Ritual Magic (38 page)

"Jackson! Get the baby to Celeste and
protect them!" Solomon stepped forward, blocking the view of the
three shadow demons closest to me.

The sound of hissing and growling was
impossible to miss, as if the shadow demons were trying to decide
how to proceed. They were clearly waiting for orders, though,
because they didn't make a move to advance on us. That alone was a
point in our favor.

I scanned the room and found, besides the
fact that Jack was making his way to Cora, step by painstaking
step, every other man in the room had taken points around the bed
like a wall of masculine muscle. Gabriel, Leo, Solomon and Von were
all standing at different points of the bed, ensuring that nothing
could get through, much less harm either Cora or me.

The men protecting us now were the most
powerful, most fierce, most determined wall of man flesh that I
could have ever pictured, and they all had their backsides to me.
It was a bit too much for my hormone-riddled mind to bear.

Clean thoughts. You
love
Solomon.
My eyes flicked over to Solomon's backside and I
drank in every little detail.
What the
hell
is wrong with
you, Celeste?! We are being attacked, for Hades' sake! You have GOT
to get yourself TOGETHER!

I snapped back into reality just when Jack
leaned in and softly handed Cora to me, his arms slightly reluctant
to release her. He obviously felt that she was safer in his arms,
and I couldn't doubt that she probably would be, but we needed him
in the protective line.

"Jack, I promise that I will do my part if
you do yours." I leaned in to rest my forehead on his as he tried
to tear his eyes off of Cora.

Pulling back slowly, Jack released his hold
and turned his back to me, taking his position near my bed pillow.
His back shoulders were so broad and burly that it almost looked
like a different person.

That was when the shadow demons began
growling, cutting all thoughts down to nothing until a chuckle
drifted towards the bed from the front of the room.

"Ahhh, Celeste, my dear." I recognized the
voice instantly. It was Maximilian. "I see that you are in a bit of
a pickle." His voice drifted over to the bed from his position, and
a part of me instantly became ill.

My stomach began to rock with waves of
nausea as I heard my breath catch.
No. I will not let this man
scare me—my baby is much too important. He will know what it means
to poke the mama bear!

I narrowed my eyes at him and felt my body
begin to grow warmer. "Call off your
pets
." I snarled
through my wall of men. My man wall. Hmmmm.
Snap out of it!
I snapped my fingers and my thoughts instantly cleared. There
wasn't enough time to be distracted. Not now, anyway.

Max walked around the room casually, gazing
leisurely at the decor as if he were deciding if he was going to
buy the place or not. Maybe he thought that he was going to inherit
the castle, but the way that Max was clearly avoiding Leo's side of
the bed was telling. Leo was probably burning holes into Max's
psyche with his mere presence, and Max was desperately trying to
pretend that Leo wasn't even in the room. But by doing so, he was
advertising that Leo intimidated him.
Well, let's see who
intimidates him now
.

A wicked grin I didn't know I had at my
disposal began to spread across my face. I was also positive that
my eyes were beginning to glow with my crazed road rage look,
because when Max glanced at me through the man wall, his step
stuttered and he almost tripped.
Good!
I wanted to burst out
with a bright, wicked laugh, but I was saving that for later.

"Get the hell out, Max. We do not want or
need you here." I sneered at him as he leaned forward to get a
closer look at my expression. He winced as he stood back up and
flicked his hand up in the air.

"It is painfully obvious that motherhood has
taken its toll on you, Celeste. You are really quite haggard
looking. I wouldn't be surprised if you begin to look your true
age. What is it again? One hundred years old? The time has truly
caught up to you. What a
shame
." He sauntered around the
room and turned his back to the bed, gazing up and down his line of
shadow demons along the walls of the room.

"I'm older than that,
little boy
."
Max's shoulders bristled at the 'little boy' comment and I sneered
at the back of his black outfit that just never seemed to get any
more attractive.

Max turned around with pure hate in his eyes
and took three halting steps in my general direction. He stopped as
Leo and Von stepped closer to each other, closing the gap between
them to keep him from making any progress towards me. But Max was
not distracted. He took a step backwards and watched as the men
loosened their spacing slightly to allow themselves to cover more
area. His eyes brushed up and down the line of men around the bed
as he leaned to the side to wink at me.

"Quite the little harem you have here,
Celeste."

"You can call me 'your highness.' Or maybe
just 'goddess supreme' since you
are
just a bug that
deserves to be stomped." My voice held a cold tone as I stared at
him from behind my wall of protective men. I heard a chuckle come
from Jack's side of the bed and it steeled my resolve to carry
on.

Max shook with rage as he growled.
"Insolence! You will
pay
for thinking you can treat me this
way, witch."

He threw his hands forward and I immediately
reacted with power of my own as a wave of energy flew from him
straight into Leo's broad figure. A shield of pure blue energy shot
up around our group as soon as Leo's body fell back on the bed with
a loud grunt. My eyes were firmly set on Max's, but I watched
worriedly through the corner of my eye as Leo pushed off of the
bed, lunging forward as if he were going to attack the man. Von's
firm hand pulled Leo back into our protected area and he shook his
head.

"Celeste has us covered." He flicked his
chin back towards me, but kept his eyes on Leo's face.

I couldn't see Leo's reaction except when he
brushed himself off and threw his shoulders back, squaring his
posture. The back of his suit creaked with the strain of his
muscles bulging with stress and tension.

A gust of wind blasted over my shield as I
felt the onslaught of Max's anger bursting against my mind. His
rage was obvious by the growls and grunts that he was rolling in
his chest. An icy smile began to shape on my lips as I eyed him
dangerously.

"You will pay." Max growled again as he
began to pace around the room, eyeing my shield as if he was going
to find a gap that he could take full advantage of.

The room sat in absolute silence. The shadow
demons twitched in the dancing lights cast by the fireplace while
Max paced back and forth, trying to gather his wits about him.

Just then the door burst open and Camela ran
into the room, feral and evil just like the wicked demon witch that
she was. Her eyes were aflame with ruby fire as she began to attack
and rip apart the shadow demon closest to her. Her growls and
snarls rang through the room as she proceeded to kill the shadow
demons one by one like she was picking them off in a line of
idiotic chickens. She was a whirlwind of pure destruction, and she
was a lot more fearsome than I had originally surmised. She was a
force of nature that would not be contained, and I was fiercely
grateful that she was fighting for Leo and not this spoiled little
vampire-warlock child that was pitching a little hissy fit in our
honor.

Max stepped backward as if he was truly
concerned about Camela and her dangerous talon-like claws. He eyed
her progress as she slowly continued to decimate the gathering of
shadow demons.

Leo growled in his spot, heaving with anger
as he twitched, clearly wanting to join the fight. Von leaned
forward and spoke with fear in his voice as Max began to
concentrate on Camela, setting the full force of his angry eyes on
her. "Camela! Come within the circle! Hurry!" His voice was clipped
as Camela turned around to see what was going on behind her.

In a blink, Max was standing behind her,
grasping the handle of a silver dagger that was suddenly protruding
deep from Camela's back.

"Noooo!" Leo's voice rang through the room
as Camela's eyes gleamed with anger and fierce rage. She didn't
even have the sense to look frightened!

"My king," Camela whispered as she turned
her head to face Leo, the color leaching from her body as she drew
her final breath. Her vivid eyes fluttered as the fierce ruby glow
of her irises began to transition to the dull black of death.

It was a horrifying sight—Camela's life
fading from her body as she slumped forward onto the cold floor,
her blood running black against the rich brown boards of wood. I
heard myself gasp as I watched her body begin to shrivel and
blacken.

"Oh, my god," I whispered underneath my
breath, clutching Cora closer to me. Camela, the most fearsome
woman I had ever met in my life, was dead at the hands of
a...a...brat. My body began to shake and convulse with anger. I had
never really
liked
Camela, but she had put herself in the
way of danger to protect my baby. She had cared for Cora, now lying
in my arms, and that was enough for me.

I looked down at Cora's sparkling golden
eyes, and it was like she knew. She knew that something
big
was going to happen, and she was ready. My eyes settled back on
Max's proud face, full of hate and loathing as he turned back
around and brushed his hands off in front of himself as if he had
just finished doing something dirty.

Camela's blood was still on his hands as he
turned back to face us.

Leo's growl came again and Von kept his hand
on Leo's shoulder, steadying him and keeping his tense body firmly
in place.

Looking at Max with ever-growing fury, I
pulled my lips across my teeth in a fierce display of anger.
"
You
!" I growled. "You will pay for killing Camela, and
anything else you have done in the past. You will
pay
for
every wicked little thing you have done, said, or thought. I don't
care who your 'mommy' is, and I don't care what you do. You are
nothing but a smear on the memory of this world. You are nothing."
I seethed as a rich blue glow began to appear just beyond my
vision. I could see everything suddenly with more detail and
contrast. After clearing my mind to accept the strange turn in my
powers, I realized that I could actually see
through
Max and
see that his heart was beating rapidly with fear. He was afraid of
me and my powers, but he had no idea. He had no inkling about how
powerful I could be when I was
angry
.

Max tried to laugh casually as he began to
pace around the room again, my eyes following his movements as he
fought for calm and tried to gain control over his own thoughts. It
was clear that he was considering running, but running from what?
He wasn't quite sure. He turned back around when he was back in the
center of the room, twitching his hands at his sides as if he were
getting ready to cast his magic again. I had no idea what he was
preparing to do.

"You
wish
you could do something
about it." Max raised his hands again towards our protective circle
and anger-powered energy washed over me like an ocean wave. It
crested and poured over me like a fierce tidal wave, crashing
through my body and filling me with intense power.

"No!" I spoke calmly as blue glowing energy
burst forth from me, past the forms of the men protecting Cora and
me, and straight into Max and the line of shadow demons.

All of them fell. Every single shadow demon,
as well as Max, collapsed to their knees in horrible pain, writhing
and screaming as if they were being slowly ripped inside out. The
gut-wrenching sounds were horrible to hear but a song to my soul
for an inexplicable reason.

Justice.

Von turned immediately around to face me
with a look of shock and fear as I looked up at him and spoke
again.

"No, never again."

The room burst with a blue glow and the
world went black as I heard fierce yelling from the men surrounding
me. I was not afraid.

The dream had been intense and overwhelming.
I had been swept forward through my memories as if my thoughts and
life were on fast-forward. Everything I had been looking forward
to...every moment of being a mother, wife and queen flashed before
my eyes like I was sifting through the movie of my life. But it
seemed so quick that it felt like a teaser trailer.

There were brief moments of motherhood:
holding my baby, cuddling her, watching her sleeping and cooing to
her as she giggled in my arms. Cora was a beautiful baby, and she
had a cherubic smile and giggle. The entire family doted on
her.

The men were the best fathers in the world.
They each took turns caring for her and providing little moments of
total happiness in her life. It was just a flash, though, and
brief. For a dream, it was a wicked thing, and I wanted to cry when
the next scene burst forth.

Cora was now a toddler. She was walking,
talking and running around like a whirlwind on two legs. She was
everywhere and in everyone's arms. She was bounced, tickled and
carried around by the men like she was a trophy. They fought over
the time that they would spend with her, and I found myself having
to put my foot down about a schedule. All of the men stepped into
line, though, knowing that mine was the final word about Cora. It
was a blur. Time was slipping away in my little dream.

I turned around in the dream and realized
that Cora was a ten-year-old girl, running around with her hair
dangling behind her, chatting about her schooling and her studies.
She was worried that she wasn't learning how to hold her bow
correctly. She also shared her concerns about what Gabriel was
going to make her do the next time that he quizzed her. It made my
head spin, how much all of the men expected her to know.