your head hitting my chin," she said, rubbing her jaw as she got to her knees. She looked up, gasping. "May! The demon!"
I turned to look. I don't know what sort of magic was in the trap that the mage had evidently laid just beyond the gate, but it left the demon's form in flames.
"Help it! It'll die!"
"Demons can't die, you know that," I answered, snatching Cyrene 's lightweight jacket to smother the still-burning blue flames. Although there hadn't been much noise, evidently the blast of light was enough to alert members of Kostich's household to a possible intruder, as lights started appearing at the back of the house.
"Help me move it back to the other side before they see us," I hissed, hoisting the demon dog's heavy front end in my arms. Cyrene stumbled over to us, half lifting, half dragging its back end.
I released the dog as soon as it cleared the doorway, quickly closing the gate and using Cy's jacket to tie it shut. "It's not much, but it might fool them into thinking the gate wasn't used. Or at least stall them until we can get out of here. Come on, we'll just have to chance the front fence."
"Mayling!" Cyrene jerked me back to where the inert form of the demon lay. "We can't just leave... what did you say its name was?"
"Jim, and yes, we can. It's not going to die, Cyrene. It's a demon."
"But look at it!" she protested, pointing. "It's hurt! Because of us! We can't just abandon it when it's unconscious!"
Smoke curled up from various spots on the demon's body. Blood was smeared across its face, its coat partially singed, the scent of burning hair hanging heavy in the air.
"What if we destroyed its form?" Cyrene asked, kneeling beside it.
"We can't...," I started to say, but stopped. She was right. It was harmed doing something for us, and I couldn't just walk away. "I don't know what we can do, Cy. We can't take it up to the house. The dragons-"
"Are no friends of Dr. Kostich," she interrupted. "Come on. And stop making that face-you may work for a demon lord, but I know you. I created you! You're not a heartless person, so let's just get this poor demon to its people and then we can leave. All right?"
"Why do I have a feeling you're enjoying this?" I grumbled as I picked up the front half of the dog.
She giggled as she lifted its rear legs. "I have to admit I'm looking forward to seeing real dragons. And famous ones! This Aisling Grey person was the subject of conversation at the Elemental Beings conference last month. It was a very romantic story. She met this wyvern and became a demon lord and then she had something happen to make her a prince of Abaddon..."
We were puffing heavily by the time we got the heavy demon to the flagstones marking the edge of the patio area. Cyrene continued to tell me some convoluted story about the demon's master-to be honest, it sounded far too bizarre to be real-but most of my attention was focused on how I was going to explain the situation to strangers, and more important, keep the existence of the quintessence secret. I might have never met any dragons, but their love of treasure was legendary; the quintessence would surely present a temptation they couldn't ignore... and one I couldn't let them have.
Chapter Four
"Remember your promise," I reminded Cyrene in a low voice as we set the demon on a chaise longue.
"Which one? Oh! That one." She nodded and made a gesture over her lips. "Locked tight, Mayling."
"Good. I think we're about to have company." I straightened up and tried to adopt an innocent expression as two red-haired men burst out of the house, their body language (not to mention expressions) intimidating. I lifted my hands to show I was unarmed. "Good evening. I assume you are Pal and Istvan?"
"I am Pal," the taller of the two men said, stopping in front of me. He nodded to the stockier man, the one who watched us with hard, suspicious eyes. "He is Istvan. What are you doing here?"
I moved aside so the men could see the body of the demon lying on the chaise. The one named Istvan started and gave a little cry, immediately kneeling down next to the demon. Before I could tell him the demon's form wasn't destroyed, it was just unconscious, the other man jerked me