Starfire (Grim Gate 2)

They were demon ashes.

My eyes meet Ethan’s and he nods, knowing exactly what I’m thinking. “I’ll go check.” He hurries up and Nikolai reads the passage from the book about Xozon.

“Xozon is a high-level chaos demon who feeds off the fear he creates when making his victim see things that aren’t really there. Xozon preys on witches and warlocks, growing more and more powerful from each life-force he consumes. A single touch from Xozon can drive one insane.” Nikolai makes a face. “What a lovely fellow.” He hands me the book.

There’s a hand-drawn sketch of the demon. He’s human-like, dressed in something Luke Skywalker would wear to a winter formal, hiding his demonic form in the fabric. His face is slender and rather feminine, with sunken-in dark eyes. A pendent hangs from his neck with his sigil on it.

“Why keep his ashes?” I ask out loud to no one in particular. “Why not kill him?”

“Some demons can resurrect,” Nikolai says. “And from the little I know about chaos demons, they can be particularly tricky. Especially one who can make you crazy just by laying a finger on you.”

“So, we burn him, collect his ashes and run the risk of him escaping again?” I shake my head. “Because when I found that box in the attic, I had no idea what it was.” Should I feel guilty? I disregarded it like it was nothing. But how was I to know? It was shoved up in the attic like it was nothing.

“Wait, so your aunt just had a box of demonic ashes in her attic, unlabeled?” Rene asks.

“Yep.”

Ethan comes back down, carrying the box. The empty box.

“I let it out,” I say, and a chill goes through me.

“May I?” Nikolai asks and takes the box from Ethan. He runs his hand over it, reading the energy or something. “This box was enchanted by your aunt. Her spells are weakening as more times passes. Not even you would have been able to open this box if the enchantment was strong.”

“The demon would have gotten out sooner or later,” Harrison finishes.

“Precisely.” Nikolai sets the box down.

“That makes me feel a little better.” I bite my lip and look at the sigil. “Claire said he wanted her to write this sigil on a mirror with my blood…because he wants to come into the physical plane. And if he’s here, I can—” I hold up my hand, summoning a small fire “I need him out of my head.”

“I second that,” Harrison grumbles.

“We need something better than that. The demon already is in your head and he’s not even here. Summoning him…inviting him in…that’s what he wants and he’ll be prepared.”

“You’re right.” I run my hands through my hair. “Okay. Let’s…let’s think on it and have lunch. How should I help Claire? Cast a circle of protection on her house?”

“That’s where I’d start,” Ethan says. “We need to sever the ties the demon has on her. If this were a normal job, we’d start with the basics. Salt, sage, and burning of any sort of demonic relic she has.”

“I’ve got plenty of salt and sage.” I put the book on the coffee table. Ethan pulls me to my feet, kissing me even though my friends are in the room. I should feel relief now that I know who the demon is, but I want to kill him now more than ever. I want this to be done. My head has already been fucked with enough after Aunt Estelle took my memories.

“Claire gets off work in a few hours. Let’s go back into town, grab lunch, and then meet her at the salon,” Ethan suggests, and we do just that. My mind is on the demon the whole time and I can’t stop thinking of ways to summon him without him making me crazy. I run through possible scenarios in my head, and they all end badly. I have fire magic and could easily hurt someone, and Ethan can’t help when I’m burning someone to death.

After lunch, we go right to the salon. Claire’s car isn’t in the parking lot, and when she doesn’t come out a little after two, Ethan tracks the location of her phone to her house. Rene had to go to work after lunch, so Harrison and Nikolai hang back as Ethan and I knock on Claire’s door.

“Something feels…off,” I say. “Like something bad is going to happen.”

“Or already did.” Nikolai holds his hand up to the door and the deadbolt shoots back. Ethan opens the door and I know right away something bad did happen and we were too late to save Claire.

CHAPTER 29

“You don’t need to see this,” Ethan says and gently pushes me near Harrison. My brother takes my hand but doesn’t move. In the movies, dead people’s eyes are closed. Clare’s aren’t, and the vibrant hazel her eyes used to be is muted with death. Her mouth is open, mockingly unnatural. Her wrists had been slit and she’ lying in a large pool of her own blood.