Released (The Eternal Balance #3)(32)
“Really? What could I possibly do to you?” I spread my arms wide. “In here? After your little magic trick took down something like him?” I pointed to Jax.
It took a minute, but Van finally nodded, leading me away from the group. When she stopped a few feet away, I gestured to the door. What I had to say needed to be away from all prying ears.
Once the door closed behind me, and the tiny bell at the top jingled cheerfully, I sighed. “You don’t know me, so you sure as hell have no reason to trust me, but I need your help…” I eyed the building. What I had to tell her needed to remain between the two of us.
“They can’t hear anything we say, if that’s what you’re worried about. Even the demon. Magic,” she said with the smallest hint of a grin.
I let out a relieved breath. “Good. So, will you help me?”
“By giving that thing in there Sadie’s stone?” Her expression was stony, eyes narrowed and jaw tight. Van had seen things. She came across as average on first glance, but there was hardness to her. Scars that had shaped her, had fostered caution. I, more than anyone else I knew—other than Jax—understood her reluctance. We were similar, and under different circumstances I could see us getting along.
“I don’t want you giving the stone to the demon. I want you to give it to me.”
She snorted. “Because giving it to the demon’s whore is so much better?”
A burst of anger flared, but I stuffed it down and focused on my goal. Jax. “That guy in there? The one whose skin that demon is wearing like a Santa suit? He’s my entire universe, and I want him—I need him—back.”
“What’s that got to do with my sister’s stone?”
“It’s crazy powerful. You said so yourself. I think I can use it to banish the demon and save Jax.”
Van glanced through the window, gaze settling on Jax’s body. “What exactly are you basing this theory on?” She stuffed both hands into her pockets and turned back to me. “You’re…something. I can feel it. There’s a hum about you, I’m just not sure what it is. But you’re not a witch—that much I’m sure of. You have no actual power. How do you expect to wield the stone to banish a demon from a man’s body?”
I shrugged, feeling slightly less confident about the whole thing than I had before. I had no idea how I was going to do it, I was only sure that there had to be some way I could. “Well, if you put it that way…” I had to do this. Had to win her over. If I couldn’t wield the stone, then maybe she could. Maybe she would… “You’re right. I’m not a witch. Wouldn’t know the first thing about pureeing toadstool and serving up lizard tongue—”
“We don’t do that.”
“Whatever,” I said. “But I am something. Someone. Someone who will do just about anything to save the man she loves.”
“The stone is too dangerous. I have it well hidden.”
“Then help me. I have no magic, but I promise you—I have power.”
Her eyes narrowed even further. “What are you?”
The words came before I gave it thought. “I’m what they call a Pure.” Maybe I shouldn’t be advertising that fact all over the place, but what did I have to lose? I’d already been claimed—by myself—so no one could snap me up and take my power for themselves. Not without my permission—which I had no intention of giving. “It’s—”
Her eyes went wide. “I know what a Pure is,” Van said. The awe in her voice was outdone by the wonder in her expression. Wonder that was quickly displaced by something darker. “And you’re a liar. There’s no such thing as a live Pure.”
“There is now,” I said, unable to keep the challenge from my voice. “Look, the whole thing is a long, complicated story—like the rest of this. One I don’t really have time to rehash right now. My heart stopped, I was activated, and I claimed myself. End of story.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “So you have access to the largest source of otherworldly energy…and you’re hanging out with a demon? Guess we know which way you swing.”
I rolled my eyes. “I already explained this to you. As long as that thing is wearing my boyfriend, then it’s my new BFF. If you help me, I can get rid of it and then focus on fixing this Pure thing.”
Van snorted. “Fixing this Pure thing? What the hell does that mean?”
“I didn’t ask for this,” I said. The vehemence in my voice surprised me a little. I hadn’t made a conscious decision about it, since Jax was my current focus, but the truth was I wanted this power gone. Claimed or not, I had no desire to live my life on the run from the grabby hands of heaven and hell and whatever the hell else might be lurking around out there. I wanted normal. “If there’s a way to get rid of it, to be normal, then I intend to do it.”
Van laughed. “Get rid of it? Nothing short of a nuclear explosion can dissipate Pure energy. Unless you have the ability to go supernova, then you’re stuck with it.”
“Whatever,” I said, trying to hide my disappointment. I mean, what did she know? There could be something out there, right? A way to right the disaster Heckle had caused. I’d just need to look harder—once this was all over. Maybe a different witch. Some kind of spell. A magic amulet… “I’m begging for your help, Van. I lost him once already. I can’t survive it again.”