“It’s less a fall than a sidestep. But he has a point,” I told my future sister-in-law.
“Yes, he does,” she agreed. We hugged. Twice.
“Okay,” I said. “Have you been engaged or married anytime since you made the deal?”
“No.” Cassandra winced. “I never remarried after Harith died. There were… other men. Some of them I stayed with their entire lives. But… no. That step always seemed like it would be a lie, somehow.”
“That must be it, then. Something in the fine print of your contract gives her leeway in case you pull a fast one and escape like you did. So the second you enter into a relationship bound by a holy promise, she’s got you.”
Which sucked. Because I knew exactly how Cassandra felt. I’d never dreamed I could find anyone who’d bring out the domestic in me the way Matt had. Never wanted anyone to try. Then Vayl had snuck past my defenses, and now practically all I could think about was the next time I could see him, touch him. If he asked… what would I say? Could we even do marriage, considering the fact that stepping inside a church would set him and his tuxedo on fire?
He’s no good for you, said that voice. I put my hand to my throat, like I could choke it into silence. The laughter behind its next words proved how useless the gesture was. You know I’m right. All he wants is to drain you and leave you dangling from the edge of the bed like some neglected old rag doll.
Keep talking, I whispered inside my own mind. You’re beginning to sound familiar. Not like the echo of my own thoughts after all. More like—
The front door shuddered. Astral’s feed showed me why. The demon had thrown her hat up into the air, giving it time to transform into a razor-edged boomerang before it fell back into her hand and she flung it, hard, at the entrance.
How does she not cut her fingers off?
Granny May, still rocking on her front porch, snapped, You’re wondering about a demon’s digits when her weapon’s on fire? Girl, you should be thanking your lucky stars those prayers are strong enough to keep her from burning the house down.
In fact, the flames that had given the boomerang an eerie bluish orange glow had extinguished the second it had hit the door. Unfortunately, the prayers Cole had shielded it with would only work for so long against a siege, and this bimbo clearly had nowhere else to be. She winged that weapon of hers fifteen or twenty times. Each time she knocked a bigger hole in our defenses.
“She’s going to get in,” I warned my crew.
“But we have the circle,” said Cassandra.
“And Vayl,” Bergman reminded me.
“Yeah, we do.” But the demon had a contract. And I was terrified that nothing we did could prevent her from taking Cassandra’s soul tonight. Even if it meant we lost our own in the fight.
Faces began to dance before my eyes. My old crew, laughing it up after another successful raid. Brad and Olivia. Dellan and Thea. My late sister-in-law, Jessie. And Matt, whose eyes still broke my heart every time I remembered them smiling into mine.
I looked around at the new crew I’d unwillingly collected. Bergman, pale as a bone marrow donee, hugging the straps of his pack like he hoped they’d transform into a jet propulsion unit and fly him outta this mess. Cole, blowing bubbles in such quick succession he’d begun to leave a fine film on his upper lip, getting a better grip on the demon-sticker he’d made by duct-taping two kitchen knives together.
Cassandra, trembling so hard her earrings jingled, but standing tall. No. I’m not losing these people too.
I turned to Cassandra. “Gimme that sword. If I can get her to another plane I can kill her.” Not without a special weapon, snarled that voice. Not mine after all. Not even female.
“Don’t, Jaz!” Cole put both hands on my shoulders just as I grabbed for the sword. “She’ll snap your head off before you can even take two steps outside the circle.” As soon as I touched the weapon in Cassandra’s hands her head fell back.
Shit!
Why couldn’t she time her visions better? In fact, why couldn’t she just go fuzzy where I was concerned like she had with Dave?
A second later she straightened, but her eyes had focused on places nobody else could See. “You are not alone,” she said, dropping her hands from the hilt.
I looked at the sword. Kill her! howled the voice. So familiar. Where had I heard it before? And not long ago either! Take off her head!
I’ll slit my own throat first!
You would never—
Try me. And while you’re at it, tell me who the fuck you are! Silence. Cassandra, maybe tired of watching me struggle, had turned to face Cole.
“Stay away from her. Please. She’s no good for you. Not at all.” Cole lifted his hands from me like he’d been burned. “I’m done with Jaz. That’s my other goal for the mission. I’m definitely going to fall out of love with her this week. You know what? I may already have.”
“No, no, not Jaz. Kyphas. ” She kept shaking her head, her face twisted with such misery that Bergman, who regularly begged people to experience their emotions at least twenty feet away from him, stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. She turned to him and smiled. “Yes, that’s better. That could work.”
As he frowned down at her, Cole and I exchanged puzzled looks. “Who’s Kyphas?” he whispered.
The front door blew across the room, slamming the couch into the wall, leaving a dent our security deposit wouldn’t cover. Cassandra’s demon stepped in, her hat tipped back at a jaunty angle. “That would be me.”
CHAPTEREIGHT
Up close, Kyphas’s aura hit me like a full night of Vayl’s undivided attention. Who knows how I’d have reacted if girls were my thing? Cole sure looked like he was about to drop. Bergman seemed woozy.
The living room itself may have grown red lighting and a Barry White soundtrack. I think the three of us would’ve trotted right out of that circle but for two simultaneous events. Kyphas began to steam, the smoke literally lifting off her golden skin as the prayers Cole had murmured over the windows combined with those Cassandra had enforced around our circle began to take their toll. And Jack started to growl.
If my dog were reduced to a pie chart, fully half would be mush. Give him a treat and he’ll consider following you home. Hell, he’s pals with my dad, and nobody likes him. But the sound coming from his throat lifted the hairs on the back of my neck, his warning clear as science glass. Mess with my mistress and I will rough you up.
I shook my head, feeling the demon’s influence fall away even as Kyphas whipped her hat off, flipped it into boomerang mode, and hefted it at Jack. I stepped in front of him, but there was no need.
Cassandra’s circle held, bouncing the weapon back toward its owner. She ducked, allowing it to hit the window. Another failure, another bounce back into our shield. But it kept flying, and every time it made contact I could See it chipping away at our defenses, black sparks and white shards combining to make a light show my Spirit Eye would never forget.
I said, “We need to destroy that weapon.”
“How are we going to do that without leaving the circle?” asked Bergman.