This demon needed to die, like all the people it had killed while on the surface.
I gritted my teeth, reining in the surge of fire that roared through me.
Don’t be hasty. You have to approach this delicately or you’ll be screwed.
Something exploded outside, shaking the warehouse. Still, the mages didn’t seem to notice.
The homeless man’s head swiveled until his gleaming eyes took me in.
“You are too late,” he rasped as Dizzy and Callie hurried through the door. They immediately slowed down, as I had done, taking in the scene. Penny came in after them, hanging back. “It is done.”
“You’re still here,” I said, feeling that aching coldness expand within me, threatening the fire. I made sure my sword was stocked full of fire magic before it was too late. “I can still break into that circle and peel you out of there.”
Darius stripped off his clothes. Penny’s eyes widened in shock, and she jerked her head away. A moment later, he molted into his monster form.
“Can we get rid of those mages, Callie?” I asked, walking around the edge of their stooped, muttering forms. They weren’t in control of themselves anymore. However the demon had done it in its weakened state, it had assumed full control.
“Not…yet. Give me a minute to look at that circle.” Callie went the other way, squinting at the chalk on the warehouse floor.
“It’s an intricate one, hon,” Dizzy said. “Magically fortified, structurally sound… It’ll take a minute to disentangle. They’ve gotten better at this. They’re masters, really. I’d love to get a picture.”
The demon’s laugh was like a swarm of locusts. “They are under my control. Any tampering with the circle will grant me a free ride home.”
Sometimes I hated being right.
“So, what, you’re just going to sit in there until hell freezes over?” I asked, stepping beside one of the mages and feeling the hum of magic in his spell. Intricate,indeed. Not like anything I’d experienced before, and certainly not like anything I’d ever seen in a book.
The cold within me pulsed, pushing at the fire. The candles around us flickered.
The demon-man’s smile widened. “Oh, but you are powerful. You are creating a flux in the fire element. Can you feel it?”
No. But I wasn’t about to admit that.
“Come with me,” the demon-man said. “Let us train you. You need a guiding hand, or your magic will destroy you. We can help.”
“I’ve been good so far.” I walked over to the next mage, feeling a different hum. Good Lord, this demon had some very interesting ways of working this circle. If I hadn’t been so scared and angry and all around put out, I’d be fascinated.
“Yes. Somehow, yes,” it rasped. “But luck always runs out.” A chunk of skin peeled away from the man’s face.
“Yuck. And here I thought the vampire monster form was gross. It’s got nothing on you, homeboy.” When I reached the last mage, I felt the slightly different hum, getting a feeling for the three corners of what the demon was orchestrating. It was awe-inspiring. And more, I knew it was within my power to set such a circle—and to unravel it. It was like listening to someone speak a language you hadn’t conversed in sincechildhood: you couldn’t quite grasp what was being said, but you felt the rightness of it in your bones. All I needed was time to sit and study what was happening, and I knew I could come up with a way to circumvent it.
Unfortunately, time was something I did not have.
“Penny, can you read anything off the mages?” I asked, circling the mages once more. I could feel the circle gaining power, which meant the demon was becoming more powerful, too.
“Yes. But their magic is…”
“Odd, yeah. Analyze it. See if you can’t find a way to cut them off without infusing the circle with more power.”
“Okay,” she said in a tiny voice.
The man’s skin was turning translucent, showing black feathers underneath. The demon was about ready to emerge from his cocoon.
“Whatever move we make, we have to do it soon,” I said softly, closing my eyes as the hum of the circle vibrated my skin. I stood right next to it now, clearing my mind and letting the magic whisper to me.
The cold throb grew, as I had known it would. It tried to push my fire down.
Blend your heritage, ma bichette. Blend your heritage. Blend your heritage, ma chere. Blend your—
