Warrior

Chapter 9-3

When she spoke again, her voice cracked. “I think… I think my Mori is dead. I felt it dying.”

Solmi! My Mori reached for hers.

No longer able to resist the need to touch her, I laid a hand on the small of her back. “It’s been hurt, but it’s still alive,” I told her softly.

She didn’t meet my eyes. “How do you know?”

“Trust me. I would know if it was gone,” I replied gruffly, refusing to think about that possibility.

Roland looked at me. “What kind of witch can hurt a demon like that?”

My lip curled in disgust. “A Hale witch. A desert witch from Africa. They get their power from the spirit world.”

“Like a shaman or witch doctor?” Sara asked.

“Hale witches only deal in dark magic, and their power is much greater than a shaman’s. A Hale witch can cripple a person with a single thought, and their compulsion is even stronger than a vampire’s, almost unbreakable.”

She gasped and raised her gaze to meet mine. I saw the confusion in her eyes.

“Not even the Mohiri are immune to their power. I’ve seen warriors brought to madness after a single encounter with a Hale witch.” I thought about Desmund Ashworth, the strongest warrior I’d ever known, whose mind was destroyed after a confrontation with one of them. “Hale witches abhor demons, and they do not work with vampires. And they usually stick close to their tribal region of the desert. It would take something big to get one of them to come all the way to America.”

I held her gaze. “You aren’t telling us everything. Who else is after you?”

“No one. I swear, I have no idea why they attacked me,” she declared so earnestly I believed her.

“What happened after you got away from the witch?” Roland asked.

“Peter was still fighting Tarak, and Tarak pulled a knife on him. I kinda lost it when I saw him cut Peter. I just jumped him and squeezed his throat until he went down. Then we took off.”

Roland pointed at the dark-haired boy sitting in the front passenger seat of the Mustang. “Where does he come into this?”

“He was there at the rest stop when those guys showed up. He got blasted by the witch when he tried to stop Tarak from taking me.”

My hands clenched at my sides when I thought about how close she’d come to being taken. “What were you thinking, going off to meet a total stranger in the first place with everything else that’s going on?”

She took a step back from me. “I had to go. You don’t know how long I’ve waited to find answers about my dad. I’ve been trying to meet with David for weeks.”

“How do you know he didn’t lead those men right to you?”

She shook her head. “He’s an Emote, and I believe he was telling the truth. He knew things…things about Madeline.”

My body tensed at the mention of her mother, and I knew I was not going to like what came next.

“Ten years ago Madeline went to see David’s father to tell him she was in trouble. They were friends, and David’s father gave her a lot of money to leave the country. She said vampires were after her and before she left she had to warn –” Emotion choked her, and she paused for a moment. “She had to warn my dad. A few days later, my dad was killed.”

Roland paled. “Jesus, Sara.”

She cleared her throat. “David wanted to meet with me because he lost someone, too. The vampires killed his father the same day they killed mine. David’s afraid the vampires will come after him because of what he knows. He was hiding upstairs while Madeline was there, and he heard something he wasn’t supposed to. He thinks it’s why his father was killed.”

Dread filled me. Vampires didn’t need a reason to kill, but these deaths sounded too deliberate, too organized. “Did he tell you what it was?”

She nodded slowly. “Madeline told David’s father that she knew the identity of a Master.”

It was as if a switch had been flipped in my brain and all I felt was pure instinct. I lost all thought except getting Sara as far away from this place as possible.

Moving with demon speed, I grabbed her and carried her to my bike. I had only one helmet, which I shoved down over her head.

She pushed against the helmet. “Stop! What are you doing?”

I fought to maintain control as fear gripped me. “I’m getting you out of here. I can’t protect you from a Master by myself. The only place you’ll be safe now is at a Mohiri stronghold.”

“That happened ten years ago. There is no Master after me,” she argued, trying to twist away from me.

I let out a harsh laugh because after everything that had happened, she still had no comprehension of the danger she was in.

“To you ten years is a long time, but to a vampire who has lived hundreds of years, it’s nothing. And what of this witch and the man who grabbed you? Either way, someone is looking for you, and we need to get you out of this town.”

She tried to push me away. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“I’m not asking,” I said through gritted teeth. Chris had asked me if I was willing to make the hard decision when I knew I could no longer protect her here, and that time had come. I didn’t want it to be like this, but I was out of options.

Shock and hurt filled her eyes. “So, that’s it? You’re going to force me to go against my will? You’re no different than them.”

Roland lifted a hand. “Sara, maybe he’s right. I don’t want you to go, but I don’t want you to get hurt either.” He looked at me next. “But maybe we should talk to Uncle Max first to see what he thinks.”

“I see,” she bit out. “So everyone gets a say about my life but me?”

I steeled myself against the angry hurt in her voice and took her by the shoulders so she was forced to look at me. “If you stay here, you or someone you care about is going to end up hurt or killed. Someone is trying very hard to get to you, and they obviously won’t think twice about going through your friends to do it.”

She blanched, but I didn’t stop. “Next time it could be worse. They could go after your uncle. Is that what you want?”

“Of course not!” She flinched, and I hated the cruelty of my words, but I was desperate to make her see reason. Her face gave away her internal struggle, and I could see her trying to think of a way out of this. “Talk to Maxwell all you want, but I am not going anywhere until Nate gets home tomorrow. And if you make me go, I’ll run away the first chance I get.”

“Fine. You’ll stay with me and Chris until then.” Between us and Erik’s team, the safe house was the best location for her until we could leave.

She crossed her arms. “I don’t think so. I’m going home, and you are free to follow me if you want.”

“That location is not secure.”

Her laugh took me by surprise. “Trust me. The devil himself couldn’t get into that building.”

Peter cut in before I could point out just how unsafe her place was. “Um, guys, can we just figure out where we’re going? Bleeding here.”

Shaking my head, I called Chris to tell him to meet us at Sara’s place. Then I followed her to the cars.

She pointed at the boy still sitting in the Mustang. “What are we going to do about Scott? We can’t leave him here like this.”

“Don’t worry about him. Once we get you safely to your fortress of an apartment, we will take care of your friend.” She was my only priority, and the boy would have to wait.

Her lips pressed together. “Those guys are looking for a red Mustang. We can’t take a chance of them finding Scott before you come back. Besides, I think he needs a doctor.”

I didn’t want to tell her that if the Hale witch had gotten into her friend’s head, there wasn’t much anyone could do for him. I went to him and checked his pupils and pulse. He mumbled a few words and managed to focus his eyes for a second. Lucky bastard.

I pulled out the gunna paste I had started carrying on me since the night of the crocotta attack and made him eat some. He made a face, but he obediently swallowed the medicine.

I stood and faced Sara and Roland. “I think he’ll be okay in a few hours. If he’d been permanently damaged, he’d be catatonic. I gave him something to speed healing. By tomorrow, he won’t remember any of it and he’ll feel like he has a bad hangover.”

Relief showed on her face. “How will he get home?”

I sighed and called Chris again to tell him to come to the church instead. I handed the phone to Roland so he could give Chris directions to the other boy’s house. Then he and I helped Peter into the back seat of the other car. Sara and Roland got in the car, and I drove behind them the short distance to her apartment.

I moved to help Peter up the stairs into the apartment, but Sara stubbornly insisted on doing it. Following them, I secured the door while they took Peter up to the third floor. Then I began walking through the apartment, which had too many entry points for my comfort. Did she really think she’d be safe here if someone tried to get in?

“I told you this place is safe. I warded it myself.” She walked past me in the hallway and pulled a carton of orange juice from the fridge. “Anyone thirsty?”

I held back a laugh. “You warded it?”

“Don’t look so shocked,” she retorted smugly. “I told you before I’m not helpless. And I got away from those guys, didn’t I?”

Roland took the carton of juice she offered him. “I’d believe her if I was you. Sara knows things, and if she says we’re safe here, then we –”

The troll appeared out of nowhere between me and the kitchen, and it immediately crouched aggressively, showing its sharp teeth. Roland shouted, and the troll’s shaggy head swung toward him and Sara.

Cold spread through my limbs, and I prayed the creature was as young as it looked. I had fought many things, but even I couldn’t win against a fully grown troll.

“Keep her there,” I yelled at Roland, trying to draw the troll’s attention to me. “I’ll take care of it. Damn it, I knew this place wasn’t safe.”

I reached inside my jacket for a knife, knowing I’d only get one chance before the troll attacked. I hoped Roland kept his head enough to get Sara out of here while the troll was focused on me.

“No!”

Sara’s scream pierced the air, and the troll snarled ferociously in response. In the next instant, my heart leapt into my throat when she ran from the kitchen and threw herself in front of the creature.