Wicked Magic (22 page)
Authors: Cheyenne McCray
By the time they'd left Otherworld and made it back to the apartment building, Rhiannon had worked herself into a major snit. It would have been so satisfying to throw a spellfire ball at each Chieftain's ass.
A Drow king was her father! One of the Dark Elves. And she was supposed to embrace the Shadows and allow them to help her. The Drow and the Shadows were nothing short of evil, no matter what the Great Guardian said.
The fact that she'd inherited such perverted dark magic lay in her belly like a heavy weight. The Shadows were evil, just like her birth father.
She couldn't tell her Coven sisters about the Shadows, and she certainly wasn't ready to tell them about her father being Drow.
On top of everything, the head-splitting pain returned the moment they crossed over from Otherworld. The thought of Ceithlenn being in her head made the weight in Rhiannon's stomach heavier.
When Rhiannon and Keir arrived in the common room, her jaw nearly dropped and her eyes widened.
High Priestess Janis Arrowsmith, of the white magic D'Anu Coven, stood in front of most of Rhiannon's friends, who were all members of the gray magic D'Anu Coven. None of the PSF officers or D'Danann were in the room.
Janis's frosty eyes still had that you're-scum-beneath-my-feet look as she met Rhiannon's gaze. Her gray hair was pulled back so tight it stretched the skin around her eyes and made her look like she'd had a face lift. She was tall, taller than Rhiannon and all of her Coven sisters, and had a way of looking down her nose that made Rhiannon want to slap her. Since she couldn't singe a Chieftain's ass, maybe Rhiannon would get Janis with a good spellfire ball to her backside.
Mackenzie and Alyssa stood beside Hannah, Sydney, and Silver. Cassia and Copper weren't in the room. Most of the witches didn't look too pleased to have Janis there.
Silver, though, maintained a polite expressionâdespite the fact that she had been the one who had been thrown out of the D'Anu white magic Coven for using gray magic. Rhiannon, Cassia, Sydney, Mackenzie, Alyssa, Hannah, and Copper had left with Silver, and the eight of them had formed their small gray magic Coven.
Mortimer, Janis's mouse familiar, peeked out of the High Priestess's forest green robes and Spirit hissed from across the room. Rhiannon's gaze snapped to her familiar, who perched on the arm of a couch, his tail twitching.
To her immense surprise, Galia was sitting on Spirit's back, her small fingers clasped in his hair, as if he were a horse. The Faerie was studying Janis with a frown on her petite face.
Spirit turned his head to glance at Rhiannon in a way that let her know he was ticked at her for leaving him behind when she went to Otherworld. His gaze returned to Mortimer and he crouched, looking ready to pounce the first chance he had. Galia patted Spirit's side and the cat relaxed his position a little.
“What can we help you with?” Silver said in a calm tone that reminded Rhiannon of Silver's and Copper's mother. Moondust was one of the fallen in their battle against the Fomorii on Samhain.
Apparently Janis had just arrived. “I had a vision.” Janis focused her attention on Silver. Her voice was strong, yet her lips twitched in an almost nervous manner. Was the High Priestess a bit shaken up over something?
“Go on,” Silver said quietly.
Janis cleared her throat. “I visioned a great host of demons. I saw a being with hair of flame and the wings of a bat gather the souls of many, many people. That evil creature freed a force even more powerful than she.”
The room was entirely quiet.
“I saw panic as well as riots when people started to learn of mass murders being committed by this creature,” Janis said in a shaky voice. “People of the city thought it to be a terrorist attack.
“I saw more death.” Her hands actually trembled at her sides. “I saw San Francisco's devastation.”
Goose bumps rose on Rhiannon's skin. Janis was a more powerful visionary than she. It didn't mean the vision would necessarily come to pass. The outcome could be changed.
But Janis having this visionâit wasn't good. It
really
wasn't good.
really
wasn't good.
All of the witches in the room looked as stunned as Rhiannon felt. Everyone knew how powerful Janis's visions were.
“This future can be prevented.” Janis met Silver's gaze. “All my D'Anu Coven can do is pray and meditate, chant and heal what damage has been done or comes to pass. We can use the white magic we have at our disposal that does not venture close to the gray. You know this.”
Rhiannon took a step toward Janis. “What exactly are you saying?”
The High Priestess raised her chin. “I can only tell you of my vision. I can only warn you. I cannot and will not ask anything of you.”
“Because we use gray magic.” Copper pushed her way past Rhiannon and Keir into the common room, obviously having just come in from the outside. Her walking cast thumped as she moved forward to confront the High Priestess.
Janis's eyes widened. “Copper?”
“Alive and kicking.” Copper looked down at her ankle cast. “More or less.”
“You were missing so long ⦔ Janis said, a shocked expression still on her face.
“Took gray magic to get me out of the mess.” Copper narrowed her eyes. “And then I get back to learn you kicked my sister out of the Coven.”
Janis straightened and her expression became steely again. “As I expressed, I came only to share this vision with you.” Her robes swished as she turned and walked past Rhiannon and Copper. When her gaze landed on Keir she narrowed her eyes. “D'Danann.”
“One who helped save your ass on Samhain, from what I was told,” Rhiannon said.
Janis raised her chin and swept out the common room door and out of their sight.
“Whoa.” Sydney looked at her Coven sisters. “I can't believe Janis told us about her vision.”
“She did come to me not long before Copper made her way back home,” Silver said. “Only Janis didn't make any dire predictions.”
“I remember you telling me about that.” Copper took an audible breath. “So just how deep are we?”
“I'd say pretty deep.” Rhiannon moved from the doorway to drop her duffel on a couch. She plopped down beside it. “The Chieftains said no. They won't send any more help.”
The witches stared at Rhiannon.
Galia's little face twisted with fury. “Those idiots!” She stood on Spirit's back. But then a puzzled expression replaced the anger. “I will be back,” she said before she zipped out of the room in a poof of pink dust.
“What are we going to do?” Alyssa asked in a trembling voice.
Rhiannon clenched her hands on her thighs. “The best we can, and it's going to have to be enough to get the job done.”
At this moment she couldn't talk about her heritage. It was too raw, and still difficult for her to believe. Maybe she and Keir would seek help from the Mystwalkers as the Great Guardian suggested. But Rhiannon didn't want to go near the Dark Elves.
She squeezed her hands into tighter fists. She had to set those thoughts aside and concentrate on the here and now.
A pink flash startled her. Galia came to a stop right in front of the witches and Keir.
The Faerie wrung her little hands. “It happened.” More pink Faerie dust and the scent of lilacs poofed from her wings. “I went outside and heard Jake talking to the other officers and D'Danann.”
“What's going on?” Rhiannon's brows pinched with confusion.
Galia turned to Rhiannon, her long blond hair flying over her shoulders. “Ceithlenn struck again.”
A collective gasp went around the room. Rhiannon's blood chilled and she gripped the arm of the couch with one hand.
“Explain,” Keir said in a harsh tone.
The Faerie looked a little green. “A whole theater filled with people. Jake said they are all wrinkled up, except for a few who were ⦠eaten.”
Nausea swept through Rhiannon's belly as her thoughts returned to her vision where she had been inside the goddess and had felt and tasted everything Câthe goddess had.
Keir tossed his pack on a couch as he looked at Galia. “Where?”
“Someplace called the Grand Theater.”
“By the Ancestors,” Silver said as Rhiannon got to her feet again. “That place is huge.”
Galia wrung her hands so tight they were pale. “They are afraid she has gained much power from this.”
Keir jerked the long black coat more snugly over his weapons in order to conceal them better. He was still wearing his leathers and sword since they'd just returned from Otherworld, and had worn the coat to cover them. He turned to Rhiannon. “Can you tell me where this theater is?”
“I'll show you.” She held up her hand when he scowled. Before he had a chance to say anything, she stated, “I'm not staying behind.”
For a moment it looked like she was going to get his usual argument, but he gave her a sharp nod. “Come.”
“Can I?” Galia asked.
“No.” Keir tossed a glance over his shoulder. “This will be no place for a Faerie.”
Behind her, Rhiannon heard the other witches chatting and making their own plans to hurry to the theater.
Rhiannon had to jog to keep up with Keir's long strides as he exited the apartment building. “I forgot my keys,” she said.
“We do not need your car. It would take too long.” He grabbed her around the waist with both hands. “Hold me. Tight.” Keir unfurled beautiful black wings and Rhiannon gasped. She'd never seen his wings. Even when they went to Otherworld he hadn't flown.
He spread his wings like a great eagle. Before she had time to think, he pumped his wings and they were airborne.
She cried out in surprise and fear as she threw her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his hips. Her stomach lurched and her breath wouldn't come easily to her. Wind rushed past her face and made her hair stand on end. They were flying in the fog and everything was gray.
Her voice trembled and she did her best not to look down. “I didn't even have time to pull a glamour.”
“We cannot be seen.” His powerful wings moved with incredible grace for such a harsh man. “So long as I hold you, my cloak will envelop you as well.”
Rhiannon thought about how Superman flew with Lois Lane over the city and how Lois had enjoyed the flight and the city at night. Well, it wasn't night, Rhiannon wasn't Lois Lane, and she wasn't looking down.
“Where is it?” Keir asked.
Crap.
So much for not looking down. She peeked over her shoulder, grew dizzy, and thought she might pass out from fear. She wrapped her body tighter around Keir's.
So much for not looking down. She peeked over her shoulder, grew dizzy, and thought she might pass out from fear. She wrapped her body tighter around Keir's.
“Farther. Head northwest.” She pressed her cheek to his chest and for some reason thought about what she'd learned of her birth parents.
“Keir,” she said above the rush of wind over her ears. “Finding out about my parentsâit's so confusing. And meeting my fatherâI can't see myself learning more about that part of me.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Aye. It will be difficult for me as well to meet my mother and her people.” He held her impossibly tighter. “We will face this together.”
Rhiannon shook her head. “I can't believe we're on our way to a horrible tragedy and I'm thinking about all of this.”
“It is difficult not to.” He began to descend. “Are we close now?”
She looked over her shoulder and again thought she was going to lose her lunch. “There. By that hotel with the red awnings. The place with the huge crowd of people in front of it.” She immediately put her face against his black shirt again. She
was
going to throw up if they didn't get on the ground soon.
was
going to throw up if they didn't get on the ground soon.
When Keir landed, he had to pry Rhiannon away from him.
“You are all right,
a stór
,” he said.
a stór
,” he said.
“That's what you think.” She released the vise hold her thighs had on his hips, and let him remove her arms from around his neck. She met his gaze as her shoes touched the asphalt and her legs trembled. “Let's not do that again.”
They had landed in an alleyway, but the roar of a crowd could be heard from where they stood. Keir retracted his wings, took her hand, and led her toward the noise.
News vans, reporters with cameramen, and countless other people stood outside an area that had been cordoned off with yellow tape. Police stood two feet apart all the way around the circumference to ensure no one could get into the theater. Countless emergency vehicles were parked out front and red and blue lights flashed nonstop.
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