"Fuck," she said sharply, nearly slipping and landing on her butt. An elegant and awe-inspiring entrance it was not.
Dex didn't look surprised to see her, even as she got her feet under her. There was a dead stag in front of him - glassy eyed and horrible. It looked like it hadn't gone down easy. It was messy; the fur matted with blood and dirt, its long, powerful legs twisted at weird angles. Dex was covered in blood from the tips of his fingers to his elbows and Jade could feel her lips curling back in disgust. He stared at her intently and Jade got the feeling he was waiting for something from her, some kind of sign.
"Gross." She hoped her expression contained the full revulsion she felt.
Dex smiled, bending over the stag and drawing runes on its body with its own blood. "You say that now, but in thirty seconds, once the new spell takes hold, we'll be best friends. What is it they say? BFF? I can't wait for you to tell me all your little secrets. I've got a feeling you've got quite a few."
Jade felt her skin go cold at his words, a slight sweat breaking out on top of her lip. Without thinking, she shot her power out, pushing fire toward the stag, hoping that if it burned before he finished, it would ruin his spell.
Dex waved a hand, sending her fire spell off into the trees where it sputtered and spat, winking out. "No finesse. You just push power around with no real intent or spell-work behind it." He pointed a finger at her. "It's all about knowledge."
Jade was stunned at how quickly he tossed her magic aside. She knew she was raw - untested - and that her magic was still simple compared to other magic at the Coven, but she'd hoped that her power level would make up for it. Dex ignored her, going back to his rune work. He pulled out a small satchel of something and started sprinkling it around the stag - herbs, ash of some kind - Jade didn't know what. He was standing there doing magic right in front of her and she didn't know how to stop him.
She thought back to the demon grimoires, to the spells she'd read. Jade concentrated and started casting one of the fire ones she'd learned from them. She thought of the scrawled handwriting of Sakkara's grimoires, the amount of knowledge and magic Paris' mother must have had. This spell took more time, more concentration. Jade flicked her fingers out and this time, when Dex made a motion to shoo her spell away, it didn't work and the stag's fur caught fire. The smell of burning hair and skin filled her nostrils immediately and she stumbled backwards, falling over something on the ground, landing hard on her butt.
Dex made a strangled sound of fury and Jade had a moment to think, 'oh shit' before he rounded on her and shouted some kind of hex or curse. She threw her hands up and could only think, 'No, don't want' in defense. She felt something hit up against her magic, her body - painful and sharp and she shuddered from the pain. Dex's magic slid against her but didn't sink in. He collected himself for another volley and Jade thought about how when she'd been in the forest last, how Paris couldn't cross her circle. She saw the perfect shape in her mind and even though she didn't have anything to draw it with, she imagined she did - imagined she traced out the shape, round and perfect. The grass and dirt flared up around her, a perfect circle of flame and smoke, surrounding her.
"You think that can protect you? From blood magic?" Dex sneered. Heedless of the flames rising from the burning carcass of the stag, he stepped toward it, chanted something Jade didn't understand and then slammed his palm down on top of the burning flesh, his eyes wide and vicious.
Jade felt more than saw a shockwave of magic flare out from the stag, like a sun gone supernova. She winced and braced for some kind of impact.
Nothing happened. She blinked up at Dex, watching his face as it turned from expectant to furious. She had seen the wave of magic, saw it spark out, but she didn't feel any different. From the look on Dex's face, he knew it too.
"How?" he seethed. "How is it that you are immune to this spell?" His fists were clenched, the stag corpse burning in front of him. The smell still crossed over her circle and she cringed backward when it filled her nostrils - sharp and acrid. Jade had the urge to skitter back, to move further away, but she didn't want to leave her circle. She didn't know if her circle would or could move with her. Dex took a step closer and Jade hunched in. "I killed for this spell, I bled for this spell. A spell to work on every witch tied to the Coven. You should be just as vacant-eyed and malleable as the rest of them."
Jade had an awful thought. If Dex had just re-worked his spell, then Paris, wherever he was, would be affected. Even if Veronica contacted him, would he even realize Jade was in trouble? That she needed help?
"You know, maybe the problem is you don't really belong in the Coven," Dex said, his voice going low and mean. "Maybe a witch born outside can never really belong. Or maybe it's just you. Maybe they don't feel you're tied to them. Maybe you're just too different, Jade." The way he said her name was like a curse - he spat it out like it made his mouth taste foul. "Maybe you'll never belong here. Maybe," he said, eyes thoughtful. "Maybe you should think about joining up with me."
It was essentially everything she'd been telling herself since she got to the Coven, everything she'd been afraid of, everything she pretended wasn't true or didn't matter. Hearing it come from Dex was like being slapped in the face. She'd be damned if she'd give him the satisfaction of knowing it though. She wasn't about to buckle under some two-bit pop psychology spouted off by the villain. Jade hated when that happened in the movies.
"Or maybe you're just shit for brains at casting this spell," she said with a casual shrug, feigning arrogance she didn't feel. "Or maybe I'd rather be on the outside of this Coven looking in than ever consider cozying up with a sociopath like you."
Dex came closer, eyes wide with rage. He finally matched her feelings about him. It was as though his outward persona was now in tune with what she'd thought of him all along. Jade hadn't been able to articulate it before, but this is how she felt when she saw him. Like he should have always been wide-eyed, manic, anger and rage his right and left hands - both of them ready to do battle at his side. Jade thought her words might have angered him a bit more than she'd intended as he raged forward shouting, "You think your circle can protect you? Your pitiful little circle? You don't even know what you're capable of. You have all this power, demon grimoires at your disposal and this is what you protect yourself with?" Dex gestured madly at Jade as she sat on her ass in the forest, cowering from him.
That stung. She was doing the best she could. Her pride took a hit at Dex's words and in response, her circle flared up around her. She felt better seeing the blue-orange flame surrounding her. She felt... almost safe. Centered. It wasn't a feeling she'd had in a long time. Not since Lily. Thinking of her was distracting. It turned her attention from Dex and his contorted face and focused instead on the feeling inside her. The peculiar sleepy feeling she would get around Lily. It helped her think. It kept her from shooting her mouth off. It made her reason through her actions. It was the sort of clarity she needed right now. Jade needed to think past Dex's rage and his words, and focus on what she knew. On figuring out a way to stop him. Stop Dex or kill him.
#
As Paris stopped the car in the preserve and got out, the lizard right on his heels, he could feel magic in the air - dank and syrupy. It wasn't Jade; Paris knew the way her power felt. It must be Dex. The lizard hissed and its Elizabethan collar came up, fanning out around its face like a strange, green halo. It didn't like the magic either, which made the hairs on Paris' neck stand upright. It gave a hoarse bark and scampered off into the forest line, its tail leaving a zigzag trail behind it.
"Wait!" Paris called ineffectually before starting to hustle after it. It didn't move fast, probably due to its short, stumpy legs. Its belly was low to the ground, dragging over protruding tree roots and low shrubs. It stuck to the path and instead of sniffing the ground like a dog or wolf might do, Paris found it stopped every few feet and then flared up its Elizabethan collar - like it was a satellite searching for a signal. It would pause and then contin
ue on. At one point, it stopped and seemed torn. It looked off the path, deeper into the forest, toward where the lake was and Paris stepped closer to it and spoke without realizing he intended to.
"I don't think that's her. That's just the lake."
It blinked up at him; its iridescent eyes glowing slightly and then turned away from the direction of the lake and back on the path.
Not two minutes later, it stopped again and hissed - a loud, thick wet sound and Paris was sure that if he'd been in front of the creature when it happened, he would have been covered in some kind of spit and foam. Gooseflesh rose on Paris' arms and he took a step back as he felt a wave of magic out there, in the forest, coming for him. It was strong and dark. He blinked as he realized it wasn't just coming for him, it was coming for the entire Coven - blood magic. The taint on the air was thick and coppery. Paris patted himself down wildly, hoping he had something sharp enough on himself to draw his own blood for a counter-hex. Not knowing what was coming made it damn near impossible, but he had to at least try. As his hand closed around the car keys, he could hear his mother's voice in his head, 'blood to commence, blood for defense,' - one of her old-witch sayings to remind him that to fight blood magic, you needed blood magic. He was just about to jab his hand with a key and hope it would be sharp enough to break the skin, when the lizard-creature swept its tail up and over its own body, swirling it, almost swinging it like a bat. Paris thought he saw something - a bolt of light or a strobe of power - ricochet off the lizard's tail and blast off to the left. The lizard made a horrible screeching sound and fell to its side.
Paris was stunned to find himself unharmed. He moved closer to where the lizard lay on the ground panting quietly, eyes blinking, forked pink tongue lolling out of its mouth. It had just saved him from whatever magic had come for him in the forest. Paris was fairly certain it hadn't stopped the magic from affecting the rest of the Coven, but it had certainly stopped it from hitting him. He put a hand on the creature's side finding the skin a little rough and warm to the touch. The smell of the blood magic was gone, replaced by a more familiar feeling - that of Jade's magic. It carried a faint floral scent he couldn't quite place and also a spicy undertone - cloves, he thought. The creature panted, its eyes rolling around in their sockets until they met Paris' own.
"Thank you," Paris said quietly. He'd never heard of anyone defended by a familiar before. It must be quite an extraordinary creature. The clove scent became stronger and as the creature's breathing slowed down, Paris had the sense that it wasn't going to die, but it did need to rest after such a feat. Its eyes darted up the trail and then back at Paris and he swore he could feel the creature urging him on.
"We'll come back for you," Paris said lowly, feeling like he owed this strange animal that at the very least.
He set off again into the forest, to find Jade, to find Dex
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Jade watched, trapped in her own circle, as Dex pulled a small knife from his pocket and slashed open his palm, making a fist, letting blood drip onto the forest floor. "If you won't bend under a Coven spell, then I'll cast another, just for you. A blood spell, a spell by name. Have you ever even heard one, Jade?"
She hadn't. She didn't know if she should be afraid or not. She got the bit about the blood magic - pretty sure it was bad news - but she had no idea what was so different about a blood spell by name. What did it matter? Jade slunk backwards another inch, feeling the barrier of her circle against her back, hot and tingly.
"Not even your circle can protect you," Dex murmured. Jade's circle flared in front of her, as though sensing his menace. "Not from a named blood spell. There's a reason they're so rare. Bastardized and twisted as they're handed down, not every caster can survive one. Only a handful of witches have the chops to make it work." When he grinned, he reminded Jade of a jackal, glittering eyes and sharp teeth. "You have to be strong enough, cruel enough. You'll hand over those grimoires like they belong to me; like you never even realized they shouldn't be mine. We'll be best friends," he said with a leer. "Maybe even more than that."
Jade felt sick as he started murmuring something and she thought she could almost recognize it. Like hearing a German telecast, she felt she was so close to understanding what Dex was saying, if only she could concentrate enough. It sounded harsh - all consonants - t's, k's, and some f's. She felt cold as she listened to the syllables - a bone deep chill that made her marrow ache. She could feel the power of his words, the age of them, pressing down against her circle. His spell was like predatory barbed fingers, pushing against the edge, looking for soft spots in her magic. Holding her circle against it was like holding a heavy weight, high above her. She could feel the strain building in her head, in her chest. His magic clawed against hers - sharp and venomous. If she had to put a word to it, it would be 'toxic.' It made her skin feel grimy and dirty. The flames of her circle lit up against it, burning blue and purple against the onslaught of his spell.
Jade didn't have to know the language to know when he was getting close to the end. The way he ogled her, eyes alight and a slight smile on his face, was the only clue she needed. Her heart rabbit-beat, thumping in her chest. She couldn't move - she was using all her power to hold her circle, hoping it would be enough. She didn't want to know what would happen if it wasn't. Would she be like a prisoner in her own mind? Would she end up like a soulless automaton? Would she know she was under a spell? Marching under Dex's orders, doing what he said, all the while screaming inside? Jade only understood the last word he said - the one he hissed even as he stepped closer - a word she would always hold close to her heart.
"Lily."
Jade couldn't be sure if the jolt she felt was from the spell or from him saying her name, Lily's name. She flinched, her flames spurting like they'd been sprayed by a shot of premium tequila. Jade blinked, feeling the strange heat from her fire - hot, but not burning - lapping at her face. She looked up at Dex, expecting something - maybe for him to seem benevolent or for her to feel something different toward him, something fond or kind. He seemed so sure his spell would work and to be honest, she feared it would too. The way it had pressed against her own magic - scratching at the door - she thought it would find a way in. But nothing seemed to be happening. Jade stayed where she was, leaning away from him, still within the confines of her circle. He was still a megalomaniac; she still disliked him, maybe hated him. He was just as ugly and wrong to her as he'd ever been.
Dex frowned, eyes narrowing on her. "No." He shook his head. "That's your name, your real name. I read your file. Your name used to be Lily."
"It was never my name," Jade said, not sure why she felt the need to make the distinction to him of all people. The words just slipped from her lips.
His eyebrows came together in a sharp 'V' and as he stared, Jade got the feeling he was trying to figure her out, like a puzzle or a lock. She shifted on the ground, inside her circle, her feet getting tangled in some desiccating vines and debris. Looking at them, Jade felt a nudging at her brain, like a tapping on her grey matter, and she focused on the vines. She shifted her feet a bit, noting how they were somehow caught by the organic matter.
Not caught, a voice whispered in her head. Bound.
Jade shivered in response. She wasn't sure if she'd really heard the words or if she'd imagined them. They might have been her own words or they might have been... someone else's. She wanted them to be someone else's. The voice in her head sounded just like-
Focus. Bound.
The words were soft, smooth. They felt like cold water on a fever or burn, chasing away the sting and pain with a soothing touch. Jade hadn't had that feeling in a long time. Not since she'd lost Lily. Jade tried to focus. She thought about the word and what it could mean.
Then she remembered. In Sakkara's grimoire, with all her demon magic, there'd been a spell. A spell to bind a witch's power, keep him or her from using magic. Jade didn't know for how long, or if it would even work. But she didn't need it to be foreve
r. She only needed it to be enough to stop Dex now. Maybe she could get away, get Paris and he could break Dex's magic, like he'd done with the witch that tried to kill her. If Dex's magic was bound, he wouldn't be able to fight back against Paris - sort of the magical equivalent of Jade holding Dex's arms behind his back.
Her memory for printed material enabled her to see the words in her head, Sakkara's odd handwriting in her mind's eye. Dex slashed open another slit on his palm and started saying his strange words again - the blood name spell. Presumably this time he'd try it with Jade's name. At the same time, Jade started stumbling through the demon-binding spell. Her words overlapped with his hard clacking sounds and she felt his magic mash up against hers, like two waves smashing together in the ocean. He stumbled back a bit, surprised and then started speaking louder, fisting his hand tighter and dripping more blood. Jade pushed herself to her feet, pulling her magic away from the protective barrier of her circle and trying to funnel it more into the demon spell. She could feel the spell trying to catch, like tires on a slippery surface. She pushed at it, feeling it skitter way from under her control. Jade had to stop, refocus her thoughts and start again. Dex's magic was against hers, a frantic, mindless beast clawing at her power. He was rage and fury against her circle. Bits of his magic broke through as Jade pulled more of her focus into the demon spell. She felt sharp licks of pain like tiny teeth nipping at her skin. Her tongue tripped over the bizarre demon language of the binding spell, forcing her to speak slower than she wanted, slower than she needed. Her flames were turning a deep black-purple - whether in response to Dex's spell or her own, she wasn't sure. The flames went darker and turned cold as they continued. The comforting warmth they had brought Jade before turned to a hollow chill. The binding spell was so close to snapping into place. Jade could feel bits of it coalescing around her, swirling like a massive jigsaw puzzle. She tried to focus, tried to control it. She was losing power. It was taking too much and her head felt thick and sluggish. Dex grinned as he got to the end of his spell and spat out her name this time. Jade.
Counter-Hex (Covencraft Book 2) Page 25
