by C. G. Blaine
Cass nods and holds his hand out, so I give him back the ring. He picks up my hand and softly kisses the space between my knuckles. He slides the band on my finger. It stops right where his lips were, and his eyes flit to mine. When he smiles, I know I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. Everything that’s happened feels worth it for this one moment with him.
He sits up and opens the drawer on the nightstand and pulls out a silver chain. Dangling from it is my dad’s ring. I don’t hesitate to grab it this time. My eyes go straight for the inscription, needing proof it’s really his, really the match to my mom’s. And it is.
A forever’s worth of forevers.
Cass leans over again and rests his arm on the other side of me. “I checked the chain. There’s no damage, so you can wear it if you want.”
He’s right. The chain and the ring are perfect. Exactly as I remember them.
I lean forward and slide the chain over his head. It drops down onto his neck, the ring hanging right in front of his heart. And now, it’s exactly where it should be.
He’s watching me when I look up, more relaxed than I’ve seen him in weeks. He flips off the light and brushes his lips over mine while crawling over me. I lie back down, rolling onto my side to face him with his arm under my head.
“The inscription doesn’t make sense, you know.” He pushes my hair back, and my eyes adjust, so I can see him in the dark. “Forever is forever. There’s only one.”
“What should it say then?”
His forehead presses to mine. “You’re my forever.”
I stop breathing when he kisses me. His lips are gentle, sealing the words between us.
Forever’s a real thing for Cass. He understands what it truly means. Forever is forever. There’s only one. And I have no doubt that he is mine.
The chances of demons killing my girlfriend should be at an all-time low with the ring. Even so, I’m not too keen on testing that theory. My light still works on her, which I prove with an in-the-heat-of-the-moment hand mark on her ass. Right now, the rest is a potentially disastrous mystery, so we keep close to the apartment for a while. It works out since her summer classes won’t start for another few weeks.
The night before her birthday, we’re living it up on the couch. She’s lying on my chest and supposed to be choosing a movie. I agreed to whatever she wants so long as it counts as her gift. But given the way her fingers inch under the hem of my shirt, she’s interested in another outline of my hand more than a romcom. I’m about to accommodate when my damn phone starts ringing. I pick it off the floor, seriously considering a change in number.
“What?” I bark at Rosdan.
“I need you at the house. Now.”
That’s all he says before the line goes dead. The panic in his voice is enough to have me sitting straight up. It pushes Hannah to the other side of the couch.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
I scoop her up, and two strides have us to the sliding door of the balcony.
“Wait.” She glances over my shoulder into the living room as I carry her outside. “What are you doing?”
“I’m really sorry about this, baby.” And without any other warning, I thrust her out over the railing.
“Cass!” She scrambles to hold on to me, desperate not to plummet the two stories to the concrete below.
I dangle her at arm’s length until the light slams into my chest, and then I reel her back in. She clings to me, and we’re already dropping. Solid ground reappears beneath my feet. It’s dark and quiet other than Hannah’s rapid breathing. The second she touches the floor, she shoves me in the chest, trying to get away from me. I hold on to her and press my lips to hers in apology.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “Rosdan needs me. I couldn’t wait.”
I kiss her once more and lead her out of Ros’s room. He lives in the guesthouse a hundred feet from the main house, with an extra bedroom, living area, and kitchen all to himself. My arm stays tight around Hannah on our way across the large backyard. The kitchen lights are on, no one inside. I open the patio door, but when I try to walk in, my body refuses to move over the threshold.
I fish out my phone and call Rosdan.
“Are you there?” he asks.
“Stuck at the door,” I say. “Where do you hide your blocker bag?”
Rosdan appears in the kitchen by the marble island. He reaches into the top of a cupboard and pulls down a black velvet pouch. We really are predictable. After he pulls out a crystal and disengages the spell, I step inside without issue. The bag lands on the counter as Rosdan rushes over.
“Thank fuck.” He hugs me. It only takes a second for him to let go, quickly remembering which brother he called, then he drops out of the kitchen, no longer in front of me.
I bring the phone back to my ear and shut the door behind Hannah. “You there?”
“Demons attacked Mark,” he says while a voice gives an announcement in the background. “When they couldn’t get in the car, one landed on the hood. I got there just as he crashed into a light post. He’s alive. Scarlett too. I already dropped them at the hospital, but I need to stay here at least until I can throw a spell on the emergency room.”
I groan. If the dad’s in the hospital along with the mom and Ros can’t leave his charge unattended, there’s only one reason he would have called me.
“I don’t do kids, Armaros.”
“Please, Cass. They’re all asleep. You literally just need to listen through the baby monitor.”
Fuck.
“You owe me,” I say. “Spell the room and get back here.”
“Thank you, brother.”
I pocket my phone, not at all looking forward to the next few hours. “Any experience in babysitting?”
Hannah ignores me, arms crossed over her chest.
I’m plenty warm with light as I secure my arms around her. “Still mad?”
Her eyes narrow. “You dangled me off the balcony. Yeah, I’m mad.”
My hands cup her ass while I kiss her. “What about now?”
She sighs and is about to forgive me until she looks behind me. “We have company.”
I look back at Alistair in the doorway.
“You’re Ros’s brother,” he says.
So much for them all being asleep. I take a step toward him, but Hannah tugs on my hand, stopping me.
“What are you going to do to him?”
I shrug. “Ritualistic sacrifice?”
She slaps me in the chest, not in the mood, and walks by me to introduce herself to the kid. He looks at me like I’m supposed to give him the go-ahead to talk to her. Great. He’s imprinted on me like a damn baby bird.
In all the time I’ve spent watching Hannah, I only recall once or twice where she was around children. The one time I witnessed someone try to hand her a baby, she made a face and shook her head. She surprised me when she showed interest in having them. I assumed it was just her being stubborn.
It only takes a minute for Alistair to stop checking with me every time she says anything. Then they’re raiding the freezer for ice cream, and I’m following them into the living room. Somehow, I end up on the couch between them, Hannah under my arm on one side and the kid on the other.
“We’re not supposed to watch TV in here,” he says, picking up the remote and turning it on. “Or eat.”
A rebel. Watching TV and eating ice cream in a room meant purely for decoration and not actual living. He turns on some show about storage units. People buy them or sell them or live in them. I don’t fucking know. Hannah has a spoon in and out of her mouth; I can’t be expected to pay attention to shit.
The episode ends an hour later. As much as I want to send the boy to bed, Hannah’s snuggled against my chest. So, when his eyes peer at me from behind his black-rimmed glasses for permission to watch another, I nod.
We’re most of the way through the third one, some guy bidding because he swears he sees a L
es Paul guitar hidden amid the junk of the dark storage unit, and a cry comes through the monitor on the end table.
Hannah sits up right away. “I’ll check on them.”
“Afraid of what I’ll do to them?” I ask.
“Yes.”
I look over my shoulder, watching her walk through the living room. I consider leaving the kid to fend for himself and chasing her upstairs to find one of the many empty rooms. But I never get the chance.
Light surges in my chest. On instinct, I grab on to Alistair and drop us to Hannah on the stairs. A second later, all three of us land back by the couch.
Hannah searches the room in a panic. “Demon?”
The shake in her voice adds to the power pumping through me. I nod, releasing her, and turn my attention to Alistair.
I grasp his face, and as soon as his eyes haze, I say, “You won’t make a sound and won’t try to run away.”
I let him go and reach for Hannah, but she’s not beside me anymore. She’s dashing across the living room to the stairway.
“Goddamn it, Hannah!”
“The triplets,” she says.
I’m about to go after her again when a portal opens between us. Three forms appear all at once, fireballs drawn. I get off an arc and catch Alistair’s arm, dropping us out of the way. We land a few feet away, and the fire crashes into the television.
Hannah’s almost at the top of the stairs. One of the demons starts turning toward her, so I throw another bolt to regain his attention. It strikes him, sending him flying toward the kitchen. He vanishes and reappears with the other two. With all three of them in sight, I swipe the baby monitor off the table next to me and shove it into Alistair’s hand. The glow breaks through my skin, sparks spitting from my palms and ready to attack while we stand off. They want me to move first, and I will … but not yet. It takes a few seconds for the creak of the door opening in the nursery to come through the speaker next to me.
Here’s hoping that ring fucking works.
The second the door upstairs shuts, I send a charge out from both palms, nailing two of the demons right in the chests and blowing them back. It’s a juggling act after that. One demon pops up here while another attacks from over there. But I move milliseconds faster, always ahead. They’re not smart. Patterns quickly emerge.
The one with the crooked nose that I name Hank lunges for Alistair after every third attack. Gabe Two—yes, I went there—ropes the darkness farther to the left anytime he plans to throw a fireball with his right. Bobby’s eyes always land on his target before he teleports, meaning I have a bolt waiting for him every time he lands.
Alistair stays next to me for most of the fight. One time, I toss him in the air, get in a cheap shot on Gabe Two, and am back to catch him. His fingers stay tight around the baby monitor, which conveniently has a camera I can see Hannah through. She’s backed against a crib, eyes on the door.
Demons are tough to kill. It can be done with enough light, but they usually give up and crawl back to the pits long before then. Not these though. They take every blast and come back for more with the dark shadows spiraling out of their wounds. I’ve never seen any hold out for this long, let alone a group of them.
They realize I’m anticipating their moves and switch up the attacks. It’s harder and harder to predict which one will do what. But fuck if I’ll let a bunch of Lowers throwing flaming balls of darkness outsmart me.
All at once, we come to a stop. Another fucking standoff, them on one side of the trashed living room and Alistair and me on the other at the base of the stairs. The only sound comes from the discharge humming out of my flaring palms. Which means the cry comes through the speaker crystal clear, followed by Hannah.
“Shh,” she says. “You’re okay.”
The six eyes in front of me shoot to the monitor, the sound of her voice like a magnet. I can feel it shift. All their minds go to the same place at once.
Fuck. This fight is about to move upstairs.
Bobby’s eyes dart above my head, verifying it. I grip the back of Alistair’s shirt, but just before I drop, a fully glowing Rosdan appears on the other side of him.
“About fucking time,” I hiss.
He winks at Alistair and hurls a lightning bolt at the demon cluster. It blasts them back into a really expensive-looking china hutch that somehow survived round one. Mine strikes Bobby after he teleports across the room. Gabe Two launches a fireball, and Rosdan and I drop simultaneously, him taking Alistair. We land side by side behind the demon and both latch on to him, drowning him in light. His head falls back, his mouth opening as darkness floods out of him, trying to escape the divinity. He goes limp, and we let him slump onto the floor.
It’s as close to killing Gabe as I’ll ever get, and it’s beautiful.
By the time I see Bobby look at the stairs, he vanishes. I’m right behind him, landing in the nursery before he orients himself. He’s right behind Hannah. She hasn’t even processed me a few feet in front of her when he lunges. He nabs her around the middle. I plan to stop him from teleporting but never get the chance. The ring on her finger erupts in a golden light. It’s bright and disarming, and it sends a blast of energy radiating from her. I feel it surround me, but while it throws Bobby across the room, I stay where I am, untouched. He bounces off a wall and vanishes halfway to the floor.
Holy fuck.
“Well, the ring works.” I throw her over my shoulder, not sure how to interpret the expression on her face.
We drop back to the living room, arriving right after Bobby. Rosdan is staring down Hank when I set Hannah between us.
Without taking his eyes off the demons, he says, “Blocker bag.”
He disappears, leaving me to protect his charge. I arc a bolt across the room. I’m not even sure if it reaches the demons because I involuntarily drop, cast out of the house when Ros reenacts the spell. I land in the backyard. Both of the confused demons are there with me, and then Rosdan appears beside me. We watch them try to teleport back in the house, only to be knocked right back in front of us.
“Gotta love those little spell bags,” I say. “Ready to finish this?”
“Not quite, Kasdaye.” The deep voice comes from behind the demons.
Rosdan shifts next to me as red eyes glow from the shadows by the swing set. The figure steps forward, the moonlight gleaming off his designer dress shoes, and fucking great, it’s an Upper. Not just any either. No, this one has an annoying smirk, a serious ego, and once upon a time, a nice little scar on his face from one of my bolts. It’s all but gone now. All wounds heal with enough time, his only visible enough to remind him who gave it to him.
“That’s a cute little trick you pulled off with your charge upstairs.” Abaddon steps around the Lowers, careful not to touch them and chance getting his suit jacket dirty. “We couldn’t detect her in the house or teleport her. How did you accomplish that?”
I shrug with my face as much as my shoulders. “No idea what you’re talking about, Donny.”
“No worries. I’ll find out soon enough on my own.” The darkness cyclones around him, gaining speed as a blue flame appears in his hand.
“You sure you want to do this?” I angle my body so that Donny can’t see the phone sliding out of my pocket. “Two against one?”
The smirk I loathe appears. “Not the greatest at counting, huh?”
I glance down at my screen and back at him. “Bitch minions don’t count.”
“Tell that to your sidekick.” The words come out as a growl, and the red returns to Donny’s eyes. The flame in his hand grows.
Raising his glowing palms, Rosdan lets out a sigh. “We’re going to wake the neighbors.”
I tuck the phone back in my pocket and bring my hands up to join the party. “Fine. We’ll do it your way. Three against one.”
I can see the question working its way from his brain to his mouth. “Three?”
As if choreographed, a flash of divin
e light illuminates the backyard. In the middle of it appears Chaz. The sparks fly off him, his eyes locking on Donny. They emit a blue glow I haven’t seen since the last time the two of them crossed paths.
They have a history. It’s a whole thing.
Being more than outnumbered now, the flame in Donny’s hand extinguishes. He tosses a smug head nod at Chaz and vanishes along with his lackeys.
Self-preservation. No matter the demon’s status.
Chaz continues to seethe at a now-empty spot of grass while Rosdan tugs at the back of his hair.
“The fucking Demon of Destruction?” Ros says. “That’s who wants our charges?”
I don’t answer him, already on my way back to the house. Spell or not, I need to see Hannah to believe she’s safe, touch her to know she’s alive. Rosdan beats me there and has the barrier down before I hit the patio. Alistair comes running into the kitchen. She’s right behind him.
A new surge of light hits me as she rushes into my arms. I close them around her and reconsider the idea of hiding her away in a remote cabin for the rest of her life. When it was my eternity on the line, I could deal, but now that it’s her life … fuck. I’m going to lose my mind by the time she hits thirty at this rate.
“Looks like it’s going better,” Rosdan mumbles. His hands move to the boy’s face to take care of the traumatic memory of watching his fancy house be ripped apart with hellfire and divinity. Once he finishes, Alistair walks out of the kitchen in a daze, heading to bed like nothing happened, and Ros drops out of the kitchen.
I pull back from Hannah, completing my ritualistic check after a demon attack, but the ring has done its job.
Chaz struts in then, his head shaking when he sees my lips brush her forehead. “I called that.”
“Triplets are already back asleep,” Ros says, coming from the living room. He rights an upset barstool and nods at Chaz. “How did you get here so fast? Not that I’m complaining or anything.”
“Demons attacked both charges earlier, and I decided, fuck it. It’s time for lockdown.” He leans back on a counter, crossing his arms over his chest. “So, all three of us were already in an apartment I’d rented out, spelled to the max, and I suggested they not leave unless I tell them to. When Cass texted, all I had to do was toss Avery in the bathroom with a snake that I’d bought for such circumstances.” He stretches out his hands, both lit at full power. “I should probably go let her out. The girl’s terrified of snakes.”