Chapter 53
His wolf’s howl to be let out if its cage was almost as deafening as the sound from whatever that creature was.
It was clear it had once been a vampire, but now, Mark couldn’t quite classify it.
Whatever Riley had done kept its voice outside, but the stench of death, the same one from that night, still filled the air.
His wolf sensed the danger the memory brought and pounded harder on the barrier keeping him away from the action.
He glanced at his phone again and then at his brother.
What if they never made it back home? Dean would never know what happened.
I told you to fortify your mind.
Caster’s voice in his head startled him away from the imagined pain of Dean’s grief to the real threat present before them.
Sorry, I’m… If the other three vampires had been privy to his thoughts, they didn’t show it.
I know. I promise you that you will see your brother again.
He shouldn’t. There was every indication that he was wrong, but everything in him believed Caster’s conviction. His wolf responded to him in predictable fashion, its restless energy retreating behind the barrier.
“We still need to communicate with someone. What can we do?” Damien’s question could only have been directed to the witches. Whenever technology failed, the only other viable option was magic.
“Astral projection?” Edie asked, looking at Riley as if his permission would be required.
“It would only work for you, Mark, or you.” Adella, Riley’s mother, said, her cautious gaze landing on Mikey, and Mark’s heart jumped.
“Why him?” Caster asked, his demeanor protective.
“To have any control over the spell, the participants have to be blood relations.”
“We can only communicate with the Prime Alpha.” The Queen looked at him with enough concern to make Mark feel uneasy.
“I’ll do it,” Mikey said, his voice strong despite the fear Mark could smell radiating off him.
“No.” There was little question of his brother’s intentions. His desire to keep protecting Mark was not well hidden. But Mark was no longer broken. Certain parts still kept a stubborn distance from the whole, but they would soon join in. This was his fight.
“Are you sure?” Mikey looked at him and then turned to Riley. “Can’t you just teleport Dean here?”
Riley shook his head. “That darkness around us means no one can come in or out. I am sure I can find a way to break it, but…”
“Every ounce of his power is keeping the protection spells in place.” Ben’s tone was almost deadpan, his eyes on Riley. “Without that, they would already be in here, right?” There was the distinct echo of sadness in someone until now Mark had assumed was the epitome of joy.
“Why are we even still talking about it? We need someone working this problem from the other end.” The anger in Damien’s voice was evident in the punch each word contained.
“We tell the Prime Alpha, he tells Marcus, and we get the whole Grand Coven over here. I don’t know about you guys, but I am getting rather sick of this witch. ”
Mark couldn’t concur more. “I can do it.” He looked at Caster, the only other person whose opinion on the subject mattered more than his. “I can.”
Caster nodded, and he breathed a sigh. Even his desire for vengeance was no match for his submission.
“OK.” Edie held her hands out to Mark. “Take my hands, honey.” As soon as he made contact, the extent of her power was undeniable.
Until now, unable to focus on anything but the threat outside, he’d failed to appreciate the power of the three witches in the room.
It lacked the stench of the darkness surrounding the house. A breath of fresh air in comparison.
“My mother would have hated this,” he whispered, unsure why he needed to confess that, but Edie just smiled.
“Are you ready?”
He nodded, and a warmth that grew in intensity the longer he remained close to her radiated from the point of contact to settle above his heart.
She whispered something in Latin, her eyes drifting closed. “You’ll disconnect from us, now. Float to your brother. You have nothing to fear.”
A distinct warmth burst through his chest, and her choice of words became apparent as he floated above himself, above the room.
He could see it, see himself still holding on to Edie’s hands.
He saw the intensity of Caster’s focus, the strain on Riley’s face that he’d somehow missed, the worry in Mikey’s stance, James and Kyle’s alertness, and the Queen’s concern.
“No, honey. Think of your brother and then go to him.” Edie’s voice flowed somewhere from deep inside him, jolting him into the task at hand. He gathered the clearest image of Dean he could muster and gasped at the sudden movement.
The kitchen, everyone in it, and even the sinister dark magic surrounding it, dissipated into a whirlwind that was unreal. A blur of movement too fast for his mind to decipher delivered him to the familiarity of his brother’s study.
Dean looked up from the papers in front of him, but it was unclear if he could see him. He started to return his attention to the papers on his desk, but then he narrowed his eyes, jumping out of the chair so fast, Mark was afraid it would break.
“What the fuck?”
Under any other circumstances, he would have laughed at his brother’s reaction. He couldn’t contain his smile, though. “Dean, it’s me.”
“No shit.” His brother regained some of his composure. “Why are you…” He gasped, drawing closer to Mark’s formless body. “Are you…”
“No. Oh fuck, no. I’m not dead.”
He saw the relief sag his brother’s massive shoulders before he heard the sigh.
“What happened?” Dean was never one to waste time.
“The witch. She’s surrounded us. We can’t get out…” Dean was already moving out of the room, down the stairs, and even in this form, it was a chore trying to keep up with his energy. “Would you stop? I don’t know how much time I have.”
Dean stopped at the front door, his hand on the handle.
“No one can get into the house either.”
A pained expression crossed his brother’s face. An out-of-control Dean was not a good thing. He opened his mouth to say something or curse up a storm from the look on his face.
“Listen to me, just this once in your life.” He didn’t wait for a response. “Here’s what you can do. Damien said to contact Marcus.” Mark didn’t know who that was, but the others seemed confident he could help. “He can then contact the Grand Priestess.”
Dean nodded. “Are you OK? Is Mikey?” He pushed a hand through his hair, radiating enough frustration to worry Mark. “I knew I shouldn’t have left you there.”
“We’re fine.”
“Tell Caster we’ll be there as soon as we can.” He paused. “Who else is with you?”
“Damien, Riley, the Queen, Riley’s mother and aunt, Kyle, and James.”
“Good. The witches will hold everything in place until we can find reinforcements.”
His body, the one still in the kitchen, jerked, and Edie’s voice floated into his mind. Time’s up.
“I have to go.”
“Fuck!” Dean’s anger, ever-present but always controlled, shook the room enough for even this projection of himself to feel it as he punched the door, breaking it off its hinges. “You tell Caster that if anything, and I mean anything, happens to you or Mikey, I will finish what I started.”
The sudden pull back into his body made him dizzy, and Dean’s threat followed him into the room, which was dead silent. Had everyone been listening to their conversation?
Yes. And I don’t doubt your brother’s threat. Caster answered a question every vampire in the room had no doubt heard.
He breathed through the unfamiliarity as he adjusted to the reality of his body and re-fortified his mind from the intrusion. The last thing they needed was a return to the hostilities of the war years. And this time, it would be his fault.