“How old are you?”
Celeste’s smile held a cold, haunted quality. “Three hundred and fifty-three.”
Bri did the math in her head. Living lifetime after lifetime, seeing loved ones pass on . . . And that didn’t account for the endless decades of fighting and killing. She tried to focus on the part of Celeste’s story easiest to relate to. “You grew up in the seventeen hundreds.”
She nodded. “It was long ago, and not a time in history particularly friendly to women or those with psychic abilities.”
“Where did you grow up?” Bri rested her elbows on the table, the reporter in her taking over.
A small smile of reminiscence hovered on the Warrior’s lips. “In a hamlet, a small village in Massachusetts, a collection of dwellings without a name.”
“Wasn’t that around the time of the Salem witch trials?”
“A little after.” Her expression hardened and her sea-blue eyes turned into twin chips of pale glacial ice. “My mother used to tell me about the horrors of the witch hunts as bedtime stories. At the time I thought she had no idea about my abilities, which developed when I was a small girl. Now I know it was her way of telling me to keep them hidden. Which I did.”
Bri wanted to reach out to the woman across from her, but Celeste’s body language screamed don’t touch me. Instead, she murmured, “How terrible.”
Celeste shrugged. “We live the life we have. My mother and I were alone most of the time while my father fought as a part of the local militia. He died at some point during my childhood, I can’t remember now hold I was. I didn’t want to play too much with the other children in the village because I was afraid they would name me a witch.”
“Are you a witch?” Bri stumbled on the question, the words bizarre on her tongue.
Her awkward handling of the question made Celeste smile. “That was all I could imagine I was since I could do things no one else could do.”
“Like what?”
“Little things at first, telekinesis. I found I could disappear at times. A Seeker named Anastasia found me when I was a teenager and helped train me for the Quytel initiation. The rest of what I learned came after I became Quytel in my early twenties.” Celeste paused, then straightened, her body tense and completely alert.
“What is it?” Bri’s heart suddenly pounded at the shift in the Warrior’s demeanor. In her limited experience, that was not a good sign.
“We’re about to have company.” She stood and a moment later, they heard muffled voices outside the open kitchen window.
“Let me go!” A woman snarled.
Bri followed Celeste to the kitchen door.
“Maliha, what’s going on here?” Cole’s voice rang with anger.
Celeste pushed the door open, brushing past Bri and heading for the grand foyer, separated from the kitchen by a short hallway and a high arched entryway. Irritated, Bri followed, feeling cheated out of finding out more about her mother. Petty, yes. But it was that kind of a day.
“Aww,” Ash drawled, following an incredibly beautiful woman into the living room, holding her close in front of him with one hand on her upper arm. “Now you don’t mean that.”
Bri rolled her eyes. Ash’s expression sparkled with amusement, and a grin dimpled his cheek. He was one of those men who knew women found him irresistible and had playboy written all over him.
The woman was stunning. Tall, lean, and muscular, her long dark hair held streaks of silver much like Cole’s. She wore black jeans and a tight black turtleneck, both hugging her body, accentuating her curvy hips. She had to be Cole’s sister.
“I told you to get your hands off me,” the woman hissed in outrage, silver eyes flashing dangerously.
Cole moved like lightning, his right arm bristling with black fur, nails elongating into razor sharp claws as he seized Ash by the neck.
Bri took several more steps into the entryway as if she might be able to intervene in some way. Silly.
“I don’t care what kind of a badass you think you are, you will let go of my sister right now.” His voice was a low growl, a clear threat.
“You are mighty brave to threaten me.” Ash leaned into Cole’s nails and they pierced skin. Trickles of blood dripped down his neck from several puncture holes.
Maliha’s snarl filled the silence. Low and deadly, it raised the fine hairs on Bri’s neck. The two men faced off. Cole couldn’t hope to defeat a Quytel Warrior. They were far too powerful.
Bri lunged into the fray, not sure what she was planning to do, only knowing she needed to diffuse the situation fast before someone got hurt.
“Ash!” Celeste’s sharp, clear voice cut through the pressure in the room like a knife. Somehow the Warrior-woman managed to also stop Bri in her tracks. “Pull up. Now.” Her command resonated in the overcrowded space.
Ash’s green eyes flicked to Celeste’s and then to Cole. With a show of great reluctance, he released his hold on Maliha’s upper arm and took a step away.
Bri saw Cole’s fight for control over the wolf, the effort it took as he forced himself to concentrate on his human form. Claws retracted, fur receded, and he dropped his arm. The men stood face-to-face, eye-to-eye.
Able to move again, Bri felt a shaky smile curve her lips as Cole pulled his sister into a tight hug which the woman did her best to resist. Cole loosened his grip on his sister and didn’t take his eyes off Ash.
“I’m okay, just pissed off.” Maliha pushed off her brother to confront Ash, silver eyes glittering. “I don’t like being manhandled. And if you threaten my brother again you’ll have to deal with me, and I don’t have half the restraint he does.”
Ash moved fast, standing too close, invading her personal space. His expression hardened and his gaze swept Maliha’s body from head to toe. Heat flashed in his eyes, and his body language shifted to that of a man intensely interested in a woman.
Maliha’s growl rumbled in her throat as she locked eyes with him. The tension in the room shot up again, and Cole took another aggressive step closer.
Celeste slapped a restraining hand on Ash’s shoulder. Bri held her breath. A moment passed and then another. The situation could quickly become explosive.
Finally, Ash stepped back. Shaking his head, he left the room without another word.
Byron, with his unruly curls and friendly smile, stepped up to help break the uncomfortable silence. “You must be Cole’s sister, Maliha. I’m Byron, much nicer than him.” He gestured with a quick toss of his head toward the door.
Relief made Bri’s knees weak. She wanted to join them, help diffuse the situation, but the room suddenly blurred and swirled around her in a psychedelic display. She tried to walk, but her feet wouldn’t move. Panic crept insidiously under her skin, distracting and menacing.
Her body didn’t feel like it belonged to her as she was once again taken over, helpless to stop it or warn anyone. It started in the very core of her being, deep in her belly, spiraling out to her limbs.
Then Cole appeared before her, offering his hand, a boyish smile on his face. His lips moved to form words. “I want you to meet my sister.” She could barely make them out through her ears ringing.
Even as the rational part of her mind screamed a warning and tried to pull back, she knew instinctively she needed him to anchor her. She reached for him, knowing a split second too late she’d taken his life in her hands. Again.
The moment their hands met, the same terrible wall of energy passed between Bri to Cole, hitting his body and soul like a freight train. He shuddered and caught his sister’s silver gaze for an instant before he went down. The room started a slow spin, and the Warriors surrounding them moved like giant macabre figurines on a merry-go-round. He lost all muscle tension and couldn’t stop his fall to the hard floor, bringing Bri with him.
&nbs
p; Cole’s body would not obey his mind when he ordered it to move. He and Bri lay where they had fallen, hands joined palm-to-palm, fingers entwined. Locked in a battle to the death, they fought to save themselves and each other in the face of an overwhelming wave of destruction threatening to devour every part of who they were.
Cole reached for his center, fighting to hold on to his soul. The wolf recognized what was happening and gave his considerable strength to their common goal of survival. He reached deep into the earth past the floorboards of the house, creating a conduit for Bri’s ravaging power. It was easier this time. He knew what to do. He had to act fast, and Bri had to trust him.
He felt her trying desperately to contain the energy coursing through her. Her body vibrated with it, thrashing. His strong connection to the earth helped to siphon off enough of the destructive force to keep them from being completely consumed.
Bri slipped and retreated, backing away from him in agony, shame. He reached for her soul and held it in his ruthless grasp, drawing her into the shelter of his being. She shuddered and stopped fighting him, her essence finally recognizing his. He felt her acceptance of their need to fight this together and of his implacable resolve to succeed.
The moment their minds, hearts, and spirits aligned toward that common goal, the energy shifted and settled. Their bodies breathed as one and their hearts beat to the same rhythm.
In the next instant, they were in the bowels of a cavernous chamber, crystalline structures surrounding them on all sides. What light there was flickered and bounced off cold, hard surfaces, casting shadows, momentarily illuminating hidden corners and an impossibly high ceiling.
Eerily silent, water dripped from stalactites into several small iridescent pools below. Thick, swirling mist covered the floor. The familiar altar stood on the other side of the chamber. An array of crystals, mirrors, bones, and plump satchels cluttered the surface in a haphazard arrangement.
Just as it had before.
Chapter 21
Trying to hold on to her awareness felt like traversing a pool of molasses toward a coherent thought. The full force of death and destruction washed over her. White-hot fire hit her spirit, and traveled through Cole into the earth. The cave shuddered. Cole held on to her spirit, and Bri held on to that. He had somehow created a channel, riding the bridge of their souls.
“Cole!” Bri heard Maliha’s distant scream.
“No.” Celeste’s voice, sharp and authoritative. “If you touch him now, you could die. Let me.”
Cool palms touched her temples, providing some measure of relief. Celeste. The air sizzled, crackling. Bri felt, more than saw, the lightning bolt of iridescent blue heading straight for them. She cringed, immobilized and directly in the path of the flame. Celeste immediately erected a protective shield and blue fire flowed around her. Bri watched and learned.
Then, like a blast of cold wind on a winter’s day, the air cleared to reveal the woman of their vision. A chill chased down Bri’s spine, and she felt the answering shiver of awareness shimmer in Cole’s spirit. They were pulled toward her and Celeste with them-a shadow tagging along for the ride.
The woman’s translucent skin glowed, accentuating the sparkling green of her eyes, so much like Bri’s own.
Bri ached as she recognized her mother’s face. When she opened her mouth to speak, nothing happened. Despair slashed at her heart like a knife.
“Rowan?” The disembodied voice filled the chamber. Celeste had found a way to somehow speak through her.
The vision-woman glared and a blaze of fury burst over them in waves. Bri held tight to Cole’s spirit, the bridge between them growing stronger with each passing moment.
“Rowan. Let me help you stop this.” Celeste issued the challenge.
The vision-woman floated toward them without responding, and Bri faltered. Raw power spilled out all around them, dangerous and deadly, leaking into the air like a toxin.
“Rowan, where are you?” Celeste taunted. “Tell me now. Stop playing this game you are sure to lose.”
The woman’s form blurred and her duality—mother and monster—stood for a moment in stark contrast. A stream of incomprehensible, ancient words filled the air around them. Bri felt their weight, their importance.
Celeste whispered a response in the same guttural language, her voice sounding strained in Bri’s mind. Yet the words were beautiful and compelling.
Her mother finally turned away, and Bri could move again.
Head pounding, Cole pried his eyes open, blinked, and scanned his surroundings. Flat on his back, Bri’s hand tucked in his, he shuddered with relief.
Rolling onto his side, his body screamed in protest as he pulled her into his arms.
His vision still blurry, he made out the solid mass of Byron leaning over them. “Is she okay?” His dry throat made talking painful.
“She’ll be fine, I think.” Byron sat on his heels. “That was one hell of a show.”
He caught the familiar scent of his sister kneeling close by. “Mali,” he croaked.
“I’m here, Cole.” She moved into his field of vision. Her face swam in front of him, but he made out her pale skin framed by a mass of black and silver hair.
Nathanial rushed through the front door. “What happened?” He crouched down to check on Cole, placing a comforting hand on Maliha’s shoulder. “Was it the same as before?”
Cole nodded.
Dried blood had crusted in the hair around Bri’s ears and a few drops dappled the skin under her nose. She remained unconscious, and until she opened her eyes, they weren’t in the clear. Cole wanted to take Bri somewhere, anywhere they would be safe.
“How is she?” Nathanial glanced over at Bri.
“It was much stronger this time.” He closed his eyes, holding her tight against him.
“This happened before?” Byron asked, his displeasure apparent in the deep furrow running across his brow.
“Yesterday, in the car.”
Bri’s eyelashes fluttered, her breath coming in shallow gasps as she stirred restlessly in Cole’s arms. He buried his face in her hair, knowing the moment she became fully aware of where she was and what had happened.
“Shhh, it’s okay. We’re okay.”
Tears leaked from her closed eyes and splashed on his forearms. She struggled weakly against him.
“It’s not okay.” Her protest was barely a whisper. “It’s not okay. I did it again.”
He stroked her hair. “We can worry about that later.”
Her head moved restlessly but she stopped struggling. “I could have killed you. I couldn’t stop myself.”
“I’m not letting you go over this. You got that?” he rasped into the shell of her ear. When she knew him better, she would understand he would never leave anyone he cared for to fight alone, and certainly not the woman he loved. “Bri, sweetheart, open your eyes.”
She stubbornly shook her head.
He gently kissed each eyelid. “Come on, baby, you’ve got to meet my sister.”
Bri groaned and clapped her hand over both eyes. “Oh, God.”
“Come on,” he cajoled, prying her hand from her face.
“Unbelievable.” Bri lowered her hand, blinking at Cole’s sister.
Maliha crouched next to them. Her silver-gray eyes were cool, assessing. She caught Bri’s gaze and held it in a silent challenge.
“That was a hell of an introduction,” Maliha retorted with a heavy dose of censure as she stood. “At least you have the decency to look ashamed.”
“Mali,” Cole barked the reprimand.
Bri’s restraining hand was featherlight on his arm.
Maliha glared at him and paced away.
“Did you feel Celeste with you?” Byron asked.
She nodded
and attempted to sit, leaning heavily on him. “Where is she?” Bri’s gaze scanned the foyer. “I need to talk to her.”
“Slowly,” Byron cautioned. “You’ve been unconscious for a while.”
With that, Byron simply scooped Bri up and carried her into the living room as Cole tried to sit himself. The room did a slow, nauseating spin. Nathanial grabbed his arm to keep him from falling over and slung it over his shoulder, taking most of Cole’s weight as his friend helped him to his feet.
Celeste lay on one of the plush couches in the center of the living room, pale and drawn, clearly irritated.
“Would you stop . . . I’m fine,” she argued with Ash, who tried to offer her a pillow and a glass of amber liquid. “You overstuffed, arrogant aristocrat. Get away from me with that.”
“Celeste, you’re a terrible patient.” Ash appeared harangued as he thrust a glass in her face. “Now drink this, you’ll feel better.”
Celeste gestured dismissively with one hand to ward him off. He smiled down at her and placed the glass of amber liquid in her open palm, wrapping her fingers around it when she refused to. “Don’t drop that,” he ordered.
She scowled but straightened and downed the contents in one smooth motion, eyes never leaving Ash’s face.
“Was that so hard?” He gave her a lopsided grin and snatched the empty glass as she drew her hand back to throw it at him.
“Nice of you all to join us,” Darius said from his position at the opposite end of the room as Byron, Bri, Cole, and Nathanial entered. His hard expression never seemed to change, and now harsh judgment swirled in the deep brown of his eyes.
“You shouldn’t be up yet.” Celeste scolded Bri from her horizontal position. Lines had creased around her eyes and mouth; signs of strain from her joining the fight to save them. “Relax for a bit, we can talk about this later.”
Circle of Dreams (The Quytel Series Book 1) Page 22