Page 46 of Mayhem and Ember

“That’s okay.” I rocked on my feet, tensing for attack. “He still left the house unescorted. It’s reason enough for me to vanquish him.”

“Hold on.” Ash laid a hand on my shoulder. “If you send him back to hell now, we’ll never know why he left or what brought him here.”

“I don’t give a shit.” My muscles coiled, the tension in my arms and shoulders ready to swing with all my might.

I moved the sword half an inch when Chaos grabbed my wrist in one hand, yanking the sword from my grasp with the other. The nerve of this guy! If my sister wasn’t in love with him, I’d vanquish them both.

I grabbed a dagger and lunged at Mayhem. Chaos caught me around the waist and dragged me back, holding me tightly against his chest. “Ash, get your demon under control.”

Her face scrunched. “He’s not the one who’s out of it.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” I struggled against Chaos’s hold, but it was no use. I might as well have been trapped beneath a collapsed building. “He broke the rules and left the house. He betrayed our trust.”

Mayhem had the audacity to laugh. “You made no such stipulation last night.”

“It was implied,” I said through clenched teeth, struggling again against the demon’s strength.

“Implications aren’t rules, and you never trusted me. There was nothing to betray.” He lifted one shoulder dismissively.

“You lied to me. You told me stories to make me feel compassion for you so you could get out the door without setting off the alarm.”

His brow furrowed. “Demons are known to lie, but everything I said to you was truth.” He turned to Ash and held up his bloody hands. “Do you have another rag?”

She took one from her bag and gave it to him. “Whether or not you had permission to leave aside, what brought you here?”

“I sensed a rift while the rest of you were indisposed, so I came to investigate.” He gestured to an invisible spot ten yards away. “It’s rather large, and based on the number of dead sheep, I’d say at least five fae soldiers came through. I would seal it if I were you.”

Ash tugged two bottles from her bag and cast a magic-location spell to make the rift visible. A horizontal tear in the veil stretched at least six feet wide and three feet tall. “Whoa. That’s huge. I’m going to need help with this one.”

Chaos released his hold, and I pointed at Mayhem. “Don’t move,” I said before taking my sister’s hand.

She blew the mending powder onto the rift and opened to me, allowing her energy to flow out of her hand and into mine before we recited the spell in unison. The edges of the rift stitched themselves back together, leaving a three-by-two hole in the fabric of reality.

“Again,” Ash said as she took another bottle from her bag and blew the powder toward the tear.

A surge of power filled my psyche, making me gasp. Chaos had taken Ash’s other hand, sharing his magic with us.

“It feels good, doesn’t it?” Mayhem stood next to me and wiggled his brows. “But you’re getting filtered magic. Imagine getting it right from the source.” He held his hand toward me, and for half a second, I was tempted to take it.

What little he’d shared with me during the summoning had been intoxicating enough, so instead, I shoved my hand into my pocket and focused on the rift. Chaos’s and Ash’s magic spun in my chest, hers calm and serene, his…well, it was chaotic. There was no other way to describe it.

I let it meld with my power, and we recited the incantation two more times, giving it all we had. The tear slammed shut, the fibers of the veil weaving together, blocking any more giant bugs from getting through.

I tugged from my sister’s grip, breaking the connection, and heaved in a breath. “That was a doozy.”

My head spun, but I couldn’t tell if it was because of the rush of demonic magic dissipating in my system or the effort it had taken to seal the rift.

“What the hell?” a gruff voice said from behind us. The sound of a shotgun cocking followed, and I spun to find the men from the barn glaring at us. The one in brown coveralls lowered the barrel, pointing it directly at me.

“Now might be a good time for some mind magic,” I said under my breath as I held up my hands, my fire power building, rolling from my chest to my arms. “Chaos, Ash, do your thing.”

The guy in a blue t-shirt turned on his buddy, landing a punch square on his jaw. Coveralls stumbled, losing his grip on the gun and dropping it. He picked it up again and slammed the stock into Blue Shirt’s stomach.

“Run,” Ash said, grabbing me by the arm, but I rooted myself to the ground, refusing to budge.

If Chaos and Ash had been doing their thing together, they would have made Coveralls hand over the gun before Chaos scrambled both their minds, making them forget the last ten minutes.

But no, this wasn’t their thing. This was Mayhem’s work.

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