Page 64 of Daemon Master

Amid the debris, he spied a crumpled body. His heartbeat quickened as he approached. Kali’s face, once coldly beautiful, appeared merely tired in death. Several chunks had been torn from her flesh, likely the result of daemonic scavengers preying on her remaining aether.

He averted his eyes from the horrific sight, relief that she hadn’t escaped mixing with a deep sorrow that it had come to this. For all their self-serving greed, Serenity Corp wasn’t truly evil. They’d taken Kali in after her parents had died, brought order to the nascent League. No matter what Kali said, Adriandidn’t want to watch society crumble. Yet, neither could he stand aside and allow Serenity Corp’s lies to continue corrupting daemons and humans against one another.

Footsteps beside him announced Seymour’s approach. “We found you right here,” he said quietly, pointing to Kali’s corpse. “You’d passed out on top of her. Your aether was churning wildly, though by the time we reached you, it had almost run dry keeping you alive.”

A glint of silver caught Adrian’s gaze—the crescent moon sigil still affixed to Kali’s chest. Something about the object tugged at his memory, and his eyes widened.

“What is it?” Seymour asked, noticing his reaction. “If you’d rather I dispose of the body, I can—”

“It’s not that,” Adrian replied. “That badge—she used it to talk to someone at a distance.”

Seymour studied the bit of metal with a frown. “You mentioned that on the way here—a seeker, as I recall. To be honest, I assumed you misinterpreted what was happening. Such things aren’t possible without the use of daemonic techniques.”

Before he could lose his nerve, Adrian plucked the badge from Kali’s blood-soaked tunic. Fighting down the bile in his throat, he turned away to study the object with his aethersense. It possessed a network of aether channels reminiscent of what one might find in a living being. He’d never seen anything like it before, save perhaps for the similarly intricate latticework that had comprised the containment cylinder Kali used on—

The containment cylinder!

He’d been so thrown by the sight of Kali, he’d forgotten why they’d traveled here in the first place.Don’t worry, Heartrender—I’m coming!He reached for Kali’s belt, then froze. Both cylinders—the one holding Heartrender and the other that had appeared damaged—were gone.

“You were saying something about the badge?” Seymour prompted.

“Forget the spirit-cursed badge! Help me look for the containment cylinders.”

Understanding dawned on Seymour’s face, and he gave a curt nod. Adrian’s stomach churned as he scoured the nearby ground. His dismay rose when they found no sign of the devices by Kali’s corpse. Had a wild daemon sensed the aether within and taken them? Or worse—had Kali’s unseen partner beaten them here?

It took several frantic minutes of searching before he realized he’d overlooked the obvious solution. His link with Heartrender had been dulled before by distance, the Suprimera tea, and her bondstone. Now, only one of those obstacles remained. Reaching out through their tenuous bond, he sought her familiar aura. Sure enough, he felt a pulse near the clearing’s edge.

He followed it to its source, the tension in his chest loosening when he spied the pair of metallic cylinders lying in the trampled dirt—one rusting and falling apart, the other gleaming brightly. They must have either rolled free during his tussle with Kali or else been discarded by some enterprising daemon that decided they weren’t worth the hassle.

Focusing his aethersense on the shinier of the two cylinders—the one Kali had used to trap Heartrender—he studied its inner workings. The patterned aether still baffled him, and he couldn’t find any obvious buttons or switches to work the spirit-cursed thing.

How did Kali activate it?He’d been distracted trying not to die, but he thought she’d simply touched the device. Bondstones required a small infusion of aether to activate them. Did this follow a similar principle? Twisting the cylinder around in his fumbling grip, he poked and prodded at it with a thin string of his aether. At last, he heard a satisfyingclick.

Aether erupted from the cylinder in a blue haze, consolidating into Heartrender’s familiar form. Adrian cried out and dropped to his knees, flinging his arms around her. Yet, something still wasn’t right. He leaned back to glare at the dark bondstone thrumming within his daemon.

“Never again,” he whispered fervently.“Never again.”

He deactivated the bondstone with another burst of aether. Heartrender shivered as if awaking from a restless sleep. Emotions flooded him through their bond, and he tugged her to his chest, tears standing out in his eyes. Heartrender mewled softly and nuzzled her snout against his neck. Her affection burned brightly through their bond.

Seymour cleared his throat. “Not to break up your happy reunion, but we shouldn’t linger. Whatever’s been feasting on Kali’s aether might decide to return.”

A faint blush colored Adrian’s cheeks. “Right.”

He left Lockrod chittering excitedly with Heartrender and focused his attention on the other cylinder. Unlike the ordered aether that had comprised the first device, this one’s aura raged as if the entire contraption might implode at any moment. When he’d first spotted it during his fight with Kali, he’d assumed it was an earlier prototype, now obsolete. But if that were the case, why bring it with her? To serve as backup in case the other failed? Unless…

He gulped, eying the corroded cylinder uneasily.Unless this was what happened to the containment device after long-term use.What if there was another daemon in there—one Kali had captured prior to their battle? He’d heard of daemon masters who kept extra pacified daemons, switching their bonds among them as needed. Another daemon like Blazewing or Shadowlash could prove an immense threat, especially if it had been left enraged from long captivity.

Only one way to be certain. And, as much as he disliked the look of the damaged device and its corrupted aether, he couldn’t leave any creature to suffer in solitude.

“Be on your guard,” he said. “I’m going to activate this other cylinder, and I’m not sure what might come out.”

He waited for the others to move into position. Then, he squared his shoulders and activated the device. A slumped daemon appeared in a flash of azure light. It possessed the same third eye and sinuous feline body as Heartrender, but its skin was coated in thick scales and its tail split into a spiked barb. Its aether was so pale it appeared more gray than blue, with a flickering, almost insubstantial quality. The daemon gave him a disinterested look, then huffed and lay there, motionless.

“Ghosttear,” Adrian announced. “At least, according to my aethersense.”

“A strange name for a strange daemon.” Seymour studied the creature with obvious distaste. “Is it sick?”

“Maybe.”