Mark was suddenly aware that this was the second time in two days that they had been this close. He wanted him this close always, which was one hell of a distraction right now. The fire in his blue eyes might be fuelled by anger, but they were entrancing.
"Do you guys need a minute, or can we crack on?" Nanna asked from the doorway, making them both jump.
"Sorry, Nanna. What do we do now?" Mark asked, letting go of Damian before he did something stupid.
"It's obvious that a demon has a claim on Damian; we have to break that claim. It won't be easy, but luckily for you," Nanna looked to Damian, "we have some of the best witches in the county, and they will all be gathering here, tomorrow night. There's no time better than the Winter Solstice, it is when we are at our strongest."
"Winter Solstice?" Damian repeated the unfamiliar phrase.
"It's the shortest day of the year." Mark explained, fully aware of what was going on after years of Nanna's parties. "It traditionally celebrates the birth of the new year, and longer days ahead. It's also important for witches, as the Solstice is when the fabric between the worlds is at its thinnest, and spells take more effect."
"You've actually been paying attention, I was beginning to wonder." Nanna teased.
"So what do we do?" Damian asked. "Will it be dangerous?"
"We wait until tomorrow. I'll call the rest of the coven to warn them of our plans." Nanna sighed. "There could be some danger, I doubt the demon will back down willingly, but we can contain it as long as you stay strong, Damian."
Damian hesitated, completely out of his depth, then nodded. He was determined to get control of his life again.
"Why don't you two go and relax, forget about it for the rest of the evening. I think Elf is about to start on BBC." Nanna shooed them towards the door.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Mark smiled. It was his favourite Christmas film. "Come on, I'll make popcorn."
"Sure, planning to battle demons always calls for popcorn." Damian replied drily, but grabbed his coat and followed Mark.
*****
Mark chuckled at a scene between Will Ferrell and James Caan, he'd seen the movie countless times, but it still made him laugh. He glanced towards Damian, and was relieved to see that he was being distracted from the horrors in his life with a bit of Christmas nonsense. Sensing Mark's gaze, Damian glanced his way and smiled.
"So... aside from the crazy stuff, are you missing London?" Mark asked. He couldn't imagine being uprooted from all he'd ever known, being forced to go somewhere totally different.
Damian shrugged. "I guess I haven't had chance to really think about it. I miss being able to jump on a bus or the tube, and going anywhere I like. I was never bored, there was always somewhere to go."
"And up here?"
Damian smirked at an onscreen joke, then turned his attention back to Mark. "I dunno, what do you actually do for fun around here?"
"It's definitely not London. Even if you travel into Tealford, there's not much that impresses." Mark said, trying to rack his brains over what they actually did. It was strange that he always felt busy, and rarely bored. "Me and Harry do a bit of Motocross, have you ridden a dirt bike?"
"Er, no." Damian replied, looking slightly in awe.
"Do you ride horses? Nanna keeps a couple down at the local yard – I'm sure we can lend you a cob." Mark offered. "Horseback's one of the best ways to see the countryside."
"Now you're just having a laugh, can you imagine me on a horse?" Damian said, elbowing him.
They lapsed into a comfortable silence, both watching the film. Eventually Damian spoke up again.
"So what's Tealford High School really like? I felt like everyone was putting on their best manners."
Mark shrugged, he hadn't been to any other schools, nor had there been any new students to share their opinions, so he could only guess. "It's just a school. Same issues as everywhere else, I suppose."
Damian glanced at Mark, a little more nervously. "And, you know... did you get bullied much?"
Mark thought about it for a moment, it was something he hadn't considered for a long time. "Bullied over the witch stuff? Not really, it's a small community and everybody has grown up knowing that my family are witches."
"No, I meant were you bullied for being gay?"
"That obvious, is it?" Mark asked, not sure how he felt about that, he didn't want his sexuality to define him.
"No, one of the chattier girls mentioned it when she was giving me a rundown of the whole school." Damian said, grimacing slightly at the mere memory of the experience.
"Ah." That made Mark feel better, sort of. "To be honest, nobody is that bothered. There was this one guy, a couple of years ago; he tried to make my life hell. Anyway, once my Nanna found out, he had nightmares for a month until he finally apologised and backed off. Maybe everyone's too scared of her."
"I can believe that."
"What was it like at your old school?" Mark asked.
"Bullies are everywhere." Damian said dismissively. "They saw that I was different, which they immediately see as a weakness. I found whenever I played football, I forgot about it for a while and was happy. The more I played, the better I got. Eventually, I got good enough that they started to back off. There were enough important people on my side, that didn't want their striker upsetting..."
Damian's voice tailed off, and he stared vaguely towards the television screen, lost in his own memories.
Chapter Nine
Mark normally enjoyed the Winter Solstice, primarily because it was a good party, but also because he occasionally got an extra day off school. This morning was truly the start of the Christmas holidays, and it was easy to relax and ignore the impending trial.
Damian had reluctantly gone home last night. Mark would have voted for him to stay again, but his parents had used emotional blackmail and insisted Damian had to make amends with his aunt. A handy, informal note from Mark's Mum, saying that in her nurse's opinion it wouldn't hurt Damian to have one more day to recover, meant that Damian was back about midday.
"Excellent, you can give me a hand building the fire." Mark nodded towards the waste wood that was collected in the garage for this exact purpose every year.
"There's actually a fire?" Damian asked as he struggled to pull a twisted branch free.
"Yeah, we light it as the sun drops to the horizon. It has some traditional link to it, but mainly it just keeps us warm. The party is too big to hold indoors." Mark explained as he carried some broken planks up to the site for the fire. The ground was flat, and he and his Dad had already cleared the worst of the snow. There was a small pile that Mark had already started.
"So there'll be a lot of people here? Your Nanna told me her coven only has a dozen members."
Mark shrugged, "It may be a witch gathering, but it's definitely family-friendly. They bring their partners, kids, grandkids. Mr Brown, the farmer next-door, his family comes every year, too."
By mid-afternoon, everything was ready and Mark's Dad brought round bacon butties to tide them over. It wasn't long after, that people started to arrive, parking on the long drive and walking up.
There was noise and laughter; children were playing games and getting shouted at when they ran too close to the fire. But as the party spirit grew, Damian seemed to shrink back. At one point, Mark noticed that he had vanished completely, and went to find him.
Damian was holed up in the garage, sitting on the work bench, choosing the cold over the crowd.
"Hey, you OK?" Mark asked, his silhouette appearing in the wide garage door.
"I'm kinda freaking out about tonight." Damian confessed. "A few months ago, I didn't believe in witchcraft and demons. I feel so out of control over my own life."
"I understand-"
"How? How can you possibly understand? You were brought up with all this!"
Mark sighed, "This whole demon thing is new to me, too. Can you
at least believe that I'm here for you?"
Damian fell silent. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like a prick."
"You've got a good reason." Mark said, perching next to him.
"Lately, you're the one that's always there; you're the one that makes me feel normal." Damian said quietly.
Mark turned to see Damian looking his way. Their faces were mere inches apart in the dark garage, Damian's expression lost to the shadows. Mark wished that Damian was feeling even half the physical attraction that he was. He wished that-
Damian leant in and kissed him.
Mark's heart pounded, his hand raised to curl around his collar, pulling him further into the kiss.
"There you guys are!"
Mark pulled away, he'd never been less happy to hear Harry's voice.
"Harry, you absolute bugger!" Sarah hissed at her boyfriend, before turning to the two guys in the garage. "Sorry, we were looking for you everywhere. Nanna said you had something to tell us?"
Mark reluctantly let go of Damian. "It's your call if we tell them."
Damian licked his lips, before bringing his thoughts into line. "You trust them, and Nanna approves of them knowing..."
Damian took a deep breath, and proceeded to tell Harry and Sarah everything.
*****
It was nearing midnight, and the party had wound down, only the witches and Mark's family remained. Harry and Sarah also stayed, refusing to leave their friends in peril.
"You can't involve them, they're schoolkids." Mark's Dad argued with Nanna, as preparations were being made.
"This is to save Damian's life, his soul and his bleedin' sanity." Nanna snapped, "Mark chose to take up witchcraft, you should be proud that he's trying to help his friends."
"But Harry and Sarah-"
"Are old enough to make their own choice."
Mark's Mum stepped up and put her hand on her husband's arm. "Darling, you haven't won an argument in your life, don't try now."
Mark cringed at his family giving a public performance, and hurried his friends towards the fire. The witches were already taking their places, and Mark could feel the build of power, he didn't think it would be this strong. It felt like they could do anything, and they hadn't even started yet.
He left Harry and Sarah a few metres away, so they wouldn't interfere with the connection; then he joined the other witches. The other witches – those words, and the fact the magic that stirred welcomed him like a brother in the fold, made him shiver with excitement. Why had he ever doubted that this was the right path for him?
Thirteen of them circled the fire, which had gotten lower, darker and hotter as it burnt through the evening. Mark could see Damian across the circle, standing in front of Nanna, a look of determination in his handsome face. Mark offered him a silent smile, before his attention was suddenly stolen.
The spell had begun. Nanna laid a base spell for protection, before moving to invoke the demon. Across the circle, Mark felt connected to her; her intentions were his intentions. The same feeling pulsed from the other witches around the fire, until it all became rather heady.
The witches were chanting in unison, and on some level Mark felt a panic that he didn't know the words, but as he took a calming breath he realised that he was intoning with the rest. Mark forced himself to relax, and allowed the power of the spell to wash through him.
"Through the mists of time and space;
"Through locks and walls, to this set place.
"We call upon the ancient power;
"Greeted at the midnight hour.
"Link our hopes and hearts as one;
"Til our intentions be done."
Across the way, Nanna was the only one who spoke separately. She looked to the fire, her arms wide. In one hand, she held a bloody knife – Mark's gaze flicked to Damon, and he could see a makeshift bandage on his hand.
"By blood this was done;
"By blood this is undone.
"I call upon the ancient powers;
"To banish evil and release what is ours."
As the old woman repeated the words, the flames from the bonfire froze then became inverted. The fire shuddered and strained, like a living thing. What Mark assumed was a log, broke free and thudded upright into the ground, still burning; but it flexed and drove its claws into the mud. A huge claw and limb, blackened, but burning; Mark's gaze traced it back to its origin, and saw something half-human and half-beast in the fire. It faded between real and solid; and mere sparks in the fire.
Mark pushed down the fear that threatened to rise, and focussed on his chant.
"I order you to relinquish your hold on this boy." Nanna shouted at the demon form.
"You have no power over me, witch. A deal was struck." The voice was guttural and much more terrifying than it had been in the brief scrying vision.
"Not with him, his father. No man can sell his son."
The demon growled, lowering its blazing torso towards Nanna and Damian, who staggered back from the heat. "The father tried to rescind, he had to be removed."
"Then release the boy, you've had your fill of death."
"Deaths do not interest me, I want life." The demon moved, every joint giving a sickening crack, as it turned to face Damian. "His life."
Damian quailed as the thing turned its full attention on him, and he looked to Nanna for help.
"Stay strong." Nanna warned him, before turning to the demon. "You have no claim here."
"You have no power over me, witch." The demon repeated, with a choking, rasping sound of insulting laughter.
"I am the Grand High Witch, I have every power." Nanna yelled.
In the circle, Mark felt another wave of power surge through the connection, it was suffocating and relentless. He glanced at his Nanna, hardly believing that this was all her. The other witches in the circle wavered, then focussed anew at their own chants, sweating at the effort.
Sensing an opponent that it could not overcome, the demon turned to a weaker link. It leered at Damian with black, consuming eyes. "He is already mine. I can make him great. Or I can destroy... again... I have seen his dreams and desires..."
Within the fire, the demon turned again, rearing up and snapping its joints until it faced someone else. Its soulless eyes settled on Mark, the blackness ensnaring him, and numbing him from the connection with the other witches. For a moment Mark felt truly alone against this beast.
"No!" The yell came, and suddenly two gloved hands held onto Mark's.
He took a deep breath and felt the comforting warmth of Harry and Sarah pressed defensively against him. He was no longer alone, and in that moment the demon's hold over him waned.
The demon must have felt it too, and pulled itself up to its full, terrifying height. The flames crackled and roared to life once more. "Three victims instead of one..."
"Enough!" Damian screamed, bringing the focus back onto himself. "You will not hurt anyone. The only victim will be me."
"Damian, stop!" Nanna cried, trying to pull him back.
But it was too late, as Damian thrust his bloody hand in offering to the demon, it crashed down, sending sparks and ash billowing out.
There was a scream, and Damian ran away from the fire, seeking the dark loneliness beyond.
Nanna came stomping over to Mark and his friends, looking incredibly pissed off. "Why he had to act the bloody hero, I don't know, but the whole thing's ruined. You three find him and bring him to my kitchen, while I apologise to everyone."
Chapter Ten
After grabbing a torch, Mark, Harry and Sarah followed the deep footprints in the snow, all the way to the edge of Mr Brown's farm. Once there, they found Damian huddled against the stone wall, his head in his hands. The poor guy looked ready to tear himself apart, and his head snapped up as they approached.
"I couldn't let it hurt you. I couldn't, no one else is going to get hurt." Damian rambled. "But he's here, I can feel him, in my h
ead, in my heart."
"OK Damian, I know, we're safe because of you." Mark said gently, trying to placate him. "We need to get to Nanna's house, and we'll solve this somehow."
Damian looked up at him with pleading eyes. "We can't let him in; we can't let him near."
Ignoring his babbling, Mark pulled Damian to his feet and helped him back towards the house, Harry and Sarah trailing behind. By the time they returned, the fire was no more than a steaming mess, snow thrown over the last of the embers. The place was empty of people and the cars on the driveway had gone; now that they were no longer needed, everyone had gone home.
The warm and normally familiar kitchen seemed very alien after the ritual outside. The four friends sat very quietly around the kitchen table; they're young faces shell-shocked. Mark's eyes were fixed on Damian. He still looked like Damian, despite the clenched fists and flush to his skin as his heart worked overtime.
They all jumped when Nanna stomped into her kitchen, still looking rather peeved.
"We almost had him." She muttered. "All he needed was a willing vessel, and you just had to go and give him one."
"Nanna, leave him be." Mark snapped, knowing that Damian had been through enough.
"What happens now?" Sarah asked meekly, holding Harry's arm out of nervous habit.
"Now... now we all go to bed."
Mark stared at Nanna, waiting for the real answer, as surely she wasn't serious.
Nanna sighed and sat down at the table, directly across from Damian. "Look at me."
Damian reluctantly lifted his eyes to meet Nanna's, the normally light blue much darker now.
"You're in there, aren't you?" Nanna muttered, then sat back, satisfied. "There's nothing to be done at this time. The demon's hold on Damian is in its infancy, and as such it's as tangible as a shadow. It might show hints of itself, but we need it to be somewhat more solid before we can expel it, which might take months."
"He's got to live with a demon inside of him?" Harry asked, looking rather disgusted.
Nanna nodded, "I'm afraid so."
"Is that dangerous?"
"To be honest, Harry, I don't know. As long as we can keep the demon at bay for the next few months, in theory it should pose no threat." Nanna replied, less than convincing. "But I think it's safest if Damian is always with Mark or me, we can keep the demon at bay."
Mark jolted up, shocked at the idea of keeping that beast from this night under control. That seemed bloody impossible, whether the demon possession was in its infancy, or not. "I can do what now?"