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“Remind me never to agree to go on a mission with you again.”
“Come on, Helena, as my apprentice, I need to show you the ropes, right?” Solomon’s laugh was cavalier. Not the sound someone should be making when we were trapped in a crawl space, being hunted by a giant snake, and all because my master decided he needed some specialty items and wanted to drag me along on his very much not a normal shopping trip.
“At least count it as a learning experience?” the sorcerer shrugged.
I glowered at him. “Only if you will. I was the one who said we should go the other way, but you insisted this was the right path and look where we are now.”
“Look, it’s been a while since I’ve been down here, okay? I got a little turned around.” He looked around, searching our surroundings. “Hey, what’s that back there?”
I cringed as he scraped past me in the small space, pressing myself as firmly back against the stone wall as I could. Solomon climbed onto some rubble gathered at the back of the tunnel and started moving rocks out of the way before he waved a hand at me.
“Get back, I’m going to try to blast through.”
I hurried as far back to the entrance as I could, shielding my face and covering my ears as the blast shook through the tiny space.
Solomon hacked on the dust, staggering to his feet. As I straightened, I could feel cooler air on my face.
“We’re through, come on.” He offered me a hand and helped me over the rubble through the hole he’d made.
Leaving us right in the middle of a nest of beasts.
I stared in horrified silence for a long moment as the creatures too, seemed surprised by our presence. Giant bug-like creatures and the snake from earlier began to converge on is.
“This is seriously the last time I ever go anywhere with you,” I snarled as I started to form a protective barrier around myself.
I didn’t finish it in time for the snake to strike at me, flinging me across the room where I skidded painfully into a wall.
Solomon created a flare of magic that pushed the monsters back before he sprinted in my direction.
“We need to run.”
“Yeah no shit, Solomon!” I gasped as I reached for the hand he offered to pull me to my feet.
A giant scorpion scrambled from the left, swinging its tail angrily.
“Solomon, watch—”
I wasn’t able to get the warning out in time. Solomon turned, readying a spell, but before he could finish, the barbed tail buried itself in his middle.
Solomon choked as he was suspended on the end of the barb for a second before the creature flung him across the room.
“Solomon!” I shouted as I pushed myself back to my feet and made a flare of light to ward off the approaching creatures before running to the injured sorcerer.
He had pushed himself into a sitting position, one hand clasped over the wound. I could see blood seeping worryingly from between his fingers but we didn’t have time to see to it at the moment. I grabbed his arm and hauled him upright as he groaned in protest.
“You might have the worst bedside manner I’ve ever seen, Helena.”
“We’re literally about to die,” I snapped. “And if I remember correctly, those things’ venom temporarily muzzles any magical ability—I’m sure that’s the case for even a ‘great sorcerer’ like yourself.”
“No need to be so sarcastic,” Solomon grunted, coughing slightly. “You are correct, but fear not, my dear apprentice, I have certain emergency clauses written into all my pacts for moments just like this.”
I frowned, admittedly a little worried as to just what he had planned. “What kind of emergency clauses?”
“We don’t have time to discuss details! Just hold them off while I get this working.”
I didn’t have another option but to trust him at the moment and readied another spell.
Solomon pulled up his sleeve and drew a symbol over the tattoos on his arm with his own blood. The mark started to glow and I watched with shock as the blood stopped leaking from his wounds—even the scrapes on his face healed. He huffed a breath of relief.
“How—?”
“Don’t worry about the how, just that we’re getting out of here,” he said and held out his hand. “Now, one more distraction from you, Helena, to keep them occupied, and then I should be ready to teleport us out of here. Grab my hand.”
I did as I sent off another blast and by the time the light faded, Solomon’s teleportation spell was already in effect as everything melted away into brief darkness.
~~~~~~~
Barbatos poured a cup of tea and placed it at Diavolo’s elbow along with a small plate of selected pastries.
“Is there anything else I can get for you right now, young master?” he asked.
“This is perfect, thank you,” the prince replied, frowning slightly at the papers in front of him, chin propped on one fist.
Barbatos smiled slightly. “My Lord, I also would like to remind you the answers to these proposals will be due by tomorrow.”
Diavolo huffed a long sigh. “I’m aware. It just feels like that’s all I’ve been doing lately.”
“Well, young master, starting a successful school means you’ll have a lot of people coming to you with their ideas—not all of them good, granted, but…”
Barbatos paused. The unmistakable tingle of magic running up his spine. His face instantly clouded. That insolent sorcerer, was he really trying to call on him—
A dull ache suddenly started to form in Barbatos’s belly, as if he had stupidly eaten something said sorcerer had made, but…
There was a damp feeling soaking into his coat and as he pressed a hand there, his glove was soaked red when he pulled it away.
“Barbatos?” Diavolo inquired, turning toward him with a frown. “Is everything okay?”
The butler clenched his hand to hide the blood. “My apologies, young master, there is something I—” He choked on something bubbling up in his throat and clapped a hand over his mouth in mortification.
“Barbatos are you well?” Diavolo demanded, pushing his chair back.
Barbatos stepped back, trying to wave him away. “Do not concern yourse—ugh.” Speaking brought on an agonizing coughing fit forcing him to double over, bracing himself against the corner of the desk.
“Barbatos!” Diavolo sounded terrified as he grabbed his butler’s shoulder to steady him and finally saw the blood staining his gloves. “What in Devildom is going on?”
Barbatos fought to get his breath and gently extricated himself from Diavolo’s grasp as he managed hoarsely, “Do not concern yourself, young master, just give me a moment. If you’ll excuse me.”
He started his retreat of the room when his legs simply gave out under him and he reached for the bookcase, slowing his descent as he crumpled. Darkness started to cloud his vision and Diavolo’s concerned shouts faded as he began to cough up blood uncontrollably.
~~~~~~~
It was impossible to tell where we ended up at first. Solomon and I came out of the teleportation spell in a heap on the floor somewhere. I was actively trying not to vomit—that had been the roughest trip I had ever had.
“Helena? Solomon, what—?”
I pushed myself up and saw we had somehow landed in Diavolo’s study. The prince was standing there staring at us in confusion.
“Of course—you insolent, insufferable sorcerer. How dare you?”
I glanced behind Diavolo to see Barbatos. To my shock, he was slumped against the bookcase and there was blood on his lips and soaking into his usually pristine gloves.
“Barbatos!” I cried, shoving myself upright to rush toward him. My nausea was instantly replaced with alarm. His body shuddered in an aborted cough and I took his face between my hands. “What happened?”
“Ask the despicable sorcerer,” Barbatos quipped before he smothered a wet cough in his hand and doubled over.
I looked down and saw the front of his uniform soaked a dark red. I unbuttoned his coat and pulled it open, following with his shirt until I found the large puncture wound in his stomach. “My god, Barb,” I gasped, ripping my coat off to press against the wound before I spun around toward Solomon.
“What did you do?” I demanded.
“I saved our lives,” the sorcerer said simply.
“And you didn’t think to tell me it was Barbatos’s contract you were using?”
“You would never have let me do it if I had, and it was the only one that would have been any good to me in the moment. That injury kept me from performing magic so I had to get rid of it. I’m sorry it had to be like this, but Barbatos was aware of the clause.”
“For emergency, only,” Barbatos growled. “And even then, while, yes, I was aware of the clause, you put it in without my consent.”
I was too furious to speak. I concentrated on stopping the blood flowing from Barbatos’s—Solomon’s—wound as Diavolo put two and two together.
“Hold on, you’re telling me you got into a predicament, were injured, and then thought you could simply transfer your injury to my butler?”
“I deeply apologize for the injuries, my lord,” Solomon said with a bow.
“You realize I could count this as an attack on me—treason, even!” Diavolo snapped.
“My lord,” Barbatos croaked. “As…despicable as the action was, it was, regrettably, part of our contract, and therefor nothing strictly illegal occurred.”
Diavolo did not look happy about that but the worry behind his eyes won out. “We’ll discuss this later. Let’s get Barbatos looked after.”
“Yes,” I said firmly. “We’ll need something to carry him on.”
“Unnecessary,” Barbatos tried but Diavolo shook his head.
“You can’t walk to your room in that condition. I’ll call the physician.”
I stayed crouched beside Barbatos, keeping pressure on his wound until the doctor and one of his assistants came with a stretcher. I stepped back to let them get Barbatos onto it and watched them carry him out with Diavolo in tow before I spun on Solomon.
“What the hell, Solomon?” he demanded.
He held his hands up. “Helena, listen, this isn’t anything Barbatos can’t take. He’s a lot heartier than you or I—”
“Stop right there,” I cut in, fury boiling up in me, threatening to reach an explosive conclusion. “Do you think it would make any difference to me if you had transferred a scraped knee to him instead of the wound you got when you were impaled by a massive scorpion? It’s the point of the matter.”]
“I saved both our lives,” Solomon said firmly. “You think I wouldn’t be having this conversation with Barbatos if I had brought you back gravely injured?”
“We could have come up with another solution!” I shouted. “I was holding them off easily enough, there was undoubtedly another way out. I’m pissed because you didn’t even consult me on what you were doing—that was disgustingly selfish of you.”
“Of course I didn’t consult you! You’re too close to Barbatos; you never would have agreed.”
“Like he didn’t agree to you adding this clause to the contract?”
Solomon snorted. “He read it over.”
“Before or after you made a pact with him?”
Solomon shook his head. “Don’t be like that, Helena. I’ve explained before that using a little chicanery when making pacts is expected. Humans are not on top of the food chain when it comes to demons. If you want to be this soft in your dealings with them, maybe you don’t belong here in Devildom.”
I slapped him hard across the face. “Don’t ever mistake my common decency for softness again, Solomon. You’re not supposed to trick your friends. Which is obviously why you don’t have any.”
I started to push past him, but he grabbed my arm. “Helena…”
I spun and punched him directly in the nose, forcing him to stagger back with a strangled cry, blood spilling over his upper lip.
I stormed out of the study and headed toward Barbatos’s room, trying to breathe away my anger by the time I got there. My hand hurt but it had been worth it.
Diavolo was pacing outside the door, looking agitated. He glanced up as he saw me and paused in his movements.
“How is he?” I asked.
He folded his arms tightly across his chest. “Not great. The wound is pretty bad, and the doctor says he won’t be able to heal until the venom works its way out of his system. I guess Solomon passed that along too.”
I pressed my lips into a firm line.
“I’m not sure what to do about him, Helena,” Diavolo said. “Barbatos is right, technically he only did what was on the contract. But I don’t know if I can allow him to get away with this without any repercussions. After all, Barbatos is invaluable to me—deliberately injuring the prince’s butler has to be counted as an attack on my position, right? But if I make too big of a fuss about it, then the lords might take that as a strike against humans as a whole and that could damage our ties with the human world. Not to mention it could put you in danger which I would never want.” He huffed in annoyance. “I didn’t expect to have to deal with all of these political questions today.”
I sighed tiredly. “Then maybe doing nothing is your only course of action. I know Barbatos wouldn’t want you causing upheaval on his part. But that doesn’t mean doing nothing can’t have it’s consequences.”
“How so?”
“Because if word gets out that Solomon makes slimy contracts no one will want to make a pact with him, and no one us will obviously ever trust him again. Being a societal outcast would be punishment enough for Solomon.”
Diavolo’s shoulders slumped. “I suppose it will have to be enough. I just can’t believe he would choose to do something like this…”
“Believe me, I know,” I said, glancing toward the door.
Diavolo’s face softened. “You should go to him. He didn’t want me to see him like that, but I’m sure your presence will bring him comfort. Look after him for me?”
I smiled sadly. “I’ll take good care of him.”
Diavolo nodded and reluctantly stepped away from the door. “I’ll go see if I can deal with Solomon. If you have time later, I’d appreciate an update on Barbatos’s condition?”
“Of course,” I said and slipped into the room.
The doctor was leaning over the bed, doing his best to stitch up the hole in Barbatos’s stomach.
Barbatos had been stripped to the waist and he looked incredibly pale, sweat beading on his brow, hands clenched in the sheets. I hurried to grab a cool cloth and made my way over to sit on the side of the bed, taking hold of his closest hand and pressing the cloth to his brow.
His eyes flickered open, dull from pain, and I gave his hand a squeeze.
“Hey,” I whispered, pushing his bangs out of his eyes before dabbing his forehead again.
“I’m nearly done,” the doctor said.
Barbatos’s eyes fluttered shut again and he let out a soft sound of pain, obviously practicing huge restraint. I could tell how much pain he was in from the way he clutched my hand. Tight enough to hurt around my bruised knuckles.
The doctor and his assistant finished up, spreading salve over Barbatos’s wound, before wrapping bandages around his waist.
“How long until the venom wears off?” I asked.
“A couple more hours,” the doctor said. “After that his body should start being able to heal itself, but I would recommend at least two days of bedrest.”
“We’ll see…how I feel,” Barbatos said, voice obviously strained. “I can’t…shirk my duties…for too long.”
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t get up too soon,” I told the doctor as Barbatos furrowed his brow.
“I’ll be back to check on him later,” the doctor promised as he cleaned up his supplies and left with his assistant.
“Please report to the Prince about his condition,” I said as he left. “That way he’ll be made aware that he will have to find someone to handle Barbatos’s duties for the next few days.”
“Helena,” Barbatos hissed disapprovingly.
The doctor nodded. “Of course, miss.”
As the door closed, Barbatos cast a baleful look at me. “It won’t take me that long to heal.”
“So? Diavolo is worried about you, and it won’t kill you to take a couple days off to rest.” I kicked my shoes off and crawled further onto the bed, leaning over him. “Or are you just that disappointed at the thought that we might actually get to spend some time together?”
I leaned over and pressed my lips to his. His mouth instantly melted against mine, and he brought a hand up to tangle in my hair, holding me close.
“Trying to use your wiles to sway me? You little vixen,” he smiled.
I smirked back, pecking his lips again. “Is it working?”
“Hmm, you do make a very convincing case.”
“I’m also not above tying you to the bed, you know. I have a lot of books that will tell me exactly what will hold even a powerful demon like you.”
His eyes lit up with a wicked glint. “Do you, now? I see. Careful or I might just be convinced to tempt you into doing so.”
I clicked my tongue, brushing his hair out of his face. “Perhaps we should wait until you’re feeling better for that.”
I sobered, smoothing my thumb across his cheekbone. “I’m sorry, Barb. If I had known what Solomon was going to do—”
He shook his head, taking my hand and pointedly kissing my bruised knuckles. “This wasn’t your fault, Helena. I am mostly relieved you are uninjured. If I had to take Solomon’s wounds for that, then I suppose it’s worth it.”
“You’re far more gracious than I am.”
“I’ve simply learned to pick my battles. Someday Solomon’s sins and deceptions will come back to bite him. And I hope to be there to see it happen.”
I sighed. “I just don’t like to see you hurt.”
He gave me a soft look. “It’s admittedly not the most enjoyable thing, but I am looking forward to you being my caretaker. Perhaps it will be nice to have a couple days of rest.”
Relieved that he seemed to be complying, I smiled and pulled the blankets from the foot of the bed, pulling them over us as I cuddled up against him.
“I couldn’t agree more.” I leaned in to kiss him again and when we pulled away he rested his forehead against mine. “Let’s make the most of it.”