Silver lowered her head at the thought of the lost officers, but Jake was right. They had to be even more careful now—and mourning, well, that would have to wait.
Cassia brought Silver a plate of food and she dug into the delicious creamy pot pie filled with chunks of chicken, carrots, and peas. She drank deeply of the iced water and lemon that Cassia brought her and already was feeling more of her strength restored.
But when the conversation turned to the witches’ captivity, Silver clenched her fork in her fist and watched each of those gathered around the table.
“Samhain,” Rhiannon was saying, her green eyes sparking. “That’s when they plan on bringing more of their kind.” “When the veils between worlds are at their thinnest,” muttered Hawk. “We thought as much.”
Mackenzie nodded. “That’s why they want more witches, and want us to cooperate so badly. The Fomorii killed several of the warlocks and they now don’t have enough to perform the ceremony at its full strength.”
“Sow-in?” Jake asked. “Is that the same as Halloween?”
“Spelled S-a-m-h-a-i-n. Same night as Halloween.” Silver put her fork down into her pot pie. “But very different.”
The cop shook his head. “That only gives us five more days to exterminate these bastards.”
October 27
17
It was midnight when Silver slipped through the darkness of her living room, her white satin robe swirling about her feet. She tightened her belt as she moved to where Hawk sprawled in one of her armchairs, fully dressed but sleeping. Polaris had draped himself over the back of the armchair, probably keeping an eye on him. Or just being a general nuisance.
No doubt the familiar had just returned from one of his forays, searching for food. He was often gone for hours at a time. She was certain he was clearing the attic of any rodents. She felt bad for them, but it was part of the circle of life.
But if Polaris tried to get a hold of Mortimer, Silver had a feeling he’d get more than he’d bargained for with that little familiar.
Before Silver could wake Hawk, Polaris hissed and flicked his tongue along the man’s cheek.
Hawk acted so fast, his movements were a blur. One second he was asleep, the next he had his dagger in one hand and gripped Polaris just below the head with his other.
“Hawk!” Silver shoved his hand away, forcing him to release the python. She moved the snake to the floor. Polaris hissed at Hawk, gave him a piercing glare, and slithered under the chair.
Hawk got to his feet. “What are you doing up, Silver?” he demanded, one eye on the snake curled up just behind his boots.
“He’s not going to hurt you.” She took Hawk’s dagger and sheathed it for him, then clasped her hand in his. “I need to perform the summoning ritual again. You can help me.”
He didn’t budge. “You’re exhausted.”
“I’m a witch. I’m almost at full strength.” She was a little tired, but nothing that she couldn’t live with. Besides, more was at stake. “Since the veils between worlds aren’t thin enough for anyone to cross over from Otherworld, we have to perform this ceremony to call the D’Danann and bring more of your people here. Likely next time we won’t be so lucky battling the Fomorii.”
A sour taste filled her mouth at the thought of those bastards, and fire grew in her chest at what they’d done to the witches and the PSF officers. Who knew what they’d done to the other witches Silver and her friends hadn’t rescued?
In the dim light, Hawk’s eyes almost seemed to glow. “Are you certain you’re well enough to perform this ritual?”
“Absolutely.” She tugged his hand, trying to get him to walk to the door with her.
After a moment he finally gave a slow nod and followed her.
Silver had dressed in her white robe, and all of her ritual items were carefully packed in a wooden chest beside the door. She kept everything she needed in the chest in order to always be prepared for the times she needed to perform a ritual. Especially in cases of emergency.
She grabbed her car keys from a hook beside her apartment door. Hawk insisted on carrying the chest as they moved quietly from the apartment, downstairs, and out the back door of the café’s kitchen. A small garage behind the store housed her new yellow VW Bug that she’d named Bitty.
Silver noticed Hawk eyeing the car critically as she had him stow the box in the trunk. While he watched, Silver adjusted the seat so that it was positioned as far back as possible to fit his long legs.
When she moved away she saw that he towered over the compact vehicle, and Silver was tempted to laugh when he folded his large frame into Bitty’s passenger seat. Even the new ones weren’t big enough to fit a man his size. He had to hunch over just to fit his head in the Bug. She showed him how to buckle the seat belt, then went to her own side of the car.
Before they started off, she turned on the car’s heater to take away some of the night’s chill. She backed out of the garage, used the remote to close the door, and then backed up some more before speeding down the alleyway.
Even though his rapid learning and his studies of this world’s ways told Hawk what everything was, he was amazed at how the machine worked. It wasn’t drawn by horses or magic, but by things that were more of a mystery to him. Electronics, engine, gasoline.
Hawk’s people had an amazing ability to learn quickly and retain all knowledge, but it might take longer than he thought to fully grasp it all.
Even as he studied how she operated the machine, catalogued her every movement, his gut tightened as Silver drove the vehicle like a madwoman, up, up, up steep streets, and down, down, down again.
He gripped the dashboard and clenched his jaw. He didn’t like this feeling of being out of control and in such a confined space. Not to mention her driving was enough to make the sturdiest warrior ill.
If he wasn’t close to losing his supper, he might have enjoyed the lighted bridge looping across the bay. The low- hanging fog rolling in. The towering buildings and the amazing view of thousands of lights in the city and on the other side of the bay.
She finally brought the car to an abrupt stop near a small cliff overlooking the ocean, and Hawk’s stomach churned. When he managed to squeeze out of the car, he took great gulps of air to clear his head.
He stretched his muscles and wished he’d stop feeling the motion of the car. On the way back to her apartment he’d fly as D’Danann, soaring above her, instead of subjecting himself to Silver’s driving again.
“Come on, big guy.” Silver opened the back compartment and took the chest out. “The moon is almost at its full strength for the night.”
He took the chest from her and followed her down a hidden footpath, to the small cove where she’d summoned him. Waves slapped the shore and the smells of kelp and seawater were strong.
After he set the chest on the sand, Silver knelt before the chest and began withdrawing items, arranging them on the beach. A small altar with a pentagram carved into it, a chalice that she filled from a bottle of water, a white candle, a small bowl of salt, and a stick of incense that smelled of sandalwood.
When she finished preparing the items, she glanced at the moon, then to Hawk. “You’ll need to remove your clothing.”
Hawk’s jaw nearly dropped to the sand. Instead he narrowed his eyes and frowned. “Certainly not.”
“To do this ceremony with only two of us, we need to be skyclad.” Silver tilted her chin, determination in her gray eyes. “If you want this to work, if you want us to be able to summon a larger number of the D’Danann, it is necessary. Now strip.”
When he saw fire in her eyes and knew he wasn’t going to win this round, he began taking off his clothing. He started with his weapon belt, which he set carefully aside on the rocky shore, just above the sand. By the time all his clothing was removed, he felt foolish and vulnerable, not to mention aroused by the way Silver was looking at him.
“I’ve never seen you naked before.” She licked her lips and he harde
ned near to bursting. She smiled, a slow sensual smile that caused him to groan. “There’s a very special part to this ceremony that we’ll both enjoy.”
Without another word, Silver let her robe slip from her shoulders to the sand at her feet, baring her exquisite body. The only things she wore were the pentagram at her throat, the snake curled around her wrist, and jewelry at her ears.
Hawk caught his breath. She was so beautiful. The glow of moonlight caressed every inch of her body that he wanted to be touching at this very moment.
She turned her back to him and bent over the altar, and treated him to a fine view of her ass—her perfectly molded cheeks and her firmly muscled legs. He groaned and stepped forward.
Silver rose and she had a crown on. It was a silver band with a crescent moon resting upside down at the front center. In her hands she held a circlet with a small pair of antlers on it.
He frowned.
She moved forward, reached up and placed the crown on his head. He didn’t have time to feel foolish as her breasts brushed his chest, the heat of her body radiating to his just by her nearness.
While he watched, Silver consecrated her tools, including the dagger she used to draw a magical circle around them. Candles flickered to life where they had been placed—to the north, south, east, and west.
When Silver finished, she stood before him. “This ritual is far more effective when two people perform it, and even more so when the entire Coven is present.”
Hawk was rather relieved the Coven was not there at that moment, with both of them naked.
Silver took his hands in hers and she looked up at him. Her gaze filled him with emotion he couldn’t define. Already he felt magic growing within her that rippled throughout him, giving him a rush of power.
“When the high priest performs the ritual with the high priestess”—Silver’s voice quavered as she continued—“he kisses each of her feet, her belly, each breast, and her mouth. I’ll chant the ritual words since you don’t know them.”
Hawk’s gut clenched and he grew harder at the image of his mouth all over Silver’s body.
When she bade him to, he knelt before her and lowered his head. He brushed soft kisses over the top of each of her feet, the mere act making him throb. Silver’s voice joined with the ocean breeze and the wash of waves against shore. “Bless our feet on the sacred path.”
Hawk raised himself to his knees to kiss the soft skin of her belly, and felt Silver tremble beneath his lips. Silver’s voice trembled, too. “Bless the womb, the goddess’s gift, fertility’s bath.”
When Hawk stood, more than lust was raging through him. He could feel a touch, a presence, growing within himself and Silver. A magical, unearthly presence.
Slowly he kissed each of her breasts. Silver had to force her words out, hardly able to breathe, as she said, “Bless the breasts, which nurture life.”
Hawk caught Silver’s face in his hands and brought his mouth to hers. The kiss was slow and sensual, his lips gently moving over hers in a way that made her almost forget where she was and what she was supposed to be doing. When he raised his head, she whispered, “Bless our lips to praise all Ancestors alike, when honoring the Ancestors within us all.”
Silver took a step back. She drew in a deep breath, trying to gain control of her body, her desires, and her emotions. She was about to attempt something she’d read about but had never done, and realized she would only do this because it would be with Hawk.
Sex magic.
She needed to touch him, taste him. Relax him.
She smiled at the thought of the addition she would make to the ritual. “Now it’s your turn.”
Hawk sucked in his breath as Silver gracefully knelt before him. Her hair floated over her shoulders and brushed his feet as her moist lips pressed against the top of each one, and she repeated the ritual words she had spoken earlier. Only this time her voice was husky with what he was sure was desire.
She rose to her knees. Hawk clenched his fists at his sides as she flicked her tongue over his hard length. “You need to relax to more fully join with the Ancestors,” she murmured as she kissed his belly button and his erection jerked.
She softly said the chant, and then slipped her soft lips over his flesh.
Stunned, Hawk could only watch as the beautiful woman took him deep into her mouth and sucked. Hard. With one hand, she cupped his balls and the other gripped his erection, moving it up and down as she swirled her tongue over the head.
Sparkles whirled around them. She was using her magic to give him pleasure beyond reason. He’d never felt anything like what Silver was doing to him now, and he didn’t know if he was going to be able to continue standing as weak as his knees felt.
She sucked him deeper, brought him to the back of her throat, and her moan vibrated through him. He groaned and closed his eyes. He saw the same sparkles swirling in his mind, felt them caressing his body, and working their magic throughout his very being.
Closer and closer he drew to a pinnacle he’d never been to before. Nothing in his life had prepared him for what was happening to him. He slid his hands into her silky hair, nearly out of his mind.
Everything exploded, inside and out. Like a shower of stars from the sky in his mind. When he opened his eyes he saw the same waterfalls of stars flowing down around them. His orgasm seemed to last forever as Silver swallowed every last bit of his essence. He finally had to grip her hair harder and force her to stop.
He was still trying to catch his breath when she rose and kissed each pec and murmured the ritual words. And then her mouth was on his, and he saw more stars.
When she finally tilted her head back, she murmured, “You’re ready now.”
At that moment, he couldn’t have answered her for the world. He was so relaxed. Spasms still vibrated throughout him, and the sparks around them filled him, too.
Silver took Hawk by the hands and he squeezed hers within his grip. Their bodies were but a fraction apart, her breasts caressing his chest. He instantly grew erect at the thought of being inside her.
As she began speaking, more light sparked the air around them like hundreds of fireflies.
“Join us, Ancestors. Fill us with your power.
We beseech for your aid in this fateful hour.
Help us call the D’Danann, help us save countless souls.
Protecting witches and all humans, these are our goals.
Lend us your strength, your protection, your grace.
Bring the D’Danann for battle to face.”
The sparkles around them began swirling, becoming brighter and brighter. Silver’s hair floated from her shoulders and Hawk felt light-headed and light-bodied, as if he could take to the skies without wings.
“Place your forehead to mine.” Silver’s voice seemed to come from nowhere, everywhere, within him, around him.
Nearly boneless, Hawk leaned down and touched his forehead to hers, and felt the press of her silver circlet against the front of his crown of antlers.
“Close your eyes and see what I see.” She gripped his hands tighter. “Feel what I feel.”
He shut his eyes and immediately a candle flame flickered to life. “Join your strength with mine,” Silver said. “Help me make the flame grow beyond these earthly bonds.”
At first he didn’t think he had any strength after that shattering orgasm, but then he found a greater power welling up within him. The candle flame in his mind grew until it became a roaring campfire. Sparks exploded. Wood crackled. It turned into a raging bonfire. Heat rushed through him and he felt as if he were right before it. Sweat rolled down his skin as the bonfire grew. Before he knew it, they were standing beneath a volcano—
The volcano of Otherworld.
His heart ached at the sight of it. He and his people lived in the forest, far from the volcano, but it was a part of the soul of the D’Danann. Its every push and pull within its belly was like the heartbeat that throbbed in his chest.
A black force
slammed into Silver’s consciousness. Darkness that tried to shove her away from her summoning.
Her body tensed and she blocked out the force attempting to control her. Attempting to sway her from her goal.
This time the gray wasn’t helping her. It was fighting her.
Her body ached and her thoughts spun. With one huge shove of her magic, she blocked out the dark witchcraft trying to overpower her and keep her from summoning the D’Danann.
How had sorcery entered the protective circle? Had she brought it with her?
Sweat broke out on her skin and rolled down the sides of her face. Her head spun and she could barely stand. It took all of her concentration to return her focus to the ceremony.
“Call your warriors,” Silver whispered to Hawk, forcing strength of conviction into her voice. “Summon the D’Danann.”
Hawk reached deep inside and mentally gave the cry of his people. He called to them in their language, expressing the urgency in his request. Another race was in danger, and only the D’Danann could save them.
The scene in his mind switched from the volcano to his forest home and he witnessed his brethren as they emerged from the greenery. Shadowed as they were, he couldn’t tell the number of D’Danann who were answering his summons, but it did not look like many.
Yet they were coming. Coming to pass judgment on his decision to join the battle against the Fomorii? Or coming to fight?
For what seemed an eternity, Silver and Hawk stood together, drawing on the power of the waxing moon and calling to his people. Finally he felt Silver’s mental tug back to the present.
The forest vanished and they returned to the volcano, which quickly receded. In its place was the bonfire, which was soon replaced by the campfire, and it eventually diminished to a mere candle flame. Silver’s gentle breath extinguished the flame, and the thin trail of smoke vanished into the darkness of his mind.
At Silver’s mental command, Hawk opened his eyes. For the longest time they stared at each other, both unable to move, to tear their gazes apart. He no longer felt weak from the orgasm, but strong and powerful, able to take on anything that might come to them—even a host of Fomorii.
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