Chapter 28

28

As Thorn disappeared, a man shambled from the entrance. Only he walked weirdly, and he glared at us with dead eyes. A lifeless groan came with every movement like an accordion jerked open and closed.

Chas grabbed my arm and pulled me back muttering invocations to Voodin saints. “That evil bitch,” she said. “A zombie.”

I glared at it, and blue fire gathered in my palm. That surprised me, though it shouldn’t, considering what happened at Mary of the Sacred Heart Church.

Chas stared at my hand as the zombie gained ground then she shook her head as if coming to from a shock.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” Chas said. “Toss it at him.”

I flicked my hand out, willing that ball of blue fire at him, and it struck. It caught fire, and then the zombie fizzled like a firework at the end of its charge and disappeared.

“Good job, I think?” said Chas.

“Problem?” I asked.

“I’m just not used to my best friend being able to wield demonic fireballs.”

“Get used to it. We finish what we came here for, then make sure Thorn’s okay. The witch overplayed her hand.” I gritted my teeth, biting back a rush of fury. Foolish witch.

“How do you figure that removing the most powerful of us is overplaying her hand?”

“Because she’s not the most powerful.” I turned to look at her. “You are.”

Her expression turns horrified. “Um. No.”

“Well, you will be once you siphon what you need from me.” I grinned. “I can create fire, see through walls, and track humans on concrete. What can you do with a power burst?”

“I don’t know if I can kill her.” We’re moving again, her hands lightly on my back as she follows me as closely as possible.

“Well, I can, and if needed, I will. You just get us through the door, and if you need the power to stay safe and keep Moira’s magic at bay, take power from me until she’s weak enough to take it from her.”

She moved past me, keeping one hand on my arm, and checked the door. After a moment, she glanced at me and gave a low whistle. “She would really like us not to go in there.” She rummaged through her bottles and pulled out three. “Cover your eyes.” Chas broke the bottles against the door one at a time, each with a brighter flare than the last. “Shit. It’s still gonna sting, chérie.”

I wiggle my fingers and wink at her. “No problem.” I’ve finally figured out how to use the mark Thorn gave me. I take a breath, activate it first, and then reach the waiting demon stones inside. “Mind your manners, you.” I use the heart stone, the flame caller, and slam my hand into the door as I ignite the rich, white-blue flame in my palm.

Two things happen then, one expected, the other not so much.

We hear a scream of pain roar from the room Thorn was dragged into, and the door in front of us blasts into a million pieces that explode into the office on the other side.

But no Moira.

“Shit. She tricked us. If Thorn hadn’t gotten through the barrier, we’d have walked right in there to nothing but an imprisonment spell.” Chas huffed and stared at the remaining door. “And I’m out of those ward breakers.”

I smiled at her and laid my palm against the door, siphoning the ward in a few seconds. Then I did the same as before, calling the heart stone and blasting the door inward.

Sorry, Thorn.

The splinters of door crunched under our feet as we marched into what appeared to be another corridor, this one lined with doors. There’s a door every few feet, and they’re probably all locked.

Stomping my foot, I can’t help another burst of fury coursing through me. “Oh no. How are we going to get through these?”

Chas walks up to the first door. “Len, it’s not real. When you get close enough, your protection will cause you to see through it. I’ll take the left. You take the right.”

I moved down the hallway, my fingers hovering just off the wall. Chas is right, though. The first door becomes transparent as I get within a few feet, as does every door after until we reach the end. Two of us, three doors, and time ticking away, possibly on Thorn’s life.

“How do we choose?”

Chas paces for almost half a minute before answering me. “We blow them all and hope there aren’t too many undead on the other side. The more energy she has to spend, the fewer corpses she can keep upright.”

“And the illusion in the front shop can’t be lost, or she’ll have to leave town.”

She shrugged and reached for my hand. “Let me, this time. You just keep your eye on what’s on the other side.”

“Hey.” I entwined my fingers with hers and pulled her to face me. “Thank you for coming after I showed my worst side.”

The smile faded from her face, and she took a deep breath, then exhaled. On Chastity’s next breath, she pulled power from me, and I focused on feeding her what she needed.

One last breath in, and then she exhales and breathes fire in a wide arc in front of us. The doors heated, charring black before they exploded under the force of her magic.

“Okay,” I whispered as I peered into each room, “that was fucking cool.”

She rubs my knuckles over her lips and releases them. Then her eyes widened.

“Len, look out.” I pivot as a rotten, squelching corpse reached for me from the inside of the side room to the right. It’s no match for my flame, but by the time I’ve focused and started it, three more have joined it.

“Just run into the middle room. He’s got to be there.” I pushed Chas through ahead of me and lit one corpse on fire, letting it ignite the other two as they staggered after us.

The room we’re in looks like the chapel in the woods, right up to the altar, across which Thorn is bound.

“Hey, kitten,” I quipped as I backed toward him, the flaming corpses still advancing. “You get a long enough nap? Because we have places to be.”

Chas loosened the bonds holding him down, and we helped him off the stone table. “Thanks.” He cleared his throat. “Moira’s down the stairs.”

Behind the altar is a stone staircase leading underground.

“I guess it’s good it’s the dry season.”

“We’re not going down there.” Chas scoffed.

Thorn shrugged. “Give chase, or come around when she’s beefed up her defenses, it’s up to you.”

We headed down the stairs, Thorn in front, me bringing up the rear as the occasional corpse cropped up. The bottom of the pit the stairs led into is exactly what I expect for a necromancer. A catacomb of possible minions to raise, all neatly lined up on either side of the room, and Moira stood before a stone altar covered in blood.

“We won’t fight you, Moira,” I said. “I owe you a favor, and this is it. Tonight, you live, and you get the chance to run. No bodies to raise, no taking grandma with you.”

“You don’t get to choose the favor, and as long as you wear my mark, you can’t hurt me.”

I tossed fire at her…or tried. Nothing happened.

“See?” she cackled. “I almost got you to kill your best friend last night, and you thought you could just walk in here and—” She stopped short as Chas grabbed the gun out of my holster and shot without warning. The gunfire roared so loud that my ears rang. Moira’s body slumped over and hit the ground immediately.

“Laugh now, asshole.” Chas hands the gun back to me and heads up the stairs, stepping over the fallen zombie bodies, no longer animated by their master.

“I…”

Thorn shrugs and offers me his arm. “This plane has taken its toll on me tonight, I’m afraid. Would you ride home with me?”

I draped his arm over my shoulder and hold him up at the waist. “Tonight, I want to sleep in my own bed. But you can come home with me.”

Tomorrow, we’ll figure out where Moira hid the last stone.

But for tonight? I want wine, my bed, my best friend, and my demon lover. I still don’t know how much of that is me and how much is the mark he’s given me, but I’ll figure that out later.

“Do you think the wolves will come for us tonight?”

He cleared his throat. “I don’t think they’ll come around for a long time. But whatever else we’ve managed over the last week, it’s safe to say that you’ve only just got a handle on your new powers.”

“What about you?” We exited the way we entered, through the now deserted shop littered with decaying corpses. “How did a witch get the drop on you?”

He paused and gave me a long look. “Those answers can wait a little longer.” We left the shop, and I breathed the fresh air deeply as he rolled his shoulders and stood a little taller.

Fake it until you make it right?

“George’s is open, and I’m strangely famished, considering what we’ve been through,” said Chas. She waved her hand, and the lights go out in La Sorcière, the sign flipping to ‘Closed’ as the gate dropped with a loud clang. “And since it’s been a really weird week, Mr. Thorn, I think the very least that you owe us is a meal and a few drinks.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

Chas led the way, and we followed. But a prickly sensation went down the back of my neck, and I pivoted to see a woman with yellow eyes turn away down an alley.

People milled in the streets, and it was probably nothing. But the hand reached out, metaphysical tendrils moving through people until I caught her scent. It was familiar, but not a wolf, at least not one I knew.

Not that it mattered.

I’d find out where my last stone was hidden, and then—I’d hunt.