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CROONING A SONG, MIRRA put the druid beneath her spell. “Tell me, little man, what lies beyond that portal?” she asked.
Eyes glazed and fully compliant, he replied woodenly in a European accent. “The cells beneath our base.”
“Where is your base?”
“It’s in an isolated property in a forest in Germany.”
“Where is the wooden mask the witch brought back from the Dread Wraiths’ dimension?”
“It is in the Great Chamber of our base, guarded by dangerous and powerful spells. Only our Grand Druid can touch the door without dying.”
“I’m sure Spencer Von Hades can touch it without suffering harm,” Mirra said.
His face screwed up in disgust. “That filthy hell spawn would be attacked on sight by our people if he dared to show his face.”
“They have no idea the demon is their true master,” Quin said.
The druid shook his head in staunch denial. “Harrow is our master. Soon, the mask will be repaired and the Grand Druid will ascend to his rightful position.”
“The only position he deserves is to be a lapdog for Von Hades,” Rudy said with a derisive snort.
“What sort of defenses does your base have?” Quin queried.
“We have nearly a thousand men who can cast spells,” our captive replied. “Most are fairly weak, yet a hundred or so are quite powerful. They are our Grand Druid’s guards.”
“How long will it take before the mask is repaired?”
“It will not be long now,” the druid said dreamily. “A few thousand more souls should suffice.”
“Did you sacrifice any of your kin?” Mirra asked.
He nodded without changing his expression. “My wife and two daughters have added their souls to the mask.”
Rage suffused the siren and she allowed her temper to get the better of her. Putting her hand on his forehead, she unleashed her fury. She didn’t need to scream to kill. Power flowed through her fingers, turning his brain to a soupy puddle of mush. Fluids leaked out of his eyes, nose, mouth and ears and he fell lifeless to the ground.
Quin waved away the guilty look the siren gave her. “We were nearly done with him anyway,” she said, then looked at the leprechaun. “Can you pinpoint where the druids are in Germany?”
He looked into the distance for a few moments before shaking his head. “They’re too heavily warded. I can’t lock onto them.”
“We’re going to have to go through one of their portals,” Jake said.
“It’ll take us straight to the druids’ cells,” Connor pointed out. “That’s probably not somewhere we want to be.”
Quin turned to survey our small army of shifters. They were doing an effective job of hunting Harrow’s hybrids. The creatures had given up trying to kidnap the humans and were fighting back. Half-human and half-monster, they weren’t quite a match for the true shapeshifters and were-creatures in speed or strength. The spiders sprayed green mist, which put anyone it landed on to sleep. Keeping their distance, our soldiers fired at the soft bodies of the arachnids. They died easily enough and several of the hulking creatures lay on their backs with their legs curled inward. “We need to get a move on,” our boss said.
“Using the druids’ own portal to invade their base,” Rudy mumbled not quite beneath his breath. “What could possibly go wrong?”
“We’ll need to capture at least one more druid,” Jake said. “We’ll need him to activate the portal.”
Mirra huffed out a sigh, glancing regretfully at the body of the man she’d killed. It wasn’t a good idea to anger a siren. Speaking of which, her mother and friends were unleashing screams of fury and death at the hybrids. Their hair whipped in magical wind and their beauty was breathtaking. “We should take a few of my kin with us,” Mirra suggested. “It will make subduing the druids much easier.”
“Good idea,” Quin said in approval. We trotted towards the battle, signaling to Mayra to break off her attack.
Smoothing a hand down her formfitting cream-colored dress, Mirra’s mother sauntered over to us. “Do you need something?” the siren asked with a flirtatious wink at Jake.
He smiled back and she unconsciously leaned towards him. “We could use your help, darlin’,” he said. “We’d like you and a couple of your friends to assist us to infiltrate the druids’ base.”
Exotic amber eyes sparkling in excitement, Mayra turned and let out a shrill whistle. The sirens finished off their enemies, then ran to join us. Speaking in another language, Mayra explained the situation. Two women stepped forwards, offering their assistance. The rest headed back to the fray. “We three will accompany you,” Mayra said.
“This is going to be dangerous,” Quin warned them. “The druids have protection against your type of magic.”
“They will not be able to withstand our combined might,” Mayra said confidently. The other two nodded to back her up. “My daughter is the most powerful of our kind, but we are also strong.”
“This is going to be very interesting,” Winston said in near glee. He was having the time of his life now that he was no longer trapped in the Scottish Archives.
Our army was occupied with routing the monsters and druids were beginning to flee. Targeting a small group of black-robed men, Quin pointed at them and we raced towards the portal. One-by-one, they were disappearing through the magical doorway. When only one was left, Mirra sent a wave of power at him that made him stagger sideways. Connor grabbed him before he could throw himself through the portal.
Reaching his side, I put my hand on his head and chanted the spell to short out his protection. Already stunned by the siren’s magic, he instantly fell beneath her allure. “Keep the portal active,” Mirra commanded. Giving her a jerky nod, he concentrated on the spell that was keeping the doorway open.
“Jake,” Quin said. “You and I will go first.” Her gaze swept over the rest of us. “Wait five seconds, then follow us through.”
“Be careful, lad,” Rudy said to Jake, beating me to it.
“Always,” Jake replied, then winked at me. He waited for Quin to vanish, then followed her. After an agonizing five seconds that felt more like an hour, I was the next to step through the portal directly into chaos.
A long, wide concrete hallway stretched off to the left and right. Portals exactly like the one I’d just come through dotted the floor every few yards. Barred cells full of thousands of humans lined both sides of the passageway. Hybrid monsters and druids were leaping through the portals, seeking shelter from our army of shifters. Quin and Jake stood back to back, firing at some druids who were attempting to cast spells at them. I raised a shield around us as the rest of our party joined us.
“Let us take care of them,” Mayra said, pushing her way through to the front. Mirra and the other two sirens stood at her back and they began to sing. One siren on her own was a formidable thing. Four working together to use their voices to bamboozle the druids was a sight to behold. Sweet and seductive, their song washed over the sorcerers, melting their resistance.
“I can see why sirens were feared and hunted hundreds of years ago,” Roderick said, mopping his brow with a handkerchief. “A ship full of sailors wouldn’t have stood a chance against a colony of these women.”
Mayra sent him a smug look over her shoulder, then sauntered towards the druids. A hybrid with crab claws for arms leaped at her from a portal, but the druids blasted it with fire, ice and wind before it could crash into her. “Fine work, my minions,” she crooned. “Keep us safe and guide us to the wooden mask.”
“You will die if you enter the Great Chamber,” one of the hopelessly bamboozled sorcerers said.
“Then we will not enter it,” the siren responded. “We will merely look.”
She’d only said that to soothe her new lackeys. We had every intention of entering it. We had to get the mask before it was too late and our time was rapidly running out.
