Demon and the Fox - 21. The Other Tower

Louis’s mansion was as crowded as Raven’s tower had been deserted. It was isolated in a forest of evergreens, all in white stone and castle-like, with columns set all around the entrance, wide balconies, pointed rooftops and spires. Louis was having a party. Classical music played from the hall, and people swarmed outside and inside the mansion. They stood on the balconies with champagne flutes in their hands. Some of them had wings.

Nick and Koda walked past the columns and in through a set of crystalline double doors. No one paid attention to them. They all went on with their conversations. They wore fancy clothes. Nick saw a woman wearing a massive diamond necklace, a man sporting a black fur coat, and a couple that had matching white wings, shedding pale feathers behind them like confetti as they walked. Everybody was drinking champagne. A group of people nearby erupted in laughter.

Nick readjusted his sword’s leather strap around his right shoulder. It felt good not to be in pain anymore. He was acutely aware that his shirt’s sleeve was ripped, that Koda’s shirt was worn inside out, and also that Koda was barefoot. He really hoped no one at the party would suddenly exclaim that they weren’t fancy enough to be here.

The hall was vast with a stone fountain in its center and long tables draped with white and gold cloths. The tables held crystal candelabras and tall pyramids of champagne glasses. Someone played the piano on a stage.

“D’you think Louis’s getting married?” Nick leaned closer to Koda. “Wonder who the lucky bride is.”

Koda snickered at the sarcasm. Nick scanned the place and saw countless people milling about, but he didn’t see Louis or Lucas anywhere.

With Koda they walked along the wall, ducking groups of fancy people and the occasional wing until they made a turn into an arched entranceway. It was the first hallway that crossed their path, and it was as good a guess as any. Nick urged Koda along.

“Let’s try to find stairs,” Nick whispered. “People always keep their prisoners in the basement, no?”

The deeper they crept inside the mansion, the less people there were. Soon the sound of the piano stopped reaching their ears. Nick opened doors carelessly as they crossed hallway after hallway. No stairs yet. Mostly empty bedrooms—and some occupied ones. Nick caught people having sex. They shrieked before Nick rolled his eyes and slammed the door shut. Inside another Nick saw people sitting on a couch and doing lines of white powdery stuff.

“It’s not what you think,” one of the men said with his eyes like a deer caught in headlights.

“Dude, I don’t care,” Nick said. Koda was already leading him away; if Cyan wasn’t there, they weren’t interested.

“Don’t tell Louis!” the man pleaded.

Nick shook his head, exchanging a sidelong glance with Koda.

“Demons,” Nick deadpanned. “They wind up in Hell, and they’re still afraid of getting caught with dope.”

Koda sighed in agreement.

They made yet another random turn and stumbled across a dim staircase leading down.

“Stairs!” Nick announced in victory.

Koda smiled, slapping Nick’s shoulder enthusiastically, and they made a run for it. Nick’s booted steps echoed against the stone walls while Koda’s bare feet made no sound. Below the stairs, they found themselves in a brick room that was used for weapon storage; swords, bows and quivers full of arrows, scythes, spears, short swords, and even guns. Most of the weapons—especially the guns—were inside locked glass cabinets lining the brick wall.

Lit torches flooded the room with a warm glow and revealed a passage on the other side. Nick went through first, Koda falling in step behind him. Nick grabbed a lit torch from a metallic holder as he saw that the next room was plunged in darkness.

The torch shone upon a fairly large room with impressive wine racks and a pool table. No one was down here, though. Perhaps Louis wanted to keep his pool table for himself, and hadn’t told any of his guests about it. Nick arched an eyebrow as he exchanged a glance with Koda.

They proceeded to the next section of the basement, and Nick’s chest tightened as he was reminded of Purgatory. They had reached a narrow corridor with cells on either side. But the cells were empty, Nick noted as his torch cast a golden light upon their path. There was no one behind the metallic bars. Everything was quiet.

So quiet that they both jumped out of their skin when they heard a voice. They couldn’t hear what it said, but it sounded familiar to Nick’s ears. Lucas’s voice, he thought with a spark of recognition. A voice that spoke quick, angry words laced with hatred—and also a Spanish accent.

It wasn’t coming from a cell. A steel door stood where the row of cells ended, with a tiny window at eye level. The voice came from behind that door. Koda and Nick glued themselves to the wall as they crept closer to it and listened. Nick found a torch holder on the wall just after the last cell and hooked his torch there.

They could hear Lucas now.

“May the best man win. That’s what we always said!”

Nick wanted to know who Lucas was talking to in there. So he leaned over Koda’s shoulder and glanced through the window with one eye.

He saw Lucas’s back, mostly. Spiky brown hair, tan skin. Lucas wore jeans with a big black belt and a sheathed sword attached to its side. And… he had his wings out. That would be the reason why Nick couldn’t see much. Bloody Dark Angels with their wings always getting in the way.

The room seemed pretty bland. Gray brick walls. An oil lamp on a small desk, next to a tray with a dozen of little torture instruments of a dull metallic color. Some of them were rusty—or was that dried blood? Nick felt his insides coiling and his palms were damp. He felt short of breath as Liv’s cruel smile flashed in his head. This place reminded him way too much of Purgatory.

Koda squeezed Nick’s shoulder and that made him feel a bit better. Nick scooted over so that Koda could glimpse inside the room, too. Lucas was still turning his back on them. He was talking to someone.

“You always acted like the victim, but you betrayed me.” Lucas was waving wildly with his arms as his voice rose to a shout. “We were gonna give it our all, remember? We promised.”

Lucas shifted slightly to the side, and they saw that some kind of medical table was erected in the middle of the room. The person lying on it was unconscious. Nick recognized the blonde hair and pale face—too pale right now, though.

“Cyan,” Nick whispered.

At least Cyan was fully clothed and no harm seemed to have been done to him. But he was unconscious; Lucas was just talking to himself in there.

“We were supposed to fight to the death. You owed me that much. A promise is a promise.”

“What the hell is he talking about?” Nick muttered.

Koda leaned closer. “The tournament,” he whispered.

Nick was so startled that he thought his heart would burst out of his chest. He had not expected an answer.

“You can talk?”

Koda had a glint in his slanted brown eyes; the little bastard was amused, clearly.

“Yes.”

Nick gathered himself. He glanced at Lucas. He was still turning his back on them.

“Cyan and Lucas used to be friends, a long time ago,” Koda explained. His voice was very low and careful, and he had an accent Nick could not recognize. But he found Koda’s voice very calming. “They were forced to fight in the tournament against each other. Cyan was winning,” Koda said, “but he could not deliver the final blow. He wanted to let Lucas live. When Cyan turned away from Lucas,” Koda frowned, glancing inside the torture room, “Lucas got up and stabbed him in the back. In the heart. Lucas won the tournament. Everyone thought Cyan was dead. But Raven saved him, and—”

Koda interrupted himself. Lucas was shouting again. He was like a madman.

“Why didn’t you do it? Why didn’t you kill me?” Lucas bent over and grabbed Cyan’s shoulders.

Nick stiffened, and reached for his sword’s hilt reflexively. He wouldn’t let Lucas hurt Cyan.

Koda resumed his explanations. “Raven saved Cyan, and gave him a job as a Reaper even though he didn’t win the tournament. Lucas and Cyan have been enemies ever since. Everyone knows the story. But that was a long time ago. I don’t know why he’s talking about this now.”

Nick looked at Lucas. He was shaking Cyan’s shoulders, like he wanted to wake him up.

“Because he’s a lunatic,” Nick said as his hold tightened on his sword’s hilt.

“Were you in love with me?” Lucas was shouting. “Like you’re in love with Raven now? You think Raven cares about you? He doesn’t care about anyone but himself. You’re just a pretty toy to him. I was your friend. Your only friend.”

Nick was thinking that if Lucas left soon, they could hide in the shadows and wait for him to walk away, and then they could go get Cyan. Nick wanted to avoid fighting Lucas, if he could. The thought made him wince. It conjured up the image of a stormy battlefield, and Lucas running him through with his sword. And then the lightning striking him, and then nothing—

“Are you okay?” Koda asked, squeezing Nick’s shoulder.

“I just wish he would leave,” Nick whispered.

But Lucas was still looming over Cyan.

“How is it with Raven, huh?” Lucas’s voice became quieter, and Koda and Nick held their breath so they could hear through the door. Lucas said, “Why do you like him so much? What does he do to you?” Lucas’s hand was traveling down to Cyan’s waist, fingers crawling under his clothes.

Okay. This was getting weird.

Nick unsheathed his sword and exchanged a glance with Koda. They tried the handle, but the door was locked. They threw themselves at the door in unison, but it wouldn’t give. They just hurt themselves. But they were ready to try again.

It wasn’t necessary, though. Lucas had noticed them, and a red flush colored his cheekbones. He produced a set of keys from his jeans and unlocked the door before throwing it open.

Lucas looked only at Nick, with dark eyes that glared so hard they would surely send laser beams at him if they could.

“What are you doing here you little shit?”

Nick held his sword tight. “What do you think?”

Lucas raked a hand through his spiky hair. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough,” Nick snapped.

Lucas took out his sword. Nick’s heart was hammering. He couldn’t stop thinking about the stormy battlefield. Lucas’s sword digging a hole through his heart. The pain that was too overwhelming to be described in words. Sasha screaming his name. The bolt of lightning. Lucas’s sword. The lightning. The sword. The—

“You’re shaking,” Lucas mentioned. He licked his lips, and smirked. “Are you afraid of me?” Lucas’s appearance was disturbing. He looked like a young man, but his eyes were the distant eyes of an old man who had seen too much, or endured too much—or both. He asked, “Did you regret killing Liv when I killed you right after, and sent you to get tortured by her? How did that work out for you?”

Nick held his ground. “Last time I checked, Liv is still in Purgatory, and I’m out of that dump.”

“Not for long!” Lucas slashed the air and his sword met Nick’s with a loud clash.

They drew back and clashed again, and again. But Nick reeled against the corridor wall; there was such strength behind Lucas’s blows. This was nothing like the people he had fought against in the tournament. Lucas was intense, and he was in perfect control. He never stopped smirking. His wings shed dark feathers as he stepped through the doorway and closer to Nick, ready to strike again.

But he was forgetting that Nick wasn’t alone. In a flash, Koda ducked under Lucas’s wing and plunged into the torture room. He gathered up Cyan in his arms just as Lucas spun on his heel.

From what Nick understood, Koda couldn’t teleport on his own. And he wouldn’t leave without Nick, anyway. But, Lucas didn’t know that.

Lucas rushed back in, his wings squeezing through the doorway. He sheathed his sword, but only so he could lash out at Koda with both hands. He was trying to take Cyan from him. Koda jumped back clumsily and lost his grip on Cyan, dropping him to the floor.

Nick had leaped back in the room after Lucas, but everyone froze as they heard a loud grunt. Cyan was waking up, rolling over on his stomach and leaning on his elbows. His hair was a long tangled mess.

“Hurts so much,” Cyan was muttering.

“What did you do to him?” Nick shouted.

“Paralyzing drug and sleeping pill, mostly,” Lucas said. “He shouldn’t be awake so soon.”

But Cyan was awake. He was trying to sit up, but it looked quite the effort. “You bastard. My head hurts so much.”

Lucas sneered. “Devin may have hit your head against a wall by accident as he carried you down here. A few times.”

“What a gentleman,” Cyan said.

“Devin can be a bit clumsy,” Lucas conceded, “but I find that endearing about him.”

As they rambled, Nick was staring at Lucas’s back. This was his chance. He gathered his powers. With Raven’s antidote having worked its magic, he was able to feel strong again. His right arm was strong.

Koda’s words replayed in his mind.

‘When Cyan turned away from Lucas, Lucas got up and stabbed him in the back.’

Nick visualized himself right behind Lucas, and as the room blurred slightly around him, he was where he wanted to be in a fraction of a second. And he ran Lucas through with his black sword. Hilt deep. Just in between his wings, and below the heart.

Lucas gasped, and his knees buckled. Nick pulled back his sword and stepped away. He watched as Lucas coughed blood and crumpled to the floor, passed out. Distastefully, Nick wiped his bloody sword against Lucas’s wing.

Koda and Cyan were staring.

“What?” Nick asked. After wiping his sword, he thrust the blade in its sheath, securing it against his back.

Cyan sat up, massaging his temple. “That ain’t going to kill him, Nicky.”

“I know that,” Nick retorted. “I don’t want to kill him, anyway. Not right now. Not so he can go be a Purgatory guard and torture Shay. I’ll get Shay out of there first. Then I’ll kill Lucas.” He held out his hand. Cyan took it and let Nick help him up.

“What about the other people he might torture?” Koda asked as he stepped closer. “Don’t you care about them?”

“You know,” Nick teased, “I liked you better when you weren’t talking.”

Koda narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. Cyan was dusting himself off.

“All right,” Nick said, “let’s get you back to Raven.”

But Cyan held up a hand. He was wearing those fingerless gloves he always had on. “No, no, no! Wait!”

Nick said, “I’m waiting.”

“There’s something I want to do first.” Cyan’s lips twitched into a smile.

He reached down to snatch Lucas’s sword, pulling it from its sheath. Then Cyan stood up straight, tucking a stray blonde strand behind his ear.

“Come with me,” he said, holding up the sword like a trophy. “We’re going to have some fun.”

Nick shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

But Cyan was already walking out of the room. Koda and Nick exchanged a glance, shrugged, and went after him. Nick grabbed that torch again to light up their path.

Cyan stumbled and almost toppled over, but Koda rushed to his side and held him up.

“So sorry,” Cyan said, “all those paralyzing drugs, you know. Not my favorites, to tell you the truth.”

Nick watched as Koda hooked Cyan’s arm around his shoulders, making sure he didn’t fall again. They started to walk, passing the rows of empty cells, the glow of Nick’s torch showing the way.

“So, who are you, mate?” Cyan asked Koda.

“I’m Koda. I’m a weredog.”

“Brilliant!” said Cyan.

They crossed the room with the pool table and all the wine racks. Still deserted.

“Where are we going, Cy?” Nick hissed. He didn’t like to linger.

“Almost there,” Cyan chimed. He sounded delighted.

Nick rolled his eyes.

In the weapon room, Cyan stopped walking. He pulled away from Koda, took a swing with Lucas’s sword, and slashed the glass cabinets, one after the other.

Nick winced. “What if someone hears? There’s a party with like a gajillion people upstairs.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Cyan winked. “They won’t find us. Grab as many weapons as you can. Especially the swords.” Cyan approached one of the shattered cabinets and started to gather swords in his arms. Broken glass crunched under his boots. “Dark Angel swords. Higher Demon swords. Brilliant,” Cyan said.

“Cyan, what the—?”

“Come on, Nicky, please. But keep your torch.”

Nick sighed, but he started to grab weapons, stacking as many as he could in his arms. Koda didn’t come too close to the broken glass because he was bare foot. But when Nick couldn’t hold any more weapons, Koda gestured for him to hand him some. So Nick gave Koda a couple of swords, and also a bow and a quiver full of arrows.

When the three of them were equipped with as many items as they could carry—and the weapons were heavy, too—Cyan stalked past the cabinets and felt the brick wall with the tip of his fingers. He frowned, then smiled as he seemed to find what he was looking for. He pushed one of the bricks, and they heard a loud rattling sound as the brick sank deep into the wall. Nick’s eyes widened as the bricks aligned and the outlines of a door appeared. Cyan shouldered it open, and ushered them in.

Nick walked in first, holding up the torch. Cyan pushed the hidden door back into place, and they heard that same rattling sound as the brick, Nick assumed, slid back to its initial alignment on the other side.

“What is this place?” Nick asked.

The floor was a vast dusty expanse, and the walls were made of large, uneven stone bricks. Nick gazed upon a hearth and a column against one wall. As Nick waved the torch, he stepped further inside the room, his boots stirring the dust. He saw desks and stools littered with equipment; hammers, tongs, chisels. Fire irons were stacked against the wall next to the hearth. Nick also noticed a metallic container full of water on the floor.

Cyan dropped his weapons in front of the hearth. Nick and Koda followed suit, letting their items tumble to the floor in a deafening clatter.

“This,” Cyan smiled, “is a smithy. I used to come here to forge my swords. This place wasn’t always owned by Louis. Anyway.” He waved it off. “Let’s do this.”

He stepped to the side of the hearth and gathered up a bucket. Nick held up his torch to see what he was doing. Cyan poured the contents of the bucket—it looked like coal—into the hearth. When he was satisfied, he tossed the bucket aside and pulled down a handle behind the hearth. There was a whoosh, like a fan blowing air. Cyan gestured for Nick to move closer.

Cyan wanted the torch. Nick gave it to him wordlessly, and Cyan used it to start up the fire. It didn’t take long to ignite. A warm glow flooded the room.

“Now,” Cyan pushed his hair behind his ears, “we have fun.”

He started with Lucas’s sword. He threw it in the fire.

Nick shook his head, but he smiled, and he grabbed a few weapons to throw those in the mix. Koda did the same thing.

“That’s not designed to actually melt swords,” Cyan said, “just temper them. But, I was thinking, with your special abilities, Nicky—”

“What do you need me to do?” Nick was all for pissing off Lucas and Louis.

Cyan’s blue eyes gleamed in the light of the flames. He motioned at the hearth.

“There’s only so much I can do with my fuel and my fan. But I think we can all agree that we haven’t got all night.”

“He wants you to make the fire burn hotter,” Koda said.

Cyan wiggled his eyebrows.

Nick watched, like in a trance, as the orange flames licked the swords. But Cyan was right. They weren’t melting.

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

Koda came to stand right next to Nick. “I thought I’d be stuck as a dog forever. I’d forgotten what it was like to be human. You changed me back, just like that. I think you can make a little fire burn hotter.” His voice was very calm.

Nick kept his eyes on the crackling flames. Yellow and orange, fluttering, dancing. Sasha would be better fitted for this, Nick thought. He knew Sasha had abilities with fire. He missed him so much right now, missed him with a sharp pang.

But Koda was right. Nick could do this. For Cyan. And more importantly, Nick thought, to piss off Lucas and Louis.

He looked at the fire, became the fire in his mind. He visualized the blades contorting and melting until there was nothing left. Nick blinked, but he didn’t lose focus. He realized the flames were a very pale yellow now. Koda and Cyan were throwing more weapons in. The bow and arrows burned very easily. The blades were more difficult.

Nick pictured the flames becoming bluish white, and they did. The room became uncomfortably warm, but they didn’t care. Cyan and Koda threw the rest of the weapons, and then they stepped behind Nick, watching. Nick had never seen anything like it before. Pure white flames. Oscillating, rippling. Beautiful and destructive. Just for him. The metal was actually melting.

They heard a rattling sound. Koda touched Nick’s shoulder.

Nick snapped out of it, catching his breath. In one instant, the flames turned back to orange.

“I think we’ve overstayed our welcome, boys,” Cyan said.

They all turned around as the door opened. Louis stormed in, wearing a formal suit and tie and shiny shoes. His short haircut was perfect. He held his head high, but his frown was deep.

“What is going on here?”

Louis loosened his silk tie, like he was suddenly feeling very hot.

Cyan grabbed both Nick and Koda. He was going to teleport.

“Take us to Raven’s tower,” Nick told him quickly.

“Aye,” said Cyan.

“No,” Louis raised a finger, “wait. My swords. What did you—?”

But the forge—or smithy, as Cyan called it—was disappearing. Nick and Koda clung to Cyan. Black smoke enveloped them like a blanket, and Louis’s voice faded away.

Nick let go of Cyan when he found his footing again. But he nearly lost his balance as someone bumped into him with a wing.

“Sorry,” a girl said, walking past him with a pink drink in her hand.

Entrancing rhythms were blasting across the room. The ceiling was high and bright silver—like it was made of stars. People were dancing. Nick took in the crystalline black walls, wide glassless windows and the counters holding drinks of every color of the rainbow.

“Not the party tower, Cy.” Nick shouted to be heard over the music. “I meant the other tower. Raven’s waiting for us, let’s go.”

Koda was smiling at a Goth girl with thick eyeliner and dark lipstick. Clad in a black corseted dress, she had platinum blonde hair with a single black streak in her long bangs.

“Oh, come on, now,” Cyan shrugged. “We’re already here.”

A Dark Angel guy wearing white skinny jeans and a white tie offered Cyan a green drink. Cyan accepted it with a bow of his head.

“Raven is waiting for us,” Nick insisted.

But Cyan was already bringing the drink to his lips.

Nick whirled and looked at Koda. He was making out with that Goth girl. There was dark lipstick everywhere. Apparently Koda remembered what it was like to be human, now.

Cyan nudged Nick with his elbow.

“You look like you could use a drink, mate. I sure know I need one,” Cyan nodded to himself, letting his gaze wander across the crowd of dancers that pulsed in unison with the rhythms of the music.

Cyan flicked his gaze back to Nick. “Let’s stay a bit, yeah?”