Sin & Surrender (Demigod of San Francisco #6)(77)

They weren’t going to help me.

I peeled away the violet cord, freeing myself, and managed to slip past his prongs. But when I took hold of his soul, it was impossible to rip back out. He had too much power. It felt like fighting a Demigod.

“You have such amazing potential,” he said, already attacking my soul box again. His technique was ten times better than mine. He’d had a lifetime of practice, whereas I was just starting. Lord, how it showed. “I can teach you. You can be mighty. Together we will bring Demigods to their knees.”

“All you know how to do is kill!” I thwarted his prying magical fingers as I broke one of his prongs. He tried to rebuild it, but I quickly reconstructed it myself to block his attempt. My prong wouldn’t do anything to keep his soul in place, but it would get in the way.

He grunted. “Clever lady. I wouldn’t have thought of that.”

Thank God I’d become a fast learner under not-Harding’s guidance.

“There is more to this magic than just killing.” I didn’t think there was much chance of talking him around, but I had to try. “You can save people with this magic.”

“You become a puppet with this magic.” His violet cord, never far away, attached to me again, draining me. He walked closer.

I backed up.

“You won’t be a puppet if you find someone to protect and respect you.” I ripped free of his violet cord again, tired now, and took out another of his prongs. I created a block to stop him from re-erecting it as he tore down the first block.

I nearly cried in frustration.

“Where is your protection now?” he asked. “Zander only took notice of me when I killed people he was using. When I killed his profit centers. He only took action when he, himself, was affected. But now, when it’s just you trying to protect someone else’s people, where is he? Where are any of them?”

“They are my people. We’re a crew.” I felt Kieran on the move. He was coming for me, but he was on the other side of the building with crowds of panicking people in his way. It would take him too long to get to me. Damion was too strong.

The violet cord sucked in another gulp of my energy. Damion’s magical touch found purchase, seeping into my soul casing. In just a moment he’d have a choice—try to bind me in whatever spirit way he could devise, or rip out my spirit and end my life.

It was hard to breathe. Fear fogged my brain. I was outmatched and outgunned. Damion was more experienced and more powerful. My Spirit Walker magic wouldn’t save me here.

Something Magnus had said in Lydia’s house registered.

It is not easy to control someone with chaos blood.

Struggling to stay in this fight, ripping at his soul casing in desperation, I did the only thing I could think of. I sought my mother’s help.





23





Alexis





I thought of my mother with everything I had. My energy drained a little more. I could feel Damion working, trying to build a link between us, and although it terrified me, it was the only thing keeping him from yanking out my life. I had precious few moments.

The Line pulsed as if trying to communicate with me, but I dared not slip into spirit, or Damion would have me. I called to my mother, pleading, begging her to forgive this interruption and come to me. The Line pulsed again, and then I felt a tug, like a rope had landed in my hands and someone on the other end was already tugging.

I pried off another of Damion’s prongs, rebuilt it, and tore down the first, trying to work on multiple things at a time, like he was so adept at doing. I pushed away his violet cord and tried to attach my own cord to him. I could not banish him from my soul box, though. I could not stop him from touching the very essence of me, a place only Kieran had touched before.

Tears in my eyes, hands clenched in frustration, I wailed across all of spirit for my mother.

A shape appeared behind the veil, coming into crisper focus as it stepped into the plane of the Line. Another step brought her into my plane. Young and beautiful and vibrant, she was just as I remembered her from my youth. Her sleepy smile reminded me of Sunday mornings in the bright October sun, sitting in the backyard together as she indulged in her coffee and newspaper, remarking on what a fine life we had.

She blinked when she saw me, the confusion of the at-rest suddenly finding themselves awake again.

“Alexis?” She looked around in confusion. “Where are we?”

“Mom, help. Please. I’m in a fix. Kieran is on his way, but he won’t make it in time. I don’t have enough power to beat this guy. I don’t have enough skill! But I have your magic. I know I do. If I can use it, maybe it’ll at least help me stall until Kieran gets here.”

It had never taken my mother very long to get into the flow of things.

Her next blink cleared the haze in an instant. She looked down at my chest, where the spirit connection was forming, and slanted a glance at Damion down the way. He was still fighting my efforts to get him out of the cadaver, but it hadn’t hindered what he was doing.

Despite the obvious danger, her smile was as blasé as I remembered. My heart swelled. She might look younger now, but this was my mom. This was the woman who’d always faced the craziness around us, which she’d apparently had a hand in creating, with unparalleled confidence and effortless efficiency. This was the woman who’d saved kids off the street, and built a loving home from nothing. If ever there was a role model for survival skills, it was this woman.