Red Blooded

by Amanda Carlson

  Instead of having fun time with Rourke, I sighed as I entered the circle for what felt like the hundredth time. I turned around and faced the bystanders, Tally, Naomi, Ray, and Maggie, who all stood on the outside, certainly hoping I would finally succeed and we could move on with business. “Kitty’s not very happy with me today, is he?” I asked Maggie as I readied myself for the assault.

  The child shook her head solemnly.

  After he had witnessed me repeatedly ejected from the circle, receiving constant contusions and broken bones, and engaging in intense hand-to-hand combat training, it was decided Rourke was no longer allowed in the Circle of Fun room. His snarls and threats were making it hard for everyone to concentrate, including me.

  Incapacitating a demon had been much tougher than I’d ever expected, because their true nature was serpentine and they had extremely hard skeletons. The demon dummies the witches had built were made of some sort of spelled metal and they were a bitch to destroy. I was always left bleeding and exhausted at the end of the day.

  It didn’t help that Rourke was still grappling with the fact that he couldn’t accompany me to the Underworld.

  It consumed our daily conversation, and truth be told, he had begun to wear me down. I was on the verge of allowing him accompany me, even though the demons would know his signature the moment he crossed over. I couldn’t deny that he was my strongest ally and undoubtedly the best man for the job. And, ultimately, I wanted my brother back, and having Rourke with me in the Underworld would give us the greatest odds of achieving that goal.

  The door to the circle room opened with a loud groan and I glanced over, half expecting to see Rourke barging in. I knew he was close because my blood rang with his tension. Once the door was open I could scent him, but it wasn’t him.

  “Hiya,” Marcy called as she shut the door behind her, using her backside. “How goes the training?”

  “It sucks, as usual,” I replied wryly, readying my stance to take the magic Tally was about to launch at me. “Your aunt is a wicked taskmaster and she thinks I can channel hybrid demon magic, but it turns out I can’t. It’s too strong and it keeps blowing me out of the circle.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. It’s not too strong.” Marcy’s tone was decisive as she strode forward. “You’re just a wimp.” She smiled as she bent over and swept Maggie into her arms. “Hi, Cherub. Fancy meeting you here.” She planted a kiss on the child’s cheek.

  One of Maggie’s arms snaked behind Marcy’s neck. “Kitty be mad,” she told Marcy in an earnest voice. “He be mad at me.” She placed a chubby finger on her own chest.

  Marcy raised an eyebrow at me.

  I shrugged.

  “No way, Big Kitty loves you. He’d never be mad at you,” Marcy crooned. “Besides, cats don’t get mad at people, they just get annoyed, and then all you have to do to fix it is feed them and they’re totally over it. We’ll get Big Kitty a nice sucker and he’ll be good as new. How’s that?”

  Maggie didn’t look convinced, but nodded anyway.

  “Are you ready this time?” Tally asked me pointedly, bringing us all back to task. “It’s my daughter’s naptime and I’d like to wrap this up if you don’t mind.”

  “Oh, she’s ready.” Marcy smirked. “Look at her face. That’s her determined look. See the way her lip is quirking up at that odd angle and her head is tilted slightly to the right? That’s her game face, and it’s on.”

  “You pain me. Right here.” I pointed to my backside, keeping it clean for Maggie. I knew Marcy would appreciate the gesture. “And it makes me want to use this.” I pointed to the bent knuckle on my middle finger. “And if I’m so wimpy, why don’t you come in here and give this a try, huh? We’ll see how long you can stay in the circle with demon magic up in your grill.”

  “I can’t do that. You see, it’s a sliding wimp scale.” She readjusted Maggie on her hip while trying not to laugh too hard. “And my wimp runs strong. One blast of that demon juice and I’d be a goner. And once I was dead, you’d have one angry werewolf up in your grill and you’d wish you were already in the Underworld.” She chortled. “The demons would be delightful compared to the wrath of my guy. He’d rip this place apart trying to avenge my dead, broken body.”

  James and Marcy were mated in every sense.

  And she was right. If something were to happen to her it would shatter him. Angry would not be an apt term. Ballistic would be closer to the truth. The two of them had come back unified from their ordeal with the sorcerers, but the only information I’d managed to pull out of her so far was hazy, involving “near death” and “best sex ever.” It was typical of Marcy to keep it light and not delve too deeply into the trauma, and because she hadn’t ventured into the nitty-gritty on her own, I hadn’t pressed her. More than likely, being kidnapped had shaken her to the core and she wasn’t ready to discuss the details yet.

  On the flip side, along with terrifying her, it had also brought out a magic streak I’d known she had inside her all along.

  No more tentative Marcy. This was kick-ass Marcy with new, twitchy fingers. The Coven was already in discussions to finally vote her in after she’d schooled a few of her old nemeses once she’d arrived—including Awful Angie, whom Rourke and I had the misfortune of encountering the last time we’d been here. Rourke was determined to strap Angie onto the ancient Vespa she’d forced us to use when we were running for our lives and send her into the lake as payback. But so far our paths hadn’t crossed. It was likely Tally had sent her away on purpose, which had been a smart move.

  “I don’t have to worry about a pissed-off werewolf,” I countered. “I wouldn’t let you in this circle anyway—” The blast from Tally’s staff struck me so hard, my breath lodged in my chest and I collapsed to my knees. I grabbed onto my neck and gasped like a fish out of water, but I’d managed to capture the magic this time, so that was a win.

  Tally’s element of surprise might’ve been the ticket, but the only problem was I actually couldn’t breathe. I pounded on my chest and clawed my neck trying to force oxygen into my windpipe, but nothing was working.

  “That’s it.” Tally’s voice sounded tinny and far away. “Take control of it. Mold it how you want it so you can force it back out.”

  It was clear she’d never been on the receiving end of her wicked staff from Hell.

  I managed to draw in a single breath through a very closed airway, right as a soft tremor rippled through the dirt beneath me.

  The movement was just enough to catch my attention.

  Did you feel that? My wolf ignored me in favor of snapping and ripping at the magic consuming us. The hybrid demon magic had manifested as a thick, dark mass in my mind, and as it cascaded over my eyes I was launched into total darkness.

  I’d indeed captured the magic, but I couldn’t mold it. I couldn’t do anything with it. And it was taking over as fast as it could.

  My wolf managed to tear a small patch of clarity open in my mind and I sucked in another gulp of air as quickly as I could. I was still on my knees, but surprisingly, my body had started to shake in rhythm with the ground tremors.

  The vibration running through my body hummed like a musical note.

  I wrenched my head up, but I still couldn’t see anything through the dark magic covering my eyes. Do you hear that? My wolf stopped what she was doing, her ears up and alert.

  Someone was yelling and the only thing I could make out was my name.

  Then two more words.

  “Don’t go!”

  2

  Don’t go where? Where do they think we’re going? My wolf didn’t respond. Instead she cocked her head to the side, listening. The ground beneath us began to quake faster. Words were trying to force their way into my mind, but I couldn’t make them out.

  Someone screamed.

  I shook my head, trying to clear the cloud of demon essence, but it was useless. It was too thick and concentrated. Focus on the sound, I told my wolf. I pushed outward, trying
to break through whatever had encapsulated me.

  With a resounding pop he came through in a rush.

  Jessica, JESSICA! Listen to me. Don’t go yet, you’re not ready. Please. Throw the magic back out. Tally said you have to eject it. Dammit, listen to me! You have to get rid of it and get the hell out of that circle!

  Rourke? How did you get in here? I must’ve been out of it longer than I’d thought. What’s going on?

  I felt your power shift so I kicked the door in, but it doesn’t matter! The circle is activating and taking you on its own. Tally thinks your magic, combined with the demon essence she threw at you, has triggered something. You have to rid yourself of the demon magic. Eject it before it’s too late!

  I’m trying, believe me. I staggered to my feet, my arms flung wide to the sides for balance. Ray had just been doing this very same thing, and now I knew exactly how he’d felt. This stuff was vicious. I still couldn’t see.

  With a start, I realized I was breathing again and the magic wasn’t trying to choke the life out of me anymore. It was there, swirling around inside me, but it had settled like a thick fog around my senses, almost like it was waiting for something. Rourke, I don’t understand what’s happening. Can’t I just walk out of the circle? Once I’m out, Tally can suck this stuff out of me with her staff. I took a few steps forward and abruptly smacked into something solid. It buzzed with the same magic that was now in my head. Rourke, can you hear me? What’s going on?

  Jessica, you closed the circle. There was anguish in his voice and he sounded very far away. The magic you’re emitting is mimicking demon magic. You fully absorbed whatever Tally threw at you and the circle now thinks you’re some kind of powerful demon. It’s about to give you a one-way ticket to the Underworld. You have to try to eject it.

  I stopped moving.

  I had no idea how to get rid of it. We have to harness it like Tally told us before, I said to my wolf. She growled at me, giving me a look.

  She was right. There was nothing to harness. The demon essence had begun to sink into me, mingling with my own magic.

  Jessica, can you hear me? Rourke’s voice shook as he pounded on the edge of the circle.

  I can, but I can’t see anything. The magic has completely settled over me. It feels strange. And there’s a weird buzzing in my head. I can’t find anything to grab on to. It’s not threatening me—just the opposite. It’s beginning to feel like my own.

  I could hear him explaining it out loud to others, but his voice was muffled. Then he shouted, “I don’t care! You have to help her. You have the fucking staff. Break the circle open and yank her out of there.”

  The Kitty was indeed mad.

  Tally’s voice was calm. She was nearer or her voice projected better, either way I could hear her. “I can’t do that. She’s more powerful than this staff right now. She just has no idea how to wield the magic inside her.”

  No shit. Okay, we have to figure this out on our own, I told my wolf. We have to dump this magic. I raised my arms and pressed my palms against the inside of the circle, the same circle I had inadvertently activated. It felt hot and sticky, but totally solid. It curved slightly upward. I cleared my voice and yelled, “Can you hear me?”

  “Yes!” Marcy answered first. “Jess, you have to get out of there. I don’t care how you do it, but you need to get it done.” Her voice was just short of frantic, which was a lot of emotion for her. “You can’t go to the Underworld without any protection. Come on! There’s no need to show any of us up and be all powerful and scary. Just dump the magic into the ground and the barrier will drop. Easy as pie.”

  My body began to shake like a tuning fork in tandem with the ground. The magic inside me grew stronger by the second. There was no pie here. It swirled through me in a massive current, a big haze of golden darkness, leaving nothing for me to hold on to.

  I think we’re feeding the circle, I told my wolf. It’s coming up from the ground and through us and back like a transformer. We’re going to have to break the circuit the same way we did with Vlad’s sword.

  “Focus on the ground,” Tally ordered. “The earth will take the magic and disperse it for you. That’s why we set the circle here. The reaper ejected it one way, yours will be another. You don’t have to manipulate the magic, or try to change it, just take it as it is and dump it into the ground.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered as I dropped to my knees, “because it’s easy like that. There’s no magic to hold on to.” I plunged my hands into the dirt anyway. My claws were sharp and I realized I was in my Lycan form.

  “Jessica, please.” Rourke’s voice was low. “I can’t let you go to the Underworld by yourself.” There was enough bitterness in that statement to last a lifetime.

  “Harness the mass, Hannon,” Ray yelled. “It was a big cloud of dark shit in my mind. Get your magic around it, and once you have it, squeeze it.”

  There was no cloud. Mine was a hazy brackish swirl that was now thoroughly mixed with my own magic. “There’s nothing to grab on to, Ray.” I panicked as the ground beneath me started to feel like a washing machine in its final cycle. “It’s all one big… mass.”

  “That’s impossible.” Tally’s voice held a hint of desperation. “The magic is its own being. It can overcome you, smother you, but it can’t become a part of you.”

  “Tell that to the damn magic.” I coughed as I plowed my hands deeper in to the ground, hoping it would help me.

  “Ma Reine,” Naomi said in a worried tone. “You are starting to glow.”

  “Jessica!” Rourke yelled. “Hold on.” His fists continued to pound against the barrier. The reverberations rang through me as I felt his sorrow beat against my chest.

  There was more commotion as another voice entered the room. Danny’s worry jumped in my blood. We were bound together. I was still his Alpha and his need to help me was strong. “This is a bloody travesty!” Danny shouted, joining Rourke on the outside of the circle, their combined blows resonating like thunder claps in my eardrums. “You can’t go to the Underworld without anyone to aid you. How are you going to defeat the Prince of Hell, then? With your fists?”

  “I’m… doing my best to stay here,” I panted. Did the color of the magic just change again? I asked my wolf. The hazy darkness of the combined magic had turned a shade lighter. The ground below my knees kept up its frantic tremors and I knew instinctively that once the vibrations reached a crescendo it would be too late and I’d be on my way to the Underworld. I flexed outward, trying to send all the magic in my body into the ground.

  “That’s it,” Tally urged. “Keep doing that. When you do that I can feel the barrier weaken.”

  I took a big gulp of air. “I’m tossing everything out but it keeps coming back too quickly. My body has done something to the demon magic. There’s no separation anywhere I can see.”

  “You have a special ability to morph magic,” Tally said. “It helps you fight off an attack, and it’s truly remarkable, but I don’t want you to do it right now. If the demon magic becomes a part of you, I have no idea what will happen.”

  “What did you think would happen when you pumped me full of this stuff?” I continued to push outward. But it was dawning on me that I wasn’t breaking the circle, I was still feeding it.

  “Clearly not this,” she retorted. I was certain she had her hands on her hips and a wary look on her face. “The magnitude of power I shot into you was supposed to teach your body how to defend against such a force. You take the power in, harness it, and eradicate it. It’s magic defense 101.”

  “Well,” I said, “I guess I missed that class.”

  “There has to be some way to get the magic out of her system,” Rourke snarled at Tally. “Do something to help her, witch.”

  “Cat,” she replied, “I would if I could. But if what she says is correct, her body has completely absorbed the demon essence, and now it’s changed into something unknown. There’s no precedent for such a thing. Her own magic is fueling this
circle. It thinks she’s a demon.”

  “Jesus Christ!” he shouted. “I don’t care about any of that or who’s fueling what. I refuse to believe there are no other options.” I felt his tension and his love. This was killing him. “What was your backup plan, witch? There has to be a way to break this circle open if something goes wrong.”

  “There is no backup plan,” Tally huffed. “No witch can do what she’s doing. Even if they were somehow chock-full of demon magic they couldn’t activate the circle on their own. And if this were a real demon, they would know how to drop their magic to stop fueling the circle.”

  “Tally,” I said, “I’m not a demon and I don’t know how to stop it.”

  “I’m picking up on that,” she answered. “It weakened when you first threw your power into the ground, but now the energy is circulating again. As much as I presume to know about demons, I’ve never spent any time with one. Witches eject power, but maybe demons do not. Instead of grounding it back into the earth, try to suck it back into yourself and see what happens.”

  “Isn’t that what got me here in the first place?” I growled, my body still quaking in time with the ground. Suddenly I wondered if anyone else felt the earth shaking. It pissed me off that I still couldn’t see.

  “Try to channel it where you keep your own magic,” Tally ordered. “It’s possible you can store it somehow. But you have to hurry.”

  I had no idea where I kept my magic. It had always just been there. I usually left the power grabbing to my wolf, who did it instinctively, because that was her role in this partnership. Do you know how to do what she’s talking about? My wolf yipped. Where do we put it? I asked. My wolf started pulling back the magic we’d been channeling into the ground and began to funnel it into us, but I couldn’t detect any secret spot she was stashing it. It just felt normal. I began to help—by doing what felt right, like stretching my muscles after a long run.