In the Demon's Company (Demon's Assistant Book 2) (25 page)

The guards catch up to us. The woman opens her coat to reveal the handle of a shiny pistol. The sight of it makes my heart race. “You need to come with us.”

I roll my eyes at her, trying to act steadier than I feel. “Can you try not to be a bad movie cliche?” I ask.

“She’s right, though,” Cam says, dropping his arm from around my shoulders. “Vessa is waiting.” He spits her name, infusing it with disgust.

“Wait,” I say, addressing the guards. “Let Cam go.”

Cam’s eyebrows fly up over his glasses in surprise. I feel Xanan’s icy hand clamp down on my shoulder. The guards look confused.

“He did his job,” I explain. “He played bait. Now let him go and lead us to Vessa.” Cam’s whole body seems to crumple in on itself. His expression turns from confusion to hurt. “You should go home,” I say. “I’ve put you in danger enough for a lifetime and—”

“Nicolette,” Azmos’ voice is soft. Cam’s expression is strangled, pained. Xanan is stoic but doesn’t loosen his grip on me. His fingers are like icicles jabbing through my coat. Gabriel won’t meet my eyes.

“What?” I ask. “There’s no reason to keep him here. We should let him get as far away from this mess as possible.”

Cam’s mouth opens but no words come out. Ice slides into my stomach, and it churns slowly like an slushy maker as the cold realization settles over me. My heart cracks and shatters as I catch up with everyone else.

“Vessa hurt you,” I say, because I can’t say the word ‘killed.’ Not in relation to Cam. He lets out a breath. He doesn’t deny it even as I will him to argue, to protest. But he doesn’t because it’s true: she made him into one of her cronies. “Cam.” His name is strangled on my lips.

“I’ve only given her the bare minimum,” Cam says. “She made me ask where you were when she found out you’d escaped. I didn’t want to. I wish you’d lied to me.” He looks more pained than I’ve ever seen him, his expression raw with hurt.

“She’s waiting,” the jerk in cargo shorts says, giving Cam a strange look.

“So let her wait,” I say.

He flashes his gun. It takes all of my willpower not to kick him in the crotch. But there are too many people around to risk causing a scene. We need to get to Vessa and we need to put an end to this, now, before more people are hurt. Before more people are murdered.

Xanan drops his hand from my shoulder and I shoot him the most deadly look I can muster up.

“Don’t you dare touch him,” I hiss. “You understand me?”

Xanan flicks his lip ring, meeting my glare. He’s never spared any of them before, not even Rayna, who saved my life. But Cam…If he hurts Cam, I’ll never forgive him. I doubt Xanan cares about having my forgiveness but he doesn’t reach out for Cam.

“Azmos,” Cam says, voice unsteady. “Is there a way…” He trails off, like he knows the answer but has to ask. Azmos shakes his head sharply, once.

“I am sorry, Cameron, but the magic cannot be transferred,” Azmos says, his voice low. “If she relinquished her magic’s hold on your life, you would die before I could step in to recover it.”

Cam takes a shuddering breath, his shoulders sinking in defeat. “And I don’t suppose that if we defeat Vessa, the spell vanishes and everything goes back to normal.”

“No,” Azmos says, voice so soft I barely hear it though he’s only feet away from me. “Unfortunately not. The damage is done.”

“Yeah. Fuck.” He runs his hands through his messy hair. “That’s what I thought.”

The woman in sweatpants shifts uneasily. She’s frowning. Clearly she doesn’t like the familiarity Cam has with us. “Let’s go,” she says, tapping her side where her gun is concealed. She sounds more nervous than impatient and I resist the urge to take out all of my anger on her. She’s in the same boat as Cam, and I feel bad for her, but if there’s a single lifeboat, Cam is getting it. Period.

Only this is the S.S. Titanic and there are no lifeboats. Vessa is an iceberg and she’s doomed us all.

“Az, if there’s any way—“ I start.

“Come on!” the man in shorts growls. “She’s not exactly patient and she knows when the damn ferry docks.”

He moves behind us and the woman leads the way up the winding road that runs along the coast. I reach for Cam’s hand. He shrugs me off at first and then looks down at me, reconsiders. He grabs my hand and squeezes. Gabriel falls into step beside me and Xanan keeps a respectful distance. But it doesn’t matter if Xanan lets Cam live for now. Killing Vessa will now kill the boy I love and we all know it.

But if we don’t stop her, we’re all going to die. The cracks in the Spirit Realm will lead Xanan’s people to us, if Vessa doesn’t kill us first. And there’s probably not a way to stop her and keep her alive.

But if there is, I’m going to find it. I squeeze Cam’s hand so tight he winces and I have to loosen my grip.

They lead us to a big cargo van, the kind used to transport groups on field trips. The guy in shorts sits in the back with us, his gun out. They’re inexperienced, though. Not soldiers, just people. They don’t bother to frisk us for weapons or even take Gabriel’s sword. Maybe they don’t think the sword is a real threat against bullets. The woman in the driver’s seat taps the steering wheel and keeps checking the rear view mirror, like she’s as nervous as the rest of us. Vessa is thinking in terms of numbers, not training the troops she has. Quantity over quality. I feel callous thinking it, but it’s true.

I surreptitiously feel for my dagger, in the sheath clipped to my jeans. When I get out of the van, I make sure my sweater and coat cover it and conceal it from view so they don’t take it.

The house they drive us to is gigantic by normal standards but here on Bainbridge, surrounded by near-mansions with water views, it’s one of the smaller houses we’ve passed. It’s white, with columns and verandas in a nod to ancient Greek architecture. It has a long driveway and plenty of space between it and the houses around it. It’s set far back from the street and the front of the house is hidden from view by trees.

No guards flank the front door. The man in shorts pulls keys from his jacket pocket and unlocks it, holding the door open. “Inside,” he commands. Xanan grabs the man’s hand, runs a palm down his arm, and the man drops to the porch with a thud. Clearly no one warned them about him or his power. I think Azmos is right: she doesn’t know Xanan is here or with us, and that’s a huge advantage.

Hope dares to swell slightly inside me.

But then Cam’s fingernails dig into my palm and I pull away. He stares at the now-dead man on the ground in front of him and turns as white as marble. The woman starts to scream and reach for her gun but Xanan is too fast. He grabs her by the arm and places his hand on her throat, and then she’s dead on the ground, too, the life pulled out of her, her spirit sent to the Spirit Realm where it belongs.

Gabriel gags and throws up in the bushes. I used to have a similar reaction but I’ve gotten too used to seeing bodies like this, to watching Xanan in action. I’ve become a monster, because all I can think is “they were already dead.” And yet Cam, warm and solid beside me, is just like them. I make sure to stand between him and death but Xanan does not make a move to grab Cam.

“I’m going to check around the back,” he says. “I’ll meet you inside.”

Gabriel wipes his mouth and gives me a pained look before heading inside the house on Azmos’ heels. I stop Cam from going in.

“There’s got to be a way to save you. I’ll have Gabriel call Myron and—”

“I went to Myron,” Cam says.

I blink at him. “When?”

“Afterward.” He swallows, like the words are rocks, rough and cutting as they push their way up his throat. “I thought maybe he knew of a cure, or a way to undo it.” He drops his hands to his sides, defeated. “Nic, there’s no cure. If Azmos can’t save me, then I’m already dead. He was my last hope. I thought maybe there was some trick Myron didn’t know.” I think of the pitying look Myron gave me, the way he wouldn’t look at Gabriel when he was trying to determine how Vessa found the warehouse. He knew about Cam the whole time. I’m going to strangle him.

But then something else occurs to me: I had assumed Cam was taken by Vessa’s people last night, outside the warehouse, but if he went to Myron, that’s impossible. I was there all night and Myron never left. “It happened that day you ran the errand,” I say. “She didn’t just beat you up.”

“No,” he says softly. “She didn’t.”

“You should have told me.”

He meets my eyes and they cut through me like emerald lasers. “What good would it have done? You don’t have the power to undo it.”

I have to look away. It’s my fault this happened to him. I can’t say it out loud but it doesn’t matter. The thought hangs between us. The words are written on his tombstone.

“We’ll figure something out,” I finally say. My breath hangs in the cold air like a cloud. Cam looks at me like he used to when I said I’d be fine taking a test without studying: in disbelief. It was only weeks ago that those were our problems. A sound escapes me, something between a scream and whimper. “There are demons and magic in the world. There has to be something we can do.”

“Demons and magic are
not
the solution.” Cam practically hisses the words. They strike me like a snake bite and I flinch. “I knew better. The minute you chose the demons over me, I should have run in the other direction.”

“I didn’t choose them over you,” I say, folding my arms over my chest. But it’s a lie. When Azmos released me from my contract, I asked for a job at the first opportunity, knowing full well it might mean losing Cam. I just didn’t think he’d actually die.

“It’s always been a game to you,” Cam says. He’s not looking at me. He’s staring off into the trees, his words puffing out into the cold air like dragon breaths. “The demon showed up and you had to play. And when the demon won the first game, you jumped right back in to play at a more difficult setting. You never took it seriously. But I did. I knew it was dangerous. And for some stupid reason, I stood by you. And now I’m going to die for you.”

I try to protest but he’s right so there’s nothing to say. He’s going to die. He is, for all intents and purposes, already dead. Vessa killed him. And when we kill her, Cam and all of the people like him will die for good.

“I won’t let that happen.”

“You can’t save me, Nic. You need to stop trying. You should leave now. Get the hell out of here while you still can.” His voice is eerily calm again, his green eyes blazing with intensity. “I made my choices. They were idiotic choices, but I guess it’s true what they say: love is blind.”

Tears prick at my eyes. “Cam.”

“Nic.” His tone is hard. “It’s too late for me. This is your chance to save yourself.”

I look out at the long driveway. No one would stop me if I got in the van and drove away. But maybe I’d only end up on the ferry with Vessa’s people and die anyhow. She needs to be stopped and I’m going to stop her.

“I can’t walk away until this is done,” I say.

His jaw is set, his shoulders squared. “Then do me a favor and try and to learn from your mistakes this time.” He pushes past me and heads inside.

I follow him. “Wait!” My throat is dry and my mouth tastes like ashes. “Where are you going?”

“To play the loyal little servant until I get a chance to stab her in the back,” Cam says. “It’s the last thing I can do. The only thing.”

Cam doesn’t get that chance. Vessa is standing at the top of a giant staircase, looking down at us. A big freight train of a man stands guard at her side. She watches us walk in with mild amusement.

“I see your servant boy is loyal to you despite my hold,” she says, nodding at Cam. Her blue hair cascades around her shoulders. Her lips are painted as blue as her hair and eyes. “Humans are such fickle creatures, individually. But they’ll work well enough as simpering masses.”

“You won’t get a chance to test that theory,” I call up to her.

Her smile widens and she descends the stairs. My skin crawls. She wears a different black corset and black leather pants like she went clothes shopping at Villians-R-Us. Her gaze falls back on Azmos. She speaks in a language I can’t understand. It’s pretty and lyrical.