Before I could launch into my list of reasons she needed to stay, starting with the butcher knife, my phone buzzed. Lowering my voice to a low drowsy sound, attempting to make it seem as if I’d been awakened from sleep, I mumbled into the speaker, “Hi, Gareth.”
“You weren’t asleep. You’re standing at your window watching my guys, chastising Savannah for carrying a butcher knife. Let me guess, she has her quest bag to take on your adventure.”
I looked around the room. “Do you have a camera in here or something?” I fumed.
“No, one of my agents heard you.”
Damn shifters!
“Gareth, I need to do this. At least see if I can find him. We don’t have time on our side because we have no idea what he’s planning.”
“You’re going to use yourself as bait,” he growled.
Calm down, kitten.
Victor had. I’d rather be the person to do it than someone else.
I didn’t want to fight with Gareth. He had every reason to be afraid, but I’d have to deal with more than fear if I didn’t stop Conner. Gareth was reasonable and I knew he’d understand. After several long moments of silence, he said, “I can’t talk you out of this, can I?”
“No.”
“Be careful.” He breathed out an exasperated sigh.
CHAPTER 22
Savannah looked around the small cave that was once my personal sanctuary where I could perform magic without discovery. She was an interloper. Best friend or not, it felt just as peculiar to have her in my spot as it had when Gareth had been in it.
“What are you going to do?” she whispered from just a few feet away.
“I’m going to track him.”
“You’ve done that before, and it didn’t work without Elijah.”
Sucking in a breath, I had to admit the obvious. “It worked because together we were stronger than him.” I glanced over my shoulder at her, the large flashlight minimally illuminating the midnight space. Shadows formed over the worried lines of her face. “I won’t need to be stronger than him; I’m sure he wants me to find him.”
He’ll try to find me.
Standing up taller and gripping her weapon with purpose, Savannah was ready to take on a psychopath who wielded powerful magic and swords—with a kitchen knife. If I wasn’t so concerned for her safety, it would have been comical. She looked ridiculous holding it, as if she was going to swing it like a bat.
“I really wish you would leave and let me handle this,” I pleaded for what I believed was the fifth time.
“I wish you’d stop sounding like a broken record. I’m not leaving you to fight Conner alone. He comes after you, he comes after me. Period. We’re in this together.”
I shifted from her, making room to perform the locating spell. Space was the least of my worries; once I did the locating spell, I’d open myself up to him finding me as well. He could transport, and my skills at that still required some honing. I could do it now, but I wasn’t exactly sure where I’d end up. I had a ways to go.
As I pulled the knife from the sheath, a blinding flash of pale white blasted in the cave, illuminating it enough for us to see Conner’s extravagant entrance.
“I thought I’d save you the trouble,” he cooed.
I was distracted; a wave of magic hit Savannah in the chest, sending her so far back I couldn’t see her in the unlit, cavernous area. The sound of a body hitting the ground and expelling a sharp breath was my only indicator. She groaned. At least she was alive.
“How will it end? Three people come in, one leaves?” he taunted. The low light made his features look more ominous. The embers of light that came off his fingers held my attention more than the sadism on his face. A sense of finality swept through me as his hate-filled gaze narrowed on me. Before there were still slight cinders of interest and allure, reverence and adoration. Now there was only unadulterated hate. Cool air swooshing through the dank area brushed against my cheek, magic buzzed against my nose, and fear rose and fell in me like an unsteady wave. I didn’t like being afraid but knew that at times fear was good. It ignited the instinct to protect myself, and that was what I needed.
“You destroyed us,” he accused in a cold, venomous voice.
“Really? I thought you trying to do the Cleanse again did that.” Whipping out the twins, I refused to be on the offensive as we rounded each other. We both knew how it was going to play out. Sai pointed at him, I sent magic through them, sharp and hard. It fizzled against the wall he’d quickly erected in front of himself.
“I’m stronger than you,” he pointed out, as if I needed that. After all, he’d never made a secret of that. His lips curled into a rueful snarl, disgusted at my very presence. His feeling of betrayal was apparent.
“I have all day,” I said, waiting for him to drop the barrier, refusing to expend unnecessary energy to break a wall I knew he would eventually drop. He couldn’t perform magic against me behind it. His eyes promised a painful death.
His wall fell and magic burst from him like a wrecking ball, hitting me in the chest and knocking the wind out of me as my back crashed into the wall on the opposite side of the cave. Dirt broke from it and fell over me. I caught the edge of the sword that had materialized in his hand between the shaft and the side prongs of a sai. A quick strike with the other penetrated his extended arm. He yelped when I pulled it back. Retreating, he seemed to be in pain as he handled his sword.
“You are truly a warrior.” The longing in his voice returned. How sick and twisted did he have to be to long for someone who wanted him dead as vehemently as I did? The time it took to make a few steps back was all he needed before the wound closed and the blood disappeared, revealing an unmarred arm. Pierce the heart, I reminded myself, but I wasn’t convinced that was enough. There was no way that Gareth had missed his heart when he’d mauled him. I’d do more than just pierce it; I’d cut it from his body if necessary.
“Are you afraid, Anya?” he purred sadistically.
“Nope. Just trying to figure out how to kill you in the most efficient way. Can I borrow your sword? I bet you can’t live without a head.”
A deep rumble of laughter reverberated through the caves. It sounded more maniacal when it resounded.
Rolling his eyes, he scoffed, “The lover.”
Expecting to see Gareth, I was surprised when Lucas emerged with such speed the ball of magic lobbed in his direction streaked past him. Up close, he struck at Conner, the sounds of striking metal filling the small area as they aggressively attacked each other. Conner advanced. Half-turning, Lucas avoided the strike. Conner’s hand punched into Lucas. He wailed. The energy of the magical current that Conner shot through him made the hairs on my arms rise. It loosened Lucas’s hand from around his sword, giving Conner the advantage to send it soaring several feet away. We both heard the scuttering of movement. Savannah, her hands moving into sight enough to grab the lost sword. Conner’s sharpened gaze went in her direction.
“If I get a hold of you this time, I will destroy your mind to the point that Anya can never save you,” Conner threatened. His last words were forced out with a grunt as I threw a tightly coiled ball of magic. It hit him as hard as his had hit me, knocking chunks of dirt and rocks away upon impact. I charged at him before he could recover enough to use magic or respond with his sword. The sai slid into his stomach, not enough to pin him, but deep enough he had to work at removing it. Blood soaked his shirt and molded it to his body. Panting as he squeezed his eyes shut, he removed the sai with a swift move.
I replaced it with the other twin. He folded over, lifting his head just enough to look me in the eyes. The jolt of turbulent magic that wracked through me was worse than the hateful glare he gave me. It felt like a bull was rampaging through my body, using its horns to clear the way. Tears sprang to my eyes and my knees buckled. I tried to gather the energy to stand, but it felt like it had been siphoned from me. My legs felt like lead as I pulled myself to half stand. Conner dislodged the sai from his stomach and turne
d it to me, blocked by the barrier I’d shielded myself with. It wavered upon his impact. Weakened by the magical retaliation, I knew he’d eventually be able to get past it. It was difficult to find the balance between holding the barrier and conserving my energy to fight. Conner had one sai, I had the other. A quirk in his lips emerged as he watched me struggle. Just as I’d waited for him to drop his barrier, he waited for my energy to fail. I refused to give him that pleasure. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Savannah easing forward. So could Conner.
“Savannah, I will destroy you if you interfere. Leave your mind so wrecked you will need someone to care for you. Do you think your vampire will stay to look after you in the infantile state I will put you in? Stay.”
He’d just ensured that she’d do no such thing. I didn’t need to see her to know she was flushed with anger and her lips were drawn back in a scowl. Reminding her of his violation wouldn’t make her fear him. It would only ignite the flames of her ire and desire for revenge. She moved slower. Arrogance and self-satisfaction placed a haughty smile on his face.
Easy, Savannah. Easy. As if she could hear me, she stopped. He grinned, satisfied. Savannah looked afraid. He was enjoying her fear too much. I dropped the barrier and threw magic hard into him. It was weaker than earlier, but in constant succession, it packed a punch. Savannah eased next to me, dragging the sword with her. She placed her hand on my shoulder, and the surge of power that ran through me yanked my breath away. It hummed, like an electric wire, with energy that needed to be expended. I’d felt Savannah’s magic enhancement before, but this had me amped more than anything she’d provided previously. Was it because she was running on endorphins and hormones from her fight or flight response? Using the upsurge of magic to my advantage, I pummeled him with offensive magic until he was against the wall. Again, I planted my sai in him. Lucas moved toward him, less graceful than usual.
Savannah’s screech, shrill with frustration, anger, and thirst for vengeance, reverberated in the enclosed area. Conner’s wavering strength was showing—the magic that came off him was weak, a strong wind instead of a violent storm. Savannah tore through Conner’s withering magic and swung. I turned, feeling a wet splatter on my face. I didn’t look. I knew what had happened before Conner’s body collapsed to the ground. Savannah looked and kept looking. Her lips were parted, her eyes wide and glistening in a state of awe and terror. Wiping her hand across her face smeared the blood rather than cleaning it away.
Gareth’s head poked down from the cave’s opening, and he gave a sigh of relief.
“We’re fine,” I said.
“I see that.”
I’d spoken for my well-being. I wasn’t as sure about Savannah’s. She hadn’t moved. Lucas’s nudging her brought her out of an awestruck state—partly. She dropped the sword and let him help her out of the cave. I was the second to move up. Lucas stayed behind. I backtracked to check on him and felt the heat of the flames as I poked my face in the hole.
Gareth cursed behind me, and several people from the SG rushed down to put out the fire, but I gathered it was too late to do anything substantial. Gareth blew out a breath, he didn’t seem too angered by it. I was relieved. Conner couldn’t come back from that.
As we made our way to the car, Gareth shook his head; his lips lifted into an incredulous smirk. “Did you really ask to borrow his sword to cut off his own head?” he barked out in a cross between scathing ridicule and a dark laugh. “What is wrong with you?”
“What? All he could say was no,” I shot back, just as incredulous. Our mood should have been more solemn. Someone was dead, and my best friend had done it. I’d tried to save Conner and reason with him. Each time he’d failed, he’d had a chance for redemption, which he’d rejected. Now the Legacy and the Vertu had a chance. It would be a new era, and hopefully, like the original Cleanse, Conner’s demise would be a cautionary tale. I looked over to Savannah, who was being checked out by a medic. She seemed okay. I hoped she was okay. Lucas gave her the same assessing look as I had. The gentle plaintive smile she gave him was reassuring for the moment. Even against her protests, she’d be taken to the Isles because she was still considered a human. Humans had to be taken care of. Alysa showed up, hopping out of her car before the driver could come to a full stop. Perhaps she was the best; even Harrah hadn’t had a driver.
Scanning the area, she took a quick appraisal of everyone there. With the exception of Savannah, all were supernaturals—linked to the Supernatural Guild or the FSR. Moving toward Savannah, she had that look on her face—the fixer look. Gareth moved before I did, blocking her approach toward Savannah. Leaning in, he said something for her ears only. They went back and forth for several minutes, jaws clenched as they pushed whatever they had to say through tightly fixed teeth. Alysa’s concession didn’t come easily, and for several moments she split her attention between Gareth and Savannah, whose gaze was sharpened on her like an eagle.
Eventually Alysa backed away and went to her car.
“If Savannah goes to the Isles, I want to be there the moment she gets there,” I told Gareth once he was closer. Even though I whispered it, Lucas looked in my direction and I knew he’d heard it, too. Ugh, vampires and shifters make life a lot harder.
CHAPTER 23
Gareth’s gaze traveled along the room of Devour, something I’d been doing throughout the night, watching the vampires, not out of interest, but because they were coveting my neck the entire time. Savannah accused me of being paranoid, but I found it difficult not to be overly cautious surrounded by people who’d had decades to perfect their charm and allure. I came armed with my cynicism, and the six-inch decorative pins placed in my messy bun. Originally it was a tightly spun knot on the top of my head. It had been met with a frown and an eye roll from Savannah, before she’d rearranged my hair into a loose bun, curls falling from it enough to obscure the pins.
Lucas had greeted us with a teasing smile, his gaze quickly moving to them as they peeked up from the pile of hair. “Oh, Levy. I can guarantee you will be safe. Violence is never used to lure people. Ever.” And he was right. The lovely faces, graceful lithe movements, and overt sexuality promised a night of pleasure a person wasn’t soon to forget. I preferred Crimson, the club where the younger vampires hung out. They hadn’t perfected their allure and adopted their vampire personas from every teen vampire film imaginable. They were usually angsty or broody. That I could deal with. The deep mesmerizing looks, the throaty entreaties, the way they brushed against a person making something so casual sensual and intoxicating. Watching and noting it all, I made it part of my defense, but Savannah was enthralled by one vampire in particular. Gareth and I couldn’t do anything about it.
“Stop looking at them, you can’t suck block all night,” he teased. I’d spent most of the evening finding Savannah in the midst of the crowd of people in the barely lit room, so close to Lucas I could barely make out where he ended and she began. My attention wasn’t just to suck block Lucas; I was concerned about Savannah. She’d killed someone, and he’d deserved it, but nevertheless, she’d taken a life. She seemed okay and I really hoped she was. Perhaps she had cataloged it into that section of things that needed to be done, where she brushed off her ethics and shouldered the responsibility for the greater good. Conner was gone. He’d come back from a mauling by a big-ass cave lion, but he wasn’t likely to come back without his head. Just to make sure, because when it came to Conner no one wanted to take chances, Lucas had burned the body.
“Levy, she’s fine.”
“I know. I expected her to be different. Darker, heavier.”
“I’m not sure you’re going to get darkness from a woman who wakes up like an adrenaline-riddled puppy.” Taking a sip from his glass, he found her in the dark where she caught us looking and started waving enthusiastically. “Yeah, that’s an abysmal hole. She’s so dark and foreboding—I’m shaking.” He laughed and looked at me. “Now you, on the other hand. You’re dark enough for both of you.”
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br /> Stepping back, I gave him a full look, licking my lips the way he loved and dropping my voice until it was deep, sultry. “Am I dark, sexy, and broody?” I asked, teasing.
“No. Not at all. You’re dark and geeky—between the plaid shirts and the constant talk about superheroes you left sexy and broody in the hallway and slammed the door on them.” Still grinning, he leaned in to kiss me.
“Yet, I managed to get you,” I breathed against his lips.
“I’m easy, remember?” Taking several steps back from me, he gave me a full view. Apparently getting him wasn’t as easy as I’d teased him about. He still was of interest to a lot of women and even as we stood at the bar of Devour, surrounded by vampires, humans with an affinity for vampires, and an occasional supernatural, I received looks. Some of admiration but most of them were judgmental. I hadn’t lived up to their expectations, and I wondered if a few of the disdainful looks were because of my having come out.
“Do you want to leave?” he asked.
“Yes, let’s leave. I feel like I’m on the menu.”
Gareth laughed, turned his glass up, and emptied the contents. His fingers interlinked with mine when I felt a cool gust come through the room. Everyone stilled in their positions for a brief moment. It was just a second, as peculiar magic swept throughout the room. Frozen in time for several beats, the clubgoers found themselves separated, their bodies pushed aside, leaving a clear path to me and Gareth. A chill brushed against my nose. Out of my peripheral vision, I watched people beat against an invisible wall. Dorian came into sight, fully human. His face remained the picture of professionalism, unemotional, reserved. Stone-hard eyes homed in on us, as if through an assassin’s scope. Magic perked in me, a protective reaction, but I had no idea what I needed to use it against. Dorian staring us down wasn’t an attack. Should I strike preemptively?
“Confirmed,” Dorian whispered as he stepped back. Time no longer moved slowly. Everything quickened beyond recognition. It was as if I was swept into a hurricane. I couldn’t move fast enough, scream loud enough, or call enough magic to stop it. A pale-haired woman was in front of Gareth and me, her presence icy cold—the incarnation of death. The gauzy white gown that flowed behind her expanded like wings. Enchanting icy crystal blue eyes locked on mine and then Gareth’s. She was an odd combination of devil and angel, scary and soothing. Gareth and I stood in shock, unable to move until her screech erupted in the room as she took hold of our wrists. A heavy magical jolt shot through me, shocking me into a response. I forced out a powerful burst of magic that thrashed into her; she stood taller, absorbing it, screeching louder. The horrific sound had power, pushing against my magic, infusing more of hers into us. My arms felt like they had been set on fire. Sudden silence fell on the room. As quickly as the woman had appeared, she disappeared.
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