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  “Why did you stop?” she asked.

  “Your eyes…I…what have I done?” He replied in a tortured voice. He grabbed her hands that had begun sliding sensually up his chest. The delicate blue veins visible under her beautiful porcelain skin were running with blackness. Following his gaze, Katia looked down at her hands and arms, letting out a cry of shock.

  “Wh…what’s happening to me?” She looked up at him, desperation in her eyes.

  Releasing her and shoving her back from him, Luc jumped from the bed and backed into the far wall. The farther he got from her the more the red glow faded from her eyes. Luc felt his heart plummet to his feet. It was him; he was doing this to her. He was infecting her with his darkness and evil.

  After all this time, he’d finally found a woman that cared for him despite who and what he was and he couldn’t be with her without damaging her. He’d never sought a relationship, thought he didn’t want the softness of love — thought he didn’t need it. He’d spent millennia growing the wall of ice and darkness around his soul and this woman had cracked it wide open in the space of two days. It was so close and felt so perfect, but yet he was going to be denied. He felt like crying. He felt like screaming.

  “Your Sigil — it’s lighter.” Katia said, pointing to his chest with a shaking hand. The blackness in her veins also evidently lighter since his hasty retreat from the bed.

  Looking down at his chest, Luc realized that she was right. More of the blackness radiating from his heart had been replaced with gold. “I..can’t…we can’t do that again,” he said, choking on the words.

  “Why not? I’m fine now,” Katia replied, holding out her arms to show him they’d returned to their normal state.

  Shaking his head vehemently, Luc replied, “The evil, the darkness…your eyes turned red. You’re pulling the blackness out of me. I can’t do that to you; I lo….I care about you too much. I won’t let it happen.”

  “I…okay,” Katia replied, sadness lacing her voice. Slowly, she turned away from him to face the other side of the room. Sliding down into the mattress and drawing the bed sheets up around herself, she lay in silence.

  Moving over to the ugly chair, Luc plopped down and scrubbed his hands over his face. He mentally slapped himself for almost making a declaration of love to Katia. He’d only known her for two days, how could that even be possible? Sliding his eyes over to where she lay on the bed, he felt his heart constrict painfully. He let out a shaky breath. It was definitely possible with this woman. He was falling in love with her and there was nothing he could do about it. He would do the only honorable thing he knew how to do — he would help her get out of this situation with Satan and then disappear from her life. Sergei clearly wanted her, they were friends and got along well. She would be better off with him. Just that thought made Luc want to smash every piece of furniture in the room to woodchips. He had never been the jealous type, but there was a first time for everything. Balling his hands into fists at his side, he strengthened his resolve. He’d never thought it was possible, but it seemed as though he was entering a new kind of hell.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sergei

  Who knew angels could be so bloody messy. Sergei humphed as he walked around his now-empty apartment, picking up empty pop cans strewn around the room and tossing them into a hefty bag. Both ashtrays were full of butts. That Bataryal smoked like a friggin’ chimney. Good thing he was immortal or he’d have died of lung cancer years ago. Fifteen minutes and one full garbage bag later, Sergei plopped down on his couch with a sigh.

  His date with Katia had been a giant disaster, his home had been invaded by supernatural beings, and he was wiped out from performing the summoning ritual. That kind of magic took a lot out of a guy. He felt like he’d just run a marathon. Sergei kicked his feet up onto the end of the couch and lay back.

  The one thing he never wanted to see had been shoved right in his face. No matter what his feelings, he would never be the one for Katia. He’d seen it with his own eyes, though nobody else would have noticed. As a practitioner of Goetic magic, Sergei was attuned to auras and what he’d seen had made his heart drop to his shoes. The bright gold aura around Katia had constantly been stretching towards Luc, no matter where they were in the room, or how far apart they’d been. Luc’s slightly muddy-coloured aura had similarly been drawn towards Katia as though they were connected on some cosmic level that couldn’t be denied. Sergei had noticed it at the café where Luc had sat watching them, but the effect was more pronounced now. No getting around it, she was lost to him forever.

  He heaved another sigh and closed his eyes. It figured he’d fall for the one woman that was meant for someone else; the one woman he might have been able to tell about his family, magic, and the supernatural; the one woman who might have understood. Then again, now that they knew what she was, it would probably have been a doomed relationship anyhow. He was mortal, a witch, but still mortal with a mortal’s short years. Katia was immortal, she would never age and never die. No matter what their personal situation was, Sergei did know one thing — he would do whatever he could to help. They’d been good friends for too long for him to turn his back on her now. She may be annoyed and hurt by his hiding of the truth which was understandable, but Sergei knew her better than anyone. She would forgive him one day and they would be friends again, no doubt in his mind. That thought did serve to lighten his dark mood. Better to have her in his life as a friend than not at all.

  Throwing his arm over his eyes to block out the light streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling window, Sergei settled more comfortably into the couch for a nap. It seemed like this saga was going to be time consuming, so he’d better catch up on his rest in case they needed him again. It didn’t take long for him to start feeling the pull of sleep.

  A scream ripped out of Sergei’s throat as he woke to find a knife protruding from his side. Glowing red eyes paired with a menacing smile full of teeth sharpened to points floated in front of his face. Gleeful evil laughter rang through the living room. Sergei struggled to sit up, to move away, anything to distance himself from the sound of that laughter. He was unable to move, paralyzed from the neck down.

  “Good evening, my new playmate.” The standing lamp beside the couch clicked on revealing the intruder. Blue skin, red eyes, and a forked tail? Demon, definitely a demon, he thought. Sergei squinted at him through the pain in his side; a wet warmth was starting to spread as his blood leaked out around the knife that was still embedded in him.

  “Who are you?” Sergei wheezed as he struggled to slow his breathing.

  “My name matters not.” The demon replied as he tested the sharpness of a knife on the tip of a finger. Looking at his coffee table, Sergei noticed an array of his kitchen knives lined up as though the intruder was a surgeon preparing to operate. So this was it, Sergei thought, this was how it was going to end.

  “What do you want?” Sergei asked, dreading the answer.

  The demon turned towards him, serrated knife in hand. “Information, my playmate. You will tell me where the girl and the dirty angel are and I may let you live.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  Thin red lips pulled back in a mockery of a smile revealing those horrifying teeth once more. A forked tongue snaked out trailing mucous over the dry lips. “You will die a most painful death.”

  “Why can’t I move?” Sergei asked, trying to keep the demon talking. Whatever this was, magic or poison, maybe it would wear off so he could escape. Likely just wishful thinking, but there were no other options.

  “A special treat of my own making…the nightshade is quite effective, yes? You cannot move but can still feel the pain.” The demon said as he approached, twirling the knife in his hand. “Enough of the preliminaries, don’t you think? Where is the girl, Sergei?”

  “I don’t know,” Sergei answered truthfully. He hadn’t been told the location where Katia and Luc would be spending the next day or so, nobody but Amir knew.

 
“Such a shame,” The demon replied, however his sick smile belied his words. Reaching down, he ripped open Sergei’s shirt exposing his chest and stomach. Licking his lips again in anticipation, he lowered the knife point and slid it into Sergei’s skin. With a quick jerk of his arm, the demon slit him open from navel to sternum. Sergei screamed, causing the demon to laugh gleefully. Blood ran freely down Sergei’s sides, soaking into the couch and dripping onto the hardwood floor. Sergei began to babble as hot tears of pain cascaded down his face. “I don’t know where they are, I really don’t. Nobody does. I’m not useful to you, I don’t know…I don’t know.”

  Wiping the knife on Sergei’s pants, the demon stared at Sergei, red eyes boring into him. “That may well be, but you are a witch, are you not? You can locate her, yes?”

  Sobbing, Sergei replied quietly, “I won’t do it. You might as well kill me.”

  Those piercing eyes bored down into Sergei like twin lasers. Anger and frustration seemed to roll off the demon in waves. “That can certainly be arranged,” the demon hissed. “But I will be having my fun with you first.” The demon brought his hand up in front of Sergei’s face and he watched as the nails elongated into the sharpest claws he had ever seen. Without any warning, the demon whipped out his hand and clawed Sergei across the face, opening deep gashes from his forehead down to his chin, raking all the way down to the bone. Blood splattered the nearby coffee table. Crying out in pain, Sergei squeezed his eyes shut and tried to will his body to go into shock. The gashes in his face felt like they’d been filled with acid. The demon’s claws must have been tipped with venom. The fire began to spread from his face through his veins to the rest of his body. It felt as though he was burning from the inside out, filled with molten lava. Sergei heard a dim ringing noise. Unable to determine whether the noise was in his head, he prayed he would pass out. Opening his eyes, he noticed his torturer had moved off to the coffee table and was rooting through various papers strewn upon it. The ringing stopped as the demon straightened with Sergei’s Blackberry in his hand. Confused, Sergei watched as the demon scrolled through the device. Suddenly, the demon smiled again, Sergei shuddered at the sight. Walking back towards him, the demon shoved the Blackberry in his face, one contact had been pulled up on the screen…Katia. Sergei felt his heart fall. He would die like this and all for nothing. They would find her anyway…without magic, with technology.

  “It seems as though I no longer have a use for you my friend,” his torturer said. “However, I will be taking your communication device with me. Technology is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?”

  Despite the pain, Sergei’s anger began to overtake him and he tried to reach for the device. Much to his surprise his fingers twitched; the paralytic was wearing off. If he could only stall this demon a while longer, he might be able to do something useful. As though reading the direction of his thoughts, the demon shook a finger at him. “Ah ah ah…no, I don’t think so, my friend. I plan to finish with you before I take my leave.” Dropping the phone into his pocket, the demon looked Sergei over from head to foot, lingering on his legs. “We can’t have you trying to get away while I’m still working on you, can we?” Reaching down, he grasped Sergei’s right leg, wrenching it so hard his shin snapped loudly. Sergei screamed again, this time so loudly he was convinced he was close to destroying his voice box. He tasted blood. The demon reached back down and snapped his left leg. The pain in his body was now so intense Sergei silently prayed for death.

  The torture went on and on. Minutes or hours, Sergei no longer knew how much time passed. The demon would hurt him then stop, giving Sergei time to regain consciousness between blows and stabbings. Never puncturing his major organs, Sergei realized the demon was extending the torture, ensuring he wouldn’t bleed out and die prematurely. He felt as though there wasn’t an inch of his skin that hadn’t been burned or cut. Flames still licked at him from inside his veins where the venom pumped through his system, killing him slowly from the inside out. From the tiny slit he could still see through in his swollen eyes, Sergei saw the demon approach yet again. He’d long since resigned himself to the fact that he was going to die soon. He hoped it was finally time.

  “I must return to the master with your communication device now. It has been fun playing with you, my friend. You have lasted longer than any other human I’ve met. Unfortunately, I will be killing you now.”

  Unable to acknowledge the demon in any way, Sergei just lay there waiting. The demon leaned down and bit viciously into Sergei’s neck, tearing through his flesh. “You will die soon, my mortal friend. I will leave you to it.” With that, the demon disappeared, the echo of a chilling laugh all that remained.

  Sergei shivered. Numbness and coldness were creeping in. He knew he was dying. There couldn’t be much time left, all he had to do was wait. Cracking his eyes as wide as he could he turned his head towards the coffee table, pain radiated from his ruined neck and throat. Using what little strength remained to him, Sergei rolled himself off the couch, slamming down hard onto the floor. If he could just reach the pentagram, he could send out a warning before he died. Moving one arm forward, he managed to slide himself slowly across the floor, leaving a trail of blood smeared behind him. As he made his way slowly towards the pentagram, he noticed an empty pack of cigarettes lying just under the lip of the coffee table. Grabbing the pack, he continued his slow progress to the pentagram. Placing the empty pack into the center of the pentagram, Sergei wiped his hand through the blood streaming from his neck and began drawing demonic summoning runes. Unable to speak the incantation, he prayed that the runes written in a blood sacrifice would summon the owner of the cigarette pack to him. Closing his eyes he pictured Bataryal in his mind, holding onto the image and reciting the summoning spell silently in his mind until the darkness closed in around him.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Katia

  “Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey. Get up guys, we’ve gotta go.” Katia groaned and turned towards the sound of the voice that sounded annoyingly awake. Sun streamed in through the blinds that had been thrown open. Luc was blinking and rubbing his eyes as he sat up from what looked like an extremely uncomfortable sleep on the chair. Amir stood at the foot of the bed tapping his finger on his watch. “Come on! I got an emergency call to get you guys to The Advocate right away.”

  Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Katia frowned. “The Advocate?”

  “Demon bar,” Luc replied yawning. “What’s the emergency?”

  “Something about your boyfriend, Sergei.” Amir replied.

  “What happened? And he’s not my boyfriend,” Katia said, popping up from the bed and grabbing for her clothes.

  “Not sure. Guess we’ll find out when we get there. I’ll give you guys five minutes. Meet you outside.” Amir strode out the door, kicking it closed behind himself. Luc let out a growl of frustration.

  Four minutes later, they were all standing together outside as Amir opened up another portal. Grasping his shoulders, Luc and Katia both stepped through into the swirling spirit world. That this seemed like a normal mode of transport and no longer fazed her amazed Katia. What a difference a couple of days could make. As they moved through the fog, Katia kept shooting glances at Luc. It felt awkward. She kept catching him looking at her but, as soon as she turned towards him, he would glance away. Picking up on the tension, Amir sighed. “Look guys, I don’t know what happened between the two of you and it’s none of my business, but you’re in this together so I hope this won’t be a problem.”

  “You’re right, it’s none of your business. And everything’s fine,” Luc grumbled in reply.

  “Sure it is,” Amir muttered. Stopping suddenly he pointed to a doorway. “We’re here.” Reaching forward, he grasped the knob and turned. The door opened to reveal the back entrance to a brick building. They stepped out of the doorway into the alley. Amir stepped forward and opened the door, ushering Katia and Luc into the building. As they walked through the doorway, Katia was struck by how m
uch this looked like a normal bar. Just like a place she’d hang out in on a Friday night with Sergei drinking a few beers and playing pool. “This is a demon bar?” she asked.

  Amir laughed. “What did you expect? Body parts lying around? Blood dripping from the walls?”

  “Something like that,” she replied with a wry smile.

  As they entered the main bar area, Katia noticed Sam and B sitting together at a table in the corner, both men looked subdued. Panic started to bubble up inside her. Picking up speed, Katia made her way directly over to their table. Both men looked up at her with matching pained expressions that did nothing to calm the rising tide of nervousness. “What happened? Where’s Sergei?”

  Sam and B exchanged a look. Sam picked up his cup of coffee and shook his head, pointing his index finger at B. “You tell her. You found him.”

  Heaving a huge sigh, B patted the table next to him and motioned for Katia to sit down. “You’ll be wanting to sit down for this,” he said.

  Pulling out the chair with a shaky hand, Katia sat down slowly, never taking her eyes off of B. “Okay, I’m sitting.”

  “First off, let me say that Sergei is here right now. In the basement to be specific, and he can’t be disturbed until after nightfall.”

  “All right…” Katia replied.

  Running his tongue over his teeth, B looked back over at Sam who waved his hand indicating that he should continue.

  “Okay. Sergei summoned me last night. It looked like he’d gotten a visit from Voss.” B looked up at Luc as he said this. Turning to look at Luc, Katia watched as his eyes went wide and all the color drained from his face. Terror began to inch up her spine. This couldn’t be good. “Who’s Voss?” Katia asked Luc.

  “One of Satan’s minions. He usually handles…torture,” Luc replied as he looked down at her, pain in his eyes.