Sure, I'm probably taking a lot of liberties with the whole holy ground/demon thing, but the rules haven't been established very well, and what fun would it be if Ash could just whisk her away?
In Which Evie Makes a Phone Call.
"May I make a phone call?" I asked, and was, of course, denied.
Crap. Not only was I stuck in a hospital, but witches refused to treat me due to my smutty aura and my shunning, the humans were afraid of me, and the only folks who would stick around to treat me were the living vampire staff. Which, given my recent experience, I was a little gun-shy around (though even the undead avoided feeding from sick people like the plague, no pun intended). And on top of that, they'd crammed me in the one room I couldn't easily use demonic intervention to escape from.
The chapel.
"This is ridiculous," I said again, eying my new holy quarters with mild interest and wondering why I wasn't banned from entering them myself. Apparently I wasn't demon enough? Or maybe holy ground only worked on the demons who were bound to the ley lines of the Ever After? "I haven't done anything wrong! I'm the victim, here!"
"I'm sure the Coven representative will agree, once they get here to have a look at you, Ms. Sinclaire." Jocelyn, a kind-faced but stern nurse, was my current jailer.
I sighed, wondering if I could get them to leave me alone long enough to make a calling circle. I didn't have the equipment to make a mirror, but I figured blood on linoleum would work well enough. Assuming the black curse could even be performed on holy ground. I knew that some could, but this was a spell specifically to talk to those in the Ever After.
"Could I at least have something to read? A crossword puzzle? Anything?"
Jocelyn took pity on me and got me a copy of the current paper and a short pencil. I read my exciting headline at the top, "Demon Captive Rescued," and the various articles regarding the other disastrous summonings in the area. Apparently my story had created quite a stir. I had fun reading about myself, though I fumed at the sheer quantity of details they'd gotten totally wrong. At least the warnings about "don't try this at home" were very clear. I turned to the crosswords and sighed, feeling the minutes tick by like years and getting very concerned indeed.
If the Coven got here before I could get away, I was probably screwed. Even the human who'd been tending me knew that my story didn't add up at all, and the six witches who'd "rescued' me had heard enough to deduce that whatever Ash and I had been up to, it hadn't been a simple game between a demon and his new toy. Certainly the Coven would figure out what was up, and then, if Rachel was to be believed, I'd be sent to Alcatraz, Antarctica, or worse, lobotomized and sterilized.
Heh. Sterilized I could handle, but the thought of that lobotomy I'd been dodging for years really chilled my blood. I kicked myself again for not just giving Ash my summoning name like I'd said I would. I couldn't possibly have imagined a scenario where I'd be involuntarily separated from him and would want to get the hell back over to the Ever After, but here it was.
I had plenty of time to think as I solved the soduku puzzle and the other word games, examining my emotional state. Given that I'd admitted to Ash, involuntarily, that I was falling for him way harder than a student should be allowed to crush on her mentor, I was surprisingly cool with it. At least I wouldn't have to try to keep it hidden. But what the hell was going through his head?
Our past interactions took new shape, all over again. Intimacy, fear, then anger and disaster, over and over. I wondered if Ash had an inkling of what he was doing, deciding he probably didn't. The look on his face as he brought forth the beast within, shoving his darkness into the light and forcing me to witness it- was it really pleasure I'd been seeing? Or simply what I'd been expecting to see? Maybe my demon wasn't really a sadist at all, but a masochist instead. And he thought he'd figured me out.
Heh. Joke's on you, Ash. That compulsion you removed? Sad to say, it didn't do shit. Maybe I've lived with it for too long. Something shapes you long enough, the outline remains even if the original is removed. And maybe there was a bit of instinctive demon reactions thrown in there, too, or how else could I explain the whole Al-incident?
"Can you tell me about shadows?" I asked Jocelyn, bored of the paper and wondering just how much vamps shared in common with my venomous demon lover.
"Huh?" she said, surprised that after such a long silence, this was what I came out with. "What about them?"
"The compulsion part. How…well, how compulsory is it?"
"Why?" she asked suspiciously. "Look, I've never made a shadow and I'm not going to start, so if you're worried about-"
"No, no, no," I insisted placatingly. "I'm just curious. I think that's what the demon was trying to do to me last night, since he was playing vampire at the time, and I want to know more about it." Well, not entirely true, but close enough. "How much choice and free will does the shadow have?"
She gave an eloquent grimace. "It's not a very nice aspect of vampire life, I admit. But there's different levels of it. The best version is the scion, and the worst bond is the shadow. A shadow doesn't even have free will anymore. It's like the vampire holds a part of their soul hostage and they can't even resist. They look and act normal, but once the vamp wants something, the shadow is compelled to do it."
Certainly not what Ash had done, I thought, though he'd said that he thought perhaps it didn't take. "And a scion?" I asked.
"Well, same deal, except the vamp shares their strength and abilities with the bonded one. It's the best deal for both, especially if the stronger vampire is an undead. And if the scion's far enough away, they can sometimes resist a compulsion."
"Is there ever a case of a scion or shadow completely resisting a compulsion from a really strong, really determined undead vampire?"
"A scion, maybe, but a shadow? Oh, no. Not even with distance. It's why I don't ever want to be a scion to an undead, myself, though you can't imagine the power and status that come with it."
I mulled over this some more. "Can an undead make another undead their scion?" I asked next, having a feeling I knew the answer.
She looked shocked. "Of course not! Why would they want to? And anyway, they couldn't feed off each other, the virus would kill them both."
"Oh." Well, that was as far as my comparison with demons and vamps would get me, I thought. Surely demon venom hadn't evolved for the purpose of putting compulsions on demon females or lesser beings. Mostly because the demon females I knew wouldn't stand for it, myself included. The more I thought about it, the more I decided that Ash had been right the first time. It hadn't taken, not fully. Perhaps it had always been there, but it wasn't nearly strong enough to account for my feelings.
Working with Ash for years, hanging out with him and playfully allying with him against particularly irritating summoners, matching wits and trading barbs, sharing the occasional late night as he taught someone a new trick and teaching me in the process…? Yeah. I think that accounted for much more. Demon venom, my ass.
Though now I kinda wondered what other neat little tricks demon males had up their sleeves. Other than being physically stronger, and total pains in the neck. Literally.
"Was that helpful?" Jocelyn asked.
"Yeah. I think it was," I replied. "I'm not feeling any compulsions, anyway. I just wondered if I'd know, given that he's a world away now."
I went back to my crossword, not really seeing it. Instead, my eyes fell on the silver bracelets on my wrists, and the added precaution of an IS-issued zip strip. I had a sudden inspiration. Why on earth was I still wearing these stupid silver bands, anyway? Hadn't Pierce showed me how to remove them? And what the hell, wasn't I a ley line witch? I'd been hanging out with demons too long, powerless. I'd forgotten that I wasn't, in fact, helpless.
Jocelyn took a magically-induced nap shortly thereafter, and I hit the door of the room with a temporary lock. I wished ley lines charms lasted longer than a few minutes. Quickly I got to work on my calling circle, pricking my finger with a spare needle I'd swiped from a drawer by my bed earlier in the day.
I invoked the curse, having drawn my hasty circle on the newspaper with pencil and blood in three minutes flat. I took the smut quickly and hoped that the fresh burnt amber stench wouldn't wake the sleeping vampire. The sleep charm itself would only last a few minutes, but once asleep, there was no reason she would wake up immediately- except for the fact that vamp noses were just as good, if not better, than witch noses.
Ash! I called out into the weird echoing space of the collective.
He picked up immediately, worry clearly evident in his thoughts. Where the hell are you?
I smiled, relieved, at the familiarity of his mental voice. In a hospital, thank you very much! What the hell happened?
What do you think happened? We were caught in a circle, and I was banished, genius! Tell me your summoning name, and I'll bring you out of there.
I told him.
And waited.
...Ash?
What the fuck? It's not working!
I blinked, not having expected that. Why not? How could it not be working? I did what you told me to do, set the password like you said…
He was silent for a moment, confusion and irritation clearly swirling in his thoughts.
Is it because the sun's still up? I asked.
Shouldn't make a difference, not to you, especially not in this direction of travel. Where are you?
Oh. I'm in the chapel. Do I need to get off holy ground?
You can walk on holy ground? Heh. I wonder why. Yeah, maybe.
Um…I can't really walk right now. I'm drugged to the gills, dizzy from lack of blood, and there are IS officers right outside the door.
Crap. CRAP!
Ash? The Coven's found out about me. They're coming to collect me. Rachel had a run-in with them, and if they figure out what I am, they'll either kill me or neuter me. Keep trying to get me back, all right? I don't know how much longer I have before they figure out I'm talking to you.
I recast the sleep charm on the sleeping vampire before she could begin to stir, but I was feeling more and more anxious that my almighty demon couldn't help me out, and we'd both be screwed. I could tell he felt the same way.
I'll figure out something. Damn it, Evie, can't you just once stay out of trouble for longer than ten minutes?
I fail to see how this is my fault, Mr. Bitey.
Ha ha ha.
Ash? I'm sorry I didn't tell you my name earlier. I should have. I was just really mad.
I caught a really strong swirl of confusion from him, a complicated mix of frustration and appreciation and something that smacked of his usual cockiness. Don't worry, love. I know how you can make it up to me.
Does it involve more biting? I asked wryly, not having enjoyed that last session very much at all.
Oh yes. But only the fun kind.
He hung up before I could respond, and I shook my head in amusement. Apparently he was prepared to pretend last night didn't happen. Well, if that's how he wanted it, I'd play along for now.
First things first, I had to get home.
And paused, realizing that for the first time, I'd thought of the Ever After as home. What the hell is wrong with me?
