Coven of the Raven: box set

by Shona Husk

  “Never.” Cory pulled the windowsill free, then crushed the wood into matchstick-sized splinters. “I will find you.”

  The circle sparked again and started to waver as Oskar’s will started to weaken. Noah pushed some energy into it, risked a glance at Sawyer and saw he was doing the same. This talk was over.

  “Be careful the Morrigu is watching you.” He pointed to all the birds now on the cars and sidewalk. As Cory turned around, they flapped and took to the sky as one, cackling.

  In that moment of distraction the defensive circle was replaced with camouflage and a dusting of flour. None of the witches dared to breathe. Everyone looking would see an empty table. Confusing for those who’d just been watching, but their minds would assume they’d left and they hadn’t paid attention. Even real magic relied on deception and the ease of which a human mind could be fooled if it wasn’t looking for spells.

  Cory spun back, blinked and turned around again.

  Noah’s chest began to burn. God he wanted to breathe. He probably could but Cory was looking, and there were no shadows to help the spell as it relied on stillness to hold the illusion. He totally owed Oskar a drink after this. That man could cast a circle like no one else he knew—even Mason.

  Cory and his demon sniffed again, stalked closer.

  He was going to pass out. Count the crows, anything to not think about it.

  Half a dozen crows swooped down at Cory. Like any person, he ducked and threw up his hands, then he walked away, driven on by the birds. Noah took a shallow breath, then a slightly deeper one, keeping as still as possible until his wrist stopped burning. The demon string had been calibrated—and he had a red burn line around his wrist to prove it.

  Noah let the rest of the tension fall away. They’d survived. “Drinks are on me.”

  Oskar dropped the circle and leaned back in his seat. He wiped the back of his hand over his forehead. It came away slick. “Lunch as well.”

  Peyton drove in the direction that made Noah’s wrist burn the least. The car was quiet. Quieter than lunch had been. That had simply been a refuel to be ready for the next encounter. He couldn’t drag his friends into it anymore. It was bad enough Cory had already seen their faces and the demon had their scent.

  Peyton kept glancing in the rearview mirror at him. “Come on, Rachel and I are dying to know what happened. Since we aren’t celebrating Cory giving up his demon, I’m guessing we’re making a new plan.”

  “Cory likes his demon. He likes the power it gives him.”

  “He ripped the windowsill off with his bare hands.” Sawyer fisted his hands for effect.

  “You need a way to hold the man and demon separately. That was too risky to do again.” Oskar was leaning against the door, the bird bones around his wrist rattling every time he moved. “We shouldn’t have confronted him; it only drew the demon closer to him.”

  Peyton made a noise and stopped at the lights. “Where am I driving to?”

  “A hotel.” But Cory was tracking them faster and faster—was there any point in trying to sleep? “I need to make a stand and pick the battle ground.”

  Rachel twisted around in the front seat. “So soon?”

  He knew what she was thinking, that there was no way they would all survive this. And they wouldn’t. When a demon was involved, it was almost impossible.

  “If he won’t give up the demon, you can stop with the saving-the-innocent routine.” Peyton, the master of cool and logic. Noah was pretty sure Peyton never got blood on his hands. It was all paperwork to him.

  “Easy for you to say since you aren’t the one condemning him.” Noah snapped and turned his attention out the window. Peyton was right, though. The conversation with Cory proved what he’d been thinking. A lost chance to use magic and a crack so deep it could never be filled equaled a demon manifestation. He thought of Tahlia, the only other person he’d actually had time to know, but people didn’t come with may-contain-traces-of-magic warning labels. And it wasn’t his place to decide who could be saved and who was too far gone.

  “He’s right. You asked Cory more than once, and he refused to let it go.” Sawyer at least knew what it was like to clean blood splatter off clothes while trying to look innocent. “If your theory is right, then you are doing the general population a favor.”

  He didn’t want Rachel to look at him and see her husband’s killer…even though Cory was about one temper tantrum away from being possessed. “I don’t kill.”

  It was the one rule he’d held onto. All the demons he’d seen, the witches who’d been fighting had been attacking the demon, trying to tear it free or dissolve it. Maybe it was impossible, maybe the only way was to take out the manifester. He saw a glimpse of his life as a glorified magical hit man taking out those who refused to surrender their demons. He’d found his answer and his solution and he didn’t like it.

  The alternative was to let the demons complete what the manifester wanted. In this case, killing Rachel. He couldn’t let that happen, either.

  “How many innocents have you seen die because of a demon? If the manifester had been killed immediately, how many could have been saved?” Oskar was very good at weighing things up, but he was also familiar with cracked witches.

  Noah closed his eyes. What if he was wrong? One person didn’t confirm a theory.

  No one spoke for a few minutes as the reality sunk in. They were plotting murder.

  “I’ll kill him,” Rachel said.

  Everyone looked at Rachel. “No. It’s too dangerous.”

  “How is it different to Noah killing him?” She was twisted around in the front seat so she could look at him. She had no idea what it was like to see death unfold. It wasn’t calm and quiet. It was messy and noisy, and demons didn’t go down easily—nor did the person they were riding.

  “Noah wouldn’t be traceable, he’d use magic.” Peyton met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “Wouldn’t you?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe I can get man and demon to self-destruct.” He had nothing else right now. “I need to talk to the Morrigu.”

  Sawyer chuckled. “I bet you do. She still appearing in her lingerie?”

  Noah punched Sawyer on the leg. “At least She appears to me, not like a hooded ghoul.”

  “Better that than the old crone counting her cows.” Sawyer smirked.

  Peyton shrugged. “Cows are wealth, you heathen.”

  “You all see Her differently?” Rachel was staring at him. No doubt he’d be explaining the lingerie reference. He should never have mentioned that to the guys, but one night after a few beers they’d been talking about the Morrigu and how She’d appeared. He’d never lived it down.

  “She exists, but what we see in our minds is also a reflection of ourselves and what She sees in us.” Noah hoped she’d wait until they were alone if she wanted to know more.

  “Aw, and Noah is a pretty thing with wings. He’s all feathers and lace.” Sawyer was enjoying this far too much.

  “Next time we spar, I’m going to flatten you,” Noah said just loud enough for Sawyer to hear.

  “Gotta catch me first.”

  “I’d offer to help more, but we already know Cory doesn’t like lawyers.” Peyton smiled, but there was no warmth. “Plus I don’t think he’d sign anything I gave him.”

  “He didn’t sign the divorce papers, so I don’t think he’d sign over his demon.” Rachel crossed her arms, as if the down mood of the car was starting to get to her and she was withdrawing into herself.

  No, that wasn’t going to happen. Cory liked the power. “That’s not what I was thinking of trying.”

  “Personal demons happen to people who don’t have magic but who have a crack in which it can grow. What we’re facing is a man who could’ve been a witch but who never knew what he had, and who is also cracked. That’s not a good combination, but it is something we can target in the future.” Oskar said.

  Noah turned and looked at Oskar. He was right. There was nothing he could do to sa
ve Cory, but if various covens around the world knew what to look out for it might be easier to take the person and redirect them. Maybe, except finding someone with magic wasn’t easy, and healing a crack wasn’t like super gluing a wound closed. He pushed those thoughts aside. That was a problem for another day. Today’s problem was stopping Cory and the demon.

  The string around his wrist was cold, so they should be safe for a little while. “Stop at the next hotel. I’ll give you a call when I know what I need.” Cory was going to let his demon in and let it take over. All Noah had to do was work out how to make that happen and how to survive.

  Rachel was silent in the hotel elevator. She didn’t know what to say and Noah wasn’t being particularly chatty, either. That should be a good thing, he was thinking of ways to save her, but she didn’t want to spend what could be her last night alive being silent and grim while plotting and scheming. It wasn’t even a good hotel, and she was pretty sure it wasn’t a great area. However, Noah seemed happy enough and had handed over cash for a room.

  He unlocked the room and gave it a quick once over before dropping his bag on the floor and heading for the bathroom.

  “Are you going to share your plan?”

  “I don’t have one yet. I need to speak with the Morrigu. I want to have a shower and remove traces of magic and negative energy before I do.”

  “Negative energy?”

  “Yeah, chatting with your husband and coming this close,” he held up his hand so his finger and thumb were almost touching, “to getting punched in the face puts a downer on the day.”

  “He’s not my husband by choice…not anymore.” Her wedding day had been one of the happiest in her life. Yet she’d take it back in a heartbeat to be free of Cory. If not for Cory, though, she’d have never have met Noah.

  “I know that.” His hand brushed her arm, but fell away too fast. “We got lucky, but it wasn’t a win, merely a testing of the enemy. And for everything that I learned, he learned something, too.”

  “I need to know what you’re planning. I need to be part of it.” She needed to be doing something to help.

  “Oh, you will be, for the simple reason it’s you Cory wants.”

  She blinked and stared at him. He couldn’t be serious. “Like bait.”

  Noah didn’t answer. Great, she was bait, but at least they always knew where Cory was going: straight to her.

  “And then what? What do we do once he gets to where we are?” Luring Cory somewhere would be the easy part since he was after her. It was the next bit that worried her.

  “I don’t know yet. I have ideas, but how do I pick one? How do I know which one will work when the cost of failure is so high?”

  He was saying failure when he meant death. Whose death? Not hers, she wasn’t ready. While she’d said that she’d kill Cory, she didn’t know if she could. Would she be able took Noah in the eye if he did? “This is it, isn’t it, our last night?”

  This time he wouldn’t even look at her. “He’s catching up with us faster. We’ll be leaving here and moving in a few hours, once I’ve worked out the details.”

  “I want to help.”

  “You can’t. I need to get ready to face him, and I need to think of a way to capture him and his demon so they can’t hurt anyone.”

  “Did you mean it when you said you wouldn’t kill him?”

  He huffed out a breath. “If he comes looking for a fight, he’s accepting the chance he could die, but so am I.”

  “We can’t sneak up on him?”

  Noah shook his head. “There’s a difference between assassination and letting nature take its course. I want the demon to take over and use up the body.”

  “Cory will be killing himself.” She didn’t know what to say to that. “That sounds dangerous.”

  “It is, but I have to be able to live with it. I have to know I have given him every chance to change his mind and pick a different path.” He looked tired, as if finding the truth hadn’t set him free, only opened up another set of issues.

  “The others seem to think you have.” Peyton hadn’t said much on their drive, but he had faith in Noah. That had been clear.

  “Do you?” He looked at her, asking for forgiveness for what he was going to do.

  She put her arms around him. “Yes. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.”

  He returned her embrace, and for a moment neither of them moved. Both of them were content to stand there, drawing strength from the other.

  “It will be nice to stop running.” Then she’d have to start putting her life back together.

  “What will you do?”

  “Start living.” She drew back to look at him. “And now I know magic is real, my life will never be the same again.” Because of him, she’d have a life.

  He placed a soft kiss on her lips. “You work on that plan, and I’ll make sure you get a chance to action it.” He stepped away and went into the bathroom.

  For a moment she just stood there, not sure what to do but acutely aware that if things didn’t work out she had less than twenty-four hours. All the little things she’d put on her list were done. If she died, who would know the truth?

  She wanted someone to know that Cory had killed her, that he wasn’t the face he showed the world. Would her parents believe her? It didn’t matter if they didn’t, the proof would be her corpse. Panic started winding around her chest and squeezing. Through the thin walls she could hear the shower running. As much as she wanted to be with Noah, he needed to work. If she interrupted, she’d be threatening her own survival.

  Rachel focused on taking slow breaths. She wasn’t going to die. Noah and the rest of the coven would make sure of that. This was what the Uncommon Raven Agency did. Once she felt calm enough to talk, she pulled out her cell phone.

  She wasn’t going to say good bye, she was just updating her parents on what was happening. The phone rang several times while she waited, sitting on the end of the bed. It had that overly squishy feel, as if it had been slept on far too many times.

  Her mother answered.

  “It’s Rachel.”

  “I was hoping you’d call. Did he find you, is everything all fixed up?”

  Rachel closed her eyes and counted to three to stay calm. “He came here to kill me, Mom.”

  Silence. “He loves you.”

  Once maybe, that or she’d fitted his image for what a wife should be: pretty, but with a career that wouldn’t over shadow his, and willing to please. All through high school and college she’d been that girl. The one who’d do anything to make others happy. Never again. It was her life and she was going to live it how she wanted. “He threatened to kill me if I didn’t return with him. That isn’t love. I’m only alive because someone intervened.”

  “But he’s such a nice man.” Her mother sounded confused, as if she couldn’t imagine Cory as anything other than the big-time footballer who still spent plenty of time in his home town, cooked sausages at the school fair and helped out in the community.

  It was an image that everyone wanted to believe. She’d wanted to keep believing in it even when things had started to go south. “In public, but he hasn’t been nice to me in a long time.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “I did, and you blamed me.” She inhaled, she hadn’t rung to fight. She wanted to leave things nicely, just in case. She exhaled. “It doesn’t matter. I wanted you to know. If I don’t call you back in the next twenty-four hours, ring the New York police and have them look for Cory.”

  “Have you spoken to the police? Can’t they protect you?”

  “I have made a report, and I’ve hired someone to protect me.” She’d done all she could except flee the country, and even then that wouldn’t be enough. She couldn’t vanish from a man using a demon to track her.

  “Come home, honey. Don’t stay where he is.”

  “He will follow, and I won’t put you and Dad at risk.” She didn’t need that kind of guil
t. “I love you, okay? I’ll ring you in twenty-four hours. If I don’t…”

  “I’ll ring the police and let them know you are missing.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I’m sorry for not understanding before.”

  “It’s okay.” She almost sounded like she believed it. She had to do better. She had to believe that whatever Noah was planning would work. Visualize success. Make it real to her the way Noah did with his spells. “It will be okay,” she said with more force.

  She finished the call and sat, not moving. The bathroom was silent, but she didn’t remember hearing the water stop. Her bag lay on the floor, inside were her new shoes. She may not be able to run in them, but she was going to wear them around the hotel and feel like a million dollars. If Noah was lucky, she’d still be wearing them when he reappeared.

  Chapter 17

  Noah showered, sure he could still smell the lingering scent of the cigarettes on his fingers even after washing. He’d taken his time and tried to clear his mind. But it was hard. Rachel was on the other side of the door. Cory was drawing closer, the string on his wrist was subtly warmer, and then there was the demon database and Mason’s request.

  He didn’t want to stop now when he was so close to the answer—or at least a clear way forward. He’d been running around after demons and never getting anywhere. It hadn’t brought him any joy or sense of achievement. Closing in on the reason why people got demons wasn’t the ultimate solution, but it was closer. Close enough that he could stop, or at least take a step back?