I nodded and replied in a similar way: “Then you raise the first trip wire and the circles go up around and everyone starts praying the same prayer.”
He glanced at his watch. Just seconds left. “That’ll be the tricky part. I haven’t tried to raise four separate circles before. I know it’s the magic from the others that will keep them up, but it would have been easier just with the two of us. We have enough firepower to hold off an army.”
I touched one of the dozen protection charms and major holy items strewn around my neck and waist. The Archbishop of Canterbury had donated one of the crosses from the Tower collection. Supposedly it had been used during the Crusades. Matty was carrying a shield with a white rose barely visible on the old iron; it vibrated with energy, even after hundreds of years. They were our “just in case” backups.
“True. But they’d overwhelm us before I could get a note out. This causes more confusion. Once they’re all flying around and attacking the circles, the archbishop sets the second trip wire and Okalani brings in Beverly and the second horn.” Who knew the archbishop was a minor mage? That turned out to be the final stroke of luck in the vice president’s plan. She was a very smart lady.
“And then we all pray.” Matty sighed. “And I don’t mean just novenas. Here we go. Seven, six … get those earphones back on.” I did as he said and all the other priests did the same in their separate painted circles.
Like on a movie set, the last three numbers were silent, demonstrated only by Matty’s lowering fingers. The last was a fist, and all the other priests mirrored him and raised glowing swords. My stomach lurched as the blue barrier in front of us began to flicker and fail. I knew Bruno and Creede were working their tails off to be sure that everything went smoothly. It had broken my heart to see the slash marks across their handsome faces. When this was all over, they’d need health charms to help them heal up.
The lesser demons began to collectively smash into the barrier and finally it gave way. All manner of creatures from the worst nightmares of the worst horror movies ever written flowed toward us in a wave that made me want to run screaming backward. It took every ounce of my willpower to stand still. I saw Matty’s mouth and hands move and suddenly there was blue everywhere once more. It looked like all the other circles went up just fine, because demons were bouncing off and burning up left and right. But nothing approached our circle and in moments I discovered why.
There was a Reserved sign on our table.
The greater demon was walking forward and everything in his path crawled or skittered aside. He looked at the barriers around us and the holy items and … smiled. His mouth moved and that made me smile in return, because I couldn’t hear a word he said. I raised my shoulders in a shrug and pointed at the headphones before pulling my knives and waiting. Matty prayed and counted beads on his rosary while the demon became frustrated, striking out at a barrier that seemed to be holding just fine.
Then pain erupted in my head and it suddenly occurred to me that I should have had someone do a mental-attacks casting on me. Damn it! I’m not so easily defeated, Celia.
I mouthed the words slowly, so there was no question: “Go … back … to … hell!” It wasn’t time to raise the horn yet, unfortunately. We needed as many demons outside the rift as possible, or so claimed Adriana. She’d returned with a translation of most of the instructions just in time. Unfortunately, there was one passage she hadn’t been able to work out. Okalani had taken her to the library to talk to Anna, who spoke a number of dead languages. I ignored the pain in my brain and looked right past the demon at the pretty stars in the night sky. It actually was pretty. Lots of shooting stars and weirdly colored planets.
You said I needed new material. I think this will do nicely. The words sounded like my own voice on my phone-mail message. I shouldn’t have looked up. One of the priests—I think his name was Father Ignacious—was suspended from the demon’s hand and was thrashing in pain. The demon now looked like … me.
Fuck a duck.
The sheer horror of the vision kept me from closing my eyes. I saw myself, fangs extended and skin glowing. The demonic me grabbed the priest’s hair and pulled his neck to my waiting mouth.
No. Please. Not that.
I did close my eyes, but the demon’s connection with me forced the images straight into my mind. Forced me to feel my teeth penetrate the skin, taste the thick, coppery blood splashing down my throat. The priest’s screams made my skin twitch and my stomach ache. I’ll share, Celia. Come feed. So sweet and warm.
There was a sharp slap on my hand that burned and I opened my eyes to see that Matty had smacked me with the flat of his sword. I’d nearly crossed the circle threshold. Shit. But why had the sword burned where it touched me?
I hoped and prayed that it had because the demon was touching my mind. I refused to watch the priest’s body twitch as the demon finished feeding. Instead, I lowered myself to a squat and picked up the black duffel.
The demon watched with interest as I unzipped the bag. When I pulled out the narrow triton conch, the demon’s face went from mildly amused to very much not amused. I stood and watched as Matty adjusted his headphones to be sure he had a solid fit.
If you put your lips to that, I will make sure you suffer when I kill you.
I raised the horn to my lips and stared into the demon’s yellow eyes with their slits of red down the center. The first note was long and low and I could feel it resonate through my body like a warm wave. Demons began to scream and thrash and throw themselves against the barrier. I blew until my breath gave out, and while the sound made the darkness waver, it wasn’t anywhere near strong enough to seal the rift.
Then I felt the answering tone—a high-pitched clarion call that made the greater demon scream. He looked around for the source of the agonizing sound, but the archbishop had done his magic well. He’d used illusion to hide the circle where he and Beverly stood. So the sound seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere. I blew again and so did she. The twin horns made the very air vibrate. Tears of blood were streaming down Matty’s face and I realized that I was crying as well. It was a pretty good bet that if I reached up, my hand would come away red.
The demon began to stalk around us, hitting and kicking and throwing things—searching for the hidden circle. He would eventually find it, but hopefully not in time.
Celia? The voice in my mind was one I recognized, but I couldn’t trust anything I heard. I couldn’t think of any reason why Pili would be inside the circle. But what the voice was saying sounded just like something Pili would say: You must not look at what is to come. There is never a good time to say good-bye, but this is the only way; I swear. There must be a sacrifice, and it must be a siren with demon taint. I am the only other, and she is the only one who can guard my path.
I should have listened, because when I opened my eyes there was a tornado a few paces away. It sparkled and raised sand and threw demons in ever-widening arcs. Vicki?
Inside the area of spinning sand was a single figure, walking slowly toward the waiting demons. I recognized her, too. What the hell?
Sound the horn, Celia. Let nothing break your concentration. A sacrifice is the only way.
Sacrifice? No! Not Vicki! Not Pili! There has to be another way. We’ll find another way. My face felt hot and I couldn’t concentrate. Both of them? What would happen to Gran now? What would happen to me?
Pili’s voice was stern: There is no other way. You must. The tainted must be sacrificed to give life back to life and death back to death. So it was written.
Matty saw me make a break for it and pulled me back before I could cross the barrier. He literally threw himself on top of me and pinned me down by stabbing the sword through my shirt into the ground. Pili took a hit from one of the demons but got up and kept walking. Vicki spun the demon and threw him back into the black gash. “Damn it, Matty! Let me go!”
In a last-ditch effort, the warrior priest pulled away my headphones.
Shrieks and unearthly sounds that no person should hear assaulted my brain. But I could hear Matty’s desperate voice clearly: “If you break that circle, Celia, we’re all dead! Pili, Vicki, you, me, and an innocent child whose soul will become a toy to those things.”
My hands were clawing at the dirt, mere inches from the barrier. I could feel the heat from the blue flame lick at my skin. I looked across to where I knew Beverly’s circle was and it was now visible. The circle was broken. The greater demon was towering over the cowering child while the archbishop held him off with a cross that glowed like a star, inside a makeshift circle made from a Bible and sword crossed. I’d heard of that sort of circle before. It’s not big, but supposedly it’s pretty powerful. But it wouldn’t hold forever.
I picked up the triton conch and fought back the sobs that wracked my body as I watched two people I loved walk to their death. It was hard to catch a deep enough breath to blow the horn, but I managed.
The sound reverberated through the circle and spread out like waves. Beverly looked up from where she was huddled on the ground, her green eyes wide and panicked.
I wanted to stand, to give my friends the dignity they deserved. Matty must have realized what I was doing, because he got off me and helped me to my feet. The young redhead stood as well, her head high—taking strength from me.
The greater demon abandoned her circle to fly toward mine at breakneck speed. He hit my circle and made the ground shake hard enough to knock Matty and me to the ground. The blue fire flickered and nearly went out. Before the demon could hit us again, I picked myself up and blew the horn once more.
That’s when I noticed four bright points of light in the distance. They glowed with the strength of halogen flashlights. Two were golden and two were white. Matty noticed, too. He didn’t abandon his prayer, just spread his arms wide to become a channel for John and Bruno. I could feel their energy flow into him and be made pure by the touch of his faith. The casting circle became white-hot light with golden edges that made the demon scream in pain.
