“Now pull it down to us,” Deacon said. I must’ve made a face because he started acting like he was pulling a rope. “That’s your smoke, you can control it. Pull it down, force them down to us.”
That’s something Tegan would say. And do. I clenched my teeth and reached up. The smoke hardened like a rope under my hands. I put one hand after another and pulled. I felt a tug in my gut but I embraced it. The muscles in my arms flexed and twitched. It felt like one epic tug-o-war with the atmosphere. The demons were pushing against my smoke, trying to get above it. My feet slid over the pavement like I was walking on ice.
Deacon wrapped his arm around my waist and held me in place. “Keep going, it’s working!”
But my arms were shaking too much. I didn’t have this kind of physical strength. It was worse than doing push-ups or climbing rope in P.E. class, this had an opposing force pushing against my strength. I groaned and kept putting one hand above the other, pulling and tugging. My movements were getting slow. I heard scurrying footsteps and then two pairs of large, male hands wrapped around mine.
Sebastien and Marshall.
They couldn’t grab the smoke like I could, but they could give me strength.
“We’ve got you, Emersyn!” Sebastien yelled from my left side.
“Just keep pulling!” Marshall said from my right side.
I nodded and grabbed the smoke-rope. The second my fingers tightened around it Sebastien pulled my arm down for me. I gripped the next section and Marshall did the same. Their hands were strong and sturdy. Their grips were tight on my wrist, but we were making serious moves. The smoke ceiling was only two stories up and moving closer. The demons flailed against it, they hissed and screeched.
“Deacon,” I yelled down to my boyfriend, still trying to hold me in place. “Go zap them!”
Deacon cursed then leapt away from me. Cold hair brushed over my body from where he’d just been holding. He sprinted a few feet ahead. His red lightning shot into my smoke-ceiling. The demons shrieked and growled. Black demon blood dripped down to the pavement. Sebastien, Marshall, and I kept pulling together until our smoke-ceiling was about fifteen feet over our heads. The demons snarled and dropped to the ground…right next to Deacon.
“Knights, attack!” Heather screamed and charged toward the demons with her daggers raised. Her evening gown was ripped up to her thighs on both sides.
At least a dozen men in all black raced after her with their swords raised and ready. I tried to keep my eyes on Deacon but there was too much blocking my view. The demons had to be at least ten feet tall and their wings even longer. They had thick white tusks hanging from their mouths and claws that would give children nightmares. In the flash of a second all I saw was a wall of bodies.
Sebastien cursed and dropped his hands. “Heather. Deacon.” He sprinted toward the fight.
Marshall released his hold and my body gave out under me. I dropped to my knees. My heart was pounding so fast it was making me dizzy. My arms felt like mush. I tried to get back up but my legs weren’t responding. Something heavy weighed down on my shoulders.
“Hey, hey, no. Relax a second.” Marshall knelt down in front of me. His dark blond hair had splashes of black demon blood in it, but his emerald green eyes were kind. He put his hand on my shoulder in a way that very much reminded me of my own father. “Give your magic a minute to recoup, you just used a hell of a lot. You don’t want Witch’s Shock, do you?”
Witch’s Shock. Tegan had almost died from it a few months back. Kenneth was currently clinging to life because of it. I shuddered then nodded. He was right. I would be no help to anyone if I taxed myself too soon. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then another. Then a few more.
A woman screamed. I opened my eyes just in time to see a woman soar through the air and smash into the side of billboard with a sickening thud. She fell to the sidewalk in a motionless lump. All I could see was the bright red of her hair. My heart sank. Caroline. “Marshall, go!”
He sprinted over. I didn’t watch. He deserved the privacy and if she was gone I didn’t think I could handle seeing that just yet. I forced myself refocus on the scene ahead of me. Dread filled my body and anchored me to the ground. They may have been outnumbered but we were outmatched. My plan had only made things more dangerous. Now the demons were trapped on the ground and within a few blocks. There was no getting away from them. We just had to win. It was all or nothing.
The Knights all had big bazooka-looking guns in their hands. They shot big blue balls of magic right at the demons. Deacon was nowhere to be seen but his red lightning flashed all around the street. The massive gray demon yelped and dropped to the pavement. The Knights and other adults pounced on it, firing excessive forms of magic in its face.
I took a deep breath and pushed up to my feet. The world wobbled and spun a little but I steadied myself on a nearby car. Heat pooled around my wrists. My arms tingled with raw, hot energy. My magic was kicking back on. Just then Deacon appeared right in front of the gray demon that’d been trapped and pinned to the ground. Deacon held both hands up. With one, he shot red mist. With the other, red lightning.
“HEATHER!”
I spun at the sound of Deacon’s mother’s name and found her clutched by the throat in the black demon’s grip. It lifted her off the ground and into my smoke ceiling. Every witch panicked. They tried to jump up and yank her down but they weren’t coming close. The demon slammed her back onto some kind of glass structure, little tiny shards exploded all around her. No one could get to her, they didn’t have that level of magic. This was Deacon’s mother, I couldn’t let her die. It didn’t matter how awful she was to me.
I growl-yelled and leapt to my feet. Bright orange flames shot out from my wrists then spread up my arms. I sprinted toward Heather, pushing my arms with me as I ran. My magic surged to life. I let my flames consume me whole. I fired my flames at the other two demons as I ran, but it was a blind shot because me focus was entirely on Heather. In the flash of a step all I saw was fire.
With a battle cry, I used my fire to carry me up into the air like I was hovering an invisible staircase. Heather was on her back, trying desperately to fight off the demon that oozed yellow venom onto her chest. I dove forward, flying over Heather to slam my hands right into the Demon’s side. Together we rolled, the demon and myself, until somehow I was the one underneath it. I thrashed against its hold but each movement caused its talons to dig deeper into my skin. My flames danced along every inch of my skin.
The demon didn’t seem to know what to do. It tried to reach down and strangle me, but I was ready. I shot my into the demons chest. The beast erupted into flames. It shrieked and hissed and tried to put out the fire. Except I willed it stronger. I willed it to intensify with each passing second. Hotter. Bigger. Hotter. Die. Die. Die.
The other demon flew over my head and tackled us both to the ground. It threw me aside then wrapped its big gray arms around the other demon. They floated into my smoke-ceiling with zero resistance. Bright white light flashed everywhere they touched. The demons threw their heads back and barked…then morphed together.
My jaw dropped. My pulse skyrocketed. In the beat of a second the two demons had pulled a trick right out of the Power Rangers playbook and fused into one. The third demon broke away from the Knight’s attack and rushed over to the one. I watched in riveted horror as the third was consumed by the other. This new power demon was a massive piece of nightmare waiting to happen. It had to be the size of an 18-wheeler truck.
“Attack!” Deacon shouted from behind me. “Go, go, go, go, go! Attack!”
I growled and sent flame after flames into the creature’s chest. Each one sent it staggering backward a step. Blue balls of magic slammed into the mega-demon from all around me. But none of our attacks were even making a dent. The demon marched toward us while magic ricocheted off of it. Nothing was working. None of our magic or weapons were killing them, I wasn’t even sure if we were injuring them.
; Think, Emersyn. Think. Fire isn’t doing anything. The smoke isn’t helping. I wished I had other gifts, other elemental magic I could use besides fire or smoke — I gasped. There was one other thing. Metal. It was a gift I’d only one time tapped into – the night Henley and Royce took us to Hidden Kingdom so I could train. We’d been unexpectedly ambushed by those little fairies, and not the kind that Saffie used to be. That night I’d summoned each penny in the fountain and took down every fairy. I needed to try that again.
Here goes nothing. I stood as tall as I could and threw my hands to the side. Metal creaked and groaned. Come to me. Huge pieces of metal soared through the air. Coins, metal shrapnel, and even one large sedan all soared to me. I threw my arms forward and pushed my metals at the one massive mack-truck of a demon. It hissed and snarled in protest. I flicked my hands and rolled my wrists. Huge pieces of metal slammed into the sidewalk in a row. I pictured that jail cell thing Tegan had made for us in order to portal to Salem – and then I pushed my magic out. It tingled as it slid down my arms and over my fingers. Heat pooled in my gut.
“Holy shit, she trapped it!” Someone shouted.
I opened my eyes and looked. Sure enough, the massive monster was trapped under metal bars and scraps. The metal bars screeched and groaned, protesting the assault on their strength. The demon threw itself at the walls of its prison and the metal bars bent.
“It’s not gonna hold!” Sebastien shouted.
Deacon grimaced. He fired his lightning with one hand and his gift with the other. “Butterberry, he’s right. It’s not gonna hold.”
I cursed. I hated it. I didn’t want to admit it, but my makeshift prison wasn’t built for this. It wasn’t going to hold and neither was my magic. We still had no means to kill the beasts. I was basically just stalling...except we had no end game in mind. No one was coming to help.
I leapt to D’s side and pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. I dialed my sisters number then waited...
“Hey, D. What’s up?”
“It’s Emersyn,” I yelled into the phone. “We’re in big trouble. We need you. Bring Tennessee, and hurry!”
“Where are you?” She said in a rush. There was rustling on her end and Tenn’s deep voice in the background.
“Times Square.” The huge demon slammed into the metal bars and they rattled and swayed. I pushed with my magic but my energy was fading too fast. “Hurry.”
“We’re coming.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
DEACON
The demon thrashed against the metal makeshift cage and the whole thing swayed. It gripped two of the bars and they snapped in half. Five-inch talons gouged valleys into another bar. My heart thundered through my veins. I shot my lightning over and over but it didn’t do much besides piss it off. It pointed its red glare at me and then roared like a dinosaur. The bars trembled. Hot, sticky air brushed over my face. The demon’s muscles flexed...its whole body pulsed. It bent over into a ball and massive white spikes shot out of its spine. Light flashed, like it was trying to separate into three beasts again, but then the light vanished...and the demon was triple the size. Wings the length of an 18-wheeler shot out from the cage. Its shoulders rose and fell.
It wanted out. I felt it like it was my own desire.
“Back up!” I yelled over my shoulder.
Emersyn cursed. She was doing her best to hold the thing in but this was no measly little demon. And her magic was strained after her smoke display. I was worried about her. Witch’s Shock was terrifying, and I didn’t like how close she was to that edge. But I had to focus for now. She had to hold on a bit longer. I groaned and pushed my magic harder.
The ground trembled from the monster’s growl. There was an awful snapping sound then the demon lunged forward. Energy burst out from the demon like an atomic bomb. The demon and broken metal bars soared right at us. Emersyn and I were thrown backward into the group of witches behind us. Em flicked her wrists and the metal pieces dropped to the ground. But the demon was still coming right for us. It happened too fast, we didn’t have a chance to brace ourselves.
A long, sharp and glowing object shot out of the demon’s chest. It yelped and sank to the ground right in front of us…with Tennessee on its back.
“Yes!” I shouted in relief. My breath left me in a rush.
Olivia gasped from somewhere nearby. “Tennessee,” she whispered.
Tennessee scowled and stared at the demon’s back in a way that sent a chill down my spine. “He should have —”
The demon hissed and wiggled its body. There was that same snapping sound then eight legs popped out of its side. It was now a giant spider. My blood turned ice cold. The scar on my chest burned. The now-spider demon jumped and tried to flee but Tennessee was faster. He frowned and swung his sword, slicing off half of its legs. The demon growled and dove toward the ground. And then into the ground and out of sight.
Tennessee landed on his feet like nothing had happened. He narrowed his eyes at the spot where the demon and buried itself. “—died.”
Tegan appeared right beside him, also staring at the crack in the pavement. “Is that a—”
“Morpher? Yeah.” Tennessee cursed and pushed his long black hair out of his face. He shook his head and took a few steps back, while glancing around at the destruction of Times Square. “This won’t be easy.”
Tegan followed after him. Her pale green eyes were narrowed on something in the distance. She used one of her daggers to point off to my left, then motioned in a circle. “They set up a barrier spell.”
Marshall gasped. “How did she now?” He whispered.
I chuckled. Tegan knew everything. There wasn’t a secret she didn’t know. And if it involved magic? Forget about hiding it from her. She was a great white shark smelling a single drop of blood from miles away. “She’s the Aether Witch.”
My mother’s eyes turned to me. “That’s the High Priestess?”
“That’s my twin sister,” Emersyn said with a smile in her voice, even though I couldn’t see her face. She sat half on her knees, half on her side. Her fancy tulle evening gown was splattered with demon and human blood, and dirt. Her pretty blonde hair was soot stained. The fancy up-do she’d had done was half-fallen, with few pieces sticking out in wild directions.
I looked up to where Tegan and Tennessee stood a few feet away, talking to each other in voices too low to travel. They were in their designated matching gear of black leather jackets, black shirts, black ripped jeans, and black combat boots that had seen better days. With their matching long black hair they were quite the pair. It made them look intimidating as all hell…but it was the raw power radiating out of them that made them terrifying to be near.
And I was on their team.
They turned and sauntered over to us like wild jungle cats on the hunt. I felt the tension in the group of witches around me grow stronger. When I was a child, a mere civilian in our society, I’d been a total nervous wreck any time Tennessee was near. And we were children. Now I was equipped with special magic like he was so I wasn’t too unsettled around him, but I couldn’t imagine what the civilians near me felt.
Then there was Tegan. There’d been nothing but rumors about her, and the wild sparkle in her eyes mixed with her scary magic just freaked everyone the hell out. Not that I blamed them.
I cleared my throat and sat up on my knees. “Hey, boss. What do you want us to do?”
Tennessee opened his mouth then shut it. He frowned at the group of witches in front of him, then turned to Tegan. “Do you feel that?”
She nodded and moved to kneel in front of Emersyn. “Let the smoke barrier go, Em.”
“Oh…” Emersyn wiggled her fingers in the air and the smoke ceiling above us vanished. Em sank further onto her side.
Tegan unzipped her leather jacket and slid it onto her sister. Then she held her palms up. “Take my hands.”
Emersyn reached out but her arms barely raised. Tegan gripped her hands then crossed their arms like
an x in front of them. Her black hair whipped around her shoulders. Those pale green eyes shined like an animal’s at night. Her body lit up with that all familiar, totally non-human glow. Tegan held Emersyn’s gaze. Her lips moved but no sound came out. Then that glow traveled into Em’s hands then under her jacket. A second later it moved to light up her neck and face. Her blonde hair shimmered.
Tegan dropped their hands. “Better?”
Emersyn nodded. “Better.”
Tegan grinned and gave her a wink, then stood up straight. “That’ll hold you over for a bit. We’ve got a demon to kill.”
“It isn’t dead?” My mother asked softly.
Tennessee shook his head, his mismatched eyes watching the sky. “No. It’s a morpher, it will take the form of whatever it needs to for survival. Makes it rather difficult to kill.”
“Can we kill it?” My father asked and climbed to his feet.
“You? No.” Tennessee turned to face the group, his eyes were hard. “Me? Yes.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Man, I missed your snarky ass.”
“I’m taken.” Tenn grinned.
The building behind us trembled and groaned. The ground rumbled under our feet.
Tenn held his hand out. The air pulsed then his sword slammed into his palm. He nodded to me. “Did it respond to your magic?”
“At first it seemed so, when there was three of them, but after it morphed into one big one I think it was just irritating it.” I got to my feet and took my tuxedo jacket off. “What’s the plan, boss?”
Tenn backed away and eyed the buildings around us. He had his sword in one hand and his black dagger in the other. His hands glowed like a full moon. “Razzle dazzle, D.”
I opened my mouth to protest the mocking but then it hit me. Like in Central Park. He wanted me to lure it out. I took a deep breath then put my lips together and began whistling the Broadway musical song. Tegan and Tenn eyed the building. Emersyn zipped her borrowed leather jacket over her sparkly dress. Each and every civilian there looked at me like I was nuts.
The Fire Witch (The Coven: Elemental Magic Book 7) Page 17