by Dianna Love
No way should she agree to that.
To be the most powerful witch of all that she knew, she had a disappointing lack of discipline around this man. Just hearing his voice curled her toes. Blast him. The only thing that had hurt her more than losing her sister—who’d had her majik cooked by a crazy witch—was being rejected so coldly by Isak.
Her conscience weighed in again. What could be the harm in hearing him out?
Where was Evalle, who would be all up in Isak’s face right now?
Adrianna could fight her own battles, but she did not show explosive emotions in public. Evalle did and this is one of those times she’d love to have her friend here.
Without that support, she folded to her conscience. But as Adrianna started saying, “I have considered your words and I will—”
Daegan boomed, “Everyone ready? Let’s go!”
Isak had been hanging on her words like a condemned man expecting a reprieve from the guillotine.
Shaking her head, she said, “Sorry. I have to go.”
As she stepped past, Isak gently clasped her arm.
All it took was that one touch to stop her.
The rest of the team had ceased talking and turned where they stood in a group in the middle of the room. Every pair of eyes watched her.
She whispered, “Please, Isak.”
He immediately released her arm.
She couldn’t leave without him knowing one thing. “Kit came to Storm’s building and refuses to leave until we return. She’s heavily protected by a ward, but I wanted you to know.”
Isak said nothing, but one look at his face shouted how upset he was for his mother to be there.
Storm offered, “She’s in the safest place from nonhumans and humans alike right now, Isak. Plus, Lanna is a miniature supernatural Terminator when anyone she cares about is threatened. Lanna has taken Kit as one of hers to watch over.”
Isak said, “Copy that, but I’m still sending three teams and snipers to watch over your building.”
Everyone waited for Storm to argue, but he said, “If that gives you a comfort level about her safety, that’s fine by me.”
When Adrianna took her place in the group for teleportation, she turned to look at Isak.
He’d walked out of the room and was talking to his men.
Was he so angry he couldn’t look at her?
Maybe she’d be glad later that she hadn’t folded and accepted the olive branch he’d extended just now, when he hadn’t tried to find her at all before today.
But he’s willing to talk now.
She told her conscience, You don’t get a vote.
The room blurred and they were off again. She appreciated the ease of traveling with Daegan, but even with his power, constant teleportation was exhausting. She hadn’t expected to feel the drain on her body.
Thinking back, she had more appreciation for how Tristan had teleported the team in and out of the TÅμr Medb realm, then from North Georgia to downtown Atlanta. Unlike Daegan, Tristan had not been born with the gift. He’d gained it from a powerful drink he’d been given, which allowed him limited ability to teleport.
Tristan had ended up with blood pouring from his eyes and nose during that adventure to rescue Daegan from TÅμr Medb.
A busy breeze lifted Adrianna’s hair as the team landed at the overpass Reese had described.
Humans walked around a display of folk art spread over a wide area on the southeast corner where Ralph McGill Boulevard and Courtland Street crossed.
Adrianna lifted her hands to form a cloaking, but Daegan said, “We’re safe. They can’t see us. We just need to not bump into one of them and knock someone over the wall into traffic.”
The dragon must have cloaked everyone as they arrived. She said, “Got you.”
Daegan said, “Storm, can you scent inside this cloaking?”
“Yes, but it’s not as distinct in my human form. I’m going to shift.”
Peeling out of his clothes, Storm wasn’t the least bit self-conscious about exposing all that bronze-colored skin. Out of consideration for Evalle, Adrianna didn’t watch.
Reese, on the other hand, hadn’t been expecting a naked man in the group. Her eyes widened for an instant before Quinn stepped in front of her.
Adrianna could swear she heard him say, “If you want to ogle someone, you can look at me.”
“I’ve seen you,” Reese quipped.
Quinn rubbed his forehead. “I will not survive this operation with you.”
Power rushed through the cloaked area as Storm shifted.
Ignoring the domestic squabble, Adrianna watched as Storm’s jaguar stood eye level to her. He growled a deadly sound.
Daegan said, “I will keep you hidden, Storm. We’ll stand out of the way.”
Nodding, the jaguar started padding around, avoiding humans, but keeping his nose to the ground. The breeze ruffled his fur.
His huge head lifted sharply. His chest expanded on a deep inhale. Swinging around, he took three long strides and stuck his nose to the ground behind one of the larger displays.
When he lifted up and turned to the group, his eyes glowed yellow ... then red. Oh, no. Evalle would not want him to go demon mad.
Hurrying back to where his clothes were piled, Storm shifted so fast Adrianna couldn’t believe it didn’t hurt.
As he stepped into his jeans and yanked them up, Storm said, “He must have dropped his cloaking right before he teleported this time. I got a scent.”
“So you can identify him if you smell him again?” Quinn asked.
Pulling the T-shirt over his head, Storm said, “Yes. In fact, I’ve smelled it before, but it’s one of thousands I catch any time I’m out.”
Studying Storm, Daegan asked, “Are you able to identify multiple scents?”
Without a hint of hesitation, Storm said, “I can catalogue and recall thousands at any time. It surprises me that I’m not pulling up a mental image to go with this scent, though. I might figure it out now or weeks from now, but I have more than that scent to go on. I smelled Noirre majik.”
Daegan said, “Truly? That actually surprises me.”
Storm had dropped to the ground to put his boots on. “Why?”
“I considered both Macha and Maeve for this. Macha is not one to do something so rash. As for Maeve, I would have thought Cathbad would show more forethought. When last we spoke, he did not want a war or for us to invade TÅμr Medb.”
Standing up and sounding excited, Storm said, “Don’t know what to tell you, but it’s definitely Noirre. I smelled more of it in that one tiny spot than any Noirre I’ve ever scented before. It was crazy strong.”
Shifting his attention to the place where Storm had found the scent, Daegan said, “Let me get us out of this cloaking so I can smell it as well.”
Nodding, Storm said, “I can wait another minute.”
Quinn pointed out a spot not far from the art exhibit where they could shed the cloaking unnoticed by humans. Once they moved there and Daegan dropped the protective shield, they hurried back to the current folk art on display.
Storm led the way to the place he’d detected the odor. He jerked his head back. “Man, I didn’t realize how much the cloaking dulled the scent. That smell is even more powerful now.”
Bending down to sniff, Tristan stood up quickly. “That’s the worst Noirre funk I’ve ever inhaled.”
Daegan squatted down, ran his hand a few inches above the spot, then stood up. He took in the group and said, “It may not be Maeve.”
Storm’s face ruptured with fury, clearly ready to argue.
“Ya’ll just now findin’ this place?” a deep voice asked.
Reese jumped around. “What the heck are you?”
Quinn quietly said, “Let me introduce you to Grady, Evalle’s favorite Nightstalker.” Then he told everyone to circle Grady to protect him from view by humans in case his image began to solidify
on its own.
Grady gave Quinn a look. “What you talkin’ ’bout.”
“Don’t worry,” Quinn said. “I’ve seen you and Evalle. I don’t know how it happened, but I do know you occasionally take corporeal form without a handshake.”
The old guy had a fierce attitude for someone wearing dirty clothes that were two sizes too big. The clothes he’d worn when he died.
Evalle had told Adrianna more than once that she believed Grady had been a highly educated man when alive, maybe even a professor. But he was also a cantankerous old ghoul that Evalle would protect just as avidly as one of the living beings in this group.
Grady told Quinn, “I’m not just her favorite, I’m the best one of the bunch. She knows it. So does her mate. Right, Storm?”
“You’re right. Have you got anything to share?”
“I do.”
Storm extended his hand.
Grady looked at it with a foul expression then told Storm, “Don’t go insultin’ me. You’ll just upset Evalle.”
Storm pulled his hand back in apology and crossed his arms.
That pushed Grady to start talking. His voice reminded Adrianna of Morgan Freeman. “My contacts said two men helped one of your kind kidnap Evalle. The ghouls saw those two men a day before the wreck. Sounds like they were snoopin’ around the location.”
“That fits with what we’ve learned,” Storm confirmed.
“Different ghouls saw those men within minutes of the wreck, but in the Old Fourth Ward. Somebody had to be movin’ them around fast to cover that distance.”
“We found their bodies tonight,” Quinn interjected. “We’ve come to realize the kidnapper is teleporting, which is hampering our ability to catch a trail.”
Deep wrinkles covered Grady’s old face when he seemed to chew on that. “They dead, you say? You didn’t get no intel from those two?”
“No,” murmured through the group, but Storm said, “It did lead us here.”
“We gotta find her,” Grady muttered, irritated. “This is all I got. The Nightstalkers around the wreck when it happened said the power guy wearing a hood stank of Noirre, bad stink like they never smelled, then the odor disappeared like he cloaked it.”
Daegan said, “That also fits with what we’ve just discovered.”
Scrunching up his face, Grady looked at Daegan. “You shoulda found that girl by now.”
Showing no sign of offense at Grady’s words, Daegan said, “We’re working on it.”
“You better hurry up and git to it. Humans took videos of the wreck and that hooded guy disappearing with those two humans and Evalle. Shit is hittin’ the fan. Word is VIPER’s havin’ a fit and blamin’ Evalle. I ain’t standin’ for that.”
Storm said, “She is not facing VIPER for any of this.”
At the same time Quinn said, “They’ll have to face all of us,” and Tristan harrumphed in agreement.
Daegan lifted a hand, asking for silence. When he spoke it was to everyone. “Evalle will answer to no one over this. If VIPER has an issue, they will face me. End of discussion.”
Rubbing her stomach unconsciously, Reese said, “Back to the hunt. Why would someone powerful enough to teleport need humans?”
Grady held his arms out with his hands open. “Somebody gonna do that when they got no team or followers. Whoever it is needed humans to drive the trucks, then he killed ’em. That stinkin’ Noirre might be sloppy or maybe someone usin’ it to point us at the Medb.”
Adrianna added, “Or, the Noirre use is so obvious that it could actually be the Medb behind this and they intend to claim they’re being framed.”
Daegan’s gaze bounced to each of the team as they spoke. He seemed to be allowing them to figure out something on their own.
Adrianna asked him, “What are you thinking, Daegan?”
“This particular Noirre scent is key to finding Evalle.”
“You just said you didn’t think it was Queen Maeve,” Storm pointed out with suspicion in his voice.
“I don’t. This scent is of pure Noirre.”
Grady’s form floated around in one spot. “Say what?”
Adrianna said, “Grady. Down, please.”
“Oh.” He floated back to eye level with the other men.
Daegan explained, “Pure, as in the original form of Noirre majik.”
Agreeing, Storm said, “That makes sense and it’s enough to convince me where we go next. I’ve been at a lot of supernatural crime scenes since coming here and have never smelled any Noirre this strong. Queen Maeve and Cathbad have to be behind this.”
“Not necessarily,” Daegan argued gently. “This Noirre is full strength. When I said pure, I meant that it was straight from the plant.”
“What plant?” echoed around the group.
Daegan looked fairly shocked. “None of you know where Noirre originated?”
Adrianna noted every headshake.
The dragon king explained, “Back during my time, prior to my being captured by Queen Maeve, she sent half her warlock army to bring her a section of the plant that grew in a cave where the bodies of over a thousand innocent women and children had died. The cave was in Ossory. When Vikings raided the nearby village, women and children ran to hide in the cave because of its narrow entrance. The Vikings thought they were clever and tried to burn them out.”
Quinn picked up the thread, saying, “The entire group was asphyxiated. It was Dunmore Cave. The area once known as Ossory is now Kilkenny or maybe County Kilkenny, now that I think about it.”
Tristan scrunched up his face. “Where’s that?”
“Ireland.”
Giving a short nod of agreement, Daegan continued. “Yes, that’s the cave. All of the Medb army sent was lost except a warlock left near the entrance as a lookout. He returned to the queen, claiming he would accept any death rather than ever go back to the cave. He was terrified after hearing the screams of dying warriors. Next, she sent a mage, who also died.”
Grady had his arms crossed and remained a few inches above ground in his translucent form. “That Maeve a greedy bitch. Killin’ people just to get majik to kill more people.”
“What was in the cave that attacked the soldiers and mage?” Tristan asked.
Daegan said, “The Noirre plants.”
Adrianna couldn’t have heard him correctly. “A plant was that deadly?”
“Yes. The plants are said to be not just deadly, but sentient. The Vikings believed a mother to a child lost in that cave had been a witch and that she cursed the Vikings. The plants grew from that curse.”
Reese said, “Never cross a powerful mother.”
“No truer words have been spoken,” Daegan agreed, then continued explaining. “Maeve must have offered Cathbad whatever he wanted, because after the mage died, the druid went to the cave and Maeve joined him, though she remained outside. He survived long enough to teleport out, but he was badly injured. She poured a load of power into the druid to keep him alive.”
Tristan asked, “So Maeve is definitely behind this?”
Shaking his head, Daegan said, “Not necessarily. Macha knows the history of the Noirre plant as well. To be honest, it could be either one. Maeve would have knowledge of how to battle the plants, but Macha is willing to go to any length to kill me and get Treoir back. That’s why I said the pure Noirre is key to finding Evalle if we can determine who gained the most recent plant.”
Moving back and forth, Grady said, “Now you talkin’. Sounds like that bunch of spirits controllin’ those plants. You take me with you, I’ll git to ’em and make ’em talk to me.”
Adrianna admired the Nightstalker’s loyalty to Evalle, but Grady might be in danger if he entered a hostile spirit’s area.
Turning a warm expression to Grady, Daegan said, “I am not sure you could teleport away from this place, and even if you could, Evalle would never forgive me for putting you at risk when you do not have powers to p
rotect yourself. You could be of far more benefit by continuing to monitor this area and inform our Beladors of any threats from humans exposing our existence.”
Grumbling under his breath, Grady finally said, “Word is VIPER might be your biggest threat. They upset about more humans coming out with videos of other supernatural activity. Every paranormal researcher and demon hunter outside of Atlanta be showin’ up before you know it.”
Reese asked, “Speaking of demons, have you seen any in the city recently?”
“Naw. Not since the last one.”
That’s right. Adrianna now recalled that Reese had energy that turned her into a demon magnet. Maybe that was the reason Quinn wanted Reese out of here, away from a potential threat.
Heaving a deep sigh, Grady told Daegan, “Okay. I’ll stay here, but I ain’t forgivin’ no one if she don’t come back.”
“Understood.” After appeasing the ghoul, Daegan looked to Storm. “Do you now see why I say this scent is the key?”
The Skinwalker nodded and said, “The kidnapper might have left his scent around the plants, and even a trail if he thought no one would suspect his gaining pure Noirre. How do we get to the plants?”
Everyone except Daegan stared at Storm as if he’d lost his mind after that story of hideous deaths in the cave.
The dragon king answered, “I’ll show you. Let’s teleport.”
CHAPTER 19
Realm of Scamall
Evalle had lost count of days.
Germanus explained that days ran at a different pace in his realm. If she wanted to entertain herself by keeping track, she could figure approximately five days in here for every one in the human world.
Had she been here five or maybe six realm days?
Her gryphon had suffered wounds on top of wounds the entire time. The best healing she could manage was to merely stop the bleeding, which left thick scars.
Germanus had to be behind that. He held all the power in this realm ... other than the god who created this, whom he had yet to name.
She would not have voluntarily fought any of the beasts in his little kingdom, but he continued to throw her into a pit with ferocious adversaries who looked at her like dinner.