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Chapter Seven
Ryder
“This is because of your spell,” I say flatly. “It clearly backfired.”
Ven spins to face me. “You’re kidding, right? I’m not the one who sent out a nuclear explosion of sex vibes right at the moment I cast the spell. Did you not hear my incantation?”
She has a point. Not that I’m going to admit it. I cross my arms over my chest. “Well, if you’re so smart, how about you fix it, then?”
“I was about to. If you can try not to screw it up this time.” She waves her arms in the air in front of my face. “Don’t move. Don’t breathe. Don’t do anything distracting.”
After she’s turned around, I say, “Oh, so you find me distracting?”
She goes rigid as a surfboard, and I can practically see the steam pouring off her. “Shut. Up.” She begins to utter another spell.
Undo what was done
Unwind what was woven
Circle be broken
A flash runs around the circumference of the sphere, but when I reach my hand out, it’s still just as solid as before.
“That would be a no,” I say, shaking my head.
Ven turns and glowers at me, then begins another spell.
Find the key
Turn the lock
Open the door
Let all be free
A small vibration around us this time, but again nothing.
Ven spends the next thirty minutes trying spell after spell. She tries melting the wall. She tries turning it to ice and shattering it. She tries making it bigger. Finally, with a growl of frustration, she hurls raw magic at the thing. It ricochets around inside the small dome, burning the side of my shoulder and singeing a piece of Ven’s hair.
“Enough!” I yell. “You’re going to get us killed!”
Ven lets out a scream of her own that rises into the night. “This is just perfect! Trapped with two demons in less than a year! Dear goddess.”
She sinks down in the sand and looks like she’s about to cry.
My tone softens. “Two demons? What are you talking about?”
“Xander didn’t tell you?” She looks up at me and sniffles. “I sort of—well, not sort of—I got abducted by a demon. Back in Raven’s Roost.”
“Shit. No, he didn’t say.” I blink, my thoughts reeling with this new revelation.
“I would have died if Rowan and Xander hadn’t saved me.”
“I’m really sorry that happened.” I crouch down next to her and place a hand on her shoulder. “Really.”
Some of her previous comments about demons make sense now. I want to give her some kind of line about how not all demons are bad, and how she really can trust me, but it wouldn’t be true. Because at their core, all demons share the same darkness. Including me.
“It’s fine. I’ll be fine.” She clears her throat and makes a visible effort to pull herself together. “We’ll just have to make the best of it. Until this spell wears off.”
