In the Company of Witches

“Isaac said you were a badass, afraid of nothing.” The demon sounded so much like Bette Davis, Raina was certain she’d stolen the diva’s voice from some graveyard archive. “But I’d expect no less of the sex demon who took down Elceus. Drained him like a husk, broke your own chains and swore you’d never be chained again, didn’t you?”

Raina arched a brow. “You’ve been reading my Facebook profile. Sorry; I didn’t catch yours. Name?”

“Erica.” The demoness blinked. Her lashes were long and thick, drawing more attention to the mesmerizing eyes. Raina made sure she didn’t linger there long. Erica might look like she was slouching in a dangerously casual way, but she was pushing hard against those protections, testing them. Raina’s limbs quivered as she did her best to hold without appearing to commit any effort to it. At this stage of the game, it was all about the posturing.

“Erica? Soap opera fan?”

“You’re showing your age, dear.”

“I get the Soap channel. Full cable service out here, thanks to the barn-sized satellite. Are you here for the spank-me package we offer, or do you have another agenda?”

“I’m here for two things. Isaac. And you.”

She felt a touch in her mind. Cathair, in the shadows of the tower balcony.

Get Derek. Go get him. Go now. It was dark, he had the cover, and it was the best plan. She needed help.

When he took flight, he was as silent as a whispering wind. It didn’t matter. Erica’s gaze snapped up.

She sees you.

Cathair shot high into the night sky. When Raina dared to pull her attention from Erica for a blink, she saw a shadow form behind him. Reacting fast, she sent a ball of white flame at that shadow and repelled Erica with a propulsion blast at the same moment, hoping to knock both back a few paces.

There was a shriek in the sky, and an eagle shot out of the flame. Beating his wings and somersaulting until he put out the fire, he closed in on the raven. As they plunged into the forest together, Raina heard the cacophony of the birds engaging, then Cathair’s mortal cry. Pain exploded in her chest.

No. No. Raina snarled as Erica took advantage of her distraction to land a blow under her guard, a jolt nasty enough to unbalance her. She threw up her shielding again but had to go to one knee to brace it, holding herself over Mikhael’s prone body. Oh, Cathair. Sweet old bird. Damn it.

As she crouched, panting, she used the point of her wrist to swipe the blood from the glass off her forehead. Her mind was spinning over the options; oh so helpfully, her adversary was already cataloging them for her.

“You won’t last very long this way,” Erica said, strolling around the fountain remains. “Your every movement underscores the weakness of your position.”

She disappeared when the ground erupted beneath her and tree roots from the nearby live oaks clawed up out of the earth, their jagged edges ready to rend demon flesh.

“Underscore that, bitch,” Raina muttered. When Erica’s voice came from safely within the tree cover a few hundred feet away, she felt some small satisfaction, but not enough. It had probably been stupid, dropping her protection for even that bare moment, because putting it back up was like starting a car. It used more fuel. Erica’s thugs were circling, the pack waiting until the alpha bitch wore the prey down so they could move in for the kill. They were close enough for her to see they were horribly maimed. Nothing to affect their strength, but grotesque alterations. Extra fingers, slits around their eyes and noses, chains of tumors around necks and wrists like macabre jewelry.

“Some people will put a litter of unwanted puppies in a burlap sack with a few bricks,” Erica said in that starlet voice. “Though the puppies are whining and crying, the human ignores them, doesn’t care. He drops that sack into a lake. Walks away, knowing the puppies are in there, fighting for their lives, fighting to breathe.”

Erica phased just outside Raina’s protective cloak once more. This time she stayed partially phased, so Raina couldn’t get the jump on her. Though her unworldly gaze sparked with heat, it chilled Raina with its pleasurable malice. Evil was her fetish; malevolence got Erica off. “What you protect in that house are a bunch of unwanted puppies.”

Raina’s eyes narrowed. “They’ve done nothing to you.”

“You know that saying, Kill them all, let God sort them out? I really don’t give a shit. I assume you do. You and I both know your protection isn’t doing a damn thing for them right now.” The she-demon glanced down at Mikhael. “I’m not of a mind to kill a Dark Guardian. For one thing, they’re incredibly difficult to kill, like one of those campy slasher films. Everything you do to them, they just pop right back up, eventually. Unless you hack them into pieces, take the body parts at least a thousand miles apart, and burn them with oil. So much work.”

As she turned a speculative gaze to her crew, Raina could see her considering it. Anything Raina said would turn her toward it, because Erica would know she was trying to protect him. So she’d have to fight her off, because no way in hell this Underworld skank was touching Mikhael.

“No time for that,” Erica decided. “I’ve stayed off the radar a long time. Having him alive and giving him a decoy to blame for all this will work better for me than having Lucifer digging into who killed one of his precious Dark Guardians. They’re his elite hit squad, you know. Treasures them like sons.” Glancing down, her face split with that horrible smile again. “Especially one with angel blood. Nope. Don’t want that kind of attention. A girl knows when it’s wise to be coy.”

As the demon fixed that intent gaze on her, Raina tensed. “Come with me without a struggle and I won’t kill everyone inside the house. You can sense their well-being, so you’ll know if I’m lying or not. I’ll leave him where he lies.”

Raina snorted. “You’ll just come back later and kill them, after you have me where you want me.”

“Possible. But it does give you time to come up with a plan to thwart me, doesn’t it? The alternative is I send my pets in there and they eat them alive. Sex demon is their favorite aphrodisiac. Better than oysters, because they can fuck them, then kill them. You have some delicate morsels.”

If only she’d considered it long before Marisa suggested it, teaching them how to handle the shielding magic and their own protections. She’d focused so much on keeping them safe, she’d forgotten the best thing to do for those she loved was to teach them how to fend for themselves, stand on their own two feet. But now wasn’t the time for regrets.

Raina had powerful friends. Plus, no matter what she meant to the male on the ground, when he woke up—and he was going to wake up, damn it—he was going to be majorly pissed off. He’d hunt this bitch to the ends of the earth. Unless Raina figured out a way to disembowel her first, her new mission in life.

She tried not to look at the paleness of his face or wonder again how badly he was hurt. You let a girl get the jump on you, Mikhael. When this is over, I’m so not going to let you live that down.

“Fine. But first I do this.” Using the athame, she nicked Mikhael’s wrist, brought it to her lips and swallowed the blood. Now she could sense his existence the same way she could her sex demons. Another way succubi were like vampires, in their ability to track through the blood. One big happy blood-sucking genus.

As she remembered Mikhael’s dry humor, she pushed away the thought of what it would feel like if his life impression disappeared off her radar. Of course he’d tease her about that, say something like, I knew you cared.

“Bring out the youngest female. We’ll start with her.”

“No,” Raina said sharply. “I’m going with you.”

“Too late. An example is in order. I didn’t give you permission to take the Dark Guardian’s blood.”

Raina curled back her lip. “I don’t answer to you. If your filth takes one step onto that porch, I will fight you. Those in the house will fight you. We might all die, but what you do to one of us is a strike against all of us. You take me now, all your minions with you, I go quietly. For now.”

Erica eyed her, but Raina knew she was going to win this one, because she meant it. It was like she’d told Mikhael the night he’d come: I won’t be your doormat.

“Fine.” Erica shrugged. “Drop your protection.”

“I’ll come out to you.” The protection would hold; she’d dedicate every ounce of energy to it as long as she could, no matter how it depleted her. Li and the others would know what to do once they were gone. The question was would it be too late?

She did know what it was to be out of control of the situation. She didn’t want her argument with Mikhael to haunt her now, but if she’d needed a slap in the face about the difference between his idea of control and Erica’s, she was getting that life lesson now.

Awesome, I get it. You can let me wake up now.

Li would do what she’d sent her beloved Cathair to do. Call Ruby, call Ramona. Get Derek. Goddess, the Light Guardian would never let her live it down if he found out that calling him had been her first thought when Mikhael went down. Given the adversarial relationship between the two males, Mikhael himself might have preferred the dismemberment and burning-oil option.

He’d get over it. Please, Goddess, let them all live to get past this moment.

The Lord helps those who help themselves. Raina was a strong believer in that mantra, whether divine power showed itself as God or Goddess, or an amalgamation of both, so her prayer fit accordingly.

Give me the strength and opportunity to take this bitch apart. And make her suffer for Cathair. Please also let Mikhael be okay. But don’t tell him I asked for that.

19

I’VE NEVER LOST A BATTLE YET.

How do I know that’s not an exaggeration, a boast? A lie?

Because I’m alive.

Do you anticipate everything?

You don’t want to be around the day I don’t.