Ailish said, “The coven thought they could keep the phoenix from rising because they’d locked the ashes in a fireproof safe.”
Darcy smiled. “But you’re much more powerful than your mother realized. When you called him back from the dead, the ashes blew out of the safe. The whole legend of the phoenix and the siren evolved to fit with the soul-mirror bond. We really shouldn’t be surprised, since witches have always evolved, usually growing stronger as we reincarnate.”
Ailish said, “But can she hurt Phoenix? She said she can use our soul-mirror link to destroy him.”
Phoenix felt the bird shuffle and fret in his tat. Shifting his coffee to his other hand, he put an arm around her. The bird settled down, nuzzling against her shoulder. “Not if she’s dead,” he said. “The wards were weakening. It was slow, but it was working.”
“He’s right,” Axel said.
“But Ailish’s mother knew we were doing it and disrupted it by locking on to Ailish and getting her to stop the magic. Carla and I can’t bring down those wards without her, probably not even if we were on-site.”
“Which you won’t be,” Axel said firmly.
Darcy ignored him. “Ailish, the power in your voice was completely focused last night, there was no spillover. What broke our efforts was your mother.”
Ailish grimaced. “She was hurting Morgan. I saw it and I couldn’t stop it.” Her hands fisted. “She said she’ll kill Morgan if I don’t submit.”
Phoenix could feel her agitation. How was she supposed to make a choice like that? “We’re going to get her, Ailish. We’ll stop her.”
She ignored him and said to Darcy, “I didn’t want to infect you or Carla, either.”
“Stop saying that, you’re not a virus!” Phoenix snapped.
She turned toward his voice. “My blood infected Morgan with demon magic. What would you call it?”
“Ailish …” He ground out the word.
“No, it’s not going to be that easy, Phoenix. Maybe we’ll kill my mother, and maybe that will break the handfast …”
“It will!” It had to. Or Ailish would die. He would lose her. He would stand by helplessly and watch the witch given to him to protect die. His chest did that weird hurting shit again, as if his heart were being torn apart. He’d fail everyone: his witch, his god, and his heart. “I won’t let you die.”
Ailish sucked in a deep breath. “Phoenix, I screwed up, not you. I did this—” She lifted her left hand. “I went to my mother begging her to make Kyle love me. I knew she was a demon witch, yet I trusted her. I nearly got Kyle killed, then Haley, and then Dee. I’m trying to be an earth witch, I am. I’m trying to make amends, to prove to the Ancestors that I’m worth a second chance. But look what I did to Morgan.”
With his arm around her shoulder, he pulled her cheek against his chest. The raw longing on her face tore his guts to shreds, and he knew Ailish wouldn’t want the others to see that. “You are worthy,” he said in a choked voice. “The Ancestors will see that.” They had to. How could they not see her heart as he did? She was trying, risking herself to help people.
Yet he could almost feel her slipping away from him.
Ailish lifted her head, her expression turning hard. “Whatever happens, the coven must be destroyed.” She turned back to Darcy. “What do I do?”
Phoenix saw that Darcy’s brown eyes were filled with sympathy. But her voice was firm. “Practice opening your sixth chakra and getting control. Do it with Phoenix touching you. He should be able to feel it if your mother tries anything. He could pull you out, or even redirect you. But you have to let him in to do that. Don’t try to push Phoenix away to protect him. With enough practice, you should be able to resist your mother derailing you. And if you focus hard enough, you might be able to see what she doesn’t want you to.”
Ailish’s gaze drifted left as she thought, then she said, “I can find out if she can use our bond to hurt Phoenix.”
“Your mother is very dangerous. Be careful, and trust Phoenix. He’s your familiar, he can protect you or pull you out of the third-eye trance. Trust him.”
He looked down at her. “You trust me, don’t you?”
She flashed a smile that was so intimate, it made his breath catch. “Yes.”
He wouldn’t let her down.
“Want to drive?”
Ailish was behind Phoenix on the bike. He stopped and dropped his legs to balance the motorcycle. Was he teasing her? “I can’t—”
“Chicken?”
She smacked his arm. He rode the bike with just his leathers, but he made her wear his thick jacket with long sleeves and a helmet. “Dude, they don’t give blind people driver’s licenses.”
“Stop making excuses. You’re not blind when you’re with me. I can see for you.”
She swore she felt her heart grow in her chest.
“Come on, sweetheart. Get in front of me.”
Excitement danced through her. Holding on to his shoulder, she swung her leg over and stood beside him. Keeping the bike steady with his legs, he took hold of her waist and guided her onto the seat in front of him. His thighs closed around her hips. This was stupid. She knew it was. She had no idea how to—
He took hold of her hands and put them on the handlebars. “All you have to do is trust me. You’re going to steer, I’ll take care of the rest.”
“At least I’m wearing a helmet. You’re not.”
He laughed. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” He put his hands next to hers as the bike rumbled beneath them. “Now lean back and move with me.”
She sank back against him and closed her eyes, and a second later, images filled her mind. The beach was on their right. Phoenix turned his head and she saw the ocean. It was late afternoon, the sun sparkled off the blue-and-gray water. It was so vast that it took her breath away. The waves swelled up in that slow-motion roll, then broke quickly into white froth. It was so beautiful, it almost hurt to see it.
I can show you anything you want to see. But I don’t want to stay in one place too long since you’re a breathing GPS device. We’ll come back. He turned his gaze to the road. They were in a dirt patch on the shoulder. Phoenix looked at the highway and took in the cars moving by, then the bike revved beneath them and they were moving. Steer left and take us onto the road.
It was like being a kid and pretending to drive. Phoenix was so much stronger, he easily corrected any mistakes she made in steering. The road opened in front of her. They rode up on cars in front of them, then steered around them and passed. It was like playing a video game when she was young! There was so much to see!
With Phoenix giving her directions in her head, they got off the highway running along the beach and turned inland. They passed gas stations, convenience stores, fast-food places. Ailish recognized some things from her memories of the town, but eight years was a long time. And the people! She was trying to drink it all in, trying to impress every image on her memory. The colors and shapes of the cars, the blue sky, the road, and the buildings. The way shadows fell through the buildings and marked the payment.
Then she started noticing signs with words. At first she couldn’t quite process them. She recognized the letters, but they didn’t add up to anything. They wouldn’t flow from images to words in her head. Mild panic and stinging regret tightened through her.
She had loved to read and had devoured books before losing her sight. All those nights alone, so damned afraid of the hellhounds, she would huddle under the biggest light in the house and read. Usually romances. She’d loved the hope and happy endings. She’d clung to the idea that she was worthy of love.
Had she lost the ability to read?
We’re passing the signs too fast for you to read them. I’ll focus on the next sign longer. There, coming up on it now.
Ailish wasn’t even pretending to drive now. She let herself lean back and just absorb what Phoenix was looking at. It was an advertisement on a large billboard, so far ahead that she couldn’t be
lieve she could see it.
Hunter vision, he said in her head.
Show-off. The letters were clear, and as she studied them, they began to form a familiar pattern. “Your wife called, she said it’s okay to buy a boat!” Ailish read the words out loud, sure they were lost in the wind. She could still read! Not that it really mattered, but it felt good. She could read the details of the boat company below. She started reading all the signs she could find. Company names on buildings, street signs, everything.
Now who’s the show-off? Phoenix laughed, then suddenly tensed. “Shit,” he said aloud as a big black car swerved in front of them. Trouble. He swung the bike into a hard right onto another, smaller road. Hold on. He accelerated so fast that it made her dizzy, but she hung on to his sight. He leaned forward until he surrounded her body.
Ailish moved her hands down to hold on to the grooves of the fuel tank in front of her. Buildings, signs, and trees passed in a blur as he twisted and turned through a community.
Shots rang out. Phoenix pushed her lower over the gas tank with his body. Two vehicles, stay down … Oh shit!
Ailish saw the knife fly past them as Phoenix swung right, off the road entirely. Her heart pounded, fear roared in her ears. That knife had been glistening black. Phoenix looked back, and she saw it following them.
Immortal Death Dagger. Young’s in one of those vehicles.
Her chakras cringed at the words, but Ailish was having none of that shit. That knife would kill Phoenix. Maybe I can stop it. She willed her chakras to open and called her magic. Pulling out of Phoenix’s vision, she focused her air chakra on that thing. She reached back with one hand and snapped Phoenix’s chain free of the hook on his belt.
They were climbing through hills, but Ailish ignored everything but the dagger. It followed every turn Phoenix made, coming closer and closer. Gathering the chain in her hand, she could feel the malevolence in the dagger as it homed in on his back. It was a dozen feet away and gaining fast when she silently communicated, Behind you, turn left!
Phoenix swung the bike into a hard turn. Ailish had one chance. Her right arm was bent, and she snapped her arm out, letting go of the chain and then using magic to push it into the knife. An unholy clanging and wet smacking chilled her spine. Sliding into Phoenix’s vision, she saw the chain wrapping around the dagger and the knife undulating and shifting as it fought the chain. She’d bought them time, but …
We’re going to jump, Phoenix warned in her head.
With him looking straight ahead, she saw they were barreling straight toward the edge of a cliff. She could see water farther out. Was he crazy?
Sing! Call out my wings! Now!
Her magic responded to him, rushing up to her throat. He’d trusted her to slow down that dagger. She trusted him and sang the only thing she could think of: “Wings of my soul, soar to my call!”
He gunned the engine. Terror spiked and she opened her eyes, jerking out of his vision. She felt the bike sail off the edge at the same time Phoenix wrapped his arms around her waist. Let go of the bike!
Ailish unclenched her fingers from around the gas tank, and the machine fell out from under them. Vertigo and fear filled her lungs with a scream when she felt a huge sweep of wings slide by her arms and side.
Below, she heard a splash.
The only thing that kept her from falling was Phoenix’s arms around her waist. I’ve got you. Then he flipped her around and caught her. Put your legs around me.
He didn’t have to tell her twice. She locked her legs around his waist, used magic to get rid of the helmet, and flattened herself against his body. She felt his chest muscles expand and contract in rhythmic movements as he pumped his wings. What happened to the Death Dagger?
It broke free of the chain just as we jumped, but it couldn’t keep up with us once we were flying. Young must have called it back.
Relief eased through her. Phoenix?
He stroked her hair. What?
Don’t you dare blame the motorcycle going into the water on me. It wasn’t my driving that did it!
His chuckle was rich and vibrated in her head, flowed down her spine, and curled through her pelvis. It’ll be all your fault when I tell the story.
This was the first time Ailish got to actually see what Phoenix’s house looked like. He landed outside on the circular driveway. She saw a blue car with white stripes sitting there, but she was much more interested in the house. It was modern, wide, and multilevel to create a building-block look. Like a beach house on the cliffs, except this one didn’t overlook waves.
Phoenix turned his head, showing her his view—hundreds of homes spread out below him. An entire community. She could see the school and soccer fields, more parks amid the houses, and a large swimming pool.
All the things he’d missed as a kid, now he could look at them every day. Phoenix had found his place, his home.
Setting her on her feet, he said, “Have to figure out how to put the wings away.”
She reached up and stroked the feathers. He was looking at one wing, so she could see the feathers ranged in color from bright blue to deep purple. “They just popped out when I sang?”
“Yep.” He caught her hand. “And they won’t go back into the tattoo if you keep stroking them.”
“It’s like that with my magic. My chakras open and my powers rush out when you are near me.” She saw the wing lift, bending closer to his body, then it vanished with a soft whisper of feathers against skin.
“Come on.” He led her toward the garage on the kitchen side of the house and put his palm against some kind of plate. A whirring noise started, then the big door rolled up.
“That’s your car?” A black, sleek-looking machine with two white stripes. It gleamed beneath the garage lights.
“Mustang GT,” Phoenix said.
She pulled out of his grip to touch the edge of the car. It was cool and smooth. The images she was seeing disappeared, leaving her back in her gray, shadowy world, but she had seen what the car looked like. She noticed a mild headache, probably from trying to process so many images.
Phoenix caught her hand, tugging her with him, and said, “Keep your eyes open, and I don’t think you’ll see through me. Give your head a rest.”
She paused, noticing the headache had faded. “You knew I had a headache? Why did it stop?”
He tugged her to him, putting a hand on her face. “I felt it start when we were flying home and you insisted you wanted to see my wings. I can siphon off the pain. It’s what soul mirrors do.”
“I’ve trained to function through pain. You don’t have to do that.”
He leaned his forehead against hers. “I want to. I need to.” Threading his other hand in her hair, he said, “You were amazing today, Ailish. The way you used your magic and my chain to stall that Death Dagger impressed the hell out of me.”
His praise sent tingles through her, and her powers danced and popped. Along with the way he’d trusted her when she’d told him to turn the bike so she could get at the dagger.
He leaned down and kissed her gently. “We’re going to break the handfast together. You’re mine, and I’m not going to lose you.” He let go of her face and led her to the house.
Ailish had the visual of the garage in her mind and was able to easily move around the car. They walked inside to the smell of something warm and spicy. She stopped and inhaled.
“A half hour until dinner,” Dee said.
A surge of happiness swelled behind her breastbone. “Dee, you came back!”
“Of course I did. Someone has to take care of you.”
Normally, she’d snarl at a comment like that. But she was just too pleased to have Dee back. “What is that smell?” Ailish asked. “Whatever it is, I think I’m giving you a raise.”
Dee was clinking glasses and moving around the kitchen. “Lasagna. I like to cook, and this kitchen is fabulous! Plus I had my own errand boy.”
“Hey,” a male voice protested.
; Ailish jumped.
“It’s just Linc,” Phoenix said, squeezing her hand. “He’s a witch hunter, the one I asked to take Dee to pack her stuff up and go shopping for whatever she needed. He stayed here last night to make sure she was safe.”
“Just?” The voice moved closer. “Hi, Ailish, I’m Linc Dillinger.”
His voice was smooth and rich, like melted gold. He stopped in front of her, standing an inch or two taller than Phoenix and slightly leaner. Ailish held out her hand. “Hi, Linc. I’m the witch causing all the trouble.”
He enveloped her hand in both of his. “You don’t look big enough to cause much trouble, sugar.”
Phoenix put his arm around her. “She can drop you on your ass, Dillinger. Now give Ailish her hand back.”
Linc laughed, a rich, fluid sound, and released Ailish’s hand. “I heard you have some skills.”
“Did you hear I kicked Phoenix to the ground when I met him?” Ailish asked sweetly.
That made Linc roar with laughter. “I’d have paid to see that.”
“How much? I can do it again.” She saw no reason to mention that she’d only succeeded the first time because she’d taken Phoenix by surprise.
“How about we make it interesting?” Linc rolled out the challenge in that smooth voice of his. “Set up a match, maybe get a little action going—”
Phoenix made a noise deep in his chest. “How about I cut out your heart and we’ll take bets on how long it keeps beating?”
“Is that a no?”
Charm just rolled off this guy. It made her want to laugh. The only men who made the effort with her were usually possessed by demons. It was nice. Not that she thought it was real—
He’s flirting with you because you’re pretty, sexy, and clever. Phoenix squeezed her shoulders, then let go and said, “How’s the headache?”
“Almost gone. Give me a minute.”
Night Magic: A Wing Slayer Novel Page 28