If the council here didn’t take action, she would. Even if she had to buy a sniper rifle and wait for the bastard to leave his home. She’d just have to learn to shoot it first…
“We’re here Fran,” she said softly in sadness, her anger was kept coiled deep inside.
She wasn’t in the coven, but they were all hers anyway. At least, that’s how she felt. She didn’t love them all like she did Fran and Berny. Even Mia was getting close to inner circle status in her mind, but she cared about all of them, even the ones that didn’t like her all that much.
Fran looked up, she had a book in her hand.
“I think you’re right, I’ve been reading through the entries I have on facing demons. It does explain everything, how did you think of it?”
She shrugged, “My mom told stories, she didn’t want me to ever mess with one, so she scared me silly and the stories stuck.”
Fran chuckled a bit darkly, “I can see her doing that. You mentioned destroying the body, and I can verify that’s one way, the other is to trap it in a circle, and perform a banishment. It usually takes a full circle of witches to do it, but it’s possible.”
She nodded, that probably would be the only way for a witch to deal with one. They wouldn’t be able to destroy the demon’s body with their magic not working on it.
Fran added, “I just wish I could do a circle against evil large enough to encompass the house.”
She sighed, that would be impossible. A circle to a ward was like… a brick building to one made of paper machete. The wider the circle, the more magic it would take in a geometric progression, like squared law. Twice as big, four times more magic. Ten times bigger, a hundred times more magic. It just wasn’t possible, which is why circles were generally pretty small in comparison, and wards were used on buildings.
Unfortunately a demon could walk right through wards.
She looked around the room and saw Cheryl asleep on Elaine’s lap. The young mother had a guilty look on her face, like any of this was her fault. It wasn’t, it was Gerald’s, but she really couldn’t think of anything to say to convince her. She also didn’t want to force that conversation on her in front of the whole coven.
Berny looked angry more than scared and that seemed to sum up the room. Fear, anger, and grief, it wasn’t a great combination.
Ed said diffidently, “I can try and fix that door, and guard if you all want to try and get more sleep. I can try and catch some myself during the day at Celia’s store or something.”
They all looked a little nervous about returning to their rooms, and she couldn’t blame them.
Ed continued, “Maybe tomorrow you can work on circles in just a couple of bedrooms? Drag a mattress inside it and share tomorrow night? I know they’re a bear to build, but if you double or triple up you should be able to get four or five done tomorrow.”
Fran seemed to brighten, “That’s a good idea, I think we’ll do that.”
She smiled at Ed gratefully, she hadn’t even considered multiple small circles, just that doing the whole house was impossible. She got hugs from a Berny, Elaine, Cheryl, Fran, Mia, and surprisingly Dan and Stacey. The rest of them just gave her a grateful nod for coming out. She felt kind of useless though, she didn’t do anything. Although, just being here meant she could fight if the thing came back tonight.
She walked over to the couch in the living room close by to the door and laid on it. Hopefully it wouldn’t attack again tonight, because she could really use the three hours of sleep…
She woke up and felt relief when she saw the sunlight coming in the windows. She looked over at the front door, and Ed was drawing a very complex design on the floor. She walked over and took a look. It was a standard protection circle, but there was a complex ward she’d never seen before inside of it. It was kind of beautiful in a way.
“What is that?” she asked softly, not wanting to startle him.
He replied, “Damon sent me the design last night, on my phone after everyone went to bed. It’s a demon trap circle. If he uses the front door again tonight, he’ll regret it. You can see the normal circle here, but instead of powering it, I’ll power the inner spell. When the spell senses a demon standing on it, it discharges the magic and charges the circle. Instant prison.”
He finished up writing, poured a ton of magic into the center, and then grabbed the entryway rug and dragged it to the door, dropping the end over the design. She looked at him sheepishly as she held her phone, she’d managed to snap a picture of it before it was covered.
He laughed at her guilty expression, “It’s fine, it’s part of enforcer work even if it doesn’t come up all that often. Damon also asked us to stop by this afternoon, as the council wants to talk to us.”
They found Fran in the kitchen, who insisted they eat before they went anywhere. But it wasn’t too long before they were headed to the store, with Berny in the backseat so she wouldn’t need a ride this morning. They stopped for a small sheet of ply wood, since she’d decided she didn’t want to fix her window until the line of assassins stopped.
She just didn’t have any idea how to do that. She couldn’t go after Gerald, not until the demon was taken care of. Even if they stopped him… killed him she admitted to herself, would that cancel the contract? Plus, she didn’t want to step on the council’s toes if they already had a plan in the works.
Ed went in the back and sat at her desk, he was snoring into his arms in a few moments. She just stood there a moment and watched him, he looked so different with his face relaxed, no annoyance in his expression at all. She wondered what happened to him that made him that way… bitter about life, yet he did his best not to take that out on those around him most of the time.
She went upstairs and nailed the board over her window, took a quick shower, and got back downstairs to work. The whole time she was up there, she was paranoid there’d be an attack and Berny would have to face it alone. She did however, make the time to bring a couple of cups of coffee down, neither Berny nor her had gotten a full night’s sleep and the caffeine was welcome.
She hadn’t gotten a chance to run this morning either, plus Silva was getting restless, she hadn’t been out since the full moon, three days ago now. How could she shift and run if Ed had to stay with her? They’d have to figure something out, have him hang with Josh while she went for a run with Kelly or something, or Joe maybe, if they didn’t want to risk Kelly being around her right now.
She flinched a little when another air elemental popped in out of the corner of her eye.
Berny said dryly, “I can smell the wood burning from here, what’s on your mind Celia?”
“Elementals,” just slipped out.
She smiled at Berny, “And I want to run. But can’t.”
Berny’s mouth dropped open, “What about them?” she asked cautiously.
So much for the redirect.
“Ugh, I’ve been seeing them for a couple of weeks now, it isn’t related to the assassins or demons though. I need to do some research.”
Berny shook her head, “Witches can’t see elementals, are you sure?”
They can’t? Celia took a sip of her coffee to cover up a mini panic attack.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen both fire and air ones, maybe because I’m half shifter? I actually thought for a while I was seeing things, that’s why I haven’t mentioned it. But then yesterday, one of them was all crazy and freaking out right before the first assassin attacked. I don’t think they mean any harm, they seemed if anything friendly… just shy.”
Berny frowned, “Shy? Maybe, but you should have shared before now.”
She nodded guiltily, she was still hiding so much more. She was crazy after all, had a damaged split soul.
“Sorry, really though, it’s just something on my peripheral vision, they won’t let me look at them. If I turn my head it will disappear.”
She shrugged at Berny’s penetrating look.
“I swear, that’s all I know about it.”
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Berny let it go, but she could swear the girl was going to do some research on it tonight, research she wanted to do herself. But if she did, she’d have to share the info with Ed.
The door opened and she jumped up as she looked at the door. Crap. It was detective Jim Peters and he was looking at her funny with his hand on his gun. Maybe she’d moved a little too fast.
Berny smiled brightly and said in her best dumb blonde voice, “Good morning detective, what can we do for you?”
He looked at Berny for a moment and then started to relax.
“I was passing by and noticed the window, did something happen here last night? No report was filed.”
Ugh… what a pain. She forced herself to smile, knowing the guy believed her to be a murderer who got away with it, and crazy besides. Not her split personality kind of crazy and able to manage it, but the bad psychopathic emotionless killer kind of crazy. Which she wasn’t, at least she didn’t think she was. But Bernie just continued her dumb blonde routine so she just watched with a straight face, though laughing on the inside.
Berny shrugged, “It happened late last night officer, someone threw a rock through the window. Probably some teenage vandal, but we have no proof, and no one saw who did it so why call the police?”
Detective Peters just nodded, “Uh huh, and you witnessed this?”
Berny blushed and looked scandalized, “No, of course not officer, that window is Celia’s bedroom. But I did hear it, and the glass was inside her bedroom, so obviously it was broken from the outside.”
Berny got a cute confused look on her face, “That’s true isn’t it? I’ve seen that on TV, but I know I probably shouldn’t believe everything I see.”
Jim frowned, as if not quite sure if Berny was messing with him or not. Celia was biting her tongue to keep from laughing.
“Alright, well if it happens again, you should call it in. If nothing else, you destroyed any possible evidence when you cleaned up and got rid of the rock.”
Berny tilted her head, “Okay officer.”
Jim grunted, “Detective.”
Berny’s mouth dropped open in confusion again.
Jim shook his head, “Never mind,” and walked out.
Celia shook her head, “You’re so bad Berny.”
Berny shrugged unrepentantly, “And your jumpy, you scared the shit out of him. One second you were sitting, the next you were standing with a scary look on your face.”
She blushed, “Sorry, and thanks. I guess I am a bit jumpy this morning.”
Berny opened her mouth to reply when the door opened again. They both looked up and it was a man in a pair of jeans, cowboy boots, and a flannel shirt. He raised his hand and shot fire at them as they dove beneath the counter. The wards detected the fire magic as not Celia’s and dampened it. The fire was weak and sputtering before it came even close to them.
Berny frowned, “I love you Celia, but I think I need a raise.”
Celia chuckled before racing around the counter and charging the fourth assassin. He cast fire at her again, but this was her home, and between the wards on the shop and the ones around her, the fire barely licked her clothes before she closed the distance and punched him hard enough to snap his head around and break his neck. There was no reason to question him, his story would be the same as the other three. The man fell at her feet like a sack of potatoes.
Berny said softly, “Crap, window…”
She looked up and Detective Jim Peters was right outside, with his mouth hanging open and horror in his eyes as he stared through the glass window.
“You can say that again… Hold him up will you?”
Berny looked confused until Celia shot a stunning spell at the detective right through the glass front of the store. His body froze and he went a bit cross eyed, and Berny grabbed him with her telekinesis before he fell.
She opened the door and ‘helped’ the detective inside by holding him up by her shoulder under his armpit. Then with the other hand she grabbed the dead witch by his foot and dragged him along the floor as she went to the back. What the heck was she going to do now? Damn assassins should be more careful about exposure she thought absurdly.
She should have used a glamour on the front of the store as soon as the fight started, but she’d been too excited to be in another fight. She’d made a mistake, and the assassin hadn’t done it either, crazy or not, the law applied to him too. Now they’d have to use a memory spell on the poor detective, but she didn’t know any.
So she reluctantly woke Ed and explained the whole thing.
Five minutes later the detective left a little confused, but had no memory of watching her kill someone with impossible strength and speed. Not to mention the fireballs.
Ed frowned, “How did you forget?”
She shrugged, “I guess I just assumed he dropped one on his way in, the other assassins did and weren’t that reckless with the secret. Sorry, I’ll be more careful.”
Ed nodded, “It’s been a hard couple of days, we should go soon and see what the council wants, we’ll want to be back in town early enough to make the local coven house before dark.”
She sighed, “Any chance we can fit in a run, and by that I mean go by Joe’s.”
He shrugged, “We’ll see on the way back. If not… we’ll figure something out.”
She let Ed use her shower and change into fresh clothes. They left Berny in charge of the store, grabbed some lunch, dumped the body, and then started for the witch’s council over in Charlotte.
Chapter 7
It wasn’t until she walked into the front door of the council home, and felt like she was stabbed in the head, that she realized Fran must have taken down the anti-shifter wards at the coven house before she’d arrived. She just hadn’t put it together, until she felt the ones here. She followed Ed to the same pretentious room in the back where Damon, Bria, and Sally held court.
She shook her head slightly, and reminded herself they could be as pretentious as they wanted.
Sally crowed, “So good to see you both alive and well.”
Her distaste for the two faced woman was a lot easier to cover up this time, she was used to her shifter reactions, though she still couldn’t lie so she merely nodded her head politely in Sally’s direction.
Bria demanded a verbal report from both of them. The first fifteen minutes or so they went over all the assassins from the last day and few hours, as well as the demon that seemed to be possessing a vampire.
Bria asked bluntly, “Are we sure it’s Gerald that sent the demon? Demons lie after all.”
She blew out a breath, “I suppose the demon could have lied, but even disregarding its words, and just by the fact it’s going after Elaine and Cheryl, that seems to make it an obvious conclusion. Add in the circumstantial evidence of simultaneous assassins going after the two people that stopped his enforcers last month… I don’t think there’s much room for doubt.”
Damon frowned, “If his coven really has gone dark, it should be dealt with. The mind control was bad enough, but summoning demons… Unfortunately it doesn’t look like the other N.Y. covens want to mess with them, and we can’t allow these attacks to go unanswered. Once the demon is eliminated, you two need to take a road trip.”
Ed shook his head, “Two of us? How are we supposed to stop a whole coven on their home ground where our magic will be minimized?”
Bria growled, “Creatively. Obviously magic alone will not suffice. Use glamour to hide your presence, learn their habits, and kill them anyway you can before he has a chance to try again when his demon fails.”
Celia thought back to the grenade going through her window, ideas came to her right away, but of course she couldn’t just buy major ordinance at the corner market. The whole idea was crazy wasn’t it? It had to be, because for some reason she was excited by the challenge of taking out the evil coven. They surely deserved it, for what they were doing. The problem was, if they didn’t take them by surprise, they’d be overwhe
lmed by magic, even if she could access all of hers, which she couldn’t by a long way.
There was also something that bothered her about it, she wasn’t sure what though. Their world had to be self policed, there was no one else to do it. It would be justified self defense, wouldn’t it?
Ed frowned and said dubiously, “Assuming we take out the demon, and somehow miraculously destroy an entire coven. What about the assassins?”
Damon waved a hand dismissively, “We don’t know who’s behind the system, but we’ve run into them before over the years. If you take out the one that put up the contract, the assassins will dry up. I can’t say for sure, but I think it’s because of the way the system works. If the hirer is dead, whoever runs the system can just keep all the money Gerald paid for his or herself, without sharing with the assassins. There could be other reasons, but based on what we’ve seen in the past…”
Both Bria and Sally were nodding in agreement with Damon.
On the way out Ed was shaking his head.
When they were back in the car he said, “This is insane, you know that right?”
She snorted, “Do you have any tanks or RPGs in your back pocket?”
He actually cracked a smile, “Sorry, all out.”
She shook her head, “How do they expect us to do this then?”
He frowned in thought, “I’m not sure, maybe we could ask Joe, we’ve got plenty of daylight left for you to get a run in.”
“Joe?”
He shrugged, “Shifters have taken out whole covens before, during the war. And all their magic is internal, so… there has to be a way.”
She sighed, “What aren’t you telling me?”
He glanced over at her and seemed to make a decision, “The Charlotte coven is pretty split over you, bitterly so in a few cases. I think this is a way for them to throw two problems at each other, no matter what happens… mutual destruction, us dying, or them dying, they win.”
Demon's Moon: A Celia Winters Novel Book 2 Page 4