I pulled my ceremonial robe out of my tote bag and donned it before going back outside with Nicholas. While the cold would not hurt me, the robe had extra pockets to store my cell phone taser, chalk, salt, and other spelling components. The runes stitched along the collar and hem were enchanted and would provide a modicum of protection.
“I think it is a good bet that they will send demons at us,” Nicholas said.
“We could scribe the banishing circle here in the courtyard, draw them in, and send them back to where they belong,” I suggested.
“Great idea, but how are we going to get a circle down with this much snow? Draw it into the snow?”
“I was thinking of clearing the courtyard of snow and using chalk.”
“You want to shovel snow?”
“Good God, no. I’ll use magic.”
“You have that much control?”
I shrugged. There was at least six or seven inches of accumulation on the ground. My first impulse was to use fire magic to melt the snow but then realized that would create a different set of problems to combat, mainly fog and several inches of standing water.
“I’ll use wind to clear the courtyard down to the cobblestones,” I said.
Nicholas gave me a skeptical look, but gestured for me to begin. Closing my eyes, I drew power to me. While drawn magic was not as powerful as my own thaumaturgy, I wanted to conserve my inborn power for healing or an emergency, like banishing a demon without a circle. I visualized what I wanted the magic to do and then, with a word and a sweep of my arm, I sent the magic out to do my bidding. The magic didn’t clear the courtyard as neatly as I had envisioned, but it would do. Nicholas seemed impressed and immediately set to work scribing the circle as I climbed the wrought-iron stairs to the second-floor balcony. The snow was still falling steadily but not in the blinding fashion of earlier. I wondered how many hell beasts my coven would bring to bear on us. That they would bring demons, I had no doubt. They had sent numerous demons out to terrorize the city during the past weeks. The question was how many demons they would summon tonight. Also worrisome was how powerful those demons would be. The ones they had been summoning were all from the lower orders, but there had only been a few Aether to do the summoning. With the influx of foreigners, they might be able to summon much more powerful beings.
Nicholas finished the circle and joined me on the balcony. “How much longer, do you suppose?” I asked him.
Almost in answer to my question, I was hit by five waves of malevolent magic in quick succession. The building shook slightly, once and then again. The shaking continued every few seconds. I belatedly realized that it was footfalls from a huge beast causing the tremors. A shiver of fear ran up my spine. I looked over at Nicholas but he had his eyes closed, as if in prayer. I was not at full power yet, and I doubted the Master Gatekeeper was either. I hoped his faith would sustain him.
Out of the storm, figures began to emerge. Initially I only saw two creatures. A well-muscled and bare-chested man was riding a small, black dragon. Small, of course, was a relative term. The dragon was about the size of one of the city’s garbage trucks. Small by dragon standards, but huge by human. Sprouting from the man’s back were black wings that reminded me of a raven’s. Curls of the same color framed an angelic face and upon them sat a crown of gold. A serpent twined itself around the demon’s left bicep.
“Astaroth,” I breathed.
“Yes,” Nicholas agreed. “Let’s hope that he does not have his forty legions with him.”
“I do not feel more than five demonic entities,” I said.
“You can differentiate?”
I nodded. “Can’t you?”
“I can feel the demonic presence, but not how many.”
“Perhaps you can be trained to differentiate,” I said.
“That would be a useful skill. If we survive this encounter, we will talk further,” Nicholas said.
“Astaroth and his dragon seem to be headed toward the courtyard gate,” I said.
“We should go down and welcome him, then,” Nicholas remarked. The other three demonic entities temporarily forgotten, we carefully made our way down the slick back stairs to the courtyard. Much of the circle had been obscured by the falling snow, but that would work in our favor. I just hoped the Gatekeeper’s circle was large enough for the dragon. Nicholas and I came to a halt just outside of the circle. I could just make out one of the sigils near my left foot. I took careful note of where it was.
Astaroth, on his lumbering dragon, paused momentarily at the wrought-iron gate. “Bow down to me and I shall let you live,” the demon commanded.
His only answer was a barrage of bullets from the second-floor balcony that, although hitting him dead center in the chest, did nothing but anger him. At his command, the dragon crumpled the iron gate with a swipe of his mighty paw. More shots rang out, these targeting the dragon’s broad chest. The bullets bounced harmlessly off the creature’s shiny black scales.
Nicholas held up his hand and called to the guards. “Your weapons will do no good here. Concentrate your efforts elsewhere.” Looking at me, he said, “It is up to us.”
“You seek to oppose me?” the demon demanded.
“If you seek to do violence to those that reside in this house, yes, I seek to oppose you,” I answered with far more bravado than I felt.
Astaroth laughed. “You amuse me, mage. I will enjoy playing with you in the pits of Hell.”
I needed to draw him into the courtyard. “So confident are you? You need to get me there first,” I taunted, placing one hand provocatively on my hip and flipping my hair over my shoulder as I had seen an actress do in one of those campy horror movies Chris had insisted I watch.
“What. Are. You. Doing?” Nicholas hissed in my ear.
“Drawing him in.”
“You are going to get us both scorched!” the Gatekeeper insisted and took several steps backwards.
“Oh, little girl, you don’t know who you are dealing with,” the demon mused, clearly amused by all of this.
I decided to play it for all that it was worth. “Why don’t you come here and tell me who I am dealing with?” I invited.
“I will make you regret toying with me, little girl,” Astaroth threatened as the dragon lumbered into the courtyard. I really hoped Nicholas had made the circle big enough.
I held my ground as the beast approached me. I was worried about the dragon’s tail. It still trailed out of the gate and into the street. I could not invoke the circle until the tail was completely inside.
“Your dragon is big, but is that all you’ve got?” I asked. That elicited the response I wanted, at least from the dragon. It flicked its tail angrily, sending a spray of snow across the courtyard before wrapping it around itself as a cat might. The dragon’s nostrils flared, and its breath was hot and angry on my face.
“All I’ve got?” Astaroth bellowed.
I quickly drew the athame from the folds of my robe and sliced my outstretched left hand. I let the blood drop onto the sigil and invoked the circle with a word. Magic instantly sprang to form a barrier between the hell beasts and myself. I could no longer feel the heat of the dragon’s breath, so I knew that I was safe, at least for the moment.
The demon bellowed again and hurled his magic against my circle, but it held. Knowing that my wards could not stand a sustained onslaught of magic wielded by one of Hell’s grand dukes, I began the banishment invocation. “I call upon the power of heaven to banish thy foe,” I chanted, and Nicholas added his voice and magic to mine.
Astaroth fought hard to break out of his confines or break our concentration. He was unable to do either, and both he and the dragon vanished in a cloud of sulfur.
I barely had time for a triumphant thought before a large bundle of fur hurtled past me and knocked Nicholas to the ground
. I turned to face this new demon as well as the third malevolent force I had felt earlier. A large, white, cat-like creature, perhaps a panther or jaguar, crouched, ready to pounce at the slightest provocation. A beautiful Asian woman dressed in a white kimono stood serenely nearby.
I again called the magic to me and began to spool the energy into a ball. The animal snarled and leaped at me just as I loosed the magic ball at it. The magic caught the beast square in the chest, and the force sent the cat tumbling backward. It landed heavily on the snow-covered ground and did not immediately move. Before I could decide to go to Nicholas’s aid, the woman turned her angry gaze to me. Her eyes were entirely coal black. Raising her hand, she said something in a language I did not understand. The force of her spell staggered me, but I managed to keep my feet. The robe’s runes had absorbed much of the malevolent energy.
I did not dare try to invoke the circle again because I feared that the cat I had wounded might be transecting the circle. With the snow, it was impossible for me to tell exactly where the circle was, and without the circle I would need to use my own thaumaturgic magic. I drew my magic to my core and spooled it. Just as I had with the demon outside of Tousaint’s gallery, I pushed my power in two concentrated streams from my hands and chanted the banishment spell. I felt her push back and try to break my enchantment, so I pushed even more power into my words. We see-sawed back and forth for several minutes before the demon vanished in a cloud of sulfur. I turned on shaky legs to see Nicholas dispatch the white hellcat by dousing it with some sort of clear liquid.
The elderly, yet surprisingly spry man hopped to his feet. He brushed the snow from his black cassock before walking over to the remaining demon. Pulling another vial of liquid from a pocket, he poured the contents on the creature. “Holy water,” he explained.
“That’s handy,” I said. “Do you have any idea who the female demon was?”
“I believe she was Yuki-onna, a Japanese snow demon, although I have never heard of her having snow leopards with her.”
“Do you think there will be more?” I asked.
Nicholas shrugged. “It would have taken a great deal of power to summon Astaroth on his own, and while Yuki-onna isn’t nearly as powerful, it would have taken the combined magic of several Aether to bring her onto this plane. Jaime said that she had seen about thirty-four Aether gather. That would have easily given them the power to summon Astaroth and Yuki-onna, but how much they could manage beyond that is only a guess. Maybe a few more minor demons? I doubt anything else big, but I could be wrong.”
“Should we stay here or go inside and help?” I had felt power spike inside the house earlier but had been too busy with the demons in the courtyard to worry about it.
Just then, the back door of the house opened and Gabe stepped onto the terrace. “I came out to see if you needed any help, Master Remy, since . . .” Gabe called out and then stopped abruptly when he saw me. “But, you are inside with Jaime and Josh.”
I looked to him and then to Nicholas before it dawned on me. “Succubus.” The word was barely a whisper when it left my lips, but both men heard me as clearly as if I had screamed it. I ran as fast as I could toward the back door. Gabe made as if to join me, but I stopped him, saying, “No, stay here. Guard the rear against a second wave.”
I prayed I wouldn’t be too late as I wrenched the door open and burst into the kitchen.
I HAD ONLY TAKEN half a dozen steps into the kitchen before Honore and I spotted each other. Unlike me, she was not robed, but instead wore ridiculously tight black leather pants, tall black boots, and a red corset. Good Lord, this woman is a walking cliché. All she needs is a black leather trench coat. I supposed that in my mage robes I was a bit of a parody myself, but my garment actually served a purpose, or at least had. I was unsure how much protection the runes still had left. The snow demon had thrown powerful magic at me.
Honore took several long strides down the hall toward the kitchen, while I chose to hold my ground. I did not wish to fight her in the close confines of the narrow hall. It was much better to do it here in the little-used kitchen. I pulled magic to me and began to fashion a ball of fire.
I loosed the spell at her, but Honore was able to deflect it. The hard truth was that Honore and I were fairly evenly matched magically. Unless she had a dirty trick or two up her proverbial sleeve, this was going to be a long and drawn-out magical duel that would only end when one of us ran out of stamina, allowing the other the upper hand. Sadly, I had no idea who might give out first. I had not started the evening at full strength and had been fighting demons in the courtyard. I assumed that Honore had participated in the summoning of the creatures, but I had no way of knowing.
As it turned out, I was wrong about it being a long duel between equals. Honore pulled out the dark magic early. The nullification spell hit me before I had time to react. I felt oily magical residue coat me, and I saw her triumphant smile, sure she had neutralized my magic. With a normal mage she would have. This spell covered the target with a sticky substance that did not allow the mage to pull magic to him. Honore, however, did not know that I was not a normal mage, and that as a thaumaturge, my magic came from inside me.
With the cat-that-ate-the-canary smile on her lips, Honore advanced toward me, already savoring her victory. I drew the magic from inside me, allowing it to pool in my fingertips. Then I pushed hard against the spell, throwing it off me and onto Honore.
I watched for just a moment as the sticky coating engulfed her. It took a few seconds for Honore to realize what had happened. As her triumphant smile faded to one of horror, I took the iPhone with its stun gun case out of my pocket and walked to where she still stood dumbfounded. I sent 4.5 million volts of electricity coursing through Honore, and she dropped to the ground and was still. Kneeling, I wrenched the Aether ring from her finger. “You are not fit to wear this!” I hissed.
Before I could do or say more, I heard an anguished cry from the foyer. While I loathed leaving my former coven leader, she was not going anywhere for a while, and even once the stun gun’s effects had worn off, she would not have her magic. The spell could be broken, but only once the subject had bathed in salt water to remove the sticky residue. I rose to my feet to see if there was anything I could do to help whoever had emitted the cry. As I did, I slid the ring into one of my pockets, intending to give it to Marc later.
I RAN DOWN THE hall and into the foyer. There I found Jaime prone on the ground and Josh torn between helping his fallen comrade or going after the attacker. “Go! I will take care of the girl,” I told Josh as I dropped to my knees next to the young Gatekeeper. Her eyes were closed and her face composed as if asleep. For a horrible moment, I feared that Jaime was already dead.
I frantically searched for a pulse and finally found a very weak one. She was still alive, but just barely. I tried to draw my power to my core, but it was like trying to gather smoke. My innate magic was there, but I had spent so much energy fighting Honore and dispelling the demons that it didn’t have enough substance left to heal. Called magic was not strong enough to knit blood and bone back together. If I wanted to save the young woman, I only had one option.
I drew my athame from its sheath and sliced deeply into my left wrist with it. Cradling Jaime’s head in one hand, I brought my bleeding wrist to her lips. She moaned and almost seemed to resist the offer. My blood carried magic in it, and I hoped that would be enough to save her. Of course, she had to drink it first.
“It is all right, Jaime. Just take a little,” I said softly.
After what seemed to me an eternity, but was really only a few seconds, Jaime’s lips latched on to my proffered arm and greedily began sucking. When I judged she’d had enough, I tried to pull my arm away, but even in her semi-conscious state the girl was damn strong, and I could not break her liplock on my wrist. I was finally able to get her to let go by violently jerking her head back by her re
d-sheened hair. I felt guilty about possibly hurting her as I did this, but Jaime had taken so much of my blood that my vision was beginning to blur.
Josh found me after the battle ended at the far end of the large formal parlor, cradling a groggy Jaime in my lap.
“How is she?” Josh asked as he squatted down next to me.
“Weak, but she will live,” I said. “Is it over?” The sounds of battle had slowly been quieting around me for a while, but I had lacked the strength to investigate, and I could not leave Jaime alone in her state at any rate.
“Yeah, we beat ‘em back, but if the Undines and Salamands hadn’t shown up when they did, I’m not sure we coulda held out much longer.”
“How did we fare?” I asked, helping Jaime into a sitting position.
Josh shrugged. “Guess we’ll have to wait for the after-action report. Why don’t I help Jaime while you go talk to Marc?”
In the end, nearly two dozen vampires and a handful of human servants had been killed, and many more wounded. Of the dead, two were Aether Elders and at least half a dozen were foreign Aether. A true count was difficult because vampire bodies turn to dust once final death occurs. We lost a number of vampires on our side, including the Undine lieutenant. One Gatekeeper also lost her life. Somehow Honore had managed to escape.
Chapter 19
I STRIPPED OFF my ruined clothes and pulled on the robe that Sophie had loaned me. I threw the blood-soaked dress, undergarments, and shoes in the corner wastepaper basket. Not everything quite fit, but I was too weary to care.
I was absently contemplating a shower when someone knocked on the door. I opened it, expecting to see Sophie, but found a bruised and battered Josh Bouchard standing there holding a bottle of Jack Daniels.
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