Staggering to remain upright, he tapped the line, adding more force.
Eyes narrowing, I set my thoughts to loop it right back at him. Whatever he was going to send into me was going to end up right back in him.
Al choked as he sensed what I was going to do. There was a sudden wrench in my gut and I stumbled, catching myself against the table as he broke the live connection between us. I stared at him across the kitchen, breath rough. This was going to be settled right here and now. One of us was going to lose. And it wasn't going to be me. Not in my kitchen. Not tonight.
Al put one foot behind him, taking a deceptively relaxed stance. He ran a hand over his hair, smoothing it. His round smoked glasses appeared, and he buttoned his frock. 'This isn't working,' he said flatly.
'No,' I rasped. 'It isn't.'
Safe in her circle, Ceri snickered. 'You can't have her, Algaliarept, you big stupid,' she mocked, making me wonder at her word choice. 'You made the familiar gate swing both ways when you forced her to give you her aura. You're her familiar as much as she is yours.'
Al's momentary placid face blossomed into anger. 'I've used this spell a thousand times to milk auras, and this has never happened before. And I am not her familiar.'
I watched, feeling tense and ill as a three-legged stool appeared behind Al. It looked like something Attila the Hun would have used, with a red velvet cushion and horsehair fringe going to the floor. Not bothering to see if it was behind him, he sat, his expression puzzled.
'That's why Nick called,' I said, and Al gave me a patronizing look. When he took my aura, it broke the bond I had with Nick. He had felt it. Aw, crap. Al was my familiar?
Ceri gestured that I should join her in her circle, but I couldn't chance that Al might hurt her in the instant it would take to reform it. Al, though, was preoccupied with his own thoughts.
'This isn't right,' he mumbled. 'I've done this before with hundreds of witches with souls and it's never forged a bond this strong. What's so different about…'
My stomach dropped as all visible emotion drained from him. He glanced at the clock above the sink, then me. 'Come here, little witch.'
'No.'
He pressed his lips together and stood.
Gasping, I backpedaled, but he had my wrist and pulled me to the island counter. 'You've done this spell before,' he said as he squeezed my pricked finger, making it bleed again. 'When you made Nicholas Gregory Sparagmos your familiar. It was your blood in the brew, little witch, that invoked it?'
'You know it was.' I was too drained to be frightened anymore. 'You were there.' I couldn't see his eyes, but my reflection in his glasses looked ugly and pale with wet stringy hair.
'And it worked,' he said thoughtfully. 'It didn't just bind you, it bound you tight enough for you to draw a line through him?'
'That's why he left,' I said, surprised I could still feel the pain.
'Your blood kindled the spell fully….' Speculation wasthick in his goat eyes as he looked at me from over his glasses. He drew my hand up, and though I tried to wiggle free of him, he licked the blood from my finger with a cold, tingling sensation. 'So subtly scented,' he breathed, his eyes never leaving mine. 'Like perfumed air your lover has walked through.'
'Let go,' I said, pushing at him.
'You should be dead,' he said, his voice full of wonder. 'How is it that you're still alive?'
Jaw clenched, I worked at his grip on me, trying to get my fingers between him and my wrist. 'I work hard at it.' With a gasp, I fell back as he released his hold.
'You work hard at it.' Smiling, he took a step back and gave me a once-over. 'The mad have a grace all their own. I must go start a study group.'
Frightened, I hunched over my wrist and held it.
'And I will have the likes of you as my own, Rachel Mariana Morgan. Count on it.'
'I'm not going into the ever-after,' I said tightly. 'You'll have to kill me first.'
'You don't have a choice,' he intoned, chilling me. 'You tap a line when the sun is down, and I'll find you. You can't make the circle that can keep me out. If you aren't on holy ground, I'll beat you silly and drag you into the ever-after. And from there, you will not escape.'
'Try it,' I threatened, reaching behind me to find the meat-tenderizing hammer hanging on the overhead rack. 'You can't touch me unless you go solid, and it's going to hurt, red man.'
Brow furrowed in concern, Al hesitated. The thought flitted through me that it must be like swatting at a wasp. Timing is everything.
Ceri was wearing a smile I didn't understand. 'Algaliarept,' she said softly. 'You made a mistake. She found a loophole in your contract, and now you'll accept it and leave Rachel Mariana Morgan alone. If you don't, I'm going to start a school on holding line energy.'
The demon's face went blank. 'Ah, Ceri? Wait a moment, love.'
Hammer in hand, I backed up until her bubble was cold at my back. Her hand reached out, and I jumped when she pulled me in, her circle flashing up almost before I knew it had fallen. My shoulders eased at the shimmer of black between us and Al. There was only the faintest glimmer of pale blue from her damaged aura visible through the smutAl had left on her. I patted her hand as she gave me a relieved, sideways hug. 'Is that a problem?' I asked, not understanding why Al was so upset.
Ceri was positively smug. 'I escaped him knowing how. He'll get in trouble for it. Big trouble. I'm surprised he hasn't been called up on it yet. But then, no one knows.' She turned her mocking green eyes on Al. 'Yet.'
I felt an odd stab of alarm as I took in the savage satisfaction on her. She had known this all along, simply waiting until the information could best be used. The woman was more contriving than Trent, and she didn't seem to have a problem gambling with people's lives, either, mine included. Thank God she was on my side. She was, wasn't she?
Al raised a protesting hand. 'Ceri, we can talk about this.'
'In a week,' she said confidently, 'there won't be a ley line witch in Cincinnati that won't know how to be their own familiar. In a year, the world will be closed to you and your kind, and you will have to answer for it.'
'Is it that big of a deal?' I asked as Al adjusted his glasses and shifted from foot to foot. It was cold away from the vent, and I shivered in my damp clothes.
'It's harder to lull a person into foolish choices if they can fight back,' Ceri said. 'If it gets out, their pool of potential familiars will be weak and undesirable in a matter of years.'
My mouth dropped open. 'Oh.'
'I'm listening,' Al said, sitting with an uncomfortable stiffness.
Hope so strong it was almost painful raced through me. 'Take your demon mark off me, break the familiar bond, agree to leave me alone, and I won't tell.'
Al snorted. 'Not shy about asking for things, are you?'
Ceri gave my arm a warning squeeze and let go. 'Let me do this. I've written most of his nonverbal contracts the last seven hundred years. Can I speak for you?'
I looked at her, her eyes alight and savage with her need for revenge. Slowly I set the hammer down. 'Sure,' I said, wondering just what, exactly, I had saved from the ever-after.
She pulled herself straighter, an official air falling over her. 'I propose that Al will take his mark off you and break the familiar bonds between you both, in return for your solemn vow to not teach anyone how to hold line energy. Furthermore, you and your kin by blood or the laws of man shall remain free of reprisal from the demon known as Algaliarept and his agents in this world or the ever-after from now until the two worlds collide.'
I tried to find enough spit to swallow, failing. I never would have thought of that.
'No,' Al said firmly. 'That's three things to my one, and I'll not lose my hold on the likes of her completely. I want a way to recoup my loss. And if she crosses the lines, I don't care what agreement we have, she's mine.'
'Can we force him?' I said softly. 'I mean, we do have him over a barrel?'
Al chuckled. 'I could call Newt in to arbitrate if you like….'
Ceri went pale. 'No.' Taking a steadying breath, she looked at me, her confidence cracked but not shattered. 'What of the three can you bear to keep?'
