“You woke me, telling me there were terrible sounds coming from the locked study—the demons were laughing and taunting, demanding your father surrender you to them. I locked you in your room. When the screams began in the study, I managed to break down the door and went to your father’s aid, hoping our combined powers would be enough to overcome the demons, to saveyour father, to save you. By then the other demons had escaped your father’s spell. We fought the rest of the night. It was horrific.”
“Then how did... how did it turn out?”
“You joined us in our fight. We were exhausted. We had been fighting for hours by that time, and just as the rays of the sun appeared in the window, the door swung open on its broken hinges, and there you stood. The demons crowed—a hard, triumphant sound. I can still hear it. They were sure they had won. I thought so, too. I felt your father’s strength ebbing away, and mine as well. But none of us, it seems, had counted on you.”
“What did I do?”
“You honestly don’t remember this part? Even after we melded our magic yesterday?”
I shook my head.
“You rushed to your father’s side, took his hand and mine, and started chanting, melding our powers. The demons began screaming, shaking the house in their fury and starting fires in the four corners. If they could kill us before we vanquished them, all three of our souls would belong to them. The demons had grown weaker but continued to fight, and as the fire spread, we were running out of time. Your father ordered me to get you out, to save you. I tried to pull you out of the room, but you were still chanting and fighting them. You were crying, refusing to leave.”
“I don’t cry.”
“Youdidcry.”
“Then what?”
“Your father told you he despised you, and your weakness. He told you he had already made an agreement with the demons, for strength. For power. As fire engulfed the room, I was finally able to pull you to safety. We were both burned, but I was able to get you to a safe house in Bavaria, and some friends contactedyour grandmother. She was able to heal you from afar, along with some help.”
“But not you? Why do you have scars, when I don’t?”
“I had to run, no time to heal properly. A struggle with a pack of demons like that—it marks you, whether or not you wind up pledging allegiance to their power. I’m not beholden to the demons, but I paid a steep price for my freedom.”
“Where was this safe house? Who helped me?”
“As I said, your grandmother and her coven were able to do much of the healing from afar.”
“But where was the house?”
“It was hardly luxury accommodations—more like a basement room. With a former student of your father’s who didn’t have enough natural talent to continue his training. After he left, he and I remained in touch. He wasn’t happy about it, but he did help. It was Tristan Dupree.”
Chapter 21
“Tristan helped me?”
“Tristan’s mother had a number of magical abilities, and she was very good at glamours—in fact, I learned a lot from her. But as much as he tried, Tristan never lived up to her promise. But he did help you, at least at first.”
“And my father?”
“As you know, he survived the fire. During the battle, he pledged his allegiance to one of the demons, and the demon wanted him alive. You healed, and forgot the whole thing. I escaped here, to San Francisco.”
“Why San Francisco?”
“Why not?”
“No, I just meant... was there some special reason you chose the City by the Bay?”
He smiled. “Besides the weather? Of course. Because of the prophecy.”
“The prophecy which says a witch like me is going to come to San Francisco?”
“It’s slightly more complicated than that. Theprophecy had to do with a witch able to provide a conduit for other powerful witches—in other words, not just your guiding spirit, the Ashen Witch, but others. This witch would form one half of thecoincidentia oppositorum, and I, of course, hoped to provide the other half. And then she would go up against a primal force of evil. Unless...”
“Unless?”
“Unless she herself was seduced to the other side. In exchange for power, or self-interest. In your case I imagine your weakness would have more to do with trying to ‘save’ loved ones, that sort of thing.”
