Sergei walked to the shadow and stood with his eyes closed. He’d spent the whole last night chasing the shifty witch, who left only faint tracks, but this was different, blurred. “There are two dangers to Gwen, Fannie and Josephine. There are three of us.” Sergei looked to Yardley who he knew was a strong enough entity to face either woman.
He studied Sebastian’s face. He could more than handle a witch, but not Fannie. She’d been able to take Lewis, which meant she had some control over familiar magic. He considered everything in a few seconds.
Gwen was the priority.
Shane was irrelevant now.
Shane had always been irrelevant to him.
“Time?” Shane shifted on his feet impatiently. “Gwen’s been gone a while now.”
Sebastian looked at him for a second before dismissing him and looking back to Sergei. “Do you have scents for both? I have some artifacts from Fannie, if you need.”
“Yardley, you take this.” Sergei handed Yardley the cloth from Josephine. “You mastered blood magic, yes? Create a binding charm and then take that hag to a secure place, so Gwen might torture her at will.” Sergei smiled at the thought. Gwen was due as much and he liked the idea of watching her leave behind her humanity, finally.
Yardley nodded, took the cloth, and started away toward his personal altar room. He turned around to Sebastian, giving a knowing look. “Sir, do you require anything?”
“No, go, please.” Sebastian turned back to Sergei when Yardley vanished down the hall. “You and I are going to put an end to Fannie?”
“No, you give me whatever totem you have. I will track Fannie, she poses the biggest threat.”
The room bristled with cold energy and magic. Sebastian stood taller and stepped toward Sergei. “I won’t sit here and babysit him. I have the most experience with Fannie.” The way he said ‘him’ made Shane take a step back.
“Get the totem, Sebastian. I need you to track Dillon, in the event the two women prove difficult to find, again. He might lead us to them. Or they might come for Shane, thinking you an easy target alone. Never question my planning.” Sergei watched him hesitate, and saw the question in his eyes. It was one he’d wondered. Could Sergei have any effect on his magical form? “Do as I ask, we can test our roles later, when Gwen is safe.”
Sebastian stormed from the room, leaving a trail of chilling magic in the air.
“Don’t leave me with him. He’ll kill me himself.” Shane felt the anger and hate coming from Sebastian well after he left.
“Would you rather wait with Dmitry?” Sergei chuckled. “That can be arranged?”
“It’s not a joke. Gwen is gone. She’s been gone for hours now. What if they are hurting her, or hexing our babies?” The urgency in his voice shocked Sergei. That was new. Gwen seemed to have that effect on everyone. Most everyone.
Sebastian returned and tossed a small satchel at Sergei. “She summons demons with a flick of her fingers.”
“Demons don’t worry me.” Sergei lifted the silky bag to his nose and sniffed it deeply. He stood still with his eyes closed a second before he opened them and tossed it back to Sebastian. “I’ve had this scent before. Find Dillon, his trail may well lead to Gwen.”
“And him. Am I to be hampered with a helpless witch?”
“Yes. He’s bait. Use him as you see fit.” Sergei vanished, leaving a cold spot as the only evidence he’d been there.
Sebastian started down the hall with Shane on his heels.
“Are you going to tell me the plan?” Shane struggled to keep up.
Sebastian didn’t look back or answer. They arrived at a closed door, which he rapped on lightly. While he waited for Yardley, he looked at Shane and frowned. “You and your presence started this.”
“They forced me. You know that.” He stood as tall as he could in the face of her magical guardian. “I want to help.”
Sebastian closed his eyes and drew a breath in through his nose before he knocked again. “Stay out of the way.”
“Are we really going to look for Dillon, and not Gwen?”
“No.”
Yardley opened the door. “Sir, the binding…” He frowned. “I’m going to track her. I’ll need to bind her in person. Gwen shouldn’t be facing her alone; her magic is deeply rooted. Water. Powerful.”
“Gwen can handle her. Not Fannie. Not yet.” Sebastian blew in Shane’s direction and he passed out. “There is a reason Sergei and I couldn’t follow Gwen. Wherever she is, while still here on our realm, is altered. It’s light and that is why we couldn’t see it clearly. “Go get Gwen. She is probably stuck in a spell, without a shadow, suspended in time.”
Yardley knew he could easily call up a shadow from nothing, but he also knew if shadows had been magically removed there would only be one way to return. He also knew that when he jumped into whatever place she was, he would lose the same time she did. “You realize I will be gone minutes, but hours will pass? What will you do with him? Who are you tracking, sir?”
“I will take him to track Dillon as ordered. The witch will be with him. She will be waiting for Shane. Lewis is close. The whole thing is a net that has already been dropped. You get out of here and find my love.” Sebastian looked down at Shane. “Go, I will wake him after you are gone.” Sebastian walked with Yardley to where Gwen left.
Yardley stood still in the shadow a moment, focusing on Gwen’s hazy trail. “Getting her back will be dark. There will be only one option.”
“Don’t let it touch her, if you can. Together we can remove anything that leeches to them.” Sebastian frowned, he knew what she would face and it hurt that he couldn’t be the one to help her.
Yardley nodded, and before he vanished said, “Mind Fannie, sir.”
Once gone, Sebastian woke up Shane and started the daunting task of tracking, with a human burdening his speed.
Chapter Nineteen
G wen grew a wall of vines, expecting some hint of a shadow to be cast. When they failed to block the light, she continued to grow them until she was surrounded. Sat covered in a mass of thick vines, any light should have been strangled away. It was not. It took a lot of effort to hold them while she thought of what to do, since the place fought to undo her changes. She sighed and wrestled back the urge to summon Lewis again.
In the area she rested she already grew enough trees to form a solid canopy. No darkness resulted. As soon as she dropped her efforts, the magic alterations she made vanished, leaving no imprints as Lewis had said.
She wondered how long he was going to leave her there, and how much time had already passed. Was that what he meant by, if you stay I will come keep you company? Would he really leave her there forever? She tried not to think of him bringing her bread and butter. That was essentially what he had done, imprisoned her. He did this.
Lewis.
His deep betrayal stung and threatened to derail her efforts while she sat thinking about him and not the problem of creating shadows. He did leave her there, even after her pleas for his help. Even after kissing her and speaking of love. He left her there with no clue how to get away. How could he tell her he loved her in one breath, and conspire to make her helpless, while Josephine worked to cause her such pain? The way he touched her face, and his eyes when he told her about the pain yet to come, contradicted his actions. Her thoughts spiraled deeper into despair as the magic of the place sought to make her forget her need to leave.
When a hand touched her shoulder, she screamed and scrambled to her feet, hands in front of her, fire at her fingertips.
“It’s okay, Miss Hensley.” A familiar voice said. A friendly voice, from a true ally.
She turned to see Yardley. His thick gray hair and well-worn features offered a quick moment of comfort. Then her eyes grew wide with panic. “Sebastian? You left him?”
Yardley slowly shook his head, seeing and feeling her concern. “It’s night. He sent me to help you escape this place.”
She took a few steps toward him, and th
en wrapped her arms around him. They’d never hugged before. It was not soothing like when Sebastian held her, but she felt warmth and safety. She knew he would help her. “Lewis did this. Shane, Dillon, are they okay? How long have I really been here?” The questions came in a rush.
“Shane is with Sebastian. Dillon is still missing, but Sebastian is looking for him. You’ve been gone hours. We need to go back now.” His eyes held the same gentle look she always saw from him, but she also knew deep down he was something powerful in his own right.
“Thank you, but the shadow I came in, it’s gone.” She looked toward the trees. “There are no shadows here.”
He clicked his tongue, following her eyes and looking thoughtfully around them. “Let’s fix that.”
She smiled at the ease and confidence in his tone. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“I would have come sooner but he was sleeping.” His face seemed to ask her forgiveness.
“I understand. I wouldn’t want it any other way.” She watched as he walked a bit toward the house, muttering to himself. She didn’t get the impression they were chants to call up shadows so much. They sounded angry, like curses. It made her wonder if he was leaving something nasty behind, in case Lewis or Fannie came back to get her.
“This is similar to an oubliette in that it only has one way out.” He looked back, at first with a reddish glow in his eyes and then with a softer appearance. “As I feared. It’s not going to be pleasant. I need to do a few things to protect you and the babies before we can leave.” His tone was grave but firm.
A wave of happiness that he knew what to do was short lived when his words settled in. Not pleasant? Protect the babies? “But Lewis, he put me in some place dangerous?”
“It’s not dangerous to be here. However, it is quite dangerous for you to leave. They intended you to stay here.”
“Forever?” It was as she thought. A thought so dark she’d pushed it away. Lewis left her there to die. She walked toward him, feeling small and alone again. “They intended, he was going to leave me? Forever.”
“Yes. Sadly, that is the point of these sort of places.”
Her head shook slowly at first, and then more rapidly. “No, he gave me things to help me. He said he did it here because here it wouldn’t imprint, Fannie wouldn’t know.”
“Maybe, but he should have known you wouldn’t be able to leave as he did. You are not a magical form. A solid form leaving here… well, don’t fret. I will get you out of here.”
“You are a magical form?” She tilted her head and scrutinized him as she had many times in the past.
He nodded. “Don’t ask, Miss. I’d rather you not know. It’s better, for us both.”
She watched as he pulled out several things from a bag he’d brought with him. “Did you know before you came? I mean where we are and what was needed?”
“Yes.” He watched her frown deepen a second, before he started to arrange his things in easy reach.
“Did Sebastian? He knew it was dangerous? He couldn’t come, they saw to that with this unending light.” She looked over his shoulder. “Did he know what you would have to do, the dangerous thing to get us out of here?”
“Not exactly. He knew it would be dark.” His attention remained steady on what he was doing. “I didn’t see any point to the added distraction for him. He is busy with Shane and Dillon.”
“Distraction?” She knelt beside him. “It’s that bad? Can I help?”
“He worries for you, Miss. To know what we need to travel through exactly would have troubled him. Let me work.” He looked over to her when he felt her edging closer. “Please. Time moves very quickly here. If I dally we will miss the whole night, and that would leave Sebastian alone, possibly vulnerable to them.”
She agreed, backed away, and stood over him, watching him work, but not really taking in too much. In the silence, the magic of the place took her thoughts to irrelevant things. Thoughts of knitting projects and the last festival in town kept her distracted.
After a while he turned to her. “Lay down, please.”
Her eyes lost their faraway look and heat rose to her cheeks when she realized how she’d let her mind slip again.
He gave her a knowing look. “It’s here, it’s not you. Lay down, please.”
She did as he said and watched as he closed his eyes, chanting over her. He raised her shirt slightly and started to draw on her lower stomach with something cold and wet. He was a friend, she knew that, but the wet sticky feeling drew her eyes. The sight of the symbols on her belly, like some macabre finger-painting, panicked her. She reached down and stopped his hand. “What are you doing?”
“Protecting the little ones.” He smiled at her and used his other hand to remove hers from his, so he could carry on. His whimsical tone didn’t match his face or the arcane sounding words he’d just been chanting. “They are so precious. The girl’s soul is a beautiful glowing light already.”
“She is? Light and not dark? You really see that, light?” Her eyes twinkled, but the spark faded as fast as it came. “Protecting them from what? Do we have other, slower, options that are less dangerous? Please, if there is another way that poses no risk, let’s go slower and deal with what we miss later.”
His sharp brown eyes looked sad for a moment. “No, only one thing will form a shadow here. For us to walk through it untouched will take some deft. For the babies it will be even more of a feat.” Now the worry etched itself into her features in a way he couldn’t ignore. “Miss, they will always attract things, as you do, perhaps more so.”
“Don’t Miss me, it’s Gwen, and what are we walking through?” She held his hand again. “What might they attract?”
He saw no point in trying to soften it. She would know when he summoned it and it would be best if she wasn’t startled. “A demon. We are walking into a demon, that will be holding a shadow form. It will feel us pass. The draw to you will be great. The draw to the babies will be irresistible.” He nodded as if to ask if he might continue now. When she didn’t answer, he tugged his hand away. “We do this or you stay here, forever. The little ones suspended in time with you.”
A million more questions came to mind, but none of them mattered. How and why wouldn’t change the fact that he said there was only one way out.
She lifted her hand, and her love for Lewis shrank to be replaced by something she would figure out later. “Go ahead.”
Once he started drawing again she remained as still as possible. Knowing the gravity of the situation, she did not want to distract him. Her thoughts tried to go to Lewis, the demon and what could happen, but she managed to push them back to the fact he saw light. They were not soulless monsters with no fate. He saw beautiful light.
When he was finished, he looked at her, still looking very serious. “In addition to these wards, I will have wrapped you in my own cover to protect your soul.”
“Are you sure the wards will work? What happens if they don’t?”
“They will. I wouldn’t risk it otherwise.” He put away his things and watched her closely. “Their souls will be protected, but I can’t guarantee they won’t be touched. You might be touched. I will do everything in my power to prevent or remove anything that happens when we travel.”
“Touched, touched how?” Tears started to well in her eyes. “They are just babies. Why would Lewis do this? To them? He’s going to pay.”
He gave her a hand to stand and held her for a second. “I couldn’t imagine why. Witches can’t affect him in a way he deserves. He will pay. Sebastian or myself will see to that.”
Images of what might happen danced briefly across her mind before she pushed them away. She didn’t want to imagine Lewis suffer, but more so, she didn’t want to imagine Sebastian or Yardley capable of cruelty. “And your soul?” She stepped back from his arms.
“I have no such concerns, Gwen.” He took her hand and smiled a broad smile that seemed almost too big for his face. “Your babies are the most
beautiful little souls I’ve ever seen.”
She looked away. “He, Lewis, said they have no fate because I am supposed to be dead. You see beauty? Light?”
“I do. Having no fate isn’t all that bad. You have no fate, but you are light and beautiful. I have no fate. It simply means we can choose our path. If we alter the path of others it will adjust, we are not some malevolent force. You can choose to be whatever you desire.” His fingers rubbed her palm. “I see beauty.”
She looked into his reassuring eyes. “Dangerous is what he called them.”
“We are all dangerous to someone. All of us.” He dropped her hand and brushed her hair back from her face. “Do not forget, he is the one who left you here. He is the one working with that evil woman. For him to view them as a danger is probably a good omen, Miss Gwen.”
“You are pretty wise.”
He looked from her to the woods. “You do pick up a few things over the centuries.”
“Is he light? The boy.” She followed his gaze. “You didn’t mention him.”
“Could be.”
“But you said you felt her light.” There was a slight waver in her voice that reacted to his shifting presence.
He steadied himself and looked back to her with resolve. “We need to go. Every second here is minutes in time.”
She rested her hand on her stomach. “Will that hurt them? The time we already spent here?”
“Every second of our life affects us. Let’s go now.” He turned back to the woods. “Brave?”
“Wait. You are calling a demon. Now?” She swallowed a dry lump that rose. “Don’t we need a circle?”
“No, we need to step into the demon. A circle would be pointless.” He watched her mouth drop. “I will have it under my command.”
She nodded. “What happens when we step through it?”
“You will feel it wash over you. I will have you wrapped in my protection, and the kids are warded. It will more than likely latch on to me and follow us.” His fingers drummed on each other silently. “You’ve never seen a demon?”
Fateful Attractions Page 20
