With a sigh, Kevin turned to face the other mage, and felt Lori and Shaine regrouping as well.

“Beautifully done,” Patrick complimented them.

“Thank you,” Kevin said tiredly. How much longer could they hold out, even with the circle behind them? “Can we finish this now?”

*Oh, I think so.*

Wait, that wasn't out loud. That was mindspeech.

How was an enemy using mindspeech during a fight, past all Kevin's defences, without the open doorways of direct physical contact or an active two-way coven-bond?

Telepathy was a normal elven ability, so much so there were even a lot of non-mage elven telepaths. The lowest prices were on enhancing what already existed.

And there were feelings rousing that he'd gone to great lengths to disown and bury, feelings he recognized but desperately didn't want to experience again, feelings that made him far too much like what Patrick thought he was. Arrogance, scorn, superiority, aggression...

*Lori!* It came out almost as a shriek. *He's in my...*

*That's enough,* Patrick said, his mind wrapping around Kevin's, spreading in an oily layer that Kevin couldn't get through.

Reality warped, perception twisted; Kevin fought frantically to hold onto what he knew for truth, but the other thoughts slid into his mind unstoppably.

*Get out! This is my skull and you are not welcome in it!*

*Kevin Lioren,* Patrick purred. *From what I see in your memories, you're very good at hurting the people you're close to, aren't you? Physically, emotionally... now I see why your little wolf there chose to come back to the city. But he couldn't get away from you, not completely, not after you'd touched him. What were you saying earlier about not being like me? I think you're much worse.*

“Get out,” Kevin snarled out loud, clawing desperately for any kind of leverage that would get Patrick out of his memories.

They didn't trust me to do it alone, that's why they both insisted on helping. Like I need help from anyone! How dare they doubt me!

They don't! a rapidly weakening part of him wailed. They trust you, they care about you!

They thought I couldn't take one damned Lucian who doesn't even have much power of his own! That or they thought I'd run off and join him. Yeah, as if I need him either!

“Oh, hell,” Lori muttered, and yanked Shaine behind her, breaking the linked shields and reweaving her own.

“See how readily they turn on you?” Patrick pointed out.

Lori doesn't trust me! She never did! Shaine never trusts anyone, he lied to us all...

“Fight him, Kev,” Lori pleaded. “You got past this once, you can do it again.”

“And who made you the judge of what I should be or do?” Kevin growled. He grabbed for power, but felt the link dissolve, melting like ice in summer. Cutting him off, pushing him out, leaving him with only his own power to use.

So what if they could all betray him so easily? He needed nothing but his own gifts.

“Shaine?” Lori said, her voice heavy. “Try not to hurt him too much.”

Kevin pulled together the moonlight, drew power up from within the depths of himself, and condensed it all into his phoenix; the bright bird dove directly at Shaine.

Lori's lioness appeared, and flung itself at the phoenix, foreclaws raking the air only an inch or two from feathers. Kevin had the phoenix circle a couple of times, considering ways to get past Lori, even if he had to do something nasty to get her out of the way. She deserved it anyway, turning on him. Shaine at least had never pretended to be more than a temporary ally.

What was Shaine doing?

The meren's clear voice rose again above the sounds of wind and wave and the savage wolf-fight a short distance away, sliding through a range no human was likely to match, tenor and soprano and higher yet.

The song held winter, ice, bitter cold, and it wrapped around Kevin like a January wind. Instinct screamed at him that he was child of fire and the ice could kill, even as the rage intensified, how dare Shaine do this... He felt weakness wash over him, his legs gave and he dropped heavily to his knees, head bowed, struggling to breathe.

“I can't even think of a name bad enough to call you,” Lori spat, somewhere beyond the ice, but, oddly, it didn't seem to be at him. He felt her touch in his mind, and struggled against her, there was already much too much inside his head, two conflicting sets of thoughts, and he couldn't tell which was real... All around him, ice began to form, not touching, but never more than a hands-breadth from him, shutting him off from everything else. He reached for Deanna, she was always there, but the cold drained too much, he couldn't get outside his own head.

* * *

*I can't reach him right now, it'd take too much concentration, and we can't afford that,* Lori said in Shaine's mind, her voice nearly as cold as the ice he'd just trapped Kevin in. *We're going to have to finish this without him.*

*Any thoughts how?* He tried to keep his thoughts off Kevin, off his own prayers that it wouldn't do the mage any permanent harm. He was certain that much cold had to be very bad for an elvenmage, but he hadn't been able to think of anything else that might work.

*Can you do to him what you just did to Kev?*

*Yes, but since he's using demon-power, it won't hold him for very long.*

*Damn.*

He picked up on a flicker of movement, to one side, and scanned the area without turning his head.

Jess, his silver dagger in one hand, bare feet silent on the grass, limped closer. The effort in every step made Shaine long to run to him and support him, but that would get them both killed. If Jess could get close enough unnoticed...

*Hit him all-out,* he told Lori. *Throw everything you have at him.*

She must've caught the information about Jess from his mind, given how instantly she agreed.

Lori flung at the demon-mage a hail of daggers made all of moonlight; Shaine sang moisture out of the air into a second rain of flying daggers, these ones made all of ice, coming from an angle instead of straight on like Lori's. Trying to deal with that kept the demon-mage occupied briefly, long enough for Shaine to start a different song, while Lori simply fed him her own power and that of the circle in the house.

This song was of confusion and fear and disorientation, the same technique his family had used on Unity, muddling the senses and blurring the mind. It was meant to spread out, pouring across a broad area and affecting everyone within a supernaturally large hearing range. Though it meant he had to sacrifice some of its strength, he focused it as tightly as he could on the demon-mage alone. Still, it inevitably spilled over.

Aindry or Jaisan whimpered, and let out a plaintive puppy-howl.

The demon-mage hesitated, his shields rippling.

Jess stumbled, caught himself before he fell, and kept going. He couldn't be more than six feet away, behind the demon-mage and to one side. Would shields formed partially of demon-power keep out a demon-wolf?

Better safe than sorry. He shifted the song, gradually, made it speak of acceptance and belonging and home, of peace and safety.

The demon-mage's shields wavered and fell, fading away into moonlight.

Evaline, with a couple of dark streaks in her pale fur and one forefoot not taking her full weight, darted directly through the face-off, very close to the demon-mage. She seemed to be in better shape than her opponent, who had to be on his feet still only through pure mad will. The larger wolf ran after her, though in less of a straight line, and his shoulder bumped glancingly against the mage's legs. Automatically, the mage spun in place to track them, raising both hands again.

It only took Jess one side-step to be directly in front of him. With both hands wrapped around the hilt of his dagger, he thrust it upwards through the jaw, through the throat, and judging from the way the mage collapsed bonelessly with total disregard for how he landed, hitting the spinal column where it joined the skull at the back. Shaine wasn't sure the demon-mage had even seen Jesse, between the light levels and the distractions and Evaline's perfect timing.

Jess dropped to his knees, head bowed; where he'd found the strength, Shaine wasn't sure, but it had obviously run out.

Evaline trotted back and nuzzled him, tail waving slowly, and Jess draped an arm over her. “Kev?”

Shaine surveyed the area, but it was over: the larger wolf was moving only a little, small twitches accompanied by soft whining, the female mage was unconscious still, the demon-mage was very definitely dead. There were no demons left to fight at the moment, the one Alfari had cornered had vanished at some point, and the others were dead. Aindry and Jaisan were a couple of largely motionless shadows, but it wouldn't take long for assistance to show up, he was sure.

Lori let go of his hand and ran to Kevin; Shaine headed for Jess instead, helped him to his feet.

“Is Kev okay?” Jess asked.

Evaline whined, nosed Jess briefly, and loped unevenly over to Kevin.

* * *

Kevin's consciousness blurred, the raw cold draining him more than any mage-battle ever could, his metabolism struggling vainly to keep his body temperature at its usual level.

The ice shattered.

Oh gods, now what?

*I'm here, Kev, it's okay.* Lori's arm around him, Lori's wonderfully warm body pressed against his, heat wrapping around him in an intangible blanket. *Brigid, you're cold. C'mon, Kev, tell us you're okay.* A warm, furry body snuggled against his other side with a soft whine. A third body, much smaller, climbed onto his lap and purred.

“Kev?” That was Jess, out loud, coming closer, but he sounded terrible. And worried. “You're still you, right?”

“Still me?” he echoed fuzzily.

“There's no more outside influence, it's all just Kev in there now,” Lori said reassuringly. “I called the others, they'll be out here in no time. Wake up, Kev, you can't sleep now, not until we get you warm.”

“Damn,” Shaine muttered. “Maybe I overdid it. Is he going to get over this?”

Shaine sounding all concerned about Kevin's wellbeing was a sufficiently unusual occurrence to make Kevin blink and focus on the meren. “I'm cold.”

“No shit,” Jess said. “Get up, so we can go inside and get you warm.”

“Inside. Warm. Right.” Something clicked into place, and he gazed at Lori and Shaine in horror. “Oh gods, I attacked...”

“He was messing with your mind somehow,” Lori said firmly. “It was probably easier to trigger old behaviour patterns than to try any kind of direct control. He found a weakness and he used it. That doesn't mean you deliberately betrayed us. Get over it. Get up.”

“Yes, do,” Bane said, leaning down to slide an arm around Kevin and halfway pull him to his feet. “Walk. Inside. Flynn has the kettle on.”

Things got fuzzy, but he knew there were familiar arms around him on both sides helping him to his feet; in the warm brightness of the house, a cup was held for him, and he obediently took a swallow of soup.

“Jess?” he asked.

“They're fine, all three of them,” Deanna said. “Badly exhausted. No injuries to them or Eva that are going to be a major issue. We'll get them cleaned up and fed and Mandisa can look at them tomorrow.”

“Shaine?”

“In better shape than you are. Take another drink.”

“Too bad elves don't jump-start,” Aindry said, with a weak, slightly hysterical giggle, from nearby.

“The other guys?”

“Cynthia's dealing with it,” Sam said.

Bane hugged him, and Kevin gratefully leaned against him, absorbing his warmth through the blanket someone had wrapped around him. “It's all over, phoenix. Now we can all get on with our lives.”

“That sounds awesome. Just as soon as I'm awake enough to do it...”