Ringing... Ringing... Ringing... Mihai's fingers clasped the phone in his grip after he'd dialed, breathing unsteady and eyes sliding closed as he tried not to let his imagination get away with him as to what had happened to his familiar. He didn’t want to think about his Kas in the hands of Devlin, didn’t want to feel that flare of rage that kept trying to gain fuel within him. Ringing... Ringing... The darkness behind his eyelids wasn't dark for long, his mind's eye unable to push aside the thoughts of those grass green eyes, the intent focused heat that lay within them drawing him in, leading him down the path that seemed to be leading him through increasingly familiar territory, through the town of Boulder, to his own home, and then away, in a flash of dark fur...<br/><br/>The sound of the call going to voicemail didn’t register with the witch who opened his eyes to stare blankly at the windshield as the phone was tossed into the passenger seat. He had been provided with a much clearer connection to Kasabian than any smartphone could provide. Mihai’s hands clenched around the wheel of his car, guiding it back onto the road, shaking his head to clear it of the inner images that still flitted through his vision, trying to manage the overlap that was becoming increasingly less foreign. His familiar was alive, and and Mihai was determined to keep him that way as the sped off towards the Blackmore estate once more.<br/><br/>As he pulled up to the estate, his heart skipped a beat as his headlights caught on a shadow ahead of him on the wall. A shadow with green eyes. “Kas,” he breathed in wonder at the sleek form before him, his fingers fumbling to free himself from the car just as that massive shadow launched itself from the wall, the shriek of shattering glass piercing the peace of the evening.<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>The pain of that massive cat sinking every sharp edge it could muster into Devlin had a determined growl being pressed through the dark witch’s clenched teeth as his body struggled to fight back instinctively against the fiery pain that seared his senses, his hands shoving ineffectively at the sinewy muscles of the cat that had him at it’s mercy, his mind locking into it’s own struggle for dominance over his focus through the pain as he finally managed to spare enough breath to mutter out the words of a spell. Devlin kept his hands braced against that furred form that tore into him through sheer willpower as he began to drag the blessedly relieving life force from the beast against him into his own system in a casting that would have made any of the coven beyond the members of his own family blanch in outrage. He tried to breath more deeply as his wounds struggled to heal against the continued rending of his flesh, tried to draw more and more of Kasabian’s energy into himself. The pain didn’t lessen, and his wounds continued to be raked open over and over as those teeth and claws failed to fall away despite the life that was steadily draining from the cat. Devlin was playing a dangerous game of chicken. If he completely drained Kasabian, he himself would live, but he would forever lose his chance at owning that creature that clung to him when he would fall lifeless to the floor. It was not the familiar he wanted to kill. It was Mihai. With a pained hiss he stopped struggling against the beast, focusing instead on drawing the magic that fueled Kasabian’s form, weakening the man’s connection to the very nature of his abilities, willing the menacing form to fall away and leave Kasabian vulnerable once more that he might put his own spilt blood to good use in damning the infernal witch who sought to claim what was his.<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>The sight that greeted Mihai as he scrambled over the windowsill and into the once decadent room that was now in disarray had the man’s eyes widening in shock as he stumbled to a halt. Kas had Devlin pinned, and severely wounded by the looks of it, leaving Mihai’s mind scrambling. Some shred of morality screamed at him to try and pull the panther off of the human who was suffering at his will, but the thought was short lived as he recalled that the cat before him was his familiar, and the man he was mauling was the one who had caused Kasabian such pain when he’d been pulled away by his side. Was still causing him pain... A dark glint came to Mihai’s gaze as he stepped closer, flickers of Kasabian’s consciousness once again clinging to his mind. Devlin was drawing from him somehow, and it had to stop.<br/><br/>In seconds he had gathered a candle that had blown out in the whirlwind that had been Kas’ entry and was dropping to his knees beside where Devlin had been pinned to the floor. His fingers hovered over the extinguished wick, a few murmured words of encouragement to the once aflame fuel coaxing it back to flickering life as he reminded it of how lovely and warm it had been just moments before, that it would be just so very nice if it could feel that heat once more. He set the candle to the side, his hands darting out to take the sides of other witch’s head in his hands, his eyes flickering to meet those green orbs that never failed to take his breath away, his connection to the panther’s mind gaining strength as if his familiar was one of the many backyard creatures he had learned to communicate with back home when he was young. His message now was short but clear.<i>Keep him still. </i><br/><br/>Then his hazel gaze slipped closed, brow furrowing as his thoughts started plucking from every relevant lesson he’d been taught by the coven. None had taught him the exact process he sought to perform, but within seconds Mihai’s lips were moving, words filled with heated conviction spilling forth as he tried to focus past the sensation of Kas’ energy unraveling mysteriously as he kept his heavy form in contact with Devlin’s.<br/><br/>“In Hecate's name I bind Devlin to the flame,<br/>I cast Devlin’s powers to the wind, that all may know his shame,<br/>May Hecate envelope him in the threefold law,<br/>May their ability to raise magic fall on deaf walls,<br/>May Hecate stop his harm in the future, present and past,<br/>Only at my will may this binding be uncast,<br/>So Mote It Be!”