Demon Reign, page 8
part #4 of Demons of Morningstar Series
“Trystin is possessive of his position, and it makes him competitive.”
“Oh…” Mallini’s lips broke in a sly smile. “He can’t do it, can he?”
Wait a second… “Trystin can’t command them?”
“No. He’s a Knightwood by marriage, not blood. The Knightwood name is taken by anyone who marries into it. But poor Ione, his wife, passed away several decades ago, and Trystin stepped into her shoes as leader. Over time, the people have forgotten that he isn’t a blood Knightwood, and this…incident with the demibeasts might remind them. He won’t like that.”
“It’s a bit late for that,” Mallini said. “The maras all know.”
“And we know how to keep our mouths shut,” Lynal said.
So Trystin would be less than accommodating if he knew about my ability because he would see it as a threat to his position. “We get it, Lynal.”
“I’m glad you do.” He headed for the exit. “We’ll keep this to ourselves until your princes arrive. It can be addressed then.” I was about to ask him what he meant by addressing it, but he was already walking away. “I’ll be back soon. Garth will stay and watch over you.”
There was nothing left to do now but wait.
GUS
It’s gray and silver inside the walls of the inner city, and there are too many steps. Jysten says there were lifts once and hovering boards that would take you easily to the tops of any tower. But now everyone uses stairs. The upper levels are rarely visited, but the hub is located at the pinnacle of the central tower. What Jysten calls the queen’s tower.
“It was her throne room,” he says as we climb the steps. “But no one goes there now. Not for many years since Trystin decided the hub was no longer working.”
“How do you know it ever worked?” The question is out before I can stop it, and Jysten falters in his climb.
“Messages were sent at the beginning,” he says. “Ione Knightwood was in charge then. Second cousin to Soreena. She sent the missives. Though if they told her the fate of our queen, she did not relay it to us.”
“Maybe she wanted to keep morale up,” Keelan says.
“Possibly,” Jysten agrees. “Regardless, by the time we had the infected under control, the messages were no longer being replied to. Ione passed away soon after. Trystin was brokenhearted, but he picked up the mantle of leader and continued her work. He attempted to send messages, but after no reply, he decreed that the hub was broken.”
“Trystin was Ione’s mate?” Keelan asks.
“Yes.”
I glance out the window at the bridges high above that connect the towers. So many towers. And far below is nothing but mist, as if the world has faded away.
“Who lived in the Central City?” Keelan asks. “Just the royals?”
“No. Many nobles, and maras, efreet, and other dignitaries. Central City was home to us all. They say it was peaceful.” He paused to look back at us. “But I was born after the Chaos War, so I don’t know. Is it peaceful in the demon realm?”
Keelan snorts. “Peace is relative.”
Jysten frowns. “That is also true. We call what we have now peace. The threat is under control…” He frowns. “At least we believed it to be so. I can’t understand how the infected got so close without us knowing. Our patrols have been regular and thorough.” He shakes his head. “Now our numbers are down, and the people will be frightened again.”
Frightened people are easier to control.
I’m not sure why that thought pops into my mind, but now it’s there, I can’t shake it.
We step off onto a platform and then take a narrow flight of steps to another floor. There are no windows to look out of here, and a sense of claustrophobia sets in.
I’m about to ask how much farther when the passage opens out onto an entranceway and a set of vaulted doors.
“Here we are,” Jysten says.
There are no guards. No locks on this door. Strange, considering how important this place is supposed to be.
Jysten pushes the doors open and steps back to allow us into the vast chamber beyond. The ceiling is so high I can barely see the rafters. This is the pinnacle, a hall with many windows looking out at the purple sky, and in the center of the room is a circular control panel with huge black and pink crystals jutting up out of it. I can feel the buzz of energy from here. And they say this hub is broken?
Wait…this looks familiar. “Can I examine it?”
Jysten shrugs. “I don’t see why not. It’s not like you can break it any more than it is. Broken is broken.”
Excitement fizzes beneath my skin as I get closer because I’ve seen a machine like this before. Not in the flesh, but in an obscure journal buried in the archives at Morningstar, filled with sketches and notes. A journal belonging to someone named H. Harmony Jownes. Sure enough, there are initials etched into a plaque affixed to the machine.
H.H.J.
This is the machine he designed.
And I know exactly how it’s supposed to work.
Fourteen
NYX
Lynal offered to take us to guest chambers to wash and change, but none of us wanted to stray too far from Tristeene. Instead, we used the guards’ shower in the corridor outside the dungeons. Lynal managed to find me and Mallini some clean clothes. He didn’t have anything in Veena’s size but promised to get something customized immediately.
It felt good to have the last two days washed off my body. I’d gone nose blind while out on the road, but now that I smelled of jasmine soap, my olfactory system was back on track, and I could practically see the fumes rising off my clothes.
Back in the dungeons, there was nothing to do but wait for Tristeene to wake up.
“So you and Jysten…” Mallini wiggled her eyebrows at Veena.
Veena blushed. “Shut up.”
I bit back a smile. “It’s okay to like him.”
Her expression sobered. “I’m betrothed, remember?”
My heart sank. “Yeah, well, not for long. Once one of us gets that throne, we’ll sort that out.”
“You can’t make my mother change her mind,” Veena said. “And that’s the only way to end the betrothal.” She dropped her chin, allowing her hair to fall forward to hide her face.
This was her defensive posture. Her way of hiding herself from the world.
Mallini and I locked gazes over her head. No words were needed. We knew what needed to be done. We knew exactly how to make someone change their mind, and it wasn’t by asking nicely.
But Veena didn’t need to know that.
Tristeene groaned softly. She’d rolled in her sleep and had her back to us.
“She’s waking up,” Mallini said. “Hey, sleepyhead. How you feeling?”
Tristeene groaned again, then propped herself on her elbow.
I stood slowly, my scalp prickling. “Tristeene?”
She made a soft moaning sound and sat up, her back still to us.
Veena grabbed my hand and squeezed. Yeah, she felt it too. The wrongness of this.
Please, please, no. “Tristeene, look at me.”
She made a soft choking sound and then threw herself off the narrow cot and onto the floor.
Garth ducked out of the room, probably to go get Lynal.
This couldn’t be happening.
I grabbed hold of Veena. “Tristeene?”
Tristeene’s shoulders heaved, and she finally stood and turned to face us. “Nyx…” Her eyes were pitch black, and her pallor was gray. “Nyx, I feel…odd. There’s something…I can feel something in the back of my mind. It’s watching…”
Gooseflesh broke out across my skin.
“Hello, Tristeene.” Lynal joined us. “How are you feeling?”
She frowned at him. “I feel…different.”
“She isn’t infected,” Veena said. “Look at her. She can talk. She’s not all crazy.”
Lynal pressed his lips together, drew his dagger and walked closer to the cell, leaving about a meter between him and the bars.
“What are you doing?” I stepped forward. “Lynal?”
“A little experiment.” He sliced his palm and held it up.
Nothing happened.
She was fine. Still Tristeene and not some infected monster. “See, she’s—”
Tristeene’s head whipped up. “What?” Her nostrils flared impossibly wide. “There’s something wrong.” Her mouth widened, teeth sprouting long and sharp.
No…please, no…
She lunged at the bars with a feral growl that turned my blood to ice.
There was no doubt about it. My sister was infected.
GUS
The hub machine is a mystical radio powered by huge crystals that are now inactive. The buzz of power is residual energy, not enough to make it work. But why are the crystals inert?
I think back to the schematics in the journal. I spent long enough studying them, after all. Fascinating stuff.
I run my hands over the symbols etched into the marble that makes up the console. Each corresponds to a letter, and when active, a message can be typed and sent to be received outside the wards.
But why isn’t it working?
There should be a panel somewhere…
I crouch and scan the machine for seams, anything that indicates a hidden section.
“What are you doing?” Jysten asks.
“Looking for something.” I see it. A small rectangular shape cut into the white marble. “I think I found it.” I press it, and it pops open. There should be four small crystals inside, and yes, yes, there they are. Four tiny crystals pushed into oval-shaped slots. There’s a hole to one side of the crystals which I don’t recall seeing in the schematics. Aside from that, this is exactly how things should be, except…Oh earth, the crystals are in the wrong order. My heart pounds in excitement. I know how to fix this, but hot on the heels of that realization is another: if the hub worked at one time, then it means someone deliberately reordered this panel to stop it working.
“Gus? What’s wrong?” Keelan asks.
“What are you doing in here?” Trystin strides into the room.
I shove the panel closed and move away quickly to face Trystin. “We wanted to see the hub.”
Trystin’s jaw ticks. “It’s broken.”
I nod and frown. “Such a shame.”
Broken by design. Broken deliberately, but I’m not sure it’s safe to tell him that. He was married to a Knightwood, to the first leader of this abandoned world. He would have worked with her to send the missives. Understood the machine as she did. And I’m beginning to suspect he might be the one who broke it.
Fifteen
NYX
Tristeene frothed at the mouth, black eyes gleaming with malice and hunger, and the teeth…All those teeth in a mouth that no longer fit her face.
My stomach twisted, and I held tight to Veena, smoothing her hair and making soothing sounds, more for my benefit than hers. Because seeing Tristeene, a female so poised and regal, stripped down to this base primal state, made my insides quake with horror and my eyes burn with the threat of tears.
My voice sounded odd and warbly to my ears when I spoke. “Stop it. Just stop.”
Lynal stepped away from the cell and wiped his hand on a cloth that Garth passed him. Tristeene sagged like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and her face morphed back to normal.
She gripped the bars with a strangled sob. “That…that wasn’t me. Oh earth, that wasn’t me.” Her dark alien eyes pleaded with me to believe her. “Nyx, I swear I didn’t mean to…”
“The blood,” Mallini said. “It made you lose control.”
“I’m sorry,” Lynal said. “But we had a deal.”
Tristeene stared at me in horror. “No. I’m still me. I’m still here.”
This was all wrong. Killing a rabid infected was one thing, but this…Tristeene was still Tristeene. “This isn’t a typical infected situation, Lynal, and you know it.”
He looked uneasy. “It doesn’t change the fact that she’s dangerous.”
“So are you. So am I. So is a demibeast, under the right circumstances.”
“I know what you’re trying to illustrate, but we have a choice whether to attack. What happened just now illustrates that she does not.” He sliced his palm again, and Tristeene went nuts. “See?”
Fuck it.
He wiped his palm clean and moved away from the cage. Tristeene reverted to herself, covering her mouth with a trembling hand, eyes wide with horror.
“Stop doing that!” Veena snapped at Lynal. “Leave her alone.”
“No, he’s right,” Tristeene said. “I’m not in control. I should…” Her eyes went blank.
“Tristeene?” Mallini took a step toward the cage. “Tristeene? Can you hear me?”
TRISTEENE
It’s dark and stormy. The wind tears at my clothes, and lightning splits the sky. I’m not alone. There are others here with me. People standing around me with their heads tipped back and their eyes closed. Warm earth presses against the soles of my bare feet, pulsing steadily.
Alive.
I don’t like this. I want it to stop. I try to lift a foot, but the earth holds on to me.
My chest tightens with panic. No. Get off me. I tug hard and am suddenly free to stagger forward and collide with the body in front of me. The male sways and rights himself. His feet never break contact with the earth because he has no feet. His legs are joined like the trunk of a tree, and his feet are gone, buried deep in the soil, as if he’s growing out of the earth.
They’re all the same. Every daimon, demon, and abyssblood standing silently in the storm is literally rooted into the earth.
I have to get out of here because there is no doubt in mind that if I stay, I’ll become just like them.
The lightning flashes then dies, and silence falls, thick and suffocating. My scalp crawls with awareness. The sensation prey must feel when it is being hunted.
I am prey, and there is an unseen predator here with me.
“What is this?” The voice is androgynous. “I sense you, little one. You resist me.” It sounds intrigued by that fact.
Every hair on my body stands to attention.
“The blood has alerted me to your presence, so there is no point in hiding now.”
Don’t speak. Don’t answer. I press my lips together, heart pounding like a hammer against my ribs.
“Come now. You can tell me your name. Best we get acquainted. We will be spending much time together.”
The air ripples, and I sense the entity move closer.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” it sing-songs.
I have to get out of here. Back to my siblings. Back to…Where were we?
“Oh yes, I feel you. Close now.”
The abyss!
Back to the abyss.
I have to get out. Now!
NYX
Tristeene sucked in a sharp breath and snapped out of her daze. “Oh earth…” She grabbed the bars to hold her trembling body upright.
Fuck this. I crossed the room and wrapped my fingers around hers so that we were gripping the bars together. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
She shook her head. “No, it isn’t, and I’m not. I went somewhere. I saw…”
“What did you see?” Lynal asked.
Her gaze flicked to him. “People rooted to the earth. So many of them. Like trees. Daimon, demon, and abyssbloods, just rooted to the earth beneath a lightning storm, and then…I heard a voice. It was something…something bad. And it was looking for me.” She shuddered. “Nyx…I think…I think I just met the root of the sickness. I think…I think it’s alive.”
Sixteen
Tristeene perched on the edge of her narrow cot watching Lynal pace the flagstones.
“There has to be a reason why the infection is affecting you differently,” he said. “You’re a succubus, right?”
“Yes, a Nephalem.”
“Yes, and we have Nephalem who were infected. It’s always the same.”
But it was different this time. Because there was something different about Tristeene. But what?
Veena grabbed my hand. “Your blood. Tristeene drank your blood when she got hurt. Could that be why?”
Oh…fuck…
Lynal looked confused, but the expressions on Mallini and Tristeene’s faces told me they’d grasped what Veena was saying and why.
“I’m an anomaly, Lynal. My blood is different.”
He exhaled sharply. “Of course. And your blood was in her system when she was infected. It could be why this thing, whatever it is, can’t get a hold on her.”
“But it’s trying,” Tristeene said. “It’s trying to find me. Right now, it’s as if it can’t see me properly, but when you bled, you helped it surge to the surface.”
“It’s an entity,” Mallini said. “Alive. Like a queen bee in a hive controlling all the workers.”
“Yes!” Tristeene stood up. “Their consciousnesses are in the gray place with the lightning. It has them plugged into the earth. It tried to take me, but I fought it.”
“You can’t kill Tristeene,” Veena said confidently. “We need her. She could be the key to figuring out what this sickness is and stopping it.”
Tristeene’s throat bobbed. “I can’t…I can’t go back to that place. What if it finds me?”
She was right. We couldn’t risk that. Yet. “No one will do anything until we have more information on this thing. The sickness came from the pit, so we need to speak to someone who is from the pit.”
Tristeene’s eyes flared in comprehension.
My smile was mirthless. “We need to speak to Sin.”
Gus and Keelan returned a few minutes later, escorted by Jysten. We filled them in on Tristeene’s experience with the strange entity, then Lynal left, saying he needed to speak to Trystin about all of this.
Garth retreated to guard the main exit from the dungeons, but Jysten hovered close to Veena. The maras had a thing for my sister, for sure.
