Good Intentions 3: Personal Demons (47 page)

Azazel stood once more and took a step toward his bound and battered foe. Behind him, little Targ’s body crumbled to ash.

* * *

“No, I don’t hear anything now, either,” said Tammy. She stood with Roger only a few steps from the summoning circle, staring into the random, broken lines of glowing light amid the otherwise blackened ground at its center. Neither of them wanted to get any closer.

Creepy enough that a patch of scorched earth had given off eerie noises for a couple of hours. Creepier still that such noises would fall off so sharply.

Roger lowered his camcorder. “I’m startin’ to wonder if that’s just how these things act,” he mused. “Hopefully we’ll hear back from the others soon and Evelyn will have some answers. I’ll feel pretty dumb if I’ve been standin’ here recording a whole lotta nothin’ all this time.”

“Aw, don’t worry about that, Rog,” said Tammy. “It’s not like we’ve worked with this sort of magic before. I’m glad you’re on top of this. We can’t be too careful.”

Her companion nearly blushed under his beard. Roger shrugged bashfully, looking down at his camcorder and back to Tammy. “You mean that?”

They didn’t notice the growing intensity of the glow within the circle. They also didn’t see the slight bulge in the charred ground near its center.

“Of course I mean it,” Tammy replied. “These are demons, right? Maybe all those other Practitioners are too chickenshit to reach for this sort of power, but it isn’t like all those warnings come from nothing. This is dangerous stuff. We gotta make sure they know who’s boss.”

A burst of soil and ash cut off anything Roger meant to say in response. The demon hovered only a few feet higher than the nearest rooftops, but that kept her out of most of the ambient light in the compound. Her broad wings beat in a slow, steady motion to hold her in place as her bald head turned this way and that. Then her long, spiked tail lashed out toward the two witnesses on the ground.

Tammy jerked backward and hit the ground, cut down by a shower of long, nasty barbs. Roger cried out in shock, instinctively reaching for the pistol at his hip. He never got it out in time. Before he knew it, he was on his back with a hand around his throat and an inhuman face staring back at his.

“Where are the rest of your kind?” whispered the demon. “Where are the other demons? Where is Evelyn?”

“Th-they’re all in the city!” Roger blurted out. “Evelyn went with the others to take out those two witches we been havin’ problems with. I’m…I’m sure they’ll be back soon if you w-wanna wait?”

The demon let out an angry hiss that stole any courage Roger had left. He wailed in terror as she stood upright and took to the sky again, still held by the neck with a single hand. She didn’t go far before turning into a dive straight for the summoning circle.

Roger’s scream ended when they hit the ground, along with his life.

* * *

Lorelei fought free of the animate dust before the floating weapons inflicted decisive harm. Though she bled from numerous wounds, none brought her low. The crown healed the worst of it with hardly a conscious thought from its wearer. She was far stronger and tougher than ever, able to withstand the punishment Azazel’s magic put her through and win free. She tore the granite serpents to pieces with her bare hands.

The brutal impact of her enemy’s spiked mace across her left shoulder proved she broke free too late. Lorelei tumbled to the floor amid the pain of shattered bones and torn flesh. Azazel reached out for her head with an empty hand twice as large as any man’s. She tore into his palm with her talons while the crown set to mending her shoulder with heat and magic. Acid dripped from her fingertips, adding further punishment to her enemy’s wounds.

He didn’t grab her head, though Azazel managed to snatch her by her unhurt shoulder. Even then, he bought himself more grief than triumph. Lorelei practically wrapped herself around his powerful forearm, viciously tearing into him as he lifted her up. She kicked repeatedly at his jaw. A wrong move left Azazel open for another breath of concentrated flame, this time blasting across his face and drawing out a cry of pain.

Azazel slammed Lorelei against the floor before he flung her away. Though her landing wasn’t gentle, Lorelei quickly recovered into a low crouch.

Her crown glowed with intense heat as it healed her wounds. Lorelei rolled her wounded shoulder, feeling everything come back into place. She noted the brilliance of the gold atop her enemy’s head, a shine matched all along his left arm and his chin as his crown mended his wounds. Whatever benefit Azazel gained from draining the soul of that servitor seemed expended now.

He hesitates
, she noted.
He feels his limits, too
.

“What…what do you think to gain from all this?” huffed Azazel. “Do you think yourself the first to attack me?”

He lunged at Lorelei before he finished his question. Azazel’s great height carried him across the distance between them quickly. His mace came directly for her head. Lorelei met his charge with another blast of flame before sidestepping the blow. Despite his failed attack, Azazel followed through with a tackle that brought them both to the floor.

In the rush of his overwhelming offense, Lorelei fell back on older habits and more natural tactics. The intoxicating power of the crown and her deep anger at Azazel had prodded her into matching her newfound strength against his. This reversal of momentum brought her back to her usual instincts. Hurt and momentarily on the defensive, Lorelei drew an enchantment of stealth around herself. As she rolled out of Azazel’s reach, she found such magic easier than ever.

Azazel got to his feet, too, looking this way and that for his enemy. More than once in the past, Lorelei’s illusions fell short against a demon lord. Not this time.

The implications became clear as Azazel swung his mace around for a foe he could not see.
I am stronger now
, thought Lorelei.
The crown empowers my body, my flames…does it lend itself first to empowering one’s natural gifts? Have I gone about this all wrong?

She still felt the urge to burn Azazel to ash, to meet him head on and tear him limb from limb without subtlety or hesitation. Tremors ran through the floor with his every step to warn again of the danger of such simplicity. The sight of the vortex looming behind and above him reminded her of the rest of her agenda. Contests of brute strength risked too much.

Then again, it wasn’t as if she’d come at him without any planning at all.

With a wave of his open hand, Azazel brought all the loose weapons and debris in the hall to life once more. Blades, spears, and even simple rocks flew in every direction, even up against the ceiling. Lorelei couldn’t evade everything; she ducked a spinning axe, but the cloud of rocks still bounced against her body and her wings.

Azazel rushed in. Lorelei abandoned her invisibility, throwing herself into his charge rather than trying to dodge. She had a sense of his strength now, and her own. The succubus caught Azazel’s wrists as he brought his mace down for a two-handed swing, holding him off with great effort.

The two pushed against one another in an almost absurd display. Though more than literally twice her size, Azazel couldn’t completely overpower her while she had the crown to enhance her strength. At least, not for this brief, necessary moment.

“Did you empty your entire domain for this assault?” growled Azazel, his face leaning in toward hers. “Do you think this is the first time some lord has invaded my realm? You can’t win. You’re no true lord.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Lorelei taunted. “You don’t seem to have inspired much loyalty in your subjects.”

“What would you know of loyalty?”

The rumble from the entrance immediately drew Azazel’s attention. A hideous mouth at the head of a colossal trail of putrid grey muscle crashed through the throne room. “For Lady Lorelei!” bellowed the great worm.

The succubus blew another stream of flame at her distracted opponent, catching him off guard before she shoved him back into Hank’s path.

The collision didn’t push Azazel back as far as Lorelei hoped. The tall demon met Hank with his full strength, bringing the worm to a halt within only a short distance. Lorelei couldn’t see his arms or feet or any other part of Azazel as Hank pressed in, though she saw the worm shudder under the crushing force of demon lord’s mace. Despite all that, Hank didn’t relent. He reared up and chomped down once more, giving the fight everything he had. Acid spilled everywhere as Hank threatened to devour his powerful foe.

He stood no real chance. Lorelei knew that. The assault only gave her a moment to breathe and recover, yet it was a respite her enemy wouldn’t share. She gathered her wits and took stock of the situation. Movement in the vortex above caught her eye.

Mandah flew down along the staircase to land in a kneeling position at Lorelei’s feet. “Mistress, the enemy has moved from the portal,” she said. “I found only two mortals. The rest took Azazel’s demons into the nearby city to kill rival sorcerers. Witches, they said. The one named Evelyn went with them.”

The report renewed Lorelei’s fury and her sense of urgency. She could already be too late for her friends. The heat of the crown paled in comparison to the emotions suddenly roiling within.

“Wretched thing!” Azazel shouted. Hank’s body shook under the brutal blows of Azazel’s mace. The weapons that once attacked Lorelei now delivered unchecked pain all up and down the worm’s bulk. He wouldn’t last long now.

“Attack from above,” Lorelei ordered with cold rage. “Be alert. Every object in sight may fly up and attack you when he thinks to use such powers. I need only a distraction, not another casualty. Do not get in close. Leave that to me.”

“Yes, mistress,” replied her herald. Mandah spread her wings and flew low for her approach. Lorelei drew another enchantment of stealth around herself. As soon as the other demon swooped down, Lorelei ran.

“Enough of this,” declared Azazel. He pushed back against Hank’s maw with both arms now covered in acidic bile and blood. With a mighty downward heave, Azazel slammed Hank’s maw hard onto the floor. The worm’s body rippled helplessly against the floor, shaking the entire room. Weapons imbedded in his hide bounced free, only worsening his loss of blood.

With his crown blazing in a show of his fury, Azazel stepped to one side and brought back his empty hand as if reaching for a weapon. A long stretch of the granite floor behind the great demon instantly liquefied and rolled together. With a wave, Azazel gave the rocky mass a new shape and direction. The material swiftly coalesced into a spread of long, solid spikes, which shot forward to impale Hank from the inside out.

Wounded and drained but unbowed, Azazel staggered back from his defeated opponent. He caught sight of Mandah as she flew up above Hank’s body to fling a barrage of deadly spikes from her long tail. Azazel reacted in time to catch the entire shower of venomous barbs with his magic and his will. He reached out toward the flying demon with his open hand to arrest her flight in mid-air.

Then he hesitated. “You are not Lorel—agh!”

Lorelei darted in with both hands high, raking deeply into Azazel’s side underneath his outstretched arm. The demon lord lost his telekinetic hold on Mandah and her spikes. Azazel reeled in pain, grasping his side while he staggered away.

His tail lashed out blindly in his retreat, though it snapped back when it felt the sharp rebuke of her talons. She nearly severed it altogether. Before Azazel could turn again, before he could heal himself or launch another sweeping telekinetic defense, Lorelei pressed her advantage. She dragged him back by his tail like an escaping animal. Flames roared from her mouth once more, but this time she concentrated it all against his back as she rent and slashed. The assault stole Azazel’s breath. He fell to his knees in pain. He spun and threw himself against the floor, landing on his back in an attempt to keep her from finishing her work.

It wasn’t enough. Lorelei hung on, wrenching against Azazel’s tail with all her might until the appendage fell free. Azazel couldn’t hold back his screams of pain after that. The mace tumbled from his hand.

She leapt upon him without mercy. Within heartbeats, she could feel the difference in his strength. Lorelei raked his chest with her talons, sapping him of more and more power. She even sensed a difference in the great demon’s size. He remained taller and broader than she, yet soon he was no longer the giant he’d been for so long.

The radiance of his crown dimmed, but did not go out. Lorelei lifted and slammed her foe down onto the floor. She drove one knee into his back and clutched his face with both hands, pulling him up in a merciless hold.

“Submit,” she growled.

“I will not,” he snarled. The crown atop his head flared to life once more. Shattered stones rose up from the ground to strike his tormentor, but they never reached their target. Mandah flew in to bat them away before they hit.

Though saved from this attack, Lorelei remembered Hank’s fate. All her enemy needed was a moment to gather his wits and come up with something more decisive. Telekinesis came easily to him. The power of the crown made his natural talents much more dangerous. Despite her progress and her newfound advantages, Lorelei found her own power pushed to its full limits. Only now could she match Azazel in physical strength. She didn’t know how much more punishment he could endure and didn’t have time to find out.