by Susan Illene
Melena gasped. “That was Cori’s daughter!”
“What happened to her?” Emily asked, confused. “I didn’t even know she had a daughter.”
“Neither did we until recently,” Lucas replied. Then he went on to give her the short version of how Griff killed the little girl while drinking and driving one night.
Micah growled. “No wonder she tried to murder him.”
“We need to make sure he stays dead this time,” Tormod added.
“Enough!” Yvonne cried out, giving them all reproving looks. “Your emotions are going to overlap Cori’s if you keep voicing them this close to the painting.”
Everyone backed away except Melena, who was still holding the portrait.
“Let me see it,” the mystic beckoned. She might be old, but Micah’s healing power had given her some of her strength back. Who knew what she might do to them if they upset her.
Bartol appreciated that she didn’t like wasting time.
Melena handed the portrait over, not letting go until she was certain Yvonne had a solid grip on it. The older woman with long, silver hair that ran down nearly to her waist stared at the image of Cori’s daughter. Then she set it on a chair for further study.
“She poured her heart and soul into this,” Yvonne said, voice softer than before. She grazed her fingertips over the paint. “It’s there in every brushstroke.”
Melena had a sheen of tears in her eyes as she tried to contain herself while still staring at the work of art. She sucked in a breath. “Will it be enough for you to find her?”
“If it isn’t, something is terribly wrong,” the mystic replied. Then she turned and gestured for everyone to come forward and hold hands. “To be safe, I’d have all of those who are closest to Cori participate in the spell—except the sensors.”
Of course, their immunity to magic would cause problems.
“What about me?” Tormod asked.
The mystic lifted a brow. “Can you open yourself to magic and fuel it?”
He nodded. “I’ve done it before.”
“Then you can participate,” Yvonne informed him. She looked at Bartol next. “I will hold the painting with one hand, and I need you to hold it with one of yours to complete the circle.”
“Of course.” He moved to the position she directed. Lucas came to stand beside him, and though it wasn’t easy, Bartol allowed the nephilim to take his hand.
Micah and Derrick were next. After that Diane, Yvonne’s daughter, took the last position next to her mother. The older mystic waited until they were all connected, asked for silence, and then began chanting.
The thrum of magic filled the room, thickening the air. It had a dark flavor to it that was strange to Bartol. His lids grew heavy and his stomach churned. He noted many of the others experiencing similar discomfort, which was a strange reaction to have with this kind of spell. A shock of electricity ran through the group, hitting Bartol so hard he jerked away from Lucas and the painting. His knees grew weak, and he fell to his knees.
“Oh, my,” Yvonne said, sounding far away. “That did not go well at all.”
Bartol struggled to open his eyes, feeling as weak as he had in Purgatory. When he could finally see around him, he noted Lucas, Micah, Derrick, and Tormod had been brought down as well. Only the mystic women remained standing.
He pulled himself back to his feet. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure but…” She looked around the circle. “Something is affecting those with angel blood. I sensed something dark when I tried to connect to Cori that felt like it was seeking the angelic force and eating at it.”
Melena came toward them. “What could possibly do that?”
“I have no idea,” Yvonne answered, perplexed. “I did not know it was even possible.”
Derrick shook his head. “We should have known that vampire had something helping him elude us.”
Bartol agreed, though it didn’t bode well for them if Griff had those sorts of connections. It only made him worry about Cori that much more. Not only had her ex-husband gained strength by becoming a vampire, but he also had allies aiding his cause. They had to be powerful to thwart anyone with angel blood—something unheard of until now.
“We’ll have to worry about that later,” Yvonne said, clasping her hands together. “If I cannot draw upon the power of those present, then it must be with others who know Cori.”
“Kariann could do it,” Melena suggested.
The female vampire in question burst into the room. “I thought you guys would never ask.”
Derrick frowned at her. “Were you listening outside the door?”
She strutted toward them, appearing every bit an Amazon warrior with her blond hair flowing down her back and leather battle garb hugging her muscular frame. “It was my job to guard the doors, and I can’t help it if my hearing is good.”
“Wait,” Melena said. “I thought vampires were originally born from nephilim, which would give her angel blood. How could she help?”
“Black magic and death negate any ties they have to us,” Bartol informed her. “It should be fine, and especially if Griff is using the stone. He wouldn’t handle it if it weakened him as well.”
Bartol didn’t like how this was going so far, but they’d have to figure it out as they went along. He would not leave Cori to that monster no matter the risk to him and his friends.
Yvonne beckoned to Kariann. “We will have to make do with you. Everyone else needs to stand back and stay quiet.”
They moved across the reception room to where the sensors had waited. The mystics began to chant again with Dianne holding the other end of the painting this time. Long minutes passed as magic thickened the room once more, but this time it felt natural. The air wasn’t as cloying, and there wasn’t a sharp charge to it.
Finally, the chanting abated and Yvonne looked up. “Without more people to draw power from, I could not get a precise location, but I have found the general area where Cori is located. She is near a town called Livengood. If you wish to find her quickly, you will want to take as many people as you can to search the area.”
“No wonder we couldn’t find Cori.” Melena shook her head. “That’s almost a two-hour drive north of here.”
“I’m flashing there now,” Bartol said, unwilling to wait a moment longer.
“Don’t.” Diane gave him a warning look. “You can’t do this alone if you wish to succeed.”
“I’ll get some of my people together, and we’ll start heading out right away,” Derrick announced, leaving the room before anyone could respond. Kariann followed him.
Lucas moved toward Bartol. “This is for the best. We have no way of knowing what to expect up there, and you could use all the help you can get.”
“We’ll all help,” Melena added, sympathy in her gaze. “She’s my friend too, so I understand.”
It was a delay Bartol did not like at all. Cori had already been suffering her former husband’s abuse for too long, and she needed to be rescued before it was too late. He didn’t like waiting at all, but he also wasn’t stupid. If the mystic said it was necessary, he would not ignore her warning. Cori’s welfare came first.
“Very well, but if we do not leave in the next twenty minutes, I will go alone,” Bartol vowed.
Everyone exploded into action.
Chapter 28
Bartol
The town of Livengood numbered its population in the lower double digits. Bartol didn’t find much to note it as a town other than a few old buildings and houses dotting the area and a trading post. Someone mentioned it was founded after gold was discovered in the early 1900s and then mostly abandoned a few decades later. It was a hilly area with thick vegetation and crude roads, constructed mainly of dirt and gravel. The primary attraction to the place was that it began the long and arduous ground route to Prudhoe Bay.
They stopped in the town first to organize their search parties. It was the middle of the night, so thankfully they didn�
��t have to deal with the few residents who might have noticed a large group of supernaturals gathering conspicuously, particularly those who shifted into wolf form so they could hunt easier.
Bartol paced back and forth as everyone broke off into teams. They assigned Kariann to him because it was decided by everyone—except him—that no one should hunt alone. Also, to be on the safe side, anyone with angel blood had to have someone else on their team who would not be susceptible to whatever Griff was using for protection. Bartol didn’t like it, but Lucas and Melena had spent the entire drive north convincing him that this was the best approach.
“We’ve got the land to the northwest of here,” Kariann said, holding up a map with an outline of their assigned search area.
Bartol was tired of standing around “planning” and didn’t feel like discussing their tactics anymore. He grabbed the female vampire’s arm, jerked her to his side, and flashed them away. As soon as they landed, he let go of Kariann and began investigating the land around them.
“Wow.” She gave him a disgruntled look as she clutched her stomach. “In a hurry much?”
“Yes,” he replied.
She took a moment to collect herself and started walking with him. He was glad to find she could keep up with his long strides as he pushed his way through thick brush and around trees. The snow that had hit the region two days before had mostly melted, so at least they didn’t have to tromp their way through much of it. Bartol only found small patches in places shielded from the sun.
After more than thirty minutes of walking, his gut churned when he crested a rise. Intuition told him he should veer east, though he saw nothing in that direction to indicate the reason. Many times his sixth sense had guided him well in the past, and he would not ignore it now, especially since he felt it through his mate bond. Cori was in pain again.
Kariann rushed to his side. “We can’t go that way. Someone else is assigned that area.”
“I don’t care. Cori is in that direction,” he replied.
“How do you know?” the vampire asked.
“She is my mate, and she’s in trouble. I can feel that we are getting closer to her.” Which was likely the reason Lucas insisted someone go with Bartol so that he didn’t just take off on his own, which was exactly what he wanted to do.
“Right.” Kariann drew her sword and started chopping down the vegetation ahead of them. “I heard mates can sense each other.”
He continued in the direction his instincts guided him. As far as he could tell, there were no signs of human civilization to confirm this was the correct path, but that didn’t deter him. They walked a few more minutes before breaking through a copse of trees. Approximately five hundred feet in the distance, Bartol thought he caught the hint of a structure with a faint light coming from the window.
“Do you see it?” he asked.
Kariann squinted in the direction he looked. “Yes, barely.”
“Cori is in there.”
She pulled a radio out and called in their position to the other search parties.
Bartol shifted on his feet impatiently. “We need to go to her now.”
Kariann moved in front of his path, smart enough not to touch him. “Not yet. We need to scope this place out and see if Griff has any friends in there who could cause trouble. Melena can help with that.”
Bartol worked his jaw, feeling another jolt of pain run through him as Cori was hurt yet again. He clenched his hands at his sides. Kariann was right that it could be a trap, but he couldn’t stand idly by and do nothing. “Five minutes—that’s as long as I’ll wait.”
“You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?” The vampire gave him an annoyed look. “It’s going to take more than that for the others to get here. Be patient!”
He crossed his arms and glared at her.
Rapid movement caught their attention, and a moment later, Lucas and Melena appeared next to them. Bartol had suspected that though Lucas couldn’t flash his mate anywhere, he could still move very fast with her. That had only taken two minutes of the five he’d allotted.
After the sensor caught her breath, she turned in the direction they were looking. Her brows knitted. “I don’t sense anything that way. It could just be humans.”
“It’s her,” Bartol insisted.
His patience had worn thin. Feeling another burst of pain from Cori, he used his flashing vision to check on her. It didn’t work. It was as if he had hit a brick wall and couldn’t penetrate farther. Bartol tried flashing to the house, but that didn’t work, either.
“The place is protected,” he said, directing his attention to Lucas. “Try flashing there.”
The nephilim knitted his brows. After a minute, his expression turned disgruntled. “I can’t.”
“But I don’t sense anything there. I should be able to pick up a spell or something,” Melena argued.
It was more than a little strange for the sensor to be affected by the spell as well. She might have angel blood in her, but it shouldn’t have mattered with her immunity to magic.
“It appears he’s found a way to thwart all of our abilities,” Lucas replied, taking his mate’s hand. “This isn’t only about Cori anymore. We need to know what he’s doing and how to stop it before our enemies use such an advantage against us.”
Derrick and several werewolves joined them, followed by Micah, Tormod, and the rest of the nerou a few minutes later. Lucas and Melena gave them an update while Bartol continued to watch the house for any signs of life. All was calm as if Griff was waiting for them.
“It will be dawn in forty minutes,” Derrick said, glancing at his watch.
“Damn.” Kariann’s lips thinned. “That means I can’t stay long.”
She was the only vampire who’d made the journey because they’d feared they wouldn’t return before sunrise. Derrick wouldn’t have let her come either, but she’d been rather adamant and agreed to a few conditions.
“You can stay out here for twenty more minutes, but after that you will run back to town and crawl into the body bag in the van.” The master stared her down. “Understand?”
She nodded. “Absolutely. I don’t want to die either, but I want to help if I can.”
Just like a nephilim, she could move very quickly when motivated. Bartol estimated it wouldn’t take her more than five or six minutes to get to safety when the time came. He was impressed she was willing to cut it that close for Cori, though. Most vampires refused to be anywhere outdoors an hour before dawn.
After a few final instructions, they set off toward the house. With the whole group being supernatural, they were able to move fast until they got within a hundred feet of the place. Then it became as if they were moving through a swamp. Bartol felt his powers drain away and each step seemed as if his feet were weighted in cement. He glanced over and noted only the werewolves and Kariann didn’t appear to be struggling. They’d slowed with the rest of the group, but they appeared confused by the slower pace.
“Wait!” a young werewolf shouted when they’d gone about fifty feet. He flared his nose several times. “I smell explosives.”
Another in wolf form barked his own confirmation and pawed at the ground.
Derrick tested the air. “I’m not smellin’ anything.”
Micah grimaced and stared at his hands. “None of our enhanced abilities are working now.”
The young werewolf in human form pointed to a spot a few paces ahead. “There’s a landmine right there.” He adjusted the direction of his finger. “And another there. I’m catching them all over the place.”
They were still not close enough to the house. None of them could flash, and most couldn’t even run. The distance was too far for the wolves to leap. They had no way of knowing exactly how to get through the field without risking setting off a mine, and it was possible their rapid healing was suppressed as well.
“I wouldn’t come any closer,” a man called out.
He came through the front door and onto the p
orch, hauling a woman in front of him. It took a moment for Bartol to recognize Cori with her face swollen and covered in blood. Rage filled him at the sight of her. He’d known her former husband was hurting her but seeing it was an entirely different matter.
Without thinking, he rushed forward, uncaring of the landmines. All he knew was that he had to get to his mate and take her from that monster. If Bartol’s movements were slower than usual, so be it. He pushed with everything he had to make each step.
“Bartol, no!” Melena cried.
He didn’t make it more than half a dozen steps when an explosion went off. Pain erupted in his body as the flesh was torn from his legs, arms, and torso. He went flying through the air, landing not far from where he started. Pain infused his body. He’d not felt this bad since the last time Kerbasi tortured him.
Kariann hurried over to where he lay. “I’ve got this.”
Picking Bartol up, she ran until she’d put a couple of hundred feet between them and the others. He felt his strength begin to return, though his body didn’t heal as fast as he would have liked. Normally, explosives didn’t take a toll quite this bad on him.
“Here,” she said. “Drink.”
He turned his face away. “I do not…”
“If you want to save your woman, do it!” Kariann jerked his face back toward her, bit into her wrist, and pressed it to his mouth.
Bartol had not needed to replenish himself with vampire blood for healing since he was young. It was something a nephilim might do during their first couple of centuries before they grew stronger, but not something they did after they became powerful.
He was too weak to resist her, though, and she had a valid point. Bartol gulped down her blood until he felt the flesh in his legs and other parts of him regenerate. Then he shoved her arm away. “I appreciate your assistance, but that is enough.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied, rolling her eyes.
“I will be well in a minute. You must take shelter now,” he said, gesturing for her to leave.
Kariann frowned, staring down at his still healing body. “Are you sure?”
