Collapse the cave, and flood it with fire. That would kill all of them. The energy she pulled from the bedrock would make one hell of a fireball. And it would incinerate her body completely, freeing Jonathan, Eli and Sarel right away. They would be able to get away in plenty of time to get Eli inside before full daylight.
“Why don’t you tell me who you are, Red?” Mistress said, tossing her blonde curls back. At the same time, she started to stroke the cock of the man beneath her.
Wow. Lori didn’t consider herself a prude, but that was...wow.
Lori smiled—a tiny, humorless smile.”Nobody too important.”
The woman laughed, a deep, throaty chuckle as she impaled herself on her lover’s dick, her back against his front. Big hands closed over her hips and started to drag her up, then down.
And all the while, she stared at Lori.
It was fucking creepy.
Having this woman watch her. Talk to her. While she fucked a guy. It wasn’t the sex, exactly. It was the dispassionate way she did it.
“You lie…you shine with power. It’s too pure for my taste, but I love the challenge of corrupting that. Saul likes the innocent and he’s a seductive bastard. Maybe I’ll let him have you.”
Closing her eyes, Lori whispered softly, “Not in this lifetime.”
“What?”
“Mistress hates being told no,” a soft, exotically accented voice whispered in her ear.
Lori didn’t move a muscle, although the voice was as real as the couple fucking right in front of her.”You realize how this plan is going to end, right?”
Lori gave a tiny nod as she said easily to the lady in front of her, “I said, no thanks.”
Coldly, “I wasn’t offering. I was stating. You come into my territory and I’ll do as I please. If I tell you to come over here and lick my pussy, you will.”
Lori started to laugh.
“No. Not likely. You see, I came here to kill you. All of you.”
The woman started to laugh. “Like you think it will be that easy?”
“Yes.” From under her lashes, she watched them as she grabbed the rest of the energy. The power. From the corner of her eye, she saw the girl. It hurt her stomach to think of it, but she didn’t want that girl to suffer. Her first, she thought. She’d take the child out first.
A silvery sheen started to form in front of her. “Personally, I wish there was another way.” Her throat started to tighten.”But you all can’t leave this place. None of you can.”
Opening her soul, she took the energy inside as the foundation of the cave started to shudder and the witch in front of her started to understand. “Stop!”
Her voice trembled as she tried to invoke the power of the earth.
But the earth wouldn’t heed one who had gone against it for so long.
“Hmm…so ya did know.”
Somebody lunged for her and slammed against the shield she’d cast around herself. Then another. To the voice she heard whispering, she said quietly, “I don’t know who you are, but you don’t feel the way they do. You can’t save me. But you can help that girl. Do it, and do it now. Because this cave is coming down.”
She felt the shields around her shudder as more bodies slammed into it.
“The girl is already gone.”
Lori was barely aware of anything else as the power swelled inside her. Her skin was too small to hold it all. Far too small. She ached with it, her skin stretched far too tight, and itched, and hurt, burning…all around her people started to scream. They were rushing closer and closer as somebody screeched, “Stop her, damn it!”
Jonathan shifted, exploding into his larger, wolfman form, swiping out with a clawed hand as two men rounded the corner—a wolf and a witch. Taking the throat of the wolf, he slammed the man into the wall as he started to shift, ripping with his claws before he could complete the change. The smell of blood on the air fueled his anger, his rage, and he turned to face the witch, only to see him facing off with Sarel.
Eli strolled up, his fangs sliding down past his lower lip, his golden eyes glowing in the dim chamber.”My lady wife will be greatly pissed if you interfere here, lad,” he said easily, though the heat of anger heated his voice.
Sarel’s hand flew up only moments before the witch’s volley of fire hit her in the face. She caught his flame with a shield that she flung back at him, wrapping him in a vortex that encircled him and ate at his flesh. She smiled coldly, striding past him, the wolf and the vampire at her side.
The ground started to tremble beneath their feet as they entered the next corridor.
“I hope, my love, that your sister is not in too big of a hurry,” Eli murmured.
“I’m hoping that Jonathan’s new friend is what she claims to be.”
Jonathan said nothing as he followed the scent of Lori. He could taste her fear.
Leandra eased Jennifer’s still body to the ground, stroking her hand down the side of her face and murmuring softly, “Sleep a while, will you?” Breathing a whisper of magick over the sleeping child, she stood and lifted her face to the sky.
Feeling everything rush past her, she went flying through time and space, back inside the cave, just as Lori was forging the energy into fire.
She paused to whisper into the werewolf’s ear, “I’m gonna get your woman now, turn around and get out of here. She’s not gonna be…right after this. It’s too much magick she is taking inside. She will be needing your hand.”
He stumbled as she allowed only a whisper of her body to form in front of him, nodding to the entrance.”The witch can put hold spells to hold anybody back. It won’t hold me,” she said, grinning widely. Nodding to Sarel, she added, “Don’t bother with anything subtle. Big, flashy, dangerous. We don’t need more than a few more minutes. And do it now, then get out.”
She left them, flying through to hover behind Lori. The light around her had coalesced into a silver so bright and shining it nearly blinded Leandra, as she settled her feet on the ground.”Come on, girl. Do it and be done!” Leandra shouted over the roaring of the rocking, shuddering earth.
“I told you to get out of here. Where is the girl?”
“She is safe, unlike me and you.” Evilly, Leandra leaned in and whispered, “Not to mention your friends. They broke your spell, girl And they are trying to get in here to get to you.”
The end is what matters, Leandra told herself.
Lori hissed, throwing her head back.”You bitch, what the hell…”
But the fire inside her had grown beyond what Lori could control. As it exploded, Leandra felt it. It was all the young Hunter could do to push it outside of her body, and that racked her with pain.
Wrapping her strong arms around Lori, Leandra felt her go limp.”There now,” she crooned as she pulled them out, her magick carrying them away as the cave collapsed and fire exploded through the earth. Screams rang in her ears before going silent. “That was all I needed. For you to let go for me. Your people are okay, hush now…”
Leandra settled down at the edge of the forest, stroking Lori’s hair back, staring in bemusement at the streaks of white that now threaded it.”You went and had the mother of all highlighting treatments done, didn’t you, girl?” she murmured, shaking her head.
At her side, Jennifer slept on, her dark hair spilling around her pretty, young face. As she continued to stroke her dark hand through Lori’s white-streaked hair, she sensed it as Jonathan, the vampire, and the witch’s sister spilled out of the cave. Mere moments later, the fire started to boil up from the main chamber.
It lit up the darkness as the three Hunters came to kneel in front of her, staring at the woman lying cradled in her lap, almost afraid to look at her too closely.
The fire at their backs came almost too close. Jonathan could feel the heat of it as he stared at the three women in front of him. No…two women and a girl. He had no clue where the girl had come from.
The exotically beautiful witch looked up at him as she stroked her
fingers through Lori’s hair. Her hair…
It was streaked with white. Shot through with streaks of pure white. Closing his eyes, he sank to his knees and reached out, afraid to touch her.
“It is okay. She’s alive and she’ll be okay,” the witch said quietly, a gentle smile on her face. The faint moonlight glimmered off the dark scythe mark on her face. “It was too much magic and it almost did her in, but she pushed it out just in time.” Stroking her fingers through Lori’s hair, she whispered, “I don’ know if her magick will ever be the same again. But she should be mostly fine.”
Jonathan laid a hand on her breast, feeling the steady, slow pounding of her heart. Alive…
“Oh, God,” he whispered brokenly, feeling a hot wash of tears rush to his eyes. “Thank God.” He gently took Lori’s limp body in his arms and cradled her against him, meeting the odd, amber eyes of the witch across from him. “Thank you.”
They reflected the light of the moon back at him, like a cat’s.
“Why thank me? If it wasn’t for me, none of you would be here,” she said dryly, folding her hands in her lap. Lifting her eyes, she stared up past Jonathan’s shoulder, at Eli.
“Who are you?” Jonathan asked, forcing the words out through a thick, tight throat.
“Do you need the name for my death certificate?” she asked calmly, drawing her knife from her hip and tossing it aside.
Jonathan’s blood ran cold at the calm, easy way she spoke of her own death. And she truly expected it. He could see it in her eyes. Slowly, he shook his head, flashing fang as he spoke.”You saved her. I owe you my life.”
Leandra followed the Hunters into Elijah’s home. The members of his Enclave stared at her with suspicious, watchful eyes. Too many of them would know her, simply by her scent, the feel of her magick. She had the aura of wrongness to her, when she stood next to Lori. She knew—her soul was unclean.
Not evil, as the Mistress had been.
But unclean.
They would know.
What are you doing here, girl? she asked herself, shaking her head. The wooden beads on the ends of her braids clacked, and she rubbed her hands together, flexing them. The soothing scent of jasmine rose to her nostrils and she breathed it in. Slowly, she lifted her lashes and met the gazes of those who stared at her.
“What have you brought us?” a long, lean vampire asked, his dark Italian eyes moving from the top of Leandra’s head to the bottom of her leather-booted feet.
Lori, still tired, still weak, but cocky and calm, arched a brow and said, “Nobody brought you anything, Rafe. I think Sheila is more than you can handle, anyway.”
Snickers filled the air and Kelsey said easily, “Sheila declared a few days ago she was rather tired of his…bullshit, is how she phrased it. With some more…definitive terms thrown in. For all to hear. Safe to say they are no longer speaking.”
Leandra remained silent, pulling her eyes away from the vampire, not meeting the gaze of the other witch who had entered the conversation—not looking at any of the vampires or weres.
“You…”
Breathing in slowly, Leandra lifted her eyes and met the gaze of the man she had shot only seconds before she had taken Erika. She had never thought herself a coward—but staring into those pale-gray eyes was making her belly pitch and roll, making her cheeks flame, and she wanted to turn and flee.
The worst possible thing when she was surrounded by predators.
And witches far more powerful than she.
“Me,” she said, lowering her head, slowly.
“Mike?”
Leandra didn’t know where the whisper came from. It didn’t matter.
All eyes moved to the were. His eyes were glowing, swirling with power and rage, the scent of blood filling the air. He stalked through the room, his eyes on her face. And all other eyes followed him, tracking his movement.
Then settled on her.
Like they had one mind, connected to his. They all now knew.
“Elijah, why is she here?” one were asked.
A softer, cooler voice said, “She is here to die. Let me do it. The blood of a witch is a sweet prize.”
Leandra refused to let her body shake, and she tried to keep her fear from showing.
Jonathan stepped in front of her. “No.”
Mike continued to move closer, closer still, until he could reach out and touch her, his palm coming up and cupping her face, all under the watchful eye of the vampire and two witches at her back. Jonathan stood in front of her, separating them from the others.
For a long, long moment, Mike stared at her. She was painfully aware of the burning feel of his hand on her skin, the intensity of his eyes. Too painfully aware of him.
Then, without saying a word, he let go and turned away.
Jonathan’s voice was a low, rough growl as he said, “The one she hurt here the most was Mike. She didn’t kill Brad. This will concern Mike and her. Not her and the entire enclave.”
“She attacked us—”
Jonathan snarled, his eyes flashing at the were who had spoken, menace rolling from him. All of the wolves fell silent.
“Nice trick to silence the wolves, pup. It doesn’t work on me,” Rafe said darkly. “She is a threat to us. All of us. What are you gonna do to me, piss on my feet?”
“I’ll rip your fucking throat out,” Jonathan said, flexing a hand that displayed ebony claws. “She saved Lori’s life, she protected Erika. The scales are balanced.”
“She kidnapped Erika. Does one life saved equal the many evils she has done?” Rafe asked silkily, as he crossed the distance that separated him from Jonathan. Bloodlust, the need to end the life of the one who had served their tormentors filled his eyes, his face. His fangs had dropped and his dark eyes gleamed with red and gold pinwheels as he stood nose-to-nose with Jonathan.
“Rafe, you overstep yourself,” Eli warned, his voice soft, but no less powerful as he moved out of the shadows. “The girl risked her life, not just once, but several times. And her freedom, as well. She knew what coming here meant, but she came nonetheless. Remember yourself.”
Rafe narrowed his gaze, tearing his eyes away from Jonathan. Meeting Eli’s look, he demanded, “Do you think I’m going to just sit here while this murdering bitch walks free among us?”
“The lass is no murderer.”
Finally, she was able to tear her eyes away from Mike’s mesmerizing gray gaze. Swallowing, the dry click in her throat audible to everybody around her, she dragged her eyes to the man who had spoken.
Malachi stared back from his perch on the bottom stair as people all around him parted, clearing a path between him and Leandra. “Oh, her soul isn’t the cleanest one I’ve ever seen. She’s got demons to spare. But she’s not evil.” Then he blew out a breath. “Maybe if Agnes and I had been more watchful, she wouldn’t have fallen in with the wrong crowd.”
Then he flicked a look at Rafe. “Assuming you’re stupid enough to go toe-to-toe with your Master...and I’m hoping you won’t break those vows, are you really so foolish as to try it with me?” Malachi asked softly.
A muscle pulsed in Rafe’s cheek as he stared at the ancient one.
But he gave no answer.
“Jonathan?”
The small voice was one Leandra didn’t want to hear just then.
Closing her eyes, she lowered her head to stare at the dusty toes of her boots as Erika came into the room.
“Yeah, kid?”
“You’re not going to let them hurt her, are you? You tell me all the time that sometimes people just have to do stupid shit to figure out who they are in life. That’s what she was doing.”
Erika reached out and caught Leandra’s hand. “You were just figuring out who you are...it takes some people a while, you know.”
“And who am I?” Leandra asked softly.
“I think you’re supposed to be one of us, of course,” Erika said, sliding her eyes sideways to watch as Agnes came closer.
Agnes
studied Leandra with solemn, serious eyes before turning to study the still angry, still hostile faces. “We went to Jamaica, Mal and I, fifteen years ago. To find a child. She was a strong witch, especially for one so young. And she was in a very, very bad situation. But we were too late to save her...she had to save herself and she was already running when we arrived. She hid from us, eluded us, for weeks and months. We didn’t search long enough, or hard enough. It’s not that child’s fault that she landed with some very, very evil people. If Mal and I had looked hard enough, or arrived sooner, things might not have played out like this.”
As Agnes spoke, she moved around the large foyer studying the gathering of Hunters, some great, some very minor. Many were studying Leandra with looks akin to pity, while others continued to glare at her with outright hostility.
“She has wronged a few people here more than others. And those are the ones who will speak,” Agnes said, sliding Erika a narrow look. “One has already made her opinions clear. And Jonathan was rather emphatic. He will rip out the throat—I believe, he said—of the person who touches Leandra. So, the only other person who needs to speak is Mike. Beyond that, none of you need to worry.”
“Brad can’t be consulted,” one of the wolves said, her voice too close to a growl.
“She didn’t kill Brad,” Agnes said.
“I’m not innocent, old woman,” Leandra said, rolling her eyes and stepping forward, away from Erika’s clinging hands. “I did what I was led to believe I had to do and I made my own choices, right or wrong. I don’t hide behind children or old women. Or ancient vampires.” Sliding Malachi a narrow glance, she faced the young inherent who had spoken. “I’ve got demons, just like that vampire said. And if somebody wants to hand out my punishment? I will take it from whomever is man enough to dole it out.”
“That would leave you out, Brielle.”
That quiet, level voice came from Mike.
Leandra turned slowly, her eyes lifting and meeting his.
“Go on, witch. I won’t ask for your life,” he said softly. And then he turned on his heel and walked away.
The Hunters Series Page 47