I would do horrible things to save my godchildren.
I’d even try to ride a trapped arcenciel, one I considered a friend.
I was probably going to hell for the things I had done. I had killed and maimed and destroyed so many sentient beings, all in the name of the greater good. But I’d do it all again to save EJ. I pressed the Anzu feather againstmy belly. The pain was breaking through even that now. To stay human-shaped, I’d soon have to resort to morphine, and the drug would shut down my brain. So I’d be saying goodbye to human Jane again, but just in a different way.
And then another option occurred to me. I examined it from every angle I could think of.
“Janie,” Alex said, sometime later. “No clothes. No marble in a mile-wide circumference from the target location.”
“Tell Molly I have an idea how to find EJ. Tell her I need her to stay calm and in control until I see if this works. Tell Eli to clean up the site,” I ordered, which meant burning it to the ground. The vamps would burn to ash. The humans would be an unsolved murder case. “Then please find Girrard DiMercy and ask him to come by.” Gee loved a good fight. Where had he been?
“Copy that. Relaying.”
I worked through my idea as he chattered on the communication system. What might have been a long time later, I woke to find Alex kneeling at my side. “Janie?”
“I smell chocolate.” My voice croaked and I cleared it and tried again. “I sm—”
Alex pressed a freshly filled thermos into my hand. I drank until I felt a measure of warmth fill my cold middle. I asked, “Is Gee here?”
“No answer on his cell. Eli says he hasn’t seen the big bird.”
“Not that I’m surprised.” I sipped the chocolate. “I’m going to need your help. You got pics of the circle Big Evan made in the main room?” Alex nodded. “Well, you’re going to reproduce it.” Alex raised his eyebrows in questioning disagreement. “It’ll be fun,” I said.
“I’m not a witch.”
“Me neither. There’s no law about a nonwitch preparing a circle. Besides, I have witch magics right here.” I tapped my belly. “They gave me Dudley.”
“Uh-huh. Fine. You drink chocolate and CBD oil. I’ll get the equipment.”
“After you re-create the circle, find Molly’s silver shotglass/chalice. We’re going to summon Girrard DiMercy.” Forcibly if necessary.
Alex frowned, thinking it through. “Because he signed on as part of Clan Yellowrock, you can call him to come to you.”
“That’s the theory. Last time I tried it I got into his head, but he, more or less, told me to shove it.”
“This should be interesting.” He stood and placed a hand on my head as if in benediction. It wasn’t the first time he had done that. I had a feeling he was praying for me. He dropped his hand and left the room.
I looked at Brute, whose odd blue-crystal eyes were staring at me. “I’m going to try something. If I need help, are you game?”
Brute closed his eyes and faked sleep.Stupid wolf.
***
I lowered myself onto the pile of cushions at the north point of the talcum powder circle and made sure the fringe and tassels on the pillows didn’t overhang the talc. The floor was cold and my body couldn’t handle prolonged contact with it, so Alex had gathered pillows from every room and placed them inside.
Situating the Soul crystal on the cold floor in front of me, I crossed my legs yoga style and tried to find a comfortable position. There wasn’t one, and I still hadn’t found Beast to let me shift into half-form. I knew she was inside me somewhere, because I could feel her panting, but she wasn’t speaking to me. She probably knew what I was thinking about doing, the idea spawned by being owl—though owls didn’t spawn.
Animal humor, but Beast wasn’t buying it. Not at all. Silent and distant and I didn’t know if it was pique or damage from taking owl shape.
Alex placed the shot-chalice in my hand, the burning candle in a candle stand on the floor at one knee, and the blood-drawing tray near the other, before stepping back and away. I closed the circle with the last of the talc, dusted my hands into the air, and wiped the residue onto my sweat pants. I stared at the talc clouds in the air. Would that damage the working? I was way messier thana witch, but then I didn’t have talent, power, or craft, and I was as likely to kill myself as accomplish what I wanted. I decided to ignore the dissipating talc fog.
I opened and prepared the blood-drawing stuff and cleaned one finger with alcohol. I held the shot-chalice over the flame and was surprised at how fast the silver heated. “Shoulda gotten a potholder,” I muttered.
“Beg pardon?” Alex drawled. There was a hint of snark in his tone, and he was leaning against the wall to the TV room, ankles crossed, arms crossed over his chest, cell in one hand, recording. He wore a hip rig with two nine-mils. He was a pretty good shot. Better than me, these days. He was dressed in hiking boots, tight jeans, and layered shirts. His too-long curly hair fell over his forehead and his eyes looked a brighter green than normal. Alex looked like... Well, wow. Stinky the Kid had grown up. He’d gotten buff and tough and kinda cocky... and... looked like a male model. An unexpected gush of pride welled up in me, though I’d had nothing to do with the transformation.
“If something happens to me, you take care of the others, you hear?”
“If something happens to you, Eli will beat my ass, so make sure that doesn’t happen.”
