by Zoe Warner
“I need Celeste’s help,” he said. “Please, it’s important.”
The old man eyed him before opening the door the rest of the way. Zander hurried in and the old man disappeared up the stairs.
“I don’t know if this is such a great idea,” Zane said. “Celeste doesn’t just use energy to find it, she takes it too.”
“I don’t care,” Zander said.
"Look, I'm with you," Zarrick said. "Just remember to rest after."
“I can’t rest until we find Cat,” he said.
“I know,” Zarrick said.
“What the hell do you guys want?” Celeste said, looking up from her phone and meeting Zander’s gaze.
“I need your help finding Cat,” he said.
She snorted. “You want to find someone? Do you have any idea what that does to me?” She slid her phone in her pocket.
“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” Zander said.
She sighed and slid her gaze to Owen. “Who are you?”
“I’m Zane’s brother. Just tagging alone in case they need back up,” he said.
She eyed him and then slid her gaze to Zander. “This is going to hurt a lot and you could be out of commission for a while if it takes too long.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said and she shrugged.
“Okay, then.” She put her hands on his chest and closed her eyes. The lights dimmed in the room and all the energy was sucked away. It made the color of life seem so dull. The energy filled everything and when it was taken so fast, it did something to the way everything looked and felt.
Zander felt himself go under and into the dullness. He was standing with Cat in the middle of an old gym. She was rubbing her shoulders, but she was okay. He reached for her, but a barrier kept him from touching her.
He felt himself being ripped backward and was standing outside the gym. It was hot and there was dirt from the desert all around. He felt himself being pulled back again and standing outside the hotel in Primm with the rollercoaster zooming passed. This time the pull brought him back to Las Vegas and his own body.
He felt her release him and open her eyes. Everything was spinning. He could hear the world again and could breathe finally.
“She’s not far,” he said, but couldn’t’ quite get his barring’s.
“You will need some rest and I need some water,” Celeste said, her straight red hair was frazzled from the energy transference. She looked paler than normal and she clearly was irritated.
Zander took her hand in his. “Thank you,” he said.
“Do me a favor,” she said.
“What.”
“Don’t come back.” She pulled her hand away and walked into the kitchen.
Zander tried to stand, but his balance was way off so he fell back down onto the couch.
Owen offered his hand and helped steady Zander to the car.
They all piled in with Zarrick at the wheel this time. “Where are we going?”
“They are in Baker.”
“That’s only an hour away,” Zane said. “Why would they stay that close?”
“When you’re a Demon that can do anything, you won’t care how close you are to anything,”
“He wanted to be close to her,” Zander said. He closed his eyes and hoped this drain Celeste had done on him would be over soon. He had to get to Cat while she was still alive.
Twenty-Six
I kicked at Caleb as he strapped my arms down. He laughed and pushed my legs down onto the chair. I was still stuck in this stupid circle that wouldn’t let me do any kind of magick. I wondered what the hell was going to happen today that would involve me being strapped down.
The Demon walked into the room and stopped just outside the circle. He watched me and wrinkled his forehead.
“I didn’t want to do this,” he said. “You just won’t do it on your own. Now I’m going to have to force you.”
“Force me to do what?” I kept my eyes on him and he smiled.
“This is the unbinding process. Your friend Zarrick is very familiar with it. He was the one that Caleb created it for,”
“Zarrick didn’t want to be a part of Caleb’s coven. He changed his mind.”
“But Caleb was going to change it back.” He moved the salt around the circle and stepped through. “I’m sorry for the pain I am about to inflict on you. I’ll ask you one more time, please do this willingly.”
“I don’t want to be bound to you,” I spat. He ran his hand down my cheek and sighed before walking back through the open circle. He moved his hands and the salt moved back to its original place.
He nodded to Caleb who started speaking in a language I didn't understand. At first, there was nothing. Then all there was, were fire in my bones. It burned through me and I screamed with pain. I tried to move, to fight it, but the fire only got worse when I attempted to move. I felt my skin peeling off, even though it wasn't and tiny cuts all throughout my body. I fought and the pain dug in worse. I curled my fingers around the metal, burning the tips of my fingers with the spell work. I closed my eyes as tears rolled down my cheek. This was the worst pain I’d ever felt. Even when I’d broken my arm, I hadn’t had pain like this. It felt like every bone was breaking as it was burning down to my soul. I couldn’t stand it but had no choice.
Everything went quiet and I caught my breath. The Demon watched me and I leaned my head back, welcoming the short-lived relief.
“It’s very painful,” he said. “If we finished it all at once, you’d probably die.” He opened the circle and carried a small glass of water to me. I turned my head away and he sighed. “You need to drink or it’s going to burn worse every time.”
I realized I could fight this all I wanted, but I had to make it through. Even if he unbound me from my men, we could redo the binding and I would live. I just had to make it through this.
I took the water and let it fill my body. It was cool and comforting before the next round of burning and screaming would begin.
As soon as the Demon left the circle, the pain flickered through me. I closed my eyes and tried to see my men there with me, keeping me safe and holding my hands, but they even couldn’t stop the burning. My eyes felt like they were burning and I screamed louder than I’d ever done before.
By the end of the night, I was weak and barely able to keep my eyes open. I didn’t know how much more I could take. The Demon rested his hand on my arm and smiled.
“You are almost there, my love,” he said.
“Don’t call me that,” I managed.
“It’s the truth. You are the only thing a Demon like me loves. You are the power I need and the love I crave,” he said.
“You don’t know love. If you did, you wouldn’t do this,” I said.
“I can help you get through the last of this. You only need to say yes,” he said. His eyes made me forget he was Demon for a moment. They were no longer red, but a dark brown with gold flecks. They were beautiful and I wanted to look into them forever.
“How would you be able to help me?”
“Just a touch, nothing more, but you must agree,” he said. “You can endure it on your own, but why when you can be carried to the end of your unbinding without so much pain.”
I sighed. There was no way I could do this another day on my own. I couldn’t make this without dying. The goal was to live and this was the only way.
“Yes,” I said and he smiled.
The Demon put his hand on my cheek and I felt my skin heat under his touch. It tingled and then soothed itself just as fast. I already felt stronger.
“Now you will be ready for the last of this and then you will be mine forever.”
Twenty-Seven
Zarrick
He pulled the car up to the old high school. The desert hadn’t been nice to it. Most of the once pristine siding was either blown off or tagged with graffiti. There was a chain-link fence around it that hadn’t been messed with in years.
He put the car into park a
nd glanced at Zander sitting next to him. “Are you sure this is a great idea?”
“We have to help her,” he said.
“I know, but we don’t know what we’re going into,” Zarrick said. He reached out with his fire, but it could only destroy for him, not find anything. That is until it hit a wall. He shook his head. “There’s wards.”
“I figured there would be,” Zander said.
“These are strong. Old magick,” he said. “Fire won’t even go through them.”
“Then we’ll have to find them and destroy them by hand,” Zander said.
Zarrick looked back into the back seat and met Owen’s gaze. “Are you ready for this?”
“Why not, I haven’t taken on a Demon in a few months.” He shrugged. “Sounds like fun.”
Zarrick couldn’t help but laugh. Zane and Owen were very different, but the coven needed Zane’s cool head. That was why he was a part of it instead of Owen, even though Owen would have made an excellent choice of his own.
They stepped out of the car and opened the chain link fence. Zarrick stopped just short of the wall. He couldn’t do anything else with the wards up, but Zander could. He just needed to find them and then they could use the collective magick to destroy them and get to Cat. They just hoped they weren’t too late.
Zarrick followed Zander as he made his way around the perimeter and stopped suddenly. He smiled and glanced at Zarrick.
“This one will do,” he said, pointing at a rock just sitting in the middle of the old parking lot. “We only need to destroy the one to get through.”
“Right,” Zarrick said. He pulled all his fire to him and aimed it at the rock. The rock lit up in flames that burned a bright blue before going out. He didn’t understand how it wasn’t enough.
“We have to do it at the same time,” Zander said. “It’s going to take all of us.”
Zarrick pulled his fire to him again and watched as Zander pulled air and Zane pulled water. They aimed them at the rock and let them go at the same time.
Fire and Air met first, they charged together creating a white-hot flame and water followed behind it. The balance they had was shaky at best, but it was enough. The rock exploded into so many pieces, they wouldn’t be able to constitute it as a ward again.
“He’ll know we broke it,” Zander said.
“Then let’s not stick around right here,” Zarrick said. He made his way towards the old school when the ground rumbled and he sank into it just to his knees. Zander and Zane were trapped behind him and he called for fire to set them free. It burned around his legs, but the rock and dirt didn’t move.
Caleb walked through the door and smiled at them. “Come to save her?” he asked. “I was hoping you would.”
His whole face changed in a matter of seconds he put his hands over his ears and fell to his knees mumbling to himself.
Owen was standing behind them and pulled at Zander and then Zane, helping them out of the dirt that had them trapped. Zane gave Zarrick a hard pull and he was free from his weird earth prison.
“What should we do with him,” Zane asked.
“I have a few ideas,” Zarrick said.
Zander put his hand up and shook his head. “Cat first, then we will deal with him.”
Zarrick knelt by the still fearful Caleb and smirked. The things he would do to him when his woman was free. It would be just what he always wanted.
Twenty-Eight
I felt myself going in and out of conciseness. The unbinding had stopped, but my body was tired and there was nothing I could do to make it stop. My mind floated to Zander and Zarrick and how they would miss me if I wasn’t with them. I wondered if that was a dream or the truth disguised as a dream.
Then something came into view. It wasn’t a dream, but more of a memory of things that had already happened. I walked along a path, the world was green and purple with flowers. The earth was cool and wet under my feet, but something was wrong. I heard rumbling in the distance and rushed to the nearest tree. It burst into flames and I backed away as it burned. I ran into a hard body behind me. They put their hands on my arms and rubbed them, comforting me.
“We will always be together, my love. We are united in destruction,” the voice said.
I didn’t feel fear or hate, I felt a tinge of love and want. I wanted this power. To feel it run through me and take me over. I wanted him.
He kissed my neck and I moaned as the world burned around us. He entwined his fingers in mine and spun me around. He was standing there naked as the fire licked his legs. He pulled me to him and kissed me hard and forceful. I entwined my fingers in his hair as his cock rubbed against my leg. I wanted him inside me right them with all the fire and brimstone around us. I didn’t understand it, but it didn’t matter. We were connected from now until the end of time.
My eyes shot open as the Demon stood watching me. He had a smile on his face and wonder in his newly red eyes.
“What were you dreaming of, my love,” he said.
I felt my heart race at my name from him. I looked away. “Nothing,” I lied.
“You know we’re connected and I can sense your desires,” he said, running his hand down my arm. “You remembered when we burned the world with our love.”
“There is no love for you,” I spat.
He smiled and his hand drifted further down my body until it was sitting just above my hip. "Are you sure?"
My breath quickened.
He leaned down and kissed me. I struggled. He reached up to the bindings and undid one of my hands while letting his slide over my pussy.
I didn’t want to feel the way I did when he touched me, but I couldn’t help it. It overwhelmed me with want. I pulled myself together and pulled everything I could from the elements and any other magick that I might have hiding inside me and pushed him back. He flew to the floor and I pulled my other hand out of the bindings.
He stood and shook his head. “That was not very nice after all I’ve done for you,” he said.
I yanked my foot loose and then the other and ran towards the door. He grabbed me in one fluid motion, pinning me to him.
“You are not going anywhere. We have to finish the unbinding, then we will be together forever.”
I closed my eyes and reached as far as I could inside myself for all my magick. I had felt it a moment ago and knew it was there, waiting for me to unlock it. I felt air and fire unite and the water that was running through the building. I felt the earth under me rumble with agreement and something else. Something much darker just under my skin called to me. It yearned to be set free and I was willing to let it.
I let go of all of it at the same time and the force of it blew me forward. The Demon hit the floor but was on his feet as fast as he was down.
“You’re using my own magick against me?” He snarled. I pivoted and held my hands up, calling the darkness he’d given me, but instead of it coming from me, it siphoned from him.
He gave the small amount I had from him a hard push before disappearing.
I stood there for a moment as the magick I’d just used slid from my grasp and my three men came rushing through the door. Zander glanced at the chair and then to me. He grabbed me and pulled me to him.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I just shook my head. I couldn’t speak or breathe. The world was spinning around me.
“We can’t stay here. Whatever you did will wear off soon,” Zarrick said.
I followed them through the doors to the outside where Caleb was laying on the ground, holding his head and Owen was standing over him.
“I should have done this a long time ago,” Zarrick pulled his fire from himself, but I held up my hand to stop him. Something wasn’t right. We couldn’t kill him.
“We can’t kill him,” I managed as I leaned on Zander.
They all looked at me like I was crazy.
“I’m serious. He’s important,” I said.
“How do you know?”
I bit my
lip. “I used Earth with the rest of the elements,” I said.
“You’ve been using earth a lot lately,” Zander said. “I think it’s your element.”
“But it’s not,” I said. “I think Caleb is our fifth.”
“No fucking way,” Zarrick said. “There is no way I’m letting him anywhere near our coven.”
“I don’t think you have a choice,” I said. “If you want to get rid of this Demon, we are going to need everything.”
“He’s bound to the Demon,” Zander said taking a closer look at him.
“Then we’ll unbind him,” I said.
“Are you sure about this?” Zane asked.
“I’m as sure as I am about each of you.”
Twenty-Nine
Home wasn’t the same. It was the same space and the same smells, but something was off about it. I wondered if it was Caleb freaking out in our basement or if something else was bugging me. I had only been home a few days and it still felt like weird.
“Do you need any help?” Zarrick asked. He was leaning on the stairs in the entryway looking hot as ever.
“No, I’m just reading up on the elements,” I said, pointing to the book in my hand.
“You know, reading can teach you things but doing also helps,” he said as he walked to me and took me into his arms.
“I’m still tired from what happened,” I said. “Reading is safer right now,” I smiled. “When are you going to do the unbinding?”
“The sooner, the better,” Zander said from behind me. “I still don’t know if I am on board with him being a part of this coven.”
“I don’t know why, but I think he is the last piece of the puzzle. The part that will complete this coven and give us a chance against the Demon.”
“If you feel that strongly about it, I can’t disagree,” Zander said. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t make things worse.”
“I need some air,” I said. “I’ll come back in a bit.” I didn’t say anything else as I made my way up the stairs and to the end of the hallway. I opened the doors to the balcony and let the warm air wash over me. The desert was growing on me. I closed my eyes and called to Air. I wanted to know if I was right. If Caleb was the final piece. When it didn’t answer, I felt my heart fall a little.