Matt: Tales of the Were (Redstone Clan Book 5) (15 page)

Cam made a few gestures with his hands, and suddenly, the dirt flowed away from the rocks. Then, the rocks rolled in an orderly march downward and around, to line the sides of the tunnel, reinforcing it. Within thirty seconds, the tunnel had been cleared and strengthened by the lining of rocks along the sides to a depth of two additional feet.

Cameron continued his work, gaining another two feet every thirty seconds or so. Morgan watched his progress, amazed at such casual use of impressive magic. Although, she’d seen other people work magic over the years, she had never seen anything quite like this. The power of the fey was legendary for good reason, she was discovering.

Within a few minutes, Morgan felt fresh air flowing down the tunnel as Cam broke through to the other side. Other scents came to her nose too. A particular tang of blood hit her nose, and she recognized Marc’s scent. It was full dark out now, and he had, indeed, come to help.

“Marc?” she whispered.

“Morgan?” came the answering, cautious reply.

“We’re here,” she said softly, joyfully.

“I’ll have the tunnel completely clear in another ten seconds, Master LaTour,” Cam said, his voice distinctive with a slight brogue.

“Cameron? Is that you?” Marc’s voice carried down the tunnel, his tone indicating his surprise.

“One and the same. Your friends here needed a hand, and I happened to be in the neighborhood.” The fey chuckled, even as he ended the spell that had reopened and reinforced the tunnel. He stepped confidently forward, and Matt took Morgan’s hand, walking with her through the newly-cleared tunnel. Sure enough, Marc was waiting on the other end.

Marc shook hands with Cameron, a bemused expression on his face. “It’s good to see you again, Cameron,” Marc said politely. “Strange to find you here, but good, all the same.”

“Not so strange as you might think,” Cameron said as he let go of the Master’s hand. “Fey often use such places as entrance points into your realm. Our realm is called Underhill by mortals for a reason, after all. When the humans of old saw my brethren popping out from such places in ancient times, they thought we all lived in caves or some such. We let them think it. Chalk it up to our race’s sometimes perverse sense of humor.” Cameron chuckled as Matt and Morgan joined them.

Matt reached out to shake Marc’s hand. “Thank you for coming to our rescue,” he said politely.

“Looks like I’m a little late for the rescue part, but we did see something interesting while we were searching for you,” Marc said in a quiet voice that wouldn’t carry beyond their small group. “We’ve been spread out over this mountain since just after twilight, looking for your tracks. We’ve found at least two entrances to the mine that weren’t on any map. The discovery of the dead snake you must have run into earlier in the day led us to watch the entrance nearest it. Atticus is still there, working that entrance, but after the last tremor and then watching as the sorcerers traipsed out of there congratulating themselves, we all decided to track from different angles.”

“You saw Irma?” Morgan asked.

“In the flesh. Irma and two other men. One of whom Atticus recognized as Irma’s husband, Carlos. He had a file on them, and you can be sure my old friend is kicking himself for having missed the mole in his own organization. But we can save the recriminations for later. Ian and Bernard broke off the search here to follow the mages. There’s no one on the mountain but our people now.”

“I should go to the entrance the sorcerers accessed,” Cam said quickly, frowning. “I’d like to examine the kinds of magic they are using.”

“I hoped you would say that,” Marc answered, nodding at the fey. “I’m not ashamed to admit that we could use your kind of help on this, Cameron.”

“I’d be honored,” Cam replied. “And now that you know part of this mine is one of my favorite portals to Underhill, I suppose I need to make nice with the land owner,” he added with a wink.

“Not just Atticus, but the wolves who’ll be living here too, I suspect,” Marc said, one eyebrow raised. “Now, are you two all right?” Marc redirected his interest to Matt and Morgan. In fact, he walked over and put his hands on Morgan’s shoulders. “I know it couldn’t have been easy for you.”

“It wasn’t,” Morgan admitted, smiling up at the man who’d had such a great impact on her life. “But Matt was with me. He helped a lot.” She looked over at Matt, knowing she was admitting to something here. She was telling Marc—essentially her father figure—about her new boyfriend, albeit in an oblique way.

They started walking, all four of them, toward the previously hidden entrance that Irma and her people had used. Marc shot her a few concerned looks but let the moment pass without comment on Matt’s presence being so
helpful
to her. She suspected he’d quiz her later, but for now, he was apparently more concerned with the bigger picture, thank goodness.

“I’m texting the others to let them know you’re safe,” Marc said, already tapping out a message on his cell phone. “I’m going to set up a perimeter around the hidden mine entrance so we can be certain we remain alone up here while we investigate.”

“Excellent plan.” Cameron nodded. “Now, why don’t you two tell us the tale from the beginning while we walk? I confess I’m very curious as to how you ended up where you did.”

“We were checking out something one of the eco people told us about there being something off in the mine,” Morgan explained. “The girl’s name is Rosalie O’Hanlan. I sent you an email about what she told us.” She nodded to Marc.

“I saw it. I’ve got someone doing a background check on her as we speak,” Marc said. “So, you were acting on her intel and came up here to nose around a bit?”

“We thought we’d take a look,” Matt agreed, picking up the narrative. “We watched the entrances we knew about, then decided to roam a bit in our fur to look for anything out of the ordinary. We found the snake—”

“What kind of snake?” Cameron asked, interrupting Matt’s report.

“You can see for yourself. It’s right up there.” Matt nodded toward the spot on the small rise that Morgan had blundered into earlier in the day.

Cam set off more quickly than Morgan would have thought the man could move. Marc stayed with them while Cam took a quick look around.

“Nasty work, that,” Marc observed, gesturing toward the snake.

Cam came back quickly, his expression grim. “Worse than you know. If I’m not much mistaken, the body is laid out in the exact pattern of the fault line beneath our feet. It reeks of evil magic.”

Nobody said anything as they began walking again. Finally, Morgan decided to finish the story of their adventure, so as to get it out of the way. It was bad enough to remember it. She didn’t want to have to talk about it too much. Better to forget the trauma and move on.

“We spotted the hidden entrance and decided to investigate. We were able to get pretty close. Close enough to see some of the chanting and feel that last tremor from inside. We made a run for it, but we didn’t make it all the way out. The tunnel collapsed on either side of us.” She shuddered but pushed on in her story. “Matt’s phone was destroyed, and mine only had a little charge left. We decided to wait until dark to call, but while we were digging, the portal opened, and he stepped out.” She gestured toward Cameron.

“You left out one thing, lass,” Cameron surprised her by saying. For a moment, she wondered if he was referring to the way Matt and she had passed the time. Had he been spying on them while they were making love? “At some point…” he went on, “…somebody started praying.”

Morgan frowned. “I did. But how could you know that?”

“Because She whom I serve sent me to you in your hour of need,” he answered, astounding her. “I’ve operated in secret for centuries, but the Mother of All has decreed it is now time for Her chosen Knights to reveal ourselves. I’m a
Chevalier de la Lumiere
—a Knight of the Light. I serve the Goddess. She sent me through that portal to answer your prayer.”

Morgan stopped in her tracks, as did the rest of them. Cameron faced them, smiling faintly. A momentary flash of another image superimposed itself on his body—it was him, but he was dressing in glowing armor, with a brightly flaming sword at his side. His knightly form, she imagined, stunned by the revelation.

“I—” she began, not really knowing what to say. “Thank you, Sir Cameron. And Blessed Be the Mother of All for answering my prayer. I never thought…”

The glowing image of Cameron as a Knight faded, and he smiled kindly at her. “She hears and sees all, Morgan. She knows your heart and chose to intervene by sending me. Much as She sent Marc to you all those years ago. You have a greater purpose than you know, and perhaps, the two of you together…” he pointed between her and Matt, “…are meant to do something important in the fight against evil. Perhaps you’ve already done it.” He smiled again as he moved forward, starting them all walking again.

As they neared the hidden entrance to the mine, other members of the Brotherhood stepped out of the dark to join them. Atticus and Sebastian came over to them, the others dispersing to form a perimeter. It looked like Marc had sent out a call for help to most of his top people, and many had answered.

Several of the vampires nodded to Morgan before fading back into the darkness. She had worked with most of the Brotherhood at one point or another on their many legal dealings and counted many of them as friends. She was pleased to see that so many had come to help.

“Glad to see you in one piece,” Sebastian said, clapping Matt on the back as he joined them.

Atticus was a bit more reserved. “Are you all right, Morgan?” he asked, concern in his expression.

“I’m fine. Cameron came to our rescue,” she said, uncomfortable being the center of attention.

Both Atticus and Sebastian greeted Cameron, renewing their acquaintance. Morgan stood quietly, feeling a bit apprehensive about whether they’d ask her to go back into the mine. She shifted from foot to foot, nervous.

Matt took her hand discreetly, squeezing it in reassurance. Just like that, her nerves settled. All it took was his touch to ground her and remind her that she wasn’t alone. Matt was with her. And with him at her side, she could do anything.

They spent the next hours retracing their steps into the mine, explaining what they’d seen and heard while the others examined everything in minute detail. Cameron observed all and offered insight into what the magic users had been doing. They came back out of the mine, eventually, much to Morgan’s relief, to find Ian guarding the entrance.

She remembered that Marc had sent Ian off to follow Irma and her cronies. If he was back, he’d have something to report. She wondered what he’d learned.

Marc greeted his enforcer—which was the vital role Ian played in the Brotherhood—and asked him to give his report. Morgan was glad Marc was sharing the information so freely. After what she’d been through that day, she didn’t want to be kept out of the loop on anything pertaining to Irma and her ilk.

“I trailed Irma and Carlos to their home, then did what I could to listen in. They’ve got many layers of magical protections around their dwelling, but I was able to eavesdrop on a bit of their conversation. They were very pleased with themselves,” Ian reported. “And very drained by what they did tonight. They discussed giving the fault a few days to
perk
—as they put it—while they recovered their strength for another round.”

“Did they say why they were doing this?” Morgan asked.

“It is as we feared. They spoke of breaching the veil between worlds in order to bring their
Mater Priori
back from the farthest realms,” Ian intoned. Everyone stilled.

“Blasted Elspeth!” Cam cursed. “That bedamned woman causes chaos, even when she’s not here.”

“So, they definitely are
Venifucus
,” Matt observed.

“There is little doubt of it,” Ian confirmed. Silence followed his words, for a long moment.

Finally, Atticus broke the tension. “Well, then. I propose we leave this place, for now. Cameron, Morgan and Matt, I invite you back to my home for what’s left of the night, since it is closest. Marc?” He looked expectantly at the Master, who was also one of his oldest and dearest friends, Morgan knew.

“I left Kelly there with Lissa,” Marc said casually, looking tired, for once. Weariness was something Morgan wasn’t used to seeing from the Master vampire who had guided so much of her life. “Perhaps, we can use some of that computer equipment you keep bragging about to further our research.”

Atticus smiled. “Most definitely,” he agreed, already turning with Marc to walk away.

The vampires, Morgan knew, had other means of travel. Most of the Brotherhood could shift into dark raptors or owls. Some were even powerful enough to travel as mist or smoke. But she and Matt would have to hoof it back to their vehicle. She wasn’t sure about Cameron.

“Can we offer you a ride?” she asked politely, turning to the fey.

Cam nodded. “I would appreciate it. Traveling magically in this realm is too obvious to do it casually.”

“Obvious in what way?” she asked as they started walking down through the woods.

“Magically,” Cam explained. “If anyone is watching for fey magic—and I have to believe the
Venifucus
are watching for anything out of the ordinary—then they could find me pretty easily by following my energy trail. Best to avoid using anything too showy unless absolutely necessary.”

“But what about when you showed up in the mine? Won’t they be able to trace you from that?” Morgan asked as they neared the spot where they’d parked.

“Moving through an established gate from Underhill to this realm doesn’t usually give off any telltale magic,” Cam said, his words slower as he seemed to think. “I believe the reason that section of the tunnel didn’t collapse on you was because our gate was there. They were constructed eons ago, and their presence hidden with magic the likes of which doesn’t really exist anymore.” Cam’s tone grew even more pensive. “You two were very lucky—or perhaps, I should say
blessed
—to have been in the exact right spot when the tunnel came down around you. If you’d been a few yards either way, the outcome would have been…well…bad.”