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Chapter Sixteen
Blake
When we reach MacPherson House, we put the horse in the stable out back and go catch the other two to bring them inside. We’re drenched and Tamsin’s teeth are chattering by the time we’re finished. As we approach the back door, Nessa comes running out. At first, I think it’s just because of the storm, but then she gestures toward the house.
“I’ve been trying to call you. Luciana and the others… something’s happening. They’re waking up!”
Tamsin says nothing, her expression blank like a stone slate. She rushes inside.
I follow on her heels. Before we even reach the dining room, I can hear a cacophony of hellish growls and snarls in the air. I smell sulfur, too. That can’t be good at all.
The scene before us is utter chaos. All four demons are thrashing on their beds and surging against the bonds that hold them down. Some of the ties are already snapped. Their eyes are open, and they burn an unnaturally vivid yellow. Behind the demons, hanging over the dining room table, is a swirling vortex. It is not lit with flames. It is black and cold, colder than the most grim of winters in the upper Highlands. Something sparks within it, spots of even blacker black, like dark stars. A gray fog spins out of the portal, stretching, reaching.
The demons have opened a gateway to Hell.
Ainsley stands at the edge of it all, hands outstretched, a forcefield of magic encircling the demons. Bright, white light pours from her hands. Her whole body is rigid with strain, and her heels slide along the stone floor as she’s slowly sucked toward the vortex. She’s the only reason MacPherson House hasn’t been dragged into Hell.
Tamsin doesn’t hesitate, she doesn’t slow to assess the situation, and she doesn’t pale in the face of a doorway to another realm. She strides past Ainsley, past the wild-eyed demons, unflinching as they all lunge toward her. When she passes through the other witch’s magical barrier, she staggers as the vortex sucks hungrily at her. Then she straightens and grabs a large vial of reddish-pink liquid and a huge needle, and while still walking as if in hurricane winds, she draws the liquid up into the syringe. Then she stabs the needle into Luciana’s thigh, despite the fact that her target is gyrating wildly. One by one, she repeats with the other three demons. All in less than sixty seconds.
The vortex to Hell snaps shut, and the demons fall still one by one. Their eyes close again. It’s as if nothing had ever happened.
“You can let go now, Ainsley,” Tamsin says. Her words are crisp and cut. She’s used to commanding others.
Ainsley drops her arms, and her magic dissipates. She flops into a nearby chair, clearly exhausted. Then, and only then, does Tamsin draw in a shuddering breath. She curls one hand around her torso as if holding herself together. I want to step up behind her, wrap her in my arms, but I can tell this isn’t the time. It wouldn’t be what she wants right now.
She gazes out over the demons who are now sleeping like babies. Her expression is that same blank-slate look she’d worn outside when Nessa approached us. It must be her years as a doctor. That ability to turn off everything else, a calm under pressure as unbreakable as diamonds. Her gaze flickers once, for the barest of moments.
“This means I failed. Again.” Her tone is as emotionless as her face.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Last night, I created another variant of the drug I’ve been developing to transform the demonic cells in their bodies back into normal cells. It looked promising when tested on cell samples under my microscope. But clearly it didn’t work.” She lets out a groan. “I need a real lab. Better equipment.”
“There are several hospitals in Edinburgh.” I look over at her. “Would that help?”
“I would need to bring one of my patients,” she says, shaking her head. “And I can’t exactly bring a demon into the big city with me.”
“Well, you could if a close friend of yours had a contact in one of them. Someone who runs a supernatural research facility. It’s actually considered one of the best supernatural medical facilities in the world.” I shrug and smile.
“Are you serious?” She looks both hopeful and threatening, as if she’ll kick my ass if I get her hopes up for nothing.
“Just a phone call and it’s done.”
Tamsin looks conflicted for several moments, as if calculating various scenarios in her head.
“As long as we have plenty of that neutralizing serum, we can watch the other three,” Nessa says from the doorway. I hadn’t even noticed her back there.
“We’ll take Luciana,” Tamsin says with a nod. “The other three can stay. Though, we’ll have to drive. It’s too risky to use a transportation spell in her condition.”
“I’ll go make that call and pack a bag,” I say. “I’ll be back in half an hour.”
I stride out the back door, dialing my friend Devon at the hospital as I go. Within a couple of minutes, I have everything arranged. I summon my magic and transport myself across the moorlands to my house on the other side of the lake. I’m not sure how long Tamsin will need, so I pack for three days. Then I text Colin and Daniel and tell them to check on Nessa and Ainsley regularly. I’m quite sure Daniel will be happy to fulfill that assignment.
As I step back outside, my gaze sweeps across the lake to Tamsin’s house. The house that has stood there these last twenty years, never letting me forget the one that I lost. Not that it would have been easy anywhere in the Highlands, where everything reminds me of the woman I love. But that house, so close to my own, the first thing to draw the eye anywhere on the southern horizon—that house has haunted me.
Now, however, as my eyes slide over it, a new emotion stirs within me. Hope. Tamsin wants me, that much is now clear. But does she want me because I represent the past, or does she want me as I am now? Because she’s right. I’m not the same man I was before. And she’s not the same woman.
I’m falling for her hard, all over again. And that’s more dangerous than demons, the Night Guild, and a portal to Hell combined.
