“Those demons are people. I can save them like I saved the demon War made in Chicago.”
“You can’t save them if you’re dead.” Lucas looks from my eyes to my stomach, face tightening with fear. “The Horsemen are working with Paimon. All this time, they’ve been waiting for his command. It’s why they didn’t strike right away.”
“Holy shit. It was him this whole time. Opening the gates so I would go down to close them. He wanted me in Hell but wasn’t counting on Lucifer showing up or us finding a Hail Mary way to get out.”
“He was going to do the ritual in Hell.”
“And sit on the throne while my blood was still fresh on the ground.” Air leaves my lungs, and I feel like I’ve been dipped in icy water. Leaving Paimon alone in Hell was exactly what he wanted, so he could get everything worked out somehow.
“Clever indeed,” Paimon’s voice rings out. It’s farther away this time, and it hits me. He’s astral projecting, but between the gates being closed and the warding on my house, he’s only able to project his consciousness, not his astral form. It’s why he was standing outside the warding looking in at the house today. He had to get something to visualize so he could focus on where to send his projection.
Bael did it too by projecting into the woods outside the house. If I leave the house, he’ll have to refocus, and that could be all the time we need to regroup and…and…carry out the plan we never came up with.
“War controls the demons,” I say, thinking out loud. “If we take him out, they’ll fall. I think.”
“Cut off the head of the snake.” Lucas strides through the hall, going back into the foyer. Demonic chanting grows louder and louder, and the chandelier above him starts to shake.
“How many demons are out there?” I ask, and then remember I’m still in my circle of silence. Scarlet moves with me into the hall, and I ask again.
“Thirteen.” Lucas pulls the curtains of the living room window back. “I hear something…something else coming.”
I swallow a lump in my throat, so scared I want to cry. But I can’t. Not now, not if I want to survive.
“I need to warn everyone.” I meet Lucas’s eye again, and he nods. My phone is—fuck—I left it on the porch. “Text Kristy for me? I’ll send a letter.” Holding onto my stomach, I run as fast as I can into the library and tear a piece of paper from the notebook on my desk. I quickly scribble down a note.
Horsemen here with lots of demons. Paimon is behind everything. Stay at the Covenstead.
I fold it and drop to my knees, hardwood hurting my bones, and put the note in the fireplace, magically sending it through to the Covenstead. Binx is with me, helping me to my feet, telling me to get away from the windows. Unable to help myself, I look outside and see the dark outline of a demon, standing at the very edge of the final warding. Most of the light has left the sky, and another shadowy figure joins the demon. This one is small in stature, and I feel sick to my stomach when I see it through Binx’s eyes.
It’s a child.
Both demons put their hands on the warding. Magic shoots through them, and their bodies react as if they’re holding onto an electric fence.
“Stop!” I rush to the window. I narrow my eyes and shove the kid back. His little body won’t survive housing a demon for long. Damaging it in any sort of way will only speed up the process of his demise.
“Callie,” Lucas calls, hurrying into the room. “What is it?” He’s at my side in a second, moving me away from the window. Able to see in the dark, he knows exactly what it is right away. “There’s nothing we can do.”
“He’s only a kid, Lucas!”
Confliction flashes across his face. “I know, Callie. I know.”
“We can’t leave him out there. I can cure him, remember?”
Fangs drawn, Lucas looks from me to the child, who’s going right back to the warding. The other demons do the same thing. I can’t see them, but I can feel the last remaining strands of my magic wearing thin.
“Get to the hall. You’re in their line of sight by the window.” He lets me go, and my heart lurches. I don’t want him to go outside, but we have to save the kid. “I love you,” he says and then disappears from my sight. My heart is beating so fast it hurts. I look at Binx and take off, going to the little-used side door that Lucas went out of. It’s off the hall next to the library and was original to the house, so we didn’t want to get rid of it, yet it’s not practical to use. It leads to a little round patio and a few stairs taking you to what will eventually be a stone path leading from the front of the house to the pool area.