“That’s just the drugs talking.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. Now when’s the next goddamned bus?”
he buses to Redthorne ran fairly frequently, as it was the nearest town with a decent nightlife, and one arrived at the campus bus stop not long after we did. As usual, the driver steered the bus like a maniac, sending us flying off our seats at every hill. But for once I was glad of the breakneck pace. It had started to rain outside, and the raindrops peppered the windows like pellets as we hurtled downhill.
“What happened?” I asked Leo, gripping the top of the seat in front for support.
“Berenice and Howard got attacked by a bunch of shadow-beasts. Well, at least that’s what I think happened. Berenice was kind of hysterical.”
“Is it… serious?” My breath caught. I didn’t particularly
like
Howard, but he was one of us, after all.
“I don’t know.” Leo shook his head. “Sometimes Howard underestimates shadow-beasts, since they aren’t on a level with demons. But they can tear you to shreds if you make a mistake―even that idiot knows that.
Dammit
.”
I swallowed, tightening my grip on the headrest. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Shadow-beasts were vicious, but the reason the Venantium ranked demons higher was because of their ability to manipulate human minds, even though they didn’t represent a physical threat on their own. True demons specialised in possession and telepathy, and could read the thoughts of any human they chose. And, of course, they could kill in a painless, final heartbeat.
But unless it possessed someone, a demon’s ability to affect the physical world was limited to minor telekinesis, lowering the temperature, and sometimes the manipulation of electricity. Put them in control of a human mind and they could cause chaos. I’d never seen this because the only time I’d encountered a demon possession―Terrence―there had been only one. But on a mass scale, they could be far more deadly. They could move from one host to another, killing at will; and if the person they possessed was a sorcerer, they had access to the human magic as well as their own. The Venantium feared a demon invasion above everything else.
Alone, a demon was powerless. But the cases the Venantium had to deal with usually involved a demon’s power combined with a sorcerer’s―twice as deadly, and much harder to send the demon back to the Darkworld.
But demons couldn’t simply possess anyone in an instant. They had to have permission, a kind of contract. I didn’t know how it worked, only that they usually ended up killing the host to save the bother of arguing. Either way, the human wouldn’t get out alive once a demon had picked its target.
All in all, getting involved with demons was a bad idea.
We leapt off the bus as soon as it pulled to a stop, and raced up the main street, past the blazing lights from the bars. We dodged around inebriated clubbers, slipping on the wet pavements. Leo swore as we took a turning into a side street and almost ran smack into a wall of shadows.
Something like a huge clot of darkness leapt at us. It crashed into my shoulder, knocking me off my feet. I fell down, and the Darkworld answered almost before I touched it, ice flowing from my palms to break my fall. The rain turned to ice in the air, glittering crystals suspended around me, blocking the beast as it lunged at me again. Shadows folded around the edges of my vision, the demon inside me awakening. I pushed back the sudden, unexpected urge to taunt the beast to move closer. I had to finish this fast.
Luckily, the Darkworld was more than willing to answer. I summoned icy fire to my right palm and threw it at the shadow-beast. The shadowy mass distorted as the monster screamed, its jaws gaping wide, a fist-sized hole smoking in its flank. It shrank from the size of a lion to more like a large dog, but it still bared its sharp teeth. It jumped at me, trailing streams of darkness, and I
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. Now when’s the next goddamned bus?”
he buses to Redthorne ran fairly frequently, as it was the nearest town with a decent nightlife, and one arrived at the campus bus stop not long after we did. As usual, the driver steered the bus like a maniac, sending us flying off our seats at every hill. But for once I was glad of the breakneck pace. It had started to rain outside, and the raindrops peppered the windows like pellets as we hurtled downhill.
“What happened?” I asked Leo, gripping the top of the seat in front for support.
“Berenice and Howard got attacked by a bunch of shadow-beasts. Well, at least that’s what I think happened. Berenice was kind of hysterical.”
“Is it… serious?” My breath caught. I didn’t particularly
like
Howard, but he was one of us, after all.
“I don’t know.” Leo shook his head. “Sometimes Howard underestimates shadow-beasts, since they aren’t on a level with demons. But they can tear you to shreds if you make a mistake―even that idiot knows that.
Dammit
.”
I swallowed, tightening my grip on the headrest. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Shadow-beasts were vicious, but the reason the Venantium ranked demons higher was because of their ability to manipulate human minds, even though they didn’t represent a physical threat on their own. True demons specialised in possession and telepathy, and could read the thoughts of any human they chose. And, of course, they could kill in a painless, final heartbeat.
But unless it possessed someone, a demon’s ability to affect the physical world was limited to minor telekinesis, lowering the temperature, and sometimes the manipulation of electricity. Put them in control of a human mind and they could cause chaos. I’d never seen this because the only time I’d encountered a demon possession―Terrence―there had been only one. But on a mass scale, they could be far more deadly. They could move from one host to another, killing at will; and if the person they possessed was a sorcerer, they had access to the human magic as well as their own. The Venantium feared a demon invasion above everything else.
Alone, a demon was powerless. But the cases the Venantium had to deal with usually involved a demon’s power combined with a sorcerer’s―twice as deadly, and much harder to send the demon back to the Darkworld.
But demons couldn’t simply possess anyone in an instant. They had to have permission, a kind of contract. I didn’t know how it worked, only that they usually ended up killing the host to save the bother of arguing. Either way, the human wouldn’t get out alive once a demon had picked its target.
All in all, getting involved with demons was a bad idea.
We leapt off the bus as soon as it pulled to a stop, and raced up the main street, past the blazing lights from the bars. We dodged around inebriated clubbers, slipping on the wet pavements. Leo swore as we took a turning into a side street and almost ran smack into a wall of shadows.
Something like a huge clot of darkness leapt at us. It crashed into my shoulder, knocking me off my feet. I fell down, and the Darkworld answered almost before I touched it, ice flowing from my palms to break my fall. The rain turned to ice in the air, glittering crystals suspended around me, blocking the beast as it lunged at me again. Shadows folded around the edges of my vision, the demon inside me awakening. I pushed back the sudden, unexpected urge to taunt the beast to move closer. I had to finish this fast.
Luckily, the Darkworld was more than willing to answer. I summoned icy fire to my right palm and threw it at the shadow-beast. The shadowy mass distorted as the monster screamed, its jaws gaping wide, a fist-sized hole smoking in its flank. It shrank from the size of a lion to more like a large dog, but it still bared its sharp teeth. It jumped at me, trailing streams of darkness, and I
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