Chapter 58
Chapter fifty-eight
Delilah
The diamond called to me.
I could feel it, the temptations that it held—Pride, Lust, Gluttony—pulsing in the night, daring me to follow.
Turning back to the grand house, I stared at the door, my heart thudding as the sounds of fighting echoed into the night.
Archer had told me to run, but why did I listen? I never listened to him!
“Don’t do it,” Mex said, stepping forward and placing her hand on my arm. “Don’t distract him. He needs to know you’re safe, so let’s get you back to the club. He’ll find you when he’s done.”
“No!” Stepping back, I raised my hands, surprised to see that they were glowing.
I stared at them, curling and uncurling my fingers as wonder and shock flowed through me, then turned them palm out to Mex, holding her back.
“I can’t leave. Not yet.” Lowering my hands, I tried to reason with her.
“The diamond is so close, Mex. That’s the whole reason we’re here.
The reason for all this death and destruction.
” Turning, I took in the house, the sounds of fighting and snarling still echoing in every room.
In my chest, I could feel the pulse of Archer’s anger, his fury at the vampire who had put his hands on me, and it filled me with hope.
Hope that he would win that fight and we could finally be finished with this insane quest.
Knowing that Archer was strong and had Vine at his back, I turned my back on the house—on my mate—and began searching for Genevieve and the diamond once more. “I’m not leaving without it.”
“Cher,” Mex said, her steps close behind mine. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Yes,” I replied, even though I wasn’t entirely sure. The back garden appeared deserted, but I knew better than most what kinds of things hid in the dark.
“You are gonna have one seriously pissed off demon on your tail.”
“I couldn’t let her get away,” I insisted as I wove through the finely trimmed shrubbery. “We’ve worked too hard to let it slip through our fingers now.”
“What is your plan, then?” Mex pressed, her hands suddenly filled with a pair of wicked looking daggers.
The edges were sharp, catching the moonlight as she matched my pace.
“Because as much as she pisses me off, I can’t exactly condone the killing of a Vampire Queen in my territory…
at least not without a good reason,” she added with a smirk.
“I’m hoping it won’t go that far.” Looking to the left and right, I tried to sense the diamond, ignoring the hot pulse of anger that burned through the bond. “If I can just talk to her, maybe I can get her to see reason.”
“Good luck with that.”
Frowning, I didn’t answer, instead slipping between two tall, perfectly manicured hedges.
The night pressed close around us, heavy with the perfume of magnolia and damp earth.
A katydid rasped nearby, its shrill song an omen of death in a world otherwise brimming with hidden life.
From high in the sprawling live oaks, an owl called once, low and mournful, its voice ghosting through the silent garden.
Spanish moss trailed from the branches, ghostly fingers clawing into the dark, while the faint tang of the river drifted on the breeze—muddy, metallic, so near I could almost taste it.
At our feet, mist curled like breath, silvered in the moonlight and lending the maze an otherworldly glow.
And through it all, I could feel the power—the magic—woven into every root and leaf, thrumming like an ancient tapestry alive beneath my skin. The garden itself pulsed with memory, the earth remembering every step, every drop of blood ever spilled into its soil.
But above that steady rhythm rose a sharper, hungrier pulse—the throbbing call of the relic, burning through my soul, tempting me to take, to own, to possess. I wasn’t quite as needy as I’d been before Archer had seen to me, but it was close—too close.
I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be exposed to the thing day in and day out.
No wonder the vampires had near-constant orgies; they probably had no other choice.
“Delilah, I really think we should go back,” Mex said, her words hesitant. “If anything happens to you, Archer will have my head.”
“Nothing is going to happen.” Calling a ball of witchlight, I cast it aloft and followed the curve of the hedge, belatedly realizing we’d entered a maze of some sort.
How aristocratic.
“I’m sure if I explain that—”
My words were cut off by a loud snarl from farther in the maze, and I took off running without thought, instinctively knowing that was where I’d find Genevieve.
“Fuck.” Mex’s curse was low, but she didn’t try to stop me, only kept pace.
Racing through the maze, I turned one way and then another, stumbling when the puffy skirt snagged on the hedge. Disentangling myself, I kept going, only skidding to a halt when I reached a dead end.
“Shit. We have to go back,” I panted, turning, but Mex stopped me.
“You really don’t ever remember that you’re a witch, do you?” Mex asked, her smile teasing. “Why would you let something as simple as a hedge stand in your way?”
Pursing my lips, I turned to the wall of greenery, embarrassed that she was absolutely right; I had spent all of my life unable to access my power, and now that I could, I simply forgot.
Taking a breath, I closed my eyes, searching again for the relic in my mind. I could feel it, the greedy pull of the diamond, calling me to come and claim it. Turning my body toward that steady tug, I lifted both my hands and pressed them against the hedge’s cool, waxy leaves.
In my mind, I could see it, the darkness and the light, dancing together like smoke and flame, a perfect, balanced entity. My power hummed in my veins, restless, eager, yet waiting for me to give it shape.
The problem, I didn’t understand how to actually shape it into anything.
“Feel it, cher,” Mex whispered by my side, as though she sensed my hesitation. “Feel the power, feel your desire, your connection with the magic, the earth, your mate. All of it. You can touch everything and nothing and you can control it all.”
Her words slipped beneath my skin like a spell themselves, weaving inside me.
I inhaled deeply, and this time I let myself lean into it—the way the damp earth breathed beneath my boots, the pulse of life running through the hedge, the weight of the moon above pressing silver light into my bones.
I could feel it, that endless web of connection, roots and blood and breath all woven together, and my own magic humming at the center like a drumbeat.
Deep roots. Strong branches.
The collar at my throat shivered, almost purring, as though it too felt the promise in the air.
Focus steady, I cast my senses outward, clumsy but earnest, and pushed.
My power spilled from me like water poured into thirsty soil.
The hedge shuddered, leaves trembling as though caught in a sudden wind, though the night air was still.
I felt the resistance, the stubbornness of old wood and tangled vines, and I pressed harder—not with brute force, but with invitation.
Move for me. Bend for me. Open.
The branches writhed. The thick, woven mass creaked and shifted, reshaping itself under my will. Slowly, impossibly, the wall of green parted, drawing back into a narrow archway just wide enough for us to pass.
I opened my eyes, breathless. Awe rippled through me, stronger than Pride. It wasn’t just power—it was communion.
Mex’s hand landed warm on my shoulder. “Well done, girlie,” she praised, and I had to bite back a smile at the pride that swelled in my chest. “Hang back a second. I’ll make sure it’s clear.
” With a swish of her knives and a glint of moonlight on steel, Mex slipped past me through the arch I had made, every inch the predator.
She glanced around the new path, then gave a sharp nod, beckoning me to follow.
Which I did, ungracefully, when my ridiculous dress once again got caught on the sharp branches of the hedge.
“I told you this dress was a bad idea,” I grumbled as Mex stifled a laugh.
“Hang on,” she said, reaching behind me with one of her daggers and slicing through the delicate fabric. I cringed, hating the way she was destroying what had once been a beautiful creation, but between the running and fighting, there really wasn’t much left of it anyway. “There. You’re free.”
“I’m also half naked,” I complained, as the cool evening breeze danced along my bare legs, curling beneath the now much shorter dress.
“Well, I’m not sure what happened to your underwear, but that seems like a you problem.” Mex chuckled, reaching into her Rip and retrieving what appeared to be a pair of yoga shorts. “You can have these,” she said, holding them out. “I promise they’re clean.”
I slid them on under what remained of the poofy dress, blushing, but Mex said nothing further, so I lifted my chin and pushed past her, choosing to ignore her cheeky grin.
“This way.” Marching up to the next wall of greenery, I raised my hands and repeated the action, clearing the way through the hedge and opening a direct path between us and where I could feel the relic was hiding.
It was at the third wall that Mex stopped me again, raising a finger to her lips as she tilted her head to listen.
Straining my own ears, I fought to pick up any hint of what Mex had heard.
We were so deep in the maze that, at first, all I caught was the sounds of the night—the gentle wind through the boxwood leaves, the chirp of an occasional late-season cricket, and the now-distant sounds of the ruined party in the house behind us—but after a moment, I realized what had stopped her.
Voices. Several voices, actually, but two were louder than the others.
One with a gentle French lilt, the other angry and guttural.
“Let me go!”
“Tell me where it is, or I’ll rip out your pretty little throat.” The awful words were followed by a snarl that could only belong to a hell hound. At my waist, Pandora shivered in her pouch.
“Je ne sais pas de quoi tu parles!”
“Blood sucking bitch! Where is the Key?”
The sound of sharp slap rang through the night, followed by a scream, and I could feel my heart racing, fear for Genevieve slithering up my spine.
She may have been a vapid, spoiled vampire, but she didn’t deserve to be beaten for it.
“We have to help her,” I whispered.
“Fuck!” Mex swore, rolling her eyes. “That woman causes me nothing but trouble.” Looking to the side, she took in our location, finally deciding to head to the left. “Stay close and follow me.”
Creeping along the hedgerow, I did as she asked, reaching to untie Pandora’s pouch at my belt at the same time.
“Are you ready?” I asked my hedgehog familiar, staring into her bright black eyes as she snuffled at me.
“Alright, then. You know what to do.” Pressing a kiss to her twitchy little nose, I set her down gently, tucking her beneath the branches of the hedge where she waddled out of sight.
“Be careful,” I added to her retreating behind.
Catching up to Mex, I saw that she was peering around the corner, face crumpled in disgust as she gazed into the center of the maze.
“The fucking Order is in my city,” she hissed, her distaste palpable. “I told Archer this would happen.”
I could sense them, the witches of the Order, their magic tasting rancid and bitter on the wind.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’d hoped we could recover the relic and be gone before they caught up with us again.”
“I’m surprised they regrouped so quickly. After you rocked them hard in Boston, I figured they’d need some time to get their shit together.”
“Not as long as we’d hoped, it seems.”
“If they leave with Genevieve, we’ll never find the diamond in time. Samhain is almost here.” Glancing up, she took in the stars where they dimmed in the brightening sky. “One day left, and you still have to find the third piece. It’s now or never, cher. What do you want to do?”
I knew what Archer would want me to do; turn around and leave.
Reaching out to him through the bond, I could feel nothing but rage.
Pure, burning hatred, to be more specific.
And while that emotion burned brightly, there was no pain, no indication that he’d been hurt in any way.
Knowing he had Vine with him made me feel a little less guilty about leaving him, but I knew if we allowed Genevieve and the diamond to escape us now, she’d be gone for good.
I had to press forward; there was no other choice.
Everything—my entire life, really—had come down to this moment.
I just had to hope I was strong enough to survive it.
Sending Archer a pulse of apology, I straightened my shoulders and turned to Mex.
“Let’s go get that piece.”