Page 24 of Drawn to the Demon Duke
“I was looking for something?—”
“Yes, and I was waiting for you.”
Whether the demon tried to follow me before I got my face smashed, I don’t know, but he’s suddenly in front of me, bowing his shoulders, making himself seem even more imposing as he shouts up into the dark.
“I will protect her. You shall not threaten the human!”
Sweet. Useless, I think, but sweet.
Yelios doesn’t think so.
His voice booming around the shadows, he snaps, “Silence, Dagon.”
The air shifts. I wouldn’t say it was wind so much as a whipping gale the has me cowering in the face of it. Only I’m not what it’s after. That’s the demon—Dagon—who is once again knocked off of his feet by the force of it
As I watch in horror, the wind becomes a patch of impossibly black shadow that covers every inch of him except for his eyes. With his mouth, he can’t even scream, though I bet he’s ripping his throat raw with his muffled hunter cries. He struggles against the shadows undulating over him. There’s no doubt in my mind that they’re pinning him down more effectively than the arkoda did.
Or that Yelios is responsible for it.
“Let him up,” I holler. “Let him go!”
“Your soft heart will be your undoing, human. You want to show him mercy. Spare his life so that I don’t use his essence to feed my shadows? Tell me… what will you give me in exchange if I do what you say and let Dagon go?”
Because Iama soft touch at heart, the answer ‘anything’ is on the tip of my tongue… until it hits me that, for the second time, he used the demon’s name.
“Wait— you know him? The hunter?”
Was this all some kind of trap? Something these two set up to snare the unsuspecting human woman? The fierce way Dagon’s eyes are flashing say otherwise, but how the heck am I supposed to be sure?
“I know all,” the voice says smugly. “More than even the doppelseers do. They see, but Iknow, and I know that you, human, are the key to everything I’ve spent ages waiting for.”
Uh. That doesn’t so sound great. Bogus, really. Having some eldritch horror tell me that he’s been waiting forme…
Yeah. I don’t think Haures is involved, and I doubt Dagon is, but this was totally a trap.
“What do you want from me?” I ask.
“Your firstborn child.”
Is he serious?
“Okay, Rumplestiltskin.”
“I am notRumplestiltskin,” he answers, managing to name the fairytale character perfectly even in his Sombran accent. “I am Yelios, King of Sombra, and that is my demand. Vow you’ll give me your firstborn spawn, and I will spare the hunter.”
My initial reaction is to tell him no. I’ve never thought seriously about kids since, you know,virgin, but the idea of sacrificing my firstborn for some dude I just met… uh-uh.
Then I think about it. Really think about it.
What am I really sacrificing?
Haures and I won’t have a bond once I find another one of those ashbalm flowers and release him from it; even if I don’t want to, it’s clear to me he does, and I won’t saddle someone with me who doesn’t want me. No bond means we definitely won’t have any kids here, and if I return to Earth and settle for some human guy to make Mindy happy, I’m not worried. The duke’s first law says that there’s no contact between our worlds. How can a spirit haunting the dark woods manage to have any claim to a baby in Connecticut?
He might not be Rumplestiltskin. I’m still going to treat Yelios like that, running through any obvious loophole through my mind. When I can’t find any reason to let the shadows suffocate Dagon, I take a deep breath and say, “Deal.”
“Vow it, human. Give me your promise.”
Yeesh. These Sombrans and their promises. “Okay. Fine. I vow it.”
