“Now then,” Gretchen went on with a tap of her hands against the book. “Tell me up until this point what has happened with this demon.”
Dane drew in a deep breath, placed his napkin on the table and settled into his seat. “It went like this…”
Chapter Twelve
Dane went through the past events—in haste, I might add—making it seem much less scary than the memory I had of our encounter with the demon.
By the time he was done, Gretchen’s gaze hardened. “At the house you saw symbols around the pentagram?”
Dane nodded. “Ones I’ve never seen before.”
She opened her book. I leaned in to read the pages. There were some symbols with writing next to them. Every once in a while I saw herbs and other things written down like a recipe.
I couldn’t restrain my intrigue. “What’s all that writing in there?”
Gretchen peeked up at me through her lashes, her pretty colored eyes twinkling. “These are spells that have been passed down through my family.”
I wanted to laugh at how ridiculous that sounded. But she was a witch, and as far as I knew from folklore, they could work spells. How could I doubt her? I’d seen a demon, for cripe’s sakes.
I glanced around the room, trying to spot her cauldron, but found nothing. Maybe not all of what I’d read in stories or heard was true. “How old are these spells?” My lip curled. “And where did you get that book?”
She slid her hand over the pages, as if the book were her prized possession. “The spells have been gathered from all walks of life for many years. A good witch won’t conform to one method of how she protects herself against danger.”
I regarded her, hating where my thoughts were headed, but unable to stop myself from finding out if they were true. “Are you saying that you have magic abilities—like can create stuff out of thin air?”
Her eyebrows rose, as shock rippled across her features. “Do I look like I can conjure that type of magic?”
“Do I look like I can talk to ghosts?” I countered.
“Touché,” she replied with a grin. “But magic isn’t real in the sense you’re thinking of it. I can’t produce love potions or hex anyone, but you of all people should understand the power of energy.”
Her look was measured, and wasn’t I a dork for even thinking such a thing? “Earth provides us with protection against all types of energy, good and bad. I merely understand these energies and know how to keep them away.”
Can’t say that didn’t please me. If this witch could’ve done voodoo on me into becoming her bitch, I was about to walk right out of this house regardless of how much I needed her help. “And this is what you’re going to teach me, right?”
“I can if you wish me to.”
I exhaled deeply. “I’d rather not learn any of this, but I don’t think I have a choice.”
“You always have a choice.” Her eyes narrowed on mine. “You must use any spells with an open heart. If you don’t believe, they won’t work for you and if you’re in danger that would be grave.”
Wasn’t that a well-said lesson? “All right then, tell me what I need to know so I can wrap my head around this and believe in it.”
She took a sip of her drink before placing it on the coffee table, then flipped through pages of the book. “Tell me what the symbols looked like.”
“Um…” Shit, why hadn’t I paid closer attention? My bad memory floated up to haunt me once again.
“There were symbols of a cat and a toad,” Dane answered. “They were worked in with the intricate runes that were easily spotted if not overlooked.” He directed the latter at me.
“What?” I shrugged. “I was a little preoccupied to worry about studying the damn things, and I didn’t think it was important. Besides, I get it, my memory sucks. I could have a worse flaw, you know.”
“You’ll need to work on that.” Gretchen continued to flip through the papers of the book. “These little details are important. We need to know who the demon belongs to so we can banish it.” She peeked up at me and that warm gaze of hers appeared suddenly blank. “It appears that the demon you’ve encountered belongs to Baal.”
My blood ran cold. “Are you referring to Baal, as in one of the seven princes of Hell?” I might not know much about demonology, but this I did know, or had heard of through television.
She nodded, seemingly unbothered. “Any demon that exists on Earth will belong to one of the seven princes. It’s them they’re ruled by, and to put it simply, who they do their dirty work for.”
I gulped. A demon that could be contained with salt didn’t seem as scary as what had just come out of her mouth. “Um…err…I don’t think I’m made for this.” My heart raced. “Seriously, I think you should deal with this one.” My palms grew sweaty. “I want to go home and forget about all of this.”