by Sadie Moss
Stop them. Stop them. Stop them.
Our last chance was so close, but so far away. How far behind the sisters were we? Did they already know of the location of the final statue?
“We’ll have to drive through the day. The car has a sunlight repelling spell on it, so we’ll get as close as we can to our destination and wait until sundown.”
Malcolm’s voice held the reasonable tone of a leader, but I could see worry and disappointment in his eyes.
“In theory, the weird sisters shouldn’t be able to go searching in the daylight either. So if we move fast, maybe we can overtake them,” Jerrett tossed in helpfully.
My stomach twisted. “Except they’ve already survived sunlight exposure once. Maybe they don’t fear the sun like we do.”
“In that case, we’re fucked.”
“We’ve seen no evidence of that.” Malcolm shot Jerrett a dark look, probably not wanting him to work me into any more of a panic than I already was. “And it hardly matters, anyway. We’re going after the final stone no matter what.”
“True story.” Jerrett squared his shoulders, looking ready to fight a shade barehanded.
With nothing more to be found in the empty room, we retraced our steps through the winding passage, up the stairs, and out of the ruin. Nerves still prickled over my skin—this place was incredibly creepy—but I was certain Neoma and Samira wouldn’t attack us here. They’d gotten what they came for, and gathering the final stone was worth far more to them than our deaths.
We piled into the car, Sol and me in the back seat and Malcolm behind the wheel again. Jerrett pulled out his cell phone, looking up directions to the second location Eustice had given us.
Damn it. Maybe we should’ve gone there first. But how the hell could we have known?
The desolate, moonlit landscape glided past us as Malcolm sped down the winding roads of the Scottish highlands. For several hours, we didn’t pass a single other vehicle, but as the sky began to lighten, other cars slowly appeared on the road.
Despite my buzzing anxiety, my eyelids began to droop as the sun rose. I was vaguely aware of Jerrett griping about Malcolm’s grandmother-like driving, and Malcolm shushing him, saying it was too late to swap now. A smile quirked the corner of my mouth. They really did act so much like brothers sometimes, but their love for each other was clear.
“Rest, Willow tree.” Sol wrapped an arm around my shoulders, urging me down until my head lay on the firm muscles of his thighs. His strong fingers ran through my hair, massaging my scalp. “We’ve got you. There’ll be plenty of time to fight soon enough. Sleep now.”
Maybe it was the soft command in his voice, maybe it was the delicious way my muscles melted under his touch, or maybe it was the exhaustion pulling at me like a heavy weight. But my body obeyed, and I drifted into a dreamless sleep.
Low voices filtered into my consciousness, and my eyes flew open. The sun’s rays lit up the clouds outside the car in a beautiful display of reds, oranges, and purples. For a moment, I thought I must’ve only dozed off for a second. Then I realized the light outside wasn’t sunrise, but sunset.
I had slept all day.
Tilting my head up, I shifted on Sol’s lap. His large, warm hand rested on my arm, and his head lolled to the side, his eyes closed. He looked heartbreakingly beautiful, his serious features relaxed in sleep. I was struck by the urge to run my fingers over the planes of his face, but I settled for soaking it up with my eyes instead, trying to memorize every aspect of this incredible man.
“We’re close, according to the coordinates Eustice gave me. It shouldn’t take us long,” Jerrett murmured to Malcolm in the front seat, his voice quiet.
“Good. With any luck, we’ll beat the witches there.” Malcolm’s voice was a low rumble. “Once the sun sets, we’ll act fast.”
Excitement thrummed through me at their words, and I craned my head to peer out the window again, silently urging the sun to move faster. As supernaturally strong and dangerous as vampires were, nature had dealt us a serious handicap too. I supposed in the grand scheme of things, it made sense. Without this check on our power, it would be way too easy for vampires to dominate other creatures, upsetting any hope of balance in the world.
But having to restrict our movements so heavily during the daylight hours was a total pain in the ass.
I understood the appeal of a place like the Penumbra, where vampires could live their lives free from worry about the sun. Where they could run through the forest or explore the gardens at any time of the day or night.
If only Carrick didn’t rule there, the Penumbra might truly be a haven.
Thoughts of Carrick soured my mood. What was the king doing now? Hiding out somewhere beneath the castle, hoping that was going to keep him safe? If the witches got their way, there would be no safe place for vampires left on earth.
But we wouldn’t let them.
I sat up slowly, gently slipping out of Sol’s grasp. He stirred anyway, woken by my movement.
Jerrett turned to look over his shoulder. “Hey, sleeping beauties.”
“Hey.” I yawned, glancing at our surroundings. “Where are we?”
“Near the west coast of Wales,” Malcolm said. “We got as close as we could by car, but we’ll need to shadow run the rest of the way. These lands aren’t public, and no roads lead where we’re going.”
“And that’s where Eustice said the statue is?”
Jerrett’s eyebrow ring flashed as he grinned at me. “Yep.”
Excitement and nerves fluttered through me. It took all my self-control not to throw myself out of the car and start running now. As it was, I tracked the setting sun like a hawk, barely even registering the blood bag Sol pressed into my hands. But strength flowed through me as I drank, and by the time I finished, the sun had vanished behind the horizon with one final flare of light.
It took another twenty-five minutes for the light to begin fading from the sky. I tried to take the time to focus, but I was about ready to crawl out of my skin from all the waiting.
“Can we go?” I finally asked, practically bouncing in my seat.
Malcolm and Jerrett shared a look.
“Yes,” Malcolm finally said. “It’s not as dark as I’d like, but we can’t afford to wait any longer.”
“It will be hot, Willow tree. Brace yourself.” Sol brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen from my ponytail before popping his door open.
He was right. As soon as I stepped out of the car, heat assaulted me. It was like taking a hot shower after getting a sunburn. My skin prickled painfully, and I swore I could almost feeling it peeling.
“Shadow run. That will help.”
Sol took off to the north, and we followed. There weren’t a lot of trees to be found, so we used the smaller shadows of shrubs and rocks, darting from one to the next. The residual sunlight burned less while I was in the shadows, and after about twenty minutes of running, the pain faded entirely.
I had no idea where we were headed, but I trusted the men to guide me. While we ran, I tried to keep my senses alert for any sign of Neoma and Samira or their shade minions.
But no creatures accosted us, and after another ten minutes, Sol slowed his pace. On a small hill ahead of us sat what looked like an old castle. It was plain, with walls made of large gray stones and thick green grass growing up around it. The structure was maybe four or five stories tall with several towers that rose up higher, and although the roof on one side had caved in, the rest of the castle seemed to be structurally sound.
It didn’t look nearly as creepy as the ruin we’d visited last night. But somehow, the normalcy of this place did nothing to soothe my nerves. The massive doorway stood open; any wooden parts of the castle had long since rotted away, leaving the entryway clear and undefended.
I shivered as we stepped inside. No torches flared to life on the walls, but moonlight streamed in through the tall, narrow windows. We stood in a large open space. Arched doorways led off to our le
ft and right, and rough, uneven stone steps along one wall led up to the second floor.
“What do you think?” I looked at Sol.
He sniffed the air, then jerked his chin toward the doorway on our right. “This way.”
Thank Fate for his amazing senses. None of us could pick up the scent of magic like he could.
Sol led us through the castle, pausing every once in a while to get his bearings. Toward the back of the castle, a spiral staircase led up to the wall-walk and a large tower.
Sol stopped. “Up there.”
I groaned. “Damn it. Why does it always have to be a tower?”
Fear of heights had never been an issue for me, but I was starting to develop a very legitimate aversion to tall towers. Nothing good ever seemed to happen in them.
The stairs were wide enough for us to walk two by two, and they spiraled tightly around a wide stone pillar. Sol and Malcolm took the lead, and Jerrett hung back with me as we began to ascend.
“Sol,” I whispered. “I can’t sense the weird sisters here. Have you picked up any sign of—”
The breath left my lungs as the stone beneath my feet suddenly crumbled away.
I began to plummet through the hole, but in a flash, Jerrett’s hand closed around my wrist, yanking me up to the steps beside him. My heart thudded painfully in my chest, but there was no time to regain my equilibrium.
With a rumble, the stairs below us began to collapse.
“Go! Go, go!” I screamed.
Even as I pressed my foot against the step to launch myself forward, the stone crumbled away, leaving me flailing. This time Jerrett lost his footing too, but Malcolm and Sol caught us. And then we were all running, racing as fast as we could up the staircase.
Wind whipped my hair back from my face, and the sound of cracking stone filled my ears. It felt like running on air—every time I put my foot down, the surface seemed to disappear a second later. If I stopped, if I hesitated for even a split second, the crumbling staircase would pull me down with it, burying me under a pile of heavy rock.
The spiraling staircase made me dizzy, and my stomach lurched with fear and nausea. We reached the landing on the top floor and—
The rumbling stopped.
Jerrett was right behind me, and the moment his feet left the top step, the staircase stopped crumbling away. Of course, all that was left were the top two steps and a gaping hole with a pile of rubble at the bottom. But the building was no longer eating away at itself.
“What the hell?” I breathed, leaning over to peer down into the empty space below.
Jerrett wrapped an arm around my waist, as if afraid the castle would somehow yank me over the edge. “Shit on a biscuit, that wasn’t a fucking coincidence. That was magic. If we hadn’t been vampire-fast, we would’ve been crushed for sure. Hell, we almost were anyway.”
I swallowed hard. He was right. If he hadn’t been there to catch me when that first chunk of stone gave out, I would’ve fallen right through.
Shivering, I stepped away from the edge. The soles of my feet prickled, as if uncertain whether to trust the floor beneath them.
“We’ve got a new problem,” Malcolm muttered, turning to stare down the hallway we’d emerged into.
I followed his gaze, my brow wrinkling. “Is that… a dead end?”
“Sure as hell looks like it.” Jerrett scowled. “What the fuck?”
The corridor ended about six yards away. But there were no doors anywhere along the gray stone walls.
“This doesn’t make any sense.” I shook my head, running my hands over the stone. It refused to give way like the wall in Scotland had. “Sol detected magic up here. The staircase was clearly booby trapped. Why would anyone do all that for nothing?”
“Because whoever hid these stones was a huge dick?” Jerrett suggested, and I almost laughed despite my worry.
Malcolm met my eyes in the darkness, and I could guess his thoughts.
“I’ll pass through.” I began to phase out as I spoke. “Maybe it’s the same as the silver dust trap. I’ll see if I can open a door from the other side.”
“Be safe, wildcat.”
“Always.”
His hands fisted as I passed through the stone barrier. I knew they all hated letting me go ahead alone. I wasn’t a huge fan of it myself, truthfully, but it was our only option.
The stone wall at the end of the corridor was thick, at least twelve inches. As I emerged on the other side, I blinked. Moonlight streamed in from the large windows spaced around the tower. And at one end of the room, a small box sat on a broad stone slab.
Relief billowed through me. The final statue.
“It’s here!”
I raised my voice, calling back through the wall as I solidified. I scanned the stones for any lever or switch that might make a door appear, but the walls revealed nothing.
Damn it.
Well, maybe I could grab the statue and go out the window with it. The rough stone walls would provide plenty of handholds. My stomach twisted with fear at the prospect, but if it was my only option, I’d have to try.
I stepped forward, anxious to take hold of the last remaining Stone of Power. But before I reached it, movement in the windows behind the large slab drew my eye.
Two pairs of thin, pale hands slipped over the windowsills.
Two lithe figures dressed in dark cloaks pulled themselves up.
Neoma and Samira climbed into the room, their white-blonde hair shining in the moonlight, their dark eyes fixed on me.
15
Malcolm
A harsh cry sounded from inside the closed-up room.
My blood froze. “Willow.”
I could hear her heart pounding and the shuffling noise of movement behind the thick stones. There was another cry, then a screech.
Goddamn it. I never should’ve let her go in without us.
Rage and helplessness tore through me, making my muscles burn with the need to do something. I smashed my fists against the stone, making small chunks of rock crumble away. But the walls were thick and strong, designed that way for one reason—to keep intruders like us out.
Sol lifted his head, his nostrils flaring as he caught a scent. “The sisters. They’re here.”
“Motherfucking goddamn it!” Jerrett snarled.
“All three together.” I managed to keep my voice steady, despite the emotions roiling through me.
My brothers and I backed up several feet. Then, on my signal, we rushed the wall, slamming our shoulders into the rough stone. Pain radiated through my arm, but the large rocks shifted.
“Again!”
We slammed into it once more. And a third time. Between blows, my vampire healing worked to repair the damage to my body from the impact. Under the crashing sounds of our blows, I could still hear muffled noises coming from inside the room, and each one pierced my heart like a dagger.
We’re coming, wildcat. Fight.
The wall now had a concave dent in it, the large stones jarred from their resting place of hundreds of years. With a savage cry, my brothers and I threw ourselves at the stones again. This time, they gave way.
We burst into the room in an explosion of rock and dust, pieces of the wall flying across the space. The sight that greeted us made me see red. The two weird sisters had Willow pinned to a large stone slab on the far side of the room. She struggled mightily against their grip, but despite their thin frames, the witches were at least as strong as I was.
Willow was trying to go incorporeal, but every time she started to phase out, the runes on her body glowed with a flare of light, making her cry out in pain. Shit. The sisters couldn’t use the runes to control her as completely as they could the shades—she’d been able to break their hold the last time they tried. But they still had some level of power over her. Enough to keep her from using her fae magic to escape their grip.
One of them brandished a thin, wicked-looking dagger. She pierced the skin at the side of Willow’s neck, and my he
art lurched. Whether she was trying to kill Willow or complete the runes on her body, I didn’t know. And I didn’t fucking care. This witch had attacked the woman I loved more than anything, and I was going to tear her head clean off her body for that.
With a savage roar, I raced forward. The two women glanced up, their black eyes focusing on me. They’d been so focused on Willow they’d ignored the crashing against the wall, but they couldn’t ignore the sight of me and my brothers bearing down on them.
The one on the left hissed, abandoning Willow’s thrashing body and raising her dagger toward me instead. Willow immediately scrambled off the stone slab, diving toward a small box that lay on the ground nearby. It was tipped on its side, half open. I caught sight of the small stone statue inside just before the other sister snatched it out of Willow’s grasping fingers.
“The stone!” I shouted. “Get the stone!”
The witch brandishing the knife leapt for me, attacking in a flurry of limbs and swirling fabric. She was fast and graceful, her movements almost like a dance. I ducked back, avoiding the swipes of her blade. I caught her wrist and twisted, but the joint didn’t snap. Instead, she followed the movement, using the momentum of her body to swing up and around, spinning through the air. She landed lightly on her feet, grinning up at me.
Beside me, Jerrett, Sol, and Willow were trying to reclaim the box with the Stone of Power from my attacker’s twin. She fought off my brothers, moving with astounding speed. The runes on Willow’s body still flickered as the witches tried to gain control of her mind.
The one facing me leapt forward, taking advantage of my momentary distraction to press her attack. She bared her fangs, driving me backward with a series of vicious strikes. I pulled a dagger from my belt and threw it at her. It lodged in her shoulder, temporarily disabling her knife arm. The limb hung uselessly by her side, the blade tumbling from her grip. She ripped my dagger out of her flesh with her other hand, screaming in fury.