Slade Read online

  “There was a shield here,” Kate observed quietly as they approached the front door. “It’s gone but I still can feel traces of it.”

  “It was probably blown when you called down the Light. Not much could stand in the face of that.” Slade knew there was admiration in his tone. Hell, he was damned impressed by what she had done and he wouldn’t soon forget how powerful she was when her skills were pressed into service. “There might be something like a blast radius at work here. The farther we get from the front porch, the weaker the effect. Keep an eye out.”

  “Yeah.” She walked a few steps into the house and stopped, looking around carefully. “I think you’re probably right. There are shields on every doorway and arch. Some of the closer ones are flickering. You see that?”

  Slade looked where she pointed. Oh, yeah. Dark power swirled like a fog but the openings closer to the front door were definitely damaged. Weakened. They would come down easily.

  Not so the archway that led into the great room. While somewhat damaged, the shielding there had probably been thicker to begin with. There was a violent swirl of red, brown and black. A cloudy miasma that made Slade seethe just looking at it.

  It was evil. Blood magic.

  “We need to get into the great room,” he reminded her unnecessarily. “Through that.” He pointed to the swirling cloud of dark magic.

  Kate took a deep breath at his side and squared her shoulders. “We can do it,” she whispered, almost to herself.

  She had courage, he’d give her that. Most human women he had known—if they could have seen something like what faced them now—would have run away, screaming in terror. Not Kate. She was cautious, of course. She wasn’t a fool. But she had a strength of character, a toughness of spirit, Slade had seldom found in any female who was not also a shifter.

  Without warning, Kate made a sign of protection in the air in front of her. Slade felt, as well as saw, the bright spark of protection as a shield of Light surrounded them both like transparent armor.

  “I think we’d better take some precautions, don’t you?” Kate smiled over at him. “Just in case.”

  “Good thinking.” Slade liked that she’d spun her shield to protect them both, but he was concerned about how much energy it would take out of her. Even with him feeding her power, eventually they would both be too weak to keep up the protection. They had to work quickly, but safely.

  “The cougars can always pull us out if we collapse,” she joked, somehow reading his mind. “I figured we were close to the end of our usefulness here—and very close to something potentially more dangerous than anything we’ve faced to this point—so the extra expenditure of magical energy is justified in my mind.”

  He thought about her words for a moment, agreeing with her logic.

  “Let’s get in, get the chalice and get out as quickly as possible.”

  “Agreed.” Kate turned her head, focusing on the dark archway that led to the great room. “I don’t see anything from here to the arch,” she observed as she moved one step forward, advancing slowly into the foyer. “I think the Light destroyed whatever was here, closest to the front porch.”

  “I don’t sense anything either,” Slade told her, moving with her, step by cautious step.

  They made it to within five feet of the arch safely. As they had surmised, the action on the porch had nullified anything within the blast radius, as Slade had put it, but that archway was definitely up and running, with all its evil intent intact.

  Slade knew a few different ways to counteract such things. Of course, adding Kate’s magic into the mix allowed for new and better possibilities. The shield she had put around them, for example, was not something Slade had ever seen before.

  “Can we project out from behind your shield?” he asked. “Or do you have to drop it to work?”

  “We can send energy out but it should slow or stop anything coming back at us.”

  “Neat trick.” His respect for her abilities was increasing beyond the high point it had already reached. She continued to impress him. Each time he thought he had her figured out, she’d pull another rabbit out of her hat.

  One thing was for sure, being around her was never boring. He would have laughed at that thought if the circumstances weren’t so dire.

  “What do you propose?” She didn’t turn her head, intent on studying the darkness they would have to penetrate without unleashing it on themselves or others, but he knew he had her attention.

  “How about the old bait and switch?”

  That made her look at him. “You mean one of us trigger it while the other acts?”

  “Yeah. I’ll test it out. You give it the old whammy. You up for it?” Slade was excited by the challenge and happy to have found a way to keep her back—at least a little—from the main area of action. He’d be taking on the full wrath of the magical protection while she worked from behind him.

  She eyed him with mingled suspicion and worry in her beautiful eyes before nodding once in agreement. Without giving her time to change her mind, Slade stepped away from her side, expecting her protection to fade, but much to his surprise, the shield of Light stayed around him. It was even stronger than he had thought.

  And there she went, surprising him again. Damn, he liked that a lot. Hells, he liked her a lot. Which was something he wanted to explore, in great detail, once they had a little time to themselves.

  For now, they had to get through the archway and conquer whatever waited within.

  Slade sent out his best countermeasure through the shield of Light, aimed at the roiling black, red and brown blood magic. The combination looked like dark rust—or dried blood—which was probably what powered such a foul thing.

  The dark miasma reached out tendrils of its foul self at him, seeking to attack, or at the very least, trap him in its coils. The Light protected him, as did his own magical protections, but the reaction from the barrier in the archway was much stronger than he’d expected.

  “Now, Kate!” Slade called out as the barrier reached for him again, stronger this time.

  He concentrated his power and struck back, knocking it down somewhat, but his magic alone wasn’t going to be enough. Then Kate joined in.

  A blast of pure white Light broke through the roiling cloud, making it bleed energy into the floor, then through it, to whatever lay beneath, and ultimately into the earth. Kate’s power shored up Slade’s and together they were able to wipe the archway of all taint, banishing it and dispersing it.

  Kate let up the onslaught at the same time Slade released his own attack. The barrier was well and truly gone.

  Slade took a deep breath and turned to survey his partner, his senses alert to any and all threats. So far, nothing took offense at the destruction of the barrier. Good.

  Kate seemed to wilt, but her spirit was high. They’d both expended a great deal more energy than Slade had expected. He took an involuntary step toward her.

  “Are you okay?”

  Kate nodded, biting her lip for a moment as she caught her breath. “Good to go,” she replied, somewhat unconvincingly, but the smile and thumbs up that accompanied her white lie made him feel both pride and joy in her indomitable spirit.

  Slade spared a minute to let the two Redstones know that the foyer was safe if they needed to advance into the house. Grif and Mag nodded, but the older brother looked pointedly at his watch and Slade knew they were running low on time. He turned back to Kate with renewed determination.

  “Stay behind me, kitten,” he instructed softly.

  “No problem. I’m not too proud to admit, I need a few seconds to regroup mentally, if not physically. That cloud was really disgusting. Slimy.” She shivered.

  “Evil,” he agreed. “Sometimes it manifests like that.” Slade shrugged.

  “You’ve seen this before?”

  He found it oddly satisfying to have surprised her for a change.

  “A few times, but not exactly in this configuration. This whole house is a n
ew one on me.”

  “Me too,” she agreed, moving closer to him as they prepared to enter the great room.

  Chapter Six

  As Kate entered the great room, the awful sight that met her eyes took breath away.

  “Sweet merciful Mother of All,” she whispered as her attention was drawn by the pulsing power of the dark circle that had been permanently inscribed in the hard wood floor. That barrier would not be easy to cross.

  Beyond it—in fact, all around the perimeter of the large room—were cages. Cages that held occupants of varying sizes and shapes. Many of them were cats. Several started mewling pitifully as she walked in, just behind Slade.

  “None of these animals are shifters, thank the Goddess,” Slade said quickly, his nose pointedly sniffing the air.

  “But they are magical. I think they’re familiars,” Kate said, walking to the closest cage and peering inside at the weak, fluffy, black and white cat that lay so forlornly within. “Valerie can help with this. She’s got a special affinity for these kinds of creatures.”

  “Kate,” Slade’s tone caught her attention. “Something’s moving inside the circle. Behind the altar.”

  Kate looked at the circle once more, realizing the small, low table, which was about the size of a small ottoman or large footstool, was what Slade accurately described as an altar. She remembered when they looked in the window, that the mage had been sitting on the floor inside the circle, facing the altar, doing something. She dreaded what she might see. For all they knew, he could have been calling demons when they interrupted him.

  “The good news is, I think the perimeter of the room is clear. The simple magic of these familiars apparently foiled whatever attempts our guy made to work his evil outside the circle,” she said quickly. “I think we can move around the room freely. Whatever’s inside the circle won’t be able to get out until we break it, and the familiars’ energies have kept the rest of the room clear.”

  “Good.” Slade looked around as if confirming her ideas for himself. “Stay here. I’m going to go around and see what’s lurking on the other side of the altar.”

  She nodded, but he was already off, stalking silently around the room. As he went, the familiars who had the strength, rose in their cages to watch him. Many sets of feline eyes followed his progress with clear curiosity.

  He cursed under his breath as he saw whatever it was that crouched behind the small altar.

  “It’s a bear cub, and it’s bleeding,” he announced quietly. “I think the bastard was trying to fill the chalice with this little one’s blood. There’s a very ornate goblet lying on its side next to the poor thing and blood all over the floor back here.”

  “We have to help it,” Kate said without hesitation.

  “Yeah,” Slade answered, a pained expression on his face. “But first we have to get to the cub and then we have to subdue it. The little one may be weak, but it is also scared witless. And I can’t smell it or hear it. The circle must be containing everything from within. I can’t scent whether it’s a shifter or just a baby bear. We also can’t hear it and it can’t hear us. It can see me though, and it’s getting angry.”

  “Then we’d better figure out how to get to it and get the chalice.”

  “And get the hells out of here,” Slade agreed. “Any ideas?”

  “Yeah, one.”

  Kate reached into her pocket and took out the small bag of herbs and stones she usually kept with her. They were part of her magical stock and trade, and she’d come to learn over recent years, that she never quite knew when she’d be called upon to work different kinds of magic.

  Kate walked around the circle, placing small, semi-precious stones at the four cardinal points hoping to contain whatever would be unleashed when she broke the perimeter of the evil circle. If the bear was more than just a bear, she didn’t want it running amok before they could stop it.

  To that end, Kate set up her own barrier of protection around the evil one, encasing it as best she could under the circumstances. She did it quickly and with as little fuss as possible, regaining her strength and centering herself as she went. She got a good look at the bleeding bear cub. It looked so innocent, but without certain knowledge of what it really was, Kate was still suspicious. Too often in her experience, evil masqueraded as something innocent.

  The bear watched her with equal suspicion from its position on the floor when she walked around that side of the circle. There was intelligence behind those soft brown eyes and Kate worried anew about what sort of creature they might be dealing with.

  There was only one way to find out.

  Kate raised her arms as she raised the dome of protection outside the circle, enfolding it in the power of the Light of the Lady which showed in faint sparks to her mage sight. Kate knew Slade saw it too. He looked at it with approval before turning back to her.

  “Handy,” he commented with a slight grin. “Now what?”

  “One of us has to break the outer line of the circle.” She grimaced as she thought of what could happen after they took that final, irrevocable step.

  “What do you recommend?” Slade looked to her for advice, which she found both frightening and gratifying. She didn’t want to advise him—or anyone, for that matter—to take an action that might result in their injury, or even their death.

  “A bit of salt should do it,” she answered softly.

  “That’s all?” Slade looked surprised.

  “Sometimes simple is better. I always keep a little salt in my pouch. It’s more powerful than most people know.” She lifted the little bag in her hands. “This salt was consecrated in the circle of stones at the full moon, under the Lady’s guidance, but even regular table salt usually works. This stuff just has that little extra whammy.” She opened the small pouch that held the salt. It was a mix of fine and more granular crystals and it was pink.

  She realized immediately that Slade understood the significance of the color.

  “That’s Himalayan.” He paused beside her, looking down at the pink crystals in her hand. “I think that means this is my task, don’t you?” He reached out to take the salt from her, but she stopped him, clasping his arm and looking up into his eyes.

  “I’m worried, Slade. That bear might be something else entirely. Once we break the barrier, I have no idea what will happen. It could be bad. Very bad.” She tried her best to caution him. Something inside—some inner sense that she would never fully understand—made her fear for him.

  She couldn’t lose him now. She had only just found him.

  “You hold the barrier. I’ll deal with whatever is inside. Don’t worry. I’ve done this kind of thing before.” He reached down to kiss her lips sweetly while taking the little pouch of salt from her trembling hands.

  And then he was gone. Moving away, toward the evil circle.

  “Just pour the salt over the line, breaking it,” she coached, all but gnashing her teeth with worry.

  And she had a right to be worried. The moment Slade poured out the pink salt from the pouch and it touched the dark line on the floor, things happened in super fast slow motion.

  The bear roared, no longer a bear as it changed and shifted into a much larger, deadlier form. It leapt for Slade, claws extended. The claws became hands, but the sharp nails remained, raking over Slade’s body, slicing through his clothing as if it were nothing.

  “Miranda, no!” Mag’s shout came from the archway behind Kate. The younger Redstone had entered without her realizing it and he seemed to recognize the creature inside the circle whose glistening fangs were even now bearing down on Slade’s unprotected neck.

  It was a woman.

  It was a vampire. And she was crazed from starvation and blood loss.

  Dear Goddess, no!

  “Miranda!” Mag dashed into the room, stopping only feet from the woman who held Slade immobile, bleeding from a multitude of cuts she had inflicted in less than a few seconds.

  She seemed to pause, her fangs a brea
th away from Slade’s skin, and look at Mag Redstone.

  Her red-rimmed, wild eyes cleared and she stopped, dropping the bone-crushing hold she’d had on Slade. He slumped away from her as she moved toward the younger Redstone.

  “Careful, Mag!” Grif spoke in a low growl, just entering the room.

  “It’s okay. This is Miranda. She’s a friend of mine. Sweetheart, what have they done to you?” Mag’s voice broke as he held out his arms and the blood-stained vampiress walked into his embrace as if finding an oasis in the desert.

  “Magnus?” Her voice was confused, weak, but still held that vampire mojo Kate had heard about. She could enslave every man in the room just by saying come hither, but she wasn’t doing it on purpose. It was part of her magic that she had to consciously tamp down.

  It was clear the woman was beyond doing that at the moment. She was weak and injured. Still bleeding and more than a little out of it.

  “I’m here, sweetheart. I’ve got you.” Mag took her in his arms, crooning to her gently, clearly familiar with the woman and willing to put himself at risk for her sake. She could still go crazy and rip his throat out in her hunger—and it was clear to Kate she had been deprived of the blood that fueled her existence for a long time.

  “She needs to feed,” Kate whispered.

  “I know.” Mag Redstone met her gaze over the vampire’s matted blond hair. He guided her lips deliberately to his throat and closed his eyes in obvious pleasure as she nuzzled him. She bit into his skin almost delicately, as if she cared for him and didn’t want to hurt him.

  Judging by the expression on Mag’s face, hurt was the farthest thing from what he was feeling at the moment. Kate looked away, turning to Slade. He watched the vampire and Mag for a moment before turning his gaze to meet Kate’s.

  “It’s probably safe inside here for you now, except for that.” Slade pointed as he spoke in a pained voice. She followed his gesture to see the chalice on the floor, still bleeding its red burden into the hardwood.

  “That’s what we came for.” She walked toward him carefully. She didn’t like being inside the zone that had once been so disgustingly evil. “This place is going to need a thorough cleansing before it’ll be completely safe for even non-magical folk,” she observed with distaste as the oily feel of the circle rubbed up against her skin. “Are you okay?”