Chapter Thirty-Seven

Invisibility sounds fun, doesn't it? Who hasn't imagined becoming invisible for a little while and walking through the world like a phantom? Sure, it can be fun to listen in on things you weren't meant to hear or mess with people's heads. But it's also disconcerting and difficult.

As I mentioned before, when you're invisible, you can't see yourself. That's a mind fuck right there. Your head reels for the first few minutes, trying to process where your body has disappeared to. You have to keep telling yourself that you're still there, still alive, that your lungs still work. And then there's the whole depth perception thing. The guys raced ahead of me as a pack of spectral dogs. I could still see them, but just barely, and I had to run after them to keep them from vanishing into the darkness. They got to the house ahead of me, but they didn't have to bother with pesky things like doors. They simply bounded through the walls. I rolled my eyes and reached for the handle on the front door. And missed.

“Damn it!” I hissed and tried again.

I got the door open, but the men had a huge head start, and I knew I wouldn't make it to Michael before them. Not only were they faster than me, but they could also sense his spirit, so they didn't have to search for him as I would have. I mean, I was still searching the house, and if I happened to come across Michael first, I'd put him in the pot, but I doubted that would happen now. Part of me thought it was for the best. Let the experts do the soul-punishing. So, I focused on Jackie.

The gun was an oddly reassuring weight in my vest as I crept silently across the foyer and to the stairs. Darius was right; it was good to have a backup. And a gun didn't need a chant to activate it. Aim and shoot, that's all, folks.

The first step creaked with my weight. I paused. Went to my tiptoes. I took the rest of them as quickly as possible, stepping on the sides of the stairs, where they'd be less likely to creak. When I reached the landing, I turned right, heading for the bedroom I'd been in before. Jackie had described that room. Granted, all the rooms were probably done in a similar style, but there couldn't be that many bedrooms in the place. Might as well start with the one I knew.

No one was in the hallway or any of the rooms off it. And I couldn't hear the hounds either. But then, they knew better than to howl in triumph after catching their quarry. Michael was only an underling. The bigger fish was Silas, and none of us wanted to alert him of our presence.

That being said, the warning about traps rang through my mind. I froze halfway down the hallway. I'd been fired up on fury and it had dampened my wits. Now, I started to think. Really think.

Why hadn't they searched Jackie when they grabbed her? They had to have. If one of them assaulted her, they would have removed her clothing. Granted, it could be done with her half-dressed, but even then, how had she kept that phone hidden? Maybe it was in her purse and they had let her keep that. But Silas wasn't stupid. He would have searched her purse. So why hadn't he found that phone?

He had. He must have. Which meant that he let Jackie keep it, knowing that she would call me. This was a trap. Had to be. But we had gone into it knowing that was a possibility. We were as prepared as possible. So why wasn't I moving?

Because something felt off. If this was a trap, where was the Host? Where were Michael and Silas? Had I walked past them? Were they downstairs? Had the Hounds gotten Michael already? That would still leave Silas lurking around, waiting for me. Yes, me. He had a bone to pick with Hades, but he intended to hurt the God of the Underworld through his children. And the best way to do that was to hurt me. But it was more than that. He wanted my power. I couldn't imagine how he could take my magic, but I knew he wanted to. Silas, whoever he was, was a minor god who wanted to become a major. I was his ticket to the big league.

What would a god do if he wanted to catch a witch? He'd take someone she loved and put that person in the middle of the trap. Bait. That much was obvious. But how would he restrain me? What would the trap itself be?

If it were me, I'd be waiting in the room with Jackie, hidden until my victim appeared.

I had to expect an instant attack as soon as I revealed myself. So, either I didn't reveal myself or I found a counterattack. Feeling for the vials of potions I had tucked into the slim pockets on my vest, I contemplated which would be best to use on Silas. My magic had worked on him before, so I was confident it would again. But I needed something with a wide blast radius and a lot of juice.

Violent spells had little place in my daily life. I couldn't remember the last time I had crafted a potion to harm instead of help. But I had filled my vest with such potions. Liquid pain. Spells to cripple and maim. The least lethal thing I carried was that gun. The most was . . .

I pulled a pair of leather gloves from my jeans pocket and slipped them on before I drew a vial from my vest. The gloves were important. Because within that vial was a deadly potion that would kill a human in seconds. And those seconds would be the longest of their life, filled with excruciating pain. The spell was called Render. Such a simple name that could be taken in several ways. Was it meant in the sense that it would render the target helpless? Or perhaps it referenced the way it melted the physical form as a cook might render lard. Or was it more like a name? The Render. Meaning the root of it was the description. To rend.

Yes, that was most likely it. The victim was rent by the spell. Torn to pieces internally. As soon as the potion hit skin, it would seep rapidly through flesh, rending it as it went. The drawing in my spellbook had been graphic and disgusting but necessary. It was a warning to every witch who read the spell. Be sure this is what you want to achieve. Be sure that you can live with yourself after you cast it.

Normally, that would be a no. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Such a thing might drive me to madness. But I knew this wouldn't kill Silas. At the most, it would render him immobile for a while. I suppose the spell had a range of results depending on its target.

To be honest, I hoped Render went through all the definitions with Silas. Even if he hadn't been the one who assaulted Jackie, he could have stopped it. Which meant he allowed it. And he intended to do the same to me. That fucking god was going to know what it felt like to be mortal.

Armed with the darkest of magic, I crept down the hall. This time, I was able to grip the door handle on the first attempt. Slowly, silently, I opened the door. Pushed it just a crack. A little wider. A little more. When it was ajar enough for me to slip inside, I did.

The room was dark, lit only by a little lamp on the bedside table. It was one of those round-belly antique things that had been an oil lamp at one point. It even had the glass tube at the top. But it had been wired for electricity and a bulb stood within the glass. The meager light shone on a body curled up on the bed. A sniff came from her.

I wanted to race to Jackie, but I quelled the urge. First, I made a circuit of the room. I popped the silver-hinged top of the vial as I walked, hand extended. If I could make myself invisible, a god could certainly do so. But I should still be able to touch him. So, I searched by feel, going into every crevice of the room. Near the bed, closest to the door, my hand slid over a solid chest.

“Hello, Amélie,” Silas drawled. “Congratulations. You found me.”

“Congratulations yourself, asshole,” I growled. “You just won a shit load of pain.” I stepped back and tossed the contents of the vial on him.

Silas screamed. It was a sound unlike any I'd ever heard before. The kind of sound that lifted gooseflesh on your arms and tingled the base of your spine. The primal part of you screamed back, telling you to run from that sound. And I did. I ran to the bed, where Jackie had shot up and was screaming too.

“Jackie!” I shouted as I grabbed her. “Shh. It's me. It's Amélie. Let's get the fuck out of here.”

I couldn't hear her response over Silas's screams, but I saw her mouth form my name. I grabbed her hand and tugged her off the bed.

The screaming faded to a whimper. Too fast. Shockingly fast. That spell would have killed anything mortal, but this fucker only got a few seconds of pain before he started to heal. It made me furious. He deserved far more. But Jackie deserved better. I had to focus on her.

“Come on!” I pulled on her hand.

She was just standing there, staring through me. Right. She couldn't see me. I shucked off the jacket.

Jackie's eyes went wide. “Oh, my God,” she sobbed and launched herself at me. “Amélie!”

“Later! We've got to get out of here.”

“Amélie,” Jackie kept crying. “Oh, God. I'm so sorry. I'm so fucking sorry. Please forgive me.”

“It's all right. Let's go.”

And then I felt something solid close around my wrist. I looked down. Jackie was drawing back her hand, easing it away from my wrist and the manacle upon it. With the touch of that cold metal, the world spun. Half of what made me who I was vanished. My magic. Gone. It left me weak and dizzy. I teetered on my feet.

“I'm so sorry,” Jackie said again. “It's my brother. Jake. My twin. You know how sick he is. Prostate cancer. It spread to his bones. Silas helped him. Showed me a little of what he can do, so I know it's real. He can heal Jake. Fully. I'm so sorry.” She hugged me.

I gasped as her words sank through me. Betrayed. By someone I thought of as family. For her real family. Yeah, all right. I understood. Blood comes first. But son of a bitch. I never expected this from her.

“Your brother is healed,” Silas said, his voice free of pain. “Go to him, Jacqueline. He's waiting for you.”

Jackie sobbed and clutched at me. “You promised you wouldn't hurt her.”

“Are you kidding me?” I found the strength to gasp. “He's going to take everything from me. Pain is the least of what he'll do.”

“No. No, he promised. He's only going to use you as bait,” Jackie said.

“That's right,” Silas said as he grabbed my upper arm and yanked me away from her. “Go now. Go to your family.”

Silas didn't wait for Jackie to respond. He simply disappeared. And I went with him.