“All quiet out there. No vamp magic. I’m not picking up anything but the ward,” said Theron.
“It’s possible he was so confident in the ward he didn’t bother with anything else,” offered Xan. “It was a tricky one. I don’t think many could have gotten past it.”
Jane wasn’t convinced. It didn’t seem like Droshin.
Put down the window, said the demon.
Why? Jane asked even as she hit the button to lower it.
Smoke rose from the ground like subway steam. As the cold night air hit Jane’s face she expected at least a hint of a burning scent. But there was nothing but quiet stillness.
You’re wrong, witch and your nose is useless. There’s brimstone in the air.
“FUCK!” Xandrie slammed on the brakes, screeching the tires and throwing everyone forward. “It just fucking appeared!”
13
Two inches from the nose of Theron’s SUV stood a stone wall. Twelve feet high and stretching east and west as far as the eye could see, it blocked every street in the abandoned city.
Neither Zora or Theron had been able to detect the magically shielded wall.
That wasn’t fucking good.
“I’m sorry-” Zora started, but Jane cut her off.
“It’s no one’s fault. Can you get a read on anything beyond the wall?”
Zora shook her head.
“Theron?”
“It’s all blank. I can’t feel any magic here.”
Your vampire is wrong. There is magic everywhere, subtle and woven expertly into the very ether.
That really wasn’t good. OK. What’s over the wall?
Battle magic.
Jane swallowed the bile burning at the back of her throat. The same magic I escaped?
No, little witch. Much, much worse.
“Fuck,” Jane said under her breath. As powerful as they were, if Zora, Theron, and Xan followed her over the wall, they wouldn’t make it back. Because as much juice as they had, it was nothing compared to what the demon could access.
“Everyone stay put. I’ll be back with the girls as soon as I can. Theron, stay here,” Jane jabbed at the side of her head. “If shit goes south and I have to...” Jane trailed off. She didn’t want to give words to the fact she was prepared to die. “If shit goes south, I’ll tell you when to get the fuck out of here.”
Jane turned to Xandrie. “Gimme your pearl.”
“Fuck that, I’m going with you.”
“This isn’t a discussion, Xan. Give me the necklace.”
“No fucking way, Jane. You don’t get to be the only hero here.”
“Christ, Xandrie! This is not about my ego. If you go in with me you die. I know it in my fucking bones. The only way to beat this monster is with a bigger one. Now gimme your goddamn necklace.”
Xan lowered her head. “Jane, you have to have fae magic to use it.”
“Whatever, maybe the just the sight will scare him.” Jane held out her palm
Xandrie unclasped the heirloom and put it around her friend’s neck.
“Thank you.”
Xan nodded, and lowered her head again, this time to hide her tears.
Jane turned to the gypsy in the backseat. “Zora?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry I got you into this.”
“I’m not.”
Jane grabbed the vials from Jake’s apothecary box, shoved the sunlight and fire potions in either back pocket, and the poison in her bra. She hopped out of the SUV only to walk right into Theron’s lean chest.
He picked her up, hugged her tight and said in her ear, “Come back to me, Janey.”
No promises, she said to his mind.
Theron looked at her, beautiful violet eyes shining with tears but Jane looked away. She couldn’t get emotional.
She took a breath, closed her eyes, and unlocked her metaphysical tumbler. “Be good,” she said and used demon magic to vault over the wall like motherfucking Superwoman.
14
Jane hit the ground with both feet, light and easy. But as soon as she did her stomach tightened with nausea, pushing acid into her mouth. Sweat fell off her brow in beads as she looked at her surroundings.
“How can this be?” Hands shaking, she reached for a tree to steady herself against the spinning dizziness that gripped her.
Carved in the trunk Jane used as a crutch were her initials, JM.
Jane’s eyes widened in horror as she saw the letters carved in her own handwriting. “No, no... I can’t do this again. Not again!”
It was the same tree Zora found her lying under, naked and half dead. Jane had used her last bit of energy to carve the two shaky letters.
This tree was to be her headstone.
She was back in the same woods. The same tree, the same spells that almost killed her.
“Not here, not this place. I can’t do it again,” Jane said as another wave of nausea rolled over her.
You have to, witch.
“I-I can’t.” Jane slid down the tree and buried her face in her knees.
WITCH! Get control of yourself! It is mere illusion.
“I KNOW THAT! You have to make it stop. I can’t go through this again. Not this place. Please, please, break the illusion.”
I won’t. You must navigate through the vampire’s traps.
Jane sobbed into her knees. “I can’t. I hardly made it out the first time,” she whispered. “Why won’t you help me?”
I am helping you, Jane. He already knows you’re here but if I break the vampire’s illusions he’ll know too soon that it’s not just the bony witch who escaped him stomping through his magic. He must not know of our alliance until the very end.
Jane heaved out a shuddering breath, got off the ground, and screamed at the sky. The angry wail ripped through her, startling illusory birds from their roosts.
It was a desperate sound, but it ended as a battle cry.
Jane side-kicked the tree, putting a little demon juice behind it, and smiled as it split up the middle with a satisfying crack.
You mustn’t! Only use your own magic or Droshin will know!
“Fine. But keep talking to me. Keep me from going crazy in here.”
Theron? You too. Tell me a story, help keep me distracted.
He can’t hear you, witch. Once you crossed the wall the link to your vampire was severed.
“Fuck. Well, then it’s up to you to keep me from going insane in here. I die you die, remember?”
I’m well aware of our situation.
Crunching, snapping twigs underfoot sounds came from somewhere to the east. Jane crouched low, surveying for the cause.
Run, witch! Now!
Jane obeyed the demon’s command and ran deeper into the woods without question. The illusion was a perfect recreation of the woods surrounding Droshin’s former compound, which meant Jane knew exactly where Droshin would be.
Or did she?
“Fuck!” Jane said at a fork in the path. She hesitated, unsure whether to take the same path she’d used to escape or the other path. Which one led to Droshin?
She hated the vampire’s mind games.
Choose! Or get us both killed!
Jane barreled down the path she already knew, hoping it was the right choice. At full speed, Jane was an impressive sprinter, but she was no match for what chased her.
“What’s that smell,” she said as the scent of burning match heads grew so strong, the inside of Jane’s nose burned.
Brimstone. Run faster, it’s closing in.
“What? What’s closing?”
And then it was on her, tackling Jane to the ground with all four of its gigantic paws. Jane fell face first into the dirt.
The hellhound stood on her back, snarling as it locked its jaws around the back of her neck.
Jane screamed as the beast’s teeth sank into her flesh. She could turn the hell spawn inside out with a thought, but no way in hell was she tipping her hand to Droshin.
Jane grabbed behind her
at the beast’s head, locked on with both hands, and shoved her neck further into its mouth.
It was the stupidest thing she’d ever done.
What are you doing! Screeched the demon in her mind.
Getting us out of this!
Jane felt her flesh ripping as she gagged the hound with the very thing it wanted to devour. She pushed again, using leverage from the death grip she had on its head to force the beast’s jaw wider than the musculature allowed.
Jane took the smallest amount of demon juice from the well and shoved once more.
The hound yowled as she split its jaw in two. The beast slumped against her, broken jaw hanging limp around Jane’s neck. She rolled over, forcing the dead thing off her back and hopped to her feet.
“I didn’t do that.” Breaking hellhound’s jaw shouldn’t have killed it. And it wasn’t. The katana directly through the beast’s chest, however, was.
Jane had to use both hands and a foot to get the sword from the carcass.
Did you do that? She asked the demon.
I did not. Your vampire spelled the sword to protect you.
Theron, you little shit.
15
Jane wiped the hound’s blood from her katana and sheathed it on her back. She ran, again full out, hoping that maybe getting through Droshin’s web of spells faster might keep them from getting a hold on her.
Jane ducked to avoid a low branch and the ground wiggled and distorted beneath her feet.
“The fuck?” Jane barely got the words out before a familiar tugging at her middle told her exactly what the fuck.
In the middle of The Circle, in the center of town, standing face to face with The fucking Morrigan.
“I warned you,” The Morrigan said, round, death eyes trying to peer into Jane’s soul. “I told you not pursue your vendetta.”
Jane looked at the crow-woman’s nose. “You did. I didn’t care.”
The Morrigan smiled at Jane. “Then are you prepared to accept your punishment?”
“Actually, I was hoping to bargain the punishment down with the fact that I killed Droshin and freed the girls he’s held in captivity as sexual slaves for years. So, why don’t you just send me back and I’ll finish what I started.”
The Morrigan laughed a bellowing, deafening laugh. “I do enjoy you, Jane Moretti. But I’m afraid that won’t be possible. You’ve defied a direct order from The Garrison. I must do my job.”
“But you do have some leeway. You wouldn’t have been able to lessen Gunnar’s punishment if you didn’t.” Jane could feel she was on to something. She wouldn’t dare try to con the emissary but she would damn sure do her best to reason with her. “Look, lady, all I’m asking is for you to let me right an awful wrong.”
The Morrigan smiled at Jane, an expression that her strange face made both eerie and beautiful. “Jane Moretti, you are impressive. But you won’t talk me out of doing what I’ve been sent to do, Jane. Do you have anything you’d like to say, Jane Moretti?”
Something was off. She used Jane’s name too much and The Morrigan’s distinctive alto voice sounded kind of screechy. Kind of like…
Jane Moretti! The demon screeched in her mind.
The Morrigan disappeared, not by folding light, the crow-woman simply vanished and Jane was back in the forest.
You’ve wasted precious time. You must keep going! Now, witch! NOW!
Jane ran toward where she hoped Droshin would be, trying not to think about how easy it was for him to build an illusion on top of the one she was already in.
That cocky bastard. Thinking he can illusion inception me.
He can, and he did. You stood in that spot trapped in his illusion for far too long. His magic is brilliant. Keep your guard up.
Jane could hardly imagine how much worse the effect would have been if she hadn’t been warded with demon magic.
A mile through the forest, ducking under branches and weaving between trees, running in sneakers she borrowed from Xan because the only shoes Jane had were boots. Jane didn’t have it in her to run much longer at that pace. But something glimmered in the moonlight ahead, and it made Jane stop dead in her tracks.
Keep going! Screeched the demon. You’ve already wasted too much time.
Jane knew that glimmer. It was the telltale remnant of Droshin’s most favorite spell.
“That’s the thrall spell.” Jane choked on the words.
The magic that made Jane not only subservient to Droshin’s whim but crave him, his touch, his smile, his approval, hung in the air as far as she could see.
Jane’s hands shook and tears welled in her eyes at the thought of getting mind-fucked by that spell again.
Witch! The demon yelled in Jane’s mind, breaking the hold the memory the spell elicited. You must keep going.
She couldn’t. She’d gotten this far, but Jane couldn’t walk through that spell. She wouldn’t be subservient again.
Jane hugged her arms close to her sides. “I’m sorry,” she whispered and stepped away from the glimmering spiderweb spell.
Jane! You must continue!
Jane shook her head and turned around.
Witch! He’s just beyond it! You MUST!
“I’m not going through that spell, demon. Not again. Never again.”
The demon boomed in Jane’s mind, Jane Moretti, Daughter of Venus, Warrior Witch, do NOT forsake those you vowed to protect. Keep your word, or your true name will become Oath Breaker like your Silver Wolf.
“Fuck you,” Jane whispered, but she didn’t move.
The demon’s words had settled into Jane’s mind.
Jane thought of the girls. Some had been in Droshin’s conclave longer than even Jane had. She thought of all the months she’d been free, running around in The Circle, making coffee and friends, finding her own weird hodgepodge family. While they still suffered under Droshin’s spell.
Jane turned around and said, “Keep me as clear-headed as you can for as long as you can. And don’t let him fuck me.” Her words were clear and strong, even as tears rolled down her cheek so fast they might have had their own current.
Jane, I would never let him touch you. Never. We leave here tonight with Droshin’s head on the end of your sword, or we don’t leave at all.
“Sounds like a plan.”
And Jane stepped into the thrall. The instant she did, the dual nature of the magic showed itself. Not only did it bespell her mind, it also brought her directly to Droshin, by breaking all the illusory magic around her.
The demon was right, his magic was fucking brilliant. Droshin made certain the only way she could find him was if she was thralled again.
Fucking monster.
16
“I missed you,” Droshin said.
Jane clamped her lips closed, struggling against the words the thrall would have her say… I missed you too, I’ll never leave you again, how may I serve you?
“You won’t be needing this.” Droshin willed Jane’s katana from her scabbard, placing it on the table behind him.
Tears welled in Jane’s eyes as the vampire took her weapon.
“You’re leaner than I remember. Are you taking care of yourself, Jane? Why don’t you have a seat and have something to eat?”
Jane didn’t move.
“Oh, don’t be shy, sit down.” His words were charming enough but Jane knew better. “I insist.” And there it was, the menace and threat hidden behind a dazzling smile.
Jane obeyed. It was a command. She had no choice.
“There, that’s better,” he said, zigzagging back to charm. Droshin seated himself across from Jane. “What do you think of the new place?”
Jane looked around at the tapestry-covered walls, leather upholstery, and grand piano in the center of the room. “A prison is still a prison, no matter how pretty or expensive it looks.” The effort it took for Jane to speak her mind was rewarded with electric zings through her lower parts.
The thrall punished with sex.
Jane
gasped at the sudden heat and desire in her body.
Droshin looked at her, eyes twinkling with glee. “That’s not very nice, Jane. I should make you apologize.”
Jane shifted in her seat.
“Instead, I think I’ll make you say something nice.” The vampire got up and sat next to Jane on the leather couch. “Tell me something nice, Jane.” Droshin flashed his gorgeous smile and Jane had to obey.
“Your eyes are the most beautiful I’ve seen. One green and one gold, like an odd-eyed cat.” Jane sat on her hand to keep from reaching to touch his face. Cheekbones and jaw and proportions, everything about the vampire was like Da Vinci had measured it himself.
Jane tried not to look at him further, but couldn’t resist. She surveyed Droshin’s wide shoulders, narrow waist, muscular legs, all visible because Droshin wore his favorite thing.
Nothing.
It was only fair, right? He kept his blood nymphs nude, so he did the same.
Droshin grinned at her. “I’m delighted you still like what you see. I hoped you would, but one can never be sure, can they?”
Jane said nothing though her mind and body screamed. She wanted to devour him, to yank off her clothes, straddle his perfect body and ride him until she screamed in earnest.
She did none of those things and shook from the effort.
“Ah, still the same girl, aren’t you? So strong-willed. You know, it’s much easier if you don’t fight the thrall. Though I must admit, taking you is much sweeter when you struggle against it.”
Jane’s heart pounded, any moment Droshin would laugh and call her that stupid name she hated.
“I’ve missed that racing heart of yours, Little Bird. I’m glad I still make it beat so fast.”
Remember who you are, Warrior Witch. You are not this creature’s slave.
The demon’s words only scratched at Jane’s bespelled mind, unable to break through. But Jane was still there, hanging on to her own will as best she could, fighting the thrall with everything she had.
“You were my favorite, Jane.” Droshin reached to brush an errant hair from her face, but Jane pulled away. “Be still,” he whispered, and Jane froze. “You were my favorite blood nymph and I counted the days until you would come back to me. It’s why I left that note, to be sure you could find me.”
Jane The Nymph: The Boxed Set (The Circle Series Book 2) Page 13