Hot Magic (28 page)

“How weird is that? I might have to keep you around.”

“Yes. You might.”

She glanced at him, his serious voice pulling her from her study of the hallway. “You told me we can’t be together. What changed? Has someone added a Bill of Rights to your rule book?” Her heart beat faster than her flip tone indicated.

He smiled. “No. The rule book hasn’t changed.” He abruptly switched the subject. “Do you know where Tasha is?”

Julie closed her eyes to block out the distraction of his face. She felt the insistent tug of her daughter’s energy force. “Yes, I know where Tash is. Follow me.”

J
ulie followed the thread of her daughter’s energy as easily as if she were following crumbs on a forest trail. There was a sameness about the white walls and endless halls that could be disorienting, and Julie knew if she hadn’t latched on to Tasha’s life force, she’d be wandering aimlessly in circles. Harry silently followed her, his gaze alert and constantly scanning. No one appeared, however—no demons, gargoyles or minions of Hell. The whole thing was really pretty bizarre. Julie came to an abrupt halt in front of a blank wall. She looked at Harry.

“Tasha is in there.” She knew it with absolute certainty.

Harry studied the wall and moved his hand in a quick, sharp motion. Nothing happened. “You’ll have to get us in. Only the immortals can wield power inside Gehenna.”

Julie sucked in air at the calm statement. “I may look young for my age,” at least she liked to think so, “but I’m not immortal.”

Harry leaned a shoulder against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked very relaxed, considering they were in Gehenna in the midst of a rescue mission, and he had some psychotic Shadow Walker in his head. “You’ve got demon blood,” he reminded her.

“I don’t have much of the stuff.” She rubbed her hands nervously up and down her thighs. She felt nowhere near as calm as he looked.

“You’re half demon,” Harry pointed out with maddening accuracy.

“I know.” Julie whispered the words. “I’m all for diversity, but I’m thinking this demon thing cannot be good.”

“Every one of us has the capacity for evil.”

“But we’re not all half demon. I have one heck of a dark side. If this were
Star Wars
, I’d be a female Anakin Skywalker.”

To give him credit, Harry didn’t even attempt to tear his hair out at her movie analogy. “No. You’re a female Luke Skywalker, or his sister Leia, and you will not succumb to the evil lure of your father.”
 

Julie looked at him, surprised. The man was a
Star Wars
fan. Hidden depths.
 

He shook his head, as if he realized what he’d said. “You make your own choices.” Harry looked up and down the empty hall and then back at Julie’s face. He seemed to come to a decision. “Your daughter isn’t going anywhere. We have a minute. Do you know the story of how the demons were created?”

“There’s a story?”

“There was great war among the angels in Heaven. The losers were cast down to Gehenna. Demons are angels who revolted against God, but they were created as angels—glorious, powerful beings. They chose the dark path. You can choose light.”

So she had the same make-up as the angels? Maybe he was just giving her a positive spin on a bad situation, but she’d take it for the moment.
 

A fine tension built in her to get Tasha out now. “Angel or demon, we know I can wield magic here. Let’s see if I can do it without the kiss.” She looked at his beautiful face. “Not that I’d normally want to skip that, but I’m not into threesomes.” The fact that Marguerite had shared in their previous kiss gave her the willies.

He merely nodded and stepped back, giving her room.
 

Julie looked at him for a second longer and then turned to face the wall. She cracked her knuckles and stood with her feet apart. Taking a deep breath, she put both hands flat against the smooth surface.

“I don’t think you can push it down,” Harrison commented after a few moments of silence.

“I know that.” She tried to look confident. “I’m taking a moment to gather my power.” So, exactly how did she do that and get rid of the wall?

“Mom?” Faintly, she heard the whisper of Tasha’s desperate voice.
 

Tasha needed her. Just like that, the wall was gone.

“Mom! I knew I heard you!”
 

Tasha stood directly across from her, her orange T-shirt rumpled and her cheeks red. She looked like a warm flame against the unrelenting white. Behind her stood the Shadow Walker, a look of surprise on his face.
 

Julie was still frozen with the shock that she’d gotten rid of the wall when Tasha catapulted into her arms, pushing her back into Harry. He steadied both of them.

Julie hugged her daughter close, savoring the familiar scent and feel of her. Then she pushed her back a step so she could look her over. “Are you all right?”

Tasha nodded. “We’ve been stuck in that room ever since the Skaven brought us here.”

“Skaven?” Harry had mentioned them earlier.

“Rat creatures, controlled by the demons.” Luc explained.

Wonderful, but unfortunately they weren’t the worst of her concerns. “Have you seen…anyone while you’ve been here?” she asked carefully.

“No, just Luc. Do you know how to get out of here?” Tasha jumped as they all heard a sound, and she gave Julie a frightened look. “Someone’s coming! We have to run.”

Julie winced at the sound of approaching voices. Loud, arguing voices. Actually, only one voice was loud and arguing. Her mother’s. The other was a faint, conciliatory murmur.

“Tash, I need to tell you something.” She put a hand on her daughter’s arm to stop her mad dash in the opposite direction from the voices. No time to soften the blow. “Your grandfather is here.”

Tasha stopped tugging on her arm. “Grandpa’s here? In Hell? My sweet Grandpa Abe?” Tasha stared at her mother, slowly shaking her head. “No!”

“Grandpa may not be quite as sweet as we thought. In fact, he might be one of the most powerful demons in Gehenna.” She ignored the soft snort from Harry. There might have been a more tactful way to tell Tasha, but Julie’s mind wasn’t firing on all cylinders at the moment.

Tash vehemently shook her head, her red hair slapping her cheeks at the force of her denial. She took a step away from Julie and reached for Luc’s hand. Julie felt a brief pang in the region of her heart.

“I don’t believe you,” Tasha said calmly.

“I don’t want to believe it either.” Julie wished she could make it all go away, make her daughter’s world normal and sane.

The voices grew louder. Her mother’s voice drifted to them. “All those times you told me you were traveling on business, just what were you up to, you conniving devil?”
 

Tasha’s face tightened, but she stubbornly ignored what she heard, her eyes defiant. Tasha’s whole body began trembling like a slender tree in the midst of a huge windstorm. Luc put an arm around her shoulders and tugged her close.
 

Julie looked frantically over her shoulder at Harry, who still stood at her back. Her daughter’s reaction worried her. Tasha didn’t like change, to the point where she even had trouble getting rid of old furniture and chipped dishes. She’d recently found out she wasn’t human, she’d been kidnapped by rat people and brought to Hell, and now her mother was telling her that her beloved grandfather was a demon. Apparently acknowledging that Abe was Abigor was one change too many.

Harry leaned down and whispered in her ear. “She’s your daughter. She’s strong.”

Julie nodded, needing to hear the words, but also knowing that no one, including herself, could deal with the shift in reality they’d experienced without some repercussions. She touched his arm in thanks and immediately felt the tension. Every muscle in his body stretched tight, as if it took all his control to maintain his physical integrity in the face of Marguerite’s invasion. She met his eyes in mute apology.

“Balance!” Luc’s voice brought them both around to face him. Tasha was bent over, breathing quickly, her whole body shaking. Panic attack.

Julie stepped to her side. “Deep breaths, baby,” she commanded.

“Get her out of here, now,” Harry commanded.

Julie saw her mother step around a corner in the white hallway. She had to act fast. She had to find a way to get Tasha out of Gehenna, away from the unacceptable reality that was about to be shoved irrefutably in her face. Before she even had time to formulate an escape plan, a rush of power flushed through her.
 

“O
uch.” Julie landed on her bottom, which cushioned her fall more than she would have liked. Tasha tumbled onto the carpet beside her, dragging Luc along with her. Julie raised herself up on her elbows and looked around. She was in her living room. Back on terra firma. Somehow, she’d done it. She’d pulled them out of Gehenna. Maybe having great power wasn’t so bad after all.

Suddenly, her budding euphoria vanished. She counted heads again. Then she stood and searched behind the furniture. Harry was nowhere to be seen. She hadn’t quite pulled them all out.

“We’re home!” Tasha stayed on the floor, gulping in huge mouthfuls of air.

“You can’t leave Gehenna without going through a Gate! Not even Abigor can do that.” Luc sat up, his expression dazed.

“Harry?” Julie raised her voice. Maybe he’d landed in another room. She dashed quickly through all the rooms. Nothing. “Crap. We left Harry behind.”

“Who are you?” Luc was on his feet, a hand pushing through his silver hair.

“How could we have left Harry?” Julie glanced impatiently at Luc. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you looking at me like that?”

His expression bordered on awe.

Julie narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t get crazy on me. We need to find Harry.”

“He’s probably where we left him,” Tasha offered, sitting up. “Don’t even think about going back, Mom.”

Julie couldn’t believe her ears. Tasha, of all people, knew what if felt like to be left in Gehenna. Harry had sacrificed his sanity to help them. And Julie had just popped out, leaving him. She felt sick to her stomach. “No man left behind. That’s my motto.”
 

“Mom, you’re not a Navy Seal. You’re a researcher. And I didn’t mean we should just leave him there. Let’s go talk to Bas, he’ll know what to do.”

Finding Bas would take too much time. Besides, they didn’t need him. “I know what to do. I know how to get back the way we came.”

“You do?” Tasha looked surprised.
 

“I do have a reasonable brain. And the more that I use my power, the more I’m able to recognize flow and direction. I think I can get back along the same path we came on.” Except she felt like she was running on an empty tank. Maybe food would help.

“You need to wait until the sun rises to gain enough power for something such as this,” Luc said, and all three looked at the clock on the living room wall. Five o’clock. Judging from the darkness pushing against the windows, that would be in the morning, not the afternoon. The sun wouldn’t rise for a couple of hours, at least. She couldn’t wait that long. She didn’t need to wait that long.

“I’m not just a Dancer. I tap sun power, possibly earth power and definitely whatever power source the demons have.” Julie paused and looked at Luc. “Just what power source do the demons have?”

He shrugged in the way only the French can. “I’ve never met one before,” he said. “I always believed they had access to the power matrices of the universe.” He looked apologetic. “But I don’t know that for sure.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter. I’ll just suck power from wherever I can and point it back the way we came. You two stay back so that I don’t accidentally take you along with me. This will work,” Julie said with more confidence than she felt. “I just need to find the internal trigger that will allow me to access power and wield it.”

“Most of us focus on a specific item. Sometimes it is a word, sometimes a phrase, sometimes just a picture in our mind.”

Julie frowned, wondering why Bas hadn’t told her that interesting bit of knowledge.

“What did you do to trigger the power last time?” Luc asked.

“Nothing. I wanted to get Tasha out before my mother and Abigor came down the hallway.”

“And before that?”
 

“I heard Tasha’s voice. I wanted to get to her.”

“So your power is most easily triggered by strong emotion, the need to save those whom you care about.”

Julie nodded slowly. That made sense. She had panic power. “Why didn’t I bring Harry out with me when we left Gehenna?”

“My guess is that Abigor became aware of what you were doing and countered your power. The fact that only the Balance was blocked from leaving is surprising.”

Her father was really starting to make her angry. What was his problem? Whatever. She needed to focus. She would bring Harry out of that hellhole, no matter what games her father wanted to play.
 

“Think of the Balance,” Luc instructed. “Bring his face, his body into your mind. Imagine that he is calling for you. Needs you.”