by Eva Chase
We fell into a hush. The sergeant gave a soft call and gestured for us to move forward several paces. The demon must have adjusted its course again.
The erratic vibrations of its unearthly energy trickled over us. My back stiffened as I braced myself for that pulsing to intensify. There was a crunching, crackling sound in the distance, getting louder as the creature shambled closer to us.
The sergeant motioned for us to begin the redirection spells. Or rather, for the enforcers to begin them. As they swayed in their silent magicking, I brought my hands to my chest and spread my arms into the air, looped them around my body and unraveled them again. With every movement, I concentrated harder on the unsettling vibration I could summon from my own spark when I focused on it.
The sensation of the demonic influence in me tremored through my chest and limbs. I passed it on with the flow of my magic to the enforcers all along our line. A little of the power the demon held, to push against its inherent strange magic. It had worked when the men from the Frankford’s faction had contributed their stored power. I had a nearly endless supply.
The quavering of the demon’s presence rose as the sounds of its destructive arrival grew louder. Trees groaned and toppled several paces from where we stood; branches on those closer wilted when the creature paused. I reached into myself and called forth that eerie essence even faster.
Don’t look this way. Don’t stop. Just keep going where we tell you to.
The enforcers’ spells combined with my demon-flavored magic seemed to be working. The demon shifted to one side and shuffled on toward the place where the cage was waiting. Our formation shifted in turn, all of us easing along beside the demon’s path. I could barely see the creature, just a reddish glow and glimpses of knobby limbs between the trees, but my stomach was churning with the sense of its presence.
Just a little farther. As soon as the sergeant gave the signal…
At the edge of the clearing, the demon stopped. It made a grunting sort of groan low in its throat. A chill flooded me.
It could tell. It must be able to detect the magic we’d put into the cage, or maybe the copper was already repelling it.
It started to wheel, and the sergeant jerked her hand. All at once, the enforcers all around me whirled faster. I launched myself into the movements of my form with all the strength I had in me.
Our magic hummed in my ears, nearly drowning out the demon’s discordant energy. We threw it toward the demon with the force of a hurricane.
My spark sputtered in my chest as I heaved my magic to join the push. An ache split down the center of me behind my ribs. I choked on a breath and kept moving, kept following the dance of casting. It would hurt a hell of a lot more if the demon turned on us.
The demon stumbled a few feet into the clearing and then reared up on its haunches. As it started to swing toward us, my heart stuttered. No. We could do this. We almost had it.
I threw myself into the magicking even faster and more furiously than I had before. My spark flared and seared all through my body. I gritted my teeth against the pain and hurled another massive force toward the demon.
Several of the enforcers’ heads jerked around as my spell sang past them, their eyes wide and jaws going slack. The burst of propulsion smacked into the demon just as it twisted around. It sprawled on its back, its shoulders smacking the edge of the cage. So fucking close.
The unsettling tremor in my spark expanded, gnawing at my nerves. But as I whipped another bolt of magic toward the monster, I felt right down to the base of my teeth how my magic, with that taint, crashed right up against the demon’s presence and held, not dispersing like our spells last time had. I was matching fire with fire this time.
The sergeant was hollering, and the enforcers around me were flinging out their own magic with the pattering of their feet and the darting of their hands. If we could just bring it all together—if I could send that awful flavor from my own magic across all of their castings—maybe we could win this day yet.
My foot stumbled on the uneven ground, but I caught myself and spun on. The magic wrenched through me as I tossed more and more of it out across the crowd to merge with their spells. The forest around me blurred. I sucked in air and dug down even deeper.
The demon roared, a sound that seemed to echo all the way from that other plane of its regular existence. A fresh blast of our magic hit it, and it toppled farther onto the cage. Then it shoved its massive body up and around.
I scrambled for more magic, more, more, clutching at my spark and wringing all the power I could from its dwindling flame—
My spark sputtered, and my vision hazed. A splintered pain radiated through every inch of my body. My legs sagged. As I fell to the forest floor, the last thing I saw before my sight went completely dark was the demon yanking the cage from the ground and hurling it toward the trees. Then my eyes and my mind blanked out.
“Lady Hallowell? Can you hear me?”
The tight voice penetrated the fog in my head. I blinked, my eyelids heavy as lead, and a headache pierced through my brain and down into my chest in what felt like a thousand directions. My whole body flinched.
“Hey,” the woman leaning over me said, her tone softening. “There you are. Stay still. I’ll do what I can to make you more comfortable.”
She set her hand over my forehead and drew a glyph with a dance of her fingers. A numbing cold spread over my scalp. It dulled most, if not all, of the pain.
As the agony receded, my surroundings came into focus. I was sprawled on my back, knees raised, in a car that was bumping along some road, the rumble of its motor sounding through the padding of the seat. My head was on the witch’s lap. One of the medics who’d come with us to— Oh, dear Spark.
I tried to speak, but my tongue tangled. It took a minute or two, swallowing past the dryness in my throat, before I could find my words. “What happened? The demon—the cage—”
That image, the fiend flinging our trap away into the forest—had that really happened?
“You burned yourself down, pouring all that magic in,” the medic said. “I’ve never seen anyone…” She paused and seemed to gather herself. “The demon was too strong. We had to retreat. It was close, but…”
“Close isn’t enough,” I filled in. My mouth curled in a grimace. We’d failed, again. I’d failed.
“You just worry about resting and recovering your spark now,” the medic said grimly. “We may need you again sooner rather than later. The last hour, it’s been picking up speed again. And it’s heading straight for Portland now. At the rate it’s moving… it might make it there tomorrow.”
Chapter Fourteen
Gabriel
The hitch finally left Rose’s breath about a half hour after we’d all climbed into the suite’s master bed with her. She kept her head tucked against my chest, her fingers clamped around a fold in my shirt.
“I tried,” she mumbled. “I tried so hard.”
My chest squeezed. I stroked my hand over her hair, wishing I could wipe her pain away with that gesture. I could smell a hint of the grass she must have fallen into on her skin.
“I know,” I said. “Of course you did.”
Naomi and her mother had come with the enforcers who’d brought Rose back to the hotel. Our consort had been wobbly on her feet then—might still be now if she attempted to get up. Her cousin and aunt had told us what had happened in disjointed fragments as they pieced together the story between them, but it hadn’t taken long to get the picture.
The plan with the trap had almost worked, but only almost. Rose had expended so much energy trying to push the demon into the cage that she’d fainted and been out cold for an hour before she’d come to. The witch medic had said she needed quiet and rest—And when she’s up for it, her spark will probably need stoking, she’d added with a meaningful look at the five of us.
“It came close to working,” Kyler said. He rubbed Rose’s calf where he was sitting near the foot of the bed, his exp
ression tensed with worry. “We could try again, build off what we saw this time—”
Rose shook her head. “We weren’t strong enough. I wasn’t strong enough.” She swallowed audibly. “I could feel it, you know—the way the demon-ness in me could affect the demon. I gave everything, and it wasn’t enough.”
“It’s not all on you,” Seth said firmly. “The Assembly can gather more witches, add to their power that way.”
“Our regular magic hardly touches it,” Rose said. “It is on me. And I can’t do it. Even if we could try the trap again… The way it’s moving, it’ll be here at the city before we could fix the cage and get everything together.” She pressed closer to me. “It’s coming here. How many people are going to die before this is over?”
I couldn’t do anything except hug her. The hopelessness in her voice wrenched at me, but the same emotion filled the space between my ribs with a hollow ache. I didn’t know how to fix this, how to stop that monster, either.
Damon scooted closer to Rose on her other side, kissing the back of her head. His arm tightened around her shoulders in a gesture I suspected only looked that possessive because I was the guy closest to him. He still hadn’t really forgiven me for leaving—and, well, I wasn’t sure I blamed him. I wasn’t sure I’d completely forgiven myself for putting Rose through that much pain to carry out my plan.
All we could do now was move forward, though. So we stayed cuddled in a ring around her, offering her everything we could.
There might be more we could offer, as the medic had hinted. Jin clearly hadn’t missed that insinuation. After Rose had relaxed into the mattress again, he trailed his fingers lightly over her thigh, smoothing the fabric of her sweatpants.
“It sounds like you drained yourself, Briar Rose,” he said, his voice low. “If you need the full consort experience, just say the word.” His smile came out a little crooked.
Rose barely stirred. “This is enough for now,” she said. “My spark doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“If we gave you all the power we can,” Ky started, but she was already shaking her head again.
“You did. I had everything I could have asked for, everything the bonds between us would allow. Every witch has her limits.”
“No matter how eager her consorts are?” Damon asked suggestively, raising his eyebrow.
“Yes,” she muttered, with enough good humor to elbow him in mock offense. But a second later her face had fallen again. I didn’t know what was going on with the spark of magic inside her, but too much of her usual energy had gone out of her eyes.
Everything the bonds between us would allow. Her words traveled through my mind as I pressed my lips to her forehead. It tugged up memories from past conversations. An idea lit in my own head, so sudden and bright I had to hold myself back from sitting upright with a jerk.
Instead, I eased myself up and glanced around at the other guys. “Why don’t we see what kind of dinner we can put together, then? And anything else that could make Rose even more comfortable while she’s recovering.”
“It’s okay,” Rose started, but I gave her a no-arguments look.
“We’ll feel better if we’re doing something. And you have to eat—that’s not up for discussion.”
The other guys started to move off the bed as I caught their eyes in turn, hoping my expression would clue them in that I had a bigger reason for calling us out of the room. Only Damon didn’t budge.
“You can all figure that stuff out,” he said, glowering at me. “I think I’m better off—”
I cut him off. “Damon, we’re going to need you too. You’re the take-out expert for this neighborhood now, aren’t you?”
I kept my tone light, but the look I was giving him sharpened. Damon made a face. For a second, I thought he still hadn’t gotten a clue and was going to insist on arguing more, but then he kissed Rose’s cheek and pushed himself off the bed.
“I’ll be right back, angel,” he said.
He came out into the living room with the rest of us, scowling. “She needs us right now,” he said, with at least enough self-control to keep his voice down. “We shouldn’t be leaving her alone. I know you have all your great heroic plans, but—”
I held up my hand. “Damon. You’re still pissed off at me. I get it. And I’m still sorry for how that all went down. But this is about Rose—about her needing us. Can you at least let me explain?”
His jaw worked, but he sank onto the arm of the sofa. “Make it quick.”
“What are you thinking, Gabriel?” Seth asked, his forehead furrowed but his tone hopeful.
When we were kids, these guys had always looked to me to take the lead. I liked to think I’d never steered us all that wrong. But this—it was bigger than any of that. Still, the more the idea came together in my head, the more sure I was that it was the answer we needed.
I turned to Kyler. “You mentioned a while back that there’s another type of consorting you read about when you were looking through the Assembly’s files. A more permanent one?”
Ky nodded, studying me. “It doesn’t look like it’s done very often anymore—that’s what Rose said too. The regular one, if one of the consorts isn’t happy after the first few years, from what I’ve gathered they can ‘divorce’ and no one gets hurt. The ‘soul-bound’ ceremony I saw mentions of… Rose said it’s unbreakable. You’re bound together until you die.”
“And when one of you dies, the other does too,” I said. “I remember. She also said it means a deeper connection, more energy shared, didn’t she?”
Understanding dawned on Ky’s face. Jin let out a soft whistle.
“She said we can’t give her more power with the bonds we have,” I went on. “But if we had an even stronger bond, if we were even more closely connected…”
Damon pushed himself to his feet. “What the hell are we waiting for, then? Is there anyone here who isn’t ready to commit that far?” He glanced around the group, on the verge of a glare as if anticipating a protest.
Jin laughed. “‘Til death do us part. The way the last couple months have gone, we’ve pretty much already committed to that, haven’t we? This’ll just make it a bit more literal. I can handle that. You all just have to promise to live a long, long time, all right?”
Ky’s eyes had brightened, but he paused with a frown. “It’s not just about what we’re ready for. I’ve brought it up with Rose a couple of times now, and she’s always dismissed the idea right away. She wouldn’t even consider it.” A shadow crossed his face. “She’s afraid we’ll end up regretting it.”
“She’s got to believe now that we know what we’re in for,” Seth said. “If we’re still here after being chased across the country and threatened by demons, we’re here.”
“She’s not getting rid of us,” Damon said with a dark grin.
“Then we just have to convince her of that,” I said. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you all first, to make sure we’re all sure, before I brought it up to her. She has to see how much this means to us too.”
A new part of the idea started to unfurl in my head. Even though I was worried about convincing Rose, a smile touched my lips. “I think I might know exactly how to put it to her.”
Rose was still curled up on the bed when we returned, but she eased into a sitting position at the sound of the door. She took us in as we filed through the doorway.
“No dinner?” she said, her slight teasing smile not quite reaching her clouded eyes.
“We can get to that in a little bit,” I said. “There’s something more important we need to say first. Come here?”
I beckoned her to the edge of the bed. The five of us had come to a stop in a row there. As soon as she’d scooted close, we all went down on bended knee, each of us reaching for her closest hand in unison. My fingers closed around hers alongside Seth’s and Kyler’s.
“Rose Hallowell,” I said. “Would you do us the honor of making us your soul-bound consorts?”
She was alr
eady staring at us. At those words, her cheeks flushed red. She started to tug back her hands. “I can’t ask you to make that kind of commitment when—”
“Rose.” I squeezed her hand, and she stilled. “You’re not asking. We are. We understand the risks. We’ve already staked our lives on being with you, Sprout. Can’t you see that? None of us cares how many witches are trying to kill us or which monsters are looking to rend our souls apart—we’ll still want to be with you. We’re at our best together. And I can’t wait to find out what that best looks like when we’re not under constant attack.”
“Me neither,” Jin murmured.
“It’s going to be fucking spectacular,” Damon said.
“For once, Damon and I see completely eye to eye,” Seth put in with a smile.
“I’d just like to point out that this was my idea months ago,” Kyler said. “Just so we know where credit is due. Oh, and I don’t have any more doubts now than I did then. Which means none.”
Rose’s lips twitched upward. “I didn’t want it to be like this,” she said. “I didn’t want you to ever have to be in danger.”
“What’s life without some danger?” I said. “And it’s not just us now. If that demon goes on a real rampage, if the other ones get loose too, the whole world’s in trouble. You pushed yourself to the brink out there trying to stop that from happening. You’ve got to let us take some risks too. Even if it’s hard for me to see deepening the connection we have as some kind of risk.”
She drew in a breath. Her hand trembled in ours. “It still might not be enough. You might make that sacrifice and we still can’t save anyone.”
“It’s not a sacrifice to be your consort in any way we can,” Damon said. “It would be an honor. You know I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t mean it.”
“As long as you’re sure you’d want to make that kind of commitment yourself,” Seth started, and a choked laugh escaped Rose’s lips.
