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One of the witch’s abandoned cars flew through the air, landing right in front of us.
Chris swerved, barely missing it. “Shit. What are we going to do?”
“Go faster,” I said as I climbed into the front seat. “Samantha said that he loses power the farther we get from the circle. And it’s daylight. He should turn back.” I hoped she was right this time. Something about that circle felt different… “Just put as much space as you can between us and him.”
“Shit,” Chris said. “Shit. Just fucking shit.” He took a turn too fast, and the wheels of the car started to lift off the ground.
You can run, but you’re still mine.
I closed my eyes. “Did you hear that?” I whispered.
“No,” Chris said.
After a second, Dastien said, “I did.”
I spun to face him. His eyes were wide and lit with his wolf. His normally tanned skin looked ghost white, and a glimmer of sweat beaded on his brow. “You did.” It wasn’t a question because I could see it on his face. I could feel the answer from the panic I felt from him.
“Through the bond.” This is bad, chérie. His terror burned like acid.
Dastien being scared amped up my own fear. We couldn’t both be terrified, otherwise, I wasn’t going to get through this. I tightened up the bond, and he growled, stopping me.
“I can’t handle your fear and mine right now. Try to calm down, please.” I wanted to be able to send some reassurance through the bond like he had for me so many times, but I was struggling to find any, especially with how bad Dastien was freaking out.
There was something totally unnerving about seeing my rock turn to dust, and he couldn’t do that. Not right now. I needed him to stay my rock.
I’m trying. I just, I think I know why you’ve been having nightmares. And the terror when you had that vision or whatever it was… Tessa. Please tell me we’re going to
get through this.
“Can he come on St. Ailbe’s grounds?” Chris asked.
I shrugged. “She didn’t draw a circle there that I know of, but her magic is there. So eventually, maybe? He came through in some of my visions.” My heart started to slow to a more reasonable pace. “I’m hoping he’s stuck back there for now.”
“Me, too,” Chris said. “But I’m not slowing down.”
“No. Don’t you dare slow down.” The smell in the car was sickly sweet, and I knew it wasn’t just me and Dastien that were scared.
The terror from Astaroth was real. Tangible. It had weight, but as we raced back to campus, I realized that I had to shut the fear down. It wasn’t going to help me, not even a little bit. Fear never did. Astaroth wanted me too scared to think straight, and I couldn’t let that happen. He already had the upper hand. He was powerful.
I shoved my fear deep down, and built a wall around it. “That was way too close, but we got away.” Thinking positive would have to get me through this.
“Any ideas on how to keep from running into him again? Because I want to never be that freaked out again,” Chris said.
I wished I had a good answer for him. The truth was, we’d probably see him at least one more time. “I don’t know anything more than I did a few minutes ago, but at least we know for sure that the circles Luciana cast are still open. I don’t know how that was possible, but the fact that I don’t know isn’t that surprising. I’m so new to—”
“You’re not that new,” Chris said. “You’re learning fast and you have a good head on your shoulders. What does your gut say?”
“Claudia might know more…” I let out a breath. “But we got some stuff from Luciana’s lair, and that’s not nothing.” Going through it all was going to take time we didn’t have, so I was counting on Claudia to help figure out what was immediately useful.
“We’re going to stop Astaroth.” I said it aloud to make it feel more real. “I’ll make it happen.”
“Good,” Chris said. His grip loosened a little on the steering wheel. “Good. Thanks. I needed to hear that.”
“Me, too.” And so did Dastien. He was currently bowed over his knees with his head in his hands. His thoughts were choppy as he tried to come to grips with what he’d heard.
That voice. The way Astaroth could shake the earth like it was going to rip in two. The fact that he could drag us down to Hell with him.
It was one thing for me to tell Dastien about Astaroth, for him to run from a beast in LA, but it was another thing for him to hear Astaroth’s voice. It was like nothing else.
