by Ann Gimpel
Ketha tore her mouth from his, breathing in little panting gasps. A slow smile split her mouth. “You saved yourself for me. I like that. My motives weren’t nearly as noble since we were stranded here without any male Shifters, but I’m one of those ‘new virgins’ too.”
He smiled back. “You were inside my thoughts.”
She shrugged. “Of course. How else will I find out what makes you tick?”
“You could ask.”
“My way is faster.” She moved an arm from behind him and cradled the side of his face in her hand before stroking down his neck to his shoulder. “You should get moving. We don’t want to make Raphael any more suspicious than he already is.”
He bent his mouth to hers again, needing the taste of her lips and delighting in what they wakened in him. His cock throbbed, but he pushed the sensation aside. Ketha was ever so much more than a vessel to slake his lust. He wanted to keep her by his side forever. If she was in his mind, so much the better. It saved the time and awkwardness of telling her how much she meant to him.
She pulled away a second time, her face splotched a lovely rose color with wanting more than kisses. The peaks of her breasts raised small hillocks under her robes as she rose to her feet and placed her hands on his shoulders.
“We are linked, you and I, in ways I don’t fully understand. I felt it when I first laid eyes on you but didn’t trust my instincts.”
“Do you now?” He couldn’t keep raw desire from his voice.
She nodded and licked her lower lip, swollen from their kisses. “You do need to go. And I need to connect with my sisters.”
“I know.” He blew out a breath, loathe to leave her side. If he didn’t go, though, it would be like throwing down the gauntlet and challenging Raphael’s hold on him.
“Not the time for that.” Ketha had obviously been in his head again. “We want him as trusting as possible until this train is so far down the track, he can’t derail it.”
“That will be a neat trick. He’s astute, that one. Perhaps between Juan and I, we can pull it off, though.” Viktor thinned his lips, thinking. “Maybe we can plan a raid on a couple of the human compounds. That always gets Raphael excited. He’d much rather drink human blood than animal.”
Ketha laughed, but it held grim edges. “I’ve gone above and beyond to keep the humans from dying out. Using them for bait wouldn’t be my first choice.” She slitted her eyes thoughtfully. “You hold my scent. Remain still, and I’ll neutralize it. You might argue you’d picked it up in my cell or in my bedroom at the grotto—”
“He’d never believe that,” Viktor cut in. “This is a Master Vampire we’re talking about. He has the nose of a bloodhound, raised to the nth degree. He’s always reminding me of his Nosferatu origins.”
“Nosferatu, huh?” Ketha rolled her eyes.
“You’ve heard of them?” Surprise filled him. Deep down, he’d thought Raphael had made up the whole Nosferatu mystique to make himself look like a worse badass than he already was.
“Oh, yeah. From what I was taught, they’re the original strain of Vampire. The one that came from that pact between the devil and Sekhmet. Stand up.”
When he did, she walked around him, her hands weaving patterns in the air as she chanted. “What language is that?” he asked. “It’s the same one you used when your comforter caught fire and burned.”
“An old form of Gaelic. It’s the language of spells for Shifters. Hush. I’m not quite done.”
He stood still as she circled him, waiting until she nodded once, sharply, and said, “There. You’re good to go.”
He reached for her, but she shook her head. “Not that I don’t want more kisses, but you’ll undo all my good work if you touch me again.”
He blew an air-kiss her way. Even if he couldn’t touch her, the reality of her a few paces away filled him with peace and joy and longing. As if all the puzzle pieces in the world had clicked together, making him whole.
“Uh-uh.” She shook a finger his way. “You can’t do that, either.”
“Do what?”
“Wanting me is spilling from you in waves. You’ll have to get a handle on that part and jettison it.”
“No shit,” he muttered. “Shouldn’t be a problem. Once I walk out of here, that is. Speaking of which”—he frowned—“where will I find you next?”
“Probably not here. Don’t worry. I’ll obliterate all traces of myself before I leave Arkady.”
“I can see you get to the mesa safely.”
Lines formed in the corners of her eyes. Sadness or resignation or maybe both. “Better if I get there on my own. I know how to find it now.”
He wanted to protest, scoop her up, and run like the wind until he deposited her in the Garden of Eden he’d found. He opened his mouth, but she held up a hand.
“It’s a lovely thought, but it’s safer this way. We need to make preparations before we loose the spell to break the Cataclysm. For that, we need time.”
“So my job is to keep Raphael fat, dumb, and happy as long as possible.”
Ketha laughed softly. “Haven’t heard that expression since before the Cataclysm, but yeah. That’s exactly it.”
“How long do you need?”
Ketha glanced upward as she considered his question. “Two days. By then, all the Shifters will be on the mesa. We should have the spell mapped out, and we’ll be waiting for you and five other Vampires to launch it.”
“Got it. Probably better not to reveal Arkady’s whereabouts to your Shifter kin.”
“I wasn’t planning to. I’ll see them when we’re all gathered on the mesa.”
He headed for the cabin door. Jesus, it was hard to walk away from her. He turned in the doorway and said, “You can reach me telepathically. If you get into trouble, don’t worry about consequences. Call me.”
She set her mouth into a grim line. “If I get into trouble, you’ll find out quick enough. You won’t need to hear it from me. Now, go, or all our planning will be for naught.”
One of the hardest things he’d ever done was walk out the door, leaving the woman he was falling in love with alone to face certain death if Raphael got wind of any of this.
I have to make certain that doesn’t happen.
He loped down stairwells and the rope ladder until he stood outside Arkady, facing his ship. It felt foolish, but he asked the vessel to watch over Ketha so long as she remained within its walls.
Icy resolve filled him as he left the dry dock building and ran hard for the city. The best way to keep Raphael from interfering was to kill him.
It was long past time, and the iron blade was waiting.
Chapter Ten: Sisterhood in Action
Ketha moved from one side of Viktor’s cabin to the other, the feel of his arms fresh in her mind—and her heart. She hadn’t wanted him to leave, but encouraging him to stay would have been foolhardy. She yearned for him, desired him with a single-mindedness bordering on insanity, but if he’d remained, his absence would have been akin to waving a red flag in front of Raphael. She wasn’t entirely certain she could eradicate the scent of full-on lovemaking, either. Viktor had been celibate since the Cataclysm. If he suddenly showed up with any hint of sex clinging to him, the gig would certainly be up.
She’d done the right thing, sending him away, but she missed him terribly, wanted him to fold her in his arms and kiss her until both of them were crazy with need and couldn’t keep their clothes on.
Ketha fisted both hands until her nails dug into her palms. She needed to focus, goddamn it, not lust after Viktor like a bitch in heat. Once her breathing slowed, she shut her eyes and sent a shielded message to Rowana.
Two words for starters. “You there?”
The other Shifter’s reply was immediate. “Yes. Why aren’t you here? We left you instructions.”
“I got them. Listen carefully.”
In as few words as possible, she outlined her vision and how it matched up with Viktor’s discovery. A rapid i
ntake of breath through the telepathic link provided proof Rowana agreed the two events weren’t mere synchronicity.
“We’ll get to the place you described as soon as we can.” Rowana’s determination rang through their link.
“Too fucking bad we couldn’t coax the sun to come out for a few hours,” Aura broke in, followed by, “Yeah, I was listening.”
“You might be onto something,” Ketha said. Excitement shot through her, making her toes and fingers tingle.
“How so?” Aura inquired sourly. “The Cataclysm totally screwed with the weather.”
“Some of us were weather workers once upon a time,” Rowana replied, sounding thoughtful. “None of us here, but my aunt was quite skilled in that regard.”
“Do you recall any of her incantations?” Ketha asked, barely breathing as she hoped to hell the answer would be yes.
“Better than that.” Rowana chuckled. “I have her spell book. Brought it because I was afraid we’d have to deal with a hurricane during the eclipse ten years ago, and I didn’t want anything to get in the way of us harvesting that energy.”
“Find that book, and let’s get cracking!” Aura exclaimed. Anticipation rippled through their connection, and Ketha could imagine Aura prodding the other Shifter in the shoulder hard enough to get the older woman moving.
“I’m on it,” Rowana said, her steadiness shining through as it always did. “The others will pitch in with their energy. My eagle is chomping at the bit to help too. I’m certain we can coax a few hours of sun out of the cloud cover tomorrow. It’s getting late for that today, and we want to maximize our magic.”
“Let me know how it’s going,” Ketha said.
“Will do,” Rowana replied. “It won’t stop the Vamps, but it might slow them down a wee bit.”
“Where are you?” Aura asked. “You should be with us, helping.”
“It’s a sound suggestion,” Rowana said. “That way if this works, we’ll all know right away, and we can get moving.”
Ketha thought about where her sisters were holed up several miles away. “I’ll come if I can,” she said. “Raphael has me in his gunsights. Worse, every Vamp under him is hunting me. I’m in a safe place at the moment. With night approaching, my best bet is to remain here.”
“Do what you need to.” Rowana’s matter-of-factness warmed Ketha. “I’ll keep you apprised of my progress.”
Ketha severed the link. Hope engulfed her, painful in its intensity. Sunlight might keep Raphael and the other Vampires inside. Or not. Depended how spun out he still was. Direct sun didn’t incapacitate them totally, but any assistance was welcome. She wondered if the sun’s appearance might add fuel to Raphael’s suspicious nature, but then decided it probably wouldn’t. It wasn’t that the sun never shone in Ushuaia, but its appearances were few and far between.
Her inner clock said it was closing on six, which meant the day had ceded to darkness. What would she do between now and tomorrow morning? Would it be foolhardy to wait a few hours and then hightail it for the mesa while it was still dark?
She could retrace her steps through the underground warren of tunnels to the spot she’d entered them earlier in the day. From there, it shouldn’t take more than forty minutes to make a run for the spot Viktor had described where the bramble bush blocked the track.
That was forty minutes she’d be exposed and vulnerable. If Vamps entered the path, moving either up or down, she’d have nowhere to hide. Vegetation grew so thickly, concealing herself within it would be damned difficult.
Next, she considered making her way to where the other Shifters had hidden themselves; it was well off anyone’s beaten track. The possibility of discovery was far less. Only problem was that their location was the wrong way. The Shifters’ hideout placed her several miles farther from her objective.
Ketha chewed her lower lip, unsure of the best path to take. Because she couldn’t make up her mind, she picked up the spell book and settled at Viktor’s desk. If she was going to lead the incantation to break the Cataclysm, first she had to locate the spell, and then she needed to practice it until she knew it cold—her parts, plus those of the other Shifters and Vamps. They’d have to get it perfect the first time. Even a flawed version would loose magic strong enough to alert any Vamp within a fifty-mile radius. They’d storm the mesa, intent on destroying all the Shifters now that their location was obvious.
Ketha stopped paging through the book and thought about everything, the whole picture. Magic had been part and parcel of the world since its making. Even if overpowering the Cataclysm altered magic as she’d known it, some other form of power would worm its way in.
“Why would Shifters parlay with Vampires? What was in it for us?” She posed the questions out loud and opened a drawer, withdrawing both pen and paper. Her training in the hard sciences took over, and she crafted two lists, ginning up benefits and risks.
“You’re making this too hard,” her wolf observed.
Ketha stared at what she’d written. “What do you mean?” she countered.
“The Shifters lied,” the wolf said flatly.
“Come on, sweetie. You have to say more than that.” Ketha turned her attention inward.
“Don’t you see? This was part of a plan to rid the world of Vampires once and for all. Shifters lured them with promises of power to augment their own, but what this spell truly would have done is turn Vampires into Shifters, pure and simple.”
Her wolf’s words held the ring of truth, but Ketha dug deeper. “How do you know this?”
The wolf hesitated. Ketha clamped her jaws together, determined not to ruin things. She wanted to shake the information out of her bond animal, but she knew better than to push. What passed between the animals in the place they walked without their bondmates was private. That the wolf was even considering sharing anything meant it fully appreciated how precarious their position had grown.
“The bond animals caught wind of the plot right before the Cataclysm,” the wolf began. “We talk among ourselves, but you already know that. The scheme was so bizarre I chalked it up to idle rumor. Given what’s happened since, it’s the only explanation that makes sense.”
The wolf growled softly before going on. “There were two scenarios. The first would have defanged the Vampires, severing their link to the devil and Sekhmet so they’d revert to the humans they’d been. If that didn’t work—and none of us thought it would—the fallback position was changing out a few elements so they turned into Shifters. Once that happened, they’d either welcome a bond animal—or not.”
“What would have happened to the ones who wanted to remain Vampires? Or who couldn’t attract a bond animal?”
“It’s kind of the same thing,” the wolf responded after a considerable pause. “If the spell worked the way the Shifters hoped, there’d be no place in this world for Vampire energy to flourish, so eventually they’d all die out. And far earlier than their artificially extended lifespans.”
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“At first, I held silence because all the bond animals understood if the Vampires caught wind of the trap, they wouldn’t cooperate. They’ve never had any understanding of how magic works, so none of them recognized they’d been offered the impossible. Vampirism can’t coexist with Shifter magic in the same vessel. After the Cataclysm, the damage was already done. I only started thinking about this again after that vision we shared where we saw that group in the cold, snowy place.”
“Was it really forbidden congress between a Shifter and a Vampire that perverted the spell?”
“Yes, at least according to the bond animals present.”
“Thank you for trusting me.”
“We’re bondmates.” The wolf’s simple answer warmed her.
Ketha shut her eyes, recalling the gathering in Siberia. She’d noticed sexual heat flare between a Vampire and a cat Shifter. If the two had been in love, it explained why they’d been so eager they hadn’t waited for the spell
to run its course.
Or maybe, as lovers often did, the Shifter had spilled the beans, and the Vampire, frantic to save his people from assimilation, interrupted the casting with sex and formed the Cataclysm. She opened her eyes and furrowed her forehead in thought. She’d never really know. Not everything.
Ketha returned her attention to the book. Understanding more about how the Cataclysm came to be might help get rid of it. Splaying her hands across parchment pages, she sent images of what she needed. The magical tome quivered and warmed beneath her touch, feeling more alive than it ever had.
Makes sense. I’ve never needed it more than I do right now.
She upped the ante on her spell, urging the proper incantation to show itself. Her fingers moved of their own accord, no doubt driven by the book’s energy. Pages flipped past until heat jabbed her chest dead center, and the ley lines of the world surrounded her, pregnant with power.
Ketha stared at the spot the book meant for her to study. The Cataclysm hadn’t existed when this book was penned with spells and blood and magic, but that didn’t matter since the pages shaped and formed themselves to meet the user’s requirements.
“Here?” She tapped the page with an index finger.
The same heat jabbed her in the chest again; the ley lines pulsed. Ketha took it as a yes. She picked up her abandoned pen and settled a fresh sheet of paper where she could take notes as she read. Ready for damn near anything, she dissected the spell that would either save them all or kill them a few months before it would have happened anyway.
Ketha wasn’t under any illusions about the power she’d have to leverage to conquer the Cataclysm. The magic would be consuming enough, she might not have enough juice to keep living after the spell was shaped, formed, and sent out to do its task.
She shook her head hard and focused on the pages in front of her. What happened to her wasn’t important. Not if it meant defeating the Cataclysm and allowing nature to regain ascendency over the land and oceans. This was far bigger than Shifters and Vamps and their long-standing enmity. This was about whether Earth would continue to exist and support any life at all.
