Enlightened (Love and Light Series) (34 page)

Fiamette twisted her hands in her lap as Loti clutched her forehead, screaming. Calisto and Margarite sat on either side of her on the couch, bracing her with their arms. She screamed again.

“Can you hear his thoughts?” Calisto whispered in her ear.

She shook her head, panting as the white hot pain bit between her blinded eyes. She grasped the shield she’d constructed, but no matter how she contorted it, stretched it, imbued it with more energy, she couldn’t dampen the pain. Wolf’s agony twisted her mouth and his regret and sadness overflowed her eyes.
Oh, Wolf. What are they doing to you? Please talk to me.

He was there, but not communicating.

“We need to find him before they kill him.” She wept.

“Modore won’t kill him, I told you. Not until he has you. You have to stay at the ashram. Let us find him, Loti,” Fiamette begged.

Loti shook her head. “I have to go to him. If this Modore wants me, then I’ll go.”

“No.” Fiamette slapped her leg. “That’s what he wants. Once he has you, he’ll kill Wolf.”

“Why?” Loti lowered shaking hands from her pale face.

“He wants you. And that means he has to get rid of Wolf.” Fiamette squeezed Loti’s hands.

“But why doesn’t he just kill him instead of torturing him?” Another searing pain shot through a cheek. She grabbed at the spot, clenching her chin to her chest, howling.

“Because you’ll die too.” Margarite whispered, squeezing her arm tighter around Loti’s back, one hand on Loti’s leg. “Remember? Jyotika and Acacius?”

Another withering pain slashed down the other cheek. “Calisto.” She choked. “We have to try something.”

“He wants us to panic. We have to wait for the rest of Katie’s coven and move together.” Calisto rubbed Loti’s back as she shivered. “Unfortunately, I have not heard from our Washington friends.”

Loti moaned.

Loti

Wolf’s voice in her head was faint, far away.

Wolf—
even her voice in their heads sounded weak.

Make your shield stronger.

I’ve tried.

Don’t come. It’s what he wants.

I can’t leave you

He won’t kill me

How do you know?

No response.

Wolf!

“I can’t get ahold of Rachel, and she should have been back here an hour ago.” Katie ran up to them, snapping her cell shut.

“The signal here is poor and intermittent. Use the house phone,” Margarite said.

“I did. She’s not answering and that’s not like her. I need to go back to the house.” Katie spun around and trotted toward the foyer.

“Wait, Katie.” Calisto jumped from the couch and followed Katie. “Don’t go alone. We’ll all go. We have to go to Lewiston anyway. We’ll figure out where he is and get him back.”

“I can find him,” Loti’s voice shook. “I’m going with you.” She stumbled to her feet. Whatever Modore was doing to Wolf, he had taken a break

 “No.” Calisto’s eyes narrowed with a fierceness as he spun around. “Stay put.”

“He got to me while I was here before,” Loti argued. Even through the fog of pain, her eyes snapped.

“That’s because—” Margarite began.

“No, he was going after Wolf regardless, if what Fiamette told us is true.” Loti’s tone left no room for debate. “He wants Wolf dead, so he can bond with me.”

Calisto’s jaw clenched and unclenched. Margarite stood up from the couch, looking intently from Calisto to Loti.

“I can find him, Calisto.” Loti’s body went rigid.

Katie stood in the archway between the living room and kitchen, tapping her fingers on her crossed arms. “Either way, let’s get going. I can call the rest of the coven on the road and get things moved to my place. You’re sure he’s in Lewiston, Loti?”

Loti nodded. “I think he’s further out than your place, but, yes, it feels close.”

“All right. Then let’s get going.” Calisto made up his mind. “But you stick with us and the plan. Don’t go running off on some suicide mission.”

Loti walked stiff-legged with her hands hovering over throbbing cheeks. It wasn’t subsiding at all; it throbbed and burned, and she could hardly breathe.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Katie turned the key in the brass door knob, shoving her front door open.

“Rachel? Honey?” she called.

Her keys jangled into the red and yellow glass bowel by the door as she dropped her bag on the foyer bench and ran through the living room. Richard and Theresa, two of her coven members, followed her into the foyer.

“She’s not here,” Katie shrilled from the den.

Theresa and Richard ran into the den, and Katie stood in front of the cherry wood desk, one hand twisting a diamond-stud earring.

“Where could she have gone? Do you think we missed her, and she’s on her way back to the ashram?”

“I’m sure she’s fine, Katie.” Theresa patted her arm.

“I don’t understand.” Katie stepped passed the desk and wandered around the room, one hand pressed into her low back and the other worrying her mouth. She gazed up at the pictures and diplomas on the walls, hers and her late husband Joe’s. Turning back, she noticed the pink box marked “Crystals” still sitting there. She walked around the desk, running her fingers over the smooth cardboard. Out of years of habit, she picked up the gold framed picture of her Joe, touched the glass, and then set it back down. Turning to the credenza, she stopped short and reached for the small cloth bags lying in a heap. Verbena, rowan, datura. She picked up the bags of herbs.

“Katie?” Richard stood on the other side of the desk. She whirled around with the bags clutched in her hands.

“Something’s wrong. The herbs I sent her for are still here.”

There was a knock on the front door, and Katie ran around the desk and out the door. Calisto walked into the living room, Margarite and Loti on his heels as Katie waved the cloth bags.

“She’s missing, Calisto. I know something’s wrong. These are the herbs I sent her for.”

Loti took a bag out of her hand, turned it over in hers. Verbena. She stretched it open and stuck her nose in. Sweet, musky. Loti sneezed, and the powdery stuff flew up her nose.

“Ow, ow.” She rubbed at her stinging nose.

Calisto was a blur as he rushed to the foyer, waving his hand in front of his nose as if to chase away a bad odor.

“Give me that, Loti. You’re probably sensitive to it, now. With the bond.” Katie snatched the open bag out of her hands, pulling the cotton strings tight.

“Why?”

“Vampires are allergic to verbena, or vervain as we used to call it in the old world.” Calisto coughed.

“Why? Is it like garlic?”

“That’s a myth.” Calisto ventured cautiously back into the living room.

“Will it kill you?” She took the handkerchief Theresa held out to her. Loti had never met the middle-aged woman before, so she figured she must be a new member of the coven. “Thank you,” she said and then blew her nose and rubbed fiercely.

“No, but it will burn and the pain is immobilizing. It takes a full day’s sleep to recover from it, too. It’s worse if you actually inhale it. Feels like your lungs are on fire.” Calisto made a disgusted face.

 “Rachel, Calisto. She’s missing.” Katie waved the vervain in his face as he ventured back into the room. He jerked his chin back wrinkling his nose.

Someone banged on the front door. Theresa ran to answer it. Loti collapsed on the familiar green couch, stroking her nose with the embroidered handkerchief. Guided, Hammer, Professor, and Fiamette poured into Katie’s living room, followed by most of Calisto’s nest and the rest of Katie’s coven. Without any warning, Katie clutched her head and fell on the floor. Loti, Calisto, and Guided grabbed for her.

“Are you—”

“Shhhhh,” she hissed through clenched teeth.

“Oh Goddess, why, Patrick?” Katie’s hysterical cry pierced the room. “Why are you doing this? Why?” She jerked with broken-hearted sobs, curling around herself.

Loti dropped to her knees beside Katie, clutching at her hands. The thin, soft skin of her wrinkled hands, once so soothing, was now jacked with fear.

“Patrick? Where’s Rachel?” Loti whispered in the old woman’s ear.

“A cave, somewhere in the mountains. He set a beacon so I can find it. He says we have to hurry.” She sobbed. “He wasn’t counting on the rain.” With panic-stricken eyes, she climbed to her feet. “We have to go. I’m taking the coven. It’s going to take all of us. The cave is near a lead deposit.”

Richard’s mouth fell open. “Oh my god.”

Loti scrambled to her feet. “What does that mean?”

“It means we’re going to have a very hard time getting her out.” At Loti’s confused expression, Calisto added, “Lead is a barrier for magic, Loti. Just like lead can block radio frequencies, it can block magic.”

Loti nodded, the situation sinking in. “I know iron interferes, so lead makes sense.” Loti’s face paled, but not just with fear. She was sick of this—sick of being afraid and sick of hiding and sick of the people she loved being used as pawns.

“Go. Go save her, Nanny.” She balled her hands into fists and gritted her teeth. “And we’ll find Wolf.” Katie nodded and ran for the foyer, her coven mates right behind her.

Guided and Professor whispered by the old tube-style television set, while Margarite and Calisto put their heads together by the couch. Family photographs lined the fireplace mantel, and homey throw pillows nestled in the corners of the couch and recliners. But like a bad dream, the familiar room didn’t comfort. The corners felt mean.

“Loti, we need to make a plan.” Calisto’s hand rested on her shoulder. She stared at it, her brain on pause. “Without the coven . . . ” For the first time, he sounded unsure. Shadows of doubt darkened his eyes and his mouth curled down in a dismal way.

“I can find him, but then what?” She wanted to believe in them, in herself. She wanted to trust, but life, her life had back handed her one too many times. She rubbed her face. Tired, so tired. “What options do we have? He’s going to expect me to turn myself over. We should play along with that. Then what?”

“I don’t know,” Calisto mumbled.

“What about the Washington friends you mentioned?”

He shook his head. “At this point, I believe we are on our own.” He glanced around at the gaggle of healers, witches and vampires. “And we are not exactly the British SAS.”

 “I’m not as powerful as any member of Katie’s coven, but I’ve trained with them. I’ll be fire power,” Justin ventured.

“We can act like we’re going along with Modore’s plan, and in the meantime, Justin, Marcus, and I can find a way into wherever they’re keeping Wolf.” Korinna interlaced her fingers with Justin’s. He smiled, he’s eyes brightening as they nodded at each other.

“We’ll stay with you, Loti.” Guided cracked his knuckles. “We may not have the firepower, but we’ve got our tricks.” Ever the good-humor guy, he winked.

Calisto clasped his hands together. “Tell me again, Fiamette, what you think his plan is?” He paced between Loti and the television set, staring at the textured carpet.

“He wants to separate Wolf and Loti. That’s probably what he’s recruited Patrick for, to create a spell barrier that will prevent Loti from dying when he kills Wolf.” She stood alone in front of the window, holding an ivory vertical blind to the side with two fingers as she stared out at the rain.

“At a more appropriate time, I expect you to explain how you know all this.” Calisto arched an eyebrow.

Her eyes shifted to him and back to the window. After a moment, the slat swung back into place, tinking against its neighbors. She lowered her eyes, nodding. “I don’t think he understands that Wolf’s heart is now vulnerable.” She studied Loti. “He’ll probably time this with the sunrise.” Everyone glanced at the curved mantel clock over the fireplace. 3:00 a.m.
How did it get so late?
She didn’t want to sit there anymore. She wanted to get it done.

Loti jumped off the couch.

Rachel stood on the ice cream formation, clinging to the stalactite above it, her knees under water.

“Help!” she screamed into the pitch black. Reaching out with her magic, she felt for the surface and ran up against the frustrating blankness. It was as if the rock was nullifying her magic. This area of the Appalachians had been a source of iron and lead during the revolution and the civil wars. As the first inches of cold water rose around her, she entertained the possibility that she was in real trouble.