Blood Magic (13 page)

Samantha taken Steph hurt come now
.

***

I shoved my phone in Saleem's hand, no time to relay the message. I ran from the room, checking the kitchen on my way to the stairs.

"Drake?" I yelled for him and heard footsteps slamming the floorboards as he came running.

"What happened?"

"Demons. Two of them. They appeared in the bedroom. Steph was with the kid. She tried to protect her, to stop them from taking her but they hit her. She's hurt, mostly bruises and maybe a broken rib."

I rushed passed him
, heading to Steph's room. Saleem's footsteps reached the landing, and Drake said, "Who the hell are you?"

"Drake meet Saleem." I left the gargoyle and the djinn to get better acquainted and entered Steph's room. She lay on the bed facing the door, her face pale, bruised and twisted with pain. I hurried closer and knelt beside her bed. "I said look after the kid, not get beaten to shit."

"My bad," she croaked.

I laughed. "What happened?"

She swallowed. "I was with Samantha. Martin went out for pizza and I was keeping the kid company. Probably a good thing I was there or we'd never know who took her. There were two of them. Demons, bulky, red skinned, sharp teeth. I tried to stay in front of her. Screamed for Drake. They pulled me off but I fought them. They swatted me like a fly." She laughed. "Hit me so hard I flew through the air and slammed into the wall. Sorry, Mel, there's a Steph-sized dent in your wall."

I just raised an eyebrow at her comment. The whole thing didn't make sense. "So they knew exactly where she was."

"And they penetrated the wards," said Drake from behind me.

I sat back on my heels looking at Drake, stunned. Of course, they would have had to breach the protection to enter my home. "Yeah, our wards aren't dark magic. Easy enough to break through if you are willing to dabble in evil." I almost laughed at my words. I'd done exactly that, dabbled in evil, to get Samantha safe. It didn't make it right just because I wanted to do good with it. And I saw the look in Drake
’s eyes. I glanced away and asked, "Where's Martin?"

"In the room. He's taking it pretty bad." When I rose to go to him
, Drake placed a hand on my shoulder. "Leave him. You won't make him feel any better no matter what you say."

I didn't like it but I conceded. For now
, I needed to know if Samantha was safe. "Fine. Go and get me something of hers. A hairbrush or a piece of clothing or something. I'll be in the office."

Drake nodded and strode out the door
, and I hurried downstairs to my office, Saleem in tow. As we entered the room I turned to him. "You don't have to stick around. I can handle this."

He folded his arms, bringing his decided sexy chest into prominence. "I am not going anywhere. You helped me and I plan to return the favor."

I hesitated, not wanting to get him involved but the look of hard determination in his eyes made me smile begrudgingly. "Suit yourself."

Then I went to the large armoire set against the left wall and tugged the door open. I stiffened as I took in my stash of weapons and devices
, both of the exploding and the non-exploding kind. Saleem was Omega. How did I know he wouldn't rat me out for having such a large and probably illegal stash. Some of my weapons were from the demon planes, brought home from other missions. I glanced at him over my shoulder and he chuckled. Raising his hands in submission, he said, "Don't worry, I didn't see a thing."

I wasn't convinced and my face showed it. "Look, I mean it
,” he said. “I don't trust Omega right now. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell them anything. You helped me find my mother. That means more to me than I can explain right now."

I flushed. "Okay," I said softly
, and returned to the cupboard to grab a few things to stock up my bag.

Drake's footsteps in the hall announced his imminent arrival and I closed the armoire door to see what he'd brought. His face was dark as he handed me the little brush Steph had bought for Samantha. "No clothing. Just this."

It was all I needed. I set my bag on the floor by the door, took the brush and headed to sit in my chair. My body felt heavy, drained from all the jumping. I sat and was about to grab hold of a blonde strand when Drake said, "What the hell is that?" His voice was low and raspy and not happy.

I looked up at him. "What the hell is what?"

He grabbed a tissue from the little box at the edge of my desk and pressed it to my nose. His movement was harsh, not in the least bit tender. But I wasn't hurt. Drake always got mad at me if I didn't take care of myself. I grabbed the tissue and wiped my upper lip. A thin line of blood marked the white tissue. Damn. The jumps were taking a toll on me. Nine so far in the last twenty-four hours. And four carrying a load.

I sniffed and stuffed the tissue in my pocket. When I looked up
, two sets of dark eyes stared straight at me: one confused and angry, the other angry and angry. "Come on, Drake. I promise I'm being careful."

He grunted.

"So what's with the blood?" Saleem asked, but when I glanced at him to answer I found he wasn't talking to me. Really?

"Her body can't take too many jumps in too short a time. She needs time to recover."

"She's right here." I waved my hand over the table at them.

"So, she's been overtaxing herself then?"

"Yup," Drake answered, flicking me an annoyed glare.

"Okay, I get it. Take care of yourself. Fine. Can we just get on with finding Samantha?" I snapped at them. "We're wasting precious time."

I didn't wait for their response. Just returned my attention to the brush. I reached out and plucked a strand from the bristles, already preparing myself for the pull of Samantha's feedback thread. A jolt of awareness went through me as I felt her heartbeat, rapid enough that I knew she was terrified. I slid along the connection between us until I reached her. The room was large.

And familiar.

Nathaniel's lair.

I was so furious I wanted to scream. The jolt of anger sent me flying back to my body and I gasped as I opened my eyes. As expected
, both men stood in front of me, a little angrier now that I'd left them without so much as a warning.

But the expression on my face gave away my fury. "What happened?"
they asked in unison.

"It's Nathaniel," I said as I rose and hurried to my bag at the door. "We've got to go. Now." I looked around at Saleem.

He nodded and came to me. "I'm taking you this time."

"What?" I frowned for a moment
, confused. "Oh, right, djinn, jumper. Okay then. What are you waiting for?" I raised an eyebrow, noticing Drake's expression of relief at Saleem's offer.

Saleem held onto my arm. "So, just think of the place. It will give me direction since I haven't been there before."

I nodded and pictured the stairwell leading to Nathaniel's underground chamber. I didn't want us to be bounced off the ward to heaven knew where. We landed safely and I listened for sounds of the butler but the place was silent. I reached out for the ward and frowned. "Weird. The protection is gone." My heart sank as I assumed the worst.

"The only reason he would remove the ward is if there wasn't anything left behind and he wanted us to know it
," Saleem spoke my thoughts.

I sped down the stairs and raced into the room, but all I saw was what I had expected. The place was empty. A fresh pentagram was drawn on the rough stone floor
, this time in blood that hadn't yet congealed. I shuddered to think of whom the blood belonged to. Scanning the room, I tried to orient myself to where I'd picked up Samantha's location. What had she been seeing when I'd made the connection?

I needed to get to the exact location to get a sense of her feedback. I could still jump to her with the feedback I had of her but it would be less taxing on my mind if I could add her physical feedback to the residual. The more tangible a link
, the stronger the pull to the person, the less my effort had to be.

Holding on to Samantha's feedback
, I projected first. Caution often paid off for me and I always felt more confident if I scoped the place out before jumping. The link took me straight to Samantha and again she was terrified. I felt a sense of déjà vu. The cell was the same one I'd rescued her from not too long ago. I hurried forward then halted as I sensed a fresh ward around the girl. Samantha sat huddled on the bed, her knees pulled up to her face. I called to her and she looked up, her gaze tracking straight to me.

Are they nearby?

She nodded.
In the next room. Be careful.

I returned to my body in Nathaniel's lair. Saleem was watching me. "She's okay. I'm going for her. You go back to the house and wait for me." Saleem was about to protest but I didn't wait to hear it. I jumped straight back into Samantha's cell. This time the landing disoriented me a little. The room spun and I lifted my hand to my nose. My fingers came away bloody. Damn. I didn't have time for this crap.

Wiping the blood off on my jeans, I moved nearer to the ward. I pulled the last vial from my hair, grateful I'd forgotten it was there. I repeated the process, pouring the black liquid onto the width of the pentagram circle. I waited while the liquid gurgled, then when I felt I'd left enough time and the spell would be broken, I reached out to test the ward. No sense in setting off the demon's alarms if the spell didn't work.

My finger reached the ward and a blast of power siphoned through me. The energy bolt flung me backwards so hard against the iron wall that all I managed was a soft 'Oomph' before everything faded to darkness.

***

The first thing I felt was pain spiking up the back of my head. My eyes opened to thick darkness and I could just make out a low iron ceiling a few feet above me. I lay flat
on my back, my head pillowed by nothing but bare metal flooring. No wonder my head hurt so savagely. The full weight of my head lay right on the throbbing pain. I shifted, pushing up slowly to prop myself up on my elbow. I felt the back of my head, fingers gently searching the skin for the wound. When I pulled them back, the pads of my fingers were red and the hair near my scalp caked with drying blood.

My heart raced, slamming against my ribs so hard I felt the vibrations in my throat. I forced myself to breath
e deeply, to control the air as it flowed in and out of my lungs. Once a sense of calm descended on me, I considered my position. The spell Nathaniel had given me had backfired. No surprises there. Assuming Nathaniel himself was involved in Samantha's abduction, he would have ensured my spell would not work now. I gritted my teeth, annoyed and impatient. I'd walked right into the necromancer's trap. And now Samantha was still imprisoned and Saleem had no idea how to get to me. My chances of rescue were slim.

I scanned the cell, rusted iron walls on three sides, the third barred by thick metal bars. The energy of a powerful ward sang in my head and I sagged with disappointment. Of course. Nathaniel would have known to protect the cell or he would have lost his prisoner in an instant.

But despite the magic I had to find a way out.

I struggled to my feet, bending over when my head began to spin. I blinked and held on
to my knees until the light-headedness passed. I waited a few moments gathering my energy. Then, feeling a little better, I straightened. I tasted bile at the back of my throat and swallowed hard. No time for fainting or hurling. I took a deep breath and walked slowly to the bars. Across the passage was another cell, a mirror of my own, only empty. I glanced up and down the tunnel outside.

Empty.

Frustrated, I grabbed hold of the bars, the need to let out some of my fury stronger than my sense of self. My fingers gripped the metal bars and a rush of electric energy rushed through me. My muscles spasmed and my jaw clenched so hard I was afraid my teeth would shatter. I wasn't sure if I let go of the bars myself or if the electric shock had thrown me back, but I found myself falling to my knees, shivering as my hands and knees shook like so much jello.

I couldn't hold myself upright
. I just tipped over and lay on the metal floor, my body shuddering as the energy dissipated.

The bars had been rigged with high voltage electricity running through
them. I shuddered, glad I was still alive and breathing.

But reality did enough to weigh me down.

I was well and truly trapped.

But just because I wasn't able to jump out of the cell didn't mean I couldn't use my other ability. Projection was by far the most simple and yet the most powerful method to breach any ward. Nothing was impenetrable to the
ethereal senses. I couldn't just set off in search of a particular person like I did with the people I tracked, but I could allow my senses to drift around the area I was in. Drifting was uncomplicated. I just relaxed and let my mind wander, searching out other energy patterns in close proximity to me. The corridors around me were empty but the cells weren't. The occupant one cell over was hunched over. Anger and frustration resonated from him.

You and me both
, buddy, you and me both.

Further along
, three more cells were occupied by younger children, all sleep. The last cell was filled with movement, the young woman pacing back and forth, the air swirling around her in furious whirlwinds. I left her to it and drifted into an adjoining passage. After a few failed runs, I doubled back and went the other way, keeping my senses on alert for life signs. It wasn't long before I came to a room that seemed to act as an antechamber to a much larger space.

The doors were left wide open and the hum of a voice filtered to me.

It was reminiscent of an auditorium or a public hall. Inside, dozens of people, all cowled and dressed in dark robes, occupied tight rows of chairs. The congregation - for that's essentially what it was - sat quietly, looking ahead at the figure on a dais built from the same rusted metal as the rest of the place. I'd walked in during a lull in his speech. He took a breath and lifted his head and I gasped, the shock of seeing Nathaniel's features below the dark hood sending me flying back to my body. Damn, that was the second time it had happened. I really needed to practice my control. As soon as I got distressed in any way, my projected self was always flung straight back into my body. Not that it was a problem. Just inefficient and disconcerting.

I sighed. Now I knew that the abductions pointed at Nathaniel.

***

Saleem blinked as he reappeared in Nathaniel's lair. When Mel had told him to wait for him at home
, he'd gritted his teeth, annoyed she'd jumped even when she was weak, but he'd understood more than she realized. He'd jumped back to the house and informed an unhappy Drake of what had happened. Drake's silence on the matter only broke an hour later when Mel still hadn't returned.

So Saleem had decided to go back to the sorcerer
’s lair hoping to find a way to discover where she'd gone. Saleem's ability to teleport was slightly different from Mel's. He went wherever he wanted to go as long as he could find the access points in the Veil. What he couldn't do was track a person and follow their energy trail Probably why he wasn't a tracker. Saleem snorted then turned to leave when something caught his eye. The pentagram on the floor. Saleem frowned and edged closer to study the pattern and the offerings. He looked about, scanning the room and then the pentagram.

He frowned. The fastest way out of the room was to teleport. And when you couldn't jump
, there was only one way available and that was a portal. He'd gone to the Greylands with Kailin Odel, the panther walker, and she'd needed a portal key to access the Veil. A portal key and dark water. And there wasn't a drop of water around here, let alone dark water.

Saleem stepped closer to the pentagram. Was it a summoning of a portal? Saleem shrugged. The only way to find out was to try it. He took a deep breath and stepp
ed onto the pentagram. Energy rushed through him from the floor, rising to the stone ceiling. It shimmered and pulsed, bright and white, an opening of the Veil that beckoned him.

Beyond the Veil
were Mel and Samantha, both waiting to be saved. Saleem barely hesitated before stepping through the slit in the portal. He hoped he wasn't stepping directly into a trap, but he figured go hard or die trying.

***