Seduced by Magic (44 page)

He brushed her cheek with his thumb. “I love you, Copper. It is you I wish to join with, to be with always.”

Copper was so overwhelmed her head was spinning.

He'd given everything up because he loved her.

Loved her.

For a long moment she looked at him. Everyone around them was completely silent as if waiting for her response.

She raised her chin a notch. “You're arrogant, demanding, and bossy.”

“This is true.” He nodded. “And you are impulsive, reactive, and stubborn.”

Her lips twisted. “Made for each other, eh?”

“Aye.” His expression lightened and he gave a hopeful smile. “Will you join with me?”

Copper brought up her own hand to cup Tiernan's against her cheek. “Okay.”

His hand slipped roughly from her cheek to grasp the back of her head and brought her to him in a rough, hungry
kiss. Copper's head was still spinning and she wanted him so badly. Wanted everything he had to offer her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and he rose up, taking her with him, and she hiked her thighs up and around his hips. Their lips never left one another's and she couldn't think past Tiernan. Couldn't think past the taste of him, the feel of his body pressed to hers, the strength of his embrace. Couldn't think past her love for him.

When he finally drew away from her his breathing matched hers, heavy and ragged.

“I love you, Tiernan,” she said.

He grinned. “I know.”

She slapped him playfully. “Arrogant jerk.”

Applause broke around them and Copper's cheeks heated as she was brought back to reality and the fact that they were surrounded by a cavern full of warriors, the Drow, and her sister.

“Let's do what we have to do and get out of here,” she whispered against his lips.

Darkwolf and Junga arrived in the same location they had left from, the room in which Silver had been held captive. Junga dropped to her knees, her hand holding her face where it had been sliced open by Copper's spellfire.

His nose was bleeding all over his shirt and his hands. Using his magic he spelled himself clean, then did the same for Junga. His nose stopped bleeding and he felt the healing begin, from the power of Balor's eye. He wasn't confident that his nose would be straight again.

“I must shift in order to heal,” Junga said in a voice filled with pain.

Darkwolf turned, left the room, and strode into the home's great room.

And came to a dead stop.

His gut clenched and blood pounded in his ears.

In the room stood Ceithlenn-Sara. She had retracted her wings so that they had vanished, and her hair was no longer made of flames. It was punk-red, though, not natural. Her eyes didn't glow that vivid crimson color. Instead they were ever-changing—blues, grays, greens, and browns
shifted like wind ruffling the swells of the sea. She wore a black skin-tight leather catsuit. The look on her face was a mixture of Sara and some other being. Her features were sharper, yet she was beyond beautiful.

It was Ceithlenn—possessed by some kind of great evil that had been buried deep in Underworld.

With her hands on her hips and a cold, cold look in her eyes, Ceithlenn stared at Darkwolf. For the first time since he had become a warlock high priest, he felt the urge to kneel before someone else, as if he were being forced to—a great pressure weighted his back and his legs trembled. He struggled. Fought against the force. But even Balor's essence was telling him to bow, and pain shot through his head.

Ceithlenn narrowed her eyes and Darkwolf felt powerful magic slam into him.

He dropped to his knees.

Junga, in her demon form, loped into the room. She hesitated when she saw Darkwolf on the floor as if she were shocked. The blue demon Queen of the Fomorii then moved to Darkwolf's side and went down on her knees, her long arms out in front of her as if she were worshipping this goddess-being.

Ceithlenn smiled, the expression just as cold as the look in her eyes. “You serve me now.” Her voice was Sara's, yet not. It was confident, powerful, and beyond arrogant. “Until my husband, Balor, is released, I will serve in his stead. Is that understood?”

Darkwolf didn't want to, but the magical power forced his head down so that he was no longer able to look at Ceithlenn.

“Warlock.” The moment she spoke to him, Darkwolf's head snapped up to look at her once again. “Bring me the eye.”

A wave of ice-cold panic washed over Darkwolf and his skin prickled. Again magical power forced him to move.
He rose, and with leaden steps he approached Ceithlenn. When he reached her, his eyes were locked on hers, and he smelled the overpowering odor of burnt sugar along with a hint of Sara's jasmine scent.

Ceithlenn reached up and slipped her fingers into his hair before drawing him into a tight, painful kiss. She bit his lower lip so hard he tasted his own blood along with her taste—which was strange. Off. Like her burnt-sugar smell.

When she drew away, she smiled, and he saw that her canines had lengthened and she looked like a vampire—a very dangerous vampire. “You will do.” She slipped her palm down his throat to the stone eye hanging from the thick chain. Gently she caressed the eye and spoke to it before lifting the stone and pressing her lips to it. “Soon, my love, soon.”

Ceithlenn raised her head and she pushed Darkwolf out of her way. No words came to him. Fury boiled inside him, that this being, that any being, should attempt to rule him. Yet there was no doubt she was far more powerful than he.

Darkwolf ground his teeth.

Ceithlenn moved closer to Junga and raked her gaze over the prostrate demon. “Rise.”

Junga pushed herself to a standing position, the demon's great apelike arms hanging at her sides, her lips closed over her needlelike teeth. Ceithlenn slowly walked around Junga. When she came back to face the demon, she said, “I shall need you to command the Fomorii and other beings. You will answer to me.”

A growl rose up in Junga's throat and the look on Ceithlenn's face turned murderous. “You will obey me. Or you die.”

Junga bowed her head. Whether by force or of her own choice, Darkwolf didn't know.

Ceithlenn smiled coldly as she looked from Darkwolf back to Junga. “For now the Fomorii and our other friends will reside in the sewers.” She glared at Junga. “Where
they belong.” She placed her hand on her hips and turned to Darkwolf. “You will again seek out the strongest of witches to serve both me and Balor.”

With a faraway look in her ever-changing eyes, she added, “The time will come, and it will be soon.”

Tiernan could barely believe that Copper had agreed to join with him. It gave him a feeling of completeness, of power, that he had never felt before. It made it difficult to concentrate on the tasks that must now be performed.

Copper cuddled against him as he carried her and he caught her wonderful scent of apples, cinnamon, and woman mixed with the smell of sweat and battle. He could feel her bone-deep exhaustion. What she had been through . . . A lesser being could not have accomplished what she had. She was truly a warrior in heart and spirit.

“Let me down,” she said, as they neared the circle of runes where dried blood now resided in a portion of the etchings.

Reluctantly he allowed her to slip from his embrace, but he made sure her weight was on her good ankle when her feet touched down. She still winced as she gripped one of his arms while standing beside her sister, who was studying the runes.

The other D'Danann gathered around, silent as they watched the witches. The Drow stayed back in the darkness,
all except Garran, who stood beside Copper and Tiernan.

“We have to destroy it.” Silver's gaze met Copper's as Silver continued. “This is the key to opening this door to Underworld.”

Zephyr landed on Copper's ear and she felt his unease mix with her own as she nodded. “Between the two of us I bet we can do it.” She looked to the door where red light still seeped from the cracks, bathing the cavern in its eerie glow, and still lending the cavern the look of blood dripping from its crystals. The creatures that had been stuck in the doorway had vanished, destroyed by the D'Danann during the battle. “Not only do we need to take care of the runes, but we need to deal with the door,” Copper added. “It's got to be sealed.”

“First let's tackle the circle. Using our magic we can wipe these runes away so that they no longer exist.” Silver moved closer to the etchings and studied them. “I bet a little hand magic would do it. We can burn it away.”

Copper balanced on her good leg as she stood side by side with Silver. They were just outside the circle and looked at one another, then back to the runes. Both sisters raised their hands at the same time. As one they took a deep breath.

Blue light immediately flashed from Silver's hands and Copper's golden bubbles chased the blue blaze. Their magic was like laser beams and began burning the runes at once. Everywhere their power touched, their magic seemed to melt the runes away until nothing but black soot remained. The air filled with a strange burning smell, like metal filings or a shorted-out electrical wire.

With Copper hop-skipping, she and Silver slowly paced the circumference of the circle, their magic continuously burning into the runes. As they went on, a more rancid stench, like the foul smell of evil, rose up.

A black substance like thick blood or tar rose up and began
to bubble at the center. It started out the size of a pinprick, then expanded as it began to spread to the borders of the inside circle. It crept closer to the runes as if to protect the etchings.

The sisters backed up a little, but continued to burn away the runes. Zephyr lent his magic to theirs. Copper's and Silver's blue and gold magic worked in tandem to destroy the etchings.

The black blood rose higher and covered some of the runes, making it more difficult to destroy them. The tarlike substance splattered when their magic hit it and Copper felt a yank and a shove at her power, as if something evil in the blood was fighting them—drawing out their gray magic and trying to yank her across the line and into the dark.

“More,” Copper said through gritted teeth, keeping a tight rein on her gray magic. This time she knew it wouldn't be wise to delve into the gray. “We're almost done.”

Copper poured as much white energy as she had left into her witchcraft at the same time she felt more resistance. Her golden light took on a brighter shade.

“We're almost to the end.” Silver backed up and Copper followed with a hop-skip.

The moment they burned away the last of the runes, Copper nearly collapsed with relief. The drain on her magic vanished.

A liquidlike figure rose up in the middle of the blood, in a shape that was almost human. It gave an unholy scream that echoed throughout the cavern.

It dropped with a splash and vanished into the thick blood.

Copper swallowed and watched as all the tarry blood rolled to the center of the circle. Every bit of it moved back to a spot the size of a quarter, then a pinprick, and then vanished. All that remained was the destroyed circle.

Silver and Copper looked at one another. “Phew.” Copper
pushed away damp hair from her sweaty forehead. “That was freaky.”

“No kidding.” Silver sighed and massaged her temples. She looked just as sweaty and battle-worn as Copper felt.

“Now for the door.” Copper searched her mind. One thing she'd always been good at—until she'd been stuck in the meadow—was coming up with spells. Of course she'd always had her wand then. She sighed, then felt a burst of warmth in her chest. Tonight her spell to shut the door had worked with her hand magic!

“Any ideas?” Silver braced her hands on her hips and looked at Copper.

She cocked her head to the side and then it came to her. A little adjustment to the spell she'd used to shut the door might just do it. She murmured it to Silver who nodded her agreement. They both chanted together.

Goddess hear our words, our plea
In this time out of time,
In this place out of place.
Goddess, we raise our hands to thee
In this dark beyond darkness,
In this world beyond worlds.
We await your grace.
We await your power.
We stand at the threshold.
Goddess, please protect your children
And forever seal this door of darkness
.

At the same time they chanted, their magic flowed from their hands and Zephyr's powers joined theirs. The brilliant blue and gold of their witchcraft battled the evil red glow seeping from the cracks around the door.

Nothing happened.

They shoved harder with their magic.

Copper and Silver raised their voices, chanting louder
and louder and poured more and more of themselves into their magic.

The door shuddered. The power of its movement caused rocks to rain down from the ceiling of the cavern. Copper felt dirt scatter on her hair.

Again Silver and Copper chanted, this time shouting the words. The brilliance of their gold and blue magic intertwined, working as one. The light that flowed from the sisters had grown as tall and as wide as the door. The power that Copper felt was unlike anything she'd ever experienced. She felt high, capable to take on anything.

“On three, push with everything you have!” Copper shouted. From her side vision she saw her sister give a quick nod.

“One . . . two . . .
three
!”

Their combined magic exploded against the door. The power of the impact sent Silver and Copper flying backward. Copper slammed into one of the D'Danann, and she saw someone catch her sister as well.

The cavern lit up, the light so bright that Copper could barely see. She shielded her eyes with her arm. Blue and gold glittered throughout the cavern, sparkles that floated through the air before they fell to the floor like falling stars.

When the brilliance faded a bit, Copper squinted at the door. The red glow was gone. It was sealed!