Page 23 of Cimmerian

Once again, Mollie began to scribble on a piece of paper, balling it up and reaching for my other hand. She grimaced. “Sorry. It needs to be fresh.”

I nodded. It definitely wasn’t the worst I was expecting. A couple of small scrapes in my hands was nothing, and once my gloves were on they wouldn’t hold me back at all. She held my hand over the paper, the blood staining the once pure sheet. Is this what my soul looked like? Once pure and naïve, immune to the darkness of the world. And now here I stood, surrounded by wolves, my hands sliced open by my best friend who was a witch. Ready to take on a demon -- and my mother. How stained was my soul?

“Stay alert.” Jasper’s reminder nudged me to pay attention. The paper was already nothing more than ashes in her palm, the silence thick between us.

“Where the hell are they?” I reached behind me, taking the hilts of my blades in my hands. The longer we waited, the more uncomfortable I was. What if the spells didn’t work? What if only the demon showed up? I still had time before my seven days were up, but that didn’t matter if an angry demon dragged me back to the underworld.

“Patience.” Jasper’s voice was a whisper. Next to me, Mollie gritted her teeth, and I could hear the grinding clear as day in the deafening silence. One of the wolves pawed at the ground, whining anxiously. A growl rattled my spine -- Duke was ready to get this over with. I couldn’t say I disagreed with him.

I didn’t know how I expected the demon to appear. Maybe a cloud of smoke, or a flash of lightning? Or perhaps, fire rolling through the field we stood in, announcing their presence. But it was much more subdued than that. A crackling sound split the quiet between us wide open, and one second it was just us. The next there stood the demon still inhabiting Lucy’s body. The wolves around me sent up a cry as one. A warning.

Lucy smiled at me, a sinister grin that was not Lucy’s. It spoke of death and darkness, and things Lucy had no idea about. Next to me, Mollie gripped my hand. We waited to see who would speak first.

“Venator,” the demon greeted me as if we were old friends. I still couldn’t get past the voice coming out of Lucy’s mouth -- gravelly and ancient. “You have summoned me. I take it that means you have prepared my payment.”

“I have.” I expected my voice to waver, but instead it was clear and strong, carrying across our small circle to where Orcus’s lackey stalked. “I found Monica. She should be here any moment.”Hopefully…

Lucy raised a brow. Not Lucy.Demon. “You expect me to believe that?” They strode closer, and Mollie squeezed my hand tighter. Beside me, Jasper growled. The demon stopped before me, meeting my eyes through Lucy’s gentle blue ones. They reached out a soft finger, stroking my chin. “What’s to stop me from claiming you as my due payment? You definitely have more life left in you than the other one.”

I forced myself to meet their twisted gaze, hoping to see some scrap of Lucy still behind those eyes. “That may be, but I’m not the one who owes you a debt. You’d much rather have Monica, so you’ll wait.”

The demon narrowed their gaze. “You have five minutes,” they hissed. “Five minutes, and then I’m taking you, and this body I’m currently inhabiting.”

“I still have more days,” I argued. I needed a backup plan in case Mollie was wrong and Monica didn’t heed the pull of the blood bond. They couldn’t end our deal early.

They waved their hands dismissively. “I’m bored of your realm. Five minutes.”

Well,shit. I tightened my hand on the leather wrapped knives so hard I was almost certain I could crush the steel. Where the hell was Monica? “Patience, baby,” Jasper reassured me down our bond. “She’ll be here.”

I watched the demon with careful eyes, not wanting them out of my sight. They paced uneasily, as if being around this many wolves was making them uncomfortable. Too fucking bad. “Remind me again why we can’t just perform an exorcism?”

If it was another time, I’m sure Jasper would’ve laughed. Instead his response was quiet and serious. “Because an exorcism would be more dangerous to Lucy. We need the being to leave willingly, which they’ll do once they’re paid.”

The demon was still skulking around, and I was spinning in place to watch them. They came face to face with Duke, who bared his teeth and snapped furiously. “The body I’m using has a relationship with this one,” they announced, and Duke growled again.

Mollie and I stared at each other for a moment. The last thing we needed was for Duke to bite Lucy’s head off -- literally. I knew he would never do anything to harm his mate, but this creature currently inhabiting her body, well, that was a different story.

“Ticktock, Venator. Where is the other one?” The demon stretched Lucy’s mouth in a horrifying grin, sending a wave of disgust through me.

“She’ll be here,” Mollie confirmed next to me.

“We’ll see.” Orcus’s lackey sounded bored, like it didn’t matter to them who they got. They were getting their blood one way or another, so I supposed it really didn’t.

There was a crackle in the air. The smell of burning meat was thick around me, and I wrinkled my nose against the onslaught. Even the demon frowned, creasing Lucy’s delicate features. I twisted my makhairas in my hand again, ready for whatever was going to come next. Nothing.

But then I blinked, and there in front of me stood my mother. She sneered at me, looking nearly identical to the day I saw her back in the winter. Practical black clothes, heavy black boots, and dark bags under her eyes that spoke to sleepless nights. “Ava,” she greeted me. “Always a pleasure to be summoned by my loving daughter. I see you finally worked out Mollie’s true nature. Certainly took you long enough.”

My teeth hurt with how hard I gritted them together. “Yeah, well, it was no thanks to you. But I didn’t bring you here to argue. I brought you here to meet…a friendwho was looking for you.” I stepped to one side, closer to a lowly growling Jasper.

Monica gasped when she realized what stood behind me. “No. No! I know I’ve done some terrible things, but I don’t deserve this.”

“You’ve done a lot more than some. It’s time for you to realize that your actions have consequences.” I wasn’t going to let her get away. Not this time. Behind me, the demon cackled.

“The one who owes a debt. Your daughter said you’d be coming but I didn’t believe her.” Orcus’s lackey snaked around me, stepping closer to Monica who took a step back. The wolves closed in on her, narrowing in the circle, and my mother glared at me.

“Surely you wouldn’t do this to your own flesh and blood. And what about your so-called friend standing next to you? She was involved with this as well.” Monica slid her hand down her leg, grabbing her blade from her thigh strap.

I sighed. I needed to compartmentalize, to put my emotions aside for the good of the pack. For the good ofmyself. “Well, like you said to me -- you’re a means to an end. I need to keep my friends -- my family -- safe. And the only way I can do that is by giving Orcus you.”

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