| |
––––––––
QUIN SENT PEOPLE OUT for more supplies for our newest arrivals. There were some clashes of egos, but they obeyed her order to get along and didn’t descend into pack wars. The werewolves were the touchiest and were ready to flare up at any perceived slight. True shapeshifters were much calmer. They turned out to be effective mediators and helped keep the peace.
The summit had been intended to gather us for war, but it also seemed to be having a dual purpose. Alliances were made between the European and American packs and more than a few alphas found suitable partners.
Lilly was one of the alphas who stumbled across her intended mate. He was a couple of hundred years younger than her and was just a budding alpha, but they instantly became inseparable. Both were feline shifters, so their animals felt their compatibility before their human sides did.
Connor watched his ex and her new boyfriend with a cynical eye as we scoffed down our dinner. We’d be heading out on another hunt for hybrids soon. “I feel for him,” he said quietly. “He has no idea what he’s getting himself into.”
“Lilly seems almost normal now,” I said reluctantly.
“Aye, on the surface,” he agreed. “But he’ll find out differently once he beds her.” Instant jealousy reared its ugly head at the reminder that he’d slept with her.
“Ooh, tell us more,” Winston said eagerly as he and Jonah swooped up behind us to listen in. Both phantoms wore expectant expressions.
Checking that the shifters weren’t listening, Connor lowered his voice to explain. “She’s very demanding in the bedroom,” he said delicately.
“Aren’t all women?” the older ghost said with a sly wink, then withered at my glower.
“Demanding how?” Jonah asked.
“She’s very specific about what she wants and when she wants it,” Connor replied. “There’s very little spontaneity and she doesn’t like her partner to be in control.”
“I can see why your panther didn’t think she was suitable,” I said with a smirk. “You always like to be in control.” We shared a private look that quickly became steamy. Heads turned as our desire became apparent to the other shifters. One of the werewolves whistled suggestively and laughter broke out.
“Get a room!” someone called out and I flipped her the bird. She was an alpha, but she knew better than to challenge me for the insult. Baring her teeth in a grin, she bit into her meal, noisily crunching a chicken bone between her molars.
“Animals,” Mirra said with a shake of her head from further down the table. “You’d think I would be used to their lack of manners by now.” She slid a look at me and I narrowed my eyes at her. Surrounded by the other sirens, they drew stares from most of the men in the room.
“I quite like their uncultured ways,” Mayra said with a seductive smile at one of the brawnier alphas. He straightened his spine and flexed his biceps in invitation.
“Sheesh,” Brandi said, surveying the crowd that was packed into the dining room. “Are we at war, or are we hosting a dating camp?”
“A bit of both, honey,” Jake leaned forward to say. He was wedged between two attractive female alpha werewolves. Glaring daggers at each other, they were in competition to bed him and he wasn’t the least bit turned off by their aggressive natures. If Quin hadn’t had such tight control over them, they would have come to blows by now. While they couldn’t take him as a mate, that didn’t stop them from wanting to sleep with him.
Perched on a tall chair seat he’d conjured from somewhere, Rudy stared broodingly at nothing. His chin rested on his tiny clenched fist.
“What’s up with him?” Jonah asked, hiking his thumb at the leprechaun.
“I don’t know,” I replied. Rudy was often cantankerous and was prone to being moody. “Maybe he’s regretting getting caught up in all this.” I motioned at the room full of supernatural creatures. It had to be hard being the only leprechaun involved in our war. Few respected him and most of the shifters treated him with disdain. They considered his kind to be pesky annoyances rather than useful allies.
Quin’s cell phone rang and she left the table to answer it. “Hi, Stephanie,” she said in greeting as she ambled out into the hall. She must have given a select few people her new number so they could keep in contact with her.
Curious about what the Archivist wanted, I pushed my empty plate away and followed our boss. Connor and the trio of ghosts came as well. We arrived just in time to hear Stephanie’s panicked voice. “Quin! Something has broken into the Archives!” Shrill alarms almost drowned out her voice. Whatever the intruders were, they weren’t good. Only evil creatures set off the defense systems.
“Can you get out?” Quin asked, keeping her voice calm despite her white knuckled grip on her phone.
“It’s too late,” Stephanie said in despair. “They’re already inside the building.” She let out a gasp. “I can see something staring at me. It looks like a dog with glowing red eyes, but I can barely see it.”
“Hellhounds,” Connor said grimly.
“Hold on, we’re coming to get you,” Quin told her, but the phone went dead before Stephanie could reply.
Jake and Mirra entered the hallway and Quin took Brandi’s lighter out of her pocket. “Jake, you’re in charge while I’m gone,” our boss said. She tossed the lighter to Mirra. “Connor, give your watch to Jake,” she added. “Keep whittling down the hybrids, but don’t attempt to take on the Dread Wraiths.” She said to my foster father.
Jake caught the watch Connor threw to him and nodded solemnly. “How long will you be gone?”
“Hopefully, not long. This is a rescue mission. One of the Archivists is being attacked by hell spawn.”
We were armed with guns and we had spare magazines in our pockets, including ones that fired blessed bullets. While we couldn’t kill the hellhounds, we could at least drive them away.
“Jonah, take us to Stephanie’s Archives,” Quin commanded.
“I’ve never been there,” he said in a small voice.
Sensing Stephanie’s time was running out, my instincts kicked in. “I have,” I said and reached for the dragon essence. A glowing golden symbol appeared, then a rift tore the air apart, revealing the Archives that were a nine-hour drive from our base in West Virginia. Books lay strewn everywhere and some of the tables and chairs had been knocked over. A hellhound let out a howl and my hackles tried to rise.
Quin leaped through the rift, followed by Connor. Jonah floated through next, then I brought up the rear. Jake blew me a kiss when I glanced over my shoulder. Then the rift closed and a small gargoyle came flying towards me. I shot it pointblank and raised my arm to shelter my face from the spatter of sharp shards of stone.
“We’re surrounded!” Quin growled as glowing crimson eyes appeared in a circle around us. I tried to bring my shield up to protect us, but couldn’t grasp hold of my magic.
“Ari? What’s wrong?” Connor said when he sensed my dread.
“It’s a trap,” I said bleakly. “I can’t use my magic.”
“Of course you can’t,” a cultured voice said, then Von Hades stepped out from behind a stack of books. Harrow scuttled after him, followed by a dozen of his strongest druids. “Harrow’s acolytes have become rather adept at crafting their snares,” he added with a smile that didn’t reach his cold gray eyes.
Quin fired a shot at the demon, but an invisible barrier stopped the bullet inches away from his face. He made a tsking sound and shook his finger at her. “Now, now, Quintessa. Is that any way to treat your master?”
“We’re no longer your thralls,” she reminded him, sliding her gun back into its holster.
“That can easily be remedied,” he said smoothly.
“Nope,” I told him flatly and held my ring up. “These make sure no one will ever be able to compel us again.”
“Jewelry can easily be removed.”
“Not when they’re enchanted to remain with their owners,” I shot back. “Even if you chop our fingers off, they’ll just move to another part of our bodies.”
“Harrow?” Spencer said, motioning his butler to verify my claim. He knew I was telling him the truth, but he didn’t want to believe me.
Shuffling towards me, Harrow stopped a few feet away and squinted at my ring. “She’s used pixie dust in the spell,” he said. “The rings are bound to them. Feeding them your blood won’t affect them now.”
“I see,” Von Hades mused. I took Connor’s hand, expecting the demon to kill us all. Instead, he motioned at the druids. “Take them to the cells,” he ordered. “Make sure none of them can escape this time.”
Clearly unhappy that they had to obey him, the sorcerers moved to surround us. They created a portal and pushed us through into a hallway with cells that had barred windows on the doors. Stephanie stood at one of the windows. Her face was streaked with tears, but she let out a glad cry when she saw us appear. “I’m so sorry, Quin,” she sobbed. “I didn’t know they were going to use me as bait.” In her mid-thirties or so, she was short, had sleek shoulder length brown hair and gray eyes. As always, she wore a plain suit that did nothing to flatter her figure. It was in an uninspiring shade of dark green. She wore a high-necked shirt to hide scars from vampire bites she’d received a decade ago.
“This isn’t your fault,” our boss told her as she was shoved into the cell opposite from the Archivist.
Connor was placed in the cell next to Quin and I was shoved into the one next to Stephanie. Jonah appeared a moment later, invisible to the druids who disappeared through the portal again. “Can you get us out of here?” I asked him
Jonah tried to use the veil and his face fell. He tried to leave my cell, but walked into the wall as if it was solid. “I can’t get out,” he said in frustration.
My magic was gone as if it had never existed and I couldn’t reach any of the essences that lay inside me. “Rudy, we need your help!” I called. Several seconds passed, but nothing happened. He was blocked from hearing me and he couldn’t come to our aid. “We’re stuck here,” I said bleakly. Quin let out a curse and began pacing up and down her cell. Connor watched me from his window, but he didn’t speak. Stephanie sobbed quietly. I felt like joining her, but restrained myself through sheer willpower.
