Moon-marked 3: Quintessence

Chapter 8

Human. The word had once been so basic, so obvious, that Seth never really thought of it; he would have defined himself as a man or a wrestler or an American first before thinking to call himself human. Now that he'd had a taste of the fierce freedom of being a werewolf, the prospect of being human again—being human forever—felt like a demotion, almost a punishment.

Paige certainly saw it that way and had no qualms about saying so—loudly, forcefully, and often. "But I've already been human for days!" she wailed. "I miss blood, Finn! I miss being able to see in the dark!" She bared her teeth in a grimace and tapped the canines angrily. "These aren't even teeth! They're fucking useless!"

Finn had gathered them all in the future billiards room, where the grimoires still sat stacked behind the shimmering line of the demon's blood; Seth was only slightly dismayed to see that the blood was still as bright and viscous as when Finn had drawn the containment lines. "For better or worse, human is the common denominator here; it's the only shape you all share. The first spell will basically scrub you clean of any magic traces," Finn explained. "Once I'm sure there's nothing lingering, then I can rebuild your individual magics."

Seth noticed that Finn glanced over at him when he spoke about rebuilding, and Seth in turn did his best not to look at Becky. They had already discussed all the pros and cons and had run through countless potential scenarios, but he had promised Becky that they would have one final talk that night, when they were both human—as equal as they had ever been in the history of their relationship. "And you said that should take about a day?" Seth asked. He'd been human for most of his life—which felt absurd to even think—so one more day shouldn't have been an issue. Knowing what he could be, however, complicated things immensely.

"A full day, yes," Finn clarified, holding Paige's gaze as he spoke. "My advice? Enjoy it while you can. Bex, Paige—for you two, it'll be a new experience. Well, somewhat new for Paige. Maybe it will give you a better understanding of the humans in your life and their limitations. Seth, you already have plenty of experience...."

It didn't sound like a jab, so Seth didn't take it as one. "Well, I've always wanted to be considered an expert at something. I didn't think it would be being human, but...."

Finn put the bottles with Becky's and Paige's blood in the far corner of the containment area before arranging the grimoires around them. After they had returned from Seth's final run, Finn had spent the rest of the day consulting the books. His own grimoire didn't yield much help since his own experience with the spell was the initial binding he had done for Becky and Paige and then the reconfiguration he had woven that included Seth. The borrowed one wasn't much better, only offering anecdotes of similar situations without any actual detail. It was the ill-gotten one that included a spell Finn thought was promising, and even then he still verified it with other demons, sending everyone out of the room so he could have private conversations with demons from all ends of the globe.

"You're giving those grimoires back after, right?" Becky prodded gently. Every time Finn had touched one of the books that wasn't his, it seemed to drain a bit of his energy. Becky had offered to turn the pages, but Finn refused; he wouldn't even let her or Paige—and certainly not Seth—touch the grimoires, not even his own.

Paige seemed less worried about the books and more worried about the small bottles of blood. "Where do you keep your blood? How do we know it's safe? Any spellcaster could fuck us up with that, Finn!" She reached for the tray that held the bracelets which would be used in the next phase of the spell, but Finn pulled it away. "If that's supposed to help me survive the sun," Paige snorted, "I think I have a right to examine it!"

Rolling his eyes, Finn held out the black strap to Paige for her inspection. To Seth, it didn't look much different than the fitness tracker he wore. "I know it's not to your taste," Finn remarked dryly, "but it's black, so that will just have to be good enough. Each unit holds six drops of my blood; one drop of blood is one dose. For you, Paige, it will keep you safe from the sun without any other amulets for one day. Becky, one drop will suppress your wolf for one full moon. The screen will flash a message when you're getting low."