“We have to get to my father’s mansion,” I said, already headed to the door.
“What’s going on, Alex?”
“Please. I just … I think my sister is the next target.”
To his credit, Falin didn’t ask any more questions. We sprinted to the car, and I twisted the strap of my purse around my hand as the car soared over the asphalt. I tried calling again.
No answer.
My thoughts sped around my brain, urged on by the racing beat of my heart. What if he harvests the last soul before the Blood Moon? The sun was already sinking behind the taller buildings of the city. It could already be too late. I couldn’t think like that. I couldn’t.
The squeal of tires drew my attention to a white van careening out of a side street. It charged forward. As if in slow motion, I saw Falin look up, floor the gas. It was too late.
Falin grabbed my arm. Cool magic coursed through the air. Then the van plowed into Falin’s door.
My scream blended with the crunch of metal, the whoosh of the air bags. The world filled with motion.
The car spun. A lamp pole slammed into my door. Glass shattered.
The world stopped on its side.
Shit. Caleb will kill me when he has to watch PC again.
There was blood.
“Falin?” My voice broke, no air in my lungs.
I tried to move. Groped for the seat belt.
“Falin?” I said again.
No answer.
I twisted, trying to distinguish up from down. The convertible roof ripped open. I blinked into the orange glow of the setting sun. We’d stopped. How—?
Hands locked around my arms. Hands with too many digits. They dragged my legs free of the crumpled car, and a face with sharp teeth came into view.
The tingle of a spell hit my neck.
Then there was only darkness.
Chapter 27
“Alex.”
Darkness swirled around me.
“Alex, wake up.”
Beyond the darkness was pain. Thundering, searing pain. I clung to the cool darkness, but the voice dragged me forward, into the pain.
“Alex, now would be a good time to wake up.”
I pried my eyes open. Roy’s face slowly emerged from the red haze.
“Go away.”
“Shhhh,” the ghost hissed, clapping a hand over my mouth.
He woke me to tell me to shut up? I groaned and rolled over. Why do I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck?
The van. The wreck. I had been hit by a truck.
I jolted upright. “Falin?”
The world spun, black dots filling my vision, and my stomach flipped. Roy caught my shoulders before I collapsed.
“Maybe not quite so fast,” he said. “And keep quiet. They are fifteen feet away.”
They? I blinked, pressing the heel of my hand against my forehead. “What happened?”
“Well, you abandoned me in a stranger’s house. I caught up just as a big van full of nasty fae plowed into you.They dragged you out of the wreckage, spelled you, and then brought you here. I followed, and I’ve been trying to wake you for the past hour. I finally figured out I had to take that damn disk off your neck.”
But where is here? I looked around.
A thin barrier of red stretched beyond my feet, surrounding me on all sides. I reached out, feeling the tingle of magic. I pushed through the feeling and met solid resistance in the translucent light. I’ve been circled.
The world beyond the circle was hard to make out. I thought I saw the edge of a bed, and I was sure I could see a large candlestick. Another barrier flashed beyond that. I’m in a circle inside a circle? I rolled to my knees and leaned into the barrier, ignoring the biting tingle of magic that crawled over my skin as I cupped my hands over my eyes and peered through the magic.
Definitely a bed. I was in a bedroom? Something moved on top of the mattress. A loud moan trembled through the air, making the skin along my spine itch.
“Hey!” I yelled, slamming my fists against the barrier.
“What was that?” a female voice asked. She sounded familiar.
“Nothing,” a man answered. “I have a surprise for you.”
An arm appeared over the edge of the mattress, followed by a man’s sweat-soaked bare back. He twisted, his gaze cutting into me, and I found myself staring into the face of the late Governor Coleman.
I reeled back, landing on my ass. Roy’s body was dead. Coleman’s face had to be glamour. I knew that. But the man looked like Coleman. He reached down, grabbing at nothing on the floor, and white silk cords appeared in his hand.
Oh crap.
Bed. Silk cords. Woman. He’s going to kill again.
“Stop.” I beat my fists on the barrier. I focused on the only part of the woman I could see, a bare leg. “Run, dammit!”
“Are you crazy?” Roy pulled me back from the edge of the circle. “The bad guy is out there, and you can barely sit up straight.”
“He’ll kill her.”
“I heard something.” The woman pushed up to her elbows. Blond hair fell over her shoulders.
Casey.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Coleman said, crawling over her. His hand moved to her face, turned her away from me.
My stomach twisted, and I ripped free of Roy’s grasp.
Pushing up to my feet, I rammed into the barrier. Pain exploded through my body as every ache from the car wreck intensified. Casey didn’t even look up. She can’t hear me.
Coleman wrapped the cord around her wrist and guided her back down on the mattress. Dammit.
“Casey. Get out of there.”
She didn’t react. Coleman moved to tie her feet.
Okay, Alex, think. I looked around. I was in a nearly soundproof circle with a ghost. I was clearly glamoured to be invisible, because Casey didn’t know I was there.
Coleman did; he’d looked directly at me. Why did he bring me here? I had to get out. I had to reach Coleman before he began his ritual.
“Help me overload this circle,” I said to Roy as I tapped the magic in my ring. I couldn’t draw outside magic through someone else’s circle, but no one had taken my charms.
“I don’t think—”
“That’s my sister with that killer.”
Roy frowned, but he joined me at the edge of the barrier.
He pressed against the red haze separating us from the rest of the room, and sparks ignited in the barrier.
His face contoured—ghosts were pure energy held together by will and personality. I’d asked something dangerous from him, but I had to reach Casey before it was too late.
I channeled the raw magic from my ring into the barrier.
More sparks appeared. I drained the ring. The haze wavered. It didn’t break. Damn. Sliding off my charm bracelet, I pressed the sliver charms into the barrier. If I can hit it with enough magic …
It didn’t fall. What else can I hit it with? I glanced down. A small circular disk was on the floor—the spell the fae had used to knock me unconscious. I pushed it with the edge of my boot, shoving it into the barrier.
Still not enough.
Roy pulled back, more translucent than normal. My ring was empty. The charms in my bracelet had overloaded.
What else do I have?
The dagger.
I could still feel the enchantment tingling at my ankle—Coleman hadn’t taken it. Bending made my ribs protest, and my vision spun as I crouched, but my fingers found the hilt. Drawing my hand back, I jabbed the enchanted steel into the circle.
The blade sank in up to the hilt. Streaks of lightning shot through the barrier.The dagger began to glow, searing the skin on my palm. I jerked back.The dagger hung in the barrier, angry flashes of light cutting through the air around it.
“Get back,” I yelled to Roy—not that either of us had much room to go anywhere.
I crouched as close to the center of the small circle as possible and covered my head with my arms. Magic zinged through the air, making my hair stand on end.
Then the circle imploded.
The magical backlash tore around us, knocking me to the ground. A woman screamed. Coleman cursed. The dagger hit the carpet.
I grabbed it.The hilt burned in my grasp, but no magical resonance emanated from the blade. The enchantment overloaded. At least it was still a weapon.
I crawled to my feet, my body protesting. I ignored it.
I forced my legs under me.
“Alex?” Casey tried to sit up, but she had only one hand left free.
“Damn you,” Coleman said. He grabbed Casey’s wrist and strapped it down.Then he turned to me.“Obey me.”
Fear clutched at my throat as his voice crashed through my consciousness. No. The dagger slipped from my fingers. I couldn’t see the slave chain, but I could feel Coleman’s will battering mine. I fell to my knees, my arms wrapping around my bruised ribs—maybe if I could only hold on tight enough, I could keep myself inside me and Coleman’s commands out. It didn’t help.
I gasped and embraced the pain in my body, letting it remind me I was alive and I was me. I needed to focus.
Casey yelled something, alarm tainting her voice. I had to get Coleman’s attention off her until …
Until what? There was no guarantee help was on the way. Falin—A new ache, one that had nothing to do with my body, ripped into me. I didn’t know what had happened to Falin. I didn’t know if he was alive or dead.
The back of my throat burned. No help was coming. No one knew Casey was in danger. No one knew where I was. Still, stalling was my only option.At least until I had the strength to sit up straight.
“What do you want?” I whispered, my voice shaking as I fought to keep my thoughts my own.
Footsteps scrunched in the carpet, and a large hand wrapped itself in my hair, jerked my head back. I blinked at Coleman, his face only a foot from mine.
“What do I want?” he repeated. He laughed, but the sound was rough, and his thin lips curled back in rage.
“What do I want? I want the fear and respect I deserve. That the fae deserve. The King of Faerie is an old fool.
His stand of equality and harmony with humans is preposterous.
It is time for his rule to end, and you, my dear, are going to help me.”