Dire Destiny of Ours by John Corwin Page A

defeated two contingents of guards," Uoriss said. "The more I hear his asinine questions, the more I doubt the truth." She directed her iron gaze on Cephus. "What is truly going on here?"
    "Everything is precisely as I said." Cephus's face hardened. He turned to me. "Perhaps you should show them some proof. A display of your other half, perhaps."
    I figured he had to be talking about my demon half. The only bad thing about spawning was it would ruin my clothes. Thankfully, the belt of Nightingale armor beneath my jeans would grow to fit my new form. "Give me a moment." I reached into my pants and touched the hem of the armor. Like paint poured over a canvas, it spread to cover my waist and legs.
    "Are you touching yourself?" Uoriss said.
    I felt my cheeks heating. "No. I'm adjusting something."
    This only caused the seras to look even more disturbed. They gasped as I pulled off my jeans. I extended the armor over my torso and pulled off my shirt.
    "Calm down." I held up my hands in a placating gesture. "I'm just switching into a new uniform."
    Cephus seemed highly amused as he sat back and watched my clumsy efforts to impress these religious zealots.
    I stood back from the table, stretched my lips in what I hoped was a reassuring smile. "Now, don't freak out. I'm about to spawn into my demon form. I might look scary, but I won't hurt anyone."
    Uoriss and Thala burst into laughter.
    "He's delusional," Uoriss said. Her fingers brushed against a blue gem on the sleeve of her uniform. I didn't know if the gem on her sleeve functioned like the one on her collar, but it made me wonder if she'd just done something I wouldn't like. I noticed Thala had a green jewel on her sleeve while Cephus's was red.
    Thala's laughter stopped abruptly. "While entertaining, this has been a colossal waste of time." She rose from her seat. "This seraph belongs in a mental institution, not in an audience chamber with the Trivectus."
    I was really getting sick of their attitudes. I decided there was only one way to shut them up. Reaching inside me, I uncaged my inner demon. Muscles coiled around my body like snakes. My body swelled and gained height. My forehead grew heavier as large horns spiraled upward while my backside counterbalanced the new weight with a long tail. The armor stretched to accommodate everything.
    Uoriss and Thala froze, astonishment plain on their faces. It quickly morphed to horror.
    "He is truly a demon!" Thala shouted.
    Uoriss channeled a sphere of Murk and flung it at me. "He is an evil one from the Nethers!"
    The two seras ran in opposite directions, each trying to reach one of the six levitator shafts encircling the room. Before they'd gone far, every shaft was suddenly full of soldiers. The moment the soldiers stepped into the room, mist filled the entrances to the shafts and solidified, blocking them off.
    "Kill him!" Uoriss shouted.
    I didn't have time to think as nearly thirty soldiers charged my position. Some hurled orbs of Murk at me. My tail catapulted me to the side as survival instinct kicked in. The channeled energy splashed harmlessly against the windows. I shielded myself with Murk against the next onslaught. I saw Thala and Uoriss shouting at the soldiers, but there was too much noise in the room to make out what they were saying. Cephus, a horrified look on his face, waved his arms frantically.
    Well, that escalated quickly.
    "I'm not evil!" I shouted, my voice guttural.
    The soldiers were too busy attacking me to care. Escape seemed my best option. I slung a volleyball-sized sphere of Murk against the closest window. It barely left a crack. It suddenly occurred to me that the purple hue of the buildings wasn't just a side effect of being constructed from Murk—these buildings were heavily shielded. While brute force might break them, Fjoeruss had shown me that there were more economical ways to deal with such things.
    I dodged another flurry of magical attacks. Five soldiers closed in from all sides. I