Eddie put all three mugs in the sink. “Just like that. What do you need?”
During the flight back with Raphael, thinking about the spell had kept her mind off Luc—shithead. “I don’t think we should do it here.” She gestured the theatre around them. “I’ve never done this spell before, and I don’t want to place Emma and Ethan in any more danger.”
Dee blinked at her and crossed her arms. “What kind of danger? Like the blowing up kind?”
“No.” Bianca had to laugh. “At least, I don’t think so. The spell tracks, but to do that, it connects the wielder with the subject.” Magic was unpredictable, and she didn’t have her coven with her. “I want to be away from the children when I establish that connection.”
It took some discussion, but it was finally agreed that Sophia, Daniel, and Dee would stay at the theatre. Eddie and Shade would take Bianca to her cabin and provide the power boost. Raphael must have said something, because nobody asked her about shithead.
It was midafternoon by the time they arrived at Bianca’s house. It looked the same, which was strange, because Bianca felt like she’d changed so much since the night they’d brought Lucifer here. Her home’s familiarity wrapped around her like a snuggly blanket. They’d swung past Leona’s to collect a personal object, and Bianca had Leona’s hairbrush in the bag with the grimoire.
True spellwork didn’t rely on candles, or herbs, or crystals, but the ritual of placing these objects centered Bianca as she set up at her kitchen table.
She cleared negative energy from the room and placed anchoring crystals in a grid around her, Shade, and Eddie.
With keen eyes, Shade watched her work. “How can we help?”
“If you could open your power to me,” Bianca said as she lit candles. “Then I can use your power for an extra push.”
Shade nodded, his eyes glowing silver. The wash of his lust power made her want to purr and rub up against him, but she forced herself to focus.
Eddie’s power felt different. Where Shade’s oozed like honey, Eddie’s was sharp and clear like a gemstone.
“Let’s get this done,” Shade said. “I want you two back at the theatre as soon as possible.”
Bianca opened the grimoire to the tracking spell. She placed Leona’s crystal on the age yellowed tome and channeled into it. The rush of power from Eddie and Shade was like a tsunami, and it took Bianca a moment to control the storm.
Then she locked her power stream on the crystal and spoke the incantation.
Her vision went black, her ears popped, and she could hear nothing but her breathing and the rapid thump of her heart.
She floated in a dark, blue-tinted vacuum. A tug at her solar plexus made her gasp. The dark streamed past her and the pull inside her strengthened.
She hit a barrier and was repelled.
Bianca drew on Eddie and Shade.
The barrier popped, and another heartbeat filled the silence. It was a disconcerting counter rhythm to her heartbeat.
Shapes coalesced out of the dark. Two human shapes.
One of them was Leona. The other was Ashe.
Ashe was talking to Leona, but his voice was muffled.
Relief that Leona was alive flooded Bianca.
Leona didn’t look well. Her skin was ashy and dull, and her cheekbones jutted blade sharp in her thinner face.
Leona stiffened and looked around.
Ashe’s mouth moved as he spoke. His words echoed down a tunnel to Bianca. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” Leona said. “Go away.”
Ashe grimaced. “I am going away. I have to do something, and then I’ll be back.”
“I don’t care,” Leona said in a flat, hollow voice.
“Witch,” a voice boomed in Bianca’s mind, so loud she cried out. “How nice of you to join us.”
Oily satisfaction seeped down the connection.
Leona and Ashe were holding their heads as if they experienced the voice too.
“Bianca!” Eddie cried. “Break the connection.”
“And my Nephilim,” the voice said.
“Bianca,” Shade yelled. “Break it.”
Bianca tried to retreat.
An iron grip fastened around her mind. “Ah no, witch. Not leaving so soon, are you?”
“Bianca.” Leona gasped. “Get away from here.”
She was trying. Bianca struggled against the being who had her in an implacable hold. It felt so other, a jumbled mix of demonic and human and something else, something ancient and alien. So much power too. Not even the hell princes’ power was this vast.
She was aware of hands on her body, shaking her, trying to help her.
“So strong in your magic,” the being said. “You will be mine.”
Leona sobbed. “Get away, Bianca.”
Ashe’s face was frozen in a rictus of pain.
Bianca grappled with the force, her magic scrabbling against the indefatigable strength like fingernails against steel. Her head felt like it might explode. Her breath sawed in and out her mouth.
“You will be mine, witch,” the being said. “You and the third.” Its laughter ricocheted through her mind, lacerating her brain. “I will have all three, and I will have you.”
Another power source joined Eddie and Shade, and then a fourth. Bianca snatched for it.
The grip on her mind weakened.
Bianca managed to wriggle part of the connection loose.
The being roared with rage. “It’s too late. I will have the three, and I can’t be stopped.”
