Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
I let go of his wrist and flick my hand up. “Somnum,” I whisper and telekinetically keep him from slumping too hard on the ground as the sleep spell hits. Letting out a breath, I look around the room.
“Well, obviously a demon possessed him and used him to cast the spell,” I state.
“Jessica Rabbit?” Kristy echoes, eyes wide. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“The demon used a glamour,” Tabatha says. “Which indicates this is a high-level, intelligent demon.”
“Great,” I deadpan. “I really do miss the days of kicking lower-level ass. I took it for granted.”
“Be careful what you wish for, darling,” Tabatha sighs.
I stand up and run my hands through my hair. I’m so fucking tired. I’ve had some long ass days before but this one has to take the cake. “Okay, so a demon uses a glamour and comes to him, saying he needs to relay a message, but then I’m guessing the shit with Uriel went down and interfered.” I shake my head, unable to draw any more conclusion. “Why him though?”
“We had a meeting tomorrow at ten AM,” Lucas says. “Over Zoom, of course,” he adds, since his newfound day-walking needs to be kept under wraps.
“Is this making sense to any of you?” Kristy asks.
“Nope,” I reply and look at Tabatha and then Lucas. “It’s making things even more odd, right?”
“The demon knew enough to possess someone who had an appointment with Lucas,” Tabatha says out loud, speaking slowly as she tries to draw a connection. “But it was via the computer, so it’s not like any real damage could have been done.”
“Do you think it’s a message from Paimon?” Kristy bites her lip and looks down at Jacob. “Doesn’t seem like his MO.”
“No, it’s not at all,” I agree. “He doesn’t send messengers like this. He comes in balls to the wall. As we said yesterday. Wait. No. Today.”
“It feels like yesterday,” Kristy huffs.
“It has been a long night for you all,” Tabatha starts. “Let’s reinforce the warding then get you all back to the Covenstead.”
“I kinda want to stay home,” I admit ruefully.
Tabatha purses her lips and shifts her gaze to Lucas, hoping my husband will talk some sense into me.
“Add an extra warding and we shall be fine at home,” he says, surprising everyone but me. Lucas always puts my safety before anything else, but I know the real reason he’s trying to appease me.
He wants to know what happened with Osiris.
“The spell,” I rush out, eager to change the subject. “I don’t remember all that Ruth did.”
“You mean the anti-angel spell?” Kristy asks.
“Yeah. There was a sigil and blood and herbs burning, I think.” I close my eyes, remembering how terrifying and painful it was the first time that spell had been cast on me. The fact that it was cast on my child makes my blood boil. The feeling like I was being ripped apart from the inside out is a feeling that I’ll never be able to shake off, and whenever I find who cast the spell tonight, I will actually rip them apart from the inside out.
“I believe Ruby might have something,” Tabatha says and holds up a hand, knowing I’m going to immediately wonder why she hasn’t told me about that.
“It’s a working theory, and one we hoped we wouldn’t need to put to the test. But after…after what happened with Julian, we knew there was a chance Paimon or another demon could try to remove the divinity from you, and like any other spell, the basis of that particular one could be tailored.”
“What has she come up with?” Lucas asks, gently rocking Juliet, who’s starting to stir.
“It’s a banishing spell at its core, though much, much more complicated and can only be performed by someone wielding a lot of power.”
“More power than a demon could possess?” Kristy’s face pales.
“It would have to be a high-level demon,” I go on, biting my lip as I think. “Okay, so a demon possessed Jacob to deliver a message, but got interrupted at presumably the same time Uriel came to kill me.” I look at Jacob slumped over on the floor. He’s not physically injured.. In fact, he’s even wearing his jacket, which he wouldn’t have had on if he fell asleep at his desk at the bank.
A demon who cares? No fucking way. This has to be a part in some sort of elaborate mind fuck of a game.
“The spell was cast but only after Uriel, uh, went down for a sand-nap.”
Tabatha and Kristy both look at me curiously.
Right.
They don’t know the details of the Underworld or how Osiris travels through a vortex of swirling sand.
I definitely need to start that blog.
“It banished my dad and Lucifer too,” I continue, unable to draw any sort of conclusion. With my dad and uncle out of the way, me on my knees in pain, and Lucas torn between rescuing me or his daughter, we were a bunch of sitting ducks. Yet nothing attacked.