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Chapter One
Tamsin
As I drive my rental van down the bumpy gravel road, I try my best to avoid potholes so as not to wake the four sleeping demons in the back. One of them being my sister.
It’s rained within the last hour, so a thick curtain of fog hangs heavy across the Highlands, and I’m going to lose the sun soon. But I couldn’t get lost in this place if I tried. It may have been twenty years since I set foot in Scotland, but I know these hills like my own heartbeat. Even if I did promise myself never to return to them.
But sometimes promises must be broken.
I turn a sharp corner in the road and the mist clears momentarily as a stiff wind sweeps down from the peaks above. A huge lake comes into view on my left, framed by high green peaks and wide, open moors. Settled between the hills and the lake is a gigantic stone house. MacPherson House. My family home.
A low growl from the back tells me one of my patients is waking up. I should have enough time to get to my destination, though. I accelerate slightly, and a couple minutes later I pull up to the back of the house. There are two witches waiting for me. When I get out of the van, I’m yanked into a bear hug like only a Scottish woman can give.
“Tamsin!” Nessa says after she finally releases me. She’s been the caretaker of MacPherson House for as long as I can remember. “I almost don’t recognize you, girl.”
The older woman reaches up and tugs at my short blonde hair and the collar of my designer blouse. Ainsley, her daughter, pulls me into a less intense hug.
“It’s wonderful to see you both,” I say, and I mean it. Even if I hate this place, I’ve missed these two a lot over the years. They’re practically family. “But you’ll have to excuse me just a moment, I have something urgent to attend to.”
Nessa tries to follow me as I walk around to the back of the van, but I turn and raise a palm to stop her. “It’d be best if I explain before you… before you see. It’s rather shocking. Give me just a moment.”
I smile apologetically and rush around to open the van doors as another growl, this time much louder, rises from the back. In my hand I already have a syringe full of a chemical compound that neutralizes demonic energies and keeps the demons asleep. I climb into the back of the van, and with steady hands, I slide the needle into my sister Luciana’s arm. She’s the one waking up, of course. For some reason, she needs more neutralizer than the other three I’d saved from the lab.
A moment later, Luciana goes back into her induced coma, her face peaceful. As peaceful as a face covered in tiny orange spikes can look. I let out the breath I’d been holding and hop back down out of the van.
Ainsley and Nessa stare at me as I approach them, and I realize I still have the needle in my hand. I’ve already capped it, so I shove it in my pocket. “So,” I say, glancing up at them and running a hand through my short hair nervously. “I told you on the phone there was an emergency, and Luciana and I were coming home. Well…”
There’s no easy way to say it. Thank goodness they already know about the supernatural world.
“There’s a magical criminal organization called the Night Guild. They abducted Luciana to force me to work for them developing a blood serum. What they’re doing is just… ” I cut off and suck in a breath to steady myself. “It’s horrific. They’re turning supernatural beings into demons to create hybrids so they can sell their blood on the black market. It’s extremely lucrative.”
Two sets of blue eyes widen to nearly the size of the lake. “And Luciana?” Nessa whispers, her lips trembling.
I want to close my eyes so I don’t have to see her kind, weathered face as I confirm her fears. But instead, I take another breath to calm myself, and I speak like I’ve been trained as a doctor: calm, objective, detached.
“Luciana was turned into a demon. But, with the help of a couple friends, we broke her and three other hybrids out of the Night Guild’s lab in Costa Rica, and here we are.” I make a broad gesture to the barren, windswept landscape around us. “I’ve been trying to develop a cure, and I need somewhere quiet and discrete to conduct my work.”
I’d rented a private plane to get here, which cost a small fortune. But it’s not like I could take a bunch of demons on Delta.
Nessa takes a moment to compose herself, and when she speaks her tone is clear and strong. “And this Night Guild, I assume they are not happy you escaped with several of their patients.”
Considering I’d taken the only four that could possibly be saved, and the rest are dying off one-by-one, that would be one hundred percent correct. But I don’t want to throw in all those details quite yet. It’s a lot to take in at once. So, I just say, “Right,” with a curt nod.
“Well,” Nessa says. “You’ve come to the right place, out here in the middle of nowhere. Anyone not from around these parts would be hard-pressed to find you.”
“My thoughts exactly.” I flick my gaze up to the house. “I was thinking the dining room would make a good place to set up my lab. Does that work?”
“It’s your house, Tamsin, you can do what you like,” Nessa says with a smile.
“Our house,” I say. “Now, I’m going to get these guys inside.”
I use the hydraulic lift at the back of the van to lower the four hospital gurneys to the ground, and then Nessa and Ainsley help me wheel the demons inside. When we reach the dining room, Ainsley shoots me an ashen look.
“Which one is Luciana?” she whispers.
I point to the hospital bed I’m tugging behind me. Ainsley’s face goes even more pale as she takes in Luciana’s deep orange skin, spikes, and horns.
“I’m sure our fancy doctor here will get her fixed up in no time,” Nessa says, patting me on the arm. “What’s it called again? Your specialty?”
