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  If she was here, Quinn would take control of that evil mind and show her the mistake of threatening his people and this city. He would hold her until Sen arrived and let Sen deal with her. He'd put Sen on notice that a deadly power had entered the city and Quinn expected Sen to come the minute he was called.

  If Veronika gained Witchlock, there might be no stopping her. But Quinn had the power to reach out and grasp a mind. He'd never failed when he'd made an attempt and the most powerful monks in the world had said his mind was strong.

  She'd shown her hand and played her trump card too soon when she'd fooled him by pretending to be Kizira. He was no longer vulnerable.

  The further he walked, the more it was obvious that this area was a perfect spot for a private rendezvous. If there was, indeed, a red dress, it was a woman likely meeting her boyfriend.

  When he entered the graffiti-covered underpass, the air warmed considerably, which seemed odd in the shade where it should be cooler. He paused in the center of the shade and opened his Belador senses.

  Energy buzzed and he pivoted, searching for the source.

  She stood with her side to him, the red robe flowing to the ground.

  This is it. His heartbeat picked up speed as adrenaline surged through him. He sent power to his energetic shields, preparing his mind for battle.

  She turned toward him, her robe billowing gently around her and she extended her hand with the glowing sphere in her palm. The energy around him buzzed even louder.

  He reached out with his mind and ... his power tangled up.

  Bloody hell.

  He withdrew and reinforced his effort. He had to ...

  He couldn't finish the thought. He took a step back as his head pounded harder and the pressure built until he wanted to wrench his own head off and throw it against the stone underpass.

  That damned buzzing swept over his skin.

  She pushed her hood off and there was Kizira again.

  No! screamed inside his head. Kizira was dead. He gritted his teeth and forced that thought through the bees humming in his brain.

  I won't let her do this to me.

  "I miss you, Quinn," she whispered, the sound echoing again all around him.

  Pressure built in his head.

  Dear goddess. That. Is. Not. Her!

  He grabbed his head and backed up farther. "You're not Kizira." That didn't stop him from drinking up every second of the vision.

  She extended an arm, reaching for him.

  No. No. No! Grab her mind now!

  Forcing himself backward to avoid her touch caused him to physically hurt, but that was not Kizira. The monks had never been wrong in the past. Why can't I grasp her mind?

  "Come to me, Quinn. I want you."

  But her lips weren't moving.

  His mind battled through the confusion.

  He roared in his head, That vision is not Kizira!

  He wiped at moisture trickling from his nose and it was blood. He grabbed his head. He had to use his mindlock and stop whatever was happening.

  Gathering power and opening his mind, he mentally lunged out for her.

  Blinding light burst inside his head. His knees buckled and he hit the ground. The world dimmed ... and disappeared.

  He was on his way to join Kizira.

  Chapter 39

  "Next time we take my Gixxer," Evalle grumbled, one hand on the doorframe and the other clutching the center console. "Or your Lexus. What happened to that?"

  Adrianna fishtailed on the dirt road, kicking up a dust storm behind her fire-red Ferrari. She smirked and cut her eyes at Evalle. "I was already in this one when I called. I trained in a 430 Scuderia just like this one with a professional instructor at Atlanta Speedway."

  That didn't mean Evalle trusted the crazy witch out here, where if they hit one bad rut, this thing might go airborne.

  "Pretty land," Adrianna mentioned, glancing around while handling the car. "So Grady had the same intel as the Nightstalker I found?"

  In spite of Evalle expecting to get a mouthful of airbag any minute, she rewound her conversation with Grady at Five Points before Adrianna had arrived. She could not recall another time he'd been so agitated that he'd told Evalle his intel without asking for a shake. She couldn't have given him one right then anyway, because they were out in the open.

  Evalle rubbed her neck, thinking out loud. "Pretty much. He heard a thirtyish woman, presumably a witch, trying to talk two other younger women into making this meeting. Sounded like what Rowan told me about Hermia. This woman kept telling the other two that this was a one-time opportunity."

  Adrianna snorted. "Ignorance will get you killed."

  True. Evalle continued, "Grady said the two women seemed hesitant until the one doing all the talking said they wouldn't have to answer to Rowan and a council. That the witch who would lead their coven liked the idea of the large number and that they would be more powerful than Rowan and her council put together. Grady also said he followed that same woman who said those exact words again to another female, like someone had hit a replay button on her."

  Adrianna slowed for a deep dip in the road, then motored into a dense forest. "That's a bad sign. Sounds like Veronika has been testing her abilities and now that I think about it, Imar sounded like a robot."

  "Yep. But we don't know if that woman going around with the sales pitch is a witch or just someone trying to be a witch."

  "True. But the closer Veronika gets to the zenith of the eclipse, the stronger her power will be. The one thing I got from her when we met is that she's got a huge ego. She might be getting impatient. The difference is that it should take major effort to claim a powerful person now, but after she fully takes possession of Witchlock, she'll do the same thing with little effort. Still, even without Witchlock, between her KievRus majik and Ragan's power, she could get ahold of anyone if she finds a way past that person's shields. Without Witchlock, though, she doesn't completely own that woman yet, which means the connection can be broken before the eclipse."

  "How would we do that when we don't know where Veronika is?" Evalle asked.

  Adrianna puttered slowly now, on what had turned into a trail instead of a road. "There's a chance she'll come for me to bind my power to my sister's before she takes possession of Witchlock."

  "Why would she do that?"

  "With Ragan's power fueling Witchlock, Veronika would need about ten years to take over this world and maybe even a pantheon. If she combined my power with my sister's, she might only need a year."

  "You really think no one could kill her?"

  "Only because pantheons won't work together. They'll barely support the Tribunals. They'll never show each other their entire strengths or weaknesses, so while Veronika is stripping this world of every ounce of power, the deities will shut the gates to their own personal kingdoms and wait for someone else to deal with her."

  "If Veronika does come looking for you, we might still have a chance to save Ragan."

  "I can only hope."

  Evalle added, "That's if Veronika doesn't kill you first."

  "If she does and takes my power, you should pack up Feenix and leave with Storm. If anyone could hide all three of you, it would be Storm, because I meant what I said. Deities with enough sense will pull up stakes and prevent any opening Veronika could use to enter their pantheons."

  "I thought deities needed worshippers to fuel their power."

  "True, but non-deities have found ways into the secret worlds of pantheons before, and caused all kinds of problems. I'm telling you they won't risk it. Gullveig was never really known as a deity, but she had power, and she found her way in, then she wreaked havoc among the AEsir until someone finally figured out how to kill her. No pantheon will risk that Veronika could really be a descendant of Gullveig, because she could possibly enter their world in disguise and bring a god-killer power with her. The deities will pack up shop until they find a way to kill her."

  Evalle tapped the doorframe. "That
would solve our problem."

  "Oh, sure, if not for the fact that a hundred years is nothing to an immortal, so they may not deal with her for centuries."

  Adrianna stopped the car and shoved it into park. She must have caught Evalle's thoughts, because she said. "Macha and the other immortals haven't made it this long by putting themselves in jeopardy for lesser beings. I'll make a wild guess that Macha doesn't have enough room for all the Beladors and their families on her island."

  "No."

  "Fair or not, there's your answer. Let's go break up a party." Adrianna got out and had no trouble traversing the rough terrain in black jeans, short boots with low heels for once, and a lightweight black jacket over a black sweater.

  Evalle pulled on the leather head covering she'd had made that hid all of her face, including eye holes shielded with the same dark lenses she had in her sunglasses, specially created for her unusual vision.

  When she reached Adrianna, the witch gave Evalle a once-over and joked, "Is that your ninja outfit?"

  "Hey, I'm not running around in an FBI jacket missing three yellow letters on the back."

  Adrianna muttered, "Should have made you ride your bike."

  Evalle heard voices and motioned for Adrianna to come her way. They stepped through the trees to the edge of a ridge overlooking a bowl-shaped clearing that was wider than a football field once it leveled out at the bottom. The sides stretching down from the ridge were gentle slopes covered in knee-deep grass, now turning brown for the winter.

  This place would make a nice amphitheater.

  Adrianna whispered, "I didn't believe Hermia could pull together that many witches."

  "You don't have to whisper. There must be close to three hundred down there and they're all yammering." Evalle swung to Adrianna. "You know about Hermia?"

  "I've known about her for a long time, well before Rowan did."

  "Why wouldn't you meet with Rowan when she asked? Why is it you don't choose a side?"

  Adrianna's expression iced over. "You really want to know?"

  "Yes."

  "White witches have been no better to me than Sterlings. My mother was the youngest of three ruling Sterling witches and the one slated to take over once the others stepped down. For that reason, her future husband had been chosen from the Medb coven."

  "Seriously?" Evalle's jaw dropped. "The Medb intermarry with other covens?"

  "Not as a practice, but this was a very special arrangement that would be advantageous to the Medb. The Sterlings intended to use my mother to gain a foothold in the Medb coven and insure Sterlings would continue as a dynasty. My mother, however, fell in love with the only son of the Spanish witch who ruled the Viaje de la Luz coven. You already know they're white witches. The name translates into Journey of Light, and that should tell you how well her choice in men went over with the Sterlings."

  "Lead balloon?"

  "Pretty much."

  Evalle cringed over the fallout that must have caused and kept an eye on the field, where a trickle of new arrivals continued to join the crowd via what must be the front entrance to the property through a break in the trees on the far side. Adrianna had bypassed that entrance and opted for the dirt road. Not exactly the kind of racetrack a Ferrari was built to traverse.

  Adrianna kept scanning the group as she finished explaining. "When the Sterlings realized my mother carried their future leaders, they put her inside the coven compound for her protection, as they called it." Adrianna made quote marks with her fingers in the air, and her mouth twisted in a mean smile.

  "Sounds like the kind of protective facility Sen would put me in if he could."

  "Almost that bad. When they realized she carried twins, they were even more determined to keep us out of the hands of a white coven. My father had the same battle on his end and walked away to get back to my mother, but he was found dead one mile from the Sterling compound. No one ever admitted what happened, but I've been around Sterlings long enough to know. They sent out witches who led him to his death. His mother wanted to start a war until she realized his two children would be at risk and backed off."

  "When you left the Sterlings, why didn't you go to your father's coven for help in saving Ragan?"

  "Because his mother made the same deal with Veronika as the Sterlings."

  "You've got to be kidding. The white witches agreed to that?"

  "Yep. They didn't have to turn over another witch, but she agreed that even though we were half Viaje de la Luz, she wouldn't lift a finger to stop Veronika from taking Ragan as long as Veronika left her coven alone. I don't trust either side. No matter who runs a coven, they'll only watch after their own and none would lift a finger to help me save Ragan."

  Evalle wanted to tell Adrianna that Rowan would help her, but mere words would not erase the betrayal the witch had experienced on both sides. Evalle knew that first hand.

  Shouting erupted in the center of the field.

  Evalle and Adrianna moved as close as they could to the edge of the tree line and still remain out of sight.

  Rowan stepped from the woods on the far side of the ridge. Guess there must be a third access into this property, but with over two hundred acres surrounded by residential developments, that made sense.

  Fifteen women followed Rowan down the hill.

  Rowan had brought the leaders of the covens that had been discussing joining the council. Evalle asked, "Why don't I see any male witches out here?"

  Adrianna made a humph sound. "Those particular covens are all matriarchal. They have male witches as members, but the males are never put in positions of leadership. My father wouldn't have been either, but you can be sure his mother still expected him to marry a witch born to leadership--someone who would strengthen her coven."

  "That's too weird in today's world," Evalle murmured.

  "Some of the very old covens hold true to the traditions of their ancestors. Rowan may not act like it, or speak about those old covens, but her bloodline goes back a long way. You're getting ready to see the old clash with the new when they reach the bottom of that hill and Rowan tries to bring sanity to an insane situation."

  Evalle needed to get down there and back up Rowan.

  She'd promised Storm she wouldn't try to get killed.

  She searched the tree line for Trey, but with his military background he'd know how to blend in. Where was Storm? He wouldn't know where she hid, but neither had he texted to say he'd arrived. She debated on texting him but he'd been unhappy that she hadn't ridden up here with him.

  She was trying to give him space, especially since she knew he was checking out a new apartment, and Where are you? sounded ...needy.

  She was not needy, dammit.

  And now she was talking like Feenix.

  But she did not want to place demands on Storm that would make him think twice about trying to make their relationship work.

  Adrianna leaned forward. "I need to hear what's being said. The minute I hear Hermia's voice, I'll know if she's being controlled by Veronika. If not, then getting these witches out of here will be a whole lot simpler."

  "I can power up my ability to hear but it won't help you."

  "We have to get down there." Adrianna turned to Evalle. "If Veronika is pulling the strings on Hermia, you need to choose who you want to save and get them out of there."

  "Can you cloak us?"

  Adrianna chewed on the edge of her lip. "I can shield us with a no-see spell, but I don't have time or materials to create one that can protect you from the sun, and you can't use your kinetic powers while you're inside this cloaking."

  "Can I get out of the cloaking to use my powers if I have to?"

  "Yes. I'll make it so that if you step outside the protected area you're free to do what you want, but you'd be exposed at that point, too."

  That sounded as safe as it was going to get. "Let's do it."

  Adrianna turned to Evalle and took three steps back, then raised both hands, chanting quickly.

&n
bsp; Just like the time a witch doctor had cloaked Evalle, the world around her appeared as though she viewed it through a glass wall.

  Adrianna said, "You're good as long as you stay about this same distance from me. Get too far away and you're exposed."

  That was actually better than the last cloaking, where Evalle had to pry her way out of the spell to use her powers. "Take off and I'll be right behind you."

  To Adrianna's credit, she covered ground quickly, running downhill, and they reached the fringe of the crowd in time for Evalle to hear Rowan shout, "You have been brought here as sacrificial lambs for Veronika. She will not care for you. She will not protect you. She will take all of your powers and use them to rule you and to destroy all that you care for. The best chance you have to live a life of freedom is by walking out of here now. Do not follow Hermia to her death."

  Hermia lifted her hands and called out a string of words.

  Before Evalle could ask Adrianna if she understood them, Adrianna spun around and said, "That's a KievRus spell. See how blurry the grass and trees beyond this area look now? Hermia's chant has just flipped the switch on a spell that was already in place to enclose everyone here. She literally just shut the doors on Veronika's trap."

  Chapter 40

  Storm moved as quickly as possible through the dense forest, watching around him for any sign of nonhumans. The woods began to thin as he reached the ridge indicated on the map for the valley site of the gathering Rowan needed to disperse.

  Now, where was Evalle?

  He checked his phone, but still no reply to the text he'd sent two minutes ago.

  She had to be here. Evalle was mule-headed stubborn when it came to protecting those she cared about.

  Storm passed a bush and caught a whiff of ... a Belador. One he knew, and who'd been in this spot recently. He might not have recognized it if he hadn't been working so closely with Tzader's team for the past week. He moved with stealth, tracking the scent that lead him closer to the tree line where he could see the crowd responsible for all the shouting going on.

  That was one heck of a witch bitchfest.