Trial by Fire (Covencraft Book 1) (18 page)

No.

She was not going to start dredging up things that needed to stay dead and buried. Not now. She had a metric fuck-ton of problems, here in the present, without borrowing from her past. She needed to think, she needed to get her shit together and figure this out.

Step one: she needed to know if there was a way to keep a demon out of the house.

She suppressed her feelings. There was no time to feel sorry for herself.

She looked Paris dead in the eye. “Is there some kind of spell or, I don’t know,” she fumbled for the right words, “a ward to keep that demon out of here? A way to close the portal, if that’s what he’s using? Crazy glue it shut, anything?”

“What?” Paris asked, brows furrowed in confusion. “Jade, we were talking about your magic.”

“I know what we were talking about,” she snapped. “But I have to fucking triage this mess and keeping that demon out is priority number one. I’ll think about you witchy lot and your lies,” she said, spitting the words, “in a moment. First things first. Spells to keep the demon away?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then make yourself useful and figure one out.” She remembered what Callie had told her on the train here. “You’re supposed to be the most powerful witch in this goddamn coven, so pony up and show me some magic.”

He swallowed hard, “I will try.”

His words sounded like it was a promise to her, some kind of vow. She could see the guilt and regret written on his face but she didn’t care what his intentions were.

“You’d better do more than try,” Jade warned.

She squared her shoulders. Now for item two. The best defense is a good offense. She was usually a fair judge of people, sizing them up right away. Maybe she’d let herself be blinded by the bright, shiny baubles of magic and belonging, but no more.

“Next. I want to know everything there is to know about every one of you witchy freaks. I mean it. I want the gossip from Henri, I want files from your little coven business, I want you to sit down and tell me everything you know about everybody. I don’t care if I have to sit in a room and have everyone come by one at a time. I want to look each one of you in the eye. If one of you is out to get me, I’ll get you first.”

“We don’t know that the demon is telling the truth.”

“Don’t!” Jade shouted. “The only thing I know for sure is that you’re a liar. You lied to me and I’m painting the rest of your coven with that brush.”

“I didn’t lie to you, Jade. I didn’t know how powerful you would be when we first met. I didn’t know it was going to be an issue.”

“And when you did?”

Paris swallowed thickly but didn’t break her gaze. “I should have told you but I never lied to you. I just didn’t have all the facts.”

She cocked her head slightly. “Yeah, when you catch people lying, they always have all kinds of excuses.” Her tone was biting, acerbic.

He took her words like they were a blow, stiffening at them. He finally nodded. “I’ll help you any way I can.”

“I don’t want your help. I just want to know what you know.”

He nodded again, his face somber.

Jade felt calmer, more steady. She could do this. She had a plan. She was smart and apparently so powerful that they couldn’t take her magic. She was stronger than them. She took a moment to try and feel that power, let that knowledge sit in her bones, fill in the spaces and holes inside her. Though she didn’t have mastery over her magic, she could learn.

And maybe, once she understood her power, it wouldn’t matter what their rules or agreements or governments said. If she was strong enough, powerful enough, they wouldn’t be able to tell her what to do.

She would tell them.

“Jade, I -”

“You’ve said more than enough tonight. So unless you’ve got something useful to tell me, some other bombshell you’ve been saving for a special moment, zip it. Your platitudes don’t do me any good.”

He pursed his lips tightly and nodded formally. “I’ll contact Hannah. She’s the most knowledgeable witch I know. If there’s a spell or a ward to be found, she’ll know it. She’ll be able to work it as well. She can teach me.”

“Teach
us
.” Jade clarified. “You,” she said as she made a circular motion with her pointed finger, “just became a full disclosure spell-teacher. If you learn it, I learn it.”

He opened his mouth as if he was going to argue and then shut it very quickly. “Very well.”

She felt a rush of strength. Not magic or supernatural, just personal power. She was telling him things, dictating things and he was agreeing. It made her feel steadier, more in control. Whether he was doing it because he was afraid, regretful or just wanting to make amends, she didn’t care.

All that mattered was she was in control now.

And she was going to keep it that way.

Information. She needed more information. All the information she could get her hands on. What did she already know?

“You keep the majority of your spell-books in your library, correct?” she asked, remembering what Callie had said on her first day at the Coven. “In the old dungeon?”

Jesus, the fact they’d needed a dungeon at some point in their history really should have tipped her off that this was all going to go pear-shaped.

He blinked at her change in topic again. “Yes.”

“Then we’re going,” she said, heading upstairs to change.

“Right now? It’s the middle of the night.”

She paused on the stairway, turning back to face him. “You got something better to do than keep me safe from a demon? ‘Cause I sure as hell don’t.”

“If you’d like to get some rest, I can stay here. On the sofa.” He added the last bit at her incredulous face. “And keep watch.”

“Pass,” she said harshly. “Funny how I don’t feel particularly sleepy after being woken up by a demon and then finding out I’ve been lied to. I’m feeling a bit riled up. I’m just a delicate fucking flower.”

“You’ll have to sleep sometime.”

His words could have been interpreted as a threat, but the look on his face, the tone of his voice was compassionate, kind.

It just worked as a bellows to her rage and she refused to buy into it.

Jade smirked. “Based on prior experience, not for at least twenty more hours. So I guess that’s how long you have to come up with a demon-warding spell that will keep me safe while I sleep.”

“I won’t let anyone or anything hurt you.”

She turned her back on his earnest eyes and committed tone and stalked up the stairs, calling over her shoulder as she did.

“Again, pass.
I
won’t let anyone or anything hurt me. You’re just along for the ride.”

*

Paris was astonished at the speed at which she moved. Jade came back down the stairs not three minutes after she left, hair in a messy ponytail, wearing jeans and a dark grey hoodie that managed to cover the blossoming bruises on her wrists but barely concealed the ones encircling her neck. With her hair pulled up out of the way, the puncture wounds stood out, bright red and angry.

He wanted to suggest calling Gellar again but Jade caught him looking and narrowed her eyes. A laptop bag was already slung over her shoulder and she stuffed her power cord in it at the same time as she unceremoniously pushed her feet into tennis shoes and then looked at him askance.

“Pitter-patter,” she said and she actually snapped her fingers harshly at him. “Let’s get at ‘er.”

While she’d not been overly friendly before, this sharper, harder Jade was surprising.

And disappointing.

He’d known that not telling her the whole truth had been a gamble but he never expected anything remotely as serious or foreboding as a demon attack. Also, being the Coven Leader had him accustomed to not sharing the full details of issues when it wasn’t necessary or when it would lead to more complications.

A fact he was sorely regretting at that moment.

She had only just come to the Coven, only just discovered she was a witch. If she got it in her head to try to leave, the Council could send someone to break her magic and end up killing her. If he did end up finding a way to break her power, she would absolutely take that option, never believing any of the benefits the Coven could offer.

If they couldn’t find a way to break her power and she had to stay with them, it was the worst possible beginning for her to join their coven family. Her first foray into their world was now filled with deception and fear.

Paris didn’t know if they could get over that.

If she could get over that.

She grabbed a few more things - her purse and her phone and then she was out the door, not checking behind her to see if he followed.

He followed.

“Do you have your keys?” Paris asked. “To lock up?”

She turned back and gave him an edged look. “I don’t think the demon cares if I bolt the front door. And I don’t trust that someone else in your coven doesn’t already have a key. But if it makes you feel better…” She rummaged around in her purse and then lobbed the keys at him. “Knock yourself out, English.”

It did make him feel better. He knew no one else in the Coven should have a key, even if Jade didn’t believe it. He locked the front door and then went to his car, where she already waited by the passenger side, foot tapping.

It was cool outside, crisp in the late night/early morning air. She didn’t say anything as she slid into the seat and settled her bags on her lap.

He couldn’t think of a thing to say to break the silence that she wouldn’t throw back in his face.

Paris drove quickly through the dead and quiet streets, making excellent time to the Covenstead. Once there, he let them in, getting past the large gates and then into the Covenstead proper, stopping to speak briefly to Security and let them know that he and Jade were on the grounds and to be aware of their presence.

Jade was a grim shape at his side - arms crossed over her chest, jaw set. She only used the absolute minimum effort to move - legs forward, feet rolling on the ground, then back up for the next step. She didn’t twitch, didn’t fidget.

Didn’t look his way.

He led her down the circular stone staircase to the dungeon. It was cramped and slightly damp. If not for magic, a sizable bulldozer and backhoe, they would have never been able to get all the furniture down to the depths.

The coven library was most kindly described as ‘atmospheric.’

But no matter how many dark cherry book shelves covered most of the old brick and mortar, no matter how many electric candelabra they installed to help with the lack of large windows or how many radiators they installed to ward off the pervasive and permeating damp chill, it was still clearly a former dungeon through and through.

Paris switched on all the lights and waited while Jade glanced around. He tried to see it through her eyes. It made no difference what kind of bulbs they installed, the slight green cast of the stone always gave the entire area a sickly pallor. He saw her nose twitch and knew she was sniffing, inhaling the smell of incense and old paper that lingered like a corporeal being. She looked at the long rows of shelving, crammed into such a small space, her eyes going up and over the books lining each shelf.

She headed immediately for the main reception desk which jutted out awkwardly from the stairwell. There’d been no way in the dark, dank space to make anything picturesque or attractive. Everything was made to be functional. It didn’t matter what it looked like. She booted up the computer at the main desk, standing in front of it and waiting till the screen lit up.

“I need a username and password that grants me admin rights to this and the rest of your network,” she said, finally looking up at him.

“It’s four in the morning,” Paris replied.

Jade stared at him coolly. “No shit. Pick up a phone and make it happen.” She turned her back on him and grabbed her own computer out of her bag, facing him again as she hooked it up to a power supply. “I want network access for my laptop too. Get your alpha geek on it. If he or she is any good, they don’t even have to come down here to do it.” Jade stopped for a moment and just looked… Defeated. She pressed the heels of her hands into her eye sockets and he took a step forward but before he could do anything, she was cracking her neck, pulling up a chair, sitting down and typing on her laptop.

Paris started making a series of obnoxious early morning calls.

He was the head of the Coven but that didn’t mean he knew everyone’s job descriptions and names. His first call was to his assistant, Suki, who blearily mumbled that she’d get on it and that he owed her a gratuitous gift that better include season tickets the local lacrosse team and a bottle of gin.

His next call was to Callie, asking only that she come to the Covenstead and he would fill her in when she arrived. She also sleepily mumbled that she was on her way but didn’t extract any promises of gifts or favors.

Then, Hannah. He laid out everything he knew quickly, trying to give her all the information she would need, without getting too far into the minutiae of what had happened.