Midnight Kiss: Tales of the Were (Were-Fey Love Story Book 3) Page 14

  “We have movement,” Ezra said in a voice so low, only Margo heard him.

  She squeezed Gabe’s hand back and nudged her chin toward the end of the alley. He got the message and let go, focusing on the house across the street.

  Sure enough, a man was walking down the sidewalk, easy as you please, heading right for the house. Would he turn up the front path? Was it really Bolivar, striding around in the open, like he had not a care in the world?

  “Son of a gun,” Gabe muttered. “That’s him. He reeks of blood magic.”

  Margo couldn’t smell it from this far away, but maybe Gabe was speaking metaphorically. Maybe it was something he could see—like he’d seen Trisha’s magic earlier. Gabe sought Ezra’s eye and nodded. Ezra spoke into the small mic attached to his earpiece, as did Collin.

  “We go in two minutes. The other teams are taking closer positions,” Collin reported loud enough for Gabe to hear now that he’d moved closer in the darkness of the alley. Gabe had checked the entire area for wards before they’d taken their spots and assured them the place was clean.

  Well, not clean. The small space between buildings was actually rather filthy, but it hadn’t contained any hidden magic that Gabe could detect. That was good enough for Margo. She’d realized at that moment that she’d come to respect his magical ability. She still wasn’t exactly sure just how powerful he was, but he’d more than pulled his weight so far on this team, so that had to mean something. Her wolf was slowly coming around but wasn’t convinced yet.

  As they watched from across the street, Bolivar went up the walk and into the house. Margo couldn’t see anything amiss, but Gabe frowned and looked at all three of them.

  “He just put up a dark ward. I’ll have to go in first and nullify it, which will alert him to our presence,” Gabe told them.

  “What does a dark ward do?” Collin wanted to know.

  “It can kill you if you cross it. If the mage who set it is powerful enough. What I just saw go up was more than strong enough to seriously hurt or even kill any of you. Thing is, once I start hammering away at his ward, he’ll probably bolt out the back or something.”

  “No, he won’t,” Ezra growled, looking mean. “I’ll take the back. He won’t get past me.”

  Bears were tough, Margo knew, but could Ezra stand up against a fleeing mage? She wasn’t so sure. Gabe looked like he was considering Ezra’s offer seriously, though.

  “I can make it visibly spark when the dark ward goes down. If anybody’s watching, they’ll see it, but hopefully, they won’t call the power company or anything. Watch for the spark and don’t close in on the house until you see it or you’ll regret it,” Gabe warned. “I’m going to make my approach from the left front corner of the house. I don’t want to face that door ward head on. An oblique angle is best.”

  “I’ll be in back, covering the backyard and backdoor,” Ezra confirmed quickly. Time was running out. They had to move fast.

  “I’ll take the front right and keep an eye on the right side in case he goes for a window or something,” Collin added. “And I’ll keep comms open.”

  “I’ll be with Gabe, but watching the left side of the house,” Margo volunteered. She wasn’t letting Gabe out of her sight, but she would pull her weight with the team, too.

  Collin nodded and headed out, moving like a shadow into the street. Ezra followed suit, going down the block a house or two before crossing the street and fading into the trees around the neighboring house, heading for Bolivar’s backyard. When Collin was in position, he nodded to Margo. She could see him clearly in the dark, though she doubted Gabe could.

  She took his arm and they strolled out of the alley as if they were a couple taking a shortcut. They crossed the street, and she let go of his arm. She could hear Collin speaking into his radio, saying “Go, go, go,” and she knew the strike teams were moving, even as Gabe raised his hands and started to chant.

  Wind rose up out of nowhere, bringing a fetid stink of old blood and decay toward her, but she stood her ground, watching the side of the house and Gabe’s back. Gabe was the center of the maelstrom, but he didn’t look concerned. He just kept speaking words she couldn’t decipher, gesturing only slightly with his raised hands. This was more than the simple flick or crook of his finger she’d seen before, but it wasn’t all that showy. Maybe he had even more magic than she’d suspected. He sure seemed to be handling the storm of evil that came against him with ease.

  In a shower of sparks that zapped all around the house, the dark ward was no more. It looked like the spark of a downed electrical wire, so she understood his earlier comment. The only thing was, it wasn’t just one sparking location, but a rough circle all around the house. All at once. Like a massive ring of sparks.

  Collin didn’t wait for the light to die before he was off and running across the lawn. Gabe was even faster, and he beat the hawk shifter to the door, giving Collin a look that spoke volumes. Collin actually stopped and let Gabe go in first.

  Margo’s breath caught in her throat when Gabe flicked his finger and the solid wood door flew into the house like it had been hit with a giant battering ram. It was knocked completely off its hinges and splintered into a billion matchsticks. Wow.

  Yeah, it was definitely time to rethink the level of power Gabe had at his command. But, really, what did it matter?

  She felt a moment of revelation, following him into that house of horrors. If Gabe were injured—or, Goddess forbid, killed—Margo would mourn him the rest of her days. He was already part of her life in ways she had never expected. She wanted to see him every morning when she woke up and go to sleep, every night, wrapped in his arms.

  She wanted to have babies with his lovely blue eyes. Now, that was a thought she’d never had before. Ever.

  Gabe, strange as it seemed, was her mate. In a split second, she realized that simple truth. She loved him. He was her heart.

  And he was walking into danger. Damn. Margo raced to keep up with him as he swept through the house, blowing doors into sawdust all along his path with the tiniest flick of his fingers.

  They were almost through the entire ground floor of the place when they heard a roar from the backyard.

  “That’s Ezra’s bear,” Collin said unnecessarily as they all raced for the backdoor.

  There was a screened-in porch back there and a very angry, very gigantic bear blocking the exit. Between the bear and the backdoor, trapped in the screen porch, was Bolivar, looking angry and scared.

  He was shorter than she’d expected. And gaunt. In fact, he looked somewhat sickly, but she could scent him now. The entire house reeked—as Gabe had put it—of evil, but he, especially, stank of it. Dried blood and pain and evil intent. It was enough to make her stomach turn, but there wasn’t even time to barf as the cornered mage started flinging dark red fire bolts at them all.

  Gabe blocked every single one, encasing Bolivar in a circle that grew smaller and smaller as Gabe advanced. Would that hold the evil bastard? Margo had no idea. This was Gabe’s show, and she was there simply to back him up. Her inner wolf itched to push through her skin, but Margo resisted. Whatever happened next, she’d probably be better off in human form for now.

  If she needed the wolf later, she promised her wild half that she wouldn’t hesitate to let loose with the fur and fangs, but their location was too close to human houses. It was bad enough Ezra had gone bear. He’d have to hightail it out of here real soon, before the police or animal control showed up with tranquilizer darts or, worse, shotguns.

  With Bolivar contained for the moment in Gabe’s little circle, he turned to her. “Get the women. They’re in the basement,” he shouted to be heard above Bolivar’s screaming and Ezra’s growls. “Get them now!”

  “I’m supposed to watch your back,” she shouted back at him, unwilling to leave him.

  “I need to handle this alone. There’s nothing you can do to help, and when he breaks free, it’s going to be all I can do to protect myself. I don�
�t want any of you in the line of fire. You can help best by freeing those women and taking them to safety.”

  Margo was torn, but she understood his logic and wanted to minimize any distractions she might cause. She touched his arm once, softly, and nodded. She turned to follow Collin. He’d already taken off, and she followed suit. When she got to the basement door, which was in sight of Gabe, she looked back in time to see a huge explosion of red fire as Bolivar crashed out of the circle Gabe had kept him in.

  She shaded her eyes as a huge furry shape bounded in front of her and down the stairs after Collin. Ezra, in bear form. Margo followed, sending a prayer up to the Goddess to keep her mate safe.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  With everyone safely underground, Gabe was finally free to let loose. He hadn’t been able to tell the others, but he’d shielded the entire property from view the moment after the dark ward had come down. It was a good thing, too, with Ezra roaring away at the top of his massive lungs.

  Bolivar’s blast destroyed the screen porch. Gabe ducked into the house to avoid the debris raining down from above but went outside again to face the other mage. Bolivar quickly realized he was trapped inside Gabe’s ward around the house, and he turned on Gabe with a snarl.

  “There’s no place to go, Bolivar. Give up, and I’ll let you live. Fight, and I’ll destroy you,” Gabe promised.

  He really wanted the fight because this piece of scum didn’t deserve to live. Now that Gabe could see him in person, he could see the layers of evil filth that covered Bolivar’s soul. There was no coming back for this warped and depraved being. Only death would cleanse the evil from his immortal soul—if he still had one. Gave wasn’t so sure.

  Bolivar didn’t bother to speak before he launched a blistering attack. It felt like Bolivar was sending everything he had against Gabe, all at once. Gabe staggered under the force of the dark firestorm but didn’t fall. He went to one knee, for effect as much as anything. He had to hold up long enough for the shifters to get the women he’d sensed out of that basement. Only then could he unleash his full fury on the mage.

  Gabe kept careful watch, as best he could, while luring Bolivar to expend all his magic in the futile attempt to beat Gabe down. He watched the doorway that led to the basement. They were out in the yard, but Bolivar’s last blast had shorn the back of the house off so that the path to that all-important basement stairway was visible through the wreckage.

  It felt like it was taking a long time, but it was probably only a few minutes before Ezra—now in human form and naked as the day he’d been born—came out of the stairwell, carrying a woman in his arms. Theodora. Gabe barely recognized her from her photograph.

  Then, Collin and, finally, Margo emerged from the basement, shepherding four other women, who all seemed able to walk, but just barely. Bolivar must have caught the direction of Gabe’s gaze, because he screamed in rage and redoubled his attack, trying to get around Gabe and blast the small group of refugees.

  That, Gabe could not allow. He rose to his full height, standing tall and strong against the evil man’s rage. Gabe made a broad gesture with his hands he had only ever used once before in his life. Gabe’s power was such that he had to be very careful of his motions while he was spell-casting. Too grand a gesture, and he could flatten a small city. But nobody outside his immediate family knew the full extent of the burden—and gift—he carried within himself.

  A few others were about to see some of it. There wasn’t much he could do about that, but perhaps the time for secrets was finally at an end.

  He watched with a grim expression as the full force of his power was brought to bear on Bolivar. One minute, the mage was screaming at him. The next, he was nothing but atoms, floating briefly in the wind of his passing.

  He wasn’t even dust. He was finer than dust, and in that next moment…he’d blown away. Gone forever.

  If Bolivar had retained any small portion of his soul, it was free now. Free to start over and repent of its former ways. Gabe hoped the soul that had been Bolivar—if it still existed and hadn’t been bargained away to an even more dreadful evil—would take this chance to start fresh and pure.

  For Gabe’s magic was such that it stripped away all evil in its path. Even as it destroyed Bolivar’s current physical manifestation, it gave the soul another chance. That was the blessing—and the curse—of his mother’s influence. Gabe might not have been able to follow the path of the holy man, but he had been raised by a priestess and trained in the particular gifts he had been given by both his parents.

  Bolivar was gone now, and everyone in the backyard had witnessed Gabe’s power. He turned to look at the small clump of humans and shifters and lowered his hands. Margo was the first to recover. She came to him and walked straight into his arms.

  There were no words, just her arms around him. Her support unspoken but real. Gabe was grateful. He hadn’t managed to scare away the best thing that had ever happened to him. At least, not yet.

  “Is there anything in that house worth saving?” he asked her as she held him close for a long moment.

  She drew back with a puzzled look on her face.

  “No. I don’t think so. Why?” she asked.

  “If nobody has any objections,” Gabe raised his voice a little to be heard by the rest of the group, “I’m going to blow the house. I don’t think we want to leave any evidence for the human authorities—or for any of Bolivar’s friends to comb through. What do you think?” Gabe addressed his question to Ezra and Collin.

  Ezra’s face was grim as he continued to hold the bear shifter female in his arms. She was in the worst shape of all the former captives. “Blast it to hell, where it belongs,” was his comment before he strode away, moving to a safe distance behind Gabe.

  “He’s right,” Collin allowed, a bit more calmly, as he escorted the four other women to join Ezra and his charge. “I don’t think there’s anything we can learn from this disgusting place. Whatever information it holds is probably tainted anyway. These ladies, if they’re willing to help us, can probably give us more information than the house itself.” Collin looked at the women, who were nodding agreeably. Even in their weakened condition, they seemed fully aware that they had just been rescued by the good guys.

  “All right, then,” Gabe said aloud. “I’m lowering the ward I had placed around everything after I blew Bolivar’s dark ward. As soon as I do that, everyone around here will be able to see what’s going on again. I’m going to make this look like a gas explosion and flatten the entire thing from the basement on up.”

  “You can really do that?” Collin asked, looking impressed.

  “Yeah,” Gabe nodded, feeling odd talking about his power when he’d tried to hide it most of his life. “I can. Stand clear. The explosion will go straight upwards with a debris radius of about fifteen feet from the foundation. Prevailing wind—though there’s not much of it tonight—is from the back here, so I can spread the debris out a little more up front.”

  Collin whistled between his teeth. “This I gotta see.”

  “It’ll happen fast, so don’t blink,” Gabe warned, starting to enjoy himself.

  He’d never really had an audience before when he did this kind of thing. Nobody had seen him at his full potential, except his family, and they were similarly endowed, so they weren’t really all that impressed. Of course, each Llewellyn had their own special gifts. This was one of the more common among the family. Blowing shit up was something the boys in the family usually did for fun—until their elders put the kibosh on their antics.

  Margo stood steadfastly at Gabe’s side as he counted down. “Wards coming down in three…two…one…”

  Gabe raised his right hand and flicked his finger, and then, the house blew to kingdom come, just as he’d planned. Damn. He hadn’t done that in a while, but it was good to know he hadn’t lost his touch.

  “Holy shit,” Ezra breathed, watching the debris float down to Earth with a look of satisfaction on his face.
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  “I’m glad he’s on our side,” was Collin’s wry comment. Gabe just grinned and put his arm around Margo’s shoulders. Turning to the rest of the group, he smiled.

  “Shall we get the heck out of here now? The fire department is probably on the way,” Gabe added.

  “There’s a van in the garage,” Ezra said unexpectedly.

  “Great. I can shield it from view if you can hotwire it,” Gabe said, already heading toward the small structure half-hidden under the trees at the back of the property. “Just let me check the area—though all of Bolivar’s spells would have collapsed as he left.”

  “Left?” Margo asked, a trace of confusion on her face. “He’s dead, right?”

  “Yes, he’s most definitely departed from this realm. What’s left of his soul was cleansed, and his mortal coil was reduced to atoms.” Gabe felt both happy and sad about what he’d done.

  He’d rid the world of a terrible agent of evil, but it had taken violence to do so. Gabe didn’t revel in the other man’s death, but he knew it had been justified. The look of relief on the former captives’ faces as they heard the truth that their tormentor was no more was good. Perhaps now, the women would have a chance at full recoveries, knowing Bolivar could never come after them again. It was a good first step. Closure to a horrific episode in their lives that had, no doubt, changed them forever.

  Gabe found the van, and as he’d suspected, any spells Bolivar had cast on it or the garage had dissipated along with the mage. Margo hopped into the driver’s seat and hotwired the vehicle. Goddess, what a woman!

  Gabe flicked his finger and made the van more or less invisible to the neighbors who had run out of their houses shortly after the explosion. Then, he saw a flash of orange out of the corner of his eye.

  “Stop the car,” he ordered quickly. Margo complied without question, and Gabe opened the passenger side door.