Demon's Grace Ch. 47

My whole body shook at the abruptness of losing him and then at Ezra's roaring voice I'd never heard before, "SHE IS MINE!"

I felt the bed and the entire room quiver from his power. Oldavai hit the wall with a sickening, solid thud. Bricks crumpled away. My eyes glazed over and I emptied. I looked at the blasted doorway and saw Taurin enter, furious in his own right. I had no emotions to give him.

Behind him Shorn walked delicately through, avoiding the fractured wood, the smell of brimstone surrounding him. I locked onto his bleeding eyes and watched the billowing movement under his skin. I almost choked on the sensation of my emotions flying back into me, because the first one to arrive was terror.

CHAPTER 50

Behind Shorn came two more figures, a man and woman. I pulled away as I watched the man come around to the left side of the bed. The dragon inside of me hissed through my mouth at him as he reached for my hands. He paused.

"Do not touch her," Shorn directed sternly to him.

I quickly looked back at Shorn and watched him put a restraining hand on Taurin's arm. Taurin did his own version of hissing. The blue mica of his demon self gleaming through his designer clothes.

"Don't restrain me," he told Shorn with strain in his voice to keep from shouting.

There was a slamming noise to my right and I turned to watch Ezra throw Oldavai up against the wall again. Behind Shorn and Taurin the woman hesitated in her decision as to which direction to go. Distraught clear on her face.

The man focused on Shorn, "Sir, what do we do? We can't leave her handcuffed to the bed?"

At the same time Taurin shrugged off Shorn's hand, which had turned into a claw sometime while I wasn't looking. "I will deal with this," Taurin said as he strode to me.

I shied from him as his fingers first touched one handcuff then the other. The metal froze colder than I ever felt anything, following their lines of power into my veins. Then they shattered.

He reached for me quickly and I moved up against the bed frame to get away from his hand. Simultaneously, a sword flew out of my wrist until the handle curved into my palm. The point never touched him, but it stayed an unwavering inch from his throat. A warbling sound of distress erupted from my lips and I immediately wanted to take back the action.

But, I couldn't, I was so confused and scared. My emotions were in turmoil. The rational part of me was trying to explain to the other part of me that I never loved Oldavai. I was uneasy with the two demons that were an integral part of my life because I didn't know what was real anymore. Taurin stared uncomprehendingly at me and slowly backed away from the bed. With a flick of my wrist the sword vanished into me and I pulled up the sheet to hide my nakedness.

Shorn moved just as slowly towards Taurin, "I tried to warn you. I'm surprised she didn't immediately run to Oldavai's defense the moment you freed her. She has had sex with more than an incubus. She has had sex with a demon incubus and is still alive. One of the most peculiar things I've seen in a long time." He eyed me with speculation.

Taurin shook his head, "I don't understand. Oldavai has sex with anyone."

Shorn gave a stuttering laugh like the sound of crunching glass. To my right Ezra and Oldavai had gone quiet. I turned and saw the man I loved bleeding in the grip of Ezra's claws. My confusion intensified at my inability to sort out what the hell was going on in my mind and heart. My breathing quickened as I continued to stare at the two of them. The dragon inside of me twisted and chirped in its own bafflement. Somehow it let me know that it wanted us to go to Ezra.

Shorn talked into the chaos of the moment. "No. Oldavai does not have sex with anyone, he feeds off of them. Look at him and look at her. Here is proof that our brother has had sex with your Dove." He gestured to the demon and another appendage shot out of his suit to double the gesture.

I don't know how my heart could accelerate anymore, but it did at his simple gesture made monstrous. That demon was so damn unnerving. All I could think about when watching him was that I told Oldavai I would I go up against Shorn for him. I shuddered remembering my words. Yet, I felt that I would do just that if Shorn threatened him. Probably die, but still I would attempt to protect him. I think. Would I? I prayed over and over that he did not go near Oldavai. I started to laugh hysterically at the churning thoughts. Aware of, but ignoring, all eyes turning to me. Eventually the laugh turned into an under my breath chuckle.

Taurin looked at me in concern, "Why would he do that?"

Shorn moved his viscous gaze from me to Taurin, "Now that is one of the few intelligent questions I've ever heard from an Ice Dweller."

Taurin's mouth started to sneer, but he controlled it and looked over to Ezra. The conversation changed and continued with all the demons present, but it didn't hold my attention. Oldavai laughed drily and my brain tuned to him. I forced myself to stop being riveted and made myself meditate to figure out what was wrong with me. It didn't take long. I snapped my eyes opened and looked down at my hand gripping the sheet. Shit. There were definitely gold sparkles marring my skin. That was why Oldavai never had sex with anyone. It was his way of bonding to them.

I wanted to shriek, but didn't. I needed to concentrate and pull him out of me. I couldn't go on pining for a demon because he manipulated me to feel that way. He had said 'wither and die' and right now that felt just about right. All I wanted to do was run up to him and help him escape.

I flew deep inside of me and looked for it. As if seeing the dragon with my own eyes, it stared at me. A little red dragon with huge slanted eyes sighed and whistled to keep my attention. It turned around in a flash of fire and looked at me over its half folded wings. We ran deeper into my soul until I found Oldavai's presence hidden behind a wall of fog.

His magic was already rooted in me. It presented itself like a ball of gold twine with streams of shimmering blue knotted into it. I tentatively placed what I thought of as my hands around it. It vibrated and glowed brighter. I pulled. It wouldn't budge. Not acceptable. I pulled harder and felt it start to give. I focused all my power on the act of ripping him out of me.

I came into my actual body screaming as I tore out his glowing sphere of power and magic streaming from my solar plexus. Between those heart wrenching screams I panted and continued to rip pieces of my soul out with what he planted in me. The glitter of gold on my skin flared and disappeared.

Then, I was done, exhausted and dripping with sweat. I knew, beyond a doubt, that the few pieces of knotted blue were me. I watched in horror as the entire power structure attempted to merge back into me. I turned to Oldavai.

His eyes were wide with shock at what I'd done. Ezra held him from behind the neck. The look on his face was rigid, conveying to me warning.

"My sweet," Oldavai croaked out. Ezra's hand tightened on his throat and he wheezed out a breath.

My voice came out just as strained, "Liar! I am not your sweet anything!"

He gave a faltering laugh around Ezra's grip. "Then so are you. Were you not telling me that you loved me?"

My facial expression fell. Ezra simply placed two fingers on the top of Oldavai's skull and he was down on his knees in seconds, panting. Meanwhile, the woman practically ran to me, hands grasping forward. I sneered and moved the magic closer to my body. This caused a problem because all it wanted to do was go back home.

I grunted at her, "Get back or I'll kill you."

She stepped back in shock. I watched her regroup herself, "You don't have the authority, Dove Hawthorn."

Manic laughter bubbled from my lips, "This isn't about authority. This is about fact."

She backed up another step, unable to hide her fear at my apparent dementia. My face blanked as I looked down at what I held suspended between my hands. I finally lifted my gaze and looked directly at Shorn. As if reading my mind he walked up to me. He stood closer to me than I wanted, but I let it go.

"I have to trust you, because he's your brother," I whispered to him.

He tilted his head into my personal space and something moved from inside his neck. I stared into those bleeding eyes and watched the blood seep back into his skin on the line of his cheek bones. His eyes narrowed and he spoke loudly, "Sorcerers, leave." All the power of his office came through in his tone. The man did his bidding immediately. I wasn't surprised that the woman put up a fight.

Her voice came out angry and snide. "You have no right! We are here with the Affairs' Office's authority, outside your jurisdiction. We're staying until this warrant is fulfilled."

I noticed the pace of his constantly shifting and bulging body increase. Clearly he was annoyed, his scent hung heavy in the air. I shied away from his stare, which turned an even darker red. He didn't turn, at least, his body didn't, but his head sure as hell did! I made a choking sound and swallowed down my fear. The woman's skin turned ghost like and she fled from the room, almost running.

His head turned back to me, all business, then he spoke. "This may cause an irreparable rift between demons and the Affairs' Office, Dove. You have done something that no one should ever do. You voluntarily pulled a part of yourself out. You have left my brother and yourself alive and without a home. Rip out your soul, lock it in a box, would you remember it's missing?"

I paused before answering. "We won't die, will we?"

If eyes filled with waves of blood could hold a look of contemplation then I would say that somehow his did. "No, you won't die, not in the way you mean."

He hesitated and looked down at the pulsing power between my hands. "Hand me my brother, Dove."

I looked at him and then down at this intimate part of myself.

He continued, "No one will ever touch this except the three of us."

My eyes widened at the thought of Oldavai having a part of me in his control. "No. No one, but you!"

My inner conscious was shouting strings of obscenities I never thought I'd put together for contemplating giving myself to Shorn.

"You have no choice if you will not take it back."

"Never! I never want him manipulating my emotions again!" I growled vehemently. My voice lowered, "Can I pull us apart..." I said distractedly to myself looking at the glowing sphere. It pulsed in my hands burning to seep itself back into me. I tried to pull at a blue string, but a golden one twined itself onto it like tentacles. Inside I felt an empty hole howling, almost like my stomach growling because it was hungry. I grimaced and huffed out a dismayed noise.

Shorn shook his head. "Leave it to my discretion."

"Wait! What does this mean exactly? What will happen?" I could barely look at him, knowing that I was asking him to tell me the truth and that he would distort it. It was all I had at the moment though.

"Dove." He shook his head and turned to look at Oldavai. The room was strangely silent. It felt like all the demons were waiting to see what I would do. He turned back to me and crossed his arms. I was relieved to see there were only two this time. He started to speak and then stopped, his lips pursed as he looked at me. "This would be easier if you would take that back into yourself. I would control Oldavai from here."

I shifted my eyes back to Oldavai, passive in Ezra's grip. He looked beaten, figuratively and literally. I looked at Ezra then. His wings stretched and flared as if responding to my attention, otherwise he gave no indication what he was thinking. I swallowed again and cleared my throat before talking. It still came out scratchy sounding. "Unacceptable... mostly. I can't go on thinking that I actually love him."

Shorn nodded. "You'd probably be dead within the month, although, with you, stranger things have happened. So, I will have this until you ask for it back or Oldavai serves out his sentence and is granted it back. I have no theory as to what will happen when he takes it back. This is unprecedented."

He glanced over at Taurin and I followed his gaze. Taurin was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He was strangely as silent as Ezra.

Shorn continued talking. "Which seems to be the way most of your life is." He stared bleeding eyes down at me, "Very. Unprecedented."

I considered his words and added my own, "Will you be able to control Oldavai?" I looked down at the shining sphere and whispered, "Will you be able to control me?"

My head shot up in surprise as I heard Shorn laugh openly and loudly. I knew it was some type of glee, but it sounded like a murder of ravens. Then it stopped abruptly, which also startled me.

"If Ezra can't control you, then no one can."

"Ah... seriously."

"I am," he said in a dead, no nonsense voice.

"Then you won't be able to control Oldavai."

"Not in the way you mean. Not in the way they think we can be controlled. You and he will have a piece of yourself missing. How you both decide to deal with it is your choice. I'm just giving Oldavai limited options at this time. He is missing noticeably more than you." He gestured to the mostly golden sphere. "But, his warrant will finally be destroyed and off of my 'to do' list."

I gave him a look of disbelief, "'To do' list? You have a 'to do' list?"

He shrugged, "This power comes with paperwork. Thank you, by the way. You seem to be clearing up a lot of paper for me. I'll have to give due consideration about who to send you to next." The entire half of his brow lifted as he looked at me.

Shorn wiggled his fingers in a hand-it-over motion at me. His hand had eight fingers and a very wide palm. "Now finish this. You or me."

He was right. There was nothing I could do. The longer it stayed next to me the weaker I felt denying the compulsion to place it back where it belonged. I harshly thrust it at Shorn. He grabbed it and somehow condensed it down to fit in the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

"We leave." He looked over at Oldavai. "Oldavai!"

Shorn left no argument for the demon to debate what he meant. Shining Oldavai passively went to him, refusing to look in my direction. I watched as Shorn yanked Oldavai's head back by his hair with something scaly that came out of somewhere from his body. He spoke harshly in demon and spit a wad of vilely yellow liquid on the ground in front of him.

Oldavai said nothing, simply took it all and let Shorn usher him through the blasted entry. On their way out I listened to the woman brave Shorn with words of loud rebuke. I was surprised that she got over her fear. She shouldn't have.

I looked over to the two demons on my right. Their attention was pivoted on me. I realized that I could do to them what I had just done to Oldavai. Of course I had to be willing to tear myself apart and callously discard pieces of my soul as if my well being meant nothing at all to me. I studied the two of them and then turned to gaze out the doorway. Maybe my well being did mean nothing to me and I just hadn't realized it yet.

Epilogue

I had received an unimaginable amount of money for Oldavai's warrant. It didn't make up for the trauma or missing part of myself. For some reason Ezra and Taurin decided to stay with me. There was no compulsion to speak to them, I barely ate, and I wouldn't leave the house for days. I refused Ezra my bed and in a way I refused both of them my company. Yet, they stayed and more than that, they talked to me about everything and anything, even though I almost never responded.

I found out that Oldavai had thrown so many intricate illusions over one another, inside my own head and outside, that they couldn't find me. That Laci had called in more vampires to battle with them while Oldavai had come for me. They told me all this without me ever asking. I didn't feel any concern that they didn't come soon enough to help me. It was over and done.

I learned from them about the numerous calls, both professional and personal, that came through. Calls for warrants, information, concern, and eventually, as word got around about my reclusiveness, invitations to get out of the house. Ezra was denying all warrants for me. Taurin, all social calls. Taurin even deterred a couple of demon hunters who came personally to kill both of them. Some misguided gossip to thank for that. He made sure to tell me that he didn't kill them. I said thank you because I felt that was what I should do, but my blank face belied the words.

I think that was the final reason that I found a card on my bed for a psychologist specializing in incubus victims. There was even a support group for...us, I guess. Because that's what I was, an incubus victim. Only, it was so much more in my case. Or maybe that was all vanity. I tore up the card and threw the pieces on the floor in the living room. I wanted them to see what I thought of their interfering. I definitely didn't want to talk to someone about my "interlude". I didn't even want to remember it, except those echoing hollow parts in me reminded me of it all the time. I hoped that I would get used to the feeling.

I inhaled the crisp scent of autumn as I looked out from the porch. Some seasons come faster the closer you are to the mountains. Fall was reminding me that sometimes it's good to change and go into hibernation. A chance to renew.

When I stepped back into the house my eyes immediately settled on Ezra standing in the threshold of the kitchen. He held out his palm toward me and flames appeared above it, mimicking wild flowers in a breeze.

I smiled softly.