I hesitated, trying to think of the best way to destroy the little frozen patches. All at once they rushed for me, and I was out of time. I pictured a wall of hot air a couple of inches in front of me and twisted the magic to make it appear. The ice pockets collided with the hot air and slowed. It was working—I’d be able to stop them. Then one pushed through, landing on my hip and dampening my clothes. The water was still cool, but it didn’t freeze me.
One by one, other bits of cold air managed to make it through the heat to saturate the rest of me. In this weather it wouldn’t be pleasant to walk home in wet clothes, but it wouldn’t kill me.
My foot was still numb, as were several other important body parts like a knee, hip, elbow, and my chest. I set a gentle warming spell on my foot, hoping that would help.
The demon eyed its prison. “This will not hold me.”
“I bet it will.” It had held Gremory, though that demon had been in a complete body.
The demon rushed toward a wall. I watched as it bounced off the inside of the shield, rolled to the bottom, and slowly rose back up to its previous floating height. It examined the spell.
“That spell held Gremory, it’ll hold you.”
The demon rolled his eyes. “Gremory was weak. I am not. This puny prison will do little.”
“Kept you in once, didn’t it?”
He glared at me. “I will escape.”
“We’ll see, won’t we,” I muttered.
Elron came sprinting toward me. The demon turned his gaze to my fiancé, his lips turning up in a smile. Now that was interesting.
At that moment, Elron caught me in a bone-crushing hug. “Are you injured? You do not look injured.”
“Having a little trouble breathing,” I wheezed. “But overall I’m fine.”
His arms loosened. “My apologies.”
I let the more comfortable hug go on for a few seconds before I wiggled away. “Let’s get this thing back.” I could hear Ty crashing through the woods.
Elron turned to look at the demon, eyes widening in surprise. “Michelle, where is the rest of it?”
“Don’t know. That’s all that was here.”
“Is it alive?”
“Of course I’m alive,” the demon snapped. “Dead heads do not simply float around.”
“No, of course not,” Elron said dryly.
Ty trotted over to me, snuffling me from head to toe. Once Ty had finished examining me, I glanced at Elron. “Have you heard of a live head floating around?”
He shrugged. “I had no idea such a thing was possible. I wonder if it can reattach.”
“I am here. You could ask me,” the demon interjected.
I tipped my head to the side. “Would you answer?”
The demon laughed and more blood oozed out of the tissue. “That would depend on the question.”
“Can you reattach your head to your body?” Elron asked. “Is the body dead?”
The demon simply smiled.
“Had to find a demon with a sense of humor,” I muttered. At least the spell was working on my foot and I’d be able to walk home. I quickly placed a heat spell on the rest of me, hoping that I’d feel mostly normal by the time we returned to the lodge.
“Ty, can you roll the shield back to the clearing near the lodge?”
He wagged his tail and started nosing the shield down the path.
I limped after him. Elron came up beside me and slung my arm over his shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?”
“Sorry. The demon caught me with a spell.”
“And?”
“I have some numb spots, including my foot. Once I get the demon secured, I’ll look at them.”
“We will look at them,” Elron replied.
I simply nodded. What had been a fun jog was already a slow and tedious return journey. While I had gotten a little more feeling back in my foot, it wasn’t even close to normal when we made it to the clearing.
Ty nosed the sphere containing the demon into place and backed off. The head was still floating, still dripping blood and spinal fluid. I wondered how long it could stay detached from the body, but I wasn’t going to ask. There was little point in engaging the demon.
“Alkaz obala.” I sketched the runes in the air with the tip of my wand as I spoke. The spell settled into place, holding the shield in place. Just to be on the safe side, I probed the spell. It was solid and shouldn’t have any problem holding the demon.
“Come here, Ty.” He trotted over and I rubbed his nose. “Good boy. Follow me.”
Ty and Elron followed me until we were far enough from the demon that he couldn’t hear us. “I need you to do something for me.”
Ty bobbed his head.
“You’re a magical construct, vulnerable to some types of magic.” I rubbed his nose as he huffed. “Go into the woods, off Landa’s land. You know the woods back there. You’ll be far enough from the magic that you’ll be safe, far safer than here, inside the wards but near the demon.”
He shook his head.
I pressed my cheek against his. “I don’t want you to go, but it’ll be for the best.”
He snorted.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
Ty rubbed his nose against my chest.
“Elron will let you know when you can return.” Beside me Elron nodded.
Ty sighed, backed up, and after a lot of huffing and some very sad looks, he headed deep into the forest.
Once Ty had vanished into the woods, I looked at the demon, still in the circle, still just a head oozing blood.
“Let’s get you back to the lodge,” Elron said.
I nodded and slowly turned away from the demon. It felt odd that it wasn’t saying anything. He had been chatty enough when I’d first encountered him. What had changed? Was it realizing he was truly trapped or was there something wrong with the spell? I probed it, and it felt solid enough.
Back at the lodge, Elron helped me pry off my shoe. The skin was pale but otherwise undamaged. I probed the area and didn’t find any lingering magic. Elron took my foot in his hands. A tingle traveled down the nerves in my leg and into my foot. I bit my lip to keep from squirming. All those nerves waking up hurt.
It hurt more when Elron did that to the rest of me. I lay on the sofa, breathing carefully as he tucked a blanket around me. When he walked away, I thought he was finished fussing over me, but instead he came back a few minutes later with a steaming cup of peppermint tea.
“One of your special blends?”
“Yes.” He handed me the cup. “We need to call the police, kill the demon, and finish this.”
“As soon as I finish the tea,” I promised. “What was wrong with my foot?”
“The nerves were blocked. I forced them to awaken.”
“Delightful.” For a time we lapsed into silence. “Elron, I need to talk to the demon again before we contact the police.”
His eyebrows shot up. “What possible good could come of that?”
I shrugged. “Just a feeling.” Like the medallion that was warm against my chest.
Elron opened his mouth to say something but paused. A look of confusion crossed his face. “If you must.”
“Thank you.” I squeezed his hand.
He nodded and I let go. An hour later, I walked through the woods to the clearing. Elron had agreed, reluctantly, to stay at the lodge. While I understood his concerns, I had questions and I doubted the demon would answer them while Elron was around.
There wasn’t enough light for me to see him clearly, but I could still find the head gently bobbing in the air. I sat under a towering pine tree and watched the demon. It had been so easy to capture him, almost too easy. If he was so much better than Gremory, I should have run into more problems.
The medallion warmed, almost as if it were agreeing with me. That wasn’t the most reassuring sign. After all the powers this thing had displayed, I’d much rather it lay quiet against my skin.
“I knew you would visit me
, Michelle.” The words snapped through the clearing.
“You have me at somewhat of a disadvantage. I don’t know your name.”
“Hayato.” The fires from the demon’s eyes shone brightly.
“Hayato,” I repeated. That was the name Burly had given me. “That’s not a common name in the area.”
“I am not from here.”
“No, I didn’t think you were. Not with the morinji-no-okama showing up in coffee shops and trees.”
“I did enjoy sending those gifts. I wanted you to know I was thinking of you.”
“My feelings won’t be hurt if you forget to send me a Christmas card next year.”
The head drifted down until it was at eye level with my medallion. “You’re missing a piece.”
“Oh? What goes with it?” I asked innocently.
Hayato narrowed his eyes. “A crescent moon.”
I toyed with the medallion. “This was the only one in the thrift store.” I hoped he couldn’t detect a lie.
The head looked up to meet my eyes. “No one would have separated the set I remember. They were very old and could focus or transmute magic. Rumor was they were constructed when magic was raw, abundant, and the world was less civilized.”
I didn’t even blink. “You must be thinking of something else. This thing has never been more than jewelry.”
“Of course not.” Hayato grinned. “What precisely do you plan to do with me?”
It was my turn to grin. “Kill you.”
His oily laugh sent goose bumps up my arms. “You will find that to be rather difficult.”
“I’ll manage.” My grin faded. “You killed Tiffany and Patrick, along with twenty others that I know of. I will do whatever it takes to kill you.”
“Oh good.” His expression was too toothy and predatory to be a smile. “I was hoping to have some fun before I kill you. And the elf.”
“We aren’t that easy to kill.” Though last time we had faced a demon one of our group had died.
His smile vanished, and he looked at me with flames dancing in his eyes. “Gremory was a fool. You will be another one of my victims, yet another useless life I’ve snuffed out. And when I have finished with you, I’ll kill the elf, your parents, your friend Amber, and anyone you have ever cared about, because I can. Since you’ll be dead, there won’t be anyone to stop me.”
A drop of blood leaked out of his neck. I smiled coldly. “Gremory had similar feelings. He’s dead. Soon you’ll join him. I’ll give my life to stop you from killing another person.”
“Oh, I’m counting on it.” The flames danced in his eyes as he looked up and down my body.
It was all I could do to maintain my cold smile and calmly say, “We’ll see, won’t we?”
Then I walked away, keeping my steps measured rather than giving in to the urge to sprint back to the lodge. I never wanted to know what he had been thinking while he looked at me, but I suspected Tiffany had gotten a similar look before he started torturing her.
Cold laughter filled the woods.
I kept to the same steady walk as a chill that had nothing to do with the cool air settled into my bones. Hayato was dangerous, but he’d also given me the last piece of information I needed. Now I had a chance to kill not only him but all the demons.
Chapter Nineteen
Elron
A sense of unease drove me from the lodge. The earth was soft and damp under my feet, my medallion warm against my chest. The wind twisted around the branch, ruffling the little foliage that was out this time of year. Around me the trees whispered. There was something in these woods. There was something wrong in these woods.
I settled on the ground, several feet from any trees, and let myself feel the land. In the distance there were small spots that felt wrong. They were too small and far away for me to determine more.
Do you feel the wrongness? I asked the plants around me.
There was a general agreement that something felt off.
What was causing it?
They did not know.
After thanking them, I rose to my feet and continued walking deeper into the woods. I needed to get closer and talk to the trees in that area. Hopefully they would know something.
In other circumstances I would not have worried about small disturbances, but these were inside the wards protecting the lodge and its land. There should not be anything in this area that would create discomfort in the flora. Especially considering the effort both the brownies and I had put into wards and protections.
Last time a demon was in the area, the wards had done a satisfactory job of creating a safe zone where we could rest without worry. Unfortunately, with a demon after Michelle and me, I was inclined to think it or another evil had breached the wards.
We needed the lodge to be safe. We needed somewhere to rest and recover between fights. If this place no longer qualified as a haven, we would be of little use in a confrontation. Tired and anxious opponents were ones who had nearly defeated themselves.
The pinpoints of wrongness were getting closer. I stopped and rested my hand against the sturdy trunk of a stately oak. They were steady and reliable trees.
Wrongness. Creeping, spreading. It quivered.
Rubbing my hand down the trunk, I reassured it. “I will do my best to find and correct the problem.”
A wave of thanks emanated from the tree.
I patted it reassuringly and moved to the next tree. It echoed the oak’s sentiment but did not have any helpful information.
After thanking it, I focused on the closest foul spot, getting a clear picture of where it was located. The medallion was hot and uncomfortable against my skin, but I did not move it. It had saved my life in the past, and I would allow it to do what it felt was necessary. As I walked, each and every tree I passed reached out to me, worried and hopeful that I could fix the problem. I told them I would do my best. For the time being that satisfied them, but I knew it would not be enough for long.
When I was only a short distance from the foul spot, I scanned the area. There were leaves and pine needles left over from fall, small clumps of underbrush, and rocks. What I did not see was something out of place. There was no obvious source for the foulness both the trees and I could sense. All in all, it looked like any other part of the woods.
I moved forward a couple of steps, keeping my eyes locked onto the foul spot. Pausing, I glanced around. Still nothing. Two more small steps forward and I paused again. It would be better if Michelle were here as she could sense things an elf could not. Though it would also be a risk. If this was something the demon had created, it could be tuned to target Michelle. Or it could be a trap for whoever discovered it. With that last thought, I summoned my sword.
Taking a deep breath, I searched the woods around me for any movement. The trees still believed no one else was nearby, and my eyes agreed with them. One cautious step at a time, I closed the distance between me and the foul spot.
When it was only inches from my toes, I halted. To my eyes there was nothing unique about this patch of leaves and pine needles. My elven senses were not much better. All they could detect was the difference between this spot and the surroundings.
Carefully backing away, I identified another foul spot. It did not take long to investigate that one, which was as unremarkable as the previous. I vanished my sword and began checking other foul spots. One of them had to have some type of source. Things like that did not appear on their own.
In a few minutes I had scouted nearly a dozen of the foul spots and found nothing that I could identify as the source. The only useful thing I had discovered was that the spots were distributed in a rough oval, with the majority of the needles distributed to the east.
After reassuring the trees that I would do my very best to see this fixed, I returned to the lodge. There was only one person I trusted to properly clean up this problem. While I did not like the idea of her being so far from the lodge with the demon’s head captured and our fight looming, i
t had benefits. By asking her to aid me, by taking her into the woods, I was showing her how much I trusted her. This could help heal the hurt I had created by keeping secrets.
The lodge loomed out of the trees.
Needing a moment before I spoke to Michelle, I circled around to her altar. Crocus and daffodils were blooming, bright purple and yellow, in defiance of the overcast sky. The weight of what was to come felt all the heavier in the face of their cheer.
The stone was cold under my hand. This was the very stone where our mentor had been laid out for his funeral. It was the very stone one of us would occupy if we did not succeed in the coming trial. It was a stone that had seen sorrow as well as joy.
The very first time I met Michelle was in this garden, only feet from this very stone. Was there anything I could have done to take us to a better place? Could I have changed our path?
No.
I had unknowingly been part of the demons’ world from the time Gremory took Sylvia, my first wife, as a host. Michelle had been on this path from the moment of her birth, when any witch looking at her clan scar would know she was marked an Ieldra, a witch of great power, expected to do great things.
Our meeting had allowed us to band together. Perhaps even accelerated the pace of our journey, but both of us had been on this path for a great many years. Gremory, Sylvia, and Michelle’s lineage had seen to that. Her decision to work with the police had all but guaranteed she would be in this conflict. Now it was the two of us against not just this demon but all the ones to come. I hoped we were enough, both for one another and for the world. Our lives were not the only ones hanging in the balance.
Around me the trees stilled. I looked up, and there he was, Leshy Apalchen, the forest spirit of this area. When I last saw him he was burly, with skin the color of cherrywood and green, wearing nothing but a loincloth. The maple tree tattoo on his chest started low on his stomach with the trunk turning to roots at his navel. The branches of the tree extended all the way across his body, curving over his right shoulder.
A Witch’s Demons (Witch's Path Series: Book 6) Page 17
