Midnight's Captive (Dark Warriors) (17 page)

“Ow,” she said as she barreled into them.

Huge hands wrapped around her arms and she found herself staring up at the face of the man who had battled Charon. The same man whose skin had been a pale green. Her mouth gaped open, and she struggled to get away but he held her easily.

There was no excitement in his gaze at capturing her, only cold acceptance of how things were. Which made Laura’s stomach plummet to her feet.

Because where this brute was, Jason wasn’t far behind.

“Well, well, well,” Jason Wallace said as he stepped out from behind the man holding her. “Did you snare something, Dale?”

Laura struggled again to get loose, but Dale’s hold didn’t relent. He kept a firm grip on her, not too tight to hurt her, but not loose enough that she could break free.

“Did Charon tell you that you were a Druid?”

Jason’s question stilled her. Laura looked into his chilly blue eyes. What had he just said? Surely he was wrong. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re a Druid, Laura. Charon knew all along, but he used his power to tamp down your magic.”

She frowned, not believing a word he was saying. “You’re lying.”

“Do you deny that you were the one who blew up the cabin?”

“I don’t have magic,” she repeated, hoping it was true, because she couldn’t add that to her growing list of problems. And neither denying nor admitting to blowing up the cabin was her best bet.

Jason laughed. “Oh, but you do. You doona seemed shocked at hearing about Druids. I’m guessing because Charon told you about us, right?”

She refused to answer, which only made Jason smile. Laura wanted to slap that smirk off his face. He’d hurt Charon—twice—hunted her, and did only God knew what else.

“I see I’m correct about him telling you of Druids,” Jason said with a grin. “Did he tell you what he is? Did he tell you he’s a Warrior with a primeval god inside him? Did he tell you he was evil?”

Laura numbly moved her head side to side.

“Ah, then I suppose he didna bother to tell you he’s the bad guy in all of this? I had Ben find you, dear Laura, to save you from Charon.”

She wanted to scream for him to stop, to claw out his eyes. But mostly she wanted Charon to come for her.

“Ben wasn’t there to help me. He hurt me,” she said, and showed him the bruise on her cheek.

Jason shrugged and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt. “Ben, unfortunately, got passionate in his zeal to get you away from Charon. But regardless. You are a Druid.”

“I’d know if I was a Druid.” She didn’t want to listen to him. His words were like poison infecting her brain.

Or were they?

“You’ve heard the chanting and drums, have you no’?” Jason asked.

Laura squeezed her eyes closed.

“That’s the ancients calling to you, Laura. Let them in. Let them show you what your magic can do.”

“You’re evil,” she said as her eyes flew open. “You wanted to kill me. I heard what you told Charon.”

Jason scratched his chin. “When you’re dealing with evil, a person will say anything to get a rise out of them. Charon and the other Warriors from MacLeod Castle are a bane upon this earth. They’re immortal creatures, but they can be killed. By
drough
blood.”

“
Droughs
are evil. They use black magic,” Laura repeated Charon’s words.

Jason tsked softly. “Sweet Laura, I see Charon has told you wrong once more. It’s the
mies
who are evil. They are the ones who use black magic. The
droughs
are the good ones in this war we’ve been fighting for centuries. I’m no’ the first to fight the Warriors, but I’ll be the last. I’ll be the one who kills them once and for all.”

Laura looked at Dale, who watched her with no emotion on his face. His bald head and dark goatee gave him a sinister look.

“You have a Warrior working with you,” she pointed out.

“I do,” Jason said. “He wants to undo what has been done to him, so he’s helping me.”

She shook her head, feeling … peculiar. It was almost as if someone were in her mind, pushing this way and that.

Laura gave her head another shake and fought to hold on to thoughts of Charon, of all the good he had done for Ferness and the people. How could she believe what Jason said when Charon was willing to sacrifice himself for her? Nothing evil would do that.

“Evil never looks like we expect,” Jason said, as if reading her mind. “They are beautiful, gorgeous creatures who worm their way into our lives and trick us. You’ve been tricked, Laura. Let me show you the way,” Jason said as he held out his hand for her.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Near Inverness

Malcolm stood on the shore of Loch Ness and watched the tourist boats leave the dock, the announcer’s voice blaring over the speakers while the water amplified the sound.

But Malcolm didn’t need the aid of the water to hear the voice. He was able to do that all on his own, thanks to the god inside him.

He squatted and dipped his fingers in the cool water. Loch Ness had always been dark. The stories of some creature living in the depths had been around long before Malcolm ever entered this world.

“Are they true, though?” he murmured.

The stories his nurse had told him of Druids and Warriors were meant to frighten him and keep him on the path of good. But they had been truth.

Well, partly. His old nurse hadn’t known the entire truth. Yet all stories originated somewhere. It left him wondering if there was a Nessie, and if she felt as out of place as he did.

Malcolm slowly released a deep breath as his mobile phone rang. He knew without looking that it was Larena who called.

His cousin liked to check up on him. He didn’t have the heart to ask her to stop. Every time he spoke to her, she begged him to return to MacLeod Castle and once more be a part of the family of Warriors and Druids there.

Larena didn’t understand that he couldn’t. Just being within those ancient stone walls made him feel as if his skin were ripping at the seams.

It wasn’t the potent magic of the Druids. It wasn’t the Warriors and their power.

It was what he had done while in service to Deirdre.

The man he’d been, the one who had sacrificed his very lands to protect Larena, was gone. He was a distant memory, and one that faded every day.

Malcolm looked down at his hand. It would take the briefest of thoughts to have his claws shoot from his fingers. The deep burgundy his god favored hid the stain of blood, but Malcolm knew it was there.

He had killed Duncan. Deirdre had commanded it, and Malcolm hadn’t hesitated. He’d expected Duncan’s twin, Ian, to exact his revenge. It was his due.

But Ian had forgiven Malcolm.

Malcolm ran his hand through his hair as he straightened. Forgiveness. He didn’t deserve it, hadn’t sought it out, but those at the castle had given it to him freely.

How did he tell them it didn’t matter? He felt nothing anymore. Not remorse, happiness. Not even hope.

His phone rang again. Malcolm answered the mobile with a tired, “Hello?”

“Thank God you answered,” Larena’s voice said through the phone. “I’ve news on Jason.”

Malcolm stood gazing at the loch as Larena filled him in on Laura and Charon. There was an odd note to her voice, but he attributed it to Wallace.

When she finished he said, “What do you want me to do?”

There was a pause before she said, “I don’t want you to do anything. I wanted to let you know what Jason was up to. He’s likely to target all of us.”

“No doubt he’ll try.”

“Malcolm, where are you?”

He looked over the rippling waters of the loch. “Does it matter?”

“I worry about you.”

“I ken, Larena, but you need to stop. I’ve given my word that I’ll help in taking down Wallace.”

“But you don’t want to be with us in the meantime.”

He hated the sadness he heard in her voice. He was staying away to keep what he had become from her. If Larena realized he was dead inside, she’d make it her mission to fix him. And there was no way to repair him.

“It’s better this way,” he said. “Trust me.”

“I do. You know that. I just … I miss you, Malcolm. I need you here.”

Her words tugged at his heart, and the old Malcolm would have immediately gone to her. “Keep me posted on Wallace. I’m no’ far from Ferness. I’m here if Charon needs any help.”

For several minutes they sat in silence. Malcolm knew there was more Larena wanted to say, and she was struggling to find the right words.

“Arran and Ronnie finished the sketch of the necklace as it was described in the ledger from the dig site,” Larena said.

Malcolm wondered how long it would take Arran and his woman to get the sketch right. Within that necklace lay the spell to bind the gods inside all Warriors forever.

“It doesn’t match the one from the Web site Gwynn found talking about Druids,” Larena said into the silence.

“That’s too bad.”

Fallon and the others were searching desperately for the necklace, but Malcolm wasn’t sure they would use the spell even if they found it. How could they battle evil such as Jason Wallace as humans?

“Any leads?” Malcolm asked the expected words.

“Gwynn scanned the drawing into the computer yesterday, but so far nothing has come up in her search.”

Malcolm watched another tourist boat pass. “I doona believe you’ll find it. Whoever transferred the spell into the necklace, and then hid it, knew how important it was. It might have stayed buried for thousands of years in that chamber, but I wager whoever took it also knew what it was.”

“So you don’t think we’ll find it?”

“Nay,” he answered. “I think it’s something being kept safely guarded. Ronnie’s ability to find magical objects might bring you to it. Have you asked her?”

“She’s tried. So far nothing.”

Malcolm knew how important it was for Larena to have children. It’s all she had ever talked about. She and Fallon had held off having children because of the battle with evil they waged.

“We’ll find the spell, Larena. You and Fallon will have the children you want.”

She sniffed through the phone. “I’m not so sure anymore. I can’t even bring up the idea of babies to Fallon since…”

Her voice trailed away, but Malcolm knew all too well she was referring to the night she died. He hadn’t been at the castle, but one look at Fallon’s face when they met at Wallace Mansion to attack had told Malcolm everything.

“I still remember the first time you saw Fallon,” he said. It had been at Edinburgh Castle four hundred years earlier, when Larena was hiding the fact she was a Warrior.

Larena laughed softly. “He hadn’t wanted to talk to me.”

“You just had to get his attention. I didna agree with you sneaking into his chamber to do it, however.”

“Ah, but it worked.”

Malcolm turned his back to Loch Ness. “I knew Fallon loved you before he did. All I had to do was look at him as he watched you. It was there on his face. Even then, he would’ve done anything for you.”

“I know,” Larena replied softly. “I want you to have that same happiness.”

“Keep me informed of what’s going on with Charon,” he said, and ended the call before Larena could say more.

She meant well, but he didn’t want to hear how she wanted him to find someone and fall in love. Love. How could he care for someone when he had nothing inside him?

He was empty, his soul drained of everything good that he’d been.

What kind of woman would want someone like him?

*   *   *

The break of the new day only drove Charon harder. He had the unshakable feeling Jason had already found Laura.

During the brief darkness of their summer nights, Broc had taken to the skies and searched for Laura, to no avail. Charon wasn’t the only one who was disappointed. Broc wasn’t handling it well that his power had failed them.

Broc folded his giant indigo wings and crossed his arms over his bare chest. “There’s something going on here.”

Charon’s gaze searched the thick woods around them. “Aye. I know Laura had to stop and rest. We should’ve caught up with her by now.”

“Should have,” Ramsey said.

Phelan gave a short whistle that had the others rushing to his side. “Look,” Phelan said to Charon as he pointed to the ground.

“That’s Laura’s boot print,” Lucan said.

Charon’s stomach tightened with dread. “With several others all around it. They found her.” Just as he’d feared.

The realization slammed into him like a truck. He had known it, but the truth staring him in the face made him ill.

“Wait,” Ramsey said. “I’ve found more of Laura’s tracks, and she’s alone.”

Charon rushed to see what Ramsey found. Elation erupted through him as they began to follow her tracks. For the next forty minutes, they pursued her trail, lost it, and found it again numerous times.

He wanted out call out to Laura, but since they didn’t know if Jason and the
droughs
were still around, Charon couldn’t chance it.

“We’ll find her,” Phelan said from beside him.

Charon nodded, unease beginning to creep up on him again.

He was the first to see the tree with the flowers blooming in bright vibrant colors at its base. Laura’s trail led right to the tree, but the flowers were out of place in the deep shadows.

Ramsey knelt on one knee and peered close at the flowers. “Magic did this.
Mie
magic,” he said, and turned his head to Charon.

“Laura has no magic,” Charon said.

Lucan leaned a hand upon the pine as he looked at the flowers. “Are you sure?”

“I’d know. I looked for it often enough,” he grumbled.

“Someone blew up your cabin,” Phelan said.

Broc’s wings shifted, his lips pulled back in a scowl. “Someone is also preventing us from using our power. I doona like it.”

Charon ran a hand down his face. “I’ve known Laura for two years. No’ once did I ever feel magic from her. She’s no’ a Druid.”

“Oh, shite,” Lucan said, and backed up a few steps. “Laura had visitors.”

Phelan gaze lifted to Charon filled with regret. “Lots of visitors. And by the looks of it, Laura left with them willingly.”