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I’m going back for him.
Emma, what’s wrong? Should I stay?
She smiled suddenly. No. I’ve got this.
Brannick offered her a crooked smile in return. Do your worst, witch. I suspect Loghry’s in for a surprise.
Emma grinned as he took off. Whatever happened next, they’d done it. They’d saved another group of girls, and she vowed that so long as she lived, she’d spend the rest of her life getting innocent humans out of Five Bridges.
She turned toward the entrance to the labyrinth, then opened her ability to see the immediate future, but static returned. Loghry was blocking her.
It didn’t matter, though, because she could feel Vaughn now, like a second skin. His vampire strength surrounded her and she drew his energy close. This was something Loghry couldn’t disrupt.
Keeping her mind focused on Vaughn, she began making her way through the labyrinth.
The path was as clear to her as if she’d seen it in a series of snapshots.
But she could feel Loghry as well. Maybe it was her connection to Vaughn, but he seemed more sinister than ever.
As she moved, she felt Loghry approach her telepathy, but she blocked him. She didn’t want the wizard inside her head. She took several pathways to finally enter the space where Loghry held Vaughn captive.
Vaughn’s eyes looked glazed. He was still caught in Loghry’s spell. As for Beth, though Vaughn held her close, she shook head to toe.
Loghry stood off to the side, his lips curved as he stared at Emma. He was as tall as Vaughn, though emaciated as addicts often were. His lips were actually the color of the drug he took.
“So we meet at last, Emma. I’ve seen you numerous times in the visions I occasionally enjoyed, and of course I met you in your dreams earlier. But you should know that I’ve prepared for your arrival. You don’t equal me in power.”
Emma didn’t respond because that’s exactly what he wanted her to do.
When she felt him press on her telepathy again, she blocked him as she had before.
“Very good.” He inclined his head slightly, an acknowledgment of her power.
He began to unwind the black scarf, though at first she wasn’t sure why. But when he completed the process and let it fall to the dirt, she realized he’d wanted to knock her out of her stride. He almost succeeded, because she couldn’t believe the state of his throat and neck. Everyone thought he used the scarf to cover up his addiction. Instead, the fabric had been hiding the bruising up and down his throat as well as a large number of feeding scars where Beth had done permanent damage through the years.
At the same time that her gaze became fixed to the horror of his wounds, she felt a wave of energy come from Loghry. She felt dizzy and nauseous, then she understood. He was using the disgusting nature of his scars to distract her while he applied his spell.
She gave herself a shake and met his gaze once more. “Not gonna work.” She conjured a spell of her own, full of light and warmth and flung it at him with a wave of her own energy.
He lifted an arm and squinted. He even shouted as though in pain. He might have tremendous ability, but he still had feet of clay.
Despite the fact that she stayed focused on her spell, she felt Loghry battle back swiftly, and like a shower of glitter in the air, her counter-spell disappeared.
“I’m angry with you, Emma. Though more so at Dagen for putting you in with my pet. He should have known your blood might have the ability to heal Beth. The truth is that I could have stopped you from killing the shifter, but he and I had gone as far as we could go.”
“You’re a monster, Loghry.”
“Please, let’s not reduce ourselves to name-calling. Especially since I have an offer for you, though essentially it’s the same one Dagen made. I want you to join with me, both sexually, of course, and with all the latent power you’ve been suppressing. You’re a woman of exceptional abilities and we could accomplish extraordinary things together. In fact, we could rule Five Bridges. Think what that could mean.” His gaze fell the full length of her body, then back up. “Of course, you would need to embrace amethyst flame.”
“And I’ll give you the same answer I gave Dagen: I’d rather eat sharp pieces of glass.”
“That can’t be your only answer. Don’t you see? You’ve got the wrong attitude about living here. I was like you early on, wanting to retain my humanity, hoping perhaps I could do some good in Five Bridges. But I was attacked by vampires after only being here a few months. They were officers of the Crescent Border Patrol. Your boyfriend was one of them, which was why I took Beth. Vaughn robbed me of hope and I decided to do the same for him. I knew abducting his sister would cause him a lot more anguish than if I merely killed him straight out.”
Emma snorted. “Funny how Vaughn remembers the night you were attacked very differently from your account, or have you forgotten that you killed a woman, a female vampire?”
He spread his hands wide. “It was an accident.”
“How is using your bare hands for several minutes to strangle a woman to death anything like ‘an accident’.” She couldn’t help herself; she mad
