Part 17 (2/2)
”If you can't guarantee her safety, then what point is there in not going out with a bang right now and taking all of you with us?” Bones asks. He holds up a small sack and takes out what seems to be a little purple marble. The group immediately pulls back, clearly afraid.
”Is that what I think it is?” the woman gasps, covering her mouth with her claw-like hand. I see fear in her yellow eyes. ”How is that possible?”
”Don't worry how it's possible. Just know that it is. And I'll happily take all of you out if you dare lay a hand on her, or even breathe on her hard with your stinking breath.” He pauses and lowers his voice. ”I know you are a demoness of honor. You have to be in order to lead your tribe effectively. Give me your blood vow that she'll be unharmed, untracked and unhunted, and not only will we go without a fight, as a gift I will give you five of these.”
Her eyes are like saucers. ”Five? But how do I know they are real? They've been extinct for centuries...”
A small, wiry man steps forward. ”Here, let me see it.” I s.h.i.+ver as he locks his beady eyes on us...black, soulless eyes more fitting of the dead rat in the corner than a man.
Bones holds the marble up as the man pauses a few feet away. None of them seem to want to come near us. I wonder why. Maybe they're just afraid of a fight or something?
”It's authentic,” he affirms, scrunching his nose. ”This is an extraordinary mystery. If there is a way for us to get some, then I suggest you do so,” he tells the blonde woman.
She points her nose in the air. ”Well, why don't we just take all of them? Who are they to make deals? With that many veneficus calx we'll be nearly invincible, even against the Legionare-”
”Try taking these and you're toast,” Bones growls. ”Liora is taking the others with her when she leaves. It is only after she is safely away, and I have the all-clear signal from my brother that I will hand these over to you and go through with the exchange. Otherwise, I have nothing to lose by blowing us all to h.e.l.l right now.”
”Exchange? What exchange?” I ask quietly.
The woman's eyes narrow. ”You think you can make the arrangements around here? You are just like your bossy little friend, Kieron Ambrose...insisting that sending word that he was a prisoner was the only way to get you to come here. I'm glad he's gone. Good riddance.”
”Wait, what?” I gasp, stepping out from behind Bones. ”What did you say about Kieron?”
”Liora, now is not the time-”
”And just what makes you think you have any power anyway? You are trapped in there, so the stones are useless to you. They won't penetrate the seal, and you'd just blow yourselves up-”
Suddenly, I s.n.a.t.c.h the bag from Bones' hand and stomp over to the b.i.t.c.hy blonde. I grab out a marble.
”LIORA, NO!” Bones shouts frantically. The demons recoil in horror as I stick my face in hers.
”Tell me everything about Kieron-”
She shakes her head slowly. ”But how...but how...?”
I hold up the marble. ”I have a feeling this thing will kill you. And I'm not afraid to use it, in case you're wondering. So I want you to tell me what you did with Kieron, right now, or I'm gonna shove this where the sun don't s.h.i.+ne...”
”Liora!” Bones shouts again.
I glance over my shoulder. ”What?”
Bones is looking at me in amazement. ”How did you do that?”
”Do what?”
”Cross the seal...break the magical barrier...”
I glance around, baffled. ”What magical seal? I don't see any-”
The creepy man steps forward and fixes his black gaze on me. ”You are no longer a demon, you have become a human.”
”Well, duh. Did you get an A plus in your 'Stating the Obvious' cla.s.s? I am human. I have nothing to do with whatever demony nonsense y'all have going on right now. The only thing I care about is Kieron...and Bones, I guess,” I add as an afterthought.
He narrows his beady eyes and steps closer. ”But you are still a demon...at least part of you is-”
”Enough!” the blonde demon snaps, holding up her hands and watching me with wary suspicion. ”I don't know how you were able to penetrate the seal, but I do know you're in way over your head-”
”Tell me about Kieron,” I repeat, my jaw clenched as I take another step. I don't know where this sudden surge of power is coming from...this utter fearlessness...
”What do you want to know? We let him go as part of our deal-” Her face is a mixture of fear and anger. She obviously didn't expect a human girl to start calling the shots.
”What deal?”
”You two for him. Well, you two, and he said there would probably be at least a few more. And he was right. Extracting you from Dryndara would have been far too messy, with too many casualties. And we might have gotten on the Legionare's radar. Of course, no one wants that. We were fortunate, however, to capture your friend, and to save himself he said he'd use himself as bait to draw you to us. If it worked, we'd let him go. If it didn't, we would kill him. We agreed, and lucky for him, it worked.”
”Kieron knew we'd come to try and save him, so he set this up as a trap?”
”Yes. He was the one who knew to recruit Gyan-”
”I don't know who Gyan is, and I don't want to hear anymore.” My knees are shaking, and I feel sick. Kieron, who said he loved me, set me up like this? Something doesn't seem right. I don't think I'm buying what this demon lady is selling. But I glance at Bones and his face tells me he believes it. Kieron really is gone, and Bones and I really are trapped here in some creepy dungeon with enemy demons who want to kill us. And I'm sure Lucky did do something stupid that would put her on their s.h.i.+t-list.
I clutch the small bag tightly and pull it close to my chest. ”What are you going to do with Bones?”
Her gaze moves past me to him. ”He's agreed to help make amends for damages he's caused. It doesn't concern you-”
”Yes it does!”
”Liora,” Bones' soothing voice lulls me. ”Liora come here to me.”
I practically skip back to where he stands, suddenly desperate for his touch. Gently, he takes the marble from my hand. He drapes his arm over me, and I snuggle my face into his chest. I feel positively giddy.
The woman lets out a cackling laugh. ”Ahhh. The cheap parlor tricks of an incubus. How charming.”
”It helps her to calm down,” he says, smoothing my hair. His hands are warm on my head, and soon my mind is swimming with naughty, delicious thoughts of Bones. Of kissing him and holding him. Of making love to him...
”All right.” The woman's voice sounds irritated. ”We agree with your conditions. The girl's safety for six of the stones.”
Bones nods. He takes the bag from my hands and tucks it inside my cloak.
”It's time to go. Drop the s.h.i.+eld,” she says.
The little man waves his hands and mutters something that sounds like Pig Latin. Bones takes me by the hand and together we follow the crowd out of the cave and into the bright outdoors. We're joined by two other naked men who seem to know Bones. They both look at me with fascination, and I keep my eyes safely at head level. You'd think after all these years the hounds would've figured out some way to cover up when they s.h.i.+ft from h.e.l.lhound to human. No one is interested in seeing their junk. But they don't seem to care. Figures. Demons have no sense of modesty at all. No cla.s.s.
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