Tyson took a few minutes to answer, by which time Braxton's rumbles and fiery breath had increased exponentially. Finally the wizard said: "The darkness originated in that house. Strong sorcery, mixed of so many energies, but … fuck … I'm getting a whiff of the Krass family."
Those words were an accelerant to the fire inside of Braxton. The dragon tilted his head back, roaring and letting his huge plume of flames spring free. He then took off at a crazed run.
Tyson continued speaking as we followed the beast: "I've had enough classes with that asshole to know the signature of his craft. Arrogant sorcerer hasn't even bothered to hide his trace."
Braxton was just about to dive through the wind barrier again – nothing was going to stop him this time – when the heavy energy in the area increased and the barrier started tightening in on the girls, moving faster than we could reach it, even with vampire and dragon speed.
That didn't stop us from trying though.
My hand had just scraped along the edge of the wind when there was an imploding pop noise, and in a blink the gusts scooped up the twin shadows and then they were gone. Within two heartbeats there was nothing left in the clearing.
Even the house was gone.
Everything inside of me turned to pure darkness, my fangs shooting free; my rational side disappeared under the craving of the vampire. I could hear Braxton roaring beside me, and I knew Tyson and Jacob were equally as angry. All of us lost ourselves for a few moments, a trademark of males when they feel true fear. Fear is not an emotion we Compasses are well equipped to handle, and I for one wanted to tear this forest to pieces until it revealed my pack mates.
I scraped together as much of my sanity as I could. The deep exhaustion which had been plaguing me for days was forgotten as adrenalin coursed through me.
My focus was on Tyson. "Can you trace that magic?"
He nodded. "Yep, already on it."
I left him to it, knowing he needed to concentrate. Braxton was flapping his wings, so I stepped across and touched a hand to his flank.
Are you going above to scout?
We all had strong mind blocks, but could send messages mentally using touch. Braxton's mind could be hard to reach when he was in dragon form, but this time he was open to me.
Yes, and if I find something, I'll signal you with flames.
With a nod I stepped back and let him do his thing. The canopy wasn't thick above us, a few swipes of dragon claw and he was through. Then he was gone, the rhythmic swishing of his wings fading.
Tyson was still muttering away. Jacob had his hands pressed against the trees, communicating with the nature gods, trying to find the disturbance in the land. We had used these techniques a lot over the past twelve months when we were trying to find Vanguard, so this was all second nature to us. Of course, we never were successful, always looking in the wrong place. We couldn't let that happen to the twins. That just was not an option.
I strode into the clearing and across to where that house had been only moments before. Besides the cleared, round zone, there was no evidence that a building had stood here at all. The grass was not flat; there were even some small wildflowers peeking up through the tall green grass. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes and still felt the prevalent tendrils of heavy magic, I would not have believed a building had stood there.
"You got anything, Ty?" The bite in my voice was enough that even my brother flinched, and he was a tough asshole.
"The magic woven here is complex and it's old. Someone has been doing this for a long time." He dropped his hands and a resigned look crossed his face. "I think we're going to need Louis' help on this one. Dark magic is hard to navigate. I don't have the experience."
In normal circumstances I'd find it amusing how annoyed Tyson was that Louis was a stronger magic user than him, but right now I cared about nothing but finding the girls.
"Can you contact him from outside the barrier?"
Tyson nodded. "Yep, already sent him a message. Since our power and his are all linked to the securities around Stratford, I have a direct mental link to his magical energy."
Which meant I probably did also, but vampires weren't huge on mental links. I'd leave that to the others. We fell silent then, waiting for Louis. The sorcerer knew more than any other supe in Stratford, and he had better know something in this case too. Otherwise we were screwed.
The sound of Braxton's dragon had faded away now. He'd be powering around the forest, trying to spot that house again or sense the strange magic. I continued scanning and moving around. There had to be something here, some sort of clue as to what we were up against.
Jacob's murmur drew my attention, and as he moved away from the trees and back toward us, he spoke rapidly: "The forest is keeping its secrets for now but the magic used here calls to me. We're looking at demon energy, fey, and a very strong sorcerer."
Shit. "After years of being told that Faerie is a dead land, it seems to be involved in a lot of the drama in our lives recently."
Tyson ran a hand through his hair, standing it up on end. "Yep, it feels as if this dragon marked thing set off some sort of ricochet across the realms. Unleashed new magics. Woke those ancients who were sleeping. Now we have to deal with the fallout."
My vampire roared to life. "Mischa better not be part of that fallout. We have to save the girls."
Tyson stared hard at me, doing a similar sort of probing thing that was usually Braxton's MO.
"What?" I snarled.
The wizard just shook his head and let the smallest of annoying smiles grace his lips. "Nothing, just find it interesting that the first name you mentioned was Mischa and not Jess."
I shot forward and grabbed the front of his shirt. I dragged him toward me and he didn't fight. Nope, just continued grinning at me, which made me want to slam my fist into his face.
"Mischa is pregnant with my baby. She is mine to protect. I will kill any motherfucker who puts a single hand on her."
The red haze in my head was making it hard for coherent thought. Instinct had kicked in and I was now in predator mode. I loved Jessa, I had no doubts of that. I would die for her in a heartbeat, but for some reason Mischa was wrapped around my vampire soul. The protective instincts I felt toward her were like no other. I could not stand the thought that she could be anywhere right now, and fuck knows what was happening with her.
Part of me wondered if this insane need to protect her would fade when the baby was born. I hadn't felt this strongly when we were together before. Which logically suggested it was our child connecting us. But another, larger part, was really hoping these emotions toward Mischa stuck around.
Yeah, I was screwed.
Tyson still didn't have the intelligence to be afraid of my current mood. "Max, calm down, man. We'll find them. They're our pack. Whoever took our girls is going down."
The words our girls echoed through my mind, and as they registered I was slammed with an extra boost to the fury already coursing through my body.
I was losing my goddamn mind. Why the hell would that upset me so much?
Tyson was my brother. I should be happy he cared about the pack. I should be happy that he was here to keep an eye out for them when I was weak and could not stay. Instead I resented that he knew of Mischa and the baby before me. I resented that their relationship had deepened and moved to a true and comfortable level of trust and acceptance. They'd hugged like old friends before.
I had noticed.
It was not my place to say anything, but the vampire inside of me did not feel the same way.
Before I could act on these emotions, strong energy crashed against my mental shields. Louis. That bastard was too powerful for his own good. His damned sorcery followed him around like an entourage.
My brothers and I stepped closer together, an instinctive move when faced with that much raw power. Lucky for us, the sorcerer was on our side. If that ever changed we would have a hell of a lot to worry about. I didn't fear anyone in this world, I was secure in my power, and my strong pack, but there were a small handful of supes who gave me concern. Louis was the top of that list.
He wasted no time on small talk. "What happened?"
Tyson strode to his side and for once managed to keep his visible annoyance toward Louis to a minimum. He reached out a hand. "It will be easier if I show you."
The magic users clasped hands for a second; there was no evidence of energy flowing between them. I couldn't even feel a change in their normal levels of smash-you-in-the-face magic.
Louis didn't speak his spells out loud anymore, he was able to manipulate magical energy with his thoughts and intentions. Although I noticed he would still verbal cast on occasion. Probably an old habit.
Louis' face went from benign to pissed off in seconds. With this change in expression came the first trickles of a loss of magical control. My vampire reared up as his strong magic wove around the clearing. Tyson pulled away from him then, and turning to me and Jacob mouthed, "Brace yourself," which gave us just enough time to shut down our own energy before Louis exploded.
His power buffeted out with the force akin to a nuclear bomb. I almost hit the ground as it passed through me and continued outward. I managed to remain on my feet, but it was not without some effort.
Well, damn. Had Louis actually been containing some of his energy over the years? That had been true power. What had his abilities been like when he led the council? The boost from his followers must have shot his sorcery to an almost uncontrollable level.