Free Arcane Solutions by Gayla Drummond

as two others took hold. They lifted her onto the rock, which I realized made a natural altar. Dread rose while watching them chain her wrists and ankles, leaving her face down and spread-eagled. Vulnerable. “I don't want to watch this.”
    “ Watch what, Cordi?” Damian quietly asked.
    “ It’s some kind of ritual.” My stomach flip-flopped as chanting began. The figures formed a circle, beginning to march around the altar. I gasped when one raised a bone-handled whip, sending it slashing down onto the woman's back.
    She jerked, but didn't scream. Drugged? More arms raised, fists clutching whip handles. My legs gave out when blood began flowing. Damian eased my descent to the floor, and kept hold of my hand while I begged, “Get me out.”
    We both knew from experience nothing could be done. I had no choice but to see it through. Closing my eyes made no difference.
    The beating had reduced the woman's back to tatters of red. Her companions drew back, the chanting fading away. Into the newly fallen silence, another stepped forward, face hidden in the shadow of his hood. Lifting his hands overhead, he shouted out a harsh scrape of sound.
    I scooted backward until my back hit something, staring in horror at the huge, winged beast that answered. Whimpering, I watched the demon wipe a hand over the sacrifice's ruined back and lift it to lick off blood.
    “It's just a vision, Cordi. It can't hurt you,” Damian murmured, having somehow managed to keep hold of my hand.
    The cloaked ones knelt, heads bowing. Mine began to jerkily shake no, but that didn't do any good either.
    Claws digging into her hips, the demon pulled the woman backwards as far as the chains allowed. Wings flicked, settling behind it, and I cringed at what the move revealed.
    “ No.” My whisper had no effect. Lifting her hips higher, the demon took her. Now she screamed, the high keen ringing loudly. I let go of Damian's hand to clamp both of mine over my ears, sliding over and curling into a fetal position.
    She screamed again, and it trailed off into a bubbling sob. Its third thrust didn't force a scream from her, but from me. I couldn't take it anymore, I needed to be free of the nightmare scene.
    The demon's head snapped around, its baleful orange eyes boring into mine.
    That did the trick. My mind shut down, allowing me to jump gratefully into its offer of darkness.
     
    ***
     
    “ It saw me,” I insisted. I was sitting on a bench outside the morgue with my head between my knees. Unconsciousness hadn't lasted long; I'd come to as they were dragging me out into the blessed sunshine, away from the dark and horror. “It saw me, Damian.”
    “ That's not possible. Your visions are of past events, Cordi. How could it see you?” He patted my back, but stopped when I flinched, the whipping still so raw in my mind that it spilled over to my flesh.
    “ I don't know.” Moving with caution, I sat up and leaned back, hand shaking while pushing hair off my cheeks. “Just that it did. They raised a demon and it saw me.”
    Thorandryll offered the soda he'd collected from a machine in the foyer. I accepted it. “Thanks.”
    “ You're welcome. I wasn't aware humans had mastered the art of calling demons forth from the nether realm.”
    Almost choking on the sip just taken, my response was a sputter. “Art? They beat a woman bloody and let it rape her to death.”
    “ Forgive me. I misspoke,” the elf apologized. “I wasn't aware humans could harness the power necessary to call them.”
    “ Well, surprise,” I muttered. “Some apparently can.”
    “ So now we know he was a cultist.” Damian sighed. “Captain's going to love this.”
    “ I bet.” Another cold sip of sugary goodness rolled down my throat, chasing away the last metallic dregs of fear coating my mouth. Funny how fear became a familiar flavor. “I'm never sleeping again.”
    The warlock nudged me. “I told you to adopt a dog.”
    “ You could loan me Illy for the night.”