Burr appeared shinier than ever, but didn’t look as badly constructed as he usually did. “I’m afraid you can’t.”
“What? No, I need to—”
“I know you want to release your sister, but now isn’t the time. There’s been too much death and blood for one day.”
Papan grabbed my hand and I felt a sense of comfort and warmth run through me. I’d lost a lot of people, but still had friends, allies and the love of my life beside me.
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. “When you say it’s not the time, does that mean there will be a right time?” If he stated otherwise, I wouldn’t rest until I got Willow back.
“Yes.” Burr dipped his chin. “I will keep her safe until then.” He tucked the blue bottle into his jacket pocket. “Sierra, your work for the Patch Watchdog isn’t done. You have eliminated the Obscurus and Mace, but still have the last part of Legion and Jacinta to dispose of. Until then.” Burr saluted and when he took a step, disappeared.
“No, wait!” I called, but it was too late. Burr had taken the bottle with him and there was nothing I could do right now. I inhaled deeply, trying to calm down and allow my trust in Burr to take over.
I’ll get Willow back, no matter what I have to do.
“Fox, let’s go home,” Papan said.
“Wait a sec,” Lavie said. Saul held her backpack open and she grabbed Maya’s desiccated head by the hair, then shoved it inside. “This is going to look great on my shelf.”
I rolled my eyes. Papan draped an arm over my shoulder and we walked away from the crossroads and the demon collectors. I could hear the murmur of their conversation even when we reached the haphazardly parked van in the middle of the street. A section of chain-link fence was caught under the bumper.
“So,” I said, turning to look at Papan. “Are you angry with me for not telling you where I was going today?”
Papan shook his head. “I knew where you were going.”
I stopped. “How?”
“I got it out of Saul, eventually,” Papan whispered near my ear before kissing my cheek.
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “We were on our way to Wilson, but Saul was acting weirder than usual. I knew he was hiding something, just had no idea it involved you putting your life on the line.” His eyes were shiny. “You should’ve told me.”
“I couldn’t. Not after everything…”
“I’m a big boy, Fox. I should’ve been beside you the entire time, not walk in at the end—”
“Your timing was perfect!”
“I was worried sick.” He rubbed his hands up and down my arms. “I know you can take care of yourself but that was the longest drive of my life. I was going nuts.”
I touched his cheek. “I’m sorry, but thank you for saving me. Again.”
“Hey, Jason,” called Saul. “Help me get the vampire into the van.”
Papan kissed the top of my head and joined his friend. Together, the demon and the wolf dumped the vampire into the back of the van. Lavie snaked an arm around mine and leaned against me. We’d become best of friends very fast, but this incident made us much more.
“We’ll get Willow back,” she said.
“I know.” I sighed. The waiting was going to kill me, but I’d get her back. “I’m sorry about your aunt.”
“And I’m sorry about your grandfather.”
“Yeah, me too.” I was going to miss the old witch. He’d driven me nuts from the moment we met, and it took me a while to accept him and the legacy he’d passed on, but we’d been tight for months. “My grandparents will be waiting for them.”
Besides, I had that spell he mentioned.
Lavie sighed. “I’m glad I’ve still got you.”
“I’m glad I’ve got you too.” I pointed at the two guys who’d been friends since childhood. “And we’ve got them.” I pulled on our joined arms. “So, when are you going to tell Saul how you feel about him?”
“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You can’t lie to me, Lav,” I said with a chuckle. “I know you’re in love with him, so why don’t you do something about it?”
She sighed. “If only it were that easy.”
“Actually, it is.” If Papan and I hadn’t admitted how we felt about each other and stopped hiding behind friendship, we would still be toeing the line. “Don’t let this pass you by. Tell him how you feel before it’s too late.”
“Hey, are you two ready to leave?” Saul called from the driver’s seat.
“Of course, he is a total pain in the ass,” I said. “So you might want to stay clear of him.”
She giggled. “Maybe you’re right.”
“About the pain in the ass bit?” I teased.
“Probably about all of it,” she said, heading for the van. Lavie climbed in next to Saul and they started chatting about the Lamia’s head.
Papan held the back door open for me. “Come on, let’s go home.”
I settled into the seat beside Papan, sitting close. I stared at my left palm and it was glowing. I peeked out the window and spotted Diana in the middle of the crossroads with a multitude of black dogs surrounding her. She wore a blue flowing dress and held a radiant pink lantern with keys dangling from the bottom. The light was mirrored in her eyes as they met mine, and a small smile touched her lips. She looked happy. I could feel it within me.
“Hecate?” I whispered.
“Yes, Child, you did me proud.”
“Hecate, help me get my sister back.”
A smile lit up her beautiful face. “The shaman will tell you where to find your reward.”
True to her Goddess word, Gareth and I met inside the moonlit room that night.
The awkwardness between us was gone. We were friends who cared and understood each other on a preternatural level neither would be able to explain. Yet, both accepted.
“Hi Sierra,” he said, sitting beside me at the end of the bed. “I’m glad you made it.”
“Yeah, me too.” At the expense of so many other lives, but this was also something I would eventually accept.
“You know why you’re here, right?” When he took my left hand and held it between both of his, the pink shimmer shone through.
I nodded. “You’re going to tell me about my reward.”
Gareth smiled and whispered the when, where and how. Claiming my reward would be tough, required calling an old acquaintance, and the use of my newfound power. But it meant saving Willow, so I could do this.
“Did you get all that?”
“I did.”
Gareth was a dreamwalker, healer, shaman and had his own path of self-discovery to travel. But we would always be friends.
“Foxy, are you coming?” I looked up to find Papan wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and holding out his right hand towards me. He stood where the window usually was, but had now been replaced with a field of sunflowers. And Gareth was gone.
It was nice seeing him in this dream world, and knowing I could bring him here.
“Of course I’m ready.” I strolled to Papan and slipped my hand into his. The warmth of the sun slid from his skin and into mine. And when we both turned and headed into the sunflower patch, the brightness made my eyes sting.
I gulped air and woke up.
“Foxy Lady,” Papan mumbled in his sleep.
I couldn’t help but smile while I grabbed my mobile, scrolled the Contacts and hit the call button. It rang so many times I started to wonder if she’d changed the number.
“Hello?” said a small, female voice.
“Hi Carleen,” I said. “It’s Sierra.”
“Oh, hello,” Carleen said, pausing. “Did you figure out a way to get rid of—”
“Yes.” We both knew this was the only reason why I would contac
t her. Carleen Hocking had contracted a demonic seed from her husband. I’d assisted their reconnection, and promised I would help with her other problem. “Can you be in Sydney by next week?”
“With Roger at the wheel, I can make it before then.” She seemed to have an air of confidence she hadn’t possessed when we first met and she’d been a desperate client.
We arranged the time and meeting place.
When I hung up and lay in bed beside Papan, I hoped we would rendezvous in our sunflower field of dreams.
Chapter Sixteen
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Carleen asked for what felt like the fiftieth time. She kept glancing over her shoulder, as if she expected someone to bust us in the act of conducting an illegal summoning after trespassing on private property—which was exactly what we were doing.
“I’m positive.” I turned to Lavie. “Have you finished the summoning circle?”
“It’s all done.” She stuck the ziplock bag containing everything she’d used into her backpack.
A week had passed since the night that changed both of our lives, but I still felt like I was on pins and needles. Roe and the catchers he’d rescued were settling into a new life, and I was stalling to give him an answer about my business decision.
I missed my sister so much and her first exam was at the end of the week, so I was desperate to get her back.
Not to mention that I felt the loss of Oren and Ebony deep within my soul, but Lavie was raised by Sally so her pain was just as raw. She’d even hired a demon called Carson to tend the shop because she couldn’t deal with it yet. She was staying at my place, where she could go through her personal motions of grief without the constant reminders at home. Saul helped her a lot, though I wasn’t sure if they’d made the move into more-than-friends territory.
Things with Papan were great and he was mostly staying with me too, though he went back and forth between my house and his ruined apartment. Almost everything he owned had been destroyed or torn apart, and I knew the police hadn’t done it while searching his place. I was certain Vixen was responsible. His lease would end mid-next month, and I had an idea I wanted to broach.
I had a full house, complete with a vampire hidden in a secret room.
“Sierra.” A light tap on my elbow made me jump. “Hey, are you ready?”
I looked into Lavie’s hazel eyes and nodded. “I’m more than ready. I promised you both that I would find a way to cure your condition, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Lavie pulled the hoodie over her head and dropped it on top of her backpack, leaving her in a white wifebeater and baggy jeans. The demonic seeds caused the fabric to stretch as they writhed beneath. When they flowed under her arms, the scars expanded. She seemed nervous.
Carleen stripped off a thin cardigan, leaving her in a brown camisole and tailored gray pants. The single demonic seed had already multiplied and I could identify at least three more writhing under her skin.
The three of us stepped into the summoning circle. This wasn’t just to ensure we reached the right place, but also to keep us—especially them—safe.
I sucked in a deep breath and held my hands out—Lavie took my left, Carleen my right. I exhaled slowly, letting the air flow out as I welcomed my dark patch. The empty lot that used to be the Hocking house faded to black. Carleen gasped, but I gripped her tight.
“Whatever you do, don’t let go.” They both knew that once I released them, they would need to hold on to each other. I wasn’t an expert, but after slipping into Legion’s patch, I was willing to try. Besides, I’d successfully opened several patches via my dark patch with Burr’s assistance. “Hold on.”
We held hands until my power willed the demonic seeds invading their bodies down to their palms. I felt the creatures writhing hard and fast, as if they were trying to tear out of their skin. My hands lit up pink and our surroundings changed. We were no longer closed in by the dark walls of my patch. We stood in the middle of a bleak place with thunder clouds and continual lightning flashes above our heads. The gray clouds sped along the sky, but I ignored them to concentrate on the massive cliffs and boulders boxing us in. Several pools of boiling crimson slurped nearby, fed by the crucified people secured upside down. They all had black holes where their eyes used to be, and their mouths made noises their missing tongues couldn’t form into words.
Their blood fueled this land in a similar way as the shadows had used children’s essence.
I’d seen this terrifying place before—through the eyes of the demon inside the Prevette house. My journey began inside that kitchen, with Father Luke. The house was also situated close to where Roger Hocking summoned a demon, which infected him with a demonic seed he passed onto his wife.
These crucified humans were eternal prisoners—the stupid ones who’d dared summon these demons. I didn’t agree with such a harsh fate, but what I really didn’t like was any unsuspecting woman contracting a demonic seed.
The first demon slithered out from between two boulders and approached the circle. It screeched when its flabby body reached us but couldn’t get past the circle’s protection.
I slid my hands from Lavie and Carleen, and they gripped each other.
The faint outline of Roger solidified, behind his wife.
“Take care of them,” I said.
He nodded and I trusted him to watch over his wife and Lavie, because I needed to temporarily break the protective circle and leave. I rubbed the chalk with the toe of my sneaker and stepped outside.
Lavie’s joined hand dragged Carleen to the ground as she used her other to fill in the chalk I’d removed before any of the demons noticed. When it sealed them inside with a pop, I moved as far away as I could.
The farther I wandered, the more demons appeared. They looked like blubber sliding over rocks, but weren’t as big inside their own patch as the one I’d faced in the Prevette kitchen. A multitude of hollow eyes tracked my every step, trying to understand what I was doing and why I would willingly walk among them.
I strode around another huge boulder that blocked the circle from view, and stopped. I focused on the tortured souls bleeding for all eternity. After the blood was leached, their essence would trickle out. Their spirits were too far gone to save, but what I was about to do would end their torture.
These filthy demons deserved to die. I was now their judge and executioner.
“Come to me,” I said to the nonspeaking demons. They communicated via visions projected in their hollow eyes. Several tried to draw me in, but I’d already been forced to see the show inside that kitchen months ago.
I opened my arms while keeping a close eye on the fleshy demons. I sensed their greedy desire to devour and claim me, yet they hesitated to draw too close.
“Come on!”
The first demon smacked into my chest before slithering in through my mouth. Others followed—so many I couldn’t keep tabs of where they were coming from, or how they were getting in. Some seemed to seep into my skin, burrowing into my bone marrow. I felt full to capacity, swelling as much as their bodies, while trying to accommodate these demons. I felt full, but couldn’t strike yet. Not until they were all taking residence inside.
As soon as these towering demons entered my body, they became nothing more than writhing snakes. The skin on my arms and hands ballooned as the demonic seeds immersed themselves so deep I felt they might soon tear me limb from limb. I was glad Lavie and Carleen wouldn’t have to deal with this fate for much longer.
When the last few raced up my nose, they squirmed into my brain. The pain was excruciating and made my head feel like it was about to burst. I struggled to focus on my surroundings, to make sure they were all contained.
I closed my eyes and was barely able to make my right hand touch my left because my skin was so swollen.
As soon as the connection was made, I flung my arm
s open as wide as I could and the demonic seeds rushed out of me like bits of flapping skin. The earth quaked beneath my feet as they continued to blast out of me. I tried to take a step, but something was wrong. As each demon disintegrated out of my body, I felt as if I was losing more of myself. They were somehow tearing me up inside.
I collapsed to my knees and when I looked up, found Jacinta there. The misty Legion dragon was wrapped around her body. Her skin was blue, as if the demoniac was squeezing the life out of her.
“Help me!” she screamed.
“No one can help you,” the dragon said. “You will suffer for what you did.”
Jacinta pointed at me. “It was her.”
I glared at the necromancer while fighting the pain of having the last of the demons slop to the ground. I might not want to save Jacinta the eternal torture Legion had planned, but if I didn’t take care of these two now, the dragon might find a way back. Yet the thought of destroying a dragon that had swallowed my sister made me uneasy. Still, I had to end this. So I extended my left hand and as soon as Jacinta’s fingertips came into contact with mine, I sucked both woman and dragon into my body and spat them out of existence.
My body exploded with them. The pain in my brain culminated into one unbearable moment. I wasn’t sure if I was alive or dead, but I was somewhere.
I pressed my hands against the ground to sit up, but my fingers went through the earth. My hands and arms were translucent, yet I wasn’t dead.
I floated upwards, astral projecting.
“Sierra,” a melodic, female voice said.
I swam around and came face to face with Diana. No, it was Hecate. She looked the same way she had while standing in the abandoned part of town wearing her lovely blue dress. Instead of a lantern, she now held a witch’s bottle. Her violet eyes were filled with knowledge.
“Hecate,” I breathed out her name, settling back into my body.
“You destroyed another league of demon.”
I nodded. “My friends, I left them—”
“You’re always so worried about everyone else,” Hecate said with a shake of her head. “Your grandmother was smart to bestow the strongest of gifts on you.”
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