“He’s been poisoned.”
As Cole fell ominously still, her breath stalled. An unearthly amber fire erupted and swept over Cole as Grayson released a series of muttered oaths. “This is going to be a bitch.”
Cass cautiously let go of Cole’s legs as the wave of magic worked its way toward her. Movement caught her attention. She looked up and found Dana standing on the far side of the couch, her gaze riveted on Cole, a small curve playing around her lips.
When her gaze lifted to Cass, that curve turned into a mocking smile. “You’re too late. For him and your mother.”
It took a second for her taunt to penetrate, but when it landed, it hit its target. With a snarl, Cass popped to her feet and lunged for the couch, the shortest path to the other woman. There was a shift in the room, like a change in air pressure, and a portal ripped through the air behind Dana, the inky edges tearing apart reality and creating a void in Cole’s living room. The shadows writhed and came together into an indistinct figure walking toward the unearthly opening.
Cass scrambled over the cushions and used the back of the couch to launch herself toward Dana. The woman’s laugh was dark and mocking as she reached back and took the figure’s hand. Cass used the back of the couch to launch herself over it.
No. Gods dammit.
Dana stepped inside the portal as its edges seared closed. The last thing Cass saw was the insulting wiggle of Dana’s fingers.
Chapter 24
Grayson
Grayson’s ears popped, but he didn’t dare look away from where he was working on Cole. Portal. Partially deaf from the resulting tinnitus, he tried not to panic that Cass might have chased Dana through it.
“Cass? Are you still here?”
Her muffled “I’m here” sent relief sweeping through him.
“I need a protection spell.” His Mystic-based magic found Cole’s Elemental power and forged a connection, giving him an anchor for his counterspell. “Can you cast one?”
“Yeah,” she said, sounding edgy.
In Grayson’s mind’s eye, Cole’s magical fabric rippled under the invading web of the poison-based hex. It didn’t take long for Grayson to recognize that Dana’s hex was also Elemental in nature, meaning she had a natural bent with pathogens. Even worse, his chances of stopping it were slim to none. A Key’s best chance at halting such a hex lay in the precious moments before the magical virus naturalized and went active.
As he watched the hex work, his gut clenched. Tiny cuts spiraled out from the center of Cole’s body, leaving a tattered trail, which continued to unravel but at an incrementally slower pace. Pulses of sickly green heralded another tear. Then it flitted, like an ember, to another spot, where it pulsed, and another cut appeared. Nearby, other flickers followed the same pattern.
He was too late. Dana’s spell was very fucking active. Even worse, it had one goal—to kill Cole.
“She’s a damn Venenarius.”
He heard a drawer slam closed, then Cass said, “What?”
Grayson realized his ears had stopped ringing. He raised his voice. “Dana. She’s a Venenarius.”
“Great, so we’re dealing with a bougie Poison Ivy.”
A powerful one, based on how fast the spell was moving. It was making its way through Cole’s abdomen, and sickly green tendrils were inching down his hips. Even more concerning were the ones creeping toward his chest.
There was no way to neutralize the threat. Instead, Grayson would have to buy Cole time, and for that, he needed a way to slow the hex’s progress. There were a few options that might work.
“If you find a moldavite crystal, bring it,” he said.
“Moldavite?” Her voice was closer.
He sent his magic through Cole until it surrounded the invading spell. “Looks like green glass.” If he was lucky, Cole would have it around somewhere. “Amethyst or quartz will work too.”
“Got it.”
Leaving her to it, he held his magic just outside of where the hex was wreaking havoc. Then he sought the spell’s initial entry point. Since Dana hadn’t had time to be clever, he found it fairly quickly. The seeds had been in Cole’s drink and were now rooted in his stomach, spreading like demented kudzu. With the target acquired, Grayson’s magic surged forward, the red-gold power colliding with the venomous green in a fury of magic, the resulting impact tearing at Grayson’s mind. He endured the barrage of acidic bites, driving it to the edge of his awareness, as he reinforced his counterspell. The reddish-gold magic continued to press mercilessly forward, forcing the poisoned magic to retreat. It was a slow, hard slog, but he gained a little bit of ground.
Suddenly, another power joined the battle, adding its weight to Grayson’s fight. Cass had completed the protection spell. Using the reinforcing energy, he quickly wove the protective layer into his counterspell, tightening the cage around the main pool of poison. Once certain it would hold, he went after the insidious flickers that had escaped his initial roundup. With lethal focus, he hunted and snuffed out each loose ember until what remained of the hex writhed in the burning confines of his counterspell.
