So what if he dropped me off and ran into her arms? What did I care? Why would I want a cheater, a liar? I survived him once. I’d do it again.
I crossed my arms, leaned my head against the window and ignored him. Ignored him so well that I actually fell asleep.
It was getting dark when I opened my eyes again and Wyatt was slowing the truck, pulling off the highway.
“Where are we?”
“Georgia,” Wyatt grumbled. “We need gas.”
I nodded, rubbed my eyes, cracked my neck.
When he drove past a couple of gas stations, I turned to look at him, confusion mingling with my ever-burning anger. “I thought you said we need gas.”
“We do, but we’re not stopping at a station to get it. You crazy? Those places are targets for sure.” He gave me a look that suggested I was stupid to even think it. “You do remember we are without electricity, right? We have to siphon the gas out of the tanks, if there is any left. It would take too long and we’d be targets in the open.”
I glanced back over my shoulder, through the rear window, as if I could still see them. “We can’t get very far without gas.”
Asshole.
“I can tell you that if it were me holing up in this place, I’d have taken the first opportunity to drain those dry, stock pile what I could. It’s not worth the chance that they’re empty. I’m not stopping until it’s safe.”
“Oooookay, so where are we going then?”
He turned down a side street, then another, racing past cookie cutter houses like he knew the area well.
“We’re going to see a friend of mine.”
“A friend?” Wyatt had friends? I wanted to take the jab, but I was too tired for a full out fight. One was definitely coming—anger still simmered just under the surface of my exhaustion. I was starving too, knew there was some food in the back-bed of the truck. I needed him to stop long enough for us to get to it.
Necessities first, argument later.
He didn’t bother answering as he turned onto a dirt road that took us away from civilization. At least it seemed that way. One minute we were surrounded by homes, stores, gas stations—the next, we were navigating a series of gravel roads that pulled us deeper and deeper into the forest that surrounded whatever town we’d been in.
When he turned onto a patch of grass, barreling along in the near dark, nothing but his headlights to navigate, I started to get antsy. Scared even.
“What the fuck, Wyatt?”
We hit a bump, a series of them that had me hanging on to my armrest, my seatbelt hardly keeping me in my seat. Just as I was about to lose my shit completely, Wyatt pulled around a massive clump of trees, put the truck into park, killed the engine and the lights.
“We’re here.” He unlatched his seatbelt and opened the door.
“Where exactly?” I squinted into the deepening dark, the sun long gone, the hair on the back of my neck rising. We had officially bypassed twenty-four hours since the start of the war, the second night. The Strix would be out hunting, probably better organized this time, along with whoever else they were in alliance with, and here we were in the middle of a fucking forest.
“Get your ass moving, Kali. Grab a couple of bags.”
He’d propped his seat forward, snatching the duffle bags filled with weapons from the back. He made to grab the one with my grimoire. That got me moving. I snatched it away before unlatching myself and getting out.
“Where are we going, Wyatt? We’re in the middle of nowhere here!”
If he expected me to camp out, he had another think coming.
“I’ve got a friend, I told you.” He pulled another bag from the back, then slammed the door shut. When he came around the side of the truck, he was loaded down with it all. “Let’s go, Kali, I don’t feel good standing out here after dark.”
“Duh, ya think?” I grabbed the remaining bags and slung them over my shoulders, the weight making my body slump.
We trudged away from the truck, the darkness nearly all-consuming. The only light came from the moon and the stars. Even if I could see the town we’d left behind, I was betting there wouldn’t be much light there either. People would be smarter this night. Generators off. If they had electricity, they wouldn’t dare use it. Not lighting beacons for the enemies to find them by.
Not that it would really help.
“Kali, you think you could manage a light spell? Just a small one. I’m having a little trouble finding what I’m looking for here.”
I frowned. Finding what? There was nothing but trees. “A light spell? Won’t that bring the vampires to us?”
“I don’t need it for long.”
I couldn’t see his face, but I knew by that tone that this was not really a request.
I stopped walking and dropped the bags from my shoulders. With a few false starts, I had enough power pooled to cast. My light ball was small, barely the size of what a flashlight could emanate. Wyatt motioned for me to move it a little ahead of us.
I pushed the spell out, sending the little ball in the direction he indicated.
“Ah, there it is.”
I moved the light back and forth. “There what is?”
He ignored me and moved to a mound in the earth. He shifted what looked like a rug of grass to the side.
I gasped. There was a door there. “Your friend lives underground?” I moved my light spell all around, not seeing anything beyond the mound but trees and more trees.
“Yep.” He grunted, then shifted another, smaller rug of grass aside to reveal a keypad.
“Sophisticated.”
“He’s a doomsday prepper. Been building this place for years. I stopped in at his house in town a couple of weeks ago on my way to find you. He took me here, told me to come when the war started. I thought he was full of shit and crazy to boot.” He chuckled. “Guess not, eh?”
On his second try with the keypad, I heard a thump and a crank turning. Whatever was locking the door came undone. Wyatt lifted the handle that was encased in the flat surface of the door and opened it to reveal a staircase leading down.
“After you.” He nodded toward the doorway.
I looked from him to the opening, then over my shoulder. With a shrug, I let the light spell dissolve and picked up my bags, hoping I didn’t fall face first down the stairs and break my neck. That would have been a hell of a way to end things.
The pump of a shotgun loading greeted me once I hit the bottom of the stairs followed by the flood of lights. I was blinded instantly.
“Stop moving or I’ll blow your fucking brains out.”
I raised my hand to my eyes, shielding as best I could. Wyatt was behind me, one hand on my back pushing me forward a bit.
“Rick, stand down, brother. It’s Wyatt.”
My eyes cleared enough to see beyond the light that flooded the narrow hallway.
“Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” Rick chuckled but didn’t lower his weapons. “Told ya this was coming, didn’t I?”
Wyatt pushed past me to stand at my side. “We just need a place to crash for the night. We’re headed back to Salem. You gonna help us out or what?”
Rick lowered the gun, his bushy eyebrows furrowed, eyes crinkled in confusion. “We? You got someone waiting outside?”
Wyatt’s eyes shot wide. He glanced from Rick to me then back to Rick. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He laughed. “I thought you were full of shit, Kali.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Asshole.” I hissed as I walloped him in the arm, the weight of the bags I was carrying giving me some added oomph.
He reached up and rubbed his arm, still laughing. “So, Rick, here’s the thing, that girl I told you I was after, Kali? She’s here, you just can’t see her.”
Rick’s look was what I would call disheveled. His blond hair was a
little on the greasy side, hanging in uncombed clumps to his shoulders. His face was more than scruffy, a few days’ beard growth making him look slightly dirty. He was attractive enough. Young, eyes an ocean blue, like the kind of ocean you saw on those pristinely white beaches in those ads for tropical getaways. He was short though. Five-six maybe, stocky, defined muscles bulging, his black tank top and army fatigues making him look like some renegade solider. Which I guessed he was.
“You’ve got a witch who is invisible in my shelter? That’s what you’re telling me?”
Wyatt groaned quietly. “She’s not a threat. We just need a place to stay for the night. Give us some time to figure out this spell she’s got done, maybe reverse it somehow.”
I opened my mouth to argue. There was no way I would be able to reverse the disappearing spell on my own.
“No magic,” Rick grumbled. “You know how I feel about that.” He lowered his gun with a sigh. “There are witches out there who can track you by your magic, didn’t you know that?”
I grimaced, glad he couldn’t actually see my face. The man was clearly running in the realm of conspiracy theory, perhaps not entirely in possession of a full deck of cards. Imagine if he found out I was a tracker?
“No magic, got it.” Wyatt nodded. “We appreciate it.”
Rick glanced in my general direction. “Creepy shit if you ask me, invisible witches,” he mumbled, then turned and headed back down the hallway. The lights seemed to follow him when he walked, leaving us in darkness as he moved farther away.
“Are we safe here?” I whispered.
Wyatt glanced at me, then shrugged. “Safer than out there.” He motioned for me to get moving, following Rick farther into the rabbit hole.
Rick led us to a canteen, stainless steel everything, very militaryesque. It was impressive. Obviously the guy had some money. The set up would have run him a good dollar.
“You lock the door on your way in?” Rick said over his shoulder motioning to the stools next to the long island. He continued on to the fridge. “Don’t want any random yahoo waltzing in, ya know?” He yanked open the fridge door and looked inside.
“Yeah, just like you showed me. Lock is secure, all is hidden.” Wyatt shrugged at my cocked eyebrow. “Everything is automated. Flick of a switch and that door and keypad we saw outside is completely hidden again. No way to find this place unless you know it exists.”
I nodded. It was still creepy being underground, even if the hideout did seem to have all the amenities of being topside. There was something claustrophobic about it. A moist smell clinging to everything, including me.
I picked a stool closest and pulled it out. The scrape of the metal on the concrete floor making Rick snap his eyes in my direction. The spell must have wavered. There was no way he should have seen that.
“No offense, Wyatt, but it would have been better if you hadn’t brought the witch. I don’t like it.” He stared in my direction for another few seconds, eyes narrowed before he turned back to the contents of the fridge.
“Sorry, man, but we were stuck.”
Rick turned toward us once again, hands laden with containers. “There are witches—”
“Yeah, yeah, who can track. I know, but she’s important.”
“Important because you love her?” Rick put the containers on the island, then turned to collect a couple of plates and some utensils.
I squirmed uncomfortably on my stool. Not liking the direction of the conversation. Also not liking that I couldn’t be heard, by Rick anyway. Wyatt speaking for me had my panties in a tight knot. It was unnerving to say the least. I didn’t even want to touch the subject of love where Wyatt was concerned.
“She’s destined to kill the hybrid. It’s been foretold.”
I gasped, mouth hanging open as I snapped my gaze to Wyatt. “What?”
He ignored me though, kept his eyes on Rick. “There’s been a prophecy. Kali will end the war.”
Rick stopped spooning what looked like stew from one of the containers, his eyes wide, like he was soaking up the lies Wyatt was telling. My mother had made a prophecy, but it wasn’t that specific.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Wyatt? You know that’s not true.”
He glanced in my direction, staring me down with a look I knew well.
I gasped, raised my hand to my mouth. Ah fuck, he hadn’t told me the whole prediction back at Union headquarters. “You knew all along she wasn’t talking about Ivana, didn’t you?” Another layer of betrayal slathered itself on top of the pile.
“I didn’t know for sure,” he said to me. “Not until we got pulled into that summoning spell of Cassia’s.”
“What summoning spell?” Rick dropped the spoon back into the container, then turned and put the plates of food into a large microwave. “This conversation is weirding me out.”
“Wait,” Wyatt said. “You didn’t get pulled into a summoning spell yesterday?”
Rick leaned against the counter, arms crossed. He shook his head. “Nah uh.”
“He’s a witch?” I immediately sent a small tracking beacon out. Not wanting to test the threshold of Rick’s paranoia by casting anything more substantial, despite the fact I knew he’d never know what I was doing. The man’s paranoia was beginning to rub off. No magic bounced back. “No way he’s a witch.”
Wyatt sighed. “He’s off the grid.”
“Your girlfriend asking questions?” Rick snorted as he stroked his scruffy beard. He glanced toward me, his eyes looking a little too far left for actual eye contact. “I bound my powers a long time ago. More trouble than they were worth. Don’t miss ’em one bit.”
I shuddered. “Are you serious?” I looked at Wyatt. “Who does that?”
“He was a potions master,” Wyatt said with a shrug. “One of the best, from what I’d heard.”
Rick scoffed again. “Didn’t do me an ounce of good. Folks breaking down my door for liquid magic.”
“Holy fuck!” I whispered in awe. A potions master was like a magic chemist. You not only had to have the gift of identifying the ingredients, and melding them together, but as a master, you had the ability to manipulate the chemistry of things. You could make something that was normally benign, lethal, or transform something common into something life saving.
Being a potions master—and from what I knew, there were only five in the whole world—meant that you intuitively understood how each element worked, could speak to it in a way. It took someone who was fucking brilliant and probably a little insane too. The fact that he’d bound his own powers was actually kind of perverse. Like he’d castrated himself. Because he’d bound his natural talent, he truly had taken himself off the grid. Even Wyatt, with his spell casting abilities bound, still had his natural healing powers. To be without it all was something I could hardly fathom. The idea made me kinda sick.
“Is she shocked?” He was smiling at me now, his gaze almost dead on, looking like he was proud of what he’d done.
Wyatt chuckled. “Who wouldn’t be?”
“Good. I like shocking people.”
The microwave dinged and Rick turned to pop the door open, using a dish towel to grab the steaming plates before depositing them in front of us. The stew smelled delicious and my stomach growled.
“The summoning spell wouldn’t have worked on you,” Wyatt said as he accepted an offered spoon. “It was a wide net meant to capture the obvious witches. You’d fly under the radar.”
Rick slid one in my direction too.
“I can’t feel his magic signature at all,” I said, still in awe. To give up such a power was too hard for my weary brain to process.
“Nope. Wouldn’t have known if you didn’t tell me. So what? The hybrids have gone bonkers, eh? The world falling apart? Just like I said?” He shook his head. “Can’t have power like that without some sacrifice. Takin’ w
itch’s blood, that’s fucked up.”
I felt like I was in some kind of twilight zone. He knew about the hybrids too? My thoughts were jumbled, my stomach screaming for me to pick up the damn spoon and eat.
Wyatt motioned to my food. “Your stomach is bellowing so loud, even I can hear it. Eat.”
“You saw me put the food down there, right?” Rick was leaning against the counter again, his eyes sweeping just in front of me. “I put a bowl right there for her. It’s gone now.”
“No shit?” Wyatt said with a glance in my direction. “Must be part of the spell. Kali’d be a good hiding spot for stuff.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t like it. Dark magic.” Rick gave a shudder. “How long you plan on staying?”
“We need to get some sleep. Been a rough twenty-four hours,” Wyatt said between spoonfuls. “We won’t intrude on your hospitality for long. One night, then we’re gone. Trying to get back to Salem, figure out the best way to locate this Cassia woman, get Kali in position somehow.”
I nearly choked on the first spoonful of stew that I’d attempted to swallow. “What the fuck, Wyatt!”
Get me into position? Like he’d been planning some kind of take down all along.
“We’ll talk about this later,” he growled, his eyes never leaving Rick’s. “Food, shower, sleep. Then we leave.”
Rick shrugged. “I said you could stay. I’m not a man who bails on my friends. I owe you a debt that surpasses a shower, sleep and food.” He glanced in my direction. “Witch or no witch, I’ve got your back. Even more if you figure out a way to lift that creepy vanishing spell she’s got on her. Don’t like the idea of eyes on me when I can’t see ’em, ya know?” He shuddered before pushing himself from the counter. “I’ll go get a room ready.”
Once Rick left the kitchen I spun on Wyatt, pushing his shoulder in a vain attempt to actually have him face me. “You going to tell me what the fuck is going on?”
The Dark War: The Dark War, Book 1 Page 24
