––––––––
“HOW DO WE USE THIS portal?” Mirra asked.
Everyone looked at me and I shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know,” I replied. “Spencer used demonic magic when he used it to bring us here, but I think it was just a sham. His servants come and go from here, but we rarely see them anywhere else in the house.” There was only one door to the kitchen, so the staff had no other way to enter or leave the building. They had to be able to use it themselves.
“Maybe we just have to think of which one of Spencer’s properties we want to travel to, like his mansion in London,” the siren said. With a lurch, the room seemed to move around us.
“I think that worked,” I said in amazement at our good fortune. “I can’t feel the barrier anymore.” I started when all three ghosts suddenly appeared. Still in their poltergeist forms, they looked around, disappointed that the battle was over.
“Rudy?” Quin prompted.
The leprechaun screwed his face up in concentration, then shook his head. “I can’t use my magic in this room.”
Jake moved to the door, grabbed the handle and heaved it open a few inches. Connor joined him and together they opened it wide enough for us to escape. Looking decidedly menacing with their shadows writhing around them, the phantoms swooped through the opening. “I sense that we’re not alone,” Jonah said, then let out an evil chuckle.
Quin motioned for us to leave and we hurried to squeeze through the doorway. Harley and his two companions were right behind me. “Now do you believe us that Von Hades is a demon?” I asked them.
Nodding wildly, one of the men gulped. “He told us you were the monsters.”
“Oh, we are,” Mirra said in a near purr. “But that doesn’t mean we’re evil.”
Harley gave his head a little shake. They couldn’t see the ghosts that had saved us from the gargoyles. He had no idea they were hovering protectively next to their leash holders right now. “Once we get out of here, I’m going to run as hard and fast as I can and never look back,” he said.
Jake and Connor slipped through the doorway, allowing it to close behind them. “It isn’t always that easy to run from trouble, son,” Jake drawled. “Take it from someone who knows.”
“Here comes the master of the house,” Winston said in glee, then pointed dramatically at the doorway just as Spencer stepped through it.
Eyes widening when he saw us, Von Hades saw the green bag clutched in my hand and instantly knew what it contained. “No!” he said in harsh denial. A vision of his true self replaced the human shell he hid beneath. A hulking, red-skinned, black-winged, horned monster appeared. Glowering at us through scarlet eyes, he raised his hands. A wave of hellfire swept toward us, incinerating the furniture in an instant and setting the walls, ceiling and floor aflame.
Rudy swore beneath his breath, then clicked his fingers. He teleported us to safety a moment before we could be immolated. “That was too fecking close,” he said, checking his clothes to see if they were smoking.
He’d taken us to the library in the Scottish Archives. Shifters leaped to their feet, preparing to change into their animal forms. They relaxed when they saw it was us. Jean hurried over to Blair and took him in her arms. Lilly sauntered over and was pulled into their embrace as well. The other shifters who had gone with us were surrounded by their people. The clan was close-knit and obviously cared deeply about each other.
Connor looked away from them and I slipped my arm through his in support. He slanted me a smile and some of his sorrow melted away. He might not have a clan of his own, but our team had become his family.
“Were you successful?” Jean asked when she’d reassured herself that her mate was okay.
I held the bag up to show her our prize. “Yep. Now we just have to find a way to get in touch with Viper.”
“I am here,” a voice in a foreign accent said, then the former chef stepped out of the shadows. She wore black jeans and a black jacket with the hood pulled up to hide her face. She was so small and thin that she looked like a child. “Give me the heart and I will save your mate.”
Connor was pale and his skin had taken on a slight greenish tinge. Being in close proximity to her seemed to be making him worse. He winced and put his hand on his stomach as if he was in pain.
“Hurry,” Viper said. “The poison will spread through him now and he will be dead in less than a minute.”
“Now, hold on a second,” Jake said. “You know how dangerous the witch is. We need the dragon heart to sever her from her reaper. Without it, she and her minions will lay waste to this world.”
“What do I care?” the chef said with a complete lack of sympathy. “Humans have hunted many supernatural creatures to extinction. I’m sure they would have done the same to my species if the vampires hadn’t already finished the task for them.”
Groaning, Connor doubled over and went down to one knee, clutching his stomach. I felt his agony through our bond and knew he didn’t have long left. “Here,” I said and threw the bag to her. She caught it with one hand, then cradled it against her bony chest. “Now fix Connor,” I pleaded.
Striding over to my mate, she tilted his head back and pressed her mouth against his. He sucked in a deep breath, then coughed it out when she released him. Already, the color was returning to his face and I could feel his pain fading.
“We can’t let you take the heart,” Quin said, pulling her Desert Eagle and aiming it at Viper. “It’s too important.”
“You cannot stop me,” Viper replied. With a shimmer, she transformed into a sleek, winged reptilian creature. Green and brown scales covered her from head to tail with cream scales on her undersides. She clutched the green bag in her paw.
Shifters transformed into their animal forms and converged on her. Using her wings and tail, she knocked them away without causing them much physical harm. She hadn’t come here to kill us. Her goal had been to get the relic and now she just wanted to leave.
“Get the heart!” Jake shouted as Connor transformed into his panther. Pale blue eyes intent, my mate raced across the room. With a graceful leap, he swiped at the green bag with his claws. It split open and the relic spilled out. A shifter in the form of a huge wolf tried to catch it in its mouth, but the Jaculus shoved him away and beat him to it. Her jaws closed over the relic that I’d retrieved from the Deadworld and she swallowed it whole.
“That can’t be good,” I breathed, then we were knocked on our butts by a wave of magic. With a resounding boom, a huge gold symbol appeared, then a rift snapped into place, revealing a lush tropical forest. Viper stepped through it and it closed behind her.
Lying flat on my back, I stared up at the ceiling in a daze. Just before she’d disappeared, it had seemed like Viper was changing. The rift had closed before I’d managed to see what form she was taking on.
“Oh, dear,” Winston tittered as he floated over to stare down at me. “I bet losing the heart to Von Hades’ chef wasn’t in your plans.” In his evil form, he couldn’t resist being mean.
“That’s Ari for you,” Jonah added nastily as he joined us. “She’s always screwing up.”
“Yeah,” Brandi said, adding her two cent’s worth. “You’re a real failure, aren’t you? Does it ever get old being so useless?”
I flipped all three of them the bird, then pointed at Jonah. “Go to the cell and try not to be such a butthole.” With an indignant squawk, he vanished.
“Brandi, go to the cell,” Quin said and the young spirit had no choice but to comply. Connor changed back into his human form and sent Winston to our version of the naughty corner as well.
Footsteps sounded on the spiral staircase, then Roderick ambled into view. Seeing us still stunned and most of the shifters in their animal forms, he stumbled to a stop. “Did I miss something?” he asked in bewilderment.
“We got the heart, but instantly lost it again,” Rudy said in a grumpy tone as he dusted himself off. “The Jaculus took it. She was more powerful than I’d anticipated.”
“Oh,” the Archivist said in dejection. “I’m sure you could all use a nice cup of tea and some biscuits after your ordeal.”
“Tea and cookies is the English answer to all ailments,” Mirra said to me gravely. Just like she knew I would, I descended into sniggers.