Authors: Rachel Aaron
“I didn’t do it to blind you,” Nico said, fading into the dark. “I did it because I don’t want the world to see what I’m going to do.”
“And what is that?” Den’s voice was curious, not afraid.
Nico didn’t answer. She slipped through the shadows until she was facing Den’s back. She could see him clearly, but not with her eyes. Her coat was too well made for that. It blocked the light so
completely that even her night vision was useless. She could still see with her other sight, though, and now that her normal vision was gone, the world of the spirits was clearer than ever.
Den hadn’t moved since the dark had fallen. She could see him holding his breath, waiting for her to give herself away, but more than that, she could see
him
clearly for the first time, not his body, but the actual spirit that was Den. Generally, when she looked at people, wizards or the spirit deaf, the souls beneath their bodies looked jumbled and chaotic. Tesset was the exception. His soul had looked like metal, almost like the Heart’s blade.
Den was completely different. Back in the light, she’d seen him as a fortress. Now, in the dark, she saw how much of an understatement that was. Den’s body was a vault of power. Every part of him was perfectly aligned, every angle perfectly set. Strength flowed uninterrupted from his head to his arms to his feet, and when he shifted, everything in his body moved together in perfect unison. For a moment, Nico forgot the fight and simply stared in wonder. Looking at Den, she saw the pure essence of human potential, and with it, the truth of what it meant to be absolutely, completely in control.
“Well?”
Den’s voice snapped her out of her gawking, and Nico shrank back reflexively before remembering he couldn’t see her. But even as she thought it, Den looked over his shoulder and stared straight at her.
“Come,” he said. “I’m getting bored.”
Nico fled away through the dark, coming up on his side. Den was still facing the place where she had been, and Nico breathed in relief. Maybe his turn had been just a lucky guess, or maybe he could sense her, but it wasn’t instant. Either way, he wasn’t looking at her, at least for now. Nico clenched her fist. For now was good enough. All she needed was one good hit.
She exploded out of the shadows low to Den’s right, her fist clenched as she flew toward his unguarded side. She was taking a cue from Tesset, aiming for his liver. Fortress or not, Den’s body was still human, and no human could take repeated blows to the liver without feeling it. For a thrilling second, she felt her fist connect, and then things started to go wrong.
She could see the shock wave from her blow running through the orderly fortress of his spirit. The force rippled out from her fist, but rather than shooting through the muscle and hitting his liver as she’d intended, the blow began spreading and dissipating the moment it touched him. It all happened so quickly that Nico had to play the strike over in her mind before she realized Den had shifted his spirit the moment she’d touched him, spreading the shock out across his body. Even now, she could see the echoes fading. Every piece of him had taken its part, breaking her blow down to nothing.
She was still staring in amazement when Den grabbed her arm. He snatched her off her feet before she could react and brought her dangling up in front of him, his other hand grabbing her neck as surely as though he were the one who could see.
“I told you,” he said, fingers digging into her throat. “Blinding me does nothing.”
Nico gasped and tried to kick him in the groin with her dangling legs. He spoiled the blow with his knee, spirit moving instantly to absorb the shock just like before.
“And it’s not just that I can hear you,” he continued as though nothing had happened. “I can
feel
your killing intent.”
He opened his hand, and Nico plummeted, crashing into the sand. The moment she hit, Den’s boot was on her back.
“You should have run when I gave you the chance,” he said, grinding his heel into her back. “If you don’t even know that, then you have no hope of beating me.”
Nico gasped in pain, bringing in more sand than air. Den’s heel was like an iron spike on her spine, pressing so hard she saw bursts of color behind her eyes. But the dark was still her highway, and the moment her mind cleared enough to slip into the shadows, she sank into dark ground. Relief flowed over her as the pressure of Den’s foot vanished from her back. She slipped sideways, coming up in the shadows behind Den as she looked down to survey the damage.
Nico froze in place, all pain forgotten. In the days since she’d first started to see as spirits saw, she’d never once looked at herself without her coat. Now, in the dark, with no coat and no normal sight to intervene between her and truth, she saw herself for the first time.
Above her, Den looked up from the sand where she had been, his face surprised. “Where did you go?” he whispered. “And why are you so afraid?”
Nico did not hear him. She’d forgotten all about Den, about the fight, about her injuries. All she could do was stare in horror as the demon’s voice filled her mind.
Now you understand why the spirits panic when they see you?
She didn’t. There was no way to understand what she saw inside her own body, beneath the frail mask of human spirit. The only way to describe it was darkness. Living, devouring, hungry darkness. And below that…
Why are you surprised?
The demon’s voice was like silk against her mind.
You’ve always known you were a monster.
“Knowing’s not the same as…” She couldn’t say it.
Seeing?
the demon finished, his smooth voice sharpening to a cutting edge.
I suppose that’s true. Poor Nico, don’t you wish now you’d taken my offer when you had the chance?
Nico snarled, snapping herself out of her terrified trance with a burst of defiant rage. She flung open her soul, slamming the demon
back into his prison. Across the shadows, Den stiffened and spun to face her. Nico didn’t care. She fell panting to the sand, staring up at the blank darkness of her coat, desperately looking anywhere but at her body, if she could even think of that
thing
as her body anymore. But even as the thought of it filled her with fear, another voice spoke in her mind, a voice that sounded very much like Tesset’s.
Horrible as it is, it’s still your body, isn’t it?
Nico blinked. Trembling, she raised her hand, holding it as close as she dared to her face. The blackness below her skin flowed like water. Below it, the shifting yellow eyes stared at her without blinking while the hungry mouths opened and closed in a way that made her stomach clench. Black claws scraped against the thin cage of her flesh, looking for a way out, and on her wrists where her manacles had once rested, she could see the faint outlines of black, jagged teeth waiting for any scrap of food.
Mixed with the liquid darkness, Nico could actually see her own heart pounding in terror in her chest, but she forced herself not to look away. This was her. Her body, her power, her life. She hadn’t fought for so long and hard only to be afraid of it now.
Nico flicked her eyes to Den. He’d found the edge of her coat and was pressing his hands against it, looking for the edge. She could see the orderly flow of his spirit tensing. He was losing his patience. Soon he would rip the cloth and return them to daylight, and then there would be no way to stop him going up the beach. That wasn’t acceptable. She’d told Josef she would stop him. But Nico was facing a very real dilemma. She couldn’t beat Den, not as she was, not even when she had the dark to move through and he had nothing. That left only one path. She had to become stronger, become something Den couldn’t stop. Nico looked down again at her own darkness, the clawed hands scraping against her flesh. “Become” was the wrong word, she thought with a grim smile. She already was a monster. All that was left was to embrace it. After all, the monster
was hers. She’d ripped it from the demon of the Dead Mountain with her own hands. Now it would fight as she commanded, for it was a part of her, and she was the master of herself.
Before she lost her nerve, Nico looked away from Den and turned her focus inward, sinking down into the pit of her soul. The demonseed leaped to meet her with a vigor that turned her stomach, but she ignored the discomfort and opened her arms, pulling the creature in with a lover’s embrace. Power, strong and addictive, flooded her mind. She took it all and held it as hard as she could, letting the slimy black water wash over her, the black teeth bite into her skin and become her own.
When Nico opened her eyes again, she was no longer afraid.
At the edge of her coat’s shell, Den froze. He whirled, finding her instantly, but Nico didn’t even try to run. After all, it wasn’t her killing intent he’d used to find her this time. He was no longer fighting blind, for even a blind man couldn’t miss her eyes glowing like lanterns in the dark. She spread her tainted spirit like claws, pushing the demon’s fear forward. But Den did not flinch when the fear reached him, not even when she shoved it down his throat, and despite herself, Nico was impressed.
“Are you not afraid?” she whispered, wincing at the horrible sound of her own, two-toned voice.
“I have no need for fear,” Den answered simply, looking her up and down. “You are a demonseed?”
“I am Nico,” Nico said. “I am a monster, but I am also myself.”
“A good answer,” Den said, stepping into his stance. “I am also a monster. All men are who know no fear. So, monster Nico”—he grinned wide—“why don’t you make me remember how it feels to be afraid?”
Nico returned his grin, her mouth opening wider than a human’s should to reveal four jagged rows of black teeth, and vanished into the dark.
Den held his stance, waiting.
He didn’t have to wait long. The first blow came from above, a black claw reaching down to grab his head, the razor-sharp talons hooking under his jaw. Den grabbed the hand with both of his, but before he could rip it away, another claw appeared from the ground and lashed up, digging into his leg above the knee.
Den grunted and kicked down, spinning sideways out of both claws. The moment he was free, he grabbed the claw from above and ripped Nico out of the shadows. The claw from the ground vanished as she landed in a crouch. The second her feet were on the ground, Nico sprang up, her body shifting back and forth between solid darkness and smokey shadow as she wrapped her arms around Den’s shoulders, locking herself to him.
Den’s hands went up immediately, but it was too late. She was clutched around his neck. Den froze, his fingers sliding over the black, stone-hard flesh of her arms.
“It’s useless,” he said, his voice tight and calm despite the pressure she was putting on his throat. “You can’t eat me, not without my permission. I am the king of my soul.”
“I know,” Nico whispered, her dual-tone voice dry as dust. “But I’m not trying to eat you. The demon eats souls. I don’t. I’m a human monster, just like you.”
“Really?” Den sneered. “Then what are you trying to do?”
The darkness in front of him shimmered and Nico’s face appeared, her golden eyes narrowing as she smiled wide. “Hold you still.”
Den’s eyes widened in surprise as Nico’s hold vanished and he looked down to see her black claw buried elbow deep in his chest.
Den coughed, but he did not stumble. Instead, his hand shot out, grabbing for her throat. But his fingers passed through her body like water through sand.
“How,” he whispered, hand falling limp at his side.
Nico looked down at her black arm buried in his chest. “Even fortresses have weak points,” she said, her voice wafting like smoke. “Your ability to will your body to absorb any damage has held off the ravages of battle and age, but you’re still human, Den, with a human’s blindness. Blind, you built your fortress to defend against attacks from the outside. Attacks you could see. But in the dark, all shadows are mine, even ones inside your body.” She wiggled her claws in his chest. “All I had to do was hold you still long enough to reach them.”
Den bared his bloody teeth and began to laugh. He fell to his knees in the sand, still laughing as Nico’s claw ripped free. His laughter dissolved into coughing as he collapsed onto his side, looking at her with fading eyes.
“I always knew this was how it would end,” he wheezed. “I knew nothing human could kill me.”
“You’re wrong,” Nico said, her glowing eyes narrowing. “I am still human.”
“No,” Den said, his voice trailing off as the last of his breath left. “You’re not.”
Not anymore.
“No!” Nico shouted, stepping away from Den, her body flashing between hard flesh and smokey shadow as she tried to push the demon back.
Oh yes
, the demon answered, completely ignoring her efforts.
I told you. Every time you used your powers, I would come back. Every time you were weak, I’d be here. You just suffused your body into shadow to beat this man. How can you even dare to say you’re still human?
“
No!
” Nico screamed again, clutching her head between her claws. “I am my own master! My soul is my own!”
That may be
, the demon said.
But that doesn’t mean you’re still human.
The voice paused.
Do you know how new demons are made, Nico?
Nico clamped her mouth shut, but the demon went on anyway.
I can replicate myself forever through seeds
, it said.
Over and over, always the same, little shoots of myself growing in fertile soil. But sometimes, through extraordinary pressure, a seed changes. It ceases to be a part of me and becomes something new. A new demon, a true demon, with its own ambitions and drives. If this was the world that was, the world before, I would now try to kill you. Predators can’t abide competition, after all. But this isn’t our world, is it? It’s her world, and so I think I’ll let you be.
“Her who?” Nico snapped.
The demon laughed.
Our darling jailor, of course. You’ll know her when she comes, but by then it will be too late. Maybe she’ll actually manage to destroy you rather than just locking you under a corpse, as she did me. But trust me when I say this, little daughter, whatever plans Benehime has for you, the day will come when you would give anything to go back to the time when I was the biggest thing you had to worry about.