Page 89 of A City of Smoke and Demons
Trees reached their branches over them as they walked. Gravestones emerged from the misty darkness like stunted trees. Wind whipped across the forest of the dead, bitter and cold. Ezra sucked a breath into his lungs, nostrils flaring with the wild and wet stench of something feral and alive—an aura of damp green and smoke, of bark and fleshy fungi, wood rot and bone. He hadn’t expected a cemetery to smell so alive, but not, like death was hovering on the border of life.
‘What does a demon want with a cemetery?’ he asked.
Jem gave him a quick look. ‘Our demon is here for his new body. We’re looking for a fresh grave. Whoever the lucky soul is, he or she will have a mark on their shoulder. They’ll have failed to fulfil their bargain. We need Analise’s magic tonight. We don’t know which of the recent dead is destined to be a demon.’ Jem stopped walking, turning to Analise and Lira. Analise’s face was pale but determined. ‘You ready?’ he asked her.
She nodded. ‘I think so. I’ve never called a ghost to me before—they've always found me. But according to Blackwood’s book, I should be able to do this.’
‘If you find them, see if you can send them on as quickly as possible,’ Lira instructed.
Analise frowned. ‘Here goes.’ She closed her eyes and at first, nothing happened, but then a light blue mist rose from her body. It hovered there, then crept away from her in a thin stream, moving through the gravestones with purpose.
Her eyes flew open. ‘This way,’ she said, and hurried off before anyone could stop her, following the path left behind by her magic. Ezra could see a blue haze lingering in the darkness.
At the far end of the cemetery, was a freshly turned grave. Tobias stood near Analise, daggers out, watching the trees around them. The screech of an owl ripped through the graveyard, making everyone jump.
Lira had her arms folded, her face conflicted. ‘Analise says it’s a child, Jem.’
He rubbed his face. ‘It doesn't matter. She’s already dead.’
Analise dropped to one knee. Ezra presumed it was so she could look into the ghostly face of a child. He felt sick. The Devil was making bargains with children. What had this one given her life for? A new toy? A decent meal?
Suddenly, Analise stood, spinning to face them. ‘She’s gone!’
‘You sent her on?’ Jem asked.
Analise shook her head, eyes wild. ‘No. She’s gone. She … disappeared.’
Lira dragged Analise away from the grave as Jem and Ezra drew their weapons.
‘Now what?’ Ezra asked, but before anyone could answer, the ground beneath their feet trembled. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but it wasn’t for the body of a girl no older than twelve to explode from the earth in a shower of dirt and cheap timber.
At first, no one moved, collective breaths sucked in at the sight of her, long dark hair hanging around the pale oval of her face, her skin fresh. Slowly, she stood, legs trembling. Shepushed back the curtain of her hair and surveyed them with pale blue eyes. When she moved towards them, it was with fractured steps, so obviously unnatural Ezra’s stomach turned, but he adjusted his grip on his daggers, flipping one in his hand, blade pointing towards the earth.
The girl’s face fell as she looked around. ‘Where am I?’
Analise sucked in a breath, but Ezra didn’t look at her, keeping his attention on the corpse, the demon, whatever the fuck it was. All he knew was this was no ghost before them.
‘Where’s my mother?’ the girl cried.
‘I’m sorry.’ Analise’s voice was choked.
The girl hung her head, shoulders shaking with what Ezra thought was emotion. Her head was suddenly flung backwards as her body contorted. She fell to the ground, fingers digging into the earth, spine arched, her hair hanging over her face once more.
No one moved.
‘Jem,’ Lira said urgently. ‘We have to.’
Jem stepped forward. The girl didn’t rise, her body trembling and twisting on the earth. Her fingers spasmed and shifted, and where human hands had been there were suddenly claws.
She moved unnaturally fast, those claws slashing towards Jem, who darted out of the way. Tobias surged forward, and the creature turned on him, her hair swinging back to reveal a twisted face with red eyes and elongated teeth.
She shot from the ground, slamming Tobias into the nearest gravestone. She dug her claws into his shoulder and he cried out in pain as Jem hurried towards him, pistol raised. The bullet caught the creature in the shoulder. Flesh steamed, a horrible stench saturating the air, but the demon moved again, lighting fast, catching Jem around the middle and hurling him through the air with unnatural strength. He crashed into a tree and didn’t get up.
‘Jem!’ Lira cried. She was standing in front of Analise, her body a shield.
Ezra took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders to loosen the muscles.
Fuck it.
