Hexed

Likely he wore them for effect.

Emmett looked like an ordinary but successful businessman from a big city, the kind you’d find all over Los Angeles or New York. That is, until I looked behind the glasses and into his eyes.

I saw there a cold, hard ruthlessness, with all the warmth of frozen metal. In the darkness, I couldn’t tell the color of his irises, but it didn’t matter. There was power in those eyes, uncaring power that would take and take and have no remorse about who it had to destroy to keep on taking. Power and no conscience, the most dangerous combination in the world.

“You didn’t cast the hex?” I asked him.

“No. Nice one, though.”

“Can you tell us who did?”

Emmett dabbed his nose as he tried to stare me down. Lucky for me, I’d grown up staring down my grandmother, a small Diné woman who would have had this man crumpling at her feet.

He shrugged and turned away, implying he’d let me go, though I knew better. He strolled to a wall and put his hand on it.

“Ah, a double hex. Very clever. And it used your own wards to ride in and infect the place. This took power. Precision. Planning. I can see why you thought I’d done this.” He sniffed the wall, then brought his fingers to his mouth and tasted them. “There’s demon in this. Succubus, I’d say. But more than that. A demon-goddess, who enjoys playing succubus for her own reasons . . .” His voice died, and his dark aura suddenly constricted. “Oh, no. Oh, you didn’t.”

“What?” I demanded, marching to him. “Oh, we didn’t, what?”

Emmett looked at his handkerchief again, his voice rising. “Damn it to hell. You brought me here. You summoned me to lock me in her trap.” He raised his hand, darkness surrounding it. “You stupid bitch, you brought me here!”

He let the darkness fly, not at me but at Cassandra. Pamela jerked Cassandra out of the way, but the arrow of darkness followed her like a heat-seeking missile. But Nash was there. He shoved himself in front of Cassandra, and the spear of darkness—so black it shone with its own light—shoved itself right into Nash’s chest.

Nash flinched the slightest bit, his mouth firming as the magic met the void inside him. Emmett watched, openmouthed, as his magic was sucked into nothingness. Without so much as a flicker, the magic vanished, gone as though it had never existed.

Nash straightened up, eyeing Emmett coldly, none the worse for wear.

“How the hell did you do that?” Emmett asked, dazed.

Nash didn’t answer, because of course, he had no idea.

Emmett slowly turned his ruthless gaze on me. “What is this, Stormwalker? What did I ever do to you that you’ve brought me to my death?”

“She didn’t do anything.” Cassandra’s hysterical tears returned. “I’m the victim here.”

“Janet.” Mick was at my side. I didn’t look at his hands, still covered in Coyote’s blood. “Something is terribly wrong.”

“No kidding.”

Mick’s voice was hot as he whispered into my ear. “If he didn’t cast this hex, if a demon-goddess did it, then how the hell did she? We’re back to whoever brought in the seed.” His eyes were black, fire dancing in them.

“Don’t look at me,” I said. “I haven’t been anywhere near the vortexes lately, and if my mother had touched me in any way, I’d know. She’s sealed in. I promise you.”

“Then if it wasn’t you, who?”

We exchanged a long glance, and then both of us turned to look at the man hovering at my shoulder. Not Emmett Smith.

“Fremont,” I said carefully. “About this ‘angel’ you conjured . . .”

Fremont’s brown eyes widened. “You believe me?”

“Yes. I do. Why don’t you sit down and tell me about it?”

TEN

“SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL.” FREMONT RUBBED HIS forehead, his eyes taking on a faraway glow. “I found this spell in a book I bought at Paradox. That’s our local New Age store,” he said for Emmett’s benefit. “I just wanted someone to talk to. It didn’t seem dangerous or like dark magic. It’s not at all what we did here with . . .” He broke off, looking at Coyote’s body covered with congealing blood.

“And she had sex with you,” Emmett said. “Didn’t she?”

Fremont looked embarrassed. “She was an angel. I was going to say no?”

“She wasn’t an angel, you stupid little fool,” Emmett snapped. “She’s one of the most powerful demon- goddesses of the earth. She heard your little conjuring spell, took her succubus self to you, and seeded you with the hex. You trotted in here and leaked the curse into the wards. She must have guessed that Cassandra would believe the hex was all about her, because Cassandra always did think herself the most important witch in the room. In the end, Cassandra, or one of you, would summon me, and now the demon-goddess has me trapped. I hope you’re happy.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “And why should we think this is all about you?”

“Because it is. The demon-goddess has been after me for decades, has used every wile she’s had to trap me. All because I killed her son. I needed his magic, and his blood, and he was a fucking crazy demon, for the gods’ sakes. Why shouldn’t I kill him?”

“I can’t imagine why that would upset her,” I said.

“And now she traps me with such a simple ploy. The spell of an incompetent wannabe mage that I’d never notice in a million years. Damn it!” Emmett jammed his handkerchief to his nose again.

I walked to him, stood under his stupid bloody nose. “First,” I said, “lay off Fremont. He’s my friend, and I get annoyed when people yell at my friends. Second, a man died to bring you here, so you need to make yourself useful, to not let his death be in vain. Who is this demon-goddess slash succubus, how do we break the hex, and what is it with your nosebleed?”

“I used to get nosebleeds when I first started using big magic,” Emmett said, irritated. “I couldn’t handle the pressures. Looks like the hex has taken me back to that happy time. Weakening my magic—I should sue you.”

I could see that going over well in court. “Just tell us how to break the hex, oh powerful mage.”

“Fuck if I know. Hexes like this are unique to the caster. You’ll have to ask her yourself. Once I’m far, far away, if you don’t mind.”

“We’re locked in, shit-brain,” Maya said hotly. “We can’t get out, and I’m willing to bet you can’t walk out either.”

Emmett glared at her, his eyes almost glowing with his rage. “How dare you—”

“What’s her name?” I interrupted him.

Emmett’s handkerchief was firmly against his nose now, but he took his awful gaze from Maya and focused it on me. “No, you don’t. You’re not strong enough to face her, and neither am I. Not yet.”

I wondered what he meant by “not yet,” but I didn’t really want to know. I didn’t plan to wait long enough to find out what he had in mind for getting out of this, and I had the feeling it wouldn’t involve saving any of us.

“Fremont,” I said. “Show me how you conjured the angel.”

“That won’t work,” Emmett said.

“It might,” Cassandra broke in. “She’ll come for Emmett sooner or later, but if she likes Fremont, she might come to his call.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Emmett said frantically. “You can’t fight her while you’re under her hex.”

“I don’t plan to fight her,” I said in a hard voice. “None of us will. We’ll give her what she wants—you—and then she’ll lift the hex. End of problem.”

“You think you’re so smart, do you, little Stormwalker? If she can best me, then she’ll turn around and feast on you. She’s always hungry, worse than the bloodsucker here. She devours everything.