Inner Demons Read online

  Inner Demons

  The Cardkeeper Chronicles

  A. C. NICHOLLS

  Chapter One

  Six vampires surrounded me, their razor-sharp fangs dripping saliva, itching for a taste of blood. My blood. It was me against them; one thirty-year-old woman versus six century-old vampires. The dusty old warehouse made for cramped fighting quarters. I couldn’t help but wonder how I would make it through this, because the odds weren’t in my favor. I tried to assure myself that there was always a way out, no matter how bleak it appeared.

  “Do you really want to do this?” I said, bluffing. Hoping they would retreat, I summoned the magic from the magicard inside my jacket pocket, keeping it armed and ready. The magic swirled around in the palm of my hand. This particular card offered telekinesis, and I was starting to become very proficient with it.

  “Why?” One of the vampires hissed, crouched into an attacking stance. “You scared?”

  “Of course I’m scared. Have you smelled your own breath? I don’t want that mouth anywhere near me.” I smirked as the six of them scowled in offense, but as they drew nearer to me and tightened the circle, my smug grin quickly disappeared.

  “We’ll see who’s laughing when your blood is dripping from our fangs,” said one of the other vampires. “Go get her, boys.”

  I stood frozen in horror as they began their transformation into hideous nocturnal beasts. Although their body shapes remained the same, the color of their skin paled to sheet white, while the texture turned to something thick and leathery. Before I got a chance to bring my hands up to my face, all six of them leaped right at me.

  I could only count on my instincts.

  My hand came down as if by its own choice, aiming straight down at the ground beneath me. The magic shot through my body in a wave, sending a blast of telekinetic energy through my palm and firing into the floor. The force of the shot carried me up into the air, barely skimming over the heads of the vampires before landing in a safe space behind them. It was a hell of a close call, but at least I managed to stay alive for another few seconds.

  The vampires, now angrier than before, each turned quickly to face me. One by one, they broke from their pack and sprang toward me. Their ambition to strike the finishing blow kept them disorganized and sloppy. That was fine by me; their weakness increased my low odds of success, and I had every intention of exploiting it.

  “What are you waiting for?” I taunted, shooting glances at my surroundings. There wasn’t much I could use as a weapon here, unless a few shelves full of shipping crates counted. Somehow, I didn’t think so.

  As one of the vampires lunged at me, all I could think to do was duck, wrapping my telekinetic grip around a nearby shovel and pulling it toward me. It flew through the air like a projectile before landing safely in my hand. The attacking vampire landed soundlessly behind me, and before it got a chance at a second strike, I swung the end of the shovel around me, taking its head clean off its neck. Say what you want about stakes in the heart, but with the head rolling across the dark room, it was safe to say decapitation was just as effective.

  “One down,” I said, swinging the shovel around and holding it tight, “five to go.”

  I had barely finished speaking before another two came my way. Immortal or not, it took every ounce of my great strength to swing the shovel again. The heavy, metallic end struck the shoulder of one of the vampires, while the other wrapped its arms around me and held me in a forceful bind. While I still could, I shot another blast of energy into the floor, propelling me backward into the far wall with that fanged son of a bitch riding me like Yoda on Luke Skywalker. As its spine connected with the wall and the air left us both, we dropped fifteen feet down to the floor, where I quickly regained my balance and finished the vampire off with the shovel.

  Four left.

  Panting now, I stood and turned back to face my remaining enemies. Dead ahead of me, two of them were still on the ground and running my way. The other two each took to a wall, crawling along like spiders rushing for their prey. I readied myself, kicking the head off the shovel and snapping the handle in half. Now I had two weapons, each one short and sharp.

  I was ready for them.

  They leapt from the walls, pouncing at me in white, hissing blurs. Before they got a chance to land, I used my magic to drive a stake into one of their hearts. I turned quickly, letting the other fly from my hand and rocket toward its target. The wood pierced its skin and shot the vampire backward, turning it to a smoky pile of ash sprinkling onto the concrete floor. Good riddance.

  With only two more enemies remaining, I turned my attention back to the ground. Only I moved too slowly. Before I got a chance to prepare my defense, one of the final vampires dashed into me, catching me in its grip as we blasted through the wall behind me. Squashed together, we blew through two different rooms before I hit the ground, the vampire groaning on top of me as we both recovered from our dizzy spell.

  Now was my only chance.

  Putting my hands together like a powerful defibrillator, I placed both palms against the vampire’s chest and fired it across the room. It wasn’t enough to kill it, but it gave me a chance to stagger to my feet. While I did so, the other vampire sprinted toward me, screaming and scowling with its long, dirty fingernails poised for an assault. I quickly broke into a stance to take it down, but before I could do so, something unexpected caught my eye.

  Across the room, small, white wings flickered at blinding speed. The faery flew in like a bullet, shooting into the vampire and knocking it sideways. The tiny middle-aged man hovered in place, suspended on silvery wings with an expression of self-satisfaction on his face said, “What would you do without me, huh?”

  I smirked widely but tried not to show it. “Hey, Link.”

  As much as I missed my sarcastic little British friend, a flurry of pissed-off vampire cut our reunion short. The first vampire – the one I’d blown across the room – stumbled to his feet and then rushed at me. Even Link began to fly to my aid, but when the second vampire grabbed onto his feet, it looked like we were fighting two on two. They were better odds than I’d had before.

  I felt a bolt surge through me as I drained more power from my magicard. Inside the card was the soul of a mage whose specialty had been telekinesis. All that power was at my disposal and I could use it as much as I wanted, as long as I bore in mind that the more I used, the more risk there was of that mage’s soul becoming my own. If I wasn’t careful, I would soon become that mage, and the real me would be lost forever. Thankfully, there was still plenty of magic to be used before that happened.

  The magic exploded to life inside me, filtering through my veins and filling me with unimaginable strength. It coursed through me, flooding through my body until the pressure built up in my arms. As the vampire loomed five feet from my neck, I held out my palms and unleashed the magic, holding the vampire in place while telekinetically squeezing his throat and lungs. His eyes widened with both shock and fear, but instead of letting it suffocate, I had to finish the job properly. Focusing all of my energy into that one movement, I sent my enemy hurtling across the room before impaling it on a rusty shelf bracket.

  Moments later, it was nothing but a swirling tornado of ash.

  Breathing a sigh of relief, I craned my neck to find Link holding the final vampire in place. It squirmed and struggled, trying desperately to break free of the faery’s grasp. In spite of his diminutive size, he had all the strength of a regular-sized man, and then some. Clearly underestimating him, our rivals never discovered that until it was too late.

  Now was one of those times.

  “What do you want me to do with him, Keira?” he asked, holding the vampire in place.

  Should I send him six feet under? I was
Chicago’s Cardkeeper, after all, which meant that it was my job to rid the world of vampires. At least when I wasn’t out capturing more magicards and returning them to the mystical Vault. However, in this case, I felt like an exception could be made. Carefully, I approached the monster.

  “Let me see your face,” I said, keeping my tone calm.

  The vampire reached out to scratch me, hissing as the whites of his eyes rolled back and his deadly fangs were exposed. This was every bit the creature I had sworn to eliminate, and I was offering him this one and only chance.

  “I won’t ask again.”

  Finally the vampire stopped struggling. His fangs shrunk and the color of his skin returned to normal. As Link let go of his jacket, the creature shrugged it back on and checked behind him while slowly morphing into an average-looking man. When his eyes leveled on me, there was nothing but fear and confusion staring back.

  “What do you want?” he asked in a crazed panic.

  “I already told you. I want you to give me access to the back room.”

  “And I already told you, there’s nothing there.”

  I shook my head, totally unwilling to believe it. After all I’d done to find this place and then get inside, I’d expected the job to be simple. All I needed was to find my friend Jack Hannigan, who was rumored to be held hostage somewhere in south Chicago, and then convince him to take my place. It was my last mission as a Cardkeeper, and of course, it couldn’t just be a straight-forward one. Nothing in my life ever came that easy.

  “Well, why don’t you show me the room and let me decide for myself?” I grabbed the vampire – the man, in his current form – by the shoulder and dragged him toward the back of the building. I half-expected him to change back into his hunter form and sink his teeth into my neck, but fortunately the only survivor just happened to be the coward of the bunch.

  After storming through a series of corridors, we eventually arrived at an enormous safe-like door. It went from the ceiling to the floor and covered most of the wall with its looming metallic presence. The only thing keeping me from the man behind it was the keypad, and if only one thing went in my favor today, getting the code wouldn’t be a problem.

  “Punch in the code,” I said.

  “What? No.”

  Link shot in from behind, pushing the man toward the safe door and then folding his arms. It was easy for him to be tough while he was in such a safe position, but I had always known him to avoid danger when possible. Then again, maybe I wasn’t giving him enough credit. He had saved my ass a lot lately. Maybe he was changing for the better.

  “Last chance,” I said.

  The man glared at me before reluctantly tapping the code into the panel. A green light flicked on and then the door sprung open with a whooshing sound. Inch by inch, the huge metal door opened up to reveal white walls under a bright bulb.

  This is it, I thought. After all these years of not seeing Jack, I was finally going to lay my eyes on him again. I wondered what he would look like – if he would look any different than how I remembered him. Since he had made a deal with Death – a simple bounty hunt in exchange for eternal life – I didn’t expect him to have aged. But even if he had, it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise of the day. I doubted that anything could shock me these days.

  Shaking lightly, I peered my head inside and called out his name. “Jack,” I said, stepping inside. But there was nothing in here, save for the empty wooden table in the middle of the room, and a couple of boxes stowed away in the corner. Disappointment took hold of me as I finally accepted that I’d been led on a wild-goose chase.

  “He’s not here,” I called out to Link, too embarrassed to show my face just yet.

  “I told you,” said the man from outside. “Can I go now?”

  Grinding my teeth, I sighed. “Let him go,” I said to Link, finally returning to the room. I stared lifelessly at the ground, reassessing my dwindling options. I was running out of places to find Jack, and if I didn’t do it soon, the fate of the Vault could be compromised. All that was left to do was retreat, talk to my superior and find out what the hell to do next.

  Chapter Two

  I stood in my mages robe at the base of the mountain path that led to the Vault. The Vault, as it appeared from the outside, was little more than a tall tower made of brick. It resided in the middle of the valley between two snow-topped mountains on the far end of the world. Where, exactly, was unknown to people like me, and it was unlikely that I would ever find out. All I knew for certain was that it took a portal to get here, and that human eyes could not see it unless a Cardkeeper or elder wanted them to.

  Link flew alongside me as I made my way up the dirt path. The violent wind hacked away at my hair and robe, billowing them both out behind me in a long trail. It was a hard push against the gale, but when I eventually reached the Vault, I opened up the heavy wooden door and took refuge inside.

  It no longer surprised me that the interior of the building was far larger than the outside. The Elders of R’hen had cast a spell on the tower, and it was used as a pillar to hold up the Sacred Temple where the gods themselves are said to live. If this tower – or any others from alternative cities – toppled, the temple would fall and the world as we know it would come to an end. Which was precisely why it was my duty to keep the magicards safe, locked away from sadistic mages and any other beings that dared to threaten our kind.

  Only it would all be over soon. For me, anyway. I’d served the Vault for thirty years, remaining young yet all the while being gifted with added strength and speed. As far as the eye could tell, I was still only thirty years old. What would happen when I resigned from my post was unknown to me, and I guess I didn’t want to know. My mind was too focused on the job at hand, which meant that I had to find Jack within a few days, or my time would be up and the Vault would be left without a Keeper.

  It was barely enough time.

  After traversing the great number of hallways and staircases that led to my Elder’s location, I finally shoved open the door to the Grand Hall and quickly noticed his absence. For the first time in thirty years, he hadn’t been there waiting for me as I came in. It struck me as odd, not to mention worrying, but when a door opened at the far end of the marble-floored hall, Dalton came into view and I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Lady Keira,” he said, crossing the hall slowly with his head covered by the hood of his robe. Thousands of years old now, Dalton commanded respect. Not only had he made great sacrifices and survived a shocking number of magic wars, but after all that he was still a good person with a kind heart. That sort of man was a dying breed.

  “Sir.” I took a humble bow as Link flew off my shoulder and fluttered around the room, stretching his wings. “It’s bad news, I’m afraid. I checked out the warehouse and found nothing but vampires.”

  “No word of Jack?”

  “Not a whisper.”

  Dalton nodded slowly and his eyes drifted across the room. It was clear that he was deep in thought, and until his gaze returned to me, I dared not speak a word. Only his wisdom could lead me in the right direction. “There have been numerous attempts at locating him.”

  “Strike seventeen,” I said.

  “Have you considered seeking an alternative?”

  “Considered, yes. But there’s nobody I know who has the balls to do it. Pardon my French.”

  “French?”

  “It’s a figure of speech.”

  Dalton turned away from me, walking around the great fire that roared from a pit in the center of the room until he finally came to a stop. The tall flames licked up at the air, casting a long shadow behind him that reached out to the far end of the Grand Hall. Here there were two rows of gigantic marble pillars lined up on either side of a dark walkway. I didn’t know what was up there, only that the Elders of R’hen often came from that direction, which meant that it was forbidden for me to explore it.

  “You’re running out of time,” said Dalton, without turning to fa
ce me.

  “Tell me something I don’t know. Everywhere I look I end up in a fight with some kind of creature, and it always turns out to be for nothing. I don’t know where your intel is coming from, but perhaps there’s another way to find Jack.”

  “There is not,” he said coldly.

  “Then what should I do?”

  Link swooped in from above me then, knocking the hood off my head and throwing it over the back of my robe. Hovering by my face with his wings flickering wildly, he put a hand on my cheek. “Hey, you killed five vampires today. So at least it wasn’t a complete waste of time.”

  As much as I appreciated that he was trying to cheer me up, it didn’t solve my problem. I gave him a false smile and brushed past him, arriving at Dalton’s side and staring down into the huge, hypnotic flames. “Please, give me some guidance.”

  “What exactly do you ask of me?”

  I shrugged. “If you know of someone that might offer information, I would like to know about it. If not…” I paused to consider this. “Then what else could I do but give in? I’m trying so, so hard, but it’s useless.”

  “Attempts are only stepping stones to success, Lady Keira.”

  “Which is all good and wise, but not helpful.”

  “It is as helpful as you want it to be.”

  “What does that mean? Look, I wanted to resign six months ago but you kept me on to find my replacement. Against my better judgment, I’ve done everything I can to find my friend so I can let him in on this job. There is nobody better; I can tell you that much, so what can I do? Come on, I’m trying to be realistic.”

  Dalton sighed before turning to me and meeting my eyes with his own. They were steely blue, full of both promise and threat. Something about those eyes always told me that I was safe, as long as I didn’t cross him. Luckily, I never intended to.

  “Please,” I added.

  After a long pause, Dalton finally reached out and touched my arm. “Follow me, and I will see what I can do.”