I spent an uncomfortable night, dozing on a folding chair in the basement of Parsi Enterprises. I waited for Hecate to show, but she never made an appearance.
At around 9 a.m., Nona wandered down. “Why don’t you take a break?” she suggested.
I hesitated and she gave me an exasperated look. “You don’t think I can handle anyone who shows up?”
I’d unintentionally hurt her pride. Nona was still raw from Sawyer’s death. “Of course you can take care of things,” I said. “Maybe I’ll check in on Rebecca.”
“She’s here,” Nona replied. “Why don’t you take her across the street for some tea? She looks terrible.”
I found Rebecca in Morta’s office, sitting in Morta’s chair.
“She hates it when you sit in her chair,” I said.
Rebecca grinned. “I know.”
Nona was right. Rebecca did look terrible.
“Shouldn’t you be resting?” The bruises had faded, but there were dark rings under her eyes. “It looks like someone used a Sharpie on your eyes.”
Rebecca put her feet up on Mona’s desk. “Nona send you up here to babysit me?”
“Probably,” I said. “I’ve been sleeping on a folding chair all night. Want to grab a cup of coffee?”
“Don’t tell me you want to bond?”
“I want to ask you something,” I said.
“Okay,” she said. She moved slowly, but I was amazed at how fast she’d already healed.
Across the street, I ordered two red-eyes for me and a hot tea for Rebecca.
Rebecca took a sip of her tea and then added a dollop of honey.“What did you want to ask me?”
“We’re going to trap Hecate,” I said. “But if it doesn’t work, if I can’t get her out of Willow’s body, I want you to do something for me.”
“What?”
“Kill Willow.”
She gaped at me. “Fuck, Nyx,” she said. “You’ve threatened the life of anyone who looked at the naiad wrong. Why’d you change your mind?”
“I was in Asphodel,” I said. “A bunch of spirits milling around. It’s quiet. Serene. Better than sharing a body with Hecate.”
She met my eyes. “Why me? Why not one of the other Fates?”
“Naomi is too softhearted,” I said. “And I don’t know if Claire has what it takes to kill someone.”
“But I do?”
“Yes.”
She nodded. “I’ll do it. But only if there are no other options.”
On our way back to Parsi, I spotted one of Hecate’s demons watching us from the shadow of a building.
“Snooping for your boss?” I asked the demon.
He sneered at me. “You pissed her off.”
“I thought she was already pissed off.”
“She was only playing before,” he said. “She wanted me to let you know she’s getting rid of the naiad.”
Rebecca hissed. “You cockroach.”
“She might want to rethink that.” I kept my voice even, but it took an effort.
“Why’s that?” I’d managed to surprise him.
“Because I have her body,” I said. “And Willow’s continuing existence is the only thing keeping me from building a great big fire and tossing Hecate’s body into it.”
“You’re lying,” he said.
“Want to take that chance?” I said. “If I were you, I’d scurry back and tell the boss lady.”
We watched him leave. “I guess we’ll have company tonight,” Rebecca commented.
“If that doesn’t get Hecate here, nothing will,” I said.
In our absence, one of the Fates’ flunkies had brought a couple of folding cots and set them up near the cage where we’d stashed Hecate’s body. I persuaded Rebecca to get some rest, but she wouldn’t leave the building. “I promised you,” she said. “I’m staying.”
My sister was stubborn. Instead of arguing with her, I stretched out on one of the cots. “You take first watch.”
I’d dozed off, but a small sound woke me up. In the cage across from us, the Phoenix cawed softly and then ruffled its feathers.
Willow/Hecate walked in. Her hands were bloody. I had a feeling I knew what had happened to the security guard. Rebecca was still in the cot next to mine, but she was awake.
“You have something of mine,” Hecate said, “and I want it back.” Willow’s complexion was normally a translucent blue, but ropy green veins ran under the skin.
“How about I trade you for it? Willow’s body for yours.”
I grabbed her arm and smeared the elixir on her forehead, lips, and cheeks. “Expello,” I commanded. “Get the hell out of Willow’s body.” I added. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped forward.
“Where am I?” Willow said. “Nyx, what happened?”
It had worked. Willow was free, but something still held me back from celebrating.
She flung herself into my arms. She felt like Willow.
“Nyx, you saved me. I’m so grateful.” She sounded like Willow, but I still wasn’t sure.
She kissed me, a wet passionate kiss full of nymph magic. My suspicions were correct.
“Kiss me again,” I commanded, struggling to keep my voice sound like that of an eager lover.
She did. My grip on her tightened. She mistook it for passion and put her head on my shoulder. “Let’s go home.”
“I don’t think so, Hecate.” Willow, the real Willow, had made a Pignus Sanguinus, a blood oath to her loathsome groom. She was bound by honor, and by magic, to remain faithful. She wouldn’t have risked her life or her honor to kiss me, no matter how much I wanted her to. And not once had ever she used nymph magic to seduce me. She hadn’t needed to. She wasn’t Willow.
Willow’s face changed and for a second, something dark and deadly swam in her eyes. Hecate’s voice came out of Willow’s mouth. “You thought it would be that easy to reverse a possession? I’ve seen that little trick before.”
“I know,” I said. “But you haven’t seen this.” I tightened my grip even more before I used my athame to cut my hand.
She’d taken my blood when Wren slit my throat. “You wanted my blood so badly,” I said. “You’re about to get a bellyful.” I smeared my blood onto her lips and began to chant. She tried to spit it out, but I held her jaw tight as my blood ran into her mouth.
A trickle of a chartreuse substance came out of her mouth. Her body slumped and I caught her in my arms before she fell.
A piercing scream cut the silence. Then another and another. I couldn’t tell if it was Willow or Hecate screaming in pain, but the possibility that it was Willow made me shudder. The noise continued, but weaker, like she was walking through a long tunnel.
“Jesus, Doc, did you know?”
“I did,” he admitted. “But I didn’t want to tell you.”
“Why not?”
“I didn’t think you’d go through with it if you knew Willow would be in pain.”
I glared at him. “You’re right.”
Forced out of Willow’s body, Hecate’s spirit headed for home. Hecate was forced back in her own body, which we’d covered with more of the black asphodel elixir. I smeared more of my blood onto her skin and watched as the elixir crystallized into long strands and bound Hecate tight.
Hecate was trapped inside a crystal web. The more she struggled, the tighter the strands wound around her body. Her eyes were black with fury and she screamed over and over, muttering command after command, spell after spell. As fast as she uttered spells, I repelled them.
I threw a counterspell at her. A strand covered her mouth and she tried biting through it, but it held fast. The strands wrapped around her until she looked like a mummy. She fought until she didn’t have any breath left. Eventually, she stopped struggling.
“Is she dead?”
“No,” I said. “But she won’t get out of that, not in a thousand years.”
Willow’s prone body lay on the floor.
“Willow?”
Hecate was gone, but Willow was cold and unmoving. I laid my head on her chest and listened. There was a faint thump, but it was so weak. The knowledge that I’d failed to save her was a lump in my throat.
I wrapped her in my jacket and fumbled for the healing amulet. Panic blanked my mind, but I finally remembered the words to the spell.
I completed the ritual and then waited, but there was no change. I wasn’t going to let my aunts snip Willow’s thread of fate.
“Damn it, Willow, just breathe.”
She leaned over and retched. More of the foamy yellow substance came out of her mouth.
“Nyx, where am I?”
“Don’t talk,” I said. “I’ll get you to the water.”
A naiad healed best surrounded by water. I ran to the Caddy with Willow in my arms and then broke several traffic laws to get her to the lake.
I threw the Caddy into park and carried her to the water’s edge. I stripped off our clothes and dove into the water. She sank into its healing depths with a grateful sigh.
She floated, encircled in my arms, for a long time. Her color gradually returned.
“Better?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Do you remember anything?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Danvers.”
“You’re safe now,” I said.
“But my dear husband is not.”
“It’s not the right time to go after him,” I said. “We have bigger problems.”
I explained everything that had happened since Hecate had possessed her.
“You did that for me?”
I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t the slap that landed hard on my jaw.
“What was that for?”
“You’re an idiot,” she said fiercely. “We have to fix it. We have to make it right. I’m not worth it.”
“You are to me.” A lock of dark hair fell into her eyes and I tucked it behind her ear.
She touched my jaw again, softly this time.
“Willow, I—”
She put her hand on my mouth to stop the words. “There is no time for sentiment.”
“There’s always time,” I said. I bent my head and tried to kiss her, but she blocked it.
“I made a vow, remember? The Pignus Sanguinus. I am not free.”
I nodded and instead, rested my forehead on hers, until we were eye to eye, nose to nose. Her lips were a breath away. It took a minute, but she pushed me away.
“No, Nyx,” she said. “There will be no more of that. You have things you must do. And so do I.”
“You need to rest,” I said. “Regain your strength.”
“Where is my husband?”
“Why do you want to know?” I asked.
“I will find him, with or without your help,” she said. “Please.”
Not even a god could resist Willow when she wanted something. And she wanted Danvers’s head. Preferably on a platter with an apple in his mouth, like the pig he was.
“I’ll take you to him.”
She slipped on the robe Hecate had put on her, but not without a shudder, and I pulled my tee and jeans back on. We headed to Magician’s Row.
Danvers and Carlos weren’t home. Willow headed straight for the master bedroom. She rummaged through the closet until she found what she was looking for. It was a simple green dress, long and flowing.
She stripped, not bothering to check to see if I was watching. I was. She put her dress on and then kicked Hecate’s robe aside. “Burn it,” she said. “I never want to see it again.”
I scooped it up and took it to my car. It might be useful to have a Tria Prima robe. Carlos and Danvers showed up as I locked the Caddy’s trunk.
The curse had done more damage than I imagined. Danvers was covered in pustules and his once-strong frame had shrunk. He no longer had the strength to push his own chair. Carlos was at his side.
Carlos drew me aside. “It’s only a matter of time,” he said. “He has a week, maybe two. What happened to him?”
“Nothing he didn’t deserve,” I replied. Carlos’s attention wandered and I looked over. Willow had a firm grip on her husband’s wheelchair. Danvers had the good sense to look terrified.
“You may go now. He’s my husband,” Willow said sweetly to Carlos. “I’ll take care of him.”
Carlos looked at me, but I shrugged. “I went to the wedding.”
And hated every minute of it.
“I shouldn’t leave him alone,” he replied uncertainly.
“He won’t be alone,” Willow said. “I’ll take care of him.”
He took one look at her dark hair tumbling down her back and her luscious lips and nodded. “I’m sure it will be okay. After all, you are his wife.”
I snorted, but quickly repressed it when Willow elbowed me in the ribs.
Carlos gave Willow one of his Mesmerizing smiles, but she didn’t even blink. “Thank you for your service.”
“Rich guys have all the luck,” Carlos muttered enviously.
Luck? Danvers would be lucky to make it through the night alive.
Willow sweetened the deal by reaching into Danvers’s wallet and handing Carlos more cash than he made in a year.
I had an idea what Willow had planned for her husband, but I wouldn’t interfere.
“Willow, maybe he’s already suffered enough?”
She glared at me. “I’ll decide when he’s had enough.”
“I know he killed your sisters,” I said. “But…”
“But nothing,” she said. “I am still under the Pignus Sanguinus as long as my husband lives.” The blood curse Danvers had insisted on in order to insure Willow would remain loyal.
The blood curse was driving me insane. I wanted Willow. Maybe she was right and I wanted only the things I couldn’t have.
“Please leave, Nyx.”
She wasn’t going to change her mind. I did as she asked and left.