Who’d cleaned out the tunnel? Brigette?
Rainn grimaced. There had to be a ton of rocks the female Were had to remove. No wonder she’d been in such a foul mood.
Inching forward, Rainn felt a pulse of evil crawling over her. It was more than the gut-churning stench. Or the wind that whispered a shrill warning.
It was the darkness that clung to her skin like a parasite, sucking at her soul.
Nasty.
With a shudder Rainn halted at the entrance to the cavern. Her mouth was dry, and her heart was lodged in her throat. Not the most comfortable sensation. But miraculously, her courage never wavered.
She was determined to complete her duty. Come hell or high water. Well, there probably wouldn’t be high water. But there was most certainly the potential for hell.
Rainn bent forward, glancing toward Zella, who was standing across the cavern with her back turned toward her. Like Brigette, the older woman had changed since Rainn had last seen her. Not so much physically. There was still the gray hair and softly rounded body. But there was a fuzziness to her. As if she was having difficulty holding her human form.
Or maybe she was so jam-packed with her dark magic that it was overflowing.
Great. Just what Rainn needed.
Squaring her shoulders, Rainn stepped forward. She allowed her gaze to briefly skim over Ulric, who was lying on a low, stone altar. Just long enough to reassure herself that he was capable of escaping once she managed to distract the spirit.
Her heart skipped a painful beat. His face was terrifyingly pale, and there were thick rivulets of blood that dripped down his side to pool on the stone beneath him. But she could see his chest moving up and down as he sucked in tortured breaths. And just as importantly, he appeared to be unrestrained.
That was the best she could hope for right now.
“I know you’re there, zephyr.” Zella suddenly broke the silence, turning away from the scrolls she’d been studying.
Rainn felt a ridiculous stab of annoyance at the woman’s dismissive tone.
“I have a name. It’s Rainn.”
Zella tilted her head. Like a bird. A super-powerful, crazy-ass bird. “Such a strange habit,” she murmured.
“Names?”
“Yes. Why seek to be an individual when you are stronger as one power?”
Rainn took a step back. Not because she was scared. Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. She was terrified out of her mind. But she was hoping to lure the spirit out of the cavern.
“One power?” she demanded.
“Many who become one,” Zella said, the hem of her gray gown brushing the floor as she moved to the center of the cavern. Seeing Rainn’s confusion, she made a sound of frustration. “You will learn.”
“Actually, I came here to teach you a lesson,” Rainn retorted. Did she sound like a badass? Or a blathering idiot?
Not that it mattered. Her only concern was keeping the woman talking as she backed her into the tunnel.
Zella clicked her tongue, but she took a step forward. And then another.
“I sent Brigette to kill you and she failed,” she said, shaking her head. “Again.”
Rainn took two steps backward. “What did you do to her?”
Zella smiled. Or rather she stretched her lips into a creepy replica of a smile. “I’ve given her what she so desperately desired.”
“Is that why she was screaming?” Rainn demanded.
“Power comes with a price,” Zella’s smile widened. Clearly, she’d taken a vicious pleasure in Brigette’s pain. “At least for creatures of this world.”
Rainn took another step back. “Does that mean you’re not from this world?”
Either unaware or uncaring of the fact that she was being led into the tunnel, Zella moved to stand directly in front of Rainn.
“I am a part of all worlds.” The woman waved her hands, sparks dancing around her fingertips. “All beings.”
“Well, we don’t want you here,” Rainn taunted, not having to pretend that she was retreating to avoid the touch of the spirit.
Just the thought was enough to make her shudder in horror.
“Too late. Your mate is ensuring that I can fully return.”
“Return?” Rainn demanded in sharp tones. She didn’t want the spirit to glance back and realize how far they’d drifted away from Ulric. “You’ve been here before?”
Zella hissed with impatience. “I have just told you that I have been everywhere.”
“And you have the ego to prove it,” Rainn taunted.
Okay, provoking the evil spirit wasn’t the best idea, but she didn’t know how else to keep the woman following her as she at last reached the staircase. Once they were out of the burrow…
Well, she didn’t know what happened then, but it would give Ulric the opportunity to escape. That was the only certain way to keep his blood from breaking the spell. Later she would figure out how the hell she was supposed to kill the spirit.
One desperate gamble at a time.
“A shame I am in a hurry,” Zella murmured, speaking more to herself than Rainn. “I would enjoy watching you suffer.”
“The feeling is mutual,” Rainn said, her voice throbbing with a raw honesty. She wanted to see this creature suffer. Not only had she caused the death of Ulric’s pack, but she was corrupting the earth with her foul magic. “You’re an obscene insult to my world. The sooner you’re destroyed, the sooner I can forget you ever existed.”
“Enough.” Zella scowled, almost as if Rainn had wounded her feelings. Could an evil spirit be insulted?
Coming to a halt, Zella pointed her finger at Rainn. Instantly a bolt of fire seared through the air.
Muttering a curse, Rainn leaped to the side. She slammed against the wall as heat sizzled against her skin and then exploded at the exact spot where she’d been standing.
Horrified, she watched the stone melt and an acrid smoke fill the air.
Crap.
She’d expected the spirit to have magic. And she’d assumed it would have something to do with the sparks she’d seen dancing around her body and smoldering in her eyes.
But she hadn’t known she was a freaking flamethrower.
Gathering her own power, Rainn sent a blast of air at Zella. Not as scary as fire, but it had the benefit of being invisible. Which meant Zella wasn’t ready for the punch in the center of her chest. She grunted in shock as she was knocked on her ass.
“You should be more careful,” Rainn taunted, trying to distract the spirit long enough to catch her breath. “You’re going to hurt someone.”
Zella slowly shoved herself upright.
Rainn shivered. Zella’s eyes were pure fire. And even more disturbing, the strange blurriness that surrounded the woman had intensified. As if she was somehow out of focus.
Did it have something to do with sharing her power with Brigette? Or was it connected to Ulric and his blood?
The thought sent a jolt of urgency through Rainn. She had to end this. Now.
“What are you?”
Rainn’s lips twisted. That was a question she was only now starting to consider. Perhaps too late. “So far I’ve been an obedient daughter, and a weapon for the Oracles,” she admitted, gathering her power as she watched the sparks begin to dance around Zella’s fingers. “I’d like to discover if I can be more.”
“You can be dead,” Zella hissed.
“I don’t think so,” Rainn rasped, wrapping bands of air around the spirit.
She’d intended to slam the creature against the wall, but without warning, her magic went right through her. As if she was an illusion.
Dammit.
Zella smiled, waving her hand to shoot a tsunami of flames toward Rainn. There was no leaping out of the way this time. Instead, Rainn frantically wrapped the air around he
r as the fire roared through the tunnel.
Pain seared through her. Even with all her efforts, she couldn’t deflect the nuclear-level heat. She had to stop it.
Desperately, Rainn diverted a portion of her magic. Bending the air, she used it to dislodge a large rock from the ceiling. She didn’t have the strength for another cave-in, but as the rock hit Zella on the head, it managed to disrupt the flames.
Zella hissed, glancing up in annoyance. Clearly she was bracing for the ceiling to collapse on her.
Rainn used the momentary reprieve to try and connect with Ulric.
She had the ability to enter humans’ minds and manipulate their thoughts as well as erase their memories. It was a trick that had come in handy since she’d started working at Dreamscape Resorts. Occasionally one of the guests would have the ability to detect that a staff member wasn’t human. Rainn would tweak their memory to ensure they either dismissed their fears or forgot all about them.
Unfortunately, her power didn’t usually work on demons. They had a primitive defense against mind control. But if Ulric truly was her mate, it should create a connection to allow her to reach him.
Using the last of her strength, she called out to the male who was the only hope she had to save the world.
* * * *
Ulric was lost in the fog.
Where had Brigette gone? She’d been standing directly in front of him and then she’d disappeared.
He tried to move. A mistake, as a vicious pain ripped through his side. It felt like a wild animal was clawing through his flesh.
Something bad had happened. Something really bad. Reaching for his wolf, Ulric growled in frustration.
Nothing.
His connection to his animal was blocked. Fury pounded through him as he battled against the gray shroud that clouded his mind. It was a spell. And he knew only one creature who had magic that turned to fog.
Zella.
But knowing what was happening to him didn’t do a damned thing to help. Not even when he caught Rainn’s misty scent.
Deep inside, his wolf howled with longing. The animal was desperate to reach her. Did he smell her blood? Was she injured? The fear was maddening.
At the same time he heard the distant sound of her voice urging him to get up. To flee.
Fiercely he latched on to her voice. He had no intention of fleeing. But it was like a lifeline leading him through the thick, gray clouds.
Vaguely he was aware of the hard stone beneath his back and the terrible stench of decay.
He was back in the burrow. He didn’t know how he’d gotten there. The last thing he remembered was being in Chiron’s old lair beneath the cliffs. He’d been lying on a bed…
“Ulric.” Rainn’s urgent voice sliced through his clouded memories.
Dammit. He had to reach her.
Ignoring the pain in his side, Ulric struggled against the invisible bonds that held him hostage.
“There’s a better way,” a husky female voice whispered in his ear.
Ulric warily stilled. The voice wasn’t in his ear, he abruptly realized. It was in his mind. “Who’s there?”
“Chaaya,” the voice answered. “The Gatekeeper.”
Gatekeeper? What did that mean? Ulric shoved aside the question. It didn’t matter. Not now.
“Get out of my head,” he rasped, trying to block the female’s voice.
“Stop that.”
Ulric felt a mental slap. As if there was someone actually inside his skull capable of physically whacking his brain.
It didn’t hurt, but it was creepy as hell.
Inside, his wolf growled, but before he could threaten her with a bloody dismemberment, she was once again intruding into his thoughts.
“Do you want to rescue your female or not?” she demanded.
Ulric forced himself to take a deep breath. Obviously the mystery voice wasn’t going to leave him alone until he’d heard what she had to say. “Why would you help?”
“I died to remove the beast,” she told him.
Ulric frowned. He couldn’t smell the female, but he could sense her essence. It was strange. Almost ephemeral.
“You’re not a Were,” he announced with absolute certainty. “You’re a human.”
“I was,” she admitted.
Ulric sucked in a sharp breath, hit by a sudden suspicion. A human who died to remove a beast? Could the voice belong to the skeleton discovered in the burrow?
It seemed crazy, but no more crazy than anything else that’d happened since he returned to his homeland. “How do I know this isn’t a trick?”
“You have no choice but to trust me,” she said.
“Wrong,” he growled, squeezing shut his eyes as he strained to shove her out of his mind.
“Demons,” she muttered. Then, without warning, a vision of Rainn filled his thoughts. She was pressed against the side of the tunnel, trapped by a torrent of fire. “She’s going to die if you don’t listen to me.”
Terror ripped through Ulric. Rainn was obviously wrapped in her magic, but the fire was creeping closer and closer. At any time she was going to be consumed by the evil.
“If something happens to her, human…”
“What part of listen to me do you not understand?” Chaaya interrupted. “I swear, dogs are the most thick-skulled demons ever created.”
Ulric clenched his hands. When he finally got his powers back he was going to ensure he was treated with proper respect. For now, however, he had no choice but to grin and bear the constant insults.
Okay, he wasn’t grinning, but he was bearing.
“What do you want from me?” he demanded.
“Your blood is destroying the barrier,” Chaaya said. “You have to heal yourself.”
“I can’t.”
“Just shift.”
Ulric hissed in frustration. “The fog is interfering.”
“Shit,” the female muttered.
Rainn’s voice abruptly echoed in his head. “Hurry, Ulric,” she cried out. “You have to get out.”
He grimly reached out to the stranger. “Do something.”
His words were met by silence. Ulric cursed. Had the human disappeared? Or worse, had she been a figment of his fevered imagination?
“There’s only one option,” the female at last responded.
Ulric released a shaky breath of relief. She was still there. Thank the goddess. “What?”
“I have to get you out of there.”
“Can you open a portal?” he eagerly asked.
She snorted. “How many humans do you know who can open a portal?”
“How many humans can use telepathy? Or hang around a burrow after they die?”
“You don’t think that was my choice, do you?” she demanded. “If it was up to me, I’d be lying on a beach in the Bahamas.”
Ulric bit back his angry words. If he didn’t need the snarky female…
But he did, he sternly reminded himself. At least until Rainn was safe.
“Just get us out of here,” he said between clenched teeth.
“I don’t think you’re in a position to be giving orders.”
“Chaaya.”
“Fine.” He heard her click her tongue. “God, men are such drama queens.”
He ignored her insult. “What are you going to do?”
“Get you out of there,” she said.
Could she be any more vague? “How are you going to get us out?” he pressed.
He’d decided since Brigette’s arrival in Vegas to be careful what he wished for. It too often bit him in the ass.
“I have to bring you to me,” the female said.
“Where are you?”
“On the other side.”
Still too vague. “The other side of what?”
<
br /> “Hold on.”
Ulric parted his lips to protest. He had no idea what the human thought she could do. She’d already admitted that she couldn’t open a portal. And even if she was a witch, she couldn’t teleport people.
But before he could demand a detailed explanation of what was about to happen, the world went dark.
It wasn’t like entering the fog. Or even the few times that he’d traveled through a portal. This was an utter and complete nothingness. As if he was floating somewhere out in space.
Then he was whirling in a dizzying circle. He felt like he was being sucked down a drain. His stomach heaved and the pain in his side was excruciating. He was being ripped apart and there wasn’t a damned thing he could do to stop it.
At last the swirling stopped and Ulric was dumped onto a hard patch of ground. He grunted, his hand instinctively pressing against his wound. He was still bleeding, but right now he was more focused on his new surroundings than his injury.
Forcing himself to his feet, he glanced around.
Where was he? He was no longer in the burrow. But that was all he could say for sure. There was nothing to tell him where he’d landed. The ground was a dull brown and extended as far as the eye could see. There were no trees. No vegetation. No buildings. Nothing.
Overhead the sky was a weird greenish-gray shade. There was light, but no sun or moon. As if the glow was simply a part of the air.
He stood still, sucking in a deep breath. Hell. There wasn’t even any smell here.
It was empty.
Not sure whether to be relieved he was out of the burrow or terrified that he was someplace worse, Ulric felt a tingle of magic. Turning, he watched as Rainn appeared out of thin air.
“Rainn.”
Leaping forward, he grasped her as she tumbled toward the ground. Then he squeezed her tight against him. Thank the goddess, she was alive. And in his arms. In this moment that was all that mattered.
She lifted her hands, using the tips of her fingers to trace his face. He shivered at her light touch, joy racing through him. But even as he started to lower his head and claim a long overdue kiss, she was turning her head to glance down at his side.
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