Silver groaned as her father’s voice reverberated through her apartment. “Silver,” he said in his most intimidating bellow, “come out here right this minute.”
“Now, Victor,” came Moondust’s soothing voice through the thin wall. “You can’t barge in on her. This is her home, not yours.”
“The spells I can’t,” he roared.
Hawk shifted as Silver floundered for a rumpled sheet. She yanked it over their naked bodies a second before her father stormed into her bedroom.
“Hi, Father,” she said, trying to keep a calm expression.
For precious seconds, he stood in the doorway, blustering, his face a deep crimson, his jowls vibrating. Silver almost grinned—she’d never seen her father so flustered.
He was a huge, hulking man who appeared stout rather than overweight. He wore tailored suits, and his eyes were a deep, penetrating brown. He’d always reminded her of the mafia bosses she’d seen on TV.
“What in the name of—” his words cut off, as if he was unable to think of another.
For the first time Silver could remember, Victor Ashcroft was speechless.
Moondust pushed her way past him as Silver eased up in bed so that her back was to the headboard, the sheet pulled tight over her breasts.
Silver glanced at Hawk to see him lying on his side, his head propped up on his hand, his elbow on the bed, and the sheet hanging loosely around his trim hips. His dark hair was rumpled, and he had sexy morning stubble on his cheeks. His appraising eyes focused on her father.
“My apologies, honey.” Moondust moved close enough to the bed to clasp one of Silver’s hands. “You know your father. He loves you and thinks you’re still his little witch.”
“Father, you’ve got to get over it. I’m not a child.” Silver looked at her father and the heat creeping up her cheeks was like fire due to the fact that her parents were standing close while she was in bed, naked, with her lover, who was equally bare. “Would you mind?”
Moondust studied Hawk. “Who are you, dear? You are not human, are you,” she said, more as a statement than a question.
“Hawk,” he said in his husky, sexy brogue, and Silver shivered from the sensual sound of it. “I am D’Danann. And you are—”
“D-D’Danann?” Victor clenched his fists at his sides, and strode toward the bed. If they could have, his eyes would have been smoking, the way he was looking at Silver. “You summoned one of the D’Danann. A Fae from Otherworld?” He gestured toward Hawk. “And you bedded it?”
“Him.” Silver glared at her father and fisted the bed sheet in her hands. She couldn’t believe they were having this conversation now. “Never refer to Hawk like that again.” She waved one hand toward the doorway. “Out of my room. Now.”
Victor’s face grew darker and after another few seconds of blustering, he turned like a stiff toy soldier and marched from the room. “You had better hurry, young witch,” he grumbled.
Moondust squeezed Silver’s hand again, and she smiled. “Take your time, sweetheart.”
“Thanks, Mother.” Silver gave Moondust a quick kiss on her smooth cheek. She smelled of vanilla and brown sugar, a scent that always comforted Silver, reminding her of her childhood.
When Moondust closed the door behind her, Silver groaned again and covered her face with the sheet. All she saw was white, reminding her that she now had to confront her father about her decision to become a gray witch. Facing him would be like trying to stand up to a tornado and not get sucked up in its fury.
A shadow passed over her, then she felt the press of lips against hers as Hawk kissed her through the thin cotton. His lips were warm, firm. She melted from the light touch and wished they had time for another round of hot, exciting sex.
He pulled the sheet away from her face and gave her a crooked grin. “We’ve apparently been summoned. By beings almost as fearsome as my Chieftains. Your mother—she is quite…interesting.”
With a smile for Hawk, she stretched her muscles, which ached pleasurably from the wonderful bout of lovemaking. She gave him a lazy, sensual look. She moved just right, and the sheet fell from her breasts. He hissed out one long breath that made her shiver with desire all over again.
He dipped his head and laved each of her nipples with his hot tongue. Silver gave a soft moan and arched her breasts. She reached for him beneath the sheet and wrapped her fingers around his thickness. It pleased her that he was so hard, so ready for her.
“Silver!” Victor Ashcroft shouted from the other side of the door.
Hawk captured her mouth in a quick kiss before urging her out of bed. He swatted her ass and she squealed as she hurried into the bathroom.
To Otherworld with Father, Silver thought as she took a warm shower to refresh herself. As far as she was concerned he could just wait until she was good and ready to come out of her bedroom.
When she finished, she dressed in snug black jeans, a black silk blouse, and black heeled boots. The outfit gave her a feeling of power and confidence. And she knew her father hated that she didn’t wear robes or dresses all the time as he thought a good witch should.
Silver combed her fingers through her hair, drying the long strands with her magic in just moments. When she finished, her hair hung in long ringlets to her waist.
While Hawk took a shower, she strode out of the bedroom to meet her parents, after closing the door behind her.
It smelled wonderful—of cheese, potatoes, eggs, and fresh herbs, a recipe she recognized immediately as Moondust’s breakfast casserole.
In the small kitchen, Moondust wore Silver’s kiss the witch apron as she prepared breakfast. She used her magic to make fresh orange juice. The orange halves squeezed themselves over a pitcher, one by one, as Moondust busied herself with drawing out plates and silverware.
Silver’s stomach grumbled.
She turned her gaze to her father, who sat on her couch. Her stomach pitched and she immediately lost her appetite.
Even sitting down, Victor could intimidate a warrior in full battle gear. Although she couldn’t begin to imagine Hawk feeling threatened. Polaris had draped himself over her father, and Victor slowly stroked the python’s head.
Traitor snake.
Silver sat on the loveseat across from her father and tried to relax. She crossed her legs at her knees and met her father’s eyes. She caught his scent of cherry pipe tobacco and spicy aftershave, and it brought back memories of her childhood, almost making her feel like a kid again.
“Not only did you summon creatures you had no business calling,” he said without preamble, “but you slept with one of the Fae. A full-blooded Otherworlder. Have you any idea what kind of trouble or what kind of pain you’re asking for?”
“What do you know of it?” Icy heat washed her cheeks, pushing away the earlier thoughts of her childhood. “Who I sleep with is none of your concern.” She clenched the ends of her armchair. “The issues here have nothing to do with my choice of bed partner—”
“The spells they don’t!” Victor pushed his bulk from his seat, letting Polaris drop to the couch. The snake hissed and gave her father what amounted to a snaky scowl, then slithered across the floor to Silver, where Victor now towered.
His finger shook as he pointed it at her. “Dark sorcery. Summoning beings beyond your control is prohibited.”
Returning her father’s glare, Silver jumped to her feet, and almost bumped into him. She wasn’t about to back down, not for a second. “I told you I practice gray magic. I will use magic to defend my people, my loved ones, and myself. And if that means attacking evil before it attacks us, then so be it.”
Victor turned an unusual shade of purple. Before he had a chance to utter a word, Hawk shoved open the bedroom door. He had dressed in his leathers, his sheathed sword and dagger at his sides. His eyes almost glowed with fury directed at Victor.
Hawk’s presence was powerful and commanding, and Silver couldn’t help the thrill that blossomed in her belly at the sight of him. He was so blessed sexy, right from his dark hair brushing his shoulders, to his sculpted jaw, on down to his broad chest, trim hips, and athletic thighs. He was delicious in every sense of the word.
“Hear your daughter before you condemn her,” Hawk said in a slow, measured, and controlled voice, jolting her from her thoughts. “If you do not wish for all your kind to be extinguished, you would do well to understand the situation.”
“I understand well enough.” Victor’s eyes narrowed and his fingertips sparked with his anger. He would never hurt anyone, but he’d been known to be so angry that inanimate objects in the immediate vicinity would self-combust.
“Sit.” Hawk’s tone was lethal this time, like a dagger plunging into ice—for a demonstration of what it might do to human flesh.
One of Silver’s crystal vases crackled. The glass shattered across one of her storage chests, and dried blooms tumbled to the floor.
She sighed. Two vases in just a couple of days.
“Control yourself.” Moondust appeared out of nowhere, suddenly at the center of the room, and she gently pushed Victor back until he sat on the couch. Springs creaked from his bulk, and he found himself with a plate of breakfast casserole in one hand, fresh squeezed orange juice in the other.
“Moon—” he started, but Moondust silenced him by narrowing her eyes and shoving a spoonful of casserole into his mouth.
“Eat,” she commanded. “Then we will discuss this like rational witches.”
Victor swallowed, then harrumphed. He placed his juice glass on an end table, and with a scowl dug into his breakfast.
Moondust turned on Hawk next. To Silver’s surprise, he lowered his head in something like a respectful bow. Then Silver and Hawk found their hands full with breakfast plates and juice glasses, Moondust using a bit of magic to manipulate them all.
Her mother was not a D’Anu witch, but Silver always had the feeling she was far more powerful than anyone truly knew.
Moondust kept the conversation light while the rest of them glared at one another. As they ate, she talked about the latest gossip on all of Silver’s aunts, uncles, and cousins, not to mention a few of the more eccentric members of their Massachusetts D’Anu Coven.
As she spoke, Moondust’s soothing presence gradually won out, and Silver found herself relaxing. Some.
Whenever she glanced at her father, she couldn’t help but remember the times he had taught her beginning spells and how to make healing potions. He could be overbearing when he was upset, but he truly had a soft heart beneath that intimidating presence.
Hawk, on the other hand, looked like a true predator as he observed Silver’s father. He ate at least three helpings of breakfast casserole. Victor matched Hawk plate for plate, and watched Hawk just as closely as Hawk watched him.
If the situation they were in with the Fomorii hadn’t been so dire. Silver would have giggled at the two of them. Men.
The entire time, Polaris draped himself over Moondust’s shoulders, his head raised and turning to observe each of them. The familiar had slid up the armrest the moment she sat down, apparently to find the best place to be in the center of the action.
When Moondust made the last empty plate disappear to settle in the kitchen sink, she perched like a small bird on the edge of one armchair. Polaris curled up like a beehive on the chair’s cushion to the side of her.
Varying shades of amethyst clothing draped Moondust’s petite figure. A peasant blouse was tucked into a loose flowing skirt that reached the tops of her sandaled feet. She wore her platinum-gray hair pinned up with a Celtic-knot pin, and wore only silver and amethyst jewelry, including the pentagram that glittered at her throat.
Victor leaned forward, one meaty hand braced on the couch arm, and opened his mouth to speak.
Moondust held her slender hand up, silencing him with just that gesture. “Hear them out, Victor.”
He scowled, but snapped his jaws shut and leaned back in his chair. His entire posture remained rigid, and by the look in his eyes, Silver knew this wasn’t going to be easy.
She started by explaining almost everything in detail that had occurred over the past four days, leaving out the parts about how she had been drawn to the dark.
Has it only been four days that all of this has occurred?
She started with the Pagan witch rituals and slayings, and her participation with the PSF when she’d led them to the crime scenes. She told Victor and Moondust about Hawk coming to warn her about the demons; the vision of the warlocks calling up the Fomorii from Underworld; the demons attacking the D’Anu and the witches being taken away.
Silver continued to explain about summoning Hawk; their rescue of the three witches; and finishing with the summoning of the ten additional D’Danann last night.
When Silver finished, she studied her father, trying to read his expression. “I won’t sit by and wait for them to attack again, Father. Next time it could be you or Mother, not to mention all of the witches here, under my protection. I will do what I have to in order to guard my own.”
Victor eyed her steadily. “Even sorcery?”
“No.” Silver shook her head, her hair sliding over her shoulders with the movement. “Never.”
“You summoned these warriors.” Victor gestured toward Hawk. Her father’s eyes and voice were hard, cold. “Warriors kill, child. Warriors mean death to any they face and best in battle. That is not our way. That you would bring forth any agents of death is gray magic.”
“Enough.” Hawk surged to his feet, gripping the hilt of his sheathed sword with one hand. “You have no idea the power the Fomorii command, what they will do to your people, to your world.”
Silver had never seen Hawk look as furious as he did at that moment. “You are only tools or food to them,” he said. “That is their way. They must either be eliminated or returned to exile. There are no other choices.”
“Then they must be sent away, not murdered.” Victor rose to his feet and clasped Moondust’s hand, drawing her up beside him. “We have reservations at a hotel in Union Square.”
His features hardened even more. “We will return tomorrow to determine how to banish the beasts back to where they came from. We will do it in the D’Anu way, with white witchcraft. We will not kill them.”
Hawk clenched his jaw and remained where he stood, but Silver went after her parents as Victor led Moondust to the door.
“Please don’t leave the shop,” Silver begged. “It’s too dangerous out there in the streets.” She placed her hand on her mother’s arm. “Stay here. We—we need you here. There are so few of us—”
Her voice broke.
Moondust moved away from her husband and Silver, and stepped back to speak quietly with Hawk. Silver stared at her father, hoping for some change in his expression, some warmth.
“Father, please. I want to keep you safe from the Fomorii.”
“Nonsense.” Victor jerked the door open so hard the hinges loosened and the door rattled. “If there is any call to, I will protect your mother and myself. Moondust!”
Silver stood straighter. Clenched her hands at her sides. “You don’t understand. The demons are deadly. They have no regard for human or witch life.”
“No, young witch. You don’t understand.” Victor’s glower would have razed a skyscraper even as he took his wife’s hand. “I know all of that and more, and I still choose white magic. I still choose the D’Anu way. If I die, then it’s my time, and I’ll damned well die principled and—and clean."
That last word struck Silver like a slap. Her head actually jerked and she took a step back. She turned away from her father in helpless disgust.
Moondust stroked a lock of Silver’s hair away from her cheek. “We’ll be fine, sweetheart. I’m sure your father will figure out how to rid the city of these vermin.
“Blessed be, Hawk,” Moondust said with a serene smile before she followed Victor out the door.
Silver bit her lower lip as the door shut with a loud thump behind her parents. She suddenly felt exhausted, her body aching from the past few days. She might be a witch, but she could still feel tired and drained.
Hawk came up behind her and drew her back to his chest “They’ll be all right,” he murmured as he kissed the top of her head. “Both your parents are powerful witches.”
“My mother isn’t D’Anu. Just father.” Silver sank against him, allowing his strength to seep into her. “And my Coven wasn’t safe.”
Hawk turned her in his arms and pressed his lips to hers, silencing her. His kiss was warm, tender, and sent that now familiar thrill throughout her body.
When he raised his head, he smiled.
She could barely breathe, much less return his smile.
“After we brought you home, my comrades and I discussed working out a plan.” He twisted his finger in one of her long curls. “We’ll draw the Fomorii out. We will find a way to send them back to Underworld.”
She sighed.
“No matter what, you have me,” Hawk said. Silver could only bury her face against his chest, drinking in his scent, enjoying the feel of his arms around her. At that moment, in his strong embrace, it was easy to imagine everything would be all right.
A sudden intense sensation in the depths of her gut, of something desperately wrong, screamed to her that she was dreaming. Things were not going to be all right. They were about to get far worse.
The feeling was so strong that Silver pushed Hawk away. Stumbled to her kitchen.
“Silver?” he called behind her, but she couldn’t answer. Her thoughts were flying, telling her that she had to find out what was wrong, before it was too late.
When she reached her cabinet, she snatched her scrying cauldron, set it on the floor, filled it with water from the jug, and dropped to her knees. Trembling, her eyes focused on the rippling water.
Vaguely, in the background she could hear Hawk’s voice, the concern in his tone. Felt his hand on her shoulder. But she was already fixed on the vision as the fog rose up to unfold before her. His voice faded until she was gone from the room and completely into the vision, as if she were there, witnessing everything that was happening.
Darkwolf held the stone eye in his hand, his eyes closed, as if communicating with the eye.
Silver’s gaze lingered over him. She noticed his lashes. So long and black against the light tan of his skin. The angular cut of his jaw, the cleft in his chin. He was so handsome, so striking, and yet he cut an imposing figure that caused something strange to swirl in Silver’s belly.
When Darkwolf opened his eyes, their blackness burned with fire, and Silver felt as if he were looking directly at her, as if he knew she was watching him commune with the stone eye.
He turned to a man and commanded him to arrange to have a taxi near a certain business within the hour. To station a man across the street with a phone to give the signal.
The warlock priest uttered the address, and Silver’s skin chilled. It’s the address to the shop.
Panic crawled up her throat. Was this scene happening now, or had time already passed?
That vision faded. Other figures emerged from the mist, their forms growing stronger, fuller.
Mother and Father!
Victor and Moondust Ashcroft exited through the front door of Silver’s shop. He didn’t even spare a glance for Eric—who was manning the front register.
Victor slammed the door shut, causing the warding bells to jangle like an earthquake had just unsettled them. He cast a quick warding on the door with a flick of his fingers. He spotted a man across the street talking on a cell phone, but other than that, the street was silent
And then everything happened so quickly, Silver’s head spun from the speed of the vision.
Victor raised his head and started down the street, Moondust in tow. He practically dragged his wife along the steep hill, his face still red with fury.
Moondust jerked her hand from his and stopped on the sidewalk. Victor turned to her. When he saw her disapproving expression, he hung his head in shame. “I am sorry, my dearest. I shouldn’t take my anger out on you.”
She propped her hands on her slim hips, her jewelry glittering in what sunlight made it through the fog. “Silver is old enough to make her own choices. She is doing what she thinks is right.”
Moondust’s uncharacteristic frown deepened. “I don’t believe for a moment she would turn to the dark side of magic. In your heart you know that’s true. You love Silver and you should let her know it, rather than stomping around like a deranged hippopotamus.”
“You’re right.” He heaved a heavy sigh. “I love my little witch, and I should have told her so. I will tomorrow.”
“You might consider telling her the truth, too.” Moondust moved closer to him and cupped his cheek. “It’s time for her to know. It will explain much to her.”
“That’s why I’m afraid to tell her,” Victor said, his shoulders slumping slightly before turning his attention to the street.
A yellow cab crested the hill and he muttered a quick thanks to the Ancestors for the taxi appearing on this deserted street just when they needed it. “We’ll discuss everything further once we reach our hotel,” he said to Moondust as he signaled to the taxi and it slowed.
She held back, frowning, like something didn’t feel right to her. She visibly shivered, as if a haunt slithered along her spine.
Inside the vision, Silver tried to cry out to her parents. “No. Something’s wrong!”
The cabbie jumped out of the car. He had a quick grin behind a dark beard, and looked like most other cabbies she’d seen. He opened the back door. A man in a tailored suit sat in the cab, and when Victor asked, “Is it all right with you?” the man replied, “I don’t mind sharing the cab. Not at all.”
Moondust sniffed the air, as if catching the scent of something foul. She cast one last nervous glance back to Silver’s shop, then slid inside the taxi. Victor followed, hefting in his bulk, squeezing his wife between himself and the other man in the back seat.
The moment her parents were in the cab, the driver whipped a syringe out of his pants pocket and in a flash jammed the needle into Victor’s neck.
Silver screamed and Moondust jerked her head up.
As Victor collapsed against Moondust, she cried out. Brought her hands together to perform a spell. Before she could do anything, the other man in the car stuck a syringe into Moondust’s neck. Her eyes fluttered shut. Her body went limp.
“No!” Silver screamed. “No, no, no!”
The next thing she knew she was in Hawk’s arms, but she was fighting to free herself.
“They’ve taken Mother and Father.” She finally pushed herself from Hawk, frantic, her heart pounding like crazy. “We’ve got to help them!”
Before Hawk could stop her, Silver bolted from the kitchen.
Hawk cursed beneath his breath. He shouted to alert the other D’Danann warriors they were needed. By the time Silver and Hawk had pounded down the stairs, Garrett, Keir, and Sher were waiting at the front door of the shop.
Damn the gods, the rest must still be on Rhiannon’s foster parents’ houseboat.
Hawk cast a glance at Eric, who tossed his dark hair out of his face. He watched the four D’Danann and Silver exit out the door with a curious expression on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Eric called after them, but no one paused even a second to respond.
“A cab. Just down this street.” Silver’s terror rose as she pointed in the direction she had seen the cab travel in her vision. It wasn’t there now. She started running. “You know, a yellow car with a sign—a thing on top.”
Hawk’s voice was a growl. “We will meet them at the demon lair before the Fomorii have a chance to take your parents inside.”
He gave her a quick look, concern and anger twisting within him at the same time. “Get back into your store, where you’ll be safe.”
Silver clenched her fists. “I am going to go, with or without you.”
“No,” Hawk said flatly. This time he was in control, he was making the decisions. Without waiting for a response, he unfurled his wings and ordered the other three D’Danann to follow him.
In seconds the four warriors pushed their bodies into the sky, pumping their wings, leaving a panic-stricken Silver behind.
“Bless it!” Silver cried as she jogged down the street, trying to follow the four.
The D’Danann were too swift, and as much as she wished to, she couldn’t sprout wings like they could. And unfortunately, unlike mythical witches, she couldn’t ride a broom.
Silver stopped and whirled around. Her breathing came hard and fast from running down the steep street. A mixture of emotions raged through her. Fear for her parents. Fear for Hawk. Fear for all the D’Danann.
And a deep sense of foreboding...something in addition to her parents’ abduction.
She hurried to the shop. She had to get to her car, but she hadn’t brought her keys down with her. When she reached it, she felt as if a lava rock weighted her belly, hot and heavy.
Warding bells tinkled when she pushed open Moon Song’s door and hurried inside. She wanted to zap the bells for sounding so damn cheerful.
A customer stood at the counter, and Silver barely noticed that Eric was absent from his post at the register. He had probably darted into the storeroom to get something for the customer.
Her boot steps were heavy as she hurried toward the kitchen. She was thankful there were only a couple of customers in the shop. She ignored their curious looks and pushed her way behind the café counter and through the kitchen door.
The scent of patchouli incense rose above the smells of fresh baked cornbread and homemade chili. No doubt Cassia had chosen that scent for protection.
Cassia’s back was to the door and she started when the door slammed behind Silver. The apprentice jumped and black stones tumbled out of her hands and onto the kitchen floor. She quickly scrambled to gather the stones. “I can get them,” she said when Silver stooped beside her.
“What in the goddess’s name?” Silver’s hand trembled as she picked up a smooth black hematite stone and held it in her palm. A gold rune was cut into its surface. “What are you doing with these?” she asked as her gaze rose to meet Cassia’s. “Who made them?”
The witch paused for a heartbeat, licked her lips, and raised her chin. “I was reading my rune stones. I created them.”
Silver blinked. Cassia was supposed to be a young apprentice. She shouldn’t know how to read rune stones yet, much less have the power to make a set of her own. Not until she had served at least her twenty years and one day as an apprentice. Only then would she be an Adept. “You what?”
The witch’s words tumbled over one another like leaves over grass as Silver stared at her. “I know I have much to explain, but now is not the time.”
“You’re an Adept?” The fiery rock in Silver’s belly grew heavier and hotter as she tried to absorb Cassia’s words. “How can I trust you—you’re not who I thought you were, are you?”
Cassia straightened and visibly changed. Her features looked more confident, her shoulders back, her hands relaxed. “Trust me. I’m here to help.”
At this moment, Silver didn’t even trust her senses, much less blindly trust Cassia. Those same senses had failed to know the witch was an Adept. Or was Cassia even a witch?
But why then had her parents allowed her to come from the Massachusetts Coven to work with Silver? Why had Janis allowed it? Why had they all brushed off Silver’s concerns?
Demons...my parents being taken…my father talking about telling me the truth...Cassia being an Adept... What is going on here?
Too many mysteries. Too many threads to unwind.
Silver ground her teeth and clenched her fist around the rune stone she held. ‘Tell me who you are. What you are.”
Cassia sighed and let the rest of the rune stones tumble onto the countertop. “I can’t.”
“Yes you can!” Silver shouted, all her anger, her fury, her fear for her parents combining into one ball of energy that caused her hair to rise from her scalp and her fingertips to crackle.
Cassia shook her head, almost sadly. “It is up to your parents to tell you.”
“My parents?” Silver almost screamed. “Then leave!” She slammed the rune stone she held onto the countertop next to the others scattered across its surface.
Silver started toward the stairs, to hurry to her apartment for her car keys.
But a gasp from Cassia brought Silver’s attention to her and the rune stones. Silver’s heart thudded as the witch studied them.
“Things are not going as planned,” Cassia said in a fearful tone.
She turned totally away from Silver and ran one finger lightly over the stones. “I told them not to leave the shop.”
It took everything Silver had not to shake the witch, or whatever she was. “What in the goddess’s name are you talking about?”
Cassia turned back to Silver. Suddenly she could see wisdom beyond wisdom in Cassia’s blue eyes. Eyes that almost seemed to glow.
“You have many choices to make, Silver Ashcroft,” Cassia said in a strange voice that was as if not her own. “One of them is to choose whether or not I am to leave, or to remain at your side. If I were not here to help, I could have hurt you long ago.”
Silver studied those incredible eyes that had a new familiarity to them.
“My family or Janis would never have let you near me if they didn’t trust you.” The words left Silver in a rush. “You’ve done me no harm that I know of. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. For now.”
She turned back to the stairs. “But right now there are more important things. Like saving my parents.”
Hawk’s wings sliced through chill, wet San Francisco air as he led the other D’Danann toward the Fomorii’s lair at the hotel. Using mind-speak, Hawk briefed the others on what had happened and their current mission. With their magic, they were cloaked from human sight, but could still see one another.
“Foolish,” Keir growled through their mind-link as they soared up and over a tall brown building. “These are but two of many lives to save. We need to make plans. We need the others.”
Before Hawk could respond, Sher said, “Keir is right. You know that, Hawk.”
Garrett just gave Hawk a look of support.
“We must save them.” Hawk practically yelled in mind- speak as they dodged a church spire. “They are two of the most powerful of their kind. More importantly, they are Silver’s parents. I know she has lost her sister as well, and her Coven. Another unbearable pain might kill her spirit.”
There was no time left to argue as they arrived at the hotel. A yellow vehicle was pulled up to the curb. Only a short red carpet beneath a striped awning separated the car from the hotel doors.
No doubt it was two Fomorii posing as men who wrestled with the large, bulky, and unconscious Victor Ashcroft, trying to drag his body from the vehicle. The male witch was half in, half out of the cab.
When he glanced through the back window of the car, Hawk saw Moondust wasn’t there. Fury rocked him. The Fomorii already had Silver’s mother in their lair.
The D’Danann attacked, their hands turning into deadly claws which they used to rip away the awning. Unfortunately the D’Danann could not remain cloaked when in battle, so the Fomorii could easily see who their attackers were.
It took a single rake of Hawk’s nails to tear the throat of one of the Fomorii in his human form, beheading him at the same time. As the man dropped, his body shifted into a Fomorii demon. Blood spurted across the red carpet and onto the sidewalk as the body pitched forward. The head was flung against the window of the hotel, leaving a splatter and a blood slick as it slid down the glass pane and dropped to the ground, before crumbling away.
Screams rent the air. Hawk spared a glance to see two human women across the street, and heard more screams coming from inside the hotel.
He didn’t have another second to think about onlookers, or how to retrieve Victor Ashcroft from the car. Two more demons bounded from the hotel and attacked the D’Danann.
“Command our retreat,” Keir demanded of Hawk as they battled. “We cannot fight them now.”
“Destroy these bastards. Save Silver’s father.” Hawk dove, sword drawn, avoiding claws. Tried to slice his weapon across a beast’s neck, but missed.
From somewhere came a woman’s sharp, eager laughter. The sound chilled Hawk even in the heat of the fight. He spun to slay the demon attacking him, but missed again. When the beast’s claws swiped at him, he saw sunlight gleam off the tips. A foul magical aura surrounded those tips.
“What in the name of—” Hawk wheeled in the air to find Garrett.
Garrett was battling with his usual skill and finesse, his sword flashing a brilliant hue as he lunged for one of the demons.
The Fomorii swiped at Garrett in a movement so fast it caught the D’Danann off guard. The demon snatched Hawk’s friend from the air by one leg, sinking those shiny, magic-infested claws into Garrett’s leg and yanking him down.
“Gods!” Garrett shouted as he tried to push himself back into the air. “Their claws. Watch out for their claws!”
Garrett gave a fierce warrior cry. He sliced his sword across the Fomorii’s throat, where its skin was thinnest. The demon was not beheaded. Its throat instantly healed.
Hawk had the disturbing sense that Garrett was fighting the demon who had laughed that hideous-bitch laughter. He folded his wings and plunged toward Garrett.
Garrett shouted as he tried to fly up. Tried to push himself away from the Fomorii and the melee. He should have been able to escape. But just as he rose, another enormous demon gave a loud roar. The beast pounced on Garrett, burying him beneath its bulk and digging claws into Garrett’s chest Claws that once more flashed a magical metallic glint
Iron, Hawk knew instantly, pulling up hard. Bonded to the tips with magic. Iron. Gods!
Garrett cried out and was pinned beneath the massive beast.
A roar echoed down the street.
Iron-tipped claws drove into Garrett’s chest, plunging deep. With a sickening pop, the demon ripped out his heart. It pulsed in the sunlight, and for a moment Garrett stared at it in horror as the demon crammed the heart into its hideous mouth.
Then Garrett’s body went slack. His eyes closed and a silver glow encased his body. He shimmered. Silver sparkles swirled from where his body had been, sending his soul on to Summerland.
Horror, shock, then fury burned Hawk’s belly. Intent on revenge, he dove for the demon that had slaughtered Garrett.
By all the gods, he was going to kill the bitch that had murdered his friend.
Sher and Keir swooped in Hawk’s way. Forced him back with their powerful arms and wings.
“Listen to me!” Keir mind-shouted. “There are too many. We are too few."
“It is too late for Garrett,” Sher said.
Hawk’s vision was crimson. Keir’s words barely penetrated his rage and the blood pounding in his ears. The other two D’Danann shoved him back, farther from the carnage. From his side vision he watched the Fomorii take out the spectators, slitting their throats with quick swipes of their claws and dragging them into the hotel. The bastards would feast well tonight, no doubt.
There would be no witnesses.
He’d failed Silver; her parents had been captured.
And Garrett was dead.