by K. F. Breene
Nope. I absolutely wasn’t. Especially in the face of all that confidence. But he didn’t have to know that.
“Let’s get the show on the road,” I drawled. “I’m not in the mood for drawing things out.”
“Of course.”
A flare of brilliant orange lit up the clearing, a translucent circle shimmering around the demon. Its face turned straight again, its eyes glancing from one face to the next. When it got to mine, it stopped. A tiny smile quirked plump lips.
“A power play among masters. But you are so young. Such a young, pretty thing.” The words tickled my ears and seduced my senses. They sparkled and shimmered, wrapping me up and sucking all of my focus toward it. I didn’t want to look away. I didn’t want to breathe. I only wanted to listen. “I will enjoy feasting on your young flesh.”
“What, no riches and wealth of power?” I asked sardonically, barely hearing my own voice, my magic pushing into that circle and feeling around the spells contained there.
“I have no need of riches. I have my own wealth of power. But, oooh, your magic feels nice. Clean. Uncorrupted. Yes, a good feast it will be.”
“Sasha…”
The name flapped around my head, trying to work into my consciousness. My name. Someone was calling me.
“Sasha.”
I could barely turn my head with the draw of the being in the center of the circle. My gaze, hating to be away from that soft, glowing face, focused on a pair of onyx eyes, squinted with worry.
Stefan.
My heart leaped, trying to connect with that other half. My other half. Trying to find solace within him.
My mind bowed, ripped away toward a new focus. The mists cleared from my thoughts. I stared at that impossibly handsome face.
“Stick with me, baby,” Stefan said earnestly. “Stick with me.”
In a flare of light that had all the warriors flinching, the circle fluxed … and winked out. Everyone braced.
Mayhem.
Huge black wings spread out behind the demon, oil slicked and holey. A loud screech, like a bird of prey, erupted from its throat. Fangs grew from its mouth as claws elongated from its fingers.
“Kill him!” Andris pointed directly at Stefan.
The shifters lurched forward, growls and snarls drowning out the seething beast within that circle. Stefan’s warriors pushed forward, swords held high. Stefan stepped with them, shoving me behind him.
The line of magic workers filed in front of me the next instant, blocking me off. Dividing me from Stefan. Flashes of pale gold light zinged toward the demon, shimmering before molting into black and singeing away.
Another screech.
The demon’s claws ripped out and sliced, tearing a throat from a badger. The wings, fluttering now, slashed and maimed anything it touched, as if the ends were made of razor blades. Animals and men both fell to the sides, blood splashing the air-riding clumps of flesh and fur, as the demon shredded through the crowd.
Stefan rushed forward, his sword out, no longer directing people, focused solely on his enemy. He knew it challenged him, and he rose to meet that challenge head-on.
“We must blood link!” Toa shouted above the din. He grabbed my arm and hauled me backward. “We must link! Stefan is lost. He is manic—look at him!”
The angel turned, her decrepit wings spreading out behind her, one tearing through Stefan’s duster, slicing a line of red into his back. He ripped off the leather, huge muscled arms swirling with white-crusted gold. Movements silky and graceful despite the awe-inspiring power and strength, he charged through the fight, violence and destruction, leading by example.
But Toa was right—his face, like that of Jonas and Jameson, was single-minded focus infused with pain. His head—all their heads—probably flashed with memories. With nightmares. The things that woke him up screaming were the things he was battling now. In the flesh. Without me.
I glared at Toa, wild-eyed. “We don’t have time for a blood link. What about Dominicous? Can I focus on that?”
“We could never pull him out in time!” Toa pointed to my new father, deep in the fray, fighting right alongside Stefan. Battle rage had taken over the lot of them. This was how they dealt with attacks, leaving the magic workers to sort out the rest.
But the magic workers weren’t enough. Without me able to link, we’d have to rely on the other circle—except, they fought their huge flux of magic between them, their fear making the link unstable. Their magic worked too slowly—by the time they cut out the demon, most of Stefan and Tim’s men would be dead, including my future mate, my new father, and all my new friends.
“Shit!” I yelled, frustrated and terrified.
“I am coming for you, young one,” I heard above the screams and shrieks. My heart beat unnecessarily fast. My attention wandered. “I will have you. Join me.”
Chapter 15
Like an intense orgasm, a jolt of pure pleasure rocked my body. I sucked in a shocked breath.
“Join me!”
All my fear melted away. A soothing sort of tranquility blanketed me, singing softly, laughing in a perfect pitch. A voice tickled my ears, “I will have you. Wait there for me. I am coming.”
“Yes.” My smile must’ve taken up my whole face. I wanted this—to connect myself with that presence. It made me feel so alive. So…beautiful.
“Come to me, young one,” the voice called to me.
“Yes!” I said again, dreamily. Sparks of joy lit up my body, erased all my worries, all my fears. All that awaited was pleasure. Pleasure, and power.
So much power. I could almost feel it, sucking me forward. Trying to merge with me and share this wonderful magic that filled up my body.
Why had everyone warned me away from this? This was heaven! Absolute bliss!
“Come to me.”
Of course I will, I thought to myself. I have to. No…I need to.
I laughed, so hard. I couldn’t help it. I felt so good. So light. Like that first plunge of delicious, sinful sex. The hot and cold of desire. The slow burn of intercourse.
“Open the link!”
I blinked at the words yelled into my face. They sounded so coarse. So disgusting. So filthy and human.
“Open the link!”
I pushed at the face—a striking face. Attached to a large body, brimming with power. More power. I could take from him so easily—he’d link with me. He’d trust me.
I turned to Charles, a sweet smile on my face, a hot fire in my loin. I grabbed his neck and pulled him down to my lips, my magic assaulting his, trying to enact the link while my hands explored his body. He held me close as he yelled, “Damn it, Sasha. No! Open the link!”
Without thinking, certainly not meaning to, that muffle pulled off of the link, revealing another power source. I felt the demon laugh, a pleasing lick up my bones—so much power. I had so much of my own, and access to so much more.
“Well done, young one.”
My gaze rose to the battlefield, taking in my instructions. Watching in awe as the angel spun and twisted, so full of deadly grace. So beautiful.
As I was about to pull away, to drain this man I was held firmly against, a head stuck in my way. Onyx eyes shocked into me, searing my bliss. Something rose through my core, ripping at that consuming pleasure. Trying to sever the link with the angel.
“No!” I screamed, trying to clutch on.
That blissful longing was wrestled by something else. Something fierce and possessive. Something to match the angel’s power.
“Take his power!” the angel commanded.
Panting, snarling, I wrestled with that force inside of me. I tried to hold onto the high of orgasm; the sinful pleasure curling around my body. But something else had welled up. With damning force, something else was ripping me toward it. And then a dull throb took over, rocking me for a second time, but then cradling me as well.
Love.
Stefan.
Like bubbles popping, the haze started to dissolve. The
sinful effulgence of a moment before rotted. The night descended once again, slashing out the dream of paradise only gotten through death.
I sucked in what felt like the first big breath of my life. I maintained contact with those liquid black eyes as he took a step; a painful, agonizing step, away from his battle. Away from his vengeance. Toward me.
“Kill him!” the creature screeched.
Stefan’s lips moved, no sound reaching me, but what he said was easy to recognize. “You’re mine.”
Another blast of intense love pumped through the blood link. Powerful strides now, away from the creature that had shaped his past. To me, the person that would help shape his future. “Stay with me, baby,” he said.
A tear rolled down my cheek as I fell into his commanding stare. Sank into his presence through the blood link. Gave myself over to him completely.
“Shake it off, baby,” he stated from directly in front of me now. He grabbed my face as he trapped my gaze. “You’re mine! Shake it off, and send it away!”
I fell into that command. I focused on those eyes. I felt that pulsing deep in my body, responding to him. Needing him.
At one with him.
I took a shuddering breath.
A disgusting screech of frustration shook the battlefield.
“There is no time! We must link!” Toa yelled. “I don’t have the power to do it without her!”
Stefan threaded his fingers through mine. “This is your show, love. Take it home.”
The demon’s call was still there, beckoning me, trying to bring my focus toward it. But now Stefan shielded me, blanketing me in his protection, holding my focus to him with steadfast strength. I took comfort in his power and energy as it bled through the link, and then felt the sisterhood behind me, begging me to join. And Toa, to my right, waiting impatiently for me to be ready. I closed my eyes as the girls whisked me up into their fold, unity and strength. Togetherness. I was not alone.
Toa said to Stefan, indecision fighting necessity, “Link with me. Then let her bring you in.”
Suddenly our link pulsed, a lot of power on my doorstep, but that was nothing new. The difference was the amount of energy. I felt massive, colossal, more powerful than I could even imagine, able to work an exponential amount of power.
I sucked in the elements. Not opened up to them like usual, sucked at them. Within seconds my body was full to bursting. Hot spikes of pain spread across my limbs.
“Okay, Stefan …”
His special gift worked through me, balancing, moving magic around, leveling everything out.
“Amazing,” Toa breathed to the side.
“Whoa,” one of the twins said.
“Now, go get ‘im!” Birdie pushed.
I shoved my magic toward the circle the creature stepped out of, feeling the magic there, born from blood. Lots of blood, too, woven tightly with intricate detail. I focused, feeling the structure of the spells within the lacy framework until I felt down to the root; that little cord I’d found with that first demon, connecting it from its home to this world. I had no idea how it worked, but I knew that if I segregated the spell connected to that spot, light’s out for Mr. Demon.
“Here we go,” I murmured, focusing.
I picked at it as fast as I could, peeling back one spell and moving aside another, trying to get at that root. Sweat dripped down my face as my body burned through energy.
Stefan worked right along with me, feeding me energy as he tried to not only balance the Merge he was heading, which included Toa, Charles and the witches, but keep my endless stream of power from blasting through the link to him. He managed it, though, as only he could, keeping me balanced, feeding me energy, and keeping my magic from overriding him.
One in a million, as Toa often said.
I felt the whispered sigh as another spell dissolved into elements, returning to nature. The demon’s power dropped a notch. I struggled with the next one, weaves so detailed it could’ve been art, until it, too, bled into the night.
“Almost,” I whispered. “One left.”
As if it heard me, the demon’s head snapped up, noticing its loss of power. It screeched, a disconnected limb waggling in its hand. Blood dripped down its face and body as it honed in on me.
“Hurry,” Toa cried, sinking to his knees with the strain. I wasn’t far behind him.
“Delilah, help,” I murmured, trying to figure out how the spell was put together. Like trying to find the end of clear tape, I couldn’t get a grip. I couldn’t figure out where to pull to unravel it.
Deft magical hands moved over mine. Only a little power, but not needing it, Delilah felt along the spell. Traced it. Learned it.
“Intricate,” she breathed. “Like the one at the park, but more advanced.”
“If you can’t unravel it, you must sever it,” Toa said.
“That will kill those around it,” Stefan argued. “Work at it, Sasha. You can do it.”
I held the power, bleeding it into Delilah slowly as she worked, managing it for her. Power wasn’t the problem, though. It was the energy. The massive amounts of energy it took to unravel this spell. To banish this thing.
“Why is it sucking so much energy?” I pleaded. “We aren’t casting.”
“You are casting,” Toa panting. “You are reversing the spell without the use of sacrifice. Without the power of a life-force.”
“You are the power of the life-force,” Stefan clarified.
Delilah found a small rough patch that let her get in and start to disentangle. “I got it,” she grunted, working at it, leading me, and then helping me; teamwork.
We started to unravel, our magic working around each other, bumping off of each other, but not forcing a link. Unity in like-power.
“I…don’t…” Toa’s head bowed. Stefan bent over at the waist, barely holding me up. Birdie hit the ground, followed by the twins. Charles went to one knee.
“Almost,” I said, feeling the last of it. A couple more fibers, so lacy. So hard to identify.
A bloody glob flew over us, followed by a limp body.
It was one of the magic workers.
My gaze snapped into focus.
Face screwed up in a terrifying mask of rage, the demon ran at us, bodies strewn in its wake.
“Kill them!” Andris shouted somewhere off to the side, as if it needed to be said.
“Oh god!” I breathed, my body shaking.
My magic touch shook as hard as my body. The elements raged at me. Stefan struggled to contain it all.
“Easy does it, love. Easy does it. Focus,” he said in a strained voice.
The wings on the demon snapped out behind it, holey black things with razor sharp edges. Its claws gleamed, dripping with blood. It ran, thirty feet away and running fast.
Panic flooded me.
I started to pant. Four more strings. I’d never make it in time!
“Run, you guys!” I urged. “Run away!”
“Cut it off!” Toa yelled.
Jonas hastened in around it, limping, blood running in deep rivulets down his chest. Jameson joined him a moment later, yanking at the wings to pull it back; to slow it down. They tried to tackle it, razor sharp wings and all.
“Hurry, love!” Stefan said, trying to stand in front of me, his voice rising.
The demon wiped its hand through the air, catching Jameson and flinging his body ten feet. Jonas slashed with his sword, catching the thick hide of the chest but not causing much damage.
I toiled as fast as I could, working at it, feeling my energy suck out of my body, knowing it was down to the last.
Three more strings. I had to disentangle three more.
Jonas screamed. His body crumpled at the demon’s feet.
“Oh no!” I cried, working faster. Almost done. Two more strings.
A bear bellowed, two huge arms spreading out behind the demon and then clamping down, hugging it brutally, trapping the wings to its body. A mountain lion limped around to the front
of it—Ann! Her back leg was tucked protectively into her body, the bone sticking out at the knee.
Sweat dripped into my eye. My breath roared in my ears. My limbs felt like useless weights. So tired. I was so tired.
Stefan hit a knee, pulling me closer. “Almost there, baby. Hang on.”
Spikes of pain were flaring now, all of us holding too much magic without the energy reserves to support it.
“One more,” I said, my voice nothing more than a hoarse release of breath.
The demon twisted around and stuck its claws in Tim’s furry stomach. It ripped upward. Tim bellowed, trying to hold on as the claws went in a second time.
“No, Tim!” I cried, struggling to keep going. His large furry body collapsed to the ground.
Choking through tears, I kept working—the spell was laid now, the finish line in view.
The demon faltered. Its life line was weakening, but it was so powerful. So, so much power.
The cry of a mountain lion cut through the night, Ann now the only thing in the way.
“Run, Ann!” I yelled. It came out as a hoarse whisper.
My vision blurred and clouded as I pinched apart the last thread. Energy rushed out to disintegrate the last of the spell. Ann sailed through the air.
We didn’t have enough energy to banish that final spell. It wouldn’t be enough.
Ann was braced, teeth ready, ready to give her life.
“No, please,” I begged. Stefan fell to two knees, not able to keep standing.
We didn’t have enough.
Panicked, gasping, I snatched at that weak blood link. Focused on it. And then tugged with everything I had, trying to make the bridge between us bigger through sheer will alone. Begging for more. Begging not for my life, but Stefan’s, and Toa’s, and Ann’s—begging for just a bit more energy so I could wipe out this demon once and for all.
Faint and hurting, I felt him, struggling to get up. He didn’t have much left, but he recognized who I was and what I was asking.
Sweet, pure energy bled through our link. Dominicous, my dad, had come to my aid.
Hot tears stung my face as the energy was sapped back out again, fulfilling the spell’s requirements. Unraveling what Andris had constructed.
