One Lycan caught me by the wrist, and I snarled before I realized it was Charlie. Her hair hung over half her face. Blood dripped from a gash in her forehead. I hadn’t noticed that the first time. Actually, I hadn’t noticed how tired and worn out they all looked.
“Sorry,” I murmured.
“It’s my fault. I know you don’t like being touched. My head is just somewhere else. But, Calliope, have you tried using your—your voice?” Travis and Garrett, her mates—each with a child in their arms—leaned closer. “We could sure use the advantage. There are still people trapped in bunkers on the other side of town. We need to get them here to the Castle.”
“Why does everyone think this castle will magickally keep Xerxes and his soldiers at bay?” The words fell from my lips before I could stop them, and the faint glimmer of hope in Charlie’s eyes dimmed. “I’m sorry,” I began. “I’ve already tried. Because he knows I’m here, they are all warded against my call.”
Travis nodded and pulled Charlie back to his chest. “We’ll find a way to get the rest of them, my love.”
“I’m sure the Protectors are working on a plan,” her other mate added, moving closer so that all five of them were sandwiched together. One very snug wolf-y family who didn’t have a shot in hell of surviving this mess unless they hightailed it and ran—right now.
I wanted to scream that Rose was dead. That they should all disappear into the surrounding prairies when night fell. That no one was going to save them. Not even all their together shit. But I couldn’t. Not yet. Not until I’d exhausted every choice available to protect myself and my sisters.
I searched through the throng of Lycans. Someone had mentioned that Teagan and Finn had saved Hannah. Perhaps they would know where she’d been hidden. Finn was easy to spot. Tall. Dark. Deadly. As far as Lycans went, he was one you didn’t want as an enemy. I wove between wolves until I reached him, not surprised to see his mate glued to his hip like they were physically attached.
“Calliope,” Finn greeted me by name, his voice low and rough and tired. “You look as though you have a purpose.”
“I need to find Hannah.”
His eyes widened, belying just a hint of surprise. I was more powerful than Hannah, but I couldn’t cast a spell to hide my own soul. Hannah was the only other person in town who might be able to cast a spell powerful enough.
“She’s in the library upstairs.”
“I should’ve known she’d be with the books. Thank you.”
He nodded, and I left them, quickly weaving my way through the rest of the milling Lycans toward one set of French Doors across the courtyard. No one stopped me or called to me. I was as invisible as I felt. Everyone was either checking on loved ones or rallying around Eli’s icy coffin, plotting their next move.
I slipped through the doors and closed them gently behind me. All the lights were dimmed or completely off. Tactically, it was the best move. Most of us could see in the dark just fine without lights. Djinn weren’t creatures of the shadows, though, probably because they teleported and liked to be able to see where they were landing. The darkness would slow them down if—no, not if—once they managed to penetrate the castle.
The dark corridor sped by, and I hung a sharp right. Hurrying up a staircase, I passed dozens of paintings and tapestries. The library doors were open wide, and I could hear the faint echo of sobbing coming from the far side of the room. She’d lost her sister and her father today, but I couldn’t afford to wait. He would be coming. Every second without the charm shielding my soul—my sister’s souls—was another second closer to me. And then he would be that much closer to reclaiming his power.
“Hannah?” I spoke gently, rounding the corner of the first set of bookshelves. She sat on the floor between them, stacks of old parchment volumes all around her.
“I-I-can’t find a way to bring them back.” The wail of pain in her tone cut through even my jaded heart, and I sank to my knees next to her, moving aside a few of the large leather-bound books. “Any of them. My dad. My sister. Eli. They’re all just gone. There’s nothing I can do. No spell to fix it.”
“Honey, no one expects you to raise the dead.” I touched her shoulder gently. She turned into my offered comfort and hugged me. I forced myself not to stiffen. No one ever hugged me…. Of course, I hadn’t wanted them to, either, any more than I wanted Hannah hugging me now. I needed her help, so if a hug was what she needed, I would provide it.
That was my specialty, giving others what they needed.
I sat with her for a while. Perhaps a few minutes. Perhaps an hour. But the second her body relaxed, I knew I had a chance of being heard. “I need to ask you a question about a spell, Hannah.”
The young witch straightened and sat up, looking at me with incredulity. “I should be the one asking you. We both know your power makes mine look like parlor tricks.”
“But I can’t cast a spell on myself.”
“What would you need a spell for?”
I pulled the crystal amulet from between my breast and held it up. “I need your word you’ll not speak of this to anyone in town.”
“A soul stone.” Her eyes widened farther. “You’re hiding from someone. But the light. It’s out.” She sucked in a quick breath and covered her mouth, realization dawning in her features.
“You cannot speak of this,” I said, the words more of a growl than true speech.
“This proves that Rose is dead. How can you not tell everyone?” she whispered.
“It will do them no good one way or the other to know the truth,” I answered, allowing the sadness I felt to coat my words with persuasion the way only a siren could. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about the town or the people in Sanctuary. It was just that I had something else—someone else—coming for me besides Xerxes, and I needed Hannah to keep my secret. I needed time before fear threw this castle into chaos.
My voice was as much a weapon as a tool. After centuries of practice, the different tones could produce a chemical reaction in humans and most supernatural beings, enabling me to lull them into believing in whatever I was feeding them.
Hannah nodded. “It’s better they have hope.”
“Yes, honey. Much better that way.” I traced her cheek with my fingertips, giving her an extra dose of my magick to make sure she wouldn’t change her mind. “About the soul stone. You know what it is.”
“Yes, I saw them mentioned in one of Rose’s books.”
My heart skipped a beat, hope rising like the sun through storm clouds. “Do you have the book? Can you re-enchant the stone?” Mine was linked to my sisters. As long as Hannah could get mine turned on again, Demetra and Rhea would be safe, too.
“It’s in her vault,” Hannah said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “Even if I did have it, I can’t do those spells without her. I don’t have her magick.”
“You’re sure? I can amplify magick. I could amplify the spell. Maybe it would be enough?” Maybe there was a way to break into the damned vault. Probably not. But it didn’t mean I couldn’t try.
“I’m sorry. Only a Lamassu can open the vault. And only a Lamassu can make a soul stone. It’s their race’s magick.”
I reined in my disappointment. Showing fear now wouldn’t help anyone. I’d been safe here for so long I’d forgotten how hard life had been before Rose and I had struck our deal. But I’d survived without Sanctuary before. I could manage again. I had to or he’d kill me.
“I have to go,” I said, standing and separating myself from the broken-hearted witch. “Be careful, Hannah. This fight isn’t over yet.” The young woman nodded, and I turned and left the library.
I paused once I reached the dimly lit stone hallway. My hands were shaking. My breathing was sporadic. My heart raced like I’d just run a marathon through a muddy field. I leaned against the wall, pressing my face to the cold, hard stone. You can do this. You have to do this. Think.
“Calliope, are you ill?” The familiar Drakonae male’s voice made my
skin warm. Mikjáll was one of the most powerful supernatural beings in Sanctuary—along with his two remaining parents, of course. Perhaps he could be the answer to the problem I was so desperately trying to figure out in my head.
As a Dragon, magick would slide off of his hide like oil on Teflon. I raised my head from the wall and let my lips part just slightly. His gaze connected with mine, and I shook my head.
“Lonely,” I said, trying to predict which way his mind was leaning. “I thought perhaps—” I stopped speaking on purpose. Better to lead him slowly than rush in and get the door slammed in my face.
“Calliope?”
I stepped forward, laying my hand flat on his chest. Survival was paramount. Protecting my sisters. Everyone in Sanctuary had someone else to fight for…but not me. I just had myself and my deal with Rose. Now I didn’t even have that.
Mikjáll was strong. He could protect me. I kept those thoughts repeating in my head. I needed a strong male. Mikjáll could be that for me. And he could fly. I needed to get to Russia in a hurry.
“Maybe we—” I cut off my own words and bit my lip, playing up the confused damsel. Nothing a big strong man liked more than to think he was saving a woman.
His nostrils flared. His heart rate increased. He was interested. His shoulders dropped, and he sidled closer, backing me against the cold wall. Then put his palms on the wall on either side of my shoulders, boxing me like an animal in a trap, except I’d set it and led him right in after me.
“What are you after, Calliope?” He pushed a denim-clad thigh between my legs and rubbed against my mound. Then one of his hands dropped from the wall and cupped my breast instead. “Is this what you want?”
I stared up into his beautiful brown eyes, lit with fire. Red. Hot. Sexy…and…I’m completely uninterested. What the hell is wrong with me? I had him exactly where I wanted him. He was hungry for a taste of me, and all I could think about was how not turned on I was by him. How I was taking advantage of a man who was grieving. Who’d lost his wife. Who’d just lost a father.
I was supposed to be heartless and cold.
I needed him. This is what I was good at…all I was good for. I used men, and they used me.
But I just…couldn’t.
I pushed away his hand and then patted Mikjáll’s chest, shaking my head. “I was after you,” I answered. “But it was wrong. You’re grieving. We both are. I lost everything when Rose—”
“Died?”
“No one knows for sure. There wasn’t a body.” I ducked from beneath his arms and backed away a few steps.
“Some still hope,” he said, his voice dark. “But you accept it as truth.”
“Since when do Drakonae read minds?”
He straightened and frowned, crossing his massive arms over an equally massive chest.
He was attractive and strong, and I should’ve been all over him, but I’d gone soft. I…cared. It was a horrible and vulnerable feeling, and I hated it. I’d survived by being strong. I had no love to give anyone but my sisters.
“You haven’t cast a glance my way since the day I arrived in Sanctuary. Now, after everything that’s happened today, you decide to be after me.” His caustic tone was like acid to my ears. He known I’d attempted to deceive him. Tried to woo him. I’m apparently more out of practice than I realized. Men never saw through my actions. My body, my powers, my very essence lured them into doing my bidding.
“I was just having a moment. They’re rare,” I snapped, falling back into my armor of sarcasm. “But they do occur every few years.” I walked away from him, surprised when he gripped my hand and yanked me back against his hard body.
“You shouldn’t start things you don’t want to finish, Siren.” He leaned down and nuzzled my neck. Nipped at my ear. His hand cupped my breast again, and his other slipped lower, stroking over my mound along the seam of my jeans. This had been my goal. I needed him with me. I could push some of my magick onto him and he’d never know… Better a good fuck than none at all, right?
I reached up to touch his face and take his willpower away. Take away his choice and his doubt. But I stopped.
He doesn’t deserve this. No one should have to deal with my shit but me. This place had ruined me. I’d been here too long. Gotten to know the people around me. They weren’t nameless faceless targets. I couldn’t steal from him.
I’d find another. A stranger. Someone I wouldn’t feel guilty about taking advantage of…someone who didn’t care about me. Who couldn’t make me feel.
“Mikjáll, we shouldn’t. I should go.” I slipped from beneath his massive frame again, turned on the ball of my foot, and hurried away.
“If you need to fuck, you know where I sleep, Calliope.” His voice echoed down the stone hall, mocking me. Reminding me that I was nothing to him. Nothing to anyone in this town.
I didn’t deserve anything more.
A ripple of magick coursed through my body, reaching through the chaos and noise in my brain. I hurried down an empty hallway—where I’d been staring out at the empty half-burned town—to a small back door into the castle.
Djinn? Now?
It’d been hours since the last attack, and there’d been no movement at all. Were they coming back to finish us off so quickly? My mind raced through my choices. Had Rose not been dead, had I not been left on my own with no protection...I wouldn’t have hesitated. But I was alone. And he was coming.
I moved backward to the door, ready to disappear once again into the safety of the castle and tell everyone we had an unwanted visitor. But fighting a war I had no stake in wasn’t on the agenda. Getting away from him was top priority. If I planned to slip away from Sanctuary without causing a ruckus, I needed to go now…while things were quiet.
One Djinn didn’t present a great threat. And it was only the one. They would be fine. But I couldn’t do it, not until I’d at least assessed why the damn Djinn was here alone. After the earlier assault on the town, I wouldn’t have expected a solitary Djinn to enter Sanctuary. Xerxes had dozens of them. Hundreds. What was one doing walking down Main Street? They didn’t usually walk. The spells only prevented blinking into buildings.
Was it a trap? Was he trying to lure me out?
I froze, waiting to feel its next move. Another blink sent a ripple of purple magick through the air—colors of magick were invisible to all but sirens. The Djinn was closer now. Near the castle. Near me. Right around the corner. And it—no, he—was cussing something fierce about the castle being an igloo. It almost made me laugh out loud.
Going back inside would’ve been the right thing to do. To tell the people I’d lived with, grown fond of, that Sanctuary should prepare, that Xerxes must’ve sent a scout before the next wave of attacks, but my only inclination was to go toward the Djinn. Something pulled at me that I’d never felt before. Something so deep it wrenched at my gut, screaming for me to move. For me to take a step forward…and I did.
Chapter 6
KILLÍAN
I pounded down the stairs to the basement level, passing through the club area and through another door that opened into an enormous space the Sister’s used as their common area. Javier, Sita, and Marcus were on my heels. Bailey and Erick stood next to the Oracle when we entered. Another Protector? Now? In the middle of this mess? The last thing I needed was my pregnant wife worrying about who was going to fetch the stranger from wherever he’d popped up.
I’d seen the look in Eira’s eyes. She was making plans. The woman was the love of my life. My soulmate. But she had an uncanny way of always finding herself amid chaos.
I’d personally asked Diana to seal Eira inside the room if she gave the slightest hint that she would try anything stupid. They were safe together…I hoped.
Miles assured me he would be close by as well and would watch over Eira.
My skin itched, and I rolled my neck. How the hell had I gotten put in charge of the Protectors? Why were they looking to me? But they were. The Sisters were, too.
&nbs
p; “What can you tell us, Oracle?” The thirty-something woman in the chair looked up and met my gaze. “He is in the port of Galveston. Just arrived. Ship called the Midnight Race.” The Oracle’s skin was pale, her eyes bloodshot.
“Galveston is at least a ten-hour drive,” I growled. “Why now?”
“He’s never been this close before. Something happened. He drank and killed someone and is running. That’s why he’s in America now.”
“Fuck, so you expect us to go find a homicidal vampire and tell him he needs to pledge an oath of protection to a bunch of white-dress-wearing-vision-seeing-women?” Javier slapped the wall with his palm and laughed hard. “What kind of stupid do you think we are?”
I glared at him. “You’re going to get him. One asshole deserves another. Bring him back alive; conscious is not necessary. We’ll sort it out when he gets here.” I turned back to the Oracle. “If this blows up, it’s on you. And if he’s not the right guy when Javier gets back, I’ll slice his head off in front of you for troubling me while we are trying to win a war.”
The Oracle and the other women around her were silent. Their faces paled, too, and they all gave a quick nod before escorting their precious mother superior out of my sight. A Protector. A killer. That’s what Sanctuary needed right now. More killers roaming the streets.
“I guess I’ll see you people later, not that bringing another Protector back right now will help anyone. Even if Travis or Garrett inked him, there’s no way to enchant the damn thing.”
The beefy vampire crossed his arms over his chest and glared, as if he thought that would intimidate me. I’d scowled at troops for centuries. Sending soldiers off on missions was like riding a bike for me. “One problem at a time, Javier. They had a vision, so go get him,” I said, expecting the vampire to argue further, but he didn’t. Just shrugged and turned and left the way we’d come. That went easier than I’d expected.
My Vampire Knight (Sanctuary, Texas Book 6) Page 3