Where is Lucas?
The thought that something happened to him shakes me to my very core. I whirl around, trying to force myself to calm down. I’m standing on the deck that overlooks part of the lake. It’s overcast tonight, and the moon offers little light. Water laps at the shore, and the smell of dead fish permeates the air.
“Lucas!” I call again, feeling like I might pass out. Then I notice the trail of blood on the ground. Sucking in a breath, I follow the blood down the deck. It turns, going around the back of the building.
Lucas is there, surrounded by three creatures that I think are people at first. Then I get closer and realize they are covered in the same thick gray skin the hellhounds were. The boards creak and crack under my feet, and one of the creatures turns. Where a human face should have been is just a mouth, large and round, with four rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Lucas takes advantage of the distraction. He grabs the creature and uses it as a weapon against the other, hitting its head into the back of another. The two creatures let out horrible shrieks of pain, and their cries reverberate off the building.
They’re too close to Lucas to throw an energy ball. If I hit him with one, it could kill him. The one creature that didn’t just get its head bashed in makes a move for Lucas and I throw out my hand, telekinetically throwing it over the side of the deck, leaving the two human-ish monsters to deal with. They reach for each other, and I know what they’re doing.
So does Lucas. He punches his fist through the one’s chest and pulls out its heart. Only, the heart is a rat. Startled, Lucas drops it do the ground. One of the creatures starts to turn into black ooze, merging into the other.
“Oh, shit.” I take off, running down the wobbly deck as fast as I can. Lucas grabs the creature by the arms and jerks it around. Raising my hand, I conjure up a small energy ball of bright white light.
The creature opens its mouth, roaring at me as it grows in size. Lucas pins it against him, holding it in place. I release the energy ball when I’m only a few feet from the creature, and it goes right into its mouth. It’s body shudders as the light goes down, burning it from the inside out.
Lucas lets go and jumps back, and I turn, just in time to cover my face and miss being covered in smoldering rat guts.
“Callie.” Lucas is before me, hands landing on my shoulders. “Are you okay?”
“I am.” I straighten up and look him over. “Are you?”
“Yes, they didn’t try to kill me,” he rushes out and pulls me to him, protectively wrapping me in an embrace. “They wanted me out of there.”
“Because of whatever they’re guarding.”
“Or to get you alone.” He releases me and looks over the deck at the water below. “It’s not there.”
“It probably went back inside.” I close my eyes and feel for Binx. “The basement. Binx is in the basement.”
“Of course.”
We step over the smoking rat parts and go back to the broken window. Lucas jumps in first, moving with fluid grace. He breaks away the rest of the glass and folds the sheet, covering the bottom part of the window for me. He pulls me up with ease.
“To the basement.” I hold out my hand to conjure another energy ball, wanting to be ready and needing the light to see. Lucas walks behind me, on the lookout for any more of those creatures.
We go through the dining area and into the main hall again.
“The smell of human blood is getting stronger,” Lucas tells me.
“Fresh blood?”
“No.”
I splay my fingers, and the blue light brightens above me, illuminated crude graffiti drawn on the walls. Binx shadows out of the dark, red eyes glowing.
“You found it?” I ask him.
“Yes,” he says, voice deep and booming even when he whispers.
“What is it?”
“Demon. An old and powerful one.”
The energy ball flickers from my own nerves. “Okay…we…we need a plan.” I look at Lucas. “You don’t happen to have one, do you?”
“Kill it.”
“Yeah, but how?” I swallow hard, mind racing. The last and only time I went up against a powerful demon, I killed it with its own hellfire. So, unless the demon in the basement plans to burn this whole place down, I have no bloody clue what to do.
“We can hit it with everything we’ve got,” Lucas suggests. “Rip its heart out. Break its neck. Hit it with energy balls. One of those would at least slow it down.” His eyes go to the dagger hanging on my waist. “The blade is enchanted, right?”
“Right.”
“Will it hold the demon?”
“Maybe for a few seconds if we’re lucky. The demon in the woods…nothing hurt it. Not even its own demon blade.”
“White light. You were able to get demonic energy to retreat from the Ley line by hitting it with white light. If I hold the demon, you can burn it with white light.”
“I might burn you in the process.” I squeeze my eyes shut as I think. “The Goetia circle might work.”
“What is that?”
“A very strong circle of protection that just might hold the demon long enough for me to hit him with white light. It might work, actually. If you can get it into the circle, I’ll have a good shot at blowing the fucker up.”
The floorboards creak behind us and a voice rings out in the dark. “But where’s the fun in that?”
Chapter 25
Lucas speeds forward, fangs out, and lunges at the demon. Black eyes gleaming, the demon sneers and holds out a hand, throwing Lucas back and through a wall. Binx goes after it next, and the demon raises its other hand, stopping my familiar in his tracks.
He slowly lowers his hand, and Binx’s shadow is forced to the ground, slipping through a crack in the floorboards.
“No!” I cry and reach for my familiar. My mouth falls open and I bring both hands up, throwing them out at the demon. He’s shoved back just enough to lose his hold on Binx. In an instant, my familiar is back by my side, circling around me.
“I don’t want to hurt him,” the demon says. He’s in the hunter’s body, and thick, dark veins web across his face. Being in a human body and not being in its true form means we have a shot at killing it. “He could be very useful.”
I throw out my hand again, hitting the demon with another wall of energy. This time he counters me, throwing up a shield of his own. Like a shockwave, it hits me hard in the chest, making it hard to breathe. I gasp for air but recover fast, conjuring a string of blue energy. I throw it at the demon, who doesn’t even attempt to move out of the way.
He holds up his hand, touching the energy. It burns his skin and makes him wince in pain, but he’s more interested than hurt.
“We’ve been waiting for one that is worthy.” He looks at his fingers where the magic just burned him. “No one is strong enough. But you…you…what are you?”
“She’s mine,” Lucas growls, coming from seemingly nowhere. He barrels toward the demon and grabs it around the neck, twisting its head around. I hear the neck bones cracking and watch the man’s head spin unnaturally around on his body, but it does little to slow the demon. It shakes Lucas off and then throws him into a wall again. Lucas’s body bends unnaturally and I start toward him, enchanted dagger in my hand.
“Not so fast.” The demon rounds on me, flicking his wrist and pushing me back. The dagger falls from my hands, clattering to the ground as I’m shoved back against the wall. The pressure builds, feeling like a million hands are holding me in place. Suffocating me. Squishing me. Everything hurts and my insides start to burn. It’s not hellfire but it hurts just as much. Where is the blue-eyed man this time?
If you’re going to show up, now’s the time.
“What are you?” the demon draws closer. “You smell human but you’re so much more.”
“I’m a witch, dumbass,” I croak out. “You’re not much of a demon if you can’t tell that.”
“Witches are humans at their core. Big we
akness, if you ask me. But you…you’re something more and it’s like I was expecting a snack but got a whole dang meal!” His dark eyes drill into mine. “You might be what we need.”
“I am so tired of demons telling me that,” I say through gritted teeth. “I’m not going to be your unwilling bride in Hell.”
“In Hell? We want the opposite.” The demon takes a slow step forward. Binx shadows at him but stops at the last minute, going around the demon almost as if he’s afraid of crashing into him. Binx has never backed down from a fight. He’d die protecting me and it’s not like him to—the dagger isn’t on the ground anymore. He’s taking it to Lucas.
The demon is possessing a human body. Right. The demon is fueling it with its own powers, but like he said, humans at their core are weak. I curl my fingers into a fist, getting ready to hit it with an energy ball.
“We have to put you to the test first.” The demon grabs my hand and I lose the string of magic I was building. He presses his fingernail into the skin on my wrist and drags it down, scratching me.
“Ow!” I jerk my arm back. I’m not even bleeding. “That kind of hurt.”
The demon steps back, watching. “What are you?” he asks again, tipping his head to the side.
“I told you, she’s mine.” Lucas slashes the dagger through the air, cutting the demon’s throat. Thick, dark blood oozes out and the demon brings his hand up to try and stop the bleeding.
Binx shadows around the demon, knocking it to the ground. Lucas jumps on top and drives the dagger deep into its chest. The demon, still able to use its powers, telekinetically throws Lucas and pulls the dagger from its chest. He raises it up to bring it down on Binx.
“No!” I shout and thrust both hands out at the same time. The demon slides back, human body weakening more and more as time goes on. Breaking out of the demon’s hold, I fall forward onto my knees. Lucas is there again, dagger in hand. He stands over the demon, fangs drawn and lips pulled back in a snarl.
I push up onto my feet as Lucas cuts the demon’s head off, skin smoldering from the enchanted dagger. Once the last of the spinal cord is cut through, the demon leaves the body in a dark gray cloud.
“Not so fast, fucker.” I hold my hand in front of me, conjuring a bright ball of white light. I throw it at the demon, burning it before it can jump into another warm body. I throw another energy ball at it, and the whole thing sizzles and sparks before exploding.
I let my hands fall to my sides and suck in air. Binx shifts into cat-form and weaves around my legs. Lucas is covered in blood but hugs me anyway, hand going to the top of my head. He balls my hair in his fist and kisses me.
“I’m fine,” I tell him, knowing he’s going to ask. “Are you?”
“Yes. My wounds have already healed. You…you don’t have a scratch on you?”