A Darker Past (The Darker Agency #2)(77)

With unadulterated hunger in her eyes, Cassidy reached for it without hesitation, but he closed his fist and jerked it away. “First, I’m curious about something. What does your daughter think of your sacrifice?”

“Bastard,” she cursed. “You got what you wanted. Everything that you wanted. Now settle our deal.”

“What is he talking about?” Kendra asked. Her voice cracked, and she wrenched free from Cassidy’s grip and took several steps back until she was standing next to Mom and me. “Sacrifice? What deal? What did you do?”

When Cassidy didn’t answer, Mom did. She was the only woman I knew that could look fierce, yet sympathetic at the same time. “She tricked us into getting the prison by letting you be taken, insinuating that she wanted to stop Gressil from killing more of her coven sisters. But there’s more, isn’t there, Cass?”

Cassidy glared at her, but didn’t deny a thing.

“The Belfair line has fallen so far,” Gressil said with a short laugh. He opened his hand again, this time extending it toward Kendra. The glass. “In return for this, your mother agreed to supply me with the prison—and the means to break back into the Shadow Realm.”

It took me a second, but when the realization of what he was saying hit, I was sick. I tasted bile and swallowed it back, a trail of acid burning its way down my throat. After the demon’s release from the mirror, he was weak. The only way to recharge and gain enough energy was to steal magical souls. “Oh my God…”

“It wasn’t about revenge,” Mom said, frowning. She understood, too, and she looked as sick as I felt. “All those witches—your coven—you set them up.”

“Set them—” Kendra’s face paled. “You fed them to him.” In all the years I’d known her, I’d never seen such disgust in her expression. Such hate. I didn’t think her capable of it.

“For a piece of glass,” I added.

Mom let out a short laugh. “It’s not just glass, Jessie. It’s the key to the missing Belfair power. It’s what Lorna sacrificed in order to trap Gressil in the mirror. Her power. Am I right, Cass?”

Gressil laughed again. “Foolish humans. So obsessed with power. When you told her my mirror had been broken, the witch knew I would come for her. She summoned me first. Asmodeus’s prison and three witch souls, in exchange for the opportunity to restore her line and coven to its former glory.”

I glanced at Kendra, my throat dry. “Three?”

“The young Belfair’s soul is part of our deal.”

Kendra snatched the glass from Gressil’s palm as Cassidy watched. It was obvious her mother wanted to snatch the shard away, but she kept silent and still. “You sent our sisters to die over this…” It wasn’t a question. It was a curse. Kendra’s voice cracked. “You sent me to die.”

“Your sacrifice is needed for the glory of our line. We will be stronger in the future. We can rebuild. I did this for the coven,” Cassidy yelled, expression hardening. She made a grab for the glass, but Kendra jerked it away.

“No,” Kendra said. She dropped the small shard of glass to the floor and stomped hard on it, grounding her heel. The sound it made as it shattered was drowned out by Cassidy’s scream.

She dropped to her knees and began scraping up the bits. “What have you done?” she wailed, letting the dust slip through her fingers.

As Kendra moved her foot aside, she glared at her mother. An expression filled with disdain and fury. “This had nothing to do with the coven. You did this for you.”

“You’ve killed our line. Doomed us to—”

“To what?” Kendra fired back. This was the newly improved Kendra. The one who’d started standing up to her mother and gained confidence through her craft. “To be like other witches? I think Lorna was right. The Belfairs have a sad history of power abuse. It’s going to change. We will do good with our magic.”

“Enough!” Gressil boomed behind them. “I grow tired of this squabble. I will take the witch and the prison.”

It all happened in a matter of seconds. Purple smoke erupted from the tips of Gressil’s fingers. It shot across and wrapped around Kendra’s ankle, sending her off-balance and to the grass. She screamed as Mom tried to keep the demon from dragging her away. I blinked. That was all. In an instant, the smoke had transported her to Gressil’s side and he was bending to retrieve the prison.

The moment his finger’s touched the thing, the temperature in the clearing dropped twenty degrees. “What—”

The smoke around Kendra’s ankle dissipated, and she scrambled to her feet, sprinting back to us. Swirls of transparent blue rose from the ground and oozed from the box. Shapeless forms churned around him. They created a barrier, and struggle as he did, he couldn’t seem to break free.

The demon raged against his prison and let out a roar that sent the hairs on my arms jumping to attention. The blue blobs continued to swirl around him, making me dizzy, but they seemed to be slowing down. Keeping him frozen in place. “This won’t hold me forever.”

One of the blue blobs rose above his head, and with an audible pop, exploded.

“What are those things?”

Mom didn’t take her eyes off Gressil. “Paulson’s special blend of insurance.”