12.

C LARISSE

I came awake with a start and jumped out of bed. As I ran down the hall toward the great room, I could hear movement around me in the house and knew my sisters had felt the same disturbance and were on alert just as I was.

When I came around the corner, I saw Cassius, my old friend, looking tired and worn, with a furious light in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I rushed toward him.

“We were set upon in the woods, and they’ve all been taken,” Cas said sadly.

“All of them?” I asked.

“I think Neema escaped, but I can’t be sure. As I flew away, I saw Genji and Stassi fall.”

“Dead?” Maribel asked in shock.

“No. I don’t think so. They all dropped to the ground, and a few minutes later, some . . . I don’t know what they were . . . came out of the forest and picked them up. I stayed in the air and watched them carry our people through the forest for a short distance, and then they disappeared.”

“Into thin air?” Vivienne asked suspiciously.

“Yes. One second they were there, and then they were gone.”

“It must be a cloaking spell,” I whispered as I spun around to go to my library. “I’ll pack my books and get ready to leave.”

“We’ll need backup.”

“Who should we take?” Vivienne asked.

Cas’s voice was pained when he said, “Everyone.”

◆◆◆

MAYNE

“Wake up, my love,” I said as I rested my hand on Clover’s shoulder. I rubbed my thumb back and forth and watched her slowly come awake and wondered what the day would bring us.

“Mornin’,” Clover said in a sleep-roughened voice. “What time is it? I don’t have to be in court until next week, so I took a few days off. Let’s go back to sleep.”

“We can’t, sweetheart. Our friends are in trouble.”

Clover came fully awake in an instant and sat up in bed, the sheet falling to her lap and giving me a view of the gorgeous breasts that I loved to worship. The frantic call from my friend told me we didn’t have time for anything like that right now.

“What’s wrong?”

“Vivienne was here a minute ago and told me that Cas appeared at their house earlier. He said that the group was in the woods doing recon of the site where they thought the killer might be set up when they were accosted by dark magic that took all of them down. He escaped and thinks that Neema might have, too, but no one has heard from her yet.”

“Genji and . . .”

“Adair, Aksel, and Stassi were all taken.”

“All of them are powerhouses. How did they . . . what sort of magic can go up against them and win?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out right before I kill everyone that threatened our friends.”

“And I’m going to help.”

◆◆◆

BLAIR

I sensed someone in my home, and in the next instant, I disappeared from sight and scrambled to the other side of the room, removing myself from the space where I had been in case someone was about to attack me.

The trick had helped me many times over the years - when a frightened villager had mustered up the courage to whittle a wooden stake and go on the hunt or when a supernatural with nefarious intent had come to harm me for one reason or another.

I realized that it was Cas who had come to visit me and somehow knew he was here to talk to me about Aksel.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

Cas wasn’t easily startled, and he turned to find me behind him before he said, “The group in Washington was ambushed.”

“Aksel,” I whispered as tears filled my eyes. “Are they alive?”

“As far as we know. I was able to fly away before they got to me, and Neema wasn’t with the group, so she might be okay, but I watched the others fall.”

“Fall?”

“Not from a physical injury. I could feel strong magic in the air right before I took to the sky and then felt it tugging, trying to get me back down to the ground, but I was able to resist.”

I wasn’t exactly a shy person and I’d known Cas for ages, so I didn’t think twice about ripping my nightgown off and tossing it aside before I walked into my closet to find something to wear.

“Pack lightly. We leave as soon as everyone arrives at Clarisse’s.”

“She’s going to transport us? All at once?”

“Yes.”

I shook my head. “That won’t work. She and the others need to take small groups and show up . . .”

“All over the place in case there might be a trap waiting,” Cas interrupted. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“You look exhausted, my friend,” I said as I walked out of the closet, fully dressed and ready for war. “Let’s go kill some people and rescue our friends.”

“I might be tired, but I’m more than ready to do both of those things.

◆◆◆

CAS

I stood shoulder to shoulder with Sylvan and Augustine, two vampires I had known for centuries, and looked at the rest of the group that I had known just as long. It was rare that we were all together unless there was a problem in Mereu and we needed to gather for a disciplinary action.

There were others in the room that I had known for years, too, just not as long as the ones that had been in Mereu from the beginning when we met to set the parameters of the agreement that started it all and founded the first settlement for supernatural beings where they could be safe and secure away from the prying eyes of the world that feared us.

I wasn’t shocked to see some of the younger vampires here - especially Angel, Diego, Santiago, and Gabriel. Aksel had taken them under his wing when they were very young vampires, and they considered him their father even though they didn’t share his blood, just like they referred to Blair as their mother. I had no doubt that they’d fight to the death to protect Aksel, just like he would for them if the situation were reversed.

When I arrived back at Clarisse’s, I told her Blair’s idea that we split up. She gasped when she realized that was something she should have thought of herself. I assured her that it wasn’t her fault she didn’t think of that scenario, especially since she was so upset that her niece was one of the beings we were most worried about.

Stassi had always been a bit reckless with more power than she knew what to do with and a mouth to match. I worried right along with Clarisse and her sisters that she might say or do something that would make her captors angry enough to end her life. However, with that being said, Stassi was harder to kill because she had more skills and competency than most of the supernatural beings who had been on earth for centuries just because of her unique makeup as not only a witch, but a vampire and a shifter also.

It was decided that each group of four or five would have one witch, at least one vampire, one large four-legged shifter, and a flight shifter. In our group, that was Clarisse, Chiara, Augustine and myself - a witch, bear, vampire, and bird. Magic, strength, power, and an eye in the sky. Hopefully, those strengths working together would protect each small group from all sides.

Clarisse extended her hands, and I took one while Augustine took the other with an ancient bear shifter named Chiara who stood between us holding our other hands. Before I could blink, we were transported far away and standing beneath a canopy of tall trees surrounded by dense forest.

Clarisse lifted her hand and made an elegant swirl with her pointer finger and then said, “Each of you is cloaked so outsiders won’t be able to hear you speak or read your thoughts. Use your powers to approach the compound, and remember that we’re dealing with magic and entities we’ve never encountered before. If they’re strong enough to take down Genji and the others, then they’re strong enough to take any of us. At this point, swift bloodshed is the best answer no matter what the question may be.”

I nodded and then looked around to get my bearings. I could sense magic in the air that wasn’t coming from Clarisse and asked, “Can you feel that?”

“It’s dark and powerful, but the best way to fight darkness is with light, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

◆◆◆

LOVEY

When we appeared in the forest, I couldn’t help but clutch my chest and bend forward as I tried to catch my breath.

“Did that sap your powers?” Mayne whispered as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and helped me to stand upright again.

“Can you feel that?” I asked in shock.

“There’s magic all around,” Clover said as she looked left and then right. “It’s so . . . angry.”

“Do you feel him, Tremayne?” I asked frantically.

“Who?” he asked before he closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. When his eyes shot open, I knew he’d realized the person that was nearby when I saw his eyes darken as his fangs extended. “Agmund.”

“Who is that?” Clover asked.

“There’s no way he can still be living. He has to be long dead by now,”

“Who is Agmund?” Clover asked again.

“He is the man who killed my husband.”