“What the eff, man? We’re supposed to be working together.” Ember fumed, but he ignored her, instead, locking his gaze on an area of disturbed ground.
“This is it. I can feel it.” He kneeled.
I could feel it too. The pull in our belly like before, but also more. The vibration intensified, scattering my thoughts and sending my…our…emotions on a tilt-a-whirl. I needed to stop him. To insist he let Ember check the space for magic, but the desire, the need, was too strong. He…we…could finally be whole.
He felt the ground, swiping the dead weeds away to find a hatch. Anticipation built. I needed to say something, anything to caution him, but my scattered thoughts ping ponged off each other, making it impossible to think about anything but getting that skull.
“I’m coming in.” Ember stepped toward the circle.
“Stay out!” Chaos boomed, stopping her short. “You will need to break this circle from the outside. The magic has trapped me in.”
I wanted to argue that we were trapped, not just him, but he reached for the latch, gave it a twist, and opened the hatch. There, in the bottom of a rotting wood container, lay his skull.
This was too easy. I might not have been able to think straight, but the sinking sense of dread in my gut was unmistakable.
He reached inside. Something popped. A swarm of zombie fae shot out, slamming into our face and knocking us back.
“Son of a bitch!” Look at that. I’d found my words.
Chaos jumped to our feet and lunged for the skull, but the fae hadn’t eaten in centuries. Did I ever mention how much they loved witch blood? And much like all the other creatures from across the veil, they didn’t die unless they were beheaded, stabbed in the heart, or set on fire, so these suckers were ravenous.
They dive-bombed us, their tiny razor teeth slicing into our skin, taking little chunks of flesh before they retreated.
A few tried to escape, but the circle held them inside. They bounced off the wall and came back for us, more pissed off than ever. Chaos waved our arms, knocking them to the ground, but the starving little creatures would not be deterred. They wanted witch for dinner, and that was what they would have, goddess damn it.
“Ash! I’m coming in.” Ember ran toward the circle. She slammed into the invisible wall, and dark magic pulsed, sending her careening into the ground three feet away. She landed with a thud, probably getting the wind knocked out of her.
Chaos kept swinging our arms, knocking the fae around, but they continued their assault. Our skin stung, and blood flowed in ribbons down our bare arms.
Ember tried again to cross the threshold, and again it knocked her back. Springing the trap kept anyone from getting in or out. Lovely.
Chaos roared, the sound way more guttural than I should have been capable of making. Our abdomen heated, burning hotter than my fire magic could go. He fisted our hands, crossing our arms in front of our chest. The heat felt like it would burn me alive.
Was this him taking over? Was he about to burn through my form and become a whole demon again? Goddess, I hoped not. Spontaneous combustion sounded like a painful way to go.
He roared again, throwing his arms out to the sides.
They erupted in flames.
He swung, moving faster than any witch was capable, turning into a tornado of fire inside the circle. Fae screeched, each one he hit tumbling to the ground, consumed by flames.
Exhilaration flowed through our veins, and I was pretty sure it was mine. My arms were on fire. Ember couldn’t even do that. She could make fireballs and set objects ablaze like her sword, but this… Sure, it was the demon doing it, but holy Hecate, it was fun.
When the last fae hit the ground, its body shriveling and turning to dust, Chaos extinguished our arms and heaved in a breath. “Your body can’t take much more.”
“No kidding.” Fatigue replaced all the excitement. He heaved another ragged breath.
“I’m trying, Ash. I’m trying, but I’m failing.” He scooped his skull from the hatch and tucked it under his arm.
“You’re doing great. Look, you’ve got your skull. Let’s put you back together.”
He huffed. “Ember, you can break the circle now.”
“Can I? It seemed pretty adamant to keep me out.” She rummaged through my satchel for a dissolving spell.
“While she does that, let’s exorcise you.”
“We can’t do it here. You must cast me out in the same place I possessed you if you want to survive the exorcism.”
“Well, shit.”
“Well said.”
The drive home would be forty-five minutes at best. “How much time do we have?”
He hesitated to answer. “Not enough.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“What’s not enough?” Ember cast the dissolving spell and tore through the circle.
Chaos stumbled, and she clutched our arm, sending sharp pain shooting all the way past our shoulder, up the side of our neck, and into our head. He groaned. “Not enough. Time,” he said through clenched teeth. “Get back…to house.” Our knees buckled.
Ember clutched our shoulders, holding us upright. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. You are not burning through my sister right here in the field. You’ve got your skull. Do your thing.”
“Can’t do it here.” He curled our hand, our nails digging into our palm.
My sister’s lips parted, and her head wobbled like a bobblehead doll as she put the pieces together. “Right. Okay, you have to return to the place where you two were bound in order for you to separate completely. We need the spell book too, though it wouldn’t surprise me if Ash had it memorized. Let’s go.”
