Dance with the Demon by Stacia Stark

5

Danica

Icouldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see that expression on Samael’s face. He had no right to look at me that way– his killing-spree expression tempered with a kind of reluctant tenderness.

I hadn’t seen it at the time– I’d been too busy staying alive. But watching him on that screen tonight had made my head ache with confusion.

Lia let out a displeased meow as I flipped onto my side again. I’d rescued the kitten from a flooding gutter, and now I spent my few moments of free time fretting over how I was a bad cat mom.

Parenthood, yo.

“Sorry,” I told her. “Don’t blame me. Blame that big, dumb demon.”

I scowled. Ultimately, it didn’t matter how Samael looked at me. He’d refused to remove the bond, and even if he’d left me to my own devices for the past month, the fact remained that if he wanted, he could make me do anything he pleased. That thought hung over my head like a guillotine, ensuring I woke up in a panicked sweat at least a few times each week.

I shouldn’t be thankful that he’d left me alone. His little stunt at the Mage Council tonight had proven that he could change his mind at any time. I felt Samael down the other end of our bond continually. My shields blocked me from most of it, but every minute of every day, I knew he was there, waiting me out.

If he wanted, Samael could order me to do anything he wanted. And like anyone bonded to a demon, I would be forced to obey.

Lia shoved her face against mine. I was hyperventilating, I realized. Panic ripped through my chest and my throat tightened. I sat up in bed and pulled Lia into my arms, stroking her tiny head.

For the past four weeks, I’d researched everything I could about how to kill high demons. I’d found nothing. The demon was playing with me right now. He may be interested in me as a woman, but he’d been alive for longer than I could comprehend. Sooner or later, he would become bored, and the orders would begin. I’d lose all free will and be nothing more than a puppet. I had to find a way to protect myself before that happened.

You don’t want to kill him.

I let out a shaky breath. I didn’t. I could admit that to myself now. But I needed something. I needed a way to protect myself, so Samael would know if he ever truly wielded that bond against me, he was dead.

When I was investigating the demon murders for Samael, the witches had placed a compulsion spell on a high demon, forcing him to attack me. I’d broken his arm and his neck, and he’d still been trying to kill me.

Samael had exploded his head with a wave of his hand.

How did I even go up against someone that powerful? Compared to the tornado of his power, mine was a gentle breeze on a summer’s day.

I forced my mind away from Samael. I had more than enough to focus on— problems I could actually solve.

I needed to check out Gary’s store. I lifted my phone closer to my face. Four am. Awesome. I wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight anyway, so I may as well get back to work.

I gently placed Lia on the bed next to me and sat fully up. I’d head to Gary’s and see if I could find anything helpful. Then, maybe I’d be able to sleep.

Ten minutes later, I was walking out to my car. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and froze.

“You can come out,” I muttered sourly. “I know Samael has someone watching me.”

Earlier, it was Vas. But he wasn’t usually stuck to me like glue. I think he’d happened to be in the area more than anything, and he’d promptly run back to Samael to tell him I was being taken in by the Mage Council.

A demon dropped down next to me. He was fast, and my heart thumped at his sudden movement.

“Who are you?”

“Inferus, ma’am.”

I stared at him. “Don’t call me ma’am.”

“Yes ma’am.”

I heaved a sigh. “How long have you been watching me?”

“Since the moment you left Samael’s tower four weeks ago, ma’am.”

“Call me Danica.”

The look on his face told me he would not be calling me such a thing. I growled. I missed Vas. If Samael had decided to temporarily stick someone with me, I would rather deal with the demon I knew and liked.

“Where’s Vas?”

“Away, ma’am.”

“Call me ma’am again,” I gave him a wide grin, complete with crazy eyes. “I dare you.”

Inferus took a single step back. I turned and strode to my car. The demon lifted into the sky, where he’d follow me. I didn’t bother calling Samael to complain. The demon would find it amusing, murmur something filthy which would make me picture him naked, and Inferus would still end up following me around until Samael decided to call him off.

The drive to Gary’s only took a few minutes. I parked around the corner and moseyed down Main Street. At this time of the morning, only a few cars were coming and going, and the few people walking down the street kept their heads down, minding their own business.

Gary’s block was intersected by Mangum Street to the west and Corcoran Street to the east. The guy in the cloak could’ve come from any direction. But some of the traffic lights at the intersections around here would have cameras. I needed to talk to Steve.

One day he’d call in all the favors I owed him, but hopefully that day wouldn’t be any time soon.

The stores either side of Gary’s– a tattoo parlor and a bakery– both kept human business hours. But there was a bar on the corner that might prove helpful. At the very least, maybe some of these stores had cameras positioned on their doors or windows. Even a reflection of the guy in the cloak could help.

The Mage Council had left Gary’s store unlocked. Assholes. This store was his livelihood, and the damage done to his business was monumental. Maybe I could set up some kind of GoFundMe for when he got out of the hospital.

I flipped on a light and scanned the wreckage in front of me. My heart hurt. At the time, the devastation to the store had been peripheral as I focused on Gary and the kids. Now, it was a stark reminder of how they’d nearly lost their lives. I had no doubt that if the man responsible for the brutal attack on Gary knew his kids had seen him, he would’ve killed them without a thought.

Oh, I was going to enjoy hurting him.

I scanned the space. Nothing out of the ordinary. I methodically worked my way from behind the counter across the store to where I’d found the kids, and back toward the door.

Nothing.

Frustration welled, but I forced it down. I’d question potential witnesses, talk to the kids again, and hopefully, Gary would regain consciousness soon and tell me what he knew.

If his brain was still working correctly of course. I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. “Fuck.”

My phone buzzed and I gratefully took the distraction, glancing at the screen. Cara.

Get to the Mage Council. I have something to show you.

I typed a quick reply. I’m fired, remember? I highly doubt I have access.

I strode back toward Gary’s counter and rifled through one of the drawers until I found a spare key. Then I locked the door behind me as I left.

I can get you in. Just get here. Now.

My curiosity was officially piqued. I drove to the Mage Council’s facility just in case I needed to make a quick getaway. If I was caught in the building, they’d likely kill me quick, hiding my body somewhere it would never be found.

Cara was waiting downstairs for me with a tech mage she introduced as Ethan. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and gave me a wide-eyed look.

I scowled at him. “Yep, I’m her. Vicious demon protector extraordinaire.”

Cara rolled her eyes. “Charming as ever, Danica.”

Ethan walked toward the spelled bowl of water, and I felt him collect his power. If he could truly get around the sign-in spell, then he was a friend I needed to have.

I squinted at Cara. “How’d you know I’d be awake?”

She laughed. “I saw the paranormal news. Your little video has gone viral on the human channels too. I don’t know many people who could sleep after that.”

She wasn’t wrong. Ethan muttered to himself, and the bowl turned green. I peered at it, barely breathing. The spell was designed to carefully monitor anyone who stepped through the lobby doors. The bowl shouldn’t have turned green until each of us had held our hand above it and waited for our palms to be magically read.

Ethan had a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead. If the council found out what he could do, he was dead.

“Thank you,” I told him.

“Don’t mention it. He shot a desperate look at Cara. “Can I go now?”

“You sure can,” she purred, winking at him, and he blushed. Then he glanced at me and practically ran out of the lobby.

“How’d you make that happen?”

“He owed me a favor. Plus, he wants to get into my pants.”

We stepped into the elevator and I studied her. “Why are you helping me? Don’t you know I’m a dirty traitor?”

She eyed me. “You forget I was working these same streets for years before I was promoted. I know exactly what kind of hard decisions you have to make sometimes. If those witches had managed to steal Samael’s power, they would’ve made the Decade of Despair look like a good time.”

The Decade of Despair was the first ten years after the portals had opened. Close to a billion humans had died, and the power struggles while paranormals carved out their alliances and territories…

I shivered. Yeah. The witches would have been worse. Still… “You saw me save Samael’s life, right?”

She grinned. “Girl, the way he looks at you? I would’ve saved him too.”

I chewed on that while the elevator doors opened to the 6^th floor. The Mage Council’s library stretched out in front of us. Nothing but silence.

We stepped inside. I half expected an alarm to start blaring, but Cara was already grabbing my elbow and pulling me toward the restricted section.

Tall, walnut bookshelves stood in rows– the books they held painstakingly organized by subject and author. I breathed in the comforting scent of leather and old paper.

“What are you guys doing?”

I jumped and let out a distinctly un-badass yelp. Cara smirked at me. We both turned.

Mella was standing on the other side of the library in her window. I stared at her. “Do you sleep here?”

She gave me a pissy look. “What, did you think Albert unlocked my chains each night and sent me home for eight straight?”

“I guess not.” I shrugged. “We’re up to no good.”

“Excellent.” She waved her hand. “Continue.”

I grinned. The selkie had been stuck in this library for several decades after doing something to betray the Mage Council. No one knew what it was, and they’d hidden her skin, shoved her in Naud chains, and spelled her into silence.

I chewed on my lip. “Question.”

“Answer.”

“When Samael was in the Naud chains, he couldn’t use his power, but he could still gather it to him.”

“Yes?”

“Can you do the same?”

She smiled. “That would mean I’d been gathering power for decades, waiting for my chance to burn this place to the ground, wouldn’t it?”

I shivered, and her smile widened. Next to me, Cara cursed.

I stared at Mella. She stared back at me. All she needed was her skin and she would be uncontainable. Selkies were lesser fae, but if she’d had decades of gathering power… and the rage to fuel it…

Cara jerked her head and I followed her toward the restricted section. Here, the bookshelves here were shorter and wider, and they surrounded a collection of round tables since they weren’t able to be checked out from the library. Anyone using them had to sit at one of these tables under the watchful eyes of the librarians.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

She grinned. “Trust me. I’ve got this.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve been working here for a while. You’d be surprised how many people can get into this area.”

If Ben hadn’t snuck into this very section of the library, I wouldn’t currently have the Mistilteinn Dagger on my hip. If that idiot could do it without getting caught, Cara could too.

She held her hand up to the ward and I shivered as it licked at us.

“How are you getting through?” I whispered.

“I copied one of the librarian’s magical signatures.”

My mouth dropped open. Not only was that an elegant solution, but it took serious power.

The ward glowed briefly and then parted, allowing us entry.

“Over here,” Cara said, striding toward a squat bookcase near the window.

I wished I had a few hours to poke around in this section. The books seemed to call to me, as if urging me to rifle through them.

Cara crouched and ran her fingers over several books, finally pulling out what looked like a small, unassuming, leather-bound journal. She placed it on the table between us and opened it, rifling through the pages until she found what she wanted.

“Check this out.”

I sat and read.

Rowan– mountain ash– witchwood – sorb apple.

The rowan tree has long been known as the portal tree. Before the portals opened, Neo-Druids would place the tree at their gates, demonstrating that visitors were crossing the threshold.

The Norse god Thor was saved from a fast-flowing river by a low-hanging branch of mountain ash.

According to Greek myth, the goddess Hebe protected a chalice of ambrosia, only for it to be stolen by demons. When the gods sent an eagle to retrieve it, the eagle was wounded in the battle. The drops of blood that fell from its wounds sprung up as mountain ash.

European rowan trees have long provided protection against malevolent beings such as demons and are used in charms against black witches and lesser fae. Most importantly, they remain one of the few ways to kill a high demon.

I froze, lifting my head. Cara smiled and pulled something from her pocket, holding it up.

She’d cut the arrow until just the point and a small amount of shaft remained. I got to my feet and held out my hand, staring down at it. “You mentioned that the wood was strange when you first saw this arrow.”

“Yeah. It made no sense, and it made the bolt heavier than it needed to be. I ran a hundred different tests for poison, and I couldn’t find anything, which is why I wanted the black monkshood. Then I got to thinking— what if it was the wood that was important?”

I raised one eyebrow. “You’re a bit of an obsessive, aren’t you?”

“I sure am. Anyway, there’s your answer. It’s not the arrows themselves that kill high demons. It’s wood. From the rowan tree.”

My head spun. This tiny arrow would kill Samael. All I’d have to do was slip it between his ribs when he least expected it and just like Vercan, he’d turn to ash.

My stomach twisted. Cara gave me a sympathetic look.

“Now you know you can kill the guy who looks at you like you’re the only thing he’s ever wanted to look at. What are you going to do about it?”

I slipped the bolt into my pocket. “I have no idea.”

* * *

Samael

Pure, unrelenting rage unfurled its wings inside my chest as I watched the recording on the TV in front of me. The video had been leaked.

On the screen, Danica threw herself in front of me. The brave little witch had thought she was sacrificing her life to protect everyone in this world.

And yet she would be targeted and ridiculed for it.

“I want them dead.”

Sitri untangled himself from the corner of the couch where he’d curled up to watch the recording. Across the room, Lilith raised one eyebrow.

“The power vacuum–”

A knock at the door. Bael poked his head in, his expression somber.

“We have a problem.”

“What is it?”

“The Mage Council have officially named Danica Amana as the lead suspect in the murder of Merrill the goblin and the attempted murder of Gary the Gnome.”

Lilith sighed. “You have made your obsession with the woman too obvious, Samael. You know what happens to those we consider ours if we do not solidify our claim.”

“This is Albert’s doing,” I said, ignoring her. “And yet, if I strike now…”

“Our plans will be derailed,” Lilith said. “Give your little witch the freedom to make her own choices and she will reward you for it.”

I almost smiled at that. Lilith clearly didn’t know Danica at all. But in this, she was right. For now. Killing Albert would have repercussions which would threaten plans that had been centuries in the making.

“I want an investigation. I want to know every mage who had a hand in these decisions. I may not have the liberty of striking now, but when the time is right, they will learn why they shouldn’t have crossed me.”

Bael kept his face expressionless. “Very well, I will order it done.”