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I would have loved another few hours’ sleep, preferably on an actual bed, and I’d bet my consorts wouldn’t have minded that either. But the thought of the horrific creature I’d been faced with in the Frankfords’ cave was more than enough to keep me alert.
“We’ll do what we can,” I said. “Let’s get started.”
Chapter Two
Jin
“None of the elemental spells our enforcers attempted have resulted in any noticeable effect on the demon’s behavior either,” said the older guy who seemed to jointly rule over this room—Mr. Northcott, one of the other officials had called him. He and his wife had been doing most of the talking during this meeting. The other people they’d pulled together seemed to mostly be there to nod and murmur agreement whenever those two weren’t completely sure of their assessment.
“None at all?” Rose asked. She’d been given a seat at the table—and the other officials had rearranged themselves to offer us seats around her. I wasn’t sure how much that’d been in deference to her and how much because they didn’t really want to be mixed in with us intruders.
Lady Northcott shook her head, her light gray braid swaying against her back. “No change in the direction it was moving, no change in its speed, no sudden reactions. The enforcers might as well not have been magicking at it at all.”
The woman who’d earlier tried to argue that none of us consorts should be in the room piped up, her gaze carefully avoiding me and the other guys. “The squads out there have attempted to record video of their attempts for the rest of us to try to analyze, but something about the demon’s presence seems to affect the equipment badly. The images are too blurred to be useful.”
Rose nodded, and I remembered the garble that was all Gabriel had managed to get on his phone’s recording. Too bad, or we might have avoided ending up at this point altogether.
“What about glyphs?” my consort said. She glanced at Kyler beside me. “Didn’t the files say something about a few different glyphs the Frankfords and the others had been using?”
“I think there were three,” Ky said. He’d spent more time pouring over those files than the rest of us combined. “It sounded like at least one of them was used to strengthen the barrier around the portal. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to that part since it wasn’t going to help us expose what was going on, but if I can get access to the files here, I should be able to find the reference quickly enough.”
The skeptical woman exchanged a glance with the man who’d also been hesitant about us being here. They had no idea how much a bunch of unsparked people really could contribute, did they? I fished my protective pendant out from beneath my shirt and displayed it for the officials to see, offering a faint grin at the same time.
“I’ve been pretty impressed by what your glyphs can offer. I made these for all of us as protection, and it only took Rose a few minutes to magic them up.” I traced my finger over the glyph hidden in the miniature painting. “We completely fended off an attack from a bunch of enforcers who were working for the Frankfords’ faction thanks to work like this inside our vehicle.”
“Those defended you against witching magic,” the hesitant guy said. “A demon is something completely different, as we’re already seeing.”
I held up my hands. “Oh, I know, and I know that it’s a lot more Rose’s magic than my painting skills that do the trick anyway. But… we got pretty far just by making use of every strategy we could, when we were up against a much more powerful force. So maybe the same approach will work here.” I shrugged, still smiling. I wasn’t going to tell these people what to do, but they should know we were willing to pitch in.
The gazes on us five guys felt a little less hostile and a little more curious now, at least.
“We can certainly try to make use of the glyphs mentioned once we’ve read over the notes regarding them,” Lady Northcott said, with a slight bob of her head. “Given the speed with which this situation has developed, we haven’t had time to fully assess the records you passed on. This is exactly why we needed you.” She turned to Kyler, motioning to one of the officials near the end of the table at the same time. “Can I get you started pulling up the relevant documents right away?”
Ky’s narrow jaw gave a nervous twitch, but he nodded. “Sure. Just show me where I can get to work.”
“He should be given as much respect as any member of witching society,” Rose said warily as the lesser official came around to escort Ky out of the room.
“Of course,” Mr. Northcott said. “We’ll set up a full office for your use here, as long as you need it.”
Rose squeezed Ky’s hand before he left, her gaze trailing after him for a moment before she turned back to the table. Damon jumped in before anyone else could speak.
“You’re all talking as if we’ve got to start from scratch here. The Frankfords and the rest of those assholes were controlling these demons, keeping them in that cave, for decades, weren’t they? With the witches they were roping in to do their dirty work? They should know how to push this thing back.”
Lady Northcott rubbed her mouth. “We’ve started reaching out to the witches from the families mentioned in the records to try to determine who has been involved and to what extent. Before we’d heard of the demon’s escape, we’d already called a few of the witches closer by to meet with us here so that we could remove the spells preventing them from speaking up and to take their accounts. But the experience seems to have… affected them badly. I’m not sure they’ll be ready to take up any sort of fight as quickly as we may need them.”
Rose frowned. I’d bet she was thinking about that older witch, Thalia, who’d joined us on the estate and come with us here. I remembered how worn down the woman had looked when I’d first seen her, drifting along as if she were more a ghost than a living person.
“They’ve been through so much already,” she said. “It doesn’t seem fair to ask even more of them.”
I set my hand on her arm. “You could always just talk to them. There doesn’t need to be any pressure involved.”
“They know what those demons are like better than anyone,” Gabriel said. “Most of them must want to help, even if they don’t want to be on the front lines.”
“You have seemed to present yourself as a safe presence to those in need of one, Lady Hallowell,” Gwen Remington said, her silver-blond hair glinting as she dipped her head. “It might not be a bad thing for you to talk with them and simply see what they’re able to contribute at this point, once it’s morning.”
I could see the hesitation still in Rose’s stance. My consort had tried so hard to protect the few witches who’d come to her for help and felt so horrible when she couldn’t completely. Did she think she might somehow hurt these poor women more than the demon would if it unleashed its full powers on the world?
Maybe she just needed the reminder that she wasn’t in this alone—not in any way.
