I fumed as I paced the suite of rooms I'd been assigned, arguing with myself. I could have done more to escape this predicament. How had I gone from rescuing Charlotte-easy peasy in and outsie-to being pinned down by a pair of European stalkers in an ancient hotel in the outback of the Ukraine?So much grief in so little time. I really should have been used to being imprisoned in fancy quarters. Happened pretty frequently. But this time, I was here by choice.Okay, not really. I had put my foot down when Finlay tried to deliver me back home, taking a firm hold on his power and forcing him to put us down outside the gates to Yure's territory. For the first time, I saw the young Enforcer's temper flare, but I didn't really give a damn what he thought.Thanks to him, Charlotte was still back there. And now I knew her fate, no way was I leaving her in Yure's clutches. Not when the girl I knew was so broken she couldn't even fight to protect herself."I'm going back in there," I snarled
I came out of the dark as angry as I went in. It felt like swimming to the surface of a boiling lake, freezing cold beneath, flaming hot at the top. My demon practically leaped from my body when we surfaced into consciousness, pulling me upright, amber fire scorching the air around me.Surrounded, blackness everywhere, the hum of werewolf energy, the pooling dark of sorcery. Yure Danko obviously had more he wanted to say to me.And I had so much more to tell him. Though I would let my actions speak.Let's see what a long, painful death did for his sense of godhood."Please, wait." My eyes tried to focus, heart pounding in time with my demon's pants, my vampire's hissing loud in my head even as the ground beneath me rumbled, Shaylee sharing her unhappiness. "We're not your enemies."What a load of-Hang on. No one attacked. In fact, I felt magic retreating. No way would the so-called Czar and his people give me the chance to get my feet under me, to shake the delirium of the black
Someone fired up the engine, the truck coughing once into the night before roaring to life. I heard others doing the same around us as I settled into the sagging seat jerry-rigged to the covered bed of the truck. My companion perched beside me on the curve of metal over the back wheel, thigh pressed to mine, one arm around the back of my seat while Raoul crouched, in perfect balance despite the roughness of the ride, his eyes glowing in wolfish intensity as the beast within him kept him stable."You're wondering who we are," Blondie said as casually as though we sat over a cup of coffee, not bouncing our way down a rutted track through the dark forest in a rattling death trap so loud he had to almost shout to be heard. I peeked out the open back, missing the light of the moon, even as a pair of headlights flared to life right in my eyes from a following vehicle. I looked away, squinting, catching the smile on the young sorcerer's face, the speculation.The nearness of his lips.Want
The large, stone house looked like someone's ancestral farm, just this side of an estate, really, outbuildings and fences leading off into the darkness. A single light burned over the red-painted front door. I followed Piers as he led the way, others closing in around me from the other two vehicles. The faces of the sorcerers Piers brought with him were young, two girls, two guys, though the werewolves were all older and few in number, considering the horde I'd met at Yure's palace.Outnumbered and outgunned? Story of my life.The warm interior hit me like a blow, hot air almost as big a shock to my system as the drug they'd used to subdue me. The place smelled of wood smoke and meat, my stomach growling at the latter.Oppressive dark-paneled walls pushed down on me as I walked the narrow hall, a few doors on either side closed to view. My hands clenched in my pockets as we turned through the last doorway at the end of the corridor and into a large study.A massive fire blazed in a
Quiet settled over the room, the air so thick with oppression my chest felt tight."My friend, Galleytrot, was able to free Raoul." I met the werewolf's eyes. "And Charlotte and some of her friends. I know he can help the rest of you."Oleksander nodded, sitting forward again, hunger flaring in the wolf that rose to his face for a moment. A grizzled muzzle and fiery eyes transformed him from a man to a were and back again. "He did, you are correct. But the bond he destroyed was the one to the Dumont family. We are still created from the sorcerers, and once the Czar had possession of Raoul and the others again, he was able to reestablish his hold.""Is it like the bond?" I really had no freaking clue. But if I could free them all permanently, I would."No," Oleksander said. "The bond is something entirely different. Done on purpose, with purpose, by the werewolf to one he or she chooses to protect out of love or duty." He growled softly under his breath in Ukrainian before going on.
The air beside Piers shuddered with shadow only a moment before Isabelle appeared. I almost jumped out of my seat, a meep of shock escaping at her sudden arrival and, for a heartbeat, I was afraid the gig was up and Gwendolyn and Finlay would arrive right behind her.But the lack of werewolf reaction to her appearance, the way Oleksander greeted the vampire with a nod of welcome, made my stomach squirm with suspicion."You've been working with them all along." Came out as an accusation and I meant it as one.Isabelle nodded, biting her bottom lip. "I'm sorry, Sydlynn," she said. "I'm the reason the werewolves and Steam Union knew where to find you.""Sunny will be thrilled to know you're not faithful to your blood clan." Not fair, really. After all, this bunch proved themselves trustworthy, at least so far. And we had the same goal, to free Charlotte. But my jab had the desired effect, Isabelle's face crumpling in upset as she wrung her slim, white hands."I swear that's not true.
We didn't return to the study, but retreated back toward the front of the house and through another doorway, into a wide foyer. I saw an open pair of doors on the far side, more light reaching us, and realized we'd only been in one wing of the big house. I pulled my hand free of Piers's as we entered what looked like a dining room. But there was no food on the table, much to my stomach's displeasure. Instead, a large map of the countryside spread over its surface, the palace in the center.It was even bigger than I thought, if I was reading the scale of the map correctly. Had to be larger than a couple of football fields. Who lived in such opulence?As much as I loved Charlotte and everything, part of me had to agree with the revolution, which brought down the Romanovs, if this was their idea of a country house.A short, narrow-shouldered sorcerer, his red hair and freckles making him seem younger than he probably was squinted at Piers through his round glasses, a glare of light ref
I walked back down the hall to the bedroom I'd found, grateful Raoul was long gone. The door snicked shut behind me as I used a little magic to lock it.Reasonably sure now I wouldn't be disturbed, I reached for the veil and tore it open. Ahbi's power poured out toward me, my demon grandmother's spirit now part of the Node keeping Demonicon's multiple planes stable. I held back as she tried to draw me into the veil, instead allowing my demon ego to connect with her."Grandmother." I felt her power ripple, pause, listen. "I need a favor."Her magic shuddered, hugged me."My friend Charlotte has been kidnapped." I let Ahbi feel Charlotte as a reminder, but she shoved that aside with impatience. Okay then, she got the message, knew exactly who I was talking about. The flashing image of my werefriend as a freaky creature with black scales and oddly jointed legs made me shudder. "Right," I said. "Exactly."Her magic prodded me, now impatient. Nice to know some things never changed. Ahb