by Cecilia Lane
It was suddenly too much to look at her mother’s still form. She turned away and buried her face in Chase’s chest. She shuddered against him and his strong arms encircled her as another trembling wave overtook her. She’d come so close to losing the last piece of her family. Shock and relief warred inside her.
“It was a shifter that took Raina,” she started quietly. “It destroyed our mother. She didn’t leave the house after Raina disappeared. She didn’t speak. I don’t think I’ve seen her move since then. She sat and stared out the window at the shifter cabin. This would never have happened if shifters had just stayed away and I could control myself. Raina would still be here. My mother would still be up and active. The demon would never have come out of the circle because I never would be in the position of trying to summon something to drive you away.”
He held her close as she babbled. The strong hand stroked her hair and down her back. The heat from his palm transferred to her body and melted away her hysterics.
“That’s incredibly unfair to you.”
She pulled away and looked at him in confusion.
“She wasn’t the only one who lost someone. You lost a sister. You deserved the time to mourn that loss. You just picked everything up, didn’t you? The work of three, on the shoulders of one.”
She shrugged uncomfortably. It didn’t feel right to dredge up the anger while her mother was on her possible deathbed. But he had a point. She hadn’t taken the time to process Raina leaving with her shifter. She’d simply rolled up her sleeves and got to work running the resort.
“We’re not all bad, you know.”
She flicked her eyes to Chase again.
“Shifters. We’re not all bad. Some of us even offer to help ladies in distress. And it sounds like they may have been mates. There’s not much a disapproving mother can do to keep mates apart.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“She left you, didn’t she? That couldn’t have been an easy choice to make.”
“She could have said something. I would have understood if she’d just told me.”
Chase’s fingertips traced the back of her hand. “Who can say she didn’t try? Maybe she told your mother and didn’t have a chance to speak to you before she had to leave. If I’ve learned anything about you Wren women, it’s cast spells first, ask questions later.”
She shoved at his chest without a hint of power. Still, he pretended to sway at her mock blow. “Don’t say that.”
“If she made her decision to be with her mate, then there was nothing that would hold her back. The power between mates is… Well, it’s the strongest thing in a shifter’s life. Once you find your mate, it’s as if the whole world becomes that person. Even humans can feel the pull of it. An undeniable attraction.” His dark eyes studied her face until she felt her cheeks redden and she looked away.
She felt something pulling her to him, that was true. She’d felt it in the cave when she woke nearly naked in his arms and it’d only grown stronger since then. Every time their skin connected, even the smallest touch, it sent a jolt of electricity through her. If their roles were reversed, would she have gone with him and left Raina behind? She had one hell of a hard time convincing herself that she’d stay.
It was the stillness of the bed that brought her back to reality. Her mother had nearly died—still could die—and someone was needed to run the resort. As much as she dreamed of traveling and having adventures, she was needed at home. For the first time, though, she could see how the need chained her in place and she chafed under that restraint.
She sniffled and tried to smile, but even the pretense of happiness was difficult to manage. Even the attraction she felt for Chase didn’t change the feeling that the world was falling apart. “You’re right. You tried to help. And Raina made her choice to leave. But my mother is still just laying there and the demon is going to win.”
“You can’t think like that.”
“It’s true! It’s going to win. It’s toying with us right now and when it’s done, it’ll destroy the world. I can’t even banish the damn thing! The nearest witch can’t possibly be here in time, even if we could call out.”
“We’ll figure something out.”
She wiped at the tears that threatened to stream down her cheeks. She sounded like a crazy person, switching from subject to subject. She couldn’t focus on any one thing. There was just too much to consider. Was she going truly mad? “She can’t die. I’m too scared to be alone.”
Chase tugged her back into his arms. “Shh. You’re not alone. I’m here and I’m your ma—I’ve been through it before. You won’t have to go through it alone. Besides, you’re getting ahead of yourself. There’s every chance that she’ll live.”
He rocked her against his chest for what felt like hours. She wept for her sister, living somewhere in the world with no idea of how her family fared at that moment. She cried for her mother, captured and drained of her magic because of her own selfish mistake. And she cried because, after it all and no matter what she wanted, she’d be separated from Chase. She was a witch and he a shifter, she a criminal and he an agent. She stood no chance of holding on to him.
Her eyes hurt when her tears finally stopped, her eyelids heavy and swollen. She knew she must look like a mess. But knowing and caring were two entirely different things.
Chase sounded as torn as she felt when he finally spoke again. “I’m going to try my cell again. I won’t go far.”
“You can’t go outside alone. It could be waiting for one of us to step outside.” She shook her head against his chest.
“I promise I won’t let the cabin out of my sight. We need to let someone know what’s going on.” He extricated himself from her arms and she turned back to her mother without another word. There was an unspoken conclusion to his thought. If we don’t make it. She didn’t look up when he exited the bedroom and then the cabin.
Studying her mother’s still face, Ari grabbed on to the numbness inside her with both hands. There was strength in feeling nothing at that moment and she clung to it. Charlotte Wren wouldn’t want her daughter weeping at her bedside as the world fell apart outside. She had to see the events through to hopefully prevent any mothers from dying.
There was nothing to do but roll up her sleeves and get to work, again. She just didn’t know what step to take next. They needed to find the demon again. But without the book and knowing the trinket couldn’t really hold the demon in place, she felt helpless. The want for her mother to be a vibrant figure in her life had turned into a need. If Charlotte woke, maybe she could tell her what was needed for the banishment spell.
Ariadne twisted the ring on her finger. It’d given her an extra bit of strength to aid creating the protection line in the cave. She could feel a little touch of magic remaining inside. She didn’t want to chance using up all her magic; she’d need it for any battle with the greater demon. But perhaps what remained in the ring would help her mother recover.
She pushed the ring over her mother’s finger and concentrated on the well of magic inside. She didn’t want to draw it into herself. It needed to be directed into her mother. It was a tricky bit of concentration and focus and she sat back quickly when she felt the flow of it reverse from outward to her to inward and her mother.
Her mother’s lips returned to a normal color almost immediately. Her skin lost the pale and papery complexion as more and more blood flowed to the surface of her skin. It wasn’t long before she could see the blankets rising and falling with normal breathing.
She waited nervously. Hours, Chase had said. That’s how long it took for her to come out of her magical exhaustion. Would the extra dram of magic from the ring be enough to wake Charlotte sooner? Ari’s heart stuttered on the sudden thought that nothing would change even if her mother did wake. She didn’t want to imagine that her mother would sink right back into her silence.
The minutes stretched on. Ari’s breath caught when she saw her mother’s eyes moving under
her eyelids, as if she were deep in a dream. It was still more movement than she’d seen since the demon let her fall to the ground in their clearing.
When her mother’s eyes opened, Ari nearly fainted away with relief.
“Ari? What happened?” Her clear eyes roved around the room. Her lips pressed together in recognition. “What are we doing in the shifter cabin?”
Ari grinned. Quiet as it was, it was the first time she’d heard her mother’s voice in months. The woman looked around like normal, taking in all the details of the room. Ari dashed the tears from the corners of her eyes and tried to quickly explain. “You were taken by a greater demon, Mama. It used up your magic to summon lesser demons. If it weren’t for Chase—”
“Is that a shifter?”
“Yes. Chase Parker. He’s a,” Ari pursed her lips and thought better of informing her mother of Chase’s status as an Arcane Affairs agent. “He carried you back here when you collapsed.”
Charlotte Wren’s frown deepened. “I guess they’re useful for something.”
She faltered. She expected a happy moment, but there was nothing happy in her mother’s voice. Ari’s brows furrowed together. It deeply bothered her that the woman was more concerned with a shifter than how she’d come to be taken by a greater demon. “He’s been very helpful, Mama. He’s fought the demon several times now, even taking injuries himself to protect me. He’s as determined to banish this thing as I am.”
Her mother gave her an appraising look and tried to struggle to a seated position. “I won’t lose another daughter to one of them!”
Ari quickly shook her head. “It’s not like that, I swear. He’s helping me. That’s all.”
“You’re a horrible liar, Ariadne. Always have been. You’re going to run off with this shifter just like you sister ran off. Both of you, abandoning your poor mother. You should have left me to die.”
“Don’t say things like that!”
“That’s what I’ll do when both of my wretched daughters have left me all alone.”
A soft knock on the doorframe made her turn and her mother’s mutters quiet. Chase stood between the rooms, worry on his face. “I heard a commotion. Everything okay?”
Charlotte’s face turned from pitying frown to red anger. “Don’t you come one step closer, shifter! I won’t have you getting any ideas of taking advantage of a poor old woman like myself. Or my sweet little daughter.”
Chase raised his hands and glanced between Ari and her mother. “I meant no harm, ma’am. Glad to see you’re awake and speaking.”
“I don’t know what lies Ariadne’s been telling you—!”
“Mama, please. Now is not the time,” Ari tried to soothe her mother to quiet. She’d spent long months wanting her to speak and found she couldn’t wait for the silence to swell between them again. “Mama, do you know the spell for banishing a greater demon?”
“I do not. Why would I need such wicked magic in my head? It’s only in the book for an emergency. Really, Ariadne, this shifter is leading you to all kinds of trouble.”
“Mama, it was me who summoned the demon in the first place. Stop trying to blame Chase for anything. I did it. I didn’t mean to, but my actions caused it to happen. If you’re going to be upset at anyone, it should be me.” Ari slapped her hands over her mouth at the end of her outburst. She’d never spoken so harshly to her mother. She’d always tried to soothe over anything wrong in their lives and that meant there was no room for disagreements.
“I do not like this attitude, Ariadne. You will not tell me how to feel. Now, get me out of this bed. I don’t want to lay in filth any longer.” She struggled to free herself from the binding blankets.
“Stay here, Mama. We don’t know where the demon is, or if it’ll look for you again. Stay here until I get back.” She stood and turned on her heel, hurrying from the bedroom and shutting the door firmly closed behind her before her mother could say another word.
On the other side, her chin quivered and she wiped away another few tears before she found her voice. It took everything in her to fight the urge to obey her mother’s command, fool headed as it was. “Well, we still need to find the book and banish the demon. I can deal with her later.”
Chase’s eyes slid to the side and she knew he was taking in the closed door and what he’d seen with it open. She knew her mother wasn’t an easy woman to be around and she was even less welcoming to shifters. Charlotte had been able to cram down her ill temper for guests, but the months of silence appeared to have worn away that ability and Chase was an easy target for her ire. Ari could only imagine the words he had on the tip of his tongue. She heard them in her head. Harpy. Horrible woman. Embarrassment.
After a long moment, he simply nodded and asked, “Where do you think the demon went?”
“It’s injured. It’s probably holed up somewhere and preparing to finish us off. It wanted our magic, but it’s done playing with us. It was using her blood to summon the lesser demons. I don’t think it expected her to survive when it released her…” She trailed off, eyes unfocused. “It might be back at my home. I’d be expected to go there to deal with her body.”
Chase growled low in his throat. “I don’t like the idea that it’s been so close this entire time.”
“Neither do I. But it’s only one of many places to check. We don’t know what it’s planning.” She hurried past him and started reorganizing the pack of magical supplies and weapons. She took the shorts that Chase again handed her and stuffed them into the bottom. The supplies she kept at the top might not do any good or they might save the world. She couldn’t just sit around and wait for the demon to make a move; she had to try something.
Chapter Nine
Chase let Ari have her determination. He recognized the hard set of her jaw and the flashing anger in her eyes. Sometimes a person needed to hold on to whatever turmoil they had inside them to get through their predicament.
While she checked and stuffed the items in her bag, he checked that his Glock 22 was loaded and ready to go. Ari had an extra box of bullets in the bag, but he wasn’t sure there would ever be enough time or bullets to shoot his way through the pack of lesser demons. The fangs of his bear had proven useful enough against the greater demon, even if the monster had managed to slink away. He wouldn’t go into battle without a backup weapon, though.
“Were you able to get anyone on the phone?” Ari’s voice was quiet in the room.
Stepping outside to try finding a signal for his cell seemed like ages ago. He kept his promise to her and didn’t let the cabin out of his sight. The scent of the decaying, hellish demons had been thick and he didn’t want to leave her alone in case they tried to get at her again. But his brief wander had yielded no cell signal and no demons.
He shook his head. “No one. I think whatever the demon did to the landlines, it did to the cell towers. We’re cut off.”
She shouldered the pack. “There’s nothing to do but try to find the book, then. We have to fix this before it gets bored of its game and turns an eye to the rest of the world.”
The determination that lined her curvy form struck a cord in him. She was all power when she needed to be. She had experience in getting down to the hard business when there were no other options and this time was no different. Chase nearly grinned. He’d already been on her bad side and he didn’t want to find his way back there.
“Hold on there, tiger. We need some sort of plan before we rush in there, guns blazing.”
“I think that’s exactly the plan. We need the book before anything else can happen. I think you’re going to need to distract the thing while I find the banishment spell. Do you have any better ideas?”
He was all out of ideas unless he could suggest the almost overpowering one to get her to safety. At the core, he knew her plan was likely their only option. He was the brawn and she the brain. She couldn’t be expected to challenge the demon just as he couldn’t be expected to suddenly know how to do magic.
Wi
thout a better plan or further objections, they crossed the space between the cabins in silence. The first step to her door creaked under his weight. He paused before placing his foot on the next step, but he could hear nothing rushing toward them. He plastered himself against the doorframe and reached to press Ari as close to the wall as possible. She was a small target blocked by his body if anything jumped out of the door at them.
Chase eased open the front door and listened hard to anything inside. The stench hit him full in the face, stronger than the scent outside, but he heard nothing to suggest anything lurked in waiting. He held the door open and motioned for Ari to follow after him, but he had a feeling that their plan was already in need of a new strategy.
Not much had changed from the last time he’d been inside the home. Ari had rummaged through some things to find the trinket she needed, but the destruction had already been done when the greater demon blew through and took Charlotte Wren captive.
He rounded a corner and pulled up sharply. A new addition had been scrawled on the wall. He turned and tried to push Ari back outside before she saw, but the little wench ducked under his arm and shot past him.
Red lines of blood were smeared on the walls. The letters were scrawled in an awkward hand and the horrible ink dripped to pool on the floor below.
Find me, little witch…
Ari gagged and pulled her shirt over her nose to block as much of the smell as possible. Her eyes went wide over the hem as soon as she took in the scene. “It wants me.”
“It’s not getting you,” Chase told her. He holstered the gun in his hand. He wanted to draw her into his arms and tell her everything would be okay, but he couldn’t make that promise. They had no way of knowing what they’d find when they finally confronted the demon.
“Gather whatever you think you might need. We’ll check the other guests and make sure nothing has happened to them.”
Ari nodded silently and moved past the words on the wall. He saw her dip into one of the rooms. He kept on of his ears trained on her while he checked the windows of the kitchen and living room. Nothing moved outside of the house that he could see.