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I have your father, it said. Come to me, or he dies. You have one hour.
Chapter Fourteen
Mom immediately phoned my father, but the call rang on and on without answer. I briefly closed my eyes and tried to get hold of the fear clenching my gut.
Because my dreams had been filled with this exact scenario many times over the years. They’d known it would always come down to a battle between the dark sorcerer and me.
Except it wasn’t just you and him last time, and it won’t fucking be just you and him this time, Belle growled. And don’t for an instant think Ashworth and Eli are about to let you walk into this alone.
He’ll kill Dad the minute he senses anyone else.
He won’t know I’m with you telepathically.
He might, given it’s what helped defeat him last time.
Then we’ll figure a way around it. We always do. Her mental tone was filled with a certainty I wished I could believe. He underestimated us the first time, and I’m pretty damn sure he’s doing the same thing again.
Maybe he believes there’s nothing we can do to stop him now.
He’s a wraith, not a god.
One that’s been playing in the demonic world for a very long time, remember.
And that alone could be his downfall.
How?
He’s forgotten just how dangerous a cornered witch can be. And before you snort in disbelief, there’s been a good array of demons over the last year who can attest to that.
It was meant to be comforting, but it really wasn’t. Not when I remembered just how many times I’d come close to losing my life over that year.
Mom left a request for Dad to ring her ASAP, then hung up and glared at Samuel. “I thought he was under full guard in a secure bunker?”
While her expression and her voice were utterly controlled, her aura was so fierce and bright I was tempted to shield my eyes.
“He was. He is,” Samuel replied. “Let’s not jump to conclusions before we know what, if anything, has actually happened.”
He dragged out his phone and made a call. Mom crossed her arms and waited, one booted foot tapping an angry tattoo that echoed out across the silent room.
While I was too far away to hear the other side of Samuel’s conversation with whoever he’d called, it sounded an awful lot like Saska.
And she didn’t sound happy.
“Cancel leave and call everyone in. I want them found ASAP,” Samuel growled. “And send someone over to search Rodrika’s house.”
“Rodrika Marlowe?” Mom said, when Samuel hung up. “What’s she got to do with anything?”
As far as I knew, there was no Rodrika related to us, so she was obviously from a different Marlowe line.
“Forty-five minutes ago, she walked into the secure bunker and removed your husband.”
Forty-five minutes would have been around the time we’d finished banishing the wraith’s second demon. Coincidence? I seriously doubted it.
“But how?” I asked. “Wasn’t there an embargo placed on his removal?”
“Rodrika is a high councilor,” Mom said, rubbing her arms. “No one working for the HIC would have barred her entry, especially if she had the right paperwork.”
“And she did,” Samuel said.
