Priceless (32 page)

It took longer than I wanted
,
and each passing minute brought us closer to facing down another member of the
Coven
, one that wouldn
’
t
necessarily
be so easy to take down or be taken by surprise. We
’
d lucked out that these two were having a lover
’
s quarrel.

Another minute passed and she came around, though she tried to hide it. I leaned forward and whispered into her ear.
“
Unless you want me to puncture and scramble each piece of
the
rather necessary equipment your body contains, I suggest you tell us where the entrance
is
.
”
She nodded, her face white and shocky with blood loss. My stomach turned and I fought with the nausea
rising in me
. The warmth of her blood on my hands, the pulse of life I could feel because my hand was partially inside of her. Not a good time to want to puke. I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek, the pain help
ing
me steer my thoughts away from what I was doing.

Her whisper was just loud enough to be heard over the thrumming of my own blood
as it
fill
ed
my ears.

“
The break in the rock. That
’
s the entrance.
”
Her eyes flicked toward the way she and her lover had come.
“
You
’
re the Tracker.
”

I nodded. She took a breath
and
smiled up at me
.
“
They will kill you.
”

I shrugged and smiled back at her, knowing the smile was anything but nice.
“
Everybody says that.
”

Rolling her onto her stomach, we used the belt her boyfriend
was wearing
to tie her up and place
d
her around the corner
where
we
’
d hid, gagging her mouth for good measure.

“
That
’
s all it takes to deal with a witch?
”

O
’
Shea
’s
question made me want to laugh out loud, but I contained it
.
“
Weak ones are incapable of doin
g magic without their hands
.
”
I wip
ed
the blood off my own hands
using
her skirt. Her head lolled and she groaned, but it was the best she could do. I shrugged off the guilt and turned toward the direction of the crossing.

Again, O
’
Shea followed me
,
and I wondered at his willingness to let me lead. A quick look over my shoulder showed him gripping his sword lightly, his eyes never resting in one area for too long.

Three more corners through the
Witchlight
tunnels and the crack in the wall was right in front of us. It didn
’
t glow, and in fact
,
looked
a lot
like all the other cracks we
’
d passed
,
except
i
t was wide
enough we could have walked in shoulder to shoulder without bumping the walls
—
and the
Witchlight
didn
’
t penetrate it. That was the clincher.

“
This is it
.
”
Now came the really har
d part. Making him stay behind without having him throw a fit and without having to explain what crossing the veil meant.

“
O
’
Shea. Let me look in first, then I
’
ll give you the okay
.
”

He ducked his head inside the crack before I could stop him.
“
There isn
’
t anything, just a slab of rock
.
”
H
e reached out and tapped said slab with his sword. That would make this easier. O
’
Shea didn
’
t have any natural ability to cross the veil
, at least not
without help.

“
Go check down there.
”
I pointed to another tunnel off the main branch, one that didn
’
t have any light going down it
, handing him the flashlight
.
“
I
’
ll backtrack and see what I can find, maybe we missed something.
”

I watched him walk away, his sword raised as if it were a gun
.
T
he flashlight held at the handle gave him lots of light as he stepped into the tunnel
’
.

Two strides and I was inside the crack I knew was the entrance I needed. Squinting my eyes, I looked past what this side of the veil showed me and got a good look at what was really there. A doorway
painted a deep maroon and boasting a
large lock stood between me and India. I tried the handle
,
knowing before I did that it wouldn
’
t be
so
easy.
It didn
’
t
move, not even a slight jiggle. Fuck, why was I not surprised?

Putting one hand
against the door, wishing I could just b
u
st through
, I considered my options. One, I
could try
to force it, using my sword as a hammer on the lock. But this wasn
’
t one of my swords Milly had spelled for me, so it was unlikely it would hold up to that kind of abuse.
Two, I could try to figure out the spell they had locking this down, but again, without Milly helping, that would be impossible. Unless
there
was
an
even simpler
solution
than that. More mundane.

“
Keys
,
”
I muttered. There had to be a key somewhere.

Like on the two
Coven
members we
’
d dispatched.

Bolting out of the crevice, I ran back to where we
’
d left them. The woman was still breathing, but I doubted she
’
d have the key on her. He was the one in control of things
;
that much had been obvious.
A quick frisk of his pockets and I had a small key palmed, a feeling of relief coursing through me.

“
Hang on
,
India, just a little bit longer
,
”
I whispered as I ran back to the crack in the wall. Slipping in, I put my hand on the door.

*-*-*-*

His
flash
light didn
’
t give as much
light
as he would have liked, and the mineshaft was darker than anything he
’
d ever dealt with before. If he
’
d had his way, they wouldn
’
t have separated, but on this front
,
Adamson knew what she was doing
,
and for the first time in his life he was starting to trust his partner.

Wow. Trust and partner in the same sentence
;
how had that happened? And with Adamson
,
of all people? There was no longer the driving lust he
’
d felt from the spell, though he could admit she was a beautiful woman
; now
it had more to do with her dedication to finding this kid
, even when the case was so obviously similar to her little sister
’
s.
She didn
’
t get distracted by anything
. Once
she decided a kid needed rescuing
,
even he and the FBI couldn
’
t deter her. That was worth something
t
o him. Not to mention she had saved his
ass
a number of times already.

Something on the wall caught his eye.
Lifting his sword and light up
,
he was shocked at the symbols etched into the stone
;
and it wasn
’
t just one, it was hundreds. Chills swept him, a visceral response to something his body knew was dangerous. Deadly.

She had to see this.

*-*-*-*

“
Adamson?
”
O
’
Shea called out
softly
.

I cringed as his voice echoed through the cavernous space.
“
Here.
”
I
didn
’
t want
him to get suspicious.

“
I think I found something.
”

What the hell? He couldn
’
t have found anything, unless . . .

“
It
’
s a trap!
”
I sp
un
on my heel and r
an
toward his voice. Shit, I hadn
’
t even considered he
’
d be able to set off booby traps. They should have been keyed only to supernaturals,
one
of which he definitely was not.

I sprinted toward the tunnel I
’
d sent him down, cursing myself for my idiocy. I should have checked first, should have made sure it was safe.
His death would be on my shoulders.

Breathing hard, I sped toward the small pinprick of light I could see, knowing it would be too late.

O
’
Shea turned to face me as I skidded to a stop in front of him, fear making me sweat more than the run, my face d
amp
with
p
erspiration.
He looked okay, the planes of his face
were
sharpened by the way the light hit him, but I didn
’
t see any wounds, no gaping holes or
the
smell of spells being prepped.

He motioned to the wall, not noticing I was totally freaked out, for which I was grateful.

“
Check this out
;
do you know what it means?
”
He shone the flashlight on the wall
.

I sucked in a large gulp of air. It was a
hieroglyph
that looked eerily like the pictures India had been drawing
all her life
. There were stick figures, their bodies neither male
n
or female
,
surrounded by orbs. As O
’
Shea followed the picture
’
s progression with the flashlight, the orbs grew more and more numerous until they completely covered the stick people.

I could guess at what it meant, but didn
’
t really want to. Seeing it like this and not in a child
’
s colourful crayon drawings made me re-think what exactly was going on. Possession was an ugly thing, and if those orbs weren
’
t the kind and loving souls of those who
’
d gone on before us, then they were the souls who
’
d been cast down into
darkness
and were looking for a second chance.

“
It
’
s bad. That
’
s what it is
.
”
I suddenly didn
’
t want to cross the veil without O
’
Shea at my side. It had been a long time since I
’
d been really afraid, but the idea of being possessed, or dealing with people who were possessed
,
was a hard one for me to swallow.