The video rolled on.
“Our efforts to weaken the Guild have brought some success, allowing us to summon the first of our Masters from His prison, but the latest reports are disturbing. We have been told that three females previously unknown to our sources within the Guild have appeared and succeeded in waking three of the Guardians. And I need hardly tell you that our Masters find this news greatly upsetting.”
She hoped it gave them heartburn. The literal kind that Dag had recently inflicted on the drude.
“This is disturbing indeed, but it answers many questions I had over the destruction of the Guild headquarters,” Dag murmured, his gaze still fixed on the screen. “Such a feat should never have been possible. If somehow the ranks of the Wardens were infiltrated by the nocturnis, it would make the accomplishment much easier to believe.”
“Sounds like you were right, then. Do you think that’s also how they were able to get to so many of the Wardens? And why the ones who left have been so hard to find? If they really are in hiding and other Wardens had a part in the threat against them, they probably don’t know who to trust anymore.” She took his grunt for agreement. “We need to let the others know about that as soon as possible.”
“Finish this first.”
“… and so when we return, I will share with you all what the Masters have decreed you might do to aid Their cause and momentarily sate Their hunger. It will require organization and effort, as well as total dedication to our cause, but when we succeed we will not only have restored the Defiler to power, but have freed His Sister from the torture of Her foul prison.”
Kylie groaned. “Why do I think he’s not talking about some random blonde out at MCI Framingham?”
“Another of the Seven,” Dag bit out. “Shaab-Na. The Unclean. It is often referred to as female.”
“Oh, goodie.”
There was a knocking, shuffling sound and the video cut off abruptly. Kylie cursed and retrieved the file structure. “Crap, that’s it? That was the only video. What the hell was their grand plan? What kind of grand plan ends up summoning and feeding Demons to begin with?”
Dag pushed away from the desk and stalked over to glare at the cindered remains of the drude left on the floor. Kylie had the feeling he was wishing he could put the thing back together just so he could rip it apart again. Hell, she would even have brought popcorn this time.
“The only way to restore a demon to power, or to lend it enough power to escape from the prison to which it has been banished, is to feed it.” His tone was flat and hard, like the pedestal on which he had so recently perched. About as warm, too.
A queasy feeling churned in her stomach. “And Demons eat souls. Right?”
He nodded in a single jerk of his chin.
“Um, not that I really want to know the answer to this question or anything, but how do you feed someone’s soul to a Demon? Even more, how do you feed it enough souls to accomplish what those dybbukim were talking about?”
Dag wore an expression of disgust and barely controlled anger as he shook his head. “There are too many ways. A Demon needs only to lay its hand on a human to grasp its soul, and it is the work of seconds to devour it. Sacrificial rites can also channel the soul into an object that stores it until it is given to the Dark one. There are also spells that can trap souls as they depart from dying humans and hold them for a Demon to ingest.”
“Okay, so that’s three things I never want to see happen.” Kylie shuddered. “But it sounds to me like freeing a Demon or giving one enough power to make it strong again would take more than just a couple of souls. At least I hope so. Didn’t Wynn say they figured the first one got released when an entire village was slaughtered somewhere in the Middle East?”
“She did,” Dag said, looking less kill-y and more thoughtful for a moment. “The Order would need to take that into account.”
“Which means they must be planning something big.”
Oh, how Kylie hated having to say that. Big sounded really, really not good in this particular context. Like, big plate of challah French toast? Awesome. Big sacrifice to some batshit idiots’ demonic overlord? The opposite of awesome, to the nth degree.
“Indeed. We must warn the others immediately.”