Page 75 of Only You, No One Else

“Can you find her?” Marcus was asking Riley when they stepped into the room. The large room seemed smaller now, crowded with everyone except Mikey and Ben. The King seated behind Marcus’s desk nodded at Mark, a small smile all the support he needed to offer.

The nod from Riley was emphatic, but it was Edie who spoke. “She will be more paranoid now. But if the demon did strip her of her dark power, yes…”

“I did.” Many voices filled the room, startling everyone before they all regained their composure. “I apologize for startling you. But yes, all the darkness that made her so powerful is gone, and she cannot replenish it.” His darkness delivered him into the room in full. Was he doing that just to unsettle them? He turned to Mark and smiled. Had he just? Mark checked on the barrier, finding it intact.

“Her Power of the Water is still something,” The Queen said. “And she’s proven a determination to find more power before. The worst thing we can do is underestimate her.”

“Yes. Her thirst for vengeance is too great.” The mocking tone Pierce’s voice often carried, an air of superiority, like he knew more than he shared, was gone, replaced by a thoughtfulness.

“You’ve said that before,” Cy said. “What do you mean? Why would she do all of this?”

Pierce shrugged. “In all the centuries I spent with her, she only ever had one goal. To destroy the Grand Coven, replace it somehow.” He looked at Riley. “She never talked about her pain much, but it was clear you were the cause of it.”

“Me?” Riley’s shock was evident in the slight widening of his eyes. “I don’t even know her.”

Pierce’s mocking tone was back. “She seems to know you. The word obsession comes to mind. Though, I don’t know what you could have done to inspire such hatred.” Then he waved a hand over the room. “But that hardly matters, does it? Our goal should be to keep her from gaining more power.” His full attention was on Mark again, and like every time he looked at him, Mark got the sense he saw more than the physical. “The long-term solution is for you to gain control over your ability. But that is not easy, and it will take more time than we have.”

“We need to kill her,” Edie said, a subtle sadness in her voice. He could understand it. Like her, he didn’t relish the prospect of killing, but Ethel had brought this on herself.

Pierce nodded. “Yes. But first, we need to close that tear in the Veil. Her ally might use it to crawl back to this world, and we can’t have that.” The final part of his statement slipped past his tight control, a bit of his anger seeping through. It was clear that this was personal for him. Whoever that other demon was, Pierce needed to keep him trapped in the Underworld.

“How do we do that?” The King asked.

Mark’s heart skipped a beat when Pierce looked at him again. He’d feared he would be the key. That darkness, at least the memory of it, was not something he wanted to revisit.

“I’m afraid you will have to, Magicae Lupus.” Pierce seemed a little sympathetic, a quality Mark would not have ascribed to a demon. “I’m afraid it is the only way.”

The ease with which he’d seen Mark’s thoughts even with the barrier intact should have been concerning, but Mark was still stuck on the dread of having to visit the Underworld again.

“Isn’t there another way?” Caster’s voice came from somewhere above him, but even the comfort it brought would not override his dread.

“I’m afraid not,” Pierce said. He met Mark’s gaze, the gray of his eyes more pronounced. “It is a simple spell. Shouldn’t cause you any pain.” Then his voice rose as he addressed the whole room. “But we have to do it now. I can feel her trying to access it, trying to summon him again. The longer it remains open, the higher the chance he will respond.”

“What do we need?” Marcus asked as Mark summoned his courage. He was done allowing the witch to reduce him to a sum of his fears. It was time to use a power the Goddess had granted only him.

Pierce turned to him and smiled, and Mark was now certain he could read his mind. “Just you.” And then he looked at Riley. “And a bit of your power.”

Caster tensed next to Mark. “I am going with him.”

Pierce shook his head. “The Underworld will drown you in its darkness. Did you forget what happened the last time?”

“He can’t go alone.” Dean’s Alpha growl, the threat of his anger, was in every word.

“He won’t be,” Riley said, nodding his assurance, and Pierce smiled. “But this is not happening unless you tell me what the spell is, how it works. I am sick of your bits of information.”

Pierce laughed, a human-like laugh. “Of course. I have a stake in this as well. I told you, I have no desire to destroy your world.” His smile fell, and he kept his attention on Riley. “My rival, Ethel’s ally, intends to do just that, and then remake it in his own image. I can’t let that happen.”

Riley stared at Pierce for an eternal moment, the challenge in the way he unleashed his full power, his eyes blazing with a rare blue flame. Then he nodded, reined in his power and looked at Mark. “Let’s do this?”

Mark squeezed Caster’s hand and readied himself for something he never would have imagined he’d experience, one he had experienced by accident and hoped to never face again.

***

Even with his mind shuttered from access, the fear in Mark was apparent. Stronger still was his courage, evidenced by the calm rhythm of his heart. Caster still didn’t like that he couldn’t go with him, but Pierce was right. The Underworld’s call had been damn near impossible to resist last time, and he’d been outside of it. Its call from the inside was not something he wanted to experience.

Still, his desire to ensure Mark’s safety remained too strong. “How long will it take?” He asked Pierce, needing even the tiniest of reassurances.

“Not long. To you, it will seem longer, several minutes. To him, a few seconds.” Then he turned to Riley. “I will place the spell in your mind. Don’t fight me.”