“How odd it is, then,” she said, “that just a few short weeks ago, a Godseeker publicly denounced his stepdaughter as a spawn and attempted to burn her alive.” She tipped her head to one side. A private smile danced on her lips. “Would you like to know how many more spawn have been living in these goddess-forsaken mountains for so many years, safe from their demon fathers?”
She waded closer through the melting snow and thick layer of fog, the hem of her skirt dragging in the slush her passage created, and the fiery ring shrank even tighter around them. Justice felt the flesh on his face begin to sear, and steam curled from his soaked clothing.
“We can make a run for it through the flames,” Cage said. His cheeks had grown shining red, yet he, too, stood his ground.
“No. We wait.” Justice did not intend for either of them to break. A panicked dash through demon fire would not save them. If anything, it would most likely give this half demon pleasure. No one burned a village full of people to death the way she had unless they enjoyed inflicting pain and suffering on others.
“Were there spawn among the villagers you burned?” he asked her.
Malicious joy twisted her features. “Only the ones who wouldn’t join me.”
“My stepdaughter won’t join you, either. She’s already enslaved two assassins in the short time she’s been free,” Justice added. “What do you suppose that says about her abilities? And her intentions? Why would she need to join you?”
The woman hesitated. The gyrating flames became less kinetic and their blistering heat abated to an almost bearable level. He speculated as to the extent of her demon abilities. If fire was all the talent she possessed, then that would explain why she needed others to join her.
It did not explain how she had managed to gather all those people into the temple and keep them from escaping while she burned them alive. She had not tried to hold either him or Cage in thrall, so that was unlikely an ability she possessed in any significant amount.
Whatever her objective, she needed allies to achieve it.
He pressed on. “I want my daughter back. If you help me, I can guarantee you safe passage out of these mountains in return. I have no interest in what you did, or do, other than that you do it elsewhere. The Godseeker assassins will be hunting you soon enough. They already know about one village you destroyed by demon fire, and they’ll be prepared for you to do it again. Are your other demon talents enough to keep you alive?”
“I have any number of talents you know nothing about.” She spoke with bravado, but the increasingly erratic shift of the flames indicated to Justice that she worked hard at maintaining them.
The flames began to recede. He tasted victory.
The woman spoke a few words that he could not quite interpret. A second circle of fire joined the first, touching so that they created a giant figure eight. An enormous, crouching figure materialized in the second ring, its shadowy presence flickering unnervingly in the flaming night.
It straightened to more than eight feet in height. Massive biceps curled from shoulders broad enough to support the weight of a full-grown hross.
Justice’s elation soured, and Cage tensed beside him.
“What?” the woman asked, as if enjoying their surprise. She lowered a hand to her hip and arched an eyebrow upward. She glanced at the demon, then back to the two men still contained by fire in one half of the conjoined circles. “Did you think I traveled alone?”
Chapter Fourteen
Blade tossed another piece of damp wood on the sputtering and smoldering flames while keeping an observant eye on the three men and one woman seated around the fire with them. He did not miss the nervous way the men regarded him in return.
They had reason to be wary—he did not trust them. He wished they had continued on their way and ignored Raven’s pleas for open discussion. Since they had not, he’d warned her to keep the location of Roam’s mountain village to herself. When she tried to argue, he had pointed out that there were other villages in the mountains where they could seek refuge. The one Roam had spoken of was far too close to the assassins to be safe for too many people, and they had no idea of the actual numbers Roam had already contacted.
Sitting cross-legged on the cold ground, Blade yawned and blinked, his eyelids dragging grit across his eyes. It had been a long and trying day, but his helplessness when Raven was attacked left him hyperaware—he would not sleep well with these people here. The shadows interwoven amongst the skeletal trees of the desolate valley enhanced his unease. He expected them to come to life at any moment. Full demons could not hold their monster forms when close to Raven, but these spawn seemed able to hold their shadow around her with no trouble at all.
A pale, silver moon, blurred by the bleak night sky, reflected in broken bits and pieces of shimmering light off the rippled black waters of the lake below. The soft sounds of waves lapping at the shoreline filled the drawn-out pauses interspersed between the women’s chatter.
The men had not introduced themselves, so Blade had not bothered, either. He knew the woman’s name was Laurel only because Raven had somehow drawn it from her thoughts, and repeated it in a quiet, soothing manner that generated calm.
Laurel was a good deal older than the men, and although perhaps not quite old enough to be their mother, she would at least pass for an older sister. All four shared a familial resemblance in the light brown coloring of their hair and an attractive, although unremarkable, cornflower blue to their eyes. Even though the men allowed Laurel to speak for them, which in itself was unusual, they did not seem to know each other especially well. Blade guessed their physical resemblance had been passed to them by a common demon ancestor since they all shared a talent for shifting to shadow. Other than that, their connection did not seem close, and they appeared to have come together out of necessity. He knew Raven felt pity for them and a degree of affinity. They, too, traveled higher into these mountains to find safety.
It was as Roam had warned—throughout the world, demon spawn had begun to emerge from hiding. And not all of them were harmless. While Blade appreciated the precariousness of their situation, he did not plan to make their troubles his. It would be difficult enough for him to conceal Raven from experienced trackers. But four more people?
“I don’t understand,” Raven was saying to Laurel. Confusion crackled in her pretty eyes. “You say a woman destroyed your village?”
“You don’t believe that women can be evil?” Blade interrupted.
Raven looked at him, her aggravation with him plain to see in her expression. “Of course they can. What I find hard to believe is that any woman—or man—could do such a thing alone.”
One of the men darted a glance into the shadows, then eased closer to the fire. “She didn’t act alone,” he said. “She raised a demon to do it for her.”
Blade’s splayed hands tightened on his knees. He was wide-awake now. This was not welcome news.
“I would never have believed it possible now that demons have been banished from the world,” Laurel added. Her voice shook. “But it seems that somehow, this woman can raise them. She arrived at the village and claimed to be a goddess. A few little tricks, and she had everyone convinced.” Tears sparkled in her eyes. “I didn’t really believe in her, but I didn’t dare go to the temple with the others, just in case she’d know what I was and reveal me. I couldn’t convince my husband not to go, though, and he insisted on taking the children.” The tears dripped off her lashes and onto her cheeks. “I couldn’t very well say anything to him, could I? How could I tell him his children had demon blood, even if only a little?” Raven reached for her hand and clasped it tightly. “We all lost at least someone,” Laurel added, looking at the others. “We met up afterward, when we went back to look for survivors. That was when we realized we have something in common.”