by Fawn Lowery
Marcus! She knows you’re here!
He squeezed her hand, silently reassuring her.
We must search other rooms in the castle. Come.
He pushed her gently aside, leading the way along the passage they had just traversed.
Do you think she knows I’m here too?
His fingers tightened around her hand. Her powers of perception are exceptional. And since she knows you were the one who awakened me, she knows you have returned with me to this time period to rescue my brothers. Yes, my love, she knows you are with me.
Having her fears confirmed didn’t help her nerves. She bit her bottom lip. Inching her feet slowly along the rough stone passageway, she hoped they didn’t encounter Drucella again before they were able to find Marcus' brothers and awaken them. She heaved a long sigh. If she lived to be a hundred years old, she would never understand what compelled her to buy that suit of armor for Pam in the first place—or the silly notion to think she could clean it up without using witchcraft. If she had only zapped the thing—
Marcus turned to the left when they reached the part of the passageway where other narrow walkways branched off. Their route led them down a steep incline, perhaps leading into the lower rooms of the stone castle. The temperature grew colder and the stench of ocean water and marine life intensified.
Marcus halted his feet suddenly. There was light shining in the passageway just ahead, signaling the opening of another room. Slowly they crept forward, their ears keen to any signs of Drucella or the rest of the coven.
Ronna felt cold dread engulf her insides at the sight of the light glowing faintly from the opening. Surely they were about to peek into another room of Drucella’s evil world. She was quick to realize that the rooms with light were those being used by the witch and her coven.
An enormous room lay beyond the crevice in the mountainside. Filled with furnishings and rich tapestries—it was a room uncommon to a witch’s tastes. Ronna couldn’t help but feel surprised when she viewed the area. A large velvet draped bed sat in the center of the room, an impressive array of candles were lit around the outer walls, giving the space a smoky yellow glow.
This must be where she entertains the men she casts spells over.
Yes. Drucella has an appetite for sex.
Ronna felt the pit of her stomach quiver. Had Marcus fucked Drucella on the velvet-draped bed? Had they shared hot sex and exquisite passion?
I feel your jealously. Thank you, my love.
She dashed the thoughts from her mind. Was it feasible to fall in love so quickly? She stared at Marcus in the faint yellow glow of the candles in the room. He was handsome beyond compare. His height, his strength, the way he appeared unassuming at times, the way he held her—he was everything she could wish for in a man. But he was one of the undead. A vampire. He was a creature of the night. She shivered.
She combed one hand through her hair, trying to return her thoughts to their immediate situation. They had to leave their hiding place and search the rooms of Drucella’s castle else they would never find Marcus' brothers—if indeed they were imprisoned there. A niggling little voice at the back of her brain warned that daylight rapidly approached. Their time to search was quickly running out.
She felt Marcus' hand release her own and his arm snaked around her waist. He drew her body against his side. For a moment she enjoyed his nearness, the feel of his big body pressed against her own. If only they were elsewhere—passion could bloom so easily. She drew in a quick breath, realizing how easily he became a distraction for her.
We’re going to shapeshift and search the castle. Think mouse.
Mouse?
Before she could mentally voice her fears at such an undertaking, she felt her body begin to contort. Her limbs jerked as her head lolled backward onto her shoulders. Her thoughts somersaulted in a vortex of grayness that rolled over her body and captured her senses. For an instant she couldn’t breathe.
She found herself aware suddenly that she had grown a thick gray coat of hair. A glance round and she spied Marcus beside her, his body covered in hair as well. She inspected the transformation and realized they were mice.
How clever.
The change had been immediate. She had transformed from minuscule person to mouse all in the blink of an eye. She felt proud and confused all at the same time. Was it possible to change back as easily? What if she became stuck there in Drucella’s castle as a mouse?
Follow me.
She didn’t have time to wonder about the future just at the moment. Marcus was scurrying across the stone floor and she hurried to catch up to him. He was squeezing through the crack of the door and racing down the interior hallway of the castle. Ronna rushed to keep up, afraid she might become separated from him and get caught by Drucella. Fright filled her tiny mouse body.
The view from the floor was one of enormous difference. The rough uneven floor posed difficulty in itself and the large doors stemming off the main hallway were closed and made entering the rooms they concealed a chore. She felt scraped and bruised from squeezing through the rough wooden cracks behind Marcus.
Couldn’t we have changed into something other than mice? Couldn’t we just hulk out and kick Drucella’s witch ass?
She chuckled slightly. Had they been in her time, and faced with the obstacle before them, she would have merely picked up the phone and called the cops. To hell with witchcraft and wondering if a spell would work or not—call in reinforcements and let them handle it.
You underestimate your powers, my love.
I’m tired and I’m scared. And I just stumped fifteen toes—all at once. Can’t you find an easier way into these rooms? I’ve rubbed off half my fur squeezing through these cracks.
We’re going to the dungeon.
Oh joy.
She followed and complained, though she thought his trying to rescue his brothers was an admirable act since all sorts of danger lay in store for him should Drucella find him traipsing about her castle. Surely she would kill him outright this time if she were able to discover him in her midst. She had left the other witches of the coven hanging on the wall without little thought.
The stone steps leading into the dungeon of the castle were damp and steep. It was necessary to jump down from one step to the other—a feat she realized was quite easy since she was a mouse. She caught up to Marcus as he bounded to the landing at the foot of the stairs.
Without warning, he shape shifted and she immediately followed suit, changing into her human body.
As she looked round at the dark dank dungeon she understood why Marcus had shape shifted back into himself. The area was pitch black and stank to high heaven. She raised one hand and covered her nose, the musty aroma assaulting her senses. Afraid to move because she couldn’t see her hand before her face, she shuffled her feet along, reaching out with both hands in case she stumbled into something. After a few minutes of groping the darkness and finding nothing, she decided they needed flashlights and conjured up a couple.
Shining the beam of the flashlight about the dungeon they disturbed a number of rats, sending them scurrying off in every other direction to avoid the light. Cobwebs hung from the rough rock walls and putrid water stood on the floor, seepage from the ocean through the rocky bluff beneath the castle.
As they inspected the dungeon, the glow of the flashlight fell on a number of iron chains suspended from one corner. Round wristlets were at the ends of the chains and when Marcus' light found them, there was a noticeable reaction from him.
I can feel your anger.
Ronna reached one hand out to clutch his arm, finding the muscles beneath his coat knotted with tension.
This is a torture chamber. Many have lost their lives here. The stench of death clings to the very walls. Their blood stains the floor.
Marcus, let’s finish searching and leave. It will be daylight soon. And you haven’t fed yet.
She stifled the urge to scream. She hadn’t meant to bring the fact of his need
ing blood to survive to his attention—not figuring for one moment that he had forgotten his curse. She turned her light in the opposite direction, leaving him to contemplate her words. She discovered a smaller room containing empty wooden casks, perhaps once holding wine or vinegar. The aroma was faint and mingled nauseatingly with the putrid stench of the dungeon. She clasped her nose with one hand and hurried back to find Marcus.
There’s nothing here. Let’s go.
He grasped her arm as she passed him, pulling her to a halt.
Drucella is very cunning. Perhaps she has disguised something from our eyes. Perhaps there is a spell that keeps us from seeing where she hid my brothers.
It was obvious what he was asking her to do. And since they had gone to such lengths to infiltrate the castle, she supposed it was worth a try before they slipped back through the fissure and left for the night.
She waved one hand over her head and summoned the spell to show itself—if indeed it existed at all. To her amazement, the wall directly in front of where she stood, glowed brilliant yellow, turned peacock blue and then revealed an opening, a doorway into yet another chamber of the dungeon.
Marcus hurried forward, not heeding the silent warning Ronna issued for him to use caution since Drucella had seen fit to conceal the opening with a spell, it could be quite dangerous for anyone who broached the room. Before she could complete her telepathic warning to him, he stepped through the opening and disappeared.
Oh shit!
CHAPTER 13
For a second Ronna couldn’t think. She merely stood frozen to the floor and stared at the place where Marcus had vanished. The wall sealed over the opening she had managed to uncover the second Marcus stepped through it, leaving her on the other side.
Alone in the dungeon, she looked around, her eyes following the path of the flashlight. All attempts to make the opening appear again had failed. Marcus was concealed within the wall—or rather—trapped within Drucella’s spell once again.
She’s probably laughing her ass off—
It dawned on her suddenly that Drucella knew the instant her spell was breached. She would be arriving any moment to do battle with her. She bit her lip. She needed to escape—now!
A pain shot through her head as she forced herself to turn her thoughts to saving her own butt and leaving Marcus behind. She felt the sting of tears burn her eyes as she mentally willed herself to shape shift. Remembering having seen windows on the walls of the upper level of the castle, she changed into a bird and flew from the dungeon.
Flapping her wings quickly, she raced along the dark passageway to find the main chamber of the castle. Glancing around quickly, she took in the roaring fire in the hearth and the massive suits of armor standing guard at the front entrance before heading straight to a window high up on the castle wall. With as much speed as she could muster, she crashed against the window and felt it shatter around her body, lending her escape to the outside world.
Her heart hammered in her chest as she set her course for Morganford. Tears clouded her vision as she winged her way above the trees, leaving the ocean and the rocky clefts far behind—and God forbid, leaving Marcus to Drucella’s mercy.
She perched silently in a tree outside Morganford manor, shaken from the ordeal. She jumped to the ground and shape shifted into her self. She felt little joy at having accomplished a shape shift under dangerous circumstances—thoughts of Marcus seemed to override all else. She had left him behind but then she had managed to escape Drucella and perhaps, death.
“If both of us became her prisoners—”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She stumbled toward the front door of Marcus' home, her emotions getting the better of her.
Once inside, she conjured up a stiff drink—whiskey on the rocks—and gulped it down, gasping at the sting in her throat. She needed courage and if it had to come from something artificial—then so be it. She plopped down on the couch, her head in her hands. How was she going to rescue Marcus?
A keen peel of laughter sounded very close to her ear. She jerked her head up to spy Tiana speeding away.
“Come back here! You little—“
Ronna bounded off the couch, giving chase to the tiny fairy in her flaming ball of fire.
Tiana zipped about the room, hovering near the ceiling, out of reach.
Ronna watched the fairy with increasing anger. Drucella had sent her little imp just to gloat.
“The vampire has been captured. Drucella has him in her power.”
Ronna watched the fairy. Her coach of fire was harmful to her since she was a witch but there were plenty of spells that might land her helpless or better yet, captured—if she could entice her to come a little closer.
Ronna turned on her heel and headed toward the stairwell. Ignoring Tiana, she began climbing the stairs.
Tiana flew across the room, hovered. “Shall I reveal to you what Drucella has in store for the vampire?”
Ronna ignored her and continued up the stairs.
“You can’t fool me. You are in love with the vampire.”
Ronna set foot onto the second floor and headed down the hallway.
Tiana flew up the staircase, hovered near the ceiling. “I saw the two of you rutting. I saw the vampire bite your neck. I saw him drink your blood.”
Ronna reached the door of her bedroom and stepped inside, leaving the door ajar.
Tiana hovered at the open doorway, her tiny wings beating rapidly to keep the fiery ball aloft. “I know that if he bites you once more, you’ll become a vampire and Drucella will kill you both.” She maneuvered her fireball through the crack of the door.
A flash of lightening lit up the inside of the bedroom. Water gushed from an invisible source just above Tiana’s fiery haven, quenching the fire and leaving the fairy fluttering in the near darkness. A second flash of lightening and Ronna imprisoned Tiana in a cage manifested of magical mirrors.
“Find your way out of that, you little—“
“Oh woe with me! Woe with me!”
The fairy flung her little body against the mirrored bars, baffled as to which one concealed the magical opening that would return her freedom.
“There is no opening so you can stop ramming your head against the wall.”
“Drucella will come looking for me. You will be sorry.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Ronna quickly cast a spell of silence on the fairy. She placed the cage in one corner of the room and went to bed. Come morning, she would deal with her and figure out a way to rescue Marcus.
* * * *
Sleep was elusive. Ronna managed to doze off once but then she dreamed Marcus was there with her, making passionate love to her. She woke up in a sweat, sitting upright in the bed and fanning herself with one hand. It was one thing to be in bed with the man, but it was entirely different to dream he was there. The passion was all too real. She threw back the cover and levered herself out of bed.
The sun was streaming in through the tiny window high on the wall. Ronna stretched her arms over her head. Her body was tired from want of sleep. She got dressed and went to inspect Tiana sitting in the cage in the corner of the room. The little fairy was seated in one corner of her mirrored prison, her legs stretched out in front of her, her wings drooping around her shoulders. She sneered at Ronna as she drew near.
Ronna smiled slightly, amused at the discomfort the fairy exhibited.
“I’ll make you a deal.” She waved one hand and lifted the spell of silence she had cast over her last night.
“Let me out of here!”
“You tell me where Drucella is holding Marcus and I’ll consider releasing you.”
The fairy scrambled to her feet and glared at Ronna. “Release me first.”
“Do I look like a fool?”
She cocked her head, as though deciding how to answer Ronna.
“Never mind.” Ronna waved one hand and turned. “You just cool your heels in there for a few lifetimes—“
“Wait! Wait!”
Ronna halted her feet and glanced at the fairy. She was pressed against one side of the cage, her eyes imploring.
“Your vampire sleeps…in Drucella’s bed.”
The fairy’s words shot through Ronna’s insides, filling her with cold dread. She bit back a nasty retort and approached the glass cage.
“Prove it.”
Tiana giggled and waved a tiny hand. Immediately a picture of Marcus asleep in Drucella’s bed flashed into the air.
Ronna gasped and bit her lip. She stared at the figment the fairy cast.
Blond brows drew together in dismay. “You are as treacherous as your mistress. How do I know this is the truth?”
“Your vampire is no longer in the dungeon—but in Drucella’s bed.” She laughed loudly, high-pitched.
Ronna turned from the fairy, lest she see the shock on her face. Perhaps she was telling the truth after all. Maybe Marcus was really asleep in Drucella’s bed—that didn’t mean the two of them had sex.
Get a grip!
She paced the room, her hands on her hips. The thought of Marcus with another woman made her hackles rise. And tears come to her eyes. She swiped one hand across her face, banishing the moisture.
Turning quickly to Tiana, she glared at her, making her inch to the back of the cage. “Tell me where Drucella is holding Marcus' brothers. Tell me now or I’ll cast you into oblivion!” She raised one hand in a threatening gesture.
Tiana shrieked and cowered on the floor. “It will do you no good to know, for you will never be able to free them. Drucella has them under a time spell. You cannot free them no matter how hard you try.”
A time spell?
“Where are they?”
“They are in plain sight in Drucella’s castle.”
What better place to hide?
“Explain to me what that means.”
Tiana chuckled and folded her arms across her chest. “I will only tell you that they are holding sentry. Now release me, before Drucella comes for me and ends your miserable existence, such as it is.”
