Around me, tiny little motes of static electricity gathered, as if I was summoning it to me.
'I'm going to have to call this,' Noelle said in a sympathetic voice. 'I can't let the demon get out of control. I'm so sorry.'
'You've got to do something!'
I kept my eyes shut despite the plea in Theo's voice, imagining myself pulling from the stone and earth and air surrounding us the electrical charges that existed in all atoms. 'Kinetic energy can be transformed into potential energy.'
'Gargh!'
I opened my eyes to see the demon on top of Theo, ripping with long, vicious swipes at his arms and chest. Around me, the air glowed blue with static, the hairs on my arms standing on end.
'I'm sorry, I must stop—' Noelle started forward toward the circle.
'Now!' Theo demanded, interrupting her.
'And potential energy can be converted into the physical form known as electricity!' I yelled, slamming the power that surrounded me into the demon. As the blue light burst into the demon's body, it threw him backward against the wall, a deafening clap of thunder bursting forth in the crypt. I shouted an oath and covered my ears, throwing myself onto the floor next to Theo. The floor cracked, the walls screamed with the echo of the thunderclap, while dust and small pieces of rock rained down from the stone ceiling. I crawled over to Theo, trying to shield his head from any falling objects. He was crumpled in a heap, filthy with dirt and blood, but alive.
'Oh, that's not good,' Noelle said from the other side of the room, where she'd gone to look at the demon.
'Are you all right?' I asked Theo, propping him up on my lap in order to gently wipe blood and debris from his face. 'Are you hurt badly? You're bleeding a lot. I should call a paramedic.'
'Erm…Portia…I'm afraid there's a situation here,' Noelle said from where she squatted next to the wall.
I ignored her as I peeled back the shredded remains of Theo's shirt. 'Sweet mother! We have to get you to a hospital.'
Theo grabbed my arm as I was about to leap to my feet, not sure of where I was going to go for assistance, but driven to getting him help. 'I'm all right, Portia. The wounds are not fatal.'
'Your chest is torn to shreds,' I started to say, but at that moment, Theo turned his head. I had pulled him up slightly, and his head was resting on my chest. He eyed the breast that was a scant millimeter from his mouth.
'I heal quickly.' It was just three words, but my nipples tightened with the feeling of his breath on the thin silk that was the only thing separating my flesh from his mouth.
'That's…you're speaking into my breast,' I said, oddly loathe to move.
'Yes, yes I am,' he said, his eyes fixed with fascination as my nipple hardened even more, little waves of heat rippling outward from my breast across my chest before heading downward to pool in my stomach…and locations further south. 'I'd like to do other things to it, but now is not the time or place.'
The air in the room seemed to evaporate into nothing. 'There's going to be a time and place?' I asked, inwardly wincing at the moronic question, but unable to keep from asking.
'I fervently hope so,' he said before looking down at his own chest.
It took me a moment to wrestle my mind from the images of just what I'd like Theo to do to my breasts, but the sight of his chest healing before my startled eyes did a lot to bring me down to earth.
'That's…that's impossible,' I said, reaching out to touch a long welt which had been a deep gash just a few minutes before. His flesh was hot, fever-hot, radiating heat that indicated a lot of energy was being used to heal his wounds. 'This is…it's…it's just not possible!'
'Welcome to Wonderland, Alice,' he said with a smile that stripped the air from my lungs, and left my heart racing.
Life as I knew it ceased to exist. Life as I never believed possible began.
'This is real, isn't it?' I asked, gently touching another now-healed welt. As I watched, several more scratches merged together, healing to thick, raised patches that melted away into smooth flesh after a few minutes. 'All of this is real. I'm not insane.'
Theo sat up as the last wound disappeared. His eyes expressed mingled pity and an unexpected sadness. 'No, you're not insane.'
'Then you're…'
'A nephilim. Immortal.'
I swallowed hard. 'And I'm…'
'A virtue. Soon to be immortal, as well, once you are accepted into the Court of Divine Blood.' He got to his feet, and pulled me to mine, holding onto my hands.
It was too much, too much to take in at once. I shook my head, not at what Theo was saying, but at the fact that my brain was trying to process all this new information so quickly.
I just couldn't believe it was real…and yet, finally, I admitted to myself that the evidence piled up indisputably pointed to one conclusion: everything I had believed impossible, everything I knew could simply not be, now suddenly was. It was as if a whole new part of life opened up before me, beckoning me to go forth and explore all the mysteries it had to share.
It was frightening as hell.
'And that teenager, that kid who was here tearing you apart…'
Theo gave me a slight smile, the corners of his mouth curling up in a manner that, despite my bemusement, made my stomach lurch uncomfortably. '…was no teenager, but a demon, which you handily defeated.'
'I hate to interrupt, but I feel it necessary to correct that statement.' Noelle got up from where she had been looking at the wall, and came over to us. 'Portia didn't defeat the demon.'
Theo's thumbs were rubbing softly over the tops of my hands. He frowned at Noelle. 'What do you mean she didn't defeat it? I saw her do it.'
'No,' Noelle said with a sigh. 'What you saw her do was completely annihilate its physical form. I didn't send the demon back to Abaddon. I didn't have to—she so completely destroyed its human form that it was sent back by necessity.'
Theo's eyes widened as both he and Noelle looked at me.
'He was hurting Theo,' I told them both. 'I wasn't going to just stand there and let him beat Theo up. Not to mention which, you both were egging me on to do something.'
'We're not chastising you for defeating the demon,' Noelle said with a watery smile. 'It's the fact that you destroyed its mortal form that has us in a situation.'
'What sort of a situation?' I asked, pulling my hands from Theo's. It was too distracting being in physical contact with him. My brain didn't want to think about anything but him when he was touching me.
'Which demon was it?' Theo asked Noelle.
She ignored my question to answer his. 'Nefere. It belonged to Bael.'
'Do I want to know who Bael is?' I asked, rubbing the goose bumps on my arms. I was starting to get cold standing in the crypt in nothing but my teddy and shoes.
'Bael is the premiere prince of Abaddon,' Noelle answered, her eyes on Theo.
'Abaddon being hell?'
'Yes,' Theo answered, his face grave. My stomach wadded itself up into a dense ball, and seemed to drop to my feet. 'Bael does not tolerate abuse of his legions. He will summon us before him to answer for the damage we did to his demon's form. Come, you are cold. I will take you back to the pub.'
He held out a hand for me, clearly intending me to follow him out of the room.
'Wait a sec,' I said, rubbing my arms again. 'Why can't you just zap me back the way I came?'
Noelle gave me a rueful smile. 'Teleporting is a temporary power given to the trial proctors. It summons, but does not send, I'm afraid.'
'Oh great,' I grumbled as I took Theo's hand and allowed him to lead me out of the crypt. His hand was warm, his fingers strong and reassuring. 'Now I'm gallivanting who knows where in my teddy. This is so the image I want to remember England by. I don't understand why killing a demon is bad. They're demonic, right? So why isn't a good thing that I blasted it to kingdom come?'
