Cain headed for the door. He didn’t bother waiting for her, assuming she’d follow. And if she didn’t, he’d just have to find the infuriating witch on his own.
***
Tam had everything she was taking packed in several bags: clothes, magical tools, books. All the things that meant something to her. She stood in front of a large bird cage, a tear tracking down her face.
Henry had died three years ago. He’d been her best friend and sometimes lover for almost two centuries. A raven therian, he’d always had her back. She’d come to think of him as her familiar, and his blood was powerfully magical, second only to cat blood. He’d taught her more about her gift for reading the future than anybody else she’d encountered. She’d known he was going to die at some point. She lost everybody. Always.
It’s time to let the cage go. Though it was her own mental self-talk, she heard it in Henry’s voice instead of her own. But whoever the message ultimately came from, it was right. Even with magic, it would be too much to travel with, and all it could be now was a painful reminder of her loss.
She wiped her face and put the cover over the cage, taking one last look at the door they’d made for him to easily open so he could come and go as he wished. He’d preferred being in his bird form when he needed to think, and it was always handy to shift to it when people came over.
Tam turned back to the piles of bags and boxes in the middle of her room and created a circle of salt. She lit candles at the four directional points and sat in the middle with her spell book open. Even with her power, she wasn’t sure she had the energy to perform this spell alone, but she had to try. For all the flashy magic she could do by herself at her age, changing the molecular structure of several bags of her stuff was still a tall order.
She closed her eyes and focused, then raised her arms and intoned the chant over and over until she crumpled to the floor and everything went dark.
The raven flew a couple of times around her. His shrill call was like laughter. Henry? He landed on the ground at her feet, then shifted into his human form, the call turning into a human laugh.
“Tam, I swear, what is wrong with you? You should have called the coven to do that spell. At least this gives me a chance to talk to you.”
“I can’t involve them. It’s too dangerous. Is this really you? Or is it a dream?”
“Yes,” he said enigmatically, a twinkle in his eye.
“I miss you.”
He reached out, the back of his hand brushing her cheek. “I’m always watching out for you. You know that.”
“Are you coming back?” She was asking if he planned to reincarnate.
“At some point.” He hesitated. “I’m with my soul mate right now. We have limits here, but we still don’t want to be separated.”
“That’s understandable. And I’m glad you’re with her.” And she was. Though they’d had their occasional fling, it had been friends with benefits with Henry. Besides Anna, he was her best friend. But they’d both known their love wasn’t that kind of love. “I love you...” she said.
He smirked and finished her sentence “... but not that way. Right back at ya.”
He pulled her into a hug and whispered in her ear. “We’ll meet again, but you may have to find me and remind me, I don’t know how many memories I can pull through.” He turned serious. “Tam, listen to me. Don’t leave the house. Wait. He’s coming.”
She pulled away, panic gripping her. “Jack? If Jack’s coming, why would I wait?”
“No. Someone else. Follow your heart.”
“What does that mean? Stop speaking in riddles.”
He shook his head. “You know there is only so much I’m allowed to interfere. Read your cards again, and really see them this time. The whole spread.”
Tam opened her eyes and sat up inside the circle. The candles still burned, and she quickly blew them out. Then she laughed. The energy required for the magic may have knocked her out, but her spell had worked. She was two thousand after all. Her bags were tiny now, each hardly bigger than a thimble. She gathered them up and put them into a freezer bag, then put them, along with the magic book, candles, and salt into a shoulder bag. Nothing beat traveling like a witch.
Her cards were packed already or she’d do another reading. She turned away from the cage and took her single bag to the kitchen to make another cup of Earl Grey and wait for whoever he was.
She didn’t have to wait long. Half an hour later there was a knock on the door. She slung her bag over her shoulder and went to answer. Standing on the other side were an unlikely pair: Anna and Cain. Death and her best friend, delivered right to her door. Anna was looking mildly transparent and ghostly without her demon mate there to keep her solid. She was also looking mildly angry.
“Does our friendship mean nothing to you? How could you keep a secret like this from me?” She attempted to smack Tam on the arm, but her hand went right through. Sometimes that ghost thing was a good thing.
Tam decided to play dumb, even though there was only one giant secret she’d been keeping from her friend. “What secret?”
Anna rolled her eyes. “Seriously? We’re really doing this? I know what you are.”
The witch couldn’t help a quick glance at Cain. Why did the foul, evil demon have to be so hot? He had that dark, savage look going. Long, dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin. Her rational mind told her he was hot to catch prey and she was falling right into his web, but damn, she was human and he was... Wait, did he just arch an eyebrow at me? She was probably telegraphing her emotions right at him.
“Tam!”
She turned back to Anna. “Okay, great, you know what I am. You couldn’t even handle basic witch stuff. You said you didn’t want to know about it. How would this truth-telling experiment have gone down?” Tam put on an affected mock-voice, “So, Anna, I know you hate hearing about magic stuff because you’re a pansy, but I’m really almost two thousand years old. Ask me anything about anything.”
“I don’t know. I just felt like I should have known. What about when you told me the other magic stuff? You couldn’t have told me then? Or when we were together in Cary Town around Halloween? What about then? You couldn’t have found an opening to tell me the truth?”
Tam looked down. “My coven doesn’t even know. Anna, I have to hide and lie to live. Okay? Not everything is about you.” Though she was debating the point of living again, lately. Was Jack even after her? Maybe it was just a danger with Cain in her cards. He was evil. And a killer.
“Girls. Please. We have to move now. The Cycler could be hunting her as we speak.”
“The Cycler?” Tam asked.
Another eye roll from Anna. “Are you going to playact like you don’t know you’re being hunted?”
“No, but, how do you guys know about him?”
Cain pulled her out of the house, ignoring her question. “There’s no time to pack. You’ll have to make do. You’re coming to the demon dimension, and don’t try your little energy ball trick. I’m not in the mood.”
Wait, he wanted to protect her? Since when?
When he touched her, she thought she’d swoon right there like some damsel in distress. Nobody should have that kind of sexual magnetism. At least it would make dying in his arms less repulsive. But she couldn’t bring that up now, not with Anna here. She wouldn’t understand.
For now, Tam had to just go along. They might think they could protect her, but staying in one place was unsafe, and if Jack succeeded... No. Tam wouldn’t let him. It was best to end the cycle. What they’d done was unnatural. It went against the order of things. One of them going mad and the others becoming his victims was nature’s way of righting that wrong. Who was she to call foul?
Tam pulled away, and to her surprise, he let her go, a wary look on his face. She gestured to her shoulder bag. “Already packed. I’m like twelve steps ahead of you.” She didn’t mention that she could have already left and been out of Cain’s reach. Her curiosity over Henry’s words had won out over personal safety. The raven had never led her wrong before.
Was Henry confirming her suspicion that now was the time to go, and she’d chosen her executioner wisely? Any other interpretation was unthinkable.
She took one last look at her house and locked the door behind her, even though everything of value—real and imagined—was in her shoulder bag.
They walked a few blocks until they reached the Golatha Falls forest. Once inside the woods, Anna spilled everything about the meeting. Cain remained uncharacteristically silent. Tam couldn’t help looking over her shoulder as they went, as if Jack could somehow track them if he was being talked about. His power must be that dark and strong by now.
When the portal shimmered in front of them, Cain took her hand and pulled her through. The portal only recognized demons and apparently demon mates, since Anna had no trouble herself, but then she was linked to Luc through strong blood magic, her soul tied irrevocably to him.
Tam’s eyes widened when she entered the demon dimension. She’d heard about it, but she’d never seen it. Her mouth dropped open. “This place is so beautiful.” Certainly not what she expected, even if she’d always known it wasn’t full of fire and brimstone.
Cain smiled with something like pride as Tam continued to take in the scene before her. The weather was perfect, the sky dark and clear with brilliant stars shining overhead, glowing with brightness equivalent to the moon. There was no moon, but then, this wasn’t Earth. For all she knew—and she highly suspected this was true—the stars were some kind of illusion made entirely from magic. Though maybe technically everything in existence was an illusion made from magic.
Stretching endlessly before her was sand and cobblestone streets lit by torchlight. Colorful tents made of rich, expensive fabrics lined the streets as far as the eye could see. There was a marketplace and music and laughter. Seductive laughter.