My wolf was no where to be found because of the wolfsbane and I was trapped in my own body without protection from any magic.
“Hauriendum sanguinem, hauriendum sanguinem, hauriendum sanguinem,” he chanted. I wasn’t able to see what he was doing until his hand came into my line of sight. Floating atop his open palm was a ball of blood—my blood.
The Mad Hatter hurried to the edge of the lake and with his free hand he waved it across the grass and said, “Stella orbis.”
At the sound of his voice, a circle of fire flew up before it extinguished and what was left was a crop circle with something inside it. I couldn’t see from my position.
“Apertus,” he said and dropped the blood inside the circle. The ground began to tremble and the water began to part like the Red Sea.
Giddy with glee, the Mad Hatter ran to me and adjusted my hair so I could see better. “He’ll be so proud of me, Mackenzie. Before you know it, we’ll be sitting by his side and ruling the world. Can you see it?”
The burning on my hip hadn’t stopped; the pain was the only thing my mind registered and I wanted to scream. The sting was so intense, I didn’t know how much time had passed as I went in and out of consciousness.
It was like he was schizophrenic—his personality was the total opposite the other times I’d encountered him—no wonder he was called the Mad Hatter. He was absolutely bonkers.
I blinked a couple times to clear my vision and that’s when I saw them. People were coming out of the lake in droves, running to the shore in a hurry. It wasn’t until they were almost upon us that I realized they weren’t people—they were Fae.
This crazy fucker opened the gates to the Fae realm.
10
The Mad Hatter laughed joyously, ripping patches of grass and throwing it in the air like confetti. He greeted every Fae that passed us, but they ignored him in their rush to get out. This must have irritated him because his face went from a child to a murderer in a split second. He grabbed the collar of the next Fae to pass him and snapped its neck.
The others paused and stared at the psycho.
“You wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me. Some appreciation wouldn’t hurt,” his voice deepened and this was the serial killer I recognized.
The murmurs of “thanks” filtered in and it must have satisfied him because he focused on me again.
“Sorry for the interruption,” he smiled. “Don’t worry, our master is almost here. I can feel him.”
I didn’t need a psychic to tell me who he was talking about. If the gates had opened, there could only be two people behind it: Drusilla and Andrew.
“Don’t cry, Princess. I won’t hurt your friend, he’s safe,” he said and turned around. “Oh look! Here comes, Master.”
The last person to come out of the lake was none other than my fake half-brother, Andrew Duncan. The sinister gleam in his eyes was just as I remembered and my skin filled with goosebumps as I waited to see what he would do with me.
We’d been completely wrong—the killings weren’t at random or for the sick enjoyment of a serial killer—they were sacrifices.
“My dear, sweet, sister,” Andrew sang and he stopped before me. His head slanted to the side as he looked down at me with a warm smile. “Don’ ye look ravishing.”
I stopped crying. My eyes narrowed and I swore the first chance I got, I’d rip his throat out. He escaped me once, but it wouldn’t happen again.
Andrew squatted and he stroked my cheek with a gentle caress that made me want to barf. “I missed ye, sis. It was quite lonely in the Fae realm. A day did nae go by that I did nae think of yer beautiful face—and those gray eyes,” he grinned. “But don’ fret, big brother is here. How much time has passed?” He asked me and laughed. “Right, ye cannae speak.”
“A year, Master,” the Mad Hatter answered.
Andrew’s jaw ticked. “It took ye that long? Imbecile. I swear, sister, ye cannae find good help these days.” His hand slid from my face, down my neck, and over my arm, like he was soothing me. “Oh no, what do we have here,” he gazed at my bare lower body.
Once the burning of my tattoo was finished, I remained exposed.
His hand grazed my singed skin. “It was an unnecessary evil, sweet sister, but I apologize for Maddie’s obvious stupidity,” he turned to the Mad Hatter. “Bloody hell, ye just left her bare for the world to see? She’s a bloody princess ye nitwit!”
“Sorry master, please forgive me.”
Andrew pulled my pants up and smiled. “Ye must be wondering why I’m taking such good care of ye, aye? Well I’ve had plenty time to ponder on how ye killed me mum, and while the urge to kill ye is still there, I have other plans for ye, sis. It’s going to be fun, I promise,” he stroked my cheek again.
“Get…away…from…her,” I heard Cas grit out. The wolfsbane must of been wearing off.
“I guess all good things must come to an end,” he beamed. “I’ll see ye soon, sis,” he said before planting a soft and lingering kiss on my forehead.
I passed out after Andrew and the Mad Hatter left. All I could hear was Cas yelling my name into the night before the darkness took me under.
When I woke, my head was bouncing atop of a hard but warm surface. I was wrapped up and cocooned as my fingers began to twitch. My mouth was dry and I needed water before I could speak. The pain in my hip flared and it made my body tighten in anguish.
“Help!” I heard Cas call out. “Get me a witch! Hurry!”
“What happened?” Michaels yelled and I heard multiple feet shuffling.
“Get me a goddamn witch!” Cas barked.
The banging of Briggs’ office door nearly shattered his window as I heard his heavy foot falls come out into the squad room.
“What the hell is all that yell—shit…” Briggs stammered.
“In here!” Finn yelled from across the room and Cas ran over, my head bouncing against his chest.
“We were shifting last night in Central Park when we were ambushed,” he said before he laid me on a cold, metal surface.
“It’s going to be okay, Kenz,” he brushed my hair away from my face. “Just hang on.”
“What the hell happened?” Briggs demanded.
Cas shook his head in disbelief. “The gate to the Fae realm…it’s open. That’s what these killings were all about, to open the realm.”
The room quieted as they took in this new development.
“The Fae needed Mackenzie for the ritual. I don’t know why, but they used her blood to open it. She’s lost a lot of blood,” Cas continued, his voice cracking in the end.
“What’s wrong with her now?” Michaels asked.
“We were injected with wolfsbane, we didn’t stand a chance. I was able to burn it off quickly, but she’s too weak from being moon-bound. The effect is taking longer than twenty four hours.”
Amara, one of the SIU witches came in and stood over my body. “Hey, Mackenzie. Bear with me for a while, I’m going to help you,” she said as she inspected my pupils. Her brown hair was pulled back into a messy bun, and she had dark circles around her eyes. A tell-tale sign of the many sleepless nights here at the SIU.
“Will you gentlemen excuse us?”
I didn’t hear any feet moving.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Cas said. “Now fix her.”
Amara huffed. “Blink once if you want them to leave, twice if you don’t mind them staying.”
I blinked twice.
“Very well,” she said and began to strip me of my clothes. When she got to my pants she noticed the burn on my hip. “What the—”
“The bastard took a blow torch to her hip,” Cas explained. “What kind of sick, deranged person does that?”
“A smart one,” Michaels said. “She had a Celtic tattoo there that protected her from magic used to harm her.” Not many people knew that I had it, but Michaels was my partner. We told each other everything.
Amara’s face twisted in horror, understanding the amou
nt of pain I’d have to endure to get it removed. It wasn’t like a regular tattoo, it took a lot of fire to remove a magical marking.
“I’ll see if I can get someone to redo her mark,” she said before taking a warm blanket and covering me. “I need to go to my lab and get some herbs. I’ll be back,” she hurried out of the room.
“Wa-Water,” I stammered. Like hounds, my team rushed over to me.
“Grey,” Briggs sighed. “Talk to me, how are you feeling?”
I swallowed a few times to wet my mouth. “Like shit,” I rasped.
They laughed. Maybe my therapist was right, I joked to hide emotions.
“Can you tell us what happened?” Finn asked. He had his notepad ready to jot down a statement.
Michaels returned with water and helped me take a few sips before I was ready to speak.
“It was Andrew Duncan. Alexander had sealed him in the Fae realm with the others. He’d been planning an escape all year. I don’t know how he did it.”
“Did you recognize anyone else?”
I shook my head. “The only one was the Mad Hatter, the serial killer we’d been searching for. I think the killings were sacrifices needed to open the gate.”
“The Mad Hatter?” Briggs repeated. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “You know him?”
Briggs snorted. “He’s a Druid we’ve been chasing since the seventies.”
“What’s a Druid?” I asked.
“You need to tell the King to school you on your heritage,” Cas said. “Druids are priests from the ancient Celtic religion. Their speciality? Human sacrifices to the Celtic Gods.”
“I should have known,” Briggs ran a hand over his head. “The killings should have been a dead giveaway.”
Cas shook his head. “You couldn’t have known. Druids are practically extinct.”
“What now?” I craned my neck. I was moving again.
“We have to find out how the realm was opened,” Finn started. “Druid magic is different from witches and warlocks. It’s old magic. We need to reverse whatever he did or a lot of people are going to be pissed—including your dad.”
“Speaking of,” Briggs chimed. “You need to call him. He knows something’s not right. It’s like he has a sixth sense because he called me asking about you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not a sixth sense…an oracle.”
11
“Mackenzie!” Alexander yelled into my ear. I flinched and pulled the phone away.
“Damn, Alex, my ear drums.”
“Are ye okay? Ophelia came to the castle demanding that I call ye. She would nae tell me why.” Ophelia was an Oracle, one of the Sisters of the Sight. She belonged to the same sisterhood as my bio-mom, Adaline.
I took a deep breath. “The Fae realm…Andrew has opened it.”
“That’s impossible!” Alexander shouted.
“He used a Druid…and me. They used my blood to open it, Alex.”
There was a silence on the line and I didn’t want to break it. Lycans were overprotective by nature, but I was Alexander’s daughter—that was a different kind of protectiveness.
“Are ye okay?” He asked in a whisper. Quiet anger was the worst.
“Yeah, of course,” I shrugged it off. “I just wanted to call you back and fill you in so you can protect the gate in Sheunta Village.” Besides Central Park, Loch Lomond was the other gate to the Fae realm. Shit. Loch Lomond…my nightmare.
“I’ll have my men guarding it at once,” he said before calling out orders to his guards. I wondered if Jonah was nearby. Was he in a council meeting? Should I ask for Jonah? Ugh. I was such a loser.
“Mackenzie,” Alexander pulled me out of my internal rambling. “I’m fueling up the plane and heading to New York tonight.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “You don’t have to, Alex. I’m perfectly fine.”
“Yer nae changing my mind, lass. I will nae leave ye to deal with this by yerself. Andrew is unstable and volatile. He’ll want revenge for Ivana.”
My emotions were all over the place. I wanted to tell him everything, about being moon-bound and weak, the tattoo, everything. If I did, he’d be on a plane before we hung up the phone. What held me back was my pride. I didn’t need or want to be saved. The whole purpose of gaining my freedom from Pack law was to not have to depend on any Packs. If I let Alex in, I was opening Pandora’s box. I was diving right back in to the Lycan world. Wasn’t I in it already? I mused. The minute Andrew opened the gates I was screwed.
“Fine,” I relented, “but under one condition.”
“Name it, lassie.”
“You have to bring Ophelia.”
After Amara worked her magic, I regained full movement and was left with minor soreness that let’s face it, I was already feeling before I was attacked…for the second time. This wasn’t my week.
When I left the infirmary, the squad room was empty.
“Hey Amara,” I stopped the witch before she left. “Where is everyone?”
“They went to the crime scene, but you need to go home and get some rest. There is a detail outside waiting to escort you home,” she directed me to the elevators. “What you went through was traumatic enough, your mind and body need to recuperate.”
“I know, I know,” I said as she walked me out of the building. “I’m going home.”
“Promise?” She narrowed her eyes.
“Promise,” I grinned.
“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow for your check up,” Amara said as she got into a taxi waiting outside. I waved as the cab drove off.
At the curb was an unmarked police car with Pete and Tom waiting outside of it.
“Ready, Grey?” Tom asked.
“Uh…I forgot something inside. Be right back,” I held up an index finger as the universal sign of one second. I hurried back into the SIU, but instead of going upstairs, I jogged around to the back exit of the building. Poking my head out into the backstreet, no one was in sight, so I headed in the opposite direction of my detail. Did they not know me at all? As if I’d be going home—I was going to Central Park.
I hailed a cab and jumped out at the entrance closest to where the gates opened. I could have walked, breathing alone was a struggle, but my burned flesh was the worst. Every step I took, my jeans rubbed against the dressing and it burned. Unless I shifted, I had to suck it up and deal with the residual aches.
Yellow caution tape was everywhere, the closer I got to the lake. I overheard the conversation among the human officers who were curious about what had taken place, but I was looking for my team. When Briggs’ loud and raspy voice boomed through the woods, I knew exactly where they were.
“My feelings are hurt, guys,” I said as I walked down the bank. “Leaving a man behind is against the rules, isn’t it?”
“Grey!” Briggs shouted. “You should be home, sleeping!”
“No thanks,” I limped over to my team. My hip was the one part Amara couldn’t heal. “I’m a part of this so don’t shut me out, Briggs.”
The lieutenant’s bushy eyebrows furrowed and the vein in his neck ticked like a bomb. “I need you at your best! The minute you don’t feel well, I want you out of my crime scene!”
I saluted him. “You got it, Boss.”
Had I been working with the humans, it would be against protocol to allow me to stay at a crime scene I was involved in, but this wasn’t a normal situation.
“How are you feeling?” Michaels came up to me. After the fight we had at my apartment, we hadn’t ended our last conversation on good terms.
Instead of answering, I pulled Michaels into a hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck and laid my cheek on his shoulder. We weren’t the touchy feely type, I don’t think we’ve ever hugged, but I thought he needed it. I needed it too.
It took him a while, but he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me back. “I was worried, Kid,” he whispered. He hadn’t called me “Kid” since I was his intern at 1PP.
“About the other day,
Michaels, you were right. I need to start shifting again, I need to regain my strength.”
Michaels body relaxed and he sighed in relief. “You have no idea how happy I am to hear that,” he paused, “but can we stop hugging now?”
“Oh! Right,” we released each other. There was nothing romantic between us. It would be easy for a relationship of that nature to develop with how close we were as partners, but I saw Michaels like I saw Ollie—like a brother.
“Briggs, I think we figured—Mackenzie?” Amara said and I froze. My back was to her and I didn’t want to turn around.
“Is she coming toward us?” I whispered to Michaels, squinting my eyes hoping I’d disappear.
“Uh yeah….”
“Shit.”
“Young lady, I told you to go home! Where’s your detail? You promised me you’d get some rest!”
I turned around slowly and shrugged. “Rules are meant to be broken, Amara. Live a little,” I winked and side-stepped her. She yapped her gums behind me until we got to Briggs who was waiting on her analysis.
“I don’t have all day Amara, what did you find?” Briggs demanded.
While they spoke, I scanned the area. I saw where my body had been, where Cas had been, but what caught my eye was the crop circle by the lake. I’d been unable to see it from my vantage point, but now that I could walk again, I went over to the symbol burned on the ground: the Star of David inside of a circle—a pentagram. Remnants of my dry blood lingered, and I wondered what the hell this all meant.
“Grey, are you paying attention?” Finn pulled me from my thoughts.
“Huh?”
“Get over here,” he said.
I went up the shore and joined the group as Amara explained what she found.
“This is very old and very dark magic. From what I can gather, it’s a linking spell and I’m assuming the gates are linked to Mackenzie. Until I can figure out the magic the Druid is doing, I won’t be able to give any specifics. In the meantime, this gate cannot be closed. We don’t know how it will affect Mackenzie. If she is linked to it, as long as she’s alive, the gates to the Fae realm will remain open,” Amara stated.
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