Ann Aguirre - Devil's Punch

It doesn’t have to be like that , the queen whispered. We could bond. Some of me, enough to convince them. And some of you, so you don’t lose everything. It’s a fair deal, your most likely chance of survival .

I stilled. Why would you offer that? Aren’t you going to wipe me out?

There’s a small chance you could win. Smother me forever. This way, I don’t lose everything. It’s a limited-time offer, human. Don’t think about it too long .

When I looked up again, I found Chance and Greydusk regarding me with an odd expression. “Did I zone?”

“For ten minutes,” Chance answered.

“You were with her last night.” Not a question.

But he nodded as if it had been.

“Did she hurt you?”

He replied carefully. “ Hurt is the wrong word.”

“Pick the right one.”

Chance cast a nervous glance at Greydusk. He didn’t want to talk about this in front of the demon.

I responded to the cue. “Could you give us a few minutes? I’ll know what I intend to do by then. Go make the arrangements to get us out of here. If Azon asks for another audience, tell him he risks pissing me off.”

The demon inclined his head and backed from the room. Good. He respects you, the queen said with satisfaction. You have made a good beginning even with all the bumbling, human. Your court will not be such a wretched thing after all .

“You said she didn’t hurt you, but…” He was clearly holding something back.

“I don’t have much self-control. She does this thing with her magick, and I respond. I stop being me. Stop caring about anything but pleasing her.”

God, but it was weird hearing that. Because she was me, essentially, and I hated knowing I’d done that to him. “Are you all right?”

He nodded. “I was glad when she passed out. It took more power than she expected to subjugate me.”

“Why?”

Chance hesitated. And then he told me his deepest secret, a truth his mom hadn’t shared. When he finished his quiet summary, I sat back, eyes wide. Greydusk had known Chance carried divine blood, I thought. But I’d imagined he was fucking with us.

“Wow,” I breathed. “Does that change everything?”

“Like what?”

“I dunno, how about your whole worldview?”

Chance lifted a shoulder in a bewildered shrug. “It explains my luck, but I don’t feel any different. I’m still my mother’s son. She’s the one who gave up everything to see me raised right.”

That was why I’d fallen in love with him in the first place. I couldn’t imagine any other guy finding out he was a demigod and not having it impact his self-esteem. But Chance had always been confident, solid in his sense of self. Once I found that certainty comforting…and then upsetting because I couldn’t match it.

“Are you going to try to contact him?”

“If he’d wanted to be part of my life, he would’ve been.”

I smiled up at him. “This takes the deadbeat dad thing to new levels, huh?”

“ God , I want you.” The fervor came from nowhere, at least from my perspective, until I remembered that the demon queen had tormented him last night, wearing my face.

I regretted that, but there wasn’t time to rectify the situation.

And why not? she asked. Anything of import waits on our pleasure .

There was seduction—and evil—in such complete self-absorption. I fought her lazy desire, rolling over me in waves. When I made love with Chance again, it would be because we both wanted it more than anything—with no help from outside stimulation. Something about Sheol stirred his sex drive, making him more primitive, and she didn’t help with her teasing.

“Do you think your divine blood might be reacting to the demon magick, in addition to the compulsion as consort?” No wonder he wasn’t himself.

“Probably,” he said, still looking at me as if he wanted to bend me over.

“Dial it down. We have work to do.”

My sharpness returned him to himself and he regained his composure, but his eyes retained that hungry edge. “I’ll find Greydusk.”

While they were gone, I used the facilities, freshened up, and found a change of clothes. These fell between my ornate robes from the Luren and the simple street garb the demon procured for me later. Though this outfit was all black, it had a satiny pattern imprinted on it so that it showed in each flicker of the light. I liked the knee boots that came with it. I almost felt like a queen, dressed like this.

Only if you intend on doing some killing, little human girl. Otherwise you’re not nearly elegant enough. Because I suspected it would irk Ninlil, I ignored her. Pretended I couldn’t feel her like a cancer in my brain or hear her insidious voice.

By the time the others returned, I had a headache from her shrieks.

For now, I was in control.

“How sure are you that the Hazo aim to make amends?” I asked Greydusk.

The demon’s gray skin paled, as if he couldn’t bear the thought of disappointing me. Her . “I could send a messenger. Discover their intentions.”

“That might be best.”

“We can’t spend too much longer here,” Chance said. “Or the other castes will get jealous.”

“An astute observation.”

I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of this before. “Is there a palace somewhere? Or a royal residence the castes weren’t allowed to claim?”

“There is,” Greydusk replied slowly. “Likely to be in rags and ruins, however. It’s been…uninhabited since Ninlil left us.”

I was murdered, the demon queen raged. Murdered! And what did you fools do to avenge me after the angel ripped my power away? Nothing! You cowered in Xibalba and squabbled over scraps like this pitiful animal. She wrested enough control from me to cut her eyes at Butch, whom she wanted to kill for some reason.

“Then let’s make our intentions clear. I’m tired of running. Tired of hiding. Take me there.” The crack of demand in my voice, well, it came partly from me and partly from her.

Maybe that fusion she’d mentioned was already under way. Even as I loathed her, it was better than losing myself entirely. I would dig in and cling to it as long as possible, fight tooth and nail. I’d never resign myself to captivity in my own head. Power over demons ran on my father’s side of the family; that must count for something.

We marched out of the Dohan stronghold as we’d come. I kept my eyes straight ahead, and none of the lesser demons dared look at me long enough to detect a difference from the day before. I ignored them all, and that seemed to suffice.

Finally, I had a handle on the situation. I’d use my power, such as it was, to get the Hazo to set Shannon free. That was smarter than attacking the warrior caste. If I fought them, that would indicate that I saw them as a worthy foe. If I commanded them, they would kneel, especially if Greydusk read our circumstances correctly.

Outside the Dohan compound, we didn’t have a chance to arm up before they pounced. A flash of magick fell on me like a net. The queen howled her bootless fury, but I was already caught, an insect in amber. All around me, the air felt thick and slow. I couldn’t move so much as my fingertips.

“Corine!” That strangled cry was the last I heard from Chance.

I couldn’t even turn my head to see how he fared.

Complacent . I had listened too much to the dark lady in my head. To my detriment, I had forgotten the one lesson I’d learned as a child. There are always enemies. And now they had me. Greydusk had warned me there were factions who didn’t want to see the queen return. I had chosen speed over caution in reaching the Drinkers, and now my true foe had us.