Newt, I said, hoping my shaking voice wasnt too obvious, I demand you leave. Go directly to the ever-after from this place, and dont return to bother me again.
It was a good banishmentapart from my not having put it in a circle firstand Newt raised one eyebrow at me, its puzzlement set aside with an ease that spoke of much practice. Thats not my summoning name.
The demon jerked into motion. I shrank back to invoke a circlepaltry though it would be, undrawn and unscribedbut Newt stepped into the living room, the hem of its robe the last thing I saw slipping around the doorframe. From out of sight came the sound of nails being pulled from wood. There was a sharp crack of splintering paneling, and Newt swore colorfully in Latin.
Jenkss cat Rex padded past me, curiosity doing its best to fulfill its promise. I lunged after the stupid animal, but she didnt like me and so skittered away. The caramel-colored kitten paused at the threshold with her ears pricked. Tail twitching, she sat and watched.
Newt wasnt trying to pull me into the ever-after, and it wasnt trying to kill me. It was looking for something, and I think the only reason it had possessed me was so it could search the sanctified church. Which boded well as a sign that the grounds were still holy. But the damned thing was crazy. Who knew how long it would ignore me? Until it decided I might be able to tell it where it was? Whatever it was?
A thump from the living room made me jump. Tail crooked, Rex padded in.
The sudden knocking on the front door of the church spun me the other way to the empty sanctuary, but before I could call out a warning, the heavy oak door swung open, unlocked in expectation of Ivys return. Great. Now what?
Rachel? a worried voice called, and Ceri strode in, fully dressed in faded jeans with dirt-wet knees, clearly having been in the garden despite it being before sunrise. Her eyes were wide with worry, and her long, fair hair billowed about her as she paced quickly across the barren sanctuary, tracking in mud from her garden-inappropriate, elaborately-embroidered slippers. She was an elf in hiding, and I knew that her schedule was like a pixys: awake all day and night but for four hours around each midnight and noon.
Frantic, I waved my hands, alternating my attention between the empty hallway and her. Out! I all but yelped. Ceri, get out!
Your church bell rang, she said, cheeks pale with concern as she came to take my hands. She smelled wonderfulthe elven scent of wine and cinnamon mixing with the honest smell of dirtand the crucifix Ivy had given her glinted in the dim light. Are you all right?
Oh, yeah, I thought, remembering hearing the bell in the belfry toll when I had pushed Newt from my thoughts. The expression ringing the bells wasnt just a figure of speech, and I wondered how much energy I had channeled to make the bell in the tower resonate.
From the living room came the ugly noise of paneling being ripped from the wall. Ceris blond eyebrows rose. Crap, she was calm and sedate, and I was shaking in my underwear.
Its a demon, I whispered, wondering if we should leave or try for the circle I had etched in the kitchen floor. The sanctuary was still hallowed ground, but I didnt trust anything except a well-drawn circle to protect me from a demon. Especially this one.
The questioning look on Ceris delicate, heart-shaped face went hard with anger. She had spent a thousand years trapped as a demons familiar, and she treated them like snakes. Cautious, yes, but she had long since lost her fear. Why are you summoning demons? she accused. And in your sleepwear? Her narrow shoulders stiffened. I said Id help you with your magic. Thank you very much, Ms. Rachel Mariana Morgan, for making me feel worthless.
I took her elbow and started dragging her backward. Ceri, I pleaded, not believing that her delicate temper had taken this the wrong way. I didnt call it. It showed up on its own. Like I would even touch demon magic now? My soul was already tainted with enough demon smut to paint a gymnasium.
At that, Ceri pulled me to a stop, steps from the open sanctuary. Demons cant show up on their own, she said, the flicker of concern returning as her white fingers touched her crucifix. Someone must have summoned it, then let it go improperly.
The soft scuff of bare feet at the end of the hallway cut through me like a gunshot. My pulse catching, I turned, Ceris attention following mine an instant later.
Cantor dont? Newt said. The kitten was in its arms, paws kneading.
Ceris knees buckled, and I reached for her. Dont touch me! she shrieked, and I was suddenly battling her as she swung blindly, pulling from me and lunging into the sanctuary.
Shit. I think were in trouble.
I lurched after her, but she jerked me back when we found the middle of the empty space. Sit, she said, her hands shaking as she tried to yank me down.
Okay, we werent leaving. Ceri I began and then my jaw dropped when she flicked a dirt-caked jackknife from her back pocket. Ceri! I exclaimed as she sliced her thumb open. Blood gushed, and while I stared, she drew a large circle, mumbling Latin. Her waist-length, almost-translucent hair hid her features, but she was trembling. My God, she was terrified.
Ceri, the sanctuary is holy! I protested, but she tapped a line and invoked her circle. A black-stained field of ever-after rose to encompass us, and I shuddered, feeling the smut of her past demon magic slither over me. The circle was a good five feet in diameter, rather large for one person to hold, but Ceri was probably the best ley line practitioner in Cincinnati. She cut her middle finger, and I grabbed her arm. Ceri, stop! Were safe!
Wide-eyed in panic, she shoved me off her, and I fell into the inside of her field, hitting it like a wall. Get out of the way, she ordered, starting to draw a second circle inside the first.
Shocked, I pulled myself to the center, and she smeared her blood behind me.
Ceri I tried again, stopping when I saw her intertwining the line with the first, enforcing it. Id never seen that before. Latin words fell from her lips, dark and threatening. Pinpricks of power crawled over my skin, and I stared when she cut her pinkie and started a third circuit.
Silent, desperate tears marked her face as she finished and invoked it. A third sheet of black rose over us, heavy and oppressive. She switched the filthy gardening blade to her bloodied hand and, shaking, prepared to cut her left thumb.
Stop! I protested. Frightened, I grabbed her wrist, sticky with her own blood.
Her head swung up. Blue eyes lost in terror met mine. Her skin was chalk white.
Its okay, I said, wondering what Newt had done to cause this self-assured, unflappable woman to lose it. Were in the church. Its sanctified. You built a damn fine circle. I looked at it humming over my head, worried. The triple circle was black with a thousand years of curses that Algaliarept, the demon Id saved her from, made her pay for. Id never felt such a strong barrier.
Ceris pretty head shook back and forth, lips parted to show tiny teeth. You have to call Minias. God help us. You have to call him!