Black Magic Sanction

'No!' Pierce shouted from the floor, and I dove for the pool table, hitting the floor hard as I skidded under it. Pixies scattered as the glowing ball skipped across the felt and exploded within the arrangement of TV and chairs for interviewing potential clients. The leather couch started to melt, sending the reek of burnt flesh into the air.

'Set a circle!' Pierce shouted again. 'Get yourself safe!'

Does he think I'm stupid!. 'Rhombus!' I exclaimed from under the table, my view of feet and legs useless. My protective circle sprang up through the slate over me, the smut-covered gold taking the hit as a second spell exploded against it and dripped evilly down the sides to pool on the floor like blood marking the rim of my circle.

And outside it, Ivy.

Fear galvanized me. I wasn't that good at ley-line magic, and all my earth charms were in the kitchen. Irate, I inched my way out from under the table, drawing heavily on the ley line when I passed through my circle and broke it. Ticked, I staggered to my feet. The line vibrated through me, and I let the energy gather in my hand. 'Rachel, stay out of this!' Pierce cried.

'Clear!' I shouted, and the pixies harrying her scattered. 'You come into my house?' I yelled. 'You set my pool table on fire! What in hell is wrong with you?' I threw the unfocused energy at Vivian. The woman ducked, then dove out of the way when Pierce sent a black-colored spell after at her in a one- two punch.

'Break my window and hurt my friend!.' I shouted, shambling forward like a zombie.

My second ball hit her protective circle, and she went down, her fashionable high heels costing her her balance. Pierce's second spell sailed over her with a shouted 'Interrumpere,' slamming into the front door of the church to make it crash open. The pixies dusting the fire on the pool table shrieked, and from the floor Vivian gazed at Pierce in fear.

'You go tell the coven they just made mistake number two!' I shouted at Vivian, and the woman scrabbled to reach the door, breaking her own circle and tripping over Ivy. 'There'd better not be a mistake number three!' I added. 'Get out of my church!'

'Animam, agere, efflare.' Pierce spoke in slow, deliberate syllables, chilling me. He was wreathed in a sheet of ever-after, his entire body glowing as he summoned his magic, the black words spilling from him. He was powerful and determined, his stance firm and his hands moving confidently. The hair on my neck prickled, and a shudder rose through me. My lips parted, and even the pixies fell back. Oh my God. What was he doing?

From the floor, Vivian stared, transfixed. 'Who the Turn are you?' she breathed.

Pierce smiled, his fingers stilling as a ball of black death waited in his hand. 'Tell the coven that Gordian Pierce demands a powerful reckoning of their betrayal of one of their own. And if a body was smart, she'd leave while she still could.'

'Get out of here!' I shouted, this time worried for Vivian's life, and she fled, clawing her way to her feet at the threshold.

'Pierce, stop! She's gone!' I shouted, seeing his blazing ball of blackness hiss through the air after her. It hit Vivian's back the instant she left the church. She shrieked as she fell down the stairs, but I didn't care what Pierce's magic had done. I was running to Ivy, hobbling to an awkward stop and falling to kneel beside her. Pain shot up my knees.

'Ivy? Ivy!' I called, picking her head up only to ease it back down. It hurt just to kneel. Pulling her head up onto my lap wasn't going to happen, and I brushed the hair from her face.

'She took a spell for me,' Pierce said from the front of the church. He was poised at the door, pixies flowing in and out around him, standing with a ball of black magic in his hand and the wind shifting his dark hair as he looked out. His face was calm, and his eyes were hard.

'She stepped right in front of it and took it for me,' he explained as he turned to me. 'Even then, she kept coming like a caution until the harlot was obliged to use a ley-line sleep charm to down her.'

'Is she okay?' I looked at Ivy, seeing her hardly breathing. 'Can you break them?' I asked, scared, and he nodded.

'If I work directly upon it. The first was to slow her heart.'

'That doesn't sound bad,' I said, and Pierce looked up, his gaze worried under his bangs.

'Singly it isn't, but together? If I can't break them, she'll die,' he said bluntly.

I felt myself go ashen. In the street, a car accelerated away. Vivian was gone.

'But they're white spells,' I said, then thought about it. Alone, the charms were white, but together, the combination of low blood pressure and sleep could put her in a coma. 'Pierce?' I warbled. Ivy couldn't die. I couldn't live with her if she was undead.

'Let me work,' he said tightly, and I took a deep breath, feeling helpless. There was a red haze in the air that reminded me of the ever-after, and the shadow of the church's cross that once hung over the absent altar seemed to glow.

'Jenks!' I shouted, heart pounding as Pierce knelt with Ivy between us. The pixies were loud, and I wished they'd shut up. 'Jenks!' I shouted again. 'Get in here!' I knew I should be worried about his kids and Bis, but I couldn't leave Ivy.

Pierces expression was empty, and I felt him draw heavily on the ley line. His hands moved in a start-and- stop motion over Ivy, as if he was unsure. There was a flash of dragonfly wings, and Jenks was back, spilling dust on Ivy in his agitation. 'Sorry, Rache,' he said, his sword red with blood. 'I was making sure it was just the one. She waited until it was only my kids, then came in the front, bold as brass. Tink's a Disney whore, she broke the window. We'll never find a replacement for it.' Excited, he looked down. 'How's Ivy?'

'She took two spells. Pierce is breaking them.'

'Spells? She's okay, isn't she?'

I could hardly say the words. 'It's white magic, Jenks, but she might not wake up if we can't break them in time.'

'Holy shit!' The pixy dropped down to dust her with the red of worry. 'Pierce, I take everything back. Just make Ivy okay again. Okay? Okay!'

My gaze alternated between Ivy and Pierce, my tension growing as Pierce mumbled and a haze enveloped his hands.

'Rache!' Jenks shrilled as he dropped to her face. 'Can't you just douse her in salt water? Do something!'

'It's ley-line magic, Jenks,' I said, frantic as I looked at Pierce, helpless.

'The devil woman layered it,' he muttered. 'It's powerful tricky. Just shut-pan and let me work. She'll be fine. You're making an all-fired to-do over nothing.'

Easy for him to say. My heart pounded, and Jenks and I watched Ivy breathe, each one softer than the last. The haze enveloping Pierce's hands took on a decidedly black glow, and power prickled through me. 'Hurry,' I whispered as his hands moved with an unconscious grace over her. I didn't care if he was a black witch if he saved Ivy.

Finally Pierce exhaled, the glow fading from his hands as the last of it fell into Ivy and he leaned back on his heels. 'Is she okay?' I blurted out, and he nodded, looking haggard.

'It will take a moment to work itself through, but yes, she should wake now.'

Tears warmed my eyes, and I suddenly remembered I was kneeling on the cold wooden floor, my knees the size of grapefruit and aching. Ivy was going to be okay.

'Ivy!' Jenks exclaimed, hovering by her nose and jabbing it with his foot. 'Wake up!'

Ivy gasped, and I jumped as Jenks darted up, wings clattering. My hand went out, and I reached for her, jerking back when she yelped as I touched her shoulder.

'You said she was all right!' I exclaimed, horrified, and Pierce looked mystified.

'Broken,' Ivy said, breath hissing when she tried to sit up. 'I broke my arm when I fell.'

'Ivy! You almost died!' Jenks said cheerfully. 'Pierce saved you!'

Ivy glanced at him, holding her arm and pain etching her features. 'Thanks, Pierce,' she said dully. 'Did she get away?' she asked as she took in the broken glass, smoldering couch, and burnt pool table.