Rachel Aaron - Spirit’s End

Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long. Fast as it had started, the cracking stopped, and the room plunged back into darkness. Shaking his head, Eli looked down. After the flash of light, the dark was impenetrable, but he didn’t need to see. He could feel the truth. The oppressive air of the mountain had vanished. The Shepherdess’s seal was broken. The demon was free.

As his eyes adjusted, the first thing Eli saw was the demon’s human body falling to the ground. It crumbled like ash when it hit, bones and flesh falling away to dust. As the body disintegrated, the shadows above it twisted and took a step over the edge of the shattered seal, and as they crossed the barrier, they became a man.

Eli jerked back. The demon looked nothing like he’d expected. The man was as tall as Josef, but his face reminded Eli of his adopted father and mentor, Giuseppe Monpress. He couldn’t quite place the resemblance, the nose, maybe, or the thin mouth turned up in a smug smile, but it was enough to make him suddenly homesick, which was a very odd feeling for him. Eli had never been homesick before.

But before he could fall any further into nostalgia, Eli caught sight of the man’s eyes, and all feelings of warmth vanished. The demon’s eyes were as yellow as Nico’s, but where hers were determined, his were so cruel Eli took a step back, wincing as he bumped into the wall. The demon just smirked and stepped out of the cave and into the sunlight.

“What are we waiting for?” he said, and Eli winced again. The demon’s voice had never fit his form before. It had always been too deep, and that double harmonic had never matched a human throat. But the demon’s voice matched this body perfectly, and Eli had to clench his teeth to keep from cowering.

“Nothing,” Eli answered, proud that his voice wasn’t as wobbly as his insides. “Let’s go.”

The demon looked back over his shoulder, pinning Eli with those cruel yellow eyes for a single breath before vanishing into his own shadow. Eli jumped with a curse and turned to Nico. She was still kneeling on the floor, cradling the fist she’d used to crack the seal in her lap.

“You okay?” Eli asked, moving to help her.

Nico nodded and held out her arms. “We need to hurry.”

Eli didn’t wait to be told twice. He stepped into Nico’s arms. The moment he made contact, they slid into the dark.

Miranda woke with a start, sitting bolt upright. She regretted it immediately, slumping back to the ground with a sob. Powers, she felt like she’d been struck by lightning while getting run over by a cart. Her body was twitchy and everything ached, especially her skin, which felt far too small all of a sudden.

As her brain began to process the sensations, she slowly became aware of other things. She was cold, for one, but only on her back. Her shoulders were actually quite warm, and there was something hot and wet against her face.

She cracked her eyes. Gin’s muzzle filled her vision, his red tongue sliding back between his teeth the second he saw her eyes.

“How are you feeling?” he growled.

“Like I always feel when I wake up like this,” Miranda grumbled. “Horrible.”

The ghosthound snorted, blowing a blast of hot air across her face. “Looks like your brain didn’t get fried at least.”

“Fried?” Miranda said. She tried to think back to what had happened, but her body cringed from the memory. Groaning, she reached up to rub her neck, but as her fingers landed, she realized her skin was covered in something slick and warm.

She snatched her hand away and held it up, eyes widening when she saw the slick, red liquid on her fingertips. Blood. She touched her neck again, running her fingers over her jawline. Blood covered her cheeks and neck in a red torrent running from her ears, which, now that she thought about it, hurt a great deal. Miranda touched them tenderly, wincing as the contact sent an echo of pain through her head. “What happened to me?”

“I did.”

The low voice was a buzz in her body as well as a rumble in her ears, and her head snapped up to see the Lord of Storms sitting in the snow less than a foot away. He was solid again, his chest whole. His black hair fell across his shoulders just as it had back in the Spirit Court, and his sword lay across his knees, whole and safe in its blue sheath. She stared at him in wonder, and then it all came back. The fight, the oath, the lightning strike.

Suddenly, Miranda felt like she was going to throw up. She leaned over and retched. When nothing came up, she fell back against Gin’s paws with a groan.

“You probably shouldn’t move,” the Lord of Storms said. “I had to take quite a bit of you to keep from coming apart.”

Miranda’s body shook as Gin started to growl deep in his chest, his muzzle sliding up to bear his long, sharp teeth at the Lord of Storms.

“Don’t start, puppy,” the Lord of Storms said. “We’re on the same side now.” His eyes flicked to Miranda. “And I’m not calling you master.”

Gin’s growling got louder, but Miranda didn’t have the strength to care. She lay back and pressed her hands on the heavy golden chain at her neck. Distance strained the connection, but she could still feel the Tower like a strong, steady pulse through the metal.

After that, she checked her other spirits one by one. They were all shaken by the new addition, especially Skarest, her lightning bolt, but their connections to her were still strong. That was good, because she felt as weak as a newborn kitten. Hopefully this was just a temporary faintness, like the one after she’d taken Mellinor.

“Don’t count on it,” the Lord of Storms said.

Her eyes snapped open. “You can read my mind?”

“A bit,” he said, tapping his sword against his knees. “I’m part of you now. And don’t look at me like that. You volunteered for this, remember? As I was saying, the weakness is only going to get worse. I was letting you rest a bit before I took more.”

Gin snarled, but the Lord of Storms just shrugged. “Can’t be helped. You want me in shape to fight, right?”

“Let him be, Gin,” Miranda said, pressing her hands over her eyes. Powers, she was exhausted. She took a deep breath, trying to will her strength back. There would be time for rest later, she promised her aching body. That, or she’d be dead and resting forever. Either way, it would be over soon.

As if in reply, her stomach rumbled. “I don’t suppose we have any food,” she muttered.

“No,” Gin growled. “I’d offer to hunt, but it’d take too long to catch anything, and I think we’re out of time.”

“Why do you say that?”

Gin’s growling fell to a whimper. “Look up.”

She did, leaning sideways to see around the dog’s head.

The moment she saw the sky, she wished she hadn’t. The blue dome was caving inward. The clouds were gone, scattered in fear. So were the winds and the snow they blew, which left nothing to hide the horror. The clear blue arch of the sky reminded Miranda of stretched silk, and behind it, she could see the outlines of clawed hands digging down toward them.

A blast of fear gripped her chest. Suddenly, Miranda couldn’t breathe. Her hunger vanished, so did the pain. Everything vanished except the dread that turned her blood to water.

“Powers,” she whispered.

“Better find someone else to call to,” the Lord of Storms said bitterly. “The Powers can do nothing for you now.”

Miranda had no answer to that. She just stared at things digging into the sky, unable to look away. She would have laid there watching forever, or what was left of forever, but a shout broke her out of the trance.

She tore her eyes away just in time to see Josef stand, and Miranda jerked in surprise. Apparently, he’d been sitting on the other side of Gin, staying so quiet she hadn’t even known he was there. But he was up now with the Heart in his hand, standing between them and a tall man Miranda had never seen before.