Chapter 15

Evil Seduces

AS SARAH TOLD Sebastian about the disintegrating barrier, she was so focused on him that she started when Zachary stated, “Sebastian, the woman’s lying to you. I’m looking at the barrier, and there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Sarah jerked her head toward Zachary. He stood with his back to them, staring at the barrier. She glared at him, anger surging through her. How dare he call her a liar!

Impulsively, she reached for the triangle, ready to summon the lightning and make him pay for defaming her, but Wanága suddenly whispered in her mind, How would Leonard feel if he could see you now?

Don’t you even think Leonard’s name! she fumed, her anger escalating to fury. You lied to him, betrayed him.

Is that why you now betray him?

I am not betraying Leonard!

You prepare to strike down a man for saying what he sees with his eyes. Would Leonard approve of that?

I will not listen to you! You want to destroy me.

I did not say I want to destroy you, Sarah. I said I am here to destroy you.

Dammit! It’s the same thing, so go away and leave me alone. You are my enemy!

I am not your enemy, and I cannot go away. But I will not contact you until you call for me.

I will never call for you again.

You will call. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Before Sarah could come up with an appropriately scathing remark, she felt his presence leave her. Again, she reached for the triangle, but Leonard’s image formed in her mind’s eye, his eyes filled with disappointment and his lips pursed in disapproval.

New fury flared inside her. She was sure Wanága created the vision of Leonard, that it was one of his tricks to protect Sebastian and his friends. After all, John Butler had said that Wanága collaborated with the wicáh­munga.

Despite that knowledge, she couldn’t touch the triangle with Leonard’s reproachful visage so fresh in her mind.

With an inward curse, she crossed her arms over her chest and, still glaring at Zachary, said, “Is your friend calling me a liar, wicáhmunga?”

“Are you lying?” he rejoined.

She snapped her head toward him. When she saw her image reflected against the mirrored lenses of his glasses, she shivered involuntarily. Again she had the sensation that he could see her, was peering into the depths of her soul.

Giving an impatient shake of her head at that ridiculous notion, she countered, “What could I possibly gain by lying?”

“I can think of many possibilities,” he replied, reaching up to adjust his glasses. The action reinforced the feeling that he could see her, and, to her irritation, she shivered again.

“Such as?” she challenged.

He smiled grimly. “The first rule of war, Sarah, is never reveal what you know to the opposition. And that’s what the talisman is doing, isn’t it? Declaring war on the coven.”

“You are the one who declared war,” she shot back. “You want to steal the lightning’s power, and it doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to me.”

“You’re wrong, Sarah. The power belongs to the talisman, and it grants its use to whomever it chooses. For now, it has chosen you, but John Butler and I are in possession of its other pieces. If it decides that one of us is more corruptible than you, it will transfer its fealty without hesitation. So if it’s the feeling of omnipotence that’s binding you to it, you’d better face up to the fact that your powerful days may be short- lived.”

Sarah opened her mouth to argue with him, but closed it when she recalled John Butler saying, “The lightning is a part of our power, Sarah. It hurts us because you fight it. Embrace it and it will make us all powerful.”

Our power. It will make us all powerful. Suddenly, she realized that John Butler spoke as if they shared the power and perhaps at this time they did. But Sarah knew deep down that once the three pieces came together, only one person would control the lightning. Since she was the last of the Thunderbeings, who, according to Wanága, were the most evil people who ever walked the earth, she knew she would be that person. So why was the talisman deceiving Butler, making him believe he would share her control over the lightning?

She knew the question was important, but she couldn’t come up with the answer. Out of habit, she started to call for Wanága so she could ask him, but she caught herself before she gave in to the urge. She couldn’t trust him to tell her the truth, so she would have to figure it out on her own.

“So, Sarah, where do we stand here?” Sebastian asked, breaking into her troubled musing. “Are you going to work with us or against us?”

Sarah shifted from one foot to the other, deciding that she’d never felt so confused in her life. Butler said Sebastian was her enemy. Sebastian said the talisman was her enemy. Wanága said he wasn’t her enemy but admitted that he was here to destroy her. Who should she believe? Who told her the truth?

Suddenly, she recalled something Leonard had said to her many years ago. All our lives we face enemies, Sarah, but in the end we discover that the true enemy lies within ourselves. Face the inner enemy first, and then you will know for sure who your outward enemies are.

Deciding to take Leonard’s advice, she looked at Sebastian and said, “For now, I will not work against you.”

SEBASTIAN FROWNED at Sarah’s response. He was relieved that she wasn’t going to fight them. However, she hadn’t said she’d work with them, and he needed her help to bring Lucien back.

But what if Lucien’s condition is another of the talisman’s tricks? his conscience continued to nag.

Sebastian knew his doubts were valid, but he couldn’t see any other choice. To restore the barrier, the coven would have to combine their magic. But the only way they could do that was to channel it through either their high priest or the troubleshooter.

Sebastian’s magic worked at the moment, but the talisman had taken it away from him before, and it could do so again. If that happened in the middle of the channeling, the coven’s magic would rebound on them and that would destroy them all in an instant.

So he either had to bring Lucien back or ensure his death. Unless Lucien had broken coven law, which he hadn’t, the coven members could only be released from their allegiance to him through death. But if the worst did happen and Lucien died, then the coven would be free to select a new high priest and join with him to repair the barrier.

Knowing that Lucien would gladly sacrifice himself to save the coven didn’t make Sebastian’s decision more bearable, and he wanted to rail at the unfairness. He refrained because he knew they’d run out of time. At this moment Ariel could be out spreading the alarm, and Sebastian couldn’t contact her to stop her. As a mortal, she abhorred the coven members’ abilities to read her mind when she couldn’t reciprocate, so Lucien had cast an enchantment over her that blocked her mind from everyone but him. Sebastian decided that if Lucien did come out of this alive, he’d make him revise that spell. Ariel might be a mortal, but she was now a coven member, and in an emergency, she had to be accessible.

But that was a problem to worry about later, he reminded himself.

Drawing in a deep breath, he said, “I’m glad you won’t fight us, Sarah. Now, I need to know if you will help me bring Lucien back.”

“That depends on whether you’re willing to do what must be done,” she replied.

“And what’s that?”

“Join the power of our triangles and summon the lightning.”

“Why do we have to join our triangles when you can summon the lightning on your own?” he asked suspiciously.

“I already explained that, wicáhmunga. He must link with someone who can lead him back here.”

“So he can link with you, and you can lead him back.”

“He doesn’t know me, so he doesn’t trust me. Without trust, he won’t cooperate.”

“Well, why don’t you try it anyway? If it doesn’t work, then we’ll join the triangles.”

“I’m afraid that isn’t possible,” she said. “When the lightning touched him, it created what, for lack of a better term, I’ll call a negative polarity that displaced his mind. Once we use the lightning, it will reverse that polarity and he will have a small window of time to return. Once that window is closed, it can’t be reopened, which is why he needs to link with someone he trusts to draw him back before it’s too late.”

“Earlier, you said you didn’t know what happened to him,” Sebastian noted. “I find it damn suspicious that you now not only know what happened but exactly how to fix it.”

“First your friend calls me a liar, and now you call me one,” she said irritably. “I was telling you the truth earlier. I don’t know what happened to him, or, rather, I don’t know why it happened to him. As for knowing how to fix it, I just know that this is what we need to do.”

As he considered her words, Sebastian rubbed a hand against his stubbled jaw. Magically, what she was saying made sense. His doubt lay in her knowledge of what had to be done to reach Lucien. He was sure the talisman fed her the information, but was it accurate or a deception?

“Assuming that we join the triangles, what will prevent us from being displaced by the lightning?” he finally asked.

“I cannot be displaced,” she replied. “I control the lightning.”

“That assures your safety, but what about mine?” When she didn’t respond, he said, “Isn’t it possible that we’ll pull Lucien back, only to have me replace him?”

A long moment passed before she said, “I don’t know.”

“That’s what I thought.”

He turned in the direction where he knew Ryan and Zachary stood, and said, “Ryan, I want you to get in your car and go to Ariel. Explain to her what’s going on, but keep her at the house. Under no circumstances are you to let her come here.”

“I don’t think I should leave,” Ryan answered. “Both you and Lucien may need medical attention when this is over.”

“If we do, you’ll only be a short drive away. It’s more important that Ariel have someone with her, and you know that’s exactly what Lucien would want.”

“Yeah, I know,” Ryan said with a heavy sigh. “Is there anything else you want me to do?”

“Yes. Drive Zachary about three miles up the road and leave him there.”

“Dammit, Sebastian! I’m not leaving you and Lucien here alone with her,” Zachary declared.

“Yes, you are,” Sebastian stated firmly. “If anything happens to Lucien and me, you’re the most powerful warlock in Sanctuary. You’ll become the new high priest and will have to lead the fight against the talisman.”

“But—”

“Look, Zachary, I know that your allegiance to Lucien demands that you stay here to protect him,” Sebastian broke in impatiently. “I also know that Lucien would be the first one to remind you that the safety of the coven comes first. If we die, the coven will need you, and you can’t put yourself at risk. You know I’m right, so don’t argue with me.”

He heard Zachary draw in a deep breath, and he expected the warlock to argue with him anyway. But then Zachary released the breath and said, “Okay. You’re right, but I don’t like it.”

“Join the club,” Sebastian stated. “Now go with Ryan and let him drop you off about three miles up the road. You can connect with me and follow what’s going on, but do not interfere under any circumstances.

“Once this is over, if your connection with me is broken, try to connect with Lucien,” he went on. “If you can’t connect with him, get to Sanctuary and call an emergency meeting of the elder warlocks. Tell them what happened, and they’ll be able to determine if Lucien is dead. If he is, they’ll take the appropriate steps to make you the new high priest.

“While they’re doing that, you summon the Narrators, Kendra and Oran Morovang, and ask them how to contact the high council to get a new troubleshooter. They’ll probably balk, so be sure to tell them that you know everything that I know about the talisman. Explain that you aren’t asking them to advise you, but to instruct you on the mechanics of making the contact, because they’re the only ones who’ll be left to know how to do that. Get in touch with the council first, and then unite the coven’s power and try to mend the barrier. Do you have any questions?”

“A million, but you don’t have time to answer them.”

“No, I don’t. Now go.”

He sensed Zachary’s hesitation, but then the warlock said, “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Sebastian said, turning back toward Sarah as he listened to Zachary walk away.

The moment he heard the car start, he said, “Okay, Sarah. What do we need to do to help Lucien?”

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” she asked. “By saving your friend, you may end up lost forever.”

“Like you, I’m the guardian of my people. We both know the guardian is expendable.”

She was silent for a long moment. “Why, wicáhmunga, are you trying to convince me that you’re self-sacrificing rather than self-serving?”

“No,” he muttered. “I’m just doing my job, so let’s get started.”

He heard her walk toward him, her moccasined feet a soft rustle against the ground. Even though he knew she approached, he still started when she suddenly touched the triangle on his chest. Energy coursed through him, and he cursed silently when that energy promptly shifted to desire, centering itself in his groin. As he felt his penis swell to life, he wanted to jerk away from her. Conversely, he wanted to grab her and haul her into his arms. He almost succumbed to the latter urge, but then remembered that Zachary would be connecting with him. The warlock wouldn’t be able to see what happened between Sarah and him, but he would pick up on Sebastian’s physical and emotional feelings.

“Zachary is going to connect with my mind at any moment, if he hasn’t already done so,” he told Sarah. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not into voyeurism, even if it is only cerebral.”

She laughed softly, seductively. “Don’t worry, wicáhmunga. In a moment he’ll be cut off from everything but your heartbeat.”

Before he could respond, she said, “Come to me!” Instantly, he heard the lightning wreath’s whir, and he braced himself for the ensuing pain of its touch. It came swiftly and with such searing magnitude that he couldn’t breathe, let alone scream. And then, as quickly as it arrived, the pain was gone, leaving in its wake a quivering, tumultuous lust so voracious it consumed him.

“You don’t need these any longer,” Sarah suddenly murmured, and he felt her remove his sunglasses.

Until then he didn’t realize his eyes were closed. Slowly, he opened them, and he gasped, stunned, as he saw the whirling walls of the wreath’s cocoon surrounding them. He could see!

“Only in your mind, wicáhmunga,” Sarah said, taking a step back from him,

Sebastian’s gaze automatically flicked over her. She was naked, and her black hair was again loose, swirling around her slender body like a cape. The sight of her feminine curves incited his lust to such intensity that he wanted to grab her and take her violently, painfully.

“Then do it,” she encouraged, stepping toward him again and trailing her hand down his chest.

“No!” Sebastian declared furiously, grabbing her wrist as her hand began to slide toward his erection. “We’ve played this game before, and I am not an animal.”

His fury was nothing compared to the rage that leapt into her eyes, turning them into golden flames of hatred as she spat, “You have no choice, wicáhmunga. Take me as you were meant to take me before, or I will torture your friend until you do.”

She raised her free hand and pointed to the left. Sebastian immediately swiveled his head in that direction and gasped in horror. What seemed like hundreds of lightning tendrils left the walls and slithered onto Lucien’s body, which lay on the cocoon’s floor.

As Sebastian stared at the tendrils their tips transformed into eyeless snake heads, just as they had when he and Sarah had been cocooned on the mountaintop, and they began to writhe and hiss. He knew that they were waiting for Sarah’s order to strike. He also knew that when they did, Lucien would suffer the torture she promised.

He shuddered and forced his gaze back to Sarah’s face, which had again sharpened into inhuman cruelty. He knew the change in her was due to the cocoon. Every time it encased her, it changed her, stealing another piece of her humanity. But apparently it had to force Sarah and him into a brutal coupling to complete her transformation into its evil minion, or she wouldn’t be demanding that he rape her. But why did it need her to be sexually victimized to accomplish that goal, when there were any number of equally vicious means it could use?

He didn’t have the faintest idea. If, however, it was that important to the talisman, he knew he couldn’t go through with it.

“I am not going to rape you, Sarah,” he said, steeling himself against the knowledge that he could be condemning Lucien to a horrible, torturous death. “So if you’re going to kill Lucien, get it over with.”

“Oh, I will not kill your friend,” she drawled. “I will leave his mind trapped in the darkness where it now exists, and his only company will be the lightning snakes.”

Sebastian shuddered at the image her words conjured up. Lucien was trapped in darkness, just as blind as Sebastian would again become once he was released from the cocoon. He looked at Lucien, not even wanting to imagine what it would be like to be lost in that murky void with those monstrosities.

“He can hear the lightning snakes, wicáhmunga,” Sarah said in a strange­ly crooning voice, “He can feel them crawling over his body. But he can’t see them. He can’t touch them to knock them away. He knows they will strike, but he doesn’t know when or how often. It will always be a surprise attack.”

“Stop it!” Sebastian yelled, jerking his head back to glare at her.

“What’s the matter, wicáhmunga?” she mocked. “If you can choose to condemn your friend to a nightmare, surely you should be willing to know how he will suffer.”

He balled his hands into fists. It was the only way he could keep from wrapping them around her throat and strangling her. He knew, however, that the talisman wouldn’t let her die. It would just use the violence to sink its claws deeper into both of them.

Through gritted teeth, he ordered, “Release Lucien. Now.”

“I can’t,” she replied, her lips lifting into a taunting smile. “The only way to open the window to where he is is if you take me, and if you don’t do it soon, it will be too late.”

As the impact of her statement hit him, Sebastian trembled with new fury. The talisman had maneuvered him into a no-win situation. If he didn’t take Sarah, Lucien would be trapped alive. And as long as he was alive, the coven couldn’t elect a new high priest without a special dispen­sation from the high council. That would take time—time they didn’t dare risk, because he had no idea how fast the barrier was disintegrating.

However, if he did take Sarah with brutal ruthlessness, he was sure she’d turn completely evil. So even if that act would bring Lucien back, they’d not only have to contend with the barrier, but with Sarah’s transformation. Even a child warlock could figure out that she’d use the talisman’s power to stop them from their repair work.

Sebastian muttered a violent curse and raked a hand through his hair. He loathed the thought, but his only logical choice was to sacrifice Lucien—let him remain in that dark, nightmarish world with the lightning snakes—rather than give in to Sarah’s demand. After all, there was no guarantee that if Lucien did come back his magic would work. The talisman could have taken away his powers, just as it had Sebastian’s so many times.

Except if Lucien came back powerless, he could voluntarily step down as high priest, and Zachary could be put into the position imme­diately. The only other solution was to send for a new troubleshooter, but there was no guarantee that they could get through to the high council to make the request. Even if they did, he might not make it here in time to save them.

Dammit! Why was it so important for Sarah to be sexually assaulted? If he just knew the answer to that question, he might be able to fight back.

The question is not why, wicáhmunga, the Indian spirit suddenly murmured in his mind. It is who.

What in hell does that mean? Sebastian demanded.

If you are meant to know all, you will understand.