Trial by Fire (Covencraft Book 1) (28 page)

“You can teach me,” Jade said firmly, pushing herself to her feet.

“It was demanding, but I can do it alone.” He didn’t want Jade to have to practice it either.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m not some shrinking violet.” She looked at Callie, somewhat sheepishly. “Uh, not that you are either but…” She fidgeted for a moment. “Um. Sorry. Or whatever. But,” she said as she turned back to Paris, confident again, “I’m helping.”

“I can help too,” Henri said suddenly and Jade turned to him and kind of patted him on the shoulder.

“Henri, I don’t think your magic is… Mean enough for it.”

Paris was surprised by her insight. She hadn’t actually worked the wards herself but must have intuited that they did require a certain strength of intent behind them. Callie might have been able to manage it but from what he sensed of Henri’s magic, he wouldn’t have a chance.

“Oh thank god,” Henri said quickly, his body relaxing from its tense state. “I want to help, I do, but demon magic scares the crap out of me.”

Jade patted him again. “Yeah. But thanks.” She looked back at Paris. “Let’s do this.”

He was sure her tone was meant to be firm and strong, but with her bruised and bandaged body and the dim, greenish ambient light in the dungeon, it only emphasized how fragile and very breakable she looked. If she hadn’t been so insistent about learning, he would try to talk her out of it. As it was, all he could do was hope that with both of their magic combined, their wards would pack one hell of a punch.

Chapter 14

Jade could never admit it out loud, could never even hint at it.

But demon magic? It was
fun
.

Okay, so it wasn’t as much fun as it was interesting. Intriguing and twisted up, like a really big logic puzzle. As Paris taught her the symbology behind some of the warding and helped her focus her magic to work the runes, she found herself enjoying it. Even with her limited knowledge of magic and even more limited knowledge of demons, she knew it was a bad, bad thing.

She shouldn’t like it. She should hate it, fear it, loathe it, mistrust it.

Instead she found herself eager to learn more. In a creepy way, demon magic made sense to her.

Callie and Henri had gotten spooked by it. Jade hardly made it halfway through her first ward when Callie shuddered and Henri turned a little green around the edges. Paris gently suggested they grab a bite to eat or some coffee and they’d hustled it out of the library like the place was on fire.

She could see what Paris meant about the warding being draining. She wasn’t exactly in top notch condition with her stitches, bruising and cast, but she felt even more wiped out after only two wards. Her wrist throbbed with a cold ache that deepened and made her wince slightly when she started on the next rune. She didn’t know how many she could complete until she would absolutely have to stop. Paris had indicated there were about five he’d like her to learn and they needed to be repeated over the library in various spots for maximum efficacy. She’d pestered him on why he was placing them where he was but he argued that learning the wards was taxing enough without learning about ward placement just yet.

She couldn’t help it. She wanted to know
more
.

“Hello, possum.”

She yelped and jumped back from the voice in her ear, pressing up against the damp stone wall.

The first demon, the one in her head she’d taken to calling ‘Bob’ stood a foot away from her, admiring her handiwork.

Her
anti-demon
handiwork.

“You can’t… You shouldn’t be here,” she stammered, heart racing as she glanced at the ward and back at the demon.

Paris came around the corner quickly and muttered something, a spell, hex or incantation she couldn’t tell. Something flew at the demon and he batted it away easily, sending it back toward Paris, like a wave of hot, compressed air. It seemingly blew through Paris and though he flinched, he didn’t back down.

“I’m not here to hurt anyone,” the demon said. “I just came to talk to my little possum.” He turned his gaze back to Jade and she got a flash of the strange vertigo she felt the first time she’d met him. Blinking, she pressed harder against the wall for stability.

“You work the wards wonderfully,” Bob said to her, studying a nearby rune. “Unfortunately, there’s still a lot about demon magic you don’t know.”

‘Bob’ didn’t really do him justice. It didn’t convey the otherness of his presence or the frigid, almost cloying aura around him.

Like a flash, Jade remembered something she’d read in one of Sakkara’s books just that morning. She pulled her magic around her and then flung it at Bob, the awkward and strange words spilling from her lips.

He flinched. Then, like acid had been poured over him, the skin of his face spat and hissed, pouring putrid smelling smoke into the area. She gagged at the smell but held her spot.

Bob shook himself like a dog, bits of flesh and gore spraying out from him. One of them hit her in the cheek and she swiped at it hastily, rubbing the hem of her shirt over her skin.
Yuck
.

“Very good,” Bob said, not the least bit put out. He sniffed the air. “That was your first try at that one, correct? Quite nice. But I’ve been around the block a few more times than your common demon.” He held up a hand toward Paris who’d been stalking closer and
tsk-tsk’d
his fingers at the coven leader. “Now, now. I don’t mind if you stay, but I won’t put up with your interruptions. Hush now. I’m only here to talk to her.”

Jade gulped as he turned his full attention back to her. “Do the wards even work?” she asked, hating how her voice came out shaky.

“Quite well. On lower class demons. It’s also tricky work to put them in a place like a Covenstead. The walls, the furniture, the witches all bleed a different kind of magic. Left over spells, the potential of future spells, charmed objects and different kinds of power all mixed up together in one place. Makes the wards dodgy. Riddled with holes and wobbly bits. Weak spots where things can still get through. Also, this much demon magic being used at once and in a place of magic as well?” He looked at her sympathetically, dark eyes flashing. “Oh possum, you may as well put a big spotlight on yourself saying ‘interesting things going on here.’”

Her eyes flickered to Paris who stood still as a statue watching the demon with careful eyes.

Bob shrugged. “Not everyone will notice and not everyone will care. Witches are mostly beneath us. But there are some who’ll pay attention. Like me. Because I like you, maybe as much as our little friend who has his eye on you.”

“Who is he?” she asked immediately.

Bob looked at her knowingly. “You know I won’t tell you. Not without a deal.” Again his singsong tone was back. He inched closer to her and she side-walked away from him, keeping her back to the wall.

“I thought, perhaps, after your little taste of him the other night,” he said as he tipped his head, indicating her cast and then her stitches, “you might be a bit more interested. Still think I might be lying?”

“No. But that doesn't mean I trust you. Or care to listen to you either.”

Bob smiled, showing his sharp teeth and she leaned further away from him. She had a sudden image in her head of him poised over her, like a wolf, jaws ready to snap down and break her neck. “Clever possum. I like you more and more, you know.”

“Gross,” she blurted at his leering expression.

“Everyone deals, possum. Given the right leverage, everyone deals.” He glanced over at Paris. “His mother could tell you that.”

“You knew my mother?” Paris spat, horrified.

“I knew
of
your mother, though I never had the opportunity myself to deal with her personally. I know someone who did. Like she reportedly did, you positively reek of good intentions and noble magic.” Bob sneered. “Although you don’t quite have the stench of desperation about you that demon-dealers usually have.” He turned back to Jade. “You, however… You just smell of power. Unfettered.” He sniffed the air again. “And fear, but everyone who deals with demons smells of fear. It’s mostly lost its
je ne sais quois
. We smell it all the time.”

Jade debated trying the spell again, trying to push more magic behind it this time, as much as she could manage. But if it didn’t work, she’d likely just make him angry.

And then she’d be really fucked.

“Blah blah blah it’s all talk-talk-talk,” she burst out, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. “I can do without the monologue. What do you want?”

Bob shrugged. “I just thought I’d check in, see what all the hubbub was about. I could feel you warding this place from the other side. About as subtle as a bull in a china shop. I wanted to know if you were ready to deal yet.”

“No.”

“Ouch.” He winced with mock pain, clutching at his chest. “Your tone hurts, possum. I tell you what-”

Blazingly fast, he was crowding her against the stone wall, his body a scant inch from hers. The overly thick, syrupy smell of him pressed against her. She saw Paris move out of the corner of her eye and she shook her head at him. She was okay, she was fine. She wasn’t hurt. Yet. If Paris was going to try something, better he wait until they really needed it and not just when she was getting intimidated.

Goddamn she was petrified though. But if Bob wanted to hurt her, he would have already done it. That’s what she kept telling herself. He wanted to deal with her.

He couldn’t deal with her if she was dead.

Jesus, she hoped not.

“I’ll give you one of my names. As soon as you change your mind, you call. Then we’ll deal.”

“Yeah, that’s what all the boys say. Call me, I’ll drop everything.” Her voice came out thin and airy, like she was two breaths away from hyperventilating.

“For you? I will.” He leaned in closer, his breath hot against her ear. “But don’t call unless you mean it, possum,” he whispered. She kept her eyes focused on Paris, on the solid, steady line of him, poised like a racer waiting to spring, waiting for her to twitch or beckon. She couldn’t tell if he was afraid and that made her feel better, not as skin-stripping scared.

Bob continued to speak quietly in her ear. “Don’t call unless you want to deal. Say my name, say it with intent, and I’ll come running. But if you trick me…” He snapped his teeth shut, making loud biting sounds against her ear. She flinched and Paris took a step closer. She willed him back with her eyes. She wasn’t hurt, she kept reminding herself. The demon was just like a bully, barking at her for a reaction.

She wouldn’t give him a reaction.

She turned her face slightly, enough for her to whisper in his ear. “I can do without the theatrics. Your name,” she said plainly.

He whispered it so quietly, so lowly in her ear, she wasn’t sure she heard it.

And then he was gone. But the sticky-sweet scent lingered.

Jade started shaking and let herself slide down the wall. It was cold and she’d been pressed up against it for too long, the chill of the stone seeping into her bones.

Paris knelt beside her, one hand on her shoulder. “You’re all right,” he said calmly, repeating it a few times and she wasn’t sure who he was talking to.

“Of course I’m all right. He didn’t hurt me,” she said, sharper than she intended. She didn’t pull away from him. In fact, she leaned a bit into his side and almost sighed from relief when his arm, heavy and warm, encircled her shoulders protectively.

Neither one of them said anything for a long few minutes. Finally, she pulled away from him and he dropped his arm from her shoulders awkwardly. She pushed herself to her feet.

“So, I guess warding the library equals bad idea.” She took a deep breath. “Fuck.”

“What was his name, Jade?”

She turned incredulous eyes on him. “You’re not thinking of calling him, are you?”

“Absolutely not,” he replied. “But maybe we can find out more information about him with his name.”

She opened her mouth to say it and then froze, suddenly afraid that would be akin to saying it out loud, with intent. After walking back to the table they’d been at earlier, she yanked open her laptop and launched a text-pad application. She typed the name out in four keystrokes, surprised at how innocuous it looked.

Seth
.

*

After Seth’s impromptu visit, they relocated to Paris’ house, Callie and Henri joining them.

Along with a trunk full of Callie’s books.

“These are my important ones!” Callie pleaded at Paris’ affronted look as she dragged the trunk over his hardwood floors. Jade smirked and thought that they were like siblings in each other’s company too much - always a little eager to pick at each other. They spread out across the large dining room table, Jade taking the head of it with her laptop, little notebook and one of Sakkara’s grimoires. On a whim, the first thing she Googled was ‘demons named Seth’ and was surprised when she got some hits.

God, how she loved Google more than a little bit.