“Thank you all for your combined efforts,” Tabatha says, and this time the emotion in her voice is apparent. She looks absolutely exhausted, and I don’t want to imagine the fear she felt seeing both Evander and then me possessed by the same demon. “It’s been a long night and we all need to rest. Callie and Kristy, I assume you are leaving the Covenstead for your own beds tonight?”
“Yes,” we answer at
the same time.
“I will walk you to the door.”
“Oh, darling,” Ruth coos, patting Tabatha’s shoulder. “You’ve been through enough tonight. I can walk them.”
“We’re fine,” I say quickly. Too quickly. “Tabatha was right. It’s been a long night for everyone, and Kristy and I have walked ourselves in and out of the door many times.”
Ruth puts on a pleasant smile. “I insist.”
I swallow hard. At least with Kristy with me, maybe she won’t try to get me to summon the Devil. Kristy looks at me out of the corner of her eye, and I can feel what she’s not saying. It’s weird and rude to decline someone of Ruth’s status like this.
“Well, I can’t say no to that.” I return the fake smile, give Evander a hug, and say goodbye to Tabatha. The gathering hall is empty as we pass by, leaving me to believe Nicole and Naomi have walked the students back up to their rooms. Binx is sitting by the door, tail swishing as he waits for us.
He lets out a low growl when he sees Ruth, and Kristy tenses. I try to give her a reassuring look, letting her know I’ve got this under control. Ugh, but I don’t want to lie.
Because I don’t have this under control.
We stop and say the incantation needed to open the door. As soon as the blue light starts to flicker into view, I give Binx the signal needed to slip out and get Pandora and Freya. I still don’t think Ruth is going to try anything with Kristy right here, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.
“Thank you, Grand Mage,” Kristy says and reaches for my hand so we can walk through the door together. Suddenly, Kristy’s body goes limp and I fall to the ground trying to catch her.
“Kristy!” I shout as fear pulses through me. “Kristy!” My first reaction is to shake her and try to wake her up. She doesn’t move. So panicked I can’t think straight, I look up at Ruth and wonder why she’s not helping me.
“Keep your voice down,” Ruth hisses and drops an empty potion vial on the ground. It starts to roll away and I make a dive for it, pulling out the stopper and smelling the empty vial. It’s a valerian root sleeping spell that she must have slipped to Kristy while I was getting assessed by Sister Ross. I didn’t think anything of it when Kristy took a drink of water from the pitcher on Tabatha’s desk.
“You did this!” I clutch Kristy’s body. Valerian root sleeping spells are strong—dangerously strong. Unlike the sleeping spell we put on Evander, this one works magically as well as medicinally. It requires an antidote to be undone, and the amount of antidote has to equally match the amount of valerian ingested. People die from spells like this.
They’re put too deep asleep and stop breathing. They’re unable to be woken up and basically waste away.
“Wake her up right now!” Magic sizzles around my fingers. I jerk my hands back, so I don’t burn Kristy.
“Not until I get what I want.”
“You are insane.” I push myself up onto my feet and the anger I’m holding back threatens to break loose. Hitting Ruth with a big energy ball would be feel so fucking good right now.
“Am I?” She tips her head to the side. “I saw what you did in there and it was spectacular. So much power just dripping from you. You killed that demon from the inside out and there’s not a scratch on you or your aura. I want that power.”
“You promised.” I curl my fingers into a fist. “My friends would be okay if I took you to him.” I sweep my hand out at Kristy. “She wasn’t supposed to be part of this.”
“After I saw what you did back there, I knew I needed insurance. I have the antidote, mixed up and ready. Call upon your master and once I’m granted my powers, I will hand the potion over.”
I clench my jaw, not sure what to do. Terrified if I try anything, she’ll further hurt Kristy, I close my eyes in a long blink and nod. “Fine. We need to go to the woods.”
Binx, I call. Be ready. Pull out all the bloody stops. She needs to go down.
The blue light from the open door is starting to fade. Ruth strides forward and grabs my wrist, nails digging into my skin. She shoves me through the doorway, and my feet land on the soft forest floor.
She closes the door behind us and the silence of the woods surrounds me. Usually, being out here is calming. There’s something about the dark woods that instantly makes me feel better. But not tonight.
My heart is racing so fast and anxiety is threatening to take over again. Every time I blink, I see Kristy lying on the ground, eyes half open and unmoving. Ruth strides forward, going to the tree where the demon tied me up and tried to burn me. The bark is still singed from the fire and the grass and weeds around the tree are just now starting to grow back.
“I can feel his power!” She puts both hands on the tree. “Call him forth.”
Shit. I was hoping I could tell her I need to go to my dark altar to buy more time, but this spot makes sense. I think. Maybe? I have no fucking idea how to summon the Devil because I’ve never done it.
She runs her hand down the trunk of the tree and crouches down, picking up a handful of earth. She brings it to her face and inhales, smelling the brimstone.
“Call him forth,” she tells me.
I nod and go over to the tree. I put both hands on the trunk and close my eyes, listening for my familiars.
“Oh, Dark Master,” I start once I feel them getting closer. “I call you forth to…to…meet another willing child of night.” I step away from the tree, turn around, and hold my hands up. Maybe I can hit Ruth with an energy ball now. Knock her out and get back to the Covenstead. Kristy is all the proof I need to show I’m innocent and Ruth is the guilty one.
She used an illegal potion on an innocent member of the coven.
“I call upon you, Dark One.” I hold my hands up a little higher. “Come forth and meet your willing servant.”
“Nothing is happening,” Ruth says after a few beats pass.
“I told you he might not think you’re worthy. I held up my end of the bargain. Now give me the antidote.”
“Do not lie to me.” She holds out her hand and magic wraps around my throat again. I conjure an energy ball, throwing it before she squeezes her hand even tighter. I can’t breathe, and I can feel my windpipe starting to crush.
“You know,” she starts, tightening her hold on my neck. “There is a little bone right at the base of your neck. If broken in the right way, it will suffocate you even after I let go.”
I conjure another energy ball and throw it. It hits Ruth in the shoulder. She cries out in pain but doesn’t loosen her grip.
“If you kill me—,” I croak out, but she continues to tighten the grip until I can’t get any air. I fall to the ground, hands flying to my neck on their own accord, body taking over and trying to pull the invisible noose from around my neck.
Something whirls through the forest, moving so fast he’s just a blur. Lucas stands before Ruth, appearing so suddenly he startles her. She holds up her other hand, creating a shield that he can’t break through.
“Take one more step, vampire, and I’ll kill her right before your eyes.”
Lucas looks at me, dark blue eyes wide, and draws his fangs. “Let her go,” he growls. “And I’ll make your death quick.”
“You’re no match for me,” Ruth snarls back and pulses more energy into the shield. It’s loosening her hold on my neck, and I’m able to suck in a breath. My familiars shadow through the woods, drawing closer and closer.
The original plan could still work.
I pitch forward, coughing, and plant my hands on the ground. The Ley line is beneath me, and tapping into it is dangerous—obviously— but I don’t see what other choice I have. I close my eyes, fighting against Ruth’s hold on me, and reach down, deep down, into the ground, and take just enough from the Ley line to conjure another energy ball.
Fangs flashing, Lucas slowly advances. Ruth throws her hand out, hitting him with another wall of energy. It pushes him back, but Lucas doesn’t stop.
“Let her go,” he growls agai
n. Ruth shifts her attention to him, and it’s all I need to spring up, gasping for air, and throw the energy ball at her. It clips her shoulder again, but this time it singes her skin, burning through her robe.
She falls back, and Lucas rushes forward. Before he can grab her, she casts the invisibility spell on herself and disappears from view. I’m on the ground again, coughing and sucking in air.
Lucas speeds over and scoops me up, cradling me to his chest.
“Callie.” He presses his lips to the top of my head. “Are you all right?”
“I will be,” I croak. “Once we get that bitch.”
“Did she teleport?” Lucas puts his hands on my shoulders, holding me upright as I try to recover. I shake my head, feeling the hair on the back of my neck prickle.
“Get down!” I shout, but I’m too late. Ruth conjures a string of energy and hurls it at us. Pandora shadows by at the last second, blocking us from the raw energy. It hits her hard, sparking and sizzling.
I throw an energy ball in the direction where Ruth was standing, but it flies through the forest, hitting a tree.
“It’s an invisibility spell,” I whisper, looking around the woods. Lucas moves to my side, holding his arms out defensively. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep me safe, and while part of me wants to let him rip Ruth to shreds, I need her alive.
Kristy needs the antidote.
And a Grand Mage going missing or turning up dead…I’m already in hot water with the coven.
“Can you sense her?” I ask Lucas. Binx and Freya shadow through the woods, searching for Ruth.
“No.”
“Dammit.” Heart racing, I slowly look around the woods. Everything is silent. Ruth has to be standing still. There’s one of her and five of us. Invisible or not, the odds are against her and she has to know it.
Pandora shadows by, already recovering. Being hit with the energy weakened her, but it takes much more than that to kill a familiar in shadow form. Especially mine, who have been taught and trained by ancient and powerful Binx.