Demons (Darkness #4)(25)

A shiver went up my back, both because he said family, and because Stefan had been dropping titles off and on, anyway. Jonas’ lips quirked, probably thinking the same thing. Right before he shoved his phone in my face.

“Jonas, I’ll ask him later,” I mumbled. The man was starting to be as overbearing as Charles.

“He has a million things to prepare and see to. He might have to rearrange his schedule.” The phone inched toward my nose.

“What are you, his secretary? I’ll ask him later.”

“Just text him,” Ann helped from the back. “That way it won’t be embarrassing asking honey-do-dah for a date with your new dad in front of other people.”

“Yes, thanks for saving me all that embarrassment, Ann,” I replied in a dry tone.

“No worries.”

I pushed Jonas’ meaty hand away from my face as we pulled up to Jefferson Park, bringing out my own phone and whipping off a text real quick. I figured I’d leave it open—I’d ask if he wanted to go, but tell him it was totally fine if he didn’t. Because he definitely wouldn’t—he’d be worried he’d finally start a fight…

The night pressed against the windows, the waning moon not giving us much to see by. And by ‘us,’ I really meant me, because even Ann had better night vision than humans.

I climbed out of the car into the stillness of midnight. The lush night harbored a chill that had me pulling my hoody tightly around my body. Large oak trees reached overhead, their leaves littering the ground, a blanket of browns and blacks, the brilliant colors of fall muted in the darkness. Dominicous stepped out beside me, standing close, his body poised, his pleasantness shed like a second skin. His eyes scanned the area, his arms glowing lightly.

Ann gracefully stepped around the car, followed by the stern and serious face of Charles. Last came Jonas, his hulking shoulders and thick arms lightly flexed, prepared for the anti-Christ as a normal course of his duties.

Something felt off about this place. Some weird energy was poking at me. It was like the equivalent of someone swishing the very ends of my hair. Disturbing.

“Something’s not right,” I said slowly, turning toward a black patch between two monstrous oaks. “I feel…”

Charles stepped up beside me, a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t go chasing demons, Sasha. If something pulls at you, you shout that shiznit out.”

“There ain’t no demons.” Jonas stalked by, his glare flaying Ann as he passed her. “Follow me.”

He led the way through the still copse of giant trunks, the ground bumpy with fallen acorns. The thick hush of the night hovered, sound strangely deadened. Another few steps had us nearing the edge of the plant life, the tableau opening up into a flat grassy soccer field with two skeletal frames of soccer goals hunkering in the distance. Beyond that, a playground spread out, shadowed and deserted.

“Mage, I ask permission to assume control of the battle tactics,” Dominicous said officially.

The guy was the Regional, for Christ sakes. He didn’t have to ask for anything, especially of an inexperienced mage. But this was a teach Sasha how to lead session, so I let it go.

“Yes, that would be helpful, thank you,” I replied, feeling that weird magical presence prickling my skin. Like someone tapping me on the shoulder softly, but when I turned, all I found was empty air. It unsettled me. Whatever hovered here was not natural, whispering without sound. Blowing on my face and then disappearing.

“Okay, I’m going to feel this out. You guys should all give me some space. Last time, my magic woke up something awful.” I let the rush of the elements fill me as the guys and gal drifted to the side, even Ann in predator mode, filling in as one of the team. Jonas, for a wonder, let her.

Dominicous gave instructions, but I didn’t hear him. I let my focus hone and my magical feelers drift out, covering the area in a thin fog of black. I could feel the remnants of something magical lingering. Like a rope with the frayed ends singed, the magic had been cauterized. Whatever spell was weaved originally had been snuffed out.

I wandered forward, through the trees, ducking branches and brushing leaves away from my face. The unsettled feeling got stronger, my skin starting to itch. I emerged through a wall of branches and found myself in a small clearing, closed in by trees. A rough circle scarred the trampled grass, the bent and broken blades shimmering with dew in the faint moonlight. My eyes caught a symbol edged in the thick bark of a tree at the edge of the open space.

“A good ol’ pentagram,” I mumbled quietly. “As if that wouldn’t give it away.”

The magic here lay across the ground in a twisted blanket of decay. Spells had been laid, woven and coaxed to life, but whatever came of it had fallen apart. Fallen apart, but not disintegrated back into nature, as elements naturally did. The magic user was working with bad juju on this one. Twenty bucks said he then moved on to experiment in a warehouse.

“Well, at least there isn’t a demon to deal with. That’s something.”

“What’s that, sweet thang?”

I started at the unfamiliar voice. To the right, a man wiped draping branches out of the way and stepped into the small clearing. I flinched as his foot stepped on the line of the circle, my mind registering that he’d interrupted a barrier, my logic late in mentioning that it wasn’t a barrier anymore.