Chapter Eleven

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Amalie watched from the window of her bedroom. Her safe room. She felt dread in the pit of her stomach as dark energies gathered below, in the center of her garden. She was chanting under her breath, invoking protection and concealment spells over herself, and Billy.

She knew this room was shielded better than any other place for miles. Whatever was going to happen, those outside couldn't see her, though she could see them. Once she invoked the protections, almost nobody could get to her unless she left this safe room. Billy, out there in the backyard, was much more vulnerable.

She'd always figured she would be alone if an attack came. She hadn't thought about having to protect someone else. Not that Billy wanted, or needed, her protection. But if something magical was about to attack him, he might just need magical backup, despite what he might think. In that case, she might have to go outside to confront whatever came at him.

Leaving the bedroom would leave her exposed. But for Billy, she would risk anything. He had become so important to her in such a short time. It almost didn't seem possible, but she knew the truth in her heart. She would do anything to save him, including putting her own life at risk.

She noted the swirling energies in her back garden, feeling the sinister magic to the depths of her bones. Whatever was about to happen, it wasn't coming from a good place. And then, she saw a portal open to a realm she had never dared seek out, though the veil between that one and this was thinner than most.

The demon realm. Dammit. Somebody was summoning a demon!

The portal opened, and a monstrous entity emerged. Dark, swirling energy that she couldn't quite see unless she looked with magical sight. Evil. That's what it was. Right there in her backyard and heading for Billy.

"Shit!"

She watched in fascinated fear as Billy stripped and took on his lion form in what felt like the blink of an eye. He was smart to do so. Shifters all had some natural immunity from magic. At least, that's what her grandmother had said. And the demon was having a hard time catching Billy with any of its magical attacks. He was too fast for it, and the magic seemed to slide off his fur in some way that she'd never seen before.

When magic started swirling around in Amalie's backyard, Billy wasn't sure what was happening. Only that it couldn't be good. He felt like he was watching a tornado form, only it wasn't coming down from the sky. It was sideways…and he was looking into the vortex as it widened out in front of him.

He hadn't known that sort of thing could happen. And the vortex itself was made up of swirling color. Black, brown, rust red, blood red and sickly yellows and greens all coalesced into a whirlwind of dark color, swirling with angry intent. He couldn't help but watch it form and stare into the void at its center.

Then, he saw something. He wasn't sure what it was. It was at the small end of the funnel, somewhere else. Only the big end showed in the backyard, and he hated to think where the other end originated. This didn't look like something solely of this world. Of this realm. Shit. Someone was opening portals to someplace, and it wasn't Amalie. This had to be the attack they'd expected, only it wasn't taking the form of anything he could have prepared for. Dammit!

The thing at the other end of the funnel was getting closer. It increased in size as it neared the open end of the vortex. Billy prepared himself as best he could. He'd have to see what he was up against before he could formulate a plan, but he prepared himself to go furry, if that's what was needed. He kicked off his boots and loosened his clothing, keeping his weapons in hand until the last minute. If whatever was coming at him could be shot or cut, he'd do that first, but if it turned out to be something magical, he'd call on his lion. The beast form was better able to defend against magical attack than Billy's human form.

As the thing drew nearer, Billy could see more of its form. It had horns on either side of its head, and it looked something like a bull, only it stood upright and was much, much bigger. Intelligence snapped in its eyes, which were glowing red and zeroed in on Billy. Not good.

The creature stepped through into the backyard, and the vortex snapped shut behind it. Well, at least no more of these things would come through that way. For now, Billy just had the one monster to deal with. Great.

Making his decision, Billy shifted into his lion form. Let the earthly monster fight the monster from…somewhere else. He went straight to the full lion form, saving the in-between battle form for if he needed a little something extra later. Billy could—and had in the past—spent entire conflicts in his battle form, but it took extra energy, so it was wise to save it for when it would be most useful.

The minute his paws touched the ground, the battle was on. The bull-like thing rushed him, and Billy used his lion's greater agility to jump right over the head of the oncoming creature, adding in a swipe of his claws to the hind side of the monstrous thing. It howled in pain, and Billy felt the thick ochre of the creature's alien blood on his claws. Yuck.

This thing was definitely not of this realm.

He squared off with the thing, glad the monster was being a bit more cautious now that the lion had scored first blood. They paced on opposite sides, eyeing each other, looking for an opening. The beast feinted, and Billy stood his ground several times before it snarled in frustration and went for Billy again, charging head-on.

Billy couldn't use the same trick again, so he went into his battle form and met the creature claw to claw, muzzle to muzzle, biting, kicking, and slashing in a whirlwind of motion. When the creature backed off again, he was perforated in more places from Billy's claws while Billy had not a single scratch on his golden hide. He stayed in the upright battle form, his shift half-way between human and lion with all the best attributes of each.

His hair was a mane—shorter than when he was in full lion form, but longer and fuller than human hair. His body rippled with more muscle than any human form could support and was covered in sleek golden fur. His hands were a bit stubbier than when he was human, and tipped with lion's claws, as were his feet, but he could stand upright to face his attacker. His reflexes were that of the lion, and his strength was multiplied as if he had the strength of both his human and animal form combined. The battle form was truly awesome, though he seldom got a chance to use it anymore.

The bull-like thing came at him again, and he repelled it again. Maybe this creature was as stupid as a bull as well as being built like one, but he wouldn't make the mistake of letting his guard down against its attacks. His concentration on the monster was total—as long as Amalie stayed safely inside her safe room. As long as she was there, he could devote his attention to the battle at hand. If she came out for some reason, he'd have to split his focus, and that could very well doom them both. He trusted her to stay where she was safe and only glanced up around now and again to make sure she was still in the house. Otherwise, the monster had his full attention.

Amalie held her breath as she watched the bull-like creature charge at Billy. If she didn't miss her guess, this thing had to be a Tauror. Both her parents and her grandmother had taught her what they knew of the demons that had been summoned from distant realms. It was important for her to know what she might run into when opening portals if she wasn't very, very careful.

Taurors came from the second demon realm, if she wasn't misremembering. It was a place she had never been, and would never go to voluntarily. At least, she couldn't imagine why anyone would want to go to a place inhabited by malevolent creatures that could, and would, wreak havoc on the mortal realm if someone was stupid enough to summon them here.

Demon summoning was forbidden among the Marsh Witches, but they knew about it. In the very old days, some witches had made a lifestyle out of summoning different things from different realms to make their lives easier or destroy those who wronged them. Some of the so-called demons were somewhat harmless but could be imprisoned and forced to do household tasks that a lazy witch didn't want to do. As long as that witch didn't mind holding another living being prisoner and forcing it to be a slave.

Distasteful. The Marsh Witches wanted nothing to do with such things. Other demon realms had creatures like the Tauror who could be summoned to rage across the countryside and kill whatever it ran into. Yet other demon realms had smarter demons that would bargain with the sorcerer who summoned it, giving the mage something in return for feasting on the innate magic of the mortal realm.

And then, there were the sex demons who fed off people's pleasure. Amalie shuddered as she thought of what that must be like. A mortal could become enslaved to a succubus all too easily. Evil witches had been known to summon such creatures and set them loose on people they wanted distracted to the point of madness. In the past, such things had been done to advance political goals, but these days, thankfully, there were few witches who were really good summoners. It was an art that required a great deal of power and finesse.

If the Tauror was here, someone had to have summoned it. She had been warned about Mrs. Entwistle, but Amalie didn't know for certain if Mrs. E was able to summon demons. If so, she'd kept that little fact under her hat while living among the Marsh Witches. Of course, she'd managed to bamboozle the entire coven into thinking she was on the side of Light when she'd really been working for the enemy for years, apparently.

Amalie scanned everything she could see of the backyard, but didn't really see Mrs. Entwistle until she stepped out from behind a shrub just below Amalie's window. The old crone was looking straight up at the window, as if she could see Amalie up there, though Amalie very much doubted anyone could see through her protections. But the way Mrs. E gazed upward made Amalie shiver. What if the old hag could see through? What if she was really that powerful?

It certainly looked like Mrs. E had summoned the Tauror. That implied a level of power, skill, and finesse that Amalie hadn't thought the old woman had attained. Damn. Mrs. E had a few tricks up her sleeve, and the entire coven had underestimated her. Amalie would do her best not to do the same.

"Why don't you come down from there, Amalie? Make this easier on all concerned. I only really want you, but I'll take the shifter too, if he doesn't die at the Tauror's claws first. Shifter power is so yummy tasting."

Mrs. E licked her lips, and Amalie wanted to vomit at the thought of her taking Billy's magic. She could only do that if she killed him, and something inside Amalie objected very strongly to the idea of Billy's death.

Amalie wouldn't give the old bitch the courtesy of a reply. As long as she didn't respond, Mrs. E couldn't be certain where Amalie was. Right? Although it really looked as if she could see Amalie through the spell work lattice she'd erected over the months she'd lived here. That shouldn't be possible.

"Come on, Amalie. I came all this way to see you. I even invited a friend to play with your little lion boy toy." She glanced back at the ongoing battle behind her and smiled evilly. Amalie wanted to wipe that smirk off her face with a fist. "Come down and save us all the effort, will you?"

Like hell she'd go down there and walk straight into Entwistle's trap. No way. Amalie stood her ground and looked at where the lion-man was grappling with the Tauror. The bull-creature was strong, but it looked like Billy had the upper hand. So far, at least.

"I see you want to do this the hard way," Mrs. E said a moment later. She turned toward the ongoing battle and raised her hands. She was going to interfere? That was low. Really, really low.

Mrs. E spat a hex at Billy that made him trip, but he regained his feet before the Tauror could take advantage. Twice more, she made him lose his footing, but the lion shifter was agile and always recovered. Still, Amalie could see that, eventually, Entwistle or the Tauror, or both, would get lucky, and Billy would suffer. Amalie had to do something.

She tried to throw counter-hexes, but that had never really been a strong skill for her. She kept missing her mark, and Entwistle laughed at her attempts. The witch could tell what Amalie was doing, which also shouldn't be possible. What was going on with Entwistle? She shouldn't have half the skills she was currently displaying. Amalie's mind raced as she realized Entwistle had been hiding a lot more than just her real allegiance when she'd been among the Marsh Witches.

Amalie was going to have a very long talk with her grandmother if she survived this confrontation. That the coven had allowed this high-level evil sorceress among its ranks for so long was a bad sign that they'd gotten lax. Their coven had been infiltrated, and nobody had suspected a thing until the very last minute when Entwistle exposed herself as the Venifucus plot fell apart.

Amalie gasped as Billy slipped and only just barely evaded the Tauror's sharp claws. Dammit!

"All right!" Amalie said, scrambling for time as she spoke out loud. Mrs. E turned around and looked back up at the window. She'd heard. Even if Billy hadn't. He was too engaged with the Tauror and its bellowing to hear Amalie's soft words.

"Are you coming down or should I trip your lion friend a few more times?" Entwistle's sinister smile made Amalie feel sick. The old bitch was enjoying this. She truly liked hurting people, it seemed. How she'd had them all fooled.

"Give me a minute," Amalie said, again trying to buy time. She didn't know what to do. The last thing she'd thought she'd have to do if evil came to call was go and face it.

Her plan had been to hole up in her safe room, and if things got really bad, she'd open a portal and just go someplace else. That had been her master plan. She hadn't counted on having anybody to protect or try to help. She hadn't counted on Billy, but she couldn't leave him to face this alone. He'd surely succumb to either the demon or the witch. Either way, he would die, and all of his magic would be sucked from him before he breathed his last, to power either of the evil entities that currently polluted her backyard.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Entwistle sing-songed, her cackling laugh making Amalie's skin crawl. "Or I'll put the screws on your boyfriend again. Either come out here or watch him fall. Your choice."

Shit!