The Alchemy of Desire (21 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Oni tightened her grip around Diah’s waist. The air around them tingled with energy, but so far, the demon hadn’t appeared. She shivered and wondered if they could escape it. As it was, they couldn’t travel at more than a walk with his horse carrying the two of them. She pressed her cheek against his wool jacket and prayed.
Please, Great Trickster, help us avoid the danger if possible
.

Two hours had passed without incident since they left the camp. But now that the air had changed, her senses remained on high alert for any flash of movement that seemed out of the ordinary. Why did she have to be sensitive to the things unseen? Why couldn’t she have gotten the ability to shift and not the other part of the gift from her mother?

Diah wrapped a hand around hers. “Are you still worried?”

“What do you think?”

“What should I be on the lookout for?”

She lifted her head. “You actually believe me?”

“Yes, Oni. You’re not the type to get upset without a good reason. I saw the fear in your eyes last night. You’re not making this whole demon thing up.”

Some of her fear ebbed. How could she have denied her feelings for him as long as she had? “Don’t worry, Diah, I’ll know when it’s coming before you would.”

“You’ll let me know too, won’t you?”

His question dredged up memories of his concerns from this morning. What if she did become pregnant? Would she tell him? The chances of their child being cursed as a shifter were pretty high. She hadn’t even told him what she was. She could only imagine his shock the first time he saw his child shift into a coyote. “I will if I need to.”

He removed his hand and nudged his horse forward to catch up with Cager. His silence told her she’d upset him. Finally, he asked, “Why do you keep so many secrets from me?”

Every muscle in her back tensed. “What do you mean?”

“I’d hoped that once we reached this stage in our relationship, you’d open up to me, but I can’t kick the feeling there’s something else you won’t tell me. I want to trust you, but sometimes I wonder if you’re telling me the whole truth.”

“I’m sure you have things about your past you’d rather I not know.”

He sighed. “You have a point.”

His admission roused her curiosity. What dark secret was he hiding? Maybe, if she knew, she could judge how well he’d respond to hers. “If you really want to know why I’m so nervous, I’ll tell you. The last run-in I had with a demon, I was guiding a party to Colorado Territory. I sensed the demon and tried the warn them, but they were
wasichu
and laughed at me. When it appeared, I ran away and left them.” She didn’t add that she’d shifted prior to running away so the demon wouldn’t bother with her.

“You wouldn’t do that to us?”

“I could care less about Cager, but I wouldn’t abandon you, Diah.”

“I would stay and defend my brother.”

“Then I would stay by your side.” She chewed her bottom lip. “I still feel bad about leaving them. Sometimes I can hear their screams in my nightmares.”

His hand covered hers and its warmth comforted her.

An hour later, when the sun was reaching its zenith in the sky, her nose twitched. At first, she smelled sulfur, then burning flesh and the unmistakable scent of brimstone. She frantically searched the area, trying to find the demon. Every second of warning gave them a chance to run. “Diah, Cager, stop.”

Cager pulled his horse around and opened his mouth to offer some snide retort, but his jaw dropped and his face paled. “Isn’t it a little late in the year for tornadoes?”

Oni looked behind her at the black funnel-shaped cloud coming towards them. Her skin crawled and she fought the urge to shift and run away. “That’s not a tornado.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a demon, Diah. Things unseen.” She dug her heels into the horse’s sides. “Ride like the devil himself is chasing you.”

The horses sensed the evil too, and ran as fast as they could with their current loads. Their sides heaved and their mouths foamed. But the dark cloud slowly gained on them.

Diah pulled their horse to a stop. “We can’t keep running like this.”

“Then what do you plan on doing, little brother? Let it catch you?”

Oni wanted to shout that it was all his fault, but she needed Cager’s help if they were going to stand a chance against it. “Do you know how to battle demons?”

Diah shook his head, but Cager replied, “Vaguely.”

She tossed her bag to the ground and saw the boys do the same. When she hopped down from the horse, her aching legs buckled under her.

Diah caught her arm and steadied her, nearly dropping his case of black fire in the process. Concern tightened his features. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”

Oni drew her dagger. This was when she wished she’d spent more time listening to the
wicasha wakan
of her tribe. The wise men knew how to vanquish demons. They also approached them in larger numbers.
Stars above, this borders on suicide.
But she hid her fear behind what she hoped looked like a reckless grin. “What choice do we have?”

“So what’s the plan?”

“First, try to create a barrier of some kind.” She knelt on the ground and began carving symbols in the ground. The wind whipped her hair across her face, announcing the demon’s approach. Their horses stamped their hooves in terror before breaking free and running away. But she couldn’t afford to be distracted by their absence now. Horses wouldn’t do them any good if they were consumed by the demon. At least they’d managed to remove their supplies from the saddles. “Draw a circle around us and these symbols, Diah.”

As he did that, she approached Cager. “From what I’ve learned, its weakest point will be between the eyes. Just don’t let it draw blood.”

“That thing has eyes?” He pointed to the black vortex that ripped up the earth as it inched closer to them.

“I thought you said you know how to fight demons.”

“Well, maybe I exaggerated my experience a bit. I mean, I read about them, but I didn’t think they actually existed.”

She balled her hand and resisted the urge to punch him. “When it gets close enough, you’ll see them.” Her heart pounded.
Please don’t let me be a coward and run away this time.

Diah completed the circle. “Now what?”

She knelt, pressed her dagger into the symbols and asked the
Wakan Tanka
for protection. The symbols flashed and a flame snaked along the circle as if it was following a trail of gunpowder. When it returned to the starting point, the drawings glowed pale green. “That should buy us a few minutes.”

“What did you just do?”

“I copied the protective symbols on the tepees and activated them. It will slow the demon down, but it will eventually break through the barriers unless we destroy it first.”

Diah face filled with a mixture of worry and confusion. “Oni, I’m not a Wielder. What can I do?”

She reached up and stroked his cheek. Her mind was screaming for her to flee, but her heart wouldn’t let her. She would rather die than know she’d left him when he needed her. “I must really love you.” As her hand dropped, she turned away. She couldn’t let her emotions cloud her mind now. “Stay in the middle, Diah, and don’t get hurt.”

“You said we shouldn’t let it draw blood. Why?”

The wind howled and the cloud closed the gap between them. “You don’t want to know.” She raised her wand and saw Cager do the same. “Get ready.”

The darkness engulfed them and her ears throbbed from the gale. She shielded her eyes from the stinging dust with her hand. The force of the wind threatened to knock her off her feet. But despite all this, she focused her energy into her wand and searched for the demon hiding in the storm.

“Oh, my God,” Cager shouted behind her.

A pair of glowing red eyes peered down on them. It was bigger than she expected—eight feet, at least. A black claw slashed at them. She flinched but exhaled when the barrier sparked and deflected the attack. It held.

“Between the eyes, Cager.” She aimed her dagger at it and released the spell. The demon screamed. The blood-chilling sound sent shivers down her spine, but she gathered her energy for another attack.

Cager’s spell flew wide to the left, and the claw slammed into the barrier again. The barrier blinked.

“We can’t afford to miss, Cager. This isn’t going to hold much longer.” But despite her orders, her next spell missed the target as well, and the demon continued to pummel the barrier.

Another scream signaled that Cager was getting more accurate, and the attacks slowed. Oni followed up with another spell, also hitting between the eyes. Excitement swelled within her. Maybe they could get through this alive.

The demon retreated and the swirling black clouds surrounded them once again.

“Is it giving up?” Cager asked.

A shriek sounded behind them, followed by a wall of force slamming at the barrier that made the earth shake. Oni stumbled against Cager. The demon was attacking them from the rear. The claws pierced the barrier and raked down it like a kitten shredding silk curtains. The barrier had been breached.

She blindly whipped her wand toward it and cast as quickly as she could. All the magic was taking its toll on her, and this spell didn’t make the demon scream like the others, even though she’d hit the target.

The smoldering eyes turned away from her and focused on the only person who was not a threat to it. Like a cat fishing its paw in a mouse hole, the claws reached through the breach and swiped at Diah.

Everything moved in slow motion. Diah had turned away and didn’t see the pending attack. She sprang toward him, hoping to push him out the way. Her body rammed his and he fell.

Diah grunted as Oni knocked him to the ground.
What the hell?

He watched helplessly as the claws sliced through her back like half a dozen razors. Her scream stopped his heart.
No, not her
.

“Get behind me, you idiot.” Cager launched another spell. Sweat glittered along his brow, and his casting seemed less like the precision of a whip cracking and more like sloppy flings at the demon. He was wearing down.

Diah crawled to Oni and dragged her back behind his brother. He cradled her head in his lap. Blood soaked the back of her dress. She shook as if she was caught in an epileptic seizure.

He looked up at the demon, his anger rising inside him with a fury that could rival the storm around them. The eyes didn’t glow as brightly as before and the attacks slowed. What he wouldn’t give to be a Wielder and pour every bit of his rage into his magic. Maybe that would make up for the growing void building in his chest.

Something cold pressed into his hand. He looked down and saw her amber eyes pleading with him. A vial of black fire slipped from her fingers and her gaze traveled to the demon. “Throw.” Her voice was faint and raspy, yet he heard her clearly over the storm.

He loosened the stopper and hurled it at the weak spot she’d told them about. The vial shattered between the demon’s eyes and it shrieked.

“Black fire works on this thing?” Cager asked.

“It appears so, if only to distract it long enough for you to get another spell off.” Diah reached for his case. “Finally, I feel like I can do something.” He launched another vial at the demon.

It retreated again and a growl echoed through the storm.

Diah gathered Oni in his arms. The blood oozed over his fingers, but she cried out when his touched her wounds. Her shaking slowed to a subtle tremor and her icy breath stung his neck. “Please, Oni, stay with me.”

The sound of other voices whispered in the wind, and he tried to figure out where they were coming from.

“What’s going on?” Cager backed toward them.

“I don’t know.” He looked to Oni for answers, but she only stared back at him with glassy eyes and dilated pupils. Her chest rose and fell, telling him she still lived. “Cager, heal her.”

He knelt beside them and examined the wounds. “I don’t know if I can.”

“Goddamn it, don’t tell me that!”

“It’s me or her, Diah. And without me, you’re dead too.”

“Without her, I’m dead anyway.”

A muscle rippled along his brother’s jaw. “You stupid, lovesick fool.”

Before Diah could reply, another bloodcurdling scream erupted from the storm, and the red eyes flashed above them. The claws dove at them. He chucked one more vial at the demon and then covered Oni with his body.

He expected the demon to tear through his flesh like it had Oni’s, but that never happened. Instead, a blinding white light surrounded them, and the demon’s screams shook the very core of his soul with terror. The noise faded, leaving an eerie silence in its wake.

The winds dissipated and Diah saw four Sioux men standing fifty feet from the edge of the circle. For a moment, no one moved as they sized each other up.
Great. Have we gone from the frying pan into the fire?

Cager raised his revolver-shaped gun, but they didn’t flinch until they heard Oni cry out.

A man with pewter hair and deep wrinkles carved into his brown face approached them.
“Was’te. Mieyobo yuwipi.”

“What did he say?” Diah asked Oni, but she whimpered in reply.

The youngest Sioux spoke. “He is a healer. Let him examine her.”

Diah nodded and Cager lowered his wand.

The old man crouched over her and ran his hands along the gashes that raked her back. He muttered something in his own language and Oni replied back in the same language, causing the man to frown. He spoke again in a sharper voice, but she shook her head.

“What’s going on?” Diah asked the young warrior.

“She is refusing to shift in front of you, even though she knows it is the only way she can resist the demon’s influence.”

Cager took a step away from her. “But the demon is gone now.”

The Sioux shook his head. “It has wounded her and part of its spirit now flows through her. It will consume her and change her into a demon unless we draw it out.”

Diah’s mouth went dry. “What did you mean by
shift?
”