Lisa Shearin: The Trouble With Demons

Tamnais Nathrach. Goblin dark mage, former chief shaman for the royal House of Mal’Salin, ex-magical enforcer to the goblin queen-but right now, Tam was a really pissed-off father whose son was in mortal danger.

“Get behind the demon where he can’t see you!” Tam commanded. “Quickly! He can’t turn while the boys still have him.”

Tam and I had spoken mind-to-mind many times, but never like this. Never this close. Tam wasn’t just speaking to me; Tam was inside of me.

“How… What the hell are you-” I blurted out loud.

“Just do it, Raine!”

Vegard glanced sharply at me.

“It’s Tam,” I told him.

We had a demon on a rampage; Tam was a dark mage. It was clearly a match made in hell. I didn’t know what he could do to help; but whatever it was, I was all for it.

“Tell Talon to stop,” Tam ordered. “Then you can take the demon from Piaras.”

“I can what ?”

“I’ve fought demons before.” His words came in a rush. “I can work through you; tell you what you need to do.” Silence. “Raine, my power is your power.”

I froze, thoughts running in panicked circles in my head. I knew what Tam was saying, but worse yet, I knew what he meant.

Last week, when I’d used the Saghred to keep innocent people from being slaughtered, Tam and his potent black magic had been right there with me. We’d worked together, combining our power, doing what had to be done. That had earned us both a lot of unwanted attention and accusations. That six lives had been saved didn’t mean a rat’s ass to our high-ranking accusers.

“Raine!”

“I’m here,” I snarled. My breathing was shallow and rapid. What I was about to do through Tam-with Tam-scared me more than the demon did. I didn’t like being scared; it pissed me off. Tam was asking me to unleash some demon whoop-ass, and I had no idea how.

Piaras was weakening; the intensity of his notes wavered. The demon howled in gleeful anticipation.

“Tell me. Now!”

Tam did, and I understood. I didn’t have the skill or experience to do it, but Tam did. He told me what to do, and if I used his power, I could.

In theory. I hated theories.

“Find a mirror, thick glass, something you can force him inside of,” Tam ordered.

Mirrors were too dangerous to keep out in the open, but several of the shops had glass in their windows, diamond panes. I didn’t need Tam to tell me that wouldn’t work. Then I saw them. Some of the kids had gotten an early start on their drinking. They’d run, but they’d left two bottles of wine behind. Two empty bottles-with corks. Let’s hear it for partying college students.

“Would a bottle work?” I quickly asked Tam.

Silence and some fast thinking. “Yes. Is there a stopper of some kind?”

“ Cork.”

“Get it.”

I snatched a bottle and cork off the table. The demon saw and laughed, a deep rumbling that vibrated through my chest all the way down to my toes.

“You are no demon master.” He smiled, slow and horrible, and held out a clawed hand. “Come to me, elfling, and I will let the young ones live.”

“Shove him in!” Tam growled.

“And just how the hell am I-”

“Visualize him flowing into the neck of that bottle and it will happen.”

I froze. “Do I have to hold the bottle?”

“Yes!”

Dammit.

“Tell the boys to release him.” Then Tam’s voice turned imploring; Tam didn’t implore anyone. “Raine, I will help you. You can do this. We can do this.”

I felt as if I were about to step off a cliff. I swallowed. “Talon, stop.” I tried to keep my voice calm and rational. “Ease your song away from Piaras and run.”

The kid looked at me as though I had lost my mind.

I wasn’t entirely sure I hadn’t.

“Trust me.”

Talon hesitated, then carefully did as I said. He’d seen me in magical action before.

“Let him go,” I told Piaras. “I’ve got him.”

Piaras couldn’t believe what I was telling him to do. His song faltered and the demon thrashed and lunged. I swore. He thought I was going to use the Saghred. The kid was going to hold that demon and get himself killed to protect me from that damned rock.

“Let him go!” I screamed.

Piaras did and dove behind some overturned tables.

Free of all constraints, the demon roared in triumph and turned on me.

I had the bottle and cork in one hand, and Tam’s power coiled inside me ready to strike.

We were ready for the son of a bitch.

I thrust my empty hand toward the demon, fingers spread, much like Piaras had done. Piaras had only focused a spellsong; I was focusing Tam. My arm shook with the effort and my shoulder was on fire. Tam’s power exploded through my body, my own surging upward to meld with it. Tam’s dark magic rushed up from the deep, primal core of him. My own magic coiled and flared through my body, seeking and triumphantly finding the source of Tam’s power. It was like a well, dark and deep. I dove in headfirst.

The demon’s roar turned to a scream of rage and disbelief, and finally to a thin shriek as Tam’s magic shoved him face-first into the bottle with enough force to knock me on my ass. I shoved the cork in and grabbed the bottle in a two-handed death grip, holding it as far away from me as possible. Purple mist writhed inside.

I really wanted longer arms.

Chaos surrounded me. Vegard was barking orders, and Guardians were running out of the Quad to carry them out. Meanwhile, more Guardians were arriving, and so were officers of the city watch. From Vegard’s expression and all the armed men shouting and running around, you’d think we were under attack. And here I was sitting on my ass holding a demon in a bottle. I got to my feet. My knees were a little shaky, but I made it.

“I’ve got him!” I yelled to Vegard over the din. “What’s the problem?”

“You have one , ma’am. There’ll be more just like him.”

I gripped the bottle tighter. “More?”

“It’s a Volghul, Raine,” said Tam’s voice in my head, as if that explained everything. It didn’t. Tam sounded as though he was running. I don’t know how I could tell, but I could.

“What the hell’s a Volghul?” I asked Tam, Vegard, or whoever could tell me what was going on. And why were Guardians in full battle armor running into the Quad?

“There will be more of everything,” Vegard told me.

I was incredulous. “Some lunatic is summoning these things?”

“Volghuls aren’t summoned,” Tam said. “They cross over by themselves. Vegard knows this.”

“Cross over?”

“Through a Hellgate.”

I stopped breathing for a few seconds. “You mean a gate to Hell? Literally?”

“If by Hell you mean the dimension in which demons reside, then yes, I mean a gate to Hell. Volghuls are advance guards.”

I froze. “Guards in advance of what?”

Vegard and Tam answered me at the same time. “A legion of demons.”

We were in the headquarters of the Isle of Mid’s city watch. Bars on the windows, bars on the cells, and wards just about everywhere. Most people would feel safe, but I wasn’t most people. One, I was a Benares, and we didn’t feel safe anywhere there were bars, unless it had bar stools and a lot of rum, which I could use a shot or two of right now. Two, according to Vegard, things were on their way here that iron bars and wards couldn’t hold, at least not for very long. Every Guardian and watcher was now on full alert. Anyone on leave was being recalled, and a day off had just turned into on duty. The demonology department faculty was aware of the situation and was taking steps. I hoped they were big ones.