“Don’t forget he was ready for us,” Dorian added. For a moment, my heart lifted at his words, hearing him take my side. I hadn’t been certain he would, what with the way he liked to stick to the rules. “He knew we’d come looking for him after we saw the video, and he knew Zoe would go straight to the crypt where she banished that demon.”
“Fae cannot summon demons.” Magister Salvatore steepled his fingers under his chin. “But I’ll admit, that doesn’t mean he didn’t do something else to get it there. They’re masters at trickery, after all.” With a sigh, he closed his eyes. “We need more than this if we’re going to hand him over to the Blood Coven. They’ll sentence him to death, and I want to be certain we have the right killer before we destroy the fae who guards those graves.”
“But—” I started, but the Magister held up a hand to stop me.
“That’s my final word on the matter,” he said. “Now, tell me about these demons. You say they aren’t responding to your banishment spells?”
“That’s right,” Dorian said. “That makes several in the space of a few days. The first few were in an auto repair shop. The other in the crypt. None of them responded to the standard banishment spell but Zoe didn’t try her—”
He cut off suddenly, catching himself before he could say the words that would destroy my entire life. Because I knew what the end of that sentence was supposed to be. Shadow magic. My heart flickered in my chest, and my mouth went dry. We’d just come far too close to revealing my true nature to the council. And if they found out? Well, there was no telling what they would do.
The Magister cocked an eyebrow. “Zoe didn’t try her what?”
“Well, we both tried,” I said quickly. “It didn’t respond to the two of us combined.”
“That certainly is out of the ordinary,” Magister Salvatore said, “though not completely without precedence. A few of these demons appeared during the war if I’m remembering correctly. I didn’t face them myself, but I heard rumor of them.”
I leaned forward. “If there were some in the war, then someone must have figured out a way to banish them, right?”
“I don’t believe we did.” He turned his gaze on Dorian, his eyes suddenly sharp. “Instead, it was the vampires who conquered them. Their venom was the only thing that could break through the magic that kept them from being banished.”
The vampires. Sucking in a sharp breath, I felt myself reach for Dorian’s hand before stopping short. That really was not the kind of news I wanted to hear today. I could go the rest of my life without seeing another vampire, and I’d be happy. Not including Dorian, of course.
“Vampire venom,” Dorian said with a nod. “I’m assuming that means I could fight them.”
“Well, you are a vampire,” Magister Salvatore said. “But hurry fast. If there are multiple demons in our world, the veil is threatened with every moment that ticks by.”
Chapter 17
“I’m not sure this is a good idea.” A wintry wind rushed around us as we stood before the stone crypt. In my pocket, the old metal keys jingled, a sound that echoed in the heavy silence of the graveyard. We’d managed to confiscate the keys, though Belzus seemed eerily intrigued that we wanted them. He was probably glad we’d decided to confront the demon again, assuming we would finish what he’d started. To be on the safe side, we’d left Laura at home. Just in case. I wouldn’t let my best friend end up the next target of the fae’s blood mage killing spree.
“It’s definitely not a good idea,” Dorian said, agreeing with me for once. He turned my way and his tall form blotted out the bloated moon, transforming his muscled shoulders into a dark silhouette. “But, do you have any better ideas? You heard the Magister, and you know he’s right. The longer these demons stay in our realm, the weaker the veil gets. We need to banish them sooner rather than later, and if this is what it takes? Then, that’s what we have to do.”
What exactly did it take? That was the question I’d been asking the entire way here. Vampire venom, the Magister had said, but that was just the what. The how was still cloudy as hell to me.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Dorian said in a low voice. “We’ll go in together. You cast a bone ward to keep it from attacking. I know it’s not your strength, but we’ve been practicing. Just remember what we’ve trained. Then, when I say I’m ready, drop the wards. I’ll use my speed to rush forward and bite it.”
My mind spun as I processed his words. “Dorian. This sounds like a terrible idea. My bone spells are weak as hell and I—”
He shifted closer, taking my left hand in his. “You only have to keep the wards around the demon for a moment.”
“But how do you bite something that’s made of shadows?” I asked, shivering against his touch. “It’s not like they have a solid form.”
“The Daywalkers did it in the war.” He pulled the bone chalk from his pocket and traced the rune on my palm, the gentle touch tickling my skin. When he finished, he closed my hand into a fist and pressed it against my heart. “We can do this, Zoe.”
Dorian was right. According to the Magister, the Daywalkers had bitten demons during the war, but that knowledge didn’t stop the sharp prickle on the back of my neck. There was still so much we didn’t know about what was happening here. My partner sometimes liked to think of himself as invincible, able to heal no matter what happened to him. But a demon could harm him far worse than any other creature could. He might have an eternal lifeline, but he wasn’t indestructible.
And that was a huge difference I hoped he didn’t forget.
As I stepped forward to unlock the door, Dorian’s hand fell onto my shoulder and squeezed. We hadn’t spoken about the blood-filled kiss since it happened, but it’d been replaying in the back of my mind all this time. Did he regret it? Did he want to do it again? Questions I yearned to ask but couldn’t. At least not now. Not only because we were about to face a mage-immune demon but because I was terrified of what he might say.
“You okay to do this?” His voice was soft and much more understanding than it usually was. “I know the wards aren’t your strength, but I’m not going to push you about your shadow magic anymore.”
My stomach squeezed tight as I turned to face him. “There’s something I never told you. Something you should know about my powers. At first, I didn’t say anything because I was scared of what it meant. And then, I just kind of hoped that it was something that would go away. To be honest, it kind of has, but I haven’t given in to my power that way since. So, I don’t know what would happen if I really let go.”
“You know you can always tell me anything, Zoe,” Dorian said. “And I’d much rather you shared what’s bothering you than keep it bottled up inside. Maybe I can help.”
“I really don’t think you can, Dorian.” My eyes flicked to the ground before moving back to his face. “Remember when we were in Vincent’s house, and my power kind of exploded from me?”
He nodded. “I would never forget that moment. You’ve never looked fiercer. Or more terrifying.”
“That moment is why I can’t let go. While it scares me that it convinced me to kill Vincent, this is what I’m really terrified of.” I stepped closer and placed my hand on his heart. “It filled my mind and took control. I wasn’t truly aware of what I was doing. After it had banished the demons, it asked me to turn my power onto you. It asked me to destroy the vampire. You, Dorian. My magic tried to turn me on you.”
My breath stilled in my lungs while I waited for Dorian’s reaction. I’d been scared to tell him this, but I knew it was time. He needed to know just how dangerous I was. Would he pull away? Would he decide I wasn’t worth all this trouble?
Dorian was silent, his eyes locked on my face. My blood swirled in my veins as my body shifted closer to his, my soul drawn to him in a way I didn’t understand. After a moment, he reached up and curled his hand around mine, pressing it tighter against his chest. “What you aren’t acknowledging is that you resisted. You didn’t destr
oy me. At least, not as far as I can tell.” His lips cracked into a smile.
“So, that doesn’t freak you out?” I asked.
“If it were any other witch in the world who heard that command in her ear, then I might be a little concerned.” He tweaked my chin. “But you, Zoe? I trust you with my life.”
My heart went still, and my lungs lost all air. Every other sight and sound disappeared in the blink of an eye, replaced by only the man standing before me. My chin burned where he touched my skin, and my fingers were tense where he held my hand against his body. Even though he was a vampire, and his heart could no longer beat, I swore I could feel it banging wildly in his chest.
My free hand fell heavily to my side, my fingers slipping against the metal rung. The keys crashed onto the ground, knocking me out of my reverie. With a sharp breath, I stepped back. Not because I wanted to get away from him, but because I was suddenly overwhelmed by just how close I wanted to be.
“Thank you for the vote of confidence,” I mumbled awkwardly as I grabbed the keys from the ground. They rattled in my shaking hands, giving away just how flustered I was.
“You seem nervous,” Dorian said with an amused curve to his lips.
“Well, you’re about to try biting a fucking demon,” I said. “Makes sense to be nervous if you ask me.”
“Of course.” Dorian smiled as he slowly took the keys from my hands. “Maybe I’ll unlock the door. The sound of those keys is going to wake the dead.”
Shivering, I nodded and let him take over, even though I half-hated myself for it. Why couldn’t I act like a normal girl around this guy? It wasn’t like we hadn’t spent an inordinate amount of time together. He shouldn’t get me so flustered by a few words that probably meant nothing to him.
But they meant everything to me.
When the lock clicked open, I had to shove those thoughts aside. It was time to face the demon, and I couldn’t let my mind get caught up in anything else. Closing my eyes, I reached deep inside of me for a power that wasn’t mine to control. Bone magic. The power of the earth. Because I was a shadow mage, I would never be able to yield it the way a bone mage could. But I’d been practicing, and my parents had both been members of the coven. There was a small amount of it within me, enough that I could manage a spell as simple as a ward. Sometimes.
I pulled a few strands of the magic into my mind’s grasp and focused my energy on that small bit of power. To create a ward, it would be enough.
It would have to be enough.
“I’m ready,” I whispered, and Dorian kicked open the door.
Without a moment of hesitation, I threw out my hands and gritted my teeth as the power stormed from my palms. Orange balls with glowing edges of light flew into the crypt, slamming straight into the demon’s dark form. With a deep breath, I pushed inside the building, holding the balls before me and forcing them against the demon’s writhing body. It roared, the harsh sound slicing against my eardrums.
But the shield held tight as weak as it was, despite the wintry storm that whipped around us and despite the low rumbling that began to shake the earth at our feet. I could barely believe it. All this time, I’d fought so hard for a fraction if this, and yet now, the wards flamed like orange fire around the demon. This was more bone magic than I’d ever controlled, almost as if I were pulling it from somewhere else, almost as if I were getting a boost from someone—
“Zoe!” Dorian shouted when the magic crackled and popped, throwing me back a few steps.
“I’m not sure how long I can hold this!” I shouted over the sound of thunder and rolling clouds. Even though we were inside a crypt, we were in the midst of a supernatural storm of magic that swirled around us like twisting clouds, building into a crescendo.
Dorian nodded and pushed into the crypt. For a moment, his eyes flashed my way, staring in open amazement at what I’d managed to do. But I couldn’t hold on much longer. My fingertips felt flashes of electricity as the magic threatened to explode into fragments. Arms aching and magic beating against my skull, it was all I could do to hold on. This was taking everything out of me, and I only had seconds left.
“You ready?” Dorian asked, finally locking his eyes onto mine. I nodded as he steeled his body, crouching low and clenching his jaw. “Get ready. Set. Go!”
I dropped the ward and the bone magic snapped into nothing, knocking me into the stone wall. Dorian rushed at the demon, his fangs flashing against the dying light of my spell. He moved in a blur, too fast for me to comprehend. And then he was on the demon. Or in the demon. Or behind the demon. It was impossible to tell. One moment, Dorian was before it, grabbing at what appeared to be an arm and attempting to clamp his mouth around it. And then the next, Dorian was amidst the shifting shadows, roaring and gnashing his teeth.
I didn’t know what was happening. Was it working? Did I need to do something to help?
The demon dropped back its head and let out a screeching sound that sliced through my head. I slammed my hands over my ears and fell to my knees, closing my eyes tight to block out the sound. Through my burning tears, I saw Dorian do the same, crashing heavily while the shadows twisted around him.
And then the demon spread its wings, flapping them against the stone walls. It cackled, a noise that sounded like laughter, a noise that sounded like pain. The demon’s wings flapped a final time as it turned its head toward the door. It rushed past me in a whoosh of wind, burning embers, and wintry storm.
With wide eyes, I watched it disappear out of the open crypt, strands of shadows trailing behind it as it escaped into the night. I blinked, shock rocking through my body.
Demons had always been confined to the four walls and ceiling that surrounded them when they entered this realm. But this one had just been let loose on the world.
Chapter 18
“Biting him didn’t fucking work.” Dorian snapped into the phone as he paced back and forth on the soft grass outside of the crypt. “Apologies, Magister Salvatore. I know I’m being short with you right now, but a demon is free in this realm.” Dorian scowled and nodded. “No, I don’t have a fucking clue where it is. It flew out of the crypt. The thing could be anywhere.”
A moment later, Dorian ended the call and tossed the phone onto the ground before shoving his hands into his thick hair. “He doesn’t have a clue. It’s like this council is even more inept than the last one.”
It was the first time I’d heard Dorian speak this way about the Bone Coven’s illustrious council. Usually, he was just as respectful as any good Enforcer should be. Maybe my pessimism about their strategies for running an entire coven was rubbing off on him. Or, maybe he was just finally realizing that they sucked at governing when they had little to no experience when it came to anything other than endless meetings.
“Did this happen in the war?” I asked him from where I stood by the doorway leading into the crypt. I felt rooted to the spot, hoping the demon would return and just fly right back in on its own accord. My eyes searched the skies for any sign of shadowy wings, but all I could see were thick clouds broken through by moonlight.
“Demons free to go anywhere they wanted?” Dorian shook his head. “None that I fought. We never would have won if that were the case. Having them contained made the difference between the heavy losses we had and losing the war altogether. I’m sure they wanted to find a way to break free, but they never did. The fact they can now?”
He didn’t need to finish that sentence for me to know just how serious this was. Sure, it was only one demon, but that was how anything life-changing ever started. With just one person. Just one change. Just one demon. One eventually led to two. Two became four, and then before you knew it, the entire world was overrun.
“We need to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Starting with the demons in Juno’s shop. Belzus’s demon started with being immune to our power, and then managed to break free. Juno’s demons could as well,” I said. “Of course, we’ll have to figure out how to use your venom to
do so, and…”
Well, I didn’t want to say he’d failed miserably at biting the demon, but we had to face the truth. He had. Not that it was entirely his fault. Neither one of us knew what the hell we were doing.
Leaves crunched and twigs snapped as Dorian strode from one end of the dirt path to the other, his dark emotions charging through our tight bond. “It was harder than I thought it would be. The demon is like a cloud. There’s nothing to grab onto. This is the entire reason why we use our spells against them in the first place. Knives don’t work. Guns don’t work. And my fucking fangs don’t work.”
“We could hit the books?” I asked. “See if there’s anything in your collection that talks about this sort of thing?”
“I have a better idea. Let’s go to Slayerville.”
Slayerville was just how I remembered it. I’d only spent fifteen minutes in the place, but those moments had been etched into my memory like a tattoo that would never fade. A line of impatient humans and vampires zig-zagged down the sidewalk to our left. They were all clad in black or red, a system to signal their blood availability. Black meant no bitey. Red meant…well, it was a flashing neon sign to get a vampire’s attention. And in Slayerville, it worked.
The pulsing bass pounded as we approached the warehouse’s front doors that were manned by two surly bouncers with pale faces and red eyes. Their gazes flicked across us, recognizing us immediately. Vampires were rumored to never forget, and we’d made a pretty good—or bad, really—impression last time we’d been here. We’d been looking for information on one of their blood bags—humans who voluntarily let vampires feed from them on a regular basis. And because Laura had been unmarked at the time, we’d gotten into a verbal skirmish with the leader of the Clan himself. That verbal skirmish had been two seconds away from a physical fight where someone would have surely died.
Needless to say, the bouncers didn’t look particularly happy to see us. “Dorian Kostas. Zoe Bennett. What are you two doing here?”
Witch's Storm (The Bone Coven Chronicles Book 2) Page 12
