“Yeah, okay.” She nods vigorously, regaining the courage I know she possesses. “It’s just that when we were both in this alley… everything fell apart. I almost lost you, and I almost died.”
“I know now that you aren’t my enemy.” I brush back a lock of her hair and caress her cheek. “We are remembering in your mind, okay?”
Her lucidity returns, and she turns to face Rob again.
I snatch her hand in mine, and we create a united front to experience this horrible moment together.
She squeezes my hand in solidarity. “I know this will be hard for you. Just remember, I’m on your side. I will fight to avenge your death,” she promises.
“Thank you, sweet witch. But now, I only want to focus on answers.”
We both turn our attention to the warlock Rob walking toward us, silhouetted by the light of the moon.
“You shouldn’t have pushed,” Rob says. “I warned you to walk away.”
“You expect me to heed your message from the lips of my dying ally? You truly didn’t expect that I’d seek justice for what you’ve done to my kind?” I counter.
“I thought you might be smarter than the rest since you’re the only one who’s gotten close to discovering what’s truly going on.”
“I know the Witch Council members are behind the ASO.”
The man laughs—genuinely amused.
Suddenly, I’m hit with a blast of magic from behind, along with a chant.
This energy doesn’t feel like anything I have experienced before. It’s a new magic filled with dark intent.
My body trembles on the ground. Someone is stealing my magic, and my soul is detaching from my body.
“I told you he’d come,” Rob says with an evil smirk.
Then someone who looked very much like Jade appears from the shadows.
I die.
Both Jade and I float above the scene. It’s an unnerving sight to see my dead body on the ground. Thankfully, Jade is floating beside me and not splayed out below.
I freaked out last time when I saw her appear, but now I’m much more rational and intend to find out the rest of this situation.
Astral Jade glances over at me, and I reach out to pull her closer. Her nervous energy about my reaction settles.
Rob leans over my body and chants a strange spell. Dark shadows escape my body and Rob absorbs them. He’s grunting and whimpering as he’s stealing my magic.
The witch’s face shifts, revealing it’s actually Galiana, not Jade or her grandmother. Darkness swirls around her, too. They both have incubus magic.
But how?
“Send his soul to the abomination and get answers about what he knows,” Galiana orders. “Leave the body here for his kind to discover.”
“Can I kill the bitch after this one?” Rob asks, looking eager.
“No,” Galiana snaps. “Jade’s mine to destroy. And she will be useful for a bit longer.”
Rob chants something new under his breath, but I don’t recognize the language. It’s not Latin or the other common magical languages. It sounds like an odd mixture of demon, Elven, and something else.
Then both Jade and I clutch onto each other’s spirit forms, flying through the city to her house, and we fall into Jade’s sleeping body in her home. We are back in the early morning when I first possessed her.
I hear Jade speak as a spirit to me. “This is the morning before I saw the guys at the bar. I woke up feeling strange, worrying maybe Rob broke in again to harass me.”
