I complied, heart racing. Scanning the room over and over, I looked for anything I could use as a weapon.
This was not how things typically went. Usually, I was put at one of the chairs around the table or even on the table itself. I had learned to grit my teeth through their normal poking and prodding, the occasional bloodletting, and things like leeches, skin scrapings, dental examinations, nail and hair clippings. Anything they could think to study was taken from me.
My meager midday meal of broth and old bread turned in my gut.Thislooked like I was being prepared for sacrifice.
Ignus and the other men came closer, two heavy hands resting on my shoulders, pushing me into the hard seat, others holding my ankles still against the legs of the stool.
“You sure we shouldn’t wait for?—”
“We’re fine,” Ignus growled.
“But the…” He gestured vaguely to the floor. “I’m not sure it’s quite right, though. We don’t have the book, so I was going off memory and—” Ignus slugged his friend in the jaw, drawing a glare and his silence.
“I said we’re fine. We don’t need to be babysat by those two haughty pricks. They think they get special privileges because of their money and connections, but they don’t. I’ve done all the legwork here. The circle is fine. We can do this on our own. Now shut it.”
“I do apologize, Jane,” Dr. Lang said, a pensive frown on his face. Bile rose in my throat as he turned around, a tiny precisionblade in his hand. I thrashed against the hands holding me, screamed into the leather strap as he moved closer. “This might hurt.”
Chapter 2
Seir
“—find you!” I shouted uselessly, hands reaching for a woman that was already gone. The familiar dark walls of my apartment in Hell surrounded me once more, the bright taste of her blood still on my tongue.
It had been a long time since I’d brushed up on summoning, but I did know that breaking the circle would temporarily send a demon back to wherever they’d come from, while leaving the contract open. According to the codex, unless I wanted to be punished, possibly demoted and perhaps even tossed into the wastes, the contract had to be fulfilled. I was obligated to return to where my summoner was, and to remain by her side until she banished me properly.
And that’s exactly what I intended to do. She’d clearly been in trouble. The threat of repercussions for not seeing it through was the least of my concerns—she needed help. Immediately.
Besides, I had several questions, not the least of which had to do with how she’d happened to be in possession of a book that had specific instructions on how to summon demons and why she was chained to a bed.
I muttered the name of the place she’d given me, searching my memories for what it felt like and envisioning her face so I could get back there as quickly as possible. I spun, gathering up my other daggers, belt, and sword. One never knew what they’d need, even during a short time on Earth. After a moment’s thought, I snatched up my money pouch and cloak. With another cursory glance around, I used my sifting ability to take me from my apartment to the set of rooms that housed Hell’s system of portals and gates.
On my way, I stopped at the duty desk. Meg, a petite red shadow demon was behind it.
“Something exciting happening?” she asked, seeing my hurry.
“I was summoned!” Despite the situation, I was pleased to finally experience such a thing.
“I’ll make a note for your unit leader. You’re under Keplar, right? Think you’ll be gone long?”
“I’m not sure. It’s my first time. The situation seems straightforward, but there have already been complications.”
“Understood. Broken circles are pretty common, people tend to get nervous. You’re a long-timer to never have been summoned before, congratulations.” She smiled as she stamped the document and slid it into a tray. The parchment dissolved into ash after a moment. I knew by the time I was done talking to Meg, the note would have already made it to Keplar’s desk. Hell’s magical communications systems had been rapidly evolving, and the new advances had unfortunately left my traveling powers less and less valuable. “Good luck. Be sure to check in once a shift cycle.”
I had no idea if my unit leader would be upset by my absence, but there wasn’t much of anything going on at the moment. I’d much rather be experiencing something new up on Earth than stuck sitting around waiting for a task. He’d never been verymotivated to argue the rules with a Prince of Hell, though, so I wasn’t too concerned. Besides, he mentioned often how he appreciated my presence on the team as I never caused a fuss, always followed directives, and took more of the assignments to undesirable locations than anyone else.
“Got it.”
I sifted, arriving at the hall of doors nearly instantly, and chose the portal I thought would put me closest to the town the woman had mentioned. After a quick check that I had everything I needed, I walked through without hesitation, enjoying the way it made my body feel like it was turning inside out and back again before releasing me into the cool darkness of a forest. Being summoned had been more of a sensation of being disassembled altogether. I wasn’t sure yet if I liked it or not.
Time passed differently between the planes of Hell and Earth, and the mere minutes I was gone had stretched longer this side of the gates. Focusing on my memory of her face, and the look of the room she’d called me into, I tried to sift directly, but my magic wasn’t able to connect with only her face as a guide. Undeterred, I started to jog. I made my way through the trees toward a sleepy town that lay in a flat, meadowy area surrounded by forest.
Finding the building I’d been in proved less challenging than I worried it might. As I scanned the buildings around the main city plaza from the edge of the trees, I recognized the shape and latticing of the window in her room. Without stopping and blood primed to fight, I barged through the front door and raced up the stairs, throwing open the first door at the top of the landing.
The room was empty now, the chains the woman had been wearing on her legs open and lying on the floor in the same place she’d drawn the circle with my sigil. There was only one smudge of ashes remaining on the floorboards, though I could still smell the water that had spilled.
I turned and listened, the sound of a muffled scream making the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. I followed the noise back down the narrow stairs to the main hall. The lower floor was far more odiferous than her room; the scent of old tobacco and burned onions stung my nose as I rushed through the first doorway I came to.
A man cursed, stepping forward with a small medical blade between his fingers. Behind him, on a low stool, sat the woman. Her brow was damp with sweat, her dark hair wild and tangled as four grown men held her down. She was slouched over to one side, and her hands were bound behind her back.
