Chaos Burning

by Lauren Dane

  No one else down there so she headed up, looking for the room Nell was in. Needing to cut off any attempt to stop Simon from taking her out.

  The last mage was waiting for her at the top of the stairs and she ducked, belatedly, when he tossed a spell her way. It hit her and it sent her to her knees as her energy began to drain. She couldn’t work her trigger finger but she could speak, and speak she did, louder and louder as she began to weave a spell. She yelled at the top of her lungs as her magick caught on the mage’s stolen magic and brightened, taking over the stream and traveling back to the mage.

  Nausea wracked her system as she limped up the stairs. The spell had taken hold and done to him what he’d tried to do to her, leaving nothing but a husk by the time she stepped over his body and into the room, going low again to be sure Simon wouldn’t attack.

  The room was empty. He must have taken her down through the window. She crossed the room, unsteady on her feet, needing to be sure they were both okay.

  He caught sight of her standing in the window and waved. She weaved as she looked out the window and he realized she was going to fall. His life slowed down as he jumped, shifting in midair, bounding to catch her before she hit the ground below.

  He managed to do it, but her landing was hard and he heard the breath come out of her. Her eyes were unfocused and she turned, puking into the snow at her side. He changed back, feeling the burn of exertion of so many changes in such a short period of time.

  “Lark! Damn it, wake up. What happened?”

  She opened her eyes. “Ouch.” She tried to sit up but he held her in place.

  “Let’s make sure you didn’t break anything.” He felt her over and when she shoved his hands away and managed to sit up he felt better.

  “Where’s Nell?” Her words were slurred, but her gaze was clearing up.

  “In the car. What happened?”

  “We need to go. Now. Something bad is coming and I can feel it.”

  She stood and they ran to the car.

  Nell was in the backseat, wrapped in a blanket. Lark squeezed in and spoke to her gently. “Nell, honey? It’s Lark. We’re here. Simon, get the hell out of here now.”

  He strapped in and threw the car into reverse, crashing through the doors and spinning to change direction and head up the road.

  Lark strapped Nell in and then herself. “You’re naked, Lycian.”

  “Don’t look, my woman would have my balls if you do.”

  She reached up and squeezed his shoulder before turning back to Nell.

  “Gonna be rough. I need to take it slow.”

  “He is coming. When the mage at the top of the stairs shot me with his spell, I could see into his connection with the helper. He’s coming here. Tonight. We need to go, Simon.”

  “Lark?” Nell took her hand, tears running down her face.

  “It’s me. I’m here and we’re going to get you to a hospital. Tell me what they did. Are you all right? Other than the whole kidnapped thing, that is.”

  “There were two others with me at the house. What happened to them?”

  Lark sighed. “They’re dead. We found bodies out back.”

  Nell swallowed hard. “They siphoned me. Not totally. The baby is moving very slowly.”

  Lark wasn’t going to think about that just then. She grabbed the bags Simon had put in the car and managed to find some water and one of the protein bars. She shoved them in Nell’s direction. “Eat. Get some liquid into your body and rest. I’m going to check in with Gage. They’re on the way.”

  “Did you get her?” Gage said as he answered.

  “Yes. She’s here. We’re in a stolen Jeep. Simon is driving. I don’t know how long it’ll be before we get back to the main road.” That is if they didn’t get lost. She just had to hope Simon knew what he was doing. They hadn’t always walked on the road and there were a few smaller turnoffs on the way in.

  “When you get back to the main road head north. There’s a small clinic in the next town. We’ve worked something out with a vampire who’s a doctor. She’ll be there waiting for you. She says it’s on the main road in a mini mall with a Dairy Queen. How’s Nell?”

  “They siphoned her. She says the baby is sluggish. But she hasn’t eaten in some time so I gave her food and water. She’ll need to sleep and rest. It’s going to be all right. But, the other one is on his way. I don’t know if we’ll miss him or not.”

  “Let’s hope so. We’re making some good time. Quinn is ahead of us by about half an hour. He and Mike decided to head your way just in case. He told me he thought you’d just go in. I guess he was right.”

  She hung up and turned back to Nell. “Would you like to call William? He’s been worried sick.”

  Nell’s breath hitched. “Yes, please.”

  Lark just put her arms around Nell and held her tight as she called her husband and checked in.

  Chapter 29

  SHE paced as the doctor worked on Nell. They’d arrived just a few minutes before and Simon had put on a pair of pants and a shirt he’d thought ahead to bring. Smart man.

  “She’s still in with the doctor,” Lark told Meriel over the phone. “Yes, she was here waiting for us and they took her in immediately.”

  “Is she going to get what she needs there?”

  “The nearest hospital is two hours away. She’s better off here where at least she can get some help from someone she won’t have to hide from. There’s a nurse too, a Were.”

  Simon was on the phone with Gage, who had arrived at the timber road. He held a hand up to get Lark’s attention and she gave it to him. “Meriel, I’ll call you back when I get more info.”

  “Before you go, I think I may have found it.”

  She stilled. “What?”

  “A way to stop it.” She meant the Magister.

  “Can you do it now? Or?”

  “No, I have to see it. It has to be near enough for me to see. But not directly.”

  “Yes! The Fae queen, she warned me to not look directly at it or I’d be lost. Don’t know what she meant by lost, but I’m guessing it’s bad so I’m not going to look at it.”

  “The Kellys are here with me and Lia Warden, one of the Cascadia Elders too. Portia Gennessee is on speakerphone. We’re working on it. I just wanted you to know.”

  “Good. Okay then. I’ll check in soon.”

  “Lark? Thank you. Nell is like my sister. I… I can’t imagine what life would be like without her. So thank you. And thank Simon for keeping you safe. I’ve grown rather fond of you too.”

  Lark allowed herself to have a moment to accept the thanks and be glad before she hung up and turned back to Simon and got back to her job.

  Simon had still been on with Gage, so she took the phone from him to speak with him. “It’s four hours until dawn. Don’t go down that road. You’re too in the open. Wait for the light. Then I want a full sweep of that place. I managed to grab a cell phone. I’m going to hack it when I hang up with you.”

  “Simon said there were dead bodies out back.”

  “Yes. Witches, including the ones they took when they took Nell. Some Weres. But they’re dead, Gage. You can’t save them. But you can avoid being dead too. The helper was coming. He’s around, I can feel it. It’s like when the mage hit me he left some of his consciousness in me. I can feel the helper’s energy. I don’t want you tangling with that in the dark. Just wait. That’s an order.”

  “Fine.” She knew he was pissed but also saw the sense in what she was saying. “We’re on our way there now. Quinn should be there with William shortly.”

  “Good, Nell will feel better once she sees him.”

  She hung up and began to look around. The building was sturdy enough. In the center of town. Or what could loosely be called a town. It was more like three buildings, a gas station and a four-way stop.

  “It’s defensible.” He came up behind her, encircling her with his arms.

  “Against run-of-the-mill thugs and Others. B
ig, bad villain storms? I don’t know.”

  “You’re clammy.” He touched her forehead.

  “I’ve thrown up three times from that spell the mage hit me with. It’s disgusting and my magick hates it and shoved it out. Not a fun process, that. I bumped my shoulder pretty hard too when I fell out the window. It’s just sore.”

  “You haven’t slept in two days. You’ve hiked and climbed and fought your way through four men and fell out a window. You need to lay down on that couch there and go to sleep.” He steered her over and she sat, not lying down.

  “I can’t. Quinn will be here shortly.”

  “I can handle that.”

  “And what about you? You’ve been up as long as I have. And you had to shift multiple times. Plus I know you need to eat.”

  “I’m old. And stronger than you are. Lay down. Put your head in my lap.” He pulled a sleeping bag from under the chair. “Use this like a blanket. Rest. I’ve got you.”

  She was suddenly so tired. Her head spun with details and what-ifs. The residual magic she’d been hit with was unsettling and in the back of her mind she felt the helper. Not very close. But around somewhere.

  SIMON looked up and put a finger to his lips when Quinn and William came in. They took a look at her, so small and totally spent, and he gently put her down on one of his sweaters before moving to them.

  “Nell is stable. The doctor just came out about ten minutes ago. She’s getting intravenous fluids and is resting. The doc is a vampire so don’t open any windows. William, let me take you through to her.” He turned to Quinn. “Don’t you leave her.” Simon tipped his chin in Lark’s direction. “I’ll be right back. If you let anyone wake her up, I’ll break your arm.”

  William followed him through the doors to where an armed vampire stood at the ready. When he saw it was Simon, he stood down.

  The doctor looked up.

  “This is Nell’s husband.”

  “She’s been asking about you. Come through. She was extremely dehydrated. They stole some of her magick. The baby’s as well, she says.”

  “But they’ll be all right? The baby and Nell?”

  “Yes, I think so. The baby’s heartbeat is back to normal. We had her hooked up to a monitor. She was having some minor contractions but they’ve stopped. She’s not in labor, so don’t get that look.”

  “Thank you.” He turned to Simon. “Go back to Lark. And thank you too.”

  SHE awoke to the scent of coffee and bacon. He’d figured it would be the elixir to get her alert again. And when she opened her eyes they locked with his and everything felt all right again.

  “I figured the coffee would bring you around.” He helped her sit.

  “Why do you always look so good? I know I have to look like hell and you look like you could go to a photo shoot. It’s going to give me a complex.”

  He handed her a coffee, which she sucked down, and then the breakfast sandwich he’d charmed the guy at the tiny diner across the road into making for her.

  “If it’s any consolation, you’ve taken at least fifteen years off my life since I first met you.” He kissed her and let himself accept that she was all right. She’d slept so hard and deep he’d worried. But he’d spoken with Gage’s mother, who reassured him that she’d need the deep sleep to regenerate and heal. So he menaced everyone who came in to be quiet, which they did of course, and she’d gotten four hours.

  “How’s Nell? How long was I out? Is Gage here?”

  “Nell is fine. William is going to take her back home today. No, not home I guess. It’s not safe there. But someplace. The clan and her parents are arranging it. Her mother stopped in, she’s in with them now. You were out four hours. It’s not quite seven. Gage is here. He ran to get some breakfast.”

  “Shit, four hours? Too long.”

  “Bull. It’s whatever you needed. I’d insist on more in any other circumstance so just be quiet and eat your breakfast.”

  She gave him a side-eye but remained quiet as she wolfed her food down.

  Gage walked in as she returned from the bathroom where she’d been cleaning up. She looked better, which relaxed him just a little.

  “You need to go back to Seattle. Meriel has some important information and you’re needed there. Quinn and I will head up the investigation at the house. We’ll send out scouts first to see if the place is empty or not,” he added before she could say anything. “I’d feel better if you two were there. Go with Nell and William. Get back to Meriel.”

  Simon saw the battle she waged all over her features. She wanted to be there at the house because she didn’t want any of her people to get hurt. But Gage was right and if he hadn’t suggested it, Simon would have instead. Lark was the best person to get back to Seattle.

  “You’re the key here. My key.” Simon kissed the tip of her nose. “But also the key to the situation. You’re a warrior. This is when a warrior is needed most.”

  Gage nodded. “It’s why you’re here. You know that.”

  She blew out a breath. “Fine. Fine. But not in that creepy Jeep.”

  “My truck is here. They brought it when they arrived.”

  “All right. You and I will go first. William and Nell in the middle. Who else is here?”

  Gage rattled off several names.

  “Ginger can drive the car with Nell in it. I want the rest with you at the house. You need as much backup as you can get going out there. If the helper is there, hold back and watch. I don’t know that we can take it on. I don’t even know what it is.”

  She slipped into command again so easily he knew without a doubt she was meant for this.

  The drive back to Seattle was fairly uneventful. Simon had taken a different route back, which she appreciated, for safety’s sake and all. But it added two more hours to the trip and though he told her to sleep at least a thousand times, she couldn’t. She needed to be awake and in frequent contact with her people out there on the ground.

  * * *

  HALFWAY home, Gage had called to tell her the house had been a smoldering pile of wood when they’d arrived. He and his team had set about combing through what was safe to see if they could salvage anything.

  It’d be less helpful than it would have been otherwise, but she hoped they’d be able to find something of use. At least they had magick to aid them.

  Lark thought of the phone she had and had forgotten to hack into. The first thing she did when they got to the office was take it to Rose, Gage’s friend, and tell her to get as much as she could from it. Then she headed to Dominic. Meriel had gone to the safe house they’d set Nell and William up in, just to get her settled. Nell was agitated, wanting to be there, working and getting things in place. But she was worse off now than she’d been before the kidnapping and she would be on pretty much total bedrest for the next month or so at the very least.

  William didn’t look like he’d be entertaining the idea of her coming back anytime soon either. And Lark understood it. Nell had a new set of priorities now. What was most important to her had changed. As it should, of course. Lark knew Meriel would help Nell see that.

  Lark called her father and Gennessee went on high alert. They’d send out scouts and call all their people in to designated havens where they’d be safe. The Vampires had finally moved and had committed some of their special forces types to patroling the major cities. Over the last month, she’d found out from Franco, who’d been allowed to tell her, that thirty vampires had been taken by the snatchers.

  They’d declared war on the Magister and the turned witches. They didn’t mess around, the vampires, they’d been wronged and they would stop at nothing until they had their revenge.

  The Weres also had patrols all over the country and into Canada and Mexico.

  They’d be vigilant, which was a big step.

  Meriel came by a few hours after they’d arrived back.

  “I brought coffee. Don’t tell Dominic or he’ll lecture me. It’s my fifth cup.”

  Lark
smiled as she sipped the much-needed caffeine. “Thanks. He and Simon have been lurking around. Well, not lurking. Dominic has been ordering people around and Simon has been going back and forth between here and the club.”

  They’d recently hired a new manager who was taking up a lot of the slack so they didn’t have to be there every night. Which was just fine with Lark as it meant more time with Simon and she was just selfish enough to love it.

  But he was a control freak so she knew he’d still be at Heart of Darkness every day anyway. He was proud of what they’d built and he should be.

  Edwina came in, surprising Lark.

  She and Meriel warded the room so tight it felt as if they were crouched in a closet.

  “Now then. The spell.” Edwina sat in a chair and raised a brow at the collection of toys and action figures on Lark’s desk.

  She wanted so badly to offer to let her play with them, but she was always iffy on Edwina’s humor. Lark knew she had a sense of humor, but she didn’t respond well to snark.

  “It’s all a guess of course. But we’ve been poring over everything we could get our hands on and we think we’ve found something that might work.”

  “Does it have to be manifested here? I mean real and solid in our plane of existence?”

  Meriel blew out a breath. “Yes. I need to find a way to see it without actually looking at it. This is the sticky part.”

  “Can you use a mirror? Or visualize it?”

  “We’re thinking a reflection would do it. I can’t visualize it because I don’t know what the heck it is. So a reflection is our next step.”

  “Which means we have to wait until it’s here and also close enough for you to see its reflection.”

  “Exactly. And there seems to be an element of the spell with it hearing our words or them being in the air near it. So we have to be near wherever it manifests as well. We’ve got a private jet fueled and ready to go in case it’s not here.” Edwina straightened the Jane Eyre action figure on the corner of the desk. “But I think it will be.”

  Lark sat back and listened because when a witch like Edwina spoke and shared information, it was important to hear.