Demon Hunting with a Dixie Deb Read Free Page A

his absence and was lost?
    He shook the troublesome thought away. He had tracked the djegrali through flood and fire, over mountains and valleys, through deserts and across boiling seas. If the foolish woman wandered, he would find her.
    The demon’s tracks ended in a shallow, leaf-choked vale. Grim knelt to inspect the prints. His senses quickened. He was close; the thing’s presence hung in a suffocating pall over the woods. The demon had gone to ground or was hiding in the trees. Opening his senses, Grim located a small, furry mammal beneath a shrub. The creature resembled a Parquinian marsh devil, without the barbed stingers and acid glands. The animal seemed harmless, but best to make sure.
    Out of long habit and caution, he accessed his information source. Opossum , the Provider intoned in Grim’s head, a nocturnal earth scavenger. The size of a small cat, the opossum, or “possum,” as it is informally known, is recognizable by its distinctive pink pointed nose, black ears, and long, almost hairless tail. The tail is most often used for grasping. Gentle and placid, the creature is known to carry its young in a pouch, much like the scaled jumping mouse of Althion.
    Grim stifled a twinge of annoyance. Each world contained disparate flora and fauna, and its own dangers. The Provider was an invaluable tool, particularly to Grim, who hunted alone, eschewing the comforts of the Great Hall and the companionship and camaraderie of his brother warriors. For many years, the Provider had been his sole companion. Grim had long since grown accustomed to the Provider’s prosaic droning. Today, though, Grim found the Provider irritating.
    It is because of the human female , the Provider said, reading his thoughts. You desire her. You are anxious to return to her side.
    â€œYou are mistaken,” Grim said. “The Dal do not couple with mortal species, particularly humans.”
    So I thought as well. Of late, however, there have been a number of peculiar lapses among the Dalvahni. I have monitored the situation with interest. But I digress. The opossum has the interesting ability to—
    Growing impatient, Grim merged with the possum without waiting for the Provider to finish. The opossum’s vision was poor, its sense of smell keen. Moss and lichen, the musty scent of rotting leaves and wood, damp soil and the clean, fresh smell of pine needles and new growth; these things and more Grim knew the instant he became one with the little animal.
    The possum’s heart stuttered in alarm. The fiend was close. Too close, Grim realized belatedly.
    â€”enter an involuntary, comatose-like state of shock when threatened and unable to flee, a state humans sometimes refer to as “playing possum,” the Provider concluded as the possum keeled over in fright.
    The world went dark. Pain snapped Grim’s link with the Provider and the inert animal. Blood filled his mouth. He was drowning in it. He was on his back pinned beneath the weight of the demon deer. The fiend ripped at him with fangs and claws. Grim fumbled for the knife at his thigh and found it. He closed his hand around the leather hilt and drove the blade into the monster’s belly. The demon deer shrieked and dissolved in a smelly puddle. The gummy pool turned to powder and blew away.
    Grim dropped the knife and let his eyes drift shut. He was coated in demon stench and his throat and chest were torn and bleeding.
    It is no more than you deserve , he chided himself. Remember the pain, and let it be a reminder to you. This is what comes of distraction. A Dalvahni warrior does not lose focus. A Dalvahni warrior is patient and methodical. A Dalvahni warrior is relentless as the tide, as cold and remorseless as a distant star. A Dalvahni warrior does not act on whim or in haste, like a foolish human.
    The throbbing of his wounds was fading. Soon he would be as before, save for the ruination of his garments and the residual stink of demon. A