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As I took Hank’s hands, a cloud of energy instantly rose around me. Startled—I knew Hank was powerful but I hadn’t realizedhowpowerful—I forced myself to focus on his hands again. The energy churned like an angry sea, frothing as it enveloped me.
I opened up to it, closing my eyes as it molded around me into a second skin, clear and yet impenetrable. As it formed a chrysalis encasing me in, I felt my emotions begin to drain away.
The serenity was soothing and yet, unnerving. I searched for the fear I had felt a few moments earlier, but it wasn’t there. In fact, when I thought of my life, I felt very little except acceptance. Acceptance for what had been, for what was, and for what was to come. I tried to muster my passion for Killian, but that seemed a million miles away, as was my anger at Ellison, and my love for Xi and Klaus.
Instead of emotions, all I felt was the calm acceptance of what existed in my world.
In a way, I was relieved that my emotion had evaporated. Wondering if I’d ever feel anything again, I exhaled slowly as Hank let go of my hands. I glanced up at the wall clock, surprised to see it had only been seconds. What had felt like a long process had passed in the blink of an eye.
Hank and I turned toward Sirus. As he sat there, I detected a pale orange glow around him, the aura of the pain-eater.
We began to move toward him, almost in perfect cadence. Along with the barricades, Hank had managed to link the two of us together. I knew which way he was going to move, and what he was planning on doing.
I glanced at him, and Hank gave me a faint nod. We had to disengage the demon from Sirus before we could destroy it. Hank moved behind him, and Sirus gave him a suspicious look, then glanced back at me as I approached from the front. Hank took that moment to slam his hands on Sirus’s shoulders, holding him still. Hank was big and burly, far beyond the puma shifter’s strength. As he held him down, Sirus began to swear, cursing a blue streak as he struggled.
I lunged forward, pinning his wrists to the arms of the chair with my hands.
“You’re not going anywhere,” I whispered.
Hank began a low, sonorous chant as I sought for the demon in Sirus’s eyes. And there—a pinpoint of orange light, gleaming from behind Sirus’s stare. I realized at that moment that Sirus was trapped inside his body, unable to speak or free himself.
“Fight,” I whispered. “Fight it for all you’re worth.”
Sirus began to struggle, the blue of his eyes flashing as he began to wage war for his soul.
Hank intensified his chant. The low droning began to soar, pulling me in. After a moment, what sounded like babble turned into words, reverberating off the walls.
I closed my eyes, picking up a contra-tone. I knew what to sing, and my voice obeyed. I opened my mouth and a stream of sounds came flooding out of my throat, and I was making music steeped in magic, steeped in history and centuries long past.
It was as though we were in the desert, with hot sands blowing past us, and then I felt the energy shift and we were spiraling around mountaintops, creating images and dreams with our voices. Sirus stopped struggling, wrapped in the net we created. We wove it around him, a spider’s web of song, a swirling vortex that slowly engulfed the demon.
“Leave us be,” Sirus managed to hiss, but we ignored him.
He began to struggle then, his strength increasing. I had a hard time holding down his arms, but no fear shook me, no pity moved me, no emotion interfered even though I could feel him pressing, trying to dig into my vulnerabilities behind the barricades Hank had erected.
I kept my focus, my voice continuing to spiral around the demon as Hank built a foundation of power, his bass so low it made the walls vibrate.
But the demon fought harder, and before I could stop him, he broke free of my hold, sending me reeling and breaking my concentration. Hank struggled to keep Sirus in the chair but as the demon threw me back and I landed hard on my tailbone, I came up on my knees.
Hank let out a cry. His hands were smoking and I realized that the demon had burned him.
Without thought, without feeling, I stood. The demonhadto be destroyed. We couldn’t let it escape. I gathered all the threads of song I had built and held out my hands, aiming toward Sirus. It might injure him but at this moment, I didn’t care. I pushed the energy through my palms, straight toward him like a magical Taser. And I set the spell to full force.
The bolt hit Sirus square in the chest. It hit with a loud crash and sent him flying back a good five feet. He landed flat on his back, convulsing. I didn’t let up, but kept the flow of energy going, focused on destruction.
Sirus shrieked—or rather, the demon did—and it flew out of his body, a cloud of black mist. Without missing a beat, I raised my hands, aiming the bolt toward the mist.
Hank was back on his feet and he, too, focused on the demon. The mist formed into a silhouette, large and looming, as it began to bear down on Hank.
“Oh no you don’t!” I reached within, drawing on every resource I could muster. Trembling like a livewire, I forced every drop of reserves I had into the light streaming out of my hands. With one last oomph, I called on even more.
The demon shrieked as I targeted him. The cloud of black smoke solidified into a thousand grains of sand, then burst apart, raining to the floor. As I realized the demon was dead, before I could think another thought, I collapsed.
* * *
“January, are you all right?” Hank’s voice echoed in my ears.
I opened my eyes to see Hank and Esmara staring down at me. She looked even more translucent than usual. Groaning, I tried to sit up. “I feel like a truck just mowed me down.”
