Huntress Clan Saga Complete Series Boxed Set: Books 1-6

by Jamie Davis

  A section of the stone wall moved aside and he gestured for Quinn to enter. Another explosion went off, this one much closer. The blast propelled her through the doorway into the room on the other side. Upwood landed on the stone floor beside her amidst a cloud of dust.

  Upwood rolled over and thrust his hand toward the doorway. The stone door slid closed again, sealing out the rest of the dust cloud.

  Quinn stifled a cough and blinked through tear-filled eyes, taking in the room in which she found herself. A simple pallet rested on the floor in the corner. A bench and table occupied in another. She heard the gurgle of water nearby, too.

  Quinn croaked, “What is this place?”

  “It is where I live and sleep when I’m not needed to guard the temple.” As Quinn climbed to her feet, she started coughing again. Upwood tugged her arm. “If we are to be compatriots, I can’t have you dying in here. There is a spring running through these rooms. Let’s get you something to drink while I try to decide what our next action must be.”

  He leaned the golden spear against the wall by the secret door to the chamber of the Crystal Well. Taking her hand, he led her in the direction of the gurgling water until he told her to kneel down on the stone floor.

  Quinn bent forward, extending her hands into a pool of cool water. She splashed water on her face and wiped the grit from her eyes. Blinking, she looked around. She was leaning over a low basin on the floor filled with cool, fresh water that flowed in from a stone spout in the wall and ran out through an outlet in the corner of the basin.

  She bent forward again and gulped the water, rinsing her mouth out twice before she cupped her hands and drank. She splashed her face one last time and stood up.

  Quinn gestured to the pallet on the floor and the table and bench nearby. “I thought you were a ghost. These are very material things for a ghost to need.”

  “The ghost is a useful guise to discourage most explorers. I don’t relish using violence against people, even interlopers into this place bent on abusing it.”

  “You could have fooled me. You certainly seemed like you wanted to kill me.”

  “I didn’t expect you to find a way inside. Your appearance out there angered me.” The old man looked away in embarrassment. “Most of that anger was directed at myself for failing to dissuade you from continuing your quest.”

  Quinn looked at the wall where the door to the temple had been. Other than the spear leaning against the wall beside it, she could see no sign of it now. “If that’s Gemma and the werepanthers, she’ll finally have what she’s sought. We should make a plan to stop them from using the Well.”

  Upwood smiled. “They cannot use it. Do not worry.” He pointed at the spear.

  “You took it from the chain.” Quinn smiled back at him. “I assume it’s necessary to activate the magic out there?”

  Upwood nodded. “At least in the near term, they will not be able to activate the well. There may be ways to circumvent not having the spear. Powerful magic created those blasts, so it might not take such a spellcaster long to find a solution.”

  “I need to see if it’s who I think it is,” Quinn said. “Is there any way to watch what they’re doing in there?”

  “Yes,” Upwood said, then snapped his fingers. “I should have thought of that. I guess it’s a good thing I decided to trust you after all. You can never tell anyone what I show you while you’re in here.”

  Quinn zipped her lip and tossed away an imaginary key. “Nothing. I’m not telling anyone. I’m here to do the same thing you are. Once that’s accomplished, I’m out of your hair.”

  Upwood moved to the wall near where they came in and once again made a circular motion with his palm extended. Another portion of the wall near the spring and basin moved aside.

  “There is a place where I used to watch the ceremonies as a child. We can see who has invaded the temple and determine our next course of action.”

  Upwood went through the opening, disappearing into the darkness beyond. Quinn realized she still held her phone in one hand. The flashlight was still lit.

  Switching it off, the room darkened, but not completely. Several stones around the small room glowed with a faint blue light. After her eyes adjusted to the change in illumination, Quinn ducked and passed through the opening, following Upwood. She was pretty sure it was Gemma out there, and probably Avery, too. She had to see what they were up to.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Clark pulled the car into an alley two blocks from the home on Federal Hill and shut off the headlights. “I think we’re close enough. If they have anyone watching the street, we don’t want to be spotted.”

  Naomi smiled, letting her fangs show. “I can take care of anyone lurking in the night who might be a threat.”

  “Let’s avoid bloodshed if we can. Gemma has duped at least one local werepanther pride into joining her, but they don’t know what we now know.”

  “We can’t afford to tiptoe around this, Clark. Quinn could be in trouble. We have to get in there and find her.”

  “You’ve seen her in action, Naomi. You know what she’s capable of when it counts. Let’s take it slow. We don’t want to make it harder on her if she’s hiding somewhere.”

  Naomi started to say something but stopped and nodded. “Fine, we’ll do it your way. What’s next?”

  Clark shut off the engine. “Let’s get as close as we can and see if we can spot anyone on guard. Then we can make a plan.”

  The two of them got out and walked up the alley. Clark reached the corner and searched the street nearby. He couldn’t see anyone, but he didn’t trust his eyes. Better to get a second look from another angle. They also needed a better vantage on the Fae house about a block down the street.

  Clark studied the area and then pointed at the roof of the adjacent row home. “Can you get up there? I think we need to have eyes on the house before we get any closer.”

  Naomi glanced up and grinned. “Piece of cake.”

  Before Clark could answer, the vampire leaped and grasped the rain gutter that ran along the roofline. It was nearly twenty feet up, but she’d reached it with ease. She swung her legs up and disappeared over the edge.

  He returned his eyes to the street. He could make out the front of the home from here. There was an alley nearby that might give them an access point to the back of the property. He’d come down an alley from the opposite direction when he came here before. He figured it was the same one.

  Naomi returned five minutes later. She dropped silently to the sidewalk beside him and tapped him on the shoulder. When he didn’t start, disappointment colored her expression.

  Clark grinned and tapped the side of his head. “I can sense supernaturals who get too close to me. You should know that.”

  “Hey, a girl has to try.”

  “Try harder next time. What did you see?”

  Naomi moved up to the corner and nodded up the street. “I spotted two guys in biker leather lurking in the shadows beside the big house. That’s our target, right?”

  Clark nodded. “They’re probably part of the werepanther pride Quinn ran into. That clinches it. She was right. Gemma is using the captured werebadgers to tunnel under this neighborhood. Any sign of Quinn?”

  Naomi shook her head. “You know Quinn wouldn’t have been satisfied with staying out here and scouting the outside of the house.”

  Clark sighed. She was right. “That girl went in to see for herself, of course. All right, I think we can sneak in from the rear. There’s an alley that runs to the back of the house. That should be it right there, down that side street.”

  “Lead the way,” Naomi said. “I’ll hang back and watch for anyone tailing us.”

  Clark nodded and checked the street. He accessed his Hunter magic and dipped into the shadows. As soon as he was hidden, he ran across the street and moved along the front of the homes until he reached the side street.

  After a quick glance to make sure Naomi was following, he ran toward th
e alley at the rear of the nearest home. He swept the area ahead with his Hunter awareness. There was an outside chance Quinn had hidden somewhere nearby and just had a comm failure. He knew it wasn’t likely, but it was better than the alternatives his imagination cooked up.

  That girl drew trouble like a magnet and found her way into the thick of things by default. The fact that she always found a way out of it in the end only made her bolder, not the other way around. No matter what he’d done to discourage it, that streak of rashness had grown even stronger.

  Clark checked the alley to make sure it was clear. He glanced back to see if Naomi was there, then he turned the corner and moved up the alley, hugging the wooden fence that bordered the backs of the homes on his right.

  He stopped when he reached the edge of the fence dividing the neighbor’s yard from the Victorian home. Clark waited for a long time, scanning the alley ahead.

  Something wasn’t right.

  He crouched and searched the darkness on both sides of the narrow track behind the homes. On the left, several detached garages and some small bushes grew right up to the roadway. It was the same on this side, too. The clumps of brush provided plenty of cover for him. He got the sense that he wasn’t the only one hiding out here right now.

  “What’re you waiting for?” Naomi hissed in his ear.

  “Trouble,” Clark whispered. “Do you see anyone?”

  “No, it’s clear.”

  “Exactly. There were two guards out front. Where are the guards on this side of the house?”

  It took only a few seconds for Naomi to realize the same thing he had. “It’s a trap.”

  Clark nodded as he continued to scan the shadows along the alley. He knew others were there. He just had to find them.

  Naomi frowned. “You think Quinn already tripped the trap, and they’re alerted to the possibility of backup coming to help her?”

  “If she’s been caught, you can bet Gemma will assume at least you and I are coming after her. All the more reason to rethink this.”

  “Agreed,” the vampire said. “Let’s back out and find a different way in.”

  Clark ground his teeth at her suggestion. He didn’t like to retreat. In this case, though, her idea was probably the best option. He raised one hand to his shoulder and hooked a thumb to the rear.

  As soon as he felt Naomi move back, Clark turned around and started back to the alley’s entrance.

  They almost made it.

  As they neared the intersection with the side street, five shadows detached from the darkness around them. A rustle behind him told Clark there were others to the rear.

  A voice from the figure in the center of the group ahead of them said, “You two picked the wrong place to take a midnight stroll, Hunter.”

  Clark straightened from his crouch. No sense in hiding now. “I don’t know. I heard this was where all the cool kids hung out.”

  “Don’t play with them, Clark,” Naomi said. She’d drawn a narrow sword from beneath her long coat. “They should know we came to earn our panther-skinning merit badges.”

  “I wanted to give them a chance to start running now,” Clark replied as he drew his short sword. The silver blades they carried glinted in the moonlight.

  The lead werepanther pointed at the pair. “Get them, but take them alive. The mistress wants sacrifices for her rites later.”

  The four in the lead and the five from behind charged Clark and Naomi. The odds weren’t great. Werepanthers were a tough variety of shifter.

  Clark might have been able to take two on his own, but more than that would be hard. He had no idea what the vampire could do, but he was about to find out.

  Clark twisted to face those charging from behind, leaving Naomi to worry about the attackers to the front. He brought up his sword in time to catch the first attacker with a slicing blow that cut the hapless shifter open from sternum to groin as he leaped in at the Hunter.

  Unfortunately, the others running up plowed into Clark before he could recover for another attack. Despite the odds, he managed to hack the arm of one of the attackers and pivoted to thrust into the thigh of another. After that, their combined weight bore him to the ground.

  Beside him, Naomi had turned into a whirling cyclone of silver alloy death. Two of the werepanthers lay on the ground at her feet.

  The leader charged in to lend his weight to the attack, which was enough to drive her backward toward the ones who had subdued Clark. Even a turbocharged vampire/Hunter hybrid like Naomi couldn’t hold out under the onslaught that followed.

  Soon she lay battered and bruised on the pavement bedside Clark. Once she’d been trussed up the same way they’d tied him, both were hauled to their feet.

  Naomi peered out through puffy, swollen eyes and smiled. “Looks like we killed three of the bastards. Fewer to kill after we get loose.”

  “Shut it, vampire,” the leader snarled. “You have no idea what awaits you below. The mistress needs sacrifices of power. You two will do nicely to supplement those she already has for her ritual.”

  Clark said to Naomi, “They must’ve already nabbed her.”

  “You’ll see who we have soon enough,” the pride leader said. “Now, march.”

  Their captors shoved both of them hard from behind, so they stumbled up the alley. The fence gate at the rear of the Victorian home stood open, and Clark and Naomi were pushed inside the yard and then half-walked, half-dragged to the back porch.

  The leader from the alley ran up the steps to talk to a pair of bulky werepanthers standing on the porch by the kitchen door.

  One of them studied the captives and nodded. “They’ll do nicely. Take them below. I’ll go find the mistress. We’re still dealing with the other issue down there.”

  “Was there trouble?” the shifter from the alley asked.

  “Another cave-in, and someone said they spotted some girl down there who caused the collapse. I’m not sure I believe the second part. Those stupid badger folk said they spotted a ghost. I think everyone is spooked down there.”

  Clark caught Naomi’s eye. She grinned at him. Their girl was still alive. That was something, at least.

  The leader came back down the steps and motioned to the others. Once again, someone shoved Clark hard from behind, forcing him not up the steps as he’d expected but over to the side of the home, where a wide stone staircase led to the basement.

  When he tripped on a hidden root in the yard, the shifters didn’t let him get back up on his own. They kicked at him and forced him to crawl the rest of the way to the steps and then roll down them into the dark basement.

  Clark rolled over at the bottom of the steps. The low-ceilinged basement had a dirt floor. In the center, a shaft opened to whatever lay below.

  Two shifters dragged Clark to his feet and pulled him to a wooden platform rigged to an overhead system of pulleys attached to the ceiling beams and connected to a large drum with rope wound around it. The drum had been attached to a small electric motor. Clark, Naomi, and the others moved onto the makeshift elevator. A werepanther near the motor flipped a switch and nodded as the platform descended into the shaft.

  The leader pointed to a series of iron-barred cages arrayed along one wall. “Lock them up in there while we await the mistress’s arrival.”

  The shifters dragged Clark and Naomi over to one of the cells. They were left on the dirt floor while the door was closed and a chain was passed through the bars and secured with a padlock.

  Clark rolled over to sit up, then shifted until he could rest his back against the dirt and rock wall at the rear of the cell. Naomi wriggled over until she was next to him.

  She chuckled.

  Clark glanced at her in the darkness. “What’s so funny?”

  “We have them right where we want them, don’t we?”

  He stared at her for a second and then started laughing along with her. Given the situation, there wasn’t much else they could do.

  Chapter Twenty-Six


  Quinn followed Upwood up a winding staircase, leaving his rooms behind. The narrow passage tilted to the side until she realized one wall was the outside of the dome.

  Upwood stopped before the stairs ended, then lowered himself until he was on his hands and knees. He bent forward and probed the stone with his hands for almost a minute. “I haven’t been up here since I was very young. I’m not sure I remember where the loose stone is.”

  “Do you need help?” Quinn asked. She crouched beside him and reached out to run her hands over the rough-hewn surface. She had no idea what she was looking for, but she kept searching.

  “Ah, here it is,” the old man said. “It’s much smaller than I remember.”

  Quinn heard stone scraping on stone, and a rectangular patch of light appeared between the two of them. Upwood leaned over to peer through the opening. There was room, so Quinn slid closer so she could see, too. She stared down through the glass that comprised the dome. It was a little cloudy, but she could see the room easily.

  Several clusters of figures moved on the floor below. A group of the werebadger miners had been herded against the wall by some of the werepanther guards. Several groups of werepanthers moved around the walls, searching for something. Some of them had miner’s picks and shovels and tapped on the stone, listening for something as they moved around the perimeter.

  Quinn realized they were searching for her. They had seen her through the gap before the other cave-in. They knew there wasn’t another way out of the chamber, so they were looking for the way she’d escaped.

  “What if they find the door you opened?” she asked Upwood.

  “They will not. It requires specific magic to open that portal, even if they somehow detect the room beyond.”

  “What’s to keep them from blasting their way in? If they figure out there’s a room on the far side, they’re sure to try. That’s how they got in here.”

  From the alarmed expression on Upwood’s face, he hadn’t considered it.

  “I must go down and prepare a reception in case that happens. You may remain here. You’ll be safe if you stay hidden.”