“I just figured out what it looked like. It was anX, squished, so the sides were longer than it was tall.”
“Gebo, merkstave,” she said, coming awake, “well, not merkstave. Gebo can’t truly lie in merkstave, but it can lie in opposition. Gebo properly indicates balance in all matters like exchanges, contracts, personal relationships, and partnerships.” She fell silent.
“What happens when Gebo is in opposition?”
“Greed, privation, obligation, dependence.” She added, “Bribery, loneliness, oversacrifice unto death.”
I described the other initials and said, “Bukul?”
T. Laine said, “Son of a witch on a switch. Don’t ever say that out loud.”
“Why?”
“That’s its summoning name,” she said. “We can useB,K,L—just the initials. And I can use the summoning name to... do something. Good. Yeah.” She was fully awake, lit by excitement. “I’ve been reporting to the U.S. witch council, and they’ve been trying to adapt ashoot to killworking for this situation.” Her mouth clicked closed on the words as she heard them.Shoot to kill a kid with cancer. T. Laine took a slow breath, her excitement dissipating. She cursed softly. “Attempting to summon a demon is a death sentence.”
“Will they be here to help?” I asked.
“No. They can’t fight demons. They told me to evacuate. They say me killing Jason is the best they can do.”
“Why? I don’t understand.”
Lainie took a slow breath. “My species tends to run from demons. With good reason. A demon can run through a family blood line like lightning, using us all.”
I hesitated, thinking about what I had sensed when I found Jason in the arms of a vampire. He had been broken as a child. He had taken that brokenness and built a house of hate and fury around it. He had shaped himself into a creature of utter darkness. The brokenness had not been a choice. What he did with that brokenness was. And Jason was legally an adult now. Giving Lainie the address assured Jason’s death, and Lainie might have to carry out the death sentence herself. Alone. Not giving it meant a vampire war and Jason might get away in the battle and also free the demon. Or share his sister with it by accident. Like me, Lainie might have to learn to live as a killer. And then I remembered that one master vampire would be awake, the daywalker, Godfrey.
T. Laine could not take on a blood-witch and a master vampire alone.
I said, “The other reason I called? I know where Jason is. A house on Roseberry Road, under ahedgeof protection, with a lot of vampires. Probably the rogue vampires and Godfrey. We know what he’s calling. He has to be stopped—now. We can storm the place while most of the vampires are asleep. Call the witch council and get your permission.”
Not that we needed it. If I could get close to Jason, inside his magical defenses, I could feed him to the earth. I had his blood.
“Later,” T. Laine said, disconnecting.
I still didn’t have an answer to my questionWhat did Jasonreallywant?Another possibility, half-seen from my communion with the land, crawled up from the dark and rooty recesses of my mind. I dialed Ayatas FireWind. He sounded alert and reserved, as always. “What can I do for you, Ingram?”
I told him what I had learned about Jason’s location and magical protections, and asked, “Do you know a lot about demons?”
“Too much.” The words sounded tired and beaten.
“In Spook School, I learned that when a witch calls ademon, they contact the demon, make a bargain, and slit the throat of the sacrifice. The blood frees the demon into the circle with the sacrifice and seals the bargain with the blood. When the demon drinks or absorbs the blood, the demon is then free. And that gives the witch rule over the demon and his powers for a specified time period. Yes?”
“More or less. Though the bargain Jason negotiated required a blood sacrifice to even contact the demon,” Ayatas said, his tone pedantic, impassive. “That contact and bargain was what you saw in thereviewworking cast by Kent.”
“Who will be the sacrifice that gives the demon freedom?”
“Vampire prisoners dedicated to that purpose and Rick LaFleur.”
“What happens if Jason dies now? Before he frees the demon?”
“It would be a half finished summoning. Anyone could take over and free him, and the agreed upon bargain would no longer be in play. It’s what demons hope for in the first place—getting free, having access to the earth and the humans in it, unrestricted by bargains.”
“And if Jason is dead and the demon is still trapped in the circle?” I asked.
He hesitated, a slight hitch in tone. “There may be those in our government and military who think they can control a demon, can rewrite the bargain if Jason is gone and the demon is still trapped in the circle.”
“So we have to finish this fast, and tie up all the loose ends.”
“I fear so.”
