Chapter 285: Willing Sacrifice

Blood poured outward, thick, red, gushing over his hands, over the blade, running out over the crystal as Sassy clutched at his heart where the knife entered. The family magic reacted instantly, surging upward, repelled by the demon shield. Liam acted before I could think, a thick green ward forming around the bubble of amber.

The family magic fell back, stirred to anger, but unable to find its quary, circling slowly around the pentagram and the macabre scene unfolding before us. I didn't care now if our house was flattened, if the Dumonts came, the Enforcers. My friend was dying, falling to his knees, toppling over on his side, lying across the feet of the effigy of my father.

"A willing sacrifice," Liam whispered. "The greatest source of power."

I whipped my head around, tears pouring from my eyes. Liam winced, but went on.

"If your father had succeeded in killing himself," Liam said, "he would simply have just died. But Sassy giving himself, his existence... Syd, he may have jus