Redemption (Ascendancy Legacy 6) Read online

  Now that the man had a purpose, he seemed to calm slightly. “Walk directly behind me and don’t say anything. If anyone stops us, let me do the talking.”

  “You got it.” I flared my magic again, letting the heat seep into my bones.

  “And whatever you do, don’t fucking do that. It’s a dead giveaway.”

  Before we started to move again, I cast a spell over my swords. It should be enough to keep them hidden from prying eyes. He moved around the corner, and I followed him. I wrapped my arms around myself and bent against the wind and the cold. I grew up in Tucson. Cold there is a relative term. Sure, every eight years or so we might have had the barest dusting of snow, but a normal winter was in the fifties or sixties during the day. It had been a long time since I had felt a real chill. Shit, sometimes I wore a jacket when it was in the seventies.

  We wove through the town. I had a feeling that my guide knew where most of the demons were likely to spot us and was leading us around those areas. Finally, a large building came into sight. The man in front of me came to a stop. I thought I heard him swear under his breath, but then he started moving again. We climbed the steps to the patio, and a man stepped around one of the pillars and blocked our way.

  “What do we have here?” He looked down at the man, obviously happy, as if he had caught him breaking some kind of rule. “You shouldn’t be out here this late.”

  The man in front of me reached into his pocket and pulled out the pass he had shown me earlier. The demon snorted and motioned for him to move to the side.

  “And you, where is your pass?”

  I looked up at the demon, trying to gauge his strength. I would have been surprised if he was one of the stronger demons. That meant he was riding around in a meat suit. He would be stronger and faster than a normal human, but no match for me. Cold malice danced across his eyes. He was enjoying this or the thought of what he could do to me if I didn’t produce what he was looking for.

  The man who had brought me here stepped forward. “He’s a new recruit for Troian. As you can see, they dropped him off here without the bare essentials. It would help if I could get him inside before his feet fall off. He needs to be cleaned up before he can be delivered.”

  “Cleaned up, yes, but I seriously doubt Troian will care if he is delivered with or without clothes.” The demon gave a sly smirk as he looked me over. “And we both know his feet aren’t what the boss will be interested in.”

  The demon stepped forward and grabbed my chin. His fingers sank into my flesh with authority. He wanted to make sure that I knew exactly who was in charge. I tried to turn my head away, but he forced it back up so I had to look at him in the eyes.

  “He’s got some fight in him, this one. Troian will like that.” He turned my head from side to side. “Pretty too. Maybe I should take him for a spin before you go.”

  “I think we both know how that would work out for you,” my guide said.

  “Why you little shit.” The demon struck him on the side of the head, sending him stumbling to the wooden planks.

  He looked at me and motioned for me not to do anything. The demon missed our byplay and went to stand over him. Everything in my heart was telling me to rid this realm of one more demon, and I would if he decided to strike him again.

  “Get him inside and out of my face, Magnus. If I see you again tonight, maybe it will be you who I decide to play with.” The demon looked at him for a moment and then turned to walk away. As he passed by me, he slammed his shoulder into mine.

  I ignored it and rushed to help Magnus to his feet. Once Magnus was standing again, he opened the door and headed inside. He turned to me once the door was closed. I could see a little bit of blood trickling down the side of his face where the demon’s punch had broken the skin.

  “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Magnus said to me. “It must have been hard for you not to kill him.”

  I nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Harder than you can imagine.” I sent a wave of healing magic through him. It wasn’t enough to seal the wound. I didn’t want it to look obvious that he was healed. If the demons saw that, they might start to ask questions, and that could be bad for all of us. The magic should be enough to take some of the pain away and make sure that the area didn’t swell too badly.

  “Thank you, Redeemer. Now let’s see if we can’t find you some clothes.”

  I followed Magnus through the building into a large room filled with bins of clothing. We searched through the piles until I found something that fit pretty decently, and then he grabbed a coat for me off the rack. He led me into another room, and I tossed my clothes down onto the bed.

  “There is a shower just through that door. I’ll find you some boots and have them back here before you get out of the shower. If you’re up for it, I’m going to gather a few people and bring them back here to speak with you.”

  “What about the demon at the door? I don’t want you to get into any more trouble on my behalf.”

  He smiled and waved his hand in dismissal. “Trevor’s an asshole, that’s for sure, but he’ll be long gone by now. None of these demons are too fond of the cold. The later it gets, the fewer of them we see on the streets.”

  “In that case, I’d be happy to meet with whomever you are asking me to. There is just one thing left to discuss.” He looked at me, wondering what that could be. “Food. Where do I get it, and how much of it can you spare?”

  Magnus laughed. It was the good kind of laugh, the one that came from deep in your belly and poured out of you. It had been a long time since I had heard someone laugh like that. Probably since before I came to hell.

  He stopped laughing and wiped tears from the corners of his eyes. “My God, boy, you sound just like one of my kids. I’ll make sure to bring you something when we come back.”

  He left without saying another word, and I stripped off my torn and tattered clothes and hopped into the shower. The water was warmer than I thought it would be considering how cold it was outside. It felt like sharp needles as it hit my arms and feet, but the rest of me felt divine. I soaked in the warmth, just like someone would soak in the sun on the beach. The warm water soothed the aches in my muscles from the change. The change didn’t hurt as bad this time, but it hadn’t been painless. Despite what my mother said, I wondered if it ever would be.

  With my shower done, I dressed in my new clothes. I felt better already. It felt good to have clean clothes on. Not only that, but they were warm. It would let me save my strength for what I really needed it for. This hell wouldn’t be much different than any of the others. They would need me to kill some of the demons, and I would do it, slowly working my way toward the prince. Maybe this time I would actually be able to get home.

  Sitting alone in the room left me with some uncomfortable truths about myself. I wasn’t ready to confront them yet, so I decided to take a look around the building. It was probably a mistake to expose myself like that, but sitting still wasn’t something I was good at. Unless, of course, they had the newest PlayStation. Then I’d be more than willing to knock back a couple of beers and eat a pizza or two.

  The lodge actually was pretty minimal. There were no pictures. Outside of the sparse amount of furniture, it was empty. I guess the demons didn’t believe their slaves should have materialistic desires. Oddly enough, it had a cabin-like feel, something I would have felt right at home in if it was on the top of Mount Lemmon.

  I did a few more laps around the lodge and didn’t find anything more interesting than the room full of clothes. Deciding not to push my luck, I headed back to my room and closed the door. It didn’t have a lock, but I lay down on the bed anyway. I should have asked Magnus how long it would take him to get back before he left. I’d try and get some rest if I could. I had a feeling tomorrow was going to be another big day.

  A knock sounded at the door, jolting me awake. I shook some of the sleep from my body and managed to croak out the words, “Come in.”

  Magnus p
opped his head back into the room, and I noticed his big bushy beard for the first time. I must have been more tired than I thought not to have noticed it at all last night. He gave me a quick once-over and then spoke.

  “I’ve got some of our people assembled for you to speak with, and we brought some food.”

  “Perfect. Just give me a minute, and I’ll be right out. He nodded and closed the door. I made my way into the bathroom and took care of business. I looked around, and it seemed they weren’t real big on toothbrushes in hell, so I put some water in my mouth and used the old finger brush to do what I could. After a few more swishes of water, I was ready to address the crowd.

  It wasn’t the kind of gathering I had expected. Only five other people awaited me in the next room. It was nice to know I wouldn’t be on the spot to address an army like I had been forced to do yesterday. Hopefully, these folks could give me an idea of who needed to be eliminated and which direction I needed to travel to find the prince.

  Before sitting down at the table, I loaded up a plate with food. “I hope I’m not being rude, but I need to eat. Is it ok if I dig in while we talk?”

  Magnus looked as if he was about to start laughing again. An older woman stepped forward and indicated that everyone should sit. “That would be fine, dear.”

  My guess was that she was in charge. I didn’t even wait for everyone to be seated before I shoved the first few bites in. Already I could feel the hunger pangs fading away. Seriously. Changing into a werewolf left me with a vicious appetite. I also didn’t know when I’d be able to eat again, so I planned on putting a serious dent in their supplies. They watched me for a moment, and then she calculated when I would be in between mouthfuls and took a chance on asking a question.

  “So you are the redeemer?”

  “That’s what people tell me. My name is Jackson, so you can use that if it makes you more comfortable.”

  “How do we know it’s really you?”

  I created a bright blue ball of fire, and as I threw it between my hands, I made it hover slowly and change from blue to pink. I really was starting to wish for once they would just take my word for it. Being forced to do magic tricks or fight someone to prove it wasn’t really my thing. I was who I was. Take it or leave it.

  “So you’re here to liberate us?”

  “Actually, I’m just here to find the prince and force him to send me home. If you need help being liberated, I might be able to do that, but I don’t make any guarantees.”

  “But it’s true that you liberated several worlds already?”

  “I think you know that it is.” I fixed her with a glare. I didn’t have time to answer questions she already knew the answers to.

  She held up her hands in surrender. “I just had to be sure.”

  “You’re talking to the right man. Just point me to the prince, and I’ll be on my way, unless, of course, you have other ideas.”

  “There are six camps between here and the cave that the prince calls home. Each one has an overlord, as well as several key enforcers. If you could help remove them from the villages, we could do the rest.”

  Now we were talking. I loved it that they wanted to take the intuitive and do a lot of this themselves. It made my job easier and earned them the revenge they deserved. “I’ll do my best to help you, but I’m going to need something from you in return.”

  The woman frowned and looked over at Magnus. He just shrugged his shoulders. “Name it.”

  I sat back in my chair and thought about what I needed from them. It wasn’t going to be easy, but I had a feeling at least a few of them would be up for the task. As I outlined my plan, they began to smile and nod their heads. If everything went to plan, I’d be out of here in a few days. Knowing that demons had April, that seemed like a few days to long. If there was any chance for me to get this done sooner I’d take that chance. If anything happened to her because of me I wouldn’t’ be able to live with it.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jackson

  The other villages’ representatives had left. They all had work to do until I showed up to wreak havoc on the demons. Until then, they had to go about their normal routines. Magnus told me that the man who stopped us last night was in charge of our camp. I wondered why he had such a normal name. Trevor didn’t exactly inspire fear, at least not in me. I was looking forward to destroying him. It had been bad enough that I had to let him put his greasy fingers on me.

  We had all talked about several ways for me to approach the situation, and despite what had been bandied about, I preferred the direct approach. I wasn’t an assassin. You were going to see me coming. You would die with a weapon in hand, or close enough to it. I wasn’t the kind of person who would stab you in the back.

  Trevor was standing on the porch of the building across from the center square. I walked toward him and shouted his name. He turned, looking almost amused, and then he remembered who I was. His gaze turned from amusement to one of rage, and he ran off of the porch, three other demons in tow.

  “Trevor, I’m here to set you free,” I shouted, pulling my swords from behind me.

  “I’m looking forward to spending the rest of the day with you bent over in front of me, boy.”

  He motioned with one hand, and the three demons who had been following him rushed around him and charged straight for me. I ducked under the first wild swing and sliced his belly before twisting to the side and slashing the back of the next demon as he passed me. The third one managed to stop and calculate his attack. Since he didn’t have a weapon, it still didn’t work out well for him.

  My sword cut through his arm as I spun around behind him and stabbed him through the chest. I had just kicked his body off the edge of my blade before demons one and two were back. The healing they possessed was astonishing. Both of them only had scars puckering from the wounds I had dealt them earlier. I hadn’t seen that level of healing before, at least not from anything that wasn’t a prince.

  This time, the two demons tried to work in tandem. I used my blades to keep them at bay and was surprised to see the third demon staggering to his feet. He looked weak and was missing an arm, but that wouldn’t stop him from attacking. The demon to my left lunged for me, trying to tackle me to the ground. I used my magic to anchor my feet to the earth. When he hit me, I didn’t move. Instead, I brought the hilt of one of my swords down on his head. The demon fell to the ground, unconscious.

  His partner tried to attack while I was distracted. It earned him a kick to the midsection, followed by two blades in the chest. That hadn’t worked out too well for me with the third demon, so as I pulled the blades free, I spun and brought them down on his neck, hacking his head away and leaving deep gouges in his chest.

  “I’d like to see you heal from that.”

  Demon number one was starting to stir, and damned if demon number three wasn’t already charging at me, snarling. It lost some of its intended effect when he was in a meat suit. The fact that he looked like a rabid human or a zombie wasn’t anywhere near as scary to me as it should have been. I used a little bit of magic to trip him and then turned back toward demon number one.

  He was starting to rise from the ground. At least he was, until I slammed a blade down in the center of his back, severing his spine. With their healing, his spine would probably repair itself, but I wasn’t going to give him the chance. I grabbed a fist full of his greasy hair and slit his throat. As his struggles started to slow, I lopped his head off and tossed it to the side.

  Demon number three had climbed back to his feet and looked just as pissed as before. He charged in blindly. I pivoted to the side, using his missing arm to my advantage. Three strikes later, and he was just as headless as his friend. I looked up, my breath coming out in ragged gasps, leaving trails of steam in the cold air. Trevor smiled at me. He had gotten swords from somewhere. Despite how quickly I had killed his men, he didn’t seem worried. Maybe he was more powerful than I thought.

  My breath started to slow, and I
stood straighter. I was ready for whatever this demon had. He was no prince. With a thought, I ignited the corpses around me, turning them into ash. Only then did Trevor’s haughty expression start to change. He had finally realized who he was fighting. He couldn’t turn and run now; it would make him look weak. No demon wanted to hide behind the skirts of its master.

  I hit my swords together, letting the ringing sound wash over the buildings around us. Most of the workers had already stopped what they were doing, but now they stood and stared in open wonder. Part of what we had planned was not to tell the normal people of the villages. We wanted them to see what was possible firsthand.

  Trevor had seen enough. With a roar that shook the snow from the building behind him, he ran forward. That was the thing with demons, they almost never seemed to learn. Only the princes I had encountered had shown any real signs of intelligence. The rest were mindless slaves to their desires. I was sure that was just how the princes liked it.

  He rushed forward, and I used a bit of earth magic to make him stumble. His cry was cut off as he slammed into the ground. The people here feared this demon so completely, they sat in stunned silence. He started to rise to his feet, and I pushed him back down with air magic from above. He struggled against the magic, so I let him make it to his knees before having the ground swallow his legs and harden. Despite his struggles and cries, he couldn’t break free.

  “Fight me fairly, you coward.”

  “You mean the same way you never used your enhanced strength and speed to hurt these people?”

  “Fuck you!” He growled.

  “That is what you had in mind for me last night, wasn’t it? How many men and women have you destroyed with your demonic desires?”