Flame of the Succubus Page 17

  I chuckled. "Me too, basically. Although I wouldn't put it quite like that."

  Ember examined the rest of my body, pulling up my tunic to check my torso. "There's no sign of bruising or anything. Are you ready, then? For Crowley's next step?"

  "I better be."

  I saw no reason to delay, as I wasn't hungry or sleepy. I didn't even need a cup of coffee.

  I paused before heading out of our room. "What did you two do all night?" I asked out of curiosity.

  Ember shrugged. "Not much. Allura was getting distracted by your cultivation, so she couldn't handle too much stimulation."

  That was news. Cultivating could be dangerous if Allura was busy handling a dangerous task? We would have to work that out later.

  I reached for my Flame to check how much I had. It was vibrant and larger than before, with a heft to it that implied a certain weighty density.

  Would it be enough to open Ember's Node?

  Even if it wasn't, Ember was running out of my Flame. Perhaps a quick attempt was in order before I went to see Crowley.

  "Ember," I said. "Come here."

  Ember's eyes widened at the tone of my voice. She nodded eagerly and moved to my side. Just then, the door to our room burst open in a shower of splinters.

  A figure in a white robe with black embroidery appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the room.

  I realized at that moment I had forgotten to ask Crowley about Ryder, assuming the old beggar had taken care of him since no one had bothered us. I also realized that I had possibly made a grave mistake with that assumption.

  The Imperial agent stared at me, ignoring the two succubi who had assumed fighting stances on either side of him with outstretched wings. I reached for my sword, then changed my mind and let my hand fall to my side.

  Some fights were better won with words, not blades or fists.

  "Stand down," I said to the others, shaking my head.

  Allura folded her wings back up, but Ember scowled as her tail lashed angrily in the air like a whip.

  "Ember."

  Ember frowned and folded up her wings as well.

  "You're an unregistered Outsider," the Imperial agent said in a low, menacing tone.

  It was a statement, not a question. I wasn't sure how to respond to him. Then again, if he was as powerful as everyone seemed to think, this confrontation would already be over. That meant he wasn't sure, or he needed to find out something else first.

  "I'm a demon," I said. I let the infernal aspect of my Flame surge through my body. Now that I understood a little more about the Path of the Flame, I realized that my infernal Flame didn't follow the same channels as my pure Flame. The black Flame went wherever it wanted, consumed whatever it wanted, but also gave me whatever I wanted.

  Ryder made no motion indicating he had sensed the change in my aura, but I had no doubt he did. It was probably what had thrown him off the first time we had met.

  "You're a Seeker?" I thought he had been talking to me, but the Imperial agent had turned to Allura.

  "She can cultivate," I said. "If that's what you're asking. But she's not a Seeker."

  He looked back at me and narrowed his eyes. "A succubus that cultivates? What is this? The old man's circus? And you look like a mortal, yet you smell like a demon. I should split you in half and see what you look like on the inside."

  I whipped my sword out lightning fast, using a fast draw method Crowley had taught me. My black Flames flared along its sharp edge, eager for a taste of blood.

  I was about to reach deeper into my Flame, to draw all the strength I could muster for what had to be a lopsided fight against the Imperial agent.

  But then I stopped myself. Drawing on my true, full Flame might still reveal a remnant of my humanity. Had that been his intent?

  I extinguished the Flame running along my blade, and bottled it up back inside me. I slipped the sword back into my belt in one smooth motion.

  "I'm not who you're looking for," I said calmly, the irrational rage that always accompanied my black Flame was already a distant memory.

  "And who am I looking for?" Ryder asked with a hungry smile.

  "I don't know, but all you'll find here is trouble."

  Ryder stared at me with a menacing glare for several seconds. Then, he broke into a wide laugh.

  "You're brave, demon. I'll give you that. But you should think twice before threatening an agent of the Emperor."

  He casually reached for the sword at his waist. "I could you add you to my collection," he said with a dark smile.

  Collection? Before I could respond, a new voice spoke. "And you should think twice before intruding into the halls of our guild."

  Crowley stepped into the room holding his staff.

  Ryder growled, an animal-like sound rising from the back of his throat. Without any warning, he drew his sword and attacked Crowley.

  I could barely follow the movement with my eyes. His sword whirled in a tight cyclone as it shot forward.

  Then, it looked as if ten swords simultaneously attacked the old beggar, whether through some trick of magic or through the sheer speed of his multi-pronged attack.

  Crowley's hands and staff blurred, and there were ten clangs of metal against metal.

  The Imperial agent stepped back and sheathed his sword. "Bah. I won't dull my blade against your cheap stick."

  Crowley bowed slightly. "Excuse my cheap stick. I am a beggar. The Emperor hasn't graced me with his armory's treasures."

  The other man laughed in scorn. "The great Beast. Reduced to a beggar hiding in the underworld, even here in the Abyss."

  "We earned the right to rule these tunnels," Crowley said. "Here, my word is law. While I'll grant you leniency for your service to the Obsidian Emperor, I won't ask again. You are not welcome here. Leave now, Ryder."

  Crowley stepped aside, leaving a free path to the broken doorway.

  Ryder glared at the beggar, but he turned away from us and left without another word.

  "You two have some history?" I asked.

  "Not specifically," Crowley replied. "We know each other by our reputations." He shook his head. "Ryder is relentless and ruthless. I've threatened to retaliate if he harms you for no reason, but that won't stop him from digging deeper if he suspects something. If he finds evidence of your true background, the Beggar Guild won't be able to protect you fully."

  "Even more reason why I need to learn how to fight properly with this." I tapped the sword at my waist. "What does he want with me, anyways? And why the sudden interest in Outsiders and humans?"

  Crowley held up his hand to quiet us. After a moment, he nodded. "It isn't safe to mention this in the open, but the Obsidian Emperor is afraid. Of you."

  "Afraid of me?" I was regular guy just starting to learn how things worked in the Abyss. The Obsidian Emperor was a god of gods from what I could tell.

  "The idea of you. What you could become. What you must become if you're to survive."

  That sounded ominous. I should have been afraid. But a thrilling shiver of excitement coursed through me as well. The Obsidian Emperor was worried about me? What would I become, here in the Abyss?

  "You said I could be the descendant of a great Seeker." I glanced at Allura. "Myrddin, right? Is that why he's worried about me?"

  Crowley raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. "I can't be sure. The Obsidian Emperor has powerful augurs and seers in his service. Long ago, he restricted travel between the Abyss and the mortal plane. Before, powerful beings would cross freely between all the planes. We took it as a sign that he feared some union between demons and mortals."

  "The child of a demon and human. Like your Myrddin."

  Crowley nodded. "Perhaps there was a portent, some omen of danger to him, linked to such a union. In any case, Myrddin was from a former age. The restrictions have been in place more recently, keeping new Outsiders away, until she brought you here." He glanced to Ember as he spoke. She shifted self-consciously at mention of her illicit t
ravel.

  "The Emperor's augurs must have seen something in their visions," Crowley continued. "As soon as you arrived, he issued the new decree requiring all Outsiders to submit to registration. And Ryder's sudden interest in a rogue human."

  Was I a danger to this Obsidian Emperor's rule? I hadn't even met the fellow.

  "How is he?" I asked. Another thought occurred to me. "And what's your interest in all of this? Why are you helping me?"

  Crowley flashed a dirty smile, showing off his crooked yellow teeth. "The current state of the Abyss is unnatural. Demons and humans are meant to mingle. Flame should travel freely between the planes. Your own succubus risked punishment by traveling to your plane to sate her desperate hunger."

  I tried to imagine supernatural demons and other creatures popping up on Earth. It would be chaos.

  "Humans would suffer, though, if demons could roam the Earth. Isn't it good to keep the planes separated?"

  "Do humans not suffer already? War, poverty, disease run rampant in your darker regions. Even your supposedly enlightened nations are enslaved to corrupt rulers and twisted appetites. Malaise and malcontent are on the rise. Let me ask you. Who in your world doesn't suffer?"

  Had Crowley visited Earth recently? He did have a pretty accurate picture of the place. "But that can't be as bad as wild drakelings, blood-thirsty demons, and lava swamps…"

  I stopped. I wasn't actually sure about that. Life was definitely a bitch on Earth. If I had to choose between being a Seeker here and being an ex-convict with a shit job on Earth, I sure as hell knew which I would choose. Would others make the same choice?

  Duskfall hadn't seemed too bad. If anything, it was impressive, other than the lack of modern technology. And it didn't make sense to compare the untamed parts of the Abyss. I mean, parts of Earth were war-torn jungle lands ruled by drug lords and crazy dictators. Then again, who was I to judge what was better? The devil you knew versus the devil you didn't…

  "It's not only about demons and humans," Crowley said. "The Obsidian Emperor disturbs the natural cycle of the entire universe. It's why your world is doomed, as is ours, unless something is done to restore the cycle."

  "What do you mean? What cycle?"

  "When mortals die, their Flame is meant to pass on to another plane, whether the Abyss or elsewhere. Likewise, for the creatures of the Abyss. Flame is meant to cycle freely between the planes."

  That sounded familiar. "Like the Flame circulating within us."

  "Precisely. The Flame, on a greater scale, is the lifeblood of the universe. But the boundary between the Abyss and your mortal realm disrupts this cycle. You've met the Fallen Ones, haven't you?"

  One of the guards had mentioned the Fallen Ones as well. I had taken him to mean the human-like villagers. "They look like humans, except for their colored skin? They're rather weak, compared to most of the other demons I've met."

  Crowley nodded. "Fallen Ones are mortals from your world and others like it, reborn in the Abyss during the time of the Emperor's interference. Only a fraction of their Flame accompanied them to their new life, so they are left powerless and weak. If they die here, their Flame will be forever extinguished, since their cycle has been broken by force."

  "Hold on." It sounded like Crowley was talking about some kind of reincarnation. I didn't exactly believe in that, but I had seen too much in the Abyss to dismiss it out of hand. "You're saying that the Obsidian Emperor's fucked with the circle of life, or something like that?"

  Crowley nodded. "Those demon cores that Seekers hunt are another side effect, an aberration. The Flame from dead demons should pass on to another plane. Instead, their Flame remains here, in a physical core."

  I suddenly felt uncomfortable about collecting cores from the demons we had killed. But only for a moment. I had killed demons trying to hurt me. I wasn't going to be sorry about ending their lives permanently.

  "That's crazy, isn't it? Why don't the demons revolt? They could live on in some afterlife if it wasn't for the Obsidian Emperor. You also said our worlds are doomed. No one cares about that?"

  "You've seen what a god can do, haven't you? Imagine one who even the gods bow down to. Who can revolt against that? As for our awaiting doom, the most powerful creatures of our plane think themselves untouchable. Immortals care little for the broken cycle of weak mortals."

  "What happens if this goes on?"

  "Without the Great Cycle of the Flame, the universe will weaken and disintegrate. But long before that happens, the minds of the world will break first, some driven to madness, some to desolation or despair. The will to live will slowly vanish."

  Crowley waited while I took in what he had just told me. The girls waited silently as well.

  I might have brushed off Crowley's warnings as the rantings of a strange old man, but I had worked in an insane asylum. I had seen the empty eyes, the crazed ones, and worst of all, the perfectly normal-looking people who insisted they had been visited by demons, or that the world was going to end.

  Maybe they had been right.

  "And you think I can stop this?"

  The only reason I could say those words and not laugh was that the idea was so far beyond what I had ever experienced, it wasn't absurd, simply unreal. We weren't talking about flying pigs, or even flying demon babes. We were talking about some complicated nuclear physics that I would never understand.

  "Perhaps," Crowley said. He grinned. "Or perhaps not. But don't you agree it's worth trying?" He flicked his eyes to the two succubi, who were waiting on either side of me.

  It wasn't simply the desire to spend more time with beautiful sex addicts devoted to me, or the possibility of turning into a superpowered, sword-swinging badass that pushed me to my decision, although those didn't hurt.

  All my years, I had felt the urge to do something beyond the grind of bullshit that was modern life. It was as if I had all this energy bundled up inside me, waiting to be unleashed on something worthwhile, something which I had never found before. Had that been my nascent Flame, or the power of my ancestry? I didn't know exactly what drove me, but I knew that I was definitely going forward with this.

  "Alright," I said. "I'm in." I showed him my clear arms and torso. "And I'm ready to learn my first Seeker techniques."

  "Excellent." Crowley. "You'll begin by taking this to the potter who lives by the Alchemist Row. Head towards the crown halfway through the city, then towards the scepter a good five minutes by foot until you see the smoke from the alchemists' fires."

  A leather bag with strap appeared in Crowley's hand. He tossed it to me. I caught the heavy bag, which clinked with the sound of coins. I tried not to act surprised.

  "I'm sorry. Towards the crown? The scepter?" I couldn't make sense of Crowley's directions.

  "He means towards the Emperor," Ember said. She pointed to one of the walls. "The crown is that way. The scepter this way." She pointed to her right, then completed the rest of the directions, turning clockwise. "The throne. The sword."

  "Like north, east, south, west," I said.

  "Basically," Ember said.

  "If demons can tell where the Emperor is all the time, can I do that, too? You said I might have demonic ancestry?" I had been able to use the obedience collar, sort of, after all.

  "Maybe you already can, but it's too subtle to notice," Allura said.

  I shrugged. I'd figure it out some other time. I hefted the bag in my hand, then slung it across my back. If the old beggar wanted me to run an errand for him, that was a small favor for what he'd already done for me.

  "After I deliver this, you'll find me a sword teacher?"

  Crowley smiled. "Something like that."

  "Will it be safe, though? Traveling through the city?" Ember asked. "What if Ryder tries something?"

  "It should be safe enough. Make sure to mask your Flame at all times. He may figure out what you've done eventually, but we want to delay that as long as possible. Right now, you're one more nameless demon in Duskfall. Keep it
that way, and he'll leave you alone."

  We had been lurking under the city the entire time we had been here. I was itching to get to fresh air. I beckoned to my two succubi and headed for the city above.

  CHAPTER 18

  We followed the underground waterways until we found a set of metal rungs embedded into the wall leading up to what looked like an exit. I climbed up to the trap door and opened it. Someone shouted and stepped away.

  I popped my head out of the opening and found myself squinting at the sudden rush of light. I ducked as a horse or bull drawing a cart rolled past. We were in the middle of a busy city street.

  I quickly moved out of the way. Ember and Allura flew out of the narrow trap door under their own power of flight, landing besides me. A couple figures passing by glanced at us with eyes of various shapes and colors, but nobody stopped or paid much further attention to us.

  Ember pointed to our right. "To the crown."

  North, then, or the closest thing to that they had in the Abyss. I had no idea what shape the Abyss even was. A globe? A flat plain? Did the idea of north even make sense here?

  The three of us moved to the side of the street and walked briskly.

  "We should be able to cross the city within a few hours, right?" I asked. I had seen the walls of the city when approaching from below, but I hadn't gotten a proper view of the city's entire size due to the way the walls were built into the mountain itself. I picked up my pace, trusting the two succubi to match my stride.

  "Wait," Allura said. She tugged on my arm.

  I stopped and gave her a questioning look. She beckoned for us to move to the shadow of a stone building.

  "What is it?" I asked.

  Ember poked the bag slung across my back. "That. She wants to know what's inside."

  I hadn't really given Crowley's request much thought. He wanted me to deliver something. I would deliver it. "That's Crowley's business," I said.

  "Didn't you hear the clinking?" Allura asked. "It sounds like a lot of money in there. We should take a look."

  I frowned. Clearly, the Abyss had different expectations of morality, and I wasn't above snooping around for any advantage I could get. But Crowley had helped me.