Dark of Night

by Emily Goodwin

  Fuck.

  I start towards the woods.

  “The wendigo is back,” Lucas says, tipping his head up and smelling the air. “He’s not far, but we have some time.

  “Those things move fast.” Evander’s eyes widen.

  “So do I.” Lucas grabs me around the waist and pulls me against him. “Go home.”

  “No, Lucas.” My breath hitches, and I shake my head. “You’re coming with us.”

  He just smiles, kisses me, and runs into the woods, going the opposite direction of my house. I stand there staring at the spot where he left.

  “Come on.” Evander grabs my hand and pulls me toward him. I get hit with a terrible feeling of déja vu. Of Evander trying to lead me to safety while Lucas risks his life for me.

  Again.

  “I can’t let him go out there alone. That wendigo could tear him apart!”

  “And it will tear you apart if we don’t get going.”

  Binx nudges me forward, agreeing with Evander.

  “And the banshee?”

  “He’s the strongest vampire I’ve had the displeasure of meeting. He’s fast and he’s strong.”

  “Right…he…he is.” I close my eyes in a long blink and feel the magic sizzling around my fingers. I’m wasting time standing here worrying. We need to get to my house, grab what we need, and come back out here and kick demon ass. “Let’s go.”

  I toss an energy ball up, lighting the way, and race into the woods. With Freya and Pandora leading the way, Evander and I make it nearly a mile before the banshee’s cries ring out overhead.

  Gritting my teeth, I focus on my breathing and push forward, taking a few more strides before realizing Evander is slowing down. Binx doubles back, pushing Evander forward. I take his hand and start running again. The cries grow louder and louder, echoing inside my head, making it feel like my brain is going to explode, splitting my skull in two.

  “She’s almost here,” I pant. In spirit form, my familiars are unaffected by the banshee. If she gets close enough, they’ll be able to hold her back so Evander and I can get away. But that’s assuming her cries don’t drive us to the point of madness first.

  Tree branches snap as something barrels toward us. Their smell hits first, and I whirl around, throwing an energy ball at a scrapper built like a tree trunk. It growls, dropping to its knees from the pain of the magic but not dying.

  “Get the scrappers,” I tell my familiars, conjuring another energy ball with one hand and grabbing Evander’s with the other. I jerk him forward, trying to block out the banshee’s screams. Banshees are lower-level but aren’t entirely corporeal. An energy ball won’t kill one, but it will slow her down.

  We’ll take what we can get.

  Low-hanging branches scratch my face, and dew from the underbrush soaks my pants. Evander slows, brings his hands to his head, trying to cover his ears.

  “Come on!” I shout, holding up my hand. Blue light illuminates his face. His nose is bleeding, and his eyes are bloodshot. “No,” I cry, shaking my head. “Fight past this, Evander!”

  He falls to his knees and the banshee’s screams echo louder and louder. I whirl around, looking for her. The pain in my head becomes almost too much to bear as well, and I double over, feeling like I’m going to throw up.

  And then that same weird feeling takes over, making my heart skip a beat and the magic swirling around my fingers spark. The pain starts to subside, and I straighten up, wiping a trickle of blood from my nose.

  “Where are you?” I bend my fingers in toward my palm, forming the energy into a ball. “I’m going to find you, and I’m going to kill you,” I sneer. “All of you. This is my town, and these are my friends you’re messing with.”

  The banshee lets out one final harrowing scream and then goes silent. My breath leaves me as I whip around again, watching my familiars tear through the scrapper demons. Evander’s on the ground, head between his hands.

  “Are you okay?” I ask, rushing over to him.

  He looks up, blinking.

  “Your eyes,” he starts, squinting as he looks at me. “I…I thought I saw them glowing.”

  “That doesn’t matter. We need to go. I don’t know where the banshee went but she’ll be back. They don’t give up until they get their kill.”

  “Neither do you.”

  “I’m not giving up until they’re all dead.” I take a step back, looking around. I usually like hunting lower-level demons, but this is just adding to my stress level. Evander is still crouched down with one hand planted on the ground. “Do you need a minute?” I ask.

  He shakes his head, eyes falling shut, and bows his head down, but doesn’t get up.

  “Evander?”

  Chapter 30

  “Evander?” I repeat. “Hey…talk to me.”

  He jerks his head up, and his chocolate brown eyes are jet black.

  “Evander?” I shake my head. “No, no, no…” His hand is still on the ground. I didn’t notice it before but now I feel it. The pulsing of the Ley line, traveling through the ground. I jump back, staring at the ground. I can’t see the energy, but it’s there…and it infected Evander.

  The banshee screams again, but Evander doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t react at all. Slowly, he gets to his feet.

  “Can you hear me?” I ask, heart racing. Binx snaps the neck of the scrapper he’s fighting and comes over, getting a read on Evander’s energy. Evander looks Binx up and charges at me. Binx knocks him to the ground and Evander jumps up, holding out his hands to cast a curse on me.

  “Stop!” I yell at Evander. “You’re still in there! You don’t want to do this!”

  Binx shadows around Evander, and I take a few steps back, looking behind me as the banshee’s screams ring out again. Two more scrappers drop, and Freya and Pandora take off, going after the banshee.

  “Evander!” I go to him, putting my hands on his shoulders and giving him a shake. “Snap out of it.”

  He leans in, tipping his head. I don’t know if he can even see me. It’s like there’s nothing in his eyes except the darkness. There’s no trace of him left, and the aura surrounding him is chaotic.

  “Half-breed,” he murmurs, sending a chill right through me. “They’ve been looking and looking for you.”

  I snap back, taking my hands off him. He’s possessed. A high-level demon must have ridden through the crack, slipping into the night and then into the first body it could find.

  “Who are you?” I demand.

  “Oh, I know better than to tell you my name. Though you didn’t know the name of the last demon who sought you out, and we all saw how that ended.”

  “I’ll do the same to you.”

  “And kill your friend in the process?” He shakes his head. “I was hoping to get inside the corpse you call a lover, but this warm body does the job.”

  “I’ll exorcise you and then kill you.”

  “Witches can’t do exorcisms.”

  I push my shoulders back, heart racing so fast it hurts. “I’m not only a witch. You just said it.”

  The slightest bit of annoyance flashes on his face. “You don’t know what you are, do you?”

  “It doesn’t matter, right? You’re going to kill me anyway.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. The others…they want to kill you. I want you to join me.”

  “Join you?”

  “With you behind me, I’ll move through the ranks.”

  “I don’t stand behind anyone,” I retort. “Let alone demons.”

  He raises his hand, black smoke surrounding his fingers. “Think about it.” He waves his hand, and the smoke sparks, hitting me in the chest and knocking me on my butt.

  “Callie!” Lucas speeds through the woods, standing protectively in front of me. He’s covered in blood and his shirt is torn. But he’s here. Alive. Well, kind of. “What the hell?” He stares at where Evander was just standing.

  “He’s possessed.” I push up onto my feet.

  “
Can you expel the demon?”

  “I can try. There are rituals, but they’re dangerous. Not many survive.”

  “What do you need for it?”

  “Sage, salt, and a very specific spell.”

  “Let’s go get it,” Lucas says, turning back to me.

  “There’s no time. We need to get to the door and find the exact spot where the crack is. I have to stop this, Lucas. I can’t save Evander if more demons are coming out.” My hands shake as I look into Lucas’s blue eyes. “The demon said he wanted to possess you.”

  Lucas’s face tightens, knowing how dangerous he’d be if he were possessed by a demon. He just killed a supercharged wendigo with a pocket knife and his own hands, for fuck’s sake.

  “Okay,” he says and scoops me up. “I’ll take you.”

  Binx runs along with us, and we get to the door in good time. Lucas sets me down.

  “It was over here before,” he says, motioning to the spot where the Ley line almost filled him with darkness too. I hold out my hands, reading the energy.

  “It’s just pouring out now. Slowly, but it’s just constant.” I shuffle to the side, not wanting to step on the Ley line but not really knowing where it is. Binx helps me look, and we find a darkened circle of dirt.

  “Brimstone,” I whisper, picking up a handful of gray stones. “This is it,” I tell Lucas.

  “What’s the plan?”

  I look down at the ground, shaking my head. The blue-eyed man took me back in my dreams. He was showing me where the problem was and leaving it for me to figure out, which is annoying on a whole different level.

  “I’m good, right?” I ask Lucas, not looking away from the ground.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “I mean like morally good.”

  “Is this really the time to question your character?” he asks.

  “Should I take your avoiding the question as a no?”

  “You are a good person, Callie. The best I’ve met.”

  “But I’m no saint.”

  “You’re not, and I’m glad for that. You’re real. You try to do the right thing, but you don’t take shit. You are perfect. I still don’t see what this is about.”

  I turn and meet his gaze. “You don’t think I could be part demon?”

  His brows furrow. “No. Demons couldn’t summon light like that.”

  “Summon light…” I gasp. “Lucas, you’re a genius.”

  He flashes a cocky grin. “I know. But…what’d I do now?”

  Conjuring a ball of blue energy, I look back at the ground. Little bits of magic fall from the energy ball in my hands, illuminating the crack in the earth. “This is either going to work or blow up. Like, literally blow up.”

  I inhale, giving more power to the energy ball, watching it grow bigger and brighter before I let it go. And I close my eyes and turn my head.

  “Wait!” Lucas calls, but it’s too late. I’ve already let go.

  Chapter 31

  The energy ball hits the ground, shattering into a million little balls of bright blue light. They sink down into the earth, filling the crack. The white light pushes the negative energy away, sending it back down to the pit of Hell.

  I stand transfixed, too scared to breathe. If this doesn’t work, then I don’t know what will. And if it doesn’t work…then maybe I really am evil.

  “No!” the demon shouts, using Evander’s voice. I jerk my head around, holding my hands steady over the crack, needing to power the energy. The demon lunges for me, but Lucas is faster. He wrestles him to the ground.

  “Don’t hurt him!” I yell, suddenly feeling drained. Another string of magic sizzles around my fingers, and I push it down into the ground. The air starts to vibrate, but it’s not suffocating this time.

  The little stream of energy that was trickling off the Ley line retracts, breaking contact with the crack. Right away, the feel of the forest is back to normal…but it doesn’t solve the demon problem. Giving it all I have, I reach deep inside and fuel a final energy ball, this one glowing bright white. I throw it down, and when it hits the earth, it lights up the ground around it.

  I sink to the ground, too weak to stand, and press my fingers into the dirt. The magic sizzles out, and the night is still. Panting, I start to fall forward. Binx shadows over and helps me up. I expect dizziness to crash down on me, but when I get up, I feel better.

  Stronger.

  More like myself than I’ve ever been, and I know that makes no sense.

  Lucas has Evander’s arms behind his back. The demon is thrashing, trying to break free, but without the energy coming off the Ley line, it doesn’t stand a chance to fight against Lucas.

  Inhaling, I push my shoulders back and walk over to him, holding out my hand. Evander’s eyes go wide as the demon looks at me in fear. Or awe. Maybe both.

  “We will be great together!” He tries to break out of Lucas’s hold. “Together, we can rule the underworld, and you shall be my queen.”

  “Somnum.” Evander’s body slumps forward, and Lucas lays him on the ground. “Sleeping spell,” I explain.

  “Should we take him to your house?”

  I nod. “Yeah. The Ley line isn’t being poisoned anymore, but there are still demons out here, not to mention the one possessing him.” I let out a breath and run my hand over my face. “The wendigo?”

  “Dead. I stashed the heart in a tree so you can bury it later.”

  I make a face. “Thanks.”

  Right as Lucas picks up Evander, the door to the coven lights up. “Go,” I tell Lucas. “Take him back to my house.”

  He zooms away, and I stand there, watching the blue light of the door glowing as it forms. Kristy steps out and the biggest sense of relief washes over me.

  “Callie!” she exclaims.

  “You just missed the action. Again. And what the hell? I thought something terrible happened to you since you didn’t answer your phone.”

  “Sorry. I went to the library to look through some books to try and see if I could find anything on our Ley line issue.”

  “I solved it.”

  “How?”

  The door crackles and someone else steps out. It’s Tabatha, followed by two witches on our coven’s council.

  “Callie, darling.” Tabatha’s robes swirl around as she walks over the forest floor.

  “Hey. What are you guys doing?”

  “Evander warned us of a disturbance in the Ley line.”

  I nod. “There was one, but I handled it. I haven’t handled the banshee yet, though.”

  “Banshee?” one of the council members questions, and I only have a second to decide how to run with this. I can lie and hope everything smooths over. Or I can tell the truth and hope the whole truth isn’t revealed.

  Everything is such a mess right now.

  “It was drawn to the Ley line. Something happened, and it was releasing energy into the air. I think it’s better now.” I should have gone with a lie, because that truth sounded like one. “I have what I need to make a vanquishing potion, so you can just go back to the Covenstead and let me take care of this.”

  “The Grand Coven must be alerted at once!” The council members look at Tabatha, waiting for her to give the order. Her eyes meet mine, and I know she can sense something else is up.

  “Where is my son?”

  “At my house.” I lower my gaze, unable to look her in the eye. “You should alert the Grand Coven. There were about a dozen scrapper demons in the woods too.”

  “And you handled them all?” Mildred, the older of the two witches on the council questions, tone bordering on mocking. “By yourself?”

  I flick my eyes to Tabatha. She knows about Lucas and knows he wouldn’t dare let me out here alone. “My familiars were with me.”

  Tabatha turns to the council witches. “Go back to the Covenstead and alert the Grand Coven at once. I will accompany these young witches back to Callie’s house. A banshee isn’t anything to take lightly.”

  Th
e moment the witches are through the door and it’s sealed back up, Tabatha rounds on me. “Is Evander all right?”

  “He’s kind of possessed by a demon right now.”

  Tabatha’s mouth opens in horror. “How did that happen?”

  “When the demon opened the gates of Hell, it created some sort of rift or something, and over time, it fed into the Ley line.”

  “Oh my God,” Kristy says, hand flying to cover her mouth. “But you…”

  “I threw a ball of white light at it, and it made the Hell energy or whatever back off enough to break the connection.”

  “And the Ley line went back into its regular flow,” Tabatha finishes.

  “Yes. At least I think so. It’s been supercharging demons and allowed a few to get out of Hell. Lucas just killed a wendigo.”

  “There haven’t been any reports of those in over two hundred years.” Kristy’s face pales.

  “I know.” I look out at the forest. “We need to go. Freya and Pandora are playing cat and mouse with the banshee, but they won’t be able to keep her away forever. I’ll make a vanquishing potion as soon as I get—”

  “Here.” Kristy reaches into her purse and pulls out three vials. “I got nervous after you gave me the one for the scrappers and whipped up a batch of the generic kind. If we all throw it at her at the same time, it might work.”

  “It will work,” Tabatha presses. “Now let’s go.”

  We pick our way through the woods, and once we get to my backyard, I mentally call for Freya and Pandora. They’re a few miles away, chasing the banshee around like it’s a fun game of tag.

  “Hold strong, ladies,” Tabatha says as we move close together. The banshee’s scream rattles the walls of my house, and Kristy takes my hand. The banshee looks like a beautiful woman in a flowing white dress from far away. They prefer to stay away, holding up their ruse.

  My familiars flush her out, and she runs at us, mouth wide open as she screams. Her skin is translucent, stretched paper thin over her bones. The flowing white dress is nothing but rags, and her long hair is thin and wispy.