by Sammie Joyce
“You can still have my soul. I just need a week in the world of life. To say goodbye.”
“Oh yeah? And I suppose you’ll be a good sport and kill yourself to come to me at the end of that week?”
“You don’t have to take my word for it. I’ll sign a contract.”
“Hm, so you do know what’s what down here. Alright, you’ll have your week.”
Mace didn’t know what it would feel like for his soul to be eaten, but he doubted it would be pleasant. Still, if that meant Rose, Hope, and his brothers were safe, it was a price he was willing to pay.
Grilth got out a piece of paper and started writing the contract. It was quite simple, really. Mace would have one week on Earth, alive, and then his soul would be pulled back to hell, straight to Grilth.
Mace hesitated with the pen in his hand. If there was any other way to do this, now would be the time for it to come to him.
No stroke of inspiration came.
This was the only way.
Mace signed the contract.
“Done,” Grilth snarled. “You lot should learn to read contracts better.”
Fear flooded Mace’s insides. “What do you mean?”
“You never said where you wanted to come out, or which powers you wanted to have when you did.”
“Powers?”
“I know what you are. We’ve got our fair share of dragons and witches down here. You lot have been pretty nasty to each other over the years. No matter. I doubt you’ll see your kind again.”
“Wait, that’s not—”
It was too late. There was a blinding flash of light, and Grilth was gone.
Mace looked around. He was back in the world of life… but he didn’t know where he was. It was some kind of jungle, but Mace couldn’t tell which part of the world it was in. No matter.
Rose. Asher, Jagger, Gavin. I’m back.
There was no response. His own voice bounced back at him, just as it had done every time Mace had tried to communicate with people here while he was in hell.
His heart sank. He thought he understood Grilth’s comments now. The demon had likely sent him to the furthest corner of the world he could find. Without mental communication, Mace would have to fly to Rose himself. He was betting that wherever he was, a week’s flying wasn’t going to get him from here to Rose.
If he knew her phone number off by heart, he could just try to make it to the nearest phone booth, but the number was saved on his phone. He’d never thought he needed to learn it. Without his mental speech, he was completely helpless.
The pillar of despair was no longer near him, though. Mace wasn’t just going to give up. Grilth may have calculated how far to put him to make him just out of reach of Rose in a week’s travel, but Grilth had likely counted on Mace resting, eating, and sleeping.
Mace leapt up through the trees, until he got to the very top branches. He jumped once more and shifted into his dragon form once above the trees. He flapped his wings, letting the wind catch them, and was soon soaring through the sky.
At least he could still shift. Mace thought he understood Grilth. The demon wanted to cause maximum suffering. Mace didn’t think he was impossibly far away—just a little more than a week’s travel. It would be worse if he got close, thinking he could make it, and then was pulled away at the last moment. Grilth probably would have made it so that would happen.
Of course, that was only a guess, but guesses were all Mace had to go on at the moment. He needed to find the nearest town, figure out where he was, and then set off toward the coven.
All he could hope for now was enough time to warn Rose and his brothers before he was pulled back into hell, this time for good.
Chapter Ten
Rose was talking to Asher through their mental link when it happened. He paused, concentrating intensely on something.
Asher?
Rose switched her vision so that she was looking through his eyes. She didn’t see anything, but Asher suddenly put Hope down in her crib and shifted to his dragon form.
He soared through the sky, heading in the opposite direction from the coven. Rose knew it must be something serious if he was willing to leave Hope on her own, even for a few minutes.
It wasn’t long before she started to see a green shape in the sky.
Rose would recognize that shape anywhere.
Mace!
He didn’t answer her. It was like her voice was bouncing back against an invisible wall.
There was clearly something wrong with him. Mace’s wings were beating choppily, and his head was drooping in midair. He looked beyond exhausted.
Asher circled around Mace, trying to talk to him mentally, but he had no more success than Rose had. Eventually, Asher headed back to the rocky place where he and Hope were staying. Mace followed. He landed badly, clearly too worn out to do it properly.
The moment he transformed to his human form, Asher rushed toward him, managing to catch Mace as he fell.
“Asher…”
“Shh, just relax. You’re exhausted.”
“No… listen. I don’t have much time left. A few minutes at most. He didn’t take sleeping into account.”
“What are you talking about, Mace? I think you’re confused—”
“No! Hell isn’t ready. I didn’t manage to destroy the armor around all of the pillars. You’re going to need to think of another plan. Some way to get through the armor before you set the bombs off. There are demons patrolling, but they’re not hard to avoid. As long as the pillars don’t get you. Despair and sadness are the worst… but it was apathy that got me caught.”
Mace was rambling, and Rose only understood about half of what he was saying, but the important part was that they would need to change their plan.
“Alright, Mace, alright. You sleep, now. I’ll contact the coven and tell them that we need to approach the pillars differently than we had planned to.”
“Not yet… I need to talk to Rose. Call her. Now.”
“You need rest—”
“No time. Please, Asher.”
Do it. Rose had no idea why Mace’s mental communication was blocked, but he looked so woebegone that she wasn’t about to deny him anything.
Asher dialed her number and held the phone to Mace’s ear, evidently not trusting that Mace’s muscles wouldn’t give up and drop it.
Rose snatched up her phone the moment it rang. “Mace!”
“Rose… I love you.”
“I love you too! I’m so glad you’re back.” It would take him some time to recover, but Mace didn’t seem injured, just exhausted.
“Listen, Rose… I could go at any second… I made a deal… I’m going to be pulled back to hell. My soul… they’re going to eat it.”
The words bounced around and around in Rose’s mind. Mace had made a deal to get out of hell. He must have been captured, and sold his soul to warn them.
“No,” Rose whispered. “No,” she repeated more loudly. “I am not losing you!”
She dashed through the mansion, shrieking for Maria.
Maria flew out of a door in one of the teaching rooms. “Rose, what is it?”
“Mace—Maria, he may only have seconds. We need to stop his soul being pulled back to hell. He made a deal—”
Rose thanked any gods who were listening that Maria wasn’t one to waste time in a crisis. She grabbed Rose’s wrist so tightly that it hurt. There was a whooshing sound, and they were suddenly standing next to Mace.
“Shield spell, now. You add the power, I’ll make it specific to prevent a soul being taken.” Maria sounded almost as exhausted as Mace. Teleportation spells were hardly ever used, due to them being so taxing.
Maria wouldn’t be up to much now in terms of power, but if Rose could get her necklace to contribute the necessary energy, Maria still had the skill to turn that energy into a spell Rose had never even heard of.
She threw up her most powerful shield around Mace. Maria started muttering incantations Rose had n
ever heard before. Rose’s necklace glowed. She was lucky she’d been wearing it instead of Annabelle when Mace had called. She once more vowed to herself never to let go of it.
“Asher, call Jagger and Gavin. Tell them to bring help. Maria and I can’t maintain this forever.”
Rose didn’t wait to see if Asher did it. That brief instruction was all the concentration she could spare from the shield spell. Maria was drawing power from it, adding aspects that Rose could only hope would protect Mace from the contract he’d signed.
A flash of dark red light leapt up from the ground, heading straight for Mace. Rose screamed, but managed to keep her energy invested in the shield.
The red light bounced right off the shield. Maria staggered, but stayed on her feet. Rose’s necklace was so hot it was almost painful. Maria kept speaking for a minute before finally slumping to the ground.
“It’s done. That should hold until we can get reinforcements in here.”
Rose cautiously let go of her shield spell. The shield still stood. Maria had done something to make it semi-permanent. It wouldn’t need any more concentration or energy now, unless the attempts from hell to snatch Mace’s soul became more powerful.
Mace was lying on the ground, face up, breathing deeply.
“Mace?” Rose knelt down beside him. “Was that light the demon you promised your soul to?”
“I think it was the contract. When Grilth finds out I’ve somehow cheated him, I’m sure he’ll send something more powerful.”
“So we don’t have long.”
Mace shrugged. “He’s the head of the pit guard. I’m sure he has other things to do.”
Maria and Asher crowded in around Mace. Asher was holding Hope, who was thankfully still sleeping.
“I’ve sent out a call. Jagger and Gavin will get together a group and bring them over. What’s the plan, Maria?”
“We’ll do a similar shield to this temporary one Rose and I did, but we’ll invest it in objects, so that it can be moved. We’ll take Mace back to the coven and keep him under the shields until we can destroy that contract. I dare say it’ll be destroyed with the rest of hell.”
“How are you going to destroy it? I failed. I didn’t take down all the shielding around the pillars.”
“Hey, it’s okay.” Rose moved close to him, urging Mace to lie down with his head in her lap. “You did your best.”
“You don’t even know what I did. You weren’t…”
For a panicked moment, Rose thought Mace had passed out, but then she realized he had simply fallen asleep mid-sentence. As curious as she was about exactly what had happened in hell, Rose didn’t try to wake him. He looked like he could use the rest.
Asher moved closer to her, so that Rose could lean into him. Even though the circumstances weren’t ideal, being with Asher and Mace again was divine. Rose would happily stay here forever, if it wasn’t for the myriad of problems that faced them.
Now that Mace’s presence in hell had been discovered, the demons may well check the pillars. The bombs the coven had been making were designed to destroy the core of the pillars, not the outer protection.
In the two hours that it took their backup to arrive, none of them spoke much, and Mace remained asleep.
Rose smiled in relief when shadows darkened the skies. Three dragons, carrying seven witches. They all landed and crowded around Mace. Rose couldn’t seem to take her eyes off his face, so Maria explained the situation. Jagger, Gavin, and Dane set up a perimeter around Maria and the other witches.
The coven had brought various objects that were magically prepared to receive spells. Rose dragged herself to her feet. “Alright. Let’s do this.”
She followed Maria’s instructions, putting up a shield around a large wooden amulet hanging from a leather thong.
Her necklace glowed and pulsed as the coven worked. It was taxing work, even with her necklace. Rose’s energy levels started to dip about ten minutes into the spell. Putting magic into an object was much more time- and energy-consuming than an ordinary spell.
“Rose, back out.” Maria gestured for her to stand away from the circle of witches and beckoned Emily forward. Rose at first hadn’t seen the sense in dividing them into two groups, but she did now. They could all take shifts until the spell around the amulet was complete.
Mace woke up about halfway through the spell. Maria and Dane quickly went to his side, asking questions and examining him.
“He’s not hurt.” Maria turned to Rose and Asher. “He’s just exhausted. He pushed himself too hard trying to get here in time, but with some rest, he’ll be okay.”
By the time they were wrapping up the spell, Hope was stirring. Asher hurried away with her, in case she started crying. Rose might be getting Mace back, but Asher would be exiled until they found a way to control Hope’s powers without hurting her.
Just as the spell was ending, there was another red flash of light. Everyone winced, but it was deflected by the shield, just like the last one.
Maria placed the amulet around Mace’s neck. “I know I don’t need to tell you not to take this off, even for a moment.”
“Trust me, I am not keen to get my soul eaten. I’ll keep the amulet on.”
“We should get you back.” Dane helped Mace to his feet.” You’ll rest better in your own bed. Once you’ve had some more time to recover, you can tell us everything.”
“Thanks. Asher, can you fly me back? I don’t think I’m up for a flight right now.”
“Jagger will have to take you. Hope and I need to stay here.”
“What?” Mace looked around. “What is this place, anyway? Not that I’m complaining, but I never expected to find you so far from the coven.”
Asher and Rose both winced. Jagger quickly explained the situation to Mace. He stared between Rose and Hope, horrified. “But… she needs her mother.”
“And she’ll have her,” Gavin insisted. “We just need to make sure she’s safe first. But our first priority has to be destroying hell. Hope is safe here for now.”
Mace looked like he wanted to argue, but was too tired.
Jagger shifted and nudged Mace with his tail. Rose climbed up behind him, just in case Mace passed out. She held tightly to his waist for the whole flight, relishing the warmth of him. Maria was behind her, holding on just as tightly, leaving Rose in a warm sandwich of bodies.
When they arrived back at the coven, Rose managed to convince Maria not to have a meeting about their renewed strategy right away.
“We need all the information from Mace, when he’s in a condition to give us that information. Let’s just pause the project for now. Tomorrow, after he’s slept, we’ll modify the plan.”
A number of witches didn’t seem happy, but they weren’t Rose’s priority. Mace was. She led him to their basement room and tucked him into bed. Mace was asleep before Rose had finished pulling the blankets over him.
She snuggled down next to him. It was still hours before bedtime, but the spell had drained her, and she found herself drifting off quickly.
When Rose woke, it was the next morning. Jagger and Gavin were up already, but Mace was still fast asleep. Rose didn’t want to wake him, but she also didn’t want to leave his side. She reached over to the nightstand and pulled her Kindle out of the drawer.
Rose spent two hours reading before Mace woke, at which point her stomach was grumbling. Mace blinked, his eyes finding hers. “Hello.”
“Hey.” Rose kissed him lightly on the lips. “Are you conscious this time?”
“What happened?”
“Asher found you flying toward the coven, practically asleep on your wings. You told us that we had to change the plan, that you hadn’t managed to destroy all of the pillars. Don’t you remember?”
“Bits and pieces. I’m still so tired…”
“You can go back to sleep,” Rose said at once. “How long since you last slept anyway?”
“I flew for a week without rest, except to drink some water wh
enever I passed a river. I think I was hallucinating toward the end. I’m fairly certain that the sun and moon didn’t have faces and weren’t making out in the sky while the stars danced circles around them.”
Rose burst out laughing. “Oh, you have to tell that one to Jagger. It’s brilliant.”
Mace shrugged. “It made sense at the time.”
“You should rest some more.”
“No. I’ll rest after I report to the coven. I need to tell them exactly what—”
Mace broke off, staring into the distance. Rose watched the color drain from his face. He grabbed her shoulders. “Rose, I don’t know how much time I have—”
“Mace, relax! You told us about the deal you made, remember? We took care of it. That’s what the amulet you’re wearing is for.”
“Oh yes, I remember now…”
Rose peered worriedly at him from under her eyelids. Was he really okay? Should she get Dane or Maria?
“I’m fine, Rose.”
“You can read my mind again?”
“No, just your expression. We’ll need to find a way to get over this mental communication block. I miss having you in my head.”
“Me too.” Rose sighed, pulling Mace closer, but no amount of physical closeness could restore the mental bond they should have. She kissed Mace again, slower this time. She pulled his bottom lip into her mouth, sucking gently. Mace had the softest lips of all of her dragons, and Rose couldn’t get enough of them.
His tongue prodded at her lips, requesting entrance, which Rose eagerly granted. She tilted her head back, pulling Mace’s tongue into her mouth as deep as it would go. Mace groaned and clutched her tighter, but it was clear he wasn’t up to much activity.
Exhaustion still shadowed his movements. Rose imagined it would be quite some time before he was back to normal. A week without sleep… she couldn’t even imagine it. The willpower Mace had displayed to keep going was incredible.
“Just lie back.” Rose put a hand on his chest, urging him onto his back. Mace did as she asked, looking up at her with eyes dark with lust.
Rose’s own body was demanding that Mace’s cock get into her pussy right now, but she ignored it. She instead untied Mace’s pants and started stroking his cock. He hardened quickly for her, at which point Rose took him into her mouth.