The Problem With Black Magic (21 page)

“I knew it was
Cordley,” he said, gritting his teeth. “No one’s that friendly.”

“Whatever, the fact is we have to get out of here, pronto. Can you like, teleport us out or something?”

He looked at her incredulously. “Teleport? What do you think I am, a full-blooded demon?”

She put her hands on her hips; it felt good to be arguing with him again.
“Why not? The entire Western Court seems to.”

Sam looked like he was about to argue, then changed his mind. “Alright, I’ll concede the point there, but I can’t teleport. We’re going to have to do this the hard way, which means actually going to the airport.”

“Whatever we’re going to do, let’s do it- the court’s deciding tonight! There’s no time!”

He rais
ed an eyebrow. “You’ve been to court now: do you honestly think that they’re going to be done fighting over you before the wee hours of the morning? The original court is supposedly even more obsessed with protocol than ours.”

Cassie opened her mouth to disagree with him ref
lexively, then changed her mind. Actually, they probably had some time.

“
Hopefully, it won’t come to it, but if I have to, I want to be prepared to fight. Which means, I’d like to borrow some of your magic again.”

“Fine.
No arguments from me,” she said, placing her hands in his.

When he closed his eyes and gently squeezed her hands, warning her that he was starting to tap in, a sensation not unlike an electric shock ran through both of them, and they jumped apart, Cassie falling onto the b
ed while Sam was pushed back against the dresser.

“What went wrong?” she murmured, slurring her words a little. Between the blood loss and the shock, she wasn’t sure how much more abuse she could take
tonight.

“It’s that white amulet,” he snarled. “It messes with our bond; enough that tapping into you doesn’t work.”

“I can’t take it off.”

“I know.”

“Can you get it off me?”

“I don’t think so. I
t hurts for me to even look at it,” he said. “I guess I’ll have to rely on my own strength.” Normally Cassie would have deemed that sufficient, but he looked so incredibly tired, she wasn’t sure how much of his own magic he could use. It must have been rough, searching for her when she disappeared without a trace. She felt a pang of guilt, because if she’d agreed to let him babysit her for a little while longer like he’d wanted, none of this would have happened.

She touched the diamond-studded amulet; she had to get this thing off, otherwise Sam was in danger. It honestly hadn’t occurred to her that he might be in a weakened state when she su
mmoned him, but now that she’d done it, she had to take responsibility for it; she owed him magical power.

“Put that down, you’re not going to get that off,” he said, sounding resigned.

“How do you know?” said Cassie, a ghost of an idea occurring to her. Finding out how Cordley had circumvented her protection amulet had given her a new insight into how magic worked. “I think there’s a loophole.”

“White magic doesn’t have
loopholes, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“No…
.” she said, licking her lips as the idea came together. “It’s not that white magic doesn’t have loopholes, it’s just that black magic has so many more, because of the protection clauses, white seems foolproof in comparison. But it’s not foolproof. Nothing is.” Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and reached out with her mind.

Hey,
Sammael? Real demon Sammael, not puny half-demon Sammael, are you listening?

There was a pause, and she thought she heard a sound like ice clinking in a glass,
then the demon answered.

What could you possibly want? I just got home and poured myself a drink.

Actually, all I needed to do was confirm that I was mentally linked with you. See, this amulet is supposed to sever my mental link with my master. But when it was made, I had only one master, and now I have two. Since I’m talking to my master mind-to-mind, that means that technically, the spell doesn’t work. Which means that technically, the amulet isn’t functioning.

And with that, she pulled the amulet over her head effortlessly, to Sam’s dumbfounded expression.

You’re one of those annoying people who takes IQ tests on the internet to prove how smart you are, aren’t you?
The demon put an end to the conversation, but she was sure she heard laughter in his voice.

“You broke the spell-
- an advanced white spell, and you broke it. You’re not even a witch yet…I don’t understand….” Sam’s eyes were wide, and she realized he was genuinely shocked. She’d been so concerned with getting the amulet off, she hadn’t thought of what she would say to him if she succeeded. She knew she would have to tell him about the deal with his father eventually, but now was not the time.

She licked her lips, holding the
diamond amulet in her palm. Now that it wasn’t impeding her, and she could feel the slightly annoying, but familiar buzzing sensation at her back again, she could admit that it was pretty again. “I didn’t break it, I just…found a weakness, that’s all.”

He still looked at her, his red eyes widened. He was so
shocked, he had actually forgotten his disguise spell. Either that, or he was too tired to keep it up.

“Whatever, look I promise I’ll explain everything when we get home,
but we have to get home first. Tap in,” she said, offering him her arm.

He took her arm slowly, still looking at her like he didn’t quite believe what he was seei
ng. “You are going to tell me how you did that,” he said, emphasizing every word.

“It’s hard when I know something you don’t know, isn’t it?” she said. She couldn’t help it; teasing him was wrong, but after the day she’d had….

She gasped as a sharp pain raced through her body as he tapped into her magic, pulling it into himself greedily.

“
Ow! Hey, it was a joke, okay?”

“That’s not it…sorry,” he said, gasping for air. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you, I’m just so depleted…I think it’s the summoning that did it.” The pain ebbed, replaced by the now familiar sensation of warmth leaving her body, more gently this time, and she shivered when he let go of her. She cradled the arm he had touched,
full of cuts that were just beginning to heal.

Note to self: Don’t summon first Master when we might have to fight, it saps his strength. Note to self: Don’t summon second Master again, period.

Still, the first time he had done that, she had passed out; either he was getting better at holding back, or she was getting used to it. Now it just hurt like hell.

“
Ahhhh,” he said, after taking a moment to catch his breath. He pulled himself up to his full height and stretched out his arms and legs, suddenly looking much more limber. “Much better. Sometimes I forget why we’re all fighting over you, but that felt really good.” At that, he made a contented noise, from deep in his throat, and finished his stretch.

For some reason, his quiet grunt of pleasure made her blush more than kissing
Sammael had. “Okay, now let’s get out of here,” she muttered, turning her back to him so he wouldn’t see her flushed cheeks. “I feel like I’ve been in this room for about five years.”

Before they left the room, Cassie rifled through Cordley’s daughter’s closet, looking for something to throw over her blue gown; nice as it was, it attracted way too much attention, and it wasn’t warm enough for the chilly evening. Of course, the girl was apparently a size two, so nothing fit until Cassie found a worn old college sweatshirt, which was probably a hand-me-down from an adult. For about a fraction of a second she felt jealous of the absent girl for being model- thin, then immediately felt bad about it; hey, the girl was sick.

Sam didn’t want to wear his blood-smeared suit jacket, but leaving an item with a magical link to both of them behind was unsafe, so it had to be destro
yed. Cassie heard a soft crackling noise as she pulled the sweatshirt over her head, and then saw the cloth being eaten away by a silent black flame; in a few minutes, it would be a small pile of dust on the floor. She assumed it would burn the remains of her blood away as well.

After setting the jacket aflame, Sam m
otioned for her to stand behind him, then spread his arms out like he was reaching for invisible walls.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Trying to make a protective barrier. I’ve never done it before, but with your white magic I should be able to.”

“I hope it works, because you l
ook like a mime,” she whispered, then shuddered as her ears popped the way they had on the plane to London. Something about the air pressure had changed, which probably meant the spell had been successful. Looking around her, nothing appeared different at first, but when she squinted, she thought she could see a glittery sheen to the air in front of her when there hadn’t been before.

“Will this protect us from bullets and stuff?”

He shrugged. “We can only hope.”

Sam put his
index finger on the door, and there was a snap as quick pulse of energy broke the lock. As he took her hand and led her down the hall cautiously, Cassie stared at his back in confusion. This demon, who got angry when she teased him about his clumsiness with magic, had just cast what appeared to be three rather precise spells over the course of a minute. Either his control was a lot better than he let on, or something about tapping into her, and mixing her magic with his own, improved it.

They met no one in the halls.
Cassie was worried about running into Rosa, presumably the maid, but there was no sign of her.

“Do you know
how many guards he has?” Sam said in a barely audible whisper as he led her through the house. She knew without him telling her that he didn’t want to waste his energy on mind-to-mind communication unless he had to. His grip on her arm was a little painful, but she didn’t want to make it easy for anyone to separate the two of them, so she put up with it.

“I only
know two, Celeste and Lindsey. They’re the women that kidnapped me in the bathroom.”

“You know their names?”

“Yeah, so? I don’t know how many other people he has around.”

Sam nodded.
Cordley himself would be at court, but the real question was how many people he’d left to watch her: whether they were human guards, demons, or something else entirely. Cassie had no idea what to expect; she was sure Cordley was cautious, but she wouldn’t be surprised if he’d thought the real challenge was kidnapping her out from under Sam’s nose in the first place. Even if he expected her to make an escape attempt, she doubted he had planned to deal with Sam as well.

When they reached the entry hall, and Cassie was beginning to think they had made it out of the house without incident, she saw Celeste out of the corner of her eye a
fraction of a second before the guard hit Sam’s barrier, which pulsed like a strobe light on impact. The details of what happened during the next second were something that Cassie only completely understood much later.

There was a flash of silver as Celeste produced a knife from her be
lt with superhuman speed and pushed the tip of the blade against Sam’s barrier. In the instant before Sam could hit her with a spell, the blade slipped through the barrier with only a small jolt of resistance, finding its target beneath Sam’s ribs. His side hit the wall with a sickening thud as Celeste used her momentum to push the knife up towards his heart.

As Cassie screamed, somehow Sam managed to get his hand on Celeste’s collar and perform a spell that made the air pulse with static electricity, and the g
uard crumpled to the floor, her face frozen in shock. Holding the spot on his abdomen where he’d been stabbed, Sam slid down against the wall, gritting his teeth. Fear and other emotions Cassie didn’t recognize paralyzed her to the spot; Sam had obviously killed Celeste, but had she succeeded in taking him with her?

Somehow, through her fear and confusion, she felt more than heard another figure approach behind her. She turned to see Lindsey
20 feet away, training her gun on Sam. The guard was taking time to aim, making sure to put the bullet in his head. Before she even realized what she was doing, Cassie had put her body between Sam and Lindsey.

“Don’t!” she screamed, and to her relief, Lindsey bit her lip in frustration and took her finger off the trigger. Cassie licked her lips; the one thing she had going for her in this situation was that the guards knew that she was too valuable to hurt. Lindsey had obviously been instructed not to shoo
t if there was even a chance of hitting Cassie.

Behind her, she heard Sam’
s labored breathing and wondered if her efforts were in vain. “Sam?” she asked, her voice squeaky and scared.

“In my pocket…
Ser gave me…” He coughed, and Cassie thought from the sound of it that he was coughing up blood. “Get it out…give it to me…”

Still keeping her eyes on Lindsey, Cassie stepped back and knelt in front of Sam, trying to fiddle through his pockets
blind while still keeping herself in front of all his vital organs. Quickly, she found a small vial filled with amber liquid. A potion?

“
Feed it to me…quick…”

Settling into an awkward position that allowed her to keep Lindsey’s gun in her peripheral vision while she administered to Sam, she tipped the potion into his
open mouth, her heart pounding in her ears as he struggled to swallow it. After an interminable few seconds, Cassie gasped as she felt a new barrier flicker to life around them.

Still holding his injured abdomen, Sam struggled to his feet, fixing Linds
ay with a neutral expression. It was like he was past anger, no longer willing to waste the energy to hate her. “Your friend punched through a weakness in my barrier with an enchanted silver blade. Do you think you’ll have the same luck with lead bullets?”

Cassie looked at him in wonder. T
hough he still looked pained, color was returning to his face by the second, and it was obvious from his speech that he was healing fast. That must have been some impressive healing potion Serenus had given him.

Stone-faced, Lindsey tossed the gun aside. She bowed her head, awaiting her fate.

Cassie looked at Sam, still hunched over; after he’d been nearly killed, she didn’t think he had any reason to be generous with Lindsey’s life, but she knew something he didn’t. “Sam, she’s brainwashed. She’s not even in control of what she’s doing,” she whispered.

He flicked his eyes to her, then back to Lindsey. “You k
now I can’t let you call him.”

Lindsey looked up, showing Sam the same vacuous smile that seemed to be her default expression
. It was even more disturbing to Cassie now. “Then I guess you will have to kill me, Sammael,” she said, as if the issue were of no more consequence than picking up a half-gallon of milk at the supermarket. As she stared at the brainwashed guard, Cassie wondered who at the Eastern Court was responsible for the woman’s complete disregard for her own life. Somehow, she didn’t think it was Cordley.

Muttering something under his breath, Sam pointed at Lindsey, and Cassie thought she saw a flicker where the barrier opened to let through the spell. Lindsey grabbed her throat and gurgled, crumpling to the floor much as Celeste had.

“She’s alive, but she won’t be calling anyone for a while,” said Sam, gently lowering himself to the floor. “The potion should be enough to heal me for now but just….give it a minute…I think it’s still working….”

At her ashen face, he cracked a pained smile. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t dying just yet
. She found a weakness in the barrier, but it threw off her position enough that she missed her target. If she’d pulled off her attack the way she intended and got me in the heart, even the potion wouldn’t be able to save me.”

Cassie nodded. So the barrier hadn’t been useless; without it, Sam would already be dead.

“How did she find a weakness in the barrier?” Cassie whispered. She thought he might want silence as he regained his strength, but it seemed like he wanted to talk. Maybe it was to take his mind off the pain while the potion stitched his flesh together at a thousand times the normal rate of healing.

Sam seemed to consider the question. “I don’t know. If she was human, she shouldn’t be able to, but maybe she’s been
bespelled with some kind of ability to see barriers. She had a special weapon just for piercing them.” He took a deep breath and continued, sounding stronger. “The real problem is I’ve never made one before; it obviously wasn’t equally strong at all points. I’ll have to work on that, because these healing potions can’t be cheap,” he said.

When she didn’t respond, he continued. “When you summoned me and I started…fading,
Serenus shoved it in my pocket before I could disappear. I’ll have to ask him where he gets these things,” he said, his voice filled with admiration.

“Maybe when I’m a trained witch, I can make them for you,” said Cassie softly. He rewarded her with a thin smile.

After another minute, Sam got to his feet, still favoring his left side but looking otherwise healthy. Cassie squinted, trying to see the glittering light of the barrier and determined if it looked thinner in any one area, but it all just looked like a layer of shimmering air to her. They certainly couldn’t afford for it to be pierced again, but all she could do was hope that Sam had made a better one the second time.

Outside the front door, Sam hesitated, looking around. Cassie wasn’t an expert in stealth, but she was pretty sure they shouldn’t just stand there where they could be seen.

“Shouldn’t we try to keep a low profile?” she whispered.

He shrugged.
“How? There’s nowhere to hide between here and the road, and anyone who can see us now isn’t going to come out so I can curse them. They’re going to hide and call Cordley, so he can hunt us down with enough demons to stop me.” Showing how fully he’d recovered, he grabbed Cassie’s wrist and pulled her into a run.

“Oh,” she replied, struggling to keep pace with him in her heels. “What can we do about that?”

“Not a goddamn thing,” he said, not even bothering to whisper anymore. The fact that he would use a swearword, even a mild one, was alarming. When they reached the street, he stopped suddenly, throwing Cassie off balance. “We need to flag down a car.”

Just then, it started to pour.

Well, England. Of course
.

She bent over, panting; she hadn’t even had to run very much, but after the power transfer with Sam, not to mention two
summonings, she wasn’t exactly in top shape. The cold raindrops felt almost painful on the top of her head. “Did I do the wrong thing by summoning you? I thought you could take me back, but I don’t…want you killed…” she trailed off, panting some more.

He turned to look at her, and she could see in his face that he was worried about the shape she was in.
He had been stabbed, but she had been through a lot too and they were all out of healing potions. “Don’t worry about me, worry about keeping yourself in one piece,” he said, as he flagged down a car.

The next hour was a blur to Cassie; at first she thought that Sam had used compulsion on the driver of the old station wagon that had pulled over for them, but soon she realized that the elderly gentleman was just scared to death of the man in the back seat with the glowing red eyes.

“Can you even use compulsion on people you aren’t bonded to?” she asked. She had decided earlier not to ask him any questions, but she was too delirious to care at this point. She was having trouble staying awake, keeping her head on his shoulder.

“No. In theory you can, but that’s another thing I’m really bad at.”

“Oh.” She nestled into a more comfortable position against him. “You really do suck at being a demon.”

He began stroking her hair gently. In any other situation, she
would have been irritated by his assuming a physical intimacy that she didn’t authorize, but now, it felt comforting. “I’m good enough at being a demon to rescue you,” he whispered.”

“Maybe.
We’ll see,” she said. Then the sound of the rain hitting the car windows blocked out every other sound, and she did fall asleep.