Page 68 of A City of Smoke and Demons
‘Ask him.’
‘I already did.’
‘No, ask him during this meeting. Put him on the spot, in front of everyone.’
‘Gendarme interrogation technique, is it?’ Analise asked, but there was no scorn in her voice, only intrigue. ‘So he’ll either answer the question, or try and deflect?’
Ezra nodded.
Ezra squirmed in his seat. They were half an hour into the meeting that Blackwood called. So far, Blackwood had done all the talking, while Maddog looked like he wanted to disagree with everything that was said. It felt like watching your parents have an argument that wasn’t quite an argument. Even Tobias looked uncomfortable. They were discussing what the other groups had discovered and how many demons they’d found recently.
The Order of the Dawn had various chapters spread across the city. It made things easier if each group kept to their section. Maddog’s group monitored and patrolled the Devil’s Credges, while others managed Whitechapel, the East End and Canterbury Row. They were like a pack of dogs when it came totheir assigned sections. Maddog was cross that someone from the Whitechapel group had been down on his turf. Maddog, a member of an ancient secret society, and Maddog the gangster weren’t such different beasts when it came to the streets.
Ezra found himself looking at Analise. His stomach tightened, and he bit his lip, forgetting she’d punched him in it several hours earlier. He winced, tasting blood.
Jem nudged him. ‘How fucking hard did she hit you? Pay attention,’ he hissed.
‘The Devil preys on people in their most vulnerable moments,’ Blackwood was saying. ‘His help, as we know, comes with a heavy cost.’ His dark gaze shifted to Ezra, who resisted the urge to squirm again. The man made him uncomfortable, and he’d spent the afternoon trying to work out what motivation the Head of the Church would have for giving Analise a book on death magic. Maybe he was trying to be helpful, but something told Ezra there was more to it than that.
‘You bear his mark,’ Blackwood said, addressing Ezra. ‘But can’t remember entering into any deals.’
‘Not with anyone except you,’ Ezra said, realising good news must travel fast around here. He wondered who told Blackwood about the demon mark.
Blackwood’s eyes bored into his. ‘No period in your life where you have gaps in your memory?’
‘Plenty of those. But if I remembered the Devil sauntering into my bedroom like he owned the place, I’d be sure to tell you.’
Maddog shot him a warning look.
‘There is something I don’t understand,’ Lira said. She was twirling a dagger expertly between her fingers. ‘This is a city overflowing with vulnerable people. It always has been. What’s changed? Why has Asmael increased the number of deals he is making?’
Maddog answered. ‘Think about it this way—what does he get when he collects on his deals? Souls, bound to him, and at the moment, it’s a lot of them. The question we should be asking is what does Asmael need with so many souls?’
‘But a soul isn’t alive,’ Analise said, her voice sharp. ‘He can’t do anything with a host of souls. They are, essentially, the essence of someone, nothing more.’ She frowned. ‘People who fulfil their end of whatever bargain they enter into give up their souls, don’t they?’
Maddog nodded. ‘The soul is the ultimate price. If the Devil wanted them to bring him a mountain of gold in exchange for whatever they’d asked of him, and they managed to do it, they would still be giving up their soul. Unlike those who don’t fulfil their bargains, they get to keep their life, but after death, they belong to Asmael.’
Analise shook her head. ‘But a soul has no physical form—once it's unattached to the body that held it, it’s … well, useless, really. Souls can’t harm anyone. Those who don’t move on become ghosts. This city is full of them.’ It was Blackwood she looked at when she spoke. ‘Without the Daughters of Lilith, the souls of the dead are haunting the streets of this city, and their numbers will only increase. Asmael’s collected souls cannot be sent on because they belong to him, but they are useless in their current form.’
‘Unless … he finds them a different form—vessels,’ Jem groaned. ‘He’s building an army. He needs somewhere to put them all.’
‘Those who don’t fulfil their bargains become demons, don’t they?’ Ezra asked. When Jem nodded, he thought about the creature in the alley that night. ‘I’ll throw myself off the roof of this building before I let that happen to me.’
‘What we need to focus on is two-fold,’ Blackwood announced. ‘Work out where and how Asmael could find these vessels and locate all those who have been marked.’
‘How do we do that?’ Ezra asked. ‘Ask everyone to line up for an inspection?’
‘We follow the Familiars. They are Asmael’s eyes. They are never far from the one who entered into a bargain—a reminder, if you will, that their master is always watching,’ Maddog explained.
Ezra frowned. ‘That doesn’t make sense. Analise has a pet Familiar and no demon mark.’ He paused. ‘What are the marks? I understand they’re Asmael’s tag of ownership or something.’ He resisted the urge to rub the back of his shoulder. ‘But why do they even exist?’
‘The marks are two things,’ Jem put in. ‘One, a reminder of what you owe, like the Familiars are, and two, we suspect it’s how the demons find their victims.’
Ezra exhaled sharply. ‘Wonderful. So I’m going to wait patiently to die and Analise is going to … we don’t know why she’s being followed.’
‘The night a ghost helped me discover the demon mark on his dead body was the first time I ever felt any sort of threat from the Familiar,’ Analise said. ‘But I think he was angry at the ghost, not me. I didn’t think that at the time, but looking back, it makes sense. He’s been following me since I left the convent. Five years and he’s never tried to hurt me, never come any closer than the other side of the street.’ She shared a quick look with Ezra, and he could see those two Familiars again. Their sunken cheeks and black eyes, the way the man smiled at him before he and Analise fled up the stairs.
‘Maybe he’s watching you for another reason,’ Lira suggested.
