Chapter 22

Alan was pale, even for a ghost, as he spit out his warning. I looked at Robert. "Now, we have to go now!"

He nodded and we started to plunk at the notes. The half an hour or so of practice we'd had would have to be enough. Slowly, the haunting melody filled the room as Robert and I hit each note, the timing just so. If not for the fact that I was fighting for my life and trying not to freak the hell out, I would have wanted to sit and listen to the notes that hovered in the air.

There was a heavy pause as the last note rippled through the air, and then the cages surrounding me and Ivan both dissolved. "Go, go!" Robert all but pushed me over the threshold where the bars had been.

Ivan didn't move.

"Ivan…please," I said. "You can still try to reach him, but here...you are at the mercy of not only Remy, but Evangeline too. She could use you against Remy."

Ivan's face fell and he took a step over the place his bars had been. "You're right. I can still reach him."

"Maybe sooner than you think," Alan muttered.

Robert scooped up the semi-sharpened stake that Ivan had been making for me. As I took a step toward the stairs, I heard the scrape of the door above opening, followed by footsteps thundering down.

"Bree, who is helping you?" Remy bellowed before he ever hit the bottom of the stairs.

I looked to Ivan, who nodded. This was his chance.

Robert pulled me aside and Remy rushed past us, right into his father's arms.

"Mon Dieu!" Remy snarled.

"You will listen to me, my boy," Ivan said.

We didn't wait to see what happened. We couldn't. If we were to stop Evangeline, then we had to go, and quickly.

Up the stairs we went, and through a door that led into a shallow pantry. There was no food that I saw, just shelves of wine.

"This way," Alan ran ahead of us, "toward your fish friend."

Robert's hand tightened over mine as we bolted through the castle. My bare feet were at least quiet—but there was no one to hear us. The castle was eerily quiet.

The vampires were all hunkering down for the day.

"This is her." Alan slid right through a door, disappearing from view. I pulled on the handle.

"Locked," I whispered.

Robert tried it. "Damn it. Maybe there's a key?—"

"Here."

We spun to face Richart. He looked…haggard. "I think she knows it was me. You need to flee. There is a place on the island, an old house, one that is…she is afraid of it. It is hidden from her sight, I made sure of that."

"Why?" I said, I had to know why he wouldn't just want to kill me now.

"You could have turned me in to her, you didn't. This is the repayment I give you—a chance to live."

He shoved a large key into my hands. I took it. "Thank you."

"Thank me by surviving. Or killing her." He glanced at the wooden stake in Robert's hand. "She's on the second floor. Third door down."

I had the key and jammed it into the lock, turning it with a hard click. "We don't have time to try and kill her." I opened the door. Feish sat in the middle of the floor, her eyes closed. "Feish, come on!"

Her big eyes flew open, and her mouth gaped, gills flapping. "Bree! I knew you would escape!"

I held out my hand and she took it. "Bad ass bitches, am I right?"

Her eyes filled with tears, and I knew in my heart she was thinking of Bridgette. Because I was too.

"Bree, time for catching up later." Alan prodded at me. "You have to go!"

"You're right. Robert, let's?—"

Robert wasn't there.

"He ran for the second floor," Alan said. "Maybe he's going to try and kill her."

My shoulders slumped. I didn't want to leave him, and I also had a feeling that he and Evangeline were tied together in a way that would prevent him from succeeding. "I don't think he'll be able to kill her."

"But he thinks he can?" Feish snorted. "Men."

I tugged on her hand. "Alan, lead the way, how are we getting out of here?"

He startled and then took off running. I'm not sure I'd ever really seen Alan run before. He strode. He stalked. He huffed and puffed…but running? That wasn't usually his thing. But we did the logical thing and raced after him.

A bellow erupted from somewhere beneath us, followed by a boom like a bomb going off. A ripple of magic slammed against us, sending me and Feish sprawling forward.

Ivan's bellow followed and then was cut short.

My knees took the impact hard, reminding me of every ache and pain, but the fear that was driving me made the injury easy to forget. Feish and I scrambled, helping each other.

"Escape!" Remy yelled from somewhere behind us. "They're going to escape!"

"Duck!" Feish grumbled. "I hate that one."

"Here!" Alan pointed to the main doors. "I hope they aren't locked."

"Jaysus, don't say that!" I yelped as we hit the big double doors hard, grabbing for the handles, pulling, and pushing for all we were worth.

A thunk in the wood above my head turned me around. An axe had lodged into the door.

Remy stalked toward us, his magic flickering around him as he drew weapons from all over the castle to him. He had a gash across his forehead and his clothing was torn. Ivan had fought him.

Anger snapped through me. "Just you and me then? Your master is sleeping. Or maybe dead. Robert went to kill her."

He laughed. "I doubt he can kill her. He lived on in his current form because she lived. There is unfinished business between them."

I held my hand out, reaching for my magic. He wasn't the only one with powers. But the difference was, he had far more training, and my magic felt…sluggish here.

He threw another weapon at us—a long sword. Feish stepped between me and the sword that spun our way. As if she would take the blow meant for me.

"No!" I screamed the word.

But Feish…she was one bad bitch. She caught the sword by the handle in mid-turn and pointed it back at Remy.

"I don't like you."

There was a pause as if he wasn't sure what to make of her or the sword flying back toward him.

Then the doors behind us rattled, someone pounding to get in.

I fumbled with the handle behind me, and the doors swung open, a wave of water rushing in like a living serpent. The water slammed into Remy, knocking him off his feet and sending him tumbling through the castle.

"That should help," Feish said.

I grabbed her hand. "You are amazing, but let's go!"

We bolted down the steps that led to the castle, and I got my first look at where we'd been taken. Water was all around us.

As in we were surrounded.

Richart had mentioned we were on an island, but it hadn't quite hit me until I saw the waves. He'd also said there was a place where we would be safe.

I let my magic flow around me, reaching for something that felt familiar. There was a tug behind me that I was sure was Robert…and a tug ahead of me that felt like…"Gran?"

It couldn't be Gran waiting for me in this place, so far from everything that I knew, but it felt like her. So, I ran toward the place that felt like home, like warm sunshine on a summer morning in Savannah while I sipped my coffee and breathed in the world around me. The smell of Eric's cooking. Suzy's laughter. Penny's whiskey burning a path to my belly.

Crash's hand in mine.

The sensation called to me so strongly, that it was like part of me thought I was going to take one more step and find myself back in Savannah. Safe. With all of this behind me.

I barely felt the stones and rough ground under my feet. I picked up my pace as the sun rose behind us.

There was no pursuit that I could feel, or hear, but I didn't dare stop until there was no choice. I had a stitch in my side, and I collapsed against a tree, clinging to it.

Feish gasped for breath beside me. "This is a big island."

I nodded. "Yeah."

We had found ourselves out of sight of the castle, and at the edge of a forest that led…well, I wasn't sure which direction it led other than away. And toward that feeling of home.

"That way." I stood up and clutched at my side. "We have to keep going."

"What about Robert?" Feish said. "He went to kill her, didn't he?"

I nodded. "We have to keep going. Find the place that Richart said was safe, and then we'll hope Robert finds his way back to me."

Feish wrinkled her nose. "We will leave a lot of tracks. Think you can call Skeletor?"

It was a good question. It had worked with Robert, after all. I held my hand out over the rocky ground. "Skeletor, can you give us a ride? I don't know where we are, but…we could use a friend."

The ground was silent long enough that I didn't think my undead horse could find us. But just when I was about to step away, a hoof cracked through the ground and Skeletor dragged himself out one step at a time.

A huge black horse, he went to one knee and allowed me and Feish to mount up. "You know, you look better every time I see you?"

He blew out a big snort and shook his head. I bumped my heels against his sides. "That way. Through the trees."

And hopefully…hopefully, we would find a safe place.