Roxy and Xavier dropped Quin’s hands as if they’d been scalded. “We’re going to need something stronger than a simple spell,” Roxy said.
“Can we help at all?” Rake asked. Quin glanced his way. The triad were standing in front of the sofa with matching expressions of concern.
“Most of you have Lawrence’s blood running through your veins, yes?” Xavier asked.
“Me, Shaun and DJ were all recreated by him directly,” Kit said. His hand was heating up, warmed by Quin. He slumped a little, exhausted from holding himself up. Kit steadied him without missing a beat.
Roxy tilted her head. “That’ll work.”
“What’ll work?” Quin asked. “You’re not gonna drain them or anything, right?”
“If that’s what it takes,” Kit said, vehement. “I’d do anything to get Lawrence gone.”
“Me too,” Shaun said.
“Goes without saying,” DJ added.
Xavier let out a huff. “Vampires are always so dramatic. No, we don’t need todrainyou. But your blood will help draw him out. I believe that’s how he was able to possess Quin at all.”
Quin’s knees buckled as a wave of nausea hit him. Only Kit’s arms around him kept him upright. “I think,” Quin gritted out, “that it’s only a matter of time before he takes over again.”
“No more delaying,” Kit said, already rolling up the sleeve of his hoodie. “We’ll give the blood.Now.” In response, Xavier whipped his knife out of thin air with more gusto than the situation demanded.
“How much will you require?” Rake asked.
Roxy hummed. “A pint should do.”
Rake’s expression tightened. “The only one cutting either of my men will be me. Give me the knife.”
Quin winced as Rake collected Shaun and DJ’s blood in a large wooden cup that Xavier pulled from some unknown place. Neither of the vampires seemed fazed by the bloodletting, though Shaun’s eyes dilated to a point that Quin almost joked about them needing to get a room. As it was, he barely had the energy to focus on the events in front of him, and Lawrence was lurking beneath his skin.
Kit remained at Quin’s side, not letting him go even when Xavier cut his arm, Kit’s blood dripping into the cup where the necklace sat, dry. The metal absorbed every drop as it hit the bottom of the cup. Quin didn’t let himself look away, though it turned his stomach to see Kit having to go to such lengths to save him. Quin wasn’t too proud to rely on his boy when he needed to, but seeing the flickers of pain crossing Kit’s face hurt more than the internal war he was waging with Lawrence.
Roxy inspected the cup, nodding curtly. “That’ll be enough.”
She instructed Quin to hold the cup aloft. This time, Kit didn’t leave, not even when Roxy gave him an imploring look. He stayed right there, standing so close to Quin that they might as well have been touching. His presence helped Quin stay focused on his task of keeping Lawrence at bay, secure in the knowledge that once this was all over, Kit would be free of his creator for good. It was all he wanted, and all that kept him standing when Lawrence’s insidious whispers became shouts in his mind.
Roxy and Xavier’s intonations started up again with no preamble, their words becoming mingled with Lawrence’s, until Quin couldn’t tell which was which. His arms shook with exertion, the cup he was holding becoming inexplicably heavier. It wasn’t until he saw the gleam of liquid within it that he realised it was filling with blood, the necklace rising with it.
An inferno in Quin’s chest had him looking down, eyes going wide. Something as thin and intangible as smoke was being dragged out of his chest, following the movements of thewitches’ hands as they guided it towards the cup. The ghostly tendril hovered in the air around the necklace, circling it as if curious. With a flick of Roxy’s wrist, the last of the smoke was yanked soundlessly from Quin’s body.
The immediate relief was palpable, and Quin breathed freely for the first time in weeks. Roxy took the cup from him and Quin bent double, his hands resting on his knees. Kit hugged him from behind, rubbing soothing circles into his skin with his thumbs. Quin turned to him just in time to see Kit’s expression morph from happiness to horror.
“Oh, fuck!” DJ shouted.
Quin whipped back around, eyes going wide. What had been mere wisps before was now coalescing into the shape of a body. Roxy swore, and Xavier flinched back when ghostly fingers with no hand reached for him.
“Why won’t he get in the pendant?” Rake demanded, a crack in his voice betraying his worry. He stood protectively in front of Shaun and DJ, though the both of them jostled to try move to the front.
Reaching behind him, Quin grasped onto Kit, not taking his gaze off Lawrence as he took form.
The minute Lawrence had a mouth, he opened it. “Howdareyou?—”
Lawrence’s words were cut off when Xavier stepped forward and thrust a fist right into the centre of his half-made body. The ghost’s mouth opened in shock, a shrill scream piercing the air before being abruptly cut off. Grimacing, Roxy pushed the cup into Lawrence from his other side, so that it lay under Xavier’s fist. When Xavier opened his hand, palm down, Lawrence’s form began to crumple and shrink.
Quin relaxed minutely. He didn’t trust Lawrence not to give it another go, but the witches seemed to finally have the situation under control. Kit pressed into Quin’s side as Lawrencedisappeared into the cup, the ghost’s form getting fainter as the seconds trickled by.
When Xavier pressed his palm over the cup, sealing Lawrence inside, Roxy let out a long gust of a breath. “All done,” she said.
