“Gideon!” I screamed in desperation, my voice cracking. The warlock was the only thing that could protect her from me.
A breeze brushed against me as the warlock rushed in, intercepting Trixie. “You can’t. Leave this place.”
“He needs help,” Trixie argued, panic entering her lovely voice.
“He’s going to kill you if you don’t leave,” Gideon snapped.
I sensed movement near me and I wanted to cry. I’d forgotten about Serah. A gentle hand touched mine and my control over Zyrus snapped like a rubber band. We lunged for her, mouth open and fingers curled as if they were tipped with talons, ready to shred flesh until there was nothing left but a bloody puddle. A low rush of energy shoved Serah out of my reach and a scream exploded from my throat.
Using the demon’s momentary shock and disappointment, I tangled up some dark energy with my fingers and slammed my hands down on the cold concrete. At the same time, I whispered the same words I’d used while carving the demon’s symbol into my hand. Chunks of concrete exploded up into the air around me as magic blasted down into the foundation. In a flash of bright white light, the demon’s symbol was carved into the concrete. With the last breath I could draw, I shouted the binding spell.
Zyrus gathered its energy and launched us at Trixie and Gideon, but my body crashed against an invisible barrier marked by the edge of the symbol in the concrete floor. The demon’s rage consumed me until I felt my own consciousness floating back away from Trixie’s horrified looks and Gideon’s sadness. My body slammed into the barrier again and again in the demon’s desperate bid to be free, but the binding spell held.
You’ve betrayed me!
“No, you are attempting to betray me,” I said in a low, broken voice. My throat was raw from the screaming, and I no longer cared that my companions could hear me speaking to the demon I’d summoned. “Our target was the unicorn. That was all.”
I want the elf.
“You can’t have her. And neither can I.”
“Gage, please, let me help you,” Trixie said softly, tears streaking down her too pale face. Blood stained her tangled blonde hair and there was more blood on her wrists where she’d struggled against the ropes. She’d been hurt because of me and I wanted to cry. This was my fault.
I slowly collapsed in the middle of the symbol, my legs folded in front of me. I couldn’t remember ever feeling so tired in my life. My body ached. Pain reached down to my soul as Zyrus continued to throw a temper tantrum within me.
Let her help you.
Zyrus taunted, but we were one and I knew its hope was to have Trixie step inside the binding spell so that it could attack. I was too tired to keep holding it back. Zyrus would win and Trixie would be dead.
“You called me Master,” I murmured, ignoring Gideon’s stunned expression. “You will obey me.”
Zyrus cursed me, causing more pain to tear through my head, but I forced an ugly laugh when I wanted to scream. “You need me.” When the demon stilled and grew thoughtful, I closed my eyes and said silently, We need each other.
The demon sensed the promise in those words and I felt its smile. Its struggles for control ceased completely and Zyrus redirected the energy that it had toward healing all my aches and pains.
Turning my left hand over so that the palm was up, I looked at Gideon, who was watching me warily. “Heal the cuts,” I said, because I knew the demon would never willingly erase his doorway into my body.
The warlock slowly released Trixie, making sure that she didn’t rush toward me before he approached us. Zyrus stirred restlessly within me, but it didn’t act as if it was plotting an attack. It was fighting its own instincts demanding that it kill the warlock. Without crossing the barrier created by the symbol in the floor, Gideon reached out his wand and used the same healing spell he’d taught me just days ago. The cuts slowly disappeared, not even leaving behind a scar.
Zyrus gave a final snarl through my head before the demon was pulled from me and into the symbol upon which I sat. With the symbol no longer etched into my hand, the demon’s powers were sucked