Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
“We have to lure them here,” I said to Lilac. “A show of magic should do it. If we’re lucky, they’ll fight each other and one of them will die. Then we’ll only have to deal with the other one.”
Galen arched a brow. “Can we get that lucky?”
“Look around.” I gestured. “There’s a lot of magic here to steal. It’s awfully tempting.”
Galen nodded. “Okay, let’s do it. Once this is done, you and I are going to talk about you walking through doors that might lead to different planes without paying attention to what you’re doing.”
“How can you think this was my fault?” I protested. “I was minding my own business when — poof! — I was on another plane. This is really your mother’s fault.”
“Thank you, Hadley,” said Marjory, still studying my mother. “You look young,” she told Emma.
Mom shrugged. “I died young. You look old. What’s that like?”
“Not fun in the least,” Marjory said through a wan smile. “Your daughter is an interesting individual. She stole my son’s heart with a single bat of her eyelashes.”
“Hey,” I shouted. “I never bat my eyelashes.”
“She stole my heart with her mouth,” Galen countered. “She was fiery from the first moment I met her. I knew she was the one.”
Speaking of fiery, Lilac had lifted her hands into the air and was unloading fire magic in every direction. She was focused on what was to come. The rest of us? Not so much.
“So cute,” I teased. “It’s a load of crap, but it’s cute.”
“It’s not,” Galen countered. “You were it from our first meeting.”
“It’s true,” Booker interjected. “He tracked me down that day to warn me against making a move on you.”
I cast Galen a sidelong look. “That was kind of alpha.”
“I was protecting you. Booker is not good with women. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“Yes, that was why,” Aurora sneered.
“I wasn’t even interested in Hadley and he still practically peed on me to mark his territory,” Booker complained.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t goad him,” Lilac fired back. Her hair was still a mass of red flames but there was a smile on her face as she waited for the dhampirs to come calling. “You might not have been interested in pursuing a relationship with Hadley, but you wanted to torture Galen.”
“Well, that’s a given,” Booker conceded. “He was pretty funny when he warned me away.” He smiled at the memory. “I asked him if he liked you and he said no, but it was obvious he was lying.”
“I can’t believe you warned him,” I said to Galen. “I’m not property.”
Galen didn’t look as if he felt guilty. “I’m not sorry. I got everything I wanted.” His eyes flicked to my mother. “Tell me what we need to get you and May back over.”
“The door has to be strong enough for a floating soul to penetrate,” she replied. “It’s not there yet.”
“How did May get here if the doors aren’t strong enough?”
“She hitchhiked with my father,” Mom replied. “Plus, the door that was created to bring Hadley was strong. But it’s only a one-way portal.”
That pinged something in my brain. Before I could ask a question, however, Mom cocked her head and looked Galen up and down.
“Why do you care about getting me back across?” she asked.
“I want Hadley to have everything she could possibly want,” he replied. “She’s wanted you her entire life. I’m going to make sure she gets to keep you because it’s what she needs, and I’m here to provide what she needs for the rest of our lives.”
Mom’s eyebrows hopped. “That was quite the declaration.”
“I told you they were gross,” May said. Her eyes sparked with mischief despite her words. “They’re kind of cute sometimes.”
“We need to focus,” I said. “We can be cute later. Over crab legs.”
Galen shook his head. “Oh, no. You’re not eating so much you make yourself sick. Not tonight.”
I ignored him. We both knew I was going to get my way on this one. “Who created the door that brought me over?”
Mom looked confused by the question. “What do you mean?”
“It was created on our side,” I said. “The symbol was burned into Wesley’s field. That had to happen on our side.”
Realization dawned on Mom and she shook her head. “It didn’t. Declan and Bogdan are strong enough to affect your world. They have just enough magic for that.”
“Which is why they haven’t killed each other yet,” May said.
Mom was solemn. “They hate each other but need each other. The second they believe they don’t need each other any longer, one of them will kill the other.”
“I still don’t understand how they created the symbol on our plane,” I said.
“The wall between worlds is thin,” Mom replied. “Very thin. If someone is strong enough, determined enough, they can open doors.”
I bobbed my head. “I know a woman who can plane jump with plans to move to the island. She has a friend who can open doors. It’s all very intimidating.”
“It shouldn’t be.” Mom shook her head. “They have a different skill set. Your skill set is likely still forming.”
“They have four elements magic,” May said. “They’re all growing. Together, they can do anything.”
“I can’t wait to learn more.” Mom smiled. “We have to get through this first.”
The words were barely out of her mouth when noise on the bluff overlooking our position drew my attention. I went ramrod straight when a large man, a magical shadow trailing behind him, appeared.
“Well, well, well,” he drawled. He looked tickled to see us. “This is a surprise.”
“Declan,” Marjory said grimly, her hands clenching into fists at her sides.
Declan searched every face in turn, lingered on Lilac and me for a moment, then returned to Marjory. “Do I know you?” he demanded. Before Marjory could answer, he came up with his own answer. “You’re the shifter who locked me away.”
“One of them,” Marjory agreed. She didn’t cower in front of him, even though she had few powers to protect herself. I’d never even seen Marjory shift. If she did, her wolf form would be no match for Declan’s power.
“And you were there.” Declan glowered at May. “The only thing I regret is that I didn’t get to mete out my justice when you were alive. I really wanted you to feel it.”
Lilac unleashed a ball of fire at Declan, catching his left shoulder and forcing him back two steps. She lifted an eyebrow when he snarled. She hadn’t even conjured her hellfire weapons yet.
Declan bared his vampire fangs and studied Lilac with fresh eyes.
“I know you,” he said in a low voice.
Lilac didn’t respond.
“You came to my house. You were a child then, but I felt your magic.”
Lilac cocked her head.
“We’re not here to provide you a way back to our world,” Galen said. He wasn’t the strongest member of our team, but as Moonstone Bay’s sheriff, he was our best diplomat.
“I don’t really care what you want, dog,” Declan hissed.
“We need something from you,” Galen continued as if Declan hadn’t spoken. “If you help us, we’ll put you out of your misery so you don’t have to keep living in this unholy place.”
I had to hand it to Galen. He made it sound like a quick death was a good deal.
“You really think I’ll take that offer?” Declan scoffed.
Galen shook his head. “I still thought I should make it.”
“I don’t need to kowtow to you,” Declan replied. “I have everything I need here.” His eyes gleamed as they bounced between Lilac and me. “More than enough.”
I recognized what he was going to do before he launched his attack and threw up a reflecting shield to protect those around me while sending his magic back at him.
Lilac withdrew her hellfire weapons from her core.
She was quick with her magical fire swords, and as Declan dodged the return of his own magic, she slipped in under his defenses and stabbed him in the stomach.
Declan gasped, his eyes going wide in dumbfounded disbelief.
“You really never had a shot,” Lilac, looking almost sympathetic told him. “I can take out actual vampires — a whole nest of them — without breaking a sweat. Did you really think you were a match for me?”
“I’m … you killed me,” he complained.
“Not yet.” Lilac withdrew her sword and shoved him toward Booker. “Push him through the door,” she ordered.
Booker’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“He’s leaking magic,” Lilac replied, looking unbothered by what was playing out. She was in complete control. “A lot of magic,” she continued. “The sort that can charge that door for our ghosts.”
Booker glanced at the door, then back at her, his lips quirking. “You’re a genius!” He swooped in and kissed her before grabbing the back of Declan’s shirt.
“Wait.” Galen extended his hand to stop Booker before the cupid could throw Declan through the opening. “We can’t let him loose on the other side, even if he is dying. He could do too much damage.”
“I don’t expect him to go on his own,” Lilac replied. “You’re taking him. So is your mother.” She hesitated. “Brody can go too,” she said, making up her mind on the fly.
Galen balked. “I’m not leaving.” He didn’t say what he was really thinking. I’m not leaving Hadley, but everybody knew what he meant.
“Hadley will be fine,” Lilac replied. “She’ll be with the three of us. We’ll be right behind you with May and Emma. We just need a little more magic.” She looked at my mother for confirmation.
Mom nodded. “I might be able to cross once Declan does.”
“We’re going to take care of Bogdan while we’re here,” Lilac replied. “I don’t like leaving loose ends, and he’s a big one.”
Mom nodded.
“If you can cross once they take Declan through, then we expect you to go,” Lilac continued matter of fact. “We’ll be right behind you after we finish.”
Mom opened her mouth, clearly to argue, but May shook her head.
“They’re a force to be reckoned with, Emma,” she supplied. “This is their battle. They will win it. We have to do what they say.”
Mom nodded, her gaze never leaving me. “Fine.”
I smiled in return, offering encouragement. This was Lilac’s show.
Booker tossed Declan, still swearing and struggling, toward Galen. Declan might have had super strength but his wound had diminished him.
“This is not right,” he complained. “This was not how it should be.”