"Keep the ritual going!" Dre called out. "Let’s finish sealing the Collector off!"
The Guardian families poured more power into the binding. The dome overhead grew thicker, pressing down with the weight of generations worth of accumulated magic. Kota spiraled around Michel, weaving between his strikes like a deadly hummingbird. Each pass left new wounds on him that steamed and bled.
Corruption had given Michel power at the cost of his humanity. He didn’t want to give that up, so he fought like someone with nothing left to lose. He caught Kota mid-pass and slammed her into the ground hard enough to crack stone. I stopped mid-stride to help her when dark energy poured from his hands toward me. I barely got my shields up in time and tried to extend them to Kota.
"Our connection to his bloodline is destabilizing!" Dea gasped.
"Hold it together!" Dre snarled. Her magenta flames blazed as she fought to keep our connection to the corrupted essence stable. "We can't let him break the binding!"
I launched myself at Michel again and partially shifted, so I was covered in scales. He spun to meet my attack. His shadow magic clashed against my power in a detonation that shook the entire square.
"You cannot stop what's coming," Michel hissed. "The Collector will break free, and this city will feed its hunger for a thousand years."
"Like hell," I replied, and hit him with everything I had.
Kota recovered and struck him from behind. Her claws tore into his left side while I attacked from the front. I cast a spellthat would eat away at his corrupted flesh. Throughout the fight, the Guardian families held their positions and continued the ritual. Just when I thought I was going to run out of energy, their combined magic finally forged the Collector's prison walls into something beyond unbreakable. The entity's rage pressed against the binding, but the locks were clicking into place one by one, cutting off his roar of rage. At the same time, Michel realized he was losing. With a roar of frustrated fury, he gathered his remaining power for one final strike. A scream left me when I realized he was not aiming at Kota and me, but at the ritual circle itself.
"If I cannot free the Collector, then we all die together!" he screamed and unleashed a wave of magic.
Cecilia stepped into the attack's path. Her magic blazed around her and neutralized Michel's spell. "This is our city," she said quietly. "And you are not welcome here."
The backlash from his failed attack finished Michel off. The corruption that had given him strength turned against him. It unmade his stolen power and left a broken man who collapsed to the stones, where he turned to dust.
"It's done," Dre announced with a fist pump. "The Collector is bound permanently.”
“It’ll never come back?” Sarah asked.
I shook my head. “It would take a god to break it out."
"With that evil taken care of," Dani began as she wiped the sweat from her forehead, "who’s ready for a family reunion?" Everyone started laughing and couldn't stop. We'd just helped bind an entity that fed on souls, fought off a corrupted Guardian, and channeled a fallen bloodline without losing our minds in the process. And she was ready to host a party.
CHAPTER 20
DANIELLE
The exhaustion that followed our wrestling match with the Collector was unlike anything I'd ever experienced after pulling a twenty-four-hour shift in the NICU. Even when we lost several babies in one night, I'd never felt this bone-deep weariness that made my soul feel like it needed a vacation and a therapy session. Setting up for Cyran’s party helped with that some.
"I still can't believe we're magical and attending a reunion for Guardian families." Sarah bounced and clapped her hands.
A smile tugged the corner of my mouth, and joy replaced more of the fatigue. Her joy was why I wanted the venue for events. We were on the portico at Willowberry watching Cyran coordinate the arrival of Guardian families from across the South. The Light Fae leader was in his element, which was both impressive and slightly terrifying. The festive atmosphere was infectious. People were actuallycelebrating.It was still astonishing for me to go from facing apocalypses mere hours before setting up for parties.
"The binding at Congo Square really did something special," Dea said as she joined me. Her empathic abilities must be picking up on the general mood of the group. "I can feel theprotective energy radiating from the city. It almost feels like New Orleans itself is throwing a party."
The buzz in the air was downright intoxicating. Ever since we'd finished the binding ritual, the entire city hummed with this wild, celebratory energy that made my magical senses practically purr with satisfaction. We'd done it. Actually, freaking done it. The Collector was locked up tighter than my grandmother's cookie jar. Somehow, we'd managed not to get anyone killed in the process. Hell, we'd even looked like we knew what we were doing while we saved the day. Maybe we were finally getting the hang of this whole ‘preventing magical apocalypses’ thing.
"Everything looks fantastic," Kota said as her gaze swept over the garden where we'd somehow managed to wrangle chairs for what had ballooned into over a hundred expected guests. The coven and Kaveh had been included after they’d helped us at Congo Square. "Though I still think we should've opened the pool. These people deserve to unwind."
"Absolutely not." Dre's voice carried that particular note of finality that meant the discussion was over. "Fighting ancient evils is one thing. Playing lifeguard for a bunch of tipsy supernaturals is where I draw the line."
I bit back a grin. Dre might act all gruff about it, but she couldn't relax when people were splashing around in our pool, even with one of the shifters on duty. She was the oldest of us, and her protective streak ran bone-deep. It was one of the million reasons we adored her, even when she was being a mother hen.
The guests started trickling in, and damn if it didn't look like Comic-Con had collided with a supernatural convention. My eyes went wide as I took in the parade of magical beings flowing through our garden. "This is absolutely incredible," Cami breathed, appearing at my elbow with a sparkle in hereyes. "I love seeing so many different types of magic gathered in one place like this."
"It never gets old," I agreed, watching Kaveh coordinate security with Lucas and Noah while Kaitlyn held court with members of the coven. "It's hard to remember how before Phoebe unlocked our magic, the factions barely acknowledged each other existed, let alone actually mingled."
That had been one of our missions from day one after joining this world. We wanted to bring the supernatural community together instead of letting them remain separate. We wanted them supporting one another to regain equal footing in the city. Making sure Marie Leveau couldn't keep playing puppet master with everyone's lives was the ultimate goal in doing that. I hadn’t believed it at the time, but some battles were worth fighting, even if they made you a target.
Cyran held up his hands as a huge smile spread across his face. "Friends, family, allies—we gather today to celebrate something unprecedented in our region's supernatural history."
