“You frustrated me from the start, Mr. Crowley,” a man said from somewhere among the still masses.
“Show yourself,” Elaine shouted beside me, making me jump.
“As you wish.”
In the center of the temple, one of the robed moved. He turned to face us and threw back his hood. I cursed when I saw his dark hair and curled mustache.
“George Cecil Jones,” I spat. The name tasted like ash on my tongue.
“Is that any way to speak to your patron?” the bastard asked, a wicked grin marring his face.
“Go to Hell,” Elaine growled, pulling another blade from beneath her robes.
“I should have known,” I said, berating myself.
“I daresay you should have,” Jones said with a laugh, the sound grating and cruel. “During the initiation I thought you must be blind not to notice the magician you battled with stood right next to you.”
“What about Thompson?” Elaine asked.
“You bastard,” I snarled.
“Keep him distracted,” Elaine whispered to me as Jones’s laughter echoed through the temple. “Then, drop the ward on my signal.”
I nodded without turning. To Jones, I said, “What did you do to them?”
“I completed my spell.” He held both hands over his head like a puppeteer. As he moved them side to side, every member swayed with the same tempo, an incredibly unsettling sight. “It took me months to set it all in place.” Jones stepped back, throwing an arm around the shoulders of one of the robed figures. “I placed a kindling mechanism deep within the spell. It only took a thought tonight.”
“Why didn’t you kindle it at the initiation?” I asked.
“You, of course,” he sneered, weaving through the crowd toward us. “I intended to, but I couldn’t risk you undoing the spell before I achieved my purpose.”
I needed to keep him talking until we had a clear line of sight. “What purpose?”
“Don’t act coy, Mr. Crowley,” he said, slithering into view for a moment before disappearing again. Damn. “You know my purpose.”
“The Book of Thoth,” Elaine said. I glanced her way and found her in a fighting crouch. “Why do you need it?”
I gathered will. Slowly, so as not to alert Jones.
“Why does anyone need the most powerful magical artifact in the world?” Jones asked. “Power.”
“I know what the Book can do to someone, Jones,” I said. “You don’t want it.”
“I’m finished explaining myself, and you’ve wasted enough of my time.” Jones said.
Damn it, we still didn’t have our opening.
He waved a hand at us, and I felt him kindle will. “Kill them.”
The Order ground into motion and closed in on us.
“Now,” Elaine said, much calmer than I.
The divine help us.
The pale blue ward around us dissipated. I kindled will and roared, “Tempestas coorta est!”
Air blasted out of me with the force of a hurricane. It swirled through the room, throwing our inadvertent assailants against the walls. They’d be injured, but nothing I couldn’t fix.
Jones threw up his own shimmering silver ward. Once my spell ripped through the temple, he dropped it, turned heel, and fled.
Elaine bounded to her feet, a throwing knife in each hand. With a flick of her wrists, she sent both spinning toward Jones. The first ripped his robes, but the second caught him in the shoulder. He stumbled but didn’t stop. Elaine raced after him like a black dog chasing the damned.
After them, Vex urged me.
They had already begun to scramble up the stairs before I passed through the temple doors. Their footfalls echoed off the stone as I rushed to catch up. He couldn’t get outside. Too many innocents, and too many ways to disappear. I took the steps two at a time, desperation spurring me on. I cleared the top of the stairs and sprinted down the entry corridor. Jones and Elaine were already halfway to the entrance. I gathered will for an impediment spell, shouting it at his back. “Prohibe!”
It missed.
But Elaine gained on him fast.
Jones glanced over his shoulder, his eyes widening when he saw her. He tried to pick up his pace but stumbled.
It was enough.
Elaine dove headfirst into him, catching him around the waist and tackling him to the ground. She rolled over him, grabbing the knife in his shoulder and twisting as she went. Jones cried out, blood pumping from the wound. Tumbling to her feet again, Elaine kicked Jones in the face as he fought to stand. His head snapped back and cracked into the stone wall.
Breathing heavy, I raced past them to the wall hiding the exit. I raised my hands and kindled will into a sealing spell. Chanting softly in Latin, I wove the spell across the stone, binding the opening mechanism. As soon as I finished, Elaine screamed behind me.
I turned in time to watch her fly backward into the wall. She hit hard and collapsed onto the floor. I opened my Sight, desperate to see if she lived. Her aura pulsed weakly, but it was still there.
Jones got to his feet, one hand covering the wound in his shoulder, blood seeping through his fingers, and his nose bleeding freely. “It’s high time I kill you,” he growled, his words muffled by his broken nose.
“You can try.” I slammed open the gate of fire. Power burned through me. I gathered all I could and cried, “Serpentis flammae ex inferno advoco!”
Emerald flames erupted from my hands and spiraled down the hall. A great green serpent of undying flame bent on consuming all in its path. A terribly powerful spell, and one that usually required a full coven. I could barely manage it alone, but I wanted Jones dead, no matter the
