Chapter 29

It took us twenty-four minutes.

The longest twenty-four minutes of my life.

The men in the barn surrounded Lucas and pulled him to the center of the room, where Foras began to set up some sort of sacrificial...something that I didn't like the look of at all. Two men grabbed Paige and though she gave a token struggle, there wasn't much she could do except wait until they threw her on the ground behind them to start muttering.

Meanwhile, Lucas was being stripped of his shirt and forced to kneel in front of the demon, who promptly broke the neck of the man in black nearest to him. The rest of them pulled back for a second, guns raised. The demon just chuckled.

"You can leave if you wish," he taunted. The men of the squadron glared back, unmoving until one by one they seemed to exhale, to accept what the demon had done.

"It was my turn," one of the younger ones said. They were looking at their fallen comrade and I was tempted to say they were jealous. And that scared me even more than seeing the demon hovering above Mr Cortez.

Without much fanfare, Foras bent down and ripped the head off the dead man. My stomach lurched and I ended up hurling over the side of the car. Back in the horror fest that was the time tear future-Savannah had cried that she had killed Lucas. I didn't want to watch it really happen—especially when it included decapitation. Foras used the dead man's blood to begin drawing symbols on Lucas. I tried to pretend it was just paint, to focus on the symbols.

I demanded a pen from Bryce and he handed it over so I could begin drawing the symbols out on my arm, to make sure I had a copy. They were symbols of protection, I thought, which didn't make any sense (they were going to kill Lucas, not protect him). Maybe they were something I was mistaking for protection symbols...

"We're almost there," Bryce promised.

"What happens when we get there?" Paulson asked. "I'm not trained for large offensive measures and we're outnumbered."

"We could bring the barn down," I offered. Bryce's spell should work; the barn looked old enough. "That should buy us the time to save Lucas and Paige."

Paige had managed to get off a fireball spell and had escaped the control of the men holding her. I was too much of a coward to keep watching; there was no way she could escape. There was too many of them. She wouldn't get away, just hopefully buy us enough time—and not get killed in the process. That was a pretty important part of the plan.

"You want to bring down a barn on the people we're trying to rescue?" Bryce demanded. "How about a plan that doesn't require trying to kill the people we want to save?"

"What do you suggest?"

"They're Nast employees. I might be able to call them off. If that doesn't work, I can at least distract them with offers to buy them off long enough for Sean to come with reinforcements."

"That's you not risking your life?"

"I will not end up dead," he said confidently. "I will not die for Lucas Cortez. Stalling them really is our only option—and since I don't trust you to do anything without getting yourself killed, I will have to be the one to do it."

Paige had been subdued and Foras started tying up the struggling Lucas. The men in black looked almost bored at the Cortezes attempts to get free.

That's when the farmhouse finally came into view. Paulson drove straight through an abandoned field, to get us to the barn faster. It worked, but it one of the men heard us approaching and called out to another man to come with him.

"You take the one on your left," I told Bryce. He didn't have much time to react, but as the men came out of the barn, he followed my instructions. I was a little faster with the energy bolt, knowing I was going to prepare it, but both of us managed to get our targets. Of course, he managed to kill the man outright, while I just caused him to stumble to his knees. I cast a body bind spell so the man wouldn't shoot us before we could park the car.

Paulson pulled out his gun, attached a silencer and took care of the man. I kept my eyes closed, watching Foras start casting some sort of spell. It really did sound like a protection spell, though not like anything I had ever heard of. Demon magic, perhaps. But why on Lucas?

"Wait here," Bryce commanded. I nodded and he sighed. "Don't get yourself killed."

Bryce and Paulson walked inside; I didn't waste much time, just noted that their presence had stopped Foras and that they hadn't been shot on sight. Then I was off to the side of the barn where someone had thankfully left a ladder. After kicking off my shoes and socks, I scrambled up it. It ended just below the roof, but I could pull myself up and over. The roof was luckily rotten enough to provide me with suitably handholds, even if it wasn't easy to climb.

I closed my eyes, to see Bryce arguing with the men, who were trying to herd him into the area with Paige. Foras's face finally registered annoyance, which had the benefit of stopping his spell. The demon was staring at Bryce, like he was the strangest thing he had seen in quite some time.

I didn't need a spell to get through the roof, just physical strength to pry a rotten piece right off. Bryce's incessant whining drowned out the noise. Two pieces and I managed to create an opening big enough for me to slip through, so I could drop in and land quietly on one of the beams that held the roof together. There was a loft filled with straw just beneath me, hiding me from the view of the people below. I crept forward a little, enough so that I could see Bryce now had a gun pointed at his chest.

"Put that away," Foras boomed. "Do you know what would happen if you were foolish enough to kill him now? Put the weapon down."

"They want the spell complete more," one of the men argued. "And the other is still alive."

I glanced around the barn, taking in the architecture without the nausea that accompanied the visions. The beams looked like they were the only thing holding the roof up, and that they would be easier to destroy from the center. I stood up, and quickly began to walk across the beam. It was thicker than a balance beam, but not by much and a hell of a lot higher. I tried not to look down or close my eyes, because feeling dizzy right then would not be a good idea.

"And less amusing. They would disapprove," Foras snapped.

"We were protecting the spell. He should not have interfered."

"Perhaps you should find out why he is, human."

I didn't like the sound of that at all. Bryce just sounded bored. "I'm going to be tortured by minions? How embarrassing."

"This way, sir," one of them hissed, pushing him and Paulson towards Paige.

Another man spoke up. There were only five of them now, plus the demon, but that didn't mean we would be able to take them unless we caught them by surprise. "The girl may be nearby. They would not be happy if the spell took precedence over her."

Foras closed his eyes and I began to cast, a little fearful of the result. While Bryce's spell would have been better, I didn't know it well enough to try and had too little power left to risk a miscast—so I was sticking to a hopefully well placed lightning bolt. Foras began to look up. It was going to be a long fall, as I stood there above him with nothing to catch hold of, but there was nothing to be done about that. His face turned up fully and every eye in the place glanced up at me. But it didn't matter. I was finished.

The beam in front of me splintered it half, raining down on the people below. I quickly followed it up with another spell and then I was exhausted, but it didn't. That was all it took to destabilize the whole roof. The other beams started cracking under a strain they were not built to handle.

Down below, everyone had recognized that the fight was starting. As the beams started raining down, Lucas tried to jerk away from the demon, Paulson and Bryce attacked the men holding them (helped by the fact Twelve-Thirteen were reluctant to shoot them), and Paige rushed to try and help her husband. I think she got the man in black that was closest to Lucas—I didn't stay to watch. There was the little matter of the ground coming out from under me.

Having destabilized every other beam in the place, it was no wonder that the beam I was on began to waver under the strain. I walked faster but I could hear the wood cracking underneath me. And then it wasn't underneath me any longer.

I don't think I screamed as I fell. I might have, but I don't think so. All I was aware of was no longer having anything to stand on. And then I was in someone's arms.

Foras.

That's when I know I started screaming.

He didn't let go, just looked emotionlessly at the rest. Lucas had erected a barrier spell around him and his wife as two men circled. It was stopping them from getting hit by the falling debris, while Paige took out their attackers. Paulson and Bryce had just managed to subdue the two men who had been attacking them, despite their coughing, but they couldn't seem to decide where their help was needed next. Wasn't I already as good as dead?

But seeing as I wasn't yet, I stopped screaming and said quietly, "Are you going to kill me?"

"I cannot. You should not be here. You have never been here before."

"Before?"

He dropped me then, falling to the ground in pain. I scrambled away from him as fast as I could. Bryce had cast...something. An anti-demon spell, perhaps? The door to the barn opened and through the falling wood and hay I could see Sean walk through, flanked by two men. The cavalry was here. I sighed in relief.

I didn't notice the beam coming down on me until it was far too late to move.

I woke up in pain, but at least I woke up. Bryce was moving the last of the beams off me, while Paige was casting something on my ankle. It was twice as big as normal and an ugly colour. But I could move my toes. At least it wasn't broken again, though I couldn't stop the tears of frustration. I was never going to get back on the team.

Paige noticed the wiggling. "Does it hurt anywhere else?"

"No." Though the rest of me felt tender, it wasn't an unendurable pain. "Is everyone else all right?"

Bryce answered. "Most of the strike force men are dead. As for the demon...Sean and Lucas took care of him. Mostly. You think you can get up?"

Paige pursed her lips, leaving me to wonder exactly how much Bryce had told her. She couldn't be too mad about the deal with the devil thing, since it had possibly save her life.

"I could use a hand."

Bryce waved over my head and then Paulson was by my side, helping me to me feet, putting an arm around my waist to keep me balanced so I could hobble over to where the demon lay on the ground.

"Paulson, you idiot," Bryce snapped. "She weights ten pounds." Paulson blinked, completely unsure what he meant. Bryce heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Get her off her feet. My god, Grant's right. They're all fucking hopeless."

Paulson looked at me unsure, but I just rolled my eyes and waited. Because my ankle hurt like hell and it didn't seem like a good idea to cross Bryce right now. Paulson reluctantly picked me up and carried me over to where Sean and Lucas were.

Whatever they had done—no more than what they had to do, because they were good people—it didn't look pretty. It was lucky that Foras had always reminded me of a Ken doll. Seeing him banged up and bruised didn't bother me much, because he still didn't look human.

Sean handed me a pitchfork (the sharpest tool they had been able to find), but turned away quickly after that. Paulson put me down as Lucas to explained, "If you could just sever the head, Gillian..." in that oh-so polite voice he always used, despite the distaste that dripped from his words.

Using a pitchfork did not make it easy. The first time I stabbed through the demons throat, the pain in my head came out of nowhere, pulsating, burning—I almost fell over. Paulson had to catch me as I convulsed because it wasn't supposed to feel like this. I was just supposed to be watching him, not...it wasn't fair. I was everywhere and everyone and I wasn't powerful enough to handle it and I was supposed to be.

But I brought the pitchfork down again and this time, despite the pounding, despite how I thought I was going to die for the excruciating agony of it all, and I didn't stop until there was nothing holding Ken's head to his body anymore. With one last strike of pain, it was done.

Foras was dead. And all I could see was what was in front of me.

"What was that about?" Paige asked.

Bryce gave the world's shortest, most inaccurate summary, hands rubbing small circles on my back. At least he hadn't told her to fuck off. Paige evidently wasn't satisfied, but in a moment she turned back to her husband, to reassure herself he was still alive.

"Sirs, one of the half-demons is still alive," one Sean's men announced. A look around told me Sean had only brought two other men with him. Probably his bodyguards. They really were that selfishly scared that their grandfather would find out. Paulson picked me up again, but Paige stayed with us as the non-cripples went to circle the captive.

"Demon vision?" she asked.

"Whatever works," I said.

To my surprise, she nodded. I wanted to reassure her, but what could I possibly say? I was useless at this sort of thing. "That was an unnecessarily risky distraction," Paige admonished quietly. "We all could have died."

"You didn't."

There was indeed one of the men of Twelve-Thirteen still left alive, with a foot in the center of his chest and a host of weapons pointed at him. There was just the small matter of what to do with him.

"Torture is faster."

So nice to see Bryce being helpful.

"But not necessarily accurate," Lucas objected.

"Whereas asking nicely always works."

Sean provided an objection his brother might actually acknowledge. "Fitz and Davis aren't trained in interrogation and Paulson's only been on the job for a few months. There's no way you've got him trained up in that time. We wouldn't know how."

But Bryce had taken my minion rights speech a little too much to heart. He wasn't going to let the minions do anything he wouldn't do himself. "Since when did you like delegating so much, Sean? I was trying to say we'd have to do it ourselves. Honestly, at this point, I'm not about to let that information be given to anyone but me personally."

Sean was rendered speechless and turned to Lucas to overrule his brother. It was Paige that spoke up.

"He might not even know anything."

"And he might. Does Savannah have time for us to waste?"

The three of them still didn't like it. They never would like it. It was too wrong. To torture someone properly you had to forget they were human just like you and the three of them were all about the equality. It was the basis of their whole existence and they couldn't just ignore it. That's why Sean was wavering, a little, because it was still a new way of thinking to him. But if Lucas said no, he would say no.

"I can do it by myself," Bryce said, exasperated. "Just fix him up so he doesn't die in the meantime and then Paulson can hold him down while I do...whatever it is I have to."

No one moved. My ankle was still throbbing and so it hurt when I stumbled forward. Paige seemed too horrified by what I was doing to bother stopping me.

"Hold him down," I heard Bryce order and the bodyguards did just that.

The man didn't look too badly damaged, just severely bruised. The crushed leg I couldn't fix and there was no point in trying. But the bruising I could take care of and helping out would give me a chance to try avoiding copious amounts of bloodshed. Just because I could survive sinking so desperately low—and only for Savannah—didn't mean I was eager to see how much attention Bryce had paid during company interrogations.

"You could just let them buy you off," I told the man from Twelve-Thirteen. "It'll be faster and probably less painful. Last I heard, the Nasts were having a good year. Hawaii has to be gorgeous, or maybe someplace even more exotic..."

"Witch?"

I jumped a little, jarring the arm I was trying to fix more than I should have. "Yes?"

"I like it better when you're more creative."

"There's only so many healing spells out there."

"Fewer than you think," he said. "I won't talk unless I have a reason. Give me a reason?"

He looked at me, dark eyes pleading for something. It would have been nice if he had just spit out what he wanted, but I could play along. Even if it didn't work, it would give Bryce time to gather whatever he tools he was collecting that I was too much of a coward to think about.

"They're going to tear California apart," I said slowly. Lying was easy enough, but narratives were a little bit different. I just went with whatever popped into my head. "Savannah is important to the people behind me. You think the two strongest Cabals on the planet are going to let your boss hurt her? You're crazy. They are going to find her. Using whatever means necessary. That means there are going to be a lot of bodies.

"My father did what you do. I know it's hard—I also know it's just a goddamn excuse, something you can hide behind so you don't have to deal with the fact that you are hurting real people with all the shit you do. But you need to remember their are innocent people out there, people who can't defend themselves, because when the Cabals destroy California in their selfish quest to make your boss bleed, we both know who's going to get hurt. Innocent people. People better than you and I.

"You can stop that. Just tell me who you're working for. And if you can't do that, just tell me where she is. That's all. Tell us and you get to be something other than Nameless Mook #3."

His eyes fluttered shut. I hadn't screwed up the healing spell, he just needed a moment.

"Still haven't topped that time you convinced me I was going to kill a high school freshman. I killed you then, too. I felt bad about it, at the time, but I killed you then. I would have killed you now. Maybe you'll do better next time."

"She doesn't look that young," Bryce muttered above us. That was the part he chose to focus on?

"How many times have you killed me?"

"Not very often. We like taking turns. Thank you." The bruises had healed. "Can we start the torture now?"

Paige was shaking as she helped me up. Maybe she realized that he just wanted a little excitement, something to help him distinguish this wasted life from the last. How many times could you go through a time tear, anyway?

"You should go now," Bryce said to Paige, voice almost gentle. "You should all go. And Gillian, I need you lighter."

"We have to stay too," Sean protested. "You might..."

I could understand Sean's hesitancy. Bryce's reasons for helping Savannah would seem strange to anyone who hadn't seen him almost-but-not-quite pound her into the ground after he found she was completely responsible for his father's death. Sean was still being stupid; it's only when no one's watching that you can do things you didn't think you can. Or maybe it would be better for Bryce to have someone watching him—he seemed to like having a role to play.

Lucas interrupted the sibling stare down. "I should be the one who watches him."

"Lucas, that's not nece—"

"Cabal policy would insist that someone represent the alternative interests in this investigation." Add that to the fact that Sean was younger and Lucas felt a sort of responsible for Sean in a way he wouldn't about Bryce. "I'll stay."

"Lucas..." And I was so glad I was staring at the ground and not Paige's face right then, because I couldn't have handled it. I could barely handle the way she sounded, like a child who had just found out Santa Clause wasn't real. Why had she never understood his world was like this?

Bryce snapped his fingers in front of my face. Blocking out the discussion behind me—can you still call yourself a good guy if you keep crossing lines?—I fished out my lighter and handed it over.

"You know what you're doing?"

"Well enough." He had no fucking clue, not really. Watching and doing are two different things, especially since I didn't think he grandfather had ever let him stay for the whole messy thing. "How hard can it be to hurt a minion?"

"Could you not call say minion?"

"I have to be politically correct while torturing someone?"

"Bryce..."

"Could you not undermine my aura of menace in front of the minion, Gillian? I need him to realize I'm serious about this."

I knew I was just making this worse on him. And since I needed him to do it for me, I could suck it up a little bit. "You want extra cigarettes too?"

"That's the idea," he nodded. Passing them over, he caught me around the wrist. "You are not to come back in here, understand? Come back and I'm killing you myself."

"The death threats are getting old," I said, pulling myself free. "He wants to tell you, I think. Just be creative about this. It doesn't have to hurt too bad, it just has to be memorable."

"Maybe Lucas will have a few good ideas."

I rolled my eyes, as he motioned for Paulson to come help me walk out, while Paige and Lucas finished up their conversation. Sean tried to talk to his brother, but that wasn't working very well, since Bryce couldn't let himself pay attention. Sean eventually shuffled out after us witches.

Paulson put me down on the hood of the car and Paige sat down beside me. Paulson went to reload his weapon while Sean began to pace. Davis—Fitz had stayed in the barn—started scanning the perimeter. We tried not to look each other in the eye.

Paige explained what she and Lucas were doing at the farmhouse. They had been asking around the supernatural community, figuring that anybody with the power to make a legendary time tear would have made some waves. The supernatural gossip hadn't been that helpful. Most people were still talking about the murder of the Nast clairvoyant. But Jaime Vegas had mentioned that her Gran used to talk about this old farmhouse up in L.A. that had been known to host some pretty freaky stuff, once upon a time, and so they had come out to investigate, sure it would be a dead end.

"They knew you were coming," I said. "I wonder if they picked this place because of what it was, or just because they could ambush you here."

"It depends what they were trying to do with us. With Lucas," Paige amended, shivering.

That's why she was letting Bryce have his way. Because she owed the Nasts now, whether she could say the words out loud or not. Something very bad had been about to happen to Lucas, and she thought she wouldn't be able to help.

"The marks were Hebrew, I think." I showed her my arm. "These were the ones I could see. I've never seen a spell like that."

"I've been saying that a lot myself, lately."

So while the sorcerers did what they did best and ruined people's lives, us witches sat around talking magic, trying to decipher what the symbols might mean. It was Paige who brought up the idea that the markings would make Lucas a more powerful protective charm, once he was dead. I could accept that—the makeshift altar certainly supported the idea of a sacrifice—but neither of us could come with a possible recipient for the protective spell.

There had been no one around but us.

Or had whoever opened the time tear seen everything had gone wrong and simply not shown up? Was he still watching now, now that the demon was gone and there was only one employee left who might be eager to give up a name?

That's what the bodyguards were for.

"There's still a problem," Paige said finally.

"Which one?"

"The demon selected Lucas. They could have taken me, or they could have found another victim..." Paige shivered. "Why Lucas? There would be no faster way to antagonise the CEO of the most powerful Cabal."

"Maybe because there isn't a faster way to piss off Benecio Cortez. Whoever is doing this, he's already gone out of his way to annoy the Nasts. Killing Lucas might mean he's out to screw more than one Cabal over."

"No one is crazy enough to try and take on both Cabals. I mean...the time tear means it probably isn't a vampire."

"I know."

It was the only reason I hadn't lost it. Whoever was playing puppet master, they weren't going after all the Cabals. They weren't going after children. They went after Savannah, who was damned powerful, Bryce, who was damned important, and Lucas, who was both. If it was vengeance, it wasn't random vengeance. I could handle that.

It might have made me a better person if I couldn't, but I had other things to worry about.