Chapter 10
10
“N o!” Robert spun to face me, but it was too late.
“Done. The Sentinel’s body for a time. I find it amusing that you think you can control me, girl.” Toltza flowed toward me. Everything kind of slowed down, and I knew that it was the stress of the moment that had made it so. No doubt the world was moving along just fine.
Robert grabbed me, tried to throw me to the side, but Toltza dropped low, wrapped himself around my ankles, and dragged me toward him. The world was upside down, which left me wondering if what I was seeing was correct.
Marge stood by the car. “I brought you the sentinel. You asked for her, and I brought her. Give me the spell that I require, demon.”
“You have fulfilled your end of the bargain, though I know it was not only you that brought her here. The witch helped you.” Toltza’s voice echoed all around me, and then I was sucked down into the puddle that was not a puddle. Dark. Hot. Dank.
Wait. Bramble was working with Marge? Gawd damn!
I blinked and I stood on Ossabaw Island, the stars bright overhead. A hunched creature in front of me that I knew to be Toltza. “Marge ducked me over. I shouldn’t be surprised and yet here I am, my jaw hanging open.”
“She knows you’re soft. Knew that your heart would understand the loss of a mate.” He rolled his narrow shoulders, his head low as if he didn’t want to look me in the face.
“Gawd damn, Homer isn’t dead, is he?” I put my hands on my hips. “Damn, damn, damn!”
Toltza laughed, and it was most certainly at me not with me. “Yes, well, you have that kind of heart and mind, Sentinel. It is your weakness. And…your strength, I suppose.”
I blinked and stared at him. “Are you…being nice to me?”
“No.” He snapped. “I am not a nice demon, like that boy you brought with you, I am a miserable, grumpy old bastard who has lived a thousand years here on earth.”
“Why did you bargain with Marge? To get me here?” I asked. “And where is here exactly?”
“A construct within your mind, a place you’ve created when you are dealing with entities that aren’t quite alive. Or ones like me that aren’t human and can join you here. It is the most private place you have, Sentinel.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t answer the first part of my question, why did you want me here? Why make Marge convince me to come here?”
“Ah,” he said with a sigh. “There are many reasons why, I suppose. But I will tell you the one that will make the most sense to you. The galloo is a mortal enemy of demons. It will steal most other supernaturals, draining them of power, but…demons it feasts on. And I am the one who is supposed to protect demons from destruction this side of hell.”
I scrunched my face up. “So, you’re like me?”
He dipped his head in my direction. “In a roundabout way, though most other demons would not see me as such.”
“You know, other than the demons that are trapped in homes, I’ve met quite a few that aren’t complete monsters. Demons that I’d consider friends.” I folded my arms across my chest.
“Like that boy out there,” he said.
“Like Stavros who said I should come to you.”
“Ah, Stavros. Always a champion of his kind. How is that boy of mine?”
Boy of mine.
Well, shit.
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, the galloo found him. I held him while he died.”
The horror of that moment rose within me, tightening my throat.
Toltza sighed. “I’d wondered. I felt something ripple through me not long ago, something I have not felt since you killed the Sorrel Weed House demon. I will be honest with you, I am a miserable bastard when I have a body. Here in this place, I can be logical and speak with you about what must be done. But the second I possess your body you will have a fight on your hands. You need to be ready for that fight.”
I nodded. “I will be ready.”
“No, you won’t. But your optimism is good. Hang onto that friend of yours, the one that is a skeleton at times. He will help ground you.”
I stared at him. “You bargained with Marge because you need me. Because you knew that you’d have to fight the galloo.”
“The only way for me to fight on behalf of my family is by possessing a body. And the only body that is strong enough to hold a monster like me is a sentinel like you, with the bloodlines you carry. You can stand up to a demon, when most cannot. Do you understand now?”
I did. The shadow world didn’t always work in straight lines, let’s be honest, it rarely worked in straight lines. But if you walked the path given to you, it was…damn, I was starting to sound like my grandfather.
“Got it. So when you…possess me, then we need to go find the galloo asap.”
“There will be four,” he said.
“Pardon what?” I breathed out. “You’re kidding, right? No, there’s only one!”
He shook his head and sketched into the dirt the symbol I’d seen on the chest of what I thought was the only galloo. The square with the two lines crossed in the middle. “Four lines make a square, it’s part of the spell that brings them to life. The number of wands in the middle indicate the number of witches who created them.”
“Two.” I breathed. “Two witches then.”
He tapped a long finger on the ground. “They are almost always created in fours, one for every point of the compass. You will need to fight them all at once. If you kill one, the others will hide, and you will be stuck with me far longer than you’d like.”
I swallowed hard. “And if you possess me too long, I’m stuck with you, right? Wait, how long is too long?”
He folded his fingers over one another in a most unnatural way, as if he were weaving ribbons and not limbs. “If too long, then there will be no ridding you of me, that is correct. This, who I am here, is the sensible part of my demonic nature. The part you will meet? To be clear, that part will try to break you down and steal your body, he’s a right ass. As for timing…I would say a day. If you can be rid of me in a day that would be best for you.”
But of course, not best for him. I wasn’t stupid. It was probably less than a day.
“Oh, man, and here I was worried for a minute that it was going to be terrible,” I muttered.
He laughed and beckoned me toward him. I didn’t move, but my feet slid across the ground as if I were on skates. “When you wake, you will have perhaps ten seconds to explain to your friends. Then my demon will try to take control of you. His magic will work through that blade of yours, do you understand? The blade that the blacksmith gave you will be strong enough to kill the galloo.”
I nodded. “Gawd damn, this is the worst thing I’ve had to do yet. You know that?”
“I am aware.” He reached up and cupped my face in his hands, and it was only then that I was able to appreciate how short he actually was, not the looming creature that had hulked over Damian—but that’s not what held my attention.
Nope, it was the empty eye sockets that held actual flames within them. I jerked back, but his hold on me was immovable.
“Changed my mind!” I yelped as he laughed and the flames raged until they were all I could see. Flames and death.
The flames burned over me, the heat scorching my bones until I was screaming, thrashing, fighting to get away. But the heat went on and on, as if an eternity had taken hold of me. I couldn’t escape the pain and fear, I couldn’t escape the demon seeping into me, locking itself to my body.
“Bree!” Robert’s voice cut through the pain, and I forced my eyes open, forced words out of my mouth. I had ten seconds.
“I have the demon in me, I will fight the galloo with his magic, there are four of them, not one, Homer isn’t dead, and I have a day before the possession is too much to throw off. Robert, I need you to hang onto me to help me control the demon.” The words were rapid fire, and then the asshole version of Toltza took over.
I shoved at Robert, a growl deep in my chest. “Let go of me, useless prick!”
Robert’s blue eyes narrowed, and his hand locked over mine, holding me tight. “Demon. She is my friend, and I am not letting her go.”
I spat at him, and snapped my teeth, shaking my head like a dog with a bone.
This could not be. I couldn’t fight a monster with a demon that wouldn’t listen to me. Control, it was all about control. I’d fought a werewolf with a handbag. I’d learned to wield my magic and connection to the dead. I’d beaten every challenge that had come my way. I was not weak. I was not the woman I’d been.
I was a badass, and it was time to let Toltza know that.
I gritted my teeth, flexed my hands, and held tight to the truths within me. I was not going to give up to this demon.
Good girl.
Strange to hear Toltza’s voice encouraging me to fight his other half, strange to have a demon so clearly cut into two parts. “Robert,” I rasped his name, feeling as if I’d been screaming. Inside me, the demon thrashed as I carefully pushed it down.
“Bree,” he said, eyes wide. “What do we need to do?”
“Back to Savannah. We need to get to…” I didn’t know where the galloo would be, not really, but we had to get there quick.
“The briny smell!” Kinkly yelled. “Suzy, Corb, where would the brine be the strongest?”
“On the north side,” Suzy said. “Where the river flows in and out of the marshlands, not far from Eric’s home.”
I was on my feet, standing quickly. Apparently, having a demon in me gave me a boost of strength and speed, both of which I would need to face the monsters. Monsters, plural, there were four of them. That news was…horrifying didn’t even cut it.
I clung to Robert, feeding a trickle of my power to him, enough to keep him with us in his full form.
“This is going to be tight in the car, adding Robert,” Corb said. “Bree, get in the back with Robert and Suzy. Damian, you ride up front with me.”
Tight was an understatement, but the crush of bodies didn’t bother me. No, I was too busy mentally wrestling with the monster inside of me.
What did it take to kill a big monster? An even bigger, uglier one.
My fingers clenched without me actually telling them to. “Duck me,” I whispered under my breath, forcing them to lie flat on my thighs. “You need to hurry, Corb.”
“I am.” He didn’t look back at me, but I could feel his tension fill the car, and the smell of the ocean came with it—Corb’s magic was flaring.
“Knock it off!” I snapped, but the snap turned into a low growl. “I will destroy you, siren if you so much as try to fuck this body.”
Yup. Toltza was not going to make this collaboration easy.
I closed my eyes and concentrated everything I had on being still, on not reacting to anything. These were my friends—maybe Corb was the exception—and I didn’t want to hurt any of them. Not even Corb.
In my head, I could so easily feel their bones snap under my fingers, could feel their blood run and the joy in killing. This was so bad, so very, very bad.
You are far stronger than I realized, Toltza said. This is good and bad. You will be able to host my shadow long enough, but…
“I don’t like the but, Toltza,” I whispered.
But my shadow knows you are strong and will fight to keep you as a host. It sees the potential in you and all you could help it do.
“Peachy.” I was speaking low, under my breath, but I knew my friends were listening. Their voices were a drone of white noise in the background. Arguments about me and whether they should let me do this thing—this fight that no one else could wage.
“Damian.”
“Bree, what is it? What can I do?” His hand slid over mine, but his touch made me bare my teeth and hiss until he removed his hand.
“You and Stavros, you control your shadows—”
“It took us years and years to learn that,” Damian said. “Longer than I care to say.”
“But how? What was it that helped you?”
The sigh that slid out of him scared me.
“Love,” he said softly. “Love saved me. It saved Stavros too. That is the core of it.”
My body suddenly arched on its own as Toltza’s shadow flexed its powers, trying to take me over.
“NO!” I snarled, thrashing even as I tried to keep from moving. “There is no love strong enough to control me!”
“Bree,” Robert’s voice cut through the demon’s control, and I slumped as he put his hand on my shoulder.
“Bree, we are here.” Kinkly landed lightly on my shoulder, her hand on my ear.
“We are not leaving you,” Suzy said, and her hand somehow reached me too. “You aren’t alone in this. You are so very loved, Bree. Beyond what you might even realize.”
You need my shadow, Bree. You need it. But listen to your friends. Let their words calm you.
A screech ripped out of me, filling the car up with the demon’s anger.
The combination of Toltza’s voice and the voices of my friends helped me slow the rage that had been building in me. If love was the key, then I should have control of this demon in spades.
Because I was loved. Suzy was right, and I did know it.
Robert’s hand never wavered. “Look at me, Bree. Let me see your eyes. I need to know you are still with us.”
I opened one eye at a time. Robert’s face was right there, blue eyes and all. “Hi.”
He smiled. “Hi, Breena. You are doing well. We are almost there, a few more minutes and you’ll be through this.”
“Sounds like labor talk.” I grimaced, pain shooting across my middle. “Maybe I’m going to shit out a tiny little demon after this is done?”
Damian guffawed. “Sweet baby Lucifer, that is not how we are born.”
A wicked pain shot through my middle, and I breathed through it, feeling the shadow clawing at me, trying to take control of my limbs, of my very being. If love was the answer to controlling him, I was all in.
“I love you guys,” I whispered. Robert, Kinkly, and Suzy echoed the sentiment right back to me.
The shadow inside of me cringed, and I smiled as the pain eased. “Thank you for sticking by me. This has been a crazy ride so far, and I don’t just mean today.”
“I didn’t stick by you,” Corb said, his voice low.
“Nope, you didn’t,” I growled and the shadow inched its way back up inside of me, feeling the lack of love in that general direction. “But you helped Suzy come back to us, so for now that’s enough to be grateful you are here.” I chose not to think about anything else. Because every time my mind slid to the hurtful things in my life, the shadow was able to claw its way further into the control seat.
I just had to think about my friends. The ones with me, and the ones we were fighting to save.
I thought about Crash. About the way his smile melted every shitty part of my world away until I only saw him. Thought about the way his laugh lit a room up, and his touch made my breath catch in my throat. I let myself sink into the place that I’d avoided since he’d died.
I let myself sink into how much I loved him.
How much he loved me.
He would raze cities for me.
And I would run straight into hell to save him.
There was no doubt in my mind—finally, after all the ups and downs—that he was mine, and I was his, and there was nothing that would stand between us. Not fear, not pain, not others. Not even death. Certainly not a demon that had no concept of love.
“I’m coming for you,” I whispered.
And I almost felt as if he answered back. I know you are, my fierce and wild woman.
My body swelled with that sweet, tender emotion and the demon in me all but ran to the furthest reaches within me.
“We’ll stop the galloo, and then….” I wasn’t even sure I could say what would come next. I loved Crash, loved him with all my heart. With all my soul.
But was love enough to save him from hell? I had to believe it would. That the path would open for me, as my grandfather had said.
The shadow inside me gave a low rumbling laugh, cackling as if it was in on a joke I didn’t know, and that left me sweating.
What in the duck did the shadow know that would make him laugh like that?
I would find out, only…it would be far too late to do anything about it. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s just move on to chapter eleven and take it from there.