Page 57 of Malice

“All monsters can be killed.” I point at myself with both hands. “Monster hunter here. We just talked about it.”

“Monsters,” she presses. “They can be killed, but demons.” She pulls her arms in closer to her body, unsettled by what she’s saying, which sends a chill down my spine. “Not all demons can be destroyed. And that is what the Grand Coven wants to stay away from.”

My pulse picks up. “What would happen if a witch came up against a demon like that?”

“She better hope she can run,” Marie chides. “But if she was lucky enough, she could bind it.”

“Bind it?” I repeat, words coming out a little too sharp and desperate. “How?”

“A ritual. It takes more than one witch.”

“You’d need a coven?”

“A small one, yes. A strong, small one who can focus and fight.” She bites her lip, looking down at the table. “And it never comes without a cost.”

“What kind of cost?” My stomach starts to tighten.

“Lives,” she says, looking back at me again. “Spells like that are dangerous and sometimes, someone has to sacrifice themselves.”

“Whoa, wait, what?” I curl the fingers of my right hand into the center of my palm, pressing against the still-healing puncture wound. It hurts, throbbing with every rapid beat of my heart.

“Binding a demon into a certain place…” She hesitates, looking away from me again. “Your family, the Blackwoods, were involved in several ritual bindings.”

“They really were hunters,” I say, mostly to myself. “What are the odds, right?”

“I’m starting to think it has nothing to do with odds.”

“These rituals…the bindings. What exactly is the purpose?”

“The purpose is to lock up what they couldn’t kill and then make sure it didn’t walk away.” She meets my eyes, looking farther than just at me. She sees me, all of my searching. “They kept many demons contained.”

“Where, though?” I ask. “I’m confused.”

Marie slowly takes in a breath and lets it out. “They’re called pocket dimensions. They don’t exist in this realm.”

“What?” I ask, though I heard her correctly. “I mean, I know what you said, but what?”

“It’s a complicated spell, and that itself isn’t technically against a rule, but it’s not something many are willing to help with. Because when you create a pocket dimension, oftentimes someone has to stay behind and seal it from the inside out.”

My lips part and I don’t realize I’m leaning forward, clinging to her every word.

“Inside that pocket dimension,” she goes on, “is a sealed and isolated place to hold a demon.”

A supernatural prison cell. My chest tightens. “And they can just stay there forever?”

“They’re supposed to.”

I shift my weight, straightening my shoulders. “What happens if they try to escape?”

Her eyes narrow ever so slightly. “Why do you ask?”

I shrug, trying to look casual, but it’s too late for that. “Curiosity. It’s not every day you hear about demons being locked up.”

“Curiosity is rarely simple,” she says and I think she’s talking to herself. “But if they try to escape, they won’t be able to. Not on their own.”

The little pin prick on the center of my palm burns. I force myself to take a slow breath in through my nose and out through my mouth.

“But theoretically, they could have someone bust them out, right?”