by Mills, Julia
Taking a deep breath then slowly letting it out, Callum’s eyes slid shut as he remembered what it had felt like to have Kamdyn’s hand on his, her touch on his face and the look of adoration in her deep gray eyes as their lips had almost touched for the very first time. He also couldn’t help but think of her quick wit, bad attitude and all-around need to have the last word.
She is absolutely perfect. It’s so true, the Universe does NOT make mistakes…
“I heard that,” Calysta’s chuckle floated through Cal’s mind. “And I have to agree. You and Kamdyn were made for one another. Now, concentrate and let’s find her, whatcha say?”
Embarrassed that she’d heard him, but agreeing wholeheartedly with finding his mate, Callum didn’t answer. Instead, focusing even harder on the memory of sweet, fresh, powerfully intoxicating scent of fresh fallen raindrops and long, dark curls he had no doubt refused to be tamed, just like the woman they adorned.
It seemed to take forever. The imaginary clock once again ticking in his head, Callum was sure he would lose his mind if they didn’t soon find Kamdyn.
Then it happened. Not with a bang or a boom, but very slowly, increasing with every heartbeat, a picture of a dark room, firelight casting long shadows on what had to be the lair of something hiding from the light…something that didn’t belong in the world occupied by life and love.
Pushing more magic, both his and his dragon’s, into the vision, Cal nearly jumped for joy when he saw Kamdyn, no worse for wear, still breathing and from the look of things, giving someone or some thing a piece of her mind. Wanting to talk to her, wanting to tell her he was on the way, that he hadn’t let her down, Cal was just about to push magic into the mating bond he shared with his lovely mate when Calysta shouted, “NO! He will feel it and know we are looking for her!” Into his mind.
Shocked at the intrusion, Callum’s eyes shot open, his hands flew from the mirror, and he jumped to his feet, electricity popping and cracking in the air around him. From one second to the next, Maddox was on his feet, that same damn broadsword as before pointed at Cal’s neck, while the mad dragon snarled, “Pull it back, young’un or I’ll gut you where you stand.”
Rising slowly, Calysta walked forward, placed her fingers on the top edge of her mate’s blade and as she slowly pushed it down, corrected, “Only our enemies will be gutted today.” Looking at her mate, she assured, “Cal was only reacting to me yelling at him.” Turning to the electric dragon, she apologized, “I am sorry. As you can tell, I’m a little jumpy when it comes to him.”
Cal noted that for the second time, she hadn’t said the demon’s name, but he let it pass as Calysta added, “All is well though.” She tapped her temple with the tip of her index finger just as a picture of the mouth of a large cave, hidden in a jetty, on the other side of the inlet from where Callum had come face-to-face with his mate burst into his mind. “I know where they are and now, you do, too,” Calysta winked. “The sun is high in the sky, and his power will be at its lowest, I say we go rescue Kamdyn and vanquish that bastard demon once and for all.”
Turning as if she’d just suggested they go to breakfast, not do battle with Death Incarnate, Calysta picked up her calico bag and headed out of the garden. Following his mate, Maddox nodded for everyone else to get in line and all together, the rescue party headed to the stables to get their horses and make their way to the shore.
Hold on, mo ghrá. I promised the Cavalry, and that’s exactly who I’m bringing…
Chapter Ten
Bound to an altar with iron chains burning her skin, lying next to a barely breathing Terran, Kamdyn cursed the day her mother had been stupid enough to make a deal with Thanatos, cursed the day Terran was idiotic enough to let himself get possessed and lastly, cursed the day that her magic was taken from her. All-in-all she cursed everything, everyone and anything she could think of. All she wanted was to see Callum just one more time.
Not because I need him, just cause he’s cute…
“Now, I’m lying to myself,” she mumbled to herself. “Blast it all, I really hate the helpless, female role. It is not a good look on me, but that damned demon had to go and make me wear it.”
Needing to vent and irritated that Thanatos, still parading as Broom Hilda, was once again sitting on his mini throne like a right pompous ass, Kamdyn spat, “So what did Terran do to deserve this?” She nodded towards the limp, lifeless body at her side since her hands, and feet by the way, were cuffed to the granite altar. “I mean, he was your pawn. You used him to kill my parents. I would’ve thought you would’ve been happy with him. Hell, maybe even made him your little minion on Earth.” She shrugged the best she could and tried not to show how bad the iron burned every inch of skin that it touched. “Maybe used him a few more times to wreak your special, twisted kind of havoc on everyone you could.”
Grinning from ear-to-ear, Thanatos spoke through Broom Hilda as the possessed woman tapped the long, snarled tip of the nail of her index finger against an obscenely large ruby at the end of the arm of the chair. “Oh, I was happy with him, and he was more than pleased with the power I gave him. Who do you think made it possible for him to become the Leader of the McGregor Coven? Who do you think fiddled with,” Broom Hilda’s hand raised and she wiggled her first two fingers, “the spell that removed your magic? Did you really think it was supposed to go to Terran?” The demon laughed out loud. “Oh no, it was meant to be kept in an amulet, one from your great-great-grandmother, until the day your sentence was up and then returned to you, but I owed a debt to the useless cretan, and that’s how I paid it. I gave him what he wanted.” Broom Hilda sat back and looking rather satisfied, put her hands back on the arms of the mini throne and boasted, “It is, after all, what I do.”
The poor possessed woman, who Kamdyn felt increasingly sorry for the longer the demon continued to use her, got up and started to pace as Thanatos’ voice prattled on, “But then he got greedy. Continued to tell me that he had some ritual and if I didn’t do everything he said – give him everything he wanted – that he would return me to the Underworld. Well, normally, I wouldn’t have worried, but, in this case, I knew how powerful your magic was. Not only yours alone, but the combination of what you already had and what you inherited from your parents.”
Halting her merry-go-round parade right by Kam’s head, Broom Hilda leaned down until the two were eye-to-eye so that Thanatos could gleefully add, “And that mind of yours. It’s so deliciously mischievous. I just know we will have the naughtiest of fun.”
Rolling her eyes, Kam snorted, “Are you for real?” Raising her head as far as she could, she added, “Go on, take my magic. Take whatever you want. Hell, kill me if that suits your fancy, but I’m never gonna party like it’s 1999 with your ugly ass.” Laying her head back on the stone, she snickered, “Cause that’s not how I roll, Thanny, my boy.”
Grabbing her face and pinching it between her thumb and forefinger, Broom Hilda whipped Kamdyn’s head around so hard all the bones in her neck cracked, like those little firecrackers kids throw on the sidewalk on the Fourth of July, then pushed the nasty Creature-from-the-Black-Lagoon-looking freak crammed the end of her nose into Kam’s at the same time that Thanatos growled, “Oh, you will, my little courtesan, and let me assure you,” Broom Hilda actually kissed Kam on the cheek making bile rise into the young witch’s mouth just before the demon added, “You. Will. Love. It.”
Preparing to give Thanatos one helluva an old-fashioned dressing down, Kamdyn’s witty repartee was cut short before it started as an arctic blast flew into the cavern, making her shiver as well as extinguishing all the torches. The ground beneath the altar immediately began to shimmy and shake, literally raising off the floor and causing Kam to be tossed as far as her iron cuffs and chains would allow, before being ripped back against the hard, unforgiving granite. It wasn’t bad the first time, but by the fiftieth, the young witch was altogether over it. Her skin felt as though it had caught fire as the chains shifted back and forth,
moving her clothing and scorching every inch of skin they touched.
“Nooooooooo!” Thanatos roared. “You will not stop me now!” Spinning towards the back of the cave, Broom Hilda snapped her finger as the demon commanded, “Come now!”
“Oh great, crazy ass Thanny the Dick has friends. Talk about the play date from Hell,” Kam quipped.
Explosions of pure, white Earthen magic rocked the cave. Could it be that someone really was coming to save her? Did Callum keep his word? Was the Cavalry on the way?
Her inner monologue was cut short as whatever monstrosity Thanatos had called for gave a mighty roar, originating from somewhere behind her. Red, hot blasts of fire flew just inches over her prone body adding to the excruciating burn of her iron constraints.
More roaring and snarling. More skin-blistering fire. Then, as if things weren’t bad enough, the earthquake-like footsteps started, adding to the already shaking ground, making Kamdyn wonder to herself if she was about to hear ‘Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum, I smell the blood of a stupid witch who doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut’.
Unfortunately, what came racing from the darkness was not a giant. Oh no, that would’ve been too easy. What she saw, had her blinking several times because she couldn’t believe her eyes, was none other than a mythological chimera.
It took her brain an extra second to make sense, whatever that was, of what she saw, because not only was the beast a lion with the head of a goat and a long thick tail with a snake’s head at the end but Thanatos’ pet had taken it one step further, he had added long, leathery dragon wings to his hodge-podge of animal parts.
“What the…?”
Her words were drowned out as the chimera gave another ear-splitting screech followed by an accompanying blast of fire before tearing out a tunnel on the other side of the cave that Kam hadn’t known was there. Listening as the nasty beast engaged with whoever had come to get her, Kamdyn heard the sounds of battle growing fainter with each heartbeat.
Damn it all to Hell, that blasted thing is pushing them back…
Struggling against her restraints, trying to see what Thanatos was doing to the right of where she lay, Kam bit her lip, refusing to cry out as the iron continued to eat away at her flesh. Giving up on her battle against the chains, she raised her head and stretched her neck, trying to get a tiny glimpse of what the demon was cooking up.
Outlined by the glow of two thin, black pillar candles while her left arm remained rigid, Broom Hilda’s right hand moved like she was stirring soup or cake batter or something evil and horrible from the homicidal depths of Thanatos’ demented imagination. Kam’s nose began to sting and her eyes watered as the unmistakable scent of burning absinthe, betel nut, and henbane – all herbs used to summon, use and increase the power of black magic – wafted from the table.
“What are you doing over there, Thanny?” She asked, like a mother asking her bad little boy what he was up to.
Getting no answer, Kam opened her mouth to ask again, deciding to scream to get the bastard’s attention, when the chimera’s roar once again filled the chamber, followed by his tail with its giant hissing snake’s head which slithered up the far end of the altar while his ass, torso and head awkwardly backed into the chamber. Once again battling against her restraints, Kamdyn yelled, “Thanatos, get your ass over here and control this monster before his creepy snake head swallows me up.”
Ignoring as was his way unless he wanted to piss her off, Thanatos continued to work whatever dark ritual he was preparing. Really not wanting to get eaten by the ass end of a chimera, Kam began to shout at whoever was battling the beast just out of her sight. She could feel their white and Earthen magic, although she couldn’t identify it, and was willing to take a chance that they would release her from the chains and haul her cookies off the altar.
“Hurry! Whoever you are, please hurry. Thanatos is cooking up something and knowing this son of a bitch, it is way past nasty.”
With her words still ringing in her ears, Kamdyn nearly jumped out of her skin when the biggest, burliest, grumpiest-looking, sword-wielding man she could have ever imagined dashed around the huge chimera and began hacking at the beast’s underbelly while a younger man with wavy dark hair and stark determination etched on his face that said he’d fought and won many a battle took to the other side. Speechless, something she wasn’t used to, Kam could only watch as another warrior, this one with long blonde hair, a cock-sure grin and a long sword, who actually looked at her, gave a wink and nodded back towards the way he’d just come, apparently thinking she could read his mind.
Sorry, missed that day in witchy school. Wish I’d been there. Damn sure would’ve made things easier…
Trying to keep up with everything going on around her, Kamdyn was momentarily blinded as a bright white light burst into the cave, obliterating everything. Blinking her eyes over and over, tears streamed down her face from the abuse her eyes had taken. Finally able to focus, her heart nearly jumped from her chest and what had been pain-induced tears turned to tears of joy.
There, standing not fifteen feet from her, swinging his sword as majestically as any warrior ever had in the history of time, was her dragon, Callum, healthy and whole and keeping his promise to save her. In awe of the ease with which he battled alongside the others, Kamdyn immediately understood that they were also Dragon Guardsmen.
Her heart skipped a beat when his voice sounded in her mind, “The Cavalry has arrived. Give me just a minute, and I’ll be right over there to getcha.”
Entranced by her dragon, Kamdyn was forced to look away when the scent of sulfur grew thick, blowing from where Broom Hilda was standing, assaulting the McGregor witch’s senses. Jerking her head to the left, she saw large, inky plumes of black smoke rising in front of Broom Hilda right before Calysta, the Grand Priestess of all Witches, raced into the room, demanding, “Stop Thantos. Back away from the table.”
Ignoring the command of the Priestess, the demon began to mutter something Kamdyn was sure was really, really old Latin, growing louder with each syllable. Her eyes flew to Calysta as the Elder Witch raised her voice and began to chant.
Looking back and forth between Broom Hilda and Calysta like she was watching a match at Wimbledon, Kam’s breath froze in her chest when the demon slowly turned towards the Priestess, his hands glowing with Hellfire while sparks of black magic hissed and sizzled in the air all around him.
“So nice to see you again, Calysta.”
The Priestess continued to chant, unmoved by the demon’s use of her name. Stepping closer, Calysta stopped her spell mid-sentence and commanded, “Let Mara go.”
Mara? Who’s Mara? Oh, crap, that must be Broom Hilda’s real name. Wait! The Grand Priestess knows the demon’s pawn? Holy shit. I need a scorecard to keep up…
Looking like he had all day, while Mara’s hands were on fire, her skin still writhing with the icky, green worms, Thanatos chuckled smugly, “Now, why would I do that? She’s been such a good girl. Done everything I’ve asked.”
It was obvious there was history between the Priestess and the demon, one that unnerved Calysta, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. Refusing to give up, squaring her shoulders, fire danced in the Elder Witch’s eyes as she took another aggressive step forward, seething through gritted teeth, “Let. Her. Go.”
Still grinning like the demon that ate the soul, Thanatos shook his head, “Why? So, you can banish me back to Hell without my favorite plaything? Now, I ask you, is that nice? I thought your mother taught you better than that, Calysta.”
Stepping forward, her pure, Earthen magic filling the cavern, the Priestess chanted again, this time with more power and infinitely more conviction. knocking Mara’s head back, her neck hanging at a weird angle that most definitely wasn’t good, Thanatos cackled with laughter.
Almost faster than Kam could track, the demon stopped laughing, he faced front and with a wild overhand pitch threw a huge ball of Hellfire at Calysta’s chest, before shouting, “Thréigean!”
“Noooooooooo!” Calysta ducked before racing forward, completely disappearing in a plume of black smoke.
“Callie!” The huge, brawny, scowling Guardsman shouted as he flew over Kam and the altar she laid on, diving straight into the still sizzling, sulfuric smoke, still screaming for the Priestess. Reappearing almost immediately, pulling Calysta from what was left of Thanatos and unfortunately, Mara, the Guardsman threw the Elder Witch over his shoulder and hollered, “Finish that bastard off, you three, and let’s get the hell out of here. I’ve had enough. Thanatos has gotten away again. We must leave that bloody wanker for another day.”
Turning her attention back to the wounded and bleeding chimera that had slipped her mind, Kamdyn shrieked as the giant, hissing, spitting snake’s head at the end of the beast from Hell’s tail dove forward, with its mouth open and fangs bared directly at Callum’s head.
“CALLUM! WATCH OUT!”
The words weren’t even out of her mouth before her amazing dragon spun to the right and with perfect aim, decapitated the serpent, stopped his blade in midair, redirected it and with one powerful leap plus an enormous thrust slid his blade straight into the heart of the chimera. Jumping back, he bellowed, “Timber!”
Kam watched as the huge, evil beast gave a final cry, staggered to the left and fell to the ground, shaking the cave for the last time…ever, or at least while she was in it. Staring at her mate, tears streamed down the younger witch’s face as Callum raced to her side, ordering her to look away.
Doing as she was told without answering back for the first time in her life, Kamdyn rolled her head to the side, smiling as she heard her mate ripping the cuffs and chains that bound her to the altar and throwing them aside. As soon as the last piece of iron left her body, Kam rolled back, quickly sat up, and while ignoring the pain of her burns, reached for her mate. Grabbing Callum by the shoulders, she pulled him to her and slammed her lips to his.