my face.
I couldn’t help but feel like a total fink as I sat across from the Senior Magister and recounted every sordid detail of my powwow with Nikki. But honestly, what else could I do? The girl had completely lost touch with reality and was hellbent on birthing Lucifer’s child, like having the devil’s baby was just a normal part of senior year. Not to mention her very open and very chilling threat on my life.
“She’s not going to give up easily,” I said as I sank back into the leather chair in front of his desk.
“How many demons did you say you saw?” he asked, his brows furrowed as he pressed his fingers together in a teepee.
“Five—well four now, but there could’ve been more.” Something was telling me there was a lot more and that it was only the beginning. “You mentioned yesterday that demon activity is on the rise. Do you think they’re coming here specifically for her? To protect her and the baby?” I asked, feeling a lump brewing at the back of my throat.
“It certainly looks that way.” He exhaled sharply and then flattened his hands against his desk. “We’re running out of time, Jemma. If things continue this way, which they will, we won’t be able to get within a mile of her. The Horsemen don’t have a chance in hell of stopping this without their full power.”
“I know that.”
“Then you’ve made your decision?” he asked, hope burgeoning in his eyes.
“No. Not exactly,” I said and dropped my gaze, avoiding the disappointment in his eyes. “I have some questions first.”
“Questions? Very well then. I’m all ears.”
The lump in my throat thickened as I worked up the courage to ask the question that was plaguing my mind. “If I agree to do this, to join them or whatever, what happens to me after the fact?”
“After the fact?” he repeated, his forehead crinkling.
“They slept for centuries just waiting for this day to come and I imagine once the threat is gone, they will sleep again, right?” He didn’t answer, but I could tell he knew where I was going with this. “What happens to me when that happens? Do I get my life back after this or am I cursed to sleep for the rest of eternity, too?”
He sank back in his chair and let out a weighty breath. “The truth?”
“Please.” As if I’d want anything else.
“We don’t actually know what will happen once their objective is completed.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and lowered my head. That was precisely the answer I didn’t want to hear.
“As daunting as that is to hear, I’m afraid there is no other choice here, Jemma. You must once again sacrifice the life of one for the greater good of all.”
My angry eyes snapped to his. “Well, isn’t that easy for you to say. You’re not the one that’s always having to make all the sacrifices here, are you?”
“Indeed, you are right,” he said and then dipped his head in a nod. “If it’s any consolation, I would take this burden from you in a moment’s breath if I could.”
“Well, you can’t so it’s not,” I muttered without even bothering to sugarcoat it. Frankly, I was sick of everyone telling me what I had to do and what I needed to give up for everyone else’s sake. What about my sake? What about the life I had planned? What about Trace and his vision?
I couldn’t help but wonder if any of that would ever happen now, and it was in that moment of wondering that I realized how much I actually wanted it to be true. I wanted to be with him—to walk down the aisle and marry him, to stop running and hunting and dying…to finally have my happily ever after.
What if agreeing to do this changed all of that? What if taking this on became the very thing that would finally take my future out from under me?
Visceral fear spasmed through my body as I looked up and met the Magister’s eyes. “I’m going to need more time to think about this,” I said, trying to shake away the feeling of impending doom.
He grimaced, the frown reaching all the way up to his disappointed eyes. “We’re running out of time, Jemma.”
“Well, I’m running out of life here so I’m going to need a minute to think about this,” I said and then stood up from my chair. “I’ll let you know when I’ve made my decision.”
He nodded, this time, hearing