As the Hunter-cursed witch, Bernice was supposed to have calling powers that drew the Hunters away from the Ayers, but we'd swapped magic. It wasn't Bernice calling to Maggie now, it was me.
I kept my hand up. "Let her go. It's me you want," I said carefully.
Maggie shook her head, her eyes moving too quickly between us to be normal.
"No," she said slowly. "No, this isn't right."
I started to stand, and she waved her gun.
"You stay!" she ordered.
I froze. I may have power, but I was human in every other way. One shot, and I was as dead as any other mortal. My gaze locked on Maggie's even as Luther's voice infiltrated my mind.
"Don't move, Monroe!" he ordered.
I wanted to scowl, but didn't. What did he think I was going to do? Dance?
A gun went off somewhere in the house, and my body went numb. Who was dead? One of the Hunters? Or one of our own?
Maggie seemed unfazed. "This one here," she said, her gun gesturing at Bernice, "she was supposed to be the Hunted. I've been keeping tabs on her. And yet—"
"You were wrong, is all," I interjected. "People make mistakes, Maggie. Can't you feel it? That girl, that witch, is marked for Lilith. You wouldn't want to anger the she-Demon would you?"
Maggie started to lower her gun, real fear entering her eyes. And then, after a long and thoughtful moment, her gun rose again, the barrel aimed at my head.
I released the breath I'd been holding, my heart beating so hard within my chest I was sure it would explode long before a bullet could reach me. My eyes closed.
The gun went off.
Nothing. No searing pain, no blackness. Nothing.
I opened my eyes.
Maggie was on her back on the floor, her eyes on the Demon standing over her. Luther.
A few feet away was the gun. I crawled toward it.
"The big decision here at the moment," Luther said wryly. "is whether I kill you now or later."
Maggie's eyes widened, and Luther grinned. "I see you, Mother," he said, his tone low.
It was a freaky moment, gross even. If Lilith looked at me, would she see Luther in my head?
I shivered as my hand closed over Maggie's gun, the black metal cold in my palm. I lifted it.
"Do you even know how to use that?" Luther asked.
My gaze moved to him as I stood, the gun dangling at my side. To be honest, I knew nothing about weapons.
I shrugged. "It's a gun. You just point and shoot, right?" I asked.
Luther shot me a look as I approached him, which was funny really since he looked somewhat ridiculous with a booted foot on Maggie's chest.
I started to lift the gun, and Luther reached over, shaking his head as he grabbed me by the wrist, smoothly pulling the pistol out of my grip, his eyes locked on Maggie's.
"I'll take that," he said. "You with a gun doesn't seem like a very smart idea."
I raised my brows at his insult. "What? You actually have those?" I retorted. "Smart ideas, I mean."
Luther paused, flipping the gun before pressing it back into my palm.
"I've changed my mind. If you shoot yourself, you'll just be saving me the trouble."
Maggie watched us both, her eyes strangely alert.
"Oh, my God!" NeeCee said.
She had moved from the floor to the wall, her back pressed against the paneling, her eyes on the Hunter. My gaze followed hers.
Maggie's placid blue eyes, a trademark Ayers feature, had taken on a red hue, her pupils dilated. I swallowed a gasp. Luther did nothing.
"You dare interfere in my business, Son," Maggie said.
It wasn't the Hunter's voice that spoke, it was Lilith's, the she-Demon I'd seen in my vision of Eta.
"Oh, my God!" NeeCee said again.
Luther grinned. "Funny how we keep putting ourselves in this position, isn't it, Mother?" he asked.
Maggie's own lips turned up into a smile. I wanted to back away but didn't.
"The Ayers are mine, Thorne. I suggest you stay out of it," Lilith said.
There was a scuffle from behind me, and I turned just in time to see a masked Hunter barreling in my direction.
"Watch it!" Belle shouted. She was standing over a red-haired female, a stolen gun pointed at her head.
I didn't even attempt to use my own pistol. I really didn't know anything about guns. I threw it down instead, kicking it to the side as I ducked. The Hunter grabbed for me, and I moved under his arm, my foot coming down hard on the back of his knee before using my elbow against the back of his head.
The Hunter went down, and I used both mine and NeeCee's magic to hold him immobile.
I looked up to find Luther's eyes on me, and I shrugged sheepishly.
"Three brothers," I said simply. I'd had my fair share of wrestling opponents growing up, including a brother with martial arts training.
Luther eyes brightened, and I knew he was attempting not to smile.
"Monroe," Lilith's voice said suddenly. All of my humor fled as my gaze slid down to Maggie. "It's been a long time," the she-Demon added.
I kept my expression even. "Not long enough," I muttered.
Maggie laughed, the sound eerie because I knew it wasn't her voice. "I allowed you to get the upper hand on me once, Witch. I won't again. Your soul is mine."
Allowed? She'd allowed me?
Luther leaned over, his hand going to Maggie's chin, forcing her face in his direction. I winced at the way his fingers dug into her skin.
"It's time to let the Ayers go," he growled. "They've shed enough blood for you."
Maggie managed to smile despite Luther's grip, her red eyes glowing. "You really think so, Thorne? My son, the only one of my children whose abilities are so close to my own. You'd want to save them?"
Luther leaned close, his nose not far from Maggie's. "Search her, Mother, feel my presence in the Ayers. You're right. I am a lot like you. Don't mistake me for your other children. In the end, I'm as evil as you are."
She laughed. "And yet you risk yourself for them now?"
The side of Luther's mouth lifted, the wry grin feral as his own eyes reddened. "She's been useful to me. You of all people know we never destroy what is useful to us."
I grit my teeth. Luther was right. I was useful to him, had been since I'd given him the amulet. Without me, he'd have his own possessive Demons to fight. Satan could possess any one of his Demons, and I'd kept him out of Luther.
"You don't want to fight me, Son," Lilith warned.
Luther stood, his head held high. "Oh, but I do. Prepare for war."
And with that, he lifted a hand and Maggie's eyes went wide before closing abruptly, her head lolling to the side.
"Did you kill her?" NeeCee asked, her voice small.
Luther looked up. "No."
It was all he said. No explanation. Nothing. Just "no". And when he turned to me and our eyes met, I realized something. Luther Craig really wasn't the good guy. We were all in bed with a villain. It suddenly wasn't about right or wrong. It was about which bad guy we were more willing to sell our soul to.
"You keep what you find useful, huh?" I asked, my voice void of all emotion, my eyes on Luther.
There was the sound of a body being dragged across the floor.
"Let's get them all tied up and save all the emotional stuff for later," Belle suggested in an attempt to diffuse the tension.
Behind me, Henry wheezed. "My window!" he whined. "Really!"
Lucas moved toward the seer, a Hunter dangling from his hands. "I'd worry more about the glass in your skin," the Angel said.
Henry paid him no attention. "My beautiful window. Do you even know how much money I put into this place?"
Luther's eyes were still glued to mine. "I've never pretended to be good," he told me. "The only one who pretended anything was you."
He moved past me then, and I sucked in a deep breath, my gaze going to NeeCee. She was still huggi
ng the wall, her eyes wide. Blood oozed from a cut on her forehead. Smaller, less deep cuts peppered her arms. She looked at me, something akin to sympathy in her gaze.
Luther was right. he'd never pretended to be anything he wasn't. He'd marched onto the scene as a favor to his brother and had remained out of curiosity. I'd been okay with that, so why wasn't I now? And now that Luther knew the Ayers had once summoned his mother and had since bred women who would continue to summon her, why did he still stay? More curiosity? Or just because I was useful.
I moved toward NeeCee, my gaze on her cut. If being useful to Luther meant protecting her, did I really have a right to complain?
"My window!" Henry moaned again.
It was the last straw. Until now, I'd put up with a lot. I'd been okay being a favor. I'd put up with being possessed by a Demon. I'd relived my family history and bore Eta's scars, her heartache. And I'd listened to two Demons battle for the right to my soul. I'd become my worst fear. I'd lost all control.
"Screw your fucking window!"
And with that, I took NeeCee by the arm before brushing past everyone on our way up the stairs. No more! I wouldn't be used any more.
I wasn't known for being impractical, I wasn't known for throwing tantrums, and in my haste I missed when Maggie's head rolled again, her eyelids opening to reveal red eyes and a dangerous smile.
Chapter 19
I talked to Dayton today. It felt so good to hear her voice, but it was painful too. She wanted to know when or if I was coming back to Italy, but I'm still nowhere near learning why I am connected to Demons. All I have at the moment are dreams, visions, and empty theories. I hate this lonely feeling, this empty feeling that I'm not going to like what I discover about myself.
~Monroe's Totally Wicked Book of Shadows~
As soon as we were in the bedroom, I started throwing things.
"Damn!"
NeeCee sat heavily on the bed, her gaze distant.
"Damn!"
"Monroe," NeeCee whispered.
My hands went to the bedroom wall, and it was the first time I noticed all of the blood. The scratches and the blood. My forehead met my hands on the wall.
"I hurt," NeeCee said.
And now that she said it, I did too. My skin felt tight and raw. It stung and even burned in some places. I turned around, closing my eyes briefly before meeting her gaze.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to lose it like that."
NeeCee shook her head. "Don't apologize. It was bound to happen sometime. You certainly held out longer than I did."
I looked at my cousin, really looked at her. "What do you mean?"
She laughed. "Oh, I clocked out on you from the get go. Don't pretend I didn't, and don't think I'm not aware of the Demon in my head. I knew when Luther possessed me. Your power wouldn't let me ignore it. It just seemed easier to let him control me." NeeCee's eyes teared up. "I guess that makes me weak.
I moved to her, my hands taking hers. She winced, and I tried not to do the same. Glass cuts were like paper cuts. They might not always look terrible, but they hurt hella bad.
"Don't do that to yourself, NeeCee. You aren't weak. You never have been. Honestly, you're smart, you're pretty, and you have way more gumption than you think you do. Sometimes it takes more guts to let people lead you, than it does to lead. I know you. You'd go along with it as long as it was for your own good, but you would have fought if it wasn't. Don't sell yourself short. You're an Ayers."
NeeCee snorted. "A damn lot of good that has done us."
I laughed because, really, there wasn't anything else I could do.
"We have some good family too," I said. "Our parents for one." My thoughts went to Mac. "And others."
NeeCee started picking at the glass in her arms, and I did the same, my teeth clenched.
"What do we do now?" NeeCee asked.
I glanced at her, my eyes going to a piece of glass she was holding in her hands. An idea blossomed in my head. The glass wasn't quartz, but ...
"NeeCee," I said carefully.
She looked at me. "Yeah."
I stood and moved over to a clear glass vase I'd noticed when I'd awoken to find Luther leaning over me on the bed, the grimoire under my head.
I froze. The grimoire! It was downstairs. I cringed at the thought of going after it.
"Monroe," NeeCee said.
I shook myself. The grimoire was the least of our problems at the moment.
"Do you trust me?" I asked NeeCee as I lifted the vase.
NeeCee swallowed. "You know I do," she said slowly.
I dropped the vase, and it shattered on the floor. I took two large shards and brought them over to the bed before lifting NeeCee's hand.
"Then repeat after me," I instructed.
I took one of the shards and reopened one of NeeCee's cuts.
She cried out. "Monroe!"
"Just trust me," I repeated.
I smeared both glass shards with her blood and then handed them to her. "Blood on glass ..."
NeeCee didn't say anything, and I shook her. "Say it!"
NeeCee jumped but hastily repeated the lines.
I stared into her eyes. "Blood on glass, repel my enemy, possession pass, control remain with me, this I say, so let it be."
NeeCee repeated the chant, her eyes wide with fear and hope as the shards brightened and took on a bluish-white glow before fading. Her blood was gone, absorbed into the glass.
"Was that what I think it was?" Bernice whispered.
I nodded. "It's the same spell I did on the quartz when I created the amulets. The only change is the word quartz to glass. Now ..." I looked around the room and grabbed one of the pillows off of the bed, stripping the white pillowcase off of it. "Now we make them wearable."
I used an extra piece of glass to rip the pillowcases, wrapping the resulting fabric around the outside of the spelled glass shards.
NeeCee jumped up. "The blinds! We can use the cords from the window blinds to tie them around our necks."
I smiled. "That's my girl."
NeeCee tried giving me a stern look but ended up laughing instead.
I grinned wider as she cut down the blind cord before handing me a good piece of it. "It's nice to feel empowered, isn't it?" I asked.
Neither one of us said anything as we knotted a piece of cord around the fabric-wrapped glass, and then used the remaining cord to fasten it around our necks.
Our eyes met.
"Blessed be," we whispered simultaneously.
As soon as I dropped the glass to my shirt, I felt the difference. My head was suddenly lighter. Empty.
NeeCee laughed again. "It worked, Monroe. I still feel the Demon, but he's not inside any more!"
I grinned. "As long as you have my power, you'll feel him, but you're right, he's not possessing us now."
She sat down, her hands coming to mine, her eyes turning serious. "We're it, Monroe. We're this generation's sacrifice."
My eyes searched hers. "Yes ... yes, we are. But we're also the first generation of Ayers that didn't call to Lilith." I gripped her hands. "And even if she was summoned by the Hunter, we can fight this. We both don't have to die."
The tone of my voice was obvious, and Bernice's eyes widened. "What are you saying, Monroe?"
I leaned forward. "I'm saying that if Lilith's sacrifices must be met, there is still a Hunter-cursed Ayers who could die in your place."
NeeCee gasped. "Monroe! You wouldn't!"
"I won't," I agreed. "I won't if I don't have to."
"Monroe," NeeCee whispered.
I shook my head. "No, NeeCee. I won't make any promises. I'd do anything for my family. You are family."
NeeCee sat up, her head falling to her chin.
"I love you, Roe," she said.
I grinned. "Right back at ya!"
There was a knock at the door, and I dropped NeeCee's hands, my back straight as I turned to face it.
NeeCe
e gasped. "It's a Demon. The shock is not as strong with the amulet, but it's still a Demon."
I scowled. "I figured it wouldn't take Luther long once we kicked him out of our heads." I stood. "Not now, Luther!" I called out.
NeeCee stood next to me, a frown on her face.
"Monroe," she whispered. "Something's wrong."
I stiffened, my eyes on the door.
"Don't tell me what I think you're going to tell me, NeeCee."
A small sob escaped her, and I knew she'd been overcome with fear.
I moved in front of her. "NeeCee ..."
She sobbed again. "I don't think it's Luther," she whispered.
The knock came again.
I stepped forward, my hand going to the amulet, my eyes narrowed, my lips moving quietly. The protection spell was a simple one, and it calmed Bernice as it wrapped around us, but if it was who I thought it was, it wasn't going to do a damn bit of good.
NeeCee's hand went to my sweatshirt, her fingers clenching the fabric just as the door suddenly swung open.
NeeCee screamed.
Chapter 20
I stood at the railing facing the river today, and when I was sure the coast was clear, I climbed on top of it. It probably wasn't the smartest thing in the world to do, but I needed a closer connection to the Goddess than I could get from the ground. It was like flying. The wind was strong, so I stood carefully, without moving until I felt confident enough to close my eyes, but when my lids finally fluttered closed, I was flying. I was part of the wind, part of the air. I'm not an elemental witch, so I know I don't have a particular talent for an individual element, but water is reassuring right now. With all of the dreams I'm having of fire, water is keeping me sane.
~Monroe's Totally Wicked Book of Shadows~
The woman on the other side of the door wasn't Maggie anymore. It was a wild shell of a woman, her blonde-braided hair tangled and sticking up haphazardly around her head. Her skin looked sickly, almost yellow, and the grin on her face was manipulated, her lips way too wide to be real. Her eyes were blood red.
NeeCee was still screaming, the shriek broken intermittently by sobs, and I reached behind me to grab her hand. She calmed but barely.
"Miss me?" Lilith's voice asked.
NeeCee hiccupped.
I stayed in front of Bernice. "What do you want, Demon?" I asked.
Maggie's body moved into the room, her movements graceful. The elegance was odd when mixed with the Hunter's appearance.