Page 90 of Transfiguration
Would Matthew’s soul return to the body now that it wasn’t in the urn? Didn’t the demon need a vessel? Page quickly crafted runes and drew his own blood. Was he trying to summon the soul or the demon? He had a book in his hands, the one Nate had dropped, casting from the pages.
The strength of the darkness was suffocating. Con struggled to hold back the power of Wind. He could sense Sam’s iron grip on Fire. Wind and Fire wanting to dance and play. Sam dropped free of the wall, landing face-first in the dirt, but not moving. He hugged himself, keeping his face down, and fought an internal battle to keep control of his magic.
Con was usually better than this. The god of Wind refusing to give, despite Luca pulling on it. Con felt like he was being yanked in a thousand directions and didn’t know how to fix the constant drain.
Let go of the revenant.Luca’s voice whispered through Con’s mind. He blinked, fearing if he let it go, the demon would take over.Trust me,Luca said,it’s mine.
Con released the barrier around Luca’s physical form, taking back the power it had been using, and energy slammed into him. He sucked in air, the magic larger than any mess of spells he’d ever created at once, but consuming it all. The volume of power he’d been using to contain Luca spoke to the insane power the man could create. Con prayed Luca could take control of the body and shove the revenant back.
Luca vanished from Con’s arms, and his body jolted, eyes going from glowing red/black to the pale whiskey they normally were. Luca’s chest rose and fell, power rolling around him, swirling as he raised his hands and yanked, dragging all of that power into himself. The last remaining strength of Wind snapped, feeding into their bond.
Power ricocheted through the arboretum, the last of the overrun power in the ley lines breaking free, converged lines pulsing one last wave of energy, knocking them all over. The spell Page had been casting shattered and Matthew jolted, eyes going from red to the black of hunger, the demon smoke no longer rising from him. Had his soul returned to his body?
A few seconds later, the golem burst free from the dirt like an explosion.
“Fuck,” Con heard Sam curse as it launched itself across the space. It hit Matthew around the center and lifted the body upward, wrapping arms around the vampire’s middle.
“Page!” Seiran screamed. But Page was down, hit hard by the wave of power.
The golem climbed the wall like fucking Spiderman, with Matthew’s body flung over its shoulder. Gabe leapt after it. The demon kicked him hard, and Gabe went flying, landing in a battered heap at Seiran’s feet. Vines raced up the wall as if to contain the demon, wrapping around him, trying to bind him, but it smashed through the growing ivy and stone barrier, punching a hole in the wall, and leapt into the darkness.
“Fuck,” Seiran said, racing to Gabe’s side.
Bryar reappeared and circled Kaine, trying to break the bonds. But Kaine’s chains remained. Was it the true name thing that held him? Was Nate not dead? Or did that not matter with fae magic?
“Kaine?” Seiran called.
Tears ran down Kaine’s face, but he didn’t move, not even to look at either of his fathers.
Con struggled to his feet, Luca at his side, but his heart raced in fear. He lifted a hand, feeling an endless surge of power flowing through their bond, a loop of them all connected now like a conduit directly plugged into the ley lines. He could access all of it: Wind, Fire, and Luca’s Weaver strength. As exhausted as he was, he hoped he could free Kaine. He tugged on the power and thoughtbreak.
The spell binding Kaine shattered, the snap of it sounding like a giant crack, and Bryar threw himself at Kaine as the dark hounds slid free of the veil by the dozens. Were these the wild hunt of legend?
Con expected them to obey Bryar as they had before. But they launched themselves at Kaine. Bryar wrapped himself around Kaine, and the hounds attacked. They tore at Bryar, tearing him up as they reached Kaine through him.
“I take your name,” his words lost to a garble of sound that Con didn’t understand, “and give you mine,” Bryar said, adding another jumble of noise.
Seiran gasped, and Kaine said, “No.”
The hounds snarled and ripped into Bryar, dragging him off Kaine, no longer trying to reach the child. Bryar screamed as they tore into him and dragged him toward the veil. There were more than a dozen and Kaine took a step forward, but Gabe was there, holding him back, having moved as fast as only a vampire could. Seiran bolted forward, vines rising but going through the dark hounds as if there were nothing there. The beasts ripped Bryar through the veil, and the opening snapped shut.
“Bryar!” Seiran screamed.
Gabe held Kaine, who sobbed in his arms. Con’s legs gave out as the power finally resettled, the ley lines going quiet. Luca caught him. Sam appeared on Con’s other side as the three of them slid to the ground in exhaustion, breathing hard, power rolling through them in a constant loop.
“What the fuck,” Sam said. And for once, Con thought his lover summed up his thoughts pretty succinctly. What the fuck, indeed.
FORTY-ONE
Vampires filed into the space with Mike leading the way. Sam was too tired to move and didn’t want to let go of Con and Luca. The three of them lay collapsed on the floor in the dirt. The rolling waves of power between them echoing the fading spasms of many orgasms without the release. It was a strange sensation that Sam wasn’t certain he enjoyed yet, though he loved having his men wrapped around him.
“Did you catch it?” Gabe asked.
“It opened a rift in the veil,” Mike said. “Not sure it was through Underhill, but he’s gone. Took the vampire with it. Sorry, boss.”
Gabe cursed.
“We’ll keep looking. It’s going to turn up,” Mike said. “Those seeking power always do.”