“We battled wel , Miles. But I am afraid Cole is not himself.”
I brushed a hand through our translator’s hair. Even it had lost its usual wild spring. “Cole,” I whispered. “Your eyes…”
“The world’s gone red, Jaz,” he said, sounding like a little kid who’s gotten lost and knows his mom and dad should’ve found him by now. “It’s like I’m looking at everything through a curtain of blood.” His voice sounded like it had crawled over sharpened stones to get to me.
“And I like it.”
I glared at Kyphas. “You’re doing this to him! Changing him into something he was never supposed to be!”
“He was always meant to be mine!” she said, with more spirit than she had a right to, considering her blood had left a pool the size of a dinner plate on the ground beneath her.
“Not in this state!” I said. “Look at him! This isn’t the Cole you fel for! This is a crimson-eyed half-man who still won’t love you once you’ve completely demonized him!” She stared at him, her expression so needy I felt embarrassed to witness it. Then her eyes rol ed up to Bergman. “Let me go and I’l release your friend,” she said.
“You and your deals,” Miles said sarcastical y. “Where have they gotten us so far? You’re stil holding the Rocenz.
Jasmine’s stil possessed. We’re stil not convinced Cassandra’s a free bird. And now Cole’s soul is halfway to perdition. You want to know what I think?” She shook her head, slowly at first, and then when she caught the look in Bergman’s eyes, a whole lot faster. He told her anyway.
“I think you need to die.”
“ I can’t let go of the Rocenz!” she cried. “The blood between my fingers and the handle burns like acid, but it won’t let go of me until it finishes the job it started! That’s how it was crafted! And Cassandra is free! I told you the contract was complete!”
He leaned down. “You know what I know about demons?” She shook her head. “Demons lie.” He yanked her upright. Whether it was the move or his intentions, I didn’t know, but they both began to bleed heavily as he dragged her toward the door.
I turned to my sverhamin. “Vayl,” I whispered.
He laid Cole down, gently propping his back against the corner I’d been using. “Our Trust, the stone, and the Rocenz,” he reminded me. “We care for nothing else.” I stared down at Cole, blinking hard to stop the stinging in my eyes. “What if—”
Vayl pul ed me away from the building, nodding for Sterling to join us as he said, “Cole may not be in the Trust.
But he is a friend of us al . We protect him as if he was one of our own.”
The three of us met at the head of the canal and walked, shoulder to shoulder, after Bergman and Kyphas as they stumbled toward Yousef and the door.
I said, “We’ve gotta get that stone out of her chest, Miles. Cole can’t be okay again while—”
“I know what I’m doing!” he yel ed, his eyes blazing as they caught mine.
“What about the Rocenz?” Vayl asked gently. “Jasmine cannot go on much longer without—”
“This demon’s gotta die! Look at what she does to people she loves!” he shouted, pointing at Cole, who’d begun to cough something thick and bloody onto the ground between his trembling hands. “What do you think she’s going to do to us the second she gets a chance? I’ve been reading up on spel s. It’s basic negation. She dies, her shit dies with her!”
“It’s not always that simple though,” Sterling said, his suggestion so gentle he might’ve been singing Miles a lul aby.
But our genius hadn’t climbed to the top of his field without a hearty helping of thick-skul ed stubbornness. He took a beat to stare into the hel Yousef had opened. I didn’t know what his eyes revealed, but mine showed an island so tiny you couldn’t have stretched out to sleep at night. The water around it was clear enough to reveal the fins and jagged teeth of the sea creatures that circled it as if they’d been cal ed for a feast. Some of them couldn’t wait, and those attacked each other, tearing huge hunks of meat from the backs and sides of weaker prey until the water ran red.
Bergman shoved Kyphas toward the door. “You’d better hope you fal on land, bitch. But it won’t matter for long. Some of those sharks can walk.”
I said, “Bergman! No!”
Vayl sprang forward like a panther leaping into the hunt.
Sterling swung his wand into play as the flames around the portal flared.
Every part of my mind screamed, Bergman, no!
Bergman, stop! You don’t know what you’re doing! as I lunged after Vayl.
Sterling’s wand shot out a claw of electric-blue bolts that flew between us. Too late. Bergman had pushed Kyphas into the portal’s center. Then he stumbled and fel to his knees, pul ing Kyphas down with him. He didn’t stop there though. He was stil moving. Sliding toward the gateway as if he was being… pulled.
“Bergman!” I shouted as Sterling’s claw hit, raking down Kyphas’s body, making her writhe and scream.
Miles began to shake from the echo zapping him through their connection, which now he couldn’t seem to break even though he wanted to.
“Let me go!” he yel ed. He tried to jerk away, but his hands stayed tight to her wrist and the Rocenz despite the fact that she’d planted her feet in his stomach and was pul ing back just as hard as he was.
Astral leaped around their heads as they struggled, her urgency a reflection of the emotion she was recording. But nobody seemed to know what orders to give her.
Kyphas screamed, “Cole! Don’t let them take me back!”
Unrecognizable sounds from behind us. I couldn’t tel whether our sniper was puking or laughing, but the sound he made let me know he didn’t give a shit where she ended up.
Vayl grabbed Bergman around the waist. Dug in his heels and tried to wrench him free.
Bergman screamed, “My arms! Vayl, you’re breaking my arms! And my stitches! Ahhh!”
Now al three of them were inching toward the door, as if an invisible rope held them and was pul ing them slowly into the pit.
Pissed at myself that I hadn’t been able to respond faster, mad at Bergman for his sudden, unexplained bid for superhero status, infuriated with Yousef for helping him and Kyphas for just being herself, I joined the trio edging toward the gateway with the finesse of a tornado. In other words—I fel on them.
It had the effect of a wide receiver jumping onto the top of a pileup. Astral hopped on top of me, which resulted in some grunting, but no observable progress.
I took hold of Kyphas’s arms and jerked. Astral sank her teeth into the demon’s hand and pul ed. Her wrist began to bleed where Bergman’s hand would not slip. But even with the added grease and everyone playing tug-of-war, we couldn’t break their grips. Because Bergman and Kyphas were no longer in charge. Something from inside that doorway had grabbed them both.
“Sterling! Do something!” I yel ed as Vayl looked around for something we could brace ourselves against.
Sterling was emptying his pockets. “No, that won’t work,” he said and threw a pouch onto a growing pile on the ground. “That’l just burn holes in them,” he murmured, and a velvet bag joined the bunch.
“Come on, you good-for-nothing warlock!” I yel ed, nearly gagging on my own puke as I swal owed a wave of hel -stench that made my eyes rol back in my head. “Pul a rabbit out of your ass already!”