by Deanna Chase
Zeph turned to me, lashed out, and grabbed my wrist, bending it back until I whimpered and the eye pencil fell harmlessly to the floor. He glanced at it, then at me, and shook his head in disgust. “Is that the best you could do?”
“No.” I kicked out, connecting with the back of his knee, bringing him down, and then I punched him right in the balls.
He groaned and rolled over, holding himself.
“Let’s go!” Harper was back on her feet, yanking me up.
I lumbered upright, glanced at the man writhing on the floor, and hurried out of the room.
Harper pointed me toward the stairs. “Go! I’ll be right behind you.”
“What?” She darted down the hall and disappeared into the room where I’d last seen Liam.
“You fucking bitch!” Zeph bellowed from the room at the end of the hall. I sped up, hurling myself down the stairs, still ignoring the ache in my side. All I had to do was get outside, get out of this house of horrors, and my magic would be there, waiting for me.
I heard Zeph’s heavy footsteps and then Harper’s scream as something crashed. But I didn’t look back. The door was in my sight, and I lunged for it. The knob wouldn’t turn nor would the locks. I let out a cry of frustration but wasn’t all that surprised. Zeph had managed to use magic to seal me in a room; there was no reason he hadn’t sealed us all in the house. It would make sense, considering he’d given us freedom to roam around.
There was no turning back now. And even though my magic hadn’t worked before, I couldn’t give in, not when this might be my only chance at freedom.
“Get away from that door,” Zeph ordered from the stairs. His voice was low and sinister and crystal clear.
I poured my magic into the doorknob, ignoring him and praying I wouldn’t find myself on the hot end of a Taser again. The handle rattled under my grip but didn’t budge. Sweat dripped into my eyes, and my body vibrated from the effort, but the door was rumbling under my magic and if I could just—
“Watch out!” Harper’s voice sounded from above me.
On pure reflex, I dropped to the floor. A bolt of magic brushed against my arm, searing it before slamming into the door. A loud crack sounded as the door bowed under the pressure.
I glanced back to find Zeph running down the stairs and Harper chasing after him. She had blood running down the side of her face, but her expression was wild, feral-looking, as she let out a wounded sound and launched onto Zeph’s back. They rolled down the last five or six stairs with Harper pulling his hair and scratching at his face.
If I was going to get out of there, now was the time. With my magic still sparking at my fingertips, I turned back to the door and spotted a split in the wood. That was it. The split was new, no doubt caused by the blast Zeph had meant for me. I unleashed my magic, finding the weakness that was the crack. With one blast, I managed to create a hole to the outside, breaking through the magical seal.
Warm air rushed in, and I wasted no time reaching through the hole and blasting the lock on the outside knob. The door swung open, and I rushed out.
The blood moon was overhead, shining down on the bayou, the water glinting off to the right. Of course we were way out in the swamp, away from civilization, I thought bitterly. My dreams had been real, showing me enough to know I wouldn’t be walking or running into town anytime soon. I glanced around, looking for a vehicle. Nothing.
Dammit.
Another scream came from the house.
No. Not scream. Screams. They were coming from the attic. Cries for help.
Harper’s cousins? I wasn’t sure. But the despair in the air was unmistakable. They needed help. I stood paralyzed in the clearing, torn between walking out of there into the unknown of the bayou in the middle of the night or running back into the house and helping free the women who were locked up.
With the magical seal broken in the house, my powers were fully restored. I could do it. I could beat Zeph. Or at least I thought I could. But if he surprised me the way Harper had back in the French Quarter… I shook my head. That wasn’t going to happen this time. I was prepared.
Taking a deep breath, I ran back into the house, finding Harper and Liam both on their knees with Zeph holding a gun to Liam’s head. His gaze flickered to me, and a slow, self-satisfied smile broke out over his chiseled face.
“I knew you’d be back.” He snapped his fingers, and the cries from above vanished.
“It’s a trap, Jade!” Harper cried.
He backhanded her, sending her sprawling to the floor.
Liam reached for her, but Zeph jammed the gun to his forehead.
“Move one more inch and I’ll split you in two,” Zeph said. “You’ve already served your purpose.”
Liam froze. Harper lifted an arm, her fingers alive with fire, but Zeph stomped on her hand and growled, “Do that one more time and there won’t be a warning before I put a bullet in your boyfriend’s head.”
She went completely still, her eyes wide with fear.
A storm rose inside me, and with only a thought from me, thunder rumbled overhead, shaking the old Victorian so hard the windows rattled.
“Put the gun down, Zeph,” I said. “Let’s make this a fair fight.”
“Nice try, Calhoun.” He snorted out a humorless laugh, and without warning, the gun went off. Liam fell to the side, lifeless, blood spilling across the wood floor.
Harper screamed and lunged for Liam, pressing her hands to his chest, trying to stop the bleeding.
Zeph threw his head back and laughed.
I lost every ounce of restraint and let my magic fly. There was no thought, no plan, no spell. It was just raw power that crackled around me. Lightning flashed, the sky opened up, and rain thundered down, the wind howling through the open door.
Zeph lifted his head, seemed to sniff the air, and then snarled as he moved toward me. Magic swirled around me like a vortex, me snuggled inside as if I were safe in my cocoon, his magic bouncing off mine as if he were throwing pebbles instead of fire bolts. Instead of searing me, each time his magic hit mine, the fire winked out, leaving only smoke billowing in its place.
He roared, and a vein popped out on his neck as he stalked forward.
I had my feet planted, my power coursing through me, unstoppable and full of fury. No one hurt my baby girl and got away with it.
Something glinted in the darkness, and then I heard it. The second shot from the gun that was aimed right at me.
Coward, I thought with venom just as the bullet hit me in the shoulder and sent me plunging into darkness.
20
I woke to fiery pain pulsing in my shoulder and something that sounded like weeping. I blinked, trying to clear the blur from my slumber and wondered briefly if I was the one crying. Hadn’t I been shot? I reached up and tentatively probed my shoulder. It was wrapped with some sort of makeshift bandage, and while I couldn’t see it, I could tell it was dry. At least I wasn’t bleeding out. The wound couldn’t be that bad, could it?
Banging from down below caught my attention, and I tried to sit up. Red-hot fire burned through my arm, and I cried out, falling back onto the soft surface.
“Jade?” a pitiful voice asked.
“Who’s there?” I whispered, feeling around with my good arm and realizing I was on a bed. The mattress was narrow. There was no chance I was in the large bedroom I was supposed to “share” with Zeph. At least I’d managed to escape that horror.
“Willa,” she said through a sob. “Where’s Harper? Is she here?”
“I think so.” But the truth was I had no idea. What had Zeph done with her and Liam after he’d shot me? Had he killed them? Had Liam died from the gunshot wound he’d suffered? Were they chained to a chair again?
“What does that mean?” she asked, the tears so thick I could barely understand her.
I sighed and finally managed to push myself up, but as I moved my legs, I heard and felt the shackles.
Shit!
Zeph wasn’t taki
ng any chances that I might get away again. I was certain the banging I heard coming from downstairs meant he was repairing the front door. I’d had my chance to escape and I’d blown it. Sighing, I closed my eyes, willing myself to wake up at home. Willing this all to be a dream.
“Jade?” Willa asked again.
“Yeah?” I was bone tired, mentally and physically. The ache in my side throbbed in time with the wound in my shoulder. But when I put my good hand on my belly, I felt my little girl move, and I let out a sigh of relief. She would be okay. She had to be.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“The bayou,” I said, my voice full of exhaustion. “How long have you been here?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “A few hours maybe? I can’t believe I was ever infatuated with that asshole. Can you believe he hit me with a Taser? Then I woke up here, handcuffed to the wall.”
My heart sank. Goddamned Tasers. Is that how we’d all been taken out? Then it hit me. She’d said “he.” Harper had gotten me. Who had he sent for her?
“Who used a Taser on you? Zeph?”
“Who’s Zeph?” she asked, sounding confused. “No. Liam. He showed up at my apartment and said he needed to talk to me. Then he attacked me, and I woke up here.”
“A couple of hours ago?” I asked, shaking my head. That was impossible. The man had been shot. I didn’t even know if he was alive.
“Yes. Did he hurt Harper too?”
I squinted through the darkness, just making out the outline of her body propped up against the wall. “Willa, it wasn’t Liam. I’m sure of it.”
“Yes, it was. He said he had news about Harper, and then he…” She went silent.
“Then he what?” I asked.
“He asked what I was listening to, which I thought was really strange since it was his music. A recording of the piece he’s been working on for months.”
“It wasn’t Liam,” I said flatly. “Someone’s been using illusion spells.” I was positive. Harper had tried to tell me she wasn’t the one who’d attacked me. And I knew it was impossible that Liam had gone after Willa. If he was alive, he was in pretty bad shape. Zeph was behind all of it. He was a powerful witch with no conscience and a desire for unlimited power. It was the worst combination.
“Then who?”
“Me.” The light flickered on with the sound of Zeph’s voice. “And you, Willa, are my leverage. Right, Jade? You wouldn’t want anything to happen to someone else, would you?”
My eyes narrowed, and I glared at him. He was shirtless, his chest smeared with dried blood, and he had a wild look in his gaze. Madman was the word that came to mind.
“What is it you want from me?” I asked, ice dripping from my tone.
“You know what I want. All you need to do is awaken the dragons within and you’ll be free to go.”
Harper ran past him and clung to Willa, both of them weeping.
I stared at him and in a matter-of-fact tone said, “You’re lying.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. But you’ll do it anyway, otherwise poor Willa over there will join her cousins in the unmarked graves behind the house.”
Willa let out a loud gasp, and Harper tried to soothe her, murmuring reassurances.
Ghosts. That’s who I’d heard in the attic when I’d been outside. They’d been calling out for help and I’d been too late. “Why did you kill them, Zeph? To siphon their power?”
He shrugged one shoulder, confirming my suspicion.
“Just like you’ll do to me once you get what you want?”
His eyes glittered with anticipation, and there was no denying I’d hit a nerve. But then he said, “We still have two months.”
My hand tightened over my belly. My child. He wanted her. “It’s never going to happen, you slimy piece of—”
“Now, now, Jade. No need to be nasty.” He glanced at Willa and Harper then back to me. “You’ll do as I say or else you’ll be the guest of honor at my private show with Harper’s favorite cousin.”
“You’re a disgusting piece of trash, you know that?” I asked him.
“So I’ve been told.” He walked over and yanked Harper up by her neck. “Time to treat your boyfriend. Don’t want him dying while he’s still useful.” He tossed her across the room, and she landed on her knees with a quiet oomph.
He stared at her backside, lust flashing in his normally cold gaze. And I wanted nothing more than to blast his dick off right then and there. Harper got to her feet, and with her head held high, she walked out of the room. Zeph laughed and followed her.
“Jade? Oh goddess. How are we going to get out of this?” Willa asked with a tremble in her voice.
I didn’t answer. I didn’t have one to give her.
The storm raged outside, rain pelting on the windows, drumming on the roof, and gushing over the sides of the gutters. The force of it was so loud I almost couldn’t hear Zeph’s demands.
But still his voice cut through the rumbling thunder and the rustling of limbs against the house. “Let it go, Jade. Will your magic to me.”
We’d been moved back to the ballroom. My feet were still shackled together, but my arms had been zip-tied to a high-backed velvet armchair. Willa and Harper sat in two identical chairs, the three of us forming a large triangle with Zeph right in the middle of us. Willa was chained around the middle while Harper was free to move around at will, though if she didn’t obey Zeph’s every order, he threatened to end Liam’s life for good.
The musician was lying on the floor at Zeph’s feet, blood soaking his chest. He was barely conscious, his breathing shallow and his skin so pale he looked like death had already taken him.
“The sooner you give me what I want, the sooner this nightmare will end for all of us. Don’t you want to be a gracious guest, Jade?” he said conversationally, as if I’d walked in and asked for this bullshit.
What he wanted was my magic. He wanted to steal it, build his power, and then I suspected he’d steal Harper’s and Willa’s too once their dragon powers had been unleashed. We’d be used up and cast aside while he went on to wreak havoc and destruction through New Orleans. I understood what he wanted, but I didn’t understand his reasons.
“Why?” I asked him, not bothering to hide my defiance. “What happened to you that you’re so determined to steal our power?”
His eyes flashed with fire, the flames licking at his pupils. “That’s none of your business.”
“Oh, I think it is,” I spat out. “You want me to willingly give you my power. Don’t I at least deserve to know why you need it so badly?”
“I could just take it from you,” he said.
“You could. But since you aren’t, I’m guessing there’s a reason you need me to give you my magic of my own free will. I’m not going to until you tell me the truth.” My words were full of bravado I didn’t actually possess. I knew that in the end, if it meant saving my daughter or saving myself, I’d do what I had to in order to keep her safe even if it meant succumbing to his barbaric demands. But I had to try.
He chuckled. “Nice try, Calhoun. We both know you’re outmaneuvered here.” He glanced down at Liam then at Willa and Harper. “I bet you wouldn’t like to see your friends suffer.” Without any other warning, he stomped down on Liam’s shoulder, making the violinist nearly levitate right off the floor as he screamed in pain.
I glanced away while Harper flung a string of obscenities at Zeph. They weren’t my friends exactly, but that didn’t mean I could stomach watching them suffer.
“What happened to you?” I tried again. “Were you born with a black soul?”
He stared flatly at me.
“No mother to love you? An abusive father?”
Still silence other than the storm raging outside.
“What is it, Zeph? Did your first girlfriend rip your heart out and shred it, and now you need to prove to the world just how much you matter?”
“Shut up,” he said. “That’s enough.”
“Ah, so
that’s it. You were scorned by a woman. What did she do to you? Cheat? Drop you for someone more powerful?”
“Delphinia did not drop me for—”
“Delphinia!” I cried. “She was your girlfriend?”
His face turned so red it verged on purple. “Give me your magic!”
Delphinia was the witch who had been at the center of trying to unleash the dragon soul that had infected Conor Wells just two months ago. If Zeph was in love with her, his obsession with dragons suddenly made all the sense in the world. “So, you thought that if you became a dragon you’d get Delphinia back, is that it? You know she’s locked away for her crimes, right?”
“Of course I know,” he spat out. “But when I possess your power and that of the dragon, no one will be able to stop me. Delphinia and I will show everyone what this world can really be. We’ll unleash her ancestor together and rule over the witches, the angels, and eliminate the demons altogether. Think about what this world can really be like. No more angel-demon wars. No more black magic. With the dragons as protectors, the world will be safe again, free of evil and pain.”
He was a madman. Delusional in the extreme. “You mean free of people like you?” I asked with a humorless laugh. “You’ll never eradicate all evil. Especially when it clearly lives inside you.”
“I’m a product of the world I live in. Now give me your magic!” He lunged for me. I clamped down hard on my magic, shielding it just like I did my empath abilities when I didn’t want others’ emotions overwhelming me. My imaginary glass silo went up around me and I held steady, unwilling to give him what he wanted.
His hand wrapped around my throat, and he leaned in so close I could smell the whiskey on his breath. “You will willingly give me your power, or I will choke the life out of you, save your child, and raise her as my own. When she trusts me, she’ll give me her power and I’ll free Delphinia. The two of us will rule with your daughter as ours.”
Pure, unadulterated rage welled up inside me, and I wanted nothing more than to blast him with my magic, but I instinctively understood what he was trying to do. If I used my magic on him now, he’d only take it for himself, wear me down, and then try to coerce me again.