Spell Bound (Darkly Enchanted)

by Stephanie Julian

  * * *

  Quinn rushed the guy from behind.

  He wasn’t expecting it and hit the ground hard, but the bastard rolled and came up swinging. The lightning-fast punch connected with Quinn’s jaw, jarring him off his feet. The guy was strong, far stronger than he looked.

  And, holy fuck, the man looked just like Gabriel.

  Quinn gaped for a brief second, allowing Dario to lift his foot to kick. Quinn knew he wouldn’t be able to get out of the way fast enough and braced for impact.

  Which never came.

  Gabriel tackled Dario with a roar, wrapped his arms around the man and took him down. They scrabbled there for a few seconds, each getting in a few solid punches before Dario stepped away so fast he almost didn’t see him do it.

  But as far as Quinn could tell, the guy didn’t have much magic of his own. Except for the fact that he was cursed.

  Gabriel and Dario stood, staring at each other, neither speaking. Only the sound of their breathing could be heard.

  Quinn could smell the distrust, the anger, the betrayal emanating from both of them. He didn’t want to believe, didn’t want contemplate what it meant, who this man was.

  Quinn didn’t know how long they stood there. He stood as well, wanted to be ready to fight again if Gabe needed him.

  And was completely unprepared for the pain that slid through his body.

  * * *

  Out of the corner of his eye, Gabriel saw Quinn’s body jerk.

  What the —

  Gabriel nearly panicked as a man behind Quinn grabbed his suddenly limp body and held onto him, a Taser at his throat.

  He turned back to the man he wanted to kill more than anything. “If you hurt him, I’ll hunt you down and make you beg me to cut your heart out.”

  “Bloodthirsty, aren’t you?” Dario smiled, but the sight sent revulsion coursing through Gabriel’s body. “Seems you inherited more from me than just your looks. Of course, this changes things a bit.”

  Gabriel tried not to rise to his taunts but couldn’t help himself. “Let him go now or I’ll draw out your death for days.”

  Dario shook his head, his expression becoming thoughtful. “Tell her I want to meet. It’s time to end this. We have much to discuss. Apparently. Tell her I’ll return her pet then.”

  “There’s no way—”

  “You don’t have much of a choice, boy.” Dario’s expression had gone coolly blank. “Talk to your mother. I think you’re going to be in for a rude awakening.”

  With a short nod, Dario motioned for the man carrying Quinn to precede him. Gabriel wanted to tear the guy apart, but that stun gun had to be on a high setting if it had knocked out Quinn. Another jolt could kill him.

  Torn in too many directions, Gabriel let them go.

  He’d fix this. He’d get Quinn back. He’d prove the demon Dario wrong about his assumptions, and then he’d kill the man, no matter that Serena had forbidden it. He deserved to die.

  Turning, Gabriel ran for the cave.

  * * *

  The boy threw Serena for a moment.

  He made her tongue twist around the protection spell she was working, causing a momentary imperfection, but not enough to make it unravel.

  And she knew it wasn’t true.

  This child wasn’t hers. Couldn’t be. But someone had lied to the boy, because he believed it implicitly.

  Without breaking her silent chant protecting her and Shea from anything the boy threw at them, she shook her head. “I’m sorry, but you’re not my child.”

  The teen bared his teeth and struck back with a jolt of power meant to level her. “You are my mother. He told me you would lie to protect yourself.”

  “If this is how you treat your mother then it’s no wonder she didn’t acknowledge you.”

  There, that one got under his skin. And it hurt her heart to see him flinch. Goddess, he was only a child. Dario had much to answer for. She wanted to wring the man’s neck. Actually, she wanted to do a lot worse for putting that combination of fear and loathing in this child’s eyes.

  It made her sick to realize the lengths to which Dario would go to wipe her boschetta from the earth.

  Damn him for making her just as ruthless.

  “I am not your mother, but I could help you find her. It doesn’t have to be like this. What’s your name?”

  The teen sneered, and for a brief second Serena saw pure hatred on his face. Her blood ran cold.

  “You don’t need to know my name. You just need to know how much I hate you.”

  In her peripheral vision, Serena saw Shea, still on the ground, close her eyes, but couldn’t tell if it was in pain or preparation. She wanted to warn Shea against trying anything, but couldn’t take her concentration off the boy.

  He was strong, and he was trying to beat down her shield. Righteous anger fed him, anger she had to encourage, had to cultivate until it forced him to make an ill-conceived move. She needed to incapacitate him, knock him unconscious. She refused to take his life. She’d never had to kill before, wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she did.

  “Your hatred is directed at the wrong person.” She moved closer, tried to put herself between Shea and the boy. “Do you remember me, child? Do you have any memories of me at all?”

  “You abandoned me right after I was born.” He spat the words at her. “Why would I remember you?”

  There! She felt a slight weakening of his mental shield. It had been like a brick wall but now there was a chink of mortar missing.

  “You wouldn’t, because the man who raised you lied to you. He stole you from your rightful parents and corrupted you for your power.”

  “You lie.” With one flick of his finger, he shot a bolt of blue fire straight at her heart. It deflected off her protection spell and bounced off the nearest tree, leaving the scent of burning wood.

  “No, I don’t. I could find your parents. Your real parents. Tell me your name.”

  Whose could he be? She should be able to tell.

  The teen smiled, an expression that looked hauntingly familiar but still unknown.

  “Father told me you would try to twist things. But it won’t work. I’ve waited years for this…”

  Pain hit her low in the stomach, taking her to her knees. Shock and disbelief made her freeze. She’d never been bested before.

  The teen’s handsome face twisted with fierce glee, and he pressed his advantage with another bolt of pain to her head. He shouldn’t be able to affect her like this. She was older, stronger, supposedly smarter than this boy, yet he was beating her.

  And she couldn’t lose. There was too much on the line, too many lives at stake, lives she was responsible for.

  Struggling to her feet, she submerged the pain and tossed his power back at him. It took him off guard for only a second before he hit her with another blast.

  “You’re weak, old lady,” he mocked. “Weak and scared. Why don’t you just give up, and I’ll make it easy on the rest of them. Even the boy.”

  “Like Dario made it easy on you?” She could barely get the words out. A burning pain had started to creep down from her head and up from her stomach. She knew he was trying to reach her heart, and though he couldn’t kill her, he could incapacitate her.

  “He made me strong when you would have turned me into a servant.”

  He tweaked the pain again. She shuddered but managed to reply.

  “He’s made you the servant, child.” She used the word deliberately, trying to get his anger to reveal his weak spot again. She had to hold out until then. “Where is your so-called father now? Cowering far from here, I’m sure.”

  “Oh, he’s here. Closer than you think.”

  There, she felt the pain lessen just a bit and she forced herself to press back with her own power. She felt every nerve in her body scream, but it was enough to make him break his concentration.

  Without warning, Shea rose from the ground and punched the boy in the jaw in one smooth move. It was so
unexpected, Serena’s mouth dropped open as he hit the ground with a thud, out cold.

  “I need some rope to tie him up.” Shea looked at Serena and raised an eyebrow, looking so much like her mother. “Before he wakes up would be good.”

  Serena nodded and forced herself to move into the cave and, after a quick word of reassurance to Leo, found a length of rope.

  Outside, she handed the rope to Shea, who tied the boy’s wrists behind his back, working the knots with skillful hands. Leo stepped forward, his gaze glued to the other boy.

  When she was done, Shea looked at Serena, waiting for instructions.

  First things first. “We need to find Gabriel and Quinn and get out of here. We need to get Leo and this boy somewhere safe. Dario won’t stop until he finds them, either of them.”

  “Who is he?” Leo asked.

  Serena shook her head. “I’m not sure. We’ll need to do a little research on that.” She forced a smile for Leo, his features drawn into tight lines of fear. He was only six, after all. And so vulnerable, even though he had power she couldn’t comprehend. Powers he shouldn’t possess yet.

  There were so many things she needed to know, so much she’d let slide in the past years.

  And they were all about to bite her on the ass, as Davis would have said.

  Because Gabriel stepped into the clearing.

  * * *

  “Serena.”

  Gabriel tried but he couldn’t keep the bite out of his tone. So many questions crowded in his head, he wanted to roar with rage.

  For a second, his gaze dropped to the teenager bound and out cold on the ground. Shea and Leo stood next to him.

  “Are you okay?” He forced himself to ask that question first, before anything else spilled out. Everyone nodded. “Good, get your stuff. Now. We need to move.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Leo’s quiet, terrified tone forced him to take a deep breath. “We need to get you guys somewhere safe. Then I need to find Quinn.” He sliced his gaze at his mother. “Dario took him.”

  He ruthlessly ignored Serena’s stricken cry and turned to Shea. “Get weapons. Whatever you want. I’ll take this one inside then I’ve got to make a phone call.”

  Leo tugged on his hand and Gabriel focused on his face, forcing everything but the little boy out of his mind. Trying not to crush him against his chest, he pulled the kid into his arms as he stood so they were eye to eye. “Everything’s going to be okay, Leo. I swear.”

  He waited until Leo nodded then set him down and lifted the teen in his arms. After he placed him in a small side cave off the main one, he wove a series of binding spells that should hold him for a few hours.

  When he was done, he turned to find Serena watching him.

  Questions rose in his throat like bile. He didn’t want to do this now.

  “Gabriel—”

  He slashed out with one hand. “No. Not now. Just answer one question. Is he?”

  Serena knew what he was asking. Her eyes filled with tears and her mouth quivered until she firmed it.

  He didn’t need to hear her say the words.

  Betrayal and anger ate at his stomach, at his heart, threatened to swamp his reasoning. He couldn’t afford that now. He had to get them all away from here and figure out what to do.

  “Quinn—” Serena started.

  “I’ll find him,” he snapped. “Dario wants to end this. He wants to talk to you, but that’s not going to happen.” He bit down on other words that would flay her to the bone. “I’ll get Diego up here to take care of this one. Then I need to call Matt, find out where the hell he is.”

  Turning his back on her, he whipped out his cell phone and pressed one key. He spoke as soon as Diego answered, not bothering to identify himself.

  “I need you at the compound safe site to pick up a package. Take it to town.”

  Diego didn’t miss a beat. “You want me to put it out of its misery?”

  Gabriel didn’t answer right away. He stared down at the kid that could have been Nino. Could still be Leo if he fucked up.

  “No, take him to Laran. Let him deal.”

  “Alright, but if he gives me a hassle, all bets are off.”

  One of only three living grigori who’d been born versipellis, Diego was a deadly weapon. He’d handle—

  The hair on his arms rose. Shea was coming. He turned to find her staring at him. The urge to go to her, wrap his arms around her and lose himself in her warmth for a few hours nearly overwhelmed him.

  But the anger, the betrayal, still bit at him. He was afraid of what he’d say if he went to her, afraid he’d want to drown himself in her, and he couldn’t afford to lose the crystal clear clarity rage gave him.

  He shook his head, mutely telling her not to speak.

  Then he picked up Leo, standing silent at Shea’s side, and headed back down the hill, knowing the women would follow.

  * * *

  Shea knew Gabriel was hanging on to his control by a thread.

  Something had happened back at Serena’s, something that had turned Gabriel’s world upside down then blown it apart.

  He looked shell-shocked.

  So she didn’t ask where they were going. Besides, it was pretty obvious. Back into the city.

  They drove into the northwest section, where every other brick row house looked run down, the cars were a mix of older-model American and late-model Japanese, and men—boys, really—stood on street corners, eyeing every car that drove by.

  This wasn’t a neighborhood Shea wanted to be caught in alone, at any time of the day, despite the several churches along Schuylkill Avenue.

  Leo sat in the front seat staring out the window, occasionally sneaking glances at Gabriel, while Shea and Serena avoided each other in the back seat.

  The inner turmoil eating at Gabriel and Serena ate at Shea’s gut, too, their emotions more painful than physical wounds. Which, of course, made the voices buzz like angry bees.

  A few blocks off Schuylkill, nearly to the city limit, Gabriel turned into an alley behind what looked like an abandoned warehouse. Another alley split the building in two and Gabriel turned into that.

  The alley appeared to dead end into the building, but Gabriel pulled out his cell, pressed a button and said, “I’m at the door. Let me in.”

  After a few seconds, the brick in front of them dissolved to reveal a metal door, which slid open without a sound.

  Gabriel rammed the Jeep into gear and they shot into the dark.

  Apparently he’d been here before because he knew when to turn and when to stop, before the lights had barely flickered.

  Shea held her breath as Gabriel threw the Jeep into park, nearly snapped the key in the ignition as he turned it off and slammed the door shut behind him with enough force to rattle the frame.

  “Let’s go,” he said, his voice low and dangerous, then stalked off toward a door at the far end of the huge open space they were in.

  Her mouth tightening, Shea nearly bit her tongue in half. She wasn’t afraid of him. She’d get in his face soon enough because she needed to know what had happened with Dario.

  The monster had gotten too close to Leo. He’d taken Quinn.

  And she needed to make a decision.

  The passage from her grandfather’s journal sprang into her mind, the one about her dad’s dream.

  Damn, it’d been so much easier when she hadn’t known Serena or Quinn or Gabriel. When it had only been her and Leo and she’d been unaware of the curse.

  Part of her wanted to take Leo and run. Another part knew she couldn’t leave Gabriel. Couldn’t leave without knowing Quinn was safe in Serena’s arms. If Serena would allow him into her arms. If the curse was broken…

  She watched as Gabriel tore open the door and disappeared through it.

  “Shea, why don’t you and Leo go in?” Serena said. “I…think I’ll just sit for a few minutes.”

  Gabriel’s mother stared out the window, focused on something on the op
posite side of the garage. More likely staring at nothing at all. Worry emanated off her in waves. Worry and despair.

  “Sure. Come on, bud.” She dug up a smile for Leo, staring at them from the front seat. “Let’s see where we are.”

  With Leo’s hand in hers, she headed for the door Gabriel had walked through.

  Above them, the building rose three stories, open to the ceiling, and was empty except for a few cardboard boxes here and there.