by R. E. Butler
“Yes. We don’t have a choice, at any rate. We have to keep Flora safe and figure out what he’s doing.”
Brody tore around the corner, slamming his foot on the gas and racing toward his home. The little kitten was magically linked to Delaney because of her powers, and she was feeling her fear. He hated that anything was causing Delaney fear, and he worried what would happen if the warlock hurt the kitten.
He hadn’t come to a complete stop in the street in front of his house before Delaney had the door open and was outside, magic flashing from her fingertips as she shouted a spell. Venice and the others parked behind them, the others joining Delaney as they stalked to the house, four powerful witches on the move.
Brody and Venice jogged around to the back of the house, but there was nothing and no one there.
“I thought...” Brody scrubbed a hand through his hair.
“You said someone was here,” Venice said, putting his hands on his hips. “What’s going on?”
Brody looked at his house. Everything looked normal. Locked up tight.
He and Venice walked around the house and met the girls at the front. “Everything looks fine,” Brody said. He looked at his phone and the alert he’d gotten about someone attempting to breach the protections he had in place. It didn’t make sense.
“I think,” Mother Gibson said, “that this male is more dangerous than we even expected.”
She grasped Hadlee’s and Delaney’s hands and lifted them in the air, and Kinsley followed suit. As Mother Gibson spoke a string of strange words, the girls seemed to know what she was saying and joined in. Brody and Venice exchanged curious looks.
Nothing appeared to be happening when they finished whatever spell they were speaking. But as Brody watched the house, he saw a crack of light near the front door. It looked like his house was splitting apart.
“What the hell?” he demanded.
“It’s a glamour!” Hadlee said.
The witches spoke the words again in more earnest with voices raised high. The crack spread, forking and splitting along the entire front of the house, until it shattered with a boom that sounded like a bomb going off.
Brody’s ears rang, and he shook his head to clear them. When he looked at his house again, he could see strange dark creatures crawling all over it, with Yago at the front door, shouting at the creatures.
Flashing his fangs, Brody snarled loudly.
Yago turned slowly and faced them, electricity sparking over his hands and forearms, his eyes like molten pools of diamonds.
He opened his mouth wide and dark specks flew out, growing swiftly as they shot out toward them. The specks screeched as they grew and then became bats.
Shit!
The witches threw up a protection spell around them, and the bats beat their wings and screeched at them. They didn’t look like normal bats, but something demonic with red glowing eyes and dagger-like fangs protruding from their mouths.
Yago turned back to the house, seemingly unconcerned with them now. His hands turned red, and he held them at the door. It looked like the door was starting to melt.
“What the hell are these things?” Brody demanded.
“They’re some kind of demonic bat,” Venice shouted above the din. “And those things on the house are lesser demons—not particularly smart, but the venom in their spiked tails can paralyze.”
“Can you get to Yago?” Brody asked Delaney.
“Not with these bats,” she said. She rubbed her thumb over her fingers a few times until a yellow orb appeared then threw it toward a cluster of bats. When it exploded, they screeched, some of them flapping away.
Brody looked at Venice, who gripped a pair of short swords and glared at the demons that crawled over the house like giant, evil spiders. “Let’s go around and over the roof. I can shoot Yago from above since he’s focusing on the door.” Brody planned to simply hurt him and not kill him, but if he had no choice, he wouldn’t hesitate to take him out.
Venice glanced at him in confusion and then understanding lit his gaze. “You lead, I’ve got your back.”
Brody squeezed Delaney’s hand. “Be ready to bind him.”
“Where are you going?” she demanded, not letting go of his hand.
“To surprise him.”
“Please don’t die,” she said, her eyes going luminous.
“I won’t, I promise,” he said. He kissed her and twisted his hand free from her grip. He and Venice moved back from the witches outside of the protection spell. The bats didn’t seem to care about them, only focusing on the females. When a few of them tried to follow the men, Delaney shot fireballs at them and drove them away.
Brody and Venice made their way to the back of the house. The demons were destroying the house, pulling up the siding and digging their claws into the drywall. They appeared to be trying to get through the light-tight shutters, but while they could scratch them up, they couldn’t pull them free.
He leaned toward Venice and whispered, “I want to climb to the roof and drop down on Yago from above. If we distract him enough, the girls can bind him.”
“The demons aren’t going to be pleasant,” Venice said. “Let me go first. I’ve got practice battling them. Remember to watch the tails.”
Brody had trained with a sword when he was younger, but he was more comfortable with a gun. He readied his gun and inhaled deeply, rolling his shoulders. He would get across the roof and shoot Yago before he got through the door. Not only did he want to protect the kitten, but he wanted to ensure that the male wouldn’t come back and put Delaney in harm’s way again.
“Ready?” Venice asked.
“Yes.”
Venice charged the back of the house. The demons were busy trying to get inside, until they saw Venice coming for them. They hissed and leaped at him, black smoke billowing around them. He jumped on a chair at the side of the porch and vaulted onto the porch’s low roof. Swinging the swords in short arcs, he fought the demons back as he made his way up and over the roof.
Brody jumped onto the chair and took aim with his gun at the demons that tried to get to Venice’s back.
“Hit between their eyes!” Venice shouted, his sword cleaving a demon’s head from its shoulders.
Brody changed his aim and fired, taking down the demons between their red, glowing eyes. When he’d cleared a path behind his friend, he holstered the gun and grabbed for the roof, hauling himself up. Demons hissed and barreled toward him. Claiming his gun once more, he took them out, kicking the ones who were too fast for him to track and knocking them to the roof, then shooting between their eyes.
He stopped just long enough to reload. Venice shouted for him, turning to swing his swords at the demons rushing Brody. Venice hit the roof and slid down the other side with a curse, and Brody narrowly missed being a chew toy for one of the demons.
Hitting the top of the roof, he looked at Venice, who’d stabbed one of his swords into the roof to stop his slide and was now hacking at demons on his back. Brody fired into the group, taking down several.
Something sliced his calf and pain shot up his leg, making his knee buckle. A demon hissed at his feet, vile-smelling smoke billowing from the demon’s open maw. The spiked tail was glossy with Brody’s blood.
Paralysis followed the sharp pain, moving so swiftly that Brody nearly fell off the roof.
He nailed the demon between the eyes, the recoil toppling him with his now entirely paralyzed leg.
Venice made his way to him and offered his hand. He and his swords were covered with demon blood.
“Let’s finish this,” Brody said. Ignoring the pain as the paralysis swept up his thigh and hit his hip, he followed Venice down the slope of the roof to where electricity arced and smoked from Yago’s hands, making the darkness light up.
Demons converged on them, their tails whipping around to try to paralyze them more, but Brody and Venice managed to make it to the edge of the roof. Brody aimed for Yago’s shoulder, but when he fired, his
weapon didn’t discharge.
He fired again, but nothing happened. Venice was at his back, keeping the demons at bay. “What’s wrong?”
“It won’t fire,” Brody said, checking that there were bullets.
“A spell maybe?”
“Then I’ll take him out the old-fashioned way,” Brody said. He holstered the suddenly useless weapon, crouched on his good leg, then launched himself over the edge of the roof.
He hoped to hell he fell true.
Chapter Twelve
Delaney let out a surprised scream as Brody fell from the roof on top of Yago. The warlock put his hands up just a second before Brody hit him, but whatever spell Yago was using to melt the house’s door was cut off when the two hit the ground. The bats stopped attacking and quieted, their wings flapping as they kept themselves aloft as if waiting for instructions.
“Brody!” Delaney shouted.
He wasn’t so much pushed off of Yago, as he was kicked away, hitting a small bush and rolling into the flower bed. Brody was on his feet swiftly, shaking his head as if he were dizzy, and moving quickly to the warlock who was getting to his feet. Something was wrong with Brody’s leg. He was dragging it as if it weren’t working right. She wondered if he’d gotten hit by a spiked demon tail.
Worry for him choked her, and she let go of Mother Gibson’s hand. She wanted to race to him to help, but Hadlee grabbed her arm. “You get in between them, you’re going to get hurt.”
“I have to help him!”
Yago rose to his feet, shouting a spell. The demons dropped down on Brody, raking their claws over his shoulders and back, and swinging their tails at him. Venice dropped from the roof and was pushed violently away by Yago with a spell, sending the fallen angel spinning in the opposite direction.
Brody lifted his gun and tried to fire, but it did nothing.
“Brody!” Venice shouted his name and tossed one of his swords. Brody grasped it, lobbing off arms and legs of the demons, sending them scurrying. He was moving more slowly from their venom, but he still stalked forward. Yago turned to face him, electricity sparking between his hands.
“Now, bind him now!” Mother Gibson said.
The four witches joined hands and moved forward, ignoring the demons that crawled their way, hissing and screeching. The spell to bind Yago had to be spoken three times. While he was distracted by Brody might be their only chance.
The spell tumbled from Delaney’s lips, joining with the others, as tears streaked down her face. She watched Brody fight valiantly, deflecting blows from Yago’s hands and the demons that continued to attack. Venice joined him, but they couldn’t make headway to Yago.
The second time the spell was spoken, Yago cursed and turned toward them. “You dare bind me? I’ll have your heads on my trophy shelf!”
Brody and Venice swung their swords high and low, Brody taking a chunk from Yago’s shoulder and Venice slicing behind his knee. Yago screamed in pain, and they hurried through the third recitation of the binding spell. Yago’s power stopped immediately, the red electrical lines fading away. The demons disappeared in smokey flashes and the bats poofed in the air like tiny explosions. Rainbow colored bands appeared around Yago, binding his arms to his sides. His head dropped to his chest, and he let out a disgruntled sigh.
Brody collapsed off the front porch, rolling to the grass and not getting up.
Delaney broke contact with the others and raced to his side. He smelled like sulfur and blood.
She rolled him to his back, and he let out a deep, pain-filled groan. A huge gash covered his abdomen, and his whole body was covered with cuts and slashes from the demon’s claws and fangs.
She cupped his face. “Oh, Brody,” she whispered, voice going thick.
Venice knelt at her side. She looked at him. He was bleeding and wounded, but not as badly as Brody. “He needs to feed.”
She blinked at him a few times.
“You can feed him. Fresh, hot blood is what he needs to heal, and you need to do it now.”
She fit her wrist between his teeth, but he didn’t bite down. He was unconscious. She looked at Venice for help.
“Don’t get mad,” Venice said.
She was about to ask what she’d be mad at when he brought the sword down against her wrist, slicing a shallow cut into her flesh. She hissed at the pain.
A drop of her blood welled in the cut and dripped into Brody’s open mouth.
He snarled and bit her wrist, his fangs embedding deeply. She grimaced and stifled a shout of alarm at the pain. But then something amazing happened. The pain eased and a delicious warmth filled her. She closed her eyes and sighed, her emotions going crazy. She felt really connected to Brody now, as he fed from her wrist.
“When you’re done,” Kinsley said, “we need your help with the spell to access Yago’s memories so we can figure out his motive.”
Delaney lifted her head and looked at her friends. “Did you ask him?”
Hadlee crossed her arms with a snort. “No, we thought we’d go the most difficult route.”
Delaney rolled her eyes and then smiled. “I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
Venice sat down heavily next to her and leaned against the melted front door. “You doing okay?” he asked, closing his eyes.
“Yeah. And I’m not mad about the sword thing.”
“Good.” He opened one eye and looked at her with a half-smile and then closed it again. “I haven’t battled lesser demons in ages.”
“When you had your wings?”
“Yep.”
“How did Yago get them to act on his behalf?”
Venice opened his eyes and looked at her. “Most likely he cast a spell and called them to his aid. Powerful dark magic can access the demonic realm.”
“They were pretty freaky.”
“Indeed.”
“I’m starting to feel a little lightheaded,” she said.
Brody’s eyes opened, and they were a beautiful deep blue. He brought his hands up to her wrist and slowly disengaged his fangs. He licked the wounds and she felt them close swiftly.
He sat up slowly and caught the back of her neck, drawing her close. He kissed her, and she immediately melted against him, parting her lips. The moment his tongue touched hers, she jolted with awareness. She tasted blood! Along with the metallic taste was a rich and decadent undertone that made her whole body come alive. He eased from the kiss and she swallowed, feeling re-energized, the lightheadedness gone.
“Wow,” she said, licking her lips.
“I didn’t mean to take too much,” he said. He undid the buttons of his shirt and pulled it off. She was momentarily mesmerized by the sight of his six-pack and broad shoulders.
He cleared his throat, and she looked at him. He was smirking, which made her cheeks flame. “As I was saying, I was unconscious when I started to feed. Your voice brought me out of it. Just in time it seems.”
“You gave me your blood,” Delaney said.
“You did?” Venice asked Brody, his voice a strange mixture of curiosity and demand.
Brody grunted a snarl and ignored Venice’s question. “It helped replenish the nutrients you lost. Vampire blood is good for a few things, and that’s one of them.”
“I didn’t know,” she said.
She felt something else blooming inside her, like love. Rubbing the space over her heart, she said, “Are you really all healed from one feeding?”
He twisted and looked at his side, which had been the most damaged. “Looks like it. Supernatural blood, especially fresh, is very potent.”
He rose to his feet and offered her his hand, and she took it. He pulled her up easily, and she smiled at him. “I should go help with the spell.”
“Of course. I’m going to figure out how to break into my unbreakable house.” He gave her a sweet, crooked smile, and she grinned. “Thank you for helping me. Your blood was a gift, and I’m honored.”
Her wrist still tingled a little, like his fangs were s
till embedded in her flesh. “I’m glad I could.”
He nodded at her, then she joined her friends, leaving him and Venice to break into the house.
Yago sat on his heels, bound by the magical ties. He didn’t look so dangerous now, but she knew it was because of the binding. He couldn’t break free on his own or cast any harmful spells.
“The Convention’s sending a team to pick him up and hold him for trial,” Hadlee said. “But we still need to figure out who he really is and why he came after the kitten.”
“You have one more chance to tell us why you sought out the familiar,” Mother Gibson warned. “We will learn the truth one way or another.”
“Fuck. You,” Yago said, his gaze defiant, his tone unapologetic.
“No, thanks,” Kinsley said, rolling her eyes.
“Hard way it is, then,” Hadlee said, cracking her knuckles. “Let’s do this.”
The four witches formed a circle around Yago, each one representing a corner. They joined hands and called upon their powers, joining them together to increase their magnitude. Their voices were one as they spoke the spell to open Yago’s mind and share what he was keeping secret. While Delaney had never been on the receiving end of a spell like this, she knew it wasn’t pleasant, akin to having someone shove a fist in your brain and root around for what you didn’t want to share. He resisted for a little while but didn’t have access to his own power to truly fight back. Eventually the spell overpowered his natural free will, and his secrets spilled from his own lips.
His name was Sirano and he was from Nebraska. He’d killed his coven in a quest for power. It hadn’t been intentional at first. One of his warlock brethren had died during a joint spell and somehow the power, instead of returning to the earth as it usually did during the death of a magic-wielder, went into Sirano instead. The boost in power had been immediately addictive, the darkness quickly rising within him. He’d killed another in his coven out of curiosity, fed that dark nature and addiction, and had been hooked. After summoning a demon for information on killing his entire coven, he’d learned that for him to become fully powerful, he’d have to kill every member of the coven as well as all the familiars.
