“Dave!” I managed to shout. “Stop them!”
His gaze flew between me and the demons. The hesitation in his step could cause a mistake, so I kept silent as he nodded in my direction, quickly changing course. Jake followed, his body shifting into a werewolf as they tucked down an aisle of pews.
Letting my head roll back as my whole body became numb, I watched the priest. His lips moved, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. I was dying, the link to the ley line leaving me. It had been a part of me for so long, I had no idea what it was like to live without it. It had made me one of the most powerful witches on Earth. And yet, I was useless, lying on a slab of stone, the epic Gemma Abbott. This was a battle I had lost, but at least the others would be able to keep the rest of the city safe.
“I don't think so!” I heard Dave shout.
A gunshot sounded before the priest slumped forward, blood spurting from his temple.
My breath sucked into me as the link re-enforced itself, although the magic still couldn't be used. Energy pulsated through me, bringing me back to life... well, as alive as I could be with the ley line keeping me breathing.
“Kill her!” Xvair shouted from where he hobbled down the aisle.
A gun came to my head as I tried to get free of my restraints. Florian's hand was shaking so violently, the barrel hit me a few times. If that son of a bitch attempted to kill me, I had no idea what would happen. I was technically dead already, so there was no telling how a gunshot wound to the head would affect me.
“You need to back off,” Kate's voice sounded nearby.
I couldn't see her from where I was trapped against the altar, but her voice was strong. Tears came to my eyes as I glanced at Dave and Jake, who had almost reached Xvair and Brianna.
The demons roared suddenly, thrusting against their cage. My father was the only evil being that stood still, watching me silently. Anger, hot and furious, burnt my skin as I stared at him, unable to look away.
“You need to put the gun down!” Kate shouted at Florian.
The barrel butted the back of my head again, causing me to spin and stare at him. “What are you doing?”
The witch's lower lip trembled as he glanced over at the demons.
A feminine scream wrenched the air, making us all look at Brianna. She fell to the ground, crying loudly as she clasped her leg. Well... what had been her leg. Jake's wolf head lifted, revealing the stump of her limb clasped between his jaws.
“If you don't drop the gun,” I said to Florian, “my friend will do the same to you. Do you want that?”
Sobbing hard, Florian lowered the gun. Someone must have released his binds without me noticing. A part of me wanted to punish him for being so stupid, but I knew that Xvair Harvey was a formidable ancient witch. Most would be petrified of him.
“Hold tight, Gemma,” Kate said, putting the gun down next to me as she rushed to unfasten the rope.
Keeping my eye on the scene down in the main church area, I clenched my teeth, frustrated that I couldn't do anything to help. Xvair cowered by the demons, a protection spell around him. Dave was trying to reach him, pushing at the barrier that surrounded the evil man.
The bonds around my ankles loosened as Kate released me. I kicked them off as she came to the top of the altar, smiling down at me when our gaze met. I had never been so relieved to see my seer friend.
“Thank you,” I murmured as she worked fast to free me completely.
“We're your team, we would never abandon you!”
Tears came to both our eyes as the last knot untied. Throwing off the rope, I pushed up and threw my legs over the side. They shook as I took a few unsteady steps.
“Gemma,” Kate squeaked, her voice tight.
Turning, I froze, my stomach dropping to my feet. Florian had two guns held towards Kate, his eyes wide and his cheeks bright red. Was the witch more like his father than he cared to admit?
“What are you doing?” I asked.
My gaze glanced to a pile of ash on the ground behind the altar. Kate must have killed Brianna’s boyfriend without me noticing.
My attention was quickly caught by the others as Dave grunted. Jake was keeping guard over Brianna, forcing her to stay on the ground, away from the demons. Dave still wrestled with Xvair's spell. It wouldn't take long for the old man to lose all of his power, his body was wobbling already.
“He told me to do it, I can't resist.” Florian stared at his father, who glanced towards us, a small smile playing on his lips.
Ah, he had cast a spell on Florian to hurt anyone who tried to rescue me. That wasn't a surprise considering how much the man wanted me dead. However, he needed me alive if he wanted to steal the ley line. Didn't he?
“You think your little team has the better of me?” Xvair shouted, spittle flying. “But, I know your weakness, Gemma Abbott. You'll let me go before you let any one of your team die. What's it to be?”
He was right that I would put my team above all else, that's what a good leader did. My mother may have tried to take me away from those who fought beside me, but I wouldn't let them go down, ever.
Looking over at Kate, I closed my eyes briefly, feeling into the ley line. The magic broke through the strength of evil, soaring through my veins. It seemed that the ancestors were helping me to access as much magic as possible. Xvair Harvey might think he had picked the perfect place, but Mother Earth would never allow an evil witch to destroy her.
“It's okay,” Kate whispered as I opened my eyes.
Her dark hair was braided tight to her head, the ends hanging to her waist. She wore her tight leather trousers paired with her grey denim jacket. She looked every inch the kickass seer agent she was. I wouldn't kill her, but my spell might just hurt her a bit.
“Do it!” she snapped, widening her eyes at me.
Florian looked between us, frowning deeply. “Don't try anything, I'll kill her.”
Raising my hands, I started a chant that I hadn't used in a very long time. In fact, my mother had banned me from casting the spell when she caught me doing it as a child. I was only playing with my dolls, but she claimed that the power of the spell, especially using the ley line magic, was too strong. She also wondered why a young adult would want to cast such a spell. I might have told her it was something I had seen one of the other teens do, but really, my books had shown me that men were not nice... unless they were the saviour of the story, of course.
“Don't...” Xvair called. “You can't!”
Shouting at the top of my lungs, I kept my feet apart, firmly on the ground as wind whipped through the church, flicking my dark hair around me. My hands stretched towards Florian, but the spell was meant for Xvair too. Any Harvey witch for that matter. No one from the evil witch's line would ever threaten the ley line again.
Stones tumbled from the roof as the ground started to shake. The power of the ley line surged through me, causing the walls of the church to creak. I had to be careful. If I wanted a ton of demons released from Hell, this would be the perfect time, but I didn't. As an agent of Paranormal MI5, I had sworn to protect both human-kind and paranormal-kind. That vow was something I would take to my grave.
“Please,” Florian shouted, his face contorting. “Stop!”
Kate's arms were squeezed in Florian's grip. His pain was inflicting pain on my friend. As the spell flew from my fingertips, the blast that rocked through the church knocked everyone to the ground, throwing them away from where they stood. I was the only one who remained standing. Even the demons were disorganised, howling loudly with an eerie scream.
Rushing to Kate, I bent to help her. Florian gripped her tightly, his fingers buried deep in the skin of her arm. The pain he had experienced had knocked him out cold. It was no wonder, I had fried his reproductive organs.
“Thanks!” Kate scrambled to her feet, patting the dust that had fallen from the ceiling out of her hair.
Glancing over to the others, I released her as Dave jumped for Xvair, wrestling the old man
to the ground. Both men groaned as Xvair gave up, slumping on the stone tiles.
Kate and I rushed down the steps of the altar and joined our team. The demons were still going mad, bashing against their binds to get free.
Xvair was losing power, the link to the PFF witches broken... that meant only one thing. We had limited time before the demons were free.
“Give him to me,” I commanded Dave who dragged Xvair to his feet.
My boyfriend looked down at me, a smile briefly touching his lips as he brushed his fingertips across my cheek. The silent relief that flooded between us made my muscles weak.
“You'll never get away with this!” Xvair screamed in my face, his feeble attempt at lunging for me thwarted by Dave's restraint.
Gripping hold of his arms, I pinned them to his side. He was weak now, the life force draining from him so quickly, he could barely resist. The pale film across his eyes grew thicker as I turned him towards the demons.
“Xvair Harvey, I have just destroyed your line. Every man left that was born from you, or descended from you, will never be able to bear children.”
“No!” Xvair's cry caused the demons to dance, their glee echoing in the shout of high-pitched laughter.
Taking hold of the tiny bit of stringy grey hair on his head, I yanked it, forcing him to look at me. “You'll remember my face as the last thing you saw before you were taken to Hell.”
“Hell?” he spluttered. “You wouldn't kill me, you're an agent, you-”
Before he could finish his sentence, I spun him and pushed his back as hard as I could. His own magic circle released to let him in, the demons instantly swarming over the human man. Their teeth and claws dug into him, the sound of chomping filling the church.
My stomach rolled as I glanced at my father, the man who had started everything in the first place.
“I'm sorry, my child,” he said as he came closer to the edge of the circle.
Dave held his hand forward, his eyes closed. Chanting a protection incantation, he replaced Xvair's barrier around the demons, using the magic he had obviously drained from Xvair's spell. The illusionist witch had his skills.
“You shall rot the rest of your days in Hell,” I said to my father as I clenched my shaking hands by my sides.
The slaughter at the back of the circle was slowing, the demons already growing bored. It was time to send them back to where they belonged. Brianna might have tried to release them from the circle, but we would give them back to Hell. They didn't belong in our world.
“I will serve my punishment for my selfishness,” my father replied. “You shall be free to live life as you will.”
Relief flooded through me for the first time since I had found out that I had been a pawn in my father's bet. For years, my mother had tried to persuade me to comply with Xvair's request. For years, I had fought it, trying my hardest to live a life independent of fear, disconnected from worry. Maybe, just maybe, I could start to feel safe again.
“Goodbye, Father,” I uttered, turning away from the circle.
My footsteps were heavy as my boots dragged on the ground. Once around the circle, I crouched and placed my hand on the stone tiles, directly above the ley line. Whispering a banishing spell, I closed my eyes as the screeches of demons filled the church. Dust on the walls landed softly on my face as the evil spirits puffed out of existence behind me. I didn't see it, but I felt it. The evil was gone, and so was my enemy.
Arms came around me from behind. Dave's scent filtered up my nose as I buried my head into his shoulder. Feminine arms wound around my side before another set of arms enveloped us all. My team held me tight as the dust settled around us. We had done it, we had defeated the man who had almost destroyed Earth.
“Jake?” I said quietly, resisting the urge to laugh. “I take it that you're not dressed... You know, considering you've just shifted back into a human?”
“Well,” the shifter replied, hugging us even tighter. “What's a bit of naked skin between friends?”
Chapter 13
“The human government have given Brianna a deal,” Dave said as he tapped his computer screen. “Look at this!”
Opening my tablet as I leant my elbows on my wooden desk, I shook my head. “She's given names of every single person in the PFF. She's lucky they've allowed her to live.”
“Ah, but is she lucky?” Jake muttered, chewing a sweet nosily as he rested his legs on the coffee table.
Kate shoved him off, scowling when he chucked a sweet at her. “She'll get to live out her days in the cell block of MI5. I'm not sure that's much of an existence.”
I couldn't disagree with them. Brianna deserved to be punished but part of me wondered whether it would have been kinder to give her the death sentence. Although, she had argued in the past that it wasn't fair that humans were not executed when they were just as harmful as paranormals. Of course, at the time, I couldn't defend the human government's position because as an agent, I knew what atrocities paranormal creatures were capable of. It went without saying that their power made it easier for them to harm others.
Dave and I had come into the office to file our reports, even though neither of us were technically working for MI5.
“The Paranormal Herald is saying that you defeated a bunch of demons,” Dave said, looking over the top of his computer screen. “It's a good job I have the power to shut that bastard down.”
With a click of the button, the website would be offline, which was good considering there would be outrage if anyone got wind of what had happened at Little Minster church. The danger was real. No one had ever dared to invoke demons, let alone bring them to Earth with the express desire to use them to hurt humans. There would be hell to answer for, literally. That was why I patiently waited for my mother's summons, although she was taking her time.
After my team had rescued me the night before, we had left the other agents to clean up. Dave had insisted that we went for a curry. I had no idea why a curry specifically, but I hadn't had the energy to disagree. While there, we wrote up our reports in detail. Staying quiet, I had eaten little as the others added all the details together.
“Are you okay?” Dave said, jolting me back to the office.
Smiling, I rubbed my eyes. I was exhausted. Sleeping once home had been impossible, even with Dave by my side. He had held me tightly, not letting go even as he slept. The trauma of being captured together had solidified our relationship even more. He had even announced our news of union to the team as soon as we'd arrived at the office. It made me happy inside, but too much had happened for me to completely bask in the glow of new romance, even if he was better than my book boyfriends.
“I'm fine,” I muttered as I laid my tablet on the desk in front of me. “I just-”
The blast of the internet phone interrupted me. Flicking it on, Dave projected the image of my mother onto the board behind me. Swinging in my chair, I waited for the image to clear. My heart thumped hard in my chest as I waited for the message she would relay from the head of MI5.
“On behalf of the agency, I would like to thank you for succeeding in your mission to end Xvair Harvey and bring down the Paranormals for Freedom terrorist group.” My mother was stern faced, her cheek twitching slightly when she paused for breath. “Jake and Kate, you will receive commendations from the top, meaning that each of you will have a higher status in the agency. I congratulate you on a job well done and look forward to working with you on future cases.” Sighing, my mother looked directly at me. “Dave and Gemma, please join me at The Garden.”
The feed cut off, leaving a blank screen. Jake and Kate glanced at one another, their joy evident in the widening of their eyes. They had worked hard and deserved to be given a break in order to thrive at the agency.
Dave raised his eyebrows at me as he came out from behind his computer. He had been given the task of being my desk friend, and yet, when he had stepped out from behind his desk, he had become a formidable field agent. Maybe if I pleaded, my
mother would allow him to have his job back.
“We better do as she says,” he said, holding out his hand to me.
Going over to the others, I squeezed them both in a hug. Kate smiled at me, her finger tapping my chest. “I miss your T-shirts.”
A smile came to me as I remembered the day before. When I had returned after the curry, I had asked Dave for a few moments alone. In my bedroom, I had packed up my book T-shirts in boxes. It was time to grow up and become a part of the real world.
“I'm still me,” I replied, laughing when she stuck out her lower lip.
“I can't help but agree,” Jake interrupted, tugging gently on my hair. “I used to look forward to seeing what sarcastic quote you'd wear for the day.”
“Oh, don't worry.” Taking his packet of sweets from his pocket, I winked. “The sarcasm hasn't gone anywhere.”
Skipping out of reach as the shifter tried to retrieve his sweets, I laughed as I grabbed Dave's hand with my free one. Before Jake reached us, I threw him the packet and flashed us out of the office.
“I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that, even though I've done it a thousand times,” Dave muttered, his eyes widening when they landed on the stone entrance to The Garden.
My mother hadn't used that name for our sanctuary in the woods for a long time. In fact, I had forgotten that we'd called it that in the first place. The last time we had been here, she’d helped me to visit the ancestors. There had been tension between us, but she still used her magic to aid me.
“This will be quick and painless.” Smiling up at Dave, I marched through the door and across the stone floor.
The flowers were in bloom, their scent cascading through the room and over me. Herbs and spices were glowing in the light from the glass windows. My mother stood by the stone table, her back straight and her shoulders high. Her hair fell loosely down her back, the swing of her long brown dress soft against the floor.
“This place is incredible,” Dave said, almost bowing to my mother as she came around the table to face us.
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