His tail twitched, his hand reaching up to grab hers. “I think we both know what’s coming.”
True enough.
Already the scent of pomegranates was filling the air, the fruity scent making Anna’s skin crawl with fear.
“We have to get out of here,” she whispered, but her feet seemed frozen to the ground. “Levet…”
The gargoyle grunted, his expression dark. “I can’t move either.”
Anna strained against the invisible bonds as the portal widened to reveal a tall, red-haired woman dressed in a long gossamer gown, a stunning emerald necklace around her neck.
The image was fuzzy, but there was no mistaking those perfect features or pure emerald eyes.
The woman from her dreams.
No, not dreams. Nightmares.
“Damn,” she breathed, her fingers tightening on Levet’s fingers. The woman wasn’t actually in the room, but she was a hell of a lot closer than Anna wanted her to be.
“Danteeeeeeee!” Levet screeched, his voice bouncing through the room with an eerie echo.
The woman gave a throaty laugh, but to Anna’s horrified gaze it appeared that the pale, perfect face held a hint of strain. As if holding the portal was not as easy a task as she wanted them to believe.
“The vampire can’t hear you, gargoyle. Nor can the Phoenix. You are all alone.”
“Morgana.” Anna wasn’t even aware she spoke the name aloud until the emerald gaze swung in her direction and widened in shock.
“You.” Morgana shook her head, her expression one of utter disbelief. It might have been funny if Anna wasn’t scared out of her mind. “Anna Randal. No. It cannot be. I killed you.”
Chapter 14
So. This was the woman who had been responsible for the fire that had killed her aunt and nearly brought an end to her own life.
The…bitch.
Anna tilted her chin, her body trembling with something more than fear.
“Yeah, well, you missed,” she said, knowing it was lame, but it was the best she could do under the circumstances. What she wanted to do was get her hands around that perfect neck.
The emerald eyes narrowed in fury. “How did you survive the fire? The spell I used should have killed you.”
“I have a few powers of my own.” And a healthy dose of blind luck.
Morgana hissed, the fruity scent so powerful that it was making Anna’s stomach queasy. Or maybe that was just the terror.
“I should have killed you the moment I suspected who you were.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Morgana’s image became sharper, clearer. As if the portal’s reception was being fine-tuned.
“I had to be sure. I had to know that you were the one with the powers I had sensed before I risked exposing my presence.”
“Exposing your presence?” Anna shivered with the age-old pain. “You mean burning a townhouse to the ground and killing an innocent woman in the process? Tell me, was Aunt Jane even related to me?”
“Of course not,” Morgana scoffed. “She was just a foolish old woman with a mind that was pathetically easy to control.”
God. How had she ever lived beneath the same roof with this woman and not sensed the evil that marred her soul?
“And what of my real parents?” she gritted, her hands squeezing poor Levet’s fingers until he gave a small squeak. “Did you kill them?”
Morgana laughed, her slender fingers lifting to stroke through the fiery curls.
“I killed a vast number of your relatives. I can only suppose that among them were your parents.”
“Ummm…Anna,” Levet whispered.
Ignoring the gargoyle, Anna glared at the woman who was determined to see her dead.
“Why? Why are you trying to kill me?”
“Anna. Sacrebleu, woman,” Levet snapped, jerking on her arm until she could no longer ignore him. “We are about to be pulled into the portal.”
Too late, Anna realized that the shimmering glow was indeed growing, the outer tentacles reaching across the room to where she stood.
“Crap.” She vainly struggled against the power that held her motionless. “How do I stop it?”
Morgana held out a slender hand, a smug smile curving her lips. “You cannot, my sweet. Soon we will be done with this tedious game.”
“Levet?” Anna rasped.
The gargoyle shot her a desperate glance. “Now would be a good time for those powers of yours.”
Morgana laughed. “She cannot best me. I am a queen. My powers are without limit.”
Anna could feel the strange ripples of energy brushing her face. Damn. This was bad. Really, really bad.
“Don’t you have a spell or something?”
“Oui, but…”
“But what?”
“They are not always so predictable.”
“Perfect.”
The gray eyes were round with fear as the demon gave her fingers a painful squeeze.
“Do it now, Anna.”
Do it? Do what?
Anna squeezed her eyes shut. A part of her warned she was as likely to bring the roof down on their heads as to save them, but with that strange energy beginning to surround her, she knew that she had to do something.
Anything.
Releasing the doors in her mind, Anna focused on the blood rushing through her veins. In that blood was the magic that was growing stronger with every passing day.
So strong that she wasn’t at all certain what was going to happen.
Reluctantly opening her eyes, Anna met the triumphant emerald gaze of Morgana le Fay and allowed the building power to explode around her.
Cezar was returning to Dante’s mansion when he felt Anna’s distress.
He had wasted hours among the books, searching for any hint of Morgana’s weakness. Hours that revealed nothing more than one obscure poem that only confirmed what he’d already suspected.
At last it was the approaching dawn that had driven him from the tunnels and back onto the streets of Chicago. He said a terse good-bye to the hovering Jagr and tracked his way toward the north of the city.
He was still blocks away when he felt the first surge of fear race through him.
It had taken him a moment to actually realize that it was Anna’s feelings he was experiencing. As a vampire he could read the souls of those standing close to him, and even their emotions if they were strong enough.
But this was different. This was far more personal. Far more intense.
It was almost as if they were…mated.
He didn’t have time to worry about the dangerous sensations flowing through his body. Not when the fear that he sensed reached the level of terror, then disappeared with a shocking wrench.
Anna.
With blinding speed he consumed the last few blocks and burst into the massive house, the door swinging open with enough force to rattle the pictures on the walls.
“Anna?” he bellowed, heading for the stairs, when Dante abruptly appeared before him. Coming to a halt, Cezar glared at his friend. “Where is she?”
Something that might have been sorrow touched the lean features. “Cezar.”
“Dammit, Dante.” Cezar reached out to grab the vampire by his shoulders, giving him a violent shake. “Tell me where she is.”
“We don’t know,” Dante muttered.
He gave the man another shake, a cold dread forming in the pit of his stomach.
“That’s not good enough,” he rasped.
Abby appeared at his side, her hand reaching up to lightly touch his arm. Under normal circumstances that light touch would have been enough to send him bolting away. The spirit within Abby had a nasty habit of setting demons on fire.
Now he didn’t even flinch.
“Cezar, I know you’re upset,” she murmured.
“Upset?” he growled, glaring into her brilliant blue eyes. “I’m way past upset.”
Her expression remained calm even as the lights flickered and more than one bulb burst beneath his surge of power.
Obviously she was accustomed to dealing with angry vampires.
“I know, but if we’re going to find Anna and Levet then we can’t fight among ourselves,” she pointed out softly.
Cezar hissed. He was wise enough to know that Abby was right. If Anna was in danger then he needed all the help he could gather to rescue her.
But at the moment, he didn’t want to be wise.
He wanted to tear the city apart brick by brick until he had Anna in his arms.
Backing from her touch in case he did something truly stupid, he held himself with a rigid restraint.
“Tell me what you know.”
Glancing briefly toward Dante, Abby sucked in a deep breath. “Anna and Levet went to her rooms to discover a means of shielding her mind. They had been in there less than half an hour when I brought a tray to them and discovered they had disappeared.”
“You heard nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“What about the room? Was it…”
As his voice cracked, Dante clapped a steadying hand on his shoulder. “There were no signs of a struggle. No blood. But there is something you should see for yourself.”