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Hannah stood at the foot of the beautiful stone bridge Jude had shown her the night before when he’d flown her through his realm. Should she just tell him where she was?
The mastyr who had abducted her from Port Townsend, lay burned and shivering at her feet. The moment he’d touched down ready to drink from her, she’d made her decision and let loose with a swathe of flames that fried him. She couldn’t have done it sooner or she would have fallen to her death.
Margetta, who stood ten feet away, had merely laughed, uninterested in the suffering Hannah had just caused one of her minions.
However, when she’d tried to use her fire-power on Margetta, she’d failed.
At first she didn’t understand why, but after a few minutes, she could feel a powerful stream of energy aimed at Hannah, one that kept Margetta safe. The ancient fae had found a way to protect herself.
She knew she was bait in a trap meant for Jude. She also understood that his death would be a powerful coup for Margetta, a way to incite fear within the citizens of Kellcasse and make it easier for her to take over the realm.
But Hannah debated, not wanting Jude to be hurt or killed. She knew him, though, and that what he’d said was true. He would never stop hunting for her. So how much better if he arrived at the height of his strength instead of worn down by hours of searching his realm for her?
Hannah also knew that she and Jude had power together, but did they have enough to escape a battleground like this one with at least a hundred wraith-pairs in the air and on the ground, all hidden by Margetta?
Glancing at the ancient fae, Hannah saw the killing mist drifting from Margetta’s lower limbs, ready to release as needed.
And in that moment, she made her decision, and contacted Jude. All right. I’m on board.
But you need to know that Margetta’s ready to mist the whole area. I can see it forming on her. And Jude, I can’t use my fire-gift against her. She’s blocking me somehow.
I understand. But I still insist on coming. And I’m not alone. Again, Malik is here and that is something Margetta may not know, that another mastyr is in the realm to help direct both the Vampire Guard and the Shifter Brigade. We’re working together and I believe we can do this. Can you trust me?
Hannah didn’t want to die. That’s what she knew. She also didn’t want her time with Jude to end. Another absolute truth.
When she’d found herself whisked away in the air by a vampire with almost as much speed as Jude, she’d sunk to the bottom of the hole she’d fallen into. She had extraordinary gifts that she wanted no part of, an erotic relationship with Jude that threatened her way of life in Port Townsend, and a bar that had just burned to the ground.
And now she stood at the point of death with Margetta holding a metaphorical sword to her neck.
Yet, in all of this what she wanted the most was for Jude to survive at all costs. He was what mattered. Not her bar, or her fear of her emerging gifts, or her anxiety that she might lose control of her life.
In that moment, she’d finally risen above all her fears.
Taking a deep breath, and praying she was making the right decision, she pathed, Do you remember that place that you pointed out last night, the beautiful wide canal with the stone bridge and unique finials along both railings? The bridge that joins two different communities?
Yes, of course. Kelltah Bridge.
That’s it. I just couldn’t think of the name. Well, I’m standing at the foot of the bridge on the eastern side. Margetta is maybe ten or so feet away from me.
I’m on my way.
Hannah couldn’t help the tears that tracked down her cheeks. She trembled now, not for herself but for Jude. She gazed in an arc skyward over all the wraiths and their mates waiting for Margetta’s command. But how were Jude and his forces supposed to combat an invisible enemy especially if Margetta released her mist?
Margetta called to her. “You should reach out to Jude and bring him here. He would come if you said the word.”
Apparently, the bitch couldn’t read all telepathic conversations, or maybe she just had to be tuned in.
Margetta smiled. “By the way, I enjoyed your little show in the peach orchard. Made me hungry for my dear Gustav. I almost called off the whole operation but chose to ignore my lusts. If you’d had enough self-control, Hannah, you wouldn’t be here right now. Stupid mistake leaving Jude’s side. But I figured, you, being human, would falter sooner than later.”
Hannah kept her gaze fixed anywhere but on the ancient fae. She remained stoic, although it didn’t help her nerves that she stood over a burned up, but-healing-swiftly mastyr vampire, who occasionally growled up at her. At least once she’d fried him, her blood rose drive toward his mastyr status had dropped to almost nothing.
Jude would arrive soon, but then what?
She dreaded the moment, yet couldn’t wait to see him again.
Word must have spread that the mist had arrived in the two villages. The whole area felt like a ghost town and Hannah suspected the occupants had slipped away into the surrounding woodlands, hidden in caves, or anywhere else they could hide.
At least the populous was relatively safe.
