Like quarreling brothers caught by their mother, the men snapped to attention and quickly released her. Instinctively, Danielle wanted to keep fighting. She scrambled to her feet, lifted her fists and backed up a few steps. The guys actually let her, and she looked through the open doorway behind the woman with longing in her heart. Could she run for it?
“If you want her to cure you, you can’t harm her.”
“We weren’t trying to hurt her, Red. She was trying to escape,” replied the black-haired guy. Danielle couldn’t remember if his name was Collin or Darwin and she really didn’t care to find out.
A twinge of panic shot through her stomach at the name of Red, and that’s when she really looked at the woman in the doorway. Dressed all in black, Danielle thought she was probably another witch. But while the red-headed woman was very pretty, she was not drop-dead gorgeous like the other witches had been. Danielle’s thoughts also called up how this witch didn’t seem to go by her name either. That was weird. Not that it mattered. All Danielle could think about was getting out of there, so she started inching her way around the sofa toward the doorway, hoping she could dash out behind the witch.
Red looked at her, and clicked her tongue in a chastising sound. “Can’t you see how much these men need your help?”
“There isn’t anything I can do for them,” she tried, still moving as some of the earlier tension slipped free of her shoulders. She didn’t feel threatened at the moment and meant to use that to her advantage.
“I’ve been working on a spell to release them from their curse, and I believe you can help.”
So this was the witch who’d helped the werewolves get past her vampire guards. Some of the tension came back. While there was something about this witch that didn’t frighten her, she couldn’t trust her. Big hands curled around her upper arms, stopping her escape and she realized the werewolves weren’t going to let her go any farther. The first blond guy flashed his dimples at her and said, “Sorry about earlier, but we need your help.”
Was he bipolar or something? First he’d been nice, then he’d been bossy, and now he was back to Mr. Nice. “I don’t see how I can help you.” Danielle’s eyes danced over to the bedroom she and Nadia had been held captive in as she wondered where her friend was. Movement outside caught her attention and she recognized Nadia’s green top disappearing into the trees. Danielle couldn’t stop herself from exhaling in relief.
“Catch her!” shouted Collin, or was it Darwin? Danielle’s breath caught in her throat as she worried about Nadia completing her escape.
The witch lifted her arm to block the doorway. “Let her go. We only need Danielle.”
Danielle watched in stunned confusion as the witch came forward and pried the men’s hands from her arms. “Come, we’ll have some tea and discuss this.”
Mutely, Danielle let Red link her arm around hers and lead her to the kitchen like two ladies agreeing to have a quaint luncheon.
Scrambling like devoted sons, the werewolves began preparing the hot water and collecting mugs from the cupboards.
As they waited, Danielle studied the witch. She did seem to have a gentle nature about her, compared to the brutality of the more beautiful witches. “What’s your name?” Danielle asked trying to figure out the mystery behind the anonymity the witches seemed to favor.
“Only my sisters know my given name,” she said.
“Why?”
A soft smile graced Red’s pink mouth. The witch had a natural beauty about her. She wore no make-up and no mascara, but she didn’t need them. Her lashes, though a spicy shade of brown, were the perfect dark frame to sage-green eyes. A slim finger traced over the scarred wood of the table, it was tipped with polish-free pink nails, perfectly filed down to a short length.
“I understand why the Ambrus witches took you, as I’m sure you do.”
Danielle nodded, remembering their magnificent but stolen beauty and how they had gained it.
“Our families have a violent past. Our grandmother knew Helga and killed her.” Before Danielle had a chance to ask why, the witch went on. “Helga flaunted what she was and everyone knew her name. Since that time, witches keep their names a secret within their covens.”
“I don’t understand.”
“My ancestor discovered that if it is known, then other covens can destroy them.”
“Your ancestor killed Helga because of her beauty?”
“No, that didn’t matter to Great Grandmother Bakos. Helga was a wicked murderer.”
“Did you just tell me your great grandmother’s name?”
Red laughed. “Only her surname, but she has long since passed away of old age. Bless her soul.”
The teapot whistled and the blond werewolf with dimples brought that and a few packets of bagged tea to the table. As Red had spoken, Danielle had remained aware of them all leaning back against the cabinets with their arms folded. She sensed that while this witch seemed to trust her, they didn’t. They were right in that assumption. Danielle hadn’t stopped looking for an escape. She already knew there was a door out the back behind her, a window over the sink and any number of potential weapons in the drawers.
“I don’t think I can help these men escape their curse,” she began, hoping to maybe talk her way out of this situation.
“With a drop of your blood, I think you can.” A chill crept over her skin with the mention of blood. At her reaction, Red sighed. “It will be no worse than pricking your finger. I promise.”
A man stepped into the doorway, drawing her gaze as his body blocked the light coming from an open window. The chill surrounding her turned to bitter ice. Lucas.
“We’ll begin the ritual tonight, when the moon is at its peak,” said Red in a cheerful tone like she was discussing party plans over tea.
Danielle couldn’t take her eyes off of Lucas as his evil gaze held onto hers, promising pain and the shedding of a lot more blood than a single drop.
Chapter 15
Time’s Run Out
“Do you hear that?”
“Yeah,” said Max. “It sounds like another frightened doe running toward us.”
They’d moved well away from the witches, and the werewolves were no threat when sunlight filtered down through the canopy of trees. Even so, that didn’t mean they weren’t all on edge. Ethan blinked as a ray of morning sunshine caused bright circles of light to obscure his vision, and it heightened his level of frustration. When he couldn’t see, he felt like he couldn’t function, and wished he had a pair of sunglasses as well as a pair of unbroken spectacles.
On the verge of exhaustion, they’d called in all the help they could get and had camped out in the woods until they’d arrived. The Hungarian vampires had brought tents and supplies for them to use. Ethan hadn’t wanted to stop searching, but the vampires had insisted he and Max rest while they continued the search through the remainder of the night. Horrible images of what might be happening to Danielle and Nadia tortured his peace of mind now that the werewolves had them. Besides dozing off from fatigue for a brief time, he hadn’t been able to relax or sleep well enough to feel refreshed at all.
Especially because the dream he’d had left him needing her desperately, despite not being able to hear anything said between them. He’d seen the look on Danielle’s face as he drew small circles against her sensitive palm, keeping the touch light and flirty, trying not to overwhelm her. Ethan perceived that he had anyway, though. She’d watched him through a fringe of lashes, her lips parted in a way he doubted she knew was sultry. He could just make out a bit of her pink tongue inside her mouth and the edge of her teeth. Her lips looked full, moist and completely kissable. Ethan’s mouth had watered at the sight. Funny how he’d recreated this innocent caress soon after they’d met without knowing he’d done it before, and it was even funnier that she’d reacted in much the same love-drunk way.
Sucking in a breath of air, Ethan reluctantly left the memory and refocused on reality. Several fairies and their orig
inal team of vampire guards had come to help find the girls. Ethan had been in the process of taking down the tent when he’d heard footsteps crunching leaves and snapping twigs without any care for stealth. It had to be another animal, as Max had said. In this area, they’d seen a great deal of wildlife and a deer dashing through their campsite wasn’t uncommon.
Ethan couldn’t have been more shocked when a woman’s whimper let them all know this wasn’t another deer approaching. He thought it sounded like Nadia but he wasn’t sure. Had the women escaped? Had the Hungarian vampires found them? Ethan dropped what he was doing and they all ran to help whoever it was.
Nearing the sounds of rustling plants and thudding footfalls, Ethan’s gaze caught onto movement up ahead, as he held his broken spectacles to his face. Nadia stumbled toward them, panting, her face streaked with tears and dirt. He may have felt extremely tired, but Nadia was obviously well beyond that. When she saw them, she squeaked in fear before recognition made her stop. Her hand reached for a tree for support and missed. She collapsed against Max as he caught her, her chest heaving, her tangled strands of black hair sweeping down over her face. She didn’t seem to care enough to brush it aside as she frantically clutched at the sleeves of Max’s jacket, her body jerking with sobs.
“Are you hurt?” was the first question out of Max’s mouth.
Nadia responded by shaking her head and muttering something Ethan couldn’t understand against Max’s chest. But obviously Max had understood her because tension slipped from his shoulders with relief.
As the heart-wrenching sounds of her crying continued, it made Ethan’s blood turn to sluggish ice in his veins. Ethan searched their surroundings, listening for any signs of Danielle following, but aside from Nadia’s weeping, all was quiet.
“Are you alone?” Ethan heard Max ask next.
“Yes,” she replied, and Ethan tried to cope with the intense disappointment crushing his soul at the news. “But I know where they are. We need to leave now!”
“You’re in no shape to go anywhere, Nadia,” said Max, signaling Casanova to come take his wife.
The Frenchman lifted her into his arms. Even if she had wanted to protest, she obviously didn’t have the strength to fight it physically. What had the werewolves done to her? How far had she come? “But I’m the only who knows where she is! She sent me!” Nadia managed to say while cradled in the vampire’s arms.
“What do you mean she sent you?” Ethan asked, afraid to hear the answer but needing to anyway.
“She told me to run for help if I had the chance.”
“How did you get away?” How did you have the chance to run, and Danielle didn’t?
“Danielle...” It seemed as though the words died off in her throat when she cast a sad gaze his way.
“Nadia, please.”
She licked at her cracked and dry lips.
“Is she hurt?” Ethan demanded, because Nadia was hesitating so long panic was rising like bile in his throat.
Finally Nadia shook her head. “I don’t think so. They want her to cure them.”
Ethan sensed Nadia wasn’t telling him everything, but there wasn’t time to press the matter. They had to find Danielle now, or he’d probably never get her back.
Alora dashed up to Ethan’s ear, her small face filled with excitement. “We can track where Nadia has been by the light of her aura, like we did when the pixies first took them.”
“Good,” responded Max because he was close enough to hear the fairy too and this meant they didn’t need Nadia to direct them.
This was also good information because the fairies believed the werewolves did have a witch helping them. They should have been able to find them by now, but they hadn’t. Someone was using magic to hide them. But now that Nadia had gotten away, they had a better chance of finding Danielle.
“Casanova,” began Max. “Please take her back to camp, and make sure she’s fed and gets some water.”
With several glowing fairies as their guides, they started off in the direction Nadia had come from.
Time was running out, and if they didn’t find Danielle soon, Lucas would destroy her as he had his sister’s friend, Phoebe. Even if the werewolves wouldn’t harm her because they wanted a cure, Lucas would, because there was no way in hell Lucas wanted the same thing. The thought motivated Ethan to run faster despite his fatigued state. Every single muscle in his body protested the action, and he knew he’d pay for pushing himself like this, but what choice did he have? The fairies didn’t have the berries with them to make the healing juice they’d given him before. But... “Can you dust us?” Ethan asked, deciding now was the time to request that magic.
Alora smiled and twirled around him, the vampires who were weakened by the daylight, and Max with a shower of her fairy magic.
Merrick murmured, “Please tell me this won’t make me shimmer again.”
Many of the fairies snickered and dusted him regardless.
The Highland knight frowned as he watched the glittering substance drift down to him like freshly falling snow. It sank into his skin. His eyebrow kicked up just as his eyes widened in surprise. “What?”
“It absorbs,” Ethan said.
“What a relief!”
“Don’t forget it’s temporary,” cautioned Alora.
Ethan hadn’t forgotten that. He took off, and was instantly overwhelmed with the rush of adrenaline surging into his muscles. It also made him instantly miss being a vampire, but he forced himself to set the idea aside.
Tracking a trail he couldn’t see, the fairies stopped suddenly and encircled him and Max in a protective circle.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, not wanting to stop and waste the magic increasing their pace to that of vampires at night.
“A witch is approaching.”
“A witch? Just one?”
“Yes.”
What could this mean? Was this witch as dangerous as the others had been? Ethan, Max and the vampires drew their weapons when they heard her nearing. A petite woman with flowing red hair soon appeared. She was dressed in black leggings and a tunic-length sweater. A pair of shiny black boots came up to her knees. Strolling through the woods as though she was simply out to collect berries, she smiled when she saw them and picked up her pace to a happy little skip that sent waves of red ringlets bouncing.
Bewildered by her friendliness, Ethan watched as she approached and stopped in front of him. “What a lovely entourage you have.”
“Excuse me?”
“Hello, fairies,” she waved her fingers at them.
“Why are you here?” growled Prince Richard.
The witch frowned at his rude question. She sighed and then answered, “I’m here to help you find Danielle.”
“How can you help us with that?”
“Well, since I’m the one who helped the werewolves almost take her from your home in the first place, I can help you get her back.”
Ethan lunged forward wanting to strangle her; Max caught his arms and held him back. “Easy,” said the knight.
“Why would you help us then?” Ethan snarled.
“The werewolves insisted we try the ritual to cure them right away, but it didn’t work.” The redhead twisted the hem of her sweater between her fingers. One hand lifted as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “They really should have trusted me. It needed to be done at night with the moon’s magic shining down on us.”
When Ethan tried to pull free of Max again, the knight let him loose this time. Apparently he was getting as angry as Ethan was at this news. If it had not been for this petite witch, they wouldn’t have had to leave their home in the first place. The vampires were easily keeping the werewolves away, until this despicable little witch took out some of the vampires with her magic. He really wanted to get his hands around her slim little neck, but decided that maybe they still needed her. For that reason alone, she would live. For now.
Stalking forward, the men surrounded the small woman. A sense of cautio
n did remind Ethan that even though she didn’t appear to be armed, she could still be dangerous. “Was she injured during this ritual of yours?”
“She only had to spare one drop of blood.” When a round of angry murmurs rippled through the men, she quickly added, “She’s fine. I assure you.”
Ethan let himself breathe, but he wasn’t at all soothed by her words.
“However, I fear they no longer have a need for her, and she’s such a charming girl, I decided to come to you.”
Richard and several of the other vampires growled, Max swore, and Ethan stopped breathing again. “Why couldn’t you help her? Why didn’t you bring her here?” Ethan ground out.
The redhead linked her hands behind her back, obviously unconcerned for her safety, despite the growing wrath rolling off of the men encircling her. Her head dropped to the side as she studied each one of them. “I tried, but we’d made a deal, the werewolves and me, and I always keep my promises.”
Ethan didn’t care what the deal was; all he knew was that they needed to get moving again. Now. Directing the fairies by waving his hand, he strode around her and continued on the path they’d been on before she’d arrived. It took all of his self-control to keep from retaliating in some way. The faster he gained his distance from the red-headed witch, the better.
Even ignoring her as he was, he knew the witch still followed and was able to somehow keep up with their magic-intensified pace. “You’re going the wrong way,” she said after about twenty paces.
Ethan stopped. He turned. “Explain.”
“She’s that way,” said the witch, pointing.
“But Nadia came from that way.” He jabbed a finger in the other direction.
“The poor girl wandered around a bit.”
Folding his arms, Max said with anger etching lines around his mouth, “That might have been true, and if it was, you could have done something to help her.”
“I left long after she had, and honestly, I didn’t really know where you were either. I just got lucky enough to notice her coming your way.”
“We don’t have time for this,” snapped the prince.
Forever (Book #3 in the Fateful Series) Page 24