Slayer (Slayer 1)

“And you’re working with a drug dealer!” Artemis spins away, chest heaving, fists up.

Leo clears his throat. He has a slender but heavy-looking metal rod in his hand. It must have been up his sleeve. I feel a surge of triumphant glee. Honora thought he was unarmed. I doubt Leo’s ever unarmed. “Let’s all calm down, or I’ll shatter this glass and release the remora demon.”

Sean stands in alarm. “Are you touched? Without water pressure, they grow to the size of their container! It’ll fill the office and kill us all!”

Leo smiles. It’s weirdly adorable, given the situation. I catch a flutter in my stomach and squash it. He gestures with the rod. “We’ve got two Watchers and a Slayer on our team. I like my odds. Do you like yours?”

“Honora!” Sean snaps. “Please!”

Honora steps back from Artemis. “Sean, remember how I told you about the woman who hated my mum, so she made sure I got sent away on assignment to the crappiest places imaginable? Meet her daughters.”

“I thought you wanted to leave,” Artemis says. “You could have come back.” She looks more upset by this than she did by the fight with Honora. But they were never really fighting. They might as well have been dancing for all either of them intended any damage.

“I did want to leave! You should too.”

Sean clears his throat. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather work this out somewhere else?”

Honora has a knife in her hand now. She picks at her fingernails with it. “It’s okay, really. I got assigned deep cover in a demon-worshipping cult, and then acolytes of the First Evil blew up the Council. So your mum hating mine actually saved my life.”

“Honora, I—” Artemis starts, staring down at the floor.

In a flash, Honora darts to me and holds the knife under my chin, spinning so that I’m between her and my companions. “Go on,” she says to Leo. “Try to free the remora. Artemis won’t let you. She won’t let anything happen to endanger poor little Nina. Nina’s the reason Artemis stayed with the Watchers, played their servant when she deserves so much more. ‘Nina needs me,’?” Honora says in a perfect imitation of my sister. “And now you’re a Slayer?” Her knifepoint digs into my chin. “Tell me how it makes any sense that you’re a Slayer and Artemis isn’t. What kind of fate would choose you over her?” She pauses, and her next words are so soft I wonder if she meant them to be out loud. “I wouldn’t.”

Her words cut better than her knife could. Artemis won’t meet my eyes, confirming what Honora says. I did hold her back. And it’s obvious even Artemis feels like, of the two of us, she should have been the Chosen One.

But she’s not. I am.

I grab Honora’s hand and twist until she drops the knife.

Honora’s eyes go wide with fear and pain. I remember all the taunts, the nickname, the way she humiliated me. I twist harder.

“You’re hurting me,” she whimpers.

I don’t buy it. I maintain pressure but don’t increase. She rolls her eyes, annoyed, and swings her free fist at my face. I lean back, dodging the blow, then push. She flies across the office and slams into a wall, sliding down in a heap to the floor. Fortunately, it was away from the remora tank, not into it.

“She—” She laughs, gasping in pain. “She broke my ribs.” She pulls something out of her jacket and swallows it. Her eyes close, and she takes a deep breath. Then she stands, shaking out her arms as if she’s totally fine. “Let’s go again, Slayer.”

What the hell kind of drug is she taking?

Artemis steps between us. “Please, Honora.” Her voice is quiet. Pleading. Intimate.

Honora tears her eyes away from mine. She looks at my sister, and something softens. “I wouldn’t have hurt her. Not really.” Then she shrugs, walking to the open chair and sitting in it. She puts her boots up on Sean’s desk. “You’re still letting her control your life.”

“Well, this has all been very interesting.” Sean pokes at Honora’s boots. She doesn’t move them off. “On the bright side, our search for a replacement Slayer is over before it started, innit. I have a lot of work for you if you’re interested.”

Leo has Honora’s knife, picked up during the distraction. The gun is gone too. He got both weapons when we were all looking elsewhere. “Does he know anything that will help us? Because I don’t like the things he knows now.”

Sean holds up his hands all defenselessly. His smile slides into place like the remora demon slides through the water. “We’re on the same side. You want to protect people from demons. I keep demons where they won’t hurt anyone. Our jobs are six of one, half a dozen of the other.”

“We are not the same,” I snap.

“You came to me, remember? You want me as an ally. We all want Doug caught.”

I shake my head. “You want Doug caught. I just want him to get into a Coldplay concert.”

Sean smooths his suit. “Well, we can agree that we all want whatever it was that killed Cosmina stopped. Caught. Killed, if necessary. Besides, I know more about this new world of hell-less demons than anyone else. I can give you access to things the Watchers never will. Information. Powers.”

Artemis draws an involuntary gasp. Honora tips her head back, giving my sister an upside-down wink. “We can hook you up,” she sings.