Light My Fire

  The voices stopped.

  “Cara, you are with us again?”

  I frowned again. That voice was familiar, as was the brush of cool fingers across my neck. My shoulder twitched in response. “Goddamn it, Fiat. What have you done to me? Why can’t I see? Do I have a blindfold on? Did you cast some sort of blinding spell on me?”

  His voice was filled with dry humor. “Nothing quite so drastic. Your eyes are closed, cara. You will see again if you open them.”

  “Oh.” I thought about that for a moment, wondering why something so simple seemed to take such an exaggerated amount of time to be processed in my brain. The answer came a few seconds later. The sting on my back! He’d shot me, and I was in shock!

  “Do you need help?”

  The cool fingers were back, this time gently pulling one of my eyelids upward. My eye rolled up and took its time focusing on the blurry figure in front of me.

  “And now the other one.”

  “I can do it myself,” I grumbled, slapping at his hand. I got my other eyelid opened, and my gaze focused, but it took far longer than it should have. “You drugged me or something.”

  “I regret that is so. There was no other way to get you out of Drake’s house.”

  That filtered through the drug-induced haze in my mind. A thought formed right after that, a good thought, a welcome thought. I opened my mouth to give voice to it. “Effrijim, I summ—”

  A hand slapped over my mouth. “I do not believe we need your demon along for the evening’s events,” Fiat said. I realized then that I was lying on my side along the seat of a car, which explained the rolling motion. I propped my head up to glare at Fiat, but it swam so badly, I let it fall back to the seat.

  “You will feel the effects of the drug for a short while yet, I’m afraid. If I have your assurance that you will not try to summon your minion, I will release you.”

  I was very aware of Fiat’s cool fingers on my mouth. It was not a pleasant sensation. I thought about what he was saying, tried to figure out any reason he had for kidnapping me from Drake’s house, and decided there wasn’t much I could do in the current circumstances. I gave a sharp nod of agreement.

  “Excellent. Now, you no doubt—”

  “EffrijimIsummonthee,” I said at warp speed the second his fingers left my lips.

  Fiat sighed as the familiar furry black shape of Jim formed and solidified in front of me.

  “Wow. You’re naked, Ash. Hi, Fiat. Hi, Renaldo. We’re going for a ride?”

  Carefully, so as not to dislodge the towel I still wore wrapped around my torso—and, more important, to give my head time to cope with movement—I sat upright in the seat, glaring at both Fiat and Renaldo, his bodyguard, who sat next to him blatantly ogling me.

  “Eyes up here!” I told the latter, pointing to my face, one hand making sure the towel was securely tucked into itself. Fortunately, it was long enough that it went almost to my knees, so there wasn’t too much of me exposed…if you can call being kidnapped while clad in a towel not too exposed.

  “Nice car,” Jim said, looking around. “Does it run to snacks?”

  For a moment, a chink showed in Fiat’s armor. “Cara, I must insist that you control your demon.”

  “What? I haven’t done anything! I didn’t point out that your limo isn’t as big as Drake’s, or that you’ve got a nasty scuff on one of your shoes, or even that someone stuck a wad of gum under your seat. I’ve been good.”

  I smiled at Jim, both relieved and somewhat reassured by its presence. Jim may not be much protection, but we had made it out of some sticky situations together.

  A flash of true anger showed in Fiat’s clear blue eyes. “If you do not subdue your demon, I will do it for you.”

  “You and what army?”

  “Hey, now!” I pulled on Jim’s collar as the demon bared its teeth. “Jim, stop being rude. Fiat, stop picking on Jim. It hasn’t done anything.”

  “Its mere existence offends me.”

  I was a bit surprised by the vehemence in his voice. Fiat showed even less emotion than Drake, but this time the naked anger was visible for a moment before his usual polite, handsome, Greek-god mask settled into place.

  “I am—”

  “Going to be quiet,” I finished for Jim. “Until I say otherwise.”

  Jim shot me a look, but I ignored it to level a quelling glare at Fiat. “I don’t have time for your odd games. I have no idea what you think you’re proving by kidnap ping me, but I don’t have time to find out. I have to go to a challenge.”

  “That is where I am taking you, cara. Do not get your”—his gaze dropped to the bare lower half of my thigh—“panties in a twist.”

  Jim bared its teeth again, silently this time. I put a warning hand on its head, gently stroking its ears. I knew when I was deliberately being baited, and I wasn’t going to lose my cool with Fiat. “Speaking of that, you couldn’t have kidnapped my clothing along with me?”

  Fiat smiled. “Unfortunately, I told Renaldo to acquire you. I did not think to specify that you should be clothed first. Not that it is difficult to look upon you as you are.”

  I tugged the towel down my thigh a smidgen. “Let’s start this whole conversation over again. Why are you kidnapping me?”

  “Cara, cara, cara,” he said, tsking and shaking his head at me in mock sorrow. “So demanding. So forceful. If I did not know better, I would think you were a dragon.”

  “Where are we going? Why did you kidnap me?” I asked again, keeping firmly to the subject that mattered. Fiat was notorious for banter, but I didn’t have time for that any more than I had time for an impromptu kidnapping.

  He spread his hands wide. “Such antagonism. Do you not trust me to keep you safe?”

  “Trust you?” I goggled at him. He had to be insane.

  “And yet, I am the one who saved you recently from certain death. I understand the red dragons have dealt a death sentence upon you. Surely you cannot fear one who has saved you from their wrath?”

  “I don’t fear you, Fiat. I’m annoyed by you and these games you insist on playing, nothing more. And stop trying to get into my mind. The NO TRESPASSING sign is up, if you haven’t noticed.” Ever since I’d woken up, I was aware of the brush of his mind against mine, trying to get into the inner sanctum to read my thoughts. But one of the first things I’d learned when entering the Otherworld was how to close out my thoughts from Fiat and his sept of mind readers.

  He sighed, an exaggerated, martyred sound. “Very well. I can see you are in no mood for polite talk. You are coming with me to the challenge of your mate because there is something I wish to do there, and you are vital to my success.”

  “Fiat, so help me, if this is another one of your attempts to cause trouble between Drake and the other wyverns, I’ll…”

  A smile flirted with his lips, his eyes mirroring the amusement. “You are naked and in my power, surrounded by my men. What exactly do you think you have to threaten me with?”

  I sat up a little straighter. “I am a Guardian. I have resources.”

  “Perhaps. But in this instance, you are helpless. And if you attempt to escape me, as you have done in the past”—he leaned forward and placed a hand on my knee; I tried to brush it off, but his fingers tightened. Jim’s lips pulled back in a silent growl—“I will be forced to subdue you. And that, cara, I can assure you will not be pleasant. If you cooperate, all will be well.”

  “Define well.”

  He let go of my knee and sat back. “You will be with your mate.”

  “What is it you want me to do?”

  “Very simple.” He brushed off an infinitesimal bit of dirt from his pants. “I want you to—”

  The car slammed to a stop with a horrible shriek of brakes applied to tires. The back end of the limo fish-tailed out to the side, sending the occupants of the back flying to the opposite side, bodies colliding, limbs entangled, and in my case, my head crashing painfully into the door handle.


  I touched the top of my head, my fingers coming away red. “Holy…ow! I’m bleeding!…cow. What happened?”

  Fiat and Jim were tangled together on the floor, each trying to rise by using the other as leverage. Beneath them both was Renaldo. Before anyone could answer me, the door I was slumped against opened, and I tumbled out to the ground, striking my head again.

  “Right. That’s it. I officially call an end to today. I’m going home and going to bed until it’s over.” I rolled over onto my side and propped myself up on one hand. A pair of shoes appeared next to me, attached to a woman’s legs. I followed the legs up to the rest of the person.

  “The lord Ariton wishes to see you. Now!”

  “Oh, hi, Obedama.” I grabbed Jim’s collar in an attempt to help me to my feet. “Sorry about those Guardians sending you back to Abaaaaaaaaaa—!”

  Before I could finish the sentence, Obedama wrapped both hands around my neck and yanked me backwards, wrenching me with a horrible, sickening feeling right through the fabric of time and space.

  It was such a nauseating experience that when I was released, I fell to my knees and vomited right on the middle of Ariton’s plush Victorian rug, one of my hands still wrapped around Jim’s collar. The demon didn’t say anything, but its cold nose pressed against my cheek in sympathy as I clutched myself and tried to keep from barfing a second time.

  “You come at last,” Ariton said, rising from behind his desk, his eyes narrowing as I wiped a tendril of saliva off my lips. “Do you think I am such a fool that I do not see through your idiotic scheme to put me off? Who are you working with?”

  Ariton grabbed me by my hair and brutally yanked me to my feet. I squawked with pain and outrage.

  “What are you talking about? I’m not working with anyone! I’m sorry I’ve been too busy to see you, but—”

  “Silence!” he bellowed, power crackling off him as he backhanded me. I flew across the room, slamming against a thankfully bare spot on the wall, my head whacking painfully against the solid wood paneling. The room spun before my eyes for a moment as I tried to regain my wits. “You will cease this deception!”

  “I am not deceiving you,” I snarled back at him, pain chasing fear enough that it kept me on my feet. I have never been one to take abuse, and I wasn’t about to let Ariton be the first. “And you can stop with the rough treatment! I am a fellow demon lord! You can’t treat me like that!”

  He laughed, a horrible sound that made my soul weep. “Do you seriously believe I cannot destroy you where you stand?”

  I rubbed the back of my head as he walked around me. Obedama stood next to the door, a sentinel of silence. Jim sat a few feet away, its eyes dark and unfathomable as it watched us. I could order Jim to attack Ariton, but there was no way it had the power to defeat a demon lord.

  “Do you know what it would take to destroy you, Guardian?” Ariton stopped in front of me, his face hard.

  I lifted my chin on the principle that offense was the best defense. “I am immortal. You can’t destroy me.”

  A slow, blood-chilling smile slid across his face. “Not kill, no. But there are other forms of death. There are ways to destroy your mind but leave your body intact.”

  Horror skittered down my back at the depth of evil in his eyes.

  “You cannot kill a demon lord. But you can destroy one. Once you have the soul, you can render the physical form inert, and banish the essence of what remains to the Akashic plain, where it will be trapped, powerless, for an eternity.”

  “Demons don’t have souls,” I said, my voice a croak.

  The power that surrounded him in a dark aura snapped around me, sending little frissons of pain deep into my being. “But demon lords do. It is what gives us our power. Would you like to see how that power can destroy you, Guardian?”

  I licked my lips. I knew as I did it, Ariton could smell the fear on me, but I was struggling as it was to keep a grip on myself in the face of sheer, utter, almost incomprehensible evil. “I think I’ll pass on that.”

  He turned away, his voice as smooth and polished as it had been the first time I’d met him. “You will tell me with whom you are working, or I will break your body, corrupt your soul, and banish you to an eternity of torment.”

  Every inch of my body broke out into a terrified cold sweat as I frantically looked around the room, desperate for some way to escape, or something I could do to distract Ariton long enough to get away. But other than Jim and Ariton’s minion, we were alone. There were no weapons, no handy Demon-Lord-Begone spray, not even the slightest hint of an idea of what I was going to do to get out of this.

  “I really wish I could help you, but I just can’t. I’m not working with anyone,” I told Ariton, desperation swamp ing me.

  Ask him about his soul. A voice spoke into my ear. My head snapped around to the left, but there was no one there. Ask him to show it to you.

  It’s a pretty good indicator of the state of my mind that I ignored the suspicion that arose as to the wisdom of following the disembodied advice from who-knew-what being. For the first time in my life, I was truly terrified, not for my body, which I was sure would survive just about anything, but for my soul. If that was destroyed, it would mean Drake’s death, as well. The other demon lord I’d had a brief brush with had been frightening, but every thing had happened so quickly, I hadn’t really had time to be terror stricken.

  This time it was different.

  “About your soul,” I started to say. Ariton closed his eyes, lifted both hands toward me, and began to chant. Each word he spoke struck my body like a barbed missile, pain sweeping through me. Frantic, I pulled on Drake’s dragon fire to give me strength. “If you’re going to destroy me, the least you can do is tell me why demon lords have souls if demons don’t. You’re bigger and badder and infinitely more nasty than any one demon, so why do you get to have a soul?”

  A little flicker of relief rose in me when Ariton paused his cursing, or whatever he was doing to destroy me, in order to answer my questions. “You mock me with these foolish questions, pretending ignorance for some reason I cannot fathom. You know of the Fallen. You know of the six classes of demons.”

  I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to keep from screaming for mercy. Ariton was clearly not going to believe me if I tried to convince him of my innocence in the ways of demons and their lords. “Of course I know. But you were born human, not a demon.”

  “And as a weak mortal, I was burdened with that most heinous of gifts—a conscience. Once I rid myself of that, once I purified myself by bathing in the pool of the Dark Master, then I became what you see. You wish to see my soul, Guardian?”

  Be ready, the voice to my left spoke into my head.

  Ready for what? Every inch of my body sweated beads of sheer terror. What was I supposed to be ready for?

  “Behold, the true being, the One Form!” Ariton threw open his arms, a brilliant black light bursting from his chest, creating a corona of pure power around him.

  Banish it! Banish it now! the voice screamed in my head. Send it to Akasha and you will be free of him forever!

  Banish? Like I did when I sent Jim to the Akashic plain? I didn’t stop to think, didn’t reason out whether or not trying to banish a being so well versed in dark power was a smart move. I didn’t pause for even a second to consider what such an act might do to me. I had no choice—either I saved myself or Ariton would destroy me, and by association, Drake and Jim as well.

  The mental door in my mind was flung wide open as I welcomed the roar of Drake’s fire. “Ariton, known as Egyn, seventh prince of Abaddon, leader of the twenty-two legions, by this light, by my virtue, by my being, I do banish thee!”

  Ariton clearly wasn’t expecting that from me, because he stared at me in surprise for the count of three before releasing a roar of such hideousness, the walls around us cracked. “You dare?”

  Power, black and evil, washed over me as he recommenced his chanting. I struggled to breathe, my body be
ginning to fail under the influence of his will.

  Do it again! Banish him now! It is your only chance.

  Through a miasma of pain and sorrow and abject terror, I saw Jim’s face for a second. It was twisted with sadness, pain and regret so deep in its eyes, it made me weep. It also brought me renewed strength of mind. I was a professional, dammit! I was not going to go down without a fight! I pulled hard on Drake’s fire, flames erupting around me until I stood in a veritable inferno, one hand reaching for Jim. The demon didn’t have any power as such, but it made me feel better to have my hand on it as I made a final, last-ditch attempt to save us. “Ariton, known as Egyn!” I bellowed, channeling the dragon fire straight at the demon lord. It met his dark power, colliding into a fireball. The resulting flash of light blinded me, but I didn’t pause to wait for it to dissipate. “Seventh prince of Abaddon, leader of the twenty-two legions!”

  “You will bother me no longer, Guardian! Begone!”

  Little bits of me started to tear off. Not my body—bits of my soul, ripped from me and destroyed with the chant Ariton took up again.

  Do it now! the voice shrieked in my ear. Use the power! Banish him!

  I lowered my head, pulling on Drake’s fire for all I was worth, but it wasn’t enough. I could feel the chant working on me, pulling me apart, destroying not just my mind, but my very being, the essence that made up the core of my soul.

  “No! I will not allow this!” My words ripped from my throat in a voice I did not recognize. The door in my head, open wide to allow me access to all the possibilities, suddenly was flooded with a hot, sticky warmth. Black and thick, it filled me with wrath, fired my rage to unimaginable heights, burning deep and dark alongside Drake’s fire. “By this light, I banish thee!”

  I lifted my head to look at Ariton, filled with so much power, it glowed around me in a strange, coppery aura. Jim said something, but I paid the demon no attention. That was solely focused on channeling this newfound power into the will to destroy the demon lord.