Chaos and Ash, page 6
“Never mess with a Holland witch.” She jabbed the sword into the center of his chest and twisted. The razor edge sliced up and then down, creating a foot-long gash.
The demon stumbled back and let out a skull-splitting screech that would have the whole town wondering what kind of animal died in the woods. I guess I should’ve cast the silencing spell on all of us.
Ember doubled over again, her sword and daggers toppling to the ground. I clutched her shoulders, bracing her as the demon wailed again before crumbling to bits and being sucked back into the rift.
“Show me where he got you.” I tried to lower her to the ground, but she shrugged me off. “Ember…”
Oh, right. The silencing spell. “What I’ve done is now undone. As I will it, so mote it be.”
“The shedim’s claws are tipped with poison. If he broke skin, she will need a healer to draw out the toxins.”
“Show me.” I peeled her hands away from the wound. Three bloody slashes stretched diagonally from her rib cage to her hip. “We need to get you to Patrice. You need a healer.”
She spoke through gritted teeth. “You have to close the rift. More demons can come through, and there’s no circle to contain them.”
The adrenaline in my veins chose this moment to dissipate, allowing a wave of fatigue to wash over me. I must’ve cast at least six spells in the last twenty minutes. My vim was waning hardcore, taking my thoughts with it.
“How? What spell will seal it?” I asked.
She laughed and then winced. “You’re the smart one. I thought you had the entire library memorized.”
If only. “A patch, maybe? A little help, please?” My question was intended for Chaos since he seemed to be an expert in the matter.
Ember replied, “Yeah. We’ll need to get closer.” She reached for me, and I helped her walk to the rift.
“The fibers of the veil are thin like strands of silk. They’ll need to be woven back together for a permanent hold.”
Weaving the fabric of reality. With this level of fatigue and Ember’s injuries? Yeah, right. “We’d need a few more witches to have the power to seal it for good. I can make a glue, though. It’ll hold long enough for us to call in reinforcements.”
“Yeah. Do that.” Ember leaned forward, bracing her hands on her knees. “Fast.”
I grabbed my bag and dumped the contents back inside before racing around the tree where I’d left the rest of the supplies and stuffing those in too.
Back at the rift, Ember’s complexion had taken on a grayish hue. We didn’t have much time. My hands trembled as I mixed the ingredients for the magical glue. Angelica, basil, and heather turned to green liquid when I poured in the wormwood oil.
“The poison will solidify her innards before turning her skin to ash.”
“I’m working as fast as I can.” The potion popped and sizzled. I grabbed Ember’s hand to channel her magic, which I felt really, really bad about. She needed all her strength to fight the poison, but I couldn’t do this alone.
“A simple patch to close this hatch. As I say, keep the demons at bay.” I tossed the potion at the hole in the veil, and the torn sides moved toward each other, sticking together. A thick scar ran down the length of it, but as soon as the perimeter spell wore off, no one would be able to see it.
Ember sagged, my stubborn sister refusing to give in. After grabbing my bag and her weapons, I wrapped her arm over my shoulders, and we stumbled to the van together. I buckled her into the passenger seat and tossed our gear into the back before texting Patrice to let her know we needed her.
The drive took ten excruciating minutes. I fought to keep my eyes open and on the road while Ember rested her head against the window, her eyes closed, mouth open. Ghostly white rimmed her lips, and her shallow breathing seemed forced.
“We’ve got time, right? She can come back from this?” I didn’t bother whispering. Even if Ember were awake, I doubted she’d remember me talking to “myself.”
Chaos grunted. “I’ve never seen someone survive a shedim attack. You are strong witches, but the poison is spreading quickly.”
“Fabulous.” I came to a screeching halt in front of Patrice’s house and laid on the horn.
She scurried out, wearing a long, flowy brown skirt and a light pink top. She’d piled her curly red hair on top of her hair in a messy bun, and a pair of reading glasses hung from a chain around her neck.
I slammed the door and ran around to Ember’s side before pulling her out. Her eyes rolled back and her head lolled to the left as we dragged her inside and laid her on an exam table.
“What happened?” Patrice cut Ember’s shirt the rest of the way open. The skin around the wounds looked like partially burnt charcoal…just like the demon’s.
“It’s demon poison. A shedim got in one good swipe before she vanquished him. Can you draw it out?”
“I’ll do my best.” She dumped jars of herbs and liquids into a bowl. Normally, I’d watch her intently, trying to learn as much as I could about her spells, but this time, I kept my gaze trained on my sister’s paling face.
“Patrice will fix you, Em.” I gripped her hand in mine. Her finger twitched, but she didn’t have the strength to hold me. “I’m so sorry I didn’t get the demon under control faster.”
“Not…your fault,” she whispered.
“Yes, it is. I take full responsibility. I should have checked the perimeter to see if the binding spell would penetrate it before I wasted the powder.” And if I’d kept the kit stocked properly, I would’ve had enough peppermint oil to make a second proper binding spell.
“You are not to blame. If she hadn’t taunted the beast, he would not have been so strong. His anger increased his power.”
“If I’d kept up with the thrift shops, I could have nabbed that book before it got into the wrong hands. I can list a million reasons why this is my fault.” A sob bubbled from my chest to my throat. “I can’t lose you too, Em. You have to be okay.”
Ember groaned, and I snapped my gaze to Patrice. She chanted the incantation and returned to my sister’s side.
“The blame lies with those who summoned the shedim.”
“Shut up.” I could appreciate what Chaos was trying to do, but damn. If I wanted to wallow in self-pity, he needed to let me.
“I didn’t say anything.” Patrice narrowed her eyes at me.
“Sorry. Talking to the voice in my head. It’s been a day.” I laughed dryly.
“So it seems.” She spooned the mixture over Ember’s wounds, and it disappeared beneath her skin.
Em gasped, her bloodshot eyes flying open as she clawed at the table. She thrashed, and a gurgling sound emanated from her throat.
“What’s happening? This isn’t helping; it’s hurting her!” I tightened my grip on her hand, trying to hold her steady.
Patrice grabbed her other arm. “The potion is traveling through her body, collecting the poison.”
Ember’s legs flailed. Her knee drew upward and crashed into my shoulder before her boot thudded on the table. Ouch. That would leave a bruise, for sure. She went utterly still. Her chest didn’t rise and fall with her breath. Her hand fell limp in mine.
“Is she…?” My voice trembled.
“Wait for it…” Patrice snatched an oversized Mason jar from a shelf and twisted off the lid.
Ember’s wounds bubbled. Black sludge pooled in the gashes.
“Take this.” Patrice shoved a ginormous syringe into my hand. “Draw out the poison and put it in the jar.”
I did as I was told, sticking the tip of the device into my sister’s stomach and pulling on the plunger. Thick liquid slowly filled the vial, and I squirted it into the jar. When I returned to the wound, it had already refilled with more sludge. I sucked out the poison again while Patrice worked on the other side.
We filled six vials a piece, the liquid reaching the jar’s rim before Ember’s own flesh and blood were visible in the gashes. Patrice hovered her hands above the wounds and whispered another incantation.
Ember gasped, her hands flying to her face as she looked around wildly. “What…?”
“Shh…shh…” I took her hand again, and this time, she held me back. “The demon poisoned you, but we get it all out. You’re going to be okay.” I looked at Patrice for confirmation, and she nodded.
“These gashes require sutures. Give me a minute to gather my supplies.” She patted Ember on the leg before turning and leaving the room. Patrice wasn’t just a witchy healer. She was also a nurse practitioner. Lucky us.
“Your healer is talented.”
“We’ve got the best of the best in our coven.”
Ember lifted herself onto her elbows. “We sure do. What kind of spell did you throw on him? He looked like he was moving through molasses.”
I shrugged. “I had to combine two spells since I didn’t have enough oil for another binding.”
“Well, it worked.” She winced and laid her head down. “Good job.”
I scoffed. “Hardly.”
“You don’t take compliments well.”
Not when I didn’t deserve them.
“Here we are. This will sting a little.” Patrice held up a syringe of what I assumed to be numbing medicine.
Ember laughed. “I’ve been through worse.”
“What happened out there, anyway? How did a shedim get through the veil?” She injected the wounds and threaded a hooked needle.
“Apparently, some wannabe witches got ahold of an actual dark magic grimoire.” I shook my head. “They never should have gotten their hands on it.”
Patrice pursed her lips as she sewed. “A mundane wouldn’t be able to summon a demon. Someone had to have witch ancestry, at least.”
“They could if the veil was already open,” Ember said. “We found a rift in the center of their summoning circle.”
“How did it get there?” she asked.
“Good question.” My brow furrowed. “And how would they know where to find it in the first place? We had to cast a spell to locate it.”
“Maybe the demon drew them there,” Ember said. “A beast that powerful can’t slip through the veil, even with how thin it is here. Ghouls and fae, sure. That’s what our job is for, but something with that much magical power would need to be summoned.”
The veil was good about that…keeping the baddest of the bad on the side where they belonged. The more magic an entity possessed, the harder it was to cross into our world.
“That is precisely what happened. The shedim sensed the people in the forest and drew them to the rift. Once they performed the summoning, he was free to pass through in both directions.”
“That’s got to be it,” I said. I bet they really did want to have a fun little séance. Poor kids. I couldn’t imagine what the demon did to them after he pulled them through the rift. If they were lucky, moving from our world to the other killed them instantly. The mundane couldn’t exist in their physical form in the spirit realm.
“What about the circle?” Ember asked. “Someone had to be a witch to put it up.”
“We’ll have to talk to Jason and see what he knows about his friends. I bet Patrice is right about the ancestry. If not for that circle, the shedim would be running rampant in Salem.”
Patrice tied the last stitch and cut the thread. “But that leads us back to the question of how the rift got there in the first place. If it wasn’t just a thin spot, someone created it. Purposely or not. Could there be an uprising on the other side?”
“There is no uprising.” A low growl rumbled between my ears. “Summoning a Prince of Hell can fracture the veil. The threads weaken and tear. It has happened before.”
Fantastic. It was my fault after all.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“How are you still awake? I feel like I’m about to keel over, and all I did was cast a few spells.” I unlocked the back door and held it open for Ember.
She trudged through and grabbed the handrail to haul herself up the stairs. “Casting spells can be more taxing than fighting, and you performed what? Five? How are you still awake?”
Eight if you counted the location and exorcism spells I tried before she got to the shop, but she didn’t need to know about those. I helped her onto the couch and took off her boots before turning on the television. A reporter with a solemn expression told the story of the kids. The police would be holding a press conference in an hour.
Ember’s phone chimed, and she groaned, wincing as she dug it out of her pocket. “It’s the chief wanting an update. I better call him.”
“'Kay. I’ll make dinner.” I kicked off my Mary Janes and padded to the kitchen while she dialed the chief.
“Your body requires rest.”
“No shit, Captain Obvious. It also requires food.” I rummaged through the fridge and found a bag of fresh mushrooms, some spinach, and half a rotisserie chicken. The pantry offered dried pasta and a jar of spaghetti sauce. A trip to the grocery store was in order, but I had enough for tonight.
“Chicken spaghetti it is.” I poured some olive oil into a pan and dumped in the spinach and mushrooms to sauté them. “Now that I’ve got you alone, I need answers.” The mushrooms sizzled in the oil, the spinach wilting as I pushed it around the pan. “Since I caused this trouble, how do I fix it? Will sending you back heal the veil?”
He didn’t answer.
I set a big pot of water to boil and opened the jar of sauce. “Hello, Chaos? Are you still there?”
He waited a full thirty seconds before he said, “I was not the first Prince to be released.”
“Whoa. Wait… What?” Spaghetti sauce splashed onto the stove as I dumped it in the pot. I didn’t bother to clean it up. Yeah, it would be stuck on good from the heat of cooking, but…
“You’re telling me someone else summoned one of your brothers?”
“Discord either escaped or was released a time ago. I haven’t sensed him in this realm, but my power is limited while in your human form.”
“Can you elaborate on ‘a time ago,’ please? How long ago?” I swirled a wooden spoon in the sauce.
“Time runs differently across the veil. I don’t know.”
“And why would someone want to summon one of you?”
“To harness our power.”
“But you’re Princes of Hell. Couldn’t you just swipe your claws and poison them? You said yourself you’ve never seen anyone survive a fight with the shedim, and he was a mid-level demon. Surely no one could contain you.”
His growl tickled my chest. I hated to admit it, but I kinda like it when he did that. “Only a witch with immense power could contain a Prince. Like you, for example.”
I laughed. “Only a screwup like me could accidentally contain you.”
“You have no concept of your power.”
“Anyway…” My cheeks heated. We’d already established I didn’t take compliments well, so why did he keep dishing them out? And why was I blushing over a demon’s opinion of me? Get it together, Ash.
“We are also known to make deals. Demons of any level will do a witch’s bidding for a price.”
“Let me guess. The price is usually their soul.” I dumped the pasta into the boiling water.
“Precisely.”
“So, it’s possible there’s a rogue witch in Salem who summoned Discord, a Prince of Hell, to do their bidding, and they sold their soul to do whatever it is they want to do. And said witch also cast the summoning circle the kids used in the forest this morning.”
“The witch would not have to be rogue. Desperation makes people act out of character. Demons prey on that weakness.”
“Well, crappity crap.” It could be a coven member, or it could not. I chopped the chicken and added it into the sauce along with the mushrooms and spinach. “On the bright side, at least I’m not the cause of it this time.”
“Summoning me weakened the veil even more. I doubt that was the only rift that will need to be sealed.”
“But you said no one could summon you without your skull. Is that not the case for your brothers? I’m the only thing remotely close to an Ink Master for hundreds of miles.”
“You are an Ink Master, but yes, it is the case. If Discord was summoned, the witch used his skull. He will be searching for Mayhem and me so that we may collect our price from the witch who trapped us.”
“Uh-huh. And what happens if he finds you…trapped inside me?”
“He will kill you.”
“Holy frak.” The timer buzzed, so I drained the water and dished up the food. “And what happens if I can’t find your skull? Will you be a voice inside my head forever? I mean, if your brother doesn’t find us?”
He went silent again, and that made an emptiness form in the pit of my stomach. “Let me guess. I’m not going to like your answer.”
“How did you know?”
“You got quiet. That’s your tell. When it’s bad news, you’d rather say nothing.”
“A demon cannot coexist with his host indefinitely.”
I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t. My insides twisted into a knot, the food suddenly not smelling nearly as enticing as it had a moment ago. “Chaos, what will happen to me?”
“I will take over, and you will simply be a voice in my head. Then you will cease to exist.”
The knot in my stomach rose to my throat. I swallowed hard. “How?”
“My soul will bind with your body. Your current form will erode, and mine will be born from it.”
That sounded like a goddess-damned horror movie. I imagined my flesh falling off in chunks as a monstrous face ripped from my abdomen, tearing me in half. A shiver ran up my spine.
“Why would you do that?” My voice was barely a whisper.
“I would have no choice in the matter. The process has already begun. Hence, the importance of finding my skull.”
Hellhounds and hand grenades. What the actual eff had I done? This couldn’t be happening. I was… And he… And the rifts… My hands trembled, so I set the plates on the counter. “What are we going to do?”
“What’s taking so long?” Ember shouted from the living room. “I’m so hungry I could eat a donkey’s ass.”
