Read Online Too Many Curses by A. Lee Martinez - Free Book Online
Authors: A. Lee Martinez
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while she understood his reluctance, she couldn't bring herself to not put something back where it belonged. It was her nature, nursed by years of habit. She remembered the Vampire King's empty coffin. She hadn't any fondness for the King, but that he wasn't there distressed her more and more.
"Are you really going to deal with a demon?" asked Morton.
"If I have to."
"But the hound isn't dangerous. Not to us anyway. Why risk your life, your soul, for people that are already dead?"
"Just because they're dead, that doesn't mean they deserve to be dragged to Hell."
The Hanged Man struggled but was unable to raise himself with his exhausted limbs.
"No need to thank me," she said. "Just doing my job."
"A damn sight more than your duty, if you ask me," said Morton.
But the castle would be kept. And as she was the only one who could keep it, she would do whatever was necessary to maintain its order and to protect all those, living or dead, who called it home. They could expect nothing less from her. And neither could she.
SIX
Nessy spent the next few hours checking each and every volume of the library's metazoology, demonology, and necromancy sections. She found nothing else on hellhounds. Nothing on how to summon them up. Nothing to dispatch them. Nor even a single description of the beast.
She wondered how the creature had found its way into the castle. She didn't believe it was happenstance. Everything else was here for a reason. But Margle's castle was protected from casual entry by unnatural forces. An underworld creature couldn't just slip in. The hound could only have come from inside.
Had Margle summoned it from the underworld with a magic so dark and secret that it wasn't even hinted at in even his most prized books? Surely, it must've been here by the wizard's doing, but how had it gotten loose?
Perhaps Margle had nothing to do with it. Perhaps it was all the castle's will. Decapitated Dan had said it possessed a life of its own. She'd already known that. But with its master dead, had it truly become an evil place, bent on devouring them all? She refused to believe that. Not yet. So rather than focus on things she didn't understand, she turned her attention to the hellhound and its removal.
Questioning Yazpib the Magnificent proved fruitless. "I'm sorry, but I have little experience with demonology. Too dangerous. Far, far too dangerous." The fluid in his jar paled at the mere thought. "It's no surprise my brother would. He was as devious and scheming as any demon."
So Nessy had only one place to turn: The Purple Room.
It was expressly forbidden to enter the room. Nor had she ever had any such desire because this was where a demon lived. If demons truly lived. Not just any demon, but a powerful lord of one of the deepest, darkest hells, bound to the room by Margle's most potent magic.
Nessy had a healthy caution toward The Purple Room, but she didn't fear it as she did The Door At The End Of The Hall. She passed it often, and it never acted the least bit strange. If she hadn't known there was a demon inside it, she wouldn't have given it much thought. Even knowing, she had always considered it merely a place she wasn't allowed to enter.
It was habit, not fear, that made her pause before The Purple Room's door. Margle was dead, but she felt some compulsion to obey him still.
"Changed your mind?" asked Yazpib. "That's good. Because you really shouldn't be going in there."
Nessy put her hands against the door. She didn't sense any of the danger she'd felt from The Door At The End Of The Hall, and she wasn't surprised. Wouldn't a good demon hide its darkness? It made temptation so much easier.
Sir Thedeus, clinging to her shoulder, whispered, "If ye change your mind, lass, none would think the less of ye."
"Get the necklace."
The bat flew to the cart, snatched a long, daggerlike tooth on a chain, and dropped it around her neck.
"Are ye certain this will protect her, wizard?"
"A tooth from the
"Are you really going to deal with a demon?" asked Morton.
"If I have to."
"But the hound isn't dangerous. Not to us anyway. Why risk your life, your soul, for people that are already dead?"
"Just because they're dead, that doesn't mean they deserve to be dragged to Hell."
The Hanged Man struggled but was unable to raise himself with his exhausted limbs.
"No need to thank me," she said. "Just doing my job."
"A damn sight more than your duty, if you ask me," said Morton.
But the castle would be kept. And as she was the only one who could keep it, she would do whatever was necessary to maintain its order and to protect all those, living or dead, who called it home. They could expect nothing less from her. And neither could she.
SIX
Nessy spent the next few hours checking each and every volume of the library's metazoology, demonology, and necromancy sections. She found nothing else on hellhounds. Nothing on how to summon them up. Nothing to dispatch them. Nor even a single description of the beast.
She wondered how the creature had found its way into the castle. She didn't believe it was happenstance. Everything else was here for a reason. But Margle's castle was protected from casual entry by unnatural forces. An underworld creature couldn't just slip in. The hound could only have come from inside.
Had Margle summoned it from the underworld with a magic so dark and secret that it wasn't even hinted at in even his most prized books? Surely, it must've been here by the wizard's doing, but how had it gotten loose?
Perhaps Margle had nothing to do with it. Perhaps it was all the castle's will. Decapitated Dan had said it possessed a life of its own. She'd already known that. But with its master dead, had it truly become an evil place, bent on devouring them all? She refused to believe that. Not yet. So rather than focus on things she didn't understand, she turned her attention to the hellhound and its removal.
Questioning Yazpib the Magnificent proved fruitless. "I'm sorry, but I have little experience with demonology. Too dangerous. Far, far too dangerous." The fluid in his jar paled at the mere thought. "It's no surprise my brother would. He was as devious and scheming as any demon."
So Nessy had only one place to turn: The Purple Room.
It was expressly forbidden to enter the room. Nor had she ever had any such desire because this was where a demon lived. If demons truly lived. Not just any demon, but a powerful lord of one of the deepest, darkest hells, bound to the room by Margle's most potent magic.
Nessy had a healthy caution toward The Purple Room, but she didn't fear it as she did The Door At The End Of The Hall. She passed it often, and it never acted the least bit strange. If she hadn't known there was a demon inside it, she wouldn't have given it much thought. Even knowing, she had always considered it merely a place she wasn't allowed to enter.
It was habit, not fear, that made her pause before The Purple Room's door. Margle was dead, but she felt some compulsion to obey him still.
"Changed your mind?" asked Yazpib. "That's good. Because you really shouldn't be going in there."
Nessy put her hands against the door. She didn't sense any of the danger she'd felt from The Door At The End Of The Hall, and she wasn't surprised. Wouldn't a good demon hide its darkness? It made temptation so much easier.
Sir Thedeus, clinging to her shoulder, whispered, "If ye change your mind, lass, none would think the less of ye."
"Get the necklace."
The bat flew to the cart, snatched a long, daggerlike tooth on a chain, and dropped it around her neck.
"Are ye certain this will protect her, wizard?"
"A tooth from the
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