With his powers, Asmodeus sent Kelly flying. She bounded off the wall to his left, only to come running at him again, snarling. Leviathan's sword narrowly missed his chest as Kelly latched on once again.
The next thing that happened stopped his heart.
Brianna ran between him and the demon, barely dodging their swinging blades as she launched herself on Kelly, taking the witch down.
Asmodeus was now free to fight Leviathan, his faculties now his to command. He brought Leviathan down with a frigid wind, his sword a whisper in the air as he plunged it into the demon's chest. When he made contact a searing wave of fire threatened to consume him.
"Wrong tactic, Leviathan. The touch of fire is familiar to me."
The demon's eyes flashed fire at him, and he thrust his own sword. Asmodeus dodged it, and with another wave of his hand he sent the steel flying. Leviathan's sword clattered to the floor in the kitchen. Pulling his own sword out of the demon's flesh, he stepped back, swinging it in a deadly arc to decapitate him.
Leviathan was no more.
He swung around to help Brianna, only to see she had finished her own battle. Kelly lay on her back, her eyes closed and her breathing normal.
Before he could reach her, Brianna looked up at him. Tears fell from her eyes. Her neck was bloodied and bruised, her lip busted open. "She is healing. I used a spell to put her in a comfortable rest. She took some of my powers and I think it might help her."
For Kelly what had just transpired would only be the beginning. To counteract what she had started with the Demonic Book of Spells she would need a bonding partner for life. This would only hold her over for a few short days. Hell, he wouldn't tell Brianna now. He couldn't. Not as hope bloomed on her face. He knelt down next to her and brought her close to his chest, his heart, crushing her. He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent as he flashed Leviathan's body out of Brianna's house.
He said three words that were a damned lie, but he couldn't hold them back. "It is over." It wasn't over. Kelly would only start to deteriorate once their blood filtered through her system. Bonding was a continual process—a lifetime commitment.
He held Brianna as she sobbed against him. He healed her, a slight tingling in his core letting him know she had been badly injured.
Still she had fought for him. She had risked her life for his, unselfishly, without thought for her own well-being. In that moment he made a promise to himself that he would never let Brianna go. The feel of her tiny frame against his body felt right—even though their union went against natural law.
For the first time in centuries, since that terrible night so very long ago, tears fell.
A bright light flashed through the room. He didn't turn to look at who had materialized. It was Raum and Naberius. Hands touched his shoulders, and he heard his friends kneel down. All four stayed in that position until the sky darkened to black.
Raum sat next to Kelly on the four-poster bed in his guestroom. She looked better now than she had since her deterioration had begun. Her cheeks were flushed pink, her breathing normal. She was still terribly thin, and would only get thinner. The blood she had consumed from Brianna and Asmodeus would wither away, leaving her in the same condition she had been in before she had consumed it.
The thoughts swirling around in his mind weren't worth thinking. She needed to bond with someone powerful. Someone who could sustain her and would promise to be there for as long as she needed it.
He had only heard of one other bonding that had worked. If one could consider it a success. A female witch had bonded with a demon, just the same as Kelly had done with Brianna and Asmodeus, and she'd had relapses. The longer she had gone without blood, the further the witch had depleted. It had been a constant tug-of-war to keep her alive. Sane. The feedings hadn't been constant. There had been times she needed to feed daily, other times a feeding once a week was enough. She couldn't be separated long from the demon she had bonded with.
Kelly had made a grave mistake when she had used the Demonic Book of Spells. But if anyone knew about mistakes, and atoning for them, it was he. Everyone deserved a second chance. Who was he to judge?
Her canines were gone for the moment, but like a vampire, they would elongate if offered a vein. The animalistic tendencies that now possessed her body would come alive at the prospect of a feeding. It was a survival mechanism.
He pulled the covers up to her chin when she shivered, tucking her into the soft comforter. Her head turned on the pillow, and for a second he thought she would open her eyes. Instead, she sighed and remained sleeping. Her features soft, her hair clean from her bath, she looked like a child. A helpless child.