Page 108 of The Music Demon

Quicksilver knew the music demon had seen him watching, and didn’t care. He didn’t have enough respect for Lyric to bother changing form. Perhaps on some level he wanted the other demon to know he was coming for the prize; make things more interesting. Although it was hard to imagine how much more interesting things could get. An unmated female demon? Inconceivable. But true.

He'd only been waiting for his appointment with Shelejiah for a few days, but it seemed like a lot longer. Everything about this pursuit was refreshing, even caring about the passage of time was different.

Shelejiah was… Well, Quicksilver didn’t knowwhatshe was, but, “What’s in a name?” he muttered to himself. He knew what he needed to know about her. She performed works of sorcery. Feats beyond what demons could manage, for a price.

He stepped out of the passes and into her workroom, a place that looked like a cross between a science lab and a greenhouse. A huge polished concrete sink sat in the middle of the space that looked suspiciously like a trough.

Shelejiah was six-and-a-half feet tall. Not knowing her species made it impossible to guess her age, but there was typically an assumption of lifespans that were millennia-long. She had short teeth except for exceptionally long canines, ears that were shaped like those of fauns, and small horns that appeared to be covered in something that resembled the texture of velvet. He couldn’t know that for sure and had no intention of touching those horns or anything else that belonged to her person.

She was the only person in the worlds who could give him what he wanted, so far as he knew, but she might also be the world’s smelliest individual.

“What’s your need, Quicksilver?” she said, sitting down across from him at a little round, ice-cream-style glass table with white wrought-iron chairs featuring backs in the shape of hearts. She had extremely eclectic taste.

“I need to capture a female demon and persuade her to accept me as mate.”

Shelejiah stared for a few seconds before bursting into raucous laughter. She guffawed as she beat the glass tabletop with the palm of her hand, the fingers of which featured long, thick, yellowish nails.

After pretending to wipe a tear away, she said, “No. Really.”

“I know it sounds unlikely,” Quicksilver said smoothly. “Perhaps even impossible. But it’s true and I’m holding you to your commitment to confidentiality by the way. If this news gets out, I’ll know where to look.”

“Woo. Woo. I’m so scared,” she said with the most bored-sounding tone possible.

“Should I say sarcasm is beneath your station?”

“Say what you want. Sarcasm is my middle name. I don’t mind saying I’m flattered that you think I can help you capture a female demon. But you have to know that can’t be done.”

“Under normal circumstances, you’re right.”

“You call an unmated female demon ‘normal circumstances’?”

“No. Of course not. This isn’t your usual female demon.”

“Usual female demon,” she repeated drily, as if there was such a thing.

“She wasn’t born. She was made. Recently. So recently that she has no understanding of her nature, much less her power. She reached maturity as a human and is only twenty-odd years old.”

Shelejiah’s head jerked at that. “She’s twenty-something years old?”

“Yes.”

“Total?”

“Yes.”

“How in the names of all gods did she become a demon?”

“A human fraternity found out that, if humans are injected with even trace amounts of elemental blood, they can travel passes.”

“Fuck it all to shitting hel!”

“That’s not all. They used demon blood. And it turned humans into demons.”

She slumped back. “No.”

“That’s the word in the passes.”

“Fucking humans.”