Kissed by Eternity (2 page)

I breathed a sigh of relief. "It worked."

"Of course it did." Kabita seemed offended I'd doubted her.

"I was thinking of my part in it," I said apologetically. "You know me and my freaky powers."

I watched the battle inside the dome. It raged on, but the sound was muted as if watching on a TV with the volume on low. Blasts of power flew left and right but hit the walls and dissipated. As long as the wards held, humanity would be safe. For now.

Kabita's phone chirped. She glanced at the screen. "I've got to get back to Portland."

"You can't go," I insisted. "I need you to make sure the wards hold."

"They'll hold. At least for a while."

I shook my head. "This is Sidhe and djinn power." The dome shuddered as if in response to my doubt. "You have no idea how it'll react."

"I've held more demons inside one of these than you can shake a stick at."

"But adding the Darkness…"

"There's a demon infestation in a church of all things. Do you want them eating the Sunday school kids for breakfast? I have to go."

Tommy grabbed my arm. "Go," he told Kabita. "We can hold it."

She nodded, and without another word hopped on her bike and took off. I whirled to Tommy. "I hope you're right because I'm not convinced." The dome shuddered again as another ball of Sidhe energy slammed into it. The SRA agents fell back, watching the battle. I'd bet anything they were confused as hell right now.

"We must," Tommy said. "She cannot allow more death simply because of what might happen here."

He was right. "Does shaman magic even work on a witch ward?" I asked.

He smiled grimly. "I guess we'll find out."

Chapter 2

I saw the minute the ward began to flicker. "Shit, I think it's dying," I shouted to Tommy. He was several feet away at the next ward. He jogged back, his spry movements belying his age. He knelt down, hands extended, searching for the power in the ward.

"Kabita's magic is collapsing. There is too much strain on the barrier."

No shit. Somebody crashed into the invisible wall, causing it to shudder and spark. The djinn staggered to his feet, shook his head, and dove back into the fray. Nobody on the battlefield seemed concerned there was an invisible wall keeping them inside.

"What do we do?" I was trying really hard not to think about what might happen if the wards failed.

Another body hit the wall. This time an entire section went down, spilling the fighters out onto the ground. Fortunately, the rest of the barrier was still intact for now.

"We need to close the gap before more escape, that's what we need to do," Tommy said grimly.

"But how? My power isn't helping anything." The Darkness could keep the beasties at bay, but it couldn't charge the wards. And Tommy was doing his best, but apparently shamanic power worked differently than witch power.

He placed his hand on the ward and concentrated. I could almost feel the energy pulsing from him, charging the air. The ward throbbed faintly, and the wall shimmered, restored. I knew it wouldn't hold for long, though.

Tommy glanced at me. "Look out!"

Somebody grabbed my hair, yanking me backward. My first instinct was to fight, but instead I let myself go limp, falling back so my hair slipped out of my captor's grip. Tears stung my eyes at the pain on my scalp. I hit the ground and rolled toward my would-be captor, sweeping my right leg around until it slammed into his legs. He hit the ground beside me hard enough to knock the wind from his lungs. The sun glinted off golden armor: Sidhe.

I slid my blade from my boot and lifted it, prepared to make the death strike. It was the blade I'd liberated from the Otherworld. It would slice through Sidhe armor like butter.

"Morgan! No!"

I glanced up to see Jack running toward me across the uneven ground. A djinn rushed him only to receive the hilt of Jack's sword in his temple for his trouble.

Instead of making the blow, I pressed the blade against the Sidhe warrior's throat. He immediately stopped struggling. "Jack? What the hell are you doing here?" I hadn't heard from the bastard in days. Not since Paris. He hadn't returned my texts, calls, or emails. When I'd needed him most, he'd disappeared off the face of the earth. Worst guardian ever.

"Don't kill him," Jack ordered. "It's what the Queen wants."

I stared down at the warrior, who was staring up at me. The swirling permutations of his features made me a little dizzy. "I know that, Jack. I'm not an idiot."

He raised an eyebrow, which irritated me. I did know that, but in the heat of the moment, I'd forgotten. Or rather, I hadn't cared.

"What do you propose we do with him?" I glanced over at a djinn who was lying prone just outside the barrier. "And that one. We can't let them run amok."

"Trevor just brought in a cage. We can throw them in there."

"Both of them?" Tommy and I said at once.

"Don't be an idiot," I said. "They'll kill each other."

"Djinn can't die, Morgan. Neither can Sidhe."

"Djinn and Sidhe can't die at the hands of humans, but they can sure as hell kill each other."

"Shit."

"Exactly."

"Why don't we put one of them in the cage," Tommy suggested, "and tie the other up. Iron cuffs will hold the Sidhe. Especially if they've been charged with power. The djinn will be trickier."

We were halfway to the cage when the barrier went down again. I could tell by the fizzle and the black smoke it was done. There was no bringing it back. The wards would have to be completely reset.

Warriors poured through the gap, carrying the battle outside the dome. The djinn lunged out of Jack's grasp, snapping backward with his elbow and catching Jack in the nose. Blood spurted everywhere as Jack staggered to the side. Tommy wacked the djinn in the head with his staff, driving the larger man to the ground. The Sidhe I was holding took that moment to decide running was a good idea. He twisted wildly to the left, breaking my hold, then took off toward his brethren and the battle. I snatched up a fist-sized rock, and channeling a bit of the Darkness, lobbed it after him. It hit the back of his skull, and the Sidhe went down like a ton of bricks. He didn't get back up.

"Now what?" I shouted at Tommy and Jack who were trying to restrain the djinn. It looked like a losing battle. The thing was massive, and he was tossing them about like they were children. "There are too many of them."

Warrior after warrior poured out of the dome. Blood splattered what was left of the invisible barrier, hanging in midair like a gravity-defying painting of the macabre. Another ward sizzled and failed, giving the fighters even more room to spill out. Soon they'd cross djinn territory onto human lands. Then we'd have a serious problem.

"Use your powers," Tommy shouted, giving their captive another whack with his staff. The djinn fell to his knees, dazed.

I scrambled for an idea. If I used Air, the Marid could control me. If I used Earth, the Sidhe would be unaffected. Water and Fire might kill people, getting me involved. Shit. Darkness was all I had left and I knew that wasn't enough.

Use them all
, a voice whispered in my brain. Odd. It sounded strangely like Cordelia, my friend with the psychic powers. Which was ridiculous. She was miles away, back in Portland. I had no idea if it was my brilliant mind or somebody else sending me thoughts, but it seemed as good an idea as any.

I took a deep breath and reached into the center of my being where my powers lay. I opened myself up and beckoned them, and out they came.

In a rush, all five of my abilities flew out of me, racing through my bones and across my skin. I had no idea what anyone else saw, but as my vision tunneled down into a pinprick in the Darkness, my skin glowed with fire, shimmered green with earth. The itch of my palms told me the water was ready. My hair lifted off my neck, first in a gentle breeze, then it whipped into a frenzy as the Air turned from wind to hurricane.

Opening my fists, I let the Water pour out of me. I let loose the Earth and Fire. The hurricane turned to tornado, the ground beneath my feet shook and heaved, and the air turned ice cold and burning hot, so thick with mist I could barely breathe. The tornado spun around me, a whirlwind of Water and Fire, and then I sent it outward toward the battle, whipping it around the fighters until the sound of crashing armor and swords receded, and all I could hear was the howl of the wind. All I could see was the blackness of the grave. And the Earth rushed to meet me.

# # #

It was the incessant beep that drove me from the shadowy coziness of sleep into the harsh white light of awaking. I didn't want to wake up. I wanted to stay in the quiet darkness, but the voices, the beeping, they wouldn't let me rest.

"Morgan. Morgan."

I made an unintelligible sound and batted at the annoying voice. I felt a warm trickle across my hand.

"Damn, she's pulled out the IV. Get the nurse. She's bleeding all over the place."

"Don't worry," another voice chimed in. This one soft and soothing. Calm. "We'll get her fixed up in no time."

I wanted to tell the voices to shut up. Go away and leave me alone. But I couldn't get my mouth to form the words.

"Come on, Morgan, open your eyes. Talk to me."

I finally managed to prop one eye open. I shut it again immediately as the glare singed my corneas.

"There you are." Someone was holding my hand. Skin warm against mine. Warm like the darkness where I wanted to stay. "Talk to me."

I grunted.

"Words. Use your words."

What was I? Two? I'd tell whoever it was where to stick those words. If I could get my mouth to work.

With a great deal of focus, I managed to pry my eyes open to glare at the offender. "Inigo?"

"Yeah, baby. It's me." He brushed a hand across my forehead, his blue eyes intense in a way I'd never seen them.

I tried to say, "What are you doing here?" But it came out as, "Here?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Water."

Someone else moved into view, handing me a pink plastic cup with a yellow straw. She held the cup while I took a couple of sips, then set it down on the table next to the bed. "How are you feeling?" She leaned over the bed, checking my IVs. She was wearing pink scrubs and her brown hair was in a short bob. She was acting terribly efficient. Nurse.

"Headache from hell," I muttered.

The nurse smiled. "That'll happen when you crack your head on a rock."

Is that what had happened? "Yeah. I guess."

"Now you lie still. I'm going to grab a doctor to check you out. Be right back." She gave Inigo a stern look. "Don't get her riled."

Inigo lifted his hands as if to protest his innocence. I couldn't help but notice the way his soft blue T-shirt pulled against well-developed muscles. Had he bulked up since the last time I saw him? Or had I just forgotten how delicious he was? Surely not. I'd need more than a bump on the head to forget that.

"Thought you were still in Scotland," I mumbled once the nurse had left.

"I was." He sank down into the chair next to my hospital bed. "But when Jack called to tell us you were in the hospital…" He shrugged as if to say it was obvious. But it wasn't. Not really. Not the way things had been between us lately.

"Us? Is Drago here?" Drago was the king of the Dragons and Inigo's half-brother.

"No. Once he sussed out what was up, he flew home."

"Why didn't he help? We could use him." A dragon to hold the line would make all the difference.

"He can't get involved. Can you imagine what would happen if the dragons got pulled into this war?"

He was right. I'd have realized it if my head didn't hurt so badly. I closed my eyes. "Thank you for coming."

"Of course I came. I love you."

I smiled a little at that but didn't open my eyes. "Sometimes I wonder." I wasn't sure if I'd said that out loud, or if it was my mind playing tricks on me. The darkness was pulling me down again. Into sleep. As Inigo brushed his lips against mine, I wasn't sure if it was real or if I were dreaming.

Chapter 3

I woke to find my brother, Trevor, talking in low tones with Inigo. Their faces were intense, worried.

"There you are." I turned my head, wincing slightly at the tenderness. Cordelia was sitting in a chair next to my bed, her cat, Bastet, sitting calmly in her lap. Bastet's large golden eyes blinked solemnly at me.

"Cordy. I heard you. In my head."

"Of course you did." She leaned over to pat my hand. "I thought I'd help as best I could, but when I got the call, Bastet insisted we come to the hospital immediately."

I gave Bastet a wry glance. "I'm sure she did. How did you sneak her in here? Cats aren't generally allowed in hospitals."

"There was no sneaking. The duty nurse needed a little persuading, but Bastet has her ways."

I gave the cat another sideways look. "I bet she does."

Bastet lifted her nose, all but sniffing at me. If she'd been human, I'd have taken it as a sign of her being offended.

"I assure you, she did. Bastet likes you very much." Cordy beamed at me and then at Bastet.

Cordy kept insisting her cat liked me. I'd yet to see any evidence of it. "What happened?" I asked, raising my voice so the men could hear me.

"You're awake." Trevor hurried to my bedside. "I was worried about you."

"Yeah, yeah. Hard head. What the hell happened?"

"Don't know. One minute you were standing there holding the barrier, and the next, you were on the ground bleeding. Tommy said you expended too much energy and passed out."

"I know all that," I snapped. "I mean what's got you whispering in the corner?"

Inigo and Trevor exchanged glances. Cordelia and Bastet said nothing.

"You better tell her," Inigo said.

"Alister Jones escaped custody."

I stared at him open mouthed. Alister Jones, Kabita's father and my arch nemesis, had been "detained" at Area 51 by the SRA. It was his own fault, what with the whole killing people and trying to destroy the world thing. "Please tell me you're kidding."

"Unfortunately not."