The Demon's Game (17 page)

The hospital, however, was being invaded. There were
hundreds of demons in this town and half of them were in the hospital. Most
were milling about the morgue, but some were disguised as staff and some
pretended to be patients or visitors. I disguised myself in nurse scrubs and
busied myself with eavesdropping. It was fairly easy by use of magic to find
myself in the right place at the right time.

From what I gathered, the demons were using an old
farmhouse right outside of town as a base, as well as a rundown medical lab on
the opposite end of the city. They also mentioned Dylan and their “queen”
several times. They were definitely here to destroy Dylan and they were
definitely sent by a female Ancient.

*          *          *

I returned home to my cabin on Duran and dug through
old chests and boxes until I found what I was looking for, then went to the
apartment and grabbed as much food and water as I could fit in a plastic bag.
When I flashed to Nila, I was surprised to find that the king and his guard
were no longer in a cave. Instead they were in a large, seemingly abandoned
town, both even dirtier and sweatier, with bodies at their feet.

“What…” Nila turned to me with shock. “Dylan was just
here a second ago.”

“The demons are trying to kill anyone associated with
the void.”

“You mean, like these demons?” he asked, waving his
hand at the piles of ash that had been bodies a second before.

“I brought you more food and this.” I held out the
gold pendent. “You can’t wear it because your blood would negate the magic, but
your guard can use it.”

“Kseve?” Nano prompted. The goblin reached out and
took the pendent.

“This will ward off demons.” I also handed him the
bag of food. “Dylan may need you both before this is over.”

“All of Dios will stand with him.” He put his right
hand over his heart. “I am High King, Dleso Nila, and my kingdom, the entirety
of Dios, man, goblin, and troll, will stand to defend Dylan Yatunus of Earth.
The enemy of Dylan Yatunus is the enemy of Dios forevermore, just as Dylan’s
friends are mine.”

“Thank you, Nila. If you need me, call my name.” I
flashed back to my apartment to find Dylan, Mordon, Ron, and Xul in the
kitchen. Ron was in Dylan’s lap, asleep. “Hello, demon,” I said to the Ancient.

“Tiamat.” A slight nod in greeting proved how
unafraid the Ancients were of the Iadnah.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Dylan pulled my chain, so I came running. I assume
it’s the same for you?”

Dylan growled and started to get up, but I put my
hand gently on his shoulder. Ron looked so cute in his father’s lap. I went to
the kitchen counter, pulled a bottle out of the cabinet above the sink, and
opened the lid before turning it upside down over my hand. The iridescent blue
liquid potion didn’t pour out onto the floor but instead formed a glob about an
inch above my hand. With will and a little energy, the liquid shot at the
demon, causing him to topple over. When he shouted with surprise, the liquid
slipped down his throat.

“There; I muzzled your dog for you,” I told Dylan.
The demon tried to yell and make demands, but he couldn’t utter a sound.

“You shouldn’t keep that in the kitchen,” Dylan said.

“I was thinking, tomorrow I should take the boys…”
Mordon trailed off with a smirk.

Heavy footsteps ran down the hall. “Swimming!! We’re
going swimming!” Hail screamed, bursting in. Ron jumped about foot in the air
and looked around with startled eyes. Hail grabbed Ron’s arms and pulled him to
his feet, all the while jumping up and down. “We’re going swimming tomorrow!”

Dylan smiled, happy that his children were settling
in. Of course I didn’t want to live on Earth, but it was a chance for Dylan to
live a life he never got to before. It wasn’t permanent; nevertheless, I hated
to spoil the moment.

“Dylan, there is a problem.”

“Of course there is. What is it this time? Let’s see…
The gates are closed, Vretial is on our side, and Xul is muzzled. So either the
being that attacked the Guardians is back or the demons are acting up.”

“It’s the demons. They are apparently building an
army against you, directed by…”

“By who?”

“Nila believes it is his father, but I have also
heard of a female Ancient,” I answered. We all turned to Xul, who shrugged.

“We need a weapon that can defeat them,” Mordon said.
“We should go to the cabin and get the azurath blade.”

Dylan didn’t move to stand. Instead, he looked
thoughtful. “We might already be working on something. Rilryn dropped by and
asked to search for a weapon on Earth. He hasn’t gotten back to me, so I
assumed he hadn’t found it or had any problem. He said it was one of the
weapons from the Iadnah war.”

Obviously, Dylan wanted me to enlighten him with
information… possibly a location… but he wasn’t going to be confrontational
about it. “I know nothing about it. You may want to talk to Vretial or Regivus
about it.”

The last thing I need is to owe Vretial anything
more
, he thought. I realized Dylan’s thoughts were unprotected, which was
unusual. “There is another question I have. I’m a little concerned about your
self-confidence. The Ancients… When Xul attacked Hell, you sent me after the
demon and told me the gods couldn’t defeat him.”

“The Ancients are as old as us.”

“Yes, but you still believe Iadnah energy is more powerful
than demon energy. I don’t believe that. I believe you are more powerful than
minor demons because you are older, but I don’t believe Iadnah energy is any
more powerful than demon energy. Nor do I believe nominal energy is less
powerful. I think they’re all the same thing, but different frequencies.”

“Iadnah are more powerful than mortals because our
energy is more powerful,” I argued.

“No.”

We all stared at him for a moment. “That’s it? You
know more about god magic than I do?”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but Ron and I are the only
ones in this room who can use both god and mortal energy. Xul can do demon
magic and Mordon can do dragon magic.”

“Hail can use both god and mortal energy.”

“Wrong again.” I looked at the boys, who glanced at
each other and shrugged. “Hell was born with both nominal energy and mortal
power because his genetics were unusual. He couldn’t control either one. When
Ron was born, Hell stabilized and his Iadnah genetics took over.”

“So I’m a god now?” Hail asked.

“Yes.”

“How do you know?” Mordon asked.

“When the gates opened… Ron knew it, but not Hell.
The energy failed, which should have affected the most powerful wizards first.
Hell didn’t bat an eye. Honey, when was the last time you tried to use nominal
energy?”

He shrugged. “I don’t feel nominal energy anymore.”

“So the boys can’t use---”

“Ron is able to use both,” Dylan interrupted. “Hell
is Vretial’s biological son, so he is Iadnah. Ron is my biological son, so he
can do both like I can. The point is, magic energy is equally powerful whether
it is Iadnah, mortal, or demon energy. Therefore, a god can be injured by demon
energy. If you’re injured in the void, you can’t heal yourself from it even
after you return to the universe. Why, I don’t know, but since you have full
faith in your own power, I’m sure you don’t have the answer.”

“You’re about to piss off your wife,” Mordon warned.

“Nope. Divina loves me for my mind; she’s not going
to get mad at me for being right. I’m correct in that a god cannot easily
defeat a powerful Ancient.”

“Which is your point because it’s exactly what I said
when I told you about Xul,” I said.

“Yes, because I often make points that have already
been made. In that case, I should also remind you that
you
said an
ancient cannot
easily
be destroyed outside a mortal body. My point is
that five years ago, one of the Ancients got around Xul and tried to attack me.
Regivus destroyed him easily.”

“Regivus is more powerful than me.”

“Yet he couldn’t take care of Xul?”

“How do you know it was an Ancient? Maybe it was just
a minor demon.”

“It wouldn’t have bothered me for five years if it
were that simple.”

“This has been bothering you?”

“All mysteries bother him,” Mordon said.

“But this isn’t a mystery. Why did Vretial go ‘poof’
when we
didn’t
destroy him?” he asked. When we just waited, he sighed.
“I think the Ancient was sizing me up. Regivus confirmed that I have backup, so
the demon pretended to be defeated.”

“So what do we do?” Hail asked.

Dylan sighed again. “You two are going to be good for
Mordon and leave this to us. Mordon and Xul, you are going to take care of the
boys. Divina, get ahold of Erono and have him ask Edward to help Rilryn. For
now, we will keep the weapon between us, Edward, and Rilryn. We don’t want the
demons to know we’re onto them or that we’re after a weapon.”

“Xul?” Mordon asked, suspiciously. The Ancient
wouldn’t meet our eyes. “Demon, why do you smell guilty?”

Xul shrugged and gestured to his mouth, then walked
out of the room. Mordon moved to follow him, but Dylan gently gripped the
dragon’s arm. “He knows something about the weapon. Right now, he knows
something we don’t, and that means---”

“It means I need to beat the truth out of him,”
Mordon growled.

“No. It means we want him on our side. He’s as old as
the gods, so he has ways of getting his way. It would be very easy to screw
ourselves over by trying to back the wrong person into a corner. He strikes me
as someone who will clamp up if pushed too hard; someone who would take a
secret to the grave just on principle.”

“Then what do we do?”

“Give him a reason to help us.”

Edward

“I did nothing wrong!”

“You murdered three people and would have murdered
fifteen girls if I hadn’t stopped you.”

“It was self-defense!”

“It was revenge.” I felt pity for Soda, still a child
by law at the age of seventeen, for he was mistreated since he was very little.
Soda’s parents were killed when he was just a baby, forcing him to be raised by
his abusive aunt and uncle. Unfortunately, he first discovered his abilities
with magic before he emotionally matured, so he never learned to control
himself. By the time he was old enough to do serious damage, he didn’t care
about the lives he took.

Soda killed his aunt and uncle, who abused him, but
also his cousin. Although Merda had only ever tried to help him, he killed her
in her sleep and then he went after the girls who had teased him in school
while they were all at a party. Luckily, I was able to stop him.

It is the Guardian instinct to protect our books and
our people, and we hated killing, but I couldn’t let him go. For the crimes he
committed, the law would send him to Canjii, where he would kill many others.
Of course, Duran law would consider that cleaning up trash despite the fact that
there were several people who were banished to Canjii unjustly or for crimes
they didn’t commit. Every government had flaws.

“I just wanted them to be sorry!” the boy screamed,
tears streaming from his eyes. He was on his knees in tattered, blood-soaked
clothes. His situation was close to my heart, since Dylan could have gone down
the same road. However; for all Dylan’s abuse and neglect, it only made him
stronger in his kindness and mercy. Soda never really had a chance.

It took days to track the kid down, and when I
arrived at his house to see the brutal murders, I assumed he was entirely
heartless. He ran to the house of a family friend, with whom he confided in.
Fortunately for me, the friend’s parents were good friends of mine, so they
pointed me in the right direction. By the time I found him, the authorities
were after him.

I crouched in front of him and pulled both a vial and
a dagger out of my pocket. “This poison is painless and quick, but you have to
drink it yourself. The blade will hurt, but you can close your eyes and let me
do it for you. You have to choose.”

“I don’t want to die,” he cried.

“I know, but I can’t let you go on killing people.
You can accept your punishment and be at peace or I can do it for you.”

He wiped his tears and stared at the blade for
several minutes before turning his huge, weepy blue eyes on me. “Have you
killed many people?”

“When I had to,” I answered.

“Then how are you better than me?”

“I never killed anyone for personal gain.”

“I know it was wrong to kill them. I just hated them
so much. It wasn’t my fault they were mean to me.”

“No, it wasn’t. If you know it was wrong, you should
accept your punishment. This is your last chance for peace. If you cannot, I
will do it for you, but you know you will never be forgiven.” To sago, peace in
the afterlife was more important than peace in life. “Do you accept your
punishment?”

He nodded and took the bottle from my hand before
gently taking the lid off, his hands shaking violently. “I’m scared. Will my
aunt and uncle be there in the Land of the Dead?”

“They will be, but Janus will protect you from them.”

“Is Janus the god of the dead?”

“In a way, yes.” I tried to be gentle and not rush
him because I knew it was hard for him. It wasn’t that I was in a hurry; I just
worried that he would choose the dagger instead.

He drank the contents in one gulp and set the vial
carefully in the grass. “What now?”

“Lay back and try to relax. You will feel a little
like you’re floating, then you will start daydreaming.”

“Then it will be over?”

“Very soon now. Tell me something good about your
life. Tell me something that shouldn’t be lost.”

“Merda. I didn’t want to hurt her. My aunt found out
Merda had told the king what was going on. I thought Merda had betrayed me and
told her mother that I had contacted the king. It was only after I killed Merda
that my aunt told me the truth. She had been spying on Merda. My cousin had
tried to help me… she was my only friend. I hope…” he trailed off as his eyes
drooped. “she can forgive…” His eyes fell closed and his breathing slowed.

I sighed, stood, and picked up Soda. He flopped
lifelessly over my shoulder, but he wasn’t lifeless. Readjusting him, I twisted
the emerald ring Divina gave me and focused solely on one place. It was a
single-use only ring that would flash me to wherever I wanted to go. The bright
white light engulfed us and when it cleared, we were in a familiar living room.
Sitting on the couch was Hiroku.

Akia’s home was sparsely decorated with soft tan and
raw wood colors. The low, light peach couch was a new touch along with the two
matching cushioned chairs. Couches were the latest thing sweeping through
Anoshii. The table in the middle of the room with cushions instead of seats
surrounding it was humble and worn, which just made the room feel more like a
home.

Hiroku, stunned by the flash, didn’t react when Akia
came out of her bedroom. “Kiro!” she greeted me breathlessly. “Who is that?”

“Well, I was hoping your new foster son for the next
few years.” Obviously, I would never willingly leave my son and ex-wife with a
killer or a dead boy.

The exceptionally powerful potion that Divina gave me
would render a person unconscious for several days, but the true purpose of it
was to remove the memories of the person. While memories were only the surface
of Soda’s problems, this potion was strong enough to wipe even his personality
away. He would start fresh; he would have to relearn how to eat, how to talk,
and even how to do magic. Fortunately, his learning would be accelerated so
that by the time he was old enough to be on his own, he would be able to
function perfectly in society. That was why I wanted to leave his second
upbringing to someone I trusted.

I had kept the potion for more than a year, as Divina
gave it to me for someone who I truly thought could be saved by it. The only
stipulation was that I couldn’t tell the person I used it on; they had to admit
their wrongs and want to change.

When I explained to Akia that Soda had lost all
memory, she happily agreed to take care of him. “Hiroku is old enough now that
he can help me take care of his new younger brother,” she volunteered.

Hiroku snapped out of his haze at the sound of his
name. “Dad? What was that light?” he asked as he took Soda gently to help me
lay the boy out on the couch.

“Just some of that magic stuff you never wanted to
learn. This is Soda. He’s going to need a lot of love and attention. He will
also develop some serious skills in magic. When he does, send me a letter and I
will come back to train him. Just make sure he is accepted. I’ll be back to
check on him.”

“You don’t have to go now, do you?” Akia asked,
flustered. “You just got here, and you haven’t been by in so long.”

“I’m in a committed relationship,” I admitted. My
visits with Akia always ended with both of us frustrated and disappointed. She
was an amazing woman who I really loved, but we could never make it work for
more than a month.

She frowned, as if she had waited for years for me to
return. She probably had, just as I had to restrain myself with great
difficulty every time I went anywhere near Anoshii. “You can still stay for
dinner. For your son if not me.”

The more distance between us, the better. “Okay,” I
agreed.

*          *          *

Hiroku and I were playing cards two hours later in
the living room. It was late and I dreaded the travel home, but Meri as waiting
for me. Akia wandered in to watch, as she normally did, and sat beside me. She
leaned against me and I knew I should move away, but she was doing nothing
provocative and I didn’t want to be rude. It wasn’t until Hiroku went to bed
that the atmosphere changed.

I stood to leave and suddenly found my arms full and
my mouth taken eagerly. My arms wrapped around her even as my brain told me to
push her away.

“Stay the night,” she said, releasing my mouth long
enough for me to catch my breath.

I tried to push her away, but she held on tightly
enough that I would have hurt her. “I told you, I’m in a relationship. You and
I never work out.” She was very fun to be with and the physical side of our
relationship had been fantastic, but our personalities and priorities clashed.
Since meeting Meri, I realized what I had been missing.

She finally let me go. “I’ve come to terms with your
job. We could try again.”

“Good night.” I kissed her on the cheek and walked
out the front door. She made a wonderful mother to our son and would make a
magnificent wife to the right man, but she didn’t like taking ‘no’ for an
answer.

After far too many failed marriages that ended in
heartbreak, I tried to stay out of relationships altogether. Akia was one woman
I always found myself returning to. Meri was a different matter. I was
attracted to her at first, like I was with Akia, but I could never get her out
of my mind. After everything settled down, I went to her world and told her to
sign her name in my book so she could come home with me. Meri was subtle,
unlike Akia, but she hid a great strength behind an innocent face. Actually,
Meri was an adventurer herself and loved exploring Duran.

Meri was the kind of woman who wouldn’t try to stop
me from doing my job or complaining that I was gone for work a lot. It wasn’t
that she didn’t worry about me, it was just that she understood what my job as
Noquodi entailed. Being a Guardian meant that there was very likely to come a
day that I wouldn’t make it home.

Ronez had once told me being married to a Guardian
was like being married to a cop; any woman strong enough to marry us had to be
willing to be the second wife, because we were married to the job. At the time
I was happily married to a sweet human woman, so I didn’t understand. Ronez was
always my wiser half. It was times like this more than ever that I wished I
could go see him.

My brother had been dead for thirteen years and I
still expected him to show up and complain about some human invention or a
pushy woman he made a mistake with.

I just reached the edge of town, heading towards the
beach, when I felt my consciousness pulled away. None of the gods were mindful
of the concussions they could cause their Guardians, but Erono was especially
rough this time. All around me was white, not quite as bright as the flash, but
fairly irritating.

“There is a force gathering on Mijii.” Erono’s tone
was brisk, as if he expected me to argue. Of course, the god himself was
nowhere to be seen, for the god only showed himself to Dylan. “They have been
badly masking themselves for some time now and appear to be a new form of demon
from the void. Deal with them.”

“How do I find them?” I asked. The whiteness of my
surroundings faded and I found myself in the Aradlin forest.

I had previously visited the Aradlin forest four
times, and each occasion I was fortunate to escape with my life. For someone to
survive the elements of the forest, they had to be clever, quick, quiet,
powerful, and very lucky. Obviously, I lacked at least one of those qualities,
for I was standing directly in the middle of a gathering of about thirty
serogou. Now, the brown and green reptiles may only have stood six feet tall,
but the venom they could spit and ridiculously sharp claws weighed greatly
against my magic. And there were thirty of them.

The major weakness of the serogou was that their
vision was based on movement. This did me no good when they saw me appear, as
made clear by the fact that half of them reared up on their hind legs and
flushed the hoods around their necks. I pulled upon the power of my book and
struck the closest one with lightning. The beast fell heavily to the ground and
one was bounding over it within an instant. I dived to the wet, damp dirt and
rolled to the side.

My agility paid off when three attacking serogou
collided and turned on each other. This caused other reptiles to turn on the
nearest beast and I was able to slip through. I ducked, jumped, and dodged
teeth, claws, and dueling bodies, collecting a fair share of wounds on the way.
Just before I cleared the fighting, a serogou landed on my back. I turned in
time to see another beast dragging my attacker away, but in its pain, the
serogou tried to claw its way back over me. The result was a long, deep cut
from my knee to my calf. The beast’s claws cut right through my boot. I didn’t
shout with pain; that would have been suicide.

I struggled to my feet and ran for a nearby tree, then
climbed. Bark scraped my open wound, but to stop would be to die. I reached a
safe enough branch to perch myself on, tugged my bag free, and pulled out a
cloth and water. It was painful scrubbing the dirt out of the cut, but
infections were worse.

After cleaning my leg, I covered the lesion with an
antibacterial herbal paste, all the while knowing it wasn’t enough to
adequately protect the wound and disguise the scent of my blood. Zeta flies
would swarm me within an hour and if even one of the venomous, bloodsucking
flies got a taste of my blood, there would be no end to their pestering. I tore
the plastic seal of my last clean bandage, wrapped it around my leg, and
secured it with two metal clasps.

I wiped the mud and sweat from my eyes with the
cleanest spot of my shirt I could find.

Every time I visited the Aradlin forest, I was with
other people, armed, and had a full medical supply stash. This time I would
have to rely on my knowledge alone. The number one rule of surviving the forest
was not to bleed, the second was to be absolutely silent, and the third was to
avoid any body of water.