whiskey witches 02 - blood moon magick (31 page)

A woman stepped forward and put a black box in his hand.

He raised an eyebrow, tipped his head to the side, and held it out for her.

All Paige really wanted to do was to run away and piss herself. Instead, she raised her chin and walked toward the demon horde, her witch hands at the ready.

He lowered his head, a smug smile settling over his face.

She took the box from him and stepped backward.

“Information, if you please.”

“Here’s the thing.” How to give him all the information as succinctly as possible? Nederland was being torn apart and she needed to rectify that situation with a quickness. “Sven’s been here for too long and he’s powerless.” She replayed the conversation she’d watched through Kris’ memories.

Usnazahl’s eyes lit on her, his expression all business. “Oriel’s here?”

Did that mean he was going to leave? “By all the evidence I’ve been able to gather? Yes.”

The demon snapped his heels together and spun. “We’re leavin’.”

Just like that?

He turned back to Paige briefly. “If you know wha’s good for you, you’ll run. Now. Oriel topside’s a bad thing.”

That didn’t bode well.

“Oh, and another thin’, summoner.” He paused, meeting her gaze, his expression appearing genuine. “You’re needed in Texas. I don’ care what you got goin’ on here. Get your damned ass to Texas.”

“Wait!”

He turned back to her.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because.” He glanced around him, dipping his head. “You’re the summoner. We may be on opposite sides o’ the line at times, but we respect you. You’ve earned it. Plus, I might need a favor from you later.”

Favor? Not likely. Though, that didn’t explain why she needed to get to the Texas, though her heart hammered with the only viable reason she could think of. The war.

He raised his chin and met her gaze. “They won’ make it withou’ ya. And withou’ them, you’d go balls crazy. We need tha’ abou’ as much as a kick to the nads. No. You shag your fuckin’ ass to Texas. Ya take care o’ your shit. And you keep your fuckin’ shit out o’ our business. You get me?”

He and his henchmen melted into the pine trees.

Fuck.

W
hile it was great that the demons had just disappeared, especially since Paige hadn’t been able to gut Nazal like she had her other demons, it made her wonder with a little tremor of terror. Who was Oriel? And what about him would make a full-grown, obviously powerful demon like Nazal turn tail and run?

This is your area of expertise,
Cawli stated.

You’re no help.

That is what I stated.

Paige stared at the box in her hand. “So, this is what’s controlling all the shifters?” There wasn’t a big red button. Why wasn’t there a big red button, or anything that read “emergency stop?” There weren’t
any
buttons on the device.

Frell.

The sounds coming from the town rose in volume. Screams from every kind of animal she could think of, though she couldn’t pinpoint any of them. She didn’t know the animal kingdom very well. Humans, though. She could pick those out of a line up.

She needed to get her shit together and put a stop to this.

What do you two have in common?
Cawli asked, tapping on her mind, sending her a tendril of calm.

She took it like a lifeline, releasing the pent-up frustration and boiling fear. What did she have in common with who? Usnazahl or Sven?

Both. What did she have in common with both?

Demon energies.

But Sven was running low on those, if her assessment of the situation was accurate.

What if it didn’t matter if he had power or not? He was still a demon.

But
she
wasn’t.

She
did
, however, house a tear in her soul that bridged the gap between Earth and Hell.

Glancing around, she confirmed no other shifters were near her. She dipped inside of herself, reached through Cawli’s protections, pulled on the magick from the Hell plane, switching to witch vision.

The box became less solid to her witch’s eye. It warped and wriggled as if made of Jell-O.

Taking in a deep breath that hurt a little around the edges, Paige reached out with the hand holding the Hell magick and touched the box.

The black mirage fell away to reveal a set of glowing buttons; two red, one green.

What was she supposed to do with these? None of them were labeled.

As her finger hovered over one red button, an image popped into her head. A vision of herself, standing in the precinct, her face stunned.
Attack. Bite.

She hovered her finger over the other red button. Cawli roared to life, pushing himself through her mind’s walls, into all of her limbs.

Paige shoved him back, removing her finger from the button.
Cawli!
she shouted in her mind.
Stop it!

He calmed, panting heavily in the back of her mind, his huge cat’s paws retreating along her arms, his whiskers sinking from her cheeks.

So, you’re a cat,
she said, a slight tremble entering her mind’s voice.

I am unformed.
The emotions radiating from Cawli were unpleasant. He was just as scared as she was.
I am all animals and none.

Oh.
She released a shaking breath and placed the Hell power over the green button.

Peace settled through her and Cawli both. His claws retracted from her mind. His emotions subsided. The quiver released from her lungs. Her heart stopped pounding.

She pressed the green button.

Nothing happened.

She opened her eyes.

A few of the shifters had stopped. They stared around them in a daze as the sun set completely.

On the opposite horizon, another orb rose in the sky. Large and full.

Wild, feral energy coursed through her. Her nerve endings practically snapped and zapped with unbridled ferocity. Her hair lifted off her neck. The device fell from loose fingers as she brought her hands toward her face.

She glowed with steel blue shadow.

The shifters howled, cawed, neighed with uncontained wilderness.

Paige let her head fall back, a whispered roar rising from her chest as the wind lifted her off her feet, separating her from the earth. Lightning laced the star-popping sky from her fingertips. The ground rumbled, adding Her voice. Water floated.

She spun. Her world surreal. Her soul complete. Her freedom achieved. Power limitless. Her place in the great circle acknowledged. She was one. She was healed. She was accepted.

A horse screamed in pain and terror.

A dog yelped.

A cat yowled.

Pain cut through her ears with splitting precision.

The moon.

Lifting herself from her power-drugged mind, she raised her gaze to the moon. Full. Massive. Bright. Scarred and pocked. Familiar. Old. Wise.

Cawli did not answer nor add anything, too enthralled in the powerful allure of the full super moon.

Carnage. Blood. Trash. Torn clothing. Torn flesh. Screaming. Crying.

Her feet found purchase on the asphalt. She raised her hands to the sky.

When had she last called down the moon?

Too long.

The moon’s energy folded around her like an old lover, filling gaps in her soul she hadn’t realized had been present, lifting energy she hadn’t noticed were low.

Lover. Mother. Sister. Friend.

A familiar ping crossed her mind with a wild ferocity only a big sister could have.

“Leslie,” Paige whispered.

Leslie’s purple energies intertwined with Paige’s steel blue.

A grizzly bear love tackled her, teal molding with the violet and steel. Alma.

Together across the distance, brought together by their shared love of the moon.

My girls,
Alma’s voice said over the distance.

Shall we start?
Leslie asked.

Paige wet her lips and drew down the energy the moon provided. It swelled within her, reconnecting her to the Earth, to life.

The roars, the screams, the yelps, the yowls did not cease.

She needed the power only a blood moon offered to contain the situation.

Did she have what it took to bring a blood moon and not lose control?

Paige
, Leslie cautioned.
We don’t call down the blood moon. We only tap into it.

Too much power is needed to control it,
Alma added.

They didn’t know what Paige had become, what she was capable of.
She
didn’t know what she was capable of.

Wriggling her toes in her boots, she reached for the earth. She needed a shadow, a massive shadow to blanket the moon, to calm the wild call.

The earth rose like a sleeping child, stretching, yawning, reaching. The ground shook, pieces of broken asphalt tapping the road.

Paige lowered her right hand, extending her witch hand through the tainted road base, deep into the soil, through the mantel, to the core. The earth’s fire rose with her assistance, ripping through the physical confines of the dirt and asphalt.

Smoke billowed upward, plumed outward.

A dark shadow crept upon the moon.

The shifters stilled, their eyes rising toward the sky.

Inch by incredibly slow inch, her black shadow turned the moon red.

Silence.

The rolling crack of a paper cup on the wind.

The groan of a car as it found the ground again.

A whimper of pain.

Red chased the shadow, regaining control of the moon’s light.

The howls remained quiet. The roars, the caws, the yowls and yells—nonexistent as if everyone was afraid to make a sound.

Leslie’s voice whispered in wonder.

Fear and caution flowed from Alma.

Paige couldn’t maintain her hold of the moon’s power or her connection to her family for much longer.
Take what you need
.

Leslie and Alma disconnected as if a call had been dropped.

The smoke retreated back into the earth.

The power building in Paige, the moon’s energy, exploded outward, shooting from her fingertips, her eyes, her mouth, her ears, her nose, her toes.

Protect
, she whispered to the energy as it flowed out of her.
Protect them against demons, against witches, against any who may wish to control them.

A great, ethereal presence rose from the lightning spraying from her body. The bolts of energy wrapped around her, gently setting her on the ground.

As you wish,
the All Mother said.

Then, the lightning broke away from her body, racing along the ground until she could no longer see it. A flash hit the horizon then rose like a dome of opalescent light.

Paige lay on the asphalt.

And stared up at the blood moon.

P
aige didn’t know how long she lay there staring up at the moon. By the time she shook herself awake, the red had been erased and the moon appeared bac at its normal size. It no longer sang to her like an aphrodisiac. She dragged herself to her feet and made her way down the hill and back into town, guided only by the light of the moon.

Humans picked themselves back up, their clothes in disarray. Several were completely naked. That answered the question on where the clothes went during the shift. They disappeared. She’d have to give Dexx the heads up.

Dexx.

Her heart clenched, but Paige couldn’t do anything for him, so she needed to deal with what she could.

A young woman with dark hair and skin stumbled across her path, her brown eyes vacant as she clutched her bleeding arm. She wore nothing, but didn’t seem to notice.

Paige walked briskly toward her. “Denver PD. Ma’am, are you all right? I’m here to help.”

“I—” The woman shook her head as if shaking water out of her eyes. “I don’t really understand what just happened.”

“It’s okay.” Paige reached out her hand. “I do. Is it okay if I touch you? I want to look at your wound. How badly hurt are you?”

“Janet—she slammed her beak into my—” The woman’s eyes widened.

“It’s okay,” Paige said with a grim smile. “I’m vetted by Sam and I’m Tony Guerrerro’s partner. I know all about this.”