by Brenda Trim
“Suvi’s right. And, they aren’t too long,” Pema pointed out, before continuing, “I think it’s best that we use Shae as a conduit to trace the demon’s location. Their connection to her isn’t like that of the mating bond so it will be the best bet of getting a location,” Pema suggested as Suvi put the earrings into Shae’s ears.
“And then we slaughter the fuckers,” Isis snarked. Shae’s hair was a deeper shade of red than Isis’, but they shared a fiery temper. Gerrick wondered what Shae had been like before her abduction. Was she always so quick to anger?
“Sounds good to me. Then I can move on with my life.” Shae fingered the delicate silver and went to take them out.
“Keep them. Suvi’s right, they look fantastic,” Gerrick told her honestly. “What do they need to do to help with your spell?”
“Remain open to us. We need to cast a spell to enter your mind and follow the dark path backwards to them,” Pema explained, turning to gather the supplies they would need.
Gerrick didn’t miss the way Shae tensed in alarm and he could feel her fear along their bond. He wanted to tell them to call it off, that she’d been through enough, but he knew her well enough by now to know that she wanted to see this to the end.
All he could do was show his support. He stood at her back and placed his palms on her hips. The contact of his fingers on a strip of her flesh seared him to the bone. She shivered in response, robbing him of rational thought and making him want to strip her bare and place kisses all over her body. And, he’d chastised the females for focusing on earrings at a time like this when he was far worse. All he could think of was fucking her senseless.
Putting his libido on lockdown, he focused on anything but the feel of the soft skin beneath his fingers. “This won’t hurt her, will it?”
“It shouldn’t. We plan to obscure her location in a circle and follow the link. Think of it as giving us a piggyback ride. From what you’re describing, your link to them is always open. We will camouflage our presence and then cast a tracker spell,” Pema explained, adding salt and dried lavender to the bowl that Isis had placed on the counter.
Shocked jade green eyes took in the large picture window that consumed the entire front of the store. “Are you doing this here? Now?” Gerrick smiled, Shae was always considering others before herself and it wasn’t surprising to hear her worry about the witches and the risk to the realm with humans in such close proximity.
Three heads bobbed up and down. “It’s going to be here, unless you want to travel across the bridge to our house. Besides,” Pema opened a drawer and pulled out a small remote control, “this baby will turn the windows opaque to hide our activity from prying eyes.”
Suvi placed a silver chalice of water in the middle of the room while Isis led Shae and Jessie to kneel beside it.
“I’m assuming they are bulletproof given how many times they’ve been blown out in the past couple months.” Gerrick added as he watched Pema take the salt mixture and walk deosil in a perfect circle. After she had completed her first circuit, white light projected from the salt. Aside from the witches, he and Jace were the only ones in the room who would be able to see the manifestation of the magic. While the others could feel it, no other supernaturals were able to see magic.
On her second turn, she began chanting, "I cast this circle to keep us free of all energies that are not of The Light.” Gerrick and Zander had been left outside the circle and it made him edgy. Patience eluded him. Sorcery didn’t use ceremony, candles and athames. He got immediate results when he chanted spells, but he wasn’t able to perform magic like this, either. Still, it was damn near impossible to stand by and give the witches a chance to do their work.
Pema continued, “I allow within this circle only the energies that are of The Light. So Mote It Be.” White light flared to the ceiling and the circle was set. If this situation with his mate went to shit, he wouldn’t be able to get to her until the circle was broken.
Isis picked up a white piece of chalk and knelt to call the quarters. As she scribed the pentacle, she invoked the element in each direction as she went. “Hear me, Sentinels of the East, I summon the powers of Air! Hear me, Sentinels of the South, I summon the powers of Fire! Hear me, Sentinels of the West, I summon the powers of Water! Hear me, Sentinels of the North, I summon the powers of Earth! As above, so below. As within, so without. Four stars in this place be, combined to call the fifth to me! So mote it be.”
Gerrick was impressed how seamlessly the triplets worked together. They were extremely young supernaturals and it took most centuries to master their craft like they had. “Live and learn, learn and live. I endeavor to receive what life can give. Bring to me the lessons true. And knowledge of what to do. Amid the mess and chaos fierce. Shine a light to darkness pierce. Show the way to knowledge deep. Which to let go and which to keep. Clear the way so I might heed. The lessons that I truly need. Show me what I need to learn. As life’s pages I do turn. So mote it be,” Suvi called out. The sisters clasped hands and closed their eyes.
Gerrick watched as Shae stiffened as if in pain while Jessie sat, seemingly unaffected. Shae lifted one shaking hand and touched the edge of the bowl. Sparks exited her fingertips and connected with the water and Shae went to her knees. Instinctually, he surged towards her, but was stopped short by the invisible barrier of the circle. She had suffered alone for months and he didn’t want her to be alone in this. Between one heartbeat and the next, fog swirled in the water and cleared to reveal an old, boarded up house near the human juvenile detention center. They’d done it. The witches had actually traced the location.
Pacing outside the circle, anxious to get to Shae’s side, he watched as Jessie helped Shae up. The witches thanked the Goddess and Pema cut a path in the circle with the athame, dispersing the energy safely. He rushed to Shae’s side and pulled her into his arms. She looked up at him and he saw the unspoken emotion in her jade green eyes. He was just as grateful for her at that moment.
“We finally have a location,” he told Zander who was standing behind them. The Vampire King’s eyes turned black and his smile spoke of retribution, but he was going to have to get in line behind Gerrick.
*****
Shae glanced out the windshield at the house across the street. The run-down two-story home had peeling yellow paint and all of the windows were boarded up. It appeared as if it was abandoned. She cocked her head to the side at the symbols decorating the plywood. It looked like human graffiti, but she wouldn’t put it past the demons for it to be imbued with Dark magic. She opened her mind and cursed. “Don’t tell me that this was nothing but a waste of time.” Her irritation at the fact that the archdemons weren’t present quickly escalated to a killing rage.
“Don’t worry, Red. There are plenty of skirm to kill in there. They won’t get away.” She heard the undertones in Gerrick’s promise. He wasn’t going to allow the archdemons to get away with what they’d done to her. She hoped she didn’t have to fight his male ego for her chance to see to her own revenge because there wasn’t a force on this earth that would stand in her way.
“Take one of my blades,” Rhys told Jessie, handing her a small titanium sgian dubh.
Jessie took the weapon and gripped it tightly. “I’m so glad I’m leaving to visit my parents after this. I really need a break from all this chaos.”
Shae opened her door and shook her head. “I hope your visit goes better than mine did.”
Jessie squeezed her shoulder. “Me, too. My parents don’t know about what happened to me, yet.”
“They’ll love you no matter what,” Shae reassured. That was the one thing her family had made clear to her during her visit home. They still loved her. Still, Jessie’s was going to be one hell of a visit, Shae thought, climbing out.
They were met by the rest of the Dark Warriors seconds later on the sidewalk. Zander sent her and Gerrick along with a small contingent to the back of the house while Zander and several others entered through the front.
They paused at the sagging back door and waited for Zander to distract the skirm. If there was one thing Shae had learned it was that skirm were dumb as rocks and wouldn’t expect to be ambushed from both sides. Loud shouts echoed through the gaps in the wood right before Gerrick kicked his way into a kitchen.
Two startled skirm looked up and bared their fangs. Gerrick and Bhric had their blades out and attacked without hesitation before anyone else moved. Her heart raced like a jackhammer in her chest as she watched her mate attack the skirm. She didn’t like seeing him face danger, but had to admit that he was a thing of beauty in action. She envied his confident, fearless demeanor. She was a wild card, either frightened or furious and it remained to be seen whether she would be able to act when the time came.
Shae took a deep breath, ignoring the scent of brimstone and rot and entered a kitchen that had seen better days. The cabinets were hanging off the walls and covered in a century of grime. She wondered how humans could allow a home to go into such disrepair.
As she went further into the room she smelled rodents and saw a nest in the corner. She couldn’t help the shiver of revulsion. She’d had enough of rats during her months of captivity and quickly shut out those horrific memories.
She walked to the sagging linoleum counter and noticed used needles and other drug paraphernalia. Like all creatures, supernaturals had their share of drug or alcohol addicts. The difference was the incidence rate was far lower in supernaturals. It was harder to become an addict when you had the support of your entire family, generations at that, living with you.
“We’re missing all the fun oot there,” Bhric quipped and ran toward the front of the house. “Feel the freeze, bitches!”
Gerrick gave her that smile that never failed to have her in a puddle at his feet. “How ‘bout it, Red? Think you can kill more than me?” He handed her his knife.
She took the offering and shuddered at the spark that seared her when their fingers inadvertently met. “With my arms tied behind my back, baby,” she teased, enjoying how he was playing with her.
His ice-blue eyes glowed brightly and his blonde hair fell over one corner of his forehead. “I’ve never been into that kind of thing, but I think I’ll make an exception for you.” He leaned forward and kissed her deeply.
She was panting and in a sensual daze by the time be broke the kiss. He spanked her bottom and murmured against her lips, “See if you can keep up.”
She flew into action right behind him and took a play out of his book, rushing headlong into the fight without pause. In her flight across the main room, she noted the holes in the floor, the location of the other warriors, as well as, several skirm frozen in blocks of ice. Apparently, Bhric had meant that literally and not figuratively.
She had her weapon in hand and slashed out at the chest of the nearest skirm. He kicked her knee and her leg gave out. She went to the trash-strewn ground and he stabbed her in the upper arm, pissing her off. She screamed and wrapped her arm around the skirm’s neck with one arm while she thrust her blade into his back.
She jumped back into action before the flash seared her flesh. The cloud of ash covered her in the next moment. This was ridiculously easy compared to what she’d faced in the fighting cages. She had wondered why she hadn’t fought more skirm, but now understood. It wouldn’t have been difficult to eliminate them, physically or emotionally, and Kadir and Azazel liked to see her suffer. The fact that skirm held the faces of young humans didn’t stop her from taking their lives, because she’d seen the vile creatures they became after being infected by the archdemons. Hell, even she was living proof of the archdemon taint.
In rapid succession she ashed two skirm and turned to watch the rest of the group. Her infrared vision flared back to life and the Dark Warriors were vibrant images, whereas the skirm hardly had a glow at all. She concentrated and shut the infrared off again. Now that she’d gotten control of it, it was too difficult to fight like that. Gerrick’s gorgeous face was the first that came back into full color.
Her distraction hadn’t cost her, and thankfully, the fight was nearly over, but in the next heartbeat, a skirm pulled out a gun, pointing it at Zander and firing. Bhric jumped in front of his brother, taking the bullet and immediately collapsed to the floor. Zander’s eyes went black and Bhric’s chuckle broke off in a groan, “You assed out, mother fucker. Now you’re gonna get it. Shite! How the hell is it that I always end up with the worst injuries?”
Zander ripped the gun from the skirm’s hand and turned it back on him. He fired a shot directly into his face, finishing with a thrust of his knife to his heart. The ash blew away in Zander’s wake as he rushed to Bhric’s side. “Och, you’re a mess again, brathair.”
“But still handsome as ever. Fuck, be careful.” Bhric hissed as Zander helped him to his feet.
“What the hell were the archdemons doing in a place like this?” Shae asked.
“This was a complete waste of time,” Gerrick cursed. “If they were here it was in passing. They haven’t set up a lair in this dump.”
“No’ a total waste. We eliminated at least fifteen skirm,” Zander replied, helping Bhric out the front door.
Shae’s adrenaline was still high as Gerrick came up to her side. He wrapped his arm around her waist. “Don’t worry, we’re going to get them,” he promised, kissing her temple. The intimate gestures were coming automatically to him now and she didn’t think he was even aware of it half the time. She felt their bond strengthening and her mate mark shot pain through her leg in agreement. The more time that passed the more intense the pain became. She knew the phenomenon was normal and would escalate until they completed the mating, but she refused to bond fully to him while she was still so intimately connected to the archdemons. She didn’t want her mating tainted by their evil. Not to mention that he was still holding pieces of himself back.
More than anything, she wanted to believe his affection was genuine, but the voices in her head told her a different story.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Gerrick placed the tray of food on the coffee table as Shae shut the door behind them. Smiling, he ran a hand over the dark wood. He’d done just as she requested and replaced every destroyed piece of furniture in the room with dark alder wood. The bedding was a blue and chocolate paisley. Elsie assured him Shae would love it when he’d shown it to her. He’d wanted Shae’s opinion, but had wanted to surprise her more. And from the look on Shae’s face, he’d done a good job.
“You remembered. I can’t believe you did all this for me…” he pulled her easily into his arms and silenced her with a kiss. Where he expected her to be hesitant, she was molten fire instead. He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and splayed his fingers into the mass of her curling, red hair.
Gerrick broke the kiss and trailed his lips to her jaw, breathing in her jasmine scent. Like an addict, he couldn’t get enough. It was like he was main-lining her, she went straight to his blood, intoxicating him within seconds. He had gone too long without allowing himself to really indulge in a female. It had been eons since he’d had any desire to.
Shae was his drug of choice and he willingly indulged. He unzipped her winter coat and flung it across the room. Her sweater was a soft accent to her silky skin.
He was lost to her and it wasn’t just her beauty, sharp intelligence and fiery demeanor. She challenged him at every turn. Her unexpected openness was as engaging as her secrets and the horrors of her past. He ran his hand down her back and gripped her hip, wanting her naked and writhing beneath him. His blood pounded with the force of his craving for her.
He’d never before felt such intense arousal. His beating heart was a staccato rhythm in his chest, reverberating throughout his body. She slipped her hands under his shirt and around his back. He shuddered with the pleasure. Her touch was an electrocution and fever exploded to his bones, branding him as sure as the mark on his leg.
His shaft surged painfully in his pants, threatening to break t
he metal tabs of the zipper. He wanted to take this slow, but as always with her, his need was rapidly overcoming all of his willpower. He returned to her lips and relished the ambrosia of her taste. He plunged her depths with abandon, inciting her arousal. She arched toward him while she lifted the hem of his shirt.
He wasn’t able to pull himself from tangling his lips with hers and she ripped his shirt down the front. Caught up in the frenzy, he poured his demand into his kiss and relished the fact that she didn’t shy away, but met him and took more. She sucked his tongue into her mouth, making him think of what else she could suck into that warm, wet cavern.
Groaning, he broke the kiss and traced his mouth down to the hollow of her throat. Shae moaned softly as she dropped her head back, offering him free reign. She hadn’t allowed such freedom with her ravaged skin and his chest ached with the trust she was extending. He licked and nipped her scarred flesh, making her tremble in his arms.
“Shae,” he murmured, outlining the shell of her ear. He pulled her impossibly closer so that she was smashed against his chest. It was impossible not to feel the pressure of her breasts with every shallow breath she took, despite the fabric separating their flesh. It was the sweetest of temptations.
He kept his hand wrapped possessively around her neck and lowered the other one until he was cupping her ass in his palm. She placed open-mouthed kisses on his neck and he squeezed the firm globe in his hand. The pleasure threatened to kill him, but what a way to go.
She lifted her head and he saw the pink flush that rode high on her cheeks, her lips were red and kiss-swollen and her eyes were glowing pools of green. She was a stunning vision who had on far too many clothes at the moment.
Her abdomen felt like fire where he gripped her sweater. She gasped as he whipped it over her head in the next breath. He took her silence as consent to continue and slid his hands up her bare back. He was astonished that touching her so intimately could feel so indescribably good.