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IT TURNED OUT TO BE Roderick’s phone that was ringing. Mirra had left it sitting on one of the tables in the library after she’d taken it from the Archivist. Blair answered it, then fell silent. He was too distant for me to hear who was on the other end, but my gut knew who it was. His chair scraped back as he stood, then rapid footsteps approached. Blair looked terrified as he reached the doorway. “I have Spencer Von Hades on the line,” he said. “He wants to talk to you.”
He held the phone out to Quin and she reached out and plucked it from his hand. “Spencer,” she said in a pleasant tone that didn’t match the triumphant blaze in her light green eyes.
“You and your team have made a grave mistake, Quintessa,” the demon said in an ominous tone. “I made you my thralls so you can assist me to defeat Morgwen. I’d planned to get Ms. Austin to use the dragon heart to cast a spell that is designed to sever the reaper from the witch.”
“Ari can still cast the spell without being your slave,” she pointed out.
“This is going to be a very delicate, very difficult mission,” Von Hades grated out through clenched teeth. “I need you to work cohesively and to follow my orders exactly if we wish to have a hope of winning.”
“Give us the relic and we’ll take care of the witch,” she suggested.
He barked out a laugh. “Merely severing her bond with the reaper won’t be enough,” he said scornfully. “She is the most powerful witch in existence. Her power must be suppressed first and few can achieve that feat.”
“What’s your plan to end her?”
“I’m afraid I can no longer trust you with that information,” he said smoothly. “You’ve broken free from my thralldom and you have made yourselves targets. It is within my rights to terminate you all now.” The phone was set on speaker so we could all hear him.
“When he says ‘terminate’, he isn’t talking about firing you, is he?” Brandi asked.
Quin quelled the ghost from asking more questions with a glance. “That would be disastrous for the entire world,” she told him. “Several people have had visions that indicate the Hunter Elite will be instrumental in averting the worldwide destruction of humanity.”
He knew she was telling him the truth and for a few seconds all we could hear was him breathing. “I suggest you stay out of my sight,” he said tightly. “And I’ll stay out of yours. Perhaps we will speak again once the dust settles, if any of us are still alive.”
He hung up and Quin dismantled the phone so he couldn’t use it to track us, if he hadn’t already. “Can you cast the spell to block demonic creatures from entering here?” she asked me.
I was tired, but Rudy’s blood had given me enough strength to pull it off. Muttering a few words, I released the spell with a surge of power. It spread throughout the building, including the cottage above that was a decoy. “It’s done,” I said and leaned against Connor for support.
“Ari had a vision when she drank my blood,” Jake told the group. “The witch and her Dread Wraith army are going to attack a town tonight.”
“Did you see which town it was?” Quin asked.
I shook my head. “It was just a brief flash and I can’t really remember it now.”
Running a hand through her short, white blonde hair, she gestured at the door. “Let’s get you some food before you pass out. We’ll strategize and try to come up with a plan to steal the relic from Spencer.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be easy,” Roderick said as we headed down the hallway. He was still unsteady on his feet and Jake supported him with a hand beneath his elbow.
“What won’t be easy?” Jean asked as she appeared in the doorway. Her anxious eyes went to her mate and she relaxed minutely. Blair hurried ahead to meet her and they wrapped their arms around each other.
“Stealing the relic from Von Hades,” Quin said. “It seems Roderick might have some information that may shed some light on what we’ll be facing.”
My stomach growled loudly enough for the entire room to hear it, which drew a few nasty titters of laughter. They all knew I was a vampire, which meant I was their enemy. “What’s the matter, leech?” someone asked sourly. “Isn’t Connor feeding you enough of his blood?”
Jake strode over to the offending shifter, grabbed him by the front of his shirt and lifted him out of his chair with one hand. Drawing the startled man towards him, he stared him down. “Don’t you ever speak to my little girl like that again,” he said in a deadly quiet tone. “Ari didn’t ask to be turned into a vampire. She still has her soul, which means she isn’t a monster like that creature in there.” His finger stabbed towards the door to the secret chambers that now stood wide open. “Even when she lost her soul briefly, she still didn’t attack Connor or Quin.”
“Why not?” the shifter croaked. “The curse should have forced her to try to kill them immediately as soon as she turned evil.”
“We’re true mates,” Connor said and pulled me against him. “Our bond is strong enough to override Morgwen’s compulsion.”
Jake released the man, then swept his gaze threateningly across the entire clan, warning them that his temper could flare again at any time. They all knew heads would roll if he allowed himself to become too angry.
“What are you?” Marcus asked in something close to awe.
“I’m a half-fae hunter,” Jake said matter-of-factly, hooking his thumbs through his belt loops. His heritage was a bit more complicated than that and he was technically more than half fairy. His grandmother had been half fae, but it had apparently skipped his mother. His father was a full-blood fairy. “Ari is my foster daughter and I count her as family,” he added. “That has now been extended to her mate and her closest friends.”
Mirra let out a small sigh of longing that she probably wasn’t even aware of. She had a major crush on him, but knew nothing would ever come of it.
“We’re honored,” Connor said on behalf of the team. “We count you as our family, too, Jake.”
I had to work hard to suppress my tears that the two men I loved the most had accepted each other so readily. Jonah sniffed and we avoided looking at each other, knowing we’d both burst into tears if our eyes met. My bestie was even softer than I was.
“I’ll go and make some food,” the shifter who had insulted me offered by way of an apology. He slunk towards the stairs with backward looks over his shoulder at Jake.
“All right, Roderick,” Quin said and pointed at a chair. “Take a seat and tell us everything you know about where Von Hades has stashed the relic.”
