Page 113 of Demon's Bluff
“You slipped my snare,” Newt said, clearly thinking she was talking to me as Adagio vanished, the large gargoyle using the ley line to make his getaway. “And my oubliette,” Newt continued, four steps from backing into my trap. “Perhaps you have some worth after all.”
The surface demon writhed, puffs of red dust rising where it scraped and pawed to escape—and Newt frowned, the first inklings that something might be off pinching her brow. I stood with my larger circle between us, shaking. Once she figured it out, I’d have a split second to invoke it and snare her. I wouldn’t have even that if she didn’t walk into the circle.
“Still silent? That’s a nice change.” Newt shifted uneasily. “Elyse Embers can’t keep her mouth shut to save her life. Literally. Don’t you worry, I will have her soul by sundown. She as good as gave it to me.”
I licked my lips, hands shaking. “You willnothave Elyse,” I whispered.
Newt spun comically fast, a hand going to her flat-topped hat to keep it on. “You…” she stammered, black eyes shifting from the captured demon to me. And then her expression went virulent with anger, settling on the stone about my neck. Clearly she was seeing through the glamour. Al had said it wasn’t foolproof.
“Accipe hoc!”she shouted, and the demon within her circle curled up, screeching as a haze spun it into a fist-size nothing and it vanished. “I willnot be made a fool!” she shouted, and I quailed, backing up a step as she pulled on the line and my skin prickled. She was moving. Crap on toast, I had one shot at this.
“Rhombus!”I exclaimed as she crossed the scraped line, and Newt jerked to a halt, mouth open in utter shock when the circle invoked, carrying not just my aura but Al’s, thanks to his knife having drawn it.
I flinched as Newt flung a surge of line energy at the circle—but it held. Al wasn’t stronger than her. And the Goddess knew I wasn’t. But Al had madeQuaere, and I had used it to circle Newt. It would hold.
For a time.
“No one circles me!” Newt strode across the wide circle, halting when a black haze formed between us, the power of the circle condensing where she stood. “I will kill you a hundred times over for this!” Fist hazed with darkness, she struck the glittering barrier, only to be thrown back in a flutter of robes. Grunting, she planted a side kick on it, getting the same results. Frustrated, she howled at the sky…then threw her hat at me.
The hat, oddly enough, passed through, and Newt choked, almost choleric.
“What are you?!” the stymied demon shrieked, and I shifted uneasily.
“Lucky,” I whispered, and Newt went utterly calm. It was worse than her ravings, and I stifled another shiver. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to circle you, but you won’t listen. I am not a familiar and neither is Elyse. I already bought free passage for me and Elyse from you with a taste of my blood. Make good on that, and I’ll let you go.”
The barrier hummed between us as Newt’s gaze dropped toQuaerein my frightened grip. “You are sorry?” Stymied, she retreated until the circle quit the annoying whine. “Gally’s knife answers to you? Did you kill him?”
I shook my head.My God. Had I actually circled her?“No, but by my reckoning, I’m about ready to circle his ass and send him home, so let’s make this quick. You have things to do. Like lock him up for uncommon stupidity so he leaves me alone.”
Newt cocked her hip, her androgynous features sliding to thefeminine. “More riddles,” she muttered, then slowly pushed her fist into the barrier, pulling away when smoke began to rise from her knuckles. “Free passage, you say? Is that what we agreed upon?”
My lip twitched. “For both Elyse and myself. No reprisals.”
Newt mockingly lifted a single eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you rather have the mirror?”
“I want Elyse!” I shouted, my voice coming back hard from the surrounding rock and dirt. “And free passage. And her soul if you tricked her out of it!”
“That’s three things.” Newt hesitated, thinking. “Elyse Embers is not an option. So you get nothing. Further, if you won’t be tamed, you will be killed.”
My breath came fast as the demon again pushed a fist into the circle. Smut swirled from the surface to her point of contact, thinning the circle but for where she touched it. Oh, God, it wasn’t going to hold, and I retreated, my gaze going to the blade in my grip as it began to warm, and heat…and burn.
I dropped it, yelping as my fingers flashed into pain.
Immediately my head snapped up. I had made a mistake.
Newt crowed in success as the circle dropped.
“No!” I exclaimed, scrambling for the ley line—just as the insane demon crashed into me.
“Thief!” Newt shouted as we went down, her atop me. “That curse is mine!” she exclaimed, and I gripped the glamour spell as she tried to pry it from my grip. “How did you prime it to you? Let go. It’s mine!”
Raw energy poured into me as she dug at my fingers, and I gritted my teeth, my hold on the stone tightening when I funneled her raw torrent of burning energy into the earth. “No…” I ground out. I couldn’t get rid of it fast enough. And then I gasped, back arching when Newt doubled the force. Pain raked my mind, became my entire world.
“This is mine!” Newt shouted again, black eyes wrathful as she pulled my closed fist to her. “How did you get it?!”
“Al!” I cried to make the pain go away, my voice echoing in the dark. “Al gave it to me. He helped me b-bind to it!” I stuttered, just wanting the pain to stop.
“How did you get out of my oubliette?” the crazed demon demanded. “Was it Adagio? Tell me, or I will burn you past all mending!”