Denai Touch: Excalibar Investigations Series

by Tiffany Shand

  “Freya, listen. I promise I’m not a trick and I have no ties to Raven or the Covenant,” she said. “You’re not a descendant of Denai, are you?”

  “No, I am from Eria. In the Middle Kingdom, as you call it.”

  “Thought so. But you know about Denais?”

  “Yes, you’re very powerful and respected throughout the lands.”

  “Okay, then you know I’ll do everything I can to help you, but we don’t have much time. I can’t sustain this form for long. We need to find a way out.” Cate glanced around; the cell was little more than six feet by four.

  “There is no door, they transported me in here, but the walls have eyes.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked in confusion.

  “They’re always watching me.”

  Could someone see them? She didn’t think so, since she was projecting herself. There had to be some way out. She ran her hands up and down the walls.

  “I have tried. There’s no escape,” Freya huddled back in her corner. “But you’re with me now.”

  “We’re not staying here,” she insisted. Steve? She reached out to him with her mind.

  No response. Apparently her powers didn’t extend all the way to telepathic communication whilst in astral form. Damn! Steve would have been able to find a way out.

  “Freya, I have to go. I need to–”

  “No!” Freya was on her feet. “You can’t leave me. You promised!”

  “I need to return to my body. I can’t help you like this.”

  “Please don’t leave me alone again. I beg you.”

  Cate took pity on the poor woman and started feeling around the walls again. There had to be some way of getting in and out. “Freya, help me try and find a way out. There must be something here that transports you in and out,” she said. “If you want to get out of here, you’re going to have to help me.”

  “But you have no power in this form.”

  “I…”

  Cate gasped as her spirit reconnected with her body and her eyes opened. She felt drained and staggered. “I found her, but we need to hurry.” She ran down the corridor, Jade trotting at her heels, until they came to a dead end.

  There’s nothing here, said Jade.

  She’s here, I can sense her. Cate ran a hand along the wall. Switching to Other Sight, she tried to find the doorway. There had to be a way inside. She could feel Freya behind the wall.

  Jade shifted back into her human form and started to feel around too. “Careful, we don’t want to trigger an alarm.”

  “Damn it, I don’t see anything.”

  “Maybe they teleport her in and out.”

  Cate stopped and smacked her head for not remembering that. “Maybe I can do that too.”

  “Cate, if someone senses you –”

  “Not teleport myself, but I could use my powers to move her out here.”

  “What if they have cameras on her? They’ll see she’s gone and come after us.”

  “We can’t just leave her here. You didn’t see her, Jade. She needs our help.”

  Jade sighed. “Hurry! Once you’ve got her, we need to call the guys to make a run for it. What about Bethany? She is the reason we came here.”

  Cate hesitated. “You get Freya to safety, Jason and I will find her.”

  “How? All hell could break loose after we set her free.”

  “Saving Freya is more important than finding Bethany.”

  “I hope so.”

  Cate took a step back, closed her eyes and called her magic. Bring her to me, she thought. Silver orbs sparkled in a swirling mass as Freya fell to the floor.

  “Wow, it worked.” She smiled. “Freya, are you alright?”

  Freya looked up and smiled. “You saved me.”

  Not quite yet. We need to get the hell out of here, said Jade. Come on, let’s get moving.

  Jason? We found Freya, meet us back at the entrance.

  On our way. No sign of Bethany or anyone else. I don’t have a good feeling about this.

  Noted. Jade and Ian can get Freya out while we find Bethany.

  Cate and Jade hurried back down the corridor, Jade shifting back into her wolf form and Cate had her weapon at the ready.

  “Someone’s coming,” Cate said, sensing the presence of people that weren’t Jason or her brothers.

  The three of them raced down the corridor. Freya struggled to keep up so Cate grabbed her hand and pulled her long. “Hurry, we’re almost there!” Cate puffed.

  There were almost to the exit when someone barred their way. It was Bethany and a Deva. Oh crap! Cate raised her weapon, as Jade growled in warning.

  “I knew the lure of saving an innocent would bring you here,” Bethany smiled. “You Denais are all so noble in your pursuit of justice.”

  Cate aimed her weapon. “Then you know we’ll stop you.”

  “That gun won’t do you much good, witch,” the Deva said.

  “Maybe not against you, but it will work against her.” She fired a stream of energy right at Bethany. The beam hit the other Denai in the chest, but Bethany didn’t so much as flinch.

  What the hell? Cate had her weapon set to kill; it should have disabled even the strongest of immortals. Jade, come here. I’m going to try and teleport us out, she said. Freya, take my hand.

  Freya laughed. “Silly witch, you really thought I needed your help.”

  Cate turned, seeing madness in Freya’s eyes. Jade snarled and turned to Cate, who grabbed her and teleported. But Freya was too quick and had Cate by the throat, slamming her against the wall with supernatural strength. She felt the burn of the Touch at her throat, stunned as it suppressed her powers.

  Jade leapt at Bethany, but was thrown across the corridor by a kinetic blast. She hit the floor with a yelp. There was a roar of air whooshing through the corridor as Jason and the McCray brothers appeared.

  “Let her go!” Jason said and raised his hand.

  There was a violent wave of kinetic energy pulsing through the air before everything went black.

  Cate opened her eyes to find herself lying on a concrete floor. She groaned and scrambled up.

  “Good. You’re awake.” Steve was a few feet away.

  She looked over. Ian was examining Jade, whilst Jason lay unconscious.

  “Oh goddess, are they hurt?”

  “No, just out cold,” Ian replied. “Far as I can tell anyway. Our powers don’t work in here.”

  Cate glanced over at the cell door and waved her hand. He was right, no magic. “Damn it! I’m sorry I dragged you all into this.” She unsteadily got up and went over to Jason, cradling his head in her lap.

  “Forget that. It’s not the first time we’ve been tricked. Remember that kid I thought was an innocent and then tried to kill us?”

  She remembered that all too well. “Still, I should have sensed it. I touched her, but her emotions were all over the place.”

  “Probably due to the drug. Bethany is displaying signs of heightened powers, durability and strength,” said Ian. “I guess that explains how our victims all completely burned out.”

  “Will those two burn out by any chance?” asked Steve.

  “Doubtful, our victims were junkies and the Denai was poisoned with a pure liquid form of the drug. They could have found a way to perfect it.”

  “The drug might explain their enhanced abilities, but Bethany never used to have the kind of powers she does now.” Cate sighed. “Forget the drug — we just need to find a way out of here.”

  “What do you think she wants?”

  “That’s obvious, Ian. She wants me. She needs me to help Raven find the book.” She shook Jason, but he didn’t wake.

  “Maybe we should call Mum,” Ian suggested.

  “You are such a baby,” Steve snapped. “We agreed that–”

  “Mum?” Cate frowned. “Are you saying that Mum is back?”

  “Yeah, she helped Talbot find you when Raven had you.”

  “We didn’t want to ups
et you. You have enough to deal with,” said Steve.

  “Would you all stop trying to protect me!” she snapped. “Goddess, you’re lucky I don’t have my powers right now!”

  “We don’t need Ceri to rescue us,” Steve said. “We’ve managed on our own just fine for years.” He quickly searched the pockets of his jeans and jacket. “Damn, they took all my gadgets!”

  Cate frowned at him. “Steve, I know you’ve always got a magic device on you in case of situations like this. You must have something.”

  “Nothing. They stripped me of everything. Bloody Covenant!”

  “You must have some power, sis. You got past Raven.”

  “I tried. I can’t feel my magic and I used a lot of energy helping Freya who is going to pay for this.”

  “Feed from Jason then.”

  “No, not while he’s unconscious.”

  “But you’ll need your strength when–”

  “That’s not going to happen. We’ll just have to fight without our magic and weapons,” said Steve.

  “I hear someone coming.” she scrambled up and felt a rush of energy from Jason.

  The cell door opened and the Deva appeared. His dark eyes flicked over them, before he stepped in and dragged Jade up.

  “What are you doing?” Cate demanded.

  Jade was dragged out, then the Deva grabbed Ian who tried to break free, passing him off to a demon and then his hand locked on Steve. “Hey, let go of me!” Steve struggled, kicking and punching at the Deva in an attempt to get away.

  Cate made a grab for the Deva and felt an invisible wall of kinetic energy repel her. The cell door slammed shut. What the hell could they be planning to do to them?

  She got back on the floor. “Jason? Jason, wake up. I need you!” She gave him a thump to the chest and he woke with a gasp.

  “Where are we?” Jason asked, glancing around. “What happened?”

  “You were right about Freya. The Deva knocked us out and he just took Jade and my brothers away,” she sighed. “This is all my fault. I should have listened to you.”

  “You were just following your instincts.”

  “Yeah, and now everyone I love could die because of me.” The thought made her feel sick to the pit of her stomach and she felt a sharp pang of guilt.

  “We’ve been through worse.” Jason took her hand. “We’ll get through this too.”

  “Do your powers work?”

  Jason took a breath, sighed. “Bugger! They’ll be becoming for us soon. We need to come up with a plan.”

  “Simple. I give into my power.”

  “No, you need to stay in control. You control the power, not the other way round. It’s what we’ve been training for.”

  She rested her head on his shoulder. “I can’t lose them or you.”

  “You won’t. Hell, you taught me there is always hope.” He stroked her hair. “I’ll take care of the Deva. Whatever you do, don’t try to go up against him. He’s immune to Denai magic.”

  “I know I found that out the hard way.”

  CHAPTER 19

  They didn’t have to wait long before the Deva came and dragged them both from the cell and into the lab. There Jade, Steve, and Ian all sat bound to metal chairs. The Deva shoved Cate into another chair and dragged Jason away as Bethany came into the room.

  “What’s next?” Cate asked as metal bands curled around her wrists. “Do we sit and wait for Raven and Tasha to get here?”

  “No, you’re going to find the Grimoire for me,” said Bethany.

  Cate laughed then, really laughed. “Just because you’re juiced up on Pandora doesn’t mean you can stop Raven or get past Tasha.”

  “You weakened her. She’s never been more vulnerable and the Grimoire can give me unlimited power.” Bethany smiled. “You give Tasha all the credit for making Pandora, but it was me who made the formula. I just used the Covenant’s resources to distribute it and they took the credit. I’m tired of hiding behind Raven’s shadow. It’s my turn.”

  “Even if you found the book you could never use it and no amount of power will get you past Tasha.”

  “But now I have you. Your power will be mine and I’ll have stronger magic to fuel the drug. I will be unstoppable.”

  Cate struggled against the bonds on her wrists.

  “Don’t bother attempting to escape. If you try anything, your Nuardan will die.”

  She glanced over at Jade and her brothers. “What are you going to do to them?”

  “They are going to be my new test subjects.” Bethany jammed an IV line into Cate’s arm.

  Cate flinched and watched in horror as her blood began to flow through the line. Bethany gathered the blood into a vial and started adding to the brewing mixture set up in the middle of the room then removed the IV line and clamped off the wound.

  Steve? She reached out to him with her mind. Can you hear me?

  I hear you, Steve replied. Ian?

  Yep. Ian struggled too. We need to get out of here. She is one crazy bitch!

  I can’t move, she told them.

  We can’t let her use that drug on us, said Ian.

  Jason? Cate called out to him.

  Kind of busy right now, but I’m on my way.

  We need a plan, she said. Jade, are you alright?

  My head hurts, but I’m ready to sink my teeth into someone. That’s if I could move.

  Cate reached for her powers again, ready to relinquish control if she had to, but nothing happened. Bloody transition! She gritted her teeth.

  Maybe we should all join powers, Steve suggested. Our combined strength should be enough.

  How the hell are we going to do that? asked Jade. We’re sitting ducks.

  Cate, you can channel power, like mum.

  My powers aren’t exactly top-notch right now, she replied, but it’s worth a try. She closed her eyes, feeling everyone around her. At least her senses still seemed to work, but their magical restraints made it harder than normal. Gradually, she felt a flood of energy trickle in as their powers joined with her own.

  Her eyes lit up as she channelled it back out through her teammates and sparks crackled around all of them.

  Jade was first out of her seat. “Thanks sweetie!” Shifting into her wolf form, she leapt at Bethany.

  Steve and Ian scrambled up and made a dive for their weapons. Cate pulled herself free of the chair, surprising Freya who immediately threw a fireball at her.

  Jade struggled with Bethany and Steve quickly broke down the wards, whilst Ian started destroying the lab.

  “No!” Bethany screamed.

  Steve raised his hand, the electronics in the room sparked to life, suddenly bursting into flame. “Time to go!” he said and fired his stunner at Bethany.

  Bethany threw Jade away from her and made a grab for the vial of blood, but Ian was too quick for her, and tossed it into the fire.

  “Oops,” Ian grinned and raised his hand. Just as his power could heal, it could also do the opposite. Bethany gasped, feeling her heart slow and struggled to breathe. She stumbled, raised her hand and hit him with a blast of energy that knocked him across the floor before she teleported away.

  I’ve got her! Jade called to them, charging down the corridor.

  Cate chased after Freya as she fled down the corridor, telling her brothers to run for it. “Not so fast!” She yelled as she teleported in front of her. “You’re the source, aren’t you? Your power is the key to the drug.”

  Freya smiled. “Clever little witch. I’m a conduit too. I can use any magical ability I choose. Including yours.” A kinetic blast sent Cate flying against the wall. “I suppose I should thank you. I’ve been a prisoner for so long now, I’d forgotten what it’s like to use my power,” Freya said, pinning Cate to the wall. “Everyone hated me in my village. They said I was an unnatural witch. But Raven took me in, said I was her daughter. I helped keep her strong until you cursed her.”

  Cate struggled under the force of her own magic, desperately
trying to move.

  “I can’t wait to use your Elemental. I hear Nuardan are strong, but first I’m going to take your powers.”

  Cate tried calling her magic, but it wouldn’t come Freya had her completely under control. She was starting to understand why conduits were considered the most dangerous of all Denais. But hell, she was the Goddess Marked. She had all of Denai’s abilities and more. She still felt the combined strength of Jade, Ian, and Steve at her disposal. Her power burned to the surface and began to take hold. “You’re powerful,” she agreed. “But my magic is mine.” Cate narrowed her eyes, sending out a kinetic blast which made Freya crash through the wall. Fire raged around her and silver flames sparked to life in her hands.

  Freya staggered up, ignoring the raging inferno around them as she raised her hand.

  Cate dodged the fireball, and teleported out. Reappearing, she grabbed Freya by the throat. She saw the madness in the other witch’s eyes. Saw that there was no hope left for her. “It didn’t have to be this way,” she said. “I could have helped you.”

  Freya snarled and struggled against her grip. “I'll kill you!”

  “No, you won’t,” she said calmly and her eyes bled black.

  Freya gasped as energy pulsed between them, her eyes glazed over and she fell to the ground, dead. Cate only hoped she could find the peace in death that she’d never had in life.

  Jason appeared out of the flames and pulled her into his arms, before teleporting them out.

  Cate sagged against him as they reappeared outside, watching the building become engulfed by flame. “Hey, I stayed in control,” she said.

  “I knew you could.” He kept his arms wrapped around her.

  “Everyone alright?” Steve asked as he and Ian came over.

  Cate nodded. “Where’s Jade?”

  “She took off after Bethany.”

  “Jade?” Cate touched her ear, engaging her comm link. “Jade, where are you?” She heard nothing but static on the other end and flung her senses out. “I can’t find her.”

  Steve pulled out one of his scanners. “She’s not far from here by the look of it. There’s only the one life sign in this area. Looks like Bethany got way.”