Lilith Saintcrow: Heaven's Spite

Not anymore. I tried forcing my right arm to uncurl. It didn’t want to. I struggled, sweating, and the banefire hissed. It cast weird leaping shadows all over the rock, turned Perry’s face into a caricature of handsomeness. He moved slightly, shifting his weight, and the banefire leapt again.

Mikhail had brought me out to these rocks once. It’s good to know where places of power are, even if they’re a day’s drive from your territory. You just never know. The humming force inside the stones fueled the banefire nicely, and as long as I concentrated…

He watched as I uncurled my arm, inch by inch. His lips parted slightly, avid, and the red flash of his scaled tongue flicked once, twice. “A deal’s a deal.”

I set the knifeblade against the meat of my right hand, drew it across with a butterfly kiss. It stung, and flesh parted. Red welled up.

I stared at it in the shifting light. The tracery of black at its edges mocked me.

I drove the knife into the sand next to me. Picked up the gun. Hefted it, and looked at him.

If his grin got any wider, the top of his head would flip open.

I pointed the gun at him and smiled. The expression sat oddly on my face. He hissed, Helletöng rumbling in the back of his throat.

I almost understood the words, too. A shiver raced down my spine.

“You can’t escape me.” The rock groaned as his voice lashed at it, little glassy bits flaking away. They plopped down on the sand with odd ringing sounds. “The fire won’t last forever, my darling. Then I’ll step over your line in the sand, and you’ll find out what it means to be mine.”

“Think again.” I bent my left arm. Fitted the gun’s barrel inside my mouth. My eyes were dry, my body tensing against the inevitable.

Comprehension hit. Perry snarled and lunged at the banefire. It roared up, a sheet of blue flame. Twisting faces writhed in its smokeless glow, their mouths open as they whisper-screamed.

I glanced down at the slice on my palm. Still bleeding. It was hard to tell if the black traceries were still there. For a moment, I wondered.

Then I brought myself back to the thing I had to do. Stupid body, getting all worked up. What the will demands, the body will do—but it also tries to wriggle, sometimes.

Not this time.

“ Kiss! ” he howled. “ You’re mine! MINE! You cannot escape me! ”

I saw Saul’s face, yellow and exhausted, against the white pillow. I smelled him, the musk and fur of a healthy cat Were. I saw Galina’s wide green eyes and marcel waves, Hutch’s shy smile, Gilberto’s fierce, glittering dark gaze. I saw them all, saw my city perched on the river’s edge, its skyscrapers throwing back dusk’s last light with a vengeance before the dark things crawled out of their holes. I saw Anya perched on Galina’s roof with her green bottle, staring down at the street and wondering if I had the strength to do this. Wondering if she would have to hunt me down, if I failed here.

And I heard Mikhail. There, little snake. Honest silver, on vein to heart. You are apprentice. Now it begins.

I love you, I thought. I love you all.

“ You cannot escape! ” Perry screamed, throwing himself at the banefire again. It sizzled and roared, and the rocks around me begin to ring like a crystal wineglass stroked just right. If this kept up they might shatter.

Wouldn’t that be a sight.

“ Do you hear me, hunter? You cannot escape me! ”

Watch me , I thought, and squeezed both eyes shut. The banefire roared as he tried again to get through, actually thrusting a hand through its wall, snatching it back with a shattering howl as the skin blackened and curled. It was now or never.

I pulled the trig—

LILITH SAINTCROW was born in New Mexico, bounced around the world as an Air Force brat, and fell in love with writing when she was ten years old. She currently lives in Vancouver, Washington.

Find her on the web at: www.lilithsaintcrow.com.

Arkeus: A roaming corruptor escaped from Hell.

Banefire:A cleansing sorcerous flame.

Black Mist:A roaming psychic contagion; a symbiotic parasite inhabiting the host’s nervous system and bloodstream.

Chutsharak: Chaldean obscenity, loosely translated as “oh, fuck. ”

Demon:Term loosely used to designate any nonhuman predator with sorcerous ability or a connection to Hell.

Exorcism:Tearing loose a psychic parasite from its host.

Hellbreed:Blanket term for a wide array of demons, half demons, or other species escaped or sent from Hell.

Helletöng:The language of the damned.

Hellfire:The spectrum of sorcerous flame employed by hellbreed for a variety of uses.

Hunter:A trained human who keeps the balance between the nightside and regular humans; extrahuman law enforcement.

Imdarák: Shadowy former race who drove the Elder Gods from the physical plane, also called the Lords of the Trees.

Martindale Squad:The FBI division responsible for tracking nightside crime across state lines and at the federal level; mostly staffed with hunters and Weres.

Middle Way:Worshippers of Chaos, Middle Way adepts are usually sociopathic and sorcerous loners. Occasionally covens of Middle Way adepts will come together to control a territory or for a specific purpose.

OtherSight:Second sight; the ability to see sorcerous energy. Can also mean precognition.

Possessor:An insubstantial, low-class demon specializing in occupying and controlling humans; the prime reason for exorcists.

Scurf:Also called nosferatim, a semipsychic viral infection responsible for legends of blood-hungry corpses, vampires, or nosferatu. Also, someone infected by the scurf virus.

Sorrow:A worshipper of the Chaldean Elder Gods.

Sorrows House:A House inhabited by Sorrows, with a vault for invocation or evocation of Elder Gods.

Sorrows Mother:A high-ranking female of a Sorrows House.

Talyn: A hellbreed, higher in rank than an arkeus or a Possessor, usually insubstantial due to the nature of the physical world.

Trader:A human who makes a deal with a hellbreed, usually for worldly gain or power.

Utt’huruk: A bird-headed demon.

Were:Blanket term for several species who shapeshift into animal (for example, cougar, wolf, or spider) or half animal (wererat or khentauri ) form.