“He’s used the medallion of Hades and has upset the balance of magic,” Hex declared, jumping to his feet and moving to the circle. “Vance, you must destroy the ritual artifacts to stop it!”
Vance stepped away from where he was grappling with Damien and threw a fireball at the torches, blowing them into smithereens. He ran up the steps to grab the key, his hand turning that heated molten color I’d seen before, and it began to melt in his grasp.
Immediately, the vortex started sucking things back up inside of it, and the wraiths Damien had absorbed began streaming out of him rapidly, one by one.
“Stop!” Damien screamed, dragging himself to his feet and lunging for Vance. “Don’t ruin it!”
The two fell to the floor, rolling apart from each other. Vance jumped up to face him, running to hit him in his midsection. They slid across the floor together, not stopping until they crashed into Bels body.
“Give it up. It’s over!” Vance shouted.
“Never!” Damien hollered as the wraiths continued to stream from his mouth. He placed his hands against Vance and sent him flying with a burst of magic.
Vance soared across the circle, careening into my dad this time and he jerked, sitting up suddenly as if he were just now aware of what was going on around him.
Damien rushed back to the altar, reaching for Hecate’s box, and Vance scrambled up to race after him, plowing into him from behind. Damien flipped over to face him, reaching out to grab his athame with one hand.
Vance saw the movement and lunged for it as well, getting to it before Damien did. He moved so swiftly I almost didn’t see him slam it into Damien.
Damien groaned, his eyes wide, as he slumped back against the stone.
“A little flaw in your plan, Dad!” Vance shouted. “See that white stuff streaming from your body? That was the only thing keeping me from destroying you!”
“You will not stop me!” Damien bellowed, grabbing Vance by the face and dropping his jaw again, attempting to perform a demon kiss on him.
Both father and son stood locked in a death grip with each other. Vance continued to push Damien down on the altar, trying to hold him while attempting to wrench his face away to break the connection.
“He needs help!” I cried, feeling desperate as the whirlwind of matter swirled ever closer down to them. “What else can he do?”
“Push him into the vortex!” Hex instructed loudly.
“Not that!” I yelled at Hex. “If he pushes him in then he will go too! You need to get out of there, Vance!”
He didn’t reply, continuing to hold his dad down to the altar, the candles around them lifting as they flew into the swirling mass.
I noticed a flash out of the corner of my eye as my dad suddenly jumped up and ran straight for Vance, bowling heavily into him, sending him flying across the floor. He hit into Bels again before he slid completely out of the circle.
“No!” Vance shouted bouncing off the barrier when he tried to charge back in and got shocked down. He fell to the ground, noticing Bels hand hanging out of the circle and he grabbed it, dragging her limp body from it.
We all watched in horror as my dad turned and rushed to Damien’s side, pulling the athame from his stomach. Damien slid his hands over his bloody wound and looked up gratefully. His gratitude was short lived, however, when my dad punched him in the face, sending him flying up onto the altar. He was on him again in a second and raising the knife, stabbed it straight into his chest before pulling it out to plunge it into him again. Blood sprayed into the air and was sucked into the hovering vortex.
Damien clawed at my dad, tearing some of the skin on his face. I saw my dad stiffen and realized Damien had frozen him. This posed a problem for Damien however, as he was now pinned under my dad’s rigid grasp.
The portal swirled closer to both of them, and pieces of Damien’s hair and skin began to break away and drift into it. He screamed a horrible sound, releasing my dad from his magic, but my dad continued to hold him there tightly, even as his own skin began to break away to follow Damien’s too.
“Dad! Let go!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. “Get out of there!” My own pain forgotten, I watched in terror as my father broke apart, sacrificing himself to save both Vance and everyone else I loved—everyone he loved.
All the words I wished I could say were stuck in my throat, unable to muddle through my brain quick enough to be spoken. Every last particle of the two disappeared as even the altar and the very stone floor that held the pentagram were dismantled, sucked away until the only thing that remained in the circle was the open box. The vortex swirled closed and dove inside it, the lid slamming shut after. With a loud explosion it fragmented into nonexistence.
The shock sent us all sprawling in different directions, and we scrambled back up to look again, seeing nothing but a giant hole left in the floor where the circle once stood.
No one spoke, and for a few blessed moments there was only silence in the space while we tried to comprehend everything we had just seen.
Suddenly a new pain overtook me, and I screamed as I fell to the ground, writhing with the spasms that shook me. I looked down at the limbs curled up against my chest, horrified to see the black streaks which were creeping up my arms.
“No!” I cried out in terror, realizing my past mistakes had finally caught up with me. “No! No! No!” Magic was going to make me pay for handling it so lightly. I’d drunk the blood of a demon, assuming I was safe from conversion, and now fate had twisted cruelly to punish me for my crimes.
“Portia!” Vance’s voice called from across the space, and he turned to run full speed toward me. He fell to his knees and gathered my shaking body into his arms, cursing loudly when he saw the streaks covering me.
“Help me, Vance,” I pleaded, reaching out to grab his strong arms. “Make it stop. It hurts so badly.”
He gave me a grimace that was completely devoid of hope. “I don’t know if I can. You’ve had too much of my blood.”
“I don’t want to be a demon! You have to stop it! Do something, please!” I begged, knowing it was too late, but hoping for some redemption.
He placed me gently on the ground and moved his hands to the sides of my head. I saw him take a deep breath, and he closed his eyes, gathering his energy together.
I felt the healing light begin to move, and I stiffened in agony, screaming as it tore through me, competing with the demonic power running inside. Vance pushed his magic into me harder causing the reaction to intensify even stronger, and I thought I was being ripped completely in two.
“Stop! Stop!” I begged him now, unable to stand the intense pain. “I can’t take it anymore.”
“Vance, stop,” Grandma’s voice broke in. “It’s not working for her like it did with you for some reason.”
He dropped his hands to his sides in defeat. “It’s because I’m a demon. Healing is a white magic. My being demonic weakens it because my blood isn’t pure. I can do smaller things okay, but something like this is huge and requires her kind of power. I’ve never been at the same level of healer she’s been.”
“You’re going to have to change her then, complete the conversion,” Grandma said without hesitation, and I heard gasps from some of the other coven members.
“What? No!” I sobbed, clutching Vance’s shirt. “I can’t. I don’t want this.”
He gathered me back into his arms. “Baby, you’ve got two choices. You can make the change or you can die. I personally would rather you make the change and let me try to help guide you through it afterward. You did it for me, now let me do it for you. We can do our best to make this work—you have to trust me. I won’t let you down, I promise.”
I was so angry with myself for falling into temptation and ending up in this predicament, but I couldn’t make myself form the words to tell him to proceed. I didn’t need to though. He read my thoughts just fine on his own.
“Milly, I’m assuming you have taken care of things upstairs?”
“Yes. There are no more demons up there.”
“I need you to take Bels and the others and leave. Shut the door behind you. I’ll stay here with Portia until she completes the change and it’s safe for us to rejoin you. This cave is the safest place to keep her because she can’t evaporate away from me. I still have my cell phone. I’ll call if I need anything.”
Grandma nodded and leaned over me. “Lollipop, listen to me. No matter what happens from here on out I need you to know this. I will always love you, your daddy adored you, and you will always be our girl. I’m sorry you have to go through this. Please forgive me my failures as a teacher.” She bent to kiss my cheek before she looked to Vance. “I’m doing what Portia has always asked me to do, and that’s to trust you. Don’t let me down.”
Vance looked more distraught than I’d ever seen him. “I’ll do the best I know how. That’s all I can promise you.”
“Then that’s enough,” she replied, patting me one more time before she stood.
“I love you, Grandma,” I said to her through clenched teeth.
“I love you too. Let’s get you through this.”
The two of us were soon alone in the empty cavern, and Vance made no move to release me from the cradle of his arms. Everything was silent except for my shuddering breaths and small gasps with each sharp pain.
“It hurts,” I choked out.
He hugged me closer. “I know, baby.” He was trembling, and I looked up into his face, seeing tears glistening there. “I’m so sorry this is happening to you. I know you don’t want it. I thought it was what I wanted for you, but I realize now I was wrong. I want you just the way you’ve always been ... my sweet, gorgeous, wonderful girl.”
“It’s okay. We’ll figure this out just like everything else we do. Please, Vance, help stop the pain.”
He nodded and dipped his head down, kissing me fervently, swiping his tongue briefly into my mouth. I heard a choked sob escape his lips when he pulled away, tilting my head so he could bite into my neck.
He drank down several large gulps before he released me, and I could feel his tears streaming down over my skin. He lifted his head and bit into his own wrist, raising it back to me.
I swallowed greedily, every drop relieving the pain that threaded through me. I didn’t want to stop, I just wanted to drink.
“Enough,” he said firmly, but I didn’t let go. “Enough, Portia. That’s all I can give you right now. I need to keep my strength.”
He had to wrench his wrist away from me, and I whimpered when he stood and walked away, dragging his hand through his hair in frustration.
“Thank you,” I said, sitting up straighter. “I feel so much better.”
He laughed roughly without turning around. “Give it another minute. You’re going to feel like you’ve gone to Hell in about thirty seconds.”
I didn’t even have the chance to answer him because a horrible spasm gripped my stomach. “What’s happening?” I cried out as I grasped my middle and fell over onto my side.
“Your body is going to try to reject the blood. This is what the Awakening was preventing from happening.”
His words were lost to me when I started vomiting, heaving heavily onto the ground until there was nothing left inside me, retching over and over again. When I was able to stop, I gave a strangled cry and rolled to my other side, finding Vance there waiting for me.
“Hold me please,” I said weakly, wiping my hand across the back of my mouth.
The muscles in his jaw clenched and flexed as he lifted me up to him. “I’m sorry, baby. This is going to be rough.” He bit into my neck again, drinking more from me until I could feel that blessed weakness begin to seep into my limbs.
I almost sighed in relief when he placed me back on the ground, but he bit into his wrist again, bringing it back to my mouth. I turned my head away.
“I don’t want it,” I said weakly.
“Tough,” he replied forcefully, grabbing me by the chin and prying my jaw open so his blood could flow freely into my mouth.
I gagged and swallowed as he force fed me the sweet tasting liquid. This time it burned down my esophagus.
“Stop!” I yelled, spraying blood everywhere.
“I can’t, Portia. You drink it or you die, and death is not an option! Try to hold down as much as you can this time.”
The blood was like liquid fire in my stomach, and immediately I was throwing up again. I scrambled away from him this time, but he didn’t relent, constantly biting and re-feeding me until I finally began to tolerate it, and eventually even craved it again.
Everything began to move in a giant blur for me. I had no idea how much time had passed. One minute I was coherent, the next I was in some fever induced delusion where nothing made sense. Everything was warped and hazy.
Vance’s face would dance in and out of my vision, at times normal, others with demon features. He was always speaking to me, sometimes cooing things and yelling at me in other moments. It didn’t matter what he was saying, I didn’t understand any of it—didn’t care about any of it. I only lived for the next drink of blood he would give me, even though it made my veins feel like they were melting.
I rolled over, clawing at the stone floor beneath me with the long, thickened fingernails protruding from my black veined fingers. I didn’t know why ... I just was, enjoying the scratching sound it made.
Vance lifted me once more and began feeding me again, and I drank with abandon, unable to find satisfaction, almost like his blood wasn’t strong enough any longer.
“More,” I shouted when he pulled back. I grabbed his arm and sank my fangs to the hilt in his flesh, drinking with relish once again.
“No more, Portia,” he said firmly, trying to tug away from me. “You need fresh blood now. Mine isn’t going to satisfy you.”
I didn’t care what he was saying—biting harder into him so the blood would flow faster. A burst of magic slammed into me, flinging me across the space.
I scrambled to my feet and flew at him, nails extended like talons as I attacked. He grabbed me by the wrists, holding my arms away from his body and I tried to shoot him with ice shards.
“Hang on, baby,” he said, fighting with me. “I’m trying to help you out here.”
Words ... always coming with his words. I didn’t want to listen to him anymore. I just wanted him to shut up so I could drink.
He let go of one my flailing wrists and I grabbed him by the throat, squeezing as hard as I could. I saw him cock his wrist back and throw a punch and everything went black.
Chapter 28
Vance Mangum-
I’ve lost her completely, I thought as I stared at the crumpled form of the girl at my feet. Nothing about this creature resembled the angel I loved so deeply. Her beautiful features were twisted and contorted with demon deformities, marring the flawlessness that had always been there before. I sank to my knees next to her and gathered her limp form against me, rocking her back and forth, unable to contain the tears that ran down my face.
I was responsible. I had done this to her—led her down a path to her own destruction. She was rabid with thirst, and there was the wildness of a killer in her eyes. I’d taken the person I loved more than anything else in the world and turned her into a raving monster.
I watched as all of my hopes and dreams for our future slipped away in front of me. There could be no children in this relationship, not with her like this. I’d always known she would protect them before, but now that was gone. We wouldn’t have that feeling of normal—coming home from work to greet each other, spending the evening wrapped up in each other’s arms. There would be no happy life for her, just one like mine had become—plotting and planning over where she was going to find the next drink, get her next fix.
Even if my conscience would let me, I couldn’t run away with her and lead a demon lifestyle of bloodlust. I knew the madness I saw in her eyes, and I had little hope she would come back from it.
I realized I overlooked one very important thing when I decided to change her, and that was the fact Portia’s magic had always overreacted to everything, not to mention she’d absorbed some of the darkness from my father’s spell. I’d created a demon who probably had no hope of learning to control herself.
Digging my cell phone out of my pocket, I dialed Milly’s number. She answered on the second ring.
“How’s it going?” she asked without even saying hello.
“Awful.” I saw no reason to hold back the truth. “I need fresh blood—lots of it. Mine isn’t going to be enough for her anymore. Can you get some?”
“I already have. I anticipated you would need it. We’ve donated what we could spare, and we’re in the process of trying to get more. Is she going to be okay?”
“I really won’t know for sure until I see how she reacts to the fresh blood. She’s bad, Milly, completely raging out of control. I had to knock her out to stop her. We didn’t take into account how her magic overreacts.”
She sighed deeply. “We’ll get this to you right away. How are you holding up?”
I gave a rough, exasperated grunt and hung up on her.
I lay Portia gently on the ground and got up. I didn’t know what to do. I felt completely helpless. Spinning around, I cursed loudly into the air, throwing a fireball into the wall of the vast cavern.
Rocks crumbled into flying bits of shrapnel, some of them bouncing across my skin, slicing me with their sharpened points as the walls shuddered. The release felt good, and I did it over and over, until there was a giant hole in the rock several feet deep.
“You better be careful, or you’re going to bring this whole place down on top of your head,” Brad said as he entered with a canvas tote bag in his hand. “Blood delivery.” He extended it toward me.
I took it from him and walked back over to where I left Portia, setting it down.
“Is she alright?” Brad asked, looking at her. “That’s one heck of a shiner she’s got on the side of her face there.”
“I hit her,” I mumbled, not feeling very talkative about the whole situation. “She attacked me, and I couldn’t get her to stop, so I knocked her out.”