Page 47 of Demanding Discord
“No.” I drew the knife from my belt, the ground crunching beneath my boots as I inched forward. The plants shimmered as I moved closer, their translucent petals reflecting my face back at me.
Cinder joined me, resting her hand lightly on my arm. “What kind of plants are those?”
“Not plants.” I crouched, brushing a fingertip against one of the stems. It was cold. Too cold. A pulse shivered through it, echoing like a heartbeat. “They’re grown from energy. From tortured souls.”
As if in answer, one of the blossoms opened. Inside, faint and fragile, was a face screaming silently behind a thin layer of crystal.
Cinder gasped, stepping back. “Good goddess…”
The whispering rose to a hiss, the voices overlapping in tones of grief and fury. The vines trembled, reaching toward Cinder’s light like starving animals.
I moved between her and the nearest stalk, drawing on the infernal fire within me. “Back to the shed.”
She hesitated. “We can’t just?—”
“Now.”
The vines surged, scraping against the ground. I shot a wave of fire toward the nearest cluster, and it erupted in flame, the glassy surfaces shattering with shrieks that faded into echoes.
Cinder’s magic flared beside me, pulsing in rhythm with mine—unintentional, instinctive—like two halves of a single heartbeat. She hurled a ball of witch fire at a tangle of vines, shattering the crystal leaves, the trapped souls screeching in agony as the branches retreated.
Heat flickered along my arms. The air was thick with the scent of scorched earth and bitter magic, each shattered blossom releasing a wisp of sorrow that drifted away on the wind. Cinder stumbled back, her form outlined by the blaze, and I could see the fear and resolve warring in her eyes as the remaining vines recoiled, their whispers dimming to a mournful hush.
I moved toward her, and she touched my shoulder. “They’re people. They’re alive,” she said softly.
“They’re damned, and we’ll join them if we stay out here.”
She nodded, though her gaze lingered on the quiet vines. Together we turned toward the shed, but before stepping inside, I glanced over my shoulder. Beyond the blackened soil, deeper among the twisted trees, something moved…a shadow separating from the darkness. For a moment, I thought I saw eyes like shards of polished glass watching us. Then, they vanished.
I bolted the door and pulled Cinder close.
Her heart still pounded in her chest. “We have to free them.”
“Their fates are not our concern,” I said. “They’ll devour us for attempting to help.”
She drew in a shaky breath. “Lucifer is one sick, effed up bastard.”
“I won’t argue with that, but this addition to the garden was not his creation.” My expression darkened. I knew of only one demon who possessed this sort of power. “Ruin did this.”
“How did I know you were going to say that?” She sighed and stepped out of my embrace. “And why do I get the feeling that was nothing more than an opening act?”
“How long will your ward hold?”
“A couple of days against witches in my realm. Here, against Ruin?” She shrugged. “No clue. I’ve never needed to ward against a demon that strong.”
“Search the shed for weapons.” I eyed the machetes and gardening shears hanging on the wall. They’d do no good against a tulpa that could turn into smoke, but if we could make it through to Ruin, I would have his head.
Cinder tossed me a tool belt, and as I stocked it with as many sharp objects as it would hold, the faint whisper of the living vines outside grew into a murmur and then a hum. I paced toward the door, and it rattled on its hinges.
“That didn’t take long.” Cinder strapped on a belt of tools as the humming vines began to screech. “All those poor people.”
“Careful,” I said. “Compassion in Hell will get you killed.”
The door rattled again. Something heavy and solid slammed into it. I leaned my shoulder against it, and Cinder drew a trowel in one hand, a machete in the other.
“If only Chrys were here,” she said.
I didn’t ask her to elaborate. The screaming vines snaked toward the shed, and something thudded on the roof above us. The lattice retreated, showing us the being Ruin had sent to attack.
