by Sierra Cross
Chapter One
One minute I was in dreamland, relishing Matt’s big, rough hands sliding across my bare skin -- and the next I was painfully aware of the cold steel pressed to my jugular.
My heart jackhammered against my ribs, but I forced myself to lay still under the mound of borrowed blankets. As my vision adjusted to the shadowy darkness of my temporary bedroom, I braced myself to look up into the hideous face of a Nequam demon. My magic saw through Neqs’ glamours to their ghastly true forms: always handy, always creepy as hell.
What I wasn’t prepared to see staring back at me was a human face.
White male. Late twenties. Dishwater brown hair. Pale blue eyes blinked behind thick glasses.
For a stunned moment, all I could think was, Why is this random guy attacking me?
Then reflexes kicked in. Fighting instincts Matt had drilled into me long ago. Adrenaline pumped furiously through my bloodstream and my hand grabbed the intruder’s wrist, ready to twist and pull him down with his own momentum. Instead, the moment our skin made contact, a familiar cutting sensation stung me. I gasped at the pain, like a hundred tiny razorblades pricking my skin. Not from the blade still held to my throat. From his dark magic.
The “man” standing over my bed was no lowly Neq, but he was a demon all right. A very rare type of demon. Only once had I encountered his kind before, and I almost didn’t live to tell about it.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of, witch.” His soft, gentle voice made me wonder -- not for the first time -- if Caedis demons could read minds. They sure had a gift for faking sincerity; humans crumpled under their powers of persuasion. I had to remind myself that the human face I gazed upon was only his current skinsuit. A body he’d stolen near the moment of death.
“Get the hell out of my apartment,” I commanded in a low growl.
“Of course, I’ll be leaving this squalid flat any minute now.” The Caedis leaned in, warmth and friendliness animating his rather plain features. “But not without you.” Damn his silken voice, he sounded reasonable even as he suggested kidnapping me from my bed. “Come along quietly, Alix.”
Whoa. My heart pounded. Bad, bad sign, his knowing my name. Meant someone sent him--who? My aunt?
“Quietly,” he repeated, “and no one will hurt you.”
Right, like I was going anywhere with a demon.
Knowing Matt was camped out on the living room floor, I opened my mouth to scream. Quick as lightning, the Caedis pressed two fingers of his free hand to my lips. A flash of some kind of dark magic seeped into me from his touch, wrapping itself around my body like an icy blanket. Numbing my skin, my nerves. Freezing my muscles. No sound escaped me.
“No more resistance,” he whispered in my ear, and the proximity to his razor-like magic made me feel seasick. “Not if you want your pet guardian to live.”
So he knew about Matt too. I tried to thrash with all my might to get away from him, but my shoulders barely twitched. My hopes slumped. Sweat bloomed on my forehead.
A cold breeze fluttered the curtains at my open bedroom window and I heard snickers from just outside. I tried to turn my head but only barely managed to turn my gaze. Hunched in the shadows on either side of my bedroom window were two gnarled grey Nequam. His servants, no doubt. And all three demons must have come in through the fire escape. After a fire destroyed my last apartment, I’d found it comforting to be sleeping in a room with easy access to a fire escape.
Not so much at the moment.
My mind raced, exploring one futile solution after another. If I was able to make a noise and Matt came in, would I be condemning him to death?
The Caedis smiled. “Come quietly and the guardian lives. Resist, and I’ll flay him and feed him to the latest batch of foundlings.”
On cue the Neqs snarled, ready to attack if Matt opened the door. He’d never even see it coming. Tears of frustration ran down my paralyzed cheeks and I couldn’t wipe them away. My attacker demon slid his hands under my armpits. Dragged me across the sheets. And hoisted me off the bed like a sack of flour.
My heels hit the floor with a soft thunk.
Damn.
I knew Matt. That small sound would alert his enhanced guardian senses.
Sure enough, the bedroom door burst open. Matt’s nearly seven feet of solid muscle filled the doorway. He was shirtless, in grey sweats, his short, dark hair matted in spots. But the cold fire in his eyes told me he was in fighting form. He threw a dagger, winging the Caedis in the right bicep, then dropped to a crouch. The Neqs each shot green blasts at him, but aimed too high. I should have known my guardian would be ready for even this.
The Caedis hissed in what sounded like agony. The runes on Matt’s blade weren’t powerful enough to dust a higher-level demon, but they clearly must have had some effect. The demon faltered, loosing his grip on me.
I crashed to the hardwood floor, grateful for the pain. The moment the Caedis’s hands were off me, his paralyzing magic had begun to leak out.
As my nerves screamed back to life, I scrambled to my knees to see Matt using his blades to deflect green blasts from the two Neqs. Sending them right back at the Caedis, who was busy pulling the blade out of his wounded upper arm. Before my attacker could recover, I crawled across the floor—straining to make my muscles work in unison—and grabbed Matt’s thrown dagger. Fingers wrapped around the weapon, I flailed up to standing and drove the blood-encrusted blade into the demon’s chest with all my might. But I missed the bulls-eye.
His pained roar filled my ears, and his blue eyes watered. He growled a command to his servants, but the Neqs were dust. Before the Caedis could grab me again, Matt sank another charmed blade into his upper back, right through his profesh white button-down. Cursing, the Caedis whirled to face him.
“I’ve had enough of you, guardian.”
“Likewise.”
I had to hand it to Matt; he sounded as calm as ever. But my pulse was pounding all out of rhythm. Hand-to-hand combat with a Caedis was too much for one guardian to handle. They moved preternaturally fast and were famously tough to slay.
And this one was all too eager to kill Matt.
But not me. I had one advantage: this Caedis seemed loathe to spill my blood. Whoever sent him must have made it clear I wasn’t to be harmed…making me almost certain it was Aunt Jenn. Feeling emboldened, I darted closer behind the demon as he thwarted Matt’s daggers and aimed blast after blast at him. My hands tingled with golden energy and I focused my magic to my fingertips, poised to throw a firebolt if I could just get a clear shot. As if sensing my thought, Matt spun the Caedis around. But the demon, moving at lightning speed, dodged so my fireball only grazed his wrist. Hissing from the mild burn, he glared from Matt to me and back again. Long gone was the friendly, mid-level manager mask – monstrous rage contorted his face. Adrenaline pumped through my bloodstream. Whatever his revenge, it would be sadistic.
Instead, the demon shoved Matt, so hard he flew across the room, and dove for the window.
I ran to Matt, who was already groaning to his feet, and threw my arms around him wordlessly. He held me tight, surrounding me with his heat. His bare chest pressed so close to me I could feel his heart beating. As rough as it had been to sleep so close to Matt every night without touching him, I felt grateful he was here tonight. I didn’t want to even think about him moving out.
Which I knew he was planning to do any day now. The moment he’d saved up first and last month’s rent.
I didn’t realize I’d been shaking until my body slowly quieted while he smoothed my hair. I inhaled the scent of clean male sweat on his skin, gazed up at Matt’s rugged face…and that’s when Matt cleared his throat.
“So.” Looking torn, he pulled away from our embrace. His tone shifted to the one I privately referred to as “Coach Guardian.” “Do you understand why the Caedis ran?”
I shook my head. “He could have killed us both, easy.”
Matt waited patiently.
“B
ut not without injury to himself,” I supplied and was rewarded by a smile from my guardian. “Caedis fear the host-body’s death, they don’t just reincarnate like Nequam.” Matt nodded. “I still don’t get why he looked so angry and surprised.”
“My guess is whoever sent him neglected to tell him what an amazing fighting team we make together.”
The thought made me feel proud…till I followed the thought to its conclusion. “It had to have been my aunt who sent him. She still hasn’t let me go.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he growled. “I was never going to let him take you as far as the door.”
“Hey, neither was I.” I gave a half-laugh. Now that the Caedis was gone and we were safe, I felt rush of adrenaline lighting me up. “And I sure wasn’t going to let him flay you and feed you to his ‘foundlings.’”
Matt pulled apart from me, his dark eyes narrow, his voice surprised. “What the hell was he talking about? Foundlings?”
I shrugged. “Demon shit-talking?” I joked, though Matt’s expression was anything but jovial. “What are foundlings anyway?”
From Matt’s grim face, I suspected this was one more occasion where my not being raised in magic put me behind the curve. “When Nequam first cross the Demongate into our realm,” he explained, “they need a Caedis Lord to feed them. It forges their loyalty. From then on they serve that Caedis.” He paused while I took in this interesting bit of demon culture trivia. “See the problem?”
Damn. Unfortunately, I did. “There shouldn’t be any foundlings to feed.” Not when our coven’s primary job was keeping Seattle’s Demongate warded.
“Get your ward suit on.” Matt clapped me on the shoulder, all guardian professionalism again. “I’ll call the rest of the team.”
In a matter of minutes, Matt and I had called the rest of the team and suited up in our battle gear. With Liv and Asher in the backseat of my car, the four of us sped to Caster’s Park. The kidnapping attempt had shaken me up—no point in denying it—but the weight of the spellbeads in the pockets of the snug vest I wore over my wardsuit was comforting. So was the company of my friends.
“You’re certain it was a Caedis?” Asher’s English-accented voice piped up from the backseat.
“Unless Neqs can suddenly wear skinsuits and act charming.” I’d answered his question three times, but he still didn’t seem to want to take it in.
“There are only three known Caedis in the city,” he explained, holding up a tablet computer. “I have a friend in the Fidei”—knowing Asher I mentally translated that as bed-friend—“and I just had her send me their descriptions. None match the one you gave.”
“So where’d this guy come from?” Liv demanded.
I slid into the freeway exit lane. “All I know is that his magic felt like razors, just like Tenebris’s did.”
Matt raised his eyebrows from the passenger seat. “You said the demon knew your name. You don’t think it could be—“
“No. It wasn’t Tenebris.” I surprised myself how by quickly I answered. But I would have recognized the ex-CEO of Millennium Dynamics even in a fresh skinsuit. His personality had been that strong. “We sent Tenebris back to the Demon Realm,” I said instead. “Maybe this guy’s new to town. Fidei haven’t registered his existence yet?”
“Caedis are risk-averse. Why would he enter an unfamiliar city?” Asher mused. “Just to kidnap one, forgive me, inexperienced witch?”
Matt’s square jaw tightened. “Guess someone made it worth his while.”
“I think we all know who.” I bit my lip. “Aunt Jenn’s worth billions now. And she’ll never stop wanting to turn me.”
“Ugh.” In the rearview mirror, Liv’s blonde head shook with anger. “How could anyone think they could make a dark witch out of you, Alix?”
Only Asher said what must have been on all our minds. “Perhaps she’s planning to force-turn you, like with Callie.”
The whole car fell silent at the sad memory of our fallen sister. Callie had died in battle and been brought back to “life” by a major transfusion of dark magic. But the kind and courageous girl Liv and I grew up with was gone.
Forever.
“Remember, our blades aren’t etched for Caedis,” Matt spoke up, nudging us from despair back to the realm of the practical. He was referring to the runes we had etched onto our knives, swords, and throwing stars that made Nequam turn to dust when stabbed. “If we have to take one down, the witches must lead with fire. Asher and I cover you.”
“And then we all draw straws for cleanup duty,” Asher muttered.
My brain had to go and picture us stuffing my would-be kidnapper’s body parts into trash bags. I shuddered violently. Leaving bodies around for Wonts to find was illegal in the Magicborn community. We’d have no choice but to somehow dispose of the human skinsuit he left behind.
Of course I was getting ahead of myself. A little gross clean-up was nothing… compared to the bloodthirsty, living Caedis that might be awaiting us in the cave.
“Alix.” Matt gave my leg a sharp look. I hadn’t realized it was bouncing with nervous tension, thudding against the car door. I shrugged. Better than having my magic itch and tingle all over my hands—which used to happen just before a fight. After all these weeks of practicing, my magic was finally obeying me most of the time. Coming only when called. Yet it wasn’t magic but my daggers, snug in my shoulder sheaths, that still gave me the most confidence.
Matt’s big hand covered my knee and gently squeezed it, and the nervous bouncing stopped. Cold. It was embarrassing how much power he had over my body…and he had to know it too. I exhaled with a deep sense of peace and calm, and he discreetly withdrew his hand. It was all I could do not to grab it and put it back on me. As always my chest ached at the loss of his touch, and then and there I knew: no part of me wanted Matt to move out. I wanted him to stay by my side, for us to save up and find a place together. A kitchen where we could laugh and cook together. A living room fireplace to cuddle up by. A bedroom…but there was zero point in me telling him what I wanted. He already knew.
And he’d taken a vow. There was no turning back from it.
I had to take him as I could get him. As my team-mate and protector, only.
Those heavy thoughts are what kept me silent as we charged up the long, winding road that lead to Caster’s Park. I don’t know what anyone else in the car was thinking about, or whether they’d observed anything happen between me and Matt. Likely I was being paranoid, and conversion had only petered out because they were all preparing inwardly for the battle ahead. But, for whatever reason, it was an awfully quiet last few miles.
As we entered the park grounds, tiny pricks of dark magic jabbed my skin. Liv and I exchanged a tense look in the mirror. Something was very wrong. Never had I felt so much malevolence at the park—even on the night of the solstice when the evil tree almost crashed the Demongate.
The headlights sliced through the darkness as I pulled right up to the edge of the greenway and slammed on the breaks, leaping out as I put the car in park. The rest of the team matched my pace.
A grotesque sight greeted us: spilling down the path from the cave were a dozen Neqs without glamours. Their hunched forms ran jaggedly, like malformed beasts escaping the hunt.
What the hell?
The only possible explanation was stunning. These demons hadn’t had time to throw glamours yet. They were fresh from the other side, from the Demon Realm.
Foundlings.
Their red eyes glowed through the underbrush. Three gnarled creatures tried to run past the car. Matt threw two stars. The small star-shaped blades hit their marks. They dusted two of the Neqs and returned to him.
“Show off.” Asher raised his right hand, revealing a hint of glow from his tattooed arm, and a golden firebolt formed on his fingertips. He aimed for the third Neq and blasted it to dust.
“Spread out,” Matt yelled, taking tactical lead as usual. He motioned for Liv and and me to go to either side of the trail. �
��There are some in the woods. Asher, take the path.”
We each went our assigned direction.
I had my dagger in hand, ready to throw.
“Use your magic!” Liv, who’d climbed Mt. Everest, was already ahead of me. “It’s so much faster.”
Easy for her to say. Liv was magically gifted – she didn’t even have to try to make her magic obey her. But I could hardly be upset with her for it since her magic strengthened mine. I called my magic to me, and instantly two golden fireballs were poised on my fingertips.
Thick branches slapped my face as I ran at top speed up the hill…right at two sets of glowing eyes. I hurled both fireballs. But the uneven ground beneath my feet made me bobble. One struck its target…but the second went wide.
I threw my arms down, willing the magic to my fingertips again, but it stalled. The Neq was approaching too fast. From the sheath along my ribcage, I retrieved two blades and flipped the handles to grasp them for throwing. As my fingers made contact with the cold steel, a bright green zing of light danced across the blades.
Whoa. I stared in confusion. Where’d the demon blast come from? Was another Neq behind me? As the green light hit the runes, they disintegrated, leaving the blade smooth.
This. Cannot. Be good.
Get it now!
I hope you enjoyed book one in my Coven of Fire series. You can learn more about me and my books by stopping by my website. Drop me a line on email or tweet me at @sierracrossbook
Acknowledgements
A heartfelt thank you to all my Beta Readers!
Your insightful, thoughtful comments are invaluable. This book is immeasurably better because of your feedback.
Crystal McKegney
Amanda Hobson
Teri Hicks
Kayleigh Cook
