Bonded

They welcomed her.

That was what was so odd. A thousand people. Humans, too, all of them. As she passed by on Clari-Ann, none of them looked away. They didn’t sneer, or make a sign towards their god.

Some looked at her in awe, and waved. Others brushed Clari-Ann’s coat as they walked. A few brave souls kissed her mud-crusted boots.

“Thank you!” Someone shouted. “Thanks be to Sibel!”

Kait made a face, and suddenly all were quiet. The shouter was dragged down, his throat cut for daring to displease the demon girl. How dare he address her? How dare he offend her?

Kait wanted to do something. Stop them, or kill the offenders. She could do it, too. Everyone would let her. They would let her do anything.

So Kait did nothing. She leaned back in her saddle, and tried to piece together the truth.

Patryk had made it seem like the Lost City was going to be hard to find. If she did find it, the place would be guarded by hordes of fanatics, ready to kill the unbelievers. That a demon lay within. Looking upon her would cost your very soul.

But after two day’s ride, the city was coming into clear view. She had seen a whole line of new converts, ready to become followers of the demon. And when they saw her, they didn’t try and kill her. They begged her to bless them with unholy power. To destroy their goodness, and sin them into a new perdition of decadence. Come, avatar of temptation, and let us serve you.

Kait had never felt so awkward in her life. She hadn’t said anything for the entire day as she rode in towards the city. The Rider didn’t want anyone to take her words the wrong way and start killing people. Of course, that meant that they were now doing that with her facial expressions. How was she supposed to stop them from interpreting a look?

Jude clung to her side. The boy looked on, fearful. The followers had tried to find out more about him. What he was, how he worked. If he could give them power himself. The terror in his eyes was evident, and his claw rattled against Kait’s belt.

Clari-Ann snorted. The gob-horse had a good answer for all this worship. Ignore it, get where you’re going, and do what needs to be done. Let the damned do what they would, as long as she didn’t have to eat grass.

Kait looked up. They were in the midst of a cadre of monuments. In the distance was the pyramid, and the bare tower. The sphinx curled its broken head in the fountain of a royal palace. Followers walked through multicolored lights, trailing away through panes of glass to new pleasures and temptations.

Everything seemed designed to capture the mind. Come here, I am shiny, and soft, and decadent. Be lost here, and never have to worry again. The wealth of a lost world of sin seemed captured on a single street.

The Lost City of Sin. It was an apt name.

Kait dismounted, and started walking up the street. She kept her dagger sheathed by her side, but her hand was always near, just in case. Never know who could attack her.

The thought seemed both wise, and foolhardy. No one seemed to want to attack her. But anyone else in this place had their life, and the lives of everyone else, in their hands.

The street was a strange mix of sex, murder, and perversion. Amputees were fed drugs while their appendages were removed, giggling at the experience. Whole crowds of orgies moved against one another like traffic. Kait watched as one murderer after another was killed for sloppiness, or vengeance. One man was killing his lover, seemingly out of boredom.

Kait had tried to keep it out of view for Jude, but it was honestly everywhere. A haze of magical hallucinogens curled around a spire, drawing in the unsuspecting towards a violet pit. Those inside were devoured while they cheered on their own demise.

She wanted to retch. She wanted to understand. And she was confused as to why people were tempted with one thing, while others seemed more and more natural to her.

It made her almost want to philosophize. What was the nature of sin here? Picked apart, many of the actions seemed to be harmless enough. Sex with a lover, or many lovers, regardless of gender. In her travels she had seen many drug users who utilized their pills and smokes for healing, or to gain new awareness.

She looked down at her dagger. Killing itself, she had to admit, wasn’t inherently wrong.

So why sin? What made this place a den of evil? Could it be the amount of said action? That they were breaking a code? What transformed the act of love, or wisdom, or justice, into debauchery?

“Excuse me, miss?”

Kait turned. A man stood before her, smiling. His lips had been ripped off, and a long gash ran down the center of his bare chest. He held his toes in his hands, giggling.

“A-are you h-h-here for the great d-d-demon’s blessing?” he asked.

Kait pulled out her knife. “Who’s asking?”

He moaned, shivering. “Oh, yes. Oh, please, please use the knife. But on the back this time, the back. I haven’t had anything scratched off my shoulder blades in days.”

Kait grabbed him by the throat. “Who sent you?”

“Sibelllll…” he breathed. “She’s callllinnnng.”

Kait glared ahead. Sibel. That was her name. she hefted the blade, and stuck it back in its sheath.

The man sighed. “Maybe later…”

“Take me to Sibel,” Kait said. “Now.”

“With pleasure.” He turned, and stumbled his way toward the pyramid.

Kait snapped her fingers. Clari-Ann stopped kicking a mime and let everyone else have a turn. Jude clung to the saddle.

“What did you do to that creature?” The man asked.

Kait shrugged. “Made that mistake to feed her. Now she follows me around constantly.”

She smirked. “Now she’s stuck with me.”

Clari-Ann nodded sagely.

“I was talking about the be…”

Kait grabbed him by the throat. “Not exactly in the mood to chat. Where is Sibel?”

He gurgled, smiling. “At the arena.” He pointed towards a sunken area in front of the pyramid.

Kait dropped him, and picked up the pace. Clari-Ann followed, and for once pointedly did not trample on the fool.

“No. wait…” he groaned. “Punish me. I deserve it.”

Everyone let her through. They all let her through. Kait ran through a crowd that parted even as it thickened. The sinning faithful looked, and saw another demon to bless them. They bowed out of the way, lest they anger her, and she denies them her evil glory.

She wasn’t there to help anyone find new ways to sin. She was there to stop it. Why couldn’t they see she was doing the right thing? Why was it that the only time she was welcomed was when evil was in vogue?

The pyramid loomed ahead. A golden monstrosity, covered in coins and chains. Sibel often had new converts walk up and down the stones for days, until they slipped and fell from their bloody soles. Truly devoted souls could keep it up until their toes started to fall off.

Before the pyramid was a hole. Twenty feet deep, and thirty feet across, there was a gentle slope down to the bottom on one side, and a sheer cliff on the other. A couple dozen men and women grappled and wrestled with each other, trying to prove their skill, or have the ecstatic burst of winning and losing.

Around the lip men and women cheered on the bloodshed. They placed bets, threw in rocks, weapons, and refuse, and tried their damndest to cheat. There were no rules, so who could say what was truly wrong?

One person. She sat on the edge of the cliff. Her feet dangled over the edge. Her face was not down towards the bloody spectacle. Instead she looked up, past the pyramid. Her bloodred horns burnished in the setting sun, her dark skin aglow. She laughed, and trailed a hand down her breast, and sighed.

“I am so bored,” Sibel murmured.

Kait looked at Sibel from the opposite end of the arena. The demon didn’t seem to notice her. Or anyone for that matter. Dozens of human worshippers glanced back at her, and to their deity, agape. What was happening? What was the cause of this magnificent lowliness?

“She’s here!”

Kait cursed. The broken man leapt forward. He tripped, and tumbled down into the pit. He screamed in pain and joy, laughing all the while.

“Great Sibel, the demon girl is here!”

Sibel rolled her head forward, and looked down. Black eyes gazed at Kait. She smiled, and cricked her neck.

“Something…new?” she wondered. She bent a finger towards the Rider, and beckoned her forward. “Come.”

Kait, Jude and Clari-Ann made their way across the edge. They made it halfway before Sibel shook her head.

“Just the girl. Toss the brat and the beast down.”

Kait turned and raised her knife to strike. Thirty arms grabbed her, holding her back. Jude screamed, and leapt towards Kait. He was picked up, and thrown into the arena. He kept screaming as he rolled down into the pit.

Clari-Ann butted her head against a few followers, and dove in after him. The gob-horse surged past one fighter, and kicked another before coming up in front of Jude. She stamped her feet, and screamed her challenge at the contenders. Take the boy, she challenged. I’m dying to see your guts.

Kait tried to jump into the pit as well. But the hands held her tight. She thrashed, furious. None of them were stronger than her, not even five could handle her. But every one the girl bludgeoned unconscious was replaced by three more.

“Bring her here,” Sibel said. Kait was dragged kicking and screaming before the demon. She kicked out, catching Sibel in the cheek. She flew to the ground, gashing her head open.

A man stabbed down on Kait’s own side. She cried out, trying to punch at him.

“Hold!”

The entire arena grew still. Sibel stood up, and looked at Kait. The gash on her head paused, and sealed. In seconds there was no trace of a bruise.

“Don’t like to be touched,” Sibel said. She nodded. “I can get that.”

She snapped her fingers. “That guy who hurt her. Dismembered please.”

There was a sickening snap. Kait winced, and turned away. the body parts were flung off the side of the cliff into the arena.

Sibel looked down, and frowned. The arena goers had stopped, confused as to what was going on.

“Well, go on,” she said. “Try and kill each other.”

They fell upon each other with ferocity.

“And don’t forget the little one!” she called out. she smiled at Kait. “They’re just so sweet, aren’t they?”

Kait shrugged. “If you like that sort of thing.”

Sibel nodded, and paused. “You don’t?”

Kait thought about it. “I like real combat. Pitting your strength against an opponent of equal or slightly greater caliber. Testing your skills and strengths against their own. Coming out on top.”

She smiled. “I like winning.”

“But the rush?” Sibel asked. “The gore hitting your face? Blood and excrement dousing you as you slice your opponent in two?”

“Makes me want to hit the baths,” Kait said.

And then she stabbed Sibel in the heart.

The demon looked down, confused. She looked at the knife as Kait ripped it out, and drove the blade back into her heart.

“This is for Patryk and everyone in that town,” Kait muttered.

“Patryk?” Sibel asked.

“And for everyone else you’ve tried to corrupt.”

Sibel frowned. “I don’t understand.”

She toppled over down into the arena.

Kait turned. “You’re free now!” she shouted.

The arena continued fighting. Men and women continued placing their bets.

“Sibel is gone!” Kait shouted. “Her influence is gone!”

“I wouldn’t say that, darling.”

Sibel walked up to Kait. She was dressed in a dirty piece of burnished leather armor, which she shed with a shudder. “No. That’s not what I was going for in aesthetics at all.”

She put her hand to her face, and sighed. “So that was a bit of a rush.”

Kait grimaced, and readied her knife.

“No, none of that,” Sibel said. “Or I start caring about your little friends down there.”

Jude and Clari-Ann were not doing so well. The gob-horse had a limp in her right foreleg, and her flank was bleeding freely. Twelve foes lay twitching around her. Thirty more stared, wary of her legs and teeth.

Jude danced one way, and then another. He kept his claw up at the ready, trying to keep Clari-Ann between him and the followers. It was no use, they were surrounded.

Kait grabbed Sibel, and pulled out another knife.

“How many of those do you have in there?” Sibel asked.

“Shut up,” Kait snarled. “Let them go, or I’ll kill you.”

“Kill me once, kill me a thousand times,” Sibel said. “All it means is I have to get used to a new body.”

She smirked. “Watch.” She jumped off the ledge, and dove headfirst into the pit. The crowd cheered as she fell, her neck shattering on impact.

Kait turned away. She felt ill. And saw Sibel burst out of one of her followers. The demon sighed, brushing herself off.

“That was a rush, wasn’t it?”

The Rider stared, dumbstruck. Sibel had died. She had killed her, and she killed herself. But she was coming back through her followers?

The demon shrugged. “I know, it’s not something most demons have. And I need a little bit of permission before I find a place to settle in these wonderfully decadent hearts.”

She grabbed a random man and pulled him close. She kissed him, her hand pinching his rear. He swooned, barely holding onto her.

After an eternity, Sibel let him go. “But I have just the most adorable fans!” she squealed. She giggled, and nibbled on his earlobe. “You don’t mind if I take a piece of your soul for safekeeping, right?” she asked.

“It’s all yours,” he breathed. “All yours.”

“Goody.” She swept his legs out from under him, and kicked the man down into the arena. “Go kill me something nice.”

Sibel walked over to Kait, and sat back down on the edge of the cliff. “So why don’t you sit with me. I haven’t met anyone interesting in a while.”

Kait looked down at her knife.

Sibel sighed. “Only one at a time gets to try and kill the horse and the boy!” she called out. “Slice the nuts off of anyone who breaks the rules. Or, you know, if you feel like it.”

Thirteen men throughout the crowd suddenly screamed an octave higher. Sibel smiled. “That’s my girls.”

Kait wanted to kill her. But she didn’t know how. And looking at the arena, she could see them keeping their word. Clari-Ann bowled over another follower, and returned to Jude, huffing. She finally had a breather.

Kait relented, and sat down.

“So what’s your name, sweetling?” Sibel asked.

“Kait.”

“Kait,” Sibel muttered. “Nice. Boring, but with just enough of a kick to add flavor. Something safe and unassuming for the human side?”

Kait started to deny it, and Sibel snorted. “Please. Anyone with half a brain stem could smell the human filth in you. Can’t believe you don’t need to shower every waking moment.”

Sibel stretched, and looked down. “I’m guessing you’ve never seen the Pit, then.”

Kait shook her head.

“It’s exciting,” Sibel said, with no force behind it. “An abyss filled with flames, ice, and darkness. The howls of the damned are kept just screeching enough so you don’t lose your hearing. Souls are raked over coals that sear their essence for all eternity, and chilled in the icy depths of solitude until you are broken beyond madness.”

She shrugged. “A different kind of boring than here, I guess.”

“Boring?” Kait asked.

“Everything is boring,” Sibel said. “Once you’ve lived through an eventful few centuries, the infernal experiences start to bleed together. Every temptation becomes less important. The dismemberments don’t have the same bloodlust like they used to.”

Kait frowned. That made some twisted sort of sense, she supposed. To someone who had done all the evil in the world, what else was there to achieve?

“I’ve been up here for a while,” Sibel said. “And I’ve run through all the usual perversions, and the unusual ones. Incest, pedophilia, auto-erotic cannibalism. But once you’ve done a heinous act several thousand times, it starts to lose its flavor.”

“Then why continue?” Kait asked.

Sibel smiled. She pointed to one woman. “That sin you’re thinking of. It’s all right to do it.”

The woman laughed. She ran to the edge of the cliff, grabbed a bystander, and screamed, leaping over the edge. She straddled the man, kissing him as she stabbed down with makeshift claws. They rolled down into the arena, the man toppling over dead. She set about cutting out his heart.

“They think of me as some divine deity,” Sibel murmured. “That because I have a place in their heart, all these wicked acts are my doing. That I give them the power to realize every fantasy they’ve secretly held all their lives.”

Sibel leaned in close, her lips to Kait’s ear. “I haven’t done a damn thing.”

Kait blinked. “But. But they follow you.”

“They’ll follow anyone,” Sibel whispered. “As long as they are told that their evil is fine, and wondrous, they will follow that mouthpiece into the Pit with gladness in their hearts.”

Sibel laughed. “I’m quite possibly the least powerful of the Demon Lords. And yet, when this city spills out into the rest of the world, I’ll reign supreme. Because all the others will demand that their followers commit evil. And I will be the one who let them.”

Kait tried to take it all in. She looked at all the fighters. The murderers, and rapists, who cheered each other on as they delved further into evil. This wasn’t Sibel’s doing? This was just…humans?

She bowed her head, trying not to cry.

Sibel clicked her tongue, and laughed. “Oh, dear. Someone thought that humans were actually better than demons? I’m sorry to have to tell you the truth. Humanity has always been our inspiration, not our fault.”

Kait stabbed Sibel again. And the next one after. And the third that tried to jump on her back.

Finally the new iteration held up her hands. “You are relentless. Why can’t we simply talk?”

“You’re feeding into temptation,” Kait said. “No matter what you’re saying, they still wouldn’t have done this without your permission.”

“Some, maybe,” Sibel conceded. “But what do you care?”

“I’m trying to stop a damn genocide!”

The demon rolled her eyes. “I’m not after genocide. Just pleasure.”

Kait glared at her.

She kept her attention on the arena. “And don’t worry. If I wanted you dead, you never would have gotten close to the City. You and that foolish God follower would have been torn apart back at his rinky dink little cabin.”

“If you hurt him…” Kait began.

Sibel smiled. “That’s an odd choice of phrase.” She giggled. “But then, there’s something off about you, too, isn’t there?”

Kait wanted to kill her. She wanted to tear the horns off of Sibel’s head and beat her to death with her own tail. She wanted…

The thoughts trailed off. Wanted. It was always about wanting around Sibel. Desire, want. The idea that everything you wanted was okay. Think whatever you want, do whatever you want. You want, therefore it is right.

She wasn’t going to fall into that trap.

“Have I upset you, half-breed?” Sibel asked.

Kait shook her head. “I…it would be well and good if you released my companions.”

Sibel laughed, and looked down. Jude and Clari-Ann were drenched with sweat. They were down on their knees, struggling to stay upright. They both bled now, and Jude’s claws hung to his side, bent beyond belief.

Worse, they looked at a line of challengers with no end in sight. The fighters were fresh, mean, and desperate. A win might please Sibel. She might spend the night with the victor, or even better, just acknowledge their existence. Killing a half-dead horse and a child was well worth the reward.

“Well, well,” Sibel said. Her lips curled up. “They’ve lasted this long. Their stamina is…invigorating.

“However,” she pouted. “I give them maybe one or two more people, before they’re spent.”

“Let them go,” Kait said.

“No.”

“Please. He’s just a kid.”

“A kid?” Sibel looked at Kait in shock. “Sweet, do you not know what you’ve got caught?”

“A poor boy who wants to end this curse.”

“It’s not a curse,” Sibel said. “It’s power. That boy is bursting with potential.”

She laughed. “Give the Human some breathing room.”

There it was again. That way they said human didn’t make it sound like a race. More like a title.

Sibel sighed, and slid down the edge of the cliff. Her skin rubbed raw against the sheer rock, blood pouring out of her side. She seemed to ignore it, black ichor dropping from her feet as she walked towards Jude.

“Humanity is the most wonderfully pathetic little toy this world has ever given us,” Sibel murmured. “Slower than a cat. Weaker than a dog. Vulnerable to most illnesses. Blessed with only two gifts that consumed him: a desire to conquer, and the ability to learn.”

Sibel laid a hand on Jude’s head. “And into every generation, there is born a boy. The distilled power of humanity, climaxing into a Human that can call up all the powers of those he conquers. A freak, an outcast, a warrior.”

She curled a finger around his heart, smiling. “Usually destroyed before puberty. Because the sheep of the world would drown the wolves if they could get them as pups.”

Kait raced around the edge. “You’re saying this…whatever is happening to him, it’s not a curse?”

Sibel laughed. “A curse? This is the most wonderful boy the world has ever known. With a little training, a little ruthlessness, I could see whole hemispheres calling him Master.”

She shrugged. “If he lives to see the morning.”

Kait stood before Sibel. “Fix him.”

“He’s not broken.”

“You know what I mean. Help him, help Jude learn to control his powers.”

“Hmmm.” Sibel bent down, looking Jude in the eye. Jude blushed, and turned away. “It might be fun. A Human to teach all sorts of things. How to steal. How to torture.”

She sniffed, and moaned, her mouth watering with excitement. “Mmmm. He already knows how to kill.”

“No.” Kait planted herself between the two of them. “You help him find the power. And then we leave. That’s it. You don’t get any part of him. Ever.”

Sibel laughed. “I could take him right now from you.”

“No, you can’t.” Kait raised her knife. “Because I can’t kill you every time. But I can get through you, and enough of your followers. I’ll kill hundreds. Thousands, before I go down. You’ll be weakened so much the other Demon Lords will pick you off like a bug.”

The demon’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You’ll be dead.”

“And he’ll be free,” Kait said. “That’s enough.”

Sibel stood, and considered. The crowd around them stirred, anxious. Who were they supposed to kill?

The demon stopped, and smiled. “This is a deal, isn’t it?”

“A deal?”

“A bargain. And demons bargain with so-called heroes for one thing only.” She extended her hand. “I’ll agree to all of it, for your soul.”

She laughed. “But think about that. Your torn soul, ragged and confused, fluttering down to…what are you doing?”

Kait shook the offered hand fiercely. “Done.”

Sibel blinked. And paused. “You realize your demon half will not save you in the Pit?”

“Right.”

“And you will be mine.”

“Yes.”

“For eternity.”

Kait nodded.

Sibel’s lips curled. “I knew you liked me.”

She pushed Kait to the side, and bent down, looking at Jude. “Come here, firecracker. We’re about to set the world on fire.”

Jude squirmed, nervous. He looked up at Kait, unsure. She looked back at him, and tried to give a reassuring smile. She grabbed his claw and gave it a squeeze.

“It’s going to be ok.”

“It’s going to be better than that,” Sibel breathed. She looked down at Jude’s side, and nodded.

“Well, that should do the trick.”

The demon bared her throat. “One strike should do it, kid. Right through the throat. Tear it up good.”

Jude frowned.

“You need some power that’s known how to work through a different body or four thousand. Kill me, and I’ll do the rest.”

Jude sighed, and struck. His claws tore through her neck, blood spurting over his face. She shivered, and collapsed, pointing her chest to land in his face.

Jude squirmed, pushing himself away. Kait rolled her eyes. The demon had to get one last shot of nudity in with that body.

Jude kept squirming. He looked at his hand and his claw, shuddering. The black blood on his face glowed, falling down over his body. He was consumed, a dark light enveloping over his body.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Sibel walked over to Kait. “He’s channeling my ability to make another form my own.”

She smiled. “He’s taken my ability, but how much else has he taken? My memories, my desires?” she winked at Kait. “My predilections?”

Kait bent down, and looked at Jude. “I just want him to be ok.”

“He’s Human,” Sibel said. “He’ll never be ‘just’ anything.”

The black light exploded out. Jude collapsed on the arena, gasping for air. He writhed, screaming.

“Jude!”

“He’s just changing,” Sibel said. “Don’t be such a baby about it.”

The boy’s body started to melt before her eyes. The bear claw shed, revealing his arm. His beak clattered, and melted away. the boy’s voice rang out.

Jude looked up. Gold eyes stared back at Kait, uncomprehending. “Kaaaiiiit!” he screamed.

Kait rushed forward, hugging him. “I’m here, I’m here.”

“It hurts,” he moaned. “It hurts!”

“We’ll get some medicine on you when we get out of…”

Kait and Jude stopped. They looked at each other.

“Kait?” Jude asked.

“Jude?” Kait responded.

“I can talk?” He asked. “You can understand me?”

Kait nodded, blinking tears away. she hugged him tighter because she didn’t know what else to do.

“You’re okay,” she said. “You’re okay.”

“Kait…”

Sibel groaned. “Ah, friendship. So cloying. Useless. Boring.”

She kicked Kait out of the way, and laid a hand on Jude. “So, Jude. Darling. Cutie. What say we ditch the old gas bag and take the new bodies for a spin?”

Jude looked down, and realized that he was not wearing as much clothes as he was used to completely human. And Sibel wasn’t wearing anything at all.

Luckily, Kait stabbed Sibel in the heart as well. She made sure not to get any blood on Jude this time as she wiped her blade down.

“Really?” Sibel asked.

“I was about to say the same thing,” Kait muttered. “Now, we had a deal?”

The Rider pointed back out from the arena. “Jude gets to go free. As do, I guess, me and Clari-Ann.”

Sibel pouted. “I suppose. But if you wanted to stay…”

“He doesn’t,” Kait said. She looked at Jude, and he winced. That was going to be an awkward conversation. “At least, not until he’s older.”

“Well, a girl can dream.” Sibel laughed, and kissed Kait on each cheek. “I’ll be seeing you soon enough, anyways,” she murmured. “Half-breeds never live long.”

Kait looked at Jude, and motioned towards Clari-Ann. The two got the message, and started moving out of the arena.

“I’ll get you soon enough, Kait,” Sibel said. “I haven’t had the chance to get my hands on a tattered soul in centuries. I’ll spend every waking moment of your eternity finding new ways to make you squeal.”

Kait sighed, and nodded. “Have fun.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Sibel said. “You’re mine, Kait! You will always be mine!”

“And now you have to deal with the consequences of that,” Kait said. She mounted up on Clari-Ann.

Sibel stopped. “What?”

Kait smiled. “My full name’s Kait Demonborn. The welp of Harsk’s Riders.”

Sibel blanched. “Harsk?”

“You just stole the soul of a Rider.” Kait winced. “But that’s not the worst part.”

Sibel trembled.

“You never asked me who my parents were.”

“No.”

Kait smiled. “My mother’s name is Nettie. She’s a strong woman, a good mother, and I’m hoping I get to see her soon.”

She laughed. “And my father’s Carzic Mons. One of the thirteen…excuse me, Jude killed one. Twelve Demon Lords.”

Kait looked Sibel in the eye. “Think about how many bodies you have stashed away, Sibel. And wonder if they’ll be enough when my mom and dads find out just who has my soul.”

Sibel stood there, gaping. “C-Carzic,” she mumbled. “Carzic?”

Kait rode off, smiling.

“Kait!” Sibel called out. “Come back here! You can have it back!”

Clari-Ann snorted, and picked up the pace.

“Take your soul. Take my army. Take this whole damn city,” Sibel pleaded. “KAIT!”

Sibel stamped her foot, and screamed. Thirty of her worshippers shuddered and died. Their souls shot up into the sky, darkening the atmosphere in a bronze haze.

“Don’t you dare turn your back on me, Carzic’s Daughter.” Sibel’s voice resounded throughout the lobby. “I will hound you to the ends of the earth. No port shall give you shelter. No hearth will let you lay your head. You will die helpless, hungry, and alone.”

Kait rolled her eyes.

“You dare to mock me?” The voice and smoke focused down upon Jude. “Then mark me. This boy is mine. I have taken root in his heart, and soon, he will be nothing more than a toy. He will murder you in your sleep. Your friends, your family…”

“Oh, bite me,” Kait said. “You’re getting repetitive.”

The smoke disappeared in a pop.

“Oh, come on!” Sibel shouted. “Can’t we talk?”

And that was when Kait realized she had already won. Sibel wouldn’t come after her. And if her pleas were genuine, the Demon Lady may soon be trying to find a new hole to hide in. For that was the truth of the seductress. She could promise the world. Let everyone revel in their dark desires. Her powers of temptation were beyond compare.

But Carzic Mons was stronger than her. And that was the end of it.

Kait, Jude, and Clari-Ann rode off into the distance, leaving the city behind. The sun faded away behind the mountains. Sickly sweet lights sparked over the city, lighting their way back over the plains.

Jude shivered, and rubbed up against Kait.

“You cold, kid?” Kait asked.

He nodded, and then blushed. “I mean, yeah. Not used to not having fur. Or feathers.”

Kait nodded, and shrugged out of her coat. She wrapped it around Jude’s shoulders. He huddled into it for warmth.

“Going to have to get used to a lot of things,” Kait said. “Talking, clothing. Figuring out life.”

“But it’s over?” Jude asked.

“What’s over?” Kait asked.

He frowned. “Me being…trapped. Being a…”

Kait raised her hand.

He shrank. “Different.”

“You’ll always be…different, kid,” she paused for effect. “But that doesn’t make a damn bit of difference.”

“But what if she’s right?” Jude asked. “What if she’s always going to be there, ready to take over?”

Kait shrugged, and lowered her hand. “Could be. Could be we really screwed ourselves, and gave one of the most powerful beings on the planet to a demon who can’t even find a good halter top.”

Jude spluttered, laughing. Kait turned in the saddle and ruffled his head. “I guess it all depends on you, you little squirt. See if you’re able to handle all the baggage she brought with her.”

Jude nodded. “You think I can?”

“Course,” Kait said. “You’ve been hanging with me and Clari-Ann. Between the two of us, you have enough stubborn to bull through all the demons the Pit could ever throw your way.”

Jude hugged her. “Right! Jonah, Clari and Kait, take on the world!”

Kait raised an eyebrow.

Jude blushed. “Sorry.”

Kait pulled Clari over, got out of the saddle, and started walking.

Jude looked at Clari-Ann. “What did I say?”

The gob-horse shrugged. She didn’t know what he did wrong either.

Kait crossed her arms, and sighed. Too much to process, too much. She was just realizing that one step was done, and she couldn’t find out the next step.

“Kait?” Jude asked.

Kait winced. “Sorry. I keep thinking your name’s Jude in my head. You said it was Jonah?”

The boy nodded.

Kait nodded. Right, right. There wasn’t Jude. It was Jonah. The boy was Jonah.

And the boy needed to get home.

“So, Jonah,” Kait said. She scuffed her shoe. “Now that we can actually talk, maybe we want to start talking about taking you back to your parents.”

“What?”

Kait nodded. “They must be worried sick. Clari-Ann and I can drop you off. Maybe even get you and your family somewhere safe while this…genocide is going on.”

“No!” Jonah said. “I’m staying with you!”

“Don’t be stupid,” Kait said.

“I’m not stupid!” Jonah shouted. “It’s the three of us, taking on the world together. We can beat everyone!”

“We don’t beat anyone!” Kait screamed back at him. “We’re trying to do enough good so that when we die we haven’t screwed up the world even more. Don’t you get it?”

She rushed the boy, tackling him to the ground. “Do you get what you’re asking? To be with the real freak? The terror that has killed entire towns? Are you that mental?”

She drove her fist to the ground. Tears fell down from her face. “You can pass, kid. You can look normal. Why would you give that up to be with something as terrible as me?”

Jonah stared at her. He started to cry. “Why are you being so mean?” He whispered.

“Because maybe if you hate me, you might have a good life,” she said.

Kait rolled off of him into the ground. Jonah stood up, and looked at her. Kait turned away, shaking.

“Do you hate yourself that much?” Jonah asked.

Kait curled into a ball. This was the best she could do. Get him to hate her. Get them all to hate her. Maybe then they’ll find some good.

Jonah huffed, and sat next to her.

“Go away, Jonah,” Kait said. “I’m worthless.”

“Nope.”

“I’m going to hurt you.”

Jonah shrugged. “You’re stuck with me.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re family.”

Kait teared up.

“You’re damn right we are.”

Jonah looked at her. “Now can we please get to saving the world?”

Kait sighed, and rolled her eyes. “Sure.”

His stomach rumbled.

“But food first?”

Kait laughed.

“You’re impossible.”

Jonah shrugged. “Only human.”

If you want to read more of our short stories, poetry, see behind-the-scenes work, or support everything that Arcane Inkdustries is doing, click the link and sign up to be a Patreon supporter now.

Thank you for reading. This marks the end of Demon Riders at this point. Perhaps we'll get back to it some time.

I hope that this sparked a piece of magic for you this week.

Until next time.

Blessings,

Jack Holder

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