Shadow of the Wolf(36)

"Lord and Lady, come to me.

Protect me from adversity."

He pointed the Athame at Cole.

"Any ill you send to me

Will return to you times three.

As I will so mote it be!"

He finished his protection spell and felt it settle into his skin. It  would be harder to hurt him now, but not impossible. Every protection  spell had a weakness. All it would take would be for Cole to figure his  weakness out and he'd be able to harm Christopher.

But it did buy him time. Christopher pulled out the second amulet,  watching Cole closely. Cole pulled out a wand of dark wood, his gaze  full of hate.

The tainted magic struck before Christopher could even start his chant.  It struck him in the middle of his chest, pulling at the core of his  being. He could feel it burning into him with icy-hot talons.

He gasped, desperately trying to get his breath. He tossed the three silver links to the ground.

"Circle three I conjure thee.

Ground his spell so mote it be!"

He drew in a desperate breath, grateful when Cole's spell was jerked  into the rings, rings that ex-panded, digging into the earth of the  dueling circle, grounding both Christopher and Cole's spell.

He touched the edge of the burn on his chest and hissed. He knew the  throbbing pain would only grow worse, a distraction he didn't need.

He needed to end this duel quickly, before the pain made him mess up one  of his spells. If that happened, he would lose everything he was  fighting for.

Cole ground his teeth and put his wand, now useless, away. "Clever,  Christopher. Try this one on for size." He tossed a reddish gold circlet  on the ground and leveled his Athame at it. The blade danced with a  sickly green light.

"By Lucifer's might and Lilith's hate

I conjure thee, come through the gate."

Christopher didn't wait to hear more. He moved to counteract the spell.  He took out the second amulet. He had intended to use it to hold off  whatever elemental forces Cole had chosen to conjure.

Instead, the man had chosen to conjure a demon. He tossed the amulet to the ground.

"Thrice around the circle's bound

Sink all evil to the ground!"

He drew three circles around the amulet with his Athame and began  pouring his power into it, hoping it would be enough to hold whatever  would come through the slowly building gate.



*

Lana couldn't believe what she was witnessing. "He's summoning a fucking  demon." She turned to the Becketts. "Is that fucking legal?" "No."  Edward Beckett stood, glaring at the Arbiter. "Open the damn shield."

The Arbiter grimaced, his hands waving. "I can't. I'm being blocked."

A low growl sounded from behind her. She turned to see Daniel, eyes  glowing eerily, staring at the Godwin family across the barrier. Next to  him his father, Edward Beckett, was beginning to remove his clothing.  "Oh boy." She couldn't even appreciate the view of the male Becketts  disrobing. Chris was in danger, and it was all she could focus on. When  Zach pulled her away from the Becketts she went willingly, especially  since he was dragging her towards the barrier.



*

Cole grinned at Christopher. He pricked his finger with his burning  Athame and allowed three drops to land in the dirt inside the reddish  gold circlet. Fuck. A conjuration using blood? I am screwed. "Bound by  blood, obey my call

Holding demon's might in thrall."



And where was the Arbiter? Once Cole began conjuring a demon he should  have taken down the shield and declared the duel null and void, since it  was obvious Cole was cheating. No outside help was supposed to enter  the circle. Only elemental spells were allowed, and not even summoning  spells. No salamanders, no water sprites, none of them should be able to  enter the circle. And how the fuck was he doing this, anyway?  Christopher could feel the tendrils of the summoning sinking into the  earth, seeking to pull something twisted and dark into their realm.

He had to stop this before Cole finished his chant, or he wouldn't be  the only one to suffer. No demon would want to stop with just  Christopher's blood. It would want the entire family.

He pulled out the stick figure and the black ribbon, ignoring the  vicious pain stabbing into him. It pulsed in time with the tendrils of  the conjuring circle, scaring the crap out of him. He'd been injured by  demonic magic. That meant it would take one hell of a spell to heal him  completely, or he'd be in agony for the rest of his life. He stood,  determined that once and for all Cole would never harm another being. He  strode over to Cole's conjuring circle and dipped the stick figure in  the drop of blood. "Big mistake Cole. Huge."                       
       
           



       

Cole licked his lips nervously. Christopher ignored the warlock and began to bind the stick figure with the black ribbon.

Cole continued his chant, his expression full of panicky determination.

"By the Compact take your toll

Feast upon this gifted soul."

Cole pulled out his own doll. There, tied to its middle, was a small piece of fur.

Wolf fur.

Crap. I am definitely screwed.



*

Lana ignored the two wolves streaking past her. "Concentrate on the  barrier. We have to take it down, have to get to Chris." "Right." Zach  took a deep breath and placed his palm against the barrier. "I have to  figure out how it was cast. I …  I have to find the grounding."

Lana grabbed him. "Stop thinking like a wizard and start thinking like a witch!"

He turned to her, his eyes blank from shock. "Think like a witch." He  blinked, his eyes refocusing, his gaze centering on the shield. His  expression became cold and certain. "No. Not wizard, not witch." He  stepped back and raised his arms. Power arched between his hands,  glowing above him, clean and pure, a powerful counterpoint to the rancid  energies behind the barrier. "Me."

Lana felt her jaw hit the floor as that pure white light blasted into the barrier. What. The. Fuck?

She'd never seen anything like that before.

This family was just full of surprises.



*

Christopher watched the swirling green and black mist widen in the  golden circlet, a dark evil presence making itself felt in his very  bones. Oh fuck. He began the binding chant, praying to the gods that he  was in time. He wound the black ribbon around the Cole doll. "I bind  thee three times three."

He wound the ribbon again.

"By this charm do no more harm."

He wrapped the ribbon one last time, making sure to touch the tiny spot of Cole's blood on the top of the figure.

"I bind you, Cole, your blood, your soul!"

But he was too late. Before he could tie off the ends of the ribbon and  finish the spell, Cole screamed the last bit of his spell.

"By your oath you will obey.

Demon come forth and claim your prey!"

But Christopher didn't stop. He couldn't. If that thing got out, it  would spell the end of himself, his family and Lana. He tied off the  ends of the binding spell and finished the chant.

"By air and earth, water and fire

So be you bound with no more power.

Lord and Lady, hear my plea.

As I will so mote it be!"

Christopher tossed the Cole doll into the widening demonic circle and prayed.

The sudden silence was deafening. "No." Cole's horrified whisper matched  his expression. The doll slowly sank into the inky darkness. "What have  you done?"



*

"Oh shit." Zach's face clenched in pain, his hands closing. He pulled  the power back into himself. The barrier was still intact, but there  were signs of his assault. Some of the protection runes had dimmed.  "He's screwed."

Lana turned and saw Christopher toss the doll into the black maw at his  feet. She felt her heart stop beating. "Chris." She dropped to her  knees. She couldn't lose him. How could she lose him? She'd just found  him. "Chris!"



*

"No!" Cole's last word trailed off into a terrified scream. A dark,  inhuman arm appeared out of the hole, grasping Cole's ankle in a  blackened grip. Cole gasped, his eyes going wide, his face strangely  blanked.

Then the arm pulled, but it didn't pull Cole. A stream of dark energy  poured out from Cole, whisking away into the dark opening, draining away  until the warlock collapsed. The arm pulled back, the demon hole  closing behind it until no hint was left that it had ever been there.  Other than the blackened, broken ring of gold and a small spot of  darkness in the earth, nothing remained of the demon's presence.

Cole didn't move. Christopher knelt down and checked his pulse.

Cole's body was burning cold. Christopher lifted his hand away rapidly,  blowing on the tips of his fingers. He wasn't certain but he might have  left some flesh behind. He looked towards the Arbiter, who stood there  in visible shock. "He's dead."

The Arbiter raised his arms. This time, the shields obeyed him and fell with nary a sound.

Once the shield was down, Lana was in the circle, running towards  Christopher. He waited for her, pulling her to him carefully, ignoring  the continuing battle between the remaining Godwins, the Becketts and  the Arbiter. He focused instead on the shaking woman in his arms,  holding her as tight to him as he dared, reassuring himself that she was  unharmed. Her hands roamed over his chest, her tears falling on the  burn marks. Zach's bad feeling had centered around Lana, not  Christopher. How had things gone so horribly wrong?