by Ally Shields
“Perhaps Andreas should kill her for us.” Bastian still sounded bored. “He helped us catch her, but they have been lovers. By her death, he could demonstrate the sincerity of his fealty to us.”
“I thought we had already accepted Andreas’s pledge,” Porbius said.
Bastian looked up from the goblet he’d been fingering. “There can never be too many demonstrations of loyalty. What do you say, Andreas?”
Ari watched him stepped forward, his face almost as bored as Bastian’s. “Whatever you wish. It makes little difference to me. I will miss having the witch in my bed—she is very supple—but I will not miss her infernal mouth.”
A few chuckles met his words. Ari stiffened. Whether he meant it or not, she’d never expected to hear him talk that way. She wished he’d open the damn link.
“What if Daron or the vampires in Riverdale demand proof she is alive?” the elder at the far right end asked. “It’s only a matter of hours, a day at most, before they give in to our demands.”
What the hell? Were they holding her for ransom? Didn’t they know Daron was ready to give them Toronto? She darted a look at Andreas to gauge his reaction, but he was impassively examining the sleeve of his shirt. Daron might not be so happy with what he got back in exchange for giving up his court.
“Keeping her alive even that long is risky.” Gerhard leaned across the table, pointing at her. “Can’t you feel her power? She may escape, and then your plans will be finished.”
“Do you have a better suggestion?” Porbius demanded.
“I do.” Bastian slowly rose from the table and strolled toward Ari. “There is another way to enslave her. Bind her to you in a blood bond, Andreas, and you can keep her in your bed for at least one more night.” He turned to Andreas, a challenge on his face. “Unless her eventual death would kill you. If you have no true feelings for her, as you claim, you will suffer no harm when the bond breaks.”
“Feelings,” Andreas scoffed. “For a witch? A lovely toy, but nothing more.”
Ari could feel her fingers sparking. If only she could get them free. Her witch blood was racing, demanding action. They were talking about her like she was property for sale, and she was seriously getting pissed. But no matter what he said, she had made up her mind. She had to get him over here so she could rescue his worthless ass.
“You’re soulless bastards. The lot of you.” She included the entire table in a scathing glare that finally landed on Andreas. “I won’t be bound to a monster like you. I wouldn’t let you touch me again if my life depended on it.”
Andreas flashed across the room, encircling her throat with one hand. “No?” he said softly, shoving his fangs up close to her face. “Are you so very sure about that?”
“Get your hands off me,” she hissed. But already her fingers were crushing two of the capsules in her sleeve. It was time to make an exit, and she was going for broke.
She reached out for Sophie and felt the instant connection with her coven somewhere in the nearby forest. She twisted enough to see the Kirsch brothers, broke the capsules, and used sight and mind to send her spells spiraling toward both warlocks. Twice the power should guarantee her success—or nothing.
The Kirschs reacted to the spells touching them by lunging to their feet and shouting.
“Grab her!”
“It’s a trick!”
Ari’s magic surged to capture their energy, yanking it toward her, and she bounced it away, down the link to Sophistrina. The return jolt of power nearly knocked her out of Andreas’s grip.
“Good-bye,” she whispered, invoking the final spell.
They dissolved in shimmering light among a chorus of confused shouts. A moment of disorienting darkness. Then Ari and Andreas landed inside the witches’ circle and tumbled onto the soft forest earth.
Andreas rose to his knees, ready to spring, his dark eyes flashing, taking in the woodland scene and the witches around them. Then he reached out and drew Ari into his arms. Nearly crushing her ribs, he buried his face in her hair. “Are you all right? My God, Arianna. I wanted to tear out their evil hearts.”
“My hands,” she mumbled into his chest.
He turned her around and shredded her bindings, pulling her back against him, his mouth lightly brushing against her swollen lower lip. He raised a finger to trace the bruise there, murmuring words, mostly indistinguishable.
Ari melted against him, listening to the sound of his heartbeat and the magical vibrations of his voice. It didn’t matter what he said. He probably didn’t know what he was saying. She wound her arms around his neck, barely feeling the pain that radiated through them with the release of her restraints. Tears ran down her face. Relief, tenderness and a whole host of other emotions nearly overwhelmed her. If she didn’t live another minute, this one was worth it.
“Come on you two,” Sophie urged. “There’s no time for a reunion. We need to get to the cars. Warin will trace our ring and have the vampires on us any second.”
The rest of the coven took off running down a forest path.
“Gerhard too.” Ari didn’t stir from Andreas’s arms. She could tell from his firm clasp that he didn’t want to move any more than she did. “Both warlocks were in on it.”
“Goddess save us. That’s even worse. Andreas.” Sophie tugged on his shirt. “We have to go. Quickly.” The priestess was almost shouting in her desperation. She turned and dashed into the woods, following her sister witches.
Andreas finally responded by getting to his feet and dragging Ari with him. “I have no desire for either of us to be captured again. Let us go.” He twined his fingers with hers, and they began to run. When she lagged behind, he matched her stride and looked down at her with concern on his face. “What is wrong? Are you injured?”
Ari shook her head. “No. I’ve lost my Guardian powers, including the speed. Long story.”
“One we will discuss later,” he said, swinging her into his arms.
They sped through the forest. Her hair whipped against her face, and she kept pushing it back with a free hand so she could watch Andreas, his contoured cheeks, the long eyelashes. His eyes were intent on the path, but his awareness of her scrutiny showed in the small twitching of the lips that spread into a grin.
“You can let me down now,” she said, when they caught up with the witches.
“No.” He tightened his hold. “We are not being separated again.”
Ari laid her head on his shoulder. For once she hadn’t the slightest interest in asserting her independence.
“We’re almost there.” Sophie fought for enough breath to talk. “The road’s just over this rise.”
They pounded up the steep grade, preparing for a last sprint into the valley, when they saw the first flash of fire and the witch in the lead screamed, “Warlocks!”
The witches scattered. Andreas ducked behind a tree and set Ari on her feet. “Stay here,” he said.
She grabbed his shirt in two hands. “They both have fire, Andreas. You can’t fight them. This is my thing.” Without waiting for his reaction, she turned him loose and darted forward, moving from tree to tree, using them for shelter, until she could see into the valley. Ignoring her admonition, Andreas stayed right beside her.
Warin, Gerhard and only six vampires. So few. Then they’d succeeded in draining much of the brothers’ power. She needed to end this before they could rejuvenate those powers and teleport in more reinforcements.
She glanced at Andreas’s grim face. “Let Sophie and I deal with the warlocks, and you can mop up the vamps.”
“My pleasure, but there are only six. Hardly seems fair.”
She flashed him a smile, and he headed into the trees. She beckoned to Sophie. “Any guns on your witches?”
“We’ve all got pistols, but two have assault rifles.”
“Good. If your rifles lay down covering gunfire, we’ll move in. Tell them to watch for Andreas. He’ll be coming out of the trees on the far side, and I don’t want them to
shoot him.”
Sophie nodded, motioning her witches forward. As soon as the guns were in place, Ari zigzagged down the hill, protected by a hail of bullets. The warlocks dove behind vehicles; the vampires, unfazed by the gunfire, charged up the hill. Andreas burst from the forest nearly on top of the vamps, and tackled the first two. Ari darted to the left, evading the slashing fangs, and sent a stream of crimson fire to kill the sixth vampire lagging behind the others.
Anticipating the magical fire that exploded from the parked cars, she dove to the ground and scrambled to the cover of nearby trees. Crackling flames landed just behind her. Regaining her feet, she chose a vehicle shielding one of the brothers and sent a bolt of fire, setting the car ablaze.
The warlock dashed for other cover. Damn, she missed her knife and gun. Witch fire had its limits in close fighting and for extended confrontations. At least the warlocks were faced by the same constraints.
She heard voices behind her and turned to see Sophie and the four witches with handguns running toward her position. Sophie threw out several smoke-spell capsules to cover their advance.
As the witches dropped down to crouch beside her, someone said “Here,” and nudged her arm. Greta, the firearms specialist, held out a Walther. “I hear you misplaced the other one.”
“I sure did.” Ari flashed a grim smile. She hefted the pistol in her hand to get the feel of it. “Thanks.”
She broke cover, firing the Walther as she went, and raced toward the vehicles. Intent on reaching the warlocks, she failed to notice the vampire who’d broken away from the other fight and was streaking toward her.
Andreas shouted a warning. She glanced back, but too late, as the rogue vamp knocked her off her feet. Both warlocks leaped into sight from behind the vehicles, witch fire erupting from their fingertips and arcing toward her.
Andreas launched himself between Ari and the flames, and the world slipped into slow motion. She screamed, “No!” and watched in horror as the flames grew closer to him. Visions of his fiery death flashed through her mind.
Then water broke over their heads, and the world sped up again. Andreas, Ari and the German vamp were soaked with the fire-quenching power of Sophie’s water spell. Andreas shook his dripping hair out of his face and grabbed the other vamp, snapping his neck. He turned to chase the last enemy vampire up the hill.
Sophie, flanked by Greta and a second witch firing assault rifles, appeared at Ari’s side. Warin went down under a barrage of silver bullets. Gerhard dodged behind the vehicles, appearing seconds later as he fled on foot up the hilly exit road. Ari tucked the pistol in her jeans and took off in pursuit.
She was in good shape and fast for a witch. Gerhard, who couldn’t be bothered to work out like the others, was sucking in loud breaths, and she began to gain on him. He finally slid to a stop, whirled with his fingers raised, but Ari met his fire with her own. The two magics met between the witches, flaring into a huge ball of flames, held immobile by the will of the two fire witches. Ari walked toward him, pushing against his power, putting every spark of her magic into this final standoff. After several seconds of sustained fire, Gerhard took a step back, and his flames lost their vibrant red. When his fire fizzled to sparks, Ari dropped her hands. Sophie’s witches raced forward to surround him.
Ari pushed through them. “One more thing.” She punched the warlock in the nose, knocking his head back and drawing blood. “Gabriel said to tell you hello. There isn’t punishment enough on this earth for what you did to the others.”
With his powers depleted, Gerhard just stood there, offering no resistance, and was swiftly bound in magical chains and blindfolded.
A sudden warmth touched Ari’s neck, and she turned. “All finished?”
“Quite. What happens to this one now?” Andreas pointed to Gerhard.
“We drop him off at the Witches’ League,” Sophie said. “They’ll bind his powers until they decide a fit punishment, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they order an execution.”
“That sounds appropriate.” Andreas strode to the warlock with his usual leashed grace. “Where do you want him?”
Sophie pointed to the van.
Andreas picked the captive up by the collar of his jacket and dumped him in the tail end. He dusted off his hands and cocked his head at Ari. “Now can we get the hell out of here?”
“Fantastic idea.”
Chapter Fifteen
Ari and Andreas rode in Sophie’s van to insure that Gerhard reached confinement at the Witches’ League headquarters. They were stopped at the massive iron gates leading into the facility. With a vampire in the vehicle, they were not allowed to enter, but the prisoner was safely transferred.
Gerhard’s shoulders slumped as they led him away. From the shelter of Andreas’s arms, Ari watched Sophie, wondering what the priestess was thinking.
Sophie turned and caught her eye. “I don’t feel anything, you know. What he’s done is unforgivable.” The priestess got back in the van, and the rest of them piled in after her.
Ari didn’t stray from Andreas’s arms the entire ride. They didn’t do much talking. There was so much to say, but most of it was private. She did ask about his initial capture.
“I was caught off guard when five werebears teleported into my room and threw silver netting over me.” He sounded disgusted with himself. “The warlock was waiting in the forest when we teleported out. I was completely immobilized by then.”
“Considering the breakage and blood in the room, it wasn’t quite that easy,” she said.
“Easy enough.”
He fell into silence for a while after that. Sophie refrained from asking any uncomfortable questions about Andreas’s behavior while he was with the O-Seven, but Ari knew there needed to be an explanation before they left the country. The atmosphere in the car remained tense, and they kept a close watch out the windows for fear the vampire hordes from the castle would catch them.
They stopped briefly at Sophie’s encampment to gather Ari’s belongings and pick up Lilith. The lioness hugged Ari and almost threw her arms around Andreas before remembering her feline dignity in the nick of time. She’d spent the last half hour on the phone with Gabriel, assuring him that she’d talked with Ari and Andreas, they were both safe, and he should ignore any demands from the O-Seven.
“Gabriel said he’d happily tell them to go to hell.” Lilith climbed into the van and raised a brow at Ari. “Did you know they wanted him to turn over Andreas’s court and two million dollars in exchange for you?”
“Only two million?” Ari asked.
She said thanks and good-byes to Greta and the other witches, while Andreas threw the last of the luggage into the van. Sophie offered to drive the three Americans to the airport.
Once they were on the road, Ari nudged Andreas. “I know you have a lot more story to tell, and Sophie needs to hear part of it.” She told him most of what the werefoxes had witnessed. She saved the part about the woman until later. That was her own private worry.
Andreas bent his head toward her. “You mean Sophie wants to know if she wasted her time in rescuing an ally of the elders.”
“Something like that.”
“And you, little witch?”
“Don’t give her grief.” Lilith chimed in from the front passenger seat, where she was riding shotgun. Literally. With an assault rifle in her lap. “She never doubted you for a second.”
Andreas’s arm tightened around her waist, and Ari knew he was smiling. A twinge of guilt reminded her Lilith wasn’t exactly correct. There had been doubts, but not for long. Not when it counted, and never again.
“The first few days I was confined to a dungeon. Visits were infrequent, as they waited for me to weaken from blood deprivation. Then the interrogation began: Ursula’s disappearance, Sebastian’s death, details on Prince Daron’s staff and our compound in Riverdale. Finally, they demanded that I abdicate the crown. When I refused to answer or do as they asked, the…persuasion began.”
“The torture, you mean. I felt it once,” Ari said in a small voice.
“I tried to protect you from it, but I am afraid my shields faltered. I am sorry.” He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. “I did not want you involved in any of this, Arianna. It would have been excruciating for me to watch you die.”
She heard the raw truth in his voice. “That’s why you’ve been shielding from the beginning.” She sighed, running her hand over the front of his shirt. “You can’t protect me from everything, but I’m not sure I want to know what they did to make you lose control.”
“It is unimportant now. In any case, it became obvious that they had no intention of releasing me nor had any immediate plans to kill me. Then I heard from the guards that you were in Germany, and I knew—despite my efforts to keep you away—you would eventually attempt a rescue. I started thinking about what I could do to help, and I changed my strategy.”
“So why didn’t you open the link then?”
“They would have traced it to you. Some of the elders have exceptional psychic powers. Anyway, I figured the first thing I should do was get myself out of the dungeon, so I gradually let them think I was dissatisfied with my current life. I complained to the guards about the laws in the States, mentioned how much I detested blood banks, and revealed a couple of unimportant facts about Daron’s staff. When they began to send rewards, in the form of small amounts of blood, I talked more freely with the jailers. I counted on our conversations going back to the elders.”
Sophie swerved over two lanes to make the Frankfurt exit. They’d chosen to drive north, hoping the vampires would logically expect them to go south to Zurich.
Andreas leaned forward to peer out the window and gestured toward the airport signs. “I gather I should speed up my story.”
“You’ve got another fifteen minutes,” Sophie said. “So what did you tell the jailers that was so convincing?”
“False stories about disagreements with Daron. But the deciding factor was my complaint that he had unfairly taken over Toronto, when it should have been mine. They could not imagine I had voluntarily relinquished such a rich prize.” He knuckled Ari under the chin. “Remember, even you were surprised.”
