The Forbidden

by Cheyenne McCray

  Everything was quiet.

  As soon as Jake opened that section of the wall, things were going to happen fast. But how were they going to get twelve witches and the apprentices out safely?

  Anger and adrenaline took over Silver again. She would get them out.

  When Jake had wedged open a space wide enough for two large men to fit through, Hawk slipped into the ballroom, followed by Silver, Jake, and the rest of the PSF team.

  Witches started murmuring again, calling to Silver in low voices with pleas for help.

  “Oh, my goddess,” Janis Arrowsmith whispered. “How did you get in here?”

  Silver didn’t bother to answer. Her gaze rested on Rhiannon and Mackenzie, who were contained just feet away.

  “Silver. Jake.” Rhiannon came up to the barrier and placed her palms flat against it. An expression of relief crossed her friend’s features, followed by concern. “You’ve got to get out of here before the demons wake.”

  Hawk was already beside both Fomorii. With a quick slice of his sword, he beheaded one sleeping demon, then the other. Without a sound, both of the demon bodies wavered, then collapsed to silt on the floor, as if they were nothing but mounds of soil.

  Witches gasped.

  Silver’s gut reaction was extreme pleasure that the demons had been destroyed, followed by a sick feeling because she had been the one to make them easy targets. Still, she couldn’t help feeling that justice had been delivered with their deaths.

  Gray leads to the dark…

  She moved up to the shimmering purple force field surrounding the witches. The power radiating from it was incredible, beyond anything she’d experienced before.

  “Okay,” Rhiannon said as Silver moved closer. “So no worries about those demons. But you’ve got to leave before the others come. This force field is impossible to break down. We’ve all tried.”

  “Bet no one has tried using gray magic,” Silver murmured without thinking, and Janis’s gaze shot to her.

  “We won’t be a part of this.” Janis narrowed her eyes. “Don’t use our captivity as an excuse to violate everything the D’Anu stand for.”

  Where is that wild energy I felt? Silver sheathed her daggers in her boots and focused on the shimmering purple wall. Her stilettos would do her no good here.

  “Hurry,” Jake said. He and the other PSF cops had their high-powered guns trained on the ballroom doors, and Hawk stood beside her with his sword.

  Silver called up a spellfire ball in her hands. “Move,” she ordered the witches.

  Janis was already at the far side of the magical prison, and other witches pushed against her.

  The spellfire Silver gathered together was a brilliant blue. As she put all her anger into her magic, the ball grew brighter and brighter yet—and then became tinged with the slight hue of lavender, as if her witchcraft were mixing with someone else’s.

  Someone with magic that exceeded her own.

  All Silver cared about was the immense feeling of power flowing through her body. Power so intense, so far beyond what she’d experienced before, that she almost laughed with the headiness of it.

  She reared back and flung the fireball at the force field and her blood rushed in her ears as she watched the purple shimmer weaken while her blue spellfire rolled over it.

  “Don’t do this,” Janis shouted. “Can’t you see it’s getting away from you? Where will it end, Silver? Stop!”

  I’m saving your asses, Silver thought as she gathered another ball in her hands. This one was even bigger, stronger, and this time she did laugh.

  Just as she reared back to fling the ball, she felt a presence touch her mind. Something dark—someone dark. The image that flashed in her mind was the darkly sensual and exciting Darkwolf.

  Exciting? No. Was she losing it?

  Her teeth clenched. She thought about biting again. Biting hard.

  “Use your anger," the voice said. “Let it grow. It’s delicious, yes? Would you like to feel how exciting real power can be?"

  She shook her head and focused her attention back on the wall. The anger within her was so great she couldn’t have drawn back if she’d wanted to. She poured that anger, that rage at what the Fomorii had done, into her magic. She didn’t even realize the spellfire in her hands had turned a deep shade of purple until she’d flung it against the barrier.

  This time sparks flew and crackled in the air. The wall exploded outward and Silver felt the rush of dark sorcery flow over her from the destroyed force field. She stumbled back into a strong pair of arms that she recognized instantly as Hawk’s. Her stomach roiled from the presence of black witchcraft, so badly she almost threw up.

  She jerked herself from Hawk’s hold and ran toward the witches. Rhiannon met Silver halfway and gripped her in a tight hug. Through the haze of the wild power within her, Silver recognized the slashes and bruises across Rhiannon’s face, and her anger rose all over again.

  “Let’s get out of here.” Rhiannon tugged on Silver’s hand.

  The PSF team was backing up toward them, guns still trained on the ballroom doors.

  The doors smashed open.

  Five men ran into the room and slammed the doors behind them.

  In an instant four of them shifted into demons.

  And one a Basilisk!

  Witches screamed. Stumbled.

  “Pick them off,” Jake shouted to his team.

  Hawk readied his sword and charged one of the demons.

  Swearing loud enough to drown out the hiss of the Basilisk, demon-grunts, and shouting, Silver gathered spellfire in her hands. Her witchcraft raged within her, so great her body was afire with it. She flung the ball at the closest Fomorii. The blast slammed the demon against the far wall.

  At the same time, expert PSF marksmen shot at the demons, the silencers on their guns muffling the sounds.

  To Silver’s horror, the demon bodies and the Basilisk absorbed each shot, the scales and skin mending as if the hole had never existed. The bullets merely slowed the demons up a bit, and angered them more.

  “Outta here,” Jake shouted. “Save who you can and get out.”

  A demon pounced on one of the PSF officers. Sanders went down. Witches screamed as the cursed monster ripped out the PSF cop’s throat. The spellfire Silver flung at the beast was so strong it sent the murdering Fomorii sliding across the floor and into the wall with a crash of wood and plaster.

  Hawk battled a demon, both his fists around the hilt of his sword as he swung. He severed one of the beast’s limbs and black blood spurted.

  Jake was shouting at the witches to get the hell out, get out, get out, but their way was blocked by one of the demons. Silver used her gray magic again to knock back the Fomorii, giving them room to escape.

  The Basilisk sank its fangs into Jameson’s body and shook the man who shouted from what must have been excruciating pain.

  Taking everything in within seconds, Silver saw at least three witches being herded out of the room. She was sweating so much that her skin was hot and flushed, her hair damp beneath her cap and her clothes sticking to her body.

  “Flee,” Hawk ordered Silver as the demon he was battling lunged at him.

  “Not without—” Silver started when the room went silent and all the demons bounded away from Silver and Hawk.

  A man walked into the room, his presence so powerful that Silver was stunned by it.

  Darkwolf.

  Nothing Silver had ever visualized had prepared her for the magnetism, the seduction of his smile. The pull of his sorcery. Everything around her ceased to exist. It was only Darkwolf and her.

  Alone.

  Mesmerized, Silver could only stare at him. Her body refused to work and she couldn’t even raise her hands to form a spellfire.

  “I’ve been waiting for you to come to me, Silver Ashcroft,” Darkwolf said in a voice so sensual it caused her to shiver. “Your powers far exceed those of your Coven members. Your magic is already blending with the dark. I n
eed you and you need me.”

  No, she tried to say, but nothing came out. Her tongue was so thick she couldn’t speak. She tried to shake her head but it was too heavy to move.

  He moved closer to her, his black robe flowing around him. The stone eye on the chain around his neck swayed as he slowly closed the distance between them. “One more step, Silver, and you will have all of what Balor has to offer you. Witchcraft beyond your dreams.”

  His eyes...those incredible black eyes. They held her. They made her want to move to him, to be surrounded by his embrace.

  His very presence was so...erotic. Like he was sliding his hands over her body, drawing her closer to him.

  The dark. Its power.

  Yes. Witchcraft she could use for good. Witchcraft that would allow her the abilities to help anyone in need. Yes, that was it.

  Her gaze dropped to the stone eye at his throat.

  The eye opened.

  Bright red light seared her vision.

  Fear and anger broke the hold Darkwolf had on her. Suddenly she realized the fighting had not stopped, that the battle had continued, she had simply been enthralled by the man approaching her.

  He looked annoyed, obviously realizing he no longer had control of her mind. Before she even had time to think about it, she raised her hand and flung a spellfire ball at him.

  It simply shimmered around a magical shield he threw up around himself. “Yes. That’s it, Silver,” the warlock said. “Again.”

  “Silver!” Hawk’s shout brought her back to reality just as she started to fling more spellfire at Darkwolf.

  Hawk grabbed her hand and jerked her through the gap in the partition. With swift recognition, she realized everything that had just occurred had happened in mere moments even though it seemed like it had been hours.

  She heard Darkwolf’s cry of rage. Felt him try to jerk her back toward him.

  Goddess help her, but part of her wanted to go.

  No!

  On the other side of the partition, she grabbed Mackenzie’s and Rhiannon’s hands and surrounded the three of them with a spellshield. She practically dragged them through the opening to the other ballroom. The two witches seemed to gather themselves, their bodies probably flooded with the same kind of adrenaline rush pumping through Silver.

  Behind her came the screams of witches, Hawk’s battle cries, and the muffled sound of Jake’s and the other PSF officers’ guns firing. She tossed a look over her shoulder and saw Jake and Hawk had Sandy and Iris behind them as they followed her.

  Furious that two of Jake’s officers had died, and that some of her Coven was being left behind—again—Silver took the only logical action. She shoved Rhiannon and Mackenzie ahead of her, running for the service door that led them back in the direction they had come from. It was a wonder Silver’s friends didn’t trip over their robes.

  Janis. John. Sydney. Left behind.

  What if they just vanish without a trace like my sister? What if we can’t even find their bodies?

  Jake, Hawk, the others—dear goddess, please let both of them out of this hellpit alive.

  For now, she had to save the souls she could.

  When she made it with the witches into the service room, she paused to hold the door open for them and the others running toward her.

  “Get out of here, damn it!” Jake shouted as he glanced at Silver before putting a bullet through the head of a charging Fomorii, stalling the beast for just a brief moment.

  Using her magic to keep the door open, Silver ushered the two women through. Hawk, Iris, and Jake made it into the room. Sandy was nowhere to be seen.

  Silver slammed the door shut behind them and locked it with a flick of her fingers. “This way,” she shouted, as she worked her way through the next door and into the hallway with Rhiannon and Mackenzie. She could hear and feel the others behind her.

  Silver expected to hear Fomorii shrieks and roars as she and her companions rushed past the bank of elevators and through the stairwell door. But for some reason there was only silence. Perhaps to avoid being seen or heard by the hotel’s patrons?

  But no. She heard additional pounding footsteps. The creatures must have turned back into their human forms.

  The rescued witches stumbled on the concrete steps in the stairwell. Mackenzie and Rhiannon righted themselves and kept on moving, but Hawk threw Iris over his shoulder and carried her up the flight of stairs. Every time they went through any kind of doorway, Silver used her magic to lock the door behind them, stalling the demon-humans long enough to aid their escape.

  When they reached the second floor, they ran down the hallway to the room they’d come in through. Before Silver could use her magic to unlock it, Hawk set Iris down and rammed the door with his shoulder. Wood shattered and metal tore away with a grinding crunch.

  They all stumbled into the room.

  “Did we lose them?” Silver’s voice came out in a pant.

  Iris leaned over and threw up on the carpeted floor. Mackenzie looked shell-shocked, but Rhiannon, always practical and headstrong, said, “Forget the demons. Let’s just get the hell out.”

  Silver glanced at the bed and saw that the man and woman she’d bound with her magic were still sleeping.

  Hawk and Jake went through the open doors to the balcony.

  “Clear,” they both said at once, then glared at each other for a fraction of a second.

  Hawk sheathed his sword, reached for Rhiannon, and took her onto the balcony. His wings unfurled. Iris was wiping vomit from her mouth onto her sleeve but jerked her head up and gave a sharp cry of surprise while Mackenzie gasped.

  “Tuatha D’Danann.” Iris’s features twisted with horror. “By the goddess. You called them. You went against the Coven and summoned the D’Danann into this world.”

  “Oh, shut up, Iris,” Rhiannon snapped back. “Silver just saved your life.”

  Iris leaned over and threw up again.

  The woman is so damn stupid, Silver thought, wanting to shake Iris while at the same time feeling bad for her as she puked her guts up.

  “Hold on tightly,” Hawk said as he grabbed Rhiannon and flew off the balcony with her. Silver watched him take the witch straight to the ground and set her on her feet. Then he was soaring back for the window at the same time Jake was swinging down to the low wall. The remaining PSF officers and Silver were covering their backs.

  Hawk grabbed Iris who started to scream, and he clamped his hand over her mouth. “Quiet, witch,” was all he said before taking off and flying back down to the street where Rhiannon and Jake were now waiting. Jake had his arms outstretched, gun out, searching the area for any sign of the demons. The two PSF officers they had left behind when they had entered the hotel were backing him up, watching for signs of the beasts.

  Just as Hawk made it back to the balcony to grab Mackenzie, Silver swung off and jumped to the low wall, landing in a crouch, and bracing herself with one hand. She leaped off the wall, grabbed Rhiannon’s and Iris’s hands, and ran like she had never run before. Behind her she heard the other three PSF officers jump down from the balcony.

  Rhiannon’s and Iris’s robes made it harder for them to run, but run they did. Silver’s heart thundered with anger and fear. What if they were caught? What if they didn’t make it away from the demons? They didn’t hear or see the Fomorii, but what if they had another way of reaching them?

  Behind her came the pounding of Hawk’s, Jake’s, and the other cops’ boots, and the patter of Mackenzie’s slippers.

  In the distance she heard nothing. Nothing at all.

  Silver paused and let the men catch up. One PSF officer held a hand over his bloodied upper arm that had been raked by claws. Another was limping, blood trickling through shreds in her pants. Each of the escaped witches were banged up and bruised and each looked horrorstruck. Only Hawk and Jake seemed to have come out of the fight unscathed.

  Silver had to get them somewhere quick to heal each witch and officer. It was probably t
oo risky to run back to her shop.

  Jake pointed up the hill with his gun. “Follow me.”

  15

  Pacing back and forth in her human form, before her remaining warriors and Darkwolf, Junga gave a low growl. She had failed. They had set this trap, let it be sprung—and she and her warriors had failed. Damn it all to the lowest hells!

  But why only one of the bastards?

  Why not a legion?

  Junga had thought that if the D’Danann came, it would be in force. She had planned to be waiting—her, and all the warriors carrying a surprise for the gnats of Otherworld. It had never occurred to her that only one D’Danann might be with the witches and humans. Now they had lost the powerful witch Rhiannon, along with two others. Had also failed to catch the thirteenth witch, Silver Ashcroft, the one Darkwolf wanted so badly.

  The prior evening Darkwolf had used his seductive skills and thus far had only been able to bring one of the witches to the dark. The rest must be ready in time to perform the summoning on Samhain when the veil between worlds was a wisp of nothing. Only during Samhain and a handful of other times could they bring all of her people.

  Junga’s dark gaze pierced Bane, along with the few surviving members of the team that had lost the witches. All were in human form.

  Her muscles tensed to the point she thought her tendons might snap with a single lunge at the throat of one of her warriors. All it would take was a quick shift to Fomorii, and she could easily destroy whoever she chose.

  The Fomorii waited for Junga to continue. She noticed everything. The nervous twitch of their eyes, the deference in their postures, the fear in their gazes.

  Except Bane. His eyes told her he knew her weakness, how she enjoyed being dominated sexually. She read the knowledge in his expression and it infuriated her. Frightened her.

  Excited her.

  She didn’t dare look at Darkwolf at that moment, lest he see straight to her soul.

  The thought only made her angrier as she continued pacing, her heels silent against the floor. By Balor’s name, she hadn’t been able to forget her night with Bane and Darkwolf. How they had both taken her, dominated her.