by Robyn Bachar
“I am also prepared,” Harvey said.
“Well, then. Shall we?” Faust suggested.
“Right.” No time like the present to get us all killed.
The circle was massive, encompassing the entire living area of Faust’s condo and even edging into the kitchen. Bigger was often better as far as summoning was concerned. Normally I’d have Harvey outside the border in case the circle failed, ready to tackle our target and prevent its escape, but tonight both Harvey and Faust were in the circle with me. Their job was to keep Kris busy while I cast the banishing spell. A normal banishing spell is a few lines of text and a component or two, but because I needed so much extra power to boot him, this was going to be a long, drawn-out ritual. I prayed that it worked, because we would all die if it didn’t. Well, Harvey and I would probably die, Faust might make it.
As always, the first step to creating the circle was summoning the elements—four corners, four elements. I took wind and water, and let Faust have earth and fire, due to this Infernus roots. Now that I understood his background better, I knew he wasn’t just a fire faerie, but more like a lava faerie. My Fiera relatives are pure fire, so it was a sign of the growth in our relationship that I’d handed the element over to him.
After the elements were present, I nodded to Harvey at the edge of the circle. He opened a vein in his wrist with one long claw, and dripped a trail of blood as he walked the circumference of the spell. When he returned to his starting point the magic sealed with an audible snap, and the perimeter glowed with white heat.
“Be ready,” I warned.
“Always, my love,” Faust replied. Harvey made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort, but I let him slide. Faust’s flaming sword appeared in his hand as I crossed to the center of the circle.
“Let’s hope he’s listening,” I muttered.
I didn’t know Kris’s True Name, and that made everything more difficult. His common name, Kristoff Valkyrie, didn’t hold much power, but because he was gunning for me I was counting on the fact that he’d come when I called. A small cast-iron cauldron waited in the circle’s center, and I sliced a shallow cut into the palm of my right hand and squeezed three drops of blood into it. I called out Kris’s name, and he appeared, right on schedule.
Unfortunately, he brought backup. A half-dozen shadow demon minions surrounded him, armed and armored like pint-sized bodyguards. Kris smiled at me, and I shuddered. My bodyguard squad leapt into action and attacked, and I covered myself in a protective layer of flames. Thankfully I’d come prepared and worn one of my fireproof suits. The thing was black, skintight and looked like a wetsuit, but I wouldn’t have to run around stark naked while casting the spell. And it made me feel a bit like Emma Peel, so that was an added bonus.
I did my best to ignore the chaos around me as I began the banishing spell. There were four physical components—one for each element—and I dropped the first two ingredients into the cauldron. One of Kris’s demon minions bowled me over before I could add the third. Dagger-like teeth snapped at my face, barely missing the tip of my nose, and I grabbed the bastard and shoved him off me. The armor weighed him down, and I stopped chanting as I grunted with the effort. Luckily he’d been disarmed, and I only had to worry about being attacked with jaws and claws instead of a sword. When he came at me again, I cast a smaller banishing spell, and he popped back to the shadow realm.
My attacker gone, I returned my attention to the big, bad spell, but I noticed that the demon I’d just dealt with was the only minion who’d been booted from the fray. “Banish the little ones,” I reminded Faust. Harvey couldn’t banish on his own, and Faust was still adjusting to the idea.
“Right.” Faust nodded, and I was relieved to see that he was still in one piece as he kept Kris at bay.
“You won’t be able to banish me,” Kris snarled.
I plopped the third ingredient into the cauldron. “Care to wager on that?”
Kris lunged in my direction, but Faust intercepted him, and I was free to continue the spell. I picked up the chant where I left off, silently praying that it worked, and then added the last component. Magic surged from the cauldron in a potent ring, and the remaining minions disappeared.
“Ha! I knew you couldn’t do it,” Kris taunted.
“I’m not done,” I replied. I plunged my hands into the cauldron, and the flames surrounding me turned black.
It might’ve been a trick of the light, but I swore Kris paled. Though he feinted in my direction, he turned and tore into Faust, clawing deep gashes into my sweetie’s chest, and I screamed as Faust stumbled and fell back. Harvey tackled Kris’s legs like a Monster of the Midway, and the demon went down. With a battle cry, I threw myself into the fray and clamped my burning hands around Kris’s throat. He struggled and nearly bucked me off, and as I began the final chant, Kris got in one good punch across my jaw. Pain blossomed through my head, but I spat out a mouthful of blood and continued.
When I spoke the final word, the room seemed to pause for a moment, as though holding its breath, and then I was sent flying by a sonic boom that rang my bell and scattered my team. I smacked into the edge of the circle as though the barrier was as solid as a concrete wall, and thudded to the floor.
For a long moment I stared up at the ceiling, cataloging each bump and bruise as it made its presence known, and then Harvey’s skinless face hovered above me.
“Mistress, are you all right?” he asked.
“Did it work?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Then I’m fine. Help me up.”
Harvey hauled me to my feet, and I looked for Faust. The blast of magic was contained within the circle, so the room outside had survived unscathed. Inside, the floor was scorched and scarred, and I spotted Faust lying near the center. I hurried over and knelt beside him.
“Are you okay?” I asked. He wasn’t bleeding, but his shirt and the jacket of his simple gray suit were torn, and slashes were ripped through his pants as though he’d rumbled with a blender. He blinked, his brow furrowed and then he nodded.
“I’m well. Just a bit startled.” He tried a reassuring smile, but it didn’t meet his eyes. He looked worried, and something cold and icy fluttered in my stomach.
“Are you sure?”
“Quite.” With a grunt he struggled to sit up, and I glared at Harvey until he helped me get Faust upright.
“You don’t look well,” Harvey commented.
“I just need a bit of fresh air. If you would be so kind as to fetch our coats?” he replied.
Because Millennium Park wasn’t far from Faust’s condo, we had decided to head to the Cloud Gate on foot. It would cut down on parking-related drama, and our cars were a tad bit conspicuous. No doubt Harrison’s assassins were on the lookout for our vehicles. Walking was sure to confuse them, because, from my experience, vampires hated walking anywhere. Too bourgeois, I suppose.
Faust offered his arm and I clung to it, as though we were a couple out for a late stroll. The November night sky was clear, and a waxing moon hung over the city. I love this city; I’d lived in the Chicagoland area all my life, and I was going to miss it. I really hoped I didn’t end up as a succubus. Anything but a succubus. Lord and Lady, if I became a succubus and word got out about it, I’d be bound to some slimeball summoner within minutes as his own personal fucktoy for the rest of his life. Talk about a fate worse than death.
“I love you,” I blurted. Faust smiled, chasing away my nervous flutters.
“I love you too, Mistress,” Harvey chimed in from behind us.
I laughed, though my honey didn’t seem to find it funny. I craned my neck to look up and back at my demon. “More than Zelda?” I asked.
Harvey chittered his demon laughter. “Zelda is easier to love. She needs rescuing more than you do.”
“Zelda?” Faust asked.
“She’s a princess in one of his video games,” I explained.
“And my mistress is a self-rescuing princess.”
I rather liked that—Patience Roberts, last summoner standing, self-rescuing princess. Too bad it was too late for new business cards.
When we arrived at the Bean, I gave Faust and Harvey talismans to port them to the right place in the shadow realm, and donned my own. They were simple antique keys on black silk cords, each attuned to where we needed to go. I had a collection of keys that led to other worlds—or at least I did, until my office burned down. Lucky for us these keys had been left in my car after my last field trip to the shadow realm.
“Let’s go,” I ordered.
I led my posse through the mirrored center of the Bean, and we stepped into the shadow realm. It’s not one of my favorite places to visit, because my inner fire faerie wants to be somewhere hot and bright, and the shadow realm is the complete opposite.
Harvey growled something in elvish that I knew was one of his favorite expletives, and I turned and squinted, nearly blinded by the light coming from Faust.
“Holy shit. For a shadowspawn, you’re really beaming goodness and light,” I said. “I thought you come here all the time?”
“No, I pass through here all the time. I’ve never stopped for an extended stay,” he corrected.
Well, if I had still needed proof that Faust wasn’t evil, the fact that he was about to blind us all would’ve been it. Even Duquesne, a former guardian, hadn’t been this bright, but then again he was mortal. Faust was made of magic—happy, sunshiney magic, apparently.
“Lord and Lady…hold still.”
I cast a cloaking spell over Faust, and the light dimmed to where I could look at him again. He seemed nonchalant for a magical lighthouse that had just beckoned to every demon within the realm.
“It’s tingly,” he said with a frown.
“Well it won’t last long. Let’s hustle. Kris’s castle is that way.” I pointed to a looming shadow on the horizon, almost indistinguishable against the twilit sky.
“You neglected to mention that he owned a castle,” Faust replied.
I snorted. “I’ve yet to meet an ancient demon who doesn’t. I think it’s part of the package.”
“And you don’t think that three of us storming a castle will be a problem?” he asked.
“No problem. Harvey and I do it all the time. Don’t we?”
“Yes, Mistress.”
We shared a long look, because we each knew that this would be the last castle we stormed together, and there was something terribly sad about that.
“May I have the knife now, please?” Faust asked.
Such a polite request for such a dangerous item. I pulled the weapon from my messenger bag and handed it to him, sheath and all. The blade was pure silver, and the hilt was made from hollow dragon bone covered in arcane runes. It was built to kill ancient demons and other incredibly powerful beings by channeling the wielder’s soul through it. Faust attached the weapon to his belt, and I squared my shoulders.
“Come on. We don’t have all night. Tempus fugit.”
I’d invaded Kris’s home a dozen times, maybe more, for various reasons. Usually we snuck in, occasionally we got caught, and I’d have to kick Kris’s ass, but I’d never seen the place on high alert until now. It reminded me a bit of a supermax prison after an escape—searchlights, sirens, frantic armed guards running to and fro. We hunkered down to watch the chaos and debated what to do next.
“Perhaps we should wait for a more opportune moment,” Faust suggested.
“No. As soon as he recovers he’ll head back to Earth. Can’t have that,” I said.
“We may not make it to him if we go through that,” he argued, and I shrugged.
“True. You could always turn back.”
Faust snarled. “I would never abandon you.”
“Good. Cover me.” I shucked my winter coat and handed my messenger bag to Harvey for safekeeping. Bright orange flames engulfed my body, and they soothed away my fears. I grinned at my boys, and then broke into a run, because sometimes the best plan is just to rush in and slay them all.
The gate was surrounded by Kris’s minions. They rushed me in a wave of pint-sized anger, and I went to work. I’d always been a hands-on kind of girl where combat is involved. Guns jam, bullets miss, blades break, and all of them can be taken from you, so if you are the weapon, you can fight through anything. Harvey took up a position at my right and Faust at my left, and we cleaved a steady path through the defenders, up to Kris’s front door.
“I bet it’s locked,” I said.
“Not a problem,” Faust replied. He transferred his sword to his off-hand, placed his right palm against the massive doors, and with a shimmer of magic they exploded inward. The doors shattered into smaller pieces and tumbled down the main hallway, bowling over minions like cannonballs.
“I’m impressed. Library’s this way,” I directed.
The library was Kris’s favorite place, so I knew he’d be holed up in there. Unfortunately for us, the guards within the castle were tougher than the ones who’d been standing at the gate, and by the time we emerged into the room I’d earned a spit lip, a black eye and a few cracked ribs. Irritating, but not debilitating. Harvey and Faust appeared similarly bruised, but were still standing.
“Hello, Patience,” Kris greeted.
He stood in the center of the room, his shadowy hands folded in front of him as he gazed at us calmly. I paused, suspecting a trap.
“Do you surrender?” Faust asked.
“Of course not, but before you kill me, I am curious. Is my life truly worth your own?”
I stepped closer, and the demon tensed. “You crossed the line, Kris. I can’t risk letting you go back.”
“Why? So much trouble over one dying world.”
“Because it’s not dead yet. The magicians know what your demon buddies are up to, and your invasion’s off.” I sounded far more confident than I felt, because I knew how tenuous the balance was. With me gone, magiciankind’s odds were going to be worse unless the other summoners manned up and pitched in to keep the Midwest secure. If the demons found a way in, they’d multiply like cockroaches.
The demon merely smiled in reply—it’s never good when the darkness smiles at you—and I growled and tackled him. At least this was part of the plan, because I’d have to beat him down before he could be killed.
“Keep back,” I warned my posse. They wanted to help, but they’d either get in my way or accidentally hurt me in the process.
Kris and I rolled and wrestled as we fought for the upper hand, much like old times, but today I wasn’t waiting for him to cry uncle. There was a desperate edge to this fight. His teeth and claws ripped into me, and my flames scorched his skin and started small fires on the carpeting and low bookshelves. The demon struck my already sore jaw, and for a moment I was stunned by the pain. He reached for my throat and ripped deep tears into my skin, and I barely managed to pull away before he got a hold of anything. After Harrison had torn a chunk out of my neck I wasn’t eager to repeat that experience.
I ignored the blood streaming from the wound as we continued our battle. For the most part I gave as good as I got, until Kris grabbed my left forearm and twisted, and I screamed as the bones snapped. Harvey tackled him, despite having strict orders not to get involved—what was I going to do, fire him? I stumbled away and tried to regroup as I cradled my arm. Of course Harvey had my bag, which had the healing potions in it. Kris shook my minion off, because though Harvey got an A for effort, him attacking Kris was like a guppy taking on a great white shark, and Kris tossed him across the room and turned his attention back to me.
“You can’t—” Kris began to taunt, and I punched him in the throat.
He stumbled away, gasping and choking for air, and I used his distraction to sweep his feet out from under him. Snarling and cursing, I leapt on him, and I grabbed a handful of his filmy shadow-hair and banged his head against the floor over and over until he stopped moving.
“Let me finish it,” Faust said.
I
looked up and met his pretty eyes, and did the thing I’d dreaded since I’d learned his True Name—I used it to control him.
“Liam, don’t move. Stay right where you are.”
Magic rocketed through me like a rush of turbo-charged adrenaline, and it was a terribly addictive feeling. I would’ve smiled, if not for the anguish in my lover’s eyes. He’d trusted me, and I betrayed him. He knew what I was about to do, and he was powerless to stop it.
I stumbled to my feet, wincing at the pain in my broken arm. At least I only needed one good hand to use the dagger on Kris. I paused in front of Faust—Liam—who was frozen like a marble statue. I’d rehearsed all the things I wanted to say, and I couldn’t remember a single word.
“I’m sorry,” I started, and then hiccupped a sob. I didn’t cry often, because I was of the opinion that tears don’t solve anything, but considering that these were my last words as a human I figured a few tears were allowed. “I’m so sorry, babe, but I can’t let you do this. I couldn’t live with myself if I let you infect your soul on my behalf. You’re not evil. But I am.” I smiled weakly. “I’ve had this coming for a while now. That’s why it has to be me. I love you, Liam. Maybe we’ll meet again in another life.”
I pried the knife from his hand and stepped away, and I turned my attention to Harvey. Much to my surprise, Harvey hugged me. “It’s been an honor serving you, Mistress. I’ll take good care of George for you.”
“You’ve been a good servant, Harv. And a good friend.”
He smiled his bucktoothed pooka smile. “I’ll never tell a soul.”
I smiled and nodded. Harvey would be all right without me. I was too heartbroken to look at Faust again, and I stared down at Kris’s lifeless body.
“Well, Kris, I guess I’ll see you in hell,” I muttered.
I plunged the dagger into his chest, right where his black heart should be, and magic poured through me and into him. He recovered consciousness long enough to scream in agony, and then his body dissolved into an oily puddle on the library floor. Overwhelming pain exploded through me as a cosmic switch flipped in my soul, and the force of it flung me up, up and away. I crashed through several of Kris’s towering bookcases, and as the pain consumed me I prayed for a quick death instead of a new life as a demon.