Jacen asked Seth, “Are you ready?” He wanted to say more, but where to begin? One thought resonated, drowning out all the rest:I wish we had more time.
“I can’t hurt anyone else.” Seth looked up at Hesaya. “Please. Do whatever you have to do.”
Solemnly, she inclined her head. “Then let’s begin.”
As an exorcist, Jacen had grappled with scores of demons, and the one thing they all had in common, from the mostpathetic vermin to an archdemon like Turil, was arrogance. Perhaps in the latter’s case, it was warranted, but Jacen clung to the hope it would be her downfall.
He joined his mind to his Sisters’ and, as one, the three telepaths reached out.
They were cautious, using each other as anchors lest a strong current pull them under. But only one human mind revealed itself. Only Seth—terror unconstrained, grief, pain, and confusion casting a murky fog over his subconscious.
They delved deeper, and still they found nothing. No trace of a demon. Either this creature truly did not wish to communicate, or . . . it was toying with them.
When Jacen finally sensed something, it was just a glimpse, like the tail of a centipede before it vanished around a shadowed corner. But it was enough. He focused on the presence, grasped it by an appendage, and pulled. Slow and insidious as smoke from a stone, it emerged. A million minuscule tendrils, hooked in to Seth’s brain with impossible subtlety, spidered out toward the invaders.
At the heart of those lay another consciousness, one vast and unknowable as the night sky. It pulsed in the deepest corners of the mind it inhabited, an unwanted stranger lurking in the darkness. Watching. Waiting.
“There you are.” Eyes out of focus, hands poised like a weaver’s, Hesaya shifted to extradimensional communion. “Speak to me.”
A slow smile spread across Seth’s lips.
“Fourexorcists?” said a voice that could only be Turil’s. “For me? You shouldn’t have.” Despite the blindfold, the Lady of Pain turned her head toward Jacen. “Youtried this before. That didn’t go very well, did it? You crept too close. I got inside your robes and you didn’t even notice.” A low, sinister chuckle. “Telepaths.You’ll check every dusty fold of someone’s grey matter but forget to check your own pockets. Of course, youwererather drunk.”
It was nothing for which Jacen hadn’t already castigated himself. He redoubled his efforts, weaving around the demon’s presence, discovering the shape of her.
“He lied to you.” Turil jerked Seth’s chin down, toward his chest. “Obviously, he cares that you’re not human. He’s nothing if not an adventurous lover, butyou?” She clicked his tongue. “Doesn’t help that you’re not much good in bed.Ugh, but that was tedious. You’ve no idea how many times I almost took control just to make it stop.”
Like an idiot novitiate, Jacen faltered. His control slipped. But Hesaya was there to guard his mental boundaries. There was no judgment in her, only sympathy, as she cautioned him again,Careful.
“You really were completely celibate, weren’t you? You actually kept those vows you made to us. How sweet.” Seth turned his head toward Ogden and nodded at the old man. “This one was inexperienced too when I found him.”
Suddenly, Jacen understood why Ogden had not wanted to discuss his past or exactlyhowhe had run afoul of the gods. Ogden’s face was drawn, his posture rigid, as he gritted out the goddess’s name. “Turil.” “Goodness, you’ve aged.” Seth wrinkled his nose. “How are you not dead yet? You can’t have long left.”
“I plan to outlive you,” said Ogden. “That’s enough.”
“Did the rest of you know he fucked me?” Behind the blindfold, Seth’s eyebrows went up. “My kind don’t often copulate with yours. We find it a bit grotesque, like fucking a dog would be for you. But the poor boy thought Icared.” Seth smirked. “Sometimes, the grotesque is an entertaining diversion, with someinterestinggenetic possibilities worth exploring.”
“Tell me what that means,” Ogden croaked.
“Hmm.” Seth licked his lips. “Did you know you have a daughter? I made her from your seed after I cut off your cock. She’s even alive, in a sense—for now. She has your species’ wonderful bone density, radiation resistance, metabolism . . . even a pretty face like you used to. Once I’m through with this host, I’ll need a new one.”
Ogden lunged at Seth. He was shouting now, near-incoherent with rage, metal fingers closing around Seth’s neck. Nines dashed forward to help Jacen pull him off. Their eyes met, united in shock, as they dragged the old man away and found him trembling.
“Stay back!” Hesaya cried.
Seth was coughing, struggling for air, but wheezed out a laugh. “We need to stop this,” said Ilusha. “Don’t you see, itwantsus
to try?—”
“Quiet.” Sweat beaded on Hesaya’s shaved head.
“Poor little Sionann,” Turil said hoarsely, to Ilusha. “Always last in your cohort. You thought you might at least line your pockets, taking Guild bribes, but what you really wanted was respect. You’ll never have it. These people don’t care if you die here. You’re as disposable to them as you are to everyone else.”
Ilusha shuddered and slipped. Jacen slipped with her, as if suddenly both their minds scrambled on rain-slicked glass.
“Do not let her in!” Hesaya clenched her fists. She wove her net of control tighter, fighting to compensate for the lapse. “Focus.”
But as Jacen fell toward the core of the demon’s mind, much closer than he’d intended, he found something he had never encountered before: a hair-thin tether, extending beyond the demon, beyond Seth, somewhere . . . else. Another presence. It lurked impossibly far away, but it too wasaware. The others didn’t seem to notice it at all.
