Desperate to keep her and the others safe, Jarrett held on to Ashley and ignored the pain. Cynda ran over and tried to help Ashley with magic.
Determined to hold her concentration despite the noise, Tracy yelled to Jonah, “Where’s the stun gun?”
Jonah looked at her pitifully. “In the truck with the rest of my stuff.”
As the greater demon neared, Cody fired again. The bolt came close but missed the heart. The demon bared its teeth in glee and headed straight for Tracy.
Hearing the cries from outside, Nate could no longer sit idle. He climbed over the console and picked up the pair of haladies.
Assessing the situation in the span of a heartbeat, Nate witnessed the vicious backhand dealt to Rederrick. The demon turned its attention back to a defenseless Tracy, and Jonah fired his gun twice with no effect.
Nate jumped the distance from the stairs and attacked the demon. In a single fluid motion, Nate stabbed out and the blade of his haladie embedded into the greater demon’s back. Nate’s momentum carried him in an impossible swing as he gripped the planted weapon and used the monster as an anchor.
It bellowed in pain, and twisting his hips, Nate flung his feet around. The motion carried him to the front of the lumbering beast. Like a rock climber looking for his next anchor, Nate pulled, felt the first blade come free, and stabbed down with his other blade, anchoring his weapon in the creature’s heart. The demon’s jaundiced eyes widened, and it looked down at Nate before disintegrating. As the demon turned to ash, Nate landed in a crouch right in front of Jonah.
Impressed, Jonah mumbled, “That was—”
Nate grinned and nodded once. “Welcome to The Brotherhood, Detective.”
“Thanks, I think.”
Ashley’s screams filled the air, and drew Nate’s full attention. His heart fell when he saw her fighting against Jarrett’s hold. “Ashley!”
Jarrett whined as his eardrum burst. Cynda was still chanting to try and expel the demon without hurting her daughter, but nothing was working.
Rederrick stopped Nate from getting too close. He pointed as two more demons entered the circle. “You can’t help her. We have bigger problems right now. Let Cynda help her!”
Nate stepped toward Ashley. “I have to try. Rederrick, let me try.” Rederrick stepped out of Nate’s way, knowing if anyone could help his daughter, it would be the man who loved her.
Luckily, Cade and Delphene chose that moment to burst through the opening, attacking the last demons, and Tracy closed the wall.
Exhausted, Tracy turned to Jonah. “The spell is weakening. I can feel it. We don’t have much time.”
Cade ran up to them and barked his agreement, “We can’t stay here! There’re too many out there!”
Looking away from his daughter, Rederrick said, “I’m open to ideas.”
“Aren’t you people magic?” Jonah accused. “Can’t we do something to protect the plane? What about her? Can’t you shock her?”
Tracy shook her head. “I’m not practiced enough to call lighting and control the watts. I could kill her. Besides, even if we knock her unconscious, the demon will just pick someone else— like you or Nate. And trust me when I tell you, Nate would be worse.”
After what he’d seen of Nate, Jonah couldn’t disagree.
“At least she’s contained,” Tracy pointed out.
“Contained, but still hindering us,” Rederrick shouted. “The phase demon is keeping one of our best fighters down just to hold her.”
“I think that demon knows it!” James added. “It probably senses the emotions in her and understands what this is doing to Nate and Jarrett, to all of us.”
“When that fire wall comes down, and it will soon, we’ll need Jarrett,” Cynda agreed, approaching them. “Nothing I’ve tried works.” It broke Cynda’s heart, but she knew they would have to help Ashley later.
During their discussion, Nate kept moving closer to his fiancé. Ignoring the piercing screams, he knelt beside her. He tried to talk to her, but the jet engines and the screaming made it impossible to be heard, so he edged in near her face.
Nate stroked her hair and pleaded, “Ash, you got to listen now. You have to fight this! We need you! I need you!”
She tried to bite him.
“Come on, Ash,” Jarrett growled, “You’re stronger than that demon. I know you are.”
As the two men combined their efforts to cajole and soothe, Ashley switched from screeching to sobbing. Her struggles against Jarrett lessened to wild jerks, kicks, and pulls, but she still fought his hold too fiercely for either of them to believe she was in full control.
“If we’re not using the plane, let’s shut those engines off,” Cody suggested.
Jonah glanced over at Tracy, who stared at her sister longingly. “Tracy?” he yelled over the sounds and grabbed her arm.
“What?”
“How can magic get us out of here? We can deal with your sister after.”
“I don’t know, it’s not like I can blink.”
“Blink?” Jonah asked.
“Instantaneous travel to familiar destination,” James replied automatically. “You wouldn’t be able to carry us all if you could.”
The wall of fire sputtered then flared back up, but the magic was wavering.
“We’re running out of time,” Cade growled. “Del! Take the left. Nate! We have to hold them back, get over here.”
“Wait! A spell of protection,” Cynda shouted as loud as possible, and everyone turned to her.
“That only covers one person,” Tracy countered.
“We’ll have to alter it, but it could work if we do it together. If we cast it around the plane, it should keep the flying demons from it,” Cynda explained.
“Is that possible?”
“Sure it is. I cast those kinds of spells on your bedroom windows when you all were little. It requires a great deal of energy and focus though. ”
“Try it, we’ll take care of you,” Cade agreed then ran to the side to take up position with Delphene. Should the wall fail, they would be ready.
“You heard the man,” Rederrick said. “We have to do something. Nate, Jarrett, get her on the plane and tie her down!”
Jarrett knew Rederrick and Cade were right. If that wall of flames died, they would need him. He shifted to get off the ground, and Nate was right there talking to Ashley and helping Jarrett with her as he rose. When Jarrett stood, he tried to hold tight, but Ashley’s hand slipped down to her belt.
Ashley smiled at her fiancé, and Nate misread her expression. “Ash, it’s okay, you’re back. You’re okay.”
Jarrett could still smell the demon in her and knew she wasn’t free, but his damaged eardrums couldn’t hear Nate’s hopeful words.
Relieved she wasn’t fighting against them, Nate focused on her smile. He leaned in close, cupped her face, and touched his head to hers. “Don’t ever scare—” Nate gasped, his eyes widened, and he staggered back, holding the knife protruding from his chest.
Jarrett shouted for help when he saw Nate stumble and fall to the ground.
Cynda and Tracy were engrossed in casting the spell of protection, but James ran to his childhood friend. Horrified, James lifted the mortally injured Nate over his shoulders and carried him to the plane.
Cody shot a final bolt in the air, grabbed Jarrett’s discarded weapon, and hurried toward the plane with the others. The demons congregated against the barrier. The wall was failing, and the otherworldly creatures sensed it.
Ashley’s body renewed its struggle, wailing and thrashing as the women chanted. Fiercely protective of her, Jarrett endured every blow, bite, and scratch.
Golden light spread from Cynda and Tracy’s feet as the women called to the magic. Lines crawled over the ground. Like a spider web, the magical lines threaded around them in a pattern.
As they chanted, the flames keeping the horde at bay sputtered once, twice, and died. Cade and Delphene readied for the coming horde.
; Watching over his wife and daughter, Rederrick cautioned, “Stay within the protective light!”
The first demon halted before the golden web of protection and looked quizzically. Another ignored it entirely and turned to ash when a light pulsed as it crossed. Three more monsters were unable to halt their momentum, and the light flashed like a beating heart each time, incinerating them as they breached the barrier.
The light surrounded Ashley, engulfing her body. She went limp. Relieved, Jarrett cradled her in his arms, and boarded the plane. Sensing they were safe enough, Delphene and Cade also backed away from the battle lines.
They had nearly reached the chanting witches when a burst of light exploded outward. Tracy and Cynda both collapsed. Jonah and Rederrick were standing close enough to catch the women and never let them hit the ground. Nine more demons burst to ash, and the remaining cluster lost their desire for the fight.
Chapter 29
Cade boarded the plane last, hefting the unconscious pilot over his shoulder. He transformed into a man as he ran up the stairs.
Rederrick met him at the entrance holding new clothes. “Cade, we’re down one pilot, and Nate… It’s bad.”
“Get this bird airborne!” Cade called back to Chris. “Detective, help me here.”
“With all the magic you people throw around, why haven’t one of you found a way to keep clothes on?” Jonah grunted as he took the unconscious pilot and buckled him into a chair.
Ignoring him, Cade focused on the problem at hand and instructed, “He’s alive, but I'm not sure how bad it is. Take good care of him.”
Pulling on jeans, Cade stared at the couch where Nate lay. Pale and weak from the energy of the protection spell, Cynda worked furiously to stem the flow of blood. Nate shivered, and his face was ashen. Cade’s heart tightened. Not another one, he thought. “Ash?”
Rederrick looked back to where James sat with his sister. Delphene, covered in scratches and blood and wrapped in a travel blanket, worked to bandage James's shoulder. “Out of it still,” Rederrick said with worry. “Not sure we should bring her back.”
Jarrett pulled a shirt over his head. “Wake her. She’s the only one who can help him, and that boy’s running out of time. I can’t smell any trace of demon.”
“The pilot, Chris, needs attention too,” Cody added. “An archdemon got him. His back is messed up.”
“Jarrett’s right,” Cade agreed, moving to Ashley. “We have to take the chance.” He crouched down in front of her and prepared for the worst. “Ashley. Come on, Ash, you gotta wake up.”
“Heads up,” Jarrett called and tossed him some smelling salts from the first aid kit.
Cade caught the bottle deftly and used them to rouse her. She shot up, rigid and stressed out. When full awareness reached her gray eyes, Cade saw the grief in them and knew she was herself again.
“James? Nate?” she croaked. Her throat was raw and barely audible because of the demon’s screams.
“James will be okay, but Nate needs your help,” Cade explained.
Her eyes darted about until she spotted her fiancé. Ashley scrambled past Cade and fell to her knees on the opposite side where Nate lay dying. “Oh, Nate. What have I done?”
“Not you,” Nate said weakly.
With tears welling in her eyes, Ashley pulled aside the wrappings her mother had used to try to stop the bleeding and examined the stab wound.
After seeing she was okay, Nate went limp as he finally fell into unconsciousness. “Nate!” she cried. Panic set in. Ashley knew, just by looking at the surface, she only had minutes left to save him. “Somebody get my bag!” she tried to yell, but the order came out barely above a whisper.
For years Cynda suspected Ashley had more magical talents but knew Ashley feared opening herself up to more power, lest magic open her up to more pain. Cynda wasn’t a fool, she knew Ashley’s empathy was pushing past her barriers every day, so ignoring the gift wouldn’t help her avoid exposure anymore. Cynda knew the only way to save Nate was to force Ashley to accept who she was. Grabbing her daughter’s hand, she stopped Ashley’s frantic examination. “There’s not time for that, and you know it.”
“I can’t let him die.”
“No. You can’t,” Cynda said pointedly. “Ashley, you only have one chance to save him.”
Twice in the last month, Ashley had experienced the tingle of magic in her fingers when she worked over an animal patient. Unpracticed and frightened of the power, she ignored the sensation. This time she hesitated. Nate was dying, and Ashley knew her mother was right. “I—”
“You listen to me, Ashley Williams. You are the granddaughter of Esther Maguire McConnell, and great-granddaughter to Connor Maguire,” Cynda admonished. “They were the most gifted healers in our line, and their blood runs through your veins. Overcoming the fear of that line is the only thing standing between Nate and death. You must do this!”
Everyone was tense, but none more than Ashley. She placed her shaky hand over the bleeding flesh. “I don’t know how,” she admitted.
“Reach into him,” Cynda instructed. “Open yourself to his pain, and your gifts will guide you. I don’t think you can do this, Ashley. I know you can.”
With a steadying breath, Ashley focused solely on the man she loved. Closing her eyes, Ashley let him in. Her first instinct was to close it off again when his pain entered her, but she resisted. Instead, she allowed herself to touch his agony, his fear, his love. Once she allowed the sensations in, the hidden hereditary magic poured out upon him as Cynda predicted.
Warmth spread down her arms and tingled at the tips of her fingers. White light followed. Ashley’s gift, hidden for so long inside, poured out of her in a rush.
Nate’s body arched up as healing magic coursed through him. His eyes opened, reeled back, and he cried out.
With a raspy, quiet voice, she murmured, soothed, and pulled the pain out of him. He jerked again. “Shh, let it in, Nate. From me to you, and you to me. What was yours is mine, I call my power to seal and bind.”
As the words of the divination spell naturally poured from her, Ashley understood the risks a healer faced. All magic had a price, and the cost to heal someone this way was steep.
While the warmth spread from her to him, the cold came back the same way. Aware of his agony, hypersensitive nerves sought the source of Nate’s suffering, and transferred a portion of it into her own body to help him cope.
The couple connected on the most intimate level. Ashley’s magic slowed his heart to stall the loss of more blood while the torn tissue pulled together. Ashley’s spell timed the rhythm of her own heart to his needs, and it pumped for both of them. Deep inside him, golden light sealed the wound. The process took her less than five minutes but stole almost all of her strength. She instinctively understood that repairing severe injuries, or even too many serious wounds in a row, using her newly found talent could kill her.
Finally, Nate relaxed into sleep and the bulk of the pain left him. His heart picked up a steady beat and exhausted, Ashley heaved a sigh and fell over him. Any remnants of the wound left her body, and sleepy contentment replaced her discomfort. Cynda stroked her hair, and lifting her head, Ashley looked at her mother. She saw pride reflected in Cynda’s green eyes.
Jarrett offered Ashley a hand up, but shaking her head, she refused. Settling down on the floor she said, “I’ll stay with Nate for a while. I’m sorry I hurt you.”
“I’ll heal,” Jarrett said.
She craned her neck to look at her brother. “You too.”
James grinned. “I’m just thankful you throw like a girl.”
“Watch it, Mon Ami. I throw like a girl,” Delphene teased, and James laughed then groaned.
“I’ll try to fix your shoulder,” Ashley told James, “but I need a few more minutes before I can help you or anyone else.”
“I’ll be okay,” James assured her. “Chris and Jeremy are worse.
Ashley nodded weakly and tried to rise.
“It can wait,” Jarrett said, and placed a hand on her shoulder to keep her from getting up. “You’re in no condition to heal anyone else right now.”
Nodding again, she leaned her head against the couch, and taking Nate’s hand closed her eyes.
“Those phase demons are something out of nightmares,” Cynda said as she focused on Rederrick’s injuries.
“How are we supposed to fight something so strong?” Cody asked with doubt filling him.
“We have to be emotionally stronger than they are,” Ashley said still raspy, but her voice was gaining strength. Jarrett offered her a bottle of water.
Joining the conversation after checking on Chris, Cade asked, “What do you mean, Ash?”
“My self-doubt weakened me. The demon knew it. It fed on my own fear and doubt before it found control over me. It opened the floodgates of my power and fed from all of you. The longer it was in me the stronger it got.”
“What fear?” James questioned.
“I was so afraid today. I touched the emotions in the battle, and there’s this fear of losing control, losing my sanity. I’ve been…” Ashley paused, swallowed the lump in her throat even though it scraped the raw tissue, and sipped some more water. “I’ve had more impressions lately, and the power in me is getting stronger. I tried to bury it and hold it in. The demon knew that too. I stood there trying to force that thing out of me, and then the demon opened the lock I’d kept sealed.
“After that, I couldn’t fight anymore—all I could do was feel. I felt anger and hate from the other demons. I felt fear and worry from all of you. I felt my own self-doubt. And the thing inside me fed on all of it. The more it fed, the less there was of me inside, and the more I let frustration and anger take over, which only empowered it more.”
Nate opened his eyes. He weakly squeezed her hand. Lifting her head, their gazes locked. “Until Nate came, my emotions were negative. I saw him, and for a heartbeat, my love for him gave me clarity.” She smiled at him, then frowned.
The Truth of Victory: A Powers of Influence Novel Page 26