Chosen Destiny (25 page)

woman with long, black hair. She walked and then swept her foot over the ground. She

was looking for something. A wave of magic cleared a layer of dust away from the

rocky surface.

“Do you think they would have left it in such an obvious place when they realized

the town was going to fall?” Meagan crossed her arms over her chest.

He knew Meagan wanted confirmation that the woman was a Dark Sorceress. She

might be able to feel magic, but she couldn’t feel the taint as Jaeson could. Meagan

stood stiffly at his side. He probably wouldn’t have been as composed as she was if

someone he’d known had turned to the dark arts. Meagan seemed totally calm, as if this

were just another mission.

“Ah, Meagan. And you brought your friends.” The woman turned and swept her

eyes over the gathered witches, vampires and dragons with a look of disdain. “I wasn’t

expecting you so soon.”

“Those
tandini
you sent weren’t much of a challenge.” Meagan’s voice was light, as

if she were discussing the weather.

“Well, I didn’t expect so many people. I would have given you a little more to think

about if I’d known.” The woman turned to face them fully.

“You never did work well with others, did you, Doria? In fact, didn’t you once

leave the group you were with when the fighting got a little tough?” Meagan’s arm

brushed his as she shifted her stance a bit.

“If they don’t know when to get out, that’s not my problem. I know how to take

care of myself.” Doria shrugged, completely unconcerned.

What amazed Samiel was that she wasn’t denying anything. Most Dark Sorcerers

tried to deny the taint until they were blatantly caught or it suited them to reveal it.

Doria was brazen and uncaring who knew. He wondered if she’d ever really hidden it

or if only luck had kept her secret until this point.

“You should have paid more attention to working with a group. Then you might

not have been so surprised that we showed up with help.” Meagan looked over at

Samiel then slid a glance at Jaeson.

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“Oh spare me the ‘I’d trust them with my life’ speech. It’s all a bunch of shit. If

things fell apart, they’d leave you without a second thought.” Doria shook her head and

swept her hand in a wide arc.

A wave of dirt swept toward them. It hit a shield in front of them and fell to the

ground. Samiel barely had time to register what was happening. He didn’t have time to

throw up a shield. He was astonished when the wall of sand hit a shield and fell to the

ground. Glittering, triangular shards of sharp rock littered the ground when the dust

settled. He hadn’t seen anything like the dark, mottled projectiles before.

“Did you seriously think I wouldn’t be expecting something like that? You like

grand gestures. The starburst explosion in the coven when you became a full witch is

one of many examples.” Meagan shook her head. “You’re going to have to do better

than that, Doria.”

“Better. I can do better.” She raised her hands above her head, a smug smile on her

face.

The air in front of Doria shimmered. Samiel watched as a horde of
tandini
and

merdanons
appeared in front of her. Samiel saw Meagan take a step forward and sweep

her sword in an arc gathering power. She let a ball of magic fly toward one of the huge

merdanons
. The beast disappeared just before the bolt hit. It reappeared in another place

a moment later. He saw Meagan tense, but she didn’t say a word. She gathered power

for another bolt as he threw his first ball of fire. His orb hit a
tandini
. He saw a glowing

orb fly from the tip of her sword. The
tandini
the orb had been flying toward

disappeared. He knew Meagan was getting frustrated. He could see it on her face.

Laughter rolled from behind the mass of enemies. “Is that good enough for you

Meagan?”

He saw Meagan’s frustration grow. Every time she threw an orb, her target

disappeared before the energy could find its mark. The Dark Sorceress didn’t seem to

care what anyone else did. She was focused on causing problems for Meagan. The other

vampires and dragons took down the
tandini
and
merdanon
without the Dark Sorceress’

interference. Finally he heard Meagan heave a sigh as she stepped back.

“You’ll have to do it. She’s determined to thwart me, but you take them down and

I’ll take the power. I’m not going to stand here wasting my power playing her game.”

She took position behind the line of vampires and dragons.

“Are you sure?” Samiel knew what it must be costing her in pride to take herself

out of the battle. He looked back at her.

She smiled at him, but it looked a little tight. “You take these creatures down. I’ll

definitely move up beside you again if Doria decides to stick around and fight. I trust

you, Jaeson and the others to handle it.”

Samiel felt something inside him loosen, but he didn’t have time to think about it.

He went back to work on the horde of creations slowly pressing forward. He threw a

ball of fire toward one of the
merdanons
. It screamed as the fire spread over it. He could

see the wall of beasts thinning. Meagan stepped forward. She pressed the remaining

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beasts back. The others kept working on the mass of creations. Samiel kept a worried

eye on Meagan. The Dark Sorceress had a grudge against Meagan and Samiel wasn’t

going to let his witch get hurt.

Meagan kneeled and drove the dagger into the shoulder of a
merdanon
. The beast

dissolved into a gray mist. She moved to the next. He kept a ball of fire ready.

“If that burns me, I’m going to burn you, dragon.” Meagan didn’t look over her

shoulder as she spoke.

He laughed. “It’s not that easy to burn a dragon.”

“Maybe with fire, but I wonder just how your hide would take being stewed.” She

stabbed the dagger into a
tandini
.

“Vicious little witch. You wouldn’t want to boil my hide. You like what my body

does to yours.” He looked at the group of
merdanons
and
tandini
still standing. They’d

thinned so much that he could see the Dark Sorceress looking around worriedly.

She laughed. “But I have a spare.”

He shook his head. “You wouldn’t want just him. You’d be bored in no time.”

“Save the bickering for later,” Jaeson said, the humor in his tone obvious. “Let’s

deal with the Dark Sorceress then you can tease each other.”

“I think he’s a little jealous.” Meagan shot a grin over her shoulder toward Samiel.

“You’re right, but so is he. We’ll finish this and then we can continue our

discussion.” Samiel watched as she finished taking the power from the last of the

merdanons
on the ground. She rose, moving slowly, carefully. She titled her head to the

right then the left. Just the deliberateness of her movements told him the power had

grown very high. He moved over and hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her

back against him. He could give her a little relief even though he didn’t need the power.

He gave her the antidote and bit. Power rushed into him as soon as his teeth broke her

skin. When he drew back, he could still feel the tension in her body.

“How does it feel to be their tool, Meagan? Do they give you a pat on the head and

a few good words after you’ve supplied them with energy and serviced them?” Doria’s

voice dripped with scorn.

Samiel felt anger rise at the slur. He felt Meagan straighten but she didn’t try to step

away from him. Her hand settled over his arm and rubbed briefly. The sound of her

laughter surprised him.

“It’s a little the other way around, Doria. They’re more useful to me than the other

way around. But that’s a nice try. Care to give it another go?” Meagan’s hand smoothed

over Samiel’s arm as if to sooth the tension in his body.

Doria glared at them. Samiel released Meagan and stepped to the side. He began

throwing magic at the few remaining
merdanons
and
tandini
. He could see the Dark

Sorceress’ nervousness. The woman would flee soon.

“We will get that piece of the generator, Meagan. Don’t doubt it. You can’t stop it.”

Doria’s eyes moved to the woman she obviously saw as a rival.

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“You won’t ever touch it.” Meagan stood beside Samiel.

“How do you think you’ll accomplish that?” Doria scoffed. “When you’re not even

hunters enough to fully come after me.”

“There’s a time for everything, Doria and I’m smart enough not to press into an

obvious trap. We’ll have that piece, Doria. If you think you’ll be able to find it then

you’re even more stupid than I thought after discovering you’d given in and become a

Dark Sorceress.” Meagan shook her head slowly. “You’re already lost and are just too

stupid or blind to see it.”

“You can’t already have it. It’s impossible!” Doria shouted.

Samiel held back a smile. Somehow, she’d misunderstood what Meagan had said.

“Not too much is impossible for me. I’m not alone. I don’t have to do everything on

my own.” Meagan took a slow step forward. “I’d bet that with the help of the vampires

I can work my way through your traps and shields in no time.”

Doria’s eyes widened and she fled. Samiel knew that Meagan was aware of the

facts. They would have to face Doria again, but there hadn’t been much chance of

catching her this time. And Doria wasn’t the only problem. There was more than one

Dark Sorcerer involved here and Doria was probably one of the weaker pawns. They

needed to find the Dark Sorcerer who controlled the others. It was likely he would

decide to move once he discovered there was no chance to create the kingdom he

planned. There was also the slight chance the Dark Sorcerer could go for another goal

here. It all depended on his ego and his belief in his ability. If he thought he could craft

something like the generator he might try it.

“You let her go,” Lissandra said accusingly.

“We weren’t going to catch her today regardless of how much energy we poured

into going at her. This was a test to see how I’d behave, if I could be lured away from

Samiel and Jaeson as well as to see what we can handle.” Meagan glanced back at

Lissandra.

Samiel wished they could have caught the witch, but Meagan was right. There

hadn’t been any chance that Doria would have stayed and fought. The Dark Sorceress

wasn’t prepared to risk her life yet. He personally thought the woman wouldn’t ever be

ready. She was the type who’d probably run if possible at any time.

Clearing the area took some time. The vampires took care of the traps the Dark

Sorceress had left. Meagan finished taking the power from the last of the
tandini
. She

stood. He saw her hand tremble as she sent her weapons into the
Fa’ed
. She’d definitely

need some power taken.

When they finished with the traps, the vampires turned and looked around the area

to make sure there wasn’t any lingering danger. Meagan supplied power to those who

needed it and they returned to the village. Meagan left them to make a report. Samiel

remained outside waiting for her. His mind was slowly beginning to focus on other

things besides the battle and the Dark Sorceress. Meagan’s trust immediately came to

the front. She made him feel invincible.

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“Jaeson.” He turned his head to look at the silver-haired man. “You want to have

some fun with Meagan tonight?”

Jaeson’s brows rose, but a slow smile curved his lips. “Definitely. Do you have a

plan?”

“Yes, I think she’s going to like it.” Samiel turned to Jaeson.

“Tell me what you’re thinking of.” Jaeson’s voice lowered.

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Those two were up to something. Meagan had known it since she’d stepped out of

the coven house. They’d been talking quietly. She’d walked down the steps before they

noticed her. When they did, they stopped talking and moved forward to meet her. Their

smiles had given her the first clue. Those smiles held such anticipation that she couldn’t

possibly miss it. She had no idea what their plan was, but by the heat she could see, it

would curl her toes.

They took her in their arms and almost without a word to her, transported them

back to the lair. Samiel held onto her. His lips moved over her neck. She relaxed back

into his hold even as Jaeson walked away from them. That did send a pang of sadness

through her. She didn’t want either one of them to be the one left to the side. She

certainly didn’t want to be the odd one. They hadn’t made any move to bring their

threesome together. It had always been one on one. She hoped to be able to bridge that

distance, because she didn’t want to tear them apart.

“I bet your power is still high even though you gave power to most of the dragons

and vampires.” Samiel’s palm skimmed over her stomach. She could feel the heat of his

palm through her shirt. His hand rested just below her breasts. She drew in a slow

breath, waiting for his hand to move up. At the thought of his hands on her breasts, her