Bind the Soul (17 page)

Vejovis had come out of this room because he’d been examining Ash. What had he said? Two weeks? Ash looked half dead already.

Tears streamed down her face. “Ash,” she cried.

His black eyes slid toward her. His blank yet terse expression didn’t change. He was obviously shaded to the max. Shaded daemons didn’t always recognize people they knew, even when they weren’t halfway in their graves from weeks of who knew what kind of torture. As she stared at him, pain ripping through her, pieces of what Samael had said in his office fell into place. A new way to motivate her. Torture experts who weren’t there for Piper.

Horror closed her throat. She wrenched her gaze off Ash and looked at Samael, hardly able to believe he was this evil.

“Sit, Piper,” he said, composed as ever.

She didn’t move. Raum shoved her forward, steering her toward the little table, and pushed her down. Samael slid in across from her. She met his dark stare and let all her hatred show.

He didn’t react, unaffected. “We will begin again with the Sahar. This time, Ash will endure the penalty for your failures.”

She gripped her seat until pain shot through her hands. Arguing would be futile. She choked back the words she wanted to spit in his vile face, fearing Ash would be punished for them.

“Eisheth,” he said, nodding toward Piper.

The female daemon sauntered forward, smiling with sweet venom. “You should know what Ash will suffer on your behalf.”

She pulled a shiny black rod from her belt, the standard weapon of jailors. At the end of its length was an open loop, and at its center, a tiny spot of blue light crackled menacingly. She took Piper’s wrist and stretched out her arm. With her other hand, she lowered the looped end of the rod until it hovered above Piper’s inner forearm. Raum’s hands closed over her shoulders, holding her in the chair.

Eisheth tapped the end of the rod against Piper’s skin.

Fire exploded up her arm. She screamed. The pain ripped up her nerves like lightning from her forearm all the way to her shoulder, before fading to a dull ache. Eisheth released her arm. Piper pulled it against her belly and curled over it, sobs clogging her throat. Tears she couldn’t stop flooded her face. The instant the rod had touched her, it had felt like her arm had shattered. Though the agony had quickly faded, the intensity had been soul-tearing.

“I see little point in applying that kind of incentive directly,” Samael murmured. “You would be entirely unable to focus. I hope Ash’s pain will motivate you instead.”

“Maybe I should explain the extent of his suffering,” Eisheth suggested coyly, smiling at Samael.

He nodded.

Eisheth sauntered back to Ash. “Look over here, Piper. See this?”

She grabbed Ash’s jaw and bent his head backward. A heavy collar circled his neck in three thick, black metal bands. She tapped it like a teacher pointing out something on a diagram.

“This is my latest invention. I believe you encountered one of my other contraptions? The collar controlling the choronzon that nearly had you for dinner?” She laughed. “This one is my favorite.”

“Eisheth,” Samael said impatiently.

“Sorry, my lord. I’ll be quick.” She flashed him a smile before focusing on Piper. “This collar is a very special tool. It has three purposes. The first prevents a change in form; he cannot release his glamour. The second drains his magic and feeds it back into the collar, making him weaker and the collar stronger. And the third”—she sighed happily—“causes pain. Far more than you can even imagine. His own magic feeds the pain, along with whatever I add to it. So every time I touch him with this”—she waved her rod—“the pain will be on top of what he is already experiencing. How much can one mind endure before breaking?”

Piper felt sick. She swallowed hard to keep from throwing up.

Samael tapped a finger on the table. Piper reluctantly turned to face him. Horror churned her stomach. God, why hadn’t they tried to find Ash sooner? How could they have let this happen to him?

“Let’s begin,” Samael said. He dropped the Sahar on the table and leaned back, waiting. It seemed he would not be offering any suggestions this time.

She picked it up and held it in her fist, her knuckles white. Her gaze flicked toward Ash. His black stare was locked on Samael. There was definitely recognition there; poisonous hatred shone in his eyes. The jailors stood on either side of Ash, holding his arms to keep him in place. Eisheth stood over him, rolling the rod in her hands and smiling in anticipation.

Piper looked at the Stone. Cupping it in her hands, she lifted it close to her face and stared into its silvery surface. She tried to calm her mind and focus. Panic filled her head like a thousand screeching birds. She couldn’t think. She had to make it work.
She had to.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she clutched the Sahar and bent all her will into making it do something. Anything. How had she used it the first time? She hadn’t even tried. It had just happened. How could she recreate that?

Minutes passed. Nothing.

Samael sighed. Piper’s eyes flew open. Her throat seized.

The Hades Warlord carelessly waved a hand in Eisheth’s direction. Piper twisted in her seat, half rising before Raum grabbed her shoulders and jammed her down again. Eisheth smiled and laid the rod on top of Ash’s left shoulder.

His eyes bulged, face going white. A strangled sound escaped the metal gag as he hunched away from the rod. The two jailors braced themselves, holding him in place as Eisheth pressed the rod down harder. Ash shuddered, another garbled cry ripping from him. His eyes rolled back.

“Stop,” Piper screamed hoarsely. Raum’s fingers bit in as she struggled. “Stop! I’m trying. I’m trying, goddamn you!”

At a gesture from Samael, Eisheth lifted the rod. Ash sagged, sucking in air around the gag. His left arm trembled and twitched with spasms. Blood ran down his chest from the blister-edged cut left by the rod. Piper fought back the howl of misery and despair rising in her throat.

She whirled back to face Samael. “Hurt me instead,” she begged. “Leave him alone. It’s my fault. Hurt me.”

Raum’s painful grip loosened slightly.

Samael’s expression didn’t change. “Try again,” he commanded.

A sob escaped her. She squeezed the Sahar harder. What was she supposed to do? She had no magic. She couldn’t use the bloody Stone no matter how hard she tried. She’d never really used it in the first place. The Stone had just . . . just reacted. She’d never
decided
to do anything; she’d never formed a thought that involved magic or the Stone. It had gone off by itself.

She curled her body around the Sahar, sobs shaking her shoulders as she tried to do the impossible. Nothing happened. She grew more desperate as each minute ticked by. The Sahar was nothing more than a pretty rock in her hands, useless.

“Eisheth,” Samael said.

“No!” Piper cried.

Eisheth stepped in front of Ash and jammed the rod into his stomach.

His hoarse scream tore through her like a blade. He doubled forward, convulsing. Eisheth dragged the rod upward. He arched back away from it but the jailors held him in place. Blood ran down his stomach.

“Stop! Please stop!”

Raum pinned her in her seat.

Eisheth glanced at Samael. He made no gesture for her to cease. Slowly smiling, she pulled the rod away. Then, with a laughing glance at Piper, she jabbed it back into his belly. Digging it in, she twisted it back and forth, working it deeper into the open wound. Ash buckled forward, retching and choking. Blood splattered the floor.

“No!” she screamed.

Rage and terror and panic swelled inside her, too strong to endure. The emotions roared through her in an inferno she couldn’t control. Something in her shattered. Fear fell away. Rage flooded in on a wave of wild recklessness.

She flung an elbow back into Raum’s kidney. He grunted in pain, his grip loosening. She tore free and lunged out of the chair.

He grabbed her arm. As he wrenched her back, she spun with the movement, still screaming her hatred for all of them. Hooking her fingers into claws, she slashed at his face. He threw up an arm, barely avoiding her strike.

A terrible, alien
something
rose up inside her. Her mind split in two as another presence shoved its way in. Lightning erupted inside her body in a flood of heat and power. Thunder split the air, shattering the nearby chair with its force. Following the arc of her fingers through the air, white light flashed in four glowing blades.

Blood sprayed hot across her face. Raum slammed back into the wall. The arm he’d used to shield his face was split open to the bone. Three more diagonal slashes cleanly opened his torso.

Shock stopped her for only a second. She whirled, teeth gritted, power coursing through her, the brightly glowing Sahar hot in her hand. Her eyes found Eisheth.

A blast of power with the force of a battering ram slammed into Piper from the side. She flew off her feet and crashed hard on the floor. Invisible bindings hooked her wrists, pulling her arms straight out to her sides. She screamed when the force yanked her arms taut and threatened to dislocate her joints.

Samael appeared beside her and knelt by her hand where she clutched the Sahar in her fist. He held his hand out beneath hers. His power pulled her arms a fraction more. Agony shot through her shoulders. She screamed again, blinded with pain. Her hand spasmed and the Stone dropped.

Samael caught it neatly and rose. The bindings vanished. Piper collapsed on the floor, trembling from the sudden cessation of the power that had charged her blood with electricity.

“Eisheth,” Samael said calmly. “See if the healer is still nearby. Quickly now.”

The woman bolted for the door, flinging it open and charging out, shouting orders as she went. Piper twisted to look behind her. Samael knelt beside Raum. The draconian was slumped on his side in a pool of blood. He wasn’t moving.

Shaking, Piper pushed herself up. Her attention shifted to the other end of the room. The two jailors stood on either side of Ash, who was still on his knees, shoulders hunched and head hanging. Rising to her feet, she glanced at Samael—he had a hand pressed to Raum’s chest as the air around him sparked with magic—before stalking toward the two jailors. Their eyes narrowed almost in unison. One of them stepped forward, pulling out his rod.

As soon as she was in reach, he made to jab her with it. She sidestepped and grabbed his wrist. Adrenaline pounded through her, giving her starved, abused body strength. She didn’t waste her energy on paltry moves. One well-executed twist snapped his elbow. Then she slammed the side of her hand into his neck. He collapsed. If she’d hit the right spot, he was dead.

She turned as the second jailor came at her. Three swift blows put him on the floor, moaning and half conscious.

She stepped over him and reached for Ash. Sinking to her knees, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

“Ash,” she whispered, clutching him. Unable to hold back any longer, she started to cry in earnest. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

He turned his head, pressing his face against her neck as he once had when they had been trapped underground, minutes away from death. She squeezed him harder, wishing she could grab him and run. Run until they were a world away from this hell.

Pounding footsteps announced Eisheth’s return. She burst into the room, Vejovis on her heels. He glanced over the room then rushed to Samael’s side. He dropped to his knees and pressed his hands to Raum’s unmoving form.

“I slowed the bleeding,” Samael said. “Can you save him?”

“Perhaps,” Vejovis grunted. “Get the others away. No distractions.”

Samael rose. Blood stained his pants from the knees down and coated his hands. He turned and gave Piper a long look. She sank one hand into Ash’s hair, holding him to her. If she’d had access to a weapon, she would’ve tried to kill Samael on the spot, risks be damned.

“Eisheth . . . escort Piper back to the bastille.” He looked at the jailors Piper had taken out. “Send some guards to return Ash as well.”

He lifted his hand and looked at the Sahar dangling from its chain. Then he glanced at the wall splattered with Raum’s blood. For the first time, Piper noticed huge rents in the wood, great gashes interrupted by a narrow expanse of undamaged wood where Raum had stood.

“I am surprised, Piper,” Samael said softly. “Raum is renowned for his exceptionally fast shielding reflexes. If he had been anyone else, you would have cut him into pieces. Still . . . your attack shattered his shield. I will be disappointed if he dies.” His stare cut through her, promising pain. “Very disappointed.” He flicked a glance at Eisheth.

The woman came forward, rod held threateningly in one fist. It took all of Piper’s will to let Ash go. Before she stood, she pressed her cheek against his.

“Hold on, Ash,” she whispered. “Don’t give up. Hold on, please.”

Eisheth grabbed her arm and yanked her away. She let the woman shove her toward the door, walking sideways to keep her eyes on Ash. His stare rose to meet hers and didn’t waver until Eisheth propelled her out the door.

He vanished from her view and she feared she had seen him for the last time.