Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 7

Corin sat down heavily, tensing when Rafferty sat down next to him. "I wasn't entirely honest with you, and I'm sorry."
    "Hah," Corin said bitterly, unable to muster enough energy for more emotion.
    "I didn't have time to explain everything," Rafferty said quietly. He was sitting stiffly, tensely, as though he expected Corin to lash out at him. "It's more complicated…"
    "Tell me," Corin snapped, twisting so he could stare Rafferty down. Rafferty ducked his head, his hair falling in his face. When had it come unbound? Corin shook that thought away, wishing he didn't feel so tired so he could properly yell at Rafferty.
    "The shadow demons are a problem across the country," Rafferty said slowly, curling his hands together in his lap. "That's why there are so many spells to combat them. What most people don't know is that the shadow demons have to be summoned. They don't get to this world on their own. Someone has to call them."
    "Why would they?" Corin asked, his eyes widening. Why would anyone subject themselves to the feeling the shadow demons caused?
    "Why else? Power," Rafferty said bitterly, pushing his hair out of his face. "Most of the priests have a lot of spirit energy, like you and me. Some don't have as much, which means they can't cast as many or as powerful spells."
    "So summoning the demons somehow gives them more power?" Corin interpreted, his blood running cold. That was even worse than the priests sacrificing people to keep the demons bound.
    "Right," Rafferty said. "But it comes at a price."
    "A price they don't pay," Corin said. How many people had the priests killed to keep their power?
    "No, they pay it as well, though I don't suppose they think of it that way," Rafferty said quietly, gesturing to the dead man on the floor. "Demon energy slowly erodes the spirit energy of the person using it. When there's no more spirit energy, a demon takes over."
    Corin's blood ran cold as he remembered the way the priest's eyes had glowed in the corridor outside the dining hall. "Oh, god."
    "The sacrifices are to keep the demons bound, in a sense," Rafferty said, his voice hollow. "Without it, the demons have more power here and don't have to work with the priests or do their bidding."
    "What did we do?" Corin asked, glancing at the dead priest again. He was still dead, and Corin looked away again. He was dead before the demon had been expelled, Corin told himself.
    "Banished the demons. All of them," Rafferty said, running a hand through his hair and looking pensive. "The entire monastery was using their power, some more than others. Unfortunately, there's no way to save the men who let the demons in fully. They're gone."
    "And the rest of them?" Corin asked, glancing at the missing wall. No one was there, and he wondered what the priests were doing. Were they staying away in case they were also killed?
    "They'll be ill for weeks until they recover," Rafferty said. "They'll also be arrested and placed in jail. It's against the highest laws to summon demons, and everyone here was complicit."
    "Did you really have a sister?" Corin asked, too tired to keep the question back when he thought of it. "Or was that just a ploy to get me to play along?"
    Rafferty jerked as if he'd been slapped, but then he shook his head, speaking so quietly that Corin barely heard him. "I did. They killed her."
    "Oh," Corin said, feeling like an ass.
    "They sent me away when I raised a fuss, thinking no one would believe me when I told him what was going on here," Rafferty said, his voice flat and toneless. He wasn't looking at Corin, but staring at the hole in the wall, and why did Corin want to comfort him? Rafferty had lied to him. "They believed me, but the priests here were clever enough to hide everything whenever anyone came looking. I have no idea how, considering how many demons they've summoned, but there was no evidence. They sent me back to get it."
    "Wait, just to get evidence?" Corin asked, frowning.
    Rafferty nodded. "I've been here for six months, but they kept sending me out to surrounding villages to ensure they were complying and sending in everyone who was eligible to the monastery. I didn't have the chance to collect anything until the last few weeks. I wasn't supposed to do this—partly because I don't have the energy on my own to do this."
    "Why did you?" Corin asked. His head was spinning, and he had the feeling he was missing something.
    "I overheard Tennyson talking to one of the other priests," Rafferty