by Shona Husk
She turned in Noah’s arms, keeping him at her back, and faced the man she wished she’d never married, never kissed, never met. Cory’s gaze was firmly on the illusion in the middle of the circle. Rage blinded him to everything except the illusion of her.
But once again he wasn’t actually seeing her, just what he wanted to see—an unfaithful wife that was making him look bad.
“She’s mine and I will destroy you and take her home.” Cory fisted his hands.
With Noah’s arms around her, she found her voice. “And what? Keep me prisoner? I don’t want you. I don’t love you.”
The shadow crept forward, moving toward the couple in the center of the circle. Its clawed hands stretched forward, then it hesitated as if confused. Cory kept arguing. “You will. You will beg me.”
“Never. I would rather die first.” Did he really think he could keep her like a slave and make her love him? The demon seemed to have stripped all logic from his mind, and now Cory was like a two-year-old who wanted its toy back.
Cory laughed. “And your boyfriend?”
The demon-shadow wavered and circled the illusion-couple. Rachel was sure it had realized they weren’t real. If Cory didn’t join it in the circle, Noah wouldn’t be able to trap them…and Cory hadn’t taken in his demon yet. Was this really going to work? Noah gave her hand a squeeze. The mirror tile was still in her now-sweaty grip. Magic was as real as the mirror. She had to hold onto that thought.
“You’re just a bully. You’re used to getting your own way and forcing people to comply. It must have really burned you up when Rachel asked for a divorce. You couldn’t keep your own wife happy.” Noah’s voice had taken on a different tone, the push of power brushed over her skin. Magic was building all around her.
“If you leave her to me I might let you live.” Cory flexed his fingers and crossed into the circle made of slowly drying shellac. He glanced down as if noticing it for the first time, his gaze tracking around the circle. The demon reared up but it was too late.
Noah moved his hand, as if flicking away a bug, and there was a small pop.
The demon rushed the painted circle, but couldn’t break free. Noah had trapped it. It twisted around and smothered the illusion, growling when it found nothing to grab, tearing at the air.
“What the fuck?” Cory charged at the illusion and landed on his face as it disintegrated.
“You have a demon that could kill me, so I’m taking precautions. Give it up and we can all walk away.”
He laughed as he stood, then he turned around, searching the building for where they were actually standing. She held her breath, willing him not to see her.
“You’re scared of me?” Cory grinned, all teeth.
Yes, she was. A circle didn’t seem like enough protection—Cory could just step over it, and what then? She almost couldn’t hear the conversation over the pounding of her heart.
“Nah, you know how many demons I’ve killed in the last four years? I think I’ve killed more people than you. I know about Robert, Rachel’s first lover, and I know about the divorce lawyer. You killed them both because you couldn’t stomach the idea that she had been with anyone else.” He brushed his fingers over her neck. “She ever worn stilettos in bed for you?”
Her cheeks heated. She was going to kill him.
Cory growled and the demon roared; it was growing darker and more defined. Solid, as though it was alive and sucking up every shadow in the building. Even if Cory got out, the demon was trapped—wasn’t it? She glanced at Noah, but he wasn’t looking at her, his gaze was on Cory.
Noah lifted both his hands. “Now.”
Twenty illusionary couples appeared all around the room. Even though she’d expected it, it was still impressive. No smoke, all mirrors. Yet her heart was still beating too fast. Were they hiding deep enough in the shadows?
Cory spun, as if trying to work out what was real. Then he started marching toward the edge of the circle—not toward them, but it didn’t matter, he’d eventually work out where they were. “You’re a dead man. I will find you and pull you apart. And I’ll make her watch.”
“I’d like to see you try.” Noah took a breath and the shellac lit up.
Not a small flame, these were waist high. How much was magic and illusion and how much was real flame? She wouldn’t be game enough to risk finding out. Would Cory?
In the flickering firelight, Cory stepped back from the heat, his demon loomed large around him. “They will be picking pieces of you off the walls for a week,” he roared.
The air shimmered like a heat wave, the shadow sliding over Cory’s skin like oil, the tearing of clothing, and then there was only one. Cory was bigger, taller and more solid, and his head was crowned with thick horns like a bull. The curl of his lips and the massive size of his hands made her want to hide under the rubbish with the rats, but even they had gone silent or left the building.
Noah stepped forward, hands up, ready to fight. “Come on, do your best, demon.”
Chapter 19
The Cory-demon charged the circle of fire. Noah pushed extra energy into it, the flames flaring as the Cory-demon hit the circle. He stumbled back as though he’d just hit a solid wall. Noah held his ground even though he felt the impact the same as if he’d been punched in the gut. He needed to make the Cory-demon angry so it drew on more power and burned up the body faster, but, at the same time, he was having to pour energy into the circle and the fire. It would be easier to keep the fire going if he had more flammable material.
The demon tried again, swearing and raging. Every time it hit the circle, flames licked over the skin of Cory’s misshapen body. He didn’t seem to care that his skin blistered.
With the demon safely enclosed, Sawyer dropped the illusions. With Oskar holding an elaborate circle around the building to stop the casual observer from seeing or hearing anything suspicious, they were all trapped until it was over. The big question was who would weaken first, the witches or the demon? The only good thing about angry demons is that they generally stopped thinking clearly.
Noah crept around in the shadows. When he stepped forward, the demon was looking at him, not for Rachel still hiding in the shadows in a different part of the building. The fire gave the building a flickering, less-than-solid quality, as if for the moment none of this was real.
Cory-demon faced him; beneath his horns his face was red with rage. “You’re a coward who refuses to face me in a fair fight.” His voice was lower and rough, like he had a throat full of gravel.
Noah shrugged as if all of this was costing him nothing. If Cory knew that keeping the circle burning was chewing through his energy reserves, then he might hold back until he could break through and destroy everyone. “How is it fair when you are possessed?”
Cory stalked the edges of the ring, standing so close to the flames his skin blistered and blackened. “What are you?”
“A witch.” They had the same gift, magic, and yet had taken such different paths. Maybe if Cory had known what he was and had training things would’ve been different. If Noah hadn’t gotten help when he’d needed it most, this is where he would’ve ended up, with a crack so deep that a demon just couldn’t resist jumping in and taking over. If there had ever been a time to save Cory, it was long gone.
“You can’t keep it up all night,” Cory goaded.
True, but he knew more about demons than Cory knew about witches. “The demon will destroy your body and you will die, I will merely be exhausted.”
“I know she is here.”
“She is. I used her to lure you here. You’ve been following us, you’re predictable. Your anger that she’d walked out on you blinded you to the trap.”
“You will be discovered as a killer. You won’t get away with this.”
Noah swallowed. That was his number one fear. He didn’t want twenty to life. He’d avoided it once, but he’d been innocent. This time he was guilty of pushing Cory to his death. This was premeditated, cold and necess
ary. This was less of a battle and more of putting down a mad dog, even though the dog looked human.
“You’d know about that. How many people have you killed, other than the two guys that had the gall to get close to Rachel?”
The Cory-demon gave a slow smile. “There is power in death. They beg and plead. And for a moment, you are their god. You’d like it; we’re not that different.”
Wasn’t that the truth?
Noah stalked around the circle. “I don’t like it. I don’t want to be here. I gave you every chance to give up the demon.” The Morrigu’s words were still in his mind, it takes death to get rid of a demon. Once the crack was there, a demon would grow like a weed in a cracked sidewalk. “But I can’t let you go around killing.”
Cory-demon stepped back and stood in the center of the circle, grinning like a maniac. Then he spread his arms and closed his eyes. A tremble of power ran through the air. He should’ve realized years ago that demons only amplified what the person already had: jealousy, rage, or in the dangerous demon category—magic. That was why some demons became so dangerous; they were feeding on an untapped resource, and Cory-demon was about to make a break for freedom.
“Oh shit.” Noah stepped back. “Take cover!” He put his hands up, pushing as much as he could into the circle, but it was going to be like holding a tsunami back with an umbrella. He knew that from experience. That last possessed person who had sucked up power like this had exploded. This was going to be worse. Cory wanted out and he wanted casualties.
The Cory-demon grew, and the flames shrunk down to little more than an inch high. The circle was still there. Holding the circle up was taking its toll—it was going to break. Then he felt Sawyer’s magic joining. For a second, Noah wished Oskar was in here with them, helping contain the demon. Cory threw himself at the circle; it flexed, and for one horrible moment Noah felt it start to crack, then Cory fell backwards. He roared, the wood of the second floor showering down around them, then Cory burst into flame like a small bomb going off. What glass remained in the windows blew out and the ceiling caught fire. The circle fractured with a tremor of energy, like the snap of an elastic band breaking. Then Cory was stomping out of the circle and making the concrete walls shake.
This was the biggest, angriest demon he’d ever seen. The last time he’d come close to a demon this pissed, he’d ended up in the hospital with more metal in his arm than he was entirely happy about. Cory’s skin was peeling off as he burned, his body was being destroyed as they watched—trouble was, it wasn’t burning up fast enough. Chunks of wood fell and the air was filling with smoke. He charged toward Noah.
If Noah stayed and fought, he’d get burned as well as pulverized. The clothes Cory had been wearing were on fire, melting or burning away. It was an awful sight. One that he would never forget.
“Get out!” Noah yelled. Sawyer and Rachel didn’t need to be caught in this.
Cory charged. Noah snapped a circle around himself. The demon might have been able to suck in enough power to shatter the one it had been contained in, but it couldn’t break through one designed for protection. Cory slammed into it, making it spark, but he realized he wouldn’t be able to break it so he turned his focus to Sawyer and Rachel, who were running for the door. He ran across the floor on his hands and feet like an enraged gorilla, howling and shrieking—from pain and rage, no doubt. Skin and muscle was sloughing off, revealing charred bone, but he was still burning. He would be on Sawyer and Rachel in seconds. Sawyer stopped and Noah felt the draw of magic as Sawyer and Rachel vanished from sight.
Noah had seconds before Cory sniffed them out. There was only one thing he could do. Noah dropped his circle, said a quick prayer that they were out of range, and brought the whole ceiling down in a fiery tangle of burning wood on top of Cory. One plank speared straight through what had been his chest. Still, the Cory-demon struggled on, consumed by jealousy and anger.
Anger that Mason had taught Noah to channel. He’d started the fire that had burned Tahlia and Louise. He knew that now. But his fire was no longer fuelled by anger. It burned with his desire to live.
The demon still growled and tried to get free, but the body was destroyed. The bones fractured and disintegrated as it tried to rise once more. Noah stood, paralyzed. Sirens sounded in the distance. Obviously Oskar hadn’t been able to mask the explosion.
“We need to move,” Sawyer shouted over the roar of the flames, breaking building and demon.
When he blinked, the image was there and would be for the rest of his life. He said a prayer for Cory and hoped he’d find peace. Dying like that was punishment enough, not that he pretended to understand the whims of the gods.
“Noah!” Rachel screamed. Her face was illuminated by the ever-moving flames, but he could see the fear in her features. Her eyes were too wide and her hands were clenched by her sides. Afraid for him or afraid of him?
Embers fell around him. He had to move; the building was coming down. He couldn’t be found here. He reached his hand out and, with magic, dragged everything they’d brought with them into the fire around the demon and the animated corpse. That wasn’t Cory anymore. No human could survive that. It was just the demon refusing to let go and return to wherever it had come from.
His stomach turned as he made his way past the mess to the rear of the building.
Then Sawyer was grabbing his arm and they were running. The cool night air filled his lungs instead of smoke and ash. Sirens drowned out the screaming, but he still heard it echoing in his mind.
Oskar was waiting at the gap in the fence. They didn’t stop to look back, just kept going, slowing once they were clear. Oskar nodded and moved away. Noah was supposed to take Rachel and split up with Sawyer, but he kept stumbling. Was he really that depleted? Sawyer kept a grip on him and Rachel. People were coming out to look at what the fuss was and they joined the crowd of onlookers, staring as the building began collapsing in on itself, slowly at first then more rapidly.
“Remind me never to cross you,” Sawyer murmured.
Chapter 20
Rachel glanced at Noah but he didn’t even respond to Sawyer. Noah looked like he was going to fall over, drained of everything. They were alive. They should be rejoicing, and yet she didn’t feel happy at all. Horrified, numb. Part of her wanted to cling to Noah and cry until she was dry.
She was going to have nightmares for months. How many bad dreams had Noah seen come to life in his dealings with demons? After what she’d just seen, she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to sleep again. It didn’t seem possible. She was sure she could still smell burning skin and wood. Chargrilled.
She swallowed and it stuck in her throat. Her stomach bunched and twisted. She was not going to throw up here.
“Can we go?” The crowd pressed around them, but no one was looking at them. Then she realized that Sawyer had that slightly unfocussed look. “What are you doing?”
He uncurled his fingers and revealed one of those felt tip markers. “People see what they want to.” He smiled and closed his hand. “Not yet.”
She nodded. They had to wait until the crowd naturally started to disperse.
The building groaned and then finished falling over with a thud and puff of smoke and ash. It was really over. No, it was just beginning. Her life, her way. The fear slid away. She looked at Noah, but he was pale and barely upright. If he fainted, that would draw attention their way. Sawyer seemed to have noticed, too. He let her slide her arm free of his and she slipped around to Noah’s other side, offering her support.
He leaned against her and closed his eyes. “It wasn’t meant to be like that.”
There was nothing she could say. She’d seen the crazed look in Cory’s eyes, felt the magic circle break and set him free. When the ceiling had come down, for an awful moment she’d thought she’d lost Noah, then he’d walked out of a cloud of dust and smoke.
Around them people talked, gossip bubbling around as they wondered what had happened. Everything from
people cooking drugs to kids out looking to destroy something. A car had been burned there a week ago. Glad to see it gone. Such an eyesore. No one was talking demons and murder.
But then who would? No one believed in magic and witches anymore.
Except her. She believed in Noah. She placed a soft kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.”
People at the edges of the crowd began to move away as more emergency services arrived. It was time to move. She caught Sawyer’s attention and they slipped easily into the night.
Sawyer had bundled them both into a cab, acting as though they’d all had too much to drink and telling her to make sure Noah had a shower and something to eat before he passed out. That hadn’t been part of the act. Noah had mentioned eating after magic before, and she knew that showering and washing away the trace of demon was important to him. Hell, she wanted a shower to wash away and forget. Flashes of Cory consumed by the demon kept flickering past, like the worst bits of a horror film spliced together. Except she couldn’t laugh and talk about the special effects, it had been one hundred percent real.
In the cab, Noah tilted his head back and closed his eyes. When she placed her hand over his, his skin was cool. How much power had that taken? Would he recharge overnight like a laptop or would it be a much slower process? He hadn’t said anything about being this run down afterwards and she was worried.
She was wishing Sawyer and Oskar hadn’t vanished so fast.
When the cab stopped at their hotel she had to help Noah out. He was no lightweight, even though he was doing what he could and mumbling apologies. To the average person watching, it would look like a woman helping her drunk boyfriend. Sawyer’s story was what people would easily believe because it fit their notion of reality. A reality she would never have the luxury of being part of again. That made her sad…and excited and scared all at the same time.
Knowing about demons and magic was the price she’d paid for her life. Noah had paid a far heavier price. She prayed that he was going to be okay, then wondered if his goddess would even listen to her.