Chapter 61

Anya"s magic woke her with a surge of heat and terror, slamming her so hard, she sat bolt upright. Glass smashed in one of her bedroom windows. A man dressed in black tactical gear was on her before she could shout. He grabbed her by the shirt, dragging her closer, trying to reach her throat. Anya clawed desperately at his hands, trying to get them away.

"Trajan!" she screamed, trying to kick the man off her.

Trajan was there in seconds, his hands grabbing the man by the shoulders. Her attacker"s eyes bulged, and the skin of his face started to shrink and shrivel as all the life in him was pulled from his cells. Anya pushed the mummifying hands away from her and picked up the knife she had bought in Skazki.

"We need to move. They disabled the security alarms somehow. There will be more in the house," Trajan said, looking through the broken window. Hamish crashed through the door, shirtless and carrying a Winchester in each hand. A revolver was stuck in the front of his blood-flecked jeans.

"Fucker jumped me," he grunted. "I was going to say sorry for wrecking your carpet, but shit happens. We need to get the others and get out of here."

They rushed down the hallway, Hamish leading the way to Isabelle"s room. They heard the commotion before they got there.

Five men had surrounded Isabelle and were closing in on her. One rushed at her with a speed that made him blur. Isabelle flipped over him, driving her knife into his back. As he fell screaming, she jumped again, hitting another in the chest. Hamish shot one in the head, spraying the couches with bits of skull and brain. Trajan killed the other two with a single touch.

Isabelle tightened her gun holsters and slid her long knives down the back of her boots. "Let"s find the others."

Anya stopped as a ripple of power flowed through the mansion. "Yvan—" She bolted down the halls, fire licking in her veins. She got to Cerise"s doorway, and someone grabbed her from behind and pressed a cold blade to her throat.

"Let her go, and I"ll make your death swift," Cerise said, her keres form rolling over her skin, her human guise melting away. She looked like an ancient Grecian warrior in black armor, her sword in one hand.

"She"s the little Russian witch that"s going to be my biggest payday yet," the man said, tugging Anya tighter to him. "I only want her. The rest will be spared if you let us take her."

Cerise raised her sword. "Not an option."

"You"re not going anywhere with Anyanka." Yvan appeared in the doorway. His eyes were glowing with the firebird, and flames were starting to spread out along his hands. He gave Anya a slight nod before shouting, "Pozhar!"

Anya exploded into flames, the man holding her falling backward with a cry. Anya ducked as Yvan threw a ball of fire, hitting the man squarely in the chest. He screamed only once before he burned up, an almost perfect statue of ash. Anya ran to Yvan and held him tightly, burning as one for a few seconds before their flames died.

"Thank you," she said, letting him go.

"Are you cut?" he asked, checking her throat.

"No time for cuddles. We have to get moving," Isabelle said as she barged in. "There"s going to be more coming because the Darkness always works in two team systems. They would have picked up that magic wave a hundred kilometers away, and every magically sensitive person is going to feel it."

"I need to get my bag from the Twins room with my runes and drum," Anya said.

"We already have them," Honaw said as he and Chayton joined them. "Anya, you really have to stop throwing your power like that."

"It was Yvan," she said quickly.

"His flames went through hers though, so it probably doubled that power," Trajan pointed out.

"Can we please argue about the magical technicalities later?" Cerise snapped. "Everyone get their stuff and get downstairs. I"m going to get some supplies, and I think you should too, Trajan." She gave him a meaningful look, and Trajan nodded.

Katya and Izrayl were already waiting for them by the time they got downstairs. Izrayl was lounging against his car with Katya sitting on the hood.

"Never a dull moment with Anya around." Izrayl smiled, but it didn"t quite reach his eyes.

"What"s the plan?" Katya asked.

"We need to get to Russia to my farm," Anya said.

Trajan took her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

Katya blew out a tight breath. "Russia it is. Into the lion"s den."

"You aren"t worried, are you, pup?" Izrayl pinched Katya"s chin, and she batted his hand away.

"Do I look worried?"

"What an exciting life you lead," Chayton said and smiled at Anya.

"Reminds me of the old days," Honaw added wistfully. "It makes you feel alive when people are trying to kill you."

"Thanks, guys. That makes me feel so much better for putting your lives at risk," she replied.

"Don"t worry about it. That was some pretty impressive magic you did with Yvan. We are proud of you," Chayton said.

"Be proud when I close the gates." Anya sounded colder than she wanted. The shock of being attacked in her sleep and nearly having her throat cut was creeping up on her, and she was doing her best not to show it. She wanted to get in a car, have Trajan sitting on one side of her, Yvan on the other, and have a nice drink of vodka as they put the city behind them.

Across the garage, Cerise tossed her bag into the back of her red Jaguar and climbed into the driver"s seat.

"When you are ready, darlings," she said, her human form back in place. She looked edgy as she lit a cigarette.

Anya was surprised to see Yvan put his bag in her car and take the front seat. Her urge to get drunk suddenly intensified as something strange and jealous stabbed at her. What the hell is that about?

"I know you want us all to stick together, but I"m taking my bike," Isabelle stated. "There"s no way I"m going to let some filthy lackeys of Ladislav get it."

"I wouldn"t dream of asking you to leave it behind. Hamish can ride with Anya and me," Trajan said.

"The Twins are coming with me and Izrayl," Katya piped up.

Isabelle"s motorcycle roared to life, making them all jump. "Today, people! They are coming! I can feel it."

Trajan led Anya to a shiny black Land Rover SUV. Hamish sprawled out on the back seat, and Anya sat in the front, pushing her bag onto the floor.

"When we get to the border, we"ll put the cars on a train. I don"t want to get to the end of Russia with no transport. There are too many of us to carry now," Trajan said. After their trip from Romania, none of them were keen on hitching rides in cold Eastern European countries, and Anya"s farm was remote enough as it was. Trajan didn"t believe in holding with the speed limit, and neither did the people they were with. Anya didn"t care how fast they went; she wanted to be out of France before anything else came looking for her.

Aramis surveyedthe human wreckage in the mansion with as much passivity as he could. He opened his phone and dialed a number.

"I"m going to need a clean-up crew before the police arrive," he said and hung up. This was the third house they had investigated in a fortnight, and he knew they were connected. He just didn"t know how.

The second house they had been to had turned out to be another building owned by the Darkness. Unlike the first fire, this one had been lit by magic.

The powerful residue of fresh magic had been intense, and Aramis had known just by the feel of it that it had been started by Yanka"s descendant. It had taken a lot of self-control even to stay on the site, let alone the case.

"At least ten bodies so far, sir," a faceless man mumbled through his balaclava. "The magic is off the charts again, and it was used to kill. There are four different magical signatures, but one, in particular, was on a larger scale."

"Was it the same as the last building?" Aramis asked.

"Yes, General. But I think it was more controlled this time around. There, it was more of an explosion, but here, I believe it was directed at a single target."

"Do we know who this target was?"

"Yes, but you should come and take a look."

Aramis followed the man up the stairs to the remains. He had seen many strange things, but the man"s perfect ashen figure was definitely a surprise. It reminded him of the bodies they had found under the ash of Pompeii.

"You can see why I wanted to show you. It creeped the hell out of the men when they found it."

"I can imagine." Aramis held out a hand to the victim"s face without touching it and closed his eyes. Her magic was all over it, but it had been a mingling of her power and something older and stronger that had killed the man. Whispering under his breath and drawing on his own magic, the last seconds of the victim"s life flashed through his mind.

A dark-haired man burning with a firebird glowing on his chest. The girl in the victim"s arms igniting in a burst of flame. He dropped her, and she fell to the floor. Her face turned, and Aramis jolted out of the vision with a cry.

"Are you alright, sir?"

Aramis was breathing heavily but nodded. "I"m fine. It"s time we made contact with these people. This situation is getting out of control."

"With all due respect, sir, you know the family"s history. You think she"ll listen to us or blow us all to pieces?"

Aramis smiled slowly. "We will find out soon enough."