Ashes

  The door creaked open, but it wasn’t Linda who walked in. It was Nora.

  Harper relaxed. “Hey, Nora. How are you?”

  “Good, good.” She gestured to the door with a huff. “Carla’s up to her old tricks again. The sentinel and your friend are taking care of it. Look at you. You’re glowing.”

  Harper grabbed some paper towels and dried off her hands. “Aw, thanks.”

  Nora came close. “Pregnancy’s an exciting yet frightening time, isn’t it?”

  “Definitely.”

  “But you look happy.”

  Harper nodded, a smile spreading across her face. “I am. I really —” She flinched as a zap of energy shuddered up her arm.

  Nora raised her hand in apology. “Good ole static electricity.”

  Oddly uneasy, Harper said, “Well, it was good speaking to you, but I have to go.” She also needed for Nora to go inside one of the stalls so that McCauley could sneak out with Harper.

  “Give the sentinel and your friend a chance to scare Carla away first,” Nora advised.

  “Doesn’t sound as if they’re having much luck with that.”

  “They’re toying with her – mocking her and giving her a lecture on her failure as a mother and as a person in general.”

  Harper chuckled, shaking her head. “I shouldn’t find that funny.” She figured she also shouldn’t feel so tired all of a sudden, but a wave of fatigue hit her hard. “Damn, I should have headed home earlier.”

  “Yes, you should have. But I’m glad that you didn’t. That would have made things much harder.”

  Harper frowned. Nora’s voice sounded tinny and far away. Her sight began to blur and everything seemed hazy, but she felt calm. Totally serene. Her demon felt just as peaceful.

  A breeze built behind her, and Harper turned, morbidly fascinated by the swirling circle of red and black smoke that had come out of absolutely fucking nowhere. A portal, she realized. “What the —”

  A hand grabbed her arm and shoved her into the smoke.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Opening her eyes had never been so hard, but damn they stung. Harper licked her chapped lips. Her mouth was bone dry and it hurt to swallow. Her skin felt cold and dewy, especially the skin of her back – which was no doubt thanks to the damp soil beneath her.

  Soil?

  Memories slapped her. The restrooms. McCauley. Nora. The portal. Fingertips digging into her arm and shoving her.

  Well now.

  Apparently, Nora had a fucking death wish. Obliging her would be a pleasure.

  Forcing her sore eyes open, Harper awkwardly sat upright and blinked a few times to clear her vision. She almost wished she hadn’t, because finding that she was sprawled on a patch of land encircled by eight, tall boulders wasn’t an uplifting sight.

  A cold mist hovered above the ground. It was thin, so it didn’t haze her view of her surroundings. And it had to be said that her surroundings were pretty bleak.

  It seemed like an endless stretch of green, bumpy land. There was the occasional puny bush, mossy rock, or twisted tree, but the weedy land was otherwise plain and bare. No blossoms. No mountains. No landmarks. No real color. It was the kind of place where you could just walk and walk and walk, and nothing would look any different.

  There was an unnatural quiet that was broken only by the creak of tree branches and the eerie sound the cool wind made as it rushed over the barren land and whistled through the brittle shrubs. It brought with it the scents of grass, soil, and decay.

  Shit, she needed to get away from here. Fast.

  Knox?

  Nothing.

  Knox, please say you can hear me.

  Still nothing. Crap.

  Adrenaline began to pump madly through her veins. Harper kept her cool, knowing it wouldn’t do the baby any good if she lost her shit. Besides, her demon was panicking enough for both of them.

  Harper braced her hands on the damp soil and pushed to her feet with a moan. It was no easy feat with a baby bump. She brushed her hands together to get rid of the dirt and then gave said bump a small rub. Her limbs trembled, yet she didn’t feel weak.

  The mist gave the place an eerie feel, but that wasn’t what had the hairs on her nape and arms standing on end. No, the uneven ground vibrated beneath her feet, and those vibrations echoed through her body. She didn’t like it, because they didn’t make her feel charged – they made her feel dizzy. Sickly. Soiled, even.

  The wind came again, brushing against her skin and ruffling the dress that was now damp and stained with streaks of dirt. She shivered, rubbing at her cool arms, as she gave her surroundings another thorough scan. Just where the fucking hell was she? The gray clouds were low, so she guessed she was somewhere high. Had she been dumped here with the hope that she’d never find her way home? And why, exactly, had the old woman sent her here?

  All valid questions, but Harper nonetheless didn’t intend to wait around and find out. Planting her feet, she called to her wings —

  White-hot pain streaked down her back, and she spat a vicious curse. She tried calling to them again, but that only earned her more pain. Her heart began to race as fear skittered down her spine. Despite that fear, the protective power that lived in her belly didn’t rush to her fingertips. There was the briefest spark inside her, but nothing more.

  Something was interfering with her abilities – possibly the same “something” that seemed to be blocking her attempts to contact Knox.

  Well, it looked like she’d just have to get out of there the old-fashioned way. Her back protested the idea of walking, but it didn’t take a genius to work out that Nora didn’t have good things in mind for Harper; she couldn’t afford to hang around. There was no dirt path, so it was highly likely that she’d get lost in the mist. Knowing her luck, she might even fall into a bog or something, but she’d be damned if she’d stay put.

  Harper quickly chose a random direction and started to walk, every step brisk and —

  With a gasp, she stumbled back and put a hand on the cold, rough boulder to steady herself as vines suddenly spouted from the earth and began to slither menacingly along the ground. She watched as they twisted around each of the boulders, forming one big foliage fence.

  Okay, so she was trapped. Good to know.

  Her demon hissed loudly, wanting out so it could attack the vines. Harper fought the entity. It wasn’t the first time she’d been a prisoner, but it was the first time that she’d had someone else’s safety outside her own to consider. If she hadn’t been pregnant, she would have taken her chances with the enchanted vines, but she wasn’t sure if they’d retaliate or something weird like that.

  She froze as static energy suddenly filled the air. Her hair seemed to lift, and a low droning sound split through the unnatural quiet. Harper turned toward the sound, and that was when a familiar swirl of red and black smoke appeared beyond the boulders. Well, shit.

  Mere moments later, Nora stepped out of it, dressed in a black robe, her hands joined as if in prayer. Worse, the old bitch was followed by a group of hooded figures. What. The. Fuck?

  Given that Nora had opened a portal, there was one thing Harper knew for sure. “You’re an incantor,” she clipped.

  Nora bowed her head with a smile, like she’d been delivered a compliment. “That is correct. I suppose you mistakenly assumed I was the same breed as my grandson. No. But if you had known I was an incantor, would you have suspected me as you suspected Thatcher of being involved in the attacks on you?”

  “Yes,” said Harper truthfully. “I don’t trust many people.”

  “Sensible.”

  Yeah, but it hadn’t fucking helped her much in this case. Harper flicked a look at the hooded figures and asked, “Fellow incantors?”

  “Most, but not all,” one of them said, sidling up to Nora and lowering the hood. Linda. She spared Harper a dispassionate glance before looking at Nora. “When do I join her in the circle?”

  Nora held up a hand. “Not yet.” r />
  Linda glanced around. “Where’s McCauley?”

  “I didn’t see him anywhere, so I left without him.”

  Linda’s mouth tightened. “Did you even look?”

  “Forget about the boy. You can deal with him another time.”

  Harper glared at Nora as she said with a distaste her demon shared, “I’m guessing you’re one of the Horsemen.” It would explain how she’d known so much about them.

  “In the flesh,” said Nora proudly.

  Yeah, flesh that her raging demon would love to peel off like an onion. Harper could sort of see the attraction in that idea. “Where are we?”

  “Someplace special,” Nora replied with a dreamy smile that was kind of creepy. She spread out her arms and inhaled deeply. “You feel it, don’t you? This place is an energy vortex.”

  An energy vortex… Okay, so Harper had heard of those. Put simply, they were swirling centers of energy that were said to be uplifting, spiritual, and able to heighten people’s own inner positive or negative energy. That would have given her hope, since she could work with energy; could potentially use it to boost her abilities. But this particular vortex… there was something very wrong about it. The energy wasn’t simply negative, it was dark. Ominous. Almost malevolent.

  Her demon didn’t discriminate when it came to power. Good, bad – the entity didn’t care. Power was power, as far as it was concerned. But even the demon was wary of the vortex, and that said a lot.

  “It was here where I had my vision,” Nora told her.

  Harper frowned. “You have knowings, not visions.”

  “Ah, but this place can strengthen a person’s abilities. It can also weaken their abilities – it all depends.”

  “On what?”

  “On what the vortex is asked to do.”

  “And you’ve asked it to keep me weak and contained,” Harper accused.

  Knox’s mind breezed over hers – the touch was faint, but there. I hear you, baby. Where are you?

  Relief flooded Harper in a heavy rush, despite that the telepathic voice was weak. Working to keep her face blank, she responded, I don’t know exactly, but I’m stood on some kind of energy vortex, thanks to fucking Nora. It’s stopping me from using my abilities. And Harper needed to keep Nora talking until he got here. “You hired the hunters? Why?”

  “Because I had a vision of you giving birth, of Linda and I being close by, and of you releasing beautiful wings and escaping us. I needed those wings taken from you. Sadly, that didn’t work. I tried hexing you to weaken your abilities – that didn’t work either. But using the vortex to contain and weaken you is probably best in any case.”

  What would be “best” would be for Nora and her pals to be sliced and diced by a real-life Hannibal Lecter. “Why try to kidnap Heidi?”

  “Ah, I didn’t. I’m not sure who did. Perhaps it was the last of the Horsemen.”

  Harper frowned. If Nora wasn’t sure whether or not her only remaining partner in crime was responsible, then that would suggest that… “You’re not working together anymore, are you?”

  “Let’s just say I didn’t agree with their belief that we should lie low for a while.” Her face hardened. “I’m old. I’ve waited long enough for the Primes to fall. I was once a Prime, you know. Now I answer to my grandson because a Prime will be challenged by others if it isn’t fit to hold its position. Because I aged, I was deemed unfit.” The latter word dripped with venom. “And now I’m nothing more than a demon within a lair. If there were no Primes, if there were equal rights for all demons, I wouldn’t be thought of as an antique,” she added bitterly.

  Harper shook her head. “Our kind craves power too much to ever simply exist alongside each other and be content as equals. The hierarchies within each lair exist for that reason, and they work.” But Nora wasn’t listening. She was gazing around her, wearing a serene expression, like she was in a freaking meadow or something.

  Nora clasped her hands. “This truly is a fascinating place. Time is different here.”

  Not liking the sound of that, Harper warily asked, “Different how?”

  “An hour in the vortex is a minute in places beyond it. Think of what that means. You’ve been here for, say, an hour. To anyone away from this place, you’ve only been here a minute.”

  As the implications of that sank in, Harper’s stomach dropped and panic fluttered through her. Even if Knox was able to get her at a pace that was supremely fast to him, enough time would have passed here for Nora to end Harper’s life first.

  “In other words, don’t be counting on a rescue, Harper. Call out to Knox all you like – he won’t hear you. Not while you’re trapped in the vortex.”

  Huh. Well, that wasn’t actually correct, but Nora didn’t need to know that. “He’ll find a way to get to me.”

  “Oh, I doubt that.”

  “You shouldn’t. People have hurt and taken me before – he’s always come for me.” And both Harper and her demon trusted that he’d come for her again.

  “He won’t come, Harper. As I said, time is different here. Let’s say that Larkin goes into the restrooms and finds you gone – she’ll sense the leftover magickal energy, but she won’t understand it was from a portal. Of course, she’ll run to Knox. He’ll feel the magick too, but it’s highly unlikely that he’ll sense there was a portal. Still, he’s smart enough to know he’ll need an incantor to ‘read’ the magick.”

  He’d be aware that there was a portal for the simple reason that Harper had told him – that was yet another thing that Nora didn’t need to know.

  “I’m sure he’ll find one, and I’m sure they will be willing to reopen the portal for him. However, that process takes up to fifteen minutes to complete. Now add all that time together and, for Knox, that will be – at the very least – twenty minutes before he even steps through the portal. That’s twenty hours to us, sweetheart. By then, you’ll be dead, and we’ll all be gone.”

  Okay, that was bad. Really bad. Dammit, she had to get the fuck out of there.

  Nora’s expression turned sober as she spoke to her companions. “Get into position.”

  While Linda stayed still, each of the others copied Nora in moving to stand near a boulder so that they surrounded Harper.

  Another shot of adrenaline pumped through Harper, and she flexed her fingers. “I suppose you intend to kill me now before Knox has the chance to get here.” And, heartbreakingly, there wasn’t a single thing that she could do to stop it.

  “Not just yet,” said Nora as she and the others sat cross-legged. “I want you dead, but I want the baby first. If we can’t destroy Knox, we can at least control him. What better way than through his child?”

  Harper’s heart slammed against her ribs, and her knees almost buckled. She put a protective hand to her stomach. “You can’t have the baby.”

  “Oh, but I can. You have to understand, Harper, that there’s no real way for demons to exist as equals while someone so powerful lives. Knox could take complete control at any time. Trying to kill him hasn’t worked. Holding the baby’s safety over his head, though… yes, that would keep him under my thumb.”

  Nora raised her hands and began to chant under her breath. The others joined in, and the stale air suddenly turned heavy and oppressive. The clouds thickened and darkened, making the sky look almost bruised.

  “What are you doing?”

  It was Linda who spoke. “Inducing labor, of course.”

  Harper shook her head, stomach plummeting. “The baby isn’t ready yet. They’ll kill it.”

  “No,” said Nora. “I have a team of people on standby who can give it whatever care it needs to ensure it survives.”

  “And I’ll be there to care for the baby,” declared Linda, chin up.

  Nora’s smile faltered. “Yes, and you’ll be there.” She went back to chanting, and the wind picked up, whipping the snarled trees and making dirt swirl in the air.

  A gust of wind sailed at Harper, making her dress fl
ap against her legs. Panicking, she called to her wings again, and yet more pain wracked her. The baby’s mind touched hers. She felt its fear, and that almost broke her. “No, you don’t get to take my —”

  She cut off as what looked like black drops of rain sprung from Nora’s fingertips and, quick as lightning, hit Harper right in the chest. She tried to wipe them off, but they sank into her skin. She felt the magick inside her, then. Felt it slither around her bones, snake around her organs, and settle over her womb like an oily blanket. “What the fuck did you just do?”

  Pain blasted through her abdomen, and her womb contracted so hard that she dropped to her knees. It hurt like holy hell. She’d never felt pain like it – not when Knox’s power poured into her mind, not when the hunters sawed at her wings, not even when her body spent hours fighting the hex.