“You’re really going to throw down with me, Kilsen?” he said, his face carefully arranged in an amused expression. But I saw right through him. He was afraid of me. Good. I liked it that way.
“Yeah. But don’t worry, I’ll make it quick. You won’t have to suffer for too long. See, I’m not as vindictive as the rest of you assholes.” I spun and jabbed at him, my dagger barely missing his neck.
He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get the words out, another shifter came out of nowhere and knocked him on his ass.
I blinked and smiled when I recognized the gray-and-white wolf. It was rare for me to see Dax in his shifter form, but when I did, he never failed to impress. Then Allcot and Pandora where there. The four of us plus Link had Bandu surrounded. The only one missing was Leo. I glanced around, worried about the young shifter, but got distracted by the shadows moving toward us in the night.
“What the hell is that?” I asked no one in particular.
“Shit! She’s coming,” Pandora said, her voice panicked. “We have to get out of here.”
“Who’s coming?” I squinted into the darkness, trying to decide if the shadows were the shifters. No, that wasn’t right. They were too big to be wolves, but not the right shape to be humans. I clutched my agate, preparing to flash them if for no other reason than just to see what we were up against.
“Let Bandu go,” a raspy female voice said.
“Eadric, please,” Pandora said.
I cut my gaze to the battered vampire and frowned. I’d never heard Pandora frightened before. Not like that.
“We’re going, love,” he said softly. “Just need to secure the shifter.”
Bandu growled and dropped to all fours, quickly turning into a wolf. Link and Dax immediately attacked. Within seconds, they had him under their control.
I glanced over my shoulder at the shadows closing in on us. My skin started to prickle and my stomach turned. “What the hell is that?” I asked again.
“They’re her demons,” Pandora whispered.
“Demons?” Fear clouded my mind and I just stood there, staring like a fool. I’d heard of witches conjuring demons before, but in reality, I’d never encountered a witch so evil, so bereft of human decency, that she’d attempted it. Witches who summoned demons had to pay with their souls. And this one, she had an army. “We have to get out of here,” I said, echoing Pandora. “Now.”
“He’s almost here,” Allcot said.
“Who?” What the hell were we waiting for?
“Leo.” He nodded over my shoulder, and that’s when I spotted Dax’s Trooper barreling down the road toward us. They’d sent the kid to get the truck while they helped save me from Bandu. And because we’d helped Allcot find Pandora, he was returning the favor.
The demons reached us just before the Trooper pulled to a stop. I raised my agate, flashing the brilliant light on them, praying the magic would do something, anything, to stop them.
Gut-wrenching screams filled the air, and all of them recoiled, backing up to hide behind their mistress.
“You dare to go up against my children?” she drawled, walking right into my light. It wasn’t surprising that the agate didn’t work on her. Similar ones didn’t work on me either. But I was surprised to see her floating in the air, gliding toward us as if she were a spirit. Only she was just as solid as the rest of us. “That will not be tolerated.”
“Get in the truck!” I yelled, moving in front of the sorceress, shielding them all from whatever she was getting ready to throw at us. I heard scrambling behind me and threw up a blocking spell just in time. The sorceress’s curse broke my shield instantly, and a thick cloud of smoke rose up, obscuring my vision.
“Hurry,” Pandora said right before she pushed me toward the Trooper. Another crack of magic filled the air, and a second later, I felt rather than saw Pandora stiffen. I spun, finding her frozen, her mouth open in shock, and she was floating slowly toward the sorceress.
“Pandora!” Allcot appeared beside her, his arms going around her, but as soon as they did, his flesh started to smoke. He jumped back, staring at the scorched areas of his flesh.
“Holy shit!” I turned back around and charged the other witch. “What the hell did you do to her?”
She didn’t answer, but her demons once again started to close in on me. I flashed them again with my agate, and this time I noticed the light made the sorceress flinch as well. Not knowing what else to do, I rushed her, my agate shining bright in one hand and my cursed dagger in the other.
Dark magic poured from her fingertips, but thanks to the light from my agate, she couldn’t see exactly where I was and the spell hit a nearby tree, causing a loud crack as the trunk split in two.
Another round of magic came at me, but I dodged and came up swinging, aiming for her heart. The blade slid easily into the sorceress, and I let out a triumphant grunt as the demons vanished. But the woman remained, her soulless black eyes boring into mine.
“You can’t kill me, little witch. No one can.” Then she wrapped her hand around mine and the hilt of my blade and pulled it right out of her chest, laughing maniacally as she tried to wrestle the blade from me. But there was no way in hell she was getting it from me. I lifted the agate and shone it right in her eyes as I shoved my boot into her stomach and sent her flying back into the street.
“Get Pandora in the Trooper,” I ordered Allcot, tugging on the comatose vampire.
“She’s still cursed,” he hissed. “We have to get her to reverse it first.”
“No we don’t. With the help of a healer, we can fix this. Let’s go before it gets worse.” He glanced once at the sorceress already making her way toward us, then grabbed Pandora and shoved her in the Trooper, ignoring his burning flesh. I climbed in after them.
Leo stepped on the gas, the wheels of the Trooper squealing as he hightailed it out of there.
I sucked in a deep breath and glanced around at our battered party. Leo was driving. Dax was in the front seat, Allcot and Pandora in the back, me and Link in the middle row.
And trussed up at my feet was Bandu. A humorless, self-satisfied smile claimed my lips. His night was about to get a thousand times worse.
21
Silence filled the truck on the way back to Allcot’s compound. We’d successfully completely our mission, but Pandora had barely made it out alive. And we still didn’t have a clue where Willow and Talisen were being held.
A slow thrum of pressure had started to build over my left eye as fatigue set in. I hadn’t slept in over thirty-six hours. Neither had Dax, I realized. I leaned my head against the cool glass and closed my eyes, seeking relief to my growing headache.
“Phoebe, wake up,” a voice said from far away. “Come on. We need to get inside, and Pandora needs your help.”
I jerked awake and blinked at Dax.
“Hey, sunshine. Welcome back,” he said.
I glanced around the empty Trooper, then out the window at Allcot’s mansion. “Eadric left his BMW back at that house.”
“What?” He frowned at me.
“Allcot’s car. He left it in English Turn.”
“No he didn’t.” He pointed to the car in front of us. “We dropped him off and he drove it here. You were sleeping.”
I blinked again. “Whoa. I was out.”
He gave me a gentle smile and helped me out of the Trooper. “Come on, sleeping beauty. Time to get back to work. Pandora’s waiting.”