Chapter Eighteen

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“It won’t be just shifters against the mages,” Colt reported, surprising Faith. “A last-minute addition. Someone named Granny Tucker, and her mage students, will be supporting the shifters magically. Apparently, she’s someone Sam knows and has dealt with before. A definite servant of the Light, so no fear on that score.”

“Thank goodness,” Faith said, relieved. “I had no idea there were that many dark mages gathered here.”

“Neither did any of us, but this Granny Tucker seems to have a bit of clairvoyance and knew to come,” Colt told her as he finally opened his door. “We go silent from here. Someone’s meeting us at the fence and will help us get in. We’re close to the summoning area, coming at it from the opposite side of the line of dark mages. When the demons start showing up, you can start doing your thing. Try not to be seen before then.”

“I’ll do my best,” she assured him.

She got out of the truck and came around to meet him before they crossed the quiet country road together on a jog. Sure enough, one of the Clan warriors popped out from behind a tree with a pair of bolt cutters and went straight to the chain link fence. He popped the links, making a hole big enough for them to fit through in no time flat. Colt thanked him, and the man melted back into the trees with his tool, probably to cut more holes in the fence elsewhere around the big property.

Faith followed Colt through the forest, trying to walk where he walked, using the trees and bushes for cover as they drew closer to the clearing on the grounds where the woodlands ended and a bit of manicured lawn began. Colt stopped just shy of the last ring of trees and kept both of them to cover behind a wide tree surrounded by bushes. She crouched down and peered through the bush on her side of the wide trunk to see what she could make of the mages.

What she saw was not good. Not good at all.

Whoever had snuck in and reported back had gotten it right. There was a thick salt circle inscribed on the grass. It looked like they’d used rock salt or something similar. It was spread on the heavy side so that there were no gaps on the uneven surface of the lawn.

The mages were lined up. They were wearing robes, and the ones at the end of the line looked tired and were sitting in lawn chairs and being waited on by some of their hangers-on. The ones nearer the front of the line looked eager for their turn. A woman was at the front of the line at the moment, waving her arms around as she formed her spell. The sleeves of her robe fell back to reveal that skin of both of her arms was covered in glyphs.

Faith might have called them tattoos if she’d seen them in any other setting, but these things were glowing dark red and looked downright evil. They pulsed with blood magic, and Faith had no doubt that the female magic user had killed innocents to get those marks of power on her body.

The woman let loose, and her spell sank into the circle that would become the portal Between realms, allowing the demons to answer and come through into this world. The nausea was completely gone, replaced with an eagerness to mix it up with whatever answered those spells.

“Hold off, Barty,” the eldest mage called as the woman slumped and headed for a chair near the end of the line, and the next man took her place at the edge of the circle. “I think we should wait a few minutes to see if anything is ready to answer.”

“That’s the Rollins patriarch,” Sam said over the radio in Colt’s ear. The broadcast would reach everyone on Sam’s team who had one of the special earpieces. “The old guy sitting down, giving the orders.”

Colt took a good look at his maternal grandfather. It had been so long since he’d seen his mother’s face, but he thought the man had the same blue eyes he remembered. The idea sent shivers down his spine. Where his mother’s eyes had been filled with love and merriment most of the time, this man looked stern and demanding. His eyes weren’t blue of cornflowers swaying in the breeze but a hard, cold blue with frost around the edges.

“The rest of them look mostly like members of the same family. You going to be okay with this, Colt?” Sam asked on a private channel, not over the general one.

Colt took a look at the line of mages. Some had the same blue eyes, including the woman standing at the very end of the line. She also looked nervous and not really all that happy to be there if Colt was any judge. The others who were still waiting their turn had flinty, determined expressions. The ones who were sitting, recovering from already having done their summoning, just looked half-wiped out.

“I’m okay,” Colt replied softly, keeping his voice low to avoid discovery. “Note the youngest woman standing in line. She doesn’t look like she wants to be here. Possible weak link?”

There was a pause before Sam replied. “Good catch,” he said finally. “I’ll tell the others. If you need to bow out or can’t handle being up against your mother’s relatives, let me know, Colt. I won’t think less of you for it. This is a very difficult situation for you, and I want you to know I understand.”

“I’m good,” Colt choked out. “Thanks, Alpha.” He could at least give Sam that sign of respect and acceptance.

“Something’s coming,” Faith whispered at his side, and Colt passed on the news to the rest of the team, switching to the general channel.

He switched from surveying the mages to looking at the empty circle, just in time to see a flash of dark energy spike through the circle, then subside. A hideous creature of glowing red lava—that’s the closest Colt could come to describing it—stood in the center, facing the line of mages.

“Who dare summon Maglos?” The lava creature had a voice that hurt Colt’s ears, and it was hard to look at as well. The shifting nature of the fire peering out from the cracks in its skin—if that’s what it could be called—made it hard to focus. This thing really was from another realm entirely.

“We summon thee, Maglos of the First Demon Realm.” All the seated mages had stood up and were speaking in eerie unison, creeping Colt out.

Maglos seemed to look at them, one at a time. Colt noticed the young witch with his mother’s eyes had stepped far back from the line of mages and looked like she wanted to bolt. Maybe he was imagining it, but that young woman didn’t seem to want to participate in the Rollins’ moment of glory, as his grandfather probably saw it.

Good for her, Colt thought, silently cheering her on. If there was any way to get her out of this without harm, Colt would see to it. There had to be some good Rollinses. His mother couldn’t have been the only one.

“To what purpose?” the lava creature said, grating on Colt’s ears.

“Do what you will to this realm,” the patriarch intoned, stepping forward. “Gather power, kill and destroy. Wreak havoc, leaving only those marked by the Venifucus alone. All others are fair game.”

“What is the mark?” the creature asked, sounding curious and pleased now.

Everyone on the other side lifted their arms where, for one brief moment, glowing tattoos of a stylized V inside a circle bordered by other sinister glyphs glowed red on the inside of their forearms, just above the wrist. Colt had never seen such things before, but he’d heard of them. The Venifucus were said to mark their people with invisible, magical tattoos that only a few on the side of Light could see.

“Did you see that?” Colt asked the team over the radio. “Did you see the tattoos?”

“I did,” Gavin replied, though nobody else spoke up. Gavin’s mother was magical too. Maybe it was something you had to have mage blood to see.

“Maglos agrees,” the creature said in his booming thunder voice as the patriarch smiled a cold smile.

“Florence,” the patriarch snapped his fingers at the young woman Colt had been watching. She hadn’t quite fled the scene, but she was on her way out. Only, the patriarch had just called her back. The bastard. She went to the old man’s side, waiting as if for punishment. “Go open the circle on the far side for our new friend, Maglos, then reseal it. Hurry up now. Don’t keep Maglos waiting.”

The woman bowed her head to the old man, then turned away and jogged around the edge of the circle. The demon inside watched her hungrily. Colt could see her expression had turned to stark terror when she thought nobody could see her face. She took a deep breath as she reached the other side of the circle. She was very close to them, as it happened. It would take only a few steps to get out of the trees and near the edge of the circle.

The woman named Florence stopped and steadied herself, reaching out her foot to do her patriarch’s bidding. All she had to do was break the salt line with her foot, and the demon would be set free. He might go after her—the way he was looking at her. But Colt wouldn’t allow it.

He was about to make his move when Faith did it for him. He followed swiftly as she stepped out from behind the tree and walked forward.

“Not so fast,” she said softly, but her voice carried in the quiet. All eyes turned to her—and Colt, who stood at her side.

“Who the hell are you?” the patriarch boomed, enraged.

“Oh, didn’t Mrs. Entwistle tell you that she failed to kill me with the demons she summoned to block my path here?” Faith said, smiling in a cunning way. “It took me a while to recognize the flavor of her magic now that she’s revealed herself as a dark mage, but I finally figured it out. I’m the Demon Slayer.”

A few of the younger mages gasped. The patriarch squinted at her, and if steam could have come out of the man’s ears, it would have at that moment. He was mad. And Colt noticed that Mrs. Entwistle was nowhere to be found. Maybe Rollins had wanted to keep this all for himself. He’d wanted the glory of the first real salvo in the Demon War to be his family’s alone. Pompous ass.

“There hasn’t been a Demon Slayer born in centuries. I seriously doubt you’re up to it, little girl,” the patriarch scoffed.

“Try me,” Faith taunted the old man.

“And she’s not alone,” Colt piped up, wanting to put the bad guys even more off balance. “I’m really mad you didn’t invite me to the family reunion, Granddad. Rather remiss, don’t you think?”

“What are you talking about?” the old man sputtered, glaring at Colt now.

“I’m Lilly’s son,” he stated loudly, proclaiming his birthright for all to hear. He’d never done that before, and it felt good. His mother might have been born of this bloodline, but she’d been nothing like these terrible people. Neither was her son. Except maybe for the cringing woman still standing hesitantly nearby. Colt reached for the woman, taking her by the upper arm. “Hi, cuz.” He reached down to plant a kiss on her cheek, acting a part but also taking the opportunity to communicate privately with her. “If you want out of here, I’ll do my best to make it happen. You don’t want to be on the dark side, do you?”

Terrified, her gaze shot to her patriarch, and when she looked back at Colt, there were tears in her big blue eyes. She shook her head, just once.

“I’m not… This isn’t…”

Colt could scent the truth in what she was trying to say. She wasn’t one of the bad Rollinses.

“I understand. Get into the trees behind me when I let you go and run for the road just beyond. I have friends in the woods. Shifters. They’ll help you if you’re on the level.”

All this took only a second or two while the patriarch seethed, and Maglos began pacing around the circle, spoiling for a fight. Colt had no idea how Faith would handle something like the lava creature, but she looked ready to take him on.

“Lilly? My daughter, the blood traitor? I thought she was dead,” the patriarch spat. “Served her right running off with a mangey cat. And I suppose you’re one of those fleabag shifters as well?” The man shook his head. “You’re no family of mine. I cut Lilly out of the family years ago and all her get.”

“Thanks for the favor,” Colt said distinctly, smiling at the old man. “I never considered myself a Rollins, so that goes both ways.”

“You little bastard!” The patriarch took charge and broke the salt line himself, freeing Maglos to go after Faith and Colt.

The lava monster sprang forward, out of the circle. Faith scooted off to the side, and Colt followed. There was clear land over in that direction. Safer to fight a being made partly of fire in the open rather than taking him into the trees and starting a forest fire.

Faith raised her hands and started chanting under her breath. That seemed to give the creature pause, but he redirected his wrath to Colt. He didn’t mind, but he wasn’t sure what even his lion form could do against a lava monster. But as Maglos approached, he seemed to slow and then stop, fighting against something Colt couldn’t see.

But he could feel it. Magic tingled along his spine. To Colt’s surprise, Florence stood beside him, using her magic to shield him. She hadn’t run.

The creature’s distraction gave Faith a chance to work her magic from behind. She did something, and a flash occurred in midair behind the monster. Then, Maglos was sucked into a tiny point and sent somewhere else. Right back to where he’d come from, Colt hoped.

Faith grinned at him. “One down,” she said, turning to face the now-ragged circle where more creatures were appearing, even as that first one was sent away.

“Oh, dear,” Florence said beside him. “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed. “If I live through this, I swear I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for this evil.”

Colt felt for her. “You didn’t summon any of these,” he said, sure of it in his mind.

“No,” she agreed, her eyes widening in horror as the creatures out of nightmare turned to look at them. “But I was going to have to do it. Father demanded it.”

“You’re Jeremiah’s daughter?” Colt asked, even as he faced the oncoming trouble. There was at least one Tauror, based on the descriptions he’d been given, and several of those goat-like things he’d already fought off the day he first met Faith.

“The youngest. Lilly was my sister. I’m your aunt, I guess.” She shrugged. “I was going to go live with Lilly when she got settled, but it never happened.”

“She died when I was young,” Colt told her as he prepared for the next wave of combat. This time, there was something for his claws to sink into. He would fight these creatures, even in his battle form, if necessary.

“I’m sorry,” Florence said quietly.