Kindling the Moon (Arcadia Bell #1)(73)

The gray demon lacked horns or wings, but possessed something much nastier: shiny black nails with narrow fishhook endings that doubled back at the tips. The source of the clicking noise. It clacked them together in anticipation.

Crouched on the opposite side of the circle, Lon moved clockwise around the inner edge as the gray demon stalked him. A red mark was painted on Lon’s forehead; upon closer inspection, I recognized it to be a sigil that allowed him to enter the circle without breaking it, but prevented him from leaving.

My stomach balled up into a knot.

This was the ring that David was talking about; instead of pit bulls, it was Æthyric demon versus Earthbound. I had no idea what had happened to the first volunteer that David mentioned, but a sneaking suspicion told me it wasn’t good.

The men held me tighter at the edge of the circle, so tightly my circulation was cut off and my arms tingled. I didn’t want to call out Lon’s name; it might create a distraction that the gray demon could use to its advantage. But I had to do something.

“Mmm … exciting,” David murmured to my side. He looked out over the fighting ring and spoke louder. “So kind of you to volunteer, Lon. Good sport. After all, you’re already carrying around that nasty scar courtesy of your ex-wife, I’m sure you won’t mind a few more.”

Lon didn’t respond. He was concentrating. Blank. Centered. The only betrayal of his rising panic was the splotchy redness accumulating on his neck; seeing it made my stomach queasy.

But as I listened to the talk around us, I noticed that not everyone in the audience was ecstatic. “David is really pushing it,” one person remarked. “Mr. Dare wouldn’t approve of this if he knew what was going on.” I didn’t know who this Mr. Dare was, but most of the thirteen parking spaces outside were filled, so I hoped like hell that he was somewhere inside the caves. I turned to one of the dissenting couples nearby.

“Please, go tell Mr. Dare—get help,” I whispered.

They looked at me, shocked that I’d spoken.

David put a hand over my mouth and chastised the couple. “Now, now—don’t go running to Daddy or I’ll get you kicked out. We’re just having some fun, nothing more. If you don’t like it, leave.”

Refusing to look at me, they turned and left the room, along with a few other people.

“I mean it!” David called after them. “If there’s a rat in here, I’ll find out. Don’t cross me.” A manic laugh bubbled from his lips. The people around us went back to cheering the fight on. David then turned to me and spoke quietly near my face. “Now, then, love, no more tricks like that. Since neither one of you wants to tell me exactly what kind of Earthbound you are and how you banished our sex demons—or why we can’t seem to summon them back, for that matter—then we’ll just leave Lon here to battle it out with the Salixen. You and I can retire to another succubus chamber and have some fun.”

Oh, hell no.

Before I could respond, a high-pitched snarl stole our attention. The gray demon made a swipe at Lon. Lon made a clumsy duck but not fast enough. A line of blood welled on his cheek.

As the crowd cheered, David clapped ecstatically, then turned back to me. Pawing my chin, he whispered in my ear, “Exciting, no? Just like you did with me earlier, we’ll make a new game of all this and see who breaks first, you or Lon. I’m betting on Lon. He has a bad history with women, but I think he’s learned his lesson with Yvonne. I doubt he really wants to put himself on the line, even for a pretty young chickadee like you.”

I stared back at him as he smiled at me, hearing him but not listening. My mind scrambled to piece together a solution. I couldn’t reach the sigils on my arm; they were being squeezed dry by my guards, so that was out. What else? I hadn’t summoned the gray demon, so I couldn’t banish it … except that I was somehow able to banish the incubus and succubus. Maybe it was due to something elemental in the caves? Something that enhanced my Heka? I concentrated and tried to will the floating blue imp portal into existence. All that did was give me a headache. Nope, not happening.

If I couldn’t banish the gray demon, and Lon couldn’t leave the charged circle because of the red mark on his head, then the only option remaining was to break the circle. But how? I couldn’t even reach it. We were several feet away.

David twisted my face to his and planted a brutal kiss on my lips. I tried to jerk away, but he clamped his hand on the back of my head. His mouth tasted of top-shelf liquor, cracked lips scraping against mine. He stank of sweat.

Furious, I shut my eyes to concentrate and pulled from the electricity wired through the caves, as hard as I could. The lights in the cavern wavered and flashed. A murmur spread through the crowd. I pulled harder, kindling Heka until it made my body quake. I held it for a moment, then slowly released it through every pore in my body.

David pulled away from me, crying out and covering his mouth with his hand at the same moment that the bodyguards dropped my arms. Heka kindled with electricity creates a nasty shock without a caduceus to pinpoint the release. They f*cking deserved it.

The shock would disorient them, but it wouldn’t last. My eyes flew to the edge of the circle near the gray demon. I shoved the person in front of me, then dove with outstretched arms. My fingertips barely grazed the glass circle. Close enough.

The remaining kindled Heka poured through my fingertips into the embedded piping, heated the glass instantly, and scalded my fingers. I lurched away from the glass and crashed into the legs of the bodyguards, bowling them over like tenpins.