Page 81 of Filthy Little Witch
Our blood.
Energy surged in my veins as Atlas chanted the Lord’s Prayer, and I closed my eyes to visualize St. Michael again, holding his sword under my chin to encourage me. I thought of the woman from months ago. Anger into faith. Faith into action.
My fury rolled around my stomach, clenching and unfurling, and I redirected it into power, pulling on the tie thread connecting me to Atlas, increasing my strength.
As the clock neared midnight, I sensed the atmosphere thinning, a shimmer in the air around us. The realms were close now, and as soon as the right time hit, we’d be in the in-between. I needed to work quickly.
“Ancestors, holy spirits, ancient magic, I call to you. Give me your strength.” The wind howled outside, hissing through the cracks in the windows and cement walls. My muscles shook with the force building inside me, nearly too much for me to contain. I became full of the potent power of light, of God’s almighty wrath, of the same righteous anger my namesake had once used to slay a dragon terrorizing her village. It was like whatever was possessing Wes, its equal and opposite force had taken hold of me.
I let it.
“Asmodeus, demon of hell, I banish you. Leave this man, leave this realm, I command it.”
The demon snarled and writhed on the floor, pulling at its restraints while its features twisted into a pained grimace. It mashed its teeth together and roared in the same language it’d used the first time I’d seen it. Ancient Aramaic. Except now, I could understand it.
“You cannot banish me, witch,” it spat. “I am the liminal. I am the force holding this realm together. You’ll kill us. You’ll kill us all.”
Again, I didn’t listen. Alarms blared in the back of my mind, and I ignored those, too. I was so full of certainty and arrogance that I barreled my way through any hesitation.
“I give of myself to see you gone,” I said. “Flesh to flesh, and bone to bone. I give of myself to see you gone. By smoke and shadow, by blood and breath. We summon darkness. We summon death. The demon amongst us, what bears our name, I banish you from here to whence you came.”
The world blurred, the howling air racing around us, spiraling into a hurricane that picked up books and unlit candles and pew cushions. My hair lifted from my face, my clothes beat against my skin, but still I pushed forward, determined to see this through.
I wouldn’t leave here without Wes, no matter the cost.
“Take our flesh, our fire, our breath. Let our souls be bound in death. What feeds on lust, we cast you to hell. Bound to the dark where demons dwell.”
“No!” the demon snapped as black smoke rose out of Wes’s nose and mouth. It fought the banishment, trying to reel itself back in as I repeated the enchantment. The words came from somewhere else, something divine and full of ancient rage. I let it flow. I watched Wes struggle on the ground as the atmosphere charged with electricity. It zapped against my skin like sticking my tongue on the end of a battery, but I relished it.
The power was intoxicating, and I understood then why the Harlots had forbidden this type of magic. I could do this forever. I could channel this ethereal energy and command every monster to do as I wanted. I’d never know another day of hardship. This was what witches were made to do, and I lamented the twenty-four years I’d spent on this planet not having tasted it.
“Wes, if you’re in there, chant with us. Help us.” I sent the message along the weak telepathic bond between us, praying he might hear it. When I glanced up at Atlas, his intense stare focused on the demon clawing its way out of his brother, his jaw square, his lips twisting the syllables of the spell.
A loud crack sounded overhead, and the roof of the church lifted off the building, floating into the maelstrom. The walls chipped away, dissolving into little bits of dust like an enormous tornado had whooshed it to Oz. I remained undeterred. We were almost there, we nearly had it…
But time had never been on our side. In the frenzy of the ritual, the clock had struck midnight. The veil was opening. We had precious few minutes to step through it, and I didn’t know if I had the strength to hold it all together.
Liquid dripped down my lips and over my chin. I ignored it. The same heated tingle flowed down the side of my neck and jaw. I ignored that, too, so single-mindedly focused on the task, I didn’t realize what was happening.
Atlas took my hand and interlaced our fingers together.
Together. Together. Together.
We are three souls together.
Three souls combined.
Never torn apart.
Three souls.
The world started to blacken, the bounds of reality fading in and out. Something snapped inside of me, a thick, heavy weight giving way as the rest of the black smoke poured out of Wes’s body. His chest arched off the ground, and a gut-wrenching scream tore out of his chest.
We’re hurting him.
No…we’re killing him.
I tried to stop it. I tried to calm the storming chaos, but we’d come too far. I’d invoked too much. I couldn’t see the end. My veins burned as every molecule in my body incinerated, blasting into nothingness. Still, the world fell apart. Trees folded into the gale-force wind. Houses. Cars. Entire buildings. Until finally, there was nothing except three of us inside the protection of the circle with the swirling world beyond.
