Dizzy and disoriented, I scrambled to get out, shoving my weight against the door until it finally gave way and I tumbled onto the asphalt.
“Marta!” Wes shouted, scrambling after me. But I had a plan. Holy water and a few enchantments should force it away long enough for us to figure out what to do. Wes joined me outside, sprinting behind me to the back of the car.
Mustering all the magic I could, I held my hand up and forced the energy through my palm, shouting in Latin.
“I expel you,” I screamed. “Be gone, demon. I command you. Leave this land! Leave this place, immediately.”
It turned to face me, crimson eyes gleaming, and curled its lips into a deadly, toothy grin.
“Ancestors, hear me!” I grounded myself in my mental safe space and reached out to the land, the heavens, and the other side of the veil. “Saint Marta, help me. Grandmothers, give me your strength.”
White light beamed from my palm, energy surging through my fingertips, hitting the monster in the chest. I tossed the bottle of holy water at the demon, reveling in its groan as it stumbled back.
“I call upon the powers of this great mother: earth, wind, fire, water, spirit. Erase this monster from our sight. Erase this being from harming your children.”
Atlas joined Wes at my side, and something tugged inside of me, that immature bond blaring to life. One Colt grabbed my right hand, the other grabbed my left, and magic surged between us, uncontrollable and untamed. Wes’s calm stability clashed with Atlas’s wild energy, burning through my earthy groundedness like wildfire. I couldn’t contain it, and it poured out of my chest in a bright white beam, decimating the space between us and the demon, blinding me. Something warm trickled down my lips, over my chin. Ignoring it, I continued my assault, and the demon leaned into the force field, like a peon trying to withstand a hurricane.
A strangled growl tore from my chest, and just when I thought I would pass out, the demon dissipated into a cloud of obsidian.
Exhausted and panting, the connection to my warriors sizzled out, and I let go of their hands, leaning forward to put my weight on my knees. I’d never channeled that much energy before, and doing so made me lightheaded. Wes heaved deep breaths while Atlas stared at what remained of his precious POS.
“Fuck!” he shouted, clutching at his chest. But I didn’t know if that was because of the car or the energy he’d just exerted.
I grabbed my phone and called Bridge, who answered on the second ring. I told her what had happened and asked her to get us, seeing as Atlas’s vehicle wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But that wasn’t the major issue.
No.
When I searched deep down inside me, they were still there, lingering like electrical currents under my skin. This was more than the bond. This was chaos in my blood. This was their souls mingling with mine. It was too much. Too much indeed. It kept zinging back and forth between us, caught in a feedback loop. It passed through Atlas, into Wes, back into me. Over and over, gaining momentum as it went. I didn’t think I could withstand it.
I ignored that for the time being, and eventually Bridge showed up, taking us back to the motel.
“Here,” Bridge said, holding out a bar of chocolate after I collapsed on the bed. “It’ll help.”
“Thanks.” I took it from her and sheepishly bit into a piece.
Atlas sat on the other bed, cleaning a wound on his head, and Wes stood next to Leander at the edge of the room, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Well?” Isobel said, raising her eyebrows. “What happened?”
“It was a demon,” I replied.
“No shit, it was a demon,” Isobel said. “Did you get an idea of what kind?”
“A big one,” I answered.
Isobel’s silent glare was enough to have me wilting into the mattress. I did my best to explain as I chewed. Damn, this chocolate was good. I got to the part where the warrior bond burned through me, was still burning through me, and I stopped. No one had ever had two warriors before. What if this was normal for that kind of thing? Was there even a reason for concern? Could Wes and Atlas still feel me this intensely? Still feel each other?
“I just…couldn’t control it.” I avoided the stare from both Atlas and Wes as it drilled holes through me, almost like they could see all the way down to my soul. Atlas didn’t trust me, but his adrenaline was still high, so he was riding the waves of anticipating another fight. Wes seemed more level-headed, like a tiger hiding in the bushes, patiently waiting for the right time to pounce. The bond’s whirlwind energy didn’t seem to frighten them as much as it did me, and maybe that was because they didn’t know any better. “I don’t think it’s supposed to be like this. It…it scared me.”
Isobel looked at Caspian while Bridge glanced at Leander.
Yeah, definitely not.
“You’re okay now. Rest up,” Isobel said. “We can’t have you frying out in the middle of the ritual.”
I swallowed and drank water from the glass on the table next to me, avoiding her scrutinizing gaze.
“It kept saying consume and take,” Atlas continued, bringing their attention back to the demon. “My money’s on some kind of deadly sin. Maybe gluttony or lust.”
