Amelia Atwater-Rhodes - Demon in My View

"That's called sadism, and I think it's some kind of psychological disorder," Jessica grumbled, rolling onto her front so that she could use her left arm to push herself up.

Fala kicked her in the back of the head while she was still on her knees. "So are suicidal tendencies," she countered.

Black and red spots fought for domination in Jessica's mind as she felt herself being yanked to her feet by one of her injured arms. The world suddenly lost all focus, and she was dropped back to the ground.

"Pitiful," she heard Fala grunt.

Slowly, excruciatingly, Jessica forced herself to her feet as Fala walked away to lounge on the riverbank. Leaning against a tree for support, Jessica touched the back of her head and found it sticky with her own blood.

As soon as she felt capable of walking, Jessica scanned the clearing for the knife that Fala had thrown earlier. She spotted it partially embedded in a tree trunk nearby and staggered to it. She bit her lip to hold back a yelp of pain as she wrapped her hands around the knife's hilt and yanked it from the wood. Both her arms screamed at the effort.

She recognized the blade as Aubrey's and was surprised that Fala had managed to steal it from him. Though simple, it wasn't a knife one would mistake; the word Fenris was inscribed in the handle. Jessica knew the damage it could do to vampiric flesh, with all the poisonous magic burned deep into the silver of the blade by the vampire-slayer witch who had forged it. The knife felt almost alive in her hand, and she could feel its magic slither up her arm. Some of the pain dulled.

Never having handled a knife before as a weapon, she had no hope of fatally wounding Fala, but maybe she could hurt her enough that she would go away.

Jessica planted the knife loosely in the tree, a plan slowly forming in her mind.

"So, I see you're walking again," Fala sighed, appearing in front of her only seconds after Jessica had stepped away from the tree. "I must not have hit you hard enough."

Jessica backed up toward the knife, protecting her right arm. The wounded-bird routine was old but effective. Fala wouldn't consider the knife a threat because it would be impossible for Jessica to remove it one-handed, behind her back.

Fala stepped forward again, and Jessica felt behind her with her left arm as she backed up. Her hand was on the knife, but before she could do anything with it, Fala grabbed her again and dragged her forward.

Jessica's vision spun at the sudden movement, and the next instant she felt the sting as Fala's teeth pierced her throat once more.

This time, Fala made no effort to make it easy on her. The pain began instantly, not dulled by mind control or any hint of tenderness.

Though she had written about it many times, Jessica was not prepared. The pain in her head and her arms was nothing compared to the burning, suffocating sensation that now replaced those earlier annoyances. Despite her efforts not to, she heard her own voice shout out, a useless cry.

A wave of blackness spread across her vision, but she managed to fend it off as she yanked an arm free from Fala's grip.

Fala shifted a bit, and Jessica felt as if her skin had just been flayed from her body; she moaned in agony as her knees gave out under her, but somehow, just barely, she was able to grope for the knife.

She pulled the knife forward in an arc, and though she had no strength and no sight with which to aim, the blade glanced off Fala's side, slicing open the vampire's arm.

To a human, the wound would surely have been fatal. If Fala had been weaker, she too might have died. As it was, Jessica was certain it hurt like Hell.

Fala shrieked in rage and pain and hit Jessica, hard, on the left side of her chest. Jessica heard something snap and was knocked backward into the tree, hitting the wound on her head again.

Fala disappeared, cradling her arm against her chest. That was all Jessica saw before she sank into unconsciousness.

Fala could shield her mind too well for Aubrey to locate her, and neither Jager nor Moira would help him.

Only twenty minutes had passed since the tussle with Dominique, but he well knew the damage Fala could have done even that quickly. He had spent the time looking for Fala and berating himself for leaving Jessica alone, and little else. He hadn't even bothered to replace the shirt Dominique's knife had bloodied, but had simply tossed it in the trash somewhere.

Now Aubrey paced in Fala's room, waiting for her to return, all the while envisioning the new forms of pain he could introduce her to if she had killed Jessica.

When Fala finally did enter the room, she looked quite a bit worse for wear. Her arm had been sliced open, and blood was still dripping from the slowly healing wound. She was trembling, though Aubrey couldn't tell whether the cause was pain, chill, or rage.

"Damn both of you to Hell and back!" she growled when she saw him. "Get out of my room or I'll tear out your heart and feed it to Ahemait myself."

Judging by her mood, she might very well try. Ahemait was the Egyptian devourer of the dead. When Fala brought up the mythology of her human background, she was best avoided.

Instead, Aubrey's anger responded to hers.

He slammed her against the wall, his hand around her throat, and heard the crunch as her windpipe broke. The injury would heal quickly, but he could tell that, despite her high tolerance for it, Fala did not appreciate the pain.

She threw a bolt of her power at him and he stumbled back a step. Dodging quickly, he barely avoided his own knife when she threw it at him. The blade stuck in the wall.

"What did you do to her?" he demanded.

"Only what you should have done a week ago!" Fala snapped.

This time it was Fala's turn to stumble as Aubrey lashed out, his anger making the blow even harder. "Where is she? " he said quietly, his voice cold.

Fala laughed. "You honestly expect me to tell you?"

Meeting her gaze, Aubrey paused before answering. He saw her expression change as she recognized the complete, smoldering rage in his eyes. "Yes."

"She's somewhere on the river," Fala spat, wise enough to recognize that fighting him at this moment was a dangerous idea. "I hope the crows have gotten to her by now."

Aubrey disappeared, bringing himself to the edge of New Mayhem, where the river passed by.

Once again he changed himself into a wolf, a creature that could move faster and more surely through the woods. Following the river, he covered a mile in only a few minutes. Finally, less than two miles from New Mayhem, in the thick of the forest, he caught Jessica's scent and brought himself instantly to her side.

Jessica was pasty white, her breathing was wet and shallow, and her heart alternated between racing and threatening to stop.

She was alive, but not for long, and he knew no way to help her. Three thousand years of killing had taught him nothing about undoing this kind of damage.

After a moment of hesitation in which he swallowed his pride, he left Jessica's side and brought himself to the home of Hasana and Caryn Smoke. He could sense Caryn s magic, stronger than her mother's, even outside the house.

Had he not killed all his gods long ago, Aubrey would have prayed that Caryn would be willing to help. Anxiously he brought himself to her side.

CARYN HAD NEARLY FAINTED from fright when Aubrey first appeared in her room, but his rapid explanation had shoved all personal concerns out of the way, making room for the disciplined healer to come forth. She had been working now for nearly an hour.

She was from the oldest known line of healers on Earth, but even her abilities had limits.