“You killed Kai for this very interaction you hoped so desperately for,” I replied, knowing that Romy and Arwyn couldn’t hear me because of whatever dark spell Bahmet had blanketed over the two of us. “All of this is your doing.”
“The Drowningkilled him,” Bahmet corrected.
“Do you like the sound of your own voice when you lie?”
Bahmet’s deep chuckle ruptured over my skin, sending every hair to standing. “You called, and I have answered. So, what will it be, Hector Briar? Are you prepared to ask me to bargain? The power you have taken from me, for the man whose life I have taken from you?”
Said ‘dark power’ flooded through my veins at the demon’s proximity. Simply mentioning it conjured a response that felt like a snake rising from a wicker basket.
“I am going to ask you to release Kai’s spirit.”
Bahmet tilted his head. “Little tip. When bargaining you must offer something in return.”
I steadied myself. “Give him back.”
“All this incessant chanting and irritable display of old magic is pointless if his spirit is not free to traverse back to his vessel?” Bahmet asked, although we both already knew the answer. “So, let us cut to the chase. Offer me something and I will see if it is worth what you are asking me to do.”
“Name your price,” I said, ignoring his jibe.
“My power. Back to me. You know this, Hector,” Bahmet huffed, mist steaming from his animalistic nostrils.
I sensed, deep in my marrow, that the demon was repulsed by the shield of old magic that encased us.
“Seems a risky trade, no?”
“Risks are worth their weight in gold. However, we both know I cannot have it unless you give it up willingly.” Bahmet paced closer to the shield of magic, wincing as he lifted a gloved hand towards it. “I know that’s why you have called for me. Because you are I are one and the same. Once two peas in a pod, now separated. Deny it all you wish, but you think the way I do.”
I took his words as confirmation that the distrust bubbling beneath the surface of my flesh shouldn’t be ignored.
“Do you even have Kai’s spirit?” I asked, praying the answer wasn’t the one I didn’t one to hear.
“Are you asking if it still lingers, or if it has beenrepurposed?”
“Do. You. Have. Him.”
Bahmet’s deep chuckle rose out first, followed by the confirmation I sought. “I do.”
I smiled, unable to stop myself from hiding my true emotions. “Good.” I exhaled, turning my attention back to Kai’s body. “Then I have no need for you here.”
“Are you dismissing me, Hector Briar?”
“I am.” I forced all the strength of my old magic into my words. “Be gone.”
In a puff of smoke Bahmet vanished. I could practically feel the fucker’s nails sinking into my reality, trying to claw his way back here and demand answers to why I had summoned him.
In truth, I did it because I had to make sure my sacrifice wouldn’t be for nothing. If Kai’s spirit was already lost, it would’ve been too late. A waste. But no doubt Bahmet sensed something was wrong, and would be scrambling to do something with Kai’s soul.
I had to act.Now.
As the elements ruptured the barroom, I joined in with the chant as if I’d never stopped. I laid my hands on either side of Kai’s temple, opened myself up to that dark shard of Bahmet that had lingered inside of me literally all my life.
I expelled it.
A life for a life, or something of greater value.
That was exactly what I’d offer up. Something so great that demons, witches and now mortals, warred over it.
It was easy. Too easy. It took but a thought, a single intention of getting rid of something that mentally I was tied to.
