City of Thorns by C.N. Crawford
Chapter 22
Hypervigilance: a heightened state of anxiety and alertness, a tendency to scan the environment for threats.
In my everyday life, it was dysfunctional. In the world of demons, it didn’t hurt to turn up the dial, because somehow, I’d missed that Lydia had been sneaking up behind me, and now she was crushing my throat.
As my vision started to go dark, enormous hands reached down and ripped Lydia off me.
The sound of the klaxon died out at last.
I sucked in air, trying to hide exactly how fragile I was. I wanted to gasp deeply and audibly, but I was worried that would make me look too mortal. All eyes were on me right now. Had they noticed how easily she’d taken me down? Did they know I was mortal?
Unwilling to look weak in front of the others, I forced myself up.
But as I steadied my breathing, a rush of movement caught my eye. I turned to see the blood-guzzling demon running for me from the bridge, the wind whipping at his luxurious curls. With a bellowing war cry, he was charging for me at an alarming speed. Moonlight glinted off his ivory horns, and long silver claws shot from his fingers. If I tried to run, they’d all see how slow I was.
“It’s over!” called the king. “The Trial has ended.”
But the duke wasn’t listening, and he was almost upon me. Ten feet away…two feet away…
I froze in place, staring at him. The bloodthirsty duke reared back his arm, ready to strike at my chest—
Fast as lighting, Orion shifted in front of me, blocking the hit with his enormous body. I heard the sound of claws ripping into his flesh, and my stomach tightened.
Horrified, I wrapped my arm around his back to keep him upright and craned my neck to see the damage. The one way a demon could die was having his heart cut out.
The duke’s eyes were wide as he ripped his blood-covered claws out of Orion’s chest.
“What have you done?” someone shouted. “Did you kill the Lord of Chaos?”
My heart slammed against my ribs. Orion was clutching his chest, bleeding all over the stones.
The world had gone dreadfully silent, and panic tightened my throat. “Are you okay?” I whispered.
Before us, the duke’s claws retracted, and his hand flew to his mouth. “Oh, Lucifer save me, I didn’t mean to do that. I was aiming for the succubus. Why did you jump in the way, you idiot? You know what it means if she survives.”
Orion raised a bloodied hand. “I’m fine,” he said at last, and then he darted forward and grabbed the duke by his neck. The duke’s eyes bulged, and Orion lifted him by the throat, choking him. Silver claws shot out from Orion’s fingertips.
Oh, God. He wasn’t going to—
Orion’s claws sliced into the demon’s chest, and one sharp, ruthless swipe carved out the heart. The glutton demon’s bony corpse fell to the ground with a thud,his chest cavity gaping open and his body still twitching.
Holy shit.
My gorge rose, but I couldn’t afford to throw up. I had to look like that was normal. All perfectly normal. Oh, God, the way it glistened…
Orion shrugged. “What? He attacked me. I was well within my rights to end his life, as I’m sure you all agree.”
The crowd murmured. The shocked excitement in their eyes reminded me a little of the glee in my classmates’ faces when I’d had my meltdown.
Orion turned to look at me, brow furrowed. Was that a flicker of worry in his pale eyes?
“You’re okay?” I asked again. “I think we should get you home.” And I had to get out of here before the bruises bloomed all over my throat.
But the king was prowling closer, dressed in a finely cut midnight suit. His dark eyes were locked on me, and a smile curled his lips. “Good. Everyone survived, then, it seems. Lady Mortana, house of Lilitu. Duchess of the Ward of Asmodeus. After tonight, the abandoned ward will no longer be abandoned.” He raised his hands to the dark skies. “The council of seven is reunited!”
Instead of cheers,only silence greeted his pronouncement. Then, the sound of a throat clearing broke the silence. The king lowered his hands to look down at the twitching corpse on the ground.
“Or,nearly reunited We will have to get a new one, I suppose.” He raised his hands to the skies again. “Anyway, the celebratory party begins immediately in the Temple of Ishtar!”
Orion had just been nearly stabbed to death, another duke died, and they wanted to throw a party? I was so caught up on that thought, I nearly missed the other part—Duchess. That was me now. A demonic duchess.
A few people clapped, but it didn’t sound enthusiastic. Orion was standing straighter now, and I let my arm drop from his back.
My gaze flicked to Lydia, who still seemed furious. Darkness coiled around her, curling into the night sky like smoke.
If I hadn’t been nearly strangled, I’d probably make a big, cocky pronouncement right now, like Mortana would. But my voice box had been crushed, and I didn’t think I’d sound normal when I spoke.
Clearly, I had to watch my back here. Lydia would rip my heart out the first chance she got.
I hadn’t really thought about the implications until now, but as the only person in the Asmodean Ward, I would be its leader by default. Lydia was no longer the only female on the council, and she didn’t like that one bit. I’d be part of the Quorum now. Close to the king. A rival for the role of queen.
She just had no idea I wouldn’t be here that long.
I glanced back at the Bridge of Harrowing and saw that some of the other demons from the forest were starting to stumble out, looking like zombies—bodies scorched, clothing singed. Some had blistered skin and watering eyes.
This night had been brutal for lots of us, but I supposed only a single death was a victory.
Orion pulled me close to him, almost protectively. “My lady will want to dry off, and I’ll need a change of clothes after that unfortunate incident. We will soon join you at the temple.”
He grabbed me by the hand, leading me to the street on the far side of the esplanade. Within moments, a sleek black car pulled up, and Orion opened the door for me. I slid inside and buckled up while Orion told the mortal cab driver to take us back to his apartment in the Leviathan Hotel.
Now, for the first time tonight, I felt the full weight of my exhaustion. My muscles burned with fatigue, and my throat felt raw. Even without the other clothes, I still smelled faintly of fox pee.
Never in my life had I craved a bath so badly.
When the car started rolling, Orion turned to look at me. “Congratulations,” he said softly. “Duchess Mortana of Lilitu.”
* * *
The first thingI’d done upon our return to Orion’s apartment was to run upstairs to the balcony bath. As I’d filled it with scalding water, I’d stripped off my clothes. Now, I was leaning back into the hot, bubbling bath as the steam curled around me. I let my muscles melt and scrubbed my body clean.
While I soaked in the heat, I gazed up at the stars. I could just about make out the North Star, I thought, at the end of the Little Dipper. Mom had taught me to find it, another survival technique. I looked for it at night sometimes, centering myself. It was just that the compass app was a lot easier and worked even when there were clouds.
I let out a long, shaky breath. My mind kept flicking back to the demon I’d hit with fire. Hair blazing, clothes flaming…horrible.
I shuddered, suddenly struck by the feeling that I didn’t want to be alone.
Half of me wanted to call Orion in here while I bathed to keep me company. But like the primal keening of the demons’ war cries in the wilderness, I sensed instinctively that it wouldn’t end well.
I rose abruptly from the bath. Water dripped off my bare skin in the cool night air, and I started to towel off.
Sex with Orion absolutely could not happen. For one thing, he’d threatened to kill Shai, and I’d just seen exactly how efficient he could be with killing. In under a second, she could be dead. On top of that, he was a suspect. I was sure that the police had rules about not sleeping with anyone under a criminal investigation.
His attraction to me was probably fake, anyway.
I mean…it didn’t feel fake. That encounter in the Tower of Baal, with my legs wrapped around him—it really felt like he hadn’t been faking that desire. The heated look in his eyes, the exquisitely sensual stroke of his magic over me, the feel of his hardness between my thighs…
I started to towel-dry my hair, flipping it over my head. Anyway, he was bad news.
Once dry, I slipped into the clothes I’d laid out for myself—tiny, silky underwear in a deep blue, and a matching lace demicup bra. I stepped into the underwear, doing my best not to think about Orion, and then pulled on a soft black dress. It was kind of a cute 1960s look—short as hell, but with long sleeves and a turtleneck, and smoking hot when paired with thigh-high boots, succubus style.
When I came downstairs again, I found Orion sitting on his cream sofa with a glass of whiskey. He’d changed into a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, exposing his creepy snake tattoo. He wore deep forest pants that looked like raw silk and probably cost ten thousand dollars.
“The duchess returns,” he said as I sat beside him. “You know, love, I didn’t think a mortal could do what you did. It seems you’re capable of great surprises.” His voice was a velvety caress. “Your not-so-adoring crowd will be expecting you soon. Mortana doesn’t tire, I’m afraid.”
“How’s your chest?”
“Same as it ever was.” A sly smile. “Fine on the outside, dead on the inside. Fortunately, only metaphorically.”
I crossed my legs, and his gaze flicked to my bare thighs for just a moment before he rose. “Stand up. Let me heal your bruises.”
I pulled down the high neck of my dress. He frowned, then touched me lightly, just beneath my chin. I closed my eyes as the sensual feel of his magic washed over me. Simmering waves snaked around my throat, making my muscles relax.
He pulled his hand away. “There. good as new.”
Sighing, I sat again. “Don’t you want to know everything that happened?”
He took a seat across from me. “I saw the ragged remnants of your enemies. Did I mention that there’s something kind of terrifying about you?”
“You killed fifty demons, didn’t you? That means you ripped out fifty demon hearts in the forest. I think you’re more terrifying.”
He gave an easy shrug. “But I’m obviously dangerous. People can tell that as soon as they meet me. You disguise it. You’re a lion dressed as a lamb.” He frowned. “And then in a second lion disguise, since you’re also supposed to be Mortana.”
“I have layers.” I raised my eyebrows. “And maybe a dark side.”
“About that.” He leaned forward, his blue eyes piercing me. “You told your secrets, Rowan, in that prison cell. But you didn’t tell all of them, did you? There was something you kept hidden.”
Even from myself. That thought rang out in my mind—a voice that wasn’t quite my own.
Hidden from myself.
What the fuck?
I gave Orion a tired smile. “No, I don’t spill my darkest secrets. They make people uncomfortable.”
“I doubt you’d find that to be the case with me.”
I doubted that, too. My darkness would be nothing to him. He held a world of shadows within himself.
But I wasn’t about to spill my guts to one of my suspects, and I had a very important question to ask him. One that related to my investigation. “Orion, when we were in the Tower of Baal, one of the demon males had a symbol on his head. Like a crescent moon. What is that?”
He shifted into the cushion and spread his arms out across the sofa back. When human men took up space like that, it was a defensive posture. Was it the same for demons?
“Sometimes, we shift to a more bestial, darker form. Black eyes. Sometimes, scales emerge. And we’ll have a demon mark. When we shift, it can appear.”
“What makes a demon shift?”
“We feel emotions very, very intensely. And when that, happens, it can reveal our true selves.”
Fascinating.“But you don’t feel empathy.”
“I don’t. Some of us shut things down. It makes it easier to think logically in the haze of emotions.”
“Okay.” I bit my lip. “But back to the mark—”
His eyes were growing darker, weren't they? This topic was making him shift a little. Weird.
“Does every demon have their own unique mark?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I drummed my fingertips on my knees. I needed to be an undercover cop about this and not push the point too much, but the desperation was building in me. “So do you know what everyone’s mark is? Have you seen them all?”
“No, most demons keep them hidden. Sometimes, the marks betray things about people they’d rather keep secret. Powers, the truth about their lineage…”
“What about a star?” I asked, gripping the armrests.
As soon as the shadows slid through his eyes, it was clear I’d struck a nerve. He was shifting, wasn’t he? And it wasn’t just his eyes that changed. The room was going darker around us, and his mood swallowed up the light. “Why, exactly, are you asking about that?” His voice was a low, quiet warning.
What the hell...Maybe demon psychology was different than humans’, but he was definitely defensive. I’d stumbled into some kind of dangerous territory.
I inhaled sharply. “No reason. I just thought if there was a moon, there must be a star.”
He sucked in a deep breath. “A star identifies the Lightbringer, our destined leader. No one has seen that mark in a long time.”
An ice-cold chill rippled through me. “Not on the king, then?”
“I’ve never seen his mark. No one has.” The shadows around him seemed to sharpen into blades, growing darker.
And all of this was a fantastic reminder of why I couldn’t be seduced by his beauty. Did he look perfect? Yes. Was he sketchy as fuck and possibly a murderer? Also yes.
“It seems like you killed that duke very easily,” I said. “Was it really necessary?”
“He wanted to kill you so badly, he wasn’t playing within the rules. He seemed like a liability.”
I frowned. “So when you have a difficult interpersonal situation…do you often just kill the person to make things easier?”
His eyebrows rose. “‘Difficult interpersonal situation’? Is that what you call it when someone tries to kill you?”
“Okay. Point taken.” My head was spinning, and I wasn’t quite sure I was keeping up with the level of danger in this world.
I glanced at the macabre tattoo on his arm—the noose made from a snake. “Since you’re not going to tell me about your mark, how about this: why did you get that tattoo?”
A muscle tensed in his jaw, and he rose, towering above me. “We should go to your victory party.”
Wow. Another off-limits conversation. “Give me a second to do my hair and makeup.”
I could be allied with my worst enemy. But at least I’d learned something new. If I wanted to identify my mother’s killer, I’d have to try to provoke strong reactions from every demon. I needed to see their marks.
Unfortunately, I’d have to anger a lot of demons in the process.