Page 70 of Demon's Bluff

“Survive the coven?” I laughed, not liking how bitter it sounded. “Elyse, the coven has been nothing but a mild irritant compared to the crap I’ve had to deal with concerning the demons.” I dropped my hand, seeing as she wasn’t putting anything in it.

“Let’s take this week, for example,” I said. “And I don’t mean me trying to purchase a mirror from a demon. Tonight, I watch the man I love die twice—in my arms—because his guardian gave him to another vampire to kill for the crime of saying no. Al is currently chewing up the best Cincinnati has to convince me to testify on his behalf, the damage of which I get blamed for somehow. Piscary has been released from prison to deal with him, but all Piscary wants is to kill me, or better yet, force Ivy to do it to prove her loyalty to him. In a few days, I’m going to nearly drive myself mad trying to control an ancient Were artifact so Trent doesn’t get it and sell it to fund his secret labs. And while we’re on the subject of Trent, he is going to be so pissed that I arrest him at his wedding tomorrow that he would cheerfully kill me himself instead of sending Quen to do it.”

I took a step forward and she retreated. “You want to know how I survived? Not my skills, because my paltry few years of learning spells mean squat to someone who spent eons developing war magic. I survived because of my friends. My friends are my golden shield. They kept me together when Kisten died. They pulled the focus out of me before it could make me insane. Piscary…well, I didn’t kill him, but Ivy suffered his abuse instead of killing me. I survived a dark coven by exposing it, and Trent by finding out who he was, what drove him.” I took a slow breath, my pulse racing as I bared my soul. “And once I understood that everything he did was to save his people, I found a way to stop hating him.”

I held my hand out for whatever she had stolen. “Which is what happened when I began to understand the demons. That’s why I work so damn hard to give them a chance. The only reason I survived Al was because I trusted him.” My voice almost broke, and I blinked fast as I remembered Vivian. “Vivian understood that,” I added, whispering now. “I didn’t invite you. You forced yourself on me. If you don’t trust me to get you home, I can’t stop Newt from snagging you as her familiar when you do something stupid. Give me the damn spell.”

For three seconds, Elyse considered it, her jaw set. I didn’t think many people had ever told her what to do. But that was her problem, not mine.

“Give it, or I will let her abduct you,” I added, deadly serious. “I didn’t ask you to come, but I’ll keep you safe. I can’t do that if you’re slinging spells behind my back.”

She lifted her chin. “I don’t trust you,” she said as she extended what looked like a mass-produced wooden amulet. It was probably unprimed, seeing as I felt nothing when she dropped it into my hand. “All it does is make a circle. I got it at Sylvia’s.”

My shoulders eased as I read the instructions and decided she was telling the truth. It was hard to function with your synapses singed, but this little baby would help make up for it.

Flustered, Elyse yanked her robes higher. “Like it matters?” she grumped. “If that demon snares me—”

“I will die trying to free you,” I finished for her.

Her jaw tightened. “Which means pixy dust to me if you fail.”

But I was feeling better. She stole an amulet to keep herself safe, not to blow anything up. Then again, Sylvia didn’t stock destructive spells. “Your best option here is to keep your mouth shut and your circle uninvoked.” I tossed the amulet to her, and she caught it. “The more powerful you seem, the more she’s going to want you.” I waited for that to sink in. “Go on. Get in the circle. It won’t stop her, but you’ll feel better.”

She hesitated only briefly, then stepped inside. “It’s not big enough for two.”

I moved to get between her and the statue of the Madonna. “I don’t intend to get in it. It will give you about ten seconds. It would be better if you don’t invoke it at all.”

Elyse was silent. She was braver than I gave her credit for, going into the ever-after with nothing but a stolen circle spell to protect herself. Exhaling, I glanced at the ring Trent had given me, then made a fist. It was a link between Trent and his mom. He had so precious few of those. I wasn’t going to trade it to a demon, and I spun it so the stone was hidden against my palm.

I was already connected to a ley line, and with a whispered word, I invoked a small globe of light, just enough for the stage area. “Here goes,” I said as I balled up some raw energy in my hands and flicked the tingling mass at the Madonna.

Even expecting it, I jumped at the purple and black sparks, taking a step back when black snakelike threads exploded from the statue with a slithering hiss, snapping through the air to search us out. “Fire in the hole!” I exclaimed, cowering behind a hastily invoked circle. “Elyse?”

“Good!” she shouted, and I risked a glance. She hadn’t invoked her circle, but she was fine, and the black threads had already retreated.

Exhaling, I stood and dropped my circle. “That could have been nasty,” I whispered. And then my attention jerked to the ceiling at the sound of a rasping scrape: two red eyes blinked at me, and a hint of leather rustled. It was a gargoyle, and a big one.

Alarm washed through me. “Ah, I intend no harm,” I said, and the gargoyle’s white-tufted ears swiveled at the chiming of my sash. “I only wanted to talk to Newt and didn’t want to summon her.” Great. If he hadn’t been sleeping, he would have heard my pregame pep talk.

“And yet you summon her nevertheless,” the gargoyle said from the shadows, his gravelly voice rumbling like distant thunder. “If you try to harm her, I will stop you.”

Oh, really?My lips parted. Perhaps I had stumbled upon Newt’s gargoyle. She had to have one. Didn’t she?

“I only wish to bargain,” I said, bowing my head in respect. He had adented sword in his thick-fingered grip, making me wonder if he was the same gargoyle I’d run into before, or would run into. Whatever.

“That does not negate the possibility of harm,” he grumbled.

“Oh, God,” Elyse whispered, clearly scared as a smattering of rocks pattered down, and then I lifted my head at the faint hint of spoiled green. Burnt amber.

I followed Elyse’s gaze to the center aisle. It was Newt in a gold spelling robe, a flat hat on her head, and a red sash with no bells. Her eyes were utterly black, even the whites. It was said she gained them by staring into the bottom of a ley line too long. Her bare, bony feet showed from under her hem, and suddenly I felt like a fool. What thehellhad I been thinking? She would recognize me, forget curse or not.

But as she came forward, not a hint of recognition marred her smooth face.

“Are we matching our auras and robes today?” the demon said, her androgynous pitch of voice pricking down my spine to leave a body-wide shudder in its wake.

“Ah, hi, Newt,” I said, too alarmed to care that my voice broke.

“Adagio likes you.” A glimmer of energy washed over her to shift her gold robe to a stunning black. “He normally drops rocks on interlopers.” She paused, eight feet back, head tilted as if listening.No hair,I mused. It was about fifty-fifty that she ever had any. “But you don’t seem to be normal,” she finished, voice low.

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