The Demon King and I (25 page)

“Please,” Claire choked out. “We can’t lose you, too.”

Mira nodded.

Mom stared up at Arath. “Do you know the old ways?”

“Savnon trained me in the old ways of spells and herbs.”

Even near death she managed a small smile. “He’s still alive? I thought he died in the Blood Wars.” She coughed and blood spewed from her mouth. “If you don’t do the spell correctly, you know what will happen.”

He nodded.

“Are you prepared to kill me?” She gave him her best steely stare, one that generally sent the rest of us packing.

“If necessary,” he told her.

What?

She waved her hand around at us. “Girls, promise me you will let Arath do what he must. If the spell doesn’t work, he must end me before darkness takes over.”

Claire sobbed. “Mom, you aren’t going to die.”

Mom looked over at me. “Gillian, you must make sure he is allowed to do it. I will not rise with this darkness inside of me. Do you understand?”

I bit the inside of my lip to keep from crying. “Yes.” I was the oldest and I had to be the strong one. It had always been this way. That didn’t stop me from feeling like a big blubbery baby.

Arath moved so that he was next to her. “You must clear the area. It is best if you do not look. It will be painful for her, as I rid her body of the toxins.”

He took off his council robe, revealing his jeans and T-shirt underneath. Pulling a small vial from a pouch at his hip, he held it to her lips. “This will help some with the pain,” he told my mother, “but I have nothing to prepare you for the fire you are about to feel.”

Mom nodded. “Do what you must, Arath. I am in your debt.”

“Alex and Claire, go gather our weapons from the hall,” I ordered. “Mira, keep a check on the front doors.” They all wanted to argue, I could see it in their eyes, but they didn’t. They moved away to do as I asked.

“I want to help you.” I stared at Arath.

“It is not wise. The pain will be immense.” His hands were over her head. Mom cried out.

“Please don’t let her die,” I whispered as I turned to cover the back doors. Arath was right, I couldn’t watch her writhe in pain. It was too much to see this strong woman I’d loved all my life grow weaker by the second. She was so proud, and this was no way for her to die.

Arath chanted a healing spell, and the magic came off of him in waves.
He’s so powerful. He can do this.
I tried to convince myself. The room glowed with his magic, and I hoped my mother’s eyes were closed so she didn’t singe her retinas.

I knew the moment he pulled the arrow from her chest. She gasped and coughed, a horrible hacking sound. I sent my own healing chants toward her. I didn’t have that much magic in me for this sort of thing, but I could give her what I had.

Ten minutes later Arath stopped, and the light dimmed. I glanced back. Mom’s normally tan skin was a grayish white. Her body had stopped moving and I feared she’d died.

Arath’s power rose and glowed again, in much the same way he had when we had closed the portals. I turned my face away, and waited. The heat of his magic reached me and warmed my body.

God, please let her live. I promise I’ll be a better daughter. We need her.
The glow dimmed again and I turned to see Arath shaking his head.

I took the few steps so that I could touch her. “What happened? She’s so cold.”

“Your mother is a great warrior and she fights for her life. Her will is strong, but I’ve done all I can. It’s up to her now.” He didn’t take his eyes from her and I knew he really had done all he could. He wanted her to live as much as we did.

“She’s not breathing.” I noticed her chest didn’t rise. The tears fell on my cheeks.

Arath moved behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. “She is between death and life, but she breathes. It’s shallow.”

My sisters were back in the lyceum. I felt them before I saw them. “Stay where you are,” I ordered them. “We can’t know what she will be when she wakes up.” If my mother was afraid of becoming an evil thing, then I knew it had to be bad. If Arath did have to kill her, well, I didn’t want to have to fight my own sisters. They were warriors but I wasn’t certain they were strong enough to let Arath kill our mother if necessary.

I turned to look up at Arath. “How long until we know? Is she going to wake up?”

As I said the words my mother sat straight up, gasping for air. Arath pulled me away from her and threw me to the back of the stage.

“Mage. Do you fight for the darkness?” he roared. His eyes were a fiery orange and he turned into big red scary Arath in less than a second.

She didn’t answer.

Oh, crap.

Arath pulled his knife from the sheath at his back. “Mage, do you fight for the dark? I command you to speak.” The knife wasn’t visible to her and she continued to stare ahead. Then her eyes closed and her head dropped.

“I am a warrior for the light. Sworn to uphold the true magic of the universe. I am love,” she whispered.

My arms tingled with the words and I felt my mother’s magic wash over me. I couldn’t stop the sobs. We all ran to her, and she took us in her arms. I don’t remember many hugs from my mother. Oh, there were a few. When we were ill, or as we went through the levels of becoming a Guardian, she gave us brief pats on the back at the ceremonies. But she wasn’t the kind of mom who was generous with the affection.

Except for today. She held on to each of us as if her life depended on it.

Finally she looked at Arath. “I thank you for the great gift you have given me today.” She bowed her head to him. I’d never seen her do that in the presence of anyone.

“Wise warrior, it is your gift”—he waved a hand to take in all of us—“that saved this from being a great tragedy. Your Guardians have served us well. Now you must go home to your healers.”

She nodded.

Arath opened a portal in much the same way he had for the council. “She is weak. Call my mother to her, and she will know what to do,” he instructed.

I picked my mom up off the table and cradled her in my arms.

“I don’t know how to thank you.” A single tear slipped down my cheek. Yesterday I’d gone to Maunra intent on murdering him, and today he had saved my mother.

I am a terrible, awful person, and he’s never going to forgive me.

He frowned. “She saved my life once. Now I have returned the favor. The debt is paid, Guardian.” His eyes were cold now. I knew he was thinking about the last time we’d seen one another. “You must go.” It was an order.

“Arath, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t—” I needed to explain to him that I cared for him. Everyone stared at me. I couldn’t do this in front of them. It was too personal. The way he stared at me, I had a feeling he never wanted to see me again. The idea of that made my heart hurt in my chest. “It’s just that, you know, I had to—”

My mom raised her head and gave me a withering glance. I couldn’t tell if it was because of the pain, or the fact I’d botched my apology again.

“You—just, thank you for what you did today. I can never repay you. I’m sorry. I seem to be saying that a lot lately, but you have to know how much—”

Arath’s face was blank of emotion. “You must go.”

“Gilly, we have to get Mom back. You heard what he said.” Claire pulled on my shoulder. “Mom needs to get to the healers and we have to find Aunt Juliet.”

Alex whispered in my ear, “Besides, you sound like a moron.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Thank you,” my sisters said in unison as they pushed me toward the portal.

I pulled Mom tight to my chest and walked to the light, wondering if I would ever see Arath again.

CHAPTER 31

A day later we were no closer to finding Bailey, but
my mother had healed at an amazing rate. It was a good thing, since whoever wielded the dark magic wasn’t interested in taking a holiday. We’d been fighting it for the last twenty-four hours.

There had been a rash of demon and dragon jumpers. Most of them only used our world to jump to the next. It seemed like everyone was trying to get the hell out of Dodge. Unfortunately, no place was safe. We had the occasional demon or dragon that wanted to lag behind, which kept us busy. While Alex and I were off fighting, Mira and Claire looked after Mom and followed up on leads concerning our brother.

After a particularly bloody battle just outside of Buenos Aires with a demon that had landed in the middle of a polo match, I was ready for a shower and a change of clothes.

“What happened?” Mira asked. She stood in the doorway of my bathroom while I showered.

“Damn thing ripped jewels right off the necks of the women with its teeth.” I scrubbed the last of the ooze from my hair with the vanilla shampoo, then applied conditioner. “People were running and screaming. It had four legs so they thought it was some kind of mutated horse, thank God. You wouldn’t believe the chaos.”

“Oh, I would.” Mira handed me a bathrobe as I opened the door. There wasn’t much modesty in our family. I think there seldom is with sisters who have grown up together.

“Alex says she ran into the same sort of thing in Mexico City, only her dragons were in their human form. They weren’t after treasure, though. At least, she doesn’t think so. They were more interested in some strange book at the museum. Had to do with artifacts.”

I sighed as I wrapped a towel around my wet hair. “It’s all the same to them. I wanted to speak to Arath about it. I noticed some of the jewelry from the Vatican on his altar there. I know he didn’t steal it, but I never remembered to ask him why it was there.”

Which gave me the perfect excuse to go to Maunra and ask him about it.

“Did you by chance find any answers about the Amol demons Arath mentioned?”

Mira sat on the edge of my bed while I applied styling gel to my hair. “Yes, well, I didn’t, Claire did. The Manteros use the Amols to do their dirty work just like Arath said.”

“I’d never heard of the Manteros until he mentioned them. What the hell are they?”

“It’s one of those idiot secret societies that serve the dark. It’s made up of all kinds of creatures and even humans and mages. Bunch of creeps if you ask me. Mom’s certain they’re behind all of this crap. This isn’t the first time, like Marcel said. They’ve been able to destroy entire worlds.

“The Amols are able to adapt to whatever world they are in, so they can slip in and do what’s necessary without being noticed. Sneaky bastards.” Mira leaned back on the bed.

“So why did they take Bailey?” I looked at her reflection in the mirror.

“Mom thinks it was to distract us.”

“From what?”

She shrugged. “Well, I’m not sure we were all on our A-game at the council meeting. I mean, we all survived, but I wonder if we hadn’t been so tired and distracted from the few days before, if perhaps we would have been more tuned in. You know me. When I’m on full power, I don’t miss things like bombs. They were just outside the building. If it weren’t for the facts that the place was made of indestructible stone, and that it was protected by Mom’s magic, we’d all be dead.”

I frowned. “Is he still alive, Mira?”

She knew what I meant. “I believe he is. I can’t connect with him, but I don’t feel that sense of loss. Remember when Dad died? Even though I was light-years away, I knew what had happened.”

I moved to the closet to find something to wear. “So these Manteros. Are they behind the darkness? Did they unleash whatever it is?”

“Yes and no. Mom doesn’t think they’d be strong enough on their own, so they had to have help. She calls it the Source, which sounds like something off an old
Buffy
episode. If we could find the Source, then we could find a way to stop it.”

I leaned my head against the door frame of the closet. “I don’t know about you, but this is just too much for me right now. I can’t seem to get my mind around it.”

She walked over to me. “I hate that it changes everything. We worked hard before, but it’s going to get worse before it gets better.” She put a hand on my shoulder.

“Jeez, Mira, always with the good news.” Alex stood in the doorway dressed in a pair of jeans and T-shirt.

“Hey. I heard you’ve been having as much fun as I have.” I held up my arm that sported a long line of stitches where a demon blade had sliced through.

Alex rolled her eyes. “Oh, yes. I was the most popular girl at the dance. Unfortunately, none of the boys I was with made it home.” She gave an evil smirk.

“That’s why you never have a second date,” I joked. “You’re always killing them the first time you meet.”

Alex snorted. “Mom wants to see you. Oh, Mira, Jake says there’s a message for you.” She held up a hand. “It’s not Fae related, it’s business.”

“Thank God.” She pulled Alex’s hair as she walked by. “I’ll talk to you two later.”

Alex yawned. “I’m going to catch a quick nap and then see what I can do to help Jake and Kyle. Claire’s in the control room with both of them, so if there’s news she’ll let us know.” She waved good-bye.

I slipped on a pair of yoga pants and a knit top, but left my feet bare.

I was glad Mom wanted to talk to me. I had something very important I needed to ask her.

 
 
Mom sat at her desk in the sitting room just outside
her bedroom. She didn’t bother turning toward the door when she heard me. The desk was piled high with books, and she was in the middle of taking copious notes.

“Have a seat, Gillian. I’ll be a moment.” She pointed to the comfy chair next to the fireplace. As I sat down and crossed my legs beneath me, the fire roared to life.

I’d always been in awe of my mother’s magic, and she never failed to surprise me. She hadn’t changed anything in here since my dad had died. His desk was as he left it on the opposite side of the room. While it was regularly dusted, nothing was ever actually moved out of place. Even though my mother had complained many times that their sitting room felt like something at a men’s club, with the rich dark wood walls and floors, and soft leather chairs, she had done nothing to make it more feminine.

I always believed it was her way of preserving what she had with my dad. I never understood their relationship. My mother had always been a force to be reckoned with, but Dad had a way of handling her. She’d never smiled much, but he’d always managed to tease one of out of her when she was in one of her moods.