by C. C. Wood
“Because I’m worried that she thinks she’s protecting me. She considers you her partner when it comes to keeping me safe. Though I don’t understand why she feels that way. I may not have the power or skills that she has, but I’m not completely defenseless.” I shook my head. “But that doesn’t matter. I just want to make sure she’s okay and if she won’t talk to me, maybe she’ll share it with you.”
Rhys looked undecided.
“Just go in and check on her. I’m worried.” I truly hoped Ava would at least unload a little of whatever was bothering her. It had to be serious if she wouldn’t even discuss it with me.
“Fine,” Rhys sighed, lifting me off his lap. “I’ll go talk to her, but if she tells me it’s none of my concern, I’m taking her at her word. Which you should do too,” he admonished.
“Normally, I would, but she’s not acting like herself.”
He kissed my lips and murmured, “I’ll be right back. Stay inside the store.”
I barely refrained from rolling my eyes because I already knew to stay inside. I didn’t need to be told. There was an itch between my shoulder blades when I was at the store, a sensation of being watched. I knew something was coming, but I wasn’t sure when.
Rhys disappeared into the storeroom and I grabbed a cloth and disinfectant from behind the counter. The shop was slow today and I decided to clean since the tables were empty. I started with the booth closest to the door, spraying the table down and wiping it with the damp towel.
Suddenly, the windows seemed to melt away and the wall beneath disappeared. Before I could move, two long arms reached through the space and took hold of me. I gripped the bottle of disinfectant tightly, pointing it the direction of my attacker’s face and sprayed it several times.
The man swore, his hands releasing me, and I took three stumbling steps back. I turned to flee, drawing in a breath to scream, when a hand clamped down over my mouth and an arm circled my waist.
I was yanked off my feet and back into a rock solid body.
“Stupid move, Savannah,” a low male voice whispered in my ear. “Now you’ve pissed me off.”
I tried to scream as Macgrath carried me backward through the portal. Though my struggle was fruitless against the vampire’s strength, I fought his hold with all my might as I watched the wall in front of us close up brick by brick and the window shift into place.
Then I felt a sickening lurch in my stomach and the sensation of falling through the air, only my feet remained planted on solid ground.
When the whirling colors around me stopped, I heaved, struggling to hold back the sickness that wanted to rise from my belly. My head spun wildly and my legs gave out beneath me.
With nearly gentle hands, Macgrath deposited me onto a sofa, tucking a pillow behind me. “Take slow, deep breaths,” he commanded. “And don’t close your eyes because it will only make it worse.”
I swallowed back another gag and focused on my breathing, hoping that I wouldn’t embarrass myself and puke everywhere. I didn’t even notice that Macgrath disappeared until he returned with a glass of ginger ale.
“Drink this. The sugar and the bubbles will help.”
I stared at the glass with suspicion, not wanting to take it.
With a heavy sigh, he lifted it to his lips and took a healthy swallow. “It’s not poisoned or drugged or anything.”
“Even if it was,” I replied, lifting my defiant gaze to his. “You wouldn’t die if you drank it.”
“Do you want to feel better or not?” he asked, holding out the glass to me again.
I shook my head. “I’ll only drink it if you bring me an unopened bottle or can.”
Macgrath stared down at me for a moment then he burst into laughter. “Oh, you’re a feisty one, aren’t you?”
“I’m not feisty. I’m pissed,” I retorted. “But I’m not going to bother talking to you about it because I know that you’re just the minion that does Rhiannon’s dirty work. So until she’s here, I’d prefer not to speak to you.”
His smile faded, replaced with an unreadable expression. Without a word, he carried the glass out of the room. I looked around, searching for a clue about my whereabouts or an escape route. Even if I found one, I was still too light-headed to run. I wouldn’t get more than three steps out of the room before I would puke or faint, or both.
To my surprise, Macgrath returned with a chilled can of soda and held it out to me. “This hasn’t been tampered with. You’ll feel much better after you have some sugar and caffeine.”
Warily, I took the can from him. Though it was a small act of rebellion, I didn’t thank him. The vampire didn’t deserve my courtesy considering he’d kidnapped me right out of The Magic Bean.
I cracked open the can and sipped the soda, letting the sweet flavor and the bite of the bubbles settle my stomach and my head. Within moments I did feel better.
Unable to contain myself, I took in my surroundings and asked, “Where’s your boss?”
Macgrath raised a single brow and I frowned at him, wondering how he did that. When I attempted that eye trick, I looked like I had a strange tic.
“She’ll be here later,” he replied. “She had some business to attend to.”
My muscles tightened. “Business? With Ava and Rhys?”
The vampire just smiled smugly. “That’s not something you need to know.”
I stared at him, wondering if I had the guts to show him exactly what I was capable of. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten that most vampires were able to read minds if a person wasn’t careful enough to shield their thoughts.
“What are you capable of?” he asked, his tone sardonic.
I leaned back against the pillow he’d placed behind me and crossed my arms over my chest. “You’ll find out eventually,” I replied.
Macgrath leaned one hip against the bar that separated the living area from a sleek, modern kitchen. “If I think for a single moment that you’re trying to hurt me, I will kill you,” he growled. “Do you think you’re fast enough to stop a vampire before he breaks your neck?”
I knew that I wasn’t but I wouldn’t tell him that. Instead, I tilted my chin up and stared straight at him, refusing to back down.
Once again the vampire shocked me with his reaction. He laughed. “I don’t think Rhiannon understood what she was getting into when she decided to use you as her leverage,” he murmured. “If she did, there’s no way she would have followed through.”
I wondered what his cryptic words meant but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of asking. I let my eyes wander over my surroundings and realized I was in some sort of house. It was what I would call a modern monstrosity. The floors and walls were concrete and the furnishings were so sleek and unadorned that they were boring. The entire living room and kitchen completely lacked any sort of personality, unless ‘cold’ was a type of interior design. But at least the couch was comfortable.
“Where are we?” I asked even though I doubted he would tell me.
“Rhiannon’s house.”
His immediate answer surprised me, especially since it was the truth.
When he saw my face, he chuckled. “It’s not that easy to find,” he continued.
I studied the interior with new eyes. If this was Rhiannon’s home, it said a great deal about her state of mind. She had no delusions of grandeur. She didn’t want flash or recognition. The house might be large and the furnishings well made, but she didn’t invest a lot of money into her home, even though she had it.
She didn’t live here so much as exist within the walls. I loathed admitting it, but Rhiannon Temple and I had a lot in common. While I lived half a life, she didn’t live at all.
“Don’t feel sorry for her, Savannah,” Macgrath stated, his voice a low growl. “She doesn’t deserve it. Any pain she carries, she brought upon herself.”
I thought of Rhys and Cornelius. Neither of them asked for their pain. While Rhys managed to remain generous and good, Cornelius let the darkness swallow hi
m. I wondered if Rhiannon’s experiences had done the same for her.
“Savannah.” I looked up when the vampire called my name. “For some people, the darkness already lives inside them, looking for an excuse to get out. When they find it, they relish the chaos they create.”
I didn’t argue, but I did wonder if Rhiannon had welcomed the darkness within her or if she’d had no other choice but to accept it.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rhys
The storeroom was empty when I entered, though light escaped from beneath the door of Ava’s office. I knocked once and waited for her to grant me permission to come in, but she was silent.
I turned the knob and pushed it opened. Ava sat at her desk, her head bowed as she stared down at her phone. Her finger tapped the side in a slow, steady rhythm as though she were marking time.
“Ava?”
Her head came up when I said her name. “Hey, Rhys. What’s up?”
“I think that’s my question for you,” I replied.
Her gaze skittered away from mine. “I’m fine.”
“I think we both know that’s bullshit,” I stated as I shut the door behind me and moved to the single chair that faced her desk.
The legs creaked ominously as I settled my weight into the seat. Leaning back, I laced my fingers over my abdomen and waited.
“Margaret was supposed to call me yesterday morning and she didn’t. I can’t get in touch with her.” Her finger kept tapping the side of the phone. “I’ve been trying to call her for two days. I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Do you think something happened to her?”
“I’m almost certain it did,” Ava murmured. She looked up at me again. “I’ve tried scrying for her location with a mirror, but I’ve never met her in person and that makes it more difficult. Do you think Kerry can find someone to check on her?”
“I’ll call her now,” I offered.
Before I could reach into my pocket for my phone, a shrill sound pierced the air. Ava and I leapt to our feet. “Someone’s broken through the wards,” she cried, ripping the door to the office open and sprinting through the storeroom.
I followed close on her heels as she burst through the doors that lead back into the shop. She stopped short and I nearly crashed into her back.
The cafe was orderly and neat, the tables lined up properly and the shelves were untouched. The bar gleamed as usual. The scent of scorched paper filled the air but nothing was aflame. The only thing out of place was a single chair lying on the floor on its side.
And Savannah was nowhere to be found.
Quickly, I moved around Ava and checked the reading room, the bathroom, and anywhere else that Savannah might have hidden. She was gone.
I turned toward Ava. “We have to find Savannah,” I insisted.
She nodded. “We will, but first we need to know who took her.”
I watched as she lifted her hands in a wide, sweeping motion. Before us a pale grey version of Savannah stood in front of one of the tables, spraying it with disinfectant before wiping it down. Then the wall in front of her split apart, revealing a man. He stepped through the opening and I saw his face clearly. It was Macgrath.
A rage I’d never experienced before filled me. It burned hot and bright, swelling to the point that I didn’t think I could contain it. I smelled the electricity and knew that power sparked from my fingertips. Curling my hands into fists, I focused on the scene that unfolded in front of me.
Macgrath grabbed Savannah. She twisted and fought before bringing the bottle up and spraying the vampire in the face. When he released her, she turned and took two steps away before he was on her again. I could see the absolute fear on her face and the wrath inside me doubled.
The vampire wrapped one arm around her waist and clapped a hand over her mouth as he dragged her backward out of the portal. The wall closed in on itself, leaving nothing behind but the overturned chair.
Ava waved her arms again and the smoky grey shadows disappeared. “Well, we know who has her,” she muttered. “Now, we just have to find them and kill them.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Finding Macgrath and Rhiannon proved to be more difficult than I believed it would be.
Ava stood over the table, a crystal on a chain dangled from her fingertips. A map was spread out beneath her hands, but the crystal merely swayed, never stopping over a specific point.
“Fuck,” Ava cursed, dropping the chain on the tabletop. “This is the fourth map we’ve tried and I can’t find them anywhere.”
“She must be using a spell to mask their location,” I stated.
Ava’s eyes were pure, brilliant purple when she looked up at me. Her stare clearly stated that she’d already considered that.
“The bitch is good,” she mumbled. “I’ve broken more masking spells than most witches ever cast but I can’t break hers.”
“There must be something else we can do,” I insisted.
“There is,” Ava replied. “But it will take time. Time we don’t have.”
“Then what the fuck are we supposed to do?” I growled.
She rubbed her forehead. “If I had something that belonged to her, it would be a lot easier. Or if I had a way to boost my power, I might be able to manage it.”
Her words gave me an idea. Kerry and Finn often fed each other power when they needed it. I didn’t bother asking Ava if she was willing. For Savannah, I knew she would be.
Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I dialed Kerry.
“I need your help,” I said as soon as she picked up the phone.
“I know. And the answer is yes.” She hesitated. “When this is all over, we need to talk.”
Triumph surged through me. “I’m going to give the phone to Ava. Just tell her what you need her to do. Anything else we need to talk about can wait.”
Without waiting for her response, I held my cell out to Ava.
As I expected, she took it and lifted it to her ear. “Hi, Kerry. I’m Ava Amaris. Rhys said you could help us.”
The urge to destroy roiled inside of me. The woman I intended to make my wife was at the mercy of a vampire and a dark witch. We had to find her before it was too late.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Savannah
Staring down at the ground, I rethought my plan to climb out of the bathroom window. I hadn’t realized that we were on the second floor when I told Macgrath I needed to pee. Now, the ground seemed very far away.
Then I thought of Rhys and Ava. They would be worried about me and, if they came looking for me, I feared they would both do something they regretted. Macgrath and Rhiannon might deserve to be punished for what they did, but I didn’t want the weight of their pain on Rhys’ soul.
I took a deep breath, pulled up my skirt, and threw my leg over the windowsill. I wished I’d worn something other than my usual summer dress. Moving carefully, I turned so that my belly was against the sill and reached back with my foot. There was a concrete ledge running the length of the house so I placed my toes on it. Gingerly, I put my weight down on my foot and brought my other leg out. Once I had both feet on the ledge, I looked down. If I let myself hang from my extended arms, I would only be four or five feet from the ground. At least that’s what I told myself. I also decided that once this was over, I was going to start working out. My arms and legs trembled from the effort of holding myself on this ledge.
The wind blew, lifting my skirt and obscuring my view of the grass below. Taking a deep breath, I prepared to put my plan into action.
“Nice panties,” a male voice murmured. “Does the bra match?”
I shrieked and my hands slipped off the window. My legs wouldn’t hold my weight and I fell backwards away from the wall. I closed my eyes, knowing that it was going to hurt badly when I hit the ground.
The air whooshed out of my lungs when I hit, but it wasn’t grass beneath me. Two strong arms caught me, one at my mid-back and the other beneath my knees. I stared up at
Macgrath’s annoyed face for a beat before I went into action.
I thrashed in his arms, screaming my head off in hopes that someone would hear me. I scratched him and hit him with my fists as I kicked my legs. The vampire grunted as he released my legs, wrapping both arms around me in an effort to contain my struggles.
“You motherfucking asshole,” I yelled, kicking his shins with my now freed feet. “You’re a goddamn dick-faced bastard! Let me go!” More curses streamed from my lips as I fought like a mad thing. I said things that would have made my grandmother faint. But if there was ever a time to cut loose, it was now.
“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” he asked, jerking his head back to avoid my flying fist. Suddenly, he had enough and gave me a firm shake. “Stop fighting. We’re a half hour away from the nearest house by car. Even if I did let you go, you wouldn’t get far.”
The fight went out of me then and I let my body go limp.
“That’s better,” he stated with a nod, letting my feet touch the ground. “Now, let’s go inside.”
Thirty minutes later, I was seated on the couch, my elbow resting on the arm and my cheek propped on my hand. Apparently Rhiannon didn’t believe in television and there wasn’t a single bookshelf in sight. To my utter disbelief, I was bored nearly senseless now that I knew the vampire guarding me had no intention of hurting me. At least not yet.
He’d proven that when he caught me climbing out of the bathroom window. Even as I fought, he’d been almost gentle when he restrained me. I bit, clawed, and cursed at him with the expansive vocabulary of a sailor. I used words that I’d never said before because my grandmother would have washed my mouth out with soap if she even thought I uttered them. He hadn’t even left a bruise on my skin and seemed utterly unperturbed.
Macgrath flipped the page of his book, ignoring me completely. I had no idea where he got the book from but the language on the cover wasn’t English, so I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to read it even if he was polite enough to offer it to me. I wasn’t sure but it looked like French.