Chapter 21
Chapter
Twenty-One
MOIRA
Someone was in my bedroom. I reached under my pillow, flung the knife in the direction of the intruder, and rolled off the edge of the bed on the opposite side.
The knife landed with a meaty thunk. A soft, masculine curse rang out in the room before the voice drawled, “Do you normally attack people before you see who’s come to call?”
I poked my head above the mattress and glared at Evie’s dad.
A thin trickle of golden blood dripped from a small wound in his chest that closed as I opened my mouth to speak.
“First of all, you aren’t people. Second, it’s customary to knock on someone’s door before you enter their room. What if I were naked?”
It was the wrong question to ask. Cernunnos arched an eyebrow. “Do you normally sleep naked?”
My eyes narrowed. “I am not answering that question.”
To my surprise, he laughed. “Come, god touched. There are things I must show you today.”
That title again. I didn’t like it. Flicking my fingers to make him turn around, Cernunnos sighed and wheeled away, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Get out!” I tossed a pillow at his head.
He sucked in a surprised gasp and spun around. “Remind me never to wake you out of a sound sleep again. You’re quite cranky in the mornings.”
“If you don’t shut up and turn around, I’m going to throw something sharper at you.”
“Sharper than your pointy little needle blade?” At my glare, he rolled his eyes and turned around. “I’m not leaving. If we walk out of here, you’re going to want to eat breakfast and gab with my daughter. We’re leaving right from this room.”
“I need coffee.”
He snapped his fingers. A steaming travel mug of coffee sat on the nightstand.
“And I have to brush my teeth.”
A sink and my toothpaste and toothbrush appeared, along with the exact type of mouthwash I used. Smug bastard thought of everything. “I hate you,” I muttered.
Cernunnos laughed. “Five minutes, Moira. At three, I’ll start harassing you to hurry.”
I rose and quickly dressed, keeping an eye out to see if he peeked. But Cernunnos was true to his word. Three minutes later, he started humming a game show theme. I brushed my teeth and ran a brush through my hair before tying it into a messy ponytail. At the one-minute mark, he stalked toward me.
I squawked and threw my shoe at him. He caught it one-handed and tossed it back. “Stop throwing things at me.”
“Stop being annoying!” I snapped back. “I’m tired. The sun isn’t even out!”
“The better to see the darkness with, my dear.”
I glared at him. “One day I’m going to sneak into your house and wake you up the same way,” I muttered.
His teeth flashed white. “You are still a pup. Good luck finding me.”
“I’ll just ask Evie.”
He reached down and gripped me by the upper arm. “Time’s up.”
I snatched my coffee from the nightstand as the room sparkled with emerald and gold magic. A moment later, we were gone.
I had no idea where we were, but even more important than that, I was freezing my ass off. Snow littered the ground, at least six inches deep.
“Seriously? You couldn’t give me a hint to dress a little more appropriately for the weather?”
To his credit, Cernunnos blushed. “I don’t often think of those things.” He waved a finger at me.
A heavy jacket landed on my shoulders. Waterproof, knee-high boots replaced my sneakers, and a thermal undershirt and leggings appeared underneath my jeans and hoodie.
“Better?”
“Yes, but if you have gloves and a hat, that would be better.”
A second later, they appeared. “Cashmere. Nice. Evie would approve.”
Cernunnos grunted. “Can you sense anything?”
“I’m not like Evie. You might have to direct me, but let me try first.” I sat on the ground, relieved when Cernunnos cleared the snow so my pants wouldn’t get soaked.
Sticking my fingers in the ground wouldn’t work for me.
I was no Floromancer. My magic had always been a little odd, but after that fight where I got caught in the crossfire of some seriously heavy magic, my power had been forever altered in ways I was still trying to understand.
I couldn’t make flowers grow out of thin air or heal the land or anything glorious like that, but I could suss out suspicious magic, and I was better at identifying signatures than most people I knew.
Vampires possessed excellent senses, smell, hearing, taste, all of them.
Once I got a taste of the magical signature causing this, I could follow the person to the ends of the earth, even if I didn’t know who they were.
Surprising me, Cernunnos sat beside me. “I will guide you when you are ready.”
I closed my eyes and cleared my mind. Power crackled around Evie’s father like an out-of-control bonfire.
He was made of magic—an ancient, cruel power far older than anyone I’d ever met.
Sitting next to him felt dangerous. He was a nuke who could go off at any time, and I’d be helpless in the crossfire.
“Concentrate, god touched,” Cernunnos murmured.
“Shhh,” I whispered. “You’re already distracting enough.”
“Do you need me to move?”
“No. Just be quiet.”
“Very well.” He sounded offended, which almost made me laugh.
I let out a slow breath and brought my attention to my surroundings.
There were mountains around us, telling me we were not in Caelan’s territory.
Snow, so not in Soren’s. Maybe Ethan’s or Thorvin’s.
Ben was in the Midwest. Snow, yes, mountains, not so much.
Unless you counted the Ozarks, which I didn’t.
At least, not from the quick glance I took when I sat down.
Possibly we were still in Rowan’s territory, though the air smelled different and it was a little harder to breathe. Colorado maybe?
The location didn’t matter all that much.
I was here to figure out who wanted to harm Danu and Evie by extension.
My mind’s eye scanned for rogue magic on the surface, but there was nothing.
I did a deeper scan, sensing some animals in hibernation and some life flying above us.
Normal things, nothing alarming, except for the supernova of magic sitting next to me.
“I’m going to need you to guide me,” I murmured.
Cernunnos took my hand, jerking me along the shooting star of his magic. My consciousness was yanked out of my body and sent soaring into the ground. Holy shit. Was this what Evie experienced every time she siphoned or communed with the land?
Even with the frigid temperatures above, life bloomed beneath. Flashes of color among the darkness streaked along my peripheral vision as Cernunnos transported me to the heart of the spell.
Whoever did this was intelligent, Cernunnos admitted.
I jerked at the sound of his voice in my head. How are you doing this?
I had no mouth, no face, no body. How were we talking?
Did you forget me being very magical, was his dry response.
Humble, too.
His amusement floated down the link before we stopped abruptly. There, he said. Can you sense it?
A malevolent presence surrounded us, sentient and curious. Yes. You can’t get rid of it?
I am more like Danu than others, he admitted. Engaging will deplete my magic, and I must be prepared for other…occurrences.
With Evie?
Concentrate, god touched, he said instead. See what information you can obtain. We don’t have much time before its curiosity wears off.
Heeding his warning, I studied the entity as it inched closer, my mind trying to grasp knowing my body wasn’t here.
How could I touch something when I didn’t exist?
Whatever this thing was, it possessed spell components, but it wasn’t completely a spell.
Curious, the thing floated closer, moving similar to how an amoeba would.
No arms, no legs, just a blob of magic, corrupting everything it touched.
The soil around the entity died as it moved.
Cernunnos moved me back a few feet. Hurry, he urged.
I need to touch it.
Absolutely not.
If I don’t, I’m guessing. Once I make contact, I’ll be able to track this if the person responsible is close by. I know I can’t physically reach out, but I can try to wrap my thoughts around it and see what I can find out.
The god hesitated. Evie will have my hide if I risk your life.
You aren’t doing anything. I’m telling you what I need. If you take me back now, none of us will get the answers we need.
He wavered until I took the decision out of his hand. I lunged, slipping my consciousness free of his hold, and enveloped the presence.
Darkness coated my thoughts in inky night, but this presence didn’t feel inherently evil to me. It simply existed, and its existence was dangerous to everything it touched.
Including me. Neither human nor animal, the presence still held a sentient, almost alien intelligence. Was it a spell that had gone wrong or was this meant to target one thing or person? I couldn’t tell.
Once it got over its surprise, it wrapped itself around me, clinging like a barnacle to my consciousness, and it drank me down, stealing my thoughts and memories, rifling through them like a hacker with stolen credit card info. My magic drained, stolen away to power this thing.
MOIRA!
A shout of horror and a hard jerk on my arm, followed by a suction sound and an ominous pop, and Cernunnos and I were flying through the ether.
His grip was bruising, the fury he tried to contain burning against our link. My energy faded slowly into darkness.