Chapter 25 Like for Like #2
We were still about half a mile from the main gates, but I pulled the SUV off the driveway into a small clearing, glad to see that it was hidden from both the house and the lake.
“She’s moving fast,” Koa reported, turning his laptop so we could all see. On the security feed, a disturbance rippled across the lake’s surface, heading directly for the shoreline. As we watched, a sodden figure emerged from the water, dark hair plastered to her head.
“That’s her,” Seri whispered, her voice tight.
Amabel sloshed onto the shore, water streaming from her clothes as she looked cautiously around before slinking into the willow grove that bordered the lake.
She moved with purpose, clearly familiar with our grounds.
Not surprising. We knew they’d been watching us, and had even fed them false information when we could.
“Seri, stay here with Brumous no matter what,” I reminded her. “No heroics.”
“I’ll set the SUV’s security systems once we’re out,” Koa told her, snapping his laptop shut and reaching for his tactical vest. “No one can get in unless they’re one of us.
Remember, if something really, really bad happens, hit the red button in the console.
Lucian and Sebastian will be notified immediately. ”
“They’re both on stand-by.” Zane checked his pistol once more before tucking it into his hip holster. “Seb’ll come for you if we can’t. Got it, sunshine?”
“Got it, Zoodle.”
“Comms check,” I said, activating the small earpiece that would keep us connected. “Clear.”
“Clear.” Zane slipped the Hexenf?nger’s long handle into a loop on his belt so he could run more freely.
“Clear,” echoed Koa.
I turned to Seri, who looked like she wanted to say something, her gray eyes wide with worry, but there wasn’t time.
Every second counted now that Amabel was on our property.
I didn’t even pause to kiss her goodbye, something I would later regret with every fiber of my being.
Instead, I grabbed my rifle, pulled on my helmet, and flicked down my tactical goggles.
“Stay put,” I ordered, meeting her gaze one last time. “No matter what you see or hear.”
“I remember all the rules, Simmy.” She nodded solemnly and recited, “I promise to stay in here until you return and tap the code on the passenger side window. I promise I’ll alert Papa-in-Law and Sebastian if you don’t.”
And I forced myself to turn away, shutting the SUV door with a solid thud. Brumous pressed his muzzle against the window, his blue eyes following us as we moved swiftly into the trees.
We split up, each taking a different approach to the mansion.
Koa circled wide to the east, keeping the lake in view.
Zane headed straight for the house, using the formal gardens as cover.
I took the western approach, skirting the hedge maze that would give me a clear line of sight to both the lake shore and the mansion’s main entrance.
“I’ve got movement in the willows,” I whispered into my comm, tracking a shadow through my scope.
“I see her,” Koa confirmed. “She’s heading for the front door.”
“She’ll have to cross open ground to reach the house,” Zane pointed out. “Perfect shot, Cas.”
“Affirmative.” I moved into position, setting up behind a thick oak that offered both concealment and a stable rest for my rifle, then rolled my eyes as they started bickering.
“Give me the magi-goggles,” Koa demanded.
“No way,” Zane shot back. “You’re the one who said I should test them in the field.”
“That was before Amabel showed up early!”
“Both of you, focus,” I hissed, adjusting my scope. “There’s something around her left hand. A shimmer. Could be the demon token.”
I kept my rifle trained on the figure moving through the willows, her dark shape weaving between the hanging branches. Then, suddenly, she wasn’t there anymore.
“Lost visual,” I barked.
“Same here,” Koa responded.
“Bleeding night,” Zane muttered. “Where did she—”
“Checking the security feed.” Comms crackled as Koa cut him off. “She’s inside.”
I lowered my rifle as Koa silently sent the feed to our tactical displays. The footage showed what should have been impossible: Amabel standing in our foyer, looking like a drowned rat.
The rage that surged through me was instant and overwhelming. She’d invaded our sanctuary, profaned our beloved’s nest, and that in itself carried a death sentence. No games, no capturing her alive; she’d sealed her fate the moment she’d crossed our threshold.
“How the hell did she get through the wards?” Zane demanded.
“That demon favor,” Koa replied grimly. “Has to be. The only thing that could have gotten through those wards was a greater demon or archangel or higher.”
We’d confirm that later. Right now, we needed to move fast, to catch her before she realized Eluned was dead. But we also needed to be smart. Amabel wasn’t her sister; she wouldn’t make stupid mistakes out of emotion or impulse.
“Main entrance,” I decided. “Koa, to the east. Zane, west. I’ll go straight up the center. Safeties off and guns up.”
“And if she doesn’t run?” Zane asked, the edge in his voice matching my own fury.
“Then she dies where she stands,” I growled.
We moved silently through the grounds, converging on the porch from three different angles.
“In position,” Koa whispered.
“Ready when you are,” Zane added.
I paused at the front steps, taking a deep breath to steady my rage. We’d dealt with worse threats than Amabel Harrow. We’d faced down monsters that would make her nightmares seem like bedtime stories. This was our territory, our home. We had the advantage.
So why did I feel a cold knot in my gut?
“Cas?” Zane prompted when I didn’t respond.
“Something’s wrong,” I admitted, gripping my rifle tighter.
“The ?aumākua aren’t happy, either,” Ko said.
“We’ve ignored them before and been all right,” Zane murmured, although I heard the hesitation in his voice.
Yeah, we’d brushed off Ko’s ancestral guardians trying to warn us before, but we always paid dearly for it.
“She’s one Dark witch, barely of age at that,” Zane scoffed, maybe to convince us and himself. “Besides, we may not get a better opportunity.”
“We go in now,” I decided after a moment. “Silent or loud?”
“Loud,” Ko said immediately.
“Loud,” Z agreed. “Let’s scare the piss outta her.”
“Loud it is,” I confirmed, my finger moving to the trigger.
I was done with this witch. She’d violated the one place we’d promised Seri would always be safe. And for that, there would be no mercy.
“Breach in three, two, one—”
I surged forward and kicked the entry door all my strength.
The second it exploded inward, I moved in, rifle up, and felt something tickle across my lower face, the strip of skin left bare between helmet, goggles, and gear.
Felt like a spiderweb, but wrong. Cold and heavy in a way silk strings shouldn’t be.
We’d done this hundreds of times before. Breach, secure, eliminate. Simple. Routine, even. And in much worse places than our own home. A cobweb wasn’t going to spook me.
Except it was spooking me.
I should have listened to my instincts. I should have called it off the second the ?aumākua warned Koa. Instead, I led my brothers forward.
Something shot through the air. A small, rectangular card. I caught the movement in my peripheral vision, but for once I couldn’t move fast enough. It was like I was wading against the current, and the card struck me on the chin. Right where the spider web still clung.
The second it touched my skin, the card activated.
Dark tendrils of smoke erupted, wrapping around my body and slamming me to the floor with crushing force.
My rifle clattered away, useless. The smoke coiled tighter, pinning my arms to my sides, my legs together. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t twist free.
“Ambush!” I shouted far too late.
I struggled against the magical restraints, every muscle straining as I fought to break free.
The tendrils constricted like kraken tentacles, squeezing until my tactical gear creaked under the pressure.
I couldn’t reach the dagger sheathed at my belt, couldn’t access the backup pistol strapped to my thigh, couldn’t release the lightning under my skin to disrupt the spell.
Something was wrong.
Then Amabel stepped out from behind the grandfather clock, another card held delicately between her fingers. Her eyes gleamed with satisfaction, a cold smile playing on her lips.
“Well, well. The famous Casimir Cimmerian,” she purred. “Mother will be so proud of me for taking you out.”
I snarled and looked around for my brothers. Something felt more wrong. Zane stood just inside the threshold, silent as the grave. No sharp retort, no cocky quip. Just quiet. Z always had something to say, especially when the villain started monologuing.
And he held Lurleen, his modified rifle, not the Hexenf?nger. Had he passed it to Koa?
Worse, Zane wasn’t moving. No fingers tapping a drumbeat. No juggling or twitching or fidgeting. Zane was never still. I could count on one hand the number of times I’d seen my brother completely motionless since reaching adulthood.
A flicker of doubt sparked in my mind, then flared brighter when Koa lunged at Amabel with an empty hand.
She sidestepped him easily, with a laugh even, and a hollow pit formed in my stomach.
Ko was never without a dagger in a fight.
Never. Even when using his combat shotgun, he had the handle of one clenched in his teeth.
And no witch, no matter how Dark, was faster than Ko, than any dhampir.
With a flick of her wrist, Amabel sent a spelled card spinning toward Zane, and there was no time to think, no space to question.
“Duck, Z!” I shouted, but the card caught him right under his chin.
The smoke erupted instantly, wrapping around his neck. His eyes widened as he dropped his rifle, hands flying to his throat. He clawed at the tendrils, but his fingers passed through them even as they maintained their solid grip on his windpipe.