“We get it.” Gage shrugged. “Cal may need to dig out his glasses, and the three of us will be susceptible to the common cold.”
“Don’t make light of this.” Cybil turned to him. “You could lose what you have, and more. It could all blow up in our faces. You’ve seen that possibility. The mix of blood and fire, the stone on the stone. Every living thing consumed. It was your blood that let the demon out. We need to consider that performing this rite could loose something worse.”
“You have to play to win.”
“He’s right.” Fox nodded at Gage. “We risk it, or we do nothing. We believe Ann Hawkins or we don’t. This was the time, that’s what she told Cal. This Seven is the all or nothing, and the stone-whole-is a potential weapon. I believe her. She sacrificed her life with Dent, and that sacrifice led to us. One into three, three into one. If there’s a way, we go.”
“There’s another three. Q, Layla, and me. Our blood, tainted if you will, with that of the demon.”
“And carrying that of the innocent.” Layla sat with her hands folded, as if she held something delicate inside them. “Hester Deale wasn’t evil. Innocent blood, you said, Cybil, innocent blood is a powerful element in ritual.”
“So I’m told.” Cybil let out a sigh. “I was also warned that the innocent can be used to give the demon strain more power. That a ritual such as we’re suggesting could be an invitation. Three young boys were changed by a blood rite on that ground. It could happen again, with us.” She looked at Layla, at Quinn. “And what’s diluted, or dormant, or just outweighed in us by who we are, could rise.”
“Not going to happen.” Quinn spoke briskly. “Not only because I don’t consider horns and cloven feet a fashion statement but”-she ignored Cybil’s annoyed oath- “because we won’t let it. Cyb, you’re too goddamn hard-headed to let a little demon DNA run your show. And you’re not responsible. Don’t even,” Quinn ordered when Cybil started to speak. “Nobody knows you like I do. If we vote go, we’re all in it, we’re all making the choice. And whatever happens, thumbs-up or -down, it’s not on you. You’re just the messenger.”
“Understand if it goes wrong, it could go seriously and violently wrong.”
“If it goes right,” Fox reminded Cybil, “it’s a step toward saving lives. Toward ending this.”
“More likely we’ll lose a little blood and not a damn thing will change. Any way you look at it, it’s a long shot,” Gage added. “I like a long shot. I’m in.”
“Anyone not?” Quinn scanned the room. “That’s a big go.”
“Let’s get started.”
“Not so fast, big guy,” Cybil said to Gage. “While the ritual’s pretty straightforward, there are details and procedure. It requires the six of us-boy-girl, boy-girl-like any good dinner party, in the standard ritual circle. On the ritual ground at the Pagan Stone. Cal, I don’t suppose you have the knife you used before?”
“My Boy Scout knife? Sure I do.”
“Sure he does.” Charmed, Quinn leaned over to kiss his cheek.
“We’ll need that. I have a list of what we’ll need. And we’ll work out the wording of the incantation. We have to wait for the night of the full moon, and begin in the half hour before midnight, finish before the half hour after.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake.”
“Ritual requires ritual,” she snapped at Gage. “And respect, and a hell of a lot of faith. The full moon gives us light, literally and magickally. The half hour before midnight is the time of good, and the half hour after, evil. That’s the time, that’s the place, and that’s our best shot of making it work. Think of it as stacking the odds in our favor. We’ve got two weeks to fine-tune it, work out the kinks-or to call off the whole deal and go to St. Barts. Meanwhile…” She looked into her empty glass. “I’m out of wine.”
As the discussion started immediately, Gage slipped off to follow Cybil into the kitchen. “What’s got you spooked?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” She poured herself a generous glass of cabernet. “Must be the death and damnation.”
“You don’t spook easy, so spill.”
She took a small sip as she turned to him. “You’re not the only one who gets previews of coming attractions.”
“What did you see this time?”
“I saw my best friend die, and the death of the woman I’ve come to love and respect. I saw the men who love them die trying to save them. I saw your death in blood and fire. And I lived. Why is that worse? That I saw everyone die, and I lived.”
“Sounds more like nerves and guilt than a premonition.”
“I don’t do guilty, as a rule. On the plus side, in my dream it worked. I saw the bloodstone whole, resting on the Pagan Stone under the light of the full moon. And for a moment, it was brighter than the sun.”
She took a long, quiet breath. “I don’t want to walk out of the clearing alone, so do me a favor. Don’t die.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Nineteen
OUTSIDE, UNDER THE DIM LIGHT OF THE WAXING moon, Layla kissed Fox good night. And that brush of lips slid into a second, soft and seductive as the night air. “I just think I need to stay here tonight.” But she melted into him for another. “Cybil’s edgy, Quinn’s distracted. And they’ve been poking at each other. They need a referee.”
“I could stay.” Gently, he grazed his teeth over her bottom lip. “Back you up.”
“Then I’d be distracted. I’m already distracted.” With a little groan, she eased away. “Besides, I have a feeling you’ll be going to Cal’s. The three of you are going to want to talk this over.”
“It’s a lot.” He ran his hands down her arms. “You’re up for it.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
“No. I could see it. I can see it now.”
Very little could have pleased her more than that single, almost casual, vote of confidence. “Time to take the next step. And by the way, I need tomorrow off.”
“Okay.”
“Just okay?” She shook her head. “No what for, or who the hell’s going to run the office?”
“Three or four times a year-that was the limit-we could take a day off school. We just said, I don’t want to go to school tomorrow, and that was okay. Never had to fake sick or sneak a hook day in. I figure the same applies to work.”
She leaned into him, arms around his waist, hands linked together. “I’ve got a terrific boss. He even sends his parents in to check on me when he’s out of the office.”
Fox winced. “I may have mentioned that-”
“It’s all right. In fact, it’s better than all right. I had a nice chat with your mother, then one with your dad-who dazzles me a little because you look so much like him when you smile.”
“Number One O’Dell Charm Tool. Never fails.”
She laughed, leaned back. “There’s something I should tell you before you go. I’ve been working it out in my head for a while now, then today, when I was talking to your father, something occurred to me. Why was I working on it so much? Why couldn’t it just be? Because, well, it is.”
“What is?”
“I’m in love with you.” She let out a half laugh. “I love you, Fox. You’re the best man I know.”
He couldn’t find words, not with so much blowing through him. I love you, she said, with a smile that made the words sparkle in the dark. So he lowered his brow to hers, closed his eyes, and gave himself to the moment. Here she was, he thought. Everything else was details.
Then tipping her head back, he kissed her brow, her cheeks before laying his lips on hers. “You’re telling me this, then sending me home?”
She laughed again. “Afraid so.”
“Maybe you could just come over for an hour. Make it two.” He kissed her again, deeper, and deeper. “Let’s go for three.”