I tried to clamp down on the demon, but the longer it was roaming free within me, the more destruction it caused, the stronger it became so that it was nearly impossible to hold my position. Stealing a glance at Trixie, I was nearly ripped to shreds by fear when I saw that she was slowly approaching me.
“No,” I rasped, falling backward to my ass just so that I couldn’t walk toward her. “Get out of here.”
“Gage . . .”
“Gideon, get her out of here!” I roared with more force as I vainly struggled to think of a way to get Zyrus out of me. If she came too close, if she touched me, I was going to kill her and I wouldn’t be able to stop myself. The demon was pooling all of its energy toward that one mindless goal.
She wants to leave you. She will leave you and take your child.
“She needs to leave me,” I groaned. I clutched my head with both my hands, wishing I could rip my skull open just so I could pull Zyrus out of my brain. Pain lanced through me as the demon screamed and slashed holes into my soul. “It’s not safe. She needs to leave.” I kept repeating the words while squeezing my eyes shut, hoping that if I heard the mantra over and over again I would get control over Zyrus.
You can’t let her leave us.
“Gage?” Trixie’s voice sounded closer. Touchably close.
“Gideon!” I screamed in desperation, my voice cracking. The warlock was the only thing that could protect her from me.
A breeze brushed against me as the warlock rushed in, intercepting Trixie. “You can’t. Leave this place.”
“He needs help,” Trixie argued, panic entering her lovely voice.
“He’s going to kill you if you don’t leave,” Gideon snapped.
I sensed movement near me and I wanted to cry. I’d forgotten about Serah. A gentle hand touched mine and my control over Zyrus snapped like a rubber band. We lunged for her, mouth open and fingers curled as if they were tipped with talons, ready to shred flesh until there was nothing left but a bloody puddle. A low rush of energy shoved Serah out of my reach and a scream exploded from my throat.
Using the demon’s momentary shock and disappointment, I tangled up some dark energy with my fingers and slammed my hands down on the cold concrete. At the same time, I whispered the same words I’d used while carving the demon’s symbol into my hand. Chunks of concrete exploded up into the air around me as magic blasted down into the foundation. In a flash of bright white light, the demon’s symbol was carved into the concrete. With the last breath I could draw, I shouted the binding spell.
Zyrus gathered its energy and launched us at Trixie and Gideon, but my body crashed against an invisible barrier marked by the edge of the symbol in the concrete floor. The demon’s rage consumed me until I felt my own consciousness floating back away from Trixie’s horrified looks and Gideon’s sadness. My body slammed into the barrier again and again in the demon’s desperate bid to be free, but the binding spell held.
You’ve betrayed me!
“No, you are attempting to betray me,” I said in a low, broken voice. My throat was raw from the screaming, and I no longer cared that my companions could hear me speaking to the demon I’d summoned. “Our target was the unicorn. That was all.”
I want the elf.
“You can’t have her. And neither can I.”
“Gage, please, let me help you,” Trixie said softly, tears streaking down her too pale face. Blood stained her tangled blonde hair and there was more blood on her wrists where she’d struggled against the ropes. She’d been hurt because of me and I wanted to cry. This was my fault.
I slowly collapsed in the middle of the symbol, my legs folded in front of me. I couldn’t remember ever feeling so tired in my life. My body ached. Pain reached down to my soul as Zyrus continued to throw a temper tantrum within me.
Let her help you.
Zyrus taunted, but we were one and I knew its hope was to have Trixie step inside the binding spell so that it could attack. I was too tired to keep holding it back. Zyrus would win and Trixie would be dead.
“You called me Master,” I murmured, ignoring Gideon’s stunned expression. “You will obey me.”
Zyrus cursed me, causing more pain to tear through my head, but I forced an ugly laugh when I wanted to scream. “You need me.” When the demon stilled and grew thoughtful, I closed my eyes and said silently, We need each other.
The demon sensed the promise in those words and I felt its smile. Its struggles for control ceased completely and Zyrus redirected the energy that it had toward healing all my aches and pains.
Turning my left hand over so that the palm was up, I looked at Gideon, who was watching me warily. “Heal the cuts,” I said, because I knew the demon would never willingly erase his doorway into my body.
The warlock slowly released Trixie, making sure that she didn’t rush toward me before he approached us. Zyrus stirred restlessly within me, but it didn’t act as if it was plotting an attack. It was fighting its own instincts demanding that it kill the warlock. Without crossing the barrier created by the symbol in the floor, Gideon reached out his wand and used the same healing spell he’d taught me just days ago. The cuts slowly disappeared, not even leaving behind a scar.
Zyrus gave a final snarl through my head before the demon was pulled from me and into the symbol upon which I sat. With the symbol no longer etched into my hand, the demon’s powers were sucked into the concrete floor. It was still close, watching everyone and everything, but it could no longer reach out and harm anyone.
I slumped, leaning heavily to the side on my right forearm. Never had I felt so drained in my life. It was like my very life force had been used up by the demon. And maybe it had.
“Is it gone?” Gideon asked cautiously.
I nodded, patting the concrete with my right hand. “Trapped outside of me.”
And still no one approached me. No one held me, offering comfort or support. They stayed back, afraid.
“What the hell was that all about?” Serah demanded loudly as she walked toward Gideon and Trixie, still giving me a wide berth. “Your eyes were glowing red.”
“A bad spell,” I lied.
“Bullshit,” Gideon snapped, drawing my gaze up to his face. He was pissed. “What the fuck do you think you were doing? You—”
“You would have done the same!” I growled at him. Anger helped put some energy back into my frame so that I could push to my feet. I swayed slightly. While the pain was gone, I was still exhausted to my core. Zyrus rumbled beneath me, but it could only look on and cheer my rage. I ignored the demon. It had caused enough trouble for one day. “If that had been Ellen tied up, you would have done—”
“No. Never!”
“Then you’re a coward and she’d be dead. We’d all be dead.” I stepped closer to the warlock, getting up in his face so that he couldn’t look away from me. “We had nothing. Vincent was toying with us. I wasn’t going to let that thing kill Trixie and my child because you’re afraid.”
Gideon glowered at me, looking at if he’d like nothing more than to break my nose with his fist, but he held back. It was probably best because I wasn’t holding on to my own emotions too well My mind had become a little frayed at the edges and I couldn’t risk looking too deeply at things. I wasn’t ready to start thinking about the fact that I’d killed the last unicorn and destroyed the bodies of the others. I didn’t want to think about the fact that I’d very nearly killed my own girlfriend and our child because I’d let a demon control me. The disgust and self-loathing would have snapped what little hold I had on my sanity.
“The Towers will find out,” Gideon said. The warlock blinked and I saw a brief shimmer of tears in his cold eyes. My bravado wavered. What I’d thought was anger in his voice was actually gut-wrenching fear for me; fear and disappointment.
“Tell them. I’m not afraid of the Towers anymore.”
> Gideon nodded. He blinked again and the tears disappeared. His expression was cold and empty. “I’d once said that we would end this.”
I recalled the moment vividly in my mind. He’d been holding the dead body of a young girl in his arms; an apprentice witch who had tried to escape the Towers and got caught in the crossfire of a magic fight. I hadn’t thought of Alice in weeks. Another victim of the Towers.
“And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
Gideon turned away and clamped a firm hand on Serah’s elbow. He nearly dragged her out of the building with him, not uttering another word. I felt the tiny tugs of a smile at the corners of my mouth. The woman had been in over her head for the first moment, but it hadn’t slowed her down. She also didn’t exhibit an ounce of fear for Gideon as she argued with him every step of the way. Not only did she not understand what had happened, but she wasn’t willing to abandon me. It was touching and misguided. I needed to do something about her.
It was with some reluctance that I looked back at Trixie. She stood several feet away, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Her tears had dried on her face and the love I was so accustomed to seeing in her eyes had been replaced by fear and a horribly deep sadness.
“You summoned a demon,” she whispered as if she had to say the words aloud so that she could finally grasp what had happened.
“I couldn’t let Vincent kill you.”
“Maybe you should have.” She shook her head and bit down on her lower lip. “You say it’s gone, trapped, but I can still feel it on you. It’s what I’ve been feeling for days now. You’ve tainted yourself.”
“And I’d do it again to keep you safe.”
“No!” she shouted, her calm shattering at last. “You can’t do this to yourself. Not for me. I’ll stay. I’ll stay and we’ll be a family together here in Low Town. Just promise me that you’ll never summon the demon again.”
I wish I could say that her offer tempted me. It hung in the air between us like a golden apple on a low branch. I would have the only thing I had ever wanted in this world — the woman I had loved for years. All I had to do was say yes.
“Go home to your people, Trixie. I’ll come for you and our child when I’ve made this world safe for us. We’ll be a family then.”
Trixie nodded and turned away without another word. There were no more tears, but then we’d shed too many for ourselves lately. We’d run out at last. I watched her slowly walk between the smoldering remains of the unicorns, her thin body partially obscured by tendrils of smoke and floating ash, until she stepped outside and out of my life.
No matter how much I loved her and wanted her to stay, she had to leave. It would not be safe to be together until the Towers had been taken down. I would end this.
On a roar of pain ripped from soul, I summoned up a burst of energy and directed it at the symbol carved into the floor, pulverizing the concrete to tiny pebbles so that the portal was closed forever. Stepping outside, I reduced the warehouse to ash. It was a beginning.
Epilogue
Serah found me two weeks later, sitting on the wooden stairs behind Asylum, my elbows resting on my knees as I stared blindly out at the thickening darkness. Bronx had just shown up for his shift and I’d left our new tattoo artist in his capable hands. I’d hired the guy the week before as well as another artist who was coming in afternoons four days a week. My own schedule was empty, but then I was bowing out, preferring to rent out the space rather than ink. My heart wasn’t in it anymore. I had other things demanding my attention.
“Hey Houdini.” Serah greeted me with a tense smile that did nothing to erase the worry in her eyes. “How’s tricks?”
“Just a bunch of white rabbits and playing cards,” I murmured as a reluctant smile tugged at one corner of my mouth. Something in me flinched to see her again. When she stepped into the darkness, memories of the warehouse flashed through my brain. But then the horror never completely faded from my mind. The blood of the dead was never completely washed from my hands.
But as I pushed through the horror, I found that a small part of me was relieved to see her. While I had no love for TAPSS, the investigator had proven herself to be a dedicated force for good. I respected her brains and tenacity—I just hoped they didn’t get her killed.
“What are you doing back here?” she asked, taking a quick glance around the empty parking lot and the adjoining alley.
“Am I under investigation, Officer?” I mocked.
Serah glared at me, tucking her hands into the pockets of her puffy winter coat. The pale blue under the harsh glare of the security light was an almost cheery spot in the night.
“I’m not with TAPPS anymore.”
“Why?”
“Harvey canned me two weeks ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
Serah shrugged and gave me a little smile. “I knew it would happen. He warned me and I ignored him. It’s the price I had to pay.”
“Stubborn ass,” I murmured, managing a faint smile.
“Yeah, well, I’ve got something better. I’m starting a private investigation firm. I figure I’ll have more luck helping people that way rather than wasting another minute with the police or TAPSS.” She stared at me a moment before shaking her head. “It’s freaking cold and you seem to have forgotten your coat.”
I didn’t know if it was so much that I’d forgotten my coat as it was that I simply didn’t care. My thoughts were muddled tonight, but I had good reason. “I came out here to think.”
“Want to talk about it?”
The first genuine smile I’d had in two weeks lifted my mouth. “No, but thanks. I’ll be fine.”
“I heard that Trixie left. I’m sorry.”
A soft grunt escaped me and I nodded, my gaze dropped down to my hands without really seeing them. Trixie was gone, but I could still feel her. I blinked and my eyes focused on her name tattooed on my inner left wrist. I’d completed it two days after she left, when I’d found one of her hairs in my brush. By adding it to the potion I’d placed in the ink, I could now feel her at all times. She was sad but safe.
Serah pulled a knit hat out of her pocket and pulled it down over the top of my head to my ears. “Looking at you makes me cold,” she complained.
“I’ve been meaning to ask, how did you and Gideon find me?” I asked after an extended silence. I’d been pondering that since Gideon wouldn’t have been able to use whatever usual tracking spell he preferred to keep an eye on me. Vincent had blanketed that warehouse in cloaking magic to stay hidden from the Towers.
“Oh, that,” she said, her grin growing. “I’d stopped by Asylum to tell you that we’d figured out the tattooed lunatic was the ex-wife of the man who’d been murdered at the last site. Turns out he divorced her because she couldn’t have kids.”
“And after discovering that he’d remarried and had the family she couldn’t have caused her to go screaming over the deep end,” I finished.
“Something like that.”
“Anyway . . .” I prompted.
She gave a small shrug, shoving her hands back into her pockets. “About the time I showed up and was looking in your window that warlock popped in. He thought you were in some kind of trouble. When we couldn’t find you here, he did some kind of spell and we poofed over to corner of Main and Pershing. After some looking around, we spotted blood on the sidewalk. I guess it was yours because Gideon managed to use that to track you to that warehouse.”
And the rest was history, so to speak. I’d heard snatches of the story on the news over the past several days, but I hadn’t really paid much attention. I’d been focused on my own plans.
“Was there a reason for your stopping by today?” I asked when Serah didn’t move on to a new topic.
“Well, I was just thinking that you said you’d wipe my memory once this whole thing was over. You know,
protect your secret.” She looked expectantly at me, but I said nothing. “It’s been two weeks,” she nudged.
“Do you want to forget?”
“No!” she said quickly, jerking back a half step. “I want to remember.”
“Then you will.”
“Are you sure? You’re not going to wipe my memory?”
I smiled at her as I pushed to my feet so I could descend the three stairs to the ground. “Good night, Serah. Good work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely wipe your memory in the morning.”
She gave me a little bow and laughed, catching my little joke that her memories were in fact safe from me. “As you wish.”
Straightening, she paused on her way back into the parlor, looking over her shoulder at me. The smile was gone and the worry had returned to her gaze. I had no more comforting words. I could only hope that she didn’t come to regret remembering exactly what I was. That kind of knowledge always seemed to carry with it a high price.
I waited another ten minutes before following her into the parlor. My muscles were stiff and my feet were nearly numb from sitting outside for so long. The warmth of the shop helped me thaw, filling my body with biting pins and needles as blood flowed into my extremities again.
Locking the back door, I stopped and closed my eyes, drinking in the sounds coming from the front of the shop. Bronx’s deep voice rumbled as he told a story, punctuated by a burst of laughter from the new guy. All this was underscored by the steady buzz of a tattooing gun as it steadily carved through the flesh of a client. Six months ago, the buzzing noise was the most comforting sound in the world to me. It was the sound of normalcy. It was the sound of my ordered life. It was the sound of control.
But now it was a reminder of what was and could never be again.
In the middle of the room, I pulled up the trapdoor that covered the basement stairs. Descending to the lower level, I pulled the door closed after me so that I was swallowed up by the absolute darkness. But I didn’t need any light. I’d descended these stairs hundreds of times.
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