Fused in Fire

“Should we angle left or right?” I asked as a shout issued above us.

Clown Demon leaned over the shoulder of the dragon and pointed down at us.

Darius threw something into the air. A huge starburst of light blasted through the darkness, making me look away with blinking eyes.

“A little warning next time?” I asked as I tried to see through the spots in my vision.

Harried flapping drowned out the shouting from above. I chanced a look up in time to see the dragon swooping low, or maybe falling.

“Reagan, take care of this,” Darius shouted.

I ran my hand in an arch and swatted the dragon with air, smacking it off-kilter. It tilted wildly, throwing its rider, who somersaulted twice before landing in the grass.

Darius was off, speeding toward it with claws (and probably fangs) elongating. He was on the clown in no time, ripping and tearing. But it was a powerful demon.

Darius went sailing, hitting the ground with a hard thump. Clown Demon was up, running at the vampire with magic unfurling around it. A weave of air surrounded the vampire as he catapulted to his feet. He raked at the magic with claws, tearing a hole in the weave and unraveling it before running forward to meet Clown Demon.

I sent a blast of my blended magic and swatted Clown Demon, making it roll across the ground. Darius probably could’ve handled it, but we needed to hurry.

Darius launched onto Clown Demon as it came to a stop, his claws digging into the other. An object went flying.

A snake.

That was why Darius’s first strikes didn’t end the fight before it had begun.

The vampire straightened, the fight finally at a close.

“I did not know vampires were so powerful,” my guide demon said, now being bodily dragged through the grass. I’d somewhat forgotten about it while dealing with the dragon.

“You haven’t had many dealings with elders, I take it,” I said, hitting the dragon with another burst to keep it from diving at Darius.

Darius was already on the move, running toward us with claws (and fangs) still out. The dragon shrieked when it realized what had happened.

It blew a sort of trumpet, long and loud, vibrating through my bones. When the noise died, it pumped its wings and rose straight up into the sky. Ready to dive bomb.

I readied myself for another slap of air. It kept rising, not looking down at us, until it reached a dizzying height—

Then it tilted its wings and sped away.

“What’s happening?” I asked, my power ready for action. Darius put a hand on my back to keep me moving. “Does it realize it’s no match for us, or is this dragon trickery of some kind?”

“You have freed it,” the demon said, lying on the ground. It apparently didn’t even want to bother standing up. “Death cuts the tie of loyalty.”

“Are they violent pets, or…” I started running with Darius, once again pulling the demon behind.

“Disgraceful to call them pets. They pledge their loyalty to one they deem worthy. They are allies. But their loyalty is to one being, not the sect. Where the being goes, the dragon goes. Often a demon that can secure a dragon has its pick of sects to join. Many become leaders eventually, accruing followers based on the status of having a dragon, even if the leader’s power isn’t sensational. As you saw.”

“Where do they live when they aren’t shackled by loyalty to a psycho clown and his mind-bending circus?”

“The Great Master sees to the solitary dragons, or those in their mating cycles.”

My father, the dragon keeper. That would be a cool thing to have on a business card. Although Reagan “unicorn blood drinker” Somerset didn’t sound half bad, either.

We ran alongside a paltry fence that could easily be torn away or jumped over. No spikes or barbed wire deterred those who were up to no good.

A moment later, I saw why.

“Is that a goat?” I asked in disbelief, staggering with surprise and fatigue.

“It is similar to a Brink goat only in appearance.” The demon sounded disgusted again. My ignorance was really standing in the way of its whole hero-worship thing.

A little bigger, maybe, and with more fur, but otherwise the creature standing in the pen munching on grass looked like a goat. Same weird eyes, same curved horns, and same presence that made you pat your pockets to make sure you didn’t have something in there it might want to eat.

“Is it an animal, though, or a demon doing a great job looking like a goat? Oh my God, is that a llama?”

“These aren’t animals that exist in the Brink,” the demon spat. “But yes, they are animals.”

“Dude, you need to get out more. That’s a llama. Snobby bastards.”

Darius glanced over with a grin. “What do you have against llamas?”

Demons tended the animals and the grass behind nothing more substantial than the wired enclosure. They glanced up as we passed, but didn’t show any other interest. Beyond them loomed a large structure almost like a barn, in good shape. Animals bayed in the distance.

“I had a llama growing up. It wouldn’t give me the time of day, even though I was the one who always fed it. Ungrateful…” I leapt over a roll of hay. “Do the animals eat?”

“Of course the animals eat.” The demon was growing tired of my questions, I could tell.

I let it go. It wasn’t that important in the grand scheme of things. Nor was it important to dissect why these animals looked so similar to those in the Brink. Or why they had them in the first place when demons didn’t eat or drink milk.

I probably had more questions about the animals than about anything else I’d seen thus far. Just when I thought I was getting a handle on the place, something else weird cropped up.

A knot of worry eased when we crested a berm and the landscape changed. A boat waited at the lone dock stretching into the still river. I turned back to the demon, and saw nothing behind us.

“Darius.” I grabbed his arm, and we walked back out of the illusion together. From the corner of my eye, I caught the demon trying to scamper away. “Wait a minute there, hoppity.” I wrapped it in air and, ignoring its screeches, dragged it back. “Where are you going?”

It looked at the mark on its hand, which had been fading but now glowed back to life. It hunched. “Magic in progress is severed when you enter the river. My task is completed.”

“But you can’t tell anyone about me, right? Be honest, because I will know if you’re lying.” I wouldn’t know any such thing, but there was a good chance it would believe me. I was the heir, after all.

“The confidentiality bond as it pertains to the summoning is still in effect,” it grumbled. “I will be punished for leaving without approval and having no reason for doing so.”

“Yet you wanted to guide me initially. Guide me in secret, I might add. That doesn’t add up.” I narrowed my eyes at it. “You lying little devil.”

It crouched to the ground and worried at its mark, looking up at me. It didn’t say anything, but then, it didn’t have to.

“Kill it,” Darius said without inflection.

I should have. It had tried to set me up in the beginning, just like we’d thought. If we’d taken the path it had laid out for us, it would have brought me to its leader in the hopes of gaining a boon. What a sniveling little…

On the flip side, Callie and Dizzy could mark it to help me. My goal was never to come back to the underworld, but it never hurt to have insurance.

“Go,” I said, dissolving the air. “Remember my…” I tilted my head. What was the word I was looking for. “Leniency?”

“Mercy,” Darius murmured.

I snapped. “Mercy, yes. Remember my mercy. Now get gone.”

It took off like a shot, clearly wanting to quickly put as much distance as possible between itself and me.

Without delay, I turned around and did the same thing, hurrying into the illusion of the river while holding Darius’s hand so we didn’t get separated. We ran down to the dock and climbed into the boat.

This creature had the same vaguely human look and grayish skin as the one that had given us a ride initially.

“Hello, Egg Man,” it said.