“Oh, yeah. I’m not sure how this can work though.” He tapped the paper. “It can draw the demon out of me, but there’s no promise of expulsion from this realm once that’s done. I don’t want a stray demon wandering about Paris looking for another host.”
“If it’s incorporeal it’ll get sucked to the place of all demons, as the others did when I expelled them from you.”
“Right. In theory. But what if it wanted to have sex with you?”
“I don’t think, well— I’m sure that won’t happen.”
He felt sure it would. And he didn’t want Vika to have to deal with that, nor could he conceive of allowing such a thing. “No, I don’t think I can do this.”
“But, CJ, it’s the next best thing to me accidentally stumbling onto another corpse light while you’re around.”
“That happy accident has occurred twice now. Not so accidental, if you ask me. And what if, once released, the demon entered you?”
“What do you mean? How would it enter—?”
“If it can latch onto a new host, it will. If a simple corpse light can attach to your soul, I don’t want to think of what a demon could do to you. Yeah, I don’t think this is a good idea.”
He stood, but Vika grabbed his wrist, and he reluctantly sat down.
“We can do this, Certainly. I want to do it for you.” She touched him above his temple, where she must have felt his pulse. It felt like her own brand of skin magic, humming softly, a reminder of their combined powers. “If we think it’s not going well, we can abandon ship. No losses, just some great sex.” She touched her grandmother’s nail. “And I’ve this as protection. Please? I want to try this for you.”
“I don’t understand. After nearly tossing you down the stairs the other day, forcing you on a manic car chase, and generally being an asshole when occupied by my gang of demons, how can you still want to be kind to me?”
“I don’t understand how you can still ask such a question.”
“I know we’ve grown closer. Hell, making love with you is amazing. I feel connected to you, Vika. But I don’t want you to trip over the exciting stuff and land in the messy stuff. Said messy stuff being me. I know you think I’m in your life to muss you up, but—”
“Don’t you trust I’m smart enough to handle this relationship?”
“Is this a relationship?” he said softly. “Because if it is, how did I get so lucky?”
She smoothed her palm along his cheek. “Look into my eyes, lover.”
He did so and found he could stare endlessly into Vika’s eyes. To fall into that inviting forest and know freedom. Peace.
But he would not. Glancing aside, he said, “We should never soul gaze. Not until the demons are gone.”
“Then let’s make it happen.” She kissed him, her mouth open and soft, tearing away his reluctance kiss by kiss. Wrapping his arms about her, he pulled her onto his lap. His hands strayed to her breasts, her thighs, her mons beneath the short crocheted skirt.
“Mmm, we’ve a good start,” she suggested.
And he wasn’t going to lose this erection anytime soon. Nodding, he relented.
“Thank you. I brought along some things listed in the spell, but I don’t have the rue.”
“I have hellebore and rue. And red candles. You need red for sex magic.”
“And blood,” she said softly. “You’ll need to consecrate your athame.”
“And I’ll require something a little stronger than chartreuse. Probably whiskey.” He drew her face toward him and centered on her gaze. “You sure about this?”
She nodded, her eyes alight with possibility. “Race you to the spell table.”
* * *
Glasses on to read the spell, Certainly had taken off his shirt and pointed out the tattoo above his right hip to Vika. It wasn’t for sex spells but for endurance and strength.
“And, it can deflect a bullet,” he said proudly, tapping the tiny compilation of stacked symbols queued in three narrow lines down his side, where the muscles flexed and drew her attention away from the dark lines.
“You ever test that claim?” she asked.
“In the nineteen-sixties I took a bullet to the leg.” He took a swig from the whiskey bottle sitting on the spell table. “It skimmed off me and hit an oak tree instead. Thanks to this.”
Vika nodded, not sure if she could buy into that or, more likely, the possibility