“More or less.” Collins said that so casually, like we were discussing the weather. “I’d done a very good job of covering my tracks—the demons taught me how to cover the stain that appears when you summon one of them fairly early on—but he’d been watching me closely since the day I tried to make Evan my apprentice. He saw me speaking with one, making plans for my army, but instead of reporting me, Liam thought he could scare me into admitting my wrongdoings.” Collins chuckled darkly. “I told you he was arrogant. He figured he would win more votes for his precious director’s position if I said he’d caught me. Foolishly, he thought I was afraid of him, but he was a mere mortal. Compared to a demon, he was nothing! So I took that cocky arrogance and threw it right back at him. I’d been hoping to wipe the whole family out, but the demon thought it better to keep you alive, Rafe. They do like to make their victims suffer.” Collins took a step closer to Rafe. “And I agree, that was a better plan. You’ve been grieving for five years, haven’t you? Thinking you killed them?” He gave my boyfriend a mock bow. “Well, now you know the truth. It was your father’s fault he and your mother died that day. Does that make you feel better?”
Rafe’s face had gone ashen. Hearing the truth—how could that make him feel better? I was so angry I was seeing red, and all I wanted to do was rip the sword from Rafe’s grasp and charge Collins.
But then Rafe surprised me. Letting go of my hand so he could grip his sword in both hands, he lifted his head and coolly met Collins’s gaze. “I will kill you.”
Collins smirked. “So much like your father.”
“That is a compliment,” Charles spoke up as he also gazed at Collins. “Liam Fitzgerald was a great man, Collins, but Rafe is an even better one. I for one cannot wait to watch him destroy you.”
“Then let’s stop talking and start this.” Collins motioned for Rafe to approach. “The sooner we finish this, the sooner I can take the little healer away so I can study her.” The leer he sent my way caused goose bumps to break out across my body. “I can’t wait to take you apart and figure out what makes you tick, my dear.”
I rolled my eyes, feigning indifference even though I was trembling with fear. “And I can’t wait to watch my boyfriend take you apart, piece by painful piece.”
“So brave, standing behind your boyfriend and friends, waiting for them to fight for you,” he said. “But how brave will you be when you’re left alone?”
Before anyone could make a move, Collins clapped his hands together. A wave of iridescent magic shot out from his hands, engulfing us all.
And then, silence.
Chapter Forty-eight
Rafe
Ignoring my burning eyes, I readied my sword. But Collins had disappeared, leaving me alone in the too-white field of nothingness.
“What the bloody hell?”
Okay, maybe not alone. Kain was standing behind me, his rapier held loosely in one hand while the other hand was cupped in front of him. I could tell he was trying to summon magic, but nothing happened.
That meant Collins had trapped us in a no-magic zone. I was surprised our weapons were still here, considering we needed magic to summon them. But I imagined if I tried to summon something else, it wouldn’t work.
From the way Kain was cursing up a storm, I figured I was right. He usually didn’t lose his composure like that, and I knew he was as worried about Philip as I was about Gabi. If Collins hurt her…
No, I told myself. Stay calm.
Kain collapsed on the ground, his face a mixture of frustration and worry. “I can’t sense a bloody thing.”
I swung my sword a couple of times, wondering if there was a barrier up that we needed to break down. But nothing happened and I stopped, feeling like a fool.
If I started walking, how far would I be allowed to go? Would I just walk across the endless white field until I fell over from exhaustion?
“Fitz!”
I turned in surprise as Alex ran up to me, completely out of breath. Where had she come from? Better yet, how had she gotten here?
She bent over, resting her hands on her knees as she panted loudly. Her black hair spilled across her shoulders, a startling contrast to the white snow. When she could finally breathe again, she straightened up and demanded, “Where’s Evan? Have you seen him?”
“No, it’s just been the two of us. Where were you up until now?” I asked.
“Alone.” She shuddered. “I thought that was it for me. Escape the coma, only to spend the rest of my life trapped wherever I was.”
“But how did you escape?” Kain was staring at her hard, like she was the solution to this riddle Collins had thrown at us.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I started walking, but I wasn’t going anywhere. Even when I started running, it was like I was standing still, you know? And then I turned around, and you were there.” Biting her lip, she looked away, her expression troubled. “Sorry. I wish I was more help.”
I grabbed her in a one-arm hug. “I’m glad you’re here.”
After taking a moment to regain her composure, Alex directed her next question to Kain. “So what’s going on?”
“It appears we’re trapped,” he answered easily.
Pulling away from me, she closed the distance between them in two brisk strides and grabbed Kain’s jacket, shaking him violently. “Do you think this is funny?”
“No,” Kain said, letting some of his vulnerability show. “Not at all. Philip is out there too, remember, and he’s the one who’s weak against magic. I can’t even imagine how all of this is affecting him.”
Alex let go of Kain’s jacket and stumbled backward, looking regretful. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Don’t be. You’re worried about Underwood.” He paused, a crease appearing between his eyebrows as he frowned. “You care for him, although I can’t bloody imagine why, mind you.”
She flashed him a fierce grin, looking more like herself. “You’re one to talk—you like Phil.” They shared a smile, and the tense atmosphere began to thaw a little.
“What’s the plan?” I asked, tapping the tip of my sword against the ground.
When Kain didn’t answer, Alex crackled her knuckles, her smile growing. “Why don’t we do what we do best?” She met my gaze. “Piss off the ones in charge.”
I felt myself smiling in reply. How many times had the three of us—Evan, Alex, and myself—joined forces to annoy some Silver Moon member? It had become a game for us after my parents died, to see how far we could push them before they decided to do something about it.
No one ever did—until Davenport nearly killed Alex.
Davenport. Maybe I should have listened to him that night when he kidnapped Chloe. Maybe I should have joined forces with him, and we wouldn’t have found ourselves in this situation.
But it was too late for that.
“Okay,” I told Alex. “I’m in. Let’s make some noise.”
And noise we made, screaming and hollering until our throats were hoarse, calling Collins every possible curse word we could think of. Kain added a few insults that only made sense to people who lived in England, I imagined, but they sounded bad.
Nothing happened, but we refused to give up. It was like the moment we did, Collins would somehow win. We didn’t know where he was, or what he was doing to Gabi and the others, but as long as we fought him any way we could, he wouldn’t be able to succeed in breaking us.
Even though Alex warned we would get nowhere, we started walking toward the lake.
And we walked.
And we walked.
“It appears we’re wasting both time and energy,” Kain declared as he came to a halt.
He was right, and that pissed me off. No, I wasn’t mad at him; I was mad that Collins had decided to sweep us aside into this stupid fake park where he expected us to do what? Sit around, waiting for him to show up? Go crazy and kill each other?
I’d been working so hard to keep myself from growing angry, but I’d reached my brea
king point. “This is ridiculous.” Loosening one of the knives that hung at my belt, I flung it toward the lake.
It flew for a moment before crashing into an invisible barrier and falling to the ground silently.
“Did you just see that?” I asked.
“Big deal,” Alex said. “So we’re boxed in. As if I wasn’t feeling claustrophobic before, Fitz!”
I opened my mouth to apologize to her, but the sight of Kain crouching, his rapier on the ground while he held both hands out in front of him, palms up, was enough to give me pause. “Are you able to cast magic now?” I asked.
Two seconds later, his hands began glowing, answering my question.
“Yes!” Alex punched me in the arm—hard—as she whooped up a storm. “Throw that at his stupid barrier! If that doesn’t get his attention, then he must be dead.”
I wished. But if he was dead, we wouldn’t still be trapped.
Without speaking, Kain stood up slowly and extended his palms in the direction of the barrier. The magic didn’t shine as brightly as normal, the color a sickly, washed-out gray. From the look of concentration on Kain’s face, I could tell he was exerting much more energy than normal to hold onto it.
Remembering how Gabi’s mom had needed Evan’s help to use the teleportation spell, I placed my hand on Kain’s shoulder. He looked at me in surprise. “Take whatever you need,” I said. I didn’t have a whole lot of magical talent—not like Kain or Evan—but there was something, and hopefully it would be enough to get us out.
Following my example, Alex crossed around to the other side and clamped her hand down on Kain’s free shoulder. The dark-haired hunter nodded once and closed his eyes before he began borrowing our magic.
It was a curious feeling, like an itch on the inside of my body that I’d never be able to scratch. Annoying, but not impossible to ignore. The magic in Kain’s hands glowed brighter, the color turning a fiery mixture of orange and red, and I couldn’t help but grin. It was working!
With a flick of his wrists, Kain sent the sunset-colored magic into the barrier. It moved slower than normal, but when it hit there was an audible crack, and the ground began shaking.
Somehow the three of us managed to remain standing, and Kain continued to use our combined power to attack the barrier.
Jagged black cracks began appearing, starting from where the magic was hitting the barrier and branching out in all directions like roads on a map. “Just a little bit more,” Kain murmured as he intensified his attack.
The ground shook harder, and the barrier shattered.
A sharp, silvery shard headed rapidly in our direction, and I instinctively ducked. Alex did the same, but Kain, still concentrating on the magic, didn’t move in time. The shard embedded itself in his shoulder and he let out a startled cry and stumbled, the magic in his hands instantly dying.
“Kain!” I shouted.
Gritting his teeth, Kain reached up and yanked the shard from his shoulder. He let it fall to the ground, but it vanished before it could touch the snow. “I’m fine,” he said even as his blood marred the snow at his feet.
He’d been lucky, but more and more shards were falling like razor-sharp rain. We dodged the smaller pieces, but when a chunk larger than a car began shaking loose directly over us, I pointed toward the hole we’d made and yelled, “Run!”
Chapter Forty-nine
Evan
Really? Out of everyone I could get stuck with, it had to be these two?
After Collins had done his little magic trick, everything had gone quiet. For about a second.
Then Charles and Morgan started yelling at each other.
I crouched on the ground and sighed, watching as Charles paced back and forth, pointing an accusing finger at Morgan whenever he passed her. She stood still, her body tense with anger as she snapped at him in response. I rolled my eyes. Guess I’m the only one who cares about getting out of here.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t as easy as I hoped. Whenever I went to use it, my magic rolled off of me like a dull weight, landing at my feet and disappearing with a soft whoosh. It was embarrassing, really. It’s a good thing Alex can’t see me now.
Except that it wasn’t. I was sick with worry, wondering what had happened to her. I could only hope she’d found her way to Rafe.
Not Kain, though. God, I hated him.
“I thought I killed you!” Charles shouted at Morgan. He’d said that about five times already, and Morgan responded each time with an eye roll. “For seven years, you let me believe I had your blood on my hands!”
“Good,” she snapped. “I’m glad you suffered.”
Oooh, ouch. Mama Harkins was fierce. Now I knew where Rafe’s girl got it from.
Charles was sputtering in indignation. I’d never seen him so unhinged before. “You’re glad!”
“Charles, who are you trying to fool? We both know you would have dragged me back to HQ so I could be killed for my ‘crimes.’” Morgan put her hands on her hips. “You wouldn’t have even bothered to ask me why I did it, either.”
“I did try to ask, but you were so busy trying to kill me that you didn’t even listen!” Charles must have seen something in her expression, because he stilled. “Why, Morgan? Why did you do it?”
“To save our son,” she said simply.
“The demon healed Philip?” Charles shook his head. “That’s impossible. It wouldn’t do your bidding so freely, not without you paying a price. Wait— Gabi?” He made a choking noise, and I raised my brows, surprised he’d been able to make the connection so easily. “You sacrificed Gabi to save Philip? Is that why she can heal? But we both know a demon would never give away its power freely. What’s the price, Morgan? Will it claim her in Philip’s stead?”
Some of Morgan’s haughtiness faded away as she stared at the ground. “It’s okay. I sealed her powers. The demon won’t be able to take her.”
“Allegedly,” I said. Morgan’s seal was in place now, but I didn’t think it would hold forever. I hadn’t told Gabi my fears, but she was a smart girl. I was one hundred percent certain she already knew the danger she was in. But that still hasn’t stopped her from wanting to help us.
Even though I had Alex back, guilt at what I’d done threatened to rip me apart. If I’d known that each time Gabi healed, she took one step closer to becoming demon food, I would have done things differently.
But I couldn’t change the past. I knew that. I just needed to make sure Gabi had a chance at a demon-free future.
Morgan and Charles jumped when I spoke, like they’d forgotten I was there, listening to their argument. “Evan.” Charles scowled at me, like it was my fault we were in this situation.
God, these two are making me want a cigarette. And I’d been doing so good, too!
“Have you figured this out yet?” Charles gestured toward the barrier.
I raised a single eyebrow. “Yeah, I did. Magic doesn’t work here. Have either of you figured anything out while you were screaming at one another?”
They both turned red and muttered some crap under their breaths as they looked anywhere but at each other. Groaning, I stood up and stretched my arms overhead. “Look, we can all use magic. Maybe if we combine our powers and aim it at one point, we can break the barrier and get the hell out of here. Do you think you can work together for a few minutes, or will I have to worry about you turning your magic on one another?”
“I’d like to see him try,” Morgan said, flashing a feral smile.
Charles shook his head. “Let’s just get this over with.”
I really wondered how the two of them had managed to stay together long enough to create a kid. Wait—no. Scratch that. I didn’t want to know, not unless I wanted to have nightmares for the rest of my life.
The three of us stood in a line with me in between them, acting as a buffer. I really, really hoped they decided to behave because I didn’t feel like getting toasted with magic today. Sure, the magic wasn’t acting like it usually did, but I i
magined getting hit with it on both sides at close range would still hurt.
Taking a deep breath, I lifted my right hand and tried to summon one of my blue fireballs. A tiny little thing, washed out and gray, flickered to life, and it took a lot more effort than it should have to keep it in my hand. A trickle of sweat ran down my face and under my collar. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Charles and Morgan were also having difficultly holding on to the magic.
Good. I was glad it wasn’t only me. That would have been embarrassing.
Straining against whatever magical blockade Collins had in place, I lifted my arm over my head and threw the fireball like it was a baseball. It collided with the barrier and the ground shook. Not much, but I definitely felt it.
“Come on, hurry up!” I urged Charles and Morgan as I worked on summoning another fireball. With a low grunt, Charles flung some raw magic against the barrier, while Morgan followed suit half a second later. The ground shook, longer and harder this time, but the barrier remained.
I frowned. Maybe the timing was off. “On three for the next one, okay?” They nodded. Taking a deep breath, I counted, “One… Two… Three!”
Our gray magic flashed across the park, hitting the barrier at the same time. There were no sparks, no loud booms, but the ground rocked hard enough that we fell to our feet. I quickly jumped back up and jogged over, my eyes widening as a crack appeared, slowly at first, but then quickly branching out in all directions. “It worked!” I crowed. “I bet if we hit it one more time we’ll—”
But I never got to finish my sentence. A thunder-like crack filled the air, followed by the deafening sound of glass shattering. As the barrier began breaking, tiny shards flew from the sky, catching in my jacket and slicing their way down my cheeks.
But I had bigger problems than a few scratches to worry about.
Giant shards of jagged glass, bigger than myself, started crashing to the ground. Morgan jumped back, narrowly avoiding being impaled. She and Charles were cursing, but their voices faded into the background as my eyes caught a familiar flash of black hair.
The Shadow Stealer (Silver Moon Saga Book 3) Page 28
