Ravenous

Two hands parted the swirl of green like a curtain and stepped through. To no one's surprise, it was Geneva. She wore full battle uniform: boots, camouflage, and a bandanna around her long golden hair.

What did catch Holly off guard was Mac appearing at her elbow, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. He smiled at her. It was like a cold, glutinous slug sliding down her spine.

Geneva came forward, Mac a pace or two behind. Swiftly Omara put herself between her court and the advancing demon. The queen was filthy, her torn silks trailing shreds like pennants as she moved, but her spine was arrow-straight. She stopped when there were only about eight feet between them. Only the tightness in Omara's jaw showed her fear.

'Here we are again,' Geneva said simply. She was taller by a head.

'And here you lose again,' Omara said, loudly enough for all to hear.

Holly started to spool the golden energy inside her. Okay, power as water cannon—hold it till the portal closes. How hard can that be?

'You have the witch, but I have the book.' Geneva smiled. 'And I have to say you are all looking… well, a bit grubby. Softened up by my advance troops.'

The posturing was lost on Holly. Behind the goalposts, small orange portals were sprouting up all over the campus lawn with audible pops. Out of each miniportal stepped a guardsman, dozens and dozens of them, gigantic swords in hand. Ben's cavalry, come to take us all to prison. They just waited until the gang was all here, nice and convenient.

Geneva finally noticed no one was paying attention to her. She slowly turned her head, looking over her shoulder. 'Oh.'

The guardsmen charged the watching crowd, a chilling battle cry thundering from their massive chests. The supernatural armies moved as one, enemies suddenly united against this new emergency. Holly saw Perry and his wolves, and her stomach jumped with fear for their safety.

Distracted, no one saw Geneva lunge for Holly. 'Now you're mine!'

Holly felt cold, cold energy streak up her arm, as if the demon were drawing life away by mere touch. 'Back off!'

She threw a blast of power, twisting away as Geneva staggered. Mac caught the demon as she fell. Holly fell back, her flesh dead white where the demon's touch had been. Golden power flooded her limbs, healing the wound, healing the throbbing ghoul bites, but there was nothing left to defend herself.

Alessandro rushed in, fangs bared and sword raised high for a sweeping blow.

Oh, Goddess, thought Holly, seeing the wound in his side. He's bleeding!

Mac lunged to block him, but too late. The blade arced in a moonlit crescent of deadly grace, Alessandro's charge lending force to the stroke. The slice went from Geneva's shoulder to her opposite hip in what should have been a catastrophic wound. Instead she flickered for an instant, letting the sword pass through thin air. The sudden absence of resistance made Alessandro stagger with the impetus, driving him close to the portal.

Wheeling, he dropped the blade and crouched, changing tactics. He flexed his hands like claws, ready to spring. With a sound like rushing flames, Geneva hissed with rage.

Holly shook herself, feeling her magic click back on track. Alessandro was on his feet again, too. He sprang forward, but Mac jumped to meet him, wrestling Alessandro with a strength he had never before possessed.

The portal flickered, throwing lurid green waves of light over the scene. Glancing up, Holly could see it was growing, like a tear in the sky unraveling as she watched. Soon they would be able to get a good look at what lay on the other side.

Including, apparently, the main changeling army. They started swarming out of the rift like an infestation of ants. Oh, Goddess, there're hundreds of them. Not even the guardsmen could stop all these!

From where she stood next to the portal, Geneva grinned. The shifting green light made the spots on her camo gear shift and swirl. 'Just wait.'

The words were clear inside Holly's head, as if the demon were standing next to her. I think I liked her better as a mouse.

Geneva's eyes shone. 'I'm already inside you. The vampires have you now, but when they're gone, the taste of your soul will be mine.'

'Will you people stop trying to eat me?' Holly yelled. 'It's pissing me off!' Earth power flowed into her, rising like sweet wine to her head. Wild with primal anger, she took in more and more. The earth yielded it up willingly, lovingly. 'I can't take one more goddess-damned thing trying to chew on me!'

The blast blew Geneva backward through the rift with a satisfying ka-foom. The emerging changeling army just happened to be in the way, bugs smashed on the windshield.

Holly tried to broaden the focus of her stream of power, leaving the demon nowhere to move. The flow juddered, sucking more energy, wobbling like a car with a flat tire. Holly panted, desperate for a means of control. What was it Grandma had suggested? Aurelia's matrix? The Caer Gwydion reduction? Holly could barely think. I have to do this. I have to hang on.

Holly's perceptions expanded, gorged on power. Every detail was clear, movements graceful as a film in slow motion. Mac slipped Alessandro's grip and ran toward Geneva. Alessandro fell to one knee, grabbing his sword and sweeping it up to cleave a changeling in two.

Holly could still see Geneva undulating in the blast of power, a rag in the wind.

Mac skidded to a halt next to the rift, the whirling light of the portal painting his features like a ritual mask. Geneva reached toward him, her hair blown wild, hiding her face.

Mac's eyes sought Holly's like a drowning sailor sought a floating plank of wood. He found her gaze and clung fast. His expression was pained, mad, exhilarated, horrified—but Holly was slipping away, gulping down the rush of magic, letting it burst from her in an improvised weapon. She felt as if she were turning inside out.

Geneva began to resist, slamming back against Holly's force.

Thud.

Holly jerked, her feet sliding on the grass. Oh, crap.

Thud.

Tears sprang to her eyes, sharp pangs of tension fingering the space between her shoulder blades. She could feel her heart pounding, the urgent rhythm matching the pulse in the energy flow.

Thud.

Holly stumbled, her concentration broken. The flow sputtered. Panic grabbed her. No, no, no! She opened the stream full throttle, a desperate negation of terror. Energy reamed through her, hollowing her core. She gave herself up to it completely, surrendering herself the way Elaine Carver had done. I'm going to die.

It was hard to tell what was happening. Holly could feel the portal spinning wider and wider, but Geneva no longer struggled beneath her magic.

This is weird.

Holly wasn't even sure whether she was touching the ground. She rode the pressure of the golden fire, her eyes wide-open, seeing but not seeing the physical world. She floated in a geyser of light. The flow blasted away the Dark Larceny, whatever traces remained of Alessandro's vampire mark, anything that was not truly hers. In fact, there wasn't much left at all. Her body was the thinnest shell, everything within and without filled with energy from deep in the primordial earth.

She probed the portal. The tear in reality was out of control—but if Holly slammed it shut the blast would kill her. No point in repeating Elaine's mistake.

Lore had given her an idea. Not all denizens of the Castle should stay there. Others should. Why not have a door and keep the key? Let the portal stay open, but create a means to control it?

Arts and crafts were never her thing, but Holly set to work. She cauterized the rift, burning the wound in the ether until it scarred over, folding the universe over and over until the tear in its fabric was reshaped and made useful. Holly worked quickly, but the golden light gushed forth faster than she could direct it. The effect was like swallowing water while she was swimming—except this hit her like one too many drinks. The earth was giving her undiluted power, and it was strong stuff.

The golden hum of Holly's magic amplified, the volume creeping up the way a teenager cranked up her