by Sara Snow
I closed my eyes and pictured a flame, like the fire on a lighted candle.
Nothing happened. I opened my eyes to find the team staring expectantly at me.
“You have to believe in yourself, Georgia,” Kingston said. “Believe that you control this element, that the fire is inside you, waiting to come out.”
I closed my eyes again and concentrated.
Believe in yourself. When have I ever been able to do that?
A memory came back to me all of a sudden, an image that must have been buried for a long time—my mother’s face, her features contorted with anger and contempt, yelling at me.
You’re useless! You’ll never amount to anything. I wish you’d never been born!
Suddenly, I smelled smoke. Then I heard the sound of paper crackling.
“It’s working!” Jacob shouted. “Georgia, you’re doing it!”
My eyes flew open to see fire consuming the sticks in the metal bowl. The flames leapt higher. I tried to bring them back down, but the fire quickly filled the bowl, and I couldn’t extinguish the blaze.
“Okay, we’re good!” Eli shouted. “You can put it out now!”
“I tried! I can’t stop it!”
Kingston pulled off his sweater and tried to smother the fire, but the flames only tore into the fabric. “Someone get the fire extinguisher. It’s in the kitchen by the stove!”
Jacob ran from the room and came back with a small fire extinguisher in his hands. He pulled the pin and aimed at the fire. White powder shot from the extinguisher, and the blaze quickly petered out.
“You could have planned that better, Dad,” Jacob said.
“I didn’t realize she’d be quite so . . . effective,” Kingston said, trying to catch his breath.
I stared at the mess on the table—the scorched sweater, the heap of white powder. My heart was beating so fast that I thought it might hammer its way out of my chest. A rush of emotion surged through me, too strong to name. I wanted to scream, cry, and laugh all at the same time.
This is who I am. This is what I can do. Who knows what else I’m capable of?
“Looks like you’re a natural firebug, Georgia,” Carter said. “Frankly, I’m impressed as hell.”
“So am I,” said Kingston. “And this is just the beginning, Georgia. In Jose’s dream, your powers increase when you meet your mother. Once you make contact with her, you’ll be one step closer to the veritatem.”
I thought about the memory that had triggered that fire. How old had I been when my mother yelled at me that way, when she told me she wished I’d never been born? I had been taken from her when I was eight years old, so I must have been younger than that. So young that I’d blocked those twisted words from my mind until now.
Why do I want to see her again? To have her tell me that letting me go was the worst mistake of her life? To hear her ask me for forgiveness? To have her hold me and kiss me on the cheek? None of that’s likely to happen.
Maybe finding my mother isn’t such a great idea. Maybe we can all stay here and play games, and fight, and kill minor demons for fun . . .
But I’d gone too far now to back out of this journey. The whole trip was much bigger than me now. I had made a decision that somehow set a lot of other events in motion, like black clouds rolling across the surface of the world, heading straight for my friends and me.
I didn’t know exactly what Kingston had in mind for us, but it went way beyond me and my lost childhood.
“I’ll be with you every minute on this trip,” Carter was saying, as if he could read my thoughts. “I’ll never let you out of my sight.”
His dark eyes burned intensely, with that devouring gaze that both thrilled me and scared me.
“Jacob is going, too,” I said. “I asked him to come with us.”
Carter’s face darkened like a thundercloud. “You’re kidding.”
“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Kingston said. “In fact, I wouldn’t have it any other way. You and Georgia and Jacob will make the perfect team. I would send Eli, as well, but I need a strong fighter to stay here with Jose and me.”
“Why can’t Eli come with us? Jacob can stay here and protect you and Jose,” Carter asked Kingston. “Eli is a lot stronger than Jacob, and he has way more experience at fighting demons. Besides, Jacob hasn’t even been inducted yet. Why should he get to go?”
“Yes, Eli’s strong, he’s committed to the team, and he knows how to slay demons. That’s exactly why I need him here. But even with Georgia’s new abilities, she’s not going to be safe on her own. She’s too vulnerable at this stage. Once she gains her full power, she’ll be more valuable to Paimon than ever, and I have no doubt he’ll stop at nothing to win her over. Jacob is a strong fighter, and you need every bit of help you can get on this trip.”
“If we can destroy the Tenebris, we can stop them from taking over our world,” Eli said.
Kingston nodded. “Exactly. If Georgia can apply her powers at the right time, she may be able to stop all of the devastation that Jose has seen in his visions.”
“So, what do you have in mind? An ambush?” Carter asked.
“Precisely. We know that Paimon will be waiting for Georgia to be reunited with her mother. At a moment like that, he will almost certainly have his two henchmen with him—Bebal and Abalam, the other leaders of the Tenebris. That gives us an advantage, because we can control the time and the circumstances of Georgia’s meeting with her mother. And once that happens, we’ll be ready to strike. Right, Georgia?”
“Right,” I said, but I didn’t sound convinced, even to myself.
The missions we had done so far had been nothing compared to what we were facing now. I had helped Carter kill that incubus and worked with Eli to destroy the demon who was trafficking young children. But I’d never imagined that I would be at the center of something so big, so dangerous.
I had never dreamed that one of the demons I had to destroy would be my own father.
Can I even do this?
“The demons are going to do their best to separate you from the rest of the team,” Kingston went on, “whether that involves attempting to abduct you, kill them, or both. That’s why I need both Jacob and Carter to go with you. And why I need both of them to work together and get along.”
The two men in question glared at each other. Clearly Kingston’s plan already had a flaw.
And I was committed to driving to Texas with two guys, both of whom I wanted in different ways.
“I have another request,” I said. “I want Olympia to go with us.”
Carter rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. This is getting worse by the minute. Look, if we’re going to be driving, we’ll be taking my car. I don’t want Olympia stinking it up with incense.”
“Olympia is not going to burn incense in your precious car. She’s going to add something that we desperately need—estrogen.”
“Georgia has a point. If Olympia is willing to take the risk, I’m willing to let her go. But you’ll have to watch out for her. Her magic is powerful, but she doesn’t have the strength that the rest of you have.”
“In other words, she doesn’t have the willpower to avoid any incubi that might strike her fancy,” Carter muttered. “I’m warning you, she’ll be more trouble than she’s worth.”
“In case you’ve forgotten, she’s the one who found my mother,” I snapped. “She can lead us to her.”
“I agree,” Kingston said. “If Olympia wants to go with you, I’ll give her my blessing.”
“Oh, she’ll want to,” I said confidently.
Georgia
Persuading Olympia to take a road trip to Texas wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped. I thought she’d love the idea of an adventure, driving across the Southwest with a car full of her friends—the wind blowing her long blonde curls as we all sang along to rock music on the radio.
I was wrong.
I found Olympia in her room, sitting at the table in the corner that she called her apothe
cary. She was turning something over and over in her slim hands as she murmured an incantation. A stick of incense burned on a small plate beside her, making me smile at the memory of Carter’s comment.
When I pulled open the fabric curtain and stepped into her space, she froze, her hands in mid-air. She looked up at me. Even in the dim candlelight, I could see the dread in her blue eyes.
“I know why you’re here, Georgia. The answer is no.”
My heart sank. Suddenly, I realized how important it was that Olympia join us. It wasn’t just so that she could run interference between Carter and Jacob, or infuse the car with her feminine energy.
I had never had a close female friend, not one that I could trust. My best friends, when I had them, had always been boys. Maybe it was because of my mother’s betrayal that I lacked faith in my own gender.
“But why?” I asked. “It’ll be an adventure. And more importantly, we have a mission. If we play this right, we could destroy the Tenebris, and that could save all of us.”
Olympia gave me a gentle smile.
“I think a road trip would be awesome,” she said, “under any other circumstances. But this isn’t your typical road trip, is it? There’s going to be danger involved.”
I sank down to my knees in front of her and took her hands.
“Listen, Olympia. I just learned that I have new powers—things I didn’t even know I could do. Kingston told me that I could set things on fire, and we tried it, and it worked!”
She shook her head. “I know you can do amazing things, Georgia, but I’m not as strong as you or the others. I have my magic and the gifts I inherited from the Trikoni. That’s not enough to protect me from the kind of demons you’ll be dealing with.”
“I’ll be there to protect you! And so will Jacob and Carter. We’ll keep you safe, Olympia. Besides, we need you. I need you.”
When Olympia looked down at me, I noticed the fear in her eyes, and a strange thought suddenly occurred to me.
Olympia isn’t just afraid of the Tenebris. She’s afraid of me. She’s afraid because I’m a demon’s daughter, and there’s no guarantee that I won’t decide to follow my father.
Olympia held out her hand with the object that she’d been rolling around in her palms when I walked in.
“I made this charm for you, Georgia. Keep it with you at all times.”
I took the object from her. It looked like a clump of hair knotted around a knucklebone and a few twigs. The whole clump was held together with a waxy substance that smelled like lard. As I held the charm up to the light, I saw that the bone and twigs formed the primitive shape of a female. I could have sworn the black hair was my own.
“Uh, thanks. What is it?”
“It’s the witches’ version of a homing device. It’ll help you find your mom. I know you think you need me to find her, but believe me, once you leave Chicago, you’ll be pulled to her like a magnet.”
“Why won’t you go with us, Olympia? You’re not any safer here in Chicago than you would be with us. In fact, you’ll be better off if you stick with the team.”
Olympia turned away from me and discreetly wiped her cheek. When she turned back, I saw tears shimmering in her eyes.
“I’ve been scrying for you, Georgia. I’ve been looking at what’s going to happen to all of us.”
A cold lump formed in my throat, but I couldn’t let her see my fear.
“Nothing’s going to happen to us. We’re going to pull this off, I know it. You should have seen me light a fire in Kingston’s library. I could have burned down the whole warehouse! There’s no way the demons can get us now.”
She shook her head. “If I go with you, I might not come back.”
“Olympia, no. I would never let that happen. I’ll guard you with my life—we all will.”
I reached out for my friend and hugged her with all my might, until she squeaked and begged for mercy.
“Okay, okay! I’ll go! But I’m warning you, if I have the slightest suspicion that some demon is going to grab my ass and drag me to Hell, I’m going to jump on my broomstick and fly straight back to Chicago. Deal?”
“Deal!” I cried happily.
Maybe I knocked over Olympia’s candle. Maybe the wind blew it out. Suddenly, we were both in darkness. The wind howled outside like a wounded wolf. Even here in the Windy City, I’d never heard a sound like that before.
Olympia switched on a lamp. We looked at each other. She was pale and shaky, and I knew I probably looked exactly the same.
“If we can see the future, we can change it,” I said with determination.
I just need to make myself believe it.
10
Carter
To say I was unhappy about Jacob coming to Texas was an understatement. Anger roiled in my gut when Georgia told me he’d be tagging along on our road trip. And when Kingston backed her up by reminding me that Jacob was a strong fighter and Georgia needed all the help she could get, I ground my teeth so hard that I swear I cracked a molar.
Jacob wasn’t even trying to hide his crush. He followed Georgia around the warehouse like a lovesick puppy, looking for any opportunity to get close to her. Then, there was the eavesdropping. It couldn’t be a coincidence that Jacob materialized every time Georgia and I were talking.
I’d even spotted him lurking outside the training room last night when Georgia and I had our heated confrontation about the road trip. He thought I didn’t know he was lurking in the hallway, but I caught the undeniable scent of young male blood, and I heard him scurrying away when Georgia marched out the door.
I really didn’t care if Jacob had the hots for Georgia. What troubled me, in the dark pit of my heart, was my suspicion that Georgia liked him, too.
Indulging Kingston’s love of old road maps, I let him take the lead as we plotted out our route to El Paso. The trip by car would take almost twenty-four hours if we didn’t take any breaks, but I knew we wouldn’t be able to make it the whole way without rest stops.
The journey would be treacherous, with Paimon’s legions on our tail like bloodhounds, but I wanted to lighten up the tone of the trip for Georgia’s sake. She had just turned twenty-one, but she’d spent most of the past two decades struggling to survive. Slumber parties, first dates, high school proms—she’d missed out on all of those teenage rituals. She hadn’t even spent enough time in any of her foster homes to celebrate a birthday.
If we played this right, the road trip could be a rite of passage celebrating her independence as an adult.
And if we surrounded her with friendship, showed her a good time, and let her enjoy the camaraderie of the journey, she’d be less vulnerable to Paimon’s charms.
“Give me your honest opinion,” I asked Kingston, knowing that he would. “Do you think we have a chance of keeping Georgia?”
My old friend looked up from the map and studied me over his reading glasses.
“If I’m not mistaken, the question you’re really asking is whether you have a chance of keeping Georgia,” he said. “Am I right?”
I looked down at the chessboard at the end of the table. In all the years we’d been playing, I’d only beaten Kingston once at this game, and I suspected that he let me win just to boost my flagging confidence.
“You’re always right,” I said.
Kingston took off his glasses, set down his pen, and looked me straight in the eye.
“Listen to me, Carter. I know you have feelings for Georgia, but we have to be extremely careful. Our goal is to secure her loyalty to the Venandi so that we can draw on her power to stop the Tenebris.”
“We’re using her, in other words.”
“We do need her strength, Carter. She’s on the cusp of claiming her power, and if she’s not committed to our cause, Georgia could lend that power to her father. But more importantly, we need to prevent her from succumbing to Paimon’s charms. If we lose her, she’ll become another one of his minions, a slave to his will. He’ll appeal to her need for love
, then make her his victim. If he ever doubts her loyalty, he won’t hesitate to destroy her.”
“So, you’re saying I need to back off. Even though I care about her more than anything else in my life?”
“I’ve come to care for Georgia very much myself,” Kingston said quietly. “Almost as if she were my own daughter. I’m not going to let her fall into Paimon’s hands.”
“Do you think I’d ever let that happen, Kingston?”
“No. But I’m asking you to put our mission first,” Kingston said. “I’m asking you to use your best judgment. Not just for the team, or for Georgia, but for the sake of the mortal realm. That’s what’s at stake.”
I could feel hope dying in my heart, like the shoot of a green plant withering in the frost. I knew that Kingston was right, but the thought of what he was asking me to do was more than I could bear.
“Making a sacrifice for the good of all,” I said. “Sure, boss. I gotcha.”
Kingston winced at my sardonic tone, but he didn’t reply. Clearly, he had said all he was going to say. That was more than enough for me to get the message.
No wonder Kingston wanted Jacob to go with us.
I stood up, knocking a few of the chess pieces onto the floor. I wanted to fling the whole fucking board across the room, but I maintained my self-control for the sake of our friendship.
“I’m going out, Kingston. I need some time to cool off.”
Kingston handed me the map, on which he had carefully traced the route to Texas.
“Be very, very careful,” he said.
He wasn’t just talking about my plans for the night.
Part of the reason I’d been so pissy with everyone was that I was starving. That edgy hunger always tainted my mood, made me irritable and paranoid. Maybe if I got out and found a source, I wouldn’t be so touchy around Jacob.
If Jacob weren’t Kingston’s son, I could feed off of him. He was young, fit, well-hydrated. Didn’t smoke or use drugs as far as I knew. His blood would taste pure and clean, like the vampire’s version of fresh mountain spring water.