I stare at him incredulously, certain I didn’t hear what I just did. “That’s the plan?”
“I like it,” Ethan says right away. “Makes sense to me.”
“But who’s going to kill the demon when we’re up in our room?”
“Hunter?” Ethan suggests and I shake my head, trying to center myself and restore my aura. Ethan’s phone rings again and he ignores it, getting up to get my Book of Shadows instead. I close my eyes, remembering a meditation I used to do when spirits were the scariest thing in my life.
Imagine yourself bathed in white light. Focusing on my breath, I inhale and hold it. Feel the pureness around you. Touching your soul. Exhaling, I wait a beat and then inhale again. I can’t shut off my mind, but after repeating that five times, I do feel a little more grounded and not as spent. Blinking, I get up right as Ethan’s phone rings again.
With a sigh he gets up, sees that it’s Sam, and declines the call. “It can wait,” he tells me. “We have more urgent matters to attend to. But she calls again and this time he turns his phone to silent. Blowing out the candles, I step out of the salt circle and sit next to Ethan on the couch.
His leg brushes against mine and normally, I wouldn’t think anything of it. his skin is so warm and it feels so good and I know it’ll feel even better to have him against me—naked.
“Fuck,” I say under my breath and scoot away.
Ethan gives me a what the hell look.
“I can’t help but think how good it feels when your skin is against mine. And now I know I shouldn’t think about it and it’s making me think about it even more.”
“Maybe you two should separate,” Nik suggests.
“Now I’m thinking about it.” Ethan gets up and walks to the window, looking out at the front yard. “Your aunt,” he starts. “She sent demons she couldn’t physically kill so she trapped them. If we can’t figure out a way to bring the incubus into our plane and kill it at the same time, that’s what we’ll have to do.”
“Yeah, sounds great. Just…how?”
“I was hoping you’d come up with something. No pressure or anything,” he adds with an apologetic half-smile.
“Right.” I pace to the other side of the library, trying to come up with something. “Creating my own pocket dimension is out of the question, but I might be able to open one just long enough to shove the incubus inside. We’ll have to hope nothing gets out at the same time.” I turn and see the books Ruby gave me in a stack on one of the armchairs. “Wait, I think I—” I stop short, feeling like the words are on the tip of my tongue. “—the pentacle.” It’s fresh in my mind because I paid close attention while reading the section on it in the Magic 101 textbook. I knew what I told the hunters was right and reading it in black and white was validating. “Each point of the star represents an element: earth, air, fire, water, and spirit.” I stop again, mind racing. “If I had done this a few weeks ago, I might have actually trapped Xozon in the circles.”
“Elaborate, Anora.”
“Right.” I pick up the textbook and sit on the couch, waiting a beat for Ethan and Nik to join me. “My mistake with X was not realizing how much of a hold he had on me. But the incubus isn’t anywhere near as powerful. The spell I use to call spirits works best when I’m in their realm because they don’t have the power—or energy—to appear here.”
“But the incubus does,” Ethan continues.
“Exactly. And if I use the pentacle as a basis for casting my circle, I can call upon all five of the elements for strength. It will keep the ward strong and that surge of energy is going to be very appealing to the demon, even though it’s not raw sexual energy. I think. I hope.”
“In theory, that could work.” Ethan gets back to his feet, holstering his gun and looking out the windows. Hunter gives me a look and I silently agree. There’s no point in Ethan trying to keep watch like this. The demon is still biding its time, hiding in the astral plane. “And as soon as it appears, trap it, and then we’ll kill it. Still not sure on the how but decapitation is fool-proof. Well, most of the time. If we cut off its head and burn the body, I’d feel satisfied.”
“And if that doesn’t work?” Nik asks, fiddling his hands together.
“Then we’ll come up with a plan B, Ethan tells him. “We know one surefire way to get this thing to manifest into our world.”
I grab a notebook, scribbling down my plan, and don’t look up. It’s been several days since I’ve felt their presence, but I know without a doubt I could call upon my reaper demons who feed on auras and they’d be here in a moment’s notice. Since both the reapers and the incubus survive on sucking energy from victims, I’m not sure it will work like last time, but I know my little demon-army is loyal and will do what they can to protect me.