Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Next morning, before I even got dressed, I put in a call to Frieda to ask her where I might find spell components from Otherworld over here.
“Oh, of course. I know a little shop in the Greenbelt Park District, near Belles-Faire. It’s near the cemetery on Wyvers Avenue Northwest. That’s the most haunted area in the city, so be cautious.
The name of the shop is Ever-Magic. The owner’s a powerful witch named Irena.
I don’t know if she’s fully human—that’s hard to tell, and I never felt comfortable enough around her to ask.
But she’s probably got the best stock of ingredients around. ”
I gave her the directions to break the demon magnet spell. “Just in case you ever need it,” I said.
“Well, thank you. I’ve been wracking my brains trying to figure out what might work—I’m so glad that you managed to find an answer.” She hung up.
I rifled through my closet, finally slipping into a flowing black jersey skirt, along with a black lace top. As I fastened the busks of my blue under-bust corset, I looked in the mirror.
“You can do this,” I said. “You can cast this spell.” I slid on a pair of four-inch stiletto ankle boots and then brushed my hair and applied my makeup. Finally, I felt ready to go. I grabbed my purse and headed downstairs.
I’d asked Iris to take over the bookstore for the day, so she was already gone. Delilah and Chase were in the kitchen, and Menolly—of course—was hidden away in the basement, sleeping the sleep of the undead.
“I made breakfast,” Chase said.
“You made breakfast?” I asked.
“It’s better than what I suggested,” Delilah said. “A lot better.”
A stack of toast was on the table, along with a platter of scrambled eggs and bacon, and a tray of sliced melon. While it smelled good, I decided to grab breakfast on the way.
“I’m headed out to get the components for the spell,” I said.
“I’ll stop for something to eat and caffeine on the way.
” I slipped on a long-sleeved velvet jacket with lace trim.
“Chase, take the day off. As soon as I have the components, we can try this puppy out. Here’s hoping it doesn’t backfire. ”
He yelped at that, but I headed out the door. I was on a mission, and determined that we would not fail.
Rush hour traffic was thick as I headed toward the edge of the Belles-Faire district, following the directions that Frieda had given me. I shoved a CD in the player, head bopping as Lined Up by Shriekback blared out of the speakers.
The morning was thick with drizzle, and the storm we were expecting was nearly here. It was supposed to blow in tonight. I turned on the windshield wipers and they seemed to swipe back and forth in time to the music.
As I sang along, belting out the lyrics, I tried not to jinx myself by thinking about what I needed to do. Instead, I thought about my store, about the Wayfarer and how Menolly seemed calmer than she had in over a decade, and about Delilah chasing mice in her Tabby form.
“The strange days of my life,” I murmured as the song changed to a deeper, more somber tune. “But I wouldn’t give them up, not for anything.”
Even Menolly being a vampire, I thought. If Dredge had killed her and left her dead, she wouldn’t be with us now. I knew being a vampire was hard for my sister, but I had to admit—it seemed better than having her gone forever.
Unlike my father, I had come around. Even after she broke my arm the night she came home, crazed, in a haze of bloodlust and ready to kill us, I gave thanks that Menolly was still with us.
Her soul statue might be twisted and distorted, but Menolly had survived.
One day, I hoped our father would come around.
By the time I came to the turnoff leading into the Greenbelt Park District, my thoughts were back on my store and what I could do to make it more appealing. As I turned into the neighborhood, I started looking for the store.
And there it was—in a narrow strip mall of four shops. One of them was Ever Magic. I turned into the lot and parked directly in front of the shop.
I slipped out of the car and headed inside, my purse over my shoulder.
The shop was smaller than my bookstore—probably half the size. I looked around for the owner. She was over by the cash register, sorting through a stack of magazines. I headed over to the counter as she looked up.
Her eyes flared, as did her nostrils. “Hello…” Her greeting was cautious, and she looked like I had just stepped out of some djinn bottle or the pages of a book.
“Hi, I’m looking for several spell components. I need Golden Chain bush berries and some pixie dust.” We had several gemstones at home, and I knew that I had a ruby somewhere. They might be precious over here, but in Otherworld, they were a lot less expensive, especially spell-grade gems.
She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Wait here.”
As she ducked through a curtain cordoning off a back room, I took the opportunity to examine the blades beneath the glass countertops.
They were gorgeous, but I had a ritual dagger, and it was hexed so that if anybody tried to steal it, it would trigger a nasty curse.
But the blades she had for sale looked exquisitely made.
Most magic shops usually offered generic mass-produced daggers. These? Not so much.
As she returned, I said, “By the way, I’m Camille D’Artigo. I own the Indigo Crescent bookstore.”
“Are you from…” She hesitated, then said, “You’re from Otherworld, right? I think I read about you in the Magic Daily Digest.”
“I am,” I said. “And yes, I remember that interview.” I’d agreed to a small interview in a local magic newsletter, though I’d kept all mention of the OIA out of it. It was good publicity for the bookstore, and given I had to at least make some money with the shop, I figured it wouldn’t hurt.
“Here you go,” she said, holding up a sack of purple berries. They looked a lot like blueberries, but they were from the Golden Chain bush, from the forests of Darkynwyrd over in Otherworld.
“I’ll take eight, actually. I might as well keep a few on hand.”
“And how much pixie dust?”
I thought for a moment, then said, “Three vials.”
Pixie dust was hard to find, and gathering it required that one have questionable ethics, but for some spells—it was all that would work.
“They’re one hundred dollars per vial,” she warned me.
I nodded. “That’s fine. I need it. You have some gorgeous blades here,” I said.
“Thanks, my brother makes them. Okay, at twenty dollars per berry, and one hundred per vial of pixie dust, that will be four hundred and sixty dollars before tax.”
“Not a problem,” I said, handing over my credit card.
She rang up my purchases and wrapped the vials so they wouldn’t spill, then cushioned both the dust and the berries into a bag. “I’ll check out your store sometime.”
“I’d like that,” I said. “And I’ll be back. There’s more than enough here to pique my interest.” As I headed to the door, I thought that Irena and I would meet again.
At home, I found that Delilah and Chase had tackled cleaning the whole house. Pleasantly surprised, I noticed that even the laundry was done.
“Good job,” I said.
“Well, I feel bad for making Iris so irritated. So I thought that I might as well put in some elbow grease,” Delilah said.
I glanced over at Chase, knowing that this was his doing. I mouthed a “thank you” to him and he just smiled.
“So, I have all the ingredients to try to break the spell. Let’s get things set up—” I paused as there was a sound at the front door. “Is somebody here?”
Delilah went to check. A moment later, she let out a shout. Crystal ball in hand, I couldn’t just drop what I was doing, but I quickly deposited it on the floor before heading over to the door. She had slammed it, and now she turned to me.
“There’s something out there and I don’t know what it is.”
“Oh cripes,” I said. “Don’t tell me it’s another demon.”
“It’s a box,” she whispered, peeking out the peephole. “It’s still there.”
A box? Okay then.
“Who left it?” I said, shooing her out of the way.
I opened the door and knelt down to examine the package.
After a moment, I snorted. “It’s Menolly’s delivery of bottled blood.
” I picked it up and carried it inside to set it on the kitchen table.
“You really are a scaredy-cat,” I said, but smiled at her.
“I thought it might be another demon,” she said.
“In a box? But we’ll open it, just to be sure.”
Sure enough, inside the box were forty-eight bottles of blood. I closed it up again and gave Delilah a look.
“Not everything is out to get us, but let’s get busy before another demon does end up on Chase’s tail. My wards are standing against them, but it won’t be too long before someone bigger and badder than my magic can handle shows up. So let’s get this spell on the road.”
“Do you think you can…” She hesitated, blushing.
“Cast it without fucking up? I don’t know, but I can try.” I led both of them into the living room, where I set out the components. “Chase, I need three of your hairs. Either you pluck them, or I will.”
I set out the mortar and pestle, then dropped the dried Golden Chain berries in the bowl.
I added the ruby and lodestone, and began to crush them together, grinding the stones with the pestle.
It took some doing, but our Fae blood left us a lot stronger than our human heritage.
I managed to crush the gem, which was about the size of my pinkie finger.
Chase handed me the hairs. I used a pair of scissors to cut them into the dust. Then I added one vial of the pixie dust. After cautiously stirring them together, I picked up my dagger and pricked the tip of my finger.
“What are you doing?” Chase asked, grimacing.
“Hush. I’m preparing the spell.” I squeezed three drops of blood into the mixture, then stirred everything together into a thick paste. That ready, I turned to Chase. “All right, up to my study. We need a place where we can close the door and that’s uncluttered.”
Clutter affected magic, and the last thing I needed was for my spell to go south because of a few cobwebs.
As we entered the study, I turned to him. “I need you to lie on the floor. Delilah, tie his hands and feet—and yes, before you protest, it’s necessary.”
Chase didn’t look too happy about that. But he settled himself on the floor and I handed Delilah a pair of silver ropes. She wound one around his hands, tying it tight. She then tied his ankles together.
“Ready,” she said.
“What’s this supposed to do?” he asked.
“I’ll be applying the paste to your forehead.
It will seep into your energy and root out the demon magnet.
If you find yourself struggling, don’t worry.
But I need to know that you can’t break away.
If any demon’s already attached to you, it will be bound as well.
” I turned to Delilah. “You need to leave the room now.”
She nodded, withdrawing and shutting the door behind her.
I began to cast a Circle around us, then sealed it.
As the energy rose, I tried to ignore the desire that began to creep up my arms, through my legs, into my stomach, where it circled like a churning fire.
Magic made me hungry for touch, it made me want to grab the nearest man and throw him to the ground to ride him hard.
But I wasn’t about to put Chase through that—especially since he already wanted me.
Sex during magic was problematic unless you were already paired with the other participant.
I tried to ignore my proximity to him as I leaned forward and gently smoothed the paste over his third eye. My fingers gently stroked his forehead. I stared into his eyes as I worked, and he held my gaze, breathing deeply as I continued to build the paste in layers.
“Camille,” he whispered, throaty.
I shook my head, ignoring the hunger in his voice. “Hush. Let me work.”
“Will it hurt?” he asked.
By now, I was breathing deeply, too. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
“Your fingers are so soft,” he said, shivering under my touch.
I inhaled a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, trying to avoid thinking about the fact that he really was a handsome man. Not at all my usual type, but I hadn’t fucked anybody in several years now, and I missed the feeling of a man brushing my breasts, touching my thighs, filling me full.
No, you can’t do this. You can’t have him. He’s not the one for you. You’re just feeling the magic—let it be what it is, and finish your task.
The Moon Mother’s voice brought me back, and I strengthened my focus. I took another long breath and let it out slowly, then I finished applying the paste. Scooting back from him, I set the tenzar next to his head.
“We’re ready to begin,” I said, my voice shaky.
“Are we?” he asked, holding my gaze.
“Just listen to my voice and when you feel the energy trying to pull away, let it go. Imagine freeing it from your aura.” I began to chant.
Round and round, through and through,
I unweave the webbing bound to you.
What has cursed, what has broken,
That which tainted, from this token,
Thread by thread, strand by strand,
I free thee now, by power of land,
By power of fire, growing ever higher,
By power of air, by breath so fair.
Demons come, now demons go,
This spell is broken, this curse is thrown,
Out and over, done and gone,
I command this curse, over and done.
As I swept my dagger over him, the flat of the blade almost touching his skin, I could hear the strands of the curse snap and break.
Tiny sparks flew up from his body, once threads of enchantment but now burned to a crisp.
I kept my focus on the present, though a thought intruded that I should watch for any backfire.
But Chase let out a cry as he thrashed from his bound position, and then a black smoke emerged from his aura and vanished. He stiffened, his eyes rolling back in his head, then collapsed. The spell was done.