by Megan Berry
“It is nice to see you looking so young again, Liz,” Jasper interrupted, and Harper’s young, vivacious gran turned her smile on him, eliciting a jealous growl from the demon beside her.
Elizabetta laughed and put a restraining hand on his arm. “It is nice to see you again too, Jasper. It has been a lot of years since you saw me like this,” she laughed again, and Jasper nodded.
“You are just as beautiful as the last time I saw you,” Jasper fibbed, and Harper’s grandfather growled again, making Jasper grin a little. “Take it easy old man,” Jasper said, holding up his hands in mock surrender.
“Not in front of Harper, dear,” Elizabetta chided—Harper was having a difficult time thinking of this young woman as her gran. “You’ve summoned us here because you’re struggling,” Elizabetta said knowingly.
“Actually, we only summoned you here,” Jasper couldn’t help pointing out.
“Oh, Jasper, dear. You have been giving Harper such a hard time. I know it is a difficult thing for you to resist.” She didn’t seem mad in the least, in fact she was beaming. “I have been separated from this man for too long, and I won’t be again,” Elizabetta said lightly, though there was passion beneath her words as she stroked Harper’s grandfather’s forearm.
Harper looked away from their affection, but only for a moment, and then her eyes wandered back to them, wanting to soak in every detail. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Harper blurted out before she could lose her nerve, and Elizabetta’s face fell for a moment.
“I honestly thought springing this on you was best, letting you have a normal life before you got caught up in all of this craziness.” She motioned towards the living room filled with supernaturals. “I thought there would be more time, and then there wasn’t…” she trailed off, and a hot tear ran down Harper’s face. “ Don’t be sad for me, my darling. I’m not gone, this is only another level of being. I’m happy.” She looked over at the man beside her and beamed. “I am so happy.” Harper sniffed, trying to reel her emotions back in so she wouldn’t drag the reunion down.
“You are in a tough position that none of the Jones witches before you had to deal with,” Elizabetta said, getting right down to business. “Our line is one of the most powerful in the world, but because of your demonic blood, everything is so amplified. It is like your magic is on steroids.”
Her grandfather chuckled at that comparison, and his chest puffed out with pride. “Once you learn to harness your powers, there will be none that can rival you,” her grandfather chimed in, and Liz nodded.
“That is true. It can be scary, but the entire world is wide open to you. There is so much good you can do with your talents—so many people you can help.”
Harper nodded slowly, she hadn’t thought of it like that.
“You’ve already saved the town and you haven’t even mastered boiling water yet,” Jasper chimed in, making everyone but Harper laugh.
Harper reached over and slapped Jasper across the top of his arm, making her grandfather nod in approval.
“Imagine your power like a beam of light,” Gran said, drawing Harper’s attention back to the matter at hand. “The light is bright and thick, and may seem immoveable, but you have the power to choke it back and only let out a tiny pin prick of light, if that is what you desire.” Harper imaged a brilliant white beam of light in her mind and then concentrated and it slowly diminished to just a trickle.
“Will that really work?” she asked, and both of her grandparent’s nodded. “The power is in you, and you can control it any way you like. You just have to figure out what works best for you.”
“Just watch your temper,” her grandfather warned with a smile. “You have a little bit of the devil in you,” he said with a wink that made Harper feel a tight knot form in her stomach, rather than any sort of reassurance.
“You will do great. I know it,” Elizabetta chimed in, helping to ease some of the anxiety. Both of the ghosts suddenly looked back over their shoulders at something that only they could see.
“We have to go,” her grandfather said brusquely, and Elizabetta nodded.
“I love you darling. Come talk to us again some time,” she said before they both disappeared. Harper blinked, and they were gone.
“No,” she cried, but there was no one there to hear her. The air in the circle began to ripple and a black hand became visible, like it was trying to claw its way out. Harper took a step forward, but then just as quickly jumped back when she realized that it wasn’t her grandparents.
“What is that?” she asked, moving closer to Mallory and Jasper.
“A demon,” Jasper said, looking grim as he picked up the bag of salt and threw the contents into the middle of the circle. The creature gave a shriek that was deafening and disappeared with a loud snap.
“The connection is closed now,” Mallory told Harper and then calmly began picking up her crystals and putting them back into the box. Harper spun to Jasper and put her hands on her hips.
“What just happened?” she demanded.
“A demon tried to get through,” Jasper told her, and Harper was confused.
“Why was it so different looking than my grandfather?” she asked, remembering the small, black, pointed teeth with glowing red eyes she had briefly seen before Jasper had thrown salt at it.
“Not all demons are created equally. You have your higher ups like your grandfather. His form is usually human unless he chooses to shift into his demonic self, but that thing that was just trying to get through,” Jasper paused like he was trying to think of how to explain it the best. “Think of that as the dregs of the demon world.”
Harper’s head spun with information. “So not every demon is the same?” she asked, and this time Mallory shook her head.
“That thing clawing its way through the portal was more like an animal. A lesser demon. They are not capable of rational thought, they just have one purpose and that is to create death and destruction,” Mallory said.
“That was probably the reason your grandparent’s left. They didn’t want it to get through,” Jasper told her as he and Mallory picked up the remainder of the crystals. Harper stared at the salt on the floor.
“I’ll go find the broom,” she told them quietly, her mind spinning as she started to walk away, but Jasper put a restraining hand on her arm. She turned and looked at him questioningly. “What?”
“You’re a witch. You don’t need a broom,” he told her.
“Unless you’re flying on it,” Mallory quipped, and Harper turned to her.
“That’s a real thing?” she asked, and Mallory shrugged.
“Sure, if you wanted to enchant a broom and go flying—you can do anything.”
Harper let out a laugh thinking about herself, who was deathly afraid of heights, flying high up in the sky on a spindly little broom. “I think I’ll pass,” she told them, and Mallory laughed.
“You don’t need to fly on it, but you don’t need it for sweeping either,” Jasper said, getting back to the matter at hand.
“I don’t know any spells,” Harper told him, and he shook his head, refusing to accept her defeatist attitude.
“I saw you in that cavern. You are so powerful that you don’t even need them. You set that place ablaze with just the power of your mind. You didn’t say a spell, I was close enough, I would’ve heard.”
Harper nodded slowly. That was true, and she’d been wondering how she’d managed it ever since. “What should I do?” she asked Jasper, making him grin, flashing a little fang, because she was willing to try.
“I don’t know exactly, but your gran said you could do anything. Try imagining the salt floating into the air and finding its way back into the bag,” he suggested, and Mallory grinned, looking excited.
Harper stared at the heavy ring of salt and could almost feel each grain weighing on her mind. “Up,” she muttered at it, but it stayed completely still. “Nothing happened,” she told her vampire audience, and Jasper shook his head.
> “You’re just bossing it around. You have to actually feel it to move it,” he told her, refusing to let her give up.
Harper stared long and hard and began to feel a vibration coming off the salt, like it was a real living, breathing thing. She used her mind to separate the vibration of the salt from all the other stuff buzzing in her brain, and then she yanked the invisible cord and half the salt levitated off the ground.
Harper began to feel a bit of a headache forming behind her eyes, from stress, but she ignored it and refused to let the salt drop to the ground. Her eye snagged on the bag and she willed the salt to march single file, back into the bag. When the last grain disappeared, Harper finally let her focus break and she looked up grinning, wiping the sweat off her forehead.
Mallory looked stunned, and Jasper looked… proud.
“I’ve never met a witch that didn’t need to use a spell book before,” Mallory said, a slight bit of awe in her voice, and Jasper nodded.
“Me either,” he told them, and Harper’s mind instantly wanted to deny that there was anything special about her.
“I don’t think you two know how hard it was for me to move that salt,” she told them, trying to bluff it off.
“Your magic is like a muscle,” Jasper told her. “You’ve never used it before, so it’s weak and everything is an effort right now, but the more you practice, it will become stronger and you will be able to do more complicated things.” Harper liked his analogy.
“Try the rest of the salt,” Mallory demanded, excitedly clapping her hands together.
Harper wiped her brow again and nodded.
Jasper was right, it was much easier this time, now that she knew what to do. Every grain of salt went into the bag in half the time.
“I think I’m going to bed,” Harper told them, noticing that the clock said well past three in the morning. She was exhausted and bone weary in a way she’d never been before. The magic had drained her.
She climbed the stairs, leaving Jasper to show Mallory out. She stared at her bed for a minute, debating if she had enough energy to get into her pajamas—but she didn’t—so she collapsed on to her pillow fully clothed and passed out.
“Her gift is so rare,” Mallory said in amazement to Jasper, and he nodded.
“We have to be careful though,” he warned her. “It is bad enough Caspian knows of her demonic blood, but we must try and keep this a secret between ourselves. To protect her.”
Mallory nodded seriously. “Of course,” she agreed. “With my life.”
Jasper nodded his thanks. It was uncommon for a vampire to pledge their protection to another being, especially a witch, but Mallory had been very attached to Elizabetta, and Jasper could already see the same fast friendship forming between Mallory and Harper, and for that Jasper was grateful. Being tied to Elizabetta hadn’t been such a hardship, though he had chafed at the bond in the beginning. Liz had already been a powerful witch when they first met, but Harper was inexperienced and young. It was a dangerous mix for him, having his life bound to a novice with immense power. He would take all the help he could get to keep her safe.
Jasper sighed and let Mallory out the front door, being cautious to lock the doors before he drifted upstairs to check on Harper. She was sprawled out, fully dressed in her bed, her face pale, though peaceful.
He turned away, intending to find his own rest in the basement, and came face to face with a demonic presence. His fangs snapped down, but he didn’t have time to do anything else before a jolt of electricity shot him through the heart, making his knees buckle. When they hit him with the highly charged prod again, directly over the heart once more, he slipped into unconsciousness.
Harper woke from her sleep with a scream and sat jolt upright. Her chest ached, and her heart stuttered in her chest. It felt like she had been electrocuted—the dream had been so real—and painful. A shadow in her doorway drew her attention, and she screamed again when she saw the two strangers standing there, over Jasper’s body.
“Get her,” the first man demanded of the second, and he rushed forward. In her terror, Harper somehow managed to launch a fireball at her attacker, but he only laughed hysterically and passed right through it unscathed.
“Is that all you have little girl?” he asked with a smirk before his large fist collided with the side of her head and she passed out.
“Tie and gag her,” the first demon commanded the second as he strode over and stamped out the small carpet fire.
“What about the vampire?” the second demon asked as he slapped a pair of special cuffs over the half-breed, careful to wear gloves so he wouldn’t come in contact with the pure silver. He was itching to draw blood tonight, and they’d been commanded not to harm the girl.
The demon considered his partner’s request before shaking his head. His every instinct was to kill the vampire too, but he’d been commanded to slip in and out without going on a murdering spree or drawing attention to themselves.
“Let’s get out of here before the fanger wakes up,” he said gruffly as he took the girl from his partner and dissipated into nothingness. It had been too easy to simply appear in the hallway. What kind of a witch didn’t even have protection wards around their house? He couldn’t help wondering as he arrived instantly at his destination with his package. He was going to be greatly rewarded.
Chapter Nine
Harper woke with a yelp. The last thing she remembered was those men rushing her. The side of her face hurt as she recalled the attack with vivid clarity. She had thrown fireballs at them, and they had just walked through the flames. What kind of creatures could do that?
She tried to move her stiff body, but she was tightly bound to a chair. She looked down at her hands, folded in her lap and cuffed together, and let out an annoyed breath. She was terrified, but she was also angry and worried about Jasper. Had those things killed him? Had she accidentally burned the house down with him inside? Her guts rolled with worry as she tried to wiggle herself free.
“I’m glad to see you’re awake. I was beginning to worry my minion had hit you too hard.” Harper froze when a large man walked in. He was dressed casually in a loose white shirt and khaki shorts, but there was something unmistakably dangerous about him.
Harper tested out her jaw, bitterly thinking the guy had hit her plenty hard enough. “What do you want?” she demanded, making the man chuckle.
“You certainly are spirited,” he told her, running a finger along her cheekbone. Harper flinched, but only for a second before she used her teeth to take a snap at the intruding finger. It hurt her face to do it, but it was well worth it to see him yank his finger away.
“I mean you no harm,” he assured her, making Harper arch an eyebrow in his direction.
“You could’ve fooled me,” she disputed, motioning to her tied hands. Her kidnapper’s attention snagged on the cuffs she wore, and he frowned.
“Interesting,” he muttered, making Harper want to ask what was so interesting, but she stubbornly refused to give him the satisfaction. “They put the silver cuffs on you.” His eyebrows arched. “They are not burning you?” he asked, and Harper shook her head before regretting giving him any information at all. The man looked intrigued. “That is interesting news. Demons cannot touch pure silver without immeasurable pain. The affect is like acid.” Harper frowned down at her cuffs.
“So you mean me no harm, but you tried to slap a pair of acid cuffs on me?” she couldn’t help pointing out, and the man nodded like that made perfect sense.
“It is usually the only way to subdue a demon,” he said without any hint of remorse.
“I am not a demon,” Harper spat, even though she knew it was at least a quarter untrue.
The man studied her. “I know the truth. I can see the demon fire flash in your eyes because you are angry,” he told her, making Harper’s stomach roll. Was this guy talking about the same thing she’d witnessed with her grandfather’s spirit?
“What do you want from me?” H
arper asked again, feeling deflated.
“Right down to business. I like that,” the man told her. “My name is Malachai, and in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I am a demon.” Harper hadn’t figured it out, at all, and felt ill at the news. “I won’t harm you, at least not if you cooperate,” he told her with an evil grin, and Harper noticed that he had fangs, though they weren’t half as large as Jasper’s. She vaguely wondered if bringing it up would make the demon feel insecure—but then she shook the crazy thought from her mind. She was obviously breaking down from the stress, and she couldn’t afford that right now. She had to stay sharp and figure out a way to escape.
“Yes,” Harper said, licking her lips—they felt dry and cracked—and it was what finally made her realize that it was very hot and humid wherever they were keeping her.
“Yes?” the demon questioned, looking taken aback. “You haven’t even heard my proposition yet.”
Harper gave a weak shrug. “I don’t want to die. I will do whatever you want to insure that doesn’t happen.” The demon laughed uproariously at her surrender.
“I am glad to hear you could be so easily swayed. I was prepared to spend several days torturing you before you caved,” he shrugged like it didn’t matter to him either way before continuing. “Your participation won’t be much at first. We want you to align yourself with your demon brethren, and then continue to develop your skills. With you on our side, we could rise up the ranks to true power.” Harper blinked, surprised by the demon’s ambitions.
“What do I get in return?” she asked, making the demon chuckle again.
“There’s the demon in you,” he said approvingly. “Always trying to make a deal.” He raised his fingers to smooth his goatee while he considered her question. “You will have your life, of course,” he said at last and Harper nodded approvingly—being alive was always great. “You will also be richly rewarded, as soon as you prove your loyalty.” The demon stood and began to retreat. “I will go spread the good news… You understand why I have to keep you chained up for now?” he questioned, though he didn’t stay long enough to let Harper reply.