by Eve A Hunt
Kaippa lifted a finger and cocked a black eyebrow. “Could we experiment on the bits of the dragon I took from the site of the battle?”
My stomach rolled. “You have demon flesh? What, like in your back pocket?”
Kaippa removed a vial from his pocket and held it to the sunlight. The flesh was just as glittery and gray as it had been on the creature. “It might prove nothing, but I bet Hekla wouldn’t mind us seeing if a lesser amount of her blood would work.”
“You are correct, sir,” Hekla said. A snoozing Oliver stirred in her grip, and she patted his back.
“How are you taking this shifter thing anyway?” I asked.
“It’s insane.”
“One million percent.”
“But after the whole Coren is magical and he is a Vlad and this guy makes trees his bitch—”
“I have no relation to Vlad the Impaler. He wasn’t even a vampire if you want to know the truth. A fabulously vicious fellow, but no vampire.”
Hekla glared. “You would look up to one of the most ruthless leaders in history.”
“What you know about his circumstances could fit in the palm of Oliver’s little hand. You cannot judge.”
“Oh, really? I think I can judge the sugar out of being a freaking murderer.” Hekla was trying not to swear around Oliver, I could tell. “Hush,” she said to Kaippa. “Oliver doesn’t need to hear more fighting.”
Lucus eyed each of them, then glanced at me as his eyebrows lifted in question. I shook my head a fraction. We could talk about this growing issue later. Hekla could not fall for Kaippa. I refused to allow it. Nope. No. No. No. But we had to survive first for that to even become a real problem.
“Anyway,” Hekla continued, “I was kind of feeling left out. At least now, I’m something.”
Kaippa’s eyes burned. “You have always been…something.”
I cleared my throat loudly. “Okay. So you’re good?”
“I have zero idea when I will change into an animal again. That would be solid information if anyone has it.”
Lucus licked his lips. “I wish I could tell you. I’ve never known a shifter well.”
Kaippa chuckled. “I have. They’re delicious.”
Hekla’s face went red. “Fluff off, vampire. Go hunt a deer.”
Kaippa’s grin only widened. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”
Hekla and I rounded on him, our glares a match.
Anger tasted bitter on my tongue, and I liked it. “You will never, ever kidnap another human like you did Titus, do you understand me?” I let magic snap over my arms, and the scent of a coming storm filled the room.
Pointing her Frankenfinger at the vampire, Hekla lowered her chin. “If you hurt anyone again, I will die trying to hurt you back. I’m fucking serious. Never again.” She bared her teeth, and I could’ve sworn I saw a fox tooth or two glinting in her mouth.
“Agreed, agreed. Simmer down, you gorgeous, vicious things. Deer and forest life it is. I’ll be sure to tell the bunnies you doomed them all. Tell your precious Titus I apologize.”
His apology sounded more like a threat, but I hoped it was only because it was the first time Kaippa had tried it.
“Hekla, you ready to start experimenting?” I asked, wanting to move on. “I was thinking we could ask Titus to watch Oliver. I texted him earlier just to let him know we’re safe and to apologize about the gym. He’s at his place and says he feels okay.”
“It’s a plan,” she said, bumping my fist with hers.
18 Coren
Once we had Titus and Ami as informed as they needed to be and Oliver safely away from this cursed castle, Lucus, Hekla, Kaippa, and I hurried to the casting chamber.
Daylight washed the six slitted windows at the top of the circular room. Their light cleared the darkness in a broken circle on the floor. The wheel mural on the ceiling still impressed, with its golden, winged fae in the fluffy clouds and toiling humans next to scenes of field and cattle. The wine-dark runes painted on the floor seemed to welcome me in. The magic here was bonded to me. I saw again the rune that showed clear vision and the one that could urge the sky to rain. I walked across the center of the room, feeling that same surge of power I had when I first was here.
The spell book sat on the table opposite the door.
“Did you grab this?” I asked Lucus.
“When I gathered everyone clean clothing and stopped in to see Titus. Before you were awake.”
“You’re amazing. You know that?” I placed a palm on the spell book and moved back as it flew open.
Lucus almost smiled. I wished I could take his pain, but he probably didn’t want to let it go. Certainly not yet. It was all he had left of his family. He would have to stow his pain to the far corners of his heart for now though, and I hated that. Lucus deserved the time to grieve, but it was time we didn’t have. The demon had slain four of us, and there was zero doubt in my head that the beast would end us all if given the chance. My arrow had to work. And to give me the opportunity to hit the demon straight on, this spell idea also absolutely had to work. Fear tried to creep into my mind and scatter my thoughts. I bit down and exhaled, forcing the panic away. I had to focus to keep us alive.
Hekla wrapped her arms around herself as she stared at the spell book. “What exactly are we looking for?”
Peering over my shoulder, Lucus watched me flip pages. “I once heard of a spell cast by a fae who had access to shifter blood. The fae used the spell to drive a demon back into the ether.”
Kaippa leaned against the wall near Hekla, his gaze traveling up her legs. Pausing in my search, I glared at him and shook my head. He shrugged and made an I can’t help it face.
“Are you sure you should be here, Kaippa?” The spell book tingled against my fingertips.
“Oh, because of the blood you’re about to take from foxy?”
Hekla whirled to face him. “Hard pass on the nickname, vampire. It’ll be Hekla or you’ll be on your way out.”
He chuckled, then pushed away from the wall and stalked toward her, looking super menacing. “And who is going to remove me exactly?”
Hekla lifted onto the tips of her clogs and got right in his face. “Me.”
“Sure.”
I snapped my fingers, teacher-style, like Aunt Viv used to. “Enough, you two. Kaippa, I think you should go hunt something non-human.”
“Plenty of that right here,” he said silkily.
Lucus growled. “She means you should feed yourself on animal blood.”
“I know what she means, fae lord.” He unfurled his wings.
“I’d thought we were past these disagreements, Kaippa,” Lucus said. “But if you insist, I would be happy to remind you who is alpha here.”
Kaippa held up his hands. “No, no. I am fully aware of my lesser status in this castle. What I don’t know is why Hekla resists me when I can smell the want on her even now.”
“Fuck off,” Hekla and I said in unison.
Kaippa bit back a laugh and sauntered toward the door. “I’ll go. But I think foxy would enjoy another type of fucking a great deal more.” In a blur of movement, he was gone.
“Asshole,” Hekla muttered.
I gave her a sympathetic smile. “There’s a difference between wanting and wanting. We know it, and you know it. Don’t let him bother you.”
“Thanks.” She grinned sheepishly then came closer to eye the spells under my hand.
Lucus leaned on the table to read the page the book had found for me. “What does this one say, Coren? Also, Hekla, if you want my assistance with Kaippa, you need only to say the word.”
Hekla’s cheeks went red, and she nodded. I knew she was grateful but embarrassed to keep talking about her “issue” with Kaippa.
The book settled on a page that was absolutely packed with runes.
“They got a little carried away with this one. But this rune,” I pointed to one that had a tail of sorts and what looked like a slowly exploding star, �
��is promising. It means shapeshifter and…dissolve? I think. I’m not totally sure.”
Lucus uncorked the vial of demon flesh Kaippa had handed over. Ugh. Not a thing I’d hoped to be a part of. Ever.
“Read off what I need, Lucus. You can read the plant list in between the runes, right?”
“I can.”
I went to the cabinet where the herbs were stored and swung the oaken doors wide.
“Sage,” Lucus said.
A clear image of a sage plant showed on a jar near the front. “Got it.”
“Nettle.”
“Yikes. Okay.” I carefully shifted jars, waxed paper envelopes, and bunches of dried stuff around, searching for anything labeled or shown to be nettle. “What is nettle in Italian?”
“Ortica.”
“Got it.” I grabbed the appropriately labeled envelope. “What else? There was one more thing, I think.”
“Only blood.”
I turned, my stomach following suit. “Hekla. Uh. How do you want to do this?”
“Is there a pin in that witch armoire of yours?”
“Hold on.” I perused the lower shelf and found tweezers, an incredibly tiny pair of scissors, and a glass jar of needles. “Yep.”
I assembled my scary bunch of ingredients, the needle, and a pestle and mortar on the spell book table. Lucus crushed the herbs in the mortar, and the sage’s earthy scent rose into the air. Hekla held out her first finger, and I pricked it, squeezing it to bring a bead of deep red to the surface. The blood glittered like it held particles of gold dust.
19 Coren
“Whoa.” The flecks in Hekla’s blood reflected the candlelight like millions of miniature suns.
Hekla eyed her finger, her black eyebrows bunching under the fringe of her thick bangs.
“Your blood is sparkly,” I whispered.
Lucus took a turn studying it. “Interesting. I had no idea your blood would look different from other creatures’ once you changed. I assume this is new for you?”
“It is,” Hekla said. “I’ve cut myself in our kitchen a bunch of times, and I never saw any golden blood.”
I shook my head, used a sage leaf to wipe the blood from Hekla’s finger, then dropped it into the mortar. “This is wild.”
Hekla huffed. “It is.”
The spell was a less direct one than the others I’d dealt with, the runes mixed with images and symbols that I wasn’t totally sure about. I could feel their meaning or intent, but I wasn’t sure what exactly to say or do. This recipe didn’t have a phrase or a chant to go with it. Once I had Hekla’s drop of blood mixed in, I took a handful of the concoction and rubbed it between my palms. The nettle began to sting. I opened my mouth to ask for suggestions, knowing from Tennessee experience just how annoyingly painful this might end up being, but then a soft, cool tingling spread over my palms.
“I think the magic is staving off this nettle’s bite.”
I moved the demon flesh to the floor to keep the spell book safe from whatever was about to happen. Lucus and Hekla stepped back as I focused and aimed my palms at the nasty bit of glittery dragon skin. At first, no sensation other than the tingling arose, but then, a creeping heat began at my wrists.
“It’s smoking,” Hekla said.
As the heat crawled up my palms—thankfully not too painful—the demon dragon skin sizzled from one end to the other. When the sensation reached my fingertips, the stench of burning skin was impossible to ignore. I dropped my hands.
Lucus crouched to look. “It’s damaged, certainly. But not destroyed as I had hoped.”
“Why don’t you try it? You said fae were the ones who used shifter blood to cast spells.”
“Well, that’s only because we don’t have power like mages. Our magic is limited to healing and working with trees and some plant life.”
“And luring wandering maidens,” Hekla said.
“Of course. Yes,” Lucus allowed. “But I won’t be able to increase the power of this spell. My version of the casting would only be less impactful.”
I hated to ask this, but… “Maybe we need more blood?”
Hekla’s shoulders moved as she took a steadying breath. “It’s fine with me. It’s the least I can sacrifice.” Her gaze slid to Lucus, who was still studying the flesh.
I touched Hekla’s arm, and she gave me a sad smile. We were both agonized over Lucus’s pain. Aurelio had been a pretty amazing brother. Baccio had been a dick, but in the end, he’d repented. Even if they’d been wholly evil for their entire lives, they had been Lucus’s only living family.
Lucus took his knife from the belt of his dark jeans and held out a hand. Hekla swallowed but gave him her arm. With a nod from her, Lucus dragged the blade over the top of her forearm. It wasn’t a deep cut, but it had to hurt. The muscles around Hekla’s jaw moved, and her face went a little pale, but she stayed standing.
“You’re amazing,” I said to her.
“Thanks, bro.”
“I think you should work the spell this time, Lucus,” I said. “I need to use that epic Bow I have, so I think you’ll need to be the one working the magic to distract the demon.”
After collecting two small vials of Hekla’s gold-flecked blood, we arranged more herbs in the mortar and poured in a teaspoon.
The updated mix emitted a strange energy. “Can y’all feel that?”
Lucus’s green gaze traveled across my face. “What is it?”
“The blend has some serious vibes now.”
Hekla grinned viciously. “My blood rocks.”
Nodding, I used a towel from the cabinet to clean my hands, then turned to watch Lucus have his turn at this magic.
Lucus coated his palms in the herbs and blood, then, with his fingers slightly cupped, he pointed his hands at the demon flesh in the same manner he did when he raised vines from the ground.
The glittery gray skin immediately began to smoke.
“Ooo.” I rubbed my hands together. “That’s working way better.”
Hekla crouched. “It’s black around the edges.”
“I’m glad it works,” I said, “but I don’t know if this is enough to succeed. I’m going to look for another spell.”
With Lucus and Hekla discussing possible strategies behind me, I closed the spell book and placed my hand on the snakes that decorated the cover. They spun underneath my fingers, sending a shiver through my bones. I opened the book with a light touch, wanting the spells to come to me, urging the book to help us out.
The spell book stopped on a casting about three-fourths of the way through. Wine-colored runes swirled in lazy circles as I waited for them to become clear to me. Some morphed into the language of the caster—in this case, English—while others continued swirling but conveyed their meaning to my mage brain. The top three runes told me this spell didn’t require herbs, only shifter blood.
The edges of the central runes twisted and curled like snakes, then reconfigured themselves into English, and I could read the spell as easily as any recipe from my old cookbook at the bakery. I uncorked the vial of Hekla’s blood and held it out to Lucus.
Lucus smeared the blood along his palms and fingers. “I once watched my cousin use shifter blood to cast a spell of protection around his children.”
The metallic scent turned my stomach, and I tried to ignore the pain that tightened the skin around Lucus’s eyes.
“Was that during the war with the Mage Duke?” I asked.
“Yes. During the last of our battles,” he said.
“Repeat after me,” I instructed.
He bowed his head and watched the demon flesh.
“Blood to block
Golden bright
All to cast
Demon to fright
Just a moment
Maybe more
Beware the light
It burns the core.”
His voice was a thundering echo to mine, and the casting chamber vibrated with power. The runes set on the floor and the ley
line running under it tugged at my feet, grounding me.
Hekla watched from a few feet away. “Nothing’s happening.”
A bright light washed across the chamber, amethyst like my lightning, then blazing green like Lucus’s magic, then a deep golden red like Hekla’s shifter blood.
I shut my eyes, but the light was gone almost immediately. Blinking spots from my vision, I looked for the demon flesh. It was gone.
Lucus knelt and pointed under the table.
I bent down to look. “Whoa. What the hell?” The flesh had flown back against the wall. I reached in and picked it up. It felt like a slug.
Hekla’s face appeared at my shoulder. “Is it damaged any more than it was?”
“I don’t think so.” I turned it around. The same black marks from the heating spell were there, but that was it. “What’s the story?”
Lucus pursed his lips. “It fled from the light.”
“But it’s just a chunk of demon,” I said. “It has no brain.”
“And still.” Lucus shrugged. “The spell repelled the small portion of spirit remaining in this…sample.”
Hekla was under the table rooting around. “Hey! The thing dug out part of the stone wall!”
I joined her and ran a hand around the area she indicated. “Yeah, the freakish demon chunk crumbled the rock away.” I crawled backwards, then stood. “What would that kind of reaction look like in the full-scale version of the demon?”
Lucus’s eyes narrowed. Revenge flickered in the dark green depths of his distant gaze. “Deadly.”
Although I completely understood his need to annihilate the demon, the ferocity of his stare didn’t put me at ease. There was recklessness in that look. I hoped he’d remember that I needed him to live through this, revenge or not.
20 Hekla
While the rest of the castle rested, Hekla found an abandoned chamber in the northern side. She needed to play with her ability to shift and see if she could learn to control it. A dusty sideboard with intricately painted cabinets stood along the wall under a faded tapestry that showed a field of white flowers. Two sturdy-looking wooden chairs guarded a window that looked out on the river flowing at the back of the hill. Though blanketed in dust, it was a nice room, quiet and seemingly untouched for ages.