To my utter astonishment the Princess walked over and gracefully lay down, clasping her hands across her abdomen and closing her eyes.
The crowd went berserk.
But on top of the excitement, I sensed some hesitation. Fear began to permeate the room. Demon fear smells like rancid eggs, on top of already rancid eggs. It was enough to make me gag. It appeared that some of the demons were clearly worried about their beloved Princess.
Lili also interpreted the change in the crowd, because immediately, in both Demonish and English, she announced, “Have no fear, my fellow demons! This is what the Scriptures intend. The new reign shall begin. With the wolf’s power and magic, coupled with the Princess’s heart, we will become the most powerful force in the entire universe!”
There was a smattering of applause and some cheering.
Lili nodded her head at the demons manning the gurney and they skillfully lifted the contraption, along with the unmoving Princess, to the edge of the circle and walked it down the steps. They rolled her next to me, and Lili followed, easing down the steps, starting some kind of chant.
I gazed over at the Princess, but her eyes were firmly closed. Because she was clearly cooperating, the crowd calmed down and its fear eased. Everyone was waiting to see what came next, including me.
Curious about the Princess, I pushed my power out toward her, testing. She wasn’t as strong as Lili, but there was something else. Something unique that I couldn’t place.
I had no idea how cloning worked. It was obviously a transfer of power, but other than that it was baffling.
My wolf snarled. Don’t worry, I’m not planning on finding out, but aren’t you the least bit curious? She flashed a picture of us tearing Lili’s head completely from her body. I guess not as much as I am, but you have to admit none of it makes sense. Maybe we were spelled and only thought the clone looked like Selene? Before my wolf could become even more irritated with me, another gurney was wheeled out. This one had a body on it.
As it was wheeled closer, I gasped.
There was no sheet covering the unmoving form. It was lying on its back with its eyes closed.
And looked exactly like me.
“What’s going on?” I asked, alarmed. “How did you get that?”
Lili laughed at my discomfort. “You gave your DNA so nicely when I asked. Your handprint was so generous, as it gave us so much good data. We just needed time to grow the shell, but we had that in spades as I ran you through the Sholls, and even better when you spent all that time in jail worrying about the fate of your brother.”
Ohmygods, I said to my wolf. All those times she asked me to help her she was collecting DNA samples. I was nauseous. That can’t really be me. My wolf’s ears were pinned back, canines exposed, nose scenting. My lifeless clone had no smell. That’s a good sign, right?
“The best part was that your signature was already mixed with demon essence—due to your own stupidity, which made the growth extremely easy. Usually it takes much longer to copy a non-demon, but this was a piece of cake.” She clapped her hands together as the crowd cheered at her brilliance. “Now we just have to transfer your life-force into the clone, along with the Princess’s heart, and I become the most powerful supernatural the world has ever seen.”
Rourke, I said urgently. We have a definite problem here, where are you?
Just… breaking down… a few doors. It seems the Prince is being held in… some place they keep their animals.
Lili made a clone of me.
What? I sensed his body still.
I don’t quite understand. I swallowed. But you need to get up here. Now.
I’m on my way. I’ll leave Tyler and Ray here to get the Prince. I felt him running. Hold tight, Jessica. She’s not going to get away with anything.
We can’t leave my clone alive, I whispered. My attention was forced back to Lili as she waltzed over to me. “This will only hurt for about fifteen minutes.” She smirked. “But it will hurt like the fires of Hell are raging through your body, tearing you apart and sizzling you from the inside out.”
My wolf had already wrapped us in ribbons of magic, forcing it outward to create a barrier against her. I began to push the demon essence that we’d separated out past the shell, coating it all around us to make an oily bubble, which I hoped would be a direct repellent against Lili’s demon magic.
I gritted my teeth as I spit, “Go ahead, Lili. I’d love to see how this is all going to turn out.”
She smiled as she lifted her hands, her magic shooting forward.
Only to be rebuffed.
The reverberation of the backlash forced her to take an inadvertent step backward, which caused instant chatter to erupt in the audience, especially among those closest to us, who had seen what had actually happened.
She recovered quickly, her eyes narrowing.
But instead of trying it again, she spun with a flourish. “I just tested my magic on the female wolf, and she is primed and ready. But first, we must take the heart from your beloved Princess and place it in the host body.” She nodded toward two demons and they proceeded to maneuver my cloned body into the circle, so it was situated right next to the Princess, the two gurneys side-by-side. New fear emanated from the demons in the audience, and Lili responded with, “Have no fear! Your Princess will rise again in this new form, as all clones do. Her heart will feed the body. She will not be lost!”
After selecting a knife from the table, Lili sauntered back into the circle and over to the Princess, who I witnessed from my proximity stiffen ever so slightly. The Princess was nervous. Something was up. This is not going to end well, I told my wolf as Lili positioned herself over the demoness, the wicked-looking blade clutched tightly in her hands. It was long and sharp—the kind you use to skin a hide.
Lili flourished the knife over the Princess’s heart and brought it down, and as the tip of the knife entered her chest, the Princess’s glamour began to drop with a loud rushing noise. She had remained perfectly still as Lili struck her with the knife, but now her body undulated beneath the blade.
Lili had no choice but to bring the blade up to give her room.
The crowd took in a collective breath. I took one in along with them. Holy crap! I was too stunned to move.
The Princess’s hair flowed outward, longer and thicker. Her lips thinned as her skin took on a different sheen, almost opalescent. It was beautiful. She continued to undulate on the table as a demon yelled from the crowd, “The true Princess! Swy sliy hlefpyzz! She should be Queen!”