6. Ember

6

EMBER

A fter a morning fae fight, a demon summoning, and then my possession, I was famished, so we stopped for burgers on our way to Boston. Miles paid the tab this time and thank the goddess for that. Hecate knew I wasn't the best at saving, and my credit card would be maxed out soon.

With all the paranormal shit going on in our lives, it was easy to forget the normal. Thank the goddess for that too, because getting caught up in my head, thinking about finding another job and paying the bills right now, was the last thing I needed to worry about.

We had much bigger insects to fry at the moment.

Shade took the wheel, with Ash riding shotgun, and I sat in the middle seat with Chaos on my right and Mayhem in my head. They didn't trust me to drive with a violent demon chattering in my psyche. Imagine that.

The deep oranges and reds of the trees preparing to shed their leaves whizzed past as Shade drove faster than necessary, but who was I to complain. If anyone had a sense of urgency on our current quest, it was me. Ash lasted as long as she did with Chaos in her head because he held back.

After everything I'd done to Mayhem, I doubted he'd show me the same courtesy.

"Park over there. It's better if I walk." Ash pointed to her right, and Shade turned, rolling to a stop at the curb.

I climbed out and opened the hatch in the floorboard before handing an extra set of knives to the guys. "Better safe than sorry." I grabbed my sword.

Miles arched a skeptical brow. "I hope you have a cloaking spell for that. I don't think you can get away with carrying a weapon in plain view in Boston."

I pursed my lips and eyed my beautiful blade. Shade could put it in a shadow, but if something happened to him, his magic would dissipate and it would be in plain view. "Do you have any cloaking spells in your bag o' tricks, Ash?"

"They're too volatile to carry premixed." She slid out of the passenger seat and closed the door.

"You'll have to sit this one out." I laid my sword in the hidey hole and latched it shut.

"You don't need it. Between your fire and your fighting skills, you are unstoppable."

I laughed. "Should I take that as an actual compliment?"

"It's the truth. Take it however you need to."

"It was a compliment." My mouth threatened me with a smile, but I fought it. Mayhem's opinion of me shouldn't have mattered. It didn't matter.

Ash grinned, and I rolled my eyes.

The guys put on jackets over their knife holsters, and I did the same. Ash stood on the sidewalk and closed her eyes, doing her magical thing, and I couldn't help but smile this time.

Pride swelled in my chest. My little sister had turned into the most amazing witch in a matter of weeks. At least one good thing had come out of this ridiculously terminal ordeal.

"What do you feel?" I asked.

She shuddered. "Icky, sticky dark magic."

"Obviously." I hadn't even opened my senses to it yet, but I could feel it dampening the air and clinging to my skin like a wet sock. Yuck. "What about the spell?"

She shook her head. "Let's walk."

"Boston is almost 90 square miles." Shade strode beside me as we followed Ash and Chaos. "It'll take forever to walk it all."

"We won't have to," I said. "Ash directed you to park in this end of town for a reason."

"It's just a hunch," she said.

"We both know it's more than that." I rolled my shoulders, missing the feel of my sword on my back.

"What is this emotion you're feeling?"

"What does it feel like?" I asked.

"Nothing yet." Ash turned down a side street, and I followed.

"Sorry. I'm talking to the demon in my head."

She laughed. "Now I know how you felt."

A low growl rumbled between my ears. "If I knew how to name it, I wouldn't have asked."

"Physically, I mean." I tapped my temple when Shade cut his gaze to me. "Mortals are complicated creatures. Lots of emotions."

"It's pleasant. Your chest feels full. Your lips curve upward, but you're not quite smiling anymore. It seems to be directed toward your sister."

"I'm proud of her. If you'd met her before everything started, you'd see how much she's grown." The full feeling in my chest and my smile were also the result of having him back, but I didn't dare say that out loud.

Yeah, okay, fate had brought us together. I believed it now, no matter how badly I wanted to deny it. After summoning him without his skull…all by my lonesome, apparently…fate was the only explanation. It wasn't logical in the slightest, but logic was Ash's jam.

Action was mine.

Chaos stopped abruptly and grabbed Ash's hand. "I sense a rift."

"As do I."

"Mayhem does too. Where?" I reached into my jacket, wrapping my fingers around a dagger.

"To our right."

"This way." Chaos turned down the street, and we strode toward a massive red brick church with a white steeple.

A four-by-three-foot gash in…the veil?…hung to the left of the building, its edges rimmed in glowing orangish-red.

"Whoa." I stopped and rubbed my eyes, expecting it to vanish from sight, but it stayed there, suspended in midair.

A ripple darted from right to left, and a six-foot-tall beastie with goat horns and the face of a hyena barreled toward it. Four witches gave chase, one of them hurling a blue ball of energy toward the ripple. He missed—fae soldiers were fast AF—and hit the metal fence surrounding the churchyard, electrifying it. It sizzled and popped, raining sparks to the ground before going out.

Thank the goddess nothing caught fire.

"Why are they doing this in broad daylight?" I picked up my pace. "Do they not have a shadow witch?"

"Doing what?" Miles asked, matching my strides. "I don't see anything."

"You don't see the giant rift right there?" I swung my arm toward it. "And the witches trying to fight a fae soldier and a hyena man?"

"I can see through shadows," Chaos said. "She must be channeling Mayhem's power to see through them as well."

"That is precisely what is happening."

"We have to help them." I jogged toward the fray.

"How? We can't see them." Miles ran to catch up.

"I can," Shade said, matching our pace.

I cut him a sideways glance. "Since when?"

"It's an active power. I have to focus to use it, but now that I know there's a shadow here, I can see through it."

"And you never bothered to share that bit of information?" I made a mental note to take inventory of everyone's hidden talents if I ever had the time.

"I'm the only shadow witch in Salem. I never have to use it."

The battle rounded the corner, and I stopped, holding up a hand. "We'll tell them Chaos and I have that power too. They can't know about the demons."

"You need to find the phoenix spell. Let the Boston witches take care of Boston. It's not your job."

"These rifts are happening because of us. That makes it our job." I strode toward a witch who rummaged through a bag, no doubt looking for a freezing spell. "It looks like you guys could use some help."

She snapped her head up, her eyes widening before she shot another woman a chastising glare. "Gray! Our cloak."

"What? It's still in place." Gray looked me up and down. "How can you see through it?"

"It's an active power," I mimicked Shade's words. "I have to focus to use it."

Shade gave me the stink eye. "I have it too."

"As do I," Chaos said. "If you will bring the other two into your shadow, we will assist you."

The soldier rippled toward us, and I threw a fireball, slamming it into his chest. He screeched, his cloak slipping just long enough for me to see the paralyzing venom dripping from his pincers.

"Holy Hecate," Gray said. "Olga, she's a Holland."

"No shit," Olga said. "Hey, Adrian. We've got company."

The High Priest whirled toward me, his brow slamming down over his deep-set eyes. "What are you doing here? We don't need your help."

"Ah!" The fourth witch flew backward, his shoulder slamming into a wall before a massive gash formed in his neck. The hyena man lashed out a taloned hand, slicing into the invisible fae's soft spot.

Bug-man screeched again, dropping the witch and turning on the beastie.

"Are you sure?" I scrunched my nose. "It kinda looks like you do."

His chest puffed as he straightened his spine. "I'm sure."

I nodded toward his fallen witch. "Do you have an antidote for that? We do."

"I haven't found anything that works," Olga said.

"My sister can help him if you'll bring her into the shadow."

Gray rolled her fog outward, enveloping Ash and Miles. They darted toward the fallen witch and administered the antidote while the hyena man railed on the fae. Adrian shot me a steely glare before swirling his hand in the air, creating a little tornado and sending it toward the beasties. It caught the hyena and whirled him around before throwing him three yards away.

"Adrian is an imbecile. If he were wise, he would allow the alastor to kill the fae."

"Alastor?" I asked.

Olga flashed a puzzled look. "That's Adrian, our High Priest."

"An alastor is an upper-mid-level demon. They are skilled fighters and despise the fae almost as much as I do."

"The hyena man. It's an alastor demon," I said, quickly recovering from my faux pas. "You should let it kill the fae."

"How do you know what it is, light witch ?" Adrian's words dripped with more venom than the fae's pincers. "Why don't you go plant a flower or make some tea? This is our battle. Leave the fighting to the real witches."

I narrowed my eyes. Leave the fighting to the "real" witches? Oh, no he didn't.

I gathered fire in my palms, bringing them together so the flames danced between them, growing bigger and hotter with my anger. I could show him a real witch. "How many fae have you killed, dark witch ?"

Mayhem's growl rumbled between my ears. "Now this is an emotion I'm familiar with. You should rip him open and burn him from the inside out."

Mayhem's magic bled into my veins, and if I'd been anyone else, I would have done exactly that. But I was me. His soulmate. The only being in existence who countered his magic, and, much to my chagrin, the desire to roast Adrian's chestnuts on an open fire dissolved, taking my anger with it.

"As much as I hate to admit it, we're on the same side." I hurled my flames at the fae, but his exoskeleton shielded him, as usual. "And those suckers are fireproof."

"Which must mean you haven't killed any either," Adrian said. "At least I took out the demon."

"Don't let him speak to you that way. Tear off his head and piss down his throat."

"We're on the same side," I said again. "If we work together, we can share information. I'm sure you know things about the fae that we don't, and vice versa."

Mayhem growled in my head. "It's me. My magic is seeping out of my psyche and making you docile. This isn't you, Ember."

Holy crap. He was right. I mean, I wouldn't urinate on a foe—no matter how big his ego—but never would I ever let a man talk to me like I was a dainty, useless little girl. Flowers and tea, my ass.

Mayhem pulled back, the oddly calming energy he'd forced into me dissipating, and I gasped.

"Light witches couldn't possibly know more about this than we do," Adrian said.

Olga raised her hand. "Don't demons disappear when they die?"

"I'm no demon." Bugman charged her, and she screamed, ducking behind her High Priest. Chaos blocked the fae's path, landing a punch to the side of his face and breaking off a pincer. He squealed and hissed, stumbling back to where the alastor lay motionless after Adrian's tornado.

I highly doubted a little wind knocked a demon unconscious. Most likely, Chaos was keeping it in check, but I'd let Adrian have this one. If he knew we were in cahoots with the Princes of Hell, we'd have to fight off BSM too.

And we didn't have time for more side quests.

Seriously. No. More.

Ash joined hands with Miles and Shade and hit the fae with a killer freezing spell. Well, not actually killer, but the bugaboo's body seized, the blood from its mouth stopping mid-drip as it toppled to the ground.

"Whoa," Gray said. "How…?"

Adrian scoffed and crossed his arms. "It won't hold."

I could feel Mayhem's desire to rip his heart out growing in my mind, so I clenched my teeth and grabbed a dagger from my scabbard. "Let me do this," I whispered as I marched toward it. "You're killing my instinct to fight."

"Sorry." He reeled it in again, and my own anger surged through my veins.

I hurled the dagger at the frozen fae, the blade penetrating the soft spot below his ear hole.

"Gray and I will seal the rift," Olga shouted.

I whirled around, my expression livid. "Don't."

"Okay." She raised her hands, dropping a potion bottle and shattering it on the pavement.

"We don't take orders from light witches," Adrian said. "Seal it."

"That was my last spell. I'll have to mix another one." Olga dropped to her knees and rummaged through her bag.

I mouthed the words let the alastor go to Chaos, and he nodded, releasing his hold on the demon. The beast charged toward me.