Demon Song

15

To hell with not interrupting the caster.

“Shit! Creeeede—” I backed toward the exit and then ran full out as the blast of power came my way.

He looked up then and saw me and raised his hands again. “Dispersei!” There was both panic and power in the word and I turned to see the white light in his eyes explode into the room. But it had gone too far, too fast.

Power caught me full in the chest and dropped me to my knees. It was icy cold yet hot enough to burn. Every muscle in my body came alive at the same moment and my eyes locked on his. There was a tether between us, a magic binding that encased me as solidly as if I were trapped in amber. I could see the room and Creede, but it was through a filter of golden light. Every hair stood on end and tried to pull out of my skin.

Then the cold and hot turned to a warm wave of … something … that made things low in my body tug deliciously. My skin started to feel swollen and my breathing became fast and shallow. It was the most erotic sensation I’d ever experienced and apparently it was for Creede, too, because he let out a moan of sheer pleasure and closed his eyes. I felt the power pull away from me and I could breathe. Then it was back and pleasure tore through me once more. We were trapped in a loop that was like a bouncing Super Ball. The harder the power hit me, the faster it came back after leaving, until there was nothing but heat and light and a thousand fingers on my skin, on my breasts, and inside me. It was pure torture and pure joy.

Finally the strain was too much and my body could take no more. I collapsed onto my hip and a cry was torn from my mouth as a powerful orgasm claimed me. It had admittedly been a long time since I’d been with a man, but this wasn’t like anything I’d ever felt before. I tingled to the tips of my ears and the balls of my feet. I knew when it got the better of Creede. He didn’t cry out, but I’d heard that kind of low moan before, followed by whispered swearing that spoke of a similar intensity to my own.

The magic dissipated slowly, leaving my body feeling both satisfied and utterly exhausted. It took more than a few moments before I could think or breathe normally, and when I opened my eyes I saw a pair of bare feet next to my leg.

Crap.

“Celia?” I looked up and Creede’s eyes were normal again, even if his face was lightly flushed. “Are you okay?”

“I think so.” I felt heat in my cheeks and turned my eyes from his. I did accept the hand up, because it’s really hard to get up gracefully from the floor in a short skirt and heels. “What just happened?”

There was a trace of humor in his voice. “You need to learn how to knock.”

Now my eyes rose to his face and the small hint of a smile that turned his mouth. “There’s no door.”

He acknowledged the truth of that with a soft, “Ah.”

My hand was still holding his and I tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let go. He used his other hand to lift my chin. I was still struggling not to blush and kept my vision locked on the long line of bare chest that disappeared into the soft white magician’s robe. It was impossible to ignore the musky scents that filled the air. “Creede—”

I knew I’d screwed up whatever spell he was casting and had no idea what the result would be. And what had just happened was too … personal, too intimate. And frankly, it had felt too good.

His finger pressed to my lips. “Don’t overthink it, Celia. Just let it be.” His voice was almost too soft to hear over the waterfall. I finally looked in his eyes. It was a mistake. He pulled me closer and I let him. When his mouth closed over mine I melted into his embrace and my arms slid around him of their own accord.

A first kiss is supposed to be soft, tentative—the barest taste of things that might later happen. But this was the sort of kiss that happens after lovemaking, a gentle joining while your body is still flush with pleasure. His tongue entered my mouth and his hands pulled me against him. I allowed the knowledgeable, languid caresses that didn’t so much explore as acknowledge possession. My body wanted things my mind couldn’t fully grasp and I found my hands were doing the same things as his, storing up in muscle memory the lay of his body and what touches brought an appreciative noise from his throat. He expertly navigated the twin fangs but explored them as well while his jaw worked slowly against mine.

It felt amazingly good and I relaxed against him fully, my muscles suddenly jelly and my brain fuzzy.

This was wrong. On so many levels. But I couldn’t stop.

Creede pulled back from the kiss, then softly pressed his lips against my forehead. He ran his fingers through my hair and rested his cheek next to mine. “You terrify me, Celia Graves.”

I let out a shaky laugh and moved my hands so they weren’t resting right on his muscled backside. I wanted to bury myself in the warm power that pulsed from his skin and that terrified me. “Likewise.”

He released me then, turning so quickly I nearly stumbled. “There’s a bathroom down the hall on the left. I’ll put my tools away if you want first shot at it.”

A bathroom? In a cave? But I was more than happy to escape the room for a few moments. I closed the bathroom door behind me and turned on the light. It was a perfectly normal bathroom, including a bathtub with shower. I supposed if magic made the cave, why not make a bathroom? Heck, maybe there was a kitchen, too.

The mirror over the sink revealed the truth. I looked great. Damn it. There’s no way to hide the flush of really good sex. Only time would do that, and friends like Dawna and Emma would spot it on me a week from now.

I cleaned up as best as possible, and when I turned to find a towel I almost ran into the tux Creede had been wearing at the event. That meant that he was naked under that robe. Well, hell. Yeah, I knew mages did that—the whole “get closer to nature” thing—and I’d seen the bare feet. I felt myself blushing again. Well, maybe he’d been wearing underwear. I could hope.

A light tap on the door made me let out a startled yip. “You about done in there? I need to get dressed.”

“Sorry. Yeah. All yours.” I unlocked and opened the door, keeping my eyes firmly on the floor as I tried to slide past him.

He let out a frustrated sigh and raised an arm to stop my progress. “Celia, would you please look at me?”

I’d faced vampires, assassins, and even demons with a steady eye. Now I was terrified to look a handsome mage in the face just because I liked him a little too much? I forced my shoulders to relax and raised my face to his.

There was a look in his eyes that told me that our relationship had shifted permanently, no matter how much I wanted to go back. The realization appeared on his face, too. We were suddenly aware of each other. I could sense his arm right next to my waist and didn’t want to shove it away. If anything, I wanted it to curl around me. It was both a new kind of tension that wasn’t there the last time I saw him and yet no tension at all. It felt natural, normal. When he spoke, it was with mingled confidence and worry: “It doesn’t have to go further, you know. We can go back to the way it was.”

A small laugh escaped me. “Please. You know better than that, Creede. There’ll always be the wondering, the wanting to know whether this was the best or just a sample of something bigger.”

He smiled and it wasn’t forced. It was the smile I saw the first time I met him and it made him real, approachable, and frankly … datable. That wasn’t a good thing, given the roses waiting for me at Gran’s. “I don’t know if I could handle anything bigger. You have no idea what that felt like.”

Oh, but I did. I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and simultaneously pushed his hand away from the doorjamb. “Get dressed. I’ll meet you back at the party.”

“I’d rather you wait. Spend a few minutes looking at the grotto. I turned on the lights. It’s some of my best work and you might never make it back here. I’ll be quick. I promise.”

My head nodded agreement even as I opened my mouth to gently refuse. It was at least a dozen steps before my legs were steady. As I walked back into the main chamber they went wobbly again, for a different reason. It was … amazing. The “lights” were a miniature sun, high overhead. Thankfully it was just light and didn’t burn my skin.

He’d made paradise—a tropical rain forest in the middle of wine country. Birds chirped and called to each other from the branches of trees that were once merely underground roots. It smelled of fresh growth, of eucalyptus and flowers. “You like?” Creede’s voice came from right behind me, meaning he’d snuck up on me while I’d been gawking. He was in the tux again and smelled of nothing but good cologne. If a tour really did walk in the door just then, they probably wouldn’t notice anything unusual.

I smiled and nodded as I watched sparrows flitting around above me. “It’s gorgeous. Was there even a cave here when you started?”

“It was a spring originally. This area had never been planted before, which is why one of the bigger vineyards hadn’t bought the land. I knew if the girls’ idea was going to work that I needed to be underground to push the magic up into the soil. Now the former spring is a waterfall and part of the water is piped up from the basin to storage tanks to water the vines while the rest keeps the grotto alive.” The proud tone of his voice was justified.

“You did good. Really. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

He smiled widely. “We should probably get back. My assistant is going to get grumpy if I’m gone much longer.”

We turned and started to walk out, our heels making muted ticking noises that were tiny in comparison to the other sounds. “Andrew? He sent me down here. He said you were giving a tour.”

Creede let out a sound that was close to a growl, but with amusement underlying it. “I don’t know whether to give him a pink slip … or a raise. He knew damned well I don’t give tours of the grotto. And he knew what I was down here doing.”

“And that was? What kind of spell did I totally destroy?”

“It wasn’t a spell. It was a purification ritual.” He must have seen my furrowed brow, because he elaborated while we walked down the dim tunnel to the outside: “Despite what it may look like, I don’t do well at public gatherings. There was a reason why George Miller was the front man of the company. I have horrible stage fright.”

That surprised me. “You looked totally natural up there. Confident, charming. Really.”

He put a hand low on my back to help me get my footing on the steep path up out of the cave. It tingled nicely and I had to struggle a little to keep my mind on the conversation. “Thanks, but it’s all an act. That’s what a purification ritual does. I did one right before I went onstage. It takes all the negative emotions—like fear, frustration, and aggression—and casts them off so I can function and appear calm. I’ve been dispersing those feelings into the soil for months now so the staff doesn’t realize what a wreck I’ve been with George gone. The plants don’t care whether energy is negative or positive, like a body doesn’t care whether a sugar is honey or processed white granules or even fruits and vegetables. It’s all broken down the same.”

“And you had to do another one right after you spoke? Wow, you really do have stage fright.”

Now he chuckled and there was a low, nervous, but satisfied edge to it that made me shiver. “Actually, this particular ritual was for a different kind of emotion. I saw you in that dress and suddenly couldn’t concentrate for shit. Have I mentioned you look absolutely amazing?”

Um … oh. I was glad for the dark that enveloped us. It hid my blush.

“My speech was supposed to go on for another five minutes. Fortunately, I’d warned Pam and Sam that I might have to cut it short if my nerves got to me. They made it look natural.”

“So you were getting rid of…” I couldn’t finish.

He did it for me. “Lust. Yep. And when the object of a particular emotion steps inside the circle … well, you got to see the result. Good thing it wasn’t anger. We might have leveled the place.”

“But I didn’t step inside the circle. I was really careful of that.”

We were back at the main building and he held open the door for me. “The grotto is the circle. The smaller one is just the bull’s-eye, because I don’t feel like walking all the way around the whole chamber to light candles every time.”

Oops. “Sorry.”

The light caught his face and I could see that he was grinning. There was a teasing lilt in his voice. “Don’t be. This way had a much more … satisfying effect.”

I hit him in the bicep lightly because I couldn’t think of anything else to do. We entered the house, expecting to find the party still going strong. We’d only been gone about fifteen minutes. But there was utter silence in the main entry, and the sound of sirens and shouting came from the next room. Adrenaline took over and we hurried to the tasting room.

People were crowded around a flat-screen television, staring at a news report. The camera moved from a broad scene of an explosion of some kind to the reporter on the scene. “The devastation is horrendous, Chet. The perimeter wall is gone, as are two of the inner walls. There are already five confirmed dead among the joint police and federal task force, but authorities believe that the number will go much higher once they get inside.”

The words “joint police and federal task force” made my stomach lurch and I dug my fingers into Creede’s arm as icy threads of panic raced up my spine. The news team cycled around to the top of the story. The camera switched to a serious woman in a yellow suit jacket. “For those just joining us, there’s been a series of explosions at the State Paranormal Treatment Facility outside of Santa Maria de Luna. There are reports of escaped shape-shifters and vampires. Residents are being advised to lock their doors and move to non-windowed rooms, and the governor has activated all EMTs, mages level seven and above, and A and C card holders. Available warrior priests are urged to check with their seminaries for instructions and all vacations or other non-medical leaves have been canceled for National Guard and police agencies. News Twelve has exclusive footage of the explosions due to an embedded reporter who was accompanying the local police to the scene. Bob, we’re back to you. What can you tell us?”

Creede started to pull away from my grip. “I’ve got to go. Stay here and be careful.” He gave me a quick kiss on the mouth and I saw Dawna’s eyebrows rise with interest before she looked back at the TV screen.

I followed Creede out of the room and grabbed his arm to stop him. “Where do you have to go? What’s wrong?”

“I’ve got an A and C card. I could lose my license to practice magic if I don’t get my ass out there.”

I didn’t even know what an A&C card was. He must have seen it in my face. “Mages level six and higher who want to profit from their magic have to register with the state. Like paramedics, if there’s an emergency, we are required to ‘assist and control.’ A and C. I’m an eight, nearly a nine. So I’ve got to go.”

“I’m going with you.”

He sighed and dropped his head. “No, you’re not. You don’t have a card and you have fangs. That’s not a common attribute of the good guys. There will be way too many trigger-happy cops out there.”

Every single thing he said made perfect sense. “I’m still going. Whether with you or behind you. Besides, do you really want to take your Ferrari to the scene of a battle? We could take the rental. I bought the extra insurance on it.”

He crooked his finger and turned. “Walk with me.”

I fell in step beside him and we went out into the cool, still night. It was so lovely here and I hated that it was ending this way. But the adrenaline rush told me that I was looking forward to it, too. I’m just weird. “You know I’m right.”

“No,” he said with a sad sort of laugh. “I know you’re too stubborn to play it safe. We can’t take your rental because my car has special plates. I can speed and get an escort with the activation in effect. But you’re right that I don’t want to leave my car there for it to get destroyed. So, you’ll come with me and then drive it back here. I can hitch a ride back with the police when the crisis is over.”

If he knew how likely it was that I wasn’t going to go through with that plan, he had the sense not to say it out loud. “Let me grab my stuff on the way. These shoes are killing me.”

Creede’s low-slung red chariot was in a cluttered garage next to the main building. I waited until he backed out before I got in. It might have been an emergency, but I could still appreciate the luxury and power of the car. He raced the engine and checked the fuel level, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “Remind me when we get closer to check the gauge. I might have to stop and fill up.” I nodded as he put the Ferrari in gear.

Before he could step on the gas, the door of the winery opened and Dawna and Emma came racing out. “Where are you guys going?” Dawna sounded panicked, probably because she had already guessed where we were going.

I rolled down the window and shrugged. “Where else? Into the maw of disaster like normal.”

Emma clutched my arm. “You can’t, Celia. You didn’t wait long enough to hear the whole story. It’s not just a crime scene. The explosion opened a rift between the dimensions. Lesser demons are coming out of the rift.”

Creede’s jaw set and his eyes narrowed. “Then I’d better get moving. Get out, Celia. To hell with the car.”

I turned my head and put a hand on his already tense and twitching arm. “John. With my knives and my strength, I’m more than a match for lesser demons now.” He looked at me for a long moment and I could hear his teeth grinding. I felt the moment he accepted my statement as truth when his arm relaxed just a bit. I gently removed Emma’s hand from my dress and handed her the spare key to the rental. I don’t know why there were two on the ring, but I’d checked and, sure enough, they both opened the door and started the engine. “You should be safe at the spa. Call Warren and make sure Kevin’s and Amy’s cells have extra security. If either can still be called by the demon, they’ll be in danger.”

Dawna gently pulled Emma back. Her eyes were frightened, but she nodded firmly. “Go. Do what you have to and try to make it back safe.”

I noticed the word “try” in there. It was all any of us could do. Emma’s face was stricken as Creede and I roared off into the darkness, but I couldn’t fix that. I could only hope that since she hadn’t been called yet, the demons couldn’t reach her. Yet. Everything depended on keeping the demons at the prison site and closing the rift.

We got to my rental, in the parking lot outside the main gate, in record time and I opened the trunk, where my weapons and clothes were. I tried to figure out how to change out of the dress with some discretion and then realized it didn’t really matter. Creede had seen me nearly naked on the deck of a boat the last time we fought a lesser demon. I turned my back as I pulled the dress off over my head, but I knew his eyes were on me. I could see his face in the rearview mirror. There was more worry in his expression than lust. That was both a good and bad thing. It meant that my fear wasn’t misplaced. Things had changed. Something bigger than simple attraction had grown between us, and I didn’t know what to do about it.

When I turned back around, fully armed and wearing jeans, a black sweater, and socks and sneakers, he was on his knees on his seat, digging for something in the back compartment. As I slid into the passenger seat, he settled back in the driver’s seat and tossed a small, gift-wrapped box into my lap. “Merry Christmas.”

He’d bought me a Christmas gift? Before what had just happened? Crap. If we survived what we were about to do, I would have shopping to do.

“Thanks. I’ll put it under my tree when we’re done.”

He shook his head and slammed the car into first gear; the tires spun briefly on the gravel before they caught the road and the Ferrari leapt forward. “Open it now. You might need them.”

Them? Okay, that got my curiosity up. I had the package open before he reached fourth gear. Inside the small box were five ceramic disks on a bed of gauze. The letters TBB were stamped in tiny letters around the rim. Ooh, weapons. A man after my heart. “What are they?”

“You wanted a total body-binding spell, you got one. It was a hell of a complicated spell, so don’t waste them. These aren’t simple immobilization charms. I mean total body binding. A person could die of thirst if the spell isn’t released in a day or two.”

“Are there release disks somewhere?”

He pursed his lips and shook his head, which made me wince. “Nope, so be careful with these. I haven’t had time to do a matching deactivation charm.”

Well. That complicated things a little. “Thanks, John. Really.” He let out that little tough-guy growl that said I wasn’t supposed to thank him. “What’s your favorite color?”

His brow furrowed as we zoomed onto the interstate. “Green. Why?”

“No reason.”

But he knew. After all, he’s a telepath, and while he didn’t say anything, I saw the flash of his teeth by the light of the instrument panel.

“Shame we don’t have the fly to give us some idea of what’s happening inside the facility.”

He twitched his thumb toward the rear seat. “It’s back there. But I haven’t had time to correct the problems you reported yet.”

I unhooked my seat belt at just the wrong time—as he cranked the wheel hard to go around a slow-moving car—and I nearly fell into his lap. I threw up a hand to stabilize on the door and wound up doing a face plant on his chest. He brushed my hair out of his eyes without a word. If it weren’t for the crisis, I’d swear he swerved intentionally.

It took a little digging among the accumulated junk in the backseat, including a number of candy bar wrappers, to find the familiar box with the fly. It was sort of nice that he wasn’t a health fanatic. It’s hard to go out to dinner with someone who’s always criticizing the menu. And that might solve the gift issue. “Got it.”

“Not a box of chocolates. Please. It would feel weird.”

I raised my brows as I latched my seat belt again. “You know, it’s considered rude to intrude in a person’s thoughts.”

He tipped his head to the side and shrugged one shoulder. “It’s not like turning off the radio, you know. I have to concentrate not to hear. When I’m stressed, it’s harder to shut off.”

It was hard to argue with that. I remembered Ivy having more problems with ghosts and zombies when she was angry or afraid. “Then could you at least not comment on what you hear?”

“I’ll try. Sometimes it just slips out.”

That was likely the best I’d get. “By the way, what did the report say didn’t work on the fly?”

He flicked his eyes my way and they were narrowed in suspicion. “You say that like you didn’t write it.”

I shook my head as I opened the box. Everything looked the same, but all of a sudden I didn’t really trust myself to use it. “I didn’t. Have you ever heard of the Company? They track down supernatural hard targets.”

“Tough to be in this business for very long without hearing about them. Are you saying they got hold of my fly?” He didn’t sound happy about that. “Shit. Well, there goes that patent.”

Ouch. I hadn’t even thought about that. “Sorry about that. There was a Company man on the job I was doing. Calls himself John Jones.”

The harsh breath that came from Creede told me he knew Jones all too well. “Oh yeah. I know Jones. What sword did he hang over your head to get you to help? There’s always at least one and usually two. I’ve been there.”

“My friend Kevin Landingham was in danger. But I have to give Jones credit. He got us out of there pretty much intact. And, he did get someone to get the bullet out of my shoulder.” I automatically touched the spot. It was still amazing to me it wasn’t hurting.

Instead of growling as I expected, Creede reached across and squeezed my hand. There was real concern in his voice. “Try not to get shot tonight. Okay? Your luck is incredible, but it won’t hold out forever.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I knew someday the other boot was going to drop, but the best I could do was not think about it. “So tell me about the report you got.”

* * *

I’ve never actually tailgated a cop car with flashing lights in a speeding Ferrari and had the cop give way. About the only time that happens is in video games. But the bright orange glow on the horizon that had been making my stomach do flip-flops for miles was finally upon us. A trip that normally takes seven-plus hours on the interstate that most locals call the 5 only took four and a quarter. Wow. It was amazing just being in that car. According to Creede, his license plate was magically flashing with a green light that was tied to the A&C designation. The odd color behind drivers apparently makes them change lanes quickly. Nobody knows why.

As he pulled up next to a Highway Patrolman who was guiding traffic to the site, Creede glanced over at me. “You’re not going to be sensible about this, are you?”

I was already unhooking my seat belt. “Pfft. What do you think?”

He rolled down the window and flashed his glowing green card when the cop turned the flashlight in our direction. “Who’s the mage in charge?” Creede said, sounding like he’d asked that question before. I just kept my mouth shut.

“Special Agent Thomas Branch, sir. Take the main staked path and turn left.” He motioned at me with the light and I stretched my upper lip down over my fang tips. “Where’s your card?”

Creede started to speak: “She’s with m—”

“Detective Heather Alexander asked me to report in.” I flashed my state license after carefully putting a finger over the word “bodyguard.” It was nearly an identical card to the ones the freelance consultants to the police used. I’d done that trick a few times, and if the patrolman had never been punked by it before this would be a valuable lesson. “Where is she?”

Creede didn’t say a word, but there was humor on his face as he struggled not to smile.

“Down the main aisle and take the second right, ma’am.” The officer moved the light away and I put the license back in my front pocket. I’d have to do that trick more than once before I reached Alex—if I could find her at all. I really did want to talk to her and find out what in the hell had gone wrong.

Because it was hell on earth. When we got out of the car, the true extent of the situation became dreadfully clear. The fervent chanting of priests in Latin couldn’t quite block out the growls and unearthly screams that made my skin want to crawl off my bones. The ground was rumbling with an eerie intensity like the beginning of an earthquake but worse. I felt my muscles seize, and though I struggled to move, I couldn’t. Creede took my arm and pulled me forward a few feet and I suddenly felt better. “Outer barrier to keep the curious away. You going to be okay? Sure you don’t want to take the car back? I won’t think any less of you.”

I opened my mouth to reply when I heard a voice to my left: “Celia? What in the name of everything holy are you doing here?”

Creede and I both turned to see Father Matteo DeLuca, Bruno’s younger brother, storming our way. “Good to see you, Father,” Creede said with an outstretched hand.

Matty shook it absently, because his whole focus was on me. “It took me five hours to remove the taint of demon from your soul, Celia Graves. And this is how you repay me? By throwing yourself right back into the path of evil?”

If he thought guilt was going to work on me … well, he’d known me long enough to know better. “If I remember right, it took four hours to clean your soul after a certain vampire bite, Father. And yet here you are.”

Creede was struggling not to smile. “As much as I’d love to see who wins this tug-of-war, I’d better report in.”

He hadn’t walked two feet before he nearly ran straight into Bruno. Oh no. I could fight vampires, I could battle demons, but I didn’t want to face both Creede and Bruno in front of a priest.

My former fiancé’s face lit up when he saw me and he broke into a run. He nearly tackled me and swept me into his arms. The scent of him, the power that flowed over my skin, felt good and right. He was as handsome as ever, and having him near me made my heart beat an extra thump. “Thank heavens you’re safe, Celie! I’ve been worried sick. You didn’t call and the house was empty.”

He’d gone to my house? While I’d been off at the spa and … the winery? I couldn’t help but flick my eyes over his shoulder to where a somber and serious John Creede was standing with arms crossed over his broad chest. He was watching every move I made. Was I going to have to decide between them right here and now?

No. First things first. “The flowers were gorgeous, Bruno. Really. They arrived just before I went out of town.”

“Out of town? Working?” He was fishing, but I had no duty to check in with him and would not be bullied or guilted into being embarrassed.

“No, actually, I was at a spa in Napa Valley with Dawna and Emma. It was an early Christmas gift.”

A tremendous howl of inhuman rage and pain filled the air. Bruno abruptly released me and I dropped nearly a foot to the ground. Matty turned and we all watched a flare of fire shoot up nearly a hundred feet. Heat hit us in a wave, so strong that I was surprised my hair didn’t catch on fire. I pushed Bruno away. “Do your job and I’ll do mine. We’ll deal with things later.”

He nodded once sharply and gave me a fierce press of lips against mine that sent tingles all the way down my spine. He put a hand on my arm and we started down the path.

John gave way, but only slightly. I was both shocked and terrified when his arm went around my waist, pulling me away from Bruno. John’s passionate magic-laden kiss added shivers to the tingles. He pressed his car keys into my hand. “Be careful. Get out if you need to.” He didn’t look at either Bruno or Matty, just stalked away with intense determination and quickly blended into the crowd of magicians and witches.

Matty’s brows rose. Bruno was literally speechless, his face completely blank, and I took full advantage of his shock by running away, racing down the pathway past him toward the second right turn, where Alex would be. I needed an armed policeman close by right about now. I tucked the car keys into my back pocket as I went.

In a sea of black jackets lit with red flashing lights and the fires of hell, it wasn’t too difficult to find one small blonde woman in the uniform of our local finest. “Alex!” I shouted, but she didn’t hear me above the noise of chaos. I pushed my way past both uniformed officers and detectives I’d seen on the street and caught up with her before she disappeared underneath a line of yellow tape. The heat underfoot felt like it was going to melt my shoes any minute. I pulled on her sleeve and she turned.

“Jesus, Graves. It’s about damned time you got here.” Oh good. I had been hoping her response wasn’t going to be, Someone get her out of here.

Alex is surprisingly strong for her size. She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away. It was only when we were safely in a car with the doors locked and windows up that she spoke again, her forehead resting against the steering wheel: “I had no idea how bad this was going to go. They must have known we were coming and waited until we had all of our people positioned around the wall. Then they blew the place using car bombs on the other side of the wall. The press thinks we lost five people. It’s probably closer to fifty. Then the rift opened and … heaven help us, Celia. I don’t know how we’re going to close this thing up.”

“What have you tried so far?” It’s not like I had any better answers than the experts they’d probably already consulted, but it couldn’t hurt to try.

She lifted her head and shook it wearily. “We’ve got a ring of warrior priests around the facility, coordinating exorcism rituals. Mages are at work to create a spell that can be simultaneously cast to put a wall around the breech. That will at least keep the demons inside. A few imps have already wormed their way through gaps in the temporary barrier, but sharpshooters armed with silvered holy-water bullets are keeping anything from getting past the second perimeter. If they don’t die of heat prostration first, that is.”

Wow. I couldn’t think of anything really useful to add. There were already more mages and witches here than I’d ever seen in one place. “What about escapees? Any idea how many got out?”

She grimaced. “A bunch. We don’t really know how many yet. We might never know because of the blast and the lava. It’ll be nine-eleven all over again, trying to identify fragments by DNA.”

There was a tap on the driver’s side window and Alex turned. A man I recognized, wearing an FBI jacket, was motioning for her to lower the window. She reached for the handle and started to crank it down. The problem was that I only knew one FBI guy—Rizzoli—and this wasn’t him. It was one of the guards who had been inside the prison, and why he didn’t recognize me I didn’t know. Or maybe he did and was going to get to me through Alex. The police car must be magically spelled so that he couldn’t get inside. But if she opened the window—

“Alex! Down!” I pulled her by the hair down to the bench seat just as the man reached into the car. I pulled one of my knives and lunged forward over Alex, effectively shielding her with my body. I thrust the knife into his stomach and he screamed. Heads turned at the sound and a dozen people headed our way. But it was too late. If he had been a normal human, he would have fallen to the ground with a horrible gut wound … which could have been treated by the EMTs. And I would have gone to jail.

But as it was, the lead policeman threw out his arms to stop those behind him when he saw flames lick out of the wound and eat the man alive, leaving only a few tatters of black nylon to float away on the breeze.

I crawled off Alex and she sat up, one hand to her nose. Blood was running between her fingers and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. She didn’t look at me or thank me before she was out of the car. “Davis, go find one of the priests. I want everyone at this site to pass a holy-water test. Barnes, clean up this mess before it infects anyone. I want people in full magical armor from now on. We’ve got rogues among us. LaFuente, find the FBI SitCom and get him over here to see this before we bag it up.” She turned to me and let out a sigh. “Graves, go … just go do whatever you’re going to do. I don’t even want to know how you did that.”

“No creds,” I said as I got out of the car and stopped, resting my hands on the roof. “I’ll get hauled out of here by my teeth. I need to stick with you. At least you know me.”

“I know you, too, and trouble isn’t ever far away.” I smiled at the familiar voice. Rizzoli was walking up behind the man Alex had called LaFuente. He stepped lightly over the pile of still-smoldering ash and handed me a piece of plastic over the hood. “Put this on and start ferreting out more of the bad guys. You’ve got talents we don’t. Use them.”

I looked at the tag he gave me. On one side it bore the seal of the FBI. On the other, underneath the plastic laminate, it said: Celia Graves, Special Consultant.

“How cool is this!?” I put the little clip on my shirt, unsure which side should show out. “Thanks, Rizzoli.”

“No,” he said very seriously. “Thank you. There’s a boat captain at Smallmouth Harbor who was very grateful we showed up last night.”

My jaw dropped. I’d completely forgotten Maria’s problem with the drug lord. “Did you get him?”

Rizzoli smiled and it had a satisfying dark edge. “Red-handed. He’ll be behind bars for a very long time. The judge agreed he was a flight risk. No bail.”

Awesome! “You rule, Rizzoli. So you got promoted to situation commander?”

Now his expression wasn’t so pleased. The muscles in his cheeks and forehead tightened. “Field promotion … to replace the two guys above me who are in pieces. Now I’m the lucky guy in the line of fire.”

Ouch. “Sorry. Anything I can do?”

“Yeah. There is.” He stepped out of the way as a hazmat-suited team came up behind him with a body bag. “You have the strangest group of contacts I’ve ever seen. Call them. See them. Find out why this is happening. I don’t want to know how to seal the rift. There are a thousand people behind me who can do that. I want to know why it’s here—in this place, at this time. There’s never been a problem before at this prison and the area got a seal of approval from the MPRC after a five-year white-paper study. I want to know that when we close the rift it won’t show up somewhere else next week.”

That was surprisingly forward thinking and I was flattered that he’d asked it of me. Of course, I might be one along with 999 other people whom he’d also asked. But it still felt nice. “You’ve got it. Do you want me to start right now? Because I’d have to leave.” And I didn’t know if I wanted to. There were people here I cared about. Alex and Rizzoli, Matty, Bruno, and, yes, John.

Wait. When had I started calling him John? I thought back and realized it was right after the grotto. No wonder he’d been smiling in the car. Shit. Still, there were demons afoot, plus vampires and werewolves who might well be lurking in the shadows, waiting to pick off stray cops who wandered off to take a leak.

Rizzoli nodded thoughtfully as the hazmat team used an ordinary-looking broom and dustpan to scoop up the bits of demon-infested guard and pour them carefully into a black zippered bag. “Stick around for a bit. Stay with the guys who are doing the holy-water tests. Anybody who doesn’t pass goes to you.”

“So you’re sanctioning me to … kill people?”

“No,” he said seriously. “I’m sanctioning you to keep the demons from getting out of this zone. If you know a better way to do that with every priest in Southern California already busy, I’m open to suggestions.”

I touched my pocket and felt the press of hard ceramic. “Well, if there aren’t more than five of them, I might have a solution.” I walked around the car and whispered in Rizzoli’s ear about the charm balls John had made. Damn it. Creede. Creede had made.

“I like it. Give them a try. We can put them in containment then and keep them from escaping until a priest is available.”

All of a sudden a hum rose into the air. It was an airy, light sound, very much like the children’s choir I’d heard on the call with Mr. Murphy. It caught everyone’s attention and we all turned as one. A blue light rose into the sky like a beacon until it dwarfed the fountain of lava that was spewing from the earth. The air felt immediately cooler and I could finally take a deep breath that didn’t scald my lungs. Everybody waited anxiously as the blue shield began to round over at the top. Some demons can fly, so it can’t just go straight up. It has to close and lock.

“C’mon, guys,” I willed the two mages I knew and the hundreds I didn’t to give it everything they had. Slowly the shield began to close. A few imps threw themselves against the barrier nearby and bounced off before melting. Sweet. Someone must have added holy words to the spell to beef it up.

Sound faded and everybody took a collective breath. Lights flashed silently and the unearthly howls became quieter and farther away until, with a flash of light that was nearly blinding, the prison was contained inside the barrier.

A chorus of cheers rose into the air, but I heard two screams of pain. A female officer a few feet away started swearing and dropped to the ground to thrash. Everybody stepped back and a hundred guns were drawn from holsters. I didn’t think twice. I grabbed one of the TBB charms and threw it hard. It hit her and exploded and she froze as solidly as if I’d thrown liquid nitrogen. Rizzoli held out his hand and I put two of the disks into it. He sprinted toward where the other screaming was coming from, and a moment later it stopped. I hadn’t expected that the demons would start screaming when cut off from their own kind. Handy knowledge.

“Where’d you get those? How much are they?” The cop was young and eager and was staring at his paralyzed former colleague with unabashed admiration.

“Find a mage named John Creede. He’s here, somewhere. He’ll hook you up.” I turned my head once he left and called, “Hey, Alex! C’mere.”

She looked at me, put up a hand to stop the person who was speaking to her, and walked over. “What’s up?”

“You might check with the priests to see if it’s normal for a demon to scream and thrash when cut off from the rest of the pack. It might be an easy way to at least track down the escapees who were possessed.”

She stuck out her bottom lip as she thought. “Might be a pain in the butt, but I can certainly call the nine-one-one dispatcher in the area to see if anyone’s called in about someone with symptoms like that. And maybe the hospitals.” She paused, then nodded. “Y’know, that might work.” She turned abruptly, muttering to herself, and went back to her team and started to talk rapidly.

I grabbed two cops and had them carry the frozen, possessed cop while we looked for a priest. Matty was the first one I came across, and I explained the situation and how the officer came to be bound. He was impressed with the charm as well and grabbed his bag. “I don’t know whether I can release the demon from a bound body. I’ve never tried. It would be safer if we could. Every seminary in the world would buy these things. But I’m afraid that the demon will be trapped and frozen just like the body.”

“Will it hurt her to try it?” She looked like a nice person, and more than one of the cops had looked really stricken when they’d had to pull their weapon on her.

Matty pulled his cloth from inside the bag and put on a larger silver cross. “Shouldn’t. But we need to be prepared in case it does. Who did the casting on this? Bruno’s tried for years but has never perfected one.” He looked up at me and okay, I flinched first and turned my gaze to the ground. He let out a sigh. “Well, you’d better go get him. I might need him to take off the binding during the ritual and put up a fast circle.” I started to walk away, then heard him clear his throat and call my name. “Celia!” I looked back; he was pointing in the other direction. “I’d suggest you go the other way. You’ll run into my brother first if you take that route.”

I took his suggestion and turned around. Just call me chicken girl. A week from now, I wouldn’t care. But there was still a little bit of glow snuggling in my stomach and I just didn’t want to have to explain it. I walked all the way around the blue perimeter, which took a while because the prison is actually damned big. But it gave me a chance to see the damage—and the rift—firsthand. I don’t know how to describe what it looked like. It was an area of blackened sky that wasn’t completely black. There were stars that were too low in the sky and a rainbow of shifting colors, like the aurora borealis. It looked the same from all directions, which was weird. Maybe a physicist could explain it, but I couldn’t. I was concentrating on it so much I nearly tripped over Creede. He was sitting on the sand sucking down a bottle of water. He looked utterly exhausted. “Wow. You look rough.”

He looked up and could barely smile. The light in his eyes was completely out—they were just regular hazel. If I didn’t know him and someone had told me he was a mage, I wouldn’t have believed them. “Thanks. I feel worse.” Another long pull from the water bottle emptied it. I had something that would help a little; I keep a few in my vest for just such emergencies. I handed him a Hershey bar. He smiled for real as he took the candy bar from me. “Water and chocolate. The dinner of champions.” He managed a chuckle.

I didn’t tell him I’d been packing nutrition shakes earlier; I’d finished the last one off not long ago. I figured this wasn’t a good time or place to suddenly start hunting for necks if I got too hungry.

I gave his calf a little kick. “Well, c’mon then, champion. I need you to take off one of the bindings. They worked great, but Matty doesn’t know if he can do the exorcism with the person bound.”

Creede collapsed onto his back, arms sprawled, and chewed. When he finally swallowed, he spoke: “Crap. I honestly don’t know if I’ve got it in me, Ceil. Really. I’m toast.” It was the first time he’d called me anything other than Celia or Graves and it came out sounding like “seal” rather than “cell.”

“Well, can anyone remove it, or just you? We’ve got a couple of people bound and ready to get unpossessed.”

Creede closed his eyes and I honestly thought he’d fallen asleep. But after long moments while I just stared at his slowly breathing body, he opened his eyes and pushed himself to a sitting position. “Okay. I guess I’m stuck. I think I have to be the one to release the bindings. I’m so used to doing my own workings that adding in the language for another mage to undo it didn’t occur to me.”

I offered him a hand up and he took it. He was as close to deadweight as I’ve ever seen and it took him a couple of tries to get his balance. Guess he wasn’t faking. “You really put a lot of yourself into this barrier, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. More than I should have. But we had a hard time closing it.” I slowed my gait to stay even with him, because he was nearly shuffling. There wasn’t any way he was going to make it around the long way. We’d have to go by Bruno.

I needed to be a big girl about this. It wasn’t like I’d slept with John—not really. I hadn’t dated him, and anyway, Bruno’s the one who called it off with me, not the other way around.

But we didn’t see Bruno until we reached Matty. My ex was muttering words and the frozen cop was lifting into the air and dropping back down in the center of a casting circle, stiff as ever. John stepped forward and pushed Bruno slightly to the side. “Here. Let me. You get the circle ready.” John’s hands made complex motions in the air with the grace of a pianist or maybe a painter. As he muttered words, a small glow finally came back into his eyes.

Bruno was likewise moving his hands and talking, but he was saying different words and the motions of his hands were tightly controlled and had military precision. Elegant in their own way. The moment the cop’s body relaxed, she stood and started to scream. Bruno’s circle sprang up around her and she was trapped. Matty started speaking in Latin and the woman went silent.

John took a deep breath and clapped a hand on Bruno’s arm. My former fiancé responded by glaring, but Creede didn’t seem to notice. “Guess we’d better finish up the other three so we can go home and get some rest. I’m sure we’ll be needed here again tomorrow to recharge the barrier.” He looked at me in an offhand way, but what he said next was clearly calculated for maximum effect on everyone in earshot. It sort of pissed me off. Yet Bruno sort of deserved it, too. “Ceil, go ahead and take the car back to Napa. I’ll find a motel down here for a couple of days. You’ve still got the keys, right?”

I nodded, but I wasn’t happy. There wasn’t a win to this situation, and the best solution was probably to do just what he suggested. But I didn’t want to leave Bruno with the wrong impression. “Okay. I’ll take the car back to the spa, since that’s where my clothes and my friends are. You can pick it up there. I’m sure the girls are wondering what’s happened to me.”

My response lightened Bruno’s mood a little and darkened Creede’s.

The perfect compromise leaves everyone unhappy.

Including me.