For a Few Demons More

the double-circled pentagram before me, etched in a stunning crystalline perfection. It was absolutely beautiful, catching and reflecting the light in shades of crimson and silver, all glittery and faceted. 'I did this?' I said in surprise, and looked up.

I blanched. Ceri was staring at me with her hands on her lap, Jenks on her shoulder. It wasn't that she looked scared, just really, really worried. I shifted my shoulders, feeling a light connection from my mind to my aura that hadn't been there before. Or perhaps I was more sensitive to it. 'Does it get better?' I said, concerned by Ceri's lack of response.

'What?' she asked, and Jenks's wings blurred, sending a strand of her hair flying.

I glanced at the bucket of salted wine next to me—hardly remembering pouring it on the mirror—then set the glass on the table. My fingers parted from it, but it was as if I still felt it with me. 'The feeling of connection?' I said uncomfortably.

'You can feel it?' Jenks squeaked, and Ceri shushed him, her eyebrows knitting together.

'I shouldn't?' I asked as I wiped my hands on a napkin, and Ceri looked away.

'I don't know,' she said softly, clearly thinking of something else. 'Al never said.'

I was starting to feel more like myself. Jenks came forward, and I kept wiping my hands, dabbing the damp off. 'You okay?' he asked, and I nodded, discarding the napkin and pulling my legs up to sit cross-legged. I tugged the mirror to sit atop my lap. It made me feel like I was in high school, playing with a Ouija board in someone's basement.

'I'm fine,' I said, trying to ignore the fact that I thought the white crystalline pattern I had made on the glass was absolutely beautiful. 'Let's do this. I want to be able to sleep tonight.'

Ceri stirred, drawing my attention to her. Her angular features were drawn, and she looked frightened by a sudden thought. 'Ah, Rachel,' she stammered, standing up. 'Would you mind if we waited? Just until tomorrow?'

Oh, God. I did it wrong. 'What did I do?' I blurted, reddening.

'Nothing,' she rushed, reaching out but not touching me. 'You're fine. But you just readjusted your aura, and you probably ought to go through an entire sun cycle to settle yourself before trying to use it. The calling circle, I mean.'

I looked at the mirror, then her. Ceri's face was unreadable. She was hiding her emotions, and doing a damn fine job of it. I'd done it wrong, and she was mad. She hadn't expected all my aura to slid off, but it had. 'Crap,' I said, disgusted. 'I did it wrong, didn't I?'

She shook her head, but she was gathering her stuff up to leave. 'You did it correctly. I have to go. I have to check on something.'

I hurried to get up, knocking the table and almost spilling my glass of white wine when I set the mirror down. 'Ceri, I'll do better next time. Really, I'm getting better at this. You've helped me so much already,' I said, but she stepped out of my reach, disguising it as swooping forward for her slippers. I froze, scared. She didn't want me to touch her. 'What did I do?'

Slowly she halted, still not looking at me. Jenks hovered between us. Outside, I could hear the neighbors yelling friendly good-byes and a horn beeping. Reluctantly her eyes met mine. 'Nothing,' she said. 'I'm sure the reason your aura all spilled out was because your blood invoked it and not another demon's, as was in my case when I was bound to Al's account to field his calls for him. You need to let your aura settle in firmly before using the curse, is all. A day at least. Tomorrow night.'

I took in Jenks's worry. He had heard the lie in her voice, too. Either she was making up the reason my aura pooled out or she was lying about the need to wait to call Minias. One scared the crap out of me, and the other was just bewildering. She doesn't want to touch me?

She turned to go, and I glanced at the calling circle, beautiful and innocent-looking on my coffee table, reflecting the world in a wine-stained hue. 'Wait, Ceri. What if he calls tonight?'

Ceri stopped. Head bowed, she came back, put her hand atop the middle figure with fingers spread wide, and murmured a word of Latin. 'There,' she said, glancing hesitantly at me. 'I've put a 'do not disturb' notation on it. It will expire at sunup.' She took a deep breath, seeming to make a decision. 'This was necessary,' she said, as if convincing herself, but when I nodded agreement, her features pinched in what looked like fear.

'Thank you, Ceri,' I said, bewildered, and she slipped out the front door and closed it without a sound. I heard her feet slap the wet pavement as she ran, then nothing. I turned to Jenks, still hovering. 'What was that all about?' I asked, feeling very unsure.

'Maybe she can't admit she doesn't know why your aura pooled out,' he said, coming to sit on my knee when I flopped back into the couch and propped my arches on the edge of the table. 'Or maybe she's mad at herself for almost exposing you without your aura.' He hesitated, then said, 'You didn't get a hug good-bye.'

I reached for my glass and took a sip, feeling a tingling rise up through my wine-stained aura, almost as if responding to what I'd just drank. Slowly the sensation faded. I thought back to Ceri's circle dropping and the feeling of the bell resonating through me when the curse had invoked. It had felt good. Satisfying. That was okay, wasn't it?

'Jenks,' I said wearily, 'I wish someone would tell me what in hell is going on.'

Seven

The afternoon sun was warm on my shoulders, bare but for the straps of my chemise. Last night's rain had left the ground soft, and the moist heat hovering an inch or so over the disturbed earth was comforting. I was taking advantage of it by tending my yew plant, having an idea that I might make up some forget potions in case Newt showed again. All I needed now was the fermented lilac pressings. It wasn't illegal to make forget charms, just use them, and who would fault me for using one on a demon?

The soft plunk of a cut tip dropping into one of my smaller spell pots was loud, and with my face turned to the earth, I knelt before the tombstone it was growing out of and sent my fingers lightly among the branches, harvesting the ones growing inward to the center of the plant.

Ceri's reaction to my aura's pooling out last night had left me very uneasy, but the sun felt good, and I took strength from that. I might have made a strong connection to the ever-after, but nothing had changed. And Ceri was right. I needed a way for Minias to contact me without having to show up. This was safer. Easier.

A grimace crossed my face, and I turned my attention from pruning to pulling weeds to widen the circle of cleared earth. Easy like a wish. And wishes always came back to bite you.

Glancing at the angle of the sun, I decided I ought to call it good and get cleaned up before Kisten came over to take me to my driver's-ed class. I stood, slapping the dirt from my jeans and gathering my tools. My gaze expanded from the singular vision of the pollution-stained grave marker to the wider expanse of my walled graveyard, the domestic Hollows beyond that, and, even farther, the tallest buildings of Cincinnati across the river. I loved it here, a spot of stillness surrounded by life, humming like a thousand bees.

I headed for the church, smiling and touching the stones as I passed, recognizing them like old friends and wondering what the people they guarded had been like. There was a small flurry of pixies by the back door to the church, and I picked my way to it, curious as to what was up. My faint smile widened when the snap of dragonfly wings turned into Jenks. The pixy circled me, looking good in his casual gardening clothes.

'Hey, Rachel, are you done over there?' he said by way of greeting. 'My kids are dying to check out your gardening.'

Skirting the circle of blasphemed ground encompassing the grave marker of a weeping angel, I squinted at him. 'Sure. Just tell them to watch the oozing tips. That stuff is toxic.'

He nodded, his wings a gossamer blur as he went to my other side so I wasn't looking into the sun. 'They know.' He hesitated, then with a quickness that said he was embarrassed, blurted, 'Are you going to need me today?'

I looked up from my uneven footing, then back down. 'No. What's up?'

A smile full of parental pride came over him, and a faint sparkle of gold fell as he let some dust slip. 'It's Jih,' he said in satisfaction.