“You’re aging fast,” I remind him. “And now I’m thinking about waiting until you get into your eighties and then keeping you there forever. I’m sure you’ll be just fine living on prune juice and strained beets the rest of your miserable existence. And if you think someone is going to save you, don’t. Charles is in jail. The bodyguard is still in the hospital. And the kids you kidnapped…they want your blood. You’re at my mercy, so you better keep talking.”
Trent stiffens, pressing his lips together. “I watched and waited,” he goes on. “I wish I could take credit for all the deaths of the witches, but alas, I can’t. The demon had no pattern, no predictability. It went wherever there was magic, and once it was drained, it moved on.” He pauses, eyes fluttering, and a few more streaks of gray show up in his hair. Holy shit. This elixir is wearing offfast. “But then it struck in a small town…a small town composed mostly of witches.” He smiles, proud of himself for what he did next. “I posed as a concerned hunter, trading my knowledge for magical items and potions. I told the witches everything I knew. They couldn’t kill the demon, but after a full night’s fight against it, they were able to separate the powers from the demon’s physical form.”
“And you took the powers.”
“I did, and I used them to extract the magic from several witches. I would have kept that kind of power for myself, but raw magic like that burns right through a human body. I didn’t want the parents…no, they’d be too difficult. But the children…the children could be persuaded.”
I can’t help it. I get up and punch Trent right in the face. Once. Twice. Three times. Blood drips down his nose and Hasan comes over, gently pulling me back.
“Is that even possible?” I ask once I’m sitting on the basement steps. Jacques and Hasan stand before me, looking just as pissed as I am. “To remove powers from a demon and then use them?”
“Yes,” Jacques tells me. “It’s difficult and very complicated, but if an entire coven were to work together they could do it.”
Hasan turns around, cracking his knuckles. He’s ready to go throw a few punches himself now too.
“Some demons can jump from body to body,” Jacques explains. “Their powers will transfer that way, so if this was how that particular demon operated, it would have made the separation easier.”
“Then where are the powers? Why hasn’t Trent been using them this whole time?” I ask, feeling like this doesn’t make sense.
“Humans can’t possess demonic powers for long. It will burn their bodies up.” He looks past Hasan at Trent. “We need to find where he’s keeping the demon’s powers. In the wrong hands…”
“Someone could start freezing hearts?” I finish.
“Someone could bring back the demon.”
I stand, and fire surrounds my fingers. “I’ll get an answer from him.”
“Wait,” Jacques says, reaching for me. His fingers sweep over my wrist and he jerks his hand back.
“Did you get burned?” I quickly put out the fire.
Jacques shakes his head, smiling. “I forgot I was human again for a moment. The pain feels good.”
I take his hand and gently blow on the burn. “I’ll put some ointment on it to keep it from getting infected.”
“I’ll get it,” Jacques offers. “There’s something else I want to bring back down that I think will be helpful.”
“What is it?”
He gets a glint in his eyes. “Something I took from the penthouse. You know I’d normally never recommend using questionable magical items, but I think we have enough of an extenuating circumstance to warrant it.”
“You rebel.”
Jacques chuckles and motions to Hasan. “It took a bit of convincing.” He goes back upstairs and I return to Trent, who’s looking older again. Using magic to keep yourself young is so unnatural. I’m not surprised it’s wearing off this fast.
Hasan is leaning against the wall, glaring daggers at Trent. His face softens when he sees me, and he crosses the basement, stopping before me. My heart swells in my chest and he wraps me in his arms. We stay like that for a moment, taking a mini reprieve from everything.
“How are you holding up?” he asks softly.
“I’m good,” I say, and it’s the honest truth. “I’ll be better once he’s aged to dust, but…the curse is broken. I’m getting revenge for my parents’ death.” Suddenly it hits me and I press my face against Hasan’s chest to hide my emotions. “It’s everything I wanted.”
“What we wanted.”
I look up and he cups my chin, kissing me.
“You’re fucking them?” Trent spits, lips curled back with disgust.
“Yeah,” I say, looking away from Hasan with a smile on my face. “All of them.”
