Hill, Meagan - Master Me [Masterson] (Siren Publishing Classic) (23 page)

Nina’s words circled around her head as she tried to reason out what Nina had meant.
“You already know how to do it. You decide the fight.”
What was she able to do that she already knew she could do that would be useful now?

Cabela began his rite, chanting in the strange language she’d never been able to figure out, though Mitch, Malcolm, and the other leaders obviously knew what it was, considering their reaction to it. Miranda continued to concentrate on Nina, willing herself to figure out what she had to do to end this tragedy in the making.

When Cabela began to draw his blade across her body, carving symbols into her skin, Miranda fought to maintain her mental calm, though she was no longer able to keep from writhing on the altar and screaming out loud. Cabela had been right about one thing, being away from the pain for the few days had made her much more susceptible to it.

Mitch couldn’t take watching as the woman he loved was carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Her screaming echoed throughout the chamber and blasted through his mind, driving him to his knees. Unable to imagine her taking more pain than she already had, and knowing that she didn’t have to, he bellowed out to her, “Miranda! Go to Utopia!”

Miranda’s screaming stuttered when he called her name, indicating she heard his voice. Mitch was unsure if she understood his instruction until she became very still and quiet. Mitch was relieved she would be protected from the rest of the pain and could only hope he would be allowed to join her there when his own heart stopped beating.

* * * *

Miranda’s mind sharpened in focus when Mitch called her name, bringing her attention away from the pain. She understood immediately Mitch’s order and knew his meaning behind it. They weren’t going to find a way out, at least not in time for her. Miranda centered her focus and pushed out a message to Mitch.
“I love you, Mitch. I’m so sorry it’s ending like this. I wish I hadn’t met you, but only because it led to losing all of you. I will always love you!”
she exclaimed as she wept in her mind.

“I love you, Miranda. I always will. And I can’t bring myself to regret meeting you, if even it was for just a few wonderful days. Don’t forget that, wherever you go, okay? Now go, before he gets any further. Create a place for us to meet again in the next life.”
Mitch’s mental voice was weepy as well as he tried to tell the love of his life good-bye.

“I wish I could take everyone with me so y’all don’t have to suffer, too!”
Miranda wailed as the pain of leaving Mitch behind came on fully. It took Miranda a moment to realize Mitch had gone completely still, mentally and physically.

“That’s it, Miranda! That’s it! Can you pull Cabela and his guys into a plane and then leave them there?”

Miranda considered the idea for a moment.
“It can’t hurt to try. There are so many of them, though. How am I going to know who to pull? I don’t know all of them.”

“Try not going completely under before you start. Create the plane, and then come back enough to see them.”

Miranda mentally nodded before narrowing her focus further. Fortunately, Cabela was doing a bunch of chanting and had quit cutting while Miranda and Mitch had been talking, allowing Miranda to focus more easily. Miranda began to breathe deeply, moving further into her trance. She did as Mitch had suggested, creating a plane as she always did, but not bothering to decorate it. She pulled slightly away from the plane, testing to see if the plane would continue to exist as she pulled back. She was very relieved to see that, yes, it did hold. Miranda then pulled back closer to the physical plane, spreading her awareness of the spirits around her.

Miranda almost completely lost her focus when she realized she could easily see the spirits of the people surrounding her, both good and evil. Miranda fought to refocus herself, knowing their survival was hinging completely on her ability to do this. Mentally, she reached out and grasped the tail of Cabela’s spirit, holding it tightly as she mentally moved about the room, gathering the tails of the rest of the evil people. There were two left when Mitch screamed in her head,
“MIRANDA! NOW!”

Miranda didn’t bother to try to determine what the problem was. Whatever it was had Mitch panicking. She pulled the spirits swiftly into the barren plane, essentially yanking their consciousness right out of their bodies. She heard pandemonium break out all around her, including the sound of gunfire. Miranda moved as fast as possible, gathering the remaining evil spirits and thrusting them into the plane. Miranda immediately returned to the temporal plane, opening her eyes to see that she had been successful. Each of Cabela’s minions, and Cabela himself, had collapsed where they stood. Unfortunately, the two she’d had to leave behind on the first round had managed to fire their guns several times before she could pull them from the plane. Two of the people from her group had been shot, though Miranda couldn’t see who or how badly they were hurt.

Mitch hurried over to the altar, releasing Miranda from her chains before gently lifting her off of the altar and carrying her back to his mother. Nina was busy working on one of James’s coven members. It appeared he had just been grazed by a bullet but was wailing in pain. Nina rolled her eyes up to Miranda’s, smirking at the way the guy was carrying on.

Nina was able to get the guy’s wound to stop bleeding and turned to begin working on Miranda. Luckily, Miranda’s cuts were fairly shallow, though they were quite painful, not that she was going to let that show, especially with Mr. Whineypants still whimpering next to her.

“Who else got hurt?” Miranda asked, directing the question at Mitch. She could see another group huddled over a prostrate body, though she couldn’t tell who was on the ground.

Mitch hesitated before answering her. “It’s John. The bastard was aiming for me, and John stepped in front of me. The guy must have been a lousy shot though because he hit John in the leg. He’ll be fine. They already have the bleeding under control, and we’re hoping we won’t have to take either of them to the hospital.”

Miranda nodded, relieved no one had been seriously hurt. “What are we doing with them?” She pointed at the unconscious bodies lying around the room.

Mitch’s face hardened as he considered them. “The Merlin mandated that those who could not be saved were to be destroyed. Each of the healers examined their auras closely while we were waiting for Cabela to start. All five agreed none of them could be rehabilitated. We will take care of the bodies once we get everyone else out of here, and then you can release the plane. That should either trap them in the plane or send them on to hell. Either way, they get what they deserve.”

Miranda merely nodded, glad the crisis was over. Once the three injured people were attended to and everyone was once again clothed, the majority of the group moved back into the main room while James, Malcolm, Mitch, and Miranda stayed in the ceremony room. All three men had objected to her presence at first but had soon enough agreed that, of anyone, she had the right to see her own justice. “I can feel them trying to push out of the plane. They have to be completely destroyed if the world is going to be safe from them.”

Understanding her meaning, the men moved through the bodies still littering the floor. They first put a bullet into each of their brains and then finished the gruesome responsibility with cutting off each of their heads. When the last one was done, Miranda, who hadn’t participated but watched over them closely, visibly relaxed. “They’re gone. The plane is clean.” They could all feel the removal of the dark magic spell as their powers returned to them. Miranda then left the room, knowing that the three men still had to do a clarifying rite and whatever else was needed.

When Miranda reached the main room, she was pleasantly surprised to see someone had brought the cars around, and the two injured men had already been taken back to the hotel with two of the healers. The remaining three healers were busy working over the two latents who had been found. They were all saddened to discover that the latent who Miranda had indicated had been completely broken had chosen to end her life while Miranda had been gone rather than continue to be abused.

“Miranda!” The call came from the back of the building. Miranda followed the direction of the voice, eventually finding Nina in the doorway to Cabela’s favorite initiation room, the room in which Miranda had first been raped. It took Miranda only a moment to take in the scene. A young girl, obviously the girl Carl had boasted of kidnapping, was chained to the bed, naked. She was completely catatonic, just staring off into space and blinking occasionally. Miranda could see immediately the girl had not yet been violated internally, but there was no telling what Carl had forced her to do before returning to the compound.

“Can you try to pull her into a plane and talk to her? With the white magic blocker gone, I can’t get near her. She has a very potent physical shield.”

Miranda nodded her head, lowering herself to the floor just outside the door and resting her head against it. It took only a moment to create and enter a plane, going back to the meadow in the woods where she always felt so safe. Once ready, Miranda pulled out enough to find the girl’s spirit tail and pulled her in. The little girl, now clad in a pair of Hannah Montana pajamas, appeared next to her on the floor of the meadow, resting in the wildflowers. Eventually, the girl became aware of her new surroundings.

“Where am I?”
she asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

“You are in a safe place. Actually, you’re in my safe place. This is where I would go when bad things were happening to my body.”
The girl studied Miranda for several minutes before deciding she was being truthful and could be trusted.

“What happened to you?”

“The same thing that would have happened to you if we hadn’t gotten back in time. I was kidnapped when I was fourteen, almost fifteen. I’ve lived in this compound for the last five and a half years, until last week. They sent me out to find another little girl, just like you. Instead, I found the man who would rescue me and, eventually, everyone that was trapped here.”

“You didn’t search for another little girl?”

“No, I didn’t. I went through the motions, but I knew I couldn’t do it. If I had, I would be just as bad as them, and I would rather have killed myself than do this to another person.”

“So it’s safe to come back now?”

“Yes, it’s safe. My mother-in-law-to-be, Nina, and I are just outside your door. You’re quite powerful, you know. You have a very strong physical shield, and it’s keeping us out. That’s why I pulled you in here so I could talk to you. Are you ready to come back?”

The girl thought it over for several minutes. Miranda didn’t rush her, knowing the girl deserved to take the time she needed to feel comfortable with the situation. Finally, she lifted her face back to Miranda.
“You promise you’re right outside the door?”

“Yes, I promise. Nina and I are just outside, waiting for you whenever you’re ready to leave.”
Miranda broke off, tilting her head as she listened to Mitch inside her head, before turning back to the girl.
“I hate to rush you, but the men need us to vacate the compound so they can finish destroying it. I told him I was in here with you, and they’ll hold off as long as possible, but it’s really best to not let all that dark magic float around unbound.”

“Magic? Like, real magic?”

“Yes, real magic. I’ll explain more later, okay? Actually, I’ll let someone else explain, and we’ll both learn. How’s that sound?”

“That sounds good. Can I go back to my family, too?”

“As far as I know, yes. You’re awfully young to have to keep such a huge secret, but if you want to go back, you’ll have to hide what you know about magic. It’s dangerous to all of us if you don’t.”

The girl considered Miranda’s words before nodding her understanding.
“Okay, let’s go.”
Miranda released the girl from the plane, making sure to wait until she was completely detached before leaving the plane herself. Miranda opened her eyes, pleased to hear Nina moving around the room behind her and talking to the young girl. Miranda got up, slowly due to the painful cuts scattered across her torso, before moving into the room. Nina had already released the girl’s ankle chains and was working on one of her hands. Miranda moved to work on the other hand, glad to see the girl aware and watching them closely.