The Devil You Know (19 page)

Kathryn nodded. “I hope you’re right, Gwendolyn, for her sake as well as our own.” She raised the steaming cup and took a sip, her ears still ringing with the sounds of a battle that had ended over a millennium ago.

Chapter Eleven

“Roses are red. Violets are blue. Shit is ugly. And so are you.”

—Mynx Delacy

My head was in a bucket, a large metal one. And someone was pounding it, using the damned thing to call everyone to dinner. Or at least it sounded like that, my ears rang so painfully. If I didn’t know better, I’d think a gunshot had gone off between my witchy little ears.
Oh wait, one had. Or nearly so.
Groaning and coughing for breath, I half opened my heavy eyes, rolled out from under the weight dripping icy wet against my back, and nearly screamed when I came face-to-face with Ramus.

Only inches away, his eyes gazed out sightlessly, the top right portion of his head missing, blown away at extremely close range by a large caliber bullet. I shuddered, wiping at my own eyes, acknowledging that the cold sticky fluid I felt on my face and back was something I would rather not consider. And I was absolutely
not
thinking about the chunky bits stuck in my hair.

As if I were underwater, I heard someone ask, “What the hell sort of weapon is this anyway, a pocket bazooka?”

I looked to see a crouching Cassie holding a smoking gun and shook my head to clear it. That only succeeded in making my temples throb harder. I was pretty sure my whole body ached, but it was hard to tell past the pain in my head. I took a deep rasping breath then looked down, only to see the bottom half of my body gone, cut off by Cassie’s dark green circle.

“Ahhh,” I croaked then coughed as the sound pierced my throat with pain. I scrambled backward, stopping in relief when my lower half appeared. I quickly untucked my dress from my underwear and covered my legs. The circle was only an illusion. A damn good one. Cassie’s circle had been real when Van had hit it. She’d replaced the real with an illusion so seamlessly neither I nor Ramus had noticed. Another impressive spell-cast.
Loren had chosen her children’s protector well.

Remembering the pint-sized duo, I leaned my head back and saw a smaller circle surrounding the car. From within its magical confines, small muffled voices called out in a mixture of languages, upset they couldn’t see what was happening.

Cassie snapped her fingers and the illusion faded, letting us see an armed Marco rush from the woods. Unable to distinguish the approaching man’s face, Cassie raised her arm. Seeing Marco’s own guns rise in reflex, I sat up, placing my hand over Cassie’s gun, feeling its hot barrel under my palm. “It’s okay. It’s just Marco.”

The vampire surveyed the area carefully before holstering his guns and approaching. In the most solicitous tone I’d ever heard him use, Marco asked, “Are you well, Miss Delacy?”

Trying to relocate the frog currently residing in my throat, I nodded vigorously, stopping as pain ricocheted through my skull. Hearing Van moan, I quickly crawled to his side, tore off part of the hem of my dress—the only section not splattered with demon blood—and pressed it to the large bleeding cut on his temple, likely from Ramus’s last swift kick.

Gesturing for Marco, I said hoarsely, “Roll him to his side…need to see his back.” I heard Cassie behind me speaking through her circle to the children, calming them.

Marco took one look at Ramus’s corpse, thankfully not commenting on his open pants, before bending to one knee beside me. Unexpectedly gentle, he rolled the unconscious Van to his side. Marco held the injured man with one hand while using the other’s sharp claws to rip the crimson-soaked shirt away, revealing the wound. The tan body was white with blood loss, making the streaking poison hard to miss as it seethed under the pale skin, crawling outward from the bloody hole like a black sunburst. Van’s cauterization of the wound had saved him from bleeding to death. But as it was, there was little time left on his stopwatch.

Marco quickly propped Van against his knee and unbuttoned his own black dress shirt, revealing a similarly colored undershirt. He stripped the top shirt away to press the fabric against the larger wound.

I looked at the vampire. “Are we secure?” My voice came out a bit stronger, and I coughed once more, wincing at the pain.

He said something into his communicator, listened, then nodded.

“Have your men return.” I grimaced at the harshness of my voice but continued. “I need Van transported home.” I waved my hand to indicate the urgency. “And Ramus,” I pointed at the winged demon, “removed.” The children shouldn’t see that. My mind flashed to the demon’s open pants.
None
of us should, but it was too late for most of us. The least we could do was spare the innocent.

Over my shoulder, I said, “Cassie, call home. Ask Nana and Aunt Helena to prepare for injured.”

Cassie stepped near and half knelt by my side before running a magic-coated hand across my shoulder and head. I nearly jerked away at the unexpected touch, surprised at her magic’s familiar call, but stopped as her cool earth magic soothed my throat and headache. I kept my face schooled, not letting my thoughts show. Cassie wasn’t a guardian, but nearly so. Like Brit, the potential was there. But unlike the feisty grad student, Cassie had grown up in the house of the Council’s Witch Prime, the most powerful of witches. Cassie would well know the legacy she had barely missed being part of.

Cassie finished and I breathed deep, finding the pain more bearable. I smiled in thanks. She nodded and began to step away. I touched her arm, saying very seriously, “Keep your eye on that demon. If he so much as twitches, shoot him again and keep shooting.”

“Absolutely.” Her expression was grim, almost eager.

I had to give the woman credit. She didn’t question my urgings to shoot an apparently already dead man. Perhaps I should have told her the gun was loaded with hollow points, the Kin’s preferred ammunition, and it wasn’t necessary to shoot from inches away to inflict maximum damage.
Nah.
She’d figure it out, hopefully before she ended up covered in demon blowback.

Even as I heard Cassie murmuring into the phone behind me and Marco issuing commands into his communicator, two suited Kin flitted from the woods, taking up guard positions ahead and behind us.

Cassie disconnected and told me, “Helena said they’ll be waiting at the ward door.”

Marco lifted Van into his arms, cradling the grown man to his chest like a child. “With your permission, m’lady.” At my nod, Marco took one step and leapt into the air, moving away faster than the eye could follow. Two more Kin emerged from the wood. One was Bon, who I’d seen at Seth’s mansion last night. He moved toward me and the demon’s body.

If I hadn’t been kneeling on the roadside, I would have jumped as a loud gunshot echoed behind me. I flinched as more cold wet matter splattered my back and hair. I turned to glare at Cassie, who stood over Ramus, wiping black goo from her disgusted face. Ramus’s body had a small crater where his heart should have been.

Seeing my look, Cassie shrugged. “He twitched.”

Bon arched a brow at the dark demon’s mangled face and open pants. I pointed, letting him know the mess was all the other witch’s doing. Bon eyed Cassie speculatively and I turned away, anxiously scanning the treeline for a familiar, gray-eyed face.

Instead, I saw Fera, Gem, and another Kin emerge. Gem’s arms and face were covered with large bruises. Her dark blue shirt was torn, and a blood smear stained one cheek. The Kin carried a black demon with wings much larger than Ramus’s. The demon was trussed up in green magic more tightly than a steer at a roping competition. It was my turn to arch a brow.

As if sensing my question, a certain beguiling detective’s mind touched mine, sending a picture of Fera magically dragging Gem and the demon from the sky. Then I saw an image of Jacq and another vampire running through the woods, circling the area, ensuring there were no more demons hiding. I could almost see her cocky grin in my mind and felt the whisper of a kiss against my cheek. I took an easy breath for the first time in what seemed like hours.
She is near and unharmed.

While the others moved closer, I gestured to an amused Bon, who was still looking from Cassie to Ramus’s corpse. It was easy to guess what fascinated the vampire. These demons had led the Kin on a merry chase while this little pale-haired witch had dispatched one with nothing more than a little trickery and a single bullet to the head. With their long immortal lives, the fanged ones were easily bored. They were always looking for something new, something different, to reignite their lust for life. I had something they might find interesting, though it had nothing to do with Cassie LaFortuna.

Bon reluctantly stepped to my side and leaned close. I whispered my directions into his ear. He gave another vampire an intricate hand signal then bent and picked up Ramus’s body before flitting away. A sword-toting Fera grinned and waved before she and the Kin dragging the captured demon quickly followed. Gem headed slowly toward the small green circle Cassie was lowering, and I turned my attention to the mystery at hand.

With Jacq’s approach and the strength of her mind in mine, I felt safe enough to do what was needed. I shut my eyes, focusing inward. Often when rising into the mind’s eye, my gaze traveled upward and outward. This time I descended, moving within, looking for traces of Ramus’s tainted black magic. I swept myself from head to toe, moving ever deeper. I had little skill for self-healing, but I should be capable of forcing out any scourge that might have survived my beast’s fire.

But there was none. Everywhere I looked, I saw the remnants of a great battle waged, with my demon-half the victor. Her fire lingered here or there lending what power it could to speed my healing from the inside out. I scoured the depths of my body then traveled deeper. Soon I stood just beyond the cage that contained my demon-half. As always, her form was cloaked in darkness, letting me see only glowing eyes and the dim outline of a dark form reclining in the farthest, darkest corner of my soul.

Thank you
, I thought, knowing her intentions had been more than self-preservation. She moved closer to the bars, staring back at me, her face hidden. I didn’t recognize the chaotic emotions moving behind her fire-filled eyes.

Thank me by freeing me.
Her voice was a deeper echo of my own.
You know the time is coming.
Though soft, the words rang with a truth I couldn’t deny.

Yes,
I returned,
but it’s not here yet.

Something passed between us and I felt her resignation…and the beginning of an uneasy truce. I walked away. But even as I traveled upward, part of my mind remained with my other half. It was as if she kept repeating,
The time is coming
. And with each repetition, it sounded a death knell in my ears, one that represented something much larger than my other half gaining her freedom. Behind my closed lids, I saw my own blue eyes, helpless and empty, in a dark green mirror. I saw Jacq’s stormy gaze, desolate and teary as she saw my lifeless broken body. And my heart nearly broke.

I opened my eyes and looked down, my blurry vision seeing only the knife I had dropped earlier. Its blade had melted away, leaving only the silver nub of a hilt.

Ramus was right. He
had
shown me what I could become. Just not in the way he’d expected.

I lost my sense of time as I contemplated the possibilities. Minutes, possibly longer, passed. I had the answers deep within my mind. I could feel them there…hidden in the foggy glimpses of the future I had received three years ago after being knocked into a coma.

Reaching deep, I tried to resurrect and assemble those glimpses into something understandable. My sight blurred as fresh pain lanced through my skull with every attempt. I tried again and again but it was no use.

The visions were beyond me.

I released a long sigh and returned to reality. I again stared at the melted knife. I reached out to take it but shuddered and pulled my hand back. Later I would have one of the vamps carry it to Aunt Helena to examine.

I was about to stand when the trees swayed with a sudden breeze, blowing cool against my sweaty cheeks. The wind carried to my nose the smell of an approaching spring storm, the sort that blew wet and sweet with rain, pine pollen, and the scent of warm clover. Among these other scents was a much anticipated sage and sandalwood musk. Jacq emerged from the dark woods, her shining sword held casually by her side and her silver glow forming a bright haze around her. Her vest was unbuttoned, her auburn hair mussed, and that small braid that ran down one side of her face had reappeared. Otherwise, her appearance was the same as when we had parted not long ago. Yet something had changed.

Our reestablished mental connection confirmed it. A new surging joy of life raged through her. It showed in every confident, almost arrogant step she took. My brave phoenix was flying high in a way I had never seen. She looked so supremely pleased with herself, like the warrior she was, returning victorious from the fight to protect her home and hearth. The worries that had shadowed her eyes since before we’d met had been forgotten, if only temporarily.

Jacq grinned and those burning gray orbs locked with mine. I lost myself in her gaze, enjoying the sensation of her mind again within my own, letting her joy push through me, igniting something within my heart, as well as much lower. My tired body awoke. My lips curved into a sensual smile, my belly clenching tightly. Jacq gave me a hungry look, and beneath my dress my nipples peaked. Her eyes dropped and her joy turned to concern as she took in my blood-splattered body. As her happiness fled so did her glow, her silver light dimming until it was barely visible against the dark trees.

Having no power to communicate telepathically, I simply smiled, signaling that I was okay. But Jacq still hurried to me. Her sword disappeared. She knelt before me, eyeing my bruised throat and battered body with concern, and cupped my face between her glowing hands, her hot magic searching me for injuries. Through our bond, I could almost see Ramus’s bruising finger marks fade as the ache in my throat disappeared.