Chapter 26 Drowning in Shadows
Koa
The plan worked perfectly.
Amabel Harrow, that soulless bitch, walked right into our trap, sneaking into Evermere through the lake entrance just as Seri had predicted.
The fact that she’d arrived two hours earlier than we’d anticipated was a minor hiccup, nothing we couldn’t handle.
My blood hummed with anticipation as we moved into position. I could feel each heartbeat in my fingertips, each breath scraping against my throat. When Casimir gave the signal, everything would explode into motion, and I would get to show Amabel exactly what happened to those who hurt our beloved.
I still felt the phantom weight of Seri’s hand on my arm from when we’d left her in the SUV, her fingers trembling despite her brave face.
“Come back to me,” she’d whispered before we’d left her there with Brumous and strict instructions to stay put.
Now, as I crouched on the front porch, the comms unit in my ear crackled with Zane’s breathing, sharp and controlled.
Anticipation burned like electricity through my veins.
Waiting at times like this had always been the hardest part for me; my emotions ran so hot and bright, they threatened to consume me from within.
Didn’t help that the ?aumākua were whispering caution. Not danger, just caution.
“Breach in three.” Cas’ countdown began, and I pulled my emotions tight, focusing them into a blade’s edge of purpose. “Two.” My muscles coiled, ready to spring. “One.”
The front door splintered inward as Cas’ boot connected with it, an entrance as subtle as a thunderclap. Zane and I positioned behind him, a practiced formation we’d perfected over years of hunting together. Cas at point, Z on his left, me on his right. Three shadows moving as one.
“Hold!” Zane’s voice came through the comms, urgent and sharp. “Web of illusion across the entry—”
Too late.
Cas crossed the threshold and instantly collapsed. His back arched off the floor, limbs jerking in violent spasms hard enough to crack the fang-rotted marble floor, a choking sound escaping his throat.
“Cas!” I lunged toward him, but Zane’s hand snapped out, catching my arm.
“No!” His eyes were wild behind the lenses of my prototype magi-goggles. “Illusion’s still active. We need to—”
A soft laugh cut through the air, turning my blood to ice.
Amabel Harrow oozed out from behind the grandfather clock in the foyer. Her dark hair framed a face that might have been beautiful if not for the cruelty etched into every line. Her eyes glittered with malice as she surveyed her handiwork.
“Three little dhampirs, all in a row,” she sang, her voice lilting and poisonous. “One down and two to go. How disappointing. I expected more of a challenge from the infamous Cimmerians.”
The rage that erupted in me was nuclear, a supernova of hatred that threatened to tear me apart from the inside.
This was the girl who had helped Arabesque torture Seri for years.
Who had gleefully participated in draining our beloved’s magic through illegal siphoning.
Who had stood by while her mother broke Seri’s spirit over and over again.
Who had kicked and punched our love into unconsciousness.
And who had just done something horrible to my big brother.
“You want a challenge?” I snarled, the words barely human as I gripped a dagger in either hand. “I’ll carve one into your flesh.”
Her smile widened as she flicked her wrist, and suddenly the air was filled with tarot-like cards. They whistled through the air toward us, deadly and precise.
Pfft! As if we couldn’t dodge thrown playing cards! Not to mention our armor, enchanted with every ward and protection I’d been able to buy or barter, would shed the magic like water if a card happened to hit us.
I dove right as Zane rolled left, spells exploding around us as the cards hit the walls and floor. As Z circled around, Amabel tossed cards wildly at the tornado of chaos that was my brother, too focused on him to notice me.
Using the couch as a springboard, I launched forward.
Her eyes flicked up at the last second, widening with alarm as she twisted aside, but not nearly fast enough to a dhampir at full speed.
I tackled her hard, my shoulder slamming into her ribs with enough force to drive the air from her lungs and snap at least three.
Momentum sent us sliding along the marble floor into the wall next to the grandfather clock.
Its pendulum swinging wildly, it crashed down on us, and gears flew as plaster dust settled around us.
“End of the line,” I growled as I climbed out of the hole in the wall, dragging her by her hair.
Zane leaped in to kick the rest of the magic cards from her hands, and that’s when she started fighting like a cornered animal, all nails and teeth, but I barely felt it through my armor, let alone the haze of fury that consumed me.
“You’re done,” I snarled, pinning her to the floor as Zane approached with Hexenf?nger held ready.
The metal collar gleamed in the sunlight, its inner spikes catching the sun like tiny daggers. Amabel’s eyes widened in recognition and fear. She knew what it was, what it would do.
Good.
“No,” she gasped, real terror crossing her face for the first time. “You can’t— Mother will—”
“Mommy isn’t here.” I snapped the collar around her throat with savage satisfaction.
The effect was immediate. All the Dark energy that had been swirling around her vanished like a candle snuffed out.
Her body went rigid, then limp, as the Hexenf?nger’s enchantment took hold.
The collar looked deceptively simple, just metal and symbols, but it was one of the most powerful devices ever created.
“Struggle all you want, witch bitch.” Zane crouched next to me, holding the fae-enchanted rope Cas had used on Eluned. “The more you fight, the deeper those spikes dig. Painful for you, endlessly entertaining for me.”
Amabel’s eyes burned with hatred as I flipped her onto her stomach and Z hog-tied her with ruthless efficiency. The rope further dampened any residual power she might have tried to access. Together with the Hexenf?nger, it ensured she was as harmless as a kitten, just one with the soul of a demon.
“All tied up and bloody,” Zane smirked. “Not a good look for you, Amabel.”
The satisfaction of seeing her subdued only partially quenched what burned in my chest. What I really wanted was to make her feel every ounce of pain she’d ever inflicted on Seri, to carve that suffering into her very bones, but I’d settle for this.
For now.
“She’s done,” I said as I stood. “Let’s check on—”
The words died in my throat.
Everything around me blurred, the rush of battle fading into a ringing vacuum of silence. My stomach plummeted, my body freezing mid-motion as my eyes locked on Cas where he still sprawled across the threshold.
He wasn’t moving.
A shiver shot down my spine, cold and sharp as a blade. My ears strained, desperate for a sound, any sound, but all I could hear was the faint whistle of the wind through the broken door.
For one horrible second, my mind refused to process what I was seeing. Casimir, our leader, our foundation, the strongest of us all, reduced to a lifeless heap on the floor.
Then my legs moved before my brain could catch up.
“Cas,” Zane whispered, sprinting ahead.
We reached his side faster than an eye could blink.
His skin was ashen and cool to the touch.
Only the shallow rise and fall of his chest and the faint heartbeat I could hear confirmed he still lived.
Panic clawed at my throat, worse than any battle fear I’d ever known.
There was no wound I could bandage or enemy I could fight, and the helplessness threatened to drown me.
“That illusion web is still on his face and neck,” Zane snapped. “Scrape it off, but not with bare hands.”
I swiped at Cas’ face with my gloved fingers.
It worked to wipe away the sticky web, which dissolved the moment it lost contact with his skin.
Ripping off Cas’ helmet with one hand, I pulled out a glass vial from my chest bandolier with the other.
I tore the cork out with my teeth and dribbled the contents slowly over his chin and neck, letting the holy water wash away anything that lingered, just to be sure.
“He’s seeing something in his mind?” I asked as I worked.
A soft, mocking laugh drifted from where Amabel was bound.
“He’s seeing everything he fears most,” she taunted. “Over and over and over. What do you think that might be? Any guesses?”
The blood in my veins turned to fire.
I didn’t need to guess. I didn’t need to be told. I didn’t need to look through the magi-goggles. I knew exactly what Cas feared the most.
My hands clenched into fists, and my breathing turned sharp, ragged, like I couldn’t draw in enough air.
She did this. Reduced my brother to this broken, trembling shell.
My vision tunneled, red-hot fury consuming everything else.
Before I fully registered moving, I was already on her, my grip tangling in her hair as I slammed her face into the marble floor.
Hard. Her head bounced off the stone with a sickening crack, her body going limp as she let out a ragged groan.
Not enough.
I yanked her back up, letting her see the pure, murderous intent in my eyes before slamming her down again, harder. To hell with questioning her. She’d made her choice. Death was all she had to look forward to now, anyway.
“Ko, leave that bitch for now,” Zane called.
Chest heaving, I fought to hold back the tide of red, and it was only the knowledge that my brothers needed me that allowed me to run back and drop to my knees on Cas’ other side.
Stripping off my gloves, I did the same with his, then took one of his hands between my palms, surprised by how cold it felt.
My brother, always so dominant, so vital, so prepared for everything, was now this.
The wrongness of it scraped against my soul like rusted metal.