“My Duke.”
There were nearly two dozen Dukes of Hell that could be, and none of them were good.
Spencer reached through his soul to tap the ley line running below Seattle. Raw power poured through him, and he channeled it into his mageglobe, forming the framework of a spell that he cast into the walls, floor, and ceiling all around them, building a cage within the building’s protective wards. Spencer set the reversion spell in a second mageglobe and called up a third, letting it spin in the air near his elbow. Fatima’s corporeal form blurred at the edges as the psychopomp became a bridge between the real world and the edges of the veil.
Maricela had Olivia up from her desk and backed away from Spencer’s shields to get them farther out of the line of fire. Maricela’s delicate gold rings glowed with magic, the spells embedded in the metal ready to cast by way of a command trigger. She stayed her hand though, reaching instead for her suit pocket to retrieve her cell phone, presumably to call for reinforcements. Only there wasn’t anyone else who could do what Spencer was capable of, and he was responsible for keeping everyone safe from possession.
At least he didn’t have to worry about zombies and drekavacs like back in London. He could focus on exorcising the demon without worrying about the risen dead.
Spencer’s magic was a cage he bolstered with more power from the tapped ley line, leaning hard on that metaphysical river. If this demon served under a Great Duke of Hell, then it wasn’t going to be your run-of-the-mill demon, but at least it wouldn’t be a fucking migraine of the worst kind.
He slipped his sight sideways, getting eyes back on the fault lines running through Levi’s soul. “Who summoned you?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” The demon cocked Levi’s head to the side, that darkness in his soul a cold, hideous storm Spencer itched to break apart. “You must think highly of yourself if you believe you can send me back.”
“You’d be surprised.” Spencer bared his teeth and wrapped a shield around himself, the dark green of his magic glittering brightly. “I cast you out.”
His magic poured out of him and through Fatima like a tsunami, filling the framework of the cage. Cold from beyond the veil seeped through Fatima as she moved forward, tail lashing back and forth. The demon rocked to a halt, letting go of Levi’s magic in favor of its own power. In a fight between a warlock and a mage, the outcome was no question. Between a demon and a mage was always a different story.
An invisible force slammed into his shields, shearing over them, sending sparks of magic flying into the air. The demon roared, its true voice coming out of Levi’s mouth in a deep, sonorous snarl, nothing human about it. “You cannot command me!”
Spencer anchored himself to Fatima, opening himself up to the planes that existed beyond the veil through her where the dead resided and demons were birthed. “I cast you out.”
The reversion spell took shape, jagged lines of magic snapping away from the cage and stabbing straight into Levi’s soul, targeting the fault lines. The demon screamed, Levi’s body rising into the air not by Spencer’s doing but by the unwanted passenger the other agent carried. Spencer made a cutting motion with his hand, wrapping his magic around Levi’s wrists and ankles, fighting against a tremendous force to keep the other agent anchored.
Distantly, Spencer was aware of the building’s protective wards activating, and he only hoped Maricela would know how to keep them from interrupting his exorcism. All of Spencer’s focus was reserved for the demon sent by a Great Duke of Hell to infiltrate the SOA.
“You,” the demon grated out, fighting against the magical restraints Spencer had wrapped around Levi’s body and soul. “You are the soulbreaker.”
Spencer didn’t bother acknowledging that statement. “I cast youout.”
The rule of three was an old form of intent and command. Three times to cast, and the reversion spell erupted like Vesuvius in Spencer’s sideways sight. The fault lines that showed the demarcation between Levi’s soul and the demon’s insidious shadow burned bright. He tracked the damage, cutting his magic through Levi’s soul with diamond-hard intent.
Fatima yowled, her voice caught by the otherworldly wind that swirled around her as she dug her claws into the floor, ready to swallow the demon whole and guide it back to hell.
The demon screamed, the sound hideous and ringing at a painful pitch in Spencer’s ears. He ignored it, all his attention on breaking Levi’s soul free of the demon possessing him. Bit by bit, Spencer’s magic cut into the fault lines, carving out the demonic influence with a sureness that came from lifelong practice. The demon, refusing to be deprived of its anchor in the mortal plane, kept trying to burrow deeper into Levi’s soul, but Spencer never lost it.
Spencer’s magic and the pull from Fatima ultimately became too much for the demon to defend against. All its power crashed against Spencer’s magic, slipping off his shield and caught against the cage he’d built to keep it contained. Then Spencer wedged his magic into the last fault line andwrenchedthe demon free of Levi’s soul.
The demon exploded out of Levi in a swirl of black smoke, writhing in the air and searching for a new host. But there was no getting free of its containment and the only way out was through Fatima. She darted forward and leaped powerfully into the air, biting down on the incorporeal demon, dragging the smoke into her. She fell back down to the floor, swallowing it whole.
The eerie cold that came from possession and exorcism faded once the demon was cast out from the mortal plane. Spencer blinked his vision back to normal, staring at where Levi hung limp in the air from his magic. Spencer rushed forward, only removing the binding spell when he was there to catch the other agent and guide his limp body back to the floor.
Spencer gently slapped Levi’s face. “Hey, Ross. I need you to wake up. Come on, you need to wake up for me.”
Footsteps pounded toward them, and then Maricela was standing over them, pale-faced and worried. “I’m calling an ambulance.”
“I need to cleanse his soul before you send him to the hospital,” Spencer warned, still trying to bring Levi around.
“How the hell did he get possessed?”
Spencer had his suspicions, but he couldn’t talk about them with other agents around. Maricela didn’t seem to expect an immediate answer because she started speaking into her phone right around the moment Levi began to wake up.
Spencer patted his cheek again, skin cold beneath his touch. Possession was never easy on the body. “Back with us?”
Levi cracked his eyes open, staring up at Spencer without really seeing him. He coughed hoarsely, the sound trailing off in a groan. It took a few seconds before some semblance of awareness came back into his gaze. “Is it gone?”
“Sent all the way back to hell,” Spencer said, holding a hand over Levi’s chest and conjuring up another mageglobe. “Don’t get up. I need to cleanse your soul.”
