The front door slammed. My heart constricted.
“They’re back,” said Bergman, his voice pitched so high I almost expected to look up and see someone strangling him.
“Jasmine,” Vayl said, his voice icy, his powers rising. “Can you do this?”
I nodded, raising my eyes to his. I couldn’t explain that only I loved David enough to make this work. That I didn’t trust anyone else to be quick. That I thought even Vayl, who was strong enough, cool enough, might be too distracted by the blood to go fast. I suddenly understood the stories I’d heard of families who, during the Middle Ages, had piled wood high on their condemned relative’s pyres. Though their loved ones had been consigned to burn at the stake for choosing the wrong religion, or bewitching the wrong husband, their concern in the end had been for as much speed and as little pain as possible. Funny how some things never change.
I turned off the burner. Held the knife behind me and leaned casually against the counter as my brother walked into the room, scratching steadily at the back of his neck. He smiled when my eyes met his. I reminded myself the soul looking out from those deep green orbs was trapped, screaming to be free.
“How’d it go?” he asked.
I gave him Lucille’s fake warmth, hoping he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. “Like clockwork. What did you expect, bro? You’re working with the best.”
Vayl had circled behind him during our conversation. I stepped forward, nodding to him as if giving him his kudos. Dave looked over his shoulder. Started to congratulate Vayl. But he’d already taken his cue and raised his powers, sending ice into David’s veins as he grabbed his arms.
We weren’t sure how he’d be affected by Vayl’s abilities. If he was a Sensitive, like me, he’d be resistant. We had no idea how zedran reacted. But hopefully the cold would slow the bleeding. I know, I know. If Raoul brought him back it wouldn’t matter if he puddled all over the floor. Physically he’d be fine. But I didn’t want him waking up in a huge pool of his own blood. One less nightmare. At this point, that was all I could give him.
“What the hell are you doing?” Dave demanded, his eyes going wide. Not scared. Not yet.
“You’re the mole, Dave.”
“What? Are you out of your mind?”
“The Wizard’s man, the one who attacked you during questioning? He killed you and inserted a control device in your neck called an ohm.” I hated this next part. But the Wizard was listening, so I continued. “I’m sorry. You set me up. Forced me to kill the wrong man tonight. So now I have to kill you.”
Now the fear. I faced it, understanding it might be the last expression I ever saw in my brother’s eyes. “You’ve snapped! The Helsingers! Matt! Jessie! It’s all jumbled your brains. There’s no way I’m a traitor! No way!”
“Goodbye, David. I love you.”
Vayl moved his right arm, still clenched under Dave’s, higher, so his hand could control his face. He forced Dave to look up. I had the retriever in my left hand. With my right I made a quick incision with my dagger.
Dave roared in protest and tried to throw his head backward. But Vayl had such a tight hold on him he could only flinch.
I slipped the retriever into the opening I’d made near the base of his throat and kept my hand over it, staunching the bleeding, which slowed quickly to a trickle.
“Is it in?” Cole asked a few seconds later.
I dropped my hand. Nodded.
Vayl let go of David’s head.
“I’m not dead,” David whispered.
I just looked at him, so full of regret I couldn’t speak. Never in my life had I wanted more to be a different person. One of those women who cringe at violence. Who are all about healing and mending, birth and rebirth.
Suddenly Dave’s head jerked back. His eyes rolled. His mouth began to work at sucking in air he could no longer seem to access.
“Let him go,” I said in a low voice.
Vayl released Dave’s arms. His hands immediately went to the back of his neck, clawing at it until his fingernails were bloody. He went to his knees. I dropped to mine before him. I wanted to touch him, but I knew it would be of no comfort. I’d brought this horror down on him.
But I stayed with him. Suffered with him as he fell onto his back and went into full-body spasms. Cole moved everything out of the way that might injure him. I knelt on his right. Vayl on his left. We watched helplessly as foam erupted from his lips.
The spasms gave way to convulsions. Not quick, hard shakes, but long, tight moments where his entire back would bow and he would almost stand on his head. I counted one. Two. Three. And on the fourth the retriever appeared.
When I didn’t immediately take it, Vayl nodded at me.
You must finish what you started,
his look told me.
I reached out. Took the retriever between my fingers and gently pulled. It resisted one hand’s efforts, so I brought the other into play, pulling out Bergman and Cassandra’s invention along with the item it had attached itself to. A red plastic tube the length of a toothpick and as big around as my pinky.
As soon as it exited Dave’s body he went absolutely still.
I dropped my head and quickly spoke the words Raoul had taught me. Within seconds I felt myself lifting from my body. I heard Cole say, “How long until we know?”
Vayl shook his head. Shrugged.
A shimmer above Dave’s body let me know they wouldn’t have long to wait. He was rising.
He hesitated when he saw me. “Jazzy?”
“Go on,” I urged. “Raoul’s waiting for you.” I didn’t tell him I’d protect him. He never would have left then. But I did follow close behind, watching sharply for the Magistrate as Dave followed the rainbow-colored strand that led to Raoul. If my Spirit Guide and I were right, this would be the moment he’d pounce.
Nothing happened.
Dave made it safely to Raoul’s. I was just chastising myself for reading the signs as hieroglyphs when they were, in fact, Roman numerals, when I caught sight of the demons. Three of them, including the Magistrate, winging their way toward one of the cords that bound me to my loved ones. Not Dave’s at all. E.J.’s.
“Raoul!” I yelled. “They’re after the baby!” But even as I spoke I knew he couldn’t help. He was occupied with Dave. Doing the deal. Or not. Which left this battle to me.
I flew at the demons, not knowing how much damage I could actually cause in my noncorporeal state. Not caring. I had to
do
something!
Feeling like a fighter jet, I screamed headfirst into the Magistrate. And right through him. He laughed, waved his hand carelessly. A wind came up out of nowhere, buffeting me backward.
As I rolled and spun, trying desperately to regain my equilibrium, I could see the three of them advancing on E.J.’s cord. The largest of the demons, who had a bluish blotch across half his face that seemed to be growing its own fungi, reached out for the golden cable that connected her to me. His claws touched it, and jerked back as if burned. At his contact E.J.’s cord had flashed. Apparently the kid had some built-in defenses.
“Idiot!” barked the Magistrate. “Why do you think I told you to bring the vine?”
“Aha!” shouted the third demon, a pig-eared, dog-snouted hulk who, even here, smelt of rancid meat and feces. Reaching inside the breastplate of his brown spiked armor he pulled out a braided green rope, complete with black-edged leaves and even a couple of sickly yellow flowers. I’d just managed to halt my tumbling when the Magistrate snatched one end of the vine from the demon and began wrapping it around E.J.’s cord as the demon held the other end still.
“No!” I cried as the vine instantly tightened, sending white thorns into its new support, making it tremble and visibly fade. I rushed back into the fray. The bad guys loved it. They laughed like maniacs as I sped toward them, thinking I’d had another brain fart and decided I liked being tumbled halfway across space. In reality I was pulling a move I’d watched Cam do at the poker table a couple of times the night before, making a small sacrifice now so I could see how they really meant to play their cards.