Queen of the Dark Things (32 page)

Solomon raised the ring and commanded Asmodeus to reveal himself in his true form. “I think you would not like it,” said the demon. But Solomon insisted. It was then that the demon revealed himself for what he was, not as Solomon had seen him before, but in the form he spared only for Hell. Trembling at the horror, Solomon remained firm and ordered the demon out.

With that, Solomon took back his throne and announced his queen to all his kingdom.

That night, and for every night after, Solomon suffered terrible dreams, visited by visions of Asmodeus's true self. Plagued night after night by nightmares, Solomon devised a plan to rid himself of them. He had his artisans construct a brass vessel, and summoned demon after demon, commanding them, one by one, into it. Once full, it was sealed with the sign of Solomon and branded with the ring. Then he commanded his men to dump it deep into the sea where even he knew not where to find it.

Though this did not cure his affliction and he thus dreamed of Asmodeus every night, the kingdom prospered, no other demon daring to set foot into Israel for the rest of his days.

C
HAPTER
43

T
HE
F
AVOR
OF
O
ROBAS

Y
ou're not afraid for your brothers,” said Colby to Orobas. “You're afraid she may come for you.”

“Yes,” said the Horse. “And she will.”

“Once she's had her revenge, why would she?”

“Because they always do, the bearers of the ring. Hide it though we do, someone always manages to find it. And once they have it, and get a taste of what we can do for them, they have to have us all. Whether out of greed or fear that we might come for them, they trap us all. And we either trick our way out of servitude, or have to wait until their death.”

“And once dead?”

“We make them suffer torments beyond that which they could ever have imagined.”

“You're afraid this might be about more than revenge.”

“Her avengement is not just about punishing those responsible for her predicament. It's about punishing all the creatures of the night. All of the
dark things
. She will not rest until we are all under her thumb.”

“What then?”

“Maybe she binds us into another box and throws us into the sea. Maybe she becomes drunk with power and uses us to remake the world as she sees fit. Kaycee Wooes was once a bright-eyed little girl who simply wanted to live in her dreams. After ten years of nightmares, she's become this. What might she be once she has the power of the Seventy-two at her disposal?”

“Maybe she makes the night safe for everyone,” said Colby.

“And maybe she brings her nightmares to the rest of the world,” said Yashar. “Orobas is right. No one who traffics with the Seventy-two can stop themselves. I know the stories of the half dozen who have tried just since I've been alive.”

“But not the others,” said Orobas, “who we've wiped from the very face of history.”

“I imagine not.”

Colby took a seat at a nearby table, staring off into the distance. He was crestfallen, defeated. There was no talking his way out of this one, no brokering a deal to remove himself. Orobas was right. Regardless of his intentions or what the Queen of the Dark Things was really up to, it involved him, even if in some small way, and the Seventy-two were never going to let it go. They'd involve themselves in his life, torment him, stalk him every minute of the day until he was dead or the Queen herself showed up for her revenge.

“Maybe I could go see her. Talk sense into her. Tell her this doesn't end well.”

“You think she'll give up the ring?” asked Orobas.

“She won't, Colby,” said Yashar. “The minute she does, she's a goner. Those demons will tear her apart for what she's done. And that'll just be the beginning of it. That ring is the only thing protecting her now.”

“He's right,” said Orobas. “We will make her suffer in ways most unimaginable.”

“I thought I'd already killed her once. Now you're telling me I have to do it a second time.”

“Yes.”

“Let me ask you something, Orobas. Solomon—I've always wondered. He's always referred to as one of the wisest men who ever lived, and yet most of the stories have him acting foolishly, doing things only an idiot would do.”

“Like giving Asmodeus the ring?”

“And being tricked into making a sacrifice to another god. And every other stupid thing he did for a piece of tail. Especially considering just how many wives he had. It's all bullshit, isn't it, the parts about him being a fool?”

“There are those who say that history is written by the winners. Those men did not know King Solomon. The truth is that history is simply written by those who live the longest, the last ones standing.”

“You rewrote history. With propaganda.”

“I didn't. I couldn't. But the others did. We needed to be protected. We would have cleansed the story of the ring entirely, but it was widespread long before we were dredged out of the sea. So we changed it. Told a more interesting version. That's the one that was penned in the books and made sense alongside the rumors after his passing.”

“You knew him. What was he like?”

“He was the cleverest man I have ever met, the only man ever to live to outwit the Seventy-two.”

“But you made him suffer, as you did the others?”

“No. He was too pure for us. The ring never corrupted him. But then, it was he who forged it to begin with. He never wanted the power we offered. He only wanted to put us down, buried for a thousand years.”

“He only got five hundred,” said Colby.

“His one fault. He wasn't forward thinking enough to imagine the technological advances that would follow his death or acknowledge things as simple as a tide against an ever changing landscape. Solomon believed he lived in a world that would never change, that the temple he built would stand until the end of time. Now all that remains of him is that ring and the stories.”

“And you, bound together as you are.”

“And us.”

Colby took a deep breath. “So you guys can't go anywhere near her, or see anything involving the ring?”

“That is correct.”

“And you need me to free your five friends and kill the Queen of the Dark Things?”

“Yes.”

“Then we'll bargain for it.”

“Colby!” shouted Yashar. “Don't!”

Orobas shook his head. “Bargain, I'm afraid you don't understand—”

“I understand just fine. The Seventy-two have gotten themselves into a world of shit. They have lost five demons and one of the most powerful relics in the world to a little girl and you need me to get them back. And this you expect I'll do for free, or rather, just so my life doesn't turn to shit? At your hands?”

Yashar shook his head, waving his hands from behind the bar. “Don't. This is how they work. This is what they wanted all along.”

“Yashar, I know what I'm doing.”

“No. You don't.”

“Orobas, bargain with me now. I will give you back the souls of your five friends in exchange for five favors, each granted by the demon of my choosing. When I call, they will appear, and they will give me one boon each.”

“I cannot bargain for them.”

“Yes you can. Because you're going to go back to them and tell them of the bargain you've made. And I'm certain that they will find my terms far more agreeable than the Queen's.”

“They won't come. Not here, not now.”

“They'll come,” said Colby.

“No. She could be anywhere. She could be here now, or arrive at any moment. I'm risking myself just by being here.”

“Then I'll go to them.”

Yashar pounded his fist on the bar. “Colby!”

Colby waved him off. “You'll send the Angel on Horseback.”

“Seere will want to have nothing to do with this,” said Orobas.

“He'll have little choice.”

“So you will kill the Queen and retrieve the ring—”

“I cannot see the future and I don't know how I'll have to do it when the time comes. The bargain is this: five favors for five souls. I will release your friends or I will die trying.”

“My brothers will want more assurances.”

“But they will get only this. Any demon I summon who refuses to do my bidding, granting exactly the boon I ask for, fulfilled in its entirety, will forfeit
your soul
and service over to me. Do we have a deal?”

“My soul?” asked Orobas angrily.

“My deal is with you. But I need it to be with them. I need assurances that they will grant me the boons I need to defeat the Queen. And you are all bound by your oath to protect one another from enslavement. Is that correct?”

“That is in our vow.”

Colby spoke coldly, deliberately, each word dripping with arrogance. “Do. We. Have. A. Deal?”

“You know the price of failure?”

“I do.”

Orobas nodded. “Then we have a deal. Five favors for five souls.”

“Go speak with your brothers. I have preparations to make.”

Orobas vanished, the world once again warping around him.

Yashar leaped over the bar, angry, tears in his eyes. “Damnit, Colby! That's exactly what they wanted. For you to make a deal with them. It wasn't enough for you to summon the Wild Hunt. Now you're making deals with devils.”

“You said it yourself, Yashar. I was already damned. What's a little more damnation on the pile?”

“It's everything, Colby. It's everything.”

C
HAPTER
44

T
HE
A
NGEL ON
H
ORSEBACK

Seere. He is a Mighty Prince, and Powerful, under Amaymon, King of the East. He appears in the form of a Beautiful Man, riding upon a Winged Horse. His office is to go and come; and to bring abundance of things to pass on a sudden, and to carry or re-carry anything whither thou wouldst have it to go, or whence thou wouldst have it from. He can pass over the whole Earth in the twinkling of an Eye. He gives a True relation of all sorts of Theft, and of Treasure hid, and of many other things. He is of an indifferent Good Nature, and is willing to do anything which the exorcist desires. He governs 26 Legions of Spirits.

—Ars Goetia

Y
ou can't do that here, Colby,” said Yashar, his arms folded, a tattered rag hanging from his belt, a reminder of his new position. “Not here. I won't let you.”

Colby shuffled around the back of the bar, haphazardly placing dozens of candles on tables and in corners, eyes squinting as if working out algebra in his head. Everything had to be perfect. “Well, I'm not going to summon demons at my house.”

“But this
is
my house.”

“This is a bar.”

“But it's my bar. It's not pretty and it's not busy, but it's mine. And I'm not going to let you conjure up some of the very worst things in the world into it. Orobas was one thing, but this?”

“Scraps had one rule about this place. What was it?”

“Colby, Scraps is dead.”

“What was the rule?”

“Only the cursed and the damned could drink here.”

“You're goddamned right. What else is a bar for, if not for entertaining the very worst sorts?”

“Are you going to try to get him drunk?”

“It might be worth a shot.”

“This isn't funny.”

“No, it's not.” Colby placed the last candle and turned to face the djinn, his arms out, trying to reason with him. “Yashar, how many of the Seventy-two have you met over the years?”

Yashar thought for a moment, sifting through his memories. “All of them at one time or another. But some of them not for a thousand years.”

“But you know them.”

“I do.”

“I know. You're the one who told me their stories. Who cautioned me against ever trafficking with them. Your knowledge—your abilities—they're invaluable right now.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Stand with me. Keep me sane. Grounded.”

“And be ready to throw down if I have to?”

Colby nodded, shrugging shamefully. “Yeah.”

“So I'm your muscle?”

“No. You're my friend.”

Yashar put his hand on the bar, leaned forward, sighing. “Damnit, Colby. That's cold-blooded.”

Colby took a deep breath. “You're going to make me say it, aren't you?”

“Say what?”

“I'm scared.”

“You don't look it.”

“I'm terrified. The things visiting me—”

“I know. They're bad hombres.”

“The worst.”

“All right.” He raised one of his thick, muscular arms, pointing a strong finger at a row of candles along the back wall. “But your candle placement sucks. Those things are going to go nuts, and you're going to burn this place to the ground.”

Colby grinned sheepishly, his ears meeting his shoulders. “I . . . I've never done this before.”

“It certainly looks it. Who's up first?”

Colby walked over to the wall, shifting the candles farther away. “I have to summon Seere first, but he'll be taking me to . . . the Leopard.”

“Jesus, you're not exactly starting off easy.”

“I know.”

“He's charming. Charming as hell. But—”

“Evil,” said Colby, matter-of-factly.

“Rotten to the core. He'll try to get into your head.”

“I imagine they all will.”

“Without a doubt.” Yashar drew a rune in the air with his finger. “You know about the triangle, right?”

“Yeah.”