Deep Magic

by Christine Pope

  “Well, it’s not all we think about,” Hayley teased him. “Just mostly.”

  He grinned, his blue eyes lighting up like sunlight on a mountain lake. “I can see why.”

  Her body still thrummed from their contact, from the way he’d filled her. In fact, the mere thought made her think that maybe they should fall back into each other’s arms, and go for another round. After all, they had this precious time alone together, without worrying about whether her brother would wonder exactly what they were up to. They might not get this chance again for a while.

  In the next moment, though, Levi’s pants began ringing. Or, to be precise, the phone in the back pocket of his jeans, still lying on the floor, started to ring.

  Hayley wanted to tell him to ignore it, but she knew that wasn’t a very good idea. Not with everything that had been going on. So she gave him a reluctant nod, and he slid off the bed and went to retrieve his phone. At least his doing so gave her a chance to get a good look at his ass, which was just as sculpted and perfect as the rest of him.

  He’d been smiling, but his expression went flat and still as soon as he answered the call. “Yes, Angela. Yes.” A long pause. “No, it’s not a problem. We can be up there in a few minutes. All right. We’ll see you then.”

  No point in asking who it was, not when Hayley had heard Levi say the prima’s name. It sounded like Angela and Connor were back home…and they needed to talk. She watched as Levi gathered up his underwear and jeans, and began to put them back on.

  “They want to see us,” he said, his tone somewhat apologetic. Had he picked up her thoughts about wanting to make love again, or had he simply been thinking the same thing?

  “I kind of got that.” Hayley pushed herself off the bed. “Give me a couple of minutes to get cleaned up, okay?”

  “Of course.”

  She picked up her own discarded clothing and retreated to the bathroom. A few careful dabs of cold water on her face, a quick wipe-up to get rid of the aftermath of their lovemaking. That was about all she had time for before she pulled on her clothes. Yes, she’d grab the brush from her purse and tidy her hair, and put on some fresh lip gloss, but she wasn’t sure whether that would be enough.

  No matter what she did, Hayley had a sinking feeling that Angela would look at her and Levi and know exactly what they’d been up to for the past hour….

  17

  “Tricia called me,” Angela said briskly, once Levi and Hayley were seated on a couch facing her and Connor. “She told me what happened. But I wanted to hear it from you, too. Are you absolutely sure the wards will protect us now?”

  Levi wanted to shrug, although he knew such a gesture would only make it appear as though he was not terribly concerned about the situation, and nothing could be further from the truth. It was more that he couldn’t tell Angela with any confidence whether or not the town was safe. Yes, he’d put everything he could into those wards, and with Hayley’s extraordinary gift lending them strength, they certainly were an order of magnitude beyond anything that had protected the town before now.

  Even so, he didn’t know whether it would be enough.

  It was hard not to turn toward the woman who sat next to him, to once again drink in her beauty. He couldn’t forget how it had felt to touch her, to bury himself in her glorious body. The only thing he wanted was to be able to do that again…and again.

  Somehow he managed to force his thoughts back to the matter at hand. “How can I say that I’m absolutely sure? The wards are very strong. Hayley and I made sure of that. But because I can’t know the actual extent of Joaquin Escobar’s powers — or his son’s — I also can’t know for sure that this last demon was the most powerful one they’re capable of summoning.”

  Angela and Connor exchanged a glance, one that Levi couldn’t quite read. From time to time, he’d wondered whether they were somehow capable of communicating without speaking. He didn’t have any true evidence of such a gift, but they did seem to share an extraordinarily strong rapport. And when a prima and primus were joined as those two were, something that hadn’t happened in all the recorded history of witch-kind, who knew what they might be able to do?

  “Tricia said it was strong, that at first it looked like you had trouble destroying it.”

  “I did,” Levi said simply. He didn’t see this as a failing on his part. One could only work with the hand one was dealt, nothing more. “I could only be glad that there was just the one. Perhaps it was beyond the Escobars’ power to send more than a single demon of such strength. We can hope, anyway.”

  Neither Angela nor Connor looked very hopeful. In fact, they appeared more tired than anything else. It had to have been difficult for Angela to see the woman who’d raised her now brought down by the Escobars’ machinations. Levi wondered where the twins were, because the house was quiet, with not even the low murmur of a television on in the background. Possibly they were still being watched by the woman Levi had spotted playing with them earlier, and the prima and primus had put off bringing the children home until after this interview was concluded. It made sense.

  “Where does it end?” Angela asked then. “I mean, it sounds as though we’ve shored up our defenses as much as we possibly can. We were lucky this time that at least the demon came into our territory at a point where not many people were around — and they won’t remember it, thanks to your Jedi mind trick — but we can’t go on like this, always worrying whether another demon is going to appear and attack someone else in the clan.”

  “Or create a disturbance that’s impossible to hide,” Connor added. He rubbed at his forehead, as though a sudden headache pained him. “This town has more than a million tourists pass through it every year. All we need is the hordes of hell to descend on the Haunted Hamburger or something, and the next thing we know, Jerome’s on the front page of the National Enquirer.”

  Which of course wouldn’t do at all. The witch clans survived by being discreet about their powers and abilities. They couldn’t afford that kind of exposure, even if it didn’t also involve personal pain and injury for those they loved.

  “I wonder if that’s part of Joaquin Escobar’s game,” Hayley said then, her tone thoughtful. “I mean, it’s obvious he’s out for revenge, but he could have gone after Rachel in a more subtle way than having a car with no driver crash into her store right in front of everybody. Luckily, it drove away right afterward, so I don’t think any of the civilians who were around saw much of anything, but — ”

  “That’s true,” Angela said. Her face was pale, but she didn’t try to refute Hayley’s words. “If we’re put off balance by trying to keep everything on the down-low, then we’re wasting energy we might otherwise be spending on trying to keep our people safe.”

  “But how do we stop him?” Connor asked. “We’ve gone into his territory once and lived to tell the tale, but now that Joaquin Escobar knows that Levi has the power to teleport in and out of a place, he must be even more on his guard. I don’t think we can manage that kind of trick again.”

  “Plus, we’re not exactly the sort of people to send assassins after someone,” Angela responded. “Even if he might deserve it. I think a lot of us were willing to settle for a kind of — well, not a peaceful coexistence, but if he’d just allowed us to take Lucinda and cut his losses after that, we might have let the rest of it go.”

  “But didn’t he enslave their prima-in-waiting?” Hayley asked. “Kill the former prima and her consort? How could we possibly let that go?”

  Again Connor and Angela were silent. Levi could almost see them wrestling with the moral dilemma Hayley had put in front of them. At last Connor said, “I don’t know if it’s that simple. The witch clans, in general, don’t interfere in the business of other clans, even if that business happens to be dirty. Right or wrong, that’s just how it’s been for centuries. Things have gotten muddled around here lately, simply because there’s been so much recent intermarriage among the three witch families here in Arizona, but we
still didn’t have anything much to do with clans outside the state.”

  “In this case, it’s Matías who started things, though,” Levi said. “If he hadn’t come here and stirred up trouble by kidnapping your witches and murdering one of them, then none of us would be here having this conversation. It seems logical that we’d need to do something about it by finishing what Matías started.”

  “By doing what, exactly?” Angela demanded. “Going to California and attacking the Escobars there? None of us are equipped for that sort of thing — even counting the feud between the Wilcoxes and the McAllisters, there hasn’t been outright warfare between witch clans for more than a hundred years. And for good reason. Those sorts of conflicts never turned out well.”

  It was a difficult problem. The McAllisters were not warriors. Levi didn’t know as much about the Wilcoxes, or the various talents of that clan’s numerous members; it was possible that they had more among them whose gifts were suited to magical battle. The same for the de la Pazes. And yet, he didn’t want to contemplate what such a conflict could do to the Arizona clans. They were not warlike people. But unless they did something, those demons would keep coming.

  Unless….

  A thought struck him, one so audacious that he honestly contemplated for a moment whether he’d lost his mind. It wasn’t possible…

  …unless it was.

  Perhaps it wasn’t feasible to have the McAllisters and Wilcoxes go charging into Pasadena and openly attack Joaquin and Matías Escobar. However, the rogue warlocks’ ability to raise havoc would be greatly reduced if they were suddenly unable to call any more demons to do their bidding.

  And the easiest way to do such a thing?

  Close the portal that connected the demons’ world to this one.

  “What are you thinking, Levi?” Hayley inquired. Her tone wasn’t precisely suspicious, but it sounded as though she guessed that he was contemplating a notion she wouldn’t very much like.

  “Yes, Levi,” Angela put in. “If you have an idea, we’re all ears.”

  Curious expression. However, Levi knew this was not the time to delve into the idiosyncrasies of the English language. “These demons must travel to this world, because obviously they’re not part of it. To come here requires stepping through a portal that a warlock has conjured. All I have to do is make sure that the portal is closed.”

  “‘All you have to do’?” Hayley repeated in incredulous tones. From the way she stared at him, it was clear that she didn’t like his idea at all. “This isn’t exactly like installing a new deadbolt, you know.”

  “I do know,” Levi said calmly. He reached over and laid his hand on top of hers, hoping that simple touch would be enough to offer some reassurance. Perhaps it would have been better to take her in his arms, but he didn’t know if such a display of affection in front of the prima and primus would be appropriate. “I know because I came from outside the world as well. I know where these demons come from.”

  “So you came from there, too?” Angela asked. She’d taken Connor’s hand, as though seeing Levi offer comfort to Hayley had led her to seek it from her own husband. “The place of the demons?”

  “Not exactly. Our planes touched, but they are not the same. A good thing, too, because if the Escobars had ever learned of my existence, they might have set about finding a way to exploit my powers.” Levi hesitated, trying to think of the best way to explain a concept that had no true analogue in the physical world. “I was a being of no substance, of pure spirit, if you will. That’s why I’m able to use all the powers that manifest in human witches and warlocks, rather than being confined to the one or two most of you have to work with.”

  Connor shook his head, his expression showing that he was not entirely convinced. “It sure seems as if Joaquin Escobar has more than a couple of different talents at his command. My brother did as well. And even Angela and I can step outside our native-born gifts if the situation calls for it.”

  All true, of course. Levi paused for a moment, doing his best to think of a way to explain concepts that were not easily grasped by the human mind. “Your situation is different, because you and Angela use your powers to bolster one another. As far as your late brother’s gifts are concerned, it seemed his talent was magic itself, a very rare thing. It could be that Joaquin has a similar gift, or that his powers as a null allow him to draw other people’s magical energies to him so he can exploit them at will.”

  “Sort of like a human black hole,” Hayley offered. The phrase sounded vaguely amusing, but he could tell from the grim set of her lips that she wasn’t joking.

  “Yes, something similar to that,” Levi said. “Anyway, the demons all come from the same plane, the same world, even though their individual strengths and weaknesses vary among them, just as they do among witches and warlocks. Jack Sandoval told me that as many as twelve were summoned to cast the terrible magic that returned Matías Escobar’s powers to him. I can believe this, because to reverse a spell cast by a prima and primus working together is no small thing. I have to wonder if the summoning of so many demons at a single time was the work of his late daughter, her special talent, because otherwise, why wouldn’t Joaquin have done the same this time around?”

  Angela shuddered. “Thank the Goddess that he didn’t.”

  “Yes, but we know he is unscrupulous to the extreme. If he could have, he would have — which means we need to seize the moment while we can, while he’s recovering from this latest defeat.” That was one thing Levi had noticed — these attacks did not come immediately on the heels of one another, but were spaced apart by hours or even days, intervals that could be based on how much time Joaquin needed to regain his strength following his newest summoning. Because the demon Levi had just vanquished was very strong, it stood to reason that its conjuring must have sapped a good deal of the Escobar warlock’s strength. But recover he would, and try again…unless they did everything they could to stop him.

  “And by ‘seizing the moment,’ you mean closing the portal to the demons’ plane,” Connor said.

  “Exactly. I know where to find it, I think.”

  “You think?” Hayley said. She shifted on the couch so she faced toward Levi. Even now her mouth looked faintly swollen from his kisses, and he had to force himself not to think about how beautiful she was, how much he would miss her if…

  …well, if things didn’t turn out as he hoped.

  “It’s not as though a map exists of these things,” he replied, making sure he kept his voice level, patient. While he understood her concern, he also knew that they didn’t have much time to waste. “It’s more that I will need to rely on my instincts. They’ve served me well enough so far, which means I need to trust them in this. Besides, it’s the only way. If I don’t close that portal, then the demons will keep coming…and sooner or later there will be too many, or one so powerful that even I can’t stop it. What Joaquin is doing…it’s somewhat like exercising a muscle. With more exercise, that muscle gains strength. Each time he successfully summons a demon to this world, he also gets stronger and better at what he does. Eventually, he’ll be impossible to beat.”

  That pronouncement only made Angela and Connor look at each other again, the strain in their faces clear enough, even though the afternoon was beginning to shade toward evening, and the light in the living room had started to fade. Sitting next to him, Hayley was pale and mute with worry, her fingers now twined with his, their sudden chilliness telegraphing her fear.

  Was he afraid? Levi didn’t know for sure. He had lived each day in this world as a gift, knowing that he had never been created for this purpose, that in the grand scheme of the universe, he wasn’t supposed to be here. And he had known that someday he might have to return whence he came, although he’d always hoped that wouldn’t be the case, that the world where he lived now could be his permanent home. Now the thought of leaving pained him far more than it would have only a few days ago, because of Hayley. He knew he loved her. He want
ed to spend each day with her, wake up beside her. Perhaps, if the Goddess the McAllisters believed in was merciful, he and Hayley might one day have a family.

  But he would risk all of that to ensure she was safe from the depredations of the Escobars’ demon minions.

  After a long moment, Angela said, “What do you need from us?”

  There really was nothing they could do, unfortunately. Their magical gifts were prodigious, but even Connor and Angela could not go where he needed to travel. He had heard that she had once walked in the otherworld, had helped to heal the rift between hers and Connor’s long-dead forebears, but the afterlife frequented by human spirits was very different from the plane the demons haunted.

  Nothing human had ever ventured there. Levi would only risk the journey because, while his body was human, his soul was not.

  “Very little,” he said. “I’ll go with Hayley and get something to eat, because I might as well make sure I’m fortified for the ordeal. You can sit with me when I ‘go,’ if you like, but it won’t make much of a difference. If something goes wrong, you won’t be able to bring me back.”

  “Are you sure?” Angela asked. Her mouth had set, and a spark of defiance flared in her green eyes. “I’ve had experience walking in the otherworld, too.”

  “This isn’t precisely the otherworld,” he replied. “Your world of the spirits is still connected to this world, because everyone there was once human. This…this is entirely different.”

  The prima swallowed, suddenly looking rather pale. “We’ll be with you — even if you say it won’t make a difference.”

  “All right. Then let us all meet at my flat in an hour. I think we can risk that much of a delay.” Levi squeezed Hayley’s hand gently, then untangled their fingers. “Let’s go get something to eat.”

  She stared at him, stricken. “Do you really think I can eat at a time like this?”