Wicked Magic (13 page)
Authors: Cheyenne McCray
He pinned her hip tight to him and his cock was hard against her belly. Her body was so warm against his, so warm and soft and female.
When he broke the kiss he could barely breathe, much less speak. He could not fathom how one woman could steal his breath away and make him lose his words so easily. She looked into his eyes and he was unable to tear his gaze from hers.
“You are mine,” he finally said. He brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “And I am yours.”
Rhiannon walked down the hallway side by side with Keir. Her body was still flushed and her heart wouldn't stop pounding so hard. This was crazy.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Rhiannon heard nothing short of an uproar coming from the common room.
“What's going on?” she said as she hurried ahead of Keir into the room.
“There you are.” Sydney rushed up to Rhiannon and grabbed her hand. “Hurry. Jake and the other PSF officers have already left. We've got to make some plans.”
A chill raked Rhiannon's spine as she ran alongside Sydney and came to a stop at one of the tables. A huge map of the Bay Area was spread out on it and Hannah was giving the D'Danann directions.
Rhiannon felt Keir behind her as she tried to listen in and hear what was going on.
“Since you'll be flying, you'll reach it before we possibly could,” Hannah was saying as she glanced up at the warriors. She looked back to the map. “Head over the Golden Gate Bridge.” She drew a line from San Francisco across the bridge using a trail of green magic from her finger. “You'll find the bus here, in Sausalito.” She proceeded to give detailed instructions on where they needed to go.
“What happened?” Keir said in his authoritative voice.
Hannah looked up at him from the map. “The Sausalito Police just found a tourist bus filled with shriveled corpses. HAZMAT is there now, checking to see if it was caused by some kind of disease or chemical weapon.” She paused and shook her head. “I don't think that's what we're dealing with.”
“Blessed Anu.” Rhiannon held her hand to her belly. “Are you thinking it's Ceithlenn?”
The moment Rhiannon said the evil goddess's name, a white-hot rod of pain jammed into her skull and her knees almost gave out. Her vision blurred. Her ears felt as if tissue paper had been jammed into them. Keir placed his hands on her shoulders from behind, as if knowing she needed to be steadied.
“We think it was.” Silver sounded distant as Rhiannon's mind spun. “There are two bodies mostly eaten.” Silver spoke as though the words were distasteful on her tongue. “The rest are just withered according to the police.”
“As if their lives had been sucked out of them,” Hannah added.
Rhiannon rubbed her temples, trying to ease the pain in her head. “Or their souls.”
“That's what we think,” Sydney said from beside Rhiannon.
“An entire busload of people?” Rhiannon asked to make sure she'd heard right.
The witches surrounding the table nodded. “It's off in an isolated area, but the cops are all over it. The PSF has been called in because no one's ever seen anything like it.”
“We should go, too.” Rhiannon's head was foggy, her mouth dry. “We can get readings off whatever energy traces might have been left behind.”
“No.” Keir rested his hand on her shoulder. “You all need to stay.”
“As if.” Rhiannon looked up at him. She blinked. She saw two of Keir. Her vision was doubling. Great, that was all she neededâtwo Keirs.
She swayed and Keir steadied her again with his arms on her shoulders.
“
A stór
, are you all right?” he murmured in her ear.
A stór
, are you all right?” he murmured in her ear.
She gave a nod even though she wasn't okay. It was the goddess's name. Every time she spoke it or thought about it she got sick. And it was getting worse every time.
“This time they're right,” Silver was saying as Rhiannon fought to clear her mind. “We'd never be able to drive there in time. The D'Danann can fly over and search the area. Jake can let them in if they can manage to land and shift without being seen.”
Sydney squeezed Rhiannon's arm as she said, “We need to use our divination talents to see what we can learn.”
“Yeah. Okay.” Rhiannon braced her hands on the table and Keir's grip from behind her kept her steady. “This time.”
The rest of the warriors had their long coats on over their T-shirts and jeans to conceal their weapons.
Just as Keir was about to run upstairs to grab his own, it floated into the room.
Floated.
“What in Anu's name?” Shock filled Silver's voice.
Keir knew and he ground his teeth as he reached for it. “Thank you, Galia,” he managed to get out without snapping at the Faerie. He had promised she did not have to hide anymore, and he always kept his promises. Always.
But now was not the time to explain a six-inch, lilacscented, pink-winged, naked blond Faerie to a roomful of witches and warriors.
The moment he took the coat, Galia darted out. He heard the witches gasp and a rumbling among the D'Danann.
“A Faerie?” Sheridan said with amusement in her voice.
“We do not have time to discuss this.” Keir jerked on his coat. He strode out the door.
Galia followed just to the left side of his head, her pink dust scattering over his shoulders. “I want to come!”
Keir held back a growl. “Stay with the witches this time, Galia.” The Faerie gave a pout when he glanced at her. “Now.”
Galia whirled around with her tiny chin in the air and headed back into the common room.
When they were outside the apartment building, Hawk began assigning the D'Danann their duties. He ordered several of the warriors to stay and guard the witches, another group to search the skies, and five of them to go to the place called Sausalito.
Keir, Tiernan, Hawk, Kirra, and Sheridan took to the skies at once and headed across the bay to seek out the tragic scene of the crime.
The city passed below in a blur as Keir's thoughts switched alternately from their mission to Rhiannon, but as he flew over the Golden Gate Bridge, he tried to concentrate on the job ahead. The mission was of utmost importance, yet at the same time his worry for Rhiannon grew.
Wind blew past his face and ruffled his wings as it occurred to him that he was beginning to understand Hawk's and Tiernan's emotions toward their mates. Having something in common with his half-brother, Hawk, was not something he had expected.
Keir gave a great pump of his wings. He had never thought he would want one woman. To be with her. To stay with her. To keep her. To make her his.
When they located the bus, police and PSF officers were everywhere. Men and women in full white bodysuits with
HAZMAT
stenciled on the back stood off to the side with their helmets off, talking with several other police officers. The witch Hannah had explained that HAZMAT meant “hazardous materials.” There were other suited and masked men and women, but they had no identification on their protective clothing.
HAZMAT
stenciled on the back stood off to the side with their helmets off, talking with several other police officers. The witch Hannah had explained that HAZMAT meant “hazardous materials.” There were other suited and masked men and women, but they had no identification on their protective clothing.
Yellow tape surrounded the big white bus with its dark tinted windows. A crowd had gathered along the other side of the yellow tape, which fluttered in a breeze from off the bay. Officers were stationed around the circumference, ensuring no one could get through. Keir saw people with objects he knew to be cameras, while others held black things up to their mouthsâmicrophones, he thought he had heard them called.
Officers moved in hurried but methodical movements as they went in and out of the bus, searched around it, and emptied the contents of storage compartments beneath the bus. They all wore full protective clothing and masks.
The five warriors hovered above the crowd, invisible to human eyes as long as they remained in their winged forms.
“Jake is expecting us.” Hawk looked as frustrated as Keir felt at that moment.
“There.” Keir pointed to a copse of large trees.
The warriors flew to the trees, climbed into the branches and shifted. One by one they eased down to the ground. When they were ready, they strode from around the trees and worked their way through the crowd to the yellow tape.
“Captain Macgregor is expecting us,” Hawk said to one of the policemen guarding the area.
“Name?” the officer asked as he observed their attireâlong black coats over black jeans, T-shirts, and boots.
Hawk paused and Keir said, “D'Danann.”
The officer's expression was skeptical, but he turned his head and called out, “Kells, get Macgregor.”
An officer in a HAZMAT suit gave a sharp nod and climbed into the bus. A moment later a suited man walked out of the bus, got closer to the D'Danann, and raised the mask he had been wearing. Jake Macgregor.
“They're part of my team,” Jake said. “Let'em through.”
To keep up pretenses, Keir and his team were forced to wear full suits and what Jake called “gas masks” to avoid breathing in any foreign substance that might cause the same damage to them. The mask and clothing felt strange and uncomfortable and Keir wanted to rip it off. Not to mention he felt naked without his weapons. They'd had to change in one of Jake's big black vehicles, and leave their weapons and coats.
After following protocol, the D'Danann team was in. Hawk, Kirra, and Sheridan took the outside while Tiernan and Keir went into the bus. Even before he entered the vehicle, and despite the mask, the stench of burnt sugar hit Keir. It grew worse as he climbed in. Only Jake and one other PSF officer were inside at this moment.
“No goddamn clues.” Jake's voice sounded as if it came from beneath water as he met up with Tiernan and Keir. “Two bodies look like most of their flesh was eaten right off their bones. They're in the back.” He gestured as if to encompass the interior of the bus. “The rest of these look like they're mummies straight out of a sarcophagus.”
Keir's face tightened as he pushed past Jake and began walking toward the back of the bus. The burnt sugar smell got worse the farther he walked.
Shriveled corpses were in various positions, most with what may have been terrified expressions. It was difficult to tell. Rhiannon had said that in her vision of the goddess, Ceithlenn had delighted in taunting her first victim, wanting him to know he was about to die. Keir would not be surprised if she had done the same to these innocents.
When he reached the back row he saw the human bones with some meat still hanging from them. The stench of the flesh and other sickening smells were enough to make him long for clean air to ease the churning in his gut.
Keir returned to the front of the bus to join Tiernan and Jake.
“Ceithlenn?” Jake asked, looking from Tiernan to Keir.
“The evidence and Rhiannon's vision tell me yes,” Tiernan said.
“She sucked the souls from these bodies and ate the last two,” Keir said. “I have no doubt.”
“Shit.” Jake braced his hands on two of the seats. “If this super-bitch isn't stopped, no telling what she'll do.” His gaze roved the bus again then stopped on the driver's seat, which also held a withered corpse. “What the hell is this?”
Keir narrowed his eyes.
It looked like a black fingernail had snapped off in between the metal bar and backing of the driver's seat.
Jake dug into the pocket of his suit and pulled out a small plastic bag and a pair of tweezers. “Can't see how we missed this on first inspection,” he said as he carefully pulled at the fingernail. It held for a moment as if stuck, then gave. Jake dropped it into the plastic bag.
“Ceithlenn's?” he said as he looked from Keir to Tiernan.
“We can take it to the witches.” Tiernan glanced at Keir. “They might be able to divine what it is.”
In an underhand movement, Jake handed the bagged fingernail to Tiernan. “Stow this. I want it back as soon as possible after the witches check it out. Don't get any fingerprints on it.”
Tiernan nodded, and Keir looked back at the shrunken bodies before returning his gaze to Jake's.
Keir let out a low growl. “I am certain we are running out of time before she strikes again.”
“A Faerie?” Sydney said as she and her Coven sisters studied the diminutive blond whose wings sprinkled glittering pink dust as she stared after the departing D'Danann.
“I do not see why I could not join them,” Galia grumbled.
Alyssa approached the Faerie. “Where exactly did you come from? You should be in the forest or somewhere else in nature. Not here in the middle of the Haight-Ashbury district. Did you stray from Golden Gate Park?”
The Faerie whirled, a miffed look on her features. “I came from Otherworld with Keir.”
Mackenzie snorted and Alyssa giggled.
“Keir brought you with him?” Sydney said with a twitch of her lips.
The Faerie looked uncomfortable. “I ⦠well, I hid in his haversack.”
Rhiannon still wasn't sure whether she was glad for not swatting the Faerie like a fly for interrupting her and Keir in the basement. She hadn't been ready that day, and she wondered if she would have seen so many facets of Keir's personality if things had progressed without interruption.
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