Page 13 of Mending Mayhem
“No.” I picked up the box of ashes and set it on the table. “We all recited the words. We shared our magic.”
“If that was all it took, it would have worked the first time.” Ash picked up the candles, extinguishing them one by one. “Any chance of using his skull to summon him died when the last grain went out. Hell, we probably lost our chance when it first started burning. This was all you, sis.”
I shook my head. It didn’t make sense.
“Did you do something different the third time we tried?” Miles swept the salt ring into a dustpan.
“No.” I racked my brain, trying to remember, but the adrenaline from getting slammed against the wall by a smoke demon hadn’t dissipated from my system. “I don’t think so.”
“You connected with him through the veil,” Chaos said. “I felt it happen.”
“I didn’t… How?”
“The same way Ash connected with me. Through your bond.” He set the salt canister in the cabinet. “You are two halves of a whole.”
“Then why wouldn’t he possess her?” Shade asked. “Not that I wish it on her, but wouldn’t he want to burn through Ember and bring the two halves together for good?”
“They’re soulmates,” Miles said. “Of course he wouldn’t.”
“Do you believe us now?” Ash carried her tattoo machine to the table and pulled up two chairs. “Only you could summon Mayhem without his skull, just like only I could summon Chaos.”
Shade laughed, disbelieving. “I supposed that means Cinder…”
“And Discord, yes,” Chaos said. “The six of us coming together was written in the stars long before any of you were born.”
I looked at Chaos and then my sister, who raised her brows, giving me her get over yourself and accept it look. “You feel it,” she said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Yes, that was a lie. I did feel it, all the way down to the core of my being, swimming in my blood and penetrating my bones.
It didn’t mean I had to like it.
“Come on. Sit.” Ash poured magical ink into a well and sat at one of the chairs. “You need to catch your demon before he hurts someone else.”
“What are you thinking?” I took the chair across from her. “I’d say speed and strength, but I don’t think those would help with wrangling a giant puff of smoke.”
“No.” She dipped the needle into the ink. “You’re going to make him possess you.”
“You’re the only one who can survive it,” Chaos said. “He’ll hold back as long as he can while you formulate another plan.”
Ash swiped open her phone and pulled up Mayhem’s mark. “And if we can’t reform his skull, we’ll exorcise him and send him to prison. We won’t let him hurt you.”
“I don’t need convincing.” Because I would not sacrifice a coven member…or anyone else…to bring him back. I laid my arm on the table. “Let’s do it.”
“Focus on Mayhem while I draw it. Don’t think about anything else.” She pressed the pulsing needle against my skin. “Picture him in your mind and feel the emotions he stirs inside you, whatever they are.”
That was easy-peasy. The infuriating, sexy-as-hell demon hadn’t left my thoughts since the moment he arrived. I closed my eyes, imagining the way he looked at me, feeling the adrenaline spiking in my system every time he tried to put me in my place. Even when his smoky form had pinned me against the wall, my fear had bled into…arousal?
Gross. No, that wasn’t the right word. Excitement, maybe.
I was so lost in thought, I didn’t feel the tattoo until Ash reached the delicate skin on the inside of my wrist. I winced at the burning, stinging sensation and opened my eyes. “Don’t forget it goes left.”
She chuckled. “I won’t.”
With the final loop complete, Ash turned off her machine and carried it to the counter. She wiped the excess ink from my skin before admiring her work. “It looks good on you.”
I agreed, but I didn’t dare say it aloud. “Is there anything special I have to do before I activate it?”
“I don’t think so.” She emptied the ink well and washed it in the small sink next to her supplies. “I had no clue I was summoning a demon when I did it.”