Orion gasped and spasmed as some of the black lines dug in and cut him. From his sides, his shoulders, and thighs, blood started pouring from him. The blood flowed down along the lines, spreading out and following the pattern. Instead of the weak pink created with our summoning, this red was bright and vicious, coating the circle and beginning to fill up every inch of the intricate pattern and blocking out all the black.
Once the whole pattern had been created in blood and no more black remained, the circle started glowing. A high-pitched whining noise filled the air, the red glowing, brighter and brighter, until the lines and the circles exploded outwards, breaking into millions of glittering pieces.
Orion lay there on the floor of his club, still cut, breathing hard. He wasn’t getting up but each rise and fall of his chest meant he was alive.
“Yes!” Lex cheered, positively giddy with his accomplishment. “Mar is free. My master can return.”
My ears were ringing, and my limbs were so heavy with shock, but nothing blocked Orion from me anymore. I put one foot in front of the other, desperate to get to him.
Lex did not even try to stop me. He watched with amusement. “Whatever will you do now, Little Robin?”
Orion banished his brother from Earth. That was why Lex returned first without his master, to undo the protection keeping him away. Lexhadneeded Orion to undo his work. Now Orion was expendable and I was a sitting duck. So, I did the only thing I could.
Lex beat us. He won. All I could do was prevent him from killing us and dancing on our graves.
A sound cut through the air. Lex’s head snapped to where the duck caller sounded off. The moment of distraction was enough. When he focused back on us, I’d already thrown myself over Orion and started casting.
A weak grey protective circle formed around us. While not sure how long it would hold, it bought me time to come up with…something. Anything.
But Lex never attempted to bring the barrier down. He tossed me a jaunty wave and swaggered out the front door.
“O, hey, are you okay?” I shook him a bit, trying to see if he was conscious.
He groaned and coughed.
"Oh, thank God." I grabbed his face in both my hands.
Orion smiled weakly. “That could have gone better.”
17.Finding the Magic
Orion
In the darkness of my room, I stared up at the ceiling. I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep, not after everything that happened. We found an unfamiliar demon draped in energy matching my brother’s and confronted him. Even outnumbered, his strength was too great for us.
Rob did most of the work to get us back home. He helped me to the bedroom, bandaged my injuries, and ducked out. I wanted to comfort him because Lex had been a stranger to me but not to Rob. But I couldn’t even get out of bed.
Somewhere between awake and asleep, I remembered when Taryn taught me how to play chess as a child, triumphantly moving his queen to trap my king.“Checkmate.”He’d laughed at my shock since I’d been so sure I finally had him.“I’m always going to be one step ahead, little bro.”
Despite the years and worlds between us, that was still true. All those years ago, he’d gone off on his own and started gathering allies. And then he sent his loyal subject to do what he couldn’t and prepare a path for his return. He succeeded. My body still felt sluggish from the blood loss. He’d broken the banishment.
Rob came in and turned on the light near the bedside table. He brought two drinks with him. “Apparently, I don’t know how to make tea.”
“Tea sounds good.”
He looked at the cup doubtfully. “I really have to recommend the tequila.”
He held up the bottle but relented when I reached for the cup of lavender tea—the cup that wassupposedto have lavender tea. I stared down skeptically at the grainy contents.
"No wonder they say an incubus makes the worst patient," Rob huffed.
"Doctors."
"Whatever, you’re no doctor."
"I didn’t say I was one, that’s the saying. Doctors make the worst patients."
Rob cocked a hand on his hip and pointedly nodded to me trying to get out of bed. "If you went to med school, you’d know the first thing they teach you is tochill the fuck outonce you’ve lost a lot of blood."
