Page 76 of Demon Loved
“In no uncertain terms,” Brianna replied. “But he also hinted that he’d shown up in person because of the way Belshegar and I defeated one of his minions.”
That piece of information was not reassuring, to say the least. Belshegar knew he’d been hoping deep down that the man — if that was even what he truly was — would continue to send his servants against the McAllister clan, since they would be easier to defeat. If he’d felt comfortable appearing in the very heart of town, then that seemed to signal he was not overly concerned that they might prove to be a powerful foe.
“Testing our limits, I suppose,” Angela said, and looked over at Levi. “Did you sense that he was here?”
At once, Levi shook his head. “No, I didn’t feel anything strange. But I wasn’t particularly looking for it, either.”
Belshegar thought that a good time to offer his own insights on their adversary’s sudden appearance. “It’s entirely possible that he also possesses an artifact that conceals his magic. We have no real idea of how many such items he’s gathered over the years, or what their particular properties might be. Since it seems a catalogue of these various objects was never created, we are only left to speculate.”
“That’s for sure,” Angela remarked. She’d been looking less and less happy during this exchange, and he could tell she wished they had a more concrete solution to the current situation. “Considering that none of us knew the amulets were even a thing until Devynn and Seth brought the first one back from the 1880s. Since we don’t know how many of them there are or what they can do, I’m sure the Collector believes he still has the upper hand even if he’s suffered a couple of defeats.”
“Well, we’ll make sure it ends up being more than just ‘a couple,’” Connor replied. If the stern set of his jaw was any indication, he had no intention of allowing the man to get the upper hand in this conflict.
And Brianna looked frightened but also uncertain. Was she second-guessing her refusal to become their enemy’s acolyte? Under no circumstances should she ever have allowed her to consider such an offer for even the barest second, but if she somehow thought by doing so she could save her clan….
“Whatever is out there, we will handle it when the time comes,” Belshegar said firmly, and was glad to see that Levi and the other elders nodded in agreement.
“Yes, we’ve done a pretty good job so far,” Angela put in. “Especially when we had no reason to believe we would even be under this kind of attack. And if this jerk thinks he can just pop in and out of here whenever he feels like it, then he’s got another thing coming.”
“What did he look like?” Tricia asked then. Connor and Angela both sent her glances that bordered on disapproving, and she lifted her shoulders, clearly unrepentant. “I mean, it couldn’t hurt to have a description so we can let other people in the clan be on the lookout for the man.”
Bree’s lips curled into an ironic smile. “I could tell you what he looked like when he came into the gallery,” she said. “But that’s not going to help much, not when I could tell his appearance was some sort of overlay, an illusion he summoned to hide what he really looks like.”
“Oh,” Tricia replied, now appearing somewhat deflated. “I suppose knowing any details about his looks wouldn’t be of much help, then.”
“Probably not,” Brianna agreed. Then she shrugged and added, “But if it helps, he was pretty ordinary. Brown hair and brown eyes. Maybe in his early forties. Tall, but not super-tall. Normal clothes — a white shirt and khakis and boat shoes.”
“In other words, he looked exactly like the sort of person you’d never pay any real attention to,” Angela said sourly. “So I doubt that’s going to do us any good.”
Everyone went quiet for a moment. But then Levi spoke, saying, “The Collector’s appearance here shows that we need to work quickly, though. I know we were talking about possibly waiting for the full moon to power our ritual, but I don’t think we can afford to delay that long. We need to do it tonight.”
“‘Tonight’?” Allegra repeated, bird-like features aghast. “We’ll barely have any time to prepare.”
“I know,” Levi replied. “But there is something to be said for striking when an enemy least expects it. The Collector must know the phases of the moon just as well as we do, and I have a feeling he also believes we would wait for it to be at its most favorable aspect so our enchantments would be their most powerful. That’s why we should perform the ritual this evening, just as soon as it’s full dark.”
No one looked overly thrilled by this prospect, although Belshegar also noted that no one present raised any objections, either. While Angela was the head of the clan, and Tricia and Allegra and Connor had their own formidable powers, it seemed they all deferred to Levi on these sorts of matters, as if they understood that his magic operated at a different level and they needed to heed his advice.
And in this particular case, Belshegar thought the man was right. Delaying would only give the Collector more time to mount additional attacks against them, while striking now might provide the McAllister witches with some element of surprise.
Also, while the moon wasn’t full yet, it was at least waxing and gaining strength. They would still be able to use its energies, even if not quite in the manner they’d hoped.
“So we will continue to work on the ritual,” Belshegar said. “And I think I should go with Brianna to the site where we will be conducting the ceremony.”
“Me?” she responded, looking startled. “How can I help with that?”
“Because you need to sense the energies of the place when it’s quiet,” he said. “When the time comes, it’s very likely that you’ll have to use your powers to keep us all anchored to this dimension. When the Collector’s servant attacked last night, he was trying to drag me away from this world, although I can’t say for sure whether he was simply trying to send me back to my plane where I couldn’t cause any further trouble, or whether he wanted to trap me in a prison he’d created to punish me for my disobedience.”
Both scenarios seemed equally likely, although Belshegar couldn’t say for sure which one would have appealed more to their adversary. Most likely locking him up in some pocket dimension forever, since if he was merely banished to his home plane, he could have gone back to his quiet existence and continued as if nothing had changed at all.
He doubted the Collector would view such a fate as much of a punishment.
But Belshegar had no desire to meet either of those destinies. He loved Brianna McAllister, and being separated from her, even to an exile in his lovely, serene home, would have been utter torture.
She paled under her light, end-of-summer tan upon hearing those words, and yet she didn’t protest, as if she understood the Collector was equally capable of doing both things.
Or perhaps something even worse, something that Belshegar couldn’t imagine. Humans might have found his true appearance fearsome, but his was not a mind that could conjure scenarios of cruelty and torture.
The Collector, on the other hand….
