it boomeranged back toward the blue diamond with the force of a thousand speeding trains. Feeling it coming, I ducked and braced.
The boards covering the windows exploded inward. Wood shards and the window’s remaining glass fragments pelted me before the magic caught me in a full-body blow that slammed me up and into the ceiling. Ian was thrown backward hard enough to tear a line of ski lockers off the wall. My head rang, my body ached, and I could barely see through the haze of garbage that swirled around like the world’s ugliest confetti, but despite all that, I let out a hoarse cry.
“Got you!”
The magic that had blown us off our feet now prevented anyone from entering the pentagram that surrounded the entire lodge and some of its grounds—critical to keeping Dagon from bringing in demon reinforcements. But the circle around the pentagram was the real trap. It kept everyone inside its limits until the sun shone through the blue diamond that now lay like a discarded toy on the garbage-strewn floor. No way in, no way out. One way or the other, our war with Dagon ended tonight.
Ian untangled himself from the lockers, then threw the mangled mess aside to check on me. “I’m fine,” I assured him, even though my arm felt like it was paralyzed from holding the diamond while all that magic funneled through it.
“Then let’s get the sod.” Blood practically dripped from Ian’s tone. “The spell your father put on Dagon should have him on his knees from being this close to me—”
“I am not on my knees,” a familiar voice hissed.
Both of us turned.
Dagon was at the top of the staircase connecting the second floor to this room. His blue eyes gleamed with malice and his pale blond hair swirled from the residual waves of magic, but as described, he wasn’t on his knees. He did lean heavily on Ereshki, though, and she looked like she wasn’t enjoying being his version of a pair of crutches. That could be because she looked exhausted. Whatever she’d been doing the past three days had taken a toll on her.
“What do you think you accomplished with that spell?” Dagon continued in the same snakelike tone.
“Consider the doors on this place locked,” I replied with deep satisfaction.
Ian gave the demon a brilliant smile. “Used the blue diamond I stole from you to anchor the spell.”
Dagon didn’t look afraid at hearing he was locked in with us. I hoped that was overconfidence and not something more ominous.
Ereshki appeared rattled, though, which was cold comfort. “You broke your vow,” she said. “Dagon told me you would.”
“He was wrong,” I replied. “I’m not going to kill you, Ereshki. Ian, however, has other intentions.”
Ian’s smile made ice roll over my skin despite it being aimed at Ereshki, not me. If death indulged in foreplay before getting to the final act, it would start with that smile.
“Shall we, poppet?” he purred at her.
Ereshki shuddered. Dagon spat. “We’re all trapped in here for however long your spell lasts, so if you want me, here I am!”
He was taunting me to charge him. Doing anything that Dagon wanted me to do would backfire, so I stayed where I was. Ian must have thought it was a trap, too. He put a hand on my arm.
“Don’t move,” he said through newly gritted teeth. “I feel something building . . .”
I pulled the pin on my other nature, trusting that more than whatever the demon was about to do. Power flooded me, blacking out my vision while sending my other senses into overdrive. I sent that power toward Dagon, seeking every drop of liquid in his body. Then I tightened my power around them and yanked. He couldn’t hurt us if he was too dehydrated to move.
Dagon’s fluids hit the floor in a wide swath of red I felt rather than saw. The crash I heard was Dagon crumpling to the ground, Ereshki unable to bear the full brunt of his weight any longer. Then the multiple satisfying thumps must have been his body hitting the steps as Dagon fell down the stairs.
I had an instant to savor the sound before Dagon’s magic slammed into me with such force, all of my senses blinked out.
Chapter 40
I opened my eyes, revealing that I was now crumpled in the same spot where my vampire half had stood. I rose to my feet, noting with detached surprise that everything hurt. I couldn’t see a wound, so there was