"Then what?"
"Then the demon started showing up all the time. Wanting small favors - a witch spell that demons can't cast, or for me to make a phone call for him or spy on someone or get information but now I just want out. I don't care about the power anymore. I just want out." Veronica laughed, thin and tight. "I thought... I thought that all demons were the same and surely I could outsmart one. How hard could it be? But I went and made a demon deal with a former Egyptian god. I'm so screwed."
Veronica's words made the hair on the back of Jade's neck rise up. "Are you talking about Seth?" Jade asked, incredulous.
Veronica fixed her wide, green eyes on Jade. "Do you know of him? Is he in the books? Does it say how I can break my deal?"
"I haven't seen him in the books but he shows up all the time in my pantry. He's been hanging around me since I showed up at the Coven."
"What? Have you made a deal?"
"No."
Veronica seemed deflated by this, as though she were hoping that she and Jade could have something in common. Seth, that rat-bastard. He'd known all along what was going on with the Coven's magic.
"Did he know about the spell on the Coven? Did he help you with it?"
"More or less," Veronica said. "He knows when I call on the power gained from our deal. I wouldn't have had the power to do it without my deal with him."
Jade huffed. Seth had essentially helped Veronica with her spell and then ran to tattle about it to Jade, playing both sides. What a fucker.
"I need out of that deal," Veronica said, her voice thin. "Are you sure you haven't read anything in Sakkara's grimoires?"
Jade shrugged with one shoulder. "Not about breaking deals, no."
Veronica slumped a bit in her seat and swore under her breath.
"And Dex?" Jade questioned. "Does he have a deal too?"
Veronica's fingers flexed. "No. It's not like we stayed up at night and braiding each other's hair and sharing secrets but if I had to guess, I'd say one coven isn't good enough for him."
"So, what, he wants more?"
"I think he wants them all," Veronica said flatly. "I think he wants all of us under him, under his thumb. He'd like all our magic at his beck and call."
"But that's not how Coven Leaders work," Jade protested.
"That's not how Paris works," Veronica clarified. "Paris has more than enough of his own power and has no interest in anyone else's. But as Coven Leader, he could take it if he wanted. He could warp it, siphon it, turn it. He wouldn't. Dex would. Dex wants to."
Jade sighed, leaning her head against the window. Everything Veronica said jived with what Jade felt about Dex and now, getting it all confirmed, Jade almost felt a little trapped. Now that she knew all of this, there was no way she could walk away. She had to do something.
"Well, fuck," she muttered. The interior of the car was silent for a moment, Jade staring out the window.
"Look, I don't mean to be pushy, but you kind of need to get going," Veronica said, making a shoo-ing motion with her fingers. "Tick-tock."
"Hey, when you're asking for my help, you don't get to tell me how to help you," Jade said hotly.
"He's out there right now, casting spells. Blood work. This isn't the time for dilly-dallying."
"Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you made a demon deal and then had to join 'maniacal forces' with Dex," Jade said, making air quotes around the words. "I hate to be judgy-mcjudgypants," okay so that wasn't exactly true. Jade kind of liked putting her judgypants on, "but where was all this concern before?"
Veronica pursed her lips together tightly. "Are you helping or not?"
"I'm helping," Jade said, tossing her hands up in exasperations. She wrenched the door handle open and got out of the car in a huff. Before she slammed the door shut, she bent down to talk to Veronica one more time. "But seriously if this doesn't work out, will you at least tell Paris where to find my body?" She asked, eyebrow raised.
Veronica rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't have driven you out here if I didn't think you could do it."
"Is that supposed to be a pep talk? Ugh, just... if you can't face him in person, drop him a text at least. If you're so sure I'll survive then you have to know I'll tell him all about your involvement. He's going to find out anyway."
Veronica inhaled deep, jaw working as she stared at Jade. "Fine."
"Fine." Jade repeated back, shrugging with one shoulder.
"Good luck."
"Good riddance," Jade said, slamming the door shut and turning toward the forest.
#
Paris sat in his car outside Jade's cottage and told himself he wasn't afraid to climb the steps. He was simply working out exactly what he wanted to say. Something apologetic and tasteful. Something calm and diplomatic. Something that wouldn't get the door slammed in his face. After he realized he'd been parked outside Jade's house for ten minutes and still had no clue how to start, he resolved to get out of the car and just do it. Something would come to him. Probably.
He felt the twinge of demon magic as he crossed over the spell she used to lock her house. He'd forgotten completely about it and was glad she'd spelled it to let him in or he'd be making an embarrassing phone call asking her to please come outside and speak to him. It would probably be easier for her to hang up on him than slam the door in his face, so he'd rather not take that chance.
Paris knocked sharply on the door, three times and waited.
And waited.
He frowned and knocked again. Well, this was a little cringe worthy. If she wasn't home, he honestly had no idea where to start looking for her. He'd just assumed she would be here.
"Jade," he called out. "If you're in there fuming at me, I've come to apologize." There. That sounded proper and calm. Surely if she was sulking behind the door, it would generate some good will.
Nothing.
He knocked once more, calling out her name. On a whim, he reached out, tried the handle and found the door unlocked. Paris supposed she didn't really need a lock if she had her demon wards. Hoping he wasn't digging himself a deeper hole by entering her house uninvited, he stepped cautiously in.
A quiet hiss-growl stopped him half way through the door. "Jade?" he questioned lowly, fearing something had happened to her. He heard a strange clacking sound - claws on tile - and fought the urge to bolt out of the house. If Jade was here, in trouble, he would not leave without helping her.
Paris could admit the sound he made when the strange lizard creature stepped into the hallway was not altogether one of his most dignified, nor was the entire thing one of his finer moments. Without thinking, without remembering his magic wasn't working, he shot off a bafflement spell, meant to daze the animal, and then cursed when all that happened was a rain of glitter fell from the sky, lazily falling around the lizard-thing like flakes in a snow globe.
A long pink tongue flecked out and caught some of the glitter and it rolled it over in its mouth, like it was tasting it.
"Christ on a cracker, you're the thing from the sewer," Paris breathed. "How long have you been here?"
It made a strange 'pffffft' sound, coming forward as though challenging Paris. Its eyes were cross and it had a scaly Elizabethan collar raised, like hackles on a dog. Paris held up his hands and then turned them over, palm up in a gesture of friendliness. His eyes darted around, looking for clues. He saw a small pot of water on the floor by the sofa, a pillow next to it with what looked like one of Jade's t-shirts lying on top. He took a step closer, shutting the front door behind him. The lizard thing sniffed the air, its snout moving back and forth. Whatever it found, it seemed to like because the collar went down and it backed up a little before turning around and then trotting over to the pot, having a quick drink of water, and then lying down on the pillow and t-shirt.
"I bet you've been here the whole time," Paris said, his voice low. He entered the room, watching the creature carefully. "Ever since you disappeared from the Coven."
It made another 'pf
fft' sound, as if in agreement and Paris inclined his head a bit, watching the strange eyes of the thing as they tracked his every movement.
"I think you might even understand me a bit."
It made a clicking sound, tongue coming out again in a fast lick of the air. Paris felt a quick bolt of magic and was stunned when he realized it came from the lizard and felt exactly like Jade's magic.
"You're her familiar," Paris said, incredulous. He hunkered down, dropping to his knees to get a better look. The lizard blinked lazily up at him, now completely at ease. Familiars were incredibly rare. While most animals had the loyalty, devotion and benevolent spirit required to be a familiar, they lacked the required intelligence. A familiar needed to be able to understand a witch beyond simple commands like 'sit' or 'stay.' They needed to be able to contain or channel magic without any animal instincts overriding the spell work. An ordinary dog, cat or other household pet would never do. Familiars tended to be magical creatures themselves, which were quite scarce.
Somehow, this strange lizard thing had found its way to Jade and she'd managed to bind it to her. It was connected to her in a rather fond manner if the way it slept on her worn t-shirt was any indication.
Paris reached out and touched it on the head, feeling its warm, dry, and strangely supple skin. It blinked its eyes lazily, preening a bit under the touch. "Where is she? Is she here?"
"Pfffffft," it hissed, its eyes darting to the doorway in a way that made Paris think it wasn't just happenstance.
"Gone out, hm?" Paris said lowly, using the same tone he would when talking to a cat or dog. It settled its head back down on the t-shirt and pillow, tongue darting out quickly once before it relaxed. Paris found the odd creature mesmerizing in a way - it seemed so domesticated and relaxed - a far cry from how it had been described to Paris when it had first been discovered. It exuded a faint trace of magic identical in feeling to Jade's and he found himself drawn to the way the magic vibrated, his own still feeling woefully out of tune and broken.
He was shaken out of his reverie by his phone ringing. The creature blinked up at him, irritated, eyes slitting open to glare at the interruption.
"Sorry," Paris said quietly, pulling his phone out. "Paris here."
There was a slight pause before the person on the other end spoke. "Hello, Paris."
The tone of her voice, almost grudging and slow, made him blink in surprise. "Veronica, are you all right?"
There was another pause on the phone and if he listened carefully, he could hear the sounds of a car traveling. Veronica sighed. "Look, I'm sorry."
"All right," Paris said, not sure what Veronica meant. He pulled his hand away from the creature and stood upright. "For?"
"I never meant for things to go this far, but they did and... You have to understand, I'm not like you. You've had extraordinary power your whole life and you just... fit in your Coven. I've always had the drive and the intellect, but not the aptitude and it's like seeing the world I want to be part of from behind a glass wall and I'm always pushing my nose against it, unable to get through."
Paris was bewildered. "What on earth are you talking about?"
There was another firm exhalation of air and Paris felt his stomach drop a bit. "I've just dropped Jade off in the preserve. To stop him. To stop Dex."
Sometimes, when the pressure changed suddenly because of the weather, or he was inside a plane that dropped quickly, Paris' would feel like his ears were hollow and tinny. It was as though he was hearing things from the bottom of a long, thin tube made out of metal. The same thing happened now and it was as though Veronica was talking from far away.
"I only wanted the grimoires, your mother's books. I just... I made a deal, Paris. A demon deal and I needed to know if your mother had a way to break it. I needed more power. I don't have it on my own and I can't keep my Coven forever without it. But Dex is... I knew he was dangerous when I threw my lot in with him, but I thought I could handle it." She laughed wryly; a dry sound that echoed slightly. "I guess that's the problems with sociopaths. They don't always do what you'd expect."
Paris felt a nudge against his foot and looked down to see the creature's tail curled around his ankle, squeezing it slightly. He blinked, feeling his hearing re-align and come back to normal. He'd only just now started suspecting Dex and he'd not even had an inkling that Veronica was involved. He felt a little sick for a moment, flipping through his memories, remembering their friendship and a time when they were more than friends. He wondered if it was just more magic - more memory manipulation. He had to ask, "Do I even know you?"
"Well, I suppose I deserved that," she said in his ear, her voice quiet and low. "I guess that depends on what you mean. I'm not part of the memory hex that Dex used. You do know me. But I suppose... maybe you never really knew me at all." She sounded sad and melancholy and anything he would have normally felt for her was trampled when his mind flickered back through what she'd said.
"What did you mean, you dropped Jade off in the preserve to stop Dex?"
"He's going to try the spell again. The hex he used. It didn't work on Jade. There's something different about her, but I guess you know that already."
"Why did you ... how could... how long..." Paris' couldn't form a proper sentence. He wasn't sure what he wanted to ask or if there was any question to which Veronica would respond that would make him feel better about any of this. He finally settled on, "Where in the preserve?"
"The south-east entrance. It's not like I kidnapped her and tossed her out the side of the car. She knows what she's getting into."
Paris wanted to crush his phone in his hand and throw it against a wall. His other hand, the one not holding the phone clenched into a fist. "I cannot listen to you try to pardon your actions right now."
There was a heavy silence on the phone; only the sound of wheels on pavement let him know she hadn't hung up. "I'm sorry," she said finally. "For everything."
The silence when she did hang up was pristine and powerful. He realized he'd not even gotten the chance to ask her any really important questions - who was Dex? How powerful was he? What did she know about him?
Although he wasn't sure he could have trusted her answers if he had asked. Paris stared at his phone feeling the weight of betrayal.
"Pfffft." He felt something against his leg again and saw the lizard creature had gotten to its feet and was butting its head against Paris. He was momentarily confused until its serpentine eyes flicked to the door and then back to him meaningfully.
Paris shook himself a bit. He had to get to the preserve. While his magic was faulty, he still knew incredibly more magic than Jade. She was powerful, but lacked knowledge and experience. He couldn't even imagine what she might know that could be of use, other than brute force spells. As he rushed out of Jade's house, he heard the creature follow him. When Paris got to his car, it leapt in front of him, pushing him a bit to the side and, after some scrabbling, settled itself in the back seat, looking at him expectantly. If it could have talked, Paris got the distinct impression it would have said, 'Well? Hurry up.' Paris slid into the driver's seat and heard the crunch of gravel spit up off his tires as he pushed the accelerator a little too hard - the car jumping with a lurch as the frictional force finally caught and shot them forward. The creature hissed in displeasure. The sound was sharp and hard in Paris' ear and he wanted to laugh a little hysterically at the situation.
Maybe he would. Later.
#
After getting out of Veronica's car, Jade squared her shoulders and cracked her neck before setting off into the woods. It wasn't until she heard the car drive away that she realized she'd left her bag with all her stuff inside.
Well, a blanket and a couple boxes of crackers weren't going to help her anyway.
Probably.
The path was easy enough to follow, but she was still glad she'd already been here once with Paris. It helped take the edge off the 'What the hell are you doing?' feeling. The truth was, she wasn't total
ly sure what she was doing. She wasn't sure why she didn't just hunker down and wait for Paris to show up. Of course, that assumed that Veronica would contact him. But when Jade thought about stopping, thought about huddling down in the forest and waiting, something inside her chest lurched. She didn't know if it was magic or if it was just her own sense of 'let's get this shit done,' but something kept her moving forward.
When she stretched out her magic, she could sense the one-two punch that she knew now to be Dex and Veronica's spell, as well as the eerie feeling from the lake. It seemed like the feeling was closer now then it had been before, and she wondered if Dex had moved closer to the lake. The forest was quiet as she walked - too late in the year for birds, and she was probably scaring all the woodland life away with her stomping and tromping footfalls. Jade wasn't exactly light on her feet, certainly not while hiking. She'd never really been one to 'commune' with nature. She focused on the steady sound of her own breath - in and out - and the tugging, pulling sensation of both the lake and Dex's magic.
Jade twisted and turned with the path, sometimes veering off it for a few steps, just to make sure the strange tugging sensation was still there. She could feel it when she passed by the lake; its cold, deep water off to her right. She paused and closed her eyes, leaning against a tree. She had an inexplicable desire to turn then, head to the lake and ... do something. She wasn't sure what.
A shock went through her chest suddenly and she lurched forward a bit, feeling sick and a little strange. It was Dex's magic. She didn't know how she knew, but she did. Blood magic. She could feel it in the air - almost taste it. It was like Veronica had said - thick and heavy. Cloying. It tried to settle on top of her own magic, like a beetle-infested blanket. Jade pushed power out of herself, imagining it like a plastic bubble - protecting her from the creepy-crawly feeling pressing in on her. Leveraging herself off the tree she leaned against, she moved forward again, deeper into the forest.
She was glad it wasn't dark. The sky was overcast - the almost-winter sun painting everything grey and sharp with its light. Despite the brightness, though, she still didn't see Dex through the trees until she stumbled out of the forest, slipped down a muddy hill and skidded to a stop in a small clearing.
Counter-Hex (Covencraft Book 2) Page 24
