A new image played. This time Jinx twisting desperately on the bed, trying to get away from the approaching man and succeeding in only knocking the stupid hat off. I sobbed out loud. I was being a selfish ass. Jinx was a person. Incubus or not, being forced would have been horrendous. It wasn’t something that wouldn’t bother him, that he could have brushed off.
I had made the right decision. So why the hell did it hurt so bad? It felt like my heart was literally breaking.
Ezme came in with the soup on a tray. She gave it to me and I diligently started spooning it into my mouth. For her sake. I didn’t want to worry her any more than I already had.
“So, just to check, this mess is all over now?” she asked.
I thought for a moment, forcing myself to recall who had been in the room. I nodded.
“All the mobsters are dead now and so is Rufus,” I answered. Assuming Jinx’s brother had dispatched whoever had been keeping the cat. Which seemed more than likely.
Ezme breathed a sigh of relief. Then she patted my leg through the blanket and fixed me with an intense stare.
“You banished Jinx with his body?”
I nodded. “There wasn’t time to do it any other way.”
“Then, why don’t we try to summon him?”
The spoon fell into the bowl with a clang, as I stared openmouthed at my sister. Fear, anxiety, pain, trepidation and doubt all swirled within me, but burning far brighter was a dizzying hope. It had to be worth a try.
Chapter twenty-nine
Ezmeforcedmetowait for weeks. For some unknown reason that magic theologists debated endlessly, if anyone tried and failed to summon a particular demon, that demon could never be summoned by anyone ever again. It was like a failed summoning gave them eternal protection.
The whys and the hows of it, did not matter to me. I only knew that I had one chance and one chance only. I couldn’t mess it up. I was the only one who knew him well enough to attempt it by focusing on his particular essence. We didn’t know his true name, so there was no other option.
Summoning a particular demon, rather than just casting your magical net wide to catch anyone in Hell, was notoriously difficult. Even if you knew the demon’s true name.
Therefore, Ezme’s insistence that we wait until I was fully recovered and back to my full strength made a whole lot of sense. But I still didn’t like it. I grumbled and moaned and moped about the place while wearing the stupid aquarium hat that had fallen off of Jinx as I banished him.
One day, when Ezme was out, I tried an Allure Array, hoping Jinx would answer and I could talk to him, or that whoever answered could tell me if Jinx wanted to come back to me. I entertained a foolish daydream that Jinx would answer, declare his undying love for me and tell me his true name. But I only got an unknown obnoxious little jerk of a demon who wouldn’t tell me shit.
After that dismal disaster, I toyed with the idea of trying to summon his brother first. Having met him a couple of times, I had a feel for his essence. If it worked, I’d be able to check that Jinx wanted me to bring him back. But I doubted I was strong enough to summon a prince and if by some miracle, I was, the prince would be understandably furious at me. I’d had my fill of enemies, I didn’t want to gain anymore. Hopefully ever.
So, I quashed my insecurities and doubts aside. Jinx was wild about me, I knew he was. And worst-case scenario, I could just banish him again, if that was what he wanted.
While I brooded and tied myself up in emotional knots, Ezme worked diligently. She researched moon charts and astronomical alignments to work out the best time to make a summoning attempt. She poured over ley line maps to find the best location. She rummaged through my catalog of arcane artifacts to see if there was anything that would help. She was the best sister in the world. Taking everything we had been taught about banishing demons and inverting it.
Even thinking about summoning a demon was hugely taboo. Ezme was risking being ostracized from our community forever. But she didn’t seem to care and all my attempts to dissuade her fell on deaf ears.
I was sitting on the sofa sipping a herbal tea while staring blankly at the television, when Ezme burst in. She dumped something heavy on my lap, making me spill tea all over myself and the sofa. I opened my mouth to yell at her but then I saw what she had deposited on me.
It was the grimoire I had reclaimed from the frat house. I’d forgotten all about it.
“What the hell is this?” demanded Ezme, crossing her arms.
“A grimoire,” I said dryly.
Ezme was clearly not impressed. “I found it in your storeroom, it’s not cataloged.”
“I reclaimed it from the idiots who summoned Jinx,” I explained.
Ezme raised one eyebrow and gave me a thoroughly disparaging look. She was definitely her mother’s daughter. I tried not to squirm too much.
“I suspected as much. You didn’t think that the grimoire that summoned Jinx the first time would help?”
I swallowed dryly. I was so stupid. “I forgot I had it,” I said weakly.
