Demon Bound

by Chris Cannon

  I wasn’t sure I believed him, but I nodded. “Makes sense.”

  “I’ll call Zelda tonight once all your information checks out.” He shook my hand again.

  “Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  I felt like celebrating my newfound employment with Meena. On the way to my truck I checked my cell and saw she’d called. I called her back. “Hello, Meena. Do you have some errands to run?”

  “No, but I’d like to see you. I’m at Carol’s. Do you want to pick me up, or should I meet you somewhere?”

  “I’ll come get you.”

  I’d left the windows down on the truck because it was hot and because no one in their right mind would want to steal such an old junker. I hadn’t planned on finding Sage napping on the front seat.

  I didn’t want people to see me talking to a cat, so I started the truck and said under my breath, “What do you want?”

  He yawned and stretched. “I need to see Meena, so I’m tagging along.”

  “Great.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Meena

  I read through a book for beginning herbalists while I waited for Jake. Carol had been teaching me about different plants and what they were good for. So far this magic stuff was about as exciting as a cooking class teaching you how to boil water.

  Goblin sat next to me on the couch in cat form. When a knock sounded on the door, he jerked awake and hissed.

  “What’s going on?” Carol came in from the kitchen.

  “Don’t open that door,” Goblin said, and then he shifted to human form.

  “It’s supposed to be Jake.” What set Goblin off?

  “I’m not here to steal your witch,” a voice said from outside the door. “I’m here for Meena.”

  Goblin turned to me with narrowed eyes. “You have a familiar?”

  I hadn’t thought about Sage since I’d stormed out of Zelda’s. I never even mentioned him to my dad. That made me feel bad. “Sort of. We met the other day.”

  “Maybe someone could open the door,” Jake said from the porch.

  Carol smirked and crossed the room. She pulled the door open. Sage stood there looking amused, while Jake appeared irritated.

  “May I enter?” Sage asked, looking past Carol to Goblin.

  “No,” Goblin said. “You’re annoyingly handsome. Go away.”

  Carol and I both laughed.

  Sage gave a slow grin and a slight nod. “Why thank you. Meena, would you like to join us on the porch?”

  “I guess I’m going.” I grabbed my book bag and headed out the door.

  “We should take your car since all three of us won’t fit in Jake’s truck,” Sage said.

  “Or, you could go away, since I’m here to see Meena and you’re a third wheel,” Jake said.

  “Do you want me to leave?” Sage directed the question to me.

  Did he mean for now or for good? “Why don’t we drive back to my house? You can meet Pumpkin and Marshmallow, and Jake and I can talk about what we’re going to do today.”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about in the first place,” Sage said. “I wanted to meet my new housemates and check out the living arrangements.”

  Jake sat in the front seat of my Volkswagen with me while Sage sat in the back.

  “I got a job this morning,” Jake said as I drove toward home.

  “Any demons involved in your employment?” I asked.

  “No, and no hair nets either. I’m working for Dale’s Hardware. He’s sending me out to be a handy man. I’m going to put lights onto someone’s front porch tomorrow.”

  “That’s cool.”

  “Tell her about Sybil,” Sage said from the back seat.

  Uh-oh. “Did your friendly neighborhood vampire come visit you?” I asked.

  “Yeah. She brought me doughnuts.”

  “That’s…interesting.”

  “Sybil wouldn’t be a bad ally to have,” Sage chimed in.

  “Vampires aren’t allies,” I said. “They’re blood suckers with cougar-ish tendencies.”

  Jake snorted. “I feel like I’m walking the line of not wanting to encourage her and not wanting to tick her off. A mad vampire would not be fun to deal with.”

  “Kind of how I feel about Bane.”

  When we reached my house, I parked in the driveway since my dad wouldn’t be home for hours.

  “Okay,” I said. “Let’s make feline introductions, and then you and I will figure out what we’re doing.”

  Marshmallow came running into the living room to greet me and Pumpkin sat on the couch waiting for me to come pet him. Jake came in behind me. When Sage walked in the door, Marshmallow did figure-eights around his ankles, which she normally only did for family.

  “Hello, sweet feline.” Sage squatted down and ran his hands over Marshmallow’s white fur. “Such a beautiful coat you have.” Marshmallow purred and then came to do figure-eights around my ankles. She completely ignored Jake. Since he didn’t try to pet her I figured his feelings weren’t hurt.

  “Pumpkin,” Sage said. “I understand that this is your house. I’m here to look after Meena.”

  Every strand of fur on Pumpkin’s body stood on end, puffing him up to twice his normal size.

  “That is not a happy cat,” Jake said.

  I set my book bag down and walked over to Pumpkin. “I’m going to pet you. Don’t scratch me.” This warning was effective about fifty percent of the time. I sat next to Pumpkin and slowly reached out to stroke his head. Some of his fur settled back down. “Sage is not here to replace you.”

  “This might work better if I shifted,” Sage said.

  I kept my eyes on Pumpkin so I didn’t see Sage change. In his black-and-gray striped cat form, he approached the couch. Rather than hopping up to join us, he flopped down on the floor and stretched like he didn’t have a care in the world.

  “Pumpkin is bigger,” Jake said.

  Pumpkin was a large cat in general, and he was also a little chubby. He outweighed Sage by a few pounds. Seeing the size difference must have reassured him, because Pumpkin’s fur flattened out like he was no longer on high alert.

  Jake cleared his throat.

  I’m pretty sure he was sick of all the cat drama. I stood and headed for the kitchen. “I think our work here is done. Time for the humans to talk.”

  Jake followed behind me through the kitchen and into the back room, which had a futon and television.

  He sat on the futon and glanced around. “You have two living rooms?”

  “This used to be a screened-in porch. My dad changed it to a television room so we have one room for reading and one for watching movies.” I sat next to him, leaving some space between us so it didn’t look like I was making a move on him.

  “What was that thing between Sage and Goblin?” Jake asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe familiars are territorial.”

  “I kind of understand,” Jake said. “And I still don’t like that he’s living here with you.”

  “At least he didn’t bring me breakfast in bed,” I teased.

  He grinned. “So if we’re keeping score, I’m competing with a cat-man and a demon for your time. And you’re competing with a vampire for mine.”

  “Yes, but technically Sybil is also Vi, so she counts as two people.”

  “How about I reassure you?” Jake scooted closer and put his arm around my shoulders. “I’m about as interested in Sybil as you are in Bane.”

  “You’ve seen Bane. He’s large and scary. What does Sybil look like?”

  “Manipulative and like she’s plotting against me,” Jake said.

  “Are you tempted by her offer?”

  “I have no desire to become a vampire. New topic, did you find anything in Carol’s books that might help you break yo
ur contract or reach out to your mom?”

  “She didn’t have anything about breaking a demon contract, but I’m checking into dissolving contracts between people.”

  “Bane isn’t a person,” Jake said.

  “No, but Carol is.”

  “That is a nice loophole.” Jake beamed.

  “I thought so. I haven’t found a way to do it yet without killing one of the people…minor detail, I know…but there are many, many more books I can look through.”

  “Good. How about reaching your mom?”

  “Let me grab the books I brought back with me.” I retrieved my book bag and saw that Marshmallow and Sage were curled up together on the floor while Pumpkin ruled over them from his position on the couch.

  Once I was seated next to Jake again, I turned to one of the pages Carol had marked. “There are some spells that might help me reach my mom. I’m not near ready to try them, but it helps knowing there’s hope.”

  Jake peered at the page. “It looks like a recipe from a cookbook.”

  “I thought you didn’t cook.”

  “My dad did.” He ran his finger down the page. “This makes it seem like all you have to do is mix these ingredients together and you’ll have a spell. It can’t be that simple.”

  “It’s not. All magic comes at a cost. Anyone trying to cast a spell must come up with the appropriate words and shed a little blood. It’s the final ingredient for all spells.”

  “Blood. Great.” Jake reached for my hand. “I’ll help you no matter what, but you might want to consider who you’ll be bringing back. Your mom might not be the same person she was.”

  “I know.” I cleared my throat. “Carol warned that she might not know me at all. She might be like a blank slate with no memories.”

  “Worse-case scenario, you wake someone with no memories and no connections with you or your family. Is it worth that risk?”

  “I’m not sure.” One thought plagued me. “Bane could fix everything.”

  “He could, but would your mom want that? Would she be happy to be alive watching someone siphon off bits of your soul until you disappear?”

  I knew she wouldn’t want that. “Why isn’t there some middle ground? I don’t expect a happily-ever-after, but I’d like a content-for-now.”

  …

  Jake

  “Maybe you should learn whatever magic you can from Carol to increase your odds of finding a way to reach your mom. Other than that, I’m not sure you have a lot of options.”

  “Our family copes with ice cream.”

  She stood and walked over to the deep freeze in some sort of laundry room and opened it. “We have Neapolitan, cookies and cream, or chocolate mint.”

  “Neo-what?” I’d never heard of that flavor.

  She grabbed a container of ice cream that showed chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. “Three flavors,” she said. “And my dad said it’s named after Naples, Italy. It was my mom’s favorite. She used to say why settle for one flavor when you can have three.”

  “Makes sense. I’ll try some.” I followed her into the kitchen.

  Meena filled a couple of bowls and added spoons and we sat at the table. Pumpkin came padding into the room. In one leap he jumped up onto the table and looked at Meena expectantly.

  “Is he supposed to be on the table?” I’d never had a cat, but it didn’t seem like a good idea.

  “He thinks he’s allowed on the table,” Meena said. “Cats kind of do their own thing, which is one reason I like them.” She scooped out some of her vanilla and dropped it at the cat’s feet. Pumpkin licked the frozen glob like this was his normal routine.

  “What’s our next step?”

  “Well,” Meena said. “We can enjoy summer while avoiding vampires and demons as much as possible—”

  Knock knock.

  Meena looked at me and then glanced toward the living room where the front door was located. “Is it me or is that timing a bit creepy?”

  Knock knock knock.

  “Kind of creepy,” I agreed.

  “I’ll see who it is.” She set her spoon down, pushed her chair back, and walked into the living room. I followed behind her. She peered out the peephole in the door. “Crap.”

  Before she swung the door open I had a pretty good idea who I’d see. Bane stood there, blocking out the light from the afternoon sun.

  “Why are you here?” Meena asked.

  “You said I should warn you before I zapped you someplace,” Bane said.

  “Great,” Meena said. “Where are we going?”

  “You’re attending a meeting with me,” Bane said.

  Sage transformed from a cat to a man in record time. He walked over and insinuated himself between Meena and Bane. Just slid right in like there was enough room for him. Meena stepped back but Bane didn’t budge.

  “We haven’t been properly introduced.” He held out his hand. “I’m Sage, Meena’s familiar.”

  I didn’t know demons could look surprised, but I’d swear Bane’s mouth dropped open a fraction of an inch before he plastered on a fake smile. “Nice to meet you. Now if you’ll excuse me, we have business to attend to.”

  “I’m sure you understand if I feel the need to accompany Meena to this undisclosed destination,” Sage said.

  All of this fake politeness was annoying.

  “Cut the crap,” I said. “Where are you taking Meena and why do you need her?”

  Both Sage and Bane seemed mildly offended.

  “I second that question,” Meena said.

  All three of us looked at Bane expectantly. He raised an eyebrow. Just one. How do people do that? I’d tried practicing in the bathroom mirror but could never make it work.

  “I could reduce all of you to lifeless husks with a few simple words,” Bane said. “Stop acting like we’re equals. I’m being polite to Meena by choice.” He reached out and touched her hair. “Because I like her.” He pointed at Sage. “Try to accompany us and you’ll lose one of your nine lives.”

  Blue light flashed. Meena and Bane were gone. I was left with spots floating in front of my eyes. Sage was nowhere to be seen. Had he managed to latch onto Bane during whatever magical transport was going on?

  Meowowow. Meena’s white cat howled. I looked at her. “I don’t suppose you know what’s going on?”

  She turned and crawled under the couch. “Smart cat.”

  Now what? I never should have left my truck at Carol’s house. I was stuck.

  I called Zelda and explained the latest Bane-related drama. “Did he say how long they’d be gone?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “You should wait for her.”

  “Planned on it,” I said. “Any words of wisdom while I wait?”

  “Read the books Meena brought home. Maybe you’ll figure something out.”

  Wait a minute. “How’d you know about that?”

  “Carol borrowed one of the books from me, so I knew what she was doing.”

  Why did everything in this town seem to be connected in some abnormal way? “Okay. I’ll wait and read.”

  I hung up and went to grab the books we’d left on the kitchen table. Pumpkin had his face in Meena’s bowl, like he was completely unfazed by her disappearing and was only interested in taking advantage of the food situation.

  I grabbed my bowl, checking for some sign that the cat had sampled it. It looked exactly how it had when I left it, so I dug in and flipped through the spell book. I’d never heard of some of these herbs. Even though I’d seen magic, I wasn’t sure I could ever produce it. Maybe Meena could. I flipped to the back of the book and found an index. There it was, under C, coma.

  I turned to the designated page and scanned the information. It wasn’t good. Coma patients could be revived, but their life force might have dwindled to such a
low level that they were barely functional. Meena wouldn’t want that. I kept reading. Some patients did fully recover but only if someone else paid the cost. What did that mean? Did someone have to die to bring someone else back? I couldn’t see Meena being okay with that, either. It was beginning to look like there was no good option.

  …

  Meena

  Bane held my upper arm in a strong yet un-reassuring grip. Blue light filled my vision. It sounded like a jet was taking off inside my skull. And my feet weren’t touching anything…at all. I was being whooshed somewhere and if this didn’t stop soon, the ice cream I’d eaten was going to make a surprise reappearance.

  The jet engine noise vanished, my ears popped, and spots danced in front of my eyes. At least my feet were touching something solid. I was standing. Sort of. If Bane wasn’t holding on to me I doubt I would have stayed upright. “People are not meant to travel like that,” I muttered.

  Bane brushed my cheek, and a cool calmness spread over and through my body. I no longer felt like I was going to barf. That was an improvement. I blinked to clear my vision and realized I was wearing a blue dress…more like a silk gown that went all the way to the floor. This would have been disturbing enough, but the plunging neckline showed off more cleavage than my swimsuit.

  I realized Bane was smiling. “Do you like the dress?”

  “It’s lovely.” I grabbed the edges of the V neckline and pulled them together. “But I’m more of a keep-myself-to-myself kind of girl.”

  “That’s a shame.” He gave a wolfish grin, but the deep V changed to a much more respectable scoop neckline.

  “Thank you.” We were standing in what resembled the foyer of a hotel. “Are we going to some sort of demonic prom? Give me a clue.”

  “We’re attending a board meeting. At the moment you are my prized possession so I’m showing you off.”

  He seemed to think this description would please me. It did not.

  “I am no one’s possession,” I bit out through gritted teeth.

  “No? Maybe my wording was a bit archaic. Let me try again. You’re my most recent hire, and you’ve done a stellar job collecting from clients. I’m here to show everyone how well my business is running.”