That was bad. Very, very bad. If they could mutate one demon, making him immune to the slayer’s weapons, they could mutate many others. She watched the infant serpent as it was exposed to the pulsing crystal colors that were directed at the creature night and day. Many of the serpent babies died. Many went mad and were destroyed. Only the strongest survived. The hatred of those pulsing colors and anyone who wielded them was embedded deep into their brains.
Silke took a deep breath, avoiding another attack by Raik as she meticulously examined the way the lights played over the vat. Were the serpents completely immune? She didn’t think so. The lights caused extreme distress. There was a pattern to the way the wielder of the crystal sword used the colors.
Mage,she identified.Lilith enlisted the help of mages to create these creatures. They’re falling back on the same spells, the ones they know have worked for centuries.
She didn’t use any of those same weaves because it had been Tora who aided her in constructing her weapons. Tora had never gone to a mage school. She had developed her own weaves of protection through trial and error. She didn’t even have parents to help her. Over the centuries, she had perfected each intertwining strand. In the end, she was able to protect the forest where she had aided the people in defeating the Romans centuries earlier. Not just the forest; she also was able tosecure some of the buildings in the village. The sea was too vast, so Silke and Tora had made their priority the forest and village.
Watch yourself, Raik is becoming more agitated,Tora warned.
That horrid demon is chewing through his skin,Silke said.I was afraid it would do something like that.
Once again, she pointed the crystal sword directly toward the arm where the demon thrashed and bit beneath Raik’s skin. This time she darkened the colors from pastel to deep-hued watercolors. The moment the rays of color hit Raik’s arm he bellowed, growling like an animal and lunging at her over and over.
She continued to circle him, keeping the vivid lights pulsing directly over the sea serpent’s head, where it was raised, battering and biting at Raik’s bone, muscle and skin. The moment the new colors struck, the demon went berserk, adding a high-pitched scream to Raik’s maddening vocalizations.
Silke chanted softly, keeping her tone pure and melodic. She was careful never to raise her voice or her level of energy. She didn’t want to tip off Lilith to who she was, should the serpent’s agitation draw her out. Energy and power had a footprint. Once she was able to read that print, Silke could identify the creature anytime she ran across it.
“Demon from the sea.” She knew the mages called him Snaggle from her foray into his memories. “Sent by Lilith, named Snaggle, to create chaos and hatred. I command your attention.”
At once, beneath Raik’s skin, the sea serpent lifted its head, shaking it back and forth in agitation. The screaming was high-pitched, piercing, one of the worst sounds Silke had heard any demon produce. She realized instantly the sound was part of the serpent’s weapons system.
Make certain Imka and Julia can’t hear this demon,she cautioned Tora.
They are unaware of anything happening in this room,Tora assured her.You watch out for yourself. This is new and unlike anything you’ve ever dealt with.
I’m going slow.
Too slow. Raik is becoming problematic in his attacks on you. I could stop him…
No. I don’t want Lilith to get the feel of a Carpathian. It may draw her to aid her demon.
He may be calling to her,Tora pointed out.
Silke didn’t need Tora to caution her. It was the biggest concern she had. If Lilith threw her power behind the serpent, an unknown demon to the slayer, there was a chance Silke could be in trouble.
Patience and discipline were her best friends. Her brain was her greatest weapon. She repeated those things over and over in her mind. Her mantra. She might have begun her training from the time she was two as well as having the knowledge of how to fight demons imprinted on her before she was born, but knowledge and training meant nothing if one couldn’t stay calm and thinking the entire time.
I will know if she joins with him. Please watch over Raik.Silke didn’t want to lose the man. He was one of the men she most admired in the village. He’d always taken good care of his family and seemed to love his wife and daughter. She found it interesting that he was the man bitten by the sea monster and injected with a demon. Was that coincidence? Or planned?
She went back to drawing out the demon. “Snaggle, I command you to show yourself to me. Leave the body you have taken over. I am in command. Do you feel my presence?”
The demon shrieked again in his high-pitched tone, thrashing and fighting the relentless compulsion to obey her. At her insistent command, Snaggle stopped attempting to chew his way through skin and muscle to get out through Raik’s arm. Instead, he swam fast toward the man’s heart.
“You will not harm this host.” The demon was powerful and fighting her every inch of the way. “Exit through his mouth.”
Silke felt the instant elation sweeping through the serpent. The demon obeyed, but at the same time, rushed to block Raik’s airway, swelling until he was a bloated mass choking the fisherman.
She took a deep breath, let it out and allowed the demon to realize she was in him, directing his movements away, first from Raik’s heart and now his throat. She was commanding him not only from outside his body but also from inside his mind.
Raik choked, his face bright red, his eyes bulging, both hands going to his throat. He began to cough violently. He took two more steps toward Silke, staggered and went to his knees. Silke refused to be distracted. She didn’t look at Raik’s purple, mottled face. She kept the relentless compulsion on the demon.
“I command you to leave that host. Obey menow.” For a brief moment, she turned the crystal sword toward the ceiling and allowed the colors to change from the vibrant watercolors to the pale pastels. She even managed to make her hand tremble just enough that the colors shimmered along the walls and ceilings. As she did, she took a firmer grip on the mind of the serpent, urging it to surface while pouring doubt and uncertainty into its head, so that the creature became confused.
The sea serpent was programmed to attack the slayer. She knew it had been bred for just that purpose. With her own seeming uncertainty adding to the chaos and indecision in the mind of the sea monster, the creature let out a hideous scream and burst from Raik’s open mouth straight at her. Savage teeth, curved and pointed, filled Snaggle’s gaping mouth. What appeared to be venom hung in strands. She swung her sword straight at the attacking demon, the colors changing from pale to vibrant as she extended the tip right at the cavernous mouth.
In midair, the demon managed to fold in on itself with astonishing speed, whipping around to fling itself at Raik. It hit the invisible barrier Tora had hastily woven around the fisherman. One of the brighter blue colors pierced the thick scales, causing more of the venom to leak out.
In the venom,Silke warned, realizing tiny little tadpole-like creatures wiggled and moved in the strings of dripping slime. The greenish-yellow threads began to slither across the floor, coming from every direction the serpent had sent the venom flying in when it had shaken its head.Stay off the floor. Protect Raik, they’re heading straight for him.
