by Anya Bast
She entered the cave and made her way into the recesses, taking a few turns here and there. There was only one way through as the passageways were just big enough for one adult witch.
The only good part about being in the nasty, damp cave was that if Bai came out of his coma thing prematurely, he wouldn’t be able to find her. The bad thing was that she half expected to stumble across a bear or some other wild animal in here, or worse — a pile of dead bodies or something. It was on Duskoff land, after all.
Finally, she reached a largish cavern-type room. Having freaked herself out by that time and finding nothing but rock inside, she turned around to leave. That’s when her light caught something up against one of the walls.
She stopped and turned, shining her flashlight on the object once more. It looked like. . a casket. Somebody’s coffin.
Oh, hell no.
Sarafina wavered on her feet for a moment. Her head was telling her to go have a closer look, but the rest of her body screamed at her to run away fast.
Her head won and she forced her body to obey.
She hadn’t come this far to not investigate the thing that had piqued her senses. Apparently, this is what she’d come in here for.
She inched closer and closer to the shiny black casket, hoping like hell the top wouldn’t open and a vampire or something wouldn’t pop out. Really, she’d expire where she stood.
As she grew closer, a humming sound reached her ears. Walking around to one side, she shined the flashlight at the back of the casket and saw electrical cords hooking the thing up and running straight into the stone wall.
Well, that was odd.
Frowning, she reached out and touched the brass handle on the side. Maybe it wasn’t a casket, after all. It was pretty big to be one, unless the person inside was a giant. Or. .
A daaeman.
An Ytrayi?
Rue.
The thought spurred her to push the top open. It wouldn’t budge. Then she saw the latches on the side. She undid the latches and cold steam poured from the edges of the top — like dry ice. Gathering her courage, after all, she’d killed an Atrika single-handedly — well, maybe — she pushed the lid the rest of the way open.
Inside lay a man. Easily seven feet tall, broad-shouldered, blond, with a chiseled, handsome face. It was a daaeman, all right. Sarafina would bet money she’d found Rue, the Ytrayi breed’s missing Cae.
With him, she’d found the elium.
The only problem was that both the daaeman and the elium were frozen solid.
THIRTY-ONE
SARAFINA STARTED, COMING AWAKE WHERE SHE’D fallen asleep propped up against the cave wall. Or maybe she’d passed out, she wasn’t sure.
She’d opened the casket all the way and yanked all the electrical cords out in the back, probably destroying thousands of dollars worth of equipment. Eventually, the dry ice had evaporated.
Of course, she had no idea what she was doing. She’d paced back and forth in front of the frozen Ytrayi, wondering about alien metabolisms and trying to recall every science fiction movie or book she’d ever seen or read.
But what was she supposed to do? She was stuck in a cave in the middle of Kentucky trying to thaw out a demon with a weapon inside him. Things didn’t get much stranger or less comprehensible than that. She could only do what she thought was right and hope for the best.
She especially hoped that Rue didn’t kill her if he woke up. Boy, that would really suck. She was so close to getting her life back.
After that, she’d sat down to rest only for a moment, intending to get up and go take care of her grisly task before Bai woke up. Instead, her body had decided she needed to sleep — or she’d passed out. Probably the latter.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been out, but it couldn’t have been long. Her flashlight wasn’t any dimmer and flashlight batteries went dim fast.
Something scraped in the coffin and moaned. Every hair on her body stood up. She scrambled to her feet and cautiously approached it. The daaeman was still lying motionless, his eyes closed. Slowly, he opened them and winced at the light. She directed the flashlight away from his face.
“I’m Sarafina. I–I’m on your side.” She wanted to establish that right off the bat. “I’m a Coven witch and I know Claire.” He blinked at the name and tried to sit up. “Claire? Is she all right?” Sarafina’s breath hitched. “Honestly, I don’t know, sir. The Coven’s been attacked by warlocks and the Atrika. She’s there now, in Chicago. I’m here in Kentucky where they’ve been keeping you.” She paused. “Are you all right?” She needed for him to be all right soon.
“The Atrika? How did the Atrika get Earthside?” He swore low in some strange language. “All I remember is finding out the Duskoff kidnapped Claire. I jumped through a portal to find her and was hit by an overwhelming amount of magick as soon as I was Earthside. Impossible.” He shook his head. “What’s going on?” Sarafina told him everything. Fast. Luckily, Rue figured out the gravity of the situation and pulled himself out of the coffin. He was shaky on his feet, looked a little green, and was soaked with clammy water. But given the strength of the Ytrayi, she had no doubt he’d recover fast.
Rue took her hands in his. “You’re wounded.” “A little.” She hesitated. “Okay, a lot. I just fought an Atrika.” “I can’t restore your magick, but I can make you feel better and heal a few of your wounds.” “I would appreciate that.”
Warmth emanated from the hands of the Cae into her body, spreading out and soothing the sore and injured parts of her. Her seat still felt barren and cold when he was done, but the acid burns and the massive bruise on her face where she’d been backhanded felt nearly healed.
Right before they jumped to the Coven, they made a stop at Bai’s body. This time Sarafina only wanted to vomit a little. Apparently, jumping through a fold in the space/time continuum, or however they did it, got easier with practice.
Of course, the sight of Bai’s body made her want to vomit a lot.
“Did I kill him?” she asked, staring down at his mangled form with her hand pressed to her mouth. She could hardly believe she’d done all that violence.
Rue flicked his wrist and Bai flamed and then turned to ash. “I don’t know, but now he’s dead for sure.” They jumped again, this time to Chicago.
THEO’S SPINE CRACKED.
Unbelievable agony shot through his body. He knew this was the end. Having nothing else to lose, he twisted hard in a final, desperate bid for life, using his weight to pitch forward.
It broke the hold of the daaeman.
Off balance, the beast threw him forward. Theo landed hard, his breath knocked out of him. His sword went clattering and sliding across the marble floor.
Theo pushed to his feet, but not before the Atrika was on him again. Together they rolled, fighting until they hit the wall of the corridor behind them.
Forgoing magick altogether, Theo gave him a hard upper-cut to the chin, stunning the creature. He extricated himself and faced the Atrika, ready to fight once again. Raising power, he tossed it at the daaeman, who only partially blocked it. The beast staggered backward, at the same time gathering a bolt of daaeman magick to launch at him.
Like all the Coven witches, Theo was growing weary and his magickal stores were badly depleted. Soon he’d have little power left to shield himself. Soon the Atrika would simply wear them all into defeat, and one by one the magick ball of death would pick them off. The warlocks could just sweep them up after that, like empty, bland refuse strewn on the floor.
He blocked the blast and rolled to the side, coming back to his feet to see something at the end of the corridor that he shouldn’t be seeing.
Rue, the Cae of the Ytrayi, stood there. . and Sarafina was beside him.
“Theo!” Sarafina cried, glimpsing him.
He blinked.
Something hard hit him from behind. He went sprawling forward, catching himself on the floor with his palms and rolling quickly to one side to avoid another blo
w.
“Theo!” Sarafina screamed again.
He didn’t have time to answer. He raised power — the little of it he had left — and readied it to throw at the Atrika coming at him.
Distantly, in the foyer, the intensity of the ruckus increased. Sarafina was still at the end of the corridor, but Rue was gone. It was only something Theo noticed out of the periphery of his awareness since he was pretty busy dodging a bolt of demon magick. Perhaps Rue had jumped to the foyer. That would definitely cause a stir.
Theo grabbed his sword from the floor and swung around, hitting the demon in the chest. The Atrika moved back, stunned by the surprise attack, and Theo charged forward before the demon could regain his ability to put up an offensive. He caught the demon right in the neck.
Theo whirled, avoiding the acidic spray of blood. Gods, he was getting better at this. The body fell thickly to the marble floor.
Theo rested by the beheaded body, bent over with his palms on his knees, his sword held loosely in one hand. He needed a nap.
“Theo!”
He raised his head to see Sarafina running toward him. He dropped the blade and caught her, swinging her up into his arms. Her clothes were ripped, bloodstained, and dirty. Bloody scrapes marked her arms, legs, and face. A yellow-green bruise bloomed on her cheekbone.
All Theo wanted in the world was to kiss every single inch of her precious body. He wanted to spend the rest of the week, the month, the decade. . his life just with Sarafina.
Perfect bliss and contentment filled him at the sensation of her in his arms. He nuzzled her hair and inhaled the scent of her that overrode the smell of blood, death, daaeman magick, and battle.
“What happened?” he murmured near her ear.
All around them rose the sound of renewed battle, but at the moment they were together, enjoying a sense of peace he wanted to expand into forever.
Casting his gaze toward the stairs, he saw that Stefan had disappeared.
She pushed away enough to see his face. “Bai took me to Kentucky. After I managed to get away from him, I found Rue in the cave. Do you remember the cave?” He nodded.
“Stefan had rigged it so he could keep Rue frozen in there. It was the only way to keep him subdued, I guess.” “Is Bai dead?”
“As a doornail.” She winced. “A really crispy one.” Relief filled his chest with a sudden burst of lightness.
Something rocketed past them and crashed into the wall behind them. They could only drag their eyes away from each other for the barest moment to see that it had been a chair.
Blue light flashed out of the corner of his eye. Theo pushed Sarafina to the floor. The blast exploded on the remains of the chair.
“We can talk about this later,” said Theo.
“Uh-huh,” answered Sarafina with wide eyes.
They got to their feet and made their way out to the foyer. There, right where Stefan had been standing with his blue ball of doom, was an interdimensional doorway.
Theo had seen one only once before. It was not something you forgot. Light flickered and pulsed around the portion of matter that had been twisted and altered to form a bridge between Earth and Eudae.
Through it came the Ytrayi in a blessedly heavy stream. The Atrika didn’t look very happy to see them, either.
The blue ball pulsed in Rue’s hands, no longer emitting the magick-killing shots that stole elemental power. Theo and Sarafina watched as he crushed it like a ball of tinfoil into nonexistence.
“Where’s Stefan?” Sarafina said beside him.
What a good question.
“The bastard’s not getting away again.” Theo growled. He’d slipped away after his father, William Crane, had been killed at Duskoff International. He’d escaped from Gribben twice. No way was he running away from his punishment this time.
Theo knew that Sarafina’s magick had been tapped out, probably from fighting Bai. He could feel that raw, empty spot in her. Why she wasn’t flat on her back was a mystery. Looking around at the carnage in the room, Theo realized that many of the Coven witches didn’t have any stores of magick left, either as a result of the blue ball or from the battle.
Power exploded near them as the Ytrayi and the Atrika locked horns. It was nice to have some reinforcements.
“Come on,” said Theo, dragging Sarafina by the hand down a corridor. “I want you somewhere safe.” The library was empty but for Micah and Isabelle. Micah sat in one of the chairs near Thomas’s desk. Theo didn’t have to guess what the problem was.
Micah raised his head momentarily to look at him, then dropped it again.
“Can you get it back?” Sarafina asked, going to his side and laying a hand on his upper arm.
Isabelle looked at her and shook her head.
Shit.
“Stay here, okay?” Theo said to Sarafina. She’d be safe in here. If something did happen, Isabelle was ready to defend. “I’m going to find Stefan.” Theo made his way out of the room and back into the fray beyond the sanctuary. The Ytrayi were making quick work of the Atrika. They were destroying the Coven, but at least they’d probably win in the end.
Now. . if he was a slimy, cowardly warlock, where would he be?
Theo was betting Stefan was hiding somewhere, if he hadn’t already fled the Coven once Rue and the Ytrayi had shown up to rub his nose in shit.
Hmmm. There were lots of places to hide in the Conservatory.
He made his way there, dodging demon battle as he went. The warlocks all seemed to have fled or were defeated. The Coven witches were trying to help the wounded and were rounding up the warlocks they could to throw into Gribben.
The Conservatory, other than having its water all drawn out by the water witches, was largely untouched. It was a change from the last battle that had occurred in here, which had destroyed about fifty percent of the place.
Sounds came from the back of the Coven — sounds of a fight. Theo ran in that direction, sword still clenched in his hand.
At the back of the Conservatory, Theo found Jack and Stefan in an old-fashioned knock-down, drag-out fight. Kind of fitting, since in an odd way, they were brothers. Their magick had been tapped out and Stefan’s Atrika bodyguards were long gone.
Theo pulled a spell from his badly sapped reserves, making his tats tingle, and threw it at the warlock. It hit Stefan dead-on and the warlock flew backward to land in a bush, where he lay motionless. “That’s for Sarafina, you fucking bastard.” Jack collapsed to the ground and drew a ragged breath, bowing his head. “Theo, man, I’m so happy to see you.” Theo offered him his hand and Jack pulled himself to his feet. Together they looked at Stefan, out cold in the bushes.
“What the hell do you want to do with him?” asked Jack.
Theo stalked to him, sword in hand, but killing someone wasn’t his first desire, and never when they were lying defenseless. His hand clenched on the sword handle as Theo tried to control his temper.
Then it hit him.
Theo turned toward Jack. “I know the very best possible punishment for this slime.”
THIRTY-TWO
SARAFINA WIPED AWAY A TEAR, WATCHING ISABELLE stroke Micah’s hair. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose her power the way Micah had. Now so many of the Coven witches were dealing with it.
“Isabelle.”
Isabelle looked up from Micah’s side. “Mother?” Catalina stood in the doorway, propped up by Thomas. Her normally tanned face was pale, and she looked her age for once.
“She was hit,” said Thomas tightly.
“Oh, no.” Isabelle rose and went to her mother, allowing her to lean against her as she led her to the couch against one wall. “Damn it,” she whispered.
Thomas stepped into the room. His clothes were ripped and blood marked him. He had some nasty acid burns along one arm, but he was alive and he still had his magick.
“It’s over,” Thomas said. “The Cae and the Ytrayi have defeated the Atrika and are now taking them back to Eudae.” He smiled fa
intly. “We won.” But it had cost them all greatly. That was written all over his weary face. He didn’t need to say it.
“Where’s Theo?” Sarafina asked.
Thomas jerked his head toward the foyer. “You should all come.” Isabelle helped Catalina from the room with Thomas.
Sarafina went to Micah. “Would you rather stay here?” she asked softly. “I’ll stay with you, if you like.” Micah shook his head and rose. “I’m okay.” That was a lie.
Yet he glanced at her and a smile flickered over his mouth. For a moment he almost looked like the Micah she’d come to know. “I lost my magick, but I still have my life. I still have my freedom. That’s enough.” They walked side by side out to the foyer where the Atrika were being pushed and thrown unceremoniously through the doorway by very pissed-off Ytrayi. Thomas, Isabelle, and Catalina stood near them, watching. Some of the daaeman were unconscious, others dead. The rest wore collars around their necks. Sarafina guessed it was the same idea as hand-cuffs, since the Atrika who wore them looked utterly defeated.
It was a good look on them.
Theo stood near the doorway with Jack and Adam, a heap of something at his feet. It took her a moment to realize it was Stefan.
The last of the Atrika were sent through the doorway and the Ytrayi—some of them badly injured and others carrying unconscious or dead comrades — began to also step through.
Rue was across the room with Claire. Sarafina watched them hug, then come to stand near Thomas.
“Once I told you the day might come when we would need to form an alliance,” said the Cae.
Thomas nodded curtly. “You were right. That day did come.” “It’s time we truly open up the pathways of communication, don’t you agree?” A muscle worked in Thomas’s jaw. “Yes.” “I propose Claire to act as our liaison. I have devised a way to more easily open a doorway and can give Claire this ability as well. She will act as—” “Ambassador,” Claire volunteered.
