The doorbell chimes, and Asher and Orion both jump to their feet. “I’ll get it,” they say in unison, rushing out of the room.
I look to Rowan, but she’s no help. Maybe it’s her dark magic vibe, but she seems utterly unaffected by the open hostilities. “So, uh, let’s talk about the ley line magic,” I prompt. “What’s going on there?”
Sebastian turns to me, leans forward with his elbows on the table and his fingers steepled. “The rifts are multiplying. Seven new ones opened in the last forty-eight hours alone. They’ve been small, but stable enough to let things through.”
“Things?” Rowan repeats, straightening in the seat beside me.
“Demon minions, mostly. Low-tier scavengers.”
“Don’t start without us,” Asher rushes back into the kitchen, carrying the pizza boxes. “What did we miss?”
“We’ve leveled up to demon minions escaping through the rifts now.” I jump up from the table and come back with a stack of plates.
Asher accepts the weight of my burden and carries the plates to the table. “Not the good kind of leveling up, then.”
Sebastian’s jaw tightens. “No. And because they are now taking a physical presence in our realm, they’re no longer feeding solely on ambient energy. Having a presence means they can actively siphon and enslave souls.”
The temperature in the room drops.
I look down at the pizza and, sadly, I’ve lost my appetite. “Is this what happened before?”
Sebastian nods. “It’s why your mother helped me. The other members of the coven turned their backs, but she could feel the disturbance to the spirit world. She could see the souls suffering. She went to the coven and pleaded our case, but they refused to listen.”
Wylder’s knuckles go white against the table edge. “How many demons are through? How many people will that affect and how quickly?”
“It’s impossible to know for sure. Demons come in all sizes, strengths, and forms. They can feed on people, from infants to the elderly. I know there have been three confirmed dead and two more in the hospital with no “reasonable” explanation for their conditions. I expect over the next days and weeks that number will grow exponentially.”
I study Wylder’s expression as Sebastian speaks. He doesn’t flinch, doesn’t argue. Just absorbs the information. Will he be able to get the coven behind things this time? Does he think they’ll listen? Will they believe him?
“Why now?” Orion asks. “What changed?”
Sebastian shrugs. “It’s been an inevitability that we’d end up back here. Before the ritual was destroyed, Zoe and I were able to patch the rifts and create a containment field to hold the greater demon behind this at bay. But when the ritual went wrong, even in those brief seconds when everything detonated, that demon got a taste of the power that emanates from Emberwood. He’s never stopped trying to break through ourprotections. And every year the pressure builds, the cracks show more and more.”
“So, a major demon is wearing the warding down and the containment is reaching critical mass?” Orion asks.
Sebastian dips his chin. “That’s the gist of it.”
Wylder shifts in his seat, tension radiating off him. “What do you suggest we do?”
“About the escaped minions, the destabilization of the ley lines, or about stopping the demon from breaking free from the hell realm and walking the earth?”
“All of it,” Wylder snaps.
Sebastian shrugs and opens his hands. “We need more intel. We need to know what demon is coming for us and what its strengths are. It would also help to know how many minions are out there, where they’re feeding, and how organized they are.”
“What’s to say that they’re even still in the area?” Orion says. “There’s a big, old world out there. They could be anywhere by now.”
Sebastian shakes his head. “No, they’re here. These are minions of a greater demon who is actively working to gain access to our world. Their entire purpose is to gather enough soul energy to empower him to escape.”
Yeah, no, that doesn’t sound good.
“So, how do we track the escaped minions, and what do we do about them?”
“We go to the Fall Harvest Festival,” Asher says. “It kicks off next Thursday night, and the whole town will spend the weekend there.”
“And all the neighboring towns,” I add.
Rowan catches it immediately. “Shit, that’s basically an all-you-can-eat soul-energy buffet.”
