CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Being dragged by a demon wasn’t in Robin’s survival plans, but some things just couldn’t be helped. She scolded herself for not anticipating that movement, then realized there was no point and to just go with the flow and see how she was going to kill the demon before said demon killed her—because there was no denying now about Jin’s kind, really. The demon energy rolled off him in waves, and she couldn’t believe how good he’d been at hiding it that even her magic couldn’t detect it before.
Excruciating pain like burn marks pricked at her skin seconds before the portal pathway ended, and she was falling on her feet on the other end. She snapped her eyes open and found herself in some kind of cave, with Jin gone and—
“What are you doing here?” she asked incredulously, staring at Simon’s hunched form beside her. “You should have gone with them.”
He sat up quickly and scanned the area, narrowing his eyes at the silence.
“And leave you all alone? No way in hell.”
“I could have handled myself.”
Those narrowed eyes switched in her direction, and the intense anger in them had her shutting up in shock. He’d never given her that kind of look before, and she knew provoking him at this point would only lead to him exploding. She could practically feel it in his vibrating body.
Besides, they had bigger fish to fry—like finding that demon that dragged them here in the first place.
“Where are we?” he whispered.
“I wish I knew,” Robin replied. “I only latched on to his energy and created the only sealed portal I could. It won’t open on this side anymore.”
And it would have worked, if only she hadn’t been dragged with him. Now they were trapped here, too, and had to rely on Jake to get someone to create a portal from the other end to get them out.
If Jake even made it.
They also had a demon lurking about, and being in open space just wouldn’t do. Tugging on Simon’s arm, Robin hurriedly placed a cloaking spell around them, rendering them invisible to everyone but themselves. It surrounded them with a glow, and she did her best to keep it light so as not to waste any more of her energy.
She was exhausted—far more exhausted than she wanted, but that was expected. She’d broken too many magic rules in this mission, starting from using too much in a day, creating portals without the proper rituals and creating two portals at the same time. Any normal witch would have dropped in exhaustion on the spot, and it was amazing how she was still on her feet.
She could feel Jin’s presence—ominous, oily, and dark, except she couldn’t pinpoint where he was exactly. So they moved in unison, walking as quietly as they could without disturbing any of the rock formations.
The cave started to glow, and an energy filled the air. Soon, Robin found her magic weakening and realized the demon was doing his work in feeding off her emotions even when she was invisible. She turned to Simon, who looked grim beside her, and knew he felt it, too. He took her hand and guided her down narrow pathways, and they soon found themselves delving deeper in the cave and trying to get away from the energy.
But it followed them—or rather, it surrounded the cave with no remorse, and the glowing magic protecting them from detection started to crack bit by bit. Robin held on, sweat pouring down her back at the effort it took. Her knees threatened to shake, but she locked them in place and sat down on the smooth rock Simon guided her to, feeling the ominous energy choke her magic. It was sly.
Robin knew she wouldn’t be able to hold on for long. She used hand signals to tell Simon so, and even that took too much effort. He held both her hands and nodded his head, a silent warning for her to stop moving. Then he wrapped his arms around her, sitting beside her and keeping her steady. His warmth seeped into her, and Robin realized that she was shaking from the cold.
Silence surrounded them. Time passed. She didn’t know how long it was, but it felt like hours. Sleepiness seeped into her bones and made her pounding heart slow down, and she desperately depended on Simon to keep shaking her awake and get her magic moving.
An hour later, she realized Jin wasn’t going to come out and wasn’t going to stop feeding off her emotions. She had to do something.
Robin closed her eyes, pushing herself to do more. Her muscles strained as she pulled out more energy strands from inside her, colorful magic that flowed out bit by bit. It was nearly the last of her reserves.
She felt around, touching the energy in the air and testing it. It coated her magic and turned it dark, making her feel pain. She gritted her teeth and pushed on, opening her senses up to the cave bit by bit. It was larger than she expected, and the demonic energy was pretty much distributed evenly that there was no way she could—
A burst of energy came from her right. Robin’s eyes snapped open, and she signaled at Simon quickly…but he was faster than her. As if he read her mind, he cut through her cloaking spell and shifted as a blur appeared in front of them in the form of Jin, who had just been biding his time to attack.
Simon attacked first in his wolf form. He was slick and huge, with thick, dark brown fur and gray eyes filled with deadly purpose. He was a beast, and he snarled at Jin before latching on to the demon’s form and biting off a hand.
Blood spurted, but Jin remained standing. He looked angry at having his own sneak attack thwarted, and he launched himself on Simon, black nails digging into Simon’s fur. They rolled on the ground, and Robin watched them for a few seconds before gathering her courage to stand up and find an open space to attack. She only had one spell left in her—a powerful one—and she needed to do it right.
They kept at it, and fear rose in her throat when more blood spilled on the floor, not all of them from the demon. The negative energy in the air shifted, going weaker, then stronger, then weaker, keeping her emotions in turmoil and weakening Simon in the process. She watched pain flash on his face and suddenly couldn’t take it anymore. She had to do something.
She had to make her sacrifice.
Robin took a rock from the ground, coating it with her magic. Her gaze trained on the two, she waited for her chance and found it a few seconds later, where she launched the rock towards Jin’s head and sent him hurtling towards the cave wall with a crash. The impact was tenfold that of a normal rock, and she watched as Simon ran for Jin again, about to finish his life.
But Jin stood up quickly and swiped with a speed that was beyond them. One second, Simon was running and moving…the next second, he was crumpled on the floor, a lump in his own pool of blood.
She was screaming, and she didn’t realize it. She was running for them. Jin flashed his teeth and made a move in her direction, hunger in his eyes as he fed on her fear.
She blocked it. Then she called out to her last reserve and blasted it at him just as he reached her. She felt pain dig into her shoulder and knew his nails got through, and she tried to fight off his sinking, sharp teeth.
The cave shook with the force of her magic, and she felt the demon slump on her and watched his head roll to the side. She pushed his weight off and tried not to cry out as her shoulders protested, indicating either broken bones or dislocation. She crawled towards Simon’s unconscious wolf form as rocks started to shake loose from the ceiling.
Robin thought she didn’t have any energy left inside her, but she did—somehow, she did—and she called out to it once again, covering her and Simon as rocks came tumbling down on them. It cracked her protective shield but didn’t get through.
It finally crushed Jin to his death.
Magic seeped out of her and into Simon, instinctively looking for muscles and bones to mend. Wounds to close. The cave kept shaking before eventually going still, and finally, finally, Robin let her magic go, no longer able to hold it.
Dizziness came and took her, and she closed her eyes and floated along with it. Then darkness was there, singing her a lullaby.