In the Company of Witches(58)

That experience had given her the ability to understand what Mikhael meant, about the darkness in his heart being something that could be used for good. But it didn’t stop it from being darkness.

She convulsed against the bars as Erica kept the iron pressed against her. Her lips curled back, fangs showing, and she snarled at the she-demon. The pain was excruciating, eating away at everything that was keeping that fear at bay, so she fought it harder. Shoving herself against the brand, she reached through the bars and closed her hand over the iron, holding it even when Erica tried to jerk it back.

“You…can’t make me…do anything,” Raina said. “You might as well…kill me now.”

Erica finally yanked the iron away and it clattered to the floor. She stared at Raina, who was panting, her burned breast pressed against the cage. “Elceus taught me everything about enduring pain.” Raina spat through the bars, and the demoness, not expecting it, got hit with the spittle. Score one for her, though she was aware of Isaac shaking his head, trying frantically to dissuade her from poking the tiger with a stick. It didn’t matter, not when the tiger already had you in her sights. At that point, it was all about who backed down first.

“I may not be able to teach you about pain, succubus.” Erica picked up the iron and considered it, her eyes running down Raina’s body with malevolent promise. “But I know, no matter how you resist the pain, you can’t resist hunger. Eventually, you will drain Isaac.”

“Not happening. The hunger doesn’t override my will. Not ever.”

“You’re lying. Even if you aren’t, he’ll beg you to do it.” Erica slapped the iron back into the brazier and met Raina’s gaze. “Because until you feed on him, I’m going to have more fun with you, and my demons are going to have more fun with him. I absolutely love having more than one toy to play with.”

MIKHAEL DRIFTED INTO CONSCIOUSNESS, A HAZY SORT of fur over his memory, such that he came awake without opening his eyes, getting his bearings. He was in Raina’s front yard, surrounded by what smelled like torn-up grass and broken concrete. Derek was there, kneeling beside him. Some others were there…the incubi and succubi, probably up on the porch, along with Ruby and Ramona. No Raina. Her scent lingered…her blood.

His gaze snapped open and he surged up. He didn’t contain his instinctive reaction, but fortunately Derek did, grounding the electrical energy that shot off him and struck the ground in four places, lightning smoking off the grass. One of Raina’s rosebushes disintegrated into a pile of ash. Shit. She was going to nail him for that one.

“Where is she?”

“I’m going to lift the veil on your memory now. I didn’t want you coming up thinking you were still in the midst of a fight. Mikhael, look at me. Tell me you understand.”

He shook the clouds out of his head, and they stubbornly stayed fixed there. He focused on Derek, whose mouth was tight and eyes dead serious. Something bad had happened. Very bad. And Raina wasn’t here.

“Get your shit out of my head before I rip off your arms.”

“Good enough.” Derek nodded. It was like a breeze going through his mind, an easy removal. Any other time he would have been impressed with the Light Guardian’s command of mind magic, since exercising it on a Dark Guardian, even an unconscious one, wasn’t the easiest task. But what filled his mind was enough to eradicate any desire but one.

He’d been on his way to her porch. He was going to walk up those stairs, kick in the door, sling her over his shoulder and take her somewhere they could talk this out, once and for all. He was going to lay it all out for her, whether or not it scared the shit out of her. And him. He had time; he could wait her out until she believed him. Until he got more steady with it himself.

A power surge, coming from behind him. He tried to turn, but the percussion had already hit, the fountain exploding, and then…nothing.

Nothing. A scent he remembered vaguely, putrid, decaying…

“What did you see?” His gaze speared the sex demons on the porch. Li was paler than usual, probably because Mikhael sounded like he was going to eviscerate anyone who didn’t give him the right answer. Which was probably why Derek answered, and Ruby stepped in front of Raina’s charges, though her expression held a disturbing compassion. As well as a great deal of worry for her friend.

“He said Raina was standing over you, protecting you from something. Something he couldn’t see, but she was talking to it. It didn’t stay long, and Li only had one side of the conversation.” Derek shared the details of it with him, a comment about a soap opera, nothing useful. Raina obviously hadn’t known they couldn’t hear or see her opponent, else she would have given them more. “Then she vanished.”

“How did you get here?”

“Cathair.” Derek’s jaw tightened. “She always said she’d never call on me for anything, so when he came looking for me, instead of Ruby, I knew it wasn’t good. He kicked the ass of an eagle to get to us, and he’s hurt bad. Very bad, I’m sorry to say. Ramona is tending him, since she’s better at that than this kind of thing. Cathair couldn’t see who Raina was facing, either, but he picked up from her mind that it was the female demon you expected. Isaac’s gone, too.”

“Nothing should have gotten through that perimeter undetected.”

“I walked it while you were healing, and I got nothing, except the tracks of four low-level demons, thugs she probably compelled to help her. Once she got in, neutralized you, she had them cross those warding lines. They all disappeared in the same spot. No trail. What did that demon take that would make her want Raina as well?”

“She took a soulkeeper.”

Derek considered that. “To use that, the user would need to be able to detect the moment a soul is about to be released.”

“A sex demon can detect that. She took Isaac.”

“But with Raina, she gets that, plus a powerful magic user.” Ruby spoke from the porch. She’d put her arm around a white-faced Gina to reassure her, but her next words were less than reassuring. “More powerful than she seems, which is already formidable.”

“What do you mean?” He took a step toward the porch, gaze narrowing, aware that Derek shifted with him, keeping an eye on him. Fuck him.

Ruby pressed her lips together, expression strained and worried. “Raina doesn’t tap into half of the power potential she has, Mikhael. She doesn’t want to attract unwelcome attention from the Dark or Light Guardians, because she knows what she does here already has her flagged.”

Mikhael bit back a vile oath. “Damn it, Isaac running here brought Raina onto the demon’s radar. She knew she was getting double bonus points if she got them both.”

“You had a tracker on the incubus, right?”

“They’re too far gone. I’ve got nothing on him now.” Goddamn it.

Derek’s steady blue eyes held his. “We have nowhere to start to find her. I can go to my sources, you go to yours, see what we can pick up. Then—”

“I know where to start. Give me a minute. You may need to do that wake-up shit with me again.”

Derek didn’t question, just leaned on his white ash staff and nodded.

Mikhael moved to the broken fountain. Water was still trickling from the spout, spilling into the broken basin and running into the ground. Rebar was sticking out of one of the broken pieces, so he struck the concrete repeatedly with his fist to make it crumble, free the iron bar. It was helpful, cathartic, and he ignored the reaction from the porch as he decimated it in two blows. Then he positioned the rebar over his heart, closed his eyes.

I’m here, baby. Reach out to me.

He shoved it in, aware of several cries, even a somewhat gratifying gasp from Ruby he was sure would chap Derek’s ass. Then he was on one knee. He held on to consciousness with everything he had, casting that lure, casting it wide, in all dimensions…Come on…come on…

He fueled himself with vicious, lethal rage. Someone had taken her, would hurt her. She’d been there before, which meant she would see what was coming at her. She’d fight like a bitch straight from the bowels of Hell, because she didn’t know when to shut up, back down, and they would hurt her even worse. He was going to make them suffer three times over for anything they did to her.

Just before consciousness left him again, he felt it. A single ping in a universe of darkness. His lips stretched in a grim, deadly smile, and then he fell to the ground and was out again.

HE OPENED HIS EYES TO SEE DEREK KNEELING OVER HIM, gripping his shoulder, bracing himself with his staff. The metal inlay against the carved wood flashed in the early-morning sunlight. The Light Guardian removed his touch when he saw he was awake. “You got her?”

“Got her.”

“Then let’s go get her back.” Derek offered his hand and Mikhael clasped it, getting back to his feet. Gods above. Running his hand over the back of his head, he found his hair caked with blood and unmentionables.

“I believe it was your brain matter. Ruby and I knocked the concrete off you. Pretty much ground your spine and a lot of other bones to dust, crushed internal organs. Good thing your dick was under you, even though I assume the puny thing’s probably still intact.”