Bound by Legend: A Bound Novel (8 page)

She lit another cigarette before stuffing the remainder of that pack into her pocket with the lighter that she was sure still had a few more lights in it. Later, she would snap off the little silver guard and be able to use the tiny flame that would still spring from it for a while.

After putting on the other coat, Morgan transferred the rest of her meager possessions to the new backpack as well. She grabbed the umbrella and walked toward the stairs as her internal radar started screaming. The rain had lessened to little more than a sprinkle, time to get out of there.

A shadowy figure slid from the stairwell and onto the second floor. Damn. She hadn’t been fast enough.

“Lucy, go.” Morgan pointed to the corner by the window. The dog obeyed immediately.

“Stay,” she commanded. There was nothing Lucy could do to help her with this.

Morgan slid the backpack off, tossed it and the umbrella on the floor near the dog and flicked the remainder of the cigarette out the window. The mid-level demon, its shape discernable through the smoky shadows that slithered around it, hesitated.

Morgan opened herself to her power, allowing it to fill her. “Well, come on. You were looking for me anyway, now you have me.”

The demon launched itself at her. Morgan raised the circle of golden light up around it before it could reach her. The weight of its mid-level power slammed into the wall she’d created. The circle shuddered under the impact. Religious symbols flashed on the floor under the demon until they settled on the one the demon was tied to.

Morgan smiled at the frustrated demon. “I banish thee. I banish thee back to the pit from which you came. I banish thee from this plane. I banish thee from the world of the living. I banish thee.”

It howled with a sound like nails on metal as it faded, banished back to the Underworld. Morgan dropped the circle. Stupid thing should have known better than to approach her alone. She waited to see if any more would come up the stairs. When nothing happened, Morgan approached the stairs slowly and looked down them. Nothing, although her demon radar was still going off in her head. She breathed a sigh of relief, then froze at the sound of Lucy’s snarl.

Turning, she watched four more crawl through the windows. They hadn’t come at her in these numbers since Arabrim died. This was going to be interesting.

Morgan threw most of her power at the strongest demon, a weak upper-level, raising a circle around him. Two of the others were mid-levels of varying strengths and the last a lower-level; she divided the rest of her power among them in order of their strength.

Circles sprang up around the demons. Religious symbols flashed on the floor beneath the three that were tied to certain religions. The weak upper-level would have no ties. It wouldn’t hold them long, maybe long enough to get rid of the upper-level demon if she was lucky.

Turning her focus on him she began, pulling on her power until a faint burn rushed through her veins, the warning line that wasn’t to be crossed if she didn’t want her own energy to kill her. She began repeating the words that would send him packing to the Underworld for a few years. “I banish thee. I banish thee back to the pit from which you came.”

The demon entrapped by the weakest circle broke through, his shadowy figure hurtling at her. Morgan kept her concentration on holding the upper-level demon while making an agile leap away from the sharp talons of the one who charged her. “I banish thee from this plane.”

The attacking demon turned in an inhumanely quick movement, his claws raking across her upper arm, tearing rips through her coat and the shirts underneath.

Ignoring the searing pain, she met his forward momentum with a kick to the face. Something crunched under her foot. She had no idea what. Like all lower-level demons, only his eyes were visible through the smoky shadows surrounding him.

“I banish thee from the world of the living.”

The lower-level smashed a hand into her chest that sent her flying. She hit the floor twenty-feet away and slid across its dusty surface. Her stunned lungs shuddered, refusing to do their job. Still, her concentration remained total. Years of surviving on the streets had taught her that once in a fight, a loss of concentration meant a serious ass whipping.

As the demon leaped across the room, her lungs finally granted her their cooperation. She sucked in a breath and shouted, “I banish thee.”

The upper-level demon disappeared in a shower of sparks.

Just as the attacking demon leaped at her, she rolled. When it landed in the empty spot where she’d been, Morgan threw a wall up around him, stronger this time now that her power wasn’t divided four ways.

It wasn’t enough. One of the others broke free at the same time she trapped the weaker one. It crashed into her, crushing her to the floor. It stared at her, the red eyes widening. “Inola.”

Morgan punched it in the face with everything ounce of strength she had. It was bigger than her. And stronger, immeasurably so. In her mind, she heard Arabrim ranting at her to stop engaging them with anything other than her power. She hadn’t listened then and she wouldn’t now.

The thing had a hard time keeping hold of her with his burning hands, marks she would wear for several days. She thrashed and wriggled in a fashion that made her slippery as a fish. A talent she’d perfected that had gotten her out of more than one compromising situation.

Morgan twisted until she had herself balled up, then kicked up with both feet. They may be stronger and faster than she was by far, but they weren’t any heavier than anyone else she’d tangled with. The demon lifted up and fell over backward. She sprang to her feet and raised a circle around it again.

Panting she leaned against the wall and glared at the three thoroughly trapped demons. “There. Let’s try this again, shall we?”

Three sets of red eyes glowered back. The strongest of the remaining three, snarled, “Banish us if you wish, channel. He knows you are here now.”

Startled, Morgan studied the smoky figure. A demon had never spoken to her before though mid-levels and higher could. Should she try to pry further information out of him? No, that way led to darkness. On rare occasions, channels had been turned by demons with the right words. She wouldn’t be one of them.

Including them all with her words, Morgan banished all three at the same time. When she was again alone, she slid down the wall, backing her power down and then releasing it. Sitting on the floor, she ran her hands through her thick tangles. Her fingers came away bloody and she felt the back of her head. Must have cut it on the floor when that demon had sent her flying across the room. Though head wounds often bled like crazy, this one wasn’t too bad.

Morgan pulled off her coat, her sweatshirt and then one of the two t-shirts she had on underneath that. She balled the t-shirt up and placed it against the wall behind her and leaned her head against it. A look at her upper arm revealed three deep scratches. Thank the Higher Powers for layers of clothing. Those talons would have cut to the bone otherwise.

A low whine drew her gaze to the window where Lucy still sat where she’d been told. “Come here, sweetie.”

The Rottweiler raced across the large room to her side, whining and licking her face. “I know, those things are nasty aren’t they?”

She ran her hands over Lucy, her heart rate slowing from the simple interaction.

When the back of her head stopped bleeding, she tossed the shirt away. As much as she hated to lose it, there was no way to wash it. There was blood on her coat too; maybe she could get it out with water from a water fountain. Her sweatshirt too was ruined. Shit, she couldn’t afford to lose the clothing. Sighing in resignation, she tossed the sweatshirt away as well. Although the weather had warmed, it was relative in Denver. The nights were still freezing cold.

If Lucian hadn’t swept into her day and caused a major distraction, it would never have happened. She could always sense where demons were and usually did a good job of avoiding them when she could and picking her battles when she couldn’t.

The loss of Arabrim had caused a similar distraction. In her devastation, she’d been unable to focus on her internal demon radar and she’d nearly died trying to stay away from them. She’d learned then it wasn’t possible to return to a place after they found her.

Morgan climbed to her feet and shrugged into her coat again then walked over to retrieve the backpack and umbrella. She couldn’t stay at the tower anymore.

The ground level was surprisingly empty when she reached it. Most likely everyone had left when the rain slackened. Either that or they had fled from the sounds of demons being banished, though most humans couldn’t hear it.

She opened the umbrella and stepped into the rain. The quiet patter of it on the fabric above her head soothed the remaining adrenaline from her system. After crossing the street, she headed for the park. It was as good a place as any until she could decide where to go next. Pulling a cigarette from the pack, she paused to light it and then continued on.

Lucian watched her leave as his heart slowly calmed. He’d desperately wanted to help her when the demons attacked. When one had landed on her, he’d nearly jumped in, but she’d handled it. Morgan was right; she could take care of herself. At least until she came up against a stronger upper-level demon. And when that happened, he would be there, whether she liked it or not.

MORGAN TREAD QUIETLY
down the alley, Lucy trailing behind her. Their breath came in clouds in the icy air. Though the past several days had been warm, a front had moved in with the setting sun and dropped the night time temperatures low enough to create the patches of ice she slipped on occasionally.

It was nights like this she really missed her sweatshirt and second t-shirt. They might not have been much but they had still made a difference. In the back of her mind, a little voice whispered that all of the warmth she wanted was only a phone call away. Morgan stomped ruthlessly on the voice. She’d made sure to use the solar charger to keep the battery full, even if she had no intention of ever actually using the phone.

A movement between her and the end of the alley made her pause. Straining to hear in the quiet of early morning hours, she remained frozen. A dog’s bark echoed through the night. The crash of a trashcan somewhere. The loud bass of a passing car on the street. A siren wailed in the distance. The figure up ahead seemed as still as she was.

Morgan took a few, slow steps forward. The figure shifted as if it meant to leave the alley then stopped. She followed suit. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on her senses. Not a demon at least. Creeping down the alley again, she moved to the side opposite the figure.

She reached the end where the street lamp cast its light at the same time her intuition started screaming at her. The figure lunged. A burly man twice her size moved with more speed than he should have and slammed her into a wall, one hand over her mouth the other pressing up against her windpipe. His greater weight pushed against her as he looked at her with eyes that had shadows swirling in them.

Shit, a demon-possessed.

He smiled as if trying to be comforting. It was anything but. “You are a hard one to find. Do not worry, little Inola. I am not here to hurt you.”

Lucy snarled menacingly. He flicked his shadowed gaze at the dog. “Call it off, or I will kill it.”

The voice coming from the man’s mouth had the guttural sound of a mid-level demon. Morgan twisted, trying to find a way to free herself enough to fight back. Damn it, this wasn’t a fight she was willing to lose. Even so, she wasn’t willing to endanger Lucy either. The dog would be no match against a person with the strength of a demon behind it. When the man lifted his hand, she didn’t hesitate to give Lucy the command to back down. The dog lowered herself to the ground with a whine.

Wait, little Inola? That had been her name in her first life. It meant Black Fox in the Cherokee language. The demon in the tower had used it as well. What the hell was a demon doing calling her a name from another life? How would it even know? Nothing good would come of this. Morgan struggled again.

He crushed her against the wall, using his considerable weight to pin her there. “Little Inola, is this any way to react to one who can help you? Who can make all of this go away?”

With no way to free herself, Morgan did the only thing left to her, she spit in his face.

The demon-possessed only smiled again. “The Kalona remembers you. Your mother let him out. He wants to offer you the chance to stand at his side.”