Slawter by Darren Shan Read Free Book Online Page B

room lights up. I see the book, lying facedown. No movement.
    “Could you have brought him here?” I ask, not taking my eyes off the book.
    “No,” Dervish says. “But I could have summoned part of his spirit. Given him just enough strength to... hurt me.”
    “And me?”
    “Absolutely not. You were safe. The spirit couldn’t have gotten out of this room.”
    “But when I came in?”
    Dervish says nothing. A guilty silence. Then a deep sigh. “Let’s get out of here. There are things we must discuss.”
    “And the book?” I ask.
    “Leave it. It can’t do any harm. Not now.”
    Standing, I stagger away from the book, then out of the room. Dervish follows, leaving the candle burning, shutting the door on the past, trailing me back up the corridor to the safety of the normal world.
    “The Disciples fight the Demonata and do what we can to keep them out of our universe.” We’re in Dervish’s study. We both have mugs of hot chocolate. Sitting facing one another across the main desk.
    “We’re all magically inclined,” Dervish continues. “Not true magicians, but we have talents and abilities — call us mages if you like. In an area of magic — the Demonata’s universe, or a place where a demon is crossing — our powers are magnified. We can do things you wouldn’t believe. No, scratch that — of course you’d believe. You fought Lord Loss.”
    “How many Disciples are there?” I ask.
    “Twenty-five, thirty. Maybe a few more.” Dervish shrugs. “We’re loose-knit. Our founder is a guy called Beranabus. He
is
a true magician, but we don’t see a lot of him. He spends most of his time among the Demonata, waging wars the rest of us couldn’t dream of winning.
    “Beranabus sometimes gives orders, assigns one or more of us a specific task. But mostly we do our own thing. That’s why I’m not sure of our exact number. There’s a core group who keep in touch, track the movements of demons, and work together to deal with the threats. But there are others we only see occasionally. In an emergency I guess Berana-bus could assemble us all, but in the usual run of things we don’t have contact with every member.”
    “So that’s your real job,” I say softly. “Fighting demons.”
    He smiles crookedly. “Don’t misinterpret what I’m telling you. This isn’t an organization of crack magical heroes who battle demons every week. There are a few Disciples who’ve fought the Demonata several times, but most have never gone up against them, or maybe only once or twice.”
    “Then what do they do?” I frown.
    “Travel,” he says. “Tour the world, watch for signs of demonic activity, try to prevent crossings in advance. Demons can’t swap between universes at will. They need human assistants, wicked, power-hungry mages who work with them from this side and help them open windows between their realm and ours. Usually there are signs. If you know what to look for, you can stop it before it happens. That’s what we do — watch for evidence of a forming window, find the person working for the demon, stop them before it gets out of hand.”
    “
You
don’t travel around,” I note. “Is that because of me?”
    “No,” Dervish smiles. “I used to travel a lot, but I do most of my work here now, at the command of Beranabus. It’s my job to... well, let’s not get into that. It’s not relevant.”
    Dervish sips from his mug, looking at me over the rim, awaiting my reaction.
    “What happens when a demon crosses?” I ask.
    “It depends on the strength of the demon. Most of the truly powerful Demonata can’t use windows — they’re too big, magically speaking. They need a tunnel to cross — a wider, stronger form of window. They’re much more difficult to open. It’s been centuries since anyone constructed a tunnel.”
    “Lord Loss is a demon master,” I note. “He crosses.”
    “He’s an exception. We don’t know why he can cross when others like him can’t. He just can. There