Chapter 54: Darkness Freed
"Traitors!" Suzanne shrieked so loud I felt like I'd been slapped. But it was the burst of power following her scream that caught my attention.
Quaid and Brad were suddenly minor hiccups in the grand scheme. In fact, nothing that happened tonight was important anymore. My demon and I were so hyper- focused on Suzanne, the rest of the world just faded.
The disheveled cheerleader looked dirty and unstable, jacketless, her short-sleeved t-shirt filthy, jeans torn at the knees and stained with mud, as though she collapsed many times and still dragged herself up from the dirt. She must have done some hard drinking and falling since our encounter at the fire. Her blonde hair hung limp, half-free of the low pigtails she artfully began the evening with. She stood in front of the bonfire, swaying, alone, a beer clutched in one white-knuckled hand. I instinctively took a step toward her, Quaid right beside me as the power I felt when I first arrived flowed outward from her, weak and stringy, but there.
My stomach rolled over once, slowly, a warning. I clenched my teeth against it and hoped it would behave. I didn't have time for puking just then. I had to do something quickly before whatever was happening got out of hand and beyond our ability to stop. If it wasn't already.
"Suzanne," I said, reaching out with my magic to calm her, grateful my nausea stayed at the same low level, knowing it was against the rules, but unable to come up with a better idea. After all, if I didn't, the power radiating from her could affect the rest of the kids like an infection. And the fact whatever possessed her seemed to be sentient and furiously aware made me chuck the rules and do my best. I could feel her fluttering inside herself and grasped at her, easing out the essence of her as the malevolent thing fought me.
"You dare imprison me!" She/it howled, voice strained and not hers. Whatever force taking her over used her vocal chords in ways they weren't meant to be used. "You dare hide me under the earth!"
I pushed a little harder against the foreign energy, feeling it reach for me. I had a panicked moment as I realized it was trying to feed. Thankfully Quaid was there to block it while I focused on Suzanne. It was nothing like I ever felt before, and in the past six months I encountered what I thought was every type of power. Because of the attack on my family, I dealt with vampire magic, demon magic and even the draw of the Sidhe, the fairy realm. Maybe it was the weakness of this thing or my own inexperience, but bits of it felt vaguely familiar and the rest just alien.
One of the cheerleaders made the mistake of reaching for Suzanne and was struck so hard the girl ran, shrieking. I exchanged a look with Quaid as the crowd gathered in a loose half circle, drawn to the spectacle despite their usual instinct to run from the first sign of trouble. Their faces were rapt, almost blank, attention held by the thin string of magic Suzanne/it commanded. No one left. Without their own protection, everyone there was at risk. And the last thing we needed was to have this thing devouring the life force of all those teenagers.
"Suzanne," I repeated her name, reaching deeper for her, feeling her essence past the booze and whatever drugs fed her high, leaving her so vulnerable. "It's okay, Suzanne." I could feel her calming, taking control back, helping me to push out the force using her and her voice. "No one wants to hurt you."
I think the entity inside her knew just how weak it was. Its clear desperation sought for any crack to squeeze out of and be free. I, on the other hand, was determined to push it back into whatever hole it crawled out of and keep it there until the coven, namely my mother, arrived. Trouble was, I couldn't risk letting go of what I had of Suzanne to call to Mom even though the presence was so weak. I had no idea how much of a hold it actually had and just wasn't willing to push my luck.
The bonfire blazed higher, fed by this power and I felt it reach for me. I blocked it immediately on pure instinct and saw Quaid nod in approval. Like I needed his approval.
Suzanne's body contorted as she continued to scream at us. "You will all die for your betrayal. You will be drained of life and I will dance on your bones. Your end is coming and I am your end!"
I ignored the stunned and enraptured crowd around me as I focused on Suzanne. I just hoped whatever magic holding them would take the memory of what happened with it when we destroyed it. If we destroyed it.
The power peaked and I shook my head, confused. There wasn't much there, a tiny spark really, a core of essence. It was no wonder I hadn't felt it again until now and a huge wonder I felt it at all. Whatever threatened us, it really didn't have the strength to do anything about it.
For once, I actually felt pretty confident and slowly released Quaid's hand to test my theory. Still in control. I nodded to him.
"Call for Mom," I whispered. "She'll deal with this thing, whatever it is."
Quaid didn't get a chance to answer. While I was distracted, Brad stepped up and grabbed the possessed cheerleader's free hand.
"Suzanne!" He pulled her toward him, trying for her other arm in order to pin her.
She hissed at him, teeth flashing in the firelight, face twisting into a hideous mask he actually flinched from.
"Brad, let her go!" I knew I was too late, felt the power thread find the tap of Brad's latent ability. I held onto Suzanne as tightly as I could with my magic but was unable to block the creature as it coiled into a spike of rage and drove into his mind. Brad cried out as it sucked up what little power he had and use it for one act of control.
Suzanne's laughter made me shudder. She pulled away from the swaying football captain, shaking free of my influence long enough to shriek at the top of her lungs and shred the beer can in her hands in a feat of inhuman strength.
"You will suffer and burn and feed me for all eternity!" Her whole body shook, a spark of the creature showing in her eyes at last as its essence devoured the little power it managed to gain. I gritted my teeth and tried to divide my own magic, to hold Suzanne while I attempted to break the creature's delicate balance of control, but my demon's rage surged and she lashed out instead, snapping our connection. Quaid already sprinted in a dead run toward Suzanne while I struggled to get control back, but we were way too late and we both knew it.
Suzanne raised the jagged top of the totaled beer can and used it to slash open the inside of her bare arm.
"No!" Stupid to scream the denial at her but I couldn't help it. I knew what was coming and couldn't stop it.
All hell broke loose.
As Suzanne's blood hit the ground, a swell of power ripped through her, dropping her to the dirt. The pack of kids cried out as one, some of them collapsing to the ground with her. A visible wave of energy passed from them to her as the earth surged under our feet.
I staggered, almost hitting my knees as the negative blood magic blasted against me in a rippling current of expended power, leaving me weak and breathless. The screaming started almost instantly as the fire exploded outward, sending blazing logs and coals like missiles into the crowd. Kids now with their wits back scattered and ran in a panicked rush. I didn't have time to worry about the ones who fell, crushed under foot, or the fact I had no idea where my friends were. I was in no position to help them anyway.
It was enough the crowd released from the power of the creature, terror sending them off in all directions. Car engines roared to life as they fled.
"Quaid, look out!" I held my breath as he blocked a huge flaming chunk of debris from taking him in the chest just in time. He was already backing up, not daring to turn around, covering a huge amount of ground with each stride of his long legs. I barely kept my feet under me and wished I knew how he was even able to walk.
There was nothing I could do. Nothing. My whole body shook from it. My connection to earth magic had been cut off abruptly, gone to the creature for as long as the blood magic lasted. With the earth power at the thing's beck and call, we could do little more than shield ourselves for protection and hope it left. Of all the worst things that could have happened! Negative magic, fed by blood, was so strong in the moment it was cast nothing could counter it but time.
We were alone by then, the last of the headlights gone, the screaming diminished to one voice. Only Quaid and I stood and watched, witness to the rise of the power within the limp, howling Suzanne.
How come I didn't get to scream and run away?
I suddenly realized my magic had been so shattered by the concussive blast of the spell, I couldn't raise my own shield. I reached for my demon, feeling her try to surge around me. But even she stumbled, her power fragile, weak from the exposure to the blood magic. I was wrung out from it and I could tell she felt absolutely floored by the fact. Personally, I was terrified, now totally exposed to the thing with no way of protecting myself if it decided to attack. I hated it when my mother was right. Hated it.
I'd almost forgotten him in my fear until Quaid took my hand.
"Syd," he whispered. "Take mine." Through him our power linked effortlessly, seamless and complete as he fed me his power, refreshing it and feeding his own in return, our magic wrapping around one another, forming a protective bond. For once my nausea was gone as if my body welcomed his presence.
Whatever was coming, despite our usual differences, Quaid committed to standing with me to face it with no time to call for help.
"Thanks," I whispered back. For once, his smile shone genuine.
Actually, I even had a moment to assume the surge of power would have been felt by every sensitive soul in a twenty-mile radius and the chances that help was on the way without our having to call it were very, very good.
When it rose, I wanted to look away, to scream in horror. But Quaid remained there with me, and together we were strong enough. I shuddered over and over again as something very old and very evil pulled itself free of the limp cheerleader and dove into the fire.
I barely registered what it was, my mind unable to grasp that the twisted form could even be alive. My brain translated its appearance into old, rotten leather encasing a bag of sticks with two eyes only sunken pits of utter darkness. I watched with a sort of sick fascination as it bathed itself in the flames for a moment before turning its attention toward us.
I felt Quaid's resolve, knew he intended to fight to the death and that I had no choice but to fight along with him.
Don't let go. His fingers tightened around mine as his mind held me just as tightly.
I didn't have the words to answer. Because, in that moment, fear came rushing back and I would have screamed if I had breath. Whatever the creature, whatever lived behind the shriveled and hollow face, if it really was a face, existed in the flat black eyes of the thing. It wailed an inhuman scream from the fire, as a shimmer of red light formed around it. That magic surged toward us, but not to attack. Instead, it slid around us like a choking blanket. I felt suction, a drawing at my magic, at the shield Quaid and I formed together. My demon shrieked in defiance and I felt Quaid's magic throw it back in partner with mine.
The thing staggered at our attack, but the blood magic still remained, too fresh for us to do it any real harm. It howled at us in pure rage and I was sure it would attack again. But instead it clawed at the air in frustration before rising in a flash from the fire into the night sky, gone in a heartbeat.
I began to crumble as the power in the clearing died with the departure of the thing. My knees let go suddenly and I fell on my butt in the wet grass, limp and barely upright as the shield collapsed. Quaid landed beside me, face pinched and pale in the firelight, his pupils huge from the effort.
Neither of us said a word. Not much to say, really. Quaid continued to hold my hand, though, and I didn't feel much like telling him to stop.
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