have taken me over and made me part of their Goddess to do so.
The only downside to having my soul adjusted was that my gargoyle, Bis, wasn’t able to pass through my circle anymore, meaning he couldn’t teach me how to travel the ley lines like a normal demon. I had to be carted around like a kid in a carpool, and it was tiresome.
Mystics were always flowing through the lines, but when the sun was up, the motion was primarily into the ever-after. They’d reverse come sundown, creating a tide that kept the ever-after from collapsing and providing those who knew how the ability to do magic.
I shivered, enjoying the feel of the incoming energy balancing in me as I focused on the ring of salt. “Rhombus,” I whispered, triggering a set of mental gymnastics that moved a molecule-thin slice of salt from here to the ever-after. A barrier impenetrable to anything but sound, air, and, to a lesser extent, smell sprang up to make a half sphere over my head. It was mirrored below me as well, and Ivy assured me there were no cables, pipes, or anything else that might allow something to slip through.
I smiled in satisfaction at the luminous gold, not even minding the few red striations rippling over the edges, evidence of my troubled childhood. The bound energy reflected the colors in my aura, and though it looked the same to me as ever, Bis could tell the difference. It pleased me to no end that the black smut that had once marred it was gone, used to help stabilize the new ever-after. The demons, too, all had pristine auras now—which undoubtedly made it easier for them to wander around unnoticed as long as they hid their goat-slitted eyes.
I’d seen a real reluctance in Al to do anything to mar his new sparkling aura, but this curse would put a tiny amount of imbalance on me, hardly discernible. Some said that meant I was wicked, but smut wasn’t evil—or even an indication that you did evil things. It was simply a measure of how badly you screwed up the natural balance. An IOU if you will. But try telling that to the paranoid mother on the park bench. . . .
Safe in my circle, I popped open the bottle of wine. For a moment, I hesitated, wondering if I should pour what I needed out and save the rest, but then I just pricked my finger with my ceremonial knife and squeezed three drops right into the bottle to link the curse to me. It wasn’t as if I could drink it. Sulfites gave me a headache.
A last look over the silent kitchen, and I levered myself up on the center counter to set the faultless, ungodly expensive mirror before my crossed legs. Yew stylus in hand, I looked down at my reflection. Green eyes stared back, and I wondered how I’d gotten here, twisting demon curses in a vampire’s kitchen. Grimacing, I tucked a strand of my shower-damp hair behind an ear and shoved the thought away. There were good things, too: Trent, and Ivy, and Jenks; my mom rekindling a lost love on the West Coast; the demons no longer trapped in the ever-after, virtual slaves to those who knew how to summon them.
A new confidence in myself, I thought, finding a smile. The first time I’d done this, I had sketched everything out in chalk before making it permanent, but now? Now I knew I could do it. In. One. Pure. Go.
The energy flow through me jumped when the stylus touched the mirror, and I shuddered when my aura sort of spilled out into it. Even when I was expecting it, the sensation was disconcerting, and I looked at my reflection, able to see a shadow of myself under the gold and red shimmers.
I felt naked and vulnerable with my aura stripped away like this. Normally I’d be unable to do even the smallest magic without excruciating pain while missing my aura. But it wasn’t really gone, just in the glass, and I quickly began to sketch a palm-size pentagram to give the curse structure.
The kitchen was silent, all good vampires asleep downstairs and Jenks napping in the boat. The hiss of the yew against the glass sent up the scent of dust and hot sand, and again I marveled that I could actually see it burning the glass on both sides, wisps of smoke rebounding against the inside of the