Demon Bound

needed to put a fucking bell on Michael so that he couldn’t—
    Jake jumped to the Boreas shore. Michael stood between Drifter and Irena, as wet as they were.
    Irena’s mouth drew back in a snarl, but dropped open when Jake said, “Alice is with Teqon. And you’re coming with me, Michael.”
    Michael’s eyes turned black. “Very well.”
    Jake pulled Alice’s black hair ribbon out of his hammerspace, tied it around his wrist. His arrowhead went into his pocket. Of all the stuff he had collected over the years, those were the only two things he cared about keeping. He gripped his swords and dumped the rest of his shit in a huge pile on the ground.
    “No,” Drifter said, his voice hollow. It filled out as it rose in volume. “Hell, no. You son of a bitch. What the ever-fucking hell do you think—”
    “I think I’m taking Michael with me this time instead of waiting for him. I think that Alice had a damn good plan, a way to get out of her bargain and to keep Anaria imprisoned. I think that if you and Irena had asked her about that plan instead of trying to do what you thought best, we could have taken this slowly, so there wouldn’t have been any fuckups. I think maybe the nephilim wouldn’t have found us.”
    He sent them images of the temple, of the cracking dome, of the sunken bedrock.
    “And now I think Alice doesn’t have any choices left. But I do. And I think that if I go at him fast, Teqon won’t notice the difference in me until it’s too late for him. His sword will be though my heart, and then he won’t have a choice—except letting Alice go. But that’ll be up to Michael, because Alice won’t be in a place to bargain with him.”
    “Yes,” Michael agreed.
    Jake was shaking, with relief and a whole load of other emotions he wasn’t taking the time to name. “And if I make it through, Alice is going to kick my ass after. Anything she does to me, it’s of my free will. She won’t be breaking the Rules.”
    “Christ Jesus, Jake,” Drifter said.
    “Well, yeah. We do whatever it takes, right? And if I do live through this, you have to kiss my hot ass.”
    “I’ll kill you, more like.” Drifter strode forward.
    Jake hadn’t known hugging could be manly, but he felt more like a man after. Then even more so when he survived Irena’s crushing embrace.
    She drew back, said fiercely, “Do not let her make your sacrifice worth nothing.”
    “I won’t.” He gathered his breath, looked at Michael. “Okay, then. Let’s get this rocking.”

    Though she’d only taken her widows out of the courtyard that morning, three new spiders had already moved in. Alice sat on the bench near the date tree, sliding her Gift around them and doing her best to ignore the demon who stood on the other side of the fountain. Jasmine scented the air, the sun was warm, the fountain pleasant. If she could disregard everything else, this was actually a lovely day.
    Until Jake and Michael teleported in—so close to Teqon—and everything became a nightmare.
    Jake strode forward, his gait looking oddly heavy, and he held his swords out to his sides like a cocky, stupid novice. A black ribbon—
    Alice shrieked a denial and leapt forward, calling in her naginata. Michael appeared in front of her, and she crashed into him. She fell, screaming, and he held her down.
    “You want a heart, demon?” she heard Jake challenge. “Come and fucking get it.”
    Teqon’s sword appeared in his hand as he thrust it forward.
    “No!” Too late, too late, too late—
    The point of the blade speared through Jake’s back. Made a short slice upward.
    No, no, no. She tried to scrabble forward, her nails ripping on the flagstones. Her shrieks weren’t even words anymore. She heard Jake’s strange “Gotcha.” Saw Teqon’s eyes widen, and she was going to kill him, blast her soul and her bargain and the frozen field.
    Jake staggered backward off the sword; Michael let her go and she caught him. Oh, sweet heavens. He was . . .
    Jake was human .
    Michael spoke, but she barely heard him.
    Only the thin breath that bubbled in Jake’s lungs. Saw only his face. Felt only the weight of his shoulders on her lap, and his hand weakly clasping hers.
    “You have Fallen? Why have you done this? You foolish, stubb—” Her voice cracked like an old woman’s.
    Hold on, goddess, he said, and it was so slow. You won’t have to fulfill your bargain.
    “I don’t care. Do you know what you have done to me?” she whispered, and