Pandemonia seemed devoted to stimulating the senses in every way imaginable. My eyes were so wide they actually ached, but I couldn’t seem to close them for more than an instant at a time. The whole thing made me dizzy. I’d never seen so strange or lavish a display of wealth and plenty, and the people who consumed it all were just as colorful and bizarre as the market itself.
They came in every size, shape, and skin tone. Some were dimpled and plump, others bizarrely muscled. Some had more hair than they could contain on their heads, chests, and beneath their arms, and others were as hairless as a newborn, and everyone seemed proud of every bald patch of skin, be it pale, tanned, toned, soft, or painted to match their pets, their clothes, or their jewelry.
Several, in fact, wore nothingbutpaint, and I felt myself flush each time my gaze landed on what I at first mistook for a snug top or lumpy pair of pants.
They wore silk and satin and leather and sequins and feathers and ribbons. Their hair was dyed every color of the rainbow, and their shoes seemed designed to make walking impossible, which might explain why they stumbled from place to place instead.
If the Church’s unspoken credo was “Cover yourself and behave,” Pandemonia’s seemed to be “Show yourself and have fun.” No one stood still. No one spoke quietly. No one seemed out of place, uncomfortable, or self-conscious. And if there were any rules, laws, or policies, I couldn’t tell.
As Felix marched me through the madness, people turned to stare as ifIwere the oddity.
Nina Kane,someone said, and soon the rumor had caught on like fire burning through the crowd around and ahead of us.
“Who caught her?”
“Is Maddock with her?”
“Will they sell her?”
“She looks pale. Is she sick?”
“…smaller than she looked on television…”
“…so young…”
People reached for me, and I let them touch me, hoping that each invasive touch would spread the demon virus far and wide. Someone pulled a hair from my head, and when I flinched, they all laughed. Hands ran over my arms and up my legs. Noses dove into my hair and inhaled. Fingers explored my ears and the hollows above my collarbones.
“Hands off!” Felix shouted, but he might as well have been whispering.
“Back away!” Dione yelled, but they only pulled her aside, and after that they were pulling me.
Hands crept beneath my shirt and over my stomach, and I clenched my teeth to keep from screaming. A tongue slid into my ear, hot and wet, and I shuddered all over.
“…skin tastes amazing…”
“…so young and healthy…”
“She’d last for decades…”
“…so tight and firm!”
Another hand grabbed my right arm and tugged me so fast and hard that Felix lost his grip. The world spun around me, and then a strange mouth closed over mine and I nearly choked on the metal-pierced tongue shoved into my mouth.
I tried to scream, but my attacker swallowed the sound. I tried to pull away but found resistance from at least a dozen hands wandering all over me while the whispers about my various gifts and advantages as a potential host continued.
A familiar warmth burst from my bound left hand, and flames blazed to life at my back, nearly scorching my thigh. Screams ripped through the night behind me. The demon stuck to my face continued to abuse his position, but all the other hands were abruptly gone. The crowd shuffled backward, and suddenly I stood in a circle all my own, except for the kissing demon.
A hand grabbed my left arm again, and Felix ripped me away from the man still trying to strangle me with his tongue. I gasped for breath, blinking up at the monster who’d assaulted my mouth, and found a man in his midthirties, his hair just beginning to gray, his eyes a deep, piercing greenish-hazel, practically glowing against smooth, light brown skin.
“Fire!”
“Do you see?”
“Think of the power….”
The whispers continued all around me. My heart pounded, and I couldn’t suck air into my lungs fast enough. Everyone was staring at me. Hands reached for me again, adorned with glittering rings and shimmering bracelets, some with artwork drawn straight onto their skin, and they were held back from contact only because my left palm still blazed behind me.
“Don’t get too close.”
