by Kelly Oram
Councilor Mason pulled himself to his feet and gasped. Constance echoed him. “It’s gone!”
“What’s gone?” Councilor Torres asked.
Constance blinked a couple times. “The magic. The wards are gone. He’s dissolved them.”
Alistair, the fey councilor, gaped at me. “Impossible. There was fey magic infused with both witch and warlock spells on this room. It was fortified with a century of power. He couldn’t have broken it down.”
I grinned at the faerie. “It’s not just this room, buddy. I killed the entire building. This place now has no more magic than Madison Square Garden.” I laughed at all the shocked faces and grinned at Councilor Mason. “Still want to try and stop us from leaving?”
“Demon magic,” Mason whispered. “He’s using demon magic. He has to be.”
I reveled in the fear I saw in Mason’s eyes. It felt so good that I became thirsty for revenge on the entire council. My eagerness was startling. Hurting people wasn’t normally my style, but as I looked at them all, they seemed so weak and helpless, and I wanted to end them. With a big fat smirk, I shook my head and scanned the council, letting them all get a good look at my eyes. “I could easily take care of all of you right now. Once and for all.”
“Russ?” someone whispered.
I glared at Dani. “I’m going to stop them from hurting anyone else or abusing their power ever again.”
I held up my hands, prepared to send their souls to Hell, but Dani stepped in my way. “You would really hurt them? Kill them?”
I flinched at her accusation. Deep down I knew I wasn’t the type to hurt people, but something in my head was telling me it was the right thing to do. I wanted to. I shrugged at Dani. “They deserve it.”
She took my hand and forced me to look at her. “What are you talking about? Are you okay? This isn’t you, Russ. Something’s not right.”
She squeezed my hand and brought her other up to my face. “What’s happening to you?”
The connection to that inner darkness broke, and the all-consuming magic disappeared. The destructive thoughts filling my mind evaporated. It took me a moment to wake up, and when I did, I felt sick. I hadn’t been myself. Whatever darkness I’d tapped into had taken over. It was like there was this dark, evil Russ lying in wait deep inside of me, and he’d come out to play when I used that demon magic.
I shook off the disturbing thought, glad the bad feeling was gone, and looked at Dani. She stared into my eyes as if seeing into my soul. Feeling her delicate grip on my hand, I drew her close to me. I needed her. Needed to feel her, hold her. I needed her to save me from my own darkness. She was the one who’d taken it away. She’d saved me. From what, I had no idea, but Dani had definitely stopped something very bad from happening. Holding her tight, I leaned my head on top of hers and whispered, “You brought me back.”
“Back from where?” she asked. “Where did you go? What happened? For a minute, your eyes turned black and the pupils sort of glowed like a cat’s eyes do in the dark. It looked like flames. Your eyes were burning.”
I didn’t know the answer to her question, so I said nothing.
“The fires of Hell,” Councilor Torres muttered. His eyes snapped wide, and he thrust an accusing finger at me. “He’s possessed by a demon!”
I had no warning. That half-angel jerk said the word demon, and Constance blasted me with a spell meant to send me to my Maker. I tried to cast a shield, but I had nothing left. Clara, of all people, acted fast enough to save my hide. She cast a deflection spell just in time to keep Constance’s spell from killing me. Most of it still hit me, though, and I was zapped into oblivion with electrical energy that brought me to the ground and rendered me incapacitated.
Freaking witches—their stupid magic always has to be so malicious. A warlock spell will just crush you and kill you quickly. Witch spells are nasty. They always have to take their time and cause the max amount of pain. I could do nothing but writhe on the ground.
Dani and Grace both screamed. Grace’s cry was one of fear, and she fell to my side to check on me, while Dani’s screech was a shout of outrage. “Constance, what the hell?”
“He’s possessed! We have to kill him before he destroys us all.”
Everything happened so quickly after that. Mason threw another spell at me, the guardians in the room fired their weapons, and the faerie, vampire, werewolf, and nephilim councilors all tried to attack me.
I’d have been a goner if Dani hadn’t cast a kick-a shield around the two of us a la Chosen One that blocked the magic, bullets, and attacking council members. On my best day, even being a Devereaux warlock—which is totally saying something—I couldn’t have shielded everything at once like that without exhausting myself. I forgot how extremely full of awesome Dani is. “Thanks, Dani-girl,” I croaked.
“Get up, Russ. I’m not going to be able to hold this long. Whatever you just did, I’ve got almost nothing left.” Her voice was trembling, and she had broken into a sweat. She looked pale, too. Gabriel was actually holding her upright. I felt terrible knowing I’d somehow done that to her.
“Sorry. Accident.”
“We’ll discuss it later. Get your butt up and get out of here.”
The councilors began to protest again as I scrambled to my feet. “Danielle, you can’t let him go! He’s a demon.”
Dani, Gabe, and Ethan all shouted at once. “He’s not a demon!”
Dani and Ethan made sense, but I was surprised to be championed by Gabe. He’s really sensitive about all that Creator/destiny stuff. I would have thought demon possession would be on that list and that he’d be itching to end me right now. I wasn’t the only one surprised by this. For a moment, the chaos in the room froze as everyone in the room looked at him. “I read auras,” he said, irritated. “I would know if he were demon-possessed.”
“I would know as well,” Ethan said. “I can sense demons.”
I sat up with a grunt and glared at Mason. “I’m not possessed. Even Michael said I was fine this morning.”
“You spoke with Michael this morning?” Gabe asked, astonished.
“He’s been training Ethan and me to fight.”
Mason’s jaw dropped. “Michael has been training you to fight?”
When all the councilors gaped at me, I shrugged. “Not to toot my own horn, but the guy has a major soft spot for me. I bet he’ll be pretty pissed if you try to off his protégé.”
That should have been good enough for them, considering the way the council worships the Creator and her angels, but they didn’t even hesitate. “You must be wrong,” Mason said. “Possessed or not, you are using a power that no mortal being should wield. It is evil. You must be stopped before you destroy us all.”
He threw another spell at Dani’s shield, and she grunted against the force of it.
“Here!” Clara thrust her hand to Dani, and she clamped down immediately, borrowing Clara’s magic.
I really didn’t get it. Why didn’t Clara just let me fry, and bask in my demise? That was more her style than playing hero. Not that I wanted to die, but I didn’t like it. It didn’t make sense, and I didn’t want to owe her one.
“Councilor!” Gabe shouted. “You would kill him, just like that? An innocent person who is in favor with the angel Michael?”
“Gabriel, either he’s lying to us, or he’s lying to Michael. The only way someone can use demon magic is if they are possessed or connected to the Dark Angel. You have to earn the right to use it. Only the truly evil can possess such darkness. He must be killed.”
“I’m not evil, you jerk! And I’m not lying, either. I have no idea what happened.”
“Kill him!” he shouted again. “He cannot escape.”
The other councilors attacked again as well. Dani and Clara gasped beneath their efforts, but the shield held—for now. “You can’t just kill him,” Dani said. She sounded as if she was going to puke or pass out.
“I’m sorry, Danielle; he must be stopped.”
“Fine!” Dani cried. “If you want him, then you’ll have to go through me.”
“And through me as well.” Gabe picked up a sword from the pile of weapons at my feet. It was clear he was well trained with the thing. Crap. More cool points to the goober.
“Seer!” one of the councilors—I didn’t know which one—gasped. “You cannot be serious.”
“Regretfully, I am. You have proven yourselves corrupt today. I cannot continue to be part of a council that would kidnap people to serve their own purposes and kill innocents without even trying to figure out what is going on. That could not possibly be the Creator’s will.” He gave Dani a pained frown and said, “I believe we must do as we have spoken of before.”
Dani nodded, looking just as upset. “I’m sorry, Gabriel. I wish it could have turned out differently.”
“As do I.” He crossed the room to Ethan, with a determined look on his face. “Come. I will show you the way. We must hurry.”
Gabe led Ethan and Grace out into the hallway, with Caleb right behind them. Cynthia helped me hobble out, and Dani and Clara backed out slowly. Dani was leaning on Clara as much as Cynthia was holding me up. We were both in pretty bad shape.
Dani’s shield prevented anyone else from following us out of the room. She closed the doors behind us and shut her eyes as she pressed her hands and forehead against the doors. Clara tugged on her arm, but she shrugged the strawberry-blonde witch off. “Just a second.”
She looked worse off than me, and I’d just taken a nasty, lethal spell to the chest. She was really starting to freak me out. “Dani, are you okay?”
After another moment, she turned around and leaned her back against the doors. “They’re sealed in, but I won’t be able to hold them long. A couple minutes, tops. Thank you, Clara. I couldn’t have done that without you.” Her voice trembled again, and she reached up to rub her head. “I haven’t been this weak since the last time I defied the council with you, Russ.”
She was right. She was on the verge of collapsing. I reached for her, but Gabe beat me to it. He placed his hands against her cheeks, and she shivered violently as she sucked in his essence. As if that weren’t bad enough, he kissed her, and the moment their lips touched, Dani exploded into a giant ball of lust. Seriously. She jumped the dude like he was one of the sparkly vampires from those crappy Twilight movies Grace and Cynthia are obsessed with.
I wasn’t surprised by Dani’s enthusiasm. I knew from experience that she got a little carried away when she kissed, but it sucked to be the one watching her kiss like that instead of getting kissed like that. I got that she and Gabe were together now and that he was sharing energy with her to help give her a little strength, but did they really have to stick their tongues down each other’s throats right in front of me?
“All right,” I said, barely suppressing my upchuck reflex, “you two stay here and guard the door, then. Thanks for the help. See you around, I guess.” They were still making out as I turned to Ethan and nodded down the hall in the opposite direction we’d been brought. “This way. The douche has his own secret elevator somewhere in the back of the building near the emergency stairs.”
Dani finally tore herself away from her boy toy and called down the hall to us in a whispered hiss. “Russ, wait. You don’t understand.”
She and Gabe ran after us, hand in hand. She still looked tired, but she had some of the color back in her cheeks. “What? We don’t exactly have time to stick around for a chat.”
Dani shook her head, but it was Gabe that spoke. “We have forfeited our seats on the council. We are leaving the consulate. If you will accept us, we would like to come with you.”
“Dorkwad says what?”
I couldn’t believe it, but the bum was completely serious. He and Dani weren’t just helping us escape; they were flying the coop with us. Dani laughed at my shock and shoved me back into motion, herding us toward the secret elevator. “What? Like you’re the only one allowed to be a rebel? Gabriel and I are going rogue.”
I grinned but my eyes flicked to Gabe, still a bit unbelieving. Dani rolled her eyes and nudged me into motion again. “Hey. Don’t discount my man. He’s cooler than you think. He has tattoos.”
. . . . .
Thanks to Dani’s makeout session with Gabriel the Wonder Pure, she replenished her magic enough to hold her spell on the conference room until we got about a block from the consulate. We were nearing the entrance to the subway when she let out a startled cry and collapsed. She climbed back to her feet with a string of curses that would have made me laugh if I weren’t worried about her.
Gabe was instantly on her like a fly on poop. “Danielle? Are you all right? I am very concerned for you.”
“I’m fine.” She waved him back a little, but didn’t try to stand. Her face looked as pale as a ghost. “Robert and Constance finally broke my spell. They’re probably dispatching the guardians right now.”
“Well, then it’s a good thing we’re already at the train station.” I patted her pale cheek as I passed her, and hurried down the stairs to the subway. “Thanks for the assist, Awesome One.”
I relaxed a little once we were on a train headed out of Manhattan, but it was still going to be a long, tense ride home. We found an empty subway car and I threw myself into a seat, realizing how wasted I was now that the immediate threat was gone. I let my head fall back against the wall of the train. After the last twenty-four hours, I was ready to crash for the next week.
I wasn’t the only one who needed the moment to catch my breath. Clara was pretty exhausted after letting Dani siphon her magic, and Dani still looked completely wrecked.
In the silence, I let my eyes drift shut and welcomed the thought of sleep. A body fell into the seat next to me. I waited for Grace to take my hand and ask if I was all right, but Ethan nudged me with his elbow and asked the question instead. “You okay?”
“Honestly? I don’t know.” If it had been anyone else asking, I’d have said I was fine, but I couldn’t lie to Ethan. I used to blame my inability to BS him on some special warrior power, but really, I just respect him that much. He also wasn’t one to worry or coddle. If he was asking me that question, then I looked as horrid as I felt. It made me wonder how Grace wasn’t all over my case yet.
I cracked my eyes open and met Ethan’s gaze. There was enough uncertainty in his stare that my own fear spiked. Trying to swallow it down, I shrugged my shoulders and lowered my voice as best I could. I knew Cyn and Caleb would hear me with their superhearing, but I didn’t want Grace to know how bad off I really was. “I haven’t really felt the same since my magic crapped out in training last night. Dani gave me a tiny boost, but today was not the day to take a lethal hit from a council witch. I’m lucky I still have a pulse.”
“That wasn’t luck, Russ,” Grace whispered. Judging by how pale she looked, she’d heard my every word. She gave Clara a watery smile and sat down on my other side. “Thanks for saving his life.”
I gritted my teeth, wishing I could deny it, but the witch had, in fact, kept me alive today. The fact that I didn’t argue was the closest thing to a thank-you she was going to get from me. It was also enough to confirm to Grace that I would have died otherwise. Sniffling, she leaned against me. I wrapped my arm around her to comfort her, and realized she was shaking. “Gracie? You okay?”
The concern in my voice had Ethan stiffening in his chair. He went silent as he concentrated on her feelings, then gave her the world’s biggest worry-frown. “What’s wrong, Grace? I don’t understand what I’m feeling. You need to try to calm down, if you can.”
Grace looked at me, then to Cynthia. When she finally met Ethan’s gaze, she blurted the last thing any of us expected. “I want to accept your oath.”
All of us froze. There was no way we’d heard her correctly.
“Your vow, Ethan. You’re warrior’s bond. I want to accept it.”
Nope. We’d heard her right. But it didn’t make any sense.
; There was a reason Grace had never accepted Ethan’s warrior’s oath. Once their bond was formed, they’d be connected in all these insane ways. Grace was scared that it would take away her free will and make her fall madly in love with him or something. Admittedly, that sounded like exactly what would happen. So why the heck was she suddenly spouting nonsense about accepting him now, after all these months?
“What?” Ethan gasped. He was in even more shock than I was.
“I’m ready,” Grace promised. “Right now.”
“Why—”
“This was my fault. You asked me to stay home, but I was so worried I didn’t listen. I didn’t trust you were being honest with me.”
Ethan flinched, as if she’d slapped him.
Grace’s tears spilled over her cheeks as her eyes bounced back and forth between Ethan and me. “You guys keep things from me. I know you’re just trying to protect me, but it creates this wall between us. Maybe if our bond was complete, you would understand that I’m strong enough to know what’s going on, and I could trust your orders.”
“Grace, I’m so sorry.” Ethan knelt in front of Grace so they were at eye level. Taking her hands, he kissed the back of them. More tears streaked down her face. “I never meant to shut you out. I know how strong you are. I just worry about you so much. You don’t understand how strong this connection I feel is. If anything ever happened to you, I—” His voice gave out. “It would destroy me.”
Grace squeezed her eyes shut and shocked me again when she pressed her lips to Ethan’s hands the way he’d just kissed hers. His eyes went wide and the back of his neck flushed pink. I wanted to tease him about it, but even I knew now wasn’t the time for a joke.
“All the more reason I need to accept your bond, Ethan. I’ve been scared, stubborn, and just plain selfish. You’re right; I don’t know how strong your connection to me is, but I need to. I need to understand exactly who and what you are to me. I need to know how you feel. I need to be able to trust you. If I’d done what you asked and stayed home today, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“Gracie, that’s not—” She shut me up with a glare.