by Sam Cheever
Sizzling hot saliva bathed my throat. I screamed again, the sound broken and weak. I could do nothing as I felt the knifelike fangs touch my skin. Felt them sink into flesh.
The air above me shifted in shades of charcoal and black, and the demon’s weight was suddenly gone, his claws lifting me several inches off the street before ripping free of my clothes.
I slammed back down into the street, my head hitting the curb hard enough to make stars burst before my eyes.
I gritted my teeth and fought oblivion. I couldn’t pass out.
I had to find Boyle.
I shoved at the street with hands and arms that felt like rubber. My cheeks were bathed in frustrated tears. “Boyle!” I croaked, my throat raw and torn.
I shoved one more time, managing to gain a couple of inches before my arms gave way again. “Boyle!” I shrieked, finally gaining some strength behind the single word, which throbbed with terror.
Someone bent over me. Hot, calloused hands skimmed along my throat, felt the back of my head and came away sticky with blood. “He’s okay, Glynn,” a deep voice reassured. “He’s safe. Your brother’s got him.”
“Thank the Goddess,” I said, my lips moving but the words caught in the ravaged tissue of my throat. Thank the Goddess, I murmured again in my mind. He’s safe.
I grabbed hold of the heated hand sliding over my arm, holding on to it like a lifeline. “Thank you…” I whispered brokenly. And then I let the shadows in my mind drag me under.
Lights flickered over my face, bathing me in heat. I lay there for a moment, listening to the gentle dance of the fire and smelling the familiar tang of smoke on the air.
My eyes were closed and I had no desire to open them any time soon. My body ached all over. Some irrational part of my mind told me the real pain would stay away as long as I didn’t open my eyes.
But I made it a personal rule not to let the irrational rule my life. So I forced them open.
The room was dark except for the flickering firelight. There was no sound beyond the crackling of the fire.
That silence made my pulse quicken. Boyle? He was never quiet. Had Hawk lied? I tried to stand, but my legs got tangled in the gentle prison of Grams’ throw. “Boyle?” I called out, my voice husky. Forcing my legs over the side of the couch, I tried to tug the knitted blanket from around my ankles. “Boyle! Where are you?”
Footsteps, light and quick, hurried toward me from the kitchen. Sissy quickly cut the distance between us, her pretty face tight with concern. “He’s fine, Glynn. Don’t get yourself upset.”
I fell back against the couch, sucking air into lungs that had seized with panic. Sissy wouldn’t lie to me. Boyle had to be okay. “Where is he? Why is it so quiet?”
“He’s…napping in his room,” she told me, sitting down on the couch. “He cried for an hour when Hawk carried you inside. Nothing anybody said would comfort him. I…” Her gaze slid guiltily away. “I’m sorry.”
Panic flared again. “What? Is he sick?”
“No.” Sissy shook her head, tucking a glossy strand of long blonde hair behind her ear. “I hope you don’t mind. I gave him a suggestion.”
Irritation flared. Sissy had no right putting the baby under a spell without asking me first. “You spelled my child?” I hated the tone of my voice even as the words came out. But I couldn’t stop them. I’d been so worried. And her admission seemed like verification that I’d had a right to be.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated. “He was making himself sick with worry. He wrapped himself around you and hissed at anybody who tried to pull him away.”
I blinked. Boyle had hissed at them? A gargoyle only hissed as a prelude to violence. Not my sweet baby boy…
“It was just a light spell. There won’t be any after-effects. It just encouraged him to sleep. And he was so exhausted he fell right under.”
She reached out and tucked the blanket under my thigh, looking miserable.
She’d been right to do it. I knew it. But I wasn’t feeling reasonable at the moment. “He was terrified, Sis. That demon could have killed him.”
Her gaze found mine. “It could have killed both of you.” She frowned. “Where do you suppose it came from?”
I shook my head, rubbing shaking hands over my face. “First the soul swallower and now this. What’s happening in Render?”
“Don’t forget the wraith,” my best friend reminded me.
I groaned. “How could I forget that?”
“You saw Mitch, right?”
I nodded, reaching for her hand. I squeezed it and some of the tension left her expression. “Thank you. For helping Boyle.”
She nodded, looking relieved.
“Yes. I saw Mitch. But he didn’t say anything about this,” I told her.
“What did he say?”
I expelled air. “Not much. I mostly went to ask him about Hawk.”
Her eyes went wide. “And?”
“Mitch knew only that Hawk is magical. But he doesn’t know what he is. He couldn’t even tell me if he was good or evil.”
Silence pulsed between us for a long beat. I knew what Sis was thinking. I was thinking it too. But I didn’t want to say the words.
So she did. “The timing is suspect, Glynn.”
I tensed as if struck. I had no idea why. It wasn’t like Hawk and I were romantically involved. But Boyle really seemed to like him. And he’d saved us more than once. “I know.” I swallowed hard, the words tasting vile against my tongue.
She patted my arm.
“Where’s Art,” I asked, seeking the comfort a change of topic would give.
“He and Hawk are trying to figure out where that demon came from.”
Before I could stop myself, my gaze slid to the basement door, which still hadn’t been boarded up. Goddess’s galoshes!
Sis didn’t miss my skimming gaze. “You think it came through the portal?”
It wasn’t possible, was it? “No.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I’d know if it had been opened. I’d feel if something came through.”
“But you’ve been telling me that something’s changed. It’s been erratic. And the energy has been building.”
She was right. And that had me worried. There was one way something could have used the portal, possibly without my knowing. It was something Grams had told me about once, a long time ago. But it was too horrible to consider. “Yes.” I let a moment’s doubt flood me and then sliced it off. If the creatures we’d been facing were getting through the portal under my watch, I was responsible for Boyle almost getting killed. And for Della…
I shook my head again, mostly because I wasn’t ready to face that possibility. “I’d know, Sis.”
She didn’t look convinced, but she let it drop. “Do you want something to eat? Or some chamomile?”
I didn’t want anything. Except to see Boyle with my own two eyes. “I’m going to go check on the baby.”
Sis nodded. “I’ll make some tea. For when you come back down.”
I didn’t argue, though I knew I wouldn’t drink it. The last thing I wanted was to be soothed. I was going to check on Boyle, and then I was going to follow the monster’s trail. I was going to find out where it had come through. Somebody was responsible for the attacks. I knew it in the center of my core.
But, even as I climbed the steps toward the third floor and Boyle. I said a silent prayer that somebody wasn’t me.
I sat on the edge of Boyle’s bed, staring down at him. His little chest rose and fell in sleep, his thick, dark-orange lashes fanning out across his cheeks. He looked even more adorable in sleep.
One hand rested on the bed, fingers slightly curved and twitching in what was probably a harmless dream. I was fairly certain that wasn’t just wishful thinking on my part. The baby often dreamed of flying with the bats in a night-darkened sky or playing with the critters who always surrounded Victoria. He didn’t seem upset and his breathing was soft. My hand crept out b
efore I could stop it and I slipped my fingers through his. The tiny digits tightened around mine, warm and baby-soft.
He sighed in his sleep and I smiled.
Tears burned my eyes. If anything ever happened to Boyle…
I sniffed, scraping hot tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand, anger making the action quick and overly aggressive.
Nothing was going to happen to Boyle. I’d keep him safe if I had to keep him inside Victoria until we figured out what was creating the magical chaos in Render. I thought of Mitch’s dire proclamation, “Something’s happening, Glynn. Something’s coming. And for the first time in my life, I can’t see it.”
I shuddered.
I couldn’t see it either. But I needed to. I needed to figure out what was going on before anybody else got hurt. And I had a feeling I needed to do it fast. Because whatever was happening, it seemed to be happening at an accelerated rate.
And it had already threatened everybody I loved.
15
I was getting ready to go looking for Artur when the door to the kitchen opened and he stepped inside, his expression grim.
Sissy and I glanced his way, and she frowned. “You didn’t find anything?”
He shook his head. “No. But there’s something in the air…” He broke off, looking worried.
I thought of Mitch’s words again and shook off the sliver of fear slicing through me. “What kind of something? Where? Does Hawk know what we need to do?”
Art threw me a strange look. I didn’t blame him. We barely knew Hawk. I had no idea why I’d assume he’d know more than we did, especially about something dark that seemed to be stalking Render.
But my brother didn’t call me on it. He just shook his head. “We walked the entire street with Nicht. The dog was agitated, his eyes glowing red…” Art grimaced. “That’s disturbing on so many levels.”
I nodded. “Nicht is a hellhound.”
Sissy sucked air, her face paling. “Say it ain’t so!”
I chuckled. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Art shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned a hip against the cabinets. He didn’t look surprised about Nicht’s species. Hawk must have told him.
“But aren’t hellhounds evil?” Sissy asked.
I shrugged. “Apparently not. Unless he’s putting on one heck of an act. He’s saved us more than once,” I reminded her.
“And he lets Boyle ride him like a horse,” Art said, shaking his head.
“Still,” Sis said, looking worried.
“He’s fine,” Artur said. “I might not have Glynn’s powers of siphoning magical energy, but I have a sense about these things. I can feel malevolent energy and that…hound…doesn’t have any.”
“What about Hawk?” Sis asked my brother, skimming a quick, guilty glance my way.
Art frowned. “I can’t get a full read on him. My gut tells me he’s okay. But there’s definitely something dark there.”
My brother was echoing my own feelings about Hawk. His behavior since we’d met him had been helpful and kind. I had no reason to doubt that was what he was. Except for an uncomfortable tightness in my chest whenever he was around. My head didn’t trust him, despite what my heart was telling me.
“What were you feeling out there?” I asked, shoving aside concern that I was changing the subject again. I really needed to get a bead on Hawk soon. There were currently too many unknowns in our lives. And I didn’t like unknowns.
“There was a spike of something really dark around Della’s house,” he told me, his gaze finding mine. “Hawk thought it was just residue from the soul swallower attack.”
Sissy grimaced. “I can’t believe what’s happening in our little piece of Heaven.”
Art and I laughed. Render was a lot of things. But it was a real stretch to call it any kind of Heaven.
Sissy’s brows lifted. “What? I love our little community.”
I did too. But I supposed I had a more realistic…or maybe cynical view of it. “Did you check on Della?” I asked Art. “Maybe that thing came back. Or it wasn’t alone.”
He nodded. “Yeah. She’s still really weak. We barely got anything out of her. But she was alone and, from the sting of magic as we stepped into her home, she’s warded the heck out of the place.”
“That’s good,” I said, relaxing. “Did you see Mitch?”
Art’s gaze darkened. “He wasn’t in his shed.”
Silence plunged between us. Sissy and I exchanged alarmed looks.
“That’s not right,” Sissy said. “He’s always in that shed.”
“I suppose he does need to leave once in a while,” I said, “To get groceries and stuff.” Even as I said the words, they sounded unsure.
“No,” Sissy said. “He gets everything delivered. Mitch hasn’t left his place since the Body sent that Representative down to snoop around the big house.”
That was what we all called the mansion on whose property Mitch lived. About a year previous, someone had apparently reported that a magic-user was living in the old mansion. Whoever it was had evidently seen Mitch moving around in there one night, his flashlight skimming the furnishings that had been left behind in the family’s frenzy to leave.
The rep had questioned everyone on the street, looking for Mitch and asking if we knew about him using any magic. Those of us who had magic had learned to keep it hidden. To help with that, Sissy had provided us with a small tattoo that masked our special energies when they were engaged through a particular word. We each had our own words, like private passwords, to keep from being detected.
Mitch had refused the tat, claiming it would interfere with his power. He'd retreated to his shed after that and hadn’t left it that anybody was aware.
“We need to check on him,” I told Sissy.
She nodded, climbing to her feet.
Art held up a hand. “Wait a minute, you two. Hawk and I have already checked on him. He’s not there.”
“What if something happened to him?” I demanded.
“Then you two don’t need to go marching down there and endanger yourselves.”
We glared at each other for a long moment. Artur had used the “I’m a big strong man and you’re a weak, stupid woman” thing on me all my life. It had never worked out well for him, but that didn’t keep him from pulling it out of his arsenal whenever he felt it was needed.
I used to punch him in the gut when he tried it. But that had gotten me into too much trouble with Grams. So I’d learned to settle for beating him down with my words.
Not nearly as satisfying, of course. But as I’d gotten older and smarter, I’d learned it could be just as effective. I narrowed my eyes on my bossy brother. “I’m going to check on my friend. Can you be trusted to stay here and protect Boyle?”
Art bristled, just as he’d always done when I’d basically accused him of being a coward for not charging into adventure with me. “If you’re going to see Mitch, I’m going with you.”
I looked at Sissy and she sighed. “I’ll protect the little bug. But if you need help…”
“I’ll give you a call,” I said, knowing Boyle would be perfectly safe in my friend’s capable hands. “If we’re not back in an hour…”
“I’ll go get Hawk,” she told me.
I nodded and gave her a quick hug. Then I slid Art a look. “Let’s go, big brother. Try to keep up.”
The area around the shed was silent. Only the annoyed squeak of a passing bat disturbed the quiet. I crept closer, all my senses on alert. Despite my jibe, Artur had more than kept up as we’d navigated the shadows along the street on our way to Mitch’s place. For all his faults as a brother, Art knew how to move almost silently through the dark.
Somewhere along the way, we picked up Nicht. The big dog trotted up and pressed against my side, big tongue lolling comically out the side of his mouth.
I grinned at him, digging my fingers into the thick scruff over his shoulders and giving him a quick scratch to t
hank him for joining the party. As we came within several feet of the shed, Nicht speared off into the darkness, disappearing as if he’d never been there. I assumed he was doing a perimeter search of the area and felt some of the tension leaving my shoulders at the thought.
There was nothing visibly wrong about the space. But I remembered Art’s worried voice saying, “…there’s something…”. He was right. There was…something. A tension in the air. An unsettled feeling to the area. It made my hackles rise and made me want to turn around and run.
I slid silently up to the door and reached out, feeling the knob with a fingertip. Electricity chewed on the skin of my finger and snapped a thin band of light into the night. I turned to Art, lowering my voice to a whisper. “It’s warded.”
“That’s good, right?” Artur asked. He’d spent enough time at the Body to understand about magical security methods. “If the ward’s intact, he probably left of his own volition.”
I wished I could agree. But there were ways of killing someone and disposing of them without breaking a perimeter ward. As a portal protector, I knew that all too well. Unsanctioned portals weren’t exactly common, but they did exist. The portal in Victoria’s basement wasn’t sanctioned by the Body, which was why I’d worked so hard to keep it secret.
Art touched my arm. “You’re thinking portal, aren’t you?”
He’d always been able to read my expressions. “Yeah. That would explain the tension in the air.” And the slight stench of sulfur I was smelling. But I didn’t mention that because it would set my brother off. Unsanctioned portals were one thing. But portals that led to the dark dimension were too dangerous not to report.
At least, if you were a rule-obsessed, starched collar, stick up the backside, paper pusher like my brother. His stint at the Body had sucked any rebel tendencies he’d had right out of him. And he hadn’t had much of that to start with.
I held my hand over the knob and felt for the energy pulsing through the ward. It came to me with only the smallest resistance and slid through my palm. The energy burned as it slipped beneath my skin, making itself known before allowing me to weave my own energy through it and claim it for my own.