by Eden Rivers
“So, a scrying rite.”
“How in the name of Diana did you get that while I was thinking about your unwashed, sex-smelling body, your tight shorts, and ‑‑”
“Earlier, on your way to the pond. You let it slip.”
Privacy? What privacy?
“Zach’s cool with it?” She knew Alec felt the same way she did about the cat and mouse shit. Although their goals would come into complete opposition, once they knew where to find Jaimis.
“Why not ask me to my face?” Zach stalked down the hall and entered the room, looking every bit the pissed-off cop, despite being shirtless with one arm in a sling. “I think it’s too fucking dangerous. But Alec has a good point when he argues that Jaimis seems to ferret out our location quick enough anyway, and our best chance at evening up the odds is to find out where the hell he’s at.”
Alec tossed down the comb. Slowly, he ran his fingers through her hair to check for missed snarls ‑‑ or more likely, just to brush his fingertips along her spine ‑‑ and then headed back toward the front of the cabin. Sky followed, with Zach close behind.
“What do we need, then?” Alec glanced around the large, sparsely furnished room, as if expecting the tools for an arcane ritual to appear out of nowhere. “I’m assuming you’ve tried this before?”
Sky shook her head. “No. But I’ve got the process memorized. My great-grandfather had a taste for gray magic, and I inherited his Shadow Book. Memorized a lot of the spells, just in case I ever needed them in a pinch.” Sky’s stomach knotted up at the thought of the book vanishing in the flames the night angry vigilantes burned her home.
“Hey.” Zach sat gingerly on the ratty, overstuffed sofa, careful not to jostle his arm. “First off, nix the self-pity. As for the rite, we’ll manage.”
Pulling herself together, Sky plopped down on the couch beside him. “Okay, a bowl of water. Some candles would be good. But mostly it’s a psychic thing. That’s the only reason I have a shot of pulling it off, since my psychic abilities grew when my other gifts got fucked over by Jaimis’s memory tampering. We’ll be merging our common will to follow any connection we have to the dark witch. If we’re lucky, we’ll catch a glimpse of where he’s hiding.”
“And if our luck sucks?”
Sky frowned at Zach’s uncanny ability to reduce plans to worst-case scenarios. “Then we don’t see anything. And Jaimis might catch us nosing around, follow the thread of power, and pinpoint our location. Are you well enough to move if we have to turn tail and run?”
“Arm’s still sore, but Laura did a bang-up job of patching me back together. I can run if we have to. Though I’m thinking we’re due for a break. Be nice if we could pull this off without tipping off the rogue witch.” Zach leaned forward to glare at Alec, who’d settled in an overstuffed chair, then turned to scowl at Sky.
“Thing is, I know you” ‑‑ he shifted position to point at Alec ‑‑ “plan to go off on a suicide mission once we know where to find Jaimis. And you…”
Pausing, he stared at Sky until she gave in and looked down at her hands in her lap.
“You’ve got your head full of plans to run off and use your uncanny psychic talents to try to ferret out information on the dark lords. Since you’re in complete disagreement on how to deal with Jaimis and the dark lords, I’m counting on the two of you to rat on each other, keep me informed if either of you changes plans. And I want you to know that the only way either of you is sneaking off on your own for a fool’s mission is over my cold, dead body.”
“So, Laura must have found a bowl somewhere when she bathed you earlier, right?” Alec got to his feet, shifting his weight like a bear ready to attack.
“Oh, for the sake of the goddess, if this is about to turn into some kind of male contest of wills, I’m out of here. Alec, the bowl’s sitting out by the steps. Fresh water from the pond, please. I’ll try to find some candles. Cabin’s got to have candles somewhere.” Without waiting for a reply, she stalked off and started rummaging in the row of built-in storage boxes that lined the far wall. She heaved a sigh of relief when Alec’s footsteps retreated toward the door, and Zach kept his mouth shut and didn’t fire off any parting shots. When the time came, she’d do what needed to be done. Whatever that might involve.
For now… “Ugh!” She shifted aside a poorly cleaned pelt ‑‑ from what animal, she couldn’t even guess ‑‑ and opened what looked like a tackle box underneath. “Got ’em. Candles, and some mean-looking steel traps, too, so I’d watch your step.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Zach bent forward in a mocking half-bow as Sky dumped the stubby, white emergency candles onto the upturned crate that served as a coffee table.
“I prefer ‘sir.’ Carries more authority, don’t you think?” Sweet goddess, why was it so easy to slip into cheerful familiarity with him?
“I’m guessing you’ll be slipping into more than that before the night’s through.” Alec clumped through the door and into the center of the room, the force of his steps more than enough to convey that he still had his feathers ruffled, even if she hadn’t been able to feel the edgy energy spilling off him.
“Why don’t you ward the doors and windows before we form the circle?” Sky had no intention of acknowledging Alec’s mood.
Best to move ahead and get this done with before the sun got any lower in the sky. Jaimis loved the dark, often sleeping late into the day so he’d wake closer to evening, when his power strengthened. She understood now that the blood rites had something to do with that. The deeper he traveled into the realms of death magic, the less he seemed able to tolerate the light of day. But back then, before she knew he’d been killing witches and siphoning off their power, she’d found his predilection for sleeping in most of the day an endearing quirk in her virile lover.
With a shudder, she paced across the room, staring out a dirt-streaked window at the leafy trees. Out in the middle of nowhere, they wouldn’t have to worry about covering the windows. But she’d still have preferred a locked house with blackout shades. Not that locks or window coverings could protect them from Jaimis. But the emotional security would have been nice.
“Wards are up.” Alec moved the makeshift coffee table to the side of the room, then shoved the arm chairs against the wall and rolled up the braided rug, leaving a large bare area between the couch and the far wall. “Might as well get on with this and be done by dark.”
Zach got up and unzipped his jeans, and out of habit, Sky turned away to give him the illusion of privacy as he undressed for the ritual. What was it about shadow magic that required unencumbered bodies, anyway? The magic was purely psychic, so was the nude thing merely tradition or vital to the task at hand?
“Interesting line of inquiry, but since we’ve both seen you naked, just strip and let’s do this.”
Alec’s irritability advertised his uneasiness like a bold, red flag, and she didn’t have the heart to tell him to back out of her thoughts. Any gray magic put her on edge. But this time, her throat felt dry, and her stomach churned as if she’d eaten old tuna at a cheap restaurant. She didn’t think Jaimis held enough power to get a grip on them if they managed to scry out his location, but still…
“Okay, if you’ll light the candles, and then drip the wax to secure them to the floor in a ring around the bowl.” Vexed that she couldn’t so much as summon a simple spark to kindle flame, Sky wondered if Alec might be onto something with the power-sharing plan.
Stripping off her tank top and jeans, then deliberately turning to catch Alec’s eye as she discarded her bra and panties, Sky tossed them onto the pile Alec and Zach had created on the couch. With a few deep breaths for courage, she sat cross-legged by the basin of water as Alec and Zach saw to the candles.
Their movements were graceful, the muscles in their arms rippling as they lit the candles and stood them in the hot puddles of wax on the wood floor. Zach tried to use his bad arm now and then, and she took that as a good sign. Couldn’t hurt too much if he kept forgett
ing it was bound by the sling.
The candles set, she eased into the flow of energy surrounding them, evaluating the psychic landscape in preparation for the rite. Alec radiated nervous energy. But Zach’s dark brown eyes held a thread of calm strength. Reaching across the ring of candlelight, she clasped his hand, and he offered a reassuring squeeze. Goddess, the two of them were beautiful. One golden and tightly muscled, with hair like a wild Greek god, the other built like a boxer but with the face of a Korean prince. What a pair.
Her men. She fought the urge to laugh aloud at Alec’s suggestion that they engage in a wild ménage, with power sharing the goal. Goddess, she couldn’t even summon a simple sphere of light without risking her magic backfiring on her. Let alone meld her magic with theirs. But they had the forbidden rite prerequisite covered ‑‑ if Alec was right in his assumptions about what led up to Lena sharing powers with the two men. Psychic scrying made the “don’t” list of every book of ethics she’d read.
Alec smacked the flat of his hand down on the floor. “So we’re bad. Got that. Now let’s get this over with.”
Oh, goodie. If he got that last bit, no doubt he’d caught her introspection on her delicious pair of princes. “Circle first. I’ll start.”
Grounding herself to the earth below, then opening to the sky above, she found her center. “North.”
“East.” Alec’s voice held more confidence than she’d expected.
Zach sat with his eyes closed, his face serene. “South.”
“West.” Light flared around them, although a few spots in the sphere held dark smudges, no doubt the product of her damaged aura.
Hopefully, the incomplete areas wouldn’t weaken the protection of the circle. The thought of Jaimis getting his claws on their unprotected psyches…
No fear.
Alec’s admonishment brushed her thoughts like dark velvet.
“I’ll lead, since I’ve got the spell down. Basically, we stare into the water until the candle flames start to blur and our eyes relax their focus. Alec and I have a deathly strong tie to Jaimis, like it or not, and we’ll use that to track him. Won’t be pleasant, but if this works like Great-Grandpa’s book said it should, we’ll catch images in the bowl. Hopefully a clue as to where the rogue witch is hiding.”
With a deep breath, she cleared her mind and plunged ahead. “First, follow the link from soul to soul, your heart be bare, your spirit true.”
Sky let her mind drift back to the feel of Jaimis’s hand on her shoulder, a lover’s kiss, and progressed gradually to more forbidding impressions. The sound of Alec’s screams. Jaimis’s harsh laughter. The smell of death magic. Blood. Pain.
Drawing back before she fell too far into the chasm, she stared at the clear, unmarred water in the large bowl. Nothing.
“Next, follow the trail, blood to blood, beyond the body’s bounds.”
Jaimis had done that for them, created a blood tie with his relentless whip. Now if they could follow that trail back to him… She felt Alec shudder beside her but didn’t look up from the water. The candles melted into a blur of light, and she felt alone, just her and the rippling surface of pond water, still barren of images.
“Seal your thoughts and guard your soul, lest watcher become watched.”
Fuck, she hated that bit. Staring into the basin, she cut herself off further from the world around her. Alone and invincible. Protected by the circle and her own resolve.
“Water show what watchers call.”
She flinched as a shadow rippled across the surface.
“Binding vision and truth, wisdom and wanting.” She clapped her hands together, and the candles flickered, pulling her back into herself.
Nothing.
When Alec gasped, she tensed and reached out for him, but her hand brushed velvet curtains. Holy goddess!
No water. No candles. No circle. A darkened room, sealed off from light by thick velvet. A bed. She froze, afraid to look.
Jaimis. Alec’s thought, projecting from what felt like the midst of nowhere, steadied her.
That established, she did her best to ignore the bed and focused on the window. She could feel the brush of velvet, soft on her palm, but couldn’t displace it. Hell, of course she couldn’t, this was a vision. Frighteningly real, but her body remained safe back at the cabin.
She hoped.
When the man on the bed rose, her blood chilled, and she fought back a scream. She tried to pull away, break the psychic bond she’d forged and escape back to the hunters’ cabin. But something held her there. Trapped.
Jaimis strode across the room and parted the drapes, so close she could reach out and touch him. If she was really here. The hills and pines could be part of any landscape. No clues there. A few boulders lined a grassy slope, and in the distance she saw a row of bluffs, the rock face craggy and forbidding.
Jaimis’s Craggy Rock Estate! Right here in fucking Minnesota. Keeping the mice in close range, I guess. Doesn’t that figure? A man with estates scattered across the country, and he chooses to hide right under Sorren’s nose.
Having identified Jaimis’s location, she renewed her efforts to break away, but she made the mistake of looking at Jaimis’s face. The left side remained unspoiled. Dark hair and aristocratic cheekbones, sensual lips, nothing to hint at the fathomless evil within. Scars ran along his right cheek, as if worms had tunneled under the skin, raising the flesh in ugly pink lines. His neck bore brown patches, knotted and twisted where no healer had been able to mend the damage. No doubt the scars Alec had inflicted during their desperate escape extended beneath Jaimis’s robe.
Scars the rogue witch would kill for. As if Sky’s disloyalty in freeing Lena during Jaimis’s power play of a kidnapping last year wasn’t enough to provoke a killing rage in and of itself. Fear clouded her mind, and even detached from her body, Skyler felt her fingernails digging half-moons in her palms and sweat beading at the back of her neck.
Despite her efforts to clear her thoughts, time dragged her back to those last desperate moments before they escaped. Her first clear memories of her own experiences during those three days of hell. The look on Jaimis’s face ‑‑ aroused, evil, victorious ‑‑ as he tossed Alec, bloody and beaten, onto the floor and grabbed for her. Her exultation when she realized the rogue witch hadn’t bothered to secure Alec’s restraints, giving him freedom to creep away from the keystone that secured the power dampening spell. The explosive surge of energy when Alec reclaimed his stolen magic. Jaimis’s screams. Their frantic escape from hell.
Sky blinked away the memories and stared once again at the familiar face of her torturer. She’d tasted the man’s anger, the witch’s power, and terror overwhelmed her as she stared at Jaimis’s marred profile. With everything she had, she struggled to return to the candlelight, but he held her there, bound by the blood he’d shed. Her blood on his hands, crimson and horrible.
“Noooo!” She fought as arms clasped her waist, but she couldn’t break free.
“Sky, stop! You’re okay. Open your eyes and look!” Zach’s cop voice dragged her out of her panicked stupor.
Struggling out of Alec’s embrace, she wrapped her arms around her chest and stared at the spilled basin and the blackened wicks of the tipped-over candles. She felt like heaving the contents of her stomach up onto the floor, but managed to ward off nausea with a combination of deep breathing and iron will. That had to have been as bad for Alec as it was for her, and if he could ride it out without puking his guts up, then bless it, so could she.
“Please, let me hold you?” The note of pleading in Alec’s voice cut through her defenses, and she eased into his embrace.
Zach scooted closer and leaned against them, using his good arm to encompass both Sky and Alec in a protective hug. “Shit, the two of you just went blank. I could see things in the water ‑‑ curtains, trees, a bed, then the rogue witch ‑‑ but you were gone. So far away, I couldn’t reach you. Don’t ever fucking pull a stunt like that on me again!”
The caress of his palm against her bare side took the sting out of his anger, and she ran her hand over his thigh, half to soothe him, and half to convince herself she was really back, safe and whole.
“You froze, and when I couldn’t pull you with me, I found my way back and tipped the bowl, hoping to break the spell.” Alec held her tighter, his body slick with anger and fear. “Fuck, just seeing him again like that. I swear, Sky, if it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to kill him for what he did to you.”
“To us. What he did to us.” No use arguing about the rest, with him so upset.
A quick psychic peek at their surroundings revealed bored guards, a very horny Laura lusting after one of the younger witches, and the various echoes of wildlife, prey and predator alike. The circle held strong around them, and as far as she could tell, they’d succeeded, hopefully leaving the dark witch none the wiser.
As her heart rate returned to something approximating normal, she eased into the rhythmic brush of skin on skin as both men stroked her arms, her back, and her face. Shielding with all her might, she tried to work through what they’d gained. Zach would assume they’d failed, since Alec had to tip the basin in a last ditch effort to drag her back. But Alec would have heard her mental shout when she identified Jaimis’s mansion.
He’d watch her, determined not to let her sneak off on a psychic eavesdropping mission. And she’d watch him, determined not to let him run off and get himself killed ‑‑ perhaps taking Jaimis, and all the secrets he held, down with him. And Zach, he’d watch them both, with his cop’s eyes and witch’s gift of foresight. And goddess only knew how the whole mess would sort itself out in the end.
“Maybe this is a good time to focus on your foreseeing, Zach ‑‑ not to mention Alec’s somewhat wild suggestion about a power-sharing rite. I don’t know if it could work, don’t even know if it’s worth the risks, but I figure we should talk about it some.”