said, and stepped onto the first stair. It creaked loudly.

  “Definitely no health and safety in the demon world,” I muttered.

  Declan chuckled and continued up. I followed, stepping gingerly onto the first stair.

  Wally raced up the stairs, darting around us and moving quickly and lightly.

  We climbed for what felt like forever, passing demon after demon in their homes. Though homes was probably an exaggeration—lair was more accurate. Dirty and mostly devoid of furniture. Most of the demons were sleeping in strange nests, and all of them reeked with dark magic. The higher we got, the harder the wind blew. My skin chilled, and I tugged my jacket around me.

  The city spread out below us, a miserable vista in shades of brown and gray. The whole place stank of dark magic and evil, and I couldn’t imagine living here. Every demon I’d seen had looked fairly content, if bored. Many wanted to go out and make their fortunes on earth, acting as mercenaries tasked with horrible deeds.

  I was glad it took a lot of effort to get there. The last thing earth needed was more of these monsters. We had enough of our own.

  When a stair broke beneath my foot, it took me a fraction of a second to process what was happening. By the time a scream tore from my throat, I was plummeting through the gap in the stairs.

  Frantic, I scrambled for the step in front of me, barely managing to grasp it in time. My legs dangled below, hundreds of feet above the hard ground. I gripped the stair hard and began to haul myself, my palms sweating.

  Declan grabbed my wrist and pulled. I gasped, my stomach pitching, as he dragged me up onto the steps between us. I clawed my way up with my free arm until I was on firmer, stronger ground.

  “This place is a freaking hazard.” I pulled my wrist from Declan’s grip, though he seemed hesitant to let go.

  “You okay?” Concern shadowed his eyes.

  “Besides my heart trying to break my ribs? Yes.”

  He smiled, pressing his hand to my outer shoulder, the one that was on the side of the open drop to the street below. “My weight must have weakened that step.”

  I nodded, head still reeling as I tried to catch my breath. There was no safe position in our caravan of two. No matter what, one of us might go through the steps.

  Oh, how I wished Wally hadn’t warned us against flying.

  “I’m fast enough to catch you if you do fall,” Declan said.

  “Flying?”

  He nodded.

  It’d be worth it in a pinch, if our lives were at stake.

  My heartbeat finally slowed to a bearable level, and I climbed to my feet, keeping my back pressed to the bit of stone wall that still stood on this floor. We’d survive this—as long as Declan had his wings—but it wouldn’t be fun. I’d never had a fear of heights, but I wouldn't be surprised if I developed one.

  “Let’s keep moving.”

  He nodded and turned, continuing upward. I kept close track of his feet on the steps, listening for any creaking noises that might indicate structural instability.

  I was so focused on his feet that I barely noticed the demon coming at us from inside the building. He had a bat in his hands—a spiked bat like the bartender had held, not a baseball bat—and he was headed right for Declan, coming at him from slightly behind.

  The angel couldn’t see him from this angle.

  “Declan! Attack!” I shouted, drawing my sword from the ether. “From your left.”

  Declan moved impossibly fast, turning to face the demon who was swinging for him. The monster had pale yellow skin with orange eyes and long fangs. He was well muscled and clearly practiced with his weapon.

  Declan ducked, narrowly avoiding the spiked bat, and swung his fist for the demon’s ugly face. His hand collided with the demon’s cheek, and the beast whirled backward and slammed into the ground.

  Declan leapt for him and dragged him up by the tattered leather vest he wore. “What the hell is your problem?”

  “No one goes up these stairs except the Devyver.” He looked upward.

  “So, everything past here is his turf?” Declan asked.

  The demon nodded, trying to jerk out of Declan’s hold while swinging a clawed hand for his head. Declan slammed his fist into the demon’s temple, so hard that the beast slumped, unconscious.

  There were still about four stories left before we reached the top, so the Devyver must own all of them.

  Declan stood, dusting off his hands and stepping back. He turned to me. “Thanks. He’d have gotten me if not for you.”

  I nodded, my stomach dropping at the thought of how bad that could have been. If the demon had hit Declan in the head and knocked him out, Declan would have fallen off the stairs and been unable to use his wings.

  With a start, I realized that my fists were tightly clenched. I’d been really worried about him. Like, the level of worry that I felt for Mari or my friends.

  Oh fates. I was starting to develop feelings for Declan.

  I unclenched my fists, stashed my sword in the ether, and drew in a steady breath. “Let’s go. I bet he’s on the very top.”

  We continued climbing, trekking quietly up the stairs. The first floor of the Devyver’s space was completely empty. The second was full of horrible machines, all hulking metal and twisted wire.

  “What the hell are they?” Declan asked.

  “No idea.” I inspected them without going in. “Some look like steam machinery.” I pointed to one that looked like it had the signature boiler and pipes. “But no idea what they are.”

  This floor felt devoid of life, though, so we continued on.

  The next floor was full of body parts. I gagged, stopping dead in my tracks, my eyes glued to the horror within.

  Demon parts of all different shapes and sizes—legs, hands, heads, torsos. Magic swirled around each of them, a pale sickly green.

  �
��The magic probably keeps them from decaying,” Declan murmured.

  “This guy is a monster.” I kept going, my soul chilling as we approached the next level.

  This one wasn’t dissimilar from the last, and the sheer quantity of body parts was enough to really turn my stomach. By the time we reached the top floor, my skin was crawling.

  The top level had more signs of life. Though there were body parts scattered all over the place, there were also tables covered in potion-making ingredients, furniture, and a radio playing some kind of horrible scratchy music.

  I arched a brow. “Well, we’ve definitely found the place.”

  “No kidding.”

  I stepped into the apartment, the dry wind blowing my hair back from my face.

  Declan stuck close to my side, and we entered slowly.

  “Hello?” I called. “Devyver?”

  There was silence for a moment, then a shuffling sound. An old man appeared from the back of the apartment, his face lined and thin. I liked older people, and usually the idea of threatening one would make me ill.

  Not this guy.

  His eyes burned with a fanatical, evil light that made my skin crawl.

  No wonder he was the most famous person here.

  And that’s what he was—a person, not a demon.

  “What the hell?” Declan muttered. “You’re human.”

  The Devyver gave a smile that was devoid of warmth. It chilled me even more than his blank stare. “Almost.”

  Almost?

  I frowned, peering hard at him. There was a blankness to his black eyes—like they were made of onyx instead of belonging to a living person. There was an emptiness to him that I’d never seen before.

  “You don’t have a soul,” I said. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

  “You’re right,” Declan murmured. “I see it now.”

  “Right on the first try.” The Devyver’s creepy smile spread. “Sold it to buy all this.” He spread his arms proudly, indicating the horrible workshop.

  “But why? Why the hell would anyone live in the Dark World willingly?”