Page 85 of Caught in the Devil’s Hand

The walls zipped by as she ran, and she wished both that she had more time and that she was already there. Her heartbeat was loud in her head, her breathing harsh.

The main entrance, centered on the opposite side of the building as the sitting room, was a grand piece of architecture. The doors were made from coal wood and opened into a large entryway lined with elaborate shelves meant for the shoes and belongings of guests. Every piece of wood in the entryway, from practical to ornamental, was also made of coal wood, and the shelves were lined with delicate white molding that depicted tree leaves and ivy. An ornate desk on one side was meant for the estate secretary.

The main doors were shut when she ran into the foyer, surprising her no small bit. She had thought they’d be wide open. As she placed her hand on the door, ready to push it open, she grabbed at her belt to make sure it was secure.

She could hear nothing on the other side of the door. No talking or fighting, as if no one had come through here. However, there was no mistaking the sickening, sticky feel of Majo’s magic. It wasn’t inside the house yet, but it was trying, feeling along the wall of protection she had set up and looking for a flaw.

Her magic, still and watchful inside her, was no longer the playful entity she sometimes felt it was. Even it, with the small bit of personality she imagined it to have, was now serious, ready to do anything she asked.

She slid the door open. Rosuke and Mai stood to the right, a step away from the base of the stairs that led to the ground. Both had their backs to her, standing guard. Vallen still had one foot on the bottom step and stared gravely at her.

All three held swords—their blades bare, sharp, and ready. Vallen’s looked as wicked as it had before with its serrated edges. The blade of Rosuke’s wide sword curved sharply. Mai’s was the plainest, but also the longest. Shumei was only able to see her three allies because of dim moonlight reflected off them, but a few feet beyond Rosuke, who stood the farthest away, was a dark mystery.

“She wanted to wait for you,” Vallen said, subtly gesturing with his head to something among the trees—someone who lay in wait for the four of them. Scanning the darkness ahead, she descended the steps, raised her arm, and aimed her palm at the sky.

“Hikari.” With a low pop, like pulling a stopper from a jug, a ball of light shot into the air.

It was all she could do to gasp rather than let instinct and fear draw out a scream. There had to be nearly a hundred demons, all standing still and attentive. A few of them flinched at the light, but the majority didn’t react. After all, her simple spell was not true sunlight.

She had never seen so clearly a demon born from Oblivion. She instantly felt sullied. Each face was twisted and malformed—teeth protruding from noses and necks, eyes askew, multiple mouths, arms and legs in the wrong place and backward… Some had fur, but some were hairless. Some had tails, horns, or claws.

Shumei broke out in a cold sweat. She wanted to run but felt frozen in place. Only when Vallen touched her arm did she snap out of her horrified trance.

“Empress, your enemy wishes to speak with you,” Vallen said.

Her spell, still hovering in the sky, cast enough light to see the large group of demons waiting for the inevitable fight, and it was bright enough to see the only one among them who looked human. Although “human” was an overstatement.

“It’s been a while, Shumei,” Majo purred. She stood at the front of the legion, decked out in red silk and black leather that left hardly any of her assets to the imagination. Her sleeves were embroidered with white symbols that Shumei recognized as granting magical armor. They were automatic shields, powered at all times. Exhausting, she imagined, but like Shumei, Majo had undoubtedly been imbued with superhuman magical stamina.

Majo’s face, though… Her eyes were completely black. Shumei wasn’t even quite sure if they were still there. The skin around her sockets was ashen, as if the pits of her eyes were black holes that would suck the soul out of anyone who looked at her. On the right side of her face, the veins under her skin seemed to flow with indigo ink. The left side of her face wasn’t much better. A deep scar ran from the corner of her mouth down to her jaw, making her smile lopsided, and another scar broken the clean line of her high cheekbone.

“Not long enough, Majo,” she answered, grateful her voice was loud and strong.

“It seems having your lover around suits you. You look positively delicious.”

“And you look like a doll that a dog chewed on,” Shumei said. Majo’s smile only widened, becoming even more lopsided.

“Just trying to fit in,” she said with a chuckle, gesturing to the horrors standing around her.

“How did you find us?”

“That’s what I love about you, Shumei. You’re so direct. To answer your question, the only downside to joining the other side was I lost any ability to track you using the Empress’s Pull, but finding and following another crow trying to find you? Well, that was simple.”

“You followed Mai,” Shumei deducted, not realizing such a thing could happen and yet now, it seemed obvious. She couldn’t help but glance over at her newest ally, whose face was horrorstruck.

“I-I’m so sorry, Empress. I didn’t know,” Mai said in an aside. Shumei turned back to the witch. There were more important things to do right now than comfort Mai.

“And where is Akiji? Is he still alive?”

“Do you actually care?” Majo asked, looking down at her nails as though bored. Her fingertips were black.

“He’s a bully, but…yes, I do.”

Majo huffed, clearly annoyed. “All I can tell you is that my king has decided to keep him for as long as he is…entertaining. He’ll not join us this eve.”

“Why is the Damned One doing all of this? Why did he not wipe out all of humanity while it was unprotected by an empress?”

“So many questions. You have been thinking a lot about this moment,” Majo said with a smirk, her good mood returning.