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The bump of wheels on the ground jerked Austin awake. He blinked and shifted, prompting a sudden dose of pain from his arm. Paige’s head rested on his good shoulder and he shrugged, moving her enough to wake her as well. Heather was already awake, but her eyes reflected the same exhaustion he felt.
Paige let out a small whine and stretched in the seat, reaching her arms over her head and arching her back. Both Austin and Heather looked at her in appreciation and smiled at her lithe form. Austin caught Heather’s leer and cleared his throat. Her gaze rose to his, and a flush of red painted her cheeks. She offered him a shrug and looked away.
Happy to be on the ground in New Hampshire, he let her less-than-casual inspection of his wife go.
“Can I bother you two for a ride home? I had gotten a ride to the airport with one of my co-workers,” Heather said and sighed as she shuffled through her purse. “And can I use one of your phones? I think mine is still back in the hotel room.”
“We need to pick up new ones, as well. Ours broke when we jumped out of the limousine,” Paige said.
Heather slowed her pace, glancing at the two of them like they had lost their minds.
“Austin, what the hell is going on? Her ex-boyfriend’s boss said he needed your blood. Why?”
Austin kept walking, aware of the crowd still around them and the lack of safe ground beneath his feet. “Wait until we get to the car.” He pulled Paige along with him, and eventually Heather came back into his peripheral vision. The parking garage level their car was on seemed unusually abandoned, and while Heather continued to shoot questions his way, he ignored her. His concentration was otherwise preoccupied at the alarms raging in his stomach. He lifted his finger to his lips and gave Heather a sideways glance.
That did the trick. Her mouth popped closed and he almost audibly sighed with relief. Paige slowed her pace, her gaze scanning the lack of movement as well. Eerie silence pressed on them, and her grip on his arm tightened.
“You have our keys?” he asked in barely a whisper.
She nodded and tried not to jangle them as she raised them within sight. A white fog rolled across the concrete towards them, and what walked out of the shadows sent raw, burning fear through him.
Hunter spread his arms and grinned. “You really thought that pathetic spell of yours could stop me?”
“What the fuck?” Heather whispered.
Paige stopped, and so did Austin. She trembled against him, and he wrapped his good arm around her, bringing her closer. Heather stepped nearer as the shadows surrounding them came to life. There had to be at least a dozen beings surrounding them.
The lights started flickering at the same time Paige’s breathing became ragged.
“Actually, I expected you,” Paige said, and Austin snapped his gaze her way. She twirled her finger at the garage surrounding them. “How do you think you got here?”
Hunter’s smug smile faltered. Austin couldn’t tell if she was bluffing or not, but her trembling had increased.
“You?” Hunter asked.
“Silence!” she bellowed and pulled the pentacle out of her shirt, stepping in front of Austin. “You are grounded to earth that seals and binds. Fire scorches your energy, burning away what used to be. The cruel winds gust, tearing away your mortal form. Water rages, eroding your bonds to your master. The elements are mine to command, and destroy your power they must.”
A howling wind ripped through the parking garage, and Austin moved closer to Paige.
“The mother has heard my prayer, and the gods stand behind me, adding their might to mine.” Paige’s head tilted back, and her arms straightened by her sides with her palms facing Hunter. “To you, who came unbidden to wreak havoc upon this world, I say: Enough!”
The blast that flowed through him pulled the air from his lungs. His gaze jumped to where Hunter’s ghost stood, engulfed in what looked like a tornado of fire. Screams pierced the swirling wind, and he covered his right ear with his palm, trying to shield his other with his shoulder. But it wasn’t enough to drown out the cries of the dying demons and ghosts surrounding them.
Paige swayed, drawing his attention. Before he could react, Heather stepped in faster, catching Paige as she dropped. Her eyes were half-open and only the whites showed.
Austin grabbed the keys off the ground.
“Can you carry her?” he asked Heather.
She nodded and stood with Paige in her arms.
Circumventing a now blazing Hunter, Austin led Heather to the car and held the back passenger door for his friend. Heather nearly dived into the backseat with Paige, and Austin hustled to the driver’s seat. He didn’t bother buckling himself in, he just shot through the empty spot adjoining his, away from the nightmare in the garage.
“Is she okay?” he asked, unable to look in the rearview mirror for fear that Hunter or one of the other demon ghosts would be looking back at him. The garage exit loomed ahead and he concentrated on getting the hell out of there.
“She’s breathing,” Heather said, her voice carrying the nearly hysterical quality of someone on the verge of a breakdown. “What the fuck, Austin?”
“Lucifer wants my blood because apparently I’m a descendant of Raphael.” He chanced a glance in the mirror now that they were out of the garage, and Heather’s blank stare met his. “The archangel,” he added when she didn’t respond.
They drove in silence. When he veered east onto Route 101 instead of staying on Interstate 93 north, Heather said, “Where are you going?”
“The only safe place I know,” he said. “How is Paige?” He caught the shake of Heather’s head in the rearview mirror as they passed another street light.
“She’s pale and she hasn’t come out of it yet.”
“Shit,” he muttered and pressed harder on the gas pedal.
“She’s breathing, Austin. And her pulse is strong enough for me to detect, so I don’t think you should panic.”
He gave her a quick glance and concentrated on the task of driving. They had less than one hour to their safe haven. Whatever Paige had done in the garage had drained everything out of her, and that worried him. What if it did more than just push her past the point of exhaustion? Just the thought sent a jolt through him, and the car swerved in response.
“Should I be driving?” Heather asked after a moment.
Austin glanced at her in the rearview mirror and shook his head. “I’m okay. The pain is keeping me pretty damned sharp right now.”
“If you’re a descendant of an archangel, what is Paige?”
“A damned talented wiccan.” He stared at the dark road. The streetlights were scarce in this stretch, and all he saw in the backseat was Heather’s outline.
“Austin?” Paige’s weak voice cut through the dark.
“Yeah, babe?” he answered while his heart rammed in his throat.
“Did I...”
“You stopped them all. God knows how, but you did.”
“Are we safe?”
“Not yet. But we’re heading that way.”
“I don’t think I’m capable of doing that again,” she mumbled, and her voice trailed off into a fading exhale.
“Oh, shit, she’s convulsing!” Heather gasped.
Austin swerved into the breakdown lane and threw the car in park before hitting the overhead lights. “Turn her on her side and hold her head still if you can,” he barked as he twisted in the seat to get a view of Paige. Her entire body was rigid and her eyes had rolled back.
Heather turned her on her side. “What’s happening?”
“She’s having a seizure,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm now that Paige was on her side. The convulsions faded, and thankfully, she didn’t vomit. “Grab the tuxedo coat out of the bag on the floor and cover her, okay?”
Heather nodded and followed his direction.
“Just keep her calm. She likes it when I play with her hair, so try that, and keep her on her side in case she gets sick.”
Heather’s chin quivered, and her eyes filled with tears. In all the years that he’d known her, he had never seen her cry, but now tears breached her lashes, slid down her cheeks, and fell onto Paige’s forehead.
“She’ll be okay,” he said to calm his friend. “I’m going directly to the hospital when we get where we are going. Okay?”
Heather nodded and bit her lip, her hand tracing Paige’s cheek before combing through Paige’s dark locks.
Austin turned, banging his arm on the steering wheel. He flipped the light off before Heather had time to see him flinch. His stomach rolled, but he caught it before it decided to forcefully expel its contents. He swallowed, took a deep breath, and pulled back onto the road. This time, when he pushed the pedal to the floor, Heather made no comment.