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"Hold fast," Ruby ordered "Concentrate Remember, just follow my lead"

So many of the ancient spells, potions and rituals of witchcraft had been built on the do Chant was one of those As she began to call out the words in Old English, she e to bring the covento do a lot of explaining Body language also intensified thethat focus and intent at the weak point of the fault line, the darkness she could feel expanding fro boil Their hands flashed, the three wotangible to do As that confidence grew, she could see energy building, swirling around the three of the that weaving energy together, feeding it to her so she could aiotten too big, too fast Miriaround erupted at her Quarter It was outside the circle, but so close the girl recoiled instinctively, stu back several steps A cloud of s its wings, wings that surrounded the circle in a heartbeat, doht was the only illu wall like eyes of hellhounds There was the flash of fangs, lols

"Illuht across the interior of the circle before their panic beca in on them like a coffin Miriam was frozen and pale as ne Christine and Linda held their positions, but the energy they were raising was now all defensive What they’d drawn up to reinforce the fault line faltered, sensibly diverting to reinforce the circle and their own protection Hissing and lols started to e the wo of that fault line rift felt as if it were happening beneath Ruby’s very feet, though it was a stone’s throay The beings wouldn’t coht beneath the circle; that held too y But they could use intith into fear, use the converted energy to feed their own purposes instead They’d keep the witches inert in their own circle, cowering in their shelter while they freed themselves Well, the hell with that She’d worked with the coven a week and knew these woot past this ht her arm, used the pinch of her short nails to yank her attention froli in it "It’s all se, Ruby positioned her halfway between the Fire and Air Quarters, and gestured Christine to take a similar position between Fire and Water "You know the peace syht beneath the girl’s whied, held it up It was a piece of costume jewelry, the metal tie-dyed to reflect the sixties period, but the power of a symbol wasn’t merely in its material; it was the belief in its pure purpose

"It’s not a randon Not just about nuclear disar squad There’s a deeperYou can hold the circle at these three points, you understand? But you have to be strong You have to get in the gay to that hole There is only this moment, and what you do with it You understand?"

She’d closed Miriam’s hand over the symbol, her own hand claid, as she held the integrity of the circle Thank Heaven Christine and Linda were still at least 70 percent in the game, because Ruby couldn’t do it alone, not and put this much intent and focus in the conversation Fla fangs She held Miriaroup Cohtened, and her gaze swept to the other tomen, then back to Ruby The perimeter reinforcement increased exponentially

"That’s it" Ruby squeezed her, fir herself to the spot in the circle Ruby had indicated The power flow from Christine and Linda connected to her, and Ruby felt them take over control of the circle boundary

"Good Close your eyes," Ruby ordered all of the around you matters Hold the circle’s perioing; keep weaving it closed Doesn’tdistract you"

Moving to Linda, she put her hand on her shoulder to lean in, speak low in her ear "I’ out of the circle to push these bastards back They’re not all the way free, but they’re aboveground When I get them below the fault line, you need to be ready to seal the lid Got it? Do you feel it? Knohere it is?"

Linda nodded, a quick jerk, though Ruby sensed her doubt that leaving the circle was the right thing However, Linda’s concerns weren’t hermade it all the way out of the fault line, becaht on their hands, and Ruby wasn’t sure they could hold the circle against a fully concentrated Underworld attack Not for their very first tie, she was scared, too And what they were dealing with right noas up there with Freddy Krueger, Jason and Michael, all wrapped up into one

She didn’t look back Shoring up her own personal defenses, strengthening her shields, she stepped out of the circle between Christine and Linda The black smoke sed her immediately

LIGHT ENERGY WAS A FORMIDABLE WEAPON IN THE hands of those who kne to use it Even in the hands of advanced students, such as Linda, it could do a lot when there was time and focus to build it In the hands of confident, advanced ic users, ones like Derek, it could turn bullets to flowers before they even left the chah, Derek wasn’t here, and they needed zero to one hundred speed reaction time She could provide that, but she couldn’t avail herself of the protection of their circle, couldn’t pull them into that What she was about to do would disrupt and unbalance their energy, and her first priority was getting them out of this alive and unharmed To do that, she had to make sure that threat was contained, by whateveron the outside, there was the added plus that she was drawing the de the fault line

Da Derek, next ti to punch you in the mouth

Shit, there were three of them Outside the circle, she could feel their form and substance, the way they swirled around her, creatures of ash and fire Soul-eaters, the carrion of the Underworld Not so powerful, when all was said and done, but they made up for that in nueyman-in- the-closet fear factor Many lower-echelon creatures of the Underworld appeared as an odd assorted privates, large fangs Their sole purpose was fear, and they fed on it They could be strengthened and sometimes even spawned by people’s fear of the dark and shadows, but once created, could not be dispelled, a self-fulfilling prophecy One could create the ht

It was part of why she’d often used the Sarah Williah ht I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night And of course the poem from which it came, "The Old Astronomer," had been an inspiration for her own studies in and of itself It inspired her now She had the knowledge to do this, the will and the power, damn it

The soul-eaters were all pumped up, sure of their victory now, because they were nearly free But they were too eager, like rats tunneling out of holes in truth The opening was still too s to squeeze free, which left their attention divided,them more vulnerable She had a precious few more moments, but she told herself that was all she needed Particularly when she caught a whiff of so else away-- fear for the coven, fear of failure, any concerns about anything beyond this

Asmodeus Not him directly, no, but these creatures were part of his arhtmares about it At the trade shohich didn’t have the saun shop to repel certain types of visitors, she soe participants Evil had a base sredient that infected all its recipes That was fine Right now, she wanted to smell that smell, wanted to be fully aware of the shape and substance of that energy Use her rage against it to dispel her fear

Chanting the words, she began drawing in deep breaths, oxygenating herthe threat, the darkness closed around her, the soul-eaters trying to press their searing heat so close they would cook her inside the barrier of her own defenses if she let theh the pores

She didn’t When she opened her eyes, one was staring at her, red eyes inches from her face Her stomach was tied in knots, but her feet were anchored in the earth

"Boo, you son of a bitch," she said, baring her teeth Lifting her ar fu an to rotate her left wrist, sloinding dial to gather energy to her The energy of the creatures trying their best to crush her

While she did that, she began to rotate the right wrist With that hand, she pulled in energy froain, the doht the two strands together, she started braiding the herself as a spool The heat was getting intense, burning her skin despite the protection around her She could s souls, of death, hopelessness and decay, of everything that life was beneath the surface, and sooogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">