The shadows in the sky grew larger.
Her mother stopped spinning.
Dee jerked and twitched, wheezing for air.
Whom did she choose? What did she do? Twenty-four years of frustration, betrayal, being unloved and used, exploded within her, and just as Maeve lifted her arms high and opened her mouth to utter the birth cry that would burn her beloved Phoenix, Ailish sprang, hitting her mother in the chest, knocking the air from her lungs, and slamming her to the ground. She wrapped one hand around her mother’s neck—“Breath of life, in my cry …” She flung out her hand to Dee and sang, “Give life to another!”
Her mother gagged as the cry shot from her lungs, through Ailish, and out her hand. It hit the ring of dirt and witches, forced them to part like the Red Sea, and went straight into Dee.
Ailish heard her suck in a breath a second before her mother’s furious magic hit her chest, lifted her up, and blasted her back onto the ground.
Phoenix landed just as Ailish was thrown off that bitch. She hit the ground hard, and the bird squawked in fury. He had his knife in his hand, cut his palm, and went to her.
Meanwhile, Axel dive-bombed the male, slamming him to the ground and knocking him out cold.
Sutton cut Dee free from the chair she was tied to and turned to face the demon witches.
Phoenix got on the other side of Ailish so he could watch while he tended to her ankle. The pain coming from her felt like pulverized bones. She wore sweats and no shoes, making it easy to see where the broken bone tore through the skin. Yet her chakras were open. Her resilience amazed the shit out of him. He laid his bloody hand on the wound. “Heal, baby. We’ve got work to do.”
Her damaged eyes went to him. “Dee?”
“She’s breathing.” Her powers heated the wound, and a quick look showed him the healing light. “Can you stand? Banish Asmodeus?” Phoenix needed that demon out of the way before he killed her mother and freed his siren from the handfast. “Look with me.” He felt her mind brush and meld with his, and he showed her the mortal man crumpled at the base of the altar. He was starting to rouse with a deep groan. It was a horrible sound of many voices forced through one. The demon was compelling the mortal to get up even though he was hurt.
Ailish saw it, too, and said, “Let me up.”
Phoenix removed his hand and pulled her to her feet. She rushed to the man, held out her hands, and unleashed her magic.
Phoenix protected her back. The coven witches were firing flames and knives with their magic. The hunters edged forward, ready for the kill.
The ground shook, as if massive snakes writhed beneath them. Phoenix suspected it was the ley lines. The tremors grew as Ailish forced more of her earth magic into the mortal. Finally the ground split open, the smell of sulfur bloomed, then the ground sucked it up and closed. The mortal slumped down, unconscious.
The witches shrieked in rage as their demon was banished back to the Underworld.
Maeve Donovan shouted, “Dead and dismantled, a soul no longer. Bones and teeth and eyes and claws. No soul, no soul, my blood conceives you. My blood binds you. My blood commands you!”
The other witches joined the chant.
Ailish whipped around, her face going white. “Shit! They’re raising hellhounds!”
Using Phoenix’s vision, Ailish saw her mother had a knife and cut herself on her breast, her thigh, and her hand. The blood welled up, and she dipped her fingers in it to sprinkle the ground.
The rest of the coven cut themselves and chanted. Some had knives, others used their fingernails to tear their skin.
Sutton and Axel were trying to get through a wall of knives and flames.
The coven kept chanting and sprinkling their blood. The dirt was stirring, beginning to vomit up bones and other parts of dead animals.
“No!” Ailish sang out the word, and the wall of fire and knives shattered. She sprang forward, hopped once, and snapped her foot into Maeve’s stomach.
Her mother flew back into the rest of the coven, the knife dropping from her hands.
Unfortunately, the force of the kick caused Maeve’s blood to spray out from the cuts.
Click. Pop.
Terror slid down her throat. Deep instinct forced her eyes open, and she lost her vision from Phoenix. All she saw were shadows rising from the earth and assembling.
Click. Pop. Skuttle. A low growl.
“How many!” she screamed. The sounds made her skin crawl. “Where are they!”
Phoenix shoved her back, his body filling her dim sight. Then he was moving so fast, she felt a breeze. Fighting. He was battling the hellhounds, keeping them from her, protecting her from the one thing he knew truly terrified her.
Axel and Sutton flanked Phoenix, and they fought the hellhounds and the coven. She was behind a wall of huge witch hunters with wings. She felt Dee’s hand close around hers.
Rage rushed up over her panic. She squeezed her eyes shut and centered herself. Felt the wings of the bird brushing her as Phoenix kicked and stabbed and dismembered those creatures.
But Ailish knew the coven magic would keep reassembling them. She squeezed Dee’s hand, “Stay back,” she told her, then let go and reached out to touch the wing of the phoenix.
Her heart calmed, her mind centered, and Phoenix’s hunter-sharp vision filled her head.
The hellhounds ranged in size from that of a small dog to a wolf on steroids. They were put together wrong, a big head on a small body, with claws for feet. Some had teeth or claws in place of a nose or sticking out of their legs. Bones protruded through decaying fur or skin. Some had eyes, a few had noses. They stank of week-old corpses left in the sun.
They popped and clicked and scuttled.
Behind them, the coven witches kept spilling their blood to maintain the power to regenerate the hellhounds.
She had to put a stop to this and began summoning her power. Then she ducked below Phoenix’s wing and shot between him and Axel. Jumping in front of them, she pushed her power through her voice and sang out:
Earth owns the body, time owns the soul.
Bones and teeth and eyes and claws,
Break free of the blood binding!
Earth, reclaim your dead!
She swept her hands back and forth in front of her, and her magic swirled up and down her spine, spun in her head, then shot out her hands. Just when she thought she’d never control it, the bird filled her mind with his electric-blue-and-purple beauty. Phoenix stepped closer, his hard body against her back, his arms on either side of her. She knew he kept his hands free to protect her.
Through his vision, she saw the earth tremble and the hellhounds broke apart with sickening clicks and pops. Winds ripped across the dirt. The pieces of the hellhounds vanished, and the winds calmed.
Her mother screamed her fury: “You worthless bitch, I should have drowned you at birth!”
Phoenix jerked behind her, a hand going to his throat. Ailish couldn’t see him, but she felt the cold wave of dark magic wrap around his neck and squeeze, trying to choke him.
“Oh hell, no.” She evaded Phoenix’s hand as he tried to grab her and stormed over to Maeve. Somehow, she stayed in Phoenix’s sight and he kept his eyes focused on what she needed to see, even while he fought the choking magic trying to kill him. Ailish approached the woman who had birthed her. Maeve stood naked, dirty, and streaked with drying blood, trying to kill the man she loved.
“Witch karma, there’s nothing you—”
She whirled into a roundhouse kick, slammed her newly healed foot into the side of her mother’s head, and sent her flying across the grounds. The dark magic trying to hurt Phoenix broke from the impact of the kick. “I don’t use my powers to cause harm!”
“I’ll kill you!” Maeve screamed.
Ailish followed Phoenix’s line of vision to where her mother had landed by the stone altar and was now climbing to her feet. “You can try, but you’ll never harm Phoenix!”
“I’ve got this,” Phoe
nix said softly beside her, his wing caressing her shoulder. “Don’t look.” Then he moved away, and the images were suddenly blocked by the blue-and-purple phoenix. He filled her sight, his eyes shining with love, his chest puffed out, and his wings spread. He came to her, touching her mind with his love while Phoenix did what had to be done.
The earth rocked, followed by a powerful stench of sulfur and then a strange emptiness.
Your mother’s gone. Asmodeus took her to the Underworld, Phoenix said in her mind, and the bird faded from view.
The coven began to scream in outraged fury and fear as they realized what had happened. Their high witch was dead and now in the Underworld. Her mother. No, don’t think about that now.
Ailish closed her eyes, and Phoenix’s vision opened in her mind once more. Their connection was strengthening to allow her to merge into his sight without touching him.
All hell broke loose. The coven witches attacked, using their powers to make missiles out of burning candles, rocks, knives, anything they could find. Ailish snapped into action, using her kickboxing skills to drop the witches.
The hunters killed them.
“Axel’s wing is on fire,” Phoenix said. As he ran past, he turned his head to look at Axel and thereby show her where to aim her magic. Ailish called for water and doused the fire. It was all happening so fast.
And then it was quiet. Ailish stood in the middle of the grounds, sweaty, tired, and unable to process that it was over.
Except she could still feel the binding on her left wrist. She was still handfasted. Her mother was dead, and the binding was still there.
“No!” Phoenix bellowed from several feet away. A second later, he reached her side, then took hold of her arm and raised her wrist.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly, understanding that he’d heard her thoughts when she’d realized the handfast binding was still there.
He sucked in a shuddering breath, then rubbed his thumb over her skin and the hideous bracelet, as if he couldn’t believe it was still there.
The other hunters were moving around, taking care of the mortal man who’d been possessed and Dee. But Ailish and Phoenix stood trapped in wretched, silent grief. They both knew the truth: Her mother’s death hadn’t broken the handfast binding.
Only Ailish’s death would do it. They knew now that she had to die. She was the daughter of a demon witch, handfasted to a demon and she had to pay. With her life and maybe, her soul.
She’d be in darkness forever.
* * *
Phoenix soared across the night sky with Ailish in his arms. Her head was tucked against his chest. The bird made horrible little sounds of pain as he flew. The creature loved her.
Phoenix loved her.
How could they lose her?
She’d been so fierce out there. And when her mother tried to choke him with magic, Ailish had been magnificent, her dark hair flying, striding across the dirt in that bra top with her slim, honed muscles rippling, her sweats clinging to her … And that roundhouse?
Chuck Norris perfect.
And earlier, when her mother had been going to release the cry that would burn him—Ailish had fought to save him and Dee.
How could he fail her?
It shredded his guts, and his eyes started to burn.
The house came into view, and soon he landed on the grass of the sloping backyard, then strode up to the back deck. Using his palm, he undid the locks and then went inside. He strode with her to his room.
Their room.
He took her into the bathroom, leaned in, and turned on the shower jets. Then he set her on her feet and stripped her and then himself.
Lifting her, he stepped into the shower, then washed them both. Ailish tried to help, but he batted her hands away. He washed her, determined to get the blood, dirt, and painful memories off her. His cock ached from seeing her, touching her, from her scent, even her soft sighs. She was a very sensual woman. The feel of his soapy hands on her made her buttery scent of desire thicken until his mouth watered to lap at her very center.
Forcing himself to focus, he rinsed them both and then turned off the shower. He reached for a towel and began to dry her.
She tried to take the towel from him.
Taking hold of her face, he looked down into her eyes. It was uncanny the way she always looked back at him. With everyone else, she looked toward them. “I will fight for you until my last breath, and when I’m dead, you’ll call me back to fight for you again. It’s my duty, my right, and goddamn it, I need to do this, to take care of you right now.” He couldn’t look away from her. His beauty, so gifted that she could call him to life from ashes. If he lost her … He couldn’t stop himself, he leaned down and kissed her, trying to taste her love.
It tasted like Ailish. So fucking perfect, his heart swelled. He tore his mouth away, flung the towel down, and picked her up. He strode from the steamy bathroom into the cooler bedroom. She shivered.
His wings sprang out. Surprised, he shifted to support the sudden weight protruding from his back. His wings curved around Ailish in his arms, warming her.
She was wearing nothing but his wings. His. The blue-and-purple feathers against her olive skin were so pretty. She lifted a hand and stroked the edges of the feathers as he walked to the bed.
It was pleasant, and mildly sexy, as if she were touching his arm.
She smiled, then moved her hand to the inside of his wing, stroking and petting.
The profoundly sensual touch froze him at the edge of the bed. His cock bobbed and his balls seized up as if she had stroked them. The wings were a deeply intricate part of him, and they had some hot spots.
It’s like stroking your penis. So hard, with soft, velvety skin, or feathers. She whispered the words in his head, then reached up and dragged his mouth down to hers.
Heat and wild feelings of love, of pride in her, awe that she loved him, too many feelings to identify, exploded inside him. He tore his mouth away, set her on her feet.
She put her hand on his chest. “I want to touch your wings. Feel them. Feel both of you. I need both of you.” Her voice was raw, not quite with tears, but with real and honest feeling.
Feelings. They were overwhelming them both.
He kissed her, tasting her mouth, tasting her love. He broke away, turned her to face the bed, and tugged her back to his chest. “You have us both.” He cupped her breasts, touched her nipples, and felt the throb of her desire pebbling them.
The wings bent around her, at an angle that should have made it impossible for them to caress her, but they did, feathering over her stomach, her legs. Ailish relaxed against him, content to let them, him and the bird, give her what she needed.
He leaned his face down to her ear. “We’re going to make love to you. I’m going to fill you and he’s going to hold you.” He skimmed his hand down her stomach while lifting his wings and using the insides to rub against her nipples. The sensation of those pebbled peaks brushing against the tender lining of his wings shot straight to his groin. She arched into the touch and moaned softly.
He had to touch more of her and moved his hand lower to her bare, smooth mound. He slid his fingers between her legs and groaned against her ear. She was damp and swelling as he touched her and stroked her folds. His groan made her shudder more.
Ailish, his blind witch, needed him to fill her other senses.
He traced her ear with his tongue as he penetrated her soft channel with one finger, then two. He stroked her, feeling her hot magic begin to throb around him. “Not yet,” he said against her ear. “You can go higher, the wings have you.” He was pushing her to the edge, then holding her there. He thrust in deep, but not deep enough.
She whimpered, tossing her head.
For Ailish to trust him enough to whimper, to let him know how badly she ached, was the sweetest sound he’d heard. He took his fingers from her.
She put her knee on the bed and started to crawl forward.
He saw her as
s, those firm, muscular buttocks, then she moved and she was exposed to him. Wet, flushed, swollen, and so beautiful, he forgot to breathe. He bent over her, curled his arm around her waist, and touched the head of his cock to her entrance. Her magic surged, trying to pull him in. At the same time, his wings stroked her, touched her, and held her in a silent promise of forever. “Please.” It was all he could say. He had to be inside her.
“Yes.” Her voice came out laced with her power.
The magic spread around them as Phoenix thrust into her, but it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough. He could feel her beneath him, feel her hot channel pulsing with magic, feel the wings holding her, and it wasn’t enough!
He thrust and pumped and struggled to reach her soul, her life force, her very heart. So he could hold it safe. The pleasure of stroking into her raced through him as Ailish tightened. He held her closer, kissed her neck, fondled her nipples, fingered her clit, while the pleasure burned and tortured.…
Ailish shoved back, taking his cock all the way to her womb, and sang, “I love you, Phoenix.” Her voice soared with magic, the wings cradled her tighter, and she shattered.
The feel of Ailish coming, surrounding his cock, loving him, and showering him with magic raced down his spine and exploded. He pumped into her, filling her with his seed, as if he could fill her with life.
Forever.
Never to die and leave him.
Phoenix clutched her tighter. “I can’t lose you,” he said into the thick strands of her hair. “You’re my very soul.”
DAYS REMAINING ON HANDFAST CONTRACT: FOUR
Ailish sat on the grass in the deep night. The moon was waning, like her life. Watching Phoenix struggling to save her was tearing her apart. She had tried her voice power again and again. In desperation, Phoenix had tried every tool he could find. He’d hounded the witches, begged them to ask the Circle Witches, the Ancestors, to search their knowledge chakras time and again.
Night Magic: A Wing Slayer Novel Page 31
