Sixty Three. Calling Up Other Scary-Ass Demonic Forces to Seal Away My Rival

The love of my current stolen life does not run from me. He lowers his head and starts stalking toward me with eyes weighing into me, a spine-tingling and decidedly intimidating stare. They’re not glowing wicked yellow, but it still looks as if this wolf is going to pounce the second he reaches me and rip out my throat, just like he did to Ravenna.

Mike is full on yellow eyed but seems completely subservient to this new pack hierarchy. He falls in at his brother’s back and gives me a full on snarl, further convincing me that I’m the one who really aught to be running off into the woods right now. I can change my shape again, become mist or shadow or whatever else I need to escape their deadly jaws.

But I am far too tired to run at this moment. I feel like I’ve been running for centuries, and I am absolutely sick of it, so I sink wearily back on my knees in grim acceptance of my fate.

Jase doesn’t bite me. He sniffs the still gushing cut in my arm with obvious concern. I wave my hand over it, growing new flesh and sealing it in an instant. That sets his hair standing on end again, but he still doesn’t start growling the way Mike is.

He casts a perfunctory glance back at his brother, and the black wolf’s ears lower. He still can’t help but express his discontent with the evil witch kneeling in front of him though. He doesn’t like that I’m still in such close proximity to Ravenna’s rasping, mummified body, and his growls turn into a sad little snap of a bark.

Jase nudges me away from the laid-out vessel of Proteus, and I start compliantly to my feet, as freshly minted beta Mike just sinks sadly down at the side of his fallen witch, butting his head beneath her withered hand.

“I need to bury Ravenna along with that demon trapped inside her,” I inform Jase coolly. “I need to seal them in stone, and I can’t have Mike knowing where.” Jase’s eyes narrow in angry anticipation of what I’m about to suggest, and I give a helpless shrug. “I have to command him away. This has to be done, before sunrise, and that wolf is going to keep guarding his mistress just out of pure instinct.”

Jase gives a little huff then whirls back to face his brother with lips pulled back and canines on full display. One look in those eyes, and Mike is backing away from Ravenna with an angry whine. He still tries to attack me again as I go to scoop up his crippled wife, but Jase drives him off, and keeps close guard at my back as I set off deeper into the woods.

“You can’t come either,” I inform him solemnly, and he tenses. “Don’t look at me like that. Have you forgotten about Jack?” I look pointedly to the supernaturally slumbering baby laid out on the altar by the tree. “Someone needs to stay watching him.”

I can see the angry answer in his eyes, even without the power of human speech, and I shake my head. “No, Mike can’t be the one to guard him. Mike’s not in control of his wolf form. You’re the only one who can…”

I trail off as the black wolf stalks right over to the babe. I’m already raising my hand to scare him off with some conjured fire, but Jase steps in between us, staring me down in pointed correction.

I was wrong to suspect Mike would maul his own son. He sniffs at the shivering baby’s head, then clomps his teeth ever so lightly into the collar of the boy’s onesie, dragging him off the altar and carrying him back in the direction of the city at a careful trot.

“You sure he’s not going to eat him?” I press, but Jase gives a firm nod, nudging me onward.

I find it surprising that he’s placing his trust in that psycho. But then again, maybe it’s not that he trusts Mike. Maybe it’s just that he trusts evil siren Cassandra even less, so he needs to keep tabs on me still and check what I’m doing with the body of my rival.

Jase pads along right by my side and keeps his eyes locked in study of my expression. I’m pretty sure it’s a bitterly cold night this Halloween. I can see my breath swirling in the air. I’ve got the fire of newly rekindled power racing through my veins to warm me though, so I don’t really feel the cold.

I don’t feel any strain from carrying Ravenna either. There’s nothing inside of this shriveled sack of flesh but dried out bones at this point, so it is an extremely light, albeit disturbing package. There’s still that constant hiss of her breath rattling out from half-collapsed lungs. She can’t actually die. Proteus made sure of that by granting her immortality, but now that I’ve taken away her eternal youth, this body of hers will continue to decay right down to dust, and she’ll be stuck in breathless agony, hovering over those remains as a ghost, the same way I was for years after I was drowned.

“It’s not really justice, I know that,” I tell Jase, “I’m trapping them both in a miserable state, the same way I was trapped for centuries, but it is what has to be done.”

He studies me in clear unease. He’s unsettled by my distant tone and detached expression. I have to stay detached though. I can’t allow myself to feel anger in this moment, or longing, or any other potent emotion, else this cosmic power of Proteus is going to overwhelm me and compel me to do something twisted, something that would not be in any way good for Jase, even though it would keep him by my side like this forever...

Mike and Ravenna had a hell of a time these past few years, and Jase and I could enjoy ourselves just as much, even with our souls intact--

Stop. That’s not me envisioning that. It’s the demon in my hands, that corrupting, cold fire thrumming through my chest.

This is why I always black out the knowledge the minute I steal these powers. I keep only the basic intuition of how to slip into a few cherished shapes and find myself a body, and the rest of the demon’s essence and memories I seal away, before they destroy me.

Jase nips at my backside, and I blush. He can’t call out my name, but that message was clear. ‘Where are you?’ He’s worried about me. Even after everything that happened, finding out what a monster I was behind all these blacked out memories, he still cares.

I let Ravenna fall to the dirt, and I drop to me knees, taking Jase into my arms and hugging him tight. “I love you.” Human or wolf, I don’t care. I love the man inside all this soft, lovely fur, and I always will.

But that doesn’t make my wolf any less tense. “Come on, I gave you kitten cuddles for days. The least you could do now is offer me a happy lick or something.”

The distant echo of Cassi Banks still present inside this body assures me I sound like an absolute creep again, so I pull away from Jase with a sigh, turning my eyes back to trapped mummy Ravenna. “I guess there can be no expressions of affection until I’ve finished committing this living corpse into eternal purgatory beneath the earth. Alright then, stand aside.”

He backs away without need of further prompt and I draw myself upright, looking up at the full moon and dramatically raising my hands. “Poseidon, earth-shaker and true lord of the sea, seal away this thief.” I point down at Proteus. Still, nothing happens, so with a weary sigh I slice open my hand, letting the blood drip down into the earth. Jase barks in alarm, then tenses up all the further as the ground begins to shake. “Thank you, Poseidon, for hearing my call. Now keep this demon far from your domain of waters where he leeches his powers. Give him no drip of moisture, only purifying, desiccating salt.” The earth cracks open right between my feet, and Ravenna’s mummified body drops right through the opening, followed by a cascade of salt, flaking off the sides of the chasm. “Ally with Hades your brother to bury forever Proteus, and never let him surface.”

*‘She is no priestess!’* Proteus’s voice echoes through the air. *‘She is my creature! Why bend to her call?’*

Poseidon gives no answer that I can hear, but I do feel the invasive push of something against my back, as I feel what I swear is a man’s heavy breath hot against my neck. It’s gone the second the chasm in the earth closes, entombing Proteus and his witch down in the depths. I am shivering now, and I remind myself sternly that I must never set foot in the sea, not ever again. Poseidon is just as handsy as Proteus after all, and identical to the demon, he also does not need his lovers to give permission for his delights. It’s why I’ve never dared attract his attention before this.

“Still, he’s far weaker now that he was two millennia ago,” I murmur, dropping to my knees in exhaustion. “No praise of thousands to give him power, so I’m sure…” I swallow. “I will be fine.”

Jase nudges up against me in obvious concern, and I bury my face in his fur. He has no idea what I’m talking about, but I’m just happy he’s here. “And your own curse will end, right here, tonight,” I swear, because that power is bleeding off into the earth and being transferred over to Greek god, Poseidon, as we speak. I’m grinding my cut hand into the soil, and with the shedding of that witchcraft-infected lifeblood, I can be locked inside this one body, just an ordinary girl, free to live an ordinary life.

Jase starts licking that cut the second I raise my hand, his wolf instincts seeming to take over, but I stroke his head reassuringly until he calms, settling down across my lap. I don’t have the energy to stand, and I wouldn’t try it, even if I did. I lay back on the crunchy carpet of dead leaves, and Jase’s body heat keeps me warm, until sunrise, when he lengthens out into a regular human man again, lying naked right on top of me.

“Shit.” It’s the first thing he mutters when that painful transformation ends. Far from the romantic line I was anticipating, breathing my name, or saying he’s forgiven me…

“This is maybe an awkward pose for some people,” I quickly joke, “but it’s really only fair after all the times I fell out of cat shape and wound up lying on your chest. Though… I’m guessing you want me to… give you some space,” I force out, starting to slide my way out from under him.

He catches my arm. “That’s the opposite of what I want.” He exhales, searching my eyes. “This is just like that morning, waking up in the barn with Abby… Shit, Cassi. I’m so relieved you’re still here. And I am so freaking mad at you. And all that horrifying shit I saw you do last night... But… Shit,” he repeats, kissing me passionately.

It is so very different than Proteus’s invasive seductions. True love’s kiss, setting my heart alight, with my mind, soul, and body all acting in unified invitation of this embrace.

We make love again, right there on the forest floor. I’m not pressuring him into it. I just let him do as he pleases, and he can’t seem to help himself from taking us to full climax.

“I still love you,” he pants, fully finished. “But I can’t forgive you, not yet.”

“That’s okay,” I assure him, searching his eyes. “That you’re even trying to…” My heart swells. “I love you, Jase. And I’ll give you all the time you need.”

He exhales, slumping down to touch my forehead. “What I need is a favor. And I’m sorry to even ask this, but… You won’t demand any payment right?” His voice cracks. “Nothing not strictly required by the spell.”

My heart grows cold. “I wouldn’t have, no. But… You don’t need me for any spell, Jase,” I assure him, stroking his arm. “Your family’s curse is over, ended. Ravenna failed to renew it, so there will be no further generations.” Even though… I don’t actually know if the men who have already undergone that first change will just stop wolfing out at the full moon. There won’t be any twisted deforming of their bodies by daylight anymore. With Ravenna sealed away there will be no demonic influence and no madness to warp their human selves, but the wolves already fused into their spirits… I don’t actually have any answers about what will happen the next full moon, not now, with Proteus’s powers and knowledge fully bled from my body.

“That’s good to hear,” Jase breathes, accepting my answer without digging any deeper or examining the uncertainties. “There is one other spell I need you to cast though.” He swallows, eyes lit with such pain. “I need you to resurrect someone, my mother.” His voice breaks. “Ravenna killed her and… Please, just bring her back.”

I can’t. Even if I had a soul he was willing to trade into hell in order to bring back Kathy… I don’t have the power for such a high-level ritual, not after last night.

“Please, Cassi,” he begs, completely misinterpreting my silence as just a refusal to help. “I’ll give you anything you want. You can have me, forever, however you want. Even if you have to kill me to keep me that way. Kill me to save her. Take my soul or whatever, that’s fine.” I stare at him in horror. “Hell, you’d be doing me a favor, taking away all this…”

All the grief and pain and heartache that he can never recover from. He made love to me this morning, not because he was trying to move past what happened and he wanted to connect with me again. He did it to try and please me, pacify me enough that I’d do him this favor and bring back his mother. He’d even give up his own soul to achieve that, because I have already ruined him anyway, and all that soul does to him now is burn.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I sob, eyes dripping tears, as I pull him close and chant the one spell of which I know I’m still capable. Even ordinary college girl Cassi could have pulled this off (if she could properly pronounce the name Mnemosyne that is. It’s a bit of a tongue twister, offering something up to that most greedy deity).

I can’t bring back Jase’s mother, but I can take away his pain, and this is the only way I can think of to do it.