A Grave Magic: The Shadow Sorceress Book One (18 page)

There was a grunt of pain and I lifted my head from the grass to watch the demon pick Nic up as though he weighed nothing more than a small bag of sugar. It threw him, sending his body crashing into Graham, who was rushing forward to help.

“Pathetic humans. You have no idea what you’re dealing with. You cannot hurt me; I am of Hell, and I will grind your bones to dust before….”

I pushed up onto my knees, my body protesting the abuse it had already suffered. All of my magical barriers were gone; metaphysically speaking, I was wide open, a gaping wound, bleeding pure magic.

But it gave me an advantage, one I hadn’t honestly expected.

The demon strode towards me, surprisingly graceful for something so huge. “When I kill you, I will be free,” it said, towering over me.

“Not unless I send you back to Hell first,” I said, gripping the shard of rock I’d found in the grass.

I moved fast, slicing my hand open on the rock, my bright blood instantly welling in the wound before I slammed it into the ground.

“By earth and blood, I strip you of your power; this plane no longer welcomes you, and I command you back to Hell!”

They were the words my mother had used to send my father’s killer back to Hell. They’d worked then, and I could only hope they would work now.

The ground boiled beneath my hands, my blood soaking into the dirt, but it wasn’t enough. The beast laughed and wrapped its hand around my throat before jerking me from the ground.

I hung in its grip and I saw my death in its eyes.

Nic came at it and I tried to signal him to stop. What was the point? All he was going to do was piss it off even more.

Nic’s machete went straight through the demon, the tip of it appearing out through its stomach.

The sound of the creature’s scream ripped the night open. Rain had started to fall and it mingled with the creature’s black blood, causing it to sizzle and smoke as it dripped to the ground.

It screamed again as Nic jerked the blade free, dropping me in the process as it grabbed at the wound.

Nic swung again, but the beast saw him coming, slamming his fist into the side of Nic’s head, sending him crumpling to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been severed.

The beast stared down at me, the pain and rage that filled its eyes leaving me in no doubt of what it wanted to do to me.

“Come near me again and I will kill you myself. I have enough power left for that,” I said, my voice hoarse.

It was a lie; I had no idea if I had enough power for something like that, but it had the desired effect I was looking for and the beast paused. Blood continued to drip from its stomach and each breath it took caused its abdomen to bulge against the wound.

“You’re lying,” it said, cocking its head to the side in order to study me a little more carefully.

“Try me,” I answered, preparing to throw everything I had left at the creature that wanted to rip my head off.

Whatever it saw in my face was enough to spread doubt through it and I felt the tension in my shoulders slowly shrink.

When the creature moved, it lunged towards me faster than my human eyes could follow. Its clawed hand dug into my shoulder blade as it drove me backwards onto the ground.

Agony flared through me, the smell of burning human and demon flesh filling my nostrils as the demon glared down at me.

“If you try to kill me, you, too, shall die, and if you send me back to Hell then you are coming with me, pretty Mistress.” the demon gritted the words out as it held me down.

I felt the brand sear into the skin of my right shoulder, and I knew the brand that slowly flared into existence on the demon’s shoulder would be a perfect match for the one his touch was burning into my flesh at that very moment.

It released me as quickly as it had grabbed me and disappeared through the tombstones. From the corner of my eye, I could see it loping away, like an animal making its escape.

And, in a way, that was exactly what it was. And there was not a damn thing I could do about it.

Nic groaned and my heart flipped in my chest; he wasn’t dead and neither was Graham. Christina was alive. We’d actually managed to save the day, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d still failed.

From my position on the ground, I watched the rain as it fell from the sky, and the sound of sirens blaring cut through the night.

I wasn’t dead.

I’d survived.

But for how long, well, that was something I didn’t have an answer for.

S
itting
on the edge of the hospital bed, I stared out the window, watching the lights from the city slowly flicker on one by one. Being stuck in hospital wasn’t my idea of fun, and the sooner I could get out, the better.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed, resting?”

I swung around to face Graham with a smile as he stepped into the room. He looked tired and much older than I remembered him to be.

“How’s Jessica?” I asked, moving from the bed over to the bag of clothes sitting on the chair on the opposite side of the room.

Two visits to the same hospital in as many days—it was a step too far. The sooner I could get out, get back on the street and start hunting Lily down once more, the better I would feel. She was dangerous, and the thought of her still out there left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

“Upset, as you can imagine. As far as she’s concerned, I’m nothing more than the Devil; I allowed you to kill Zac. I don’t think she’s ever going to forgive me for that.”

I nodded and chewed my lip. That should have been the least of her worries, after what she had done; after the crimes she’d been involved in, I knew what would happen and, deep down, so did Graham.

“She’ll come around eventually.”

“I don’t want them to pursue the death penalty, Amber.” Graham said, suddenly catching my arm and swinging me around to face him.

“That’s not my call to make and you know it.”

“I know that, but you’ve got some sway with the department now; we both know it. You can tell them she was under Zac’s influence. It wouldn’t be a lie.”

I shook my head and slowly untangled myself from Graham’s grip. The sadness in his eyes was almost too much to bear, but I could see his acceptance lurking there, too.

He knew what would happen; he knew what was coming for Jessica, and if Elite pushed the issue then it was practically a done deal. She’d be executed without question or thought and there wasn’t a thing either of us could do about it.

“It’s just she’s my little girl, Amber. I lost her once because I didn’t protect her, I didn’t look out for her the way a father should, and now this….” He trailed off and I blinked back the tears that coated my lashes.

I’d seen the look in Jessica’s face, the hate and the hunger as she’d stood over her father’s body. He hadn’t seen it then, but when she went for him when he was still tied to the tree.

Well, he wasn’t wearing bandages from his neck down over his shoulder and arm because he cut himself shaving, and that was for sure. She’d gone for him, wanted to tear his throat out, and despite all of that, he still loved her. He was still fighting to save her.

I couldn’t say the same thing about my mother. As soon as she’d realised what I was, she’d packed me off to America. To the one place that would turn against me if it ever truly knew what I was.

If it had come out back in Ireland that I was a Shadow Sorceress, people would have been afraid. I’d have been an outsider, but no one would have been gunning for my head.

Over here, if anyone learned of what I was, then I would have a target on my back and it would only be a matter of time.

Of course, that was only if I survived the demon mark. The thought of ending up in Hell didn’t fill me with glee, but at least it was something solid to focus on.

“I know she is. I know you love her but, Graham, you and I both know what she did. What she allowed herself to get caught up in. She might still be your little girl, but in the eyes of the law … well, she didn’t have any qualms hurting Christina….”

Graham scrubbed his hands over his face and shook his head, as though such a simple action could rid him of all the terrible thoughts running through his head.

“I know that, I just….” He fell silent and I watched him piece himself back together.

He didn’t raise his face and meet my gaze until his blank cop face was back in place, hiding all of his emotions from view. But I knew they were there, bubbling just beneath the surface, waiting for the opportunity to burst forth.

“Christina’s grandparents came to pick her up; they’re going to take her upstate to live with them after the funeral.”

I smiled. “The change of scenery will do her good. Staying around here, it’ll just be a constant reminder of all the things she’s lost, and she really doesn’t need that right now.”

Graham nodded and stared off into the distance as if thinking of another time and place. I could only hope for his sake that it was a happier time.

“Don’t give up on her yet, Graham; she’s safe for now. Neither of us know what the future holds,” I said, touching his arm gently, causing him to jump.

“I appreciate it, Morgan,” he said, instantly slipping back into his Elite persona.

Would I ever get him to stop calling me by my last name and use my given name? Or would he only do it when he needed something from me?

“Knock, knock!”

I jumped, swinging my gaze around to meet Nic’s as he propped himself up against the edge of the door frame.

“Didn’t meant to interrupt,” Nic said, both hands behind his back.

“You’re not, I was just heading out. I’ll leave you to it,” Graham said to me, before turning on his heel and passing Nic out in the door.

As he made it out into the hall, he paused and shot me a puzzled look before moving away down the corridor.

“I thought you were on strict orders of bed rest? If I’d known you were cured, I wouldn’t have bothered bringing you these,” he said, swinging his arms around and revealing the large bouquet of flowers in his arms.

Heat spread from my neck up into my face and I fought to swallow back my embarrassment.

“Nic, you didn’t need to….”

“I know I didn’t need to, but I wanted to,” he said, his voice dropping a little lower as he moved a little closer to me.

The heat in my face continued to build and I fought the urge to hide behind my hands like a small child. If I did that, then they wouldn’t just be keeping me here awaiting X-ray results, they’d also be running tests on my head.

“Thanks,” I said, taking them from him and drinking in the rich scent of the roses.

“How come you’re allowed to be up and dressed and get away to buy me flowers when I’ve got to stay in this god-awful hospital gown until they get the all-clear from the doctor and the X-rays?”

“They let me go, no permanent damage to the noggin,” he said, smiling and tapping lightly on the side of his head. The moment his hand touched his scalp, I saw him wince. His face and cheek were badly bruised and swollen to twice the size I remembered them to be. “And, well, the flowers,” he said, colour flooding into his cheeks, “they’ve got a gift shop in the main foyer. I didn’t want to come empty-handed.”

I grinned up at him. “That’s not fair,” I said, sliding off the edge of the bed and crossing the floor towards him.

“What can I say? I’m tougher than I look. No demon is going to get the better of me.”

I stared up into his eyes and the urge to trail my fingers down his cheek was almost overwhelming. When I’d watched the demon slam its fist straight into the side of his head, I’d been certain he was a goner. Even the way he’d collapsed beneath the blow…. Everything about it said he was incredibly lucky to still be alive.

The dark thought soured the moment and I turned away from him, laying the flowers carefully on the table next to the bed.

“This is my fault,” I said turning away and sliding my arm out of the sling the hospital had insisted I wear.

As far as I was concerned, as soon as I was outside the hospital door, the sling would be the first thing to go, so what was the point of delaying the inevitable?

“No it’s not, you did what you needed to do,” Nic said, moving closer.

“I was reckless and stupid summoning that thing, and now it’s loose. How am I supposed to track it down? How am I supposed to send it back where it belongs when I don’t know the first thing about demon slaying?”

“Well, that’s where I come in, but only after we’ve gotten rid of the demon mark. With that still on you, there’s nothing we can do to that demon. And if anyone else decides to kill it, then….” He trailed off and I shot a look at him over my shoulder. “If anyone else tries to kill it, then I’ll stop them.”

“It needs to die, I think we can both agree on that,” I said.

“Yeah, but that bastard is mine,” Nic said with a smile that sent a fluttering of warmth all the way down into my toes.

“Not if I get it first,” I teased.

It was the first bit of light-hearted conversation I’d been able to have that took my mind away from the reality of the situation. For some reason, Nic made it easier to deal with and things weren’t as dark as they’d seemed.

Maybe he was right; maybe together, we could find a way to put a stop to what had been started in the graveyard.

And maybe if I was very lucky, I’d find a way to get a handle on my power before anyone could find out about it. It seemed like a lot of things to get lucky in, but I had just faced a demon and survived.

What was a little more danger and disaster between friends?

T
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