9. Ember

9

EMBER

"S on of a basilisk!" I shouted, but I immediately regretted it. Imp slime oozed into my mouth as the bugger clung to my hair, its abdomen sliding across my face and coating my skin in goo.

It tasted like sour milk and disgust.

A tiny worm-like appendage flopped against my lips, and I tried my best to purge my mind of the fact that a gremlin's wee-wee had just touched my mouth. So gross.

I pried the bastard from my face, but it wiggled and slipped from my grip, landing on the pavement with a splat. It was either dazed from the impact or Chaos had regained control, because it lay there in a puddle of slime, its eyes circling as if it were watching something spin.

I hurled the knife at it, but my makeshift weapon wasn't weighted properly. I missed the bugger's heart, slicing into its shoulder instead. The imp wailed and writhed, the blade pinning it to the pavement as it thrashed.

"Are you okay, Ash?" I called over my shoulder as I marched toward the bastard, scanning the ground for more shards of glass on my way.

"I'm fine."

"Good. Chaos, will you hold this monkey still so I can vanquish it?" I yanked the knife from its shoulder and adjusted my grip, ready to stab it in the heart, but the blade had severed its arm. An idea began to form in my mind.

Under Chaos's control, the imp couldn't wail, but it let out a pitiful, muffled moan through its closed lips.

"Put it out of its misery." Ash hobbled toward me, putting her weight on the heel of her injured foot.

"Wait." I lowered the knife. "We can use it."

"Use it for what?" Ash clung to her demon's arm for balance.

"For its bones," Mayhem said, as if he'd read my mind.

"Exactly." I used two fingers to pick up the severed arm, and the hand contracted into a fist. "The phoenix spell said the bone dust has to be from the same or adjacent species."

Ash gasped. "An imp is a type of demon."

I turned toward her, holding up the arm. "And we already have a piece of it."

"You are as brilliant as you are brave."

The imp moaned, saving me from the flutter threatening to form in my stomach.

"If I vanquish it, will its arm go too?"

"Hold it tightly with the intent to keep it…like you did my head…and it will become your trophy."

"If you—" Chaos started, but I clutched the whole arm in my fist, spun to the imp, and plunged the knife into its chest.

With one final screech, the imp turned into a puff of smoke, and a tiny rift opened, sucking it through before slamming shut. As I opened my palm, hellfire erupted on the severed arm, burning the flesh and goo and leaving only bone behind.

"Looks like we just saved your finger. You're welcome." I tiptoed back to the house and wiped the grime from my feet onto the doormat before grabbing the box o' burnt skull and heading upstairs.

Chaos scooped Ash into a cradle carry and followed me, setting her on a stool while I dumped the dirty knife in the sink.

"Let me wash the slime off, and then we'll commit what I hope is the biggest magical crime we will ever have to pull off." I headed for the hall.

"Don't forget about the time spell if we make it long enough to mend the veil." Ash winced as Chaos picked a piece of glass from her foot.

"One step at a time." I lifted the box, reminding her we had other things to worry about right now.

"And don't forget…" She pressed her lips into a line and cut her gaze toward her demon. "Never mind."

I strode to my room and set the box and the bones on my dresser before gathering a set of clothes and padding to the bathroom.

"You aren't curious what else she wanted to remind you of?"

"Nope." I stripped out of my jammies and turned on the shower. "One thing at a time."

I turned toward the mirror and grimaced at my reflection. Purple hair coated in slime stuck to my forehead, and some strands stood straight up, while the rest was matted into a knot.

"I'm a mess."

"A hot one."

"Haha." I stepped under the stream and closed the curtain before scrubbing every inch of my body and face and rinsing with water as hot as it would go. Mayhem stayed silent while I dried off and got dressed, and I ran a brush through my hair, studying my reddened skin to make sure I'd gotten all the goo off.

"You're awfully quiet up there." I tapped my temple.

"I'm simply going along for the ride."

"Well, fasten your seatbelt and keep your arms and legs inside at all times."

"I don't understand the reference."

"I'm about to commit a magical felony. Don't make me any more nervous than I already am." My stomach soured as I paced down the hall, and when I got to the kitchen, I found Ash gathering the ingredients for the phoenix spell.

The spell I refused to let her take part in.

"Chaos offered to grind the bone so it won't ruin our food processor." She gestured to a stone mortar and pestle.

"Imps are surprisingly sturdy for their size." Chaos sat at the counter and held his hand toward me.

I laid the arm bones in his palm and held his gaze. "I'm casting this spell alone."

"We'll have to source more wolfsbane after this. I never dreamed we'd use this much in… Alone? Why? We can share our vim to?—"

"And share a cell when the Higher Power puts us on trial?" I grabbed the mixing bowl from the cabinet and picked up Ash's phone. "No."

"We're not going to get caught, and even if we did…it's for the greater good. We can't save Salem without casting this spell." She started to measure the hyssop, but I took the jar from her hands.

"Try explaining that to the Higher Power. You wouldn't make it past the ‘I accidentally possessed myself with a demon' part." I added two tablespoons to the bowl.

Ash crossed her arms. "I'm the reason we're in this situation. I'm helping."

I scraped the last of the wolfsbane into the bowl, hoping to Hecate it would be enough. "Actually, this guy and this guy…" I jutted a thumb at Chaos and then tapped my temple. "And the one gallivanting through the Underworld with Cinder are the reason we're in this situation, and you…"

"And I what?" She rinsed the empty container and returned it to the cupboard.

I squinted at the screen. "Rose of Jericho? Do we have that?"

"And I what?" Ash took a cedar box from the shelf and handed me a ball of what looked like dried fern.

I broke off a few pieces and crumbled them into the bowl while Chaos finished crunching the bones. Ash's mouth tightened when I tried to hand the herb ball back to her, a vein in her forehead beginning to bulge.

I huffed. "You're already showing signs of the curse. The last thing we need is for dark magic to push you harder into bringing it to life."

Her mouth dropped open, and she took the ball, returning it to the box. "I am not."

I added mustard seed and poured garlic oil on top of the herbs. "You said yourself that your thoughts aren't very light-witch-like lately."

"Well, I?—"

"And you nearly choked on the sage when we tried to contact Hecate."

"It was a fresh smudge stick." She put the box down and crossed her arms. "The smell was strong."

"Ember is right." Chaos slid the mortar toward me. "If she does get caught, she will need you to rescue her before the execution. If you are both detained, your chances of breaking the curse and saving Salem are nil."

She fisted her hands on her hips, her gaze cutting between Chaos and me. "The curse is not affecting me yet, but I do see your other point. I don't like it, but I see it."

She tapped a finger to her lips. "I'll cast a magic-containment spell over the room, you cast the phoenix, and I'll conduct the exorcism."

"See? We're still a team." I shoved Ash's phone into my pocket, added the crushed bone to the bowl, and carried everything to my bedroom.

"Why are you doing it in here?" Ash asked from the doorway.

"To keep you out of trouble. If I get caught, you had no idea what I was up to." I grabbed a dagger from my nightstand and settled cross-legged on the floor, setting the items in front of me. "Do your thing so I can do mine."

"Let me go mix the potion." She hurried back to the kitchen.

"You are being really quiet. Everything okay?"

"For centuries I have believed witches to be the vilest creatures to walk the earth, but you… You have so many layers. I have to rethink everything I've ever believed."

I laughed. "That's me. Layers for days, just like an onion. Careful or I'll make you cry."

Ash returned with a blue plastic spray bottle filled with an amber liquid. "Are you ready?"

"Absolutely." My stomach clenched and my heart attempted to leap out through my mouth, but yeah. I was ready to get on with the shit show.

Ash sprayed the potion over the walls, floor, and ceiling, giving the doorway a few extra squirts on her way out before reciting the magic-containment spell.

The energy in the room thickened, a blanket of magic wrapping around the space. I took a deep breath…two…three…trying to center myself, but my nerves made my hands tremble.

"You can do this."

"I know." My heart pounded against my ribs. Nausea churned in my gut, and when I leaned toward the door to close it, my knee hit the rim of the bowl, tipping it sideways and nearly spilling the contents all over the floor. Sitting upright again, I took another deep breath and lined up the dagger, the box of Mayhem's ashes, the potion, and the phone.

I can do this. I swallowed hard and swiped open the screen, flipping through the photos to find the incantation. "Oil of garlic, eye of newt, hyssop flower, wolfsbane root? Why do I feel like I'm reciting Macbeth ?"

"Shakespeare offered his soul in exchange for his works surviving the centuries."

"Oh, wow. So now he's what? Simmering in a tar pit for eternity?"

"Worse. He's eternally putting on plays for the denizens of the Underworld."

"Focus, Ember," Ash called from outside the door.

"Okay." Easy for her to say. She wasn't the one about to commit a magical felony.

I shook out my hands and recited the incantation for real. "Oil of garlic, eye of newt, hyssop flower, wolfsbane root. Like the phoenix, ashes rise. Come back to life before my eyes."

Heat built in the core of my being, mixing and churning with the nausea already permeating my innards. I picked up the dagger and pressed the tip of the blade to my finger. Three drops of blood trickled into the bowl, and the mixture sizzled, turning into a blackened goop before popping and going up in smoke.

"Oh crap." I fanned the fumes into the box of ashes. "I guess this isn't one you can premix and carry with you."

"Everything okay?" Ash asked from the hallway.

"We're good." The smoke sank onto Mayhem's cremated remains, clinging to them like an early morning fog on the dew. The heat in my belly intensified, spreading through my body like a surge of lava from an erupting volcano, and I pushed the magic outward, focusing on the skull.

"Whoa." A rush of adrenaline set my nerves ablaze, and every hair on my body stood on end. My breath came out in a huff before I raked in another one, the sensation of dark, primal power raising goosebumps on my flesh.

The energy kept building and building, and it was all I could do not to shout, "More power. Absolute power!" like Jafar when he's turning into a genie in Aladdin.

Holy Hecate.

"Mmm… It feels good, doesn't it?"

So. Effing. Good.

With a final push, I released the magic from my being, allowing every bit of it to encompass Mayhem's remains. The smoke thickened and swirled, and green fire erupted in the box, burning through the cardboard as if it were kindling.

Sparks flashed. Flames crackled. Bone reassembled.

A bang that nearly burst my eardrums rattled the windows. Searing white light blinded me. My head smacked the floor.

"Ember!" Ash raced into the room and cradled me in her lap. "Are you okay?"

I blinked, my vision returning, and I swallowed the thickness from my throat. "I'm peachy," I rasped. "Did it work?"

"Indeed." Chaos lifted Mayhem's skull. "It is whole once again."

"I knew you could do it. You are a goddess."

"Do the exorcism," I strained to speak.

"First, we need to cleanse you of the darkness. Come on." Ash helped me to my feet and guided me to the kitchen. I stumbled, my knees…hell, my everything…weak from the power of the spell.

"Rub this on your hands." She passed me a canister of powdered charcoal, and I did as she instructed. "With the energy of a cleansing rain, darkness fades and light remains."

I wiped two charcoal-coated fingers across both my cheeks and inhaled deeply as the icky, sticky dark magic sensation dissipated from my system, taking most of my vim with it. Pressing a hand to my chest, I heaved three more breaths. "That was intense."

"You were phenomenal. With practice, you could ? —"

"I'm going to stop you right there. There will be no practice of the dark arts in this coven. I hope to never cast that spell again." I chugged the glass of water Ash offered.

"Wash your hands. You're getting charcoal everywhere." She wiped the empty glass with a paper towel before carrying a grimoire to the living room. Chaos set the skull on the coffee table, and I dried my hands before sinking into my favorite chair.

"I'm assuming we don't need a containment circle, right?" She opened the book and flipped to the right page. "If you think we do, we'll need to go to my studio for the supplies."

"We're good." I rolled the stiffness from my neck.

"How do you know I won't kill you all the moment I reform?"

"Well, for one…I have your mark. Kill me, and you'll be vanquished." I scooted to the edge of my seat. "No more hunting fae for you."

His chuckle vibrated in my chest. "And two?"

I shrugged one shoulder dismissively. "I just know you won't."

My stomach tightened the moment the words left my lips. Did I just know, or were Ash's words skewing my perception of the demon? We were about to find out.

Ash sank onto the corner of the sofa and rested the grimoire in her lap before taking both my hands. We read the incantation in unison three times before I felt the first tingle. My lungs seized mid-breath, and a boom from the deepest part of my being shook the entire room, knocking a picture frame from the wall.

I gasped, my entire body feeling as if I'd swallowed a box of staples, the tiny shards of metal raking through my veins and filleting my insides. I coughed so hard, I nearly lost a lung. Purple smoke poured from my mouth, burning my throat and threatening to turn me inside out.

As the final bits of Mayhem left my system, I rose, backing away from the skull. He circled around it, forming a funnel cloud and lifting it into the air. Ash and Chaos stood across the room, watching Mayhem reform.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked for the umpteenth time.

"I'm good." Anticipation tightened my stomach, making my heart race.

Electricity crackled, filling the room with light. The smoke swirled and spun, wrapping around the skull and turning into flesh and bone. The storm dissipated, and Mayhem in demon form stood before me, menace and desire dancing in his eyes.

"Ember." He reached me in two strides and grabbed my shoulders, lifting me from the ground. My pulse thrummed, a strange mix of fear and want flooding my veins and making heat pool below my navel.

"Mayhem…" Chaos's voice dripped with warning.

"You deal with your witch. I'll take care of mine." As if I weighed nothing, he carried me down the hall and into my room, slamming the door behind us. Setting me down, he held my shoulder with one hand and locked the door with the other.

Returning his attention to me, he let go and morphed into his human form. His naked human form. Woof.

"Are you okay?" He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, concern etching lines on his forehead.

"I wish everyone would stop asking me that. My vim is taxed, but I'm fine." My gaze slid down his body, over his defined pecs and chiseled abs and locking on his package…unwrapped and standing at attention. My mouth watered. I pressed my lips together so I wouldn't drool.

"Ember!" Ash pounded on the door. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Everything is fine. We're umm…talking." I blinked, looking into his lavender eyes. "Everything is fine, right?"

"You're sure you're okay?" His gaze dipped to my lips.

"Yes." My head spun a little, but I was certain the naked man standing before me was the reason and not the events that had just transpired. In fact, all I could think about in that moment was how badly I wanted to climb him.

"You are coherent enough to make good decisions? To speak up if you don't approve?" He arched a brow.

I furrowed mine. "Yes…"

"Good. Then tell me to stop." He clutched my shoulders and crushed his mouth to mine.