The Seduced

by Cheyenne McCray

  “This human food—delicious,” she said. “We will take our portion back to our Sidhe to share with the others of our kind.”

  She waved her hands like a maestro conducting a symphony and all of the Faeries’ cookies disappeared, along with the Faeries who had greeted Copper. Queen Riona stayed.

  Riona stood on Copper’s backpack as they watched the Pixies vanish into the greenery with their own cookies. The Brownies trundled away, looking pleased and full.

  Copper pushed herself to her feet and carried a sugar cookie to the Undine who graciously took it with a bow of her head. “It is good to see you again, dearest Copper,” she said in a voice like water trickling over stones. She sank down into the shallow basin of water and disappeared, cookie and all.

  When Copper made it back to the apple tree to wait for her friends a little longer, it was just her, Zephyr, and Riona. While Zeph left to pollinate a few flowers, Copper sat cross-legged on the grass beside the Faerie queen. Riona perched on the smooth rock that Copper had sat upon so many times before.

  “So everyone made it home?” Copper asked.

  Riona still delicately nibbled on the remaining cookie. “The barrier went away the moment you returned to your world. We still live nearby, but we are free to come and go as we please.”

  Copper smiled and felt another swell of relief in her chest. “I’m so glad.”

  But then that smile and relief disappeared as it hit her again that she was alone. None of her friends had come through the barrier. And worst of all. Silver was in danger.

  Riona braced her hands on the rock to either side of her and looked up at Copper. The queen’s black hair lay over her shoulders, covering her perfect little breasts. Her amethyst eyes were wide and serious.

  “Your friends…” Riona started slowly.

  “You know what happened to them?” Copper rushed the words before Riona could finish. “Why didn’t they come through with me?”

  The queen delicately cleared her throat. “Balor blocked their way. He wants you alone, without the defenses of your companions.”

  Copper’s body went limp and she slumped against the apple tree. “Oh, goddess.”

  “Although your sister is in trouble, you cannot go by yourself,” Riona said softly. “It could mean your death, as well.”

  Copper dropped her hands to her lap. “Excuse me?”

  Riona shifted on the rock. “Suffice it to say that we know some of what would lie ahead of you if you made this journey alone. I wish we could be of assistance, but as you know, the Fae cannot tolerate being deep within the earth. It would kill us.”

  This time it felt like Brownies nipped the inside of Copper’s belly, hard. “Are you saying that Silver is in danger, but that you don’t think I should go after her?”

  Riona sighed. “She will soon be at the door. We do not know if she will be injured enough to die, or if she will survive.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Copper jumped to her feet “You’re telling me my sister could die and I’m not supposed to do anything about it?”

  The Faerie queen stared solemnly at Copper. “You could die, as well.”

  “It doesn’t matter what happens to me.” Copper dropped to her knees and grabbed her backpack. “What matters is that I save my sister.”

  “No one can help you.” Riona pleaded with her. “The Mystwalkers cannot live far from water, the Shanai and the D’Danann are too far for us to contact in time. I can send word, but the only way they could make it is if they use the Elvin transference point. The D’Danann and Elves do not speak to one another.”

  She shook her head. “The Elves cannot assist you, for those of pure Elvin blood cannot go below ground or they will become Dark Elves. And as I said, none of the Fae can help. Only the D’Danann could if they were near enough. But as it is, I doubt they will be here in time.”

  Riona fluttered beside Copper while Zephyr zipped to her ear as she stood and slung her backpack over one shoulder. She headed to the side of the rock wall that she had always dreaded going to.

  “Please.” Riona spoke urgently. “Do not do this alone.”

  “I don’t have a choice.” No one had arrived to help her, and no way in hell would she let her sister die. “I’ve got to find her, and I have to save her. I will save her.”

  When Copper reached the Drow door, she took a deep, deep breath. Then without any further hesitation, she stomped on the door five times.

  While Copper waited for the door to open, Riona gave her a feather-light kiss on her cheek, then moved to hover in front of her and sighed. “I will send word to the D’Danann, but I do not know if it will make a difference.”

  Copper sucked in a breath. “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”

  “Good luck, Copper Ashcroft.” Riona fluttered her wings so that Faerie dust sprinkled over Copper’s head and shoulders. “May the goddess be with you.”

  The door began to screech open at Copper’s feet. The Faerie blew her one last kiss and vanished in a blink of an eye.

  The horrible nails-scratching-chalkboard sound grated along Copper’s spine as the stone door moved. She shuddered when it finished and the door finally opened.

  The steps leading deep into the darkness were barely visible. She withdrew her wand from her pocket with her free hand and the crystal at the end began to glow its golden light. She hitched the pack higher on her shoulder and started down the stairs.

  22

  It was dark by the time the messenger demon arrived to tell Darkwolf that he had met Garran at the pier.

  The messenger, a demon in a young man’s shell, handed Darkwolf a parchment filled with magic. Darkwolf closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Yes. The magic-infused paper would lead him directly to the door.

  Triumph filled Darkwolf as he opened his own eyes. But it was Balor’s stone eye that forced much of that triumph through him.

  Part of him was reluctant, because of what he would have to do with Silver. He would ensure she would not be killed, but he feared harming her.

  He pocketed the parchment, which was of no use save for the transfer. He dismissed the messenger just as Elizabeth approached. She had changed out of Elizabeth’s elegant suit and wore functional jeans, a gold jersey with San Francisco 49ERS emblazoned across it, and walking shoes.

  The shirt was all she’d been able to find at the last minute. The tight jeans molded her figure, and they made her ass look great.

  Darkwolf walked into one of the guest bedrooms to retrieve Silver. He stopped for a moment at the doorway and watched her. She held one palm against her belly, and she looked vulnerable and tired. Very tired. It was something he had never seen in her before.

  In that moment, he was Kevin Richards again, the former white witch who longed to be human again. A human who might have been able to win the spirit and the love of such a woman—his woman.

  What if she could save him? Return him to the life he once knew?

  The moment she sensed his presence, she straightened her spine, dropped her hand from her belly, and raised her chin. The hatred in her eyes brought him back to reality.

  He belonged to Balor now, and this woman would never love him. He could keep her, always his captive, but she would never love him.

  Silver looked beautiful despite her day of captivity. She had bathroom facilities within the room she had been relegated to. Her hair hung long and loose around her shoulders and she had a soft flush to her cheeks.

  She had eaten all he’d placed in front of her through the powerful shield. She had appeared to force herself to eat, but she did get it all down.

  He loved the fire in her gray eyes, her spirit, her beauty. Something about the unguarded moment he had just caught her in concerned him. Something beyond being held captive disturbed Silver.

  Sara walked into the room and sidled up to Darkwolf as she met Silver’s gaze. Sara had once belonged to the same D’Anu Coven, before Silver was kicked out and before Sara had been se
duced into the Balorite fold.

  With no hesitation, Sara reached up and kissed Darkwolf, slipping her tongue into his mouth. She tasted sweet and when she rubbed him through his jeans, he wanted to take her, right in front of Silver, to show her what she was missing.

  He heard a low growl behind him and knew Junga made the sound. After deliberately extending the kiss, he physically separated himself from Sara. She gave him the sensual pout that she was so good at.

  Junga growled again, but he ignored her. He tweaked one of Sara’s nipples and she gave a satisfied smile. “No time now.”

  Sara smirked at Junga then looked down her nose at Silver, who had a horrified expression on her face. She was clearly shocked at how easily Sara had embraced being a warlock, and her relationship with Darkwolf.

  “Let’s get the witch and go,” Junga said in a harsh voice that sounded much like a command.

  Darkwolf turned to Junga, ice in his eyes. It was not her place to give him orders. He wore Balor’s eye. He had the power of the god.

  However, the demon queen would never quaver before him, despite the fact he was certain he could kill her through Balor’s magic. He brushed aside his irritation. He looked from Junga to Sara. “Prepare for the transfer.”

  His gaze returned to Silver and the shield around her that had been multiplied by the strength of Balor. She hadn’t been able to penetrate this shield no matter how many times she’d tried. He had watched her, amused at her attempts.

  The shield was well in front of the bedroom door and covered the curtained window so that she could not break through it, and she had no means of communication.

  He frowned. Unlike the fraction of time she’d used her cell phone. Her guard had been down, though, and he’d been able to use his magic to retrieve it from her.

  Just how much did she know and how much did she tell her friends? The D’Danann and witches had not appeared at his door, so he was certain she hadn’t been able to relay their location. No doubt he had nothing to worry about.

  When Silver noticed Darkwolf, her hands immediately prepared to fight the second he removed the shield. Instead of releasing it, he wrapped the shield snug around her, like a lover, the way he wanted to wrap his arms around her.

  “It’s time.” He stepped closer to her now that he had confined her to one small space with his magic.

  She stretched her fingers toward the barrier then snatched her hand back. “Time for what?” She dropped her hands to her sides and clenched them into fists.

  Darkwolf sighed. He truly didn’t want to do this, but he saw no choice. They would need only a little of her blood—Balor had promised this when he’d spoken to Darkwolf through the stone. He would have to take her to the door itself, now that the location of the door had been made known.

  He slipped his hand into his pocket, pulled out a small vial, and opened it. Careful not to breathe in the contents, he pushed the open bottle through his shield and splashed it on Silver before she had a chance to react. He briefly caught the scent of poppy seeds, chamomile, and his own special ingredient.

  Darkwolf let the shield drop just in time to catch Silver before she collapsed and fell into a deep sleep.

  23

  Copper’s heart pounded as she descended the Drow stairs. She had no doubt this was what she was supposed to do—this was her destiny. The Dark Elves planned to open that evil door, and she had to stop them.

  She wished she had her witch friends with her, or the D’Danann, or the PSF—well, all of them—but everyone and everything had been blocked from her for one reason or another.

  Balor—if Riona was correct—had forced Copper to do this alone. And she would save her sister and her unborn child.

  Unlike the other two times Copper had walked into the recesses of the Drow stairway, torches did not automatically flicker to life as she made her way down. Once the door screeched shut above her, the light of her wand was all that lit her way.

  Her shoe slipped and she barely kept from falling by bracing her palm against one rough wall. She steadied herself and held her wand tightly in her other hand. The journey seemed to last much longer, and her heart pounded even harder by the time she reached the foot of the stairs.

  “How am I going to confront Garran about this, Zeph?” she asked, more to herself than the familiar. She wasn’t afraid of Garran, she knew in her gut he wouldn’t hurt her. He wanted her and he wouldn’t let any harm come to her.

  She believed that, despite the fact he had betrayed her and all the Fae in the meadow by not telling them he could travel in and out of their prison, below ground. Not to mention the fact that he was apparently in league with Darkwolf and trying to open the door that separated evil from Otherworld, and perhaps her own.

  Oh, goddess. Was she a total freaking idiot to trust him at all?

  Surprisingly, in the absolute darkness, no guards greeted her at the foot of the stairs. Or rather, it would have been completely dark if she didn’t have her wand light.

  She stood in the main chamber with its polished granite floor. All the debris that had fallen when the Drow and Tiernan had battled the giant had been cleared and the floor shone once again.

  The entrance chamber remained completely silent. “Where is everyone?” she said and her words echoed throughout the huge chamber.

  Other than her own voice, she didn’t hear the slightest sound of speech, clink of armor, rustling of clothing. It was hollow, achingly empty. Her familiar landed on her wand. Zeph buzzed his wings, showing his nervousness.

  Feeling as if she were sneaking into someone’s home without them knowing—which she more or less was—she crept forward, her jogging shoes not making a sound on the smooth floor.

  Her wand light cast a bright golden glow that played off the carvings in the walls and made shadows seem to move and writhe, sending a crawling sensation up her spine.

  When she reached Garran’s chamber, her heart pounded as she peeked in. No one was in the room. The glow from her wand sparkled off the thousands of crystals, creating a dazzling scene. The one blight on the crystal was the obsidian door that seemed to suck up all the light from her wand.

  She’d bet her wand that obsidian door was the doorway to Otherworld.

  Her stomach felt queasy. “Why would Garran leave his chamber unprotected?” she mumbled, and Zephyr moved down her wand from the tip to her hand, tickling her a little.

  A noise behind her caused Copper to whirl around. Her braid flopped over her shoulder and her earrings swung. She moved out of the chamber and held her wand out, prepared. But she saw nothing.

  Zephyr buzzed back to her ear and she felt his increasing agitation mingling with her own.

  For a moment she paused, looking from one exit to another leading from the circular area. “Well, Zeph, which exit should we follow?”

  But her gut knew exactly which one to take—the one that led to where the Drow and Tiernan had fought the giant.

  It was obvious to her now that the Drow had been digging far below the surface to find the door that would release all manner of evil. The giant had come from deep beneath the ground where its kind stayed unless disturbed.

  Copper crept across the large room to the exit leading to the chamber where the battle had taken place. When she reached the tunnel, she took a deep breath. It smelled of dry dirt and she sneezed when she inhaled some of the dust. Her wand light lit the way through the tunnel.

  It wasn’t long until she reached the landing overlooking the pit. She raised her wand and it gave off just enough light to illuminate the expansiveness of the pit. From this very point she had watched Tiernan and the Drow fight the giant.

  In her wand light she was able to make out the huge hole in the floor of the pit. One large enough for the giant to have climbed through. Her shoes skidded on the dirt path when she took a step forward. She stumbled over a rock, and almost lost her balance.

  “Oooookay. Let’s not do that again.” Holding her wand out, she peered over the side of the
path and swallowed when she saw just how sheer of a drop it was.

  Heart beating just a bit faster, she continued down the trail that led around and around the pit, slowly making its way to the stony floor and the enormous hole.

  It took so long she should have been tired by the time she reached the bottom of the pit and the hole itself, but she wasn’t. Between that and her six-mile jog today—from one end of Golden Gate Park to the other and back again—anyone else would probably have been nearing exhaustion. But thanks to all of her workouts during her captivity, she could more than keep up, and she was only a little sweaty.

  Wisps of hair clung to the perspiration along her neck and brow. She felt sticky beneath her bomber jacket and she shrugged out of it and set it aside with her backpack while she checked out the hole at the center of the pit.

  Dirt and boulders blocked off the enormous pit, as if something had exploded upward. The dirt pile opened on one side, and through that opening she could clearly see the hole.

  She moved past the boulders and dirt, closer to the hole and peered over its edge. It was deep by the look of it, and as wide around as the kitchen at Enchantments—even bigger than the giant that had come through and attacked the Drow. Her wand light didn’t reach the bottom.

  Copper had no doubt this was the tunnel the Drow had used to reach the door to be opened to free Balor. It all made perfect sense now.

  Why else would they have been tunneling here? The giant being disturbed from its guard post far below ground and coming up through the tunnel to attack the Elves clinched it.

  Of course, that meant she needed to follow the tunnel, which should lead her to the Drow, to Silver, and to the door itself.

  Why weren’t there any ladders, or ropes? Something that could be used to climb below? After all, the Drow couldn’t fly. Well, she didn’t think so, anyway.

  She raised her wand so she could see better and saw a rope tied around one of the boulders. The end of the rope disappeared into the depths of the giant hole. She hadn’t noticed it at first because the thin rope was almost transparent. It glistened in the wand light.